There is evidence of a long history in Christianity of what today could be called âtransgenderâ saints. While such a term did not exist in medieval times, the idea of men living as women, or women living as men, was unquestionably present in the medieval period. There are at least 34 documented stories of transgender saintsâ lives from the early centuries of Christianity, some of them gained widespread popularity in medieval Europe. Most of them were born as women but cut their hair and put on menâs clothes to live as men and join monasteries. The legends of some tell that God gave them beards to protect them from rapists or violent fiancĂŠs.
In the medieval period, saintsâ lives were less important as history and more important as morality tales. As a morality tale, the audience was not intended to replicate a saintâs life, but learn to emulate Christian values. Transitioning between male and female becomes a metaphor for transitioning from pagan to Christian, from affluence to poverty, from worldliness to spirituality.Â
When looking at ancient and mediaeval pictures, it is noticeable that the clothes of the female and male servants and peasants hardly differ. It was therefore not difficult for a man to admit himself as a woman if he wanted to escape war service, violence or other challenges. Through the centuries there are stories of men who do not want to be perceived as masculine and dress and behave like women. Even so Historians have not yet identified any male saints who lived their lives as women.Â
One reason that there are fewer male-to-female historical saints is because women were considered inferior and less holy. Becoming female was not seen as a path to holiness. It was also safer to be a man when travelling or living in the wilderness as a desert hermit. There are fewer female saints overall because patriarchy has suppressed the history of holy women, probably including male-to-female figures.
Another idea about the lack of male-to-female saints is that they are âhiding in plain sightâ because elaborate clergy robes allowed queer men to satisfy their need to dress in feminine style. In Christian history many male mystics and theologians described themselves as âbrides of Christâ. Bernard of Clairvauxâs sermons on the Song of Songs encouraged monks to identify with the female figures in the Canticles. In providing a model for the soulâs progression as it learns to participate in divine love, Bernard suggests that his monks can overcome the foolishness of young women, develop the productivity of a mother, and identify with the Brideâs love and longing as she seeks and encounters her Bridegroom. He encourages monks to perform the Bride so that they may ultimately become better men.
The idea that a man could become a woman or a woman become a man upends a Biblical anthropology that assumes God created two sexes distinguished by bodily characteristics. Real cross-dressing was opposed by the Catholic Church in laws, liturgical meetings and other writings.Â
However, Christianity honored the holiness of these transgender saints. Transness was not only merely compatible with holiness; transness itself was holy, because transgender saints had to reject convention in order to live their own authentic lives, just as early Christians had to reject convention in order to live as Christians. Instead of defining gender by separate male and female values, all individuals could be defined by the same Christian values.
read more: https://qspirit.net/trans-saints-cross-dressing-monks/
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