For All Saints Day, Nov 1st, New Ways Ministry describes why LGBT Catholics should remember our queer saints.

On this Feast Day of All Saints, Roman Catholics celebrate the lives of all saints, both known and unknown within our Tradition. This includes the queer saints!

But we should stop and ask ourselves, “Were there really LGBT saints in the history of the Catholic Church?” The short answer: perhaps, but we must be careful of our use of the terms “queer” or “LGBT” in historical analyses. Theologians across the board would likely say that to call any saint from the 1st century to the 19th century “queer” or “LGBT” would be an anachronism. However, we cannot deny the historical evidence of homoerotic language and behavior of saints throughout history.

The Advocate compiled a list of 30 saints from Catholic history that have been considered, for one reason or another, to be LGBT. Some of the names listed are quite familiar, like Augustine of Hippo and Francis of Assisi, and others are less well known. For example, Saints Perpetua and Felicity are often said to have been in a very intimate relationship, if not a lesbian partnership.

For a more extensive listing of queer saints and martyrs in Christian and pre-Christian history, see “Queer Saints, Sinners and Martyrs“

Related Posts (at Queer Saints, Sinners and Martyrs)

• Prologue: Before Christianity
• The Early Christians: Saints and Martyrs for the Church
• The Early Christians: Saints and Martyrs for the Church
• Medieval Homoeroticism
• The Great Persecution: Martyred by the  Church
• Modern Martyrs, Modern Revival