by Kittredge Cherry | Oct 4, 2020 (qspirit.net)
Historical records reveal a queer side to Saint Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved religious figures of all time. The 13th-century friar is celebrated for loving animals, hugging lepers, embracing poverty and praying for peace, but few know about his love for another man and his gender nonconformity. His feast day is Oct. 4.
Francis is “a uniquely gender-bending historic figure” according to Franciscan scholar Kevin Elphick. His extravagant love crossed boundaries. Other Franciscan friars referred to Francis as “Mother” during his lifetime. He encouraged his friars to be mothers to each other when in hermitage together, and used other gender-bending metaphors to describe the spiritual life.
He experienced a vision of an all-female Trinity, who in turn saluted him as “Lady Poverty,” a title that he welcomed. Francis allowed a widow to enter the male-only cloister, naming her “Brother Jacoba.” His partner in ministry was a woman, Clare of Assisi, and he cut her hair in a man’s tonsured style when she joined his male-only religious order.
Pope Francis took him as his namesake in 2013, explaining that “Francis was a man of peace, a man of poverty, a man who loved and protected creation.”
Francis embraced outcasts and nature
Francis was born to a wealthy family in 1181 or 1182 in the Italian town of Assisi. As a young man he renounced his wealth, even stripping off his clothes, and devoted himself to a life of poverty in the service of Christ.
He connected with nature, calling all animals “brother” and “sister” and celebrating them in his famous Canticle of the Sun. Animal blessing events are happening all over the world in October for the Feast of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. Click here for the animal blessing prayer by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry.
He saw the face of Christ in lepers, the most reviled outcasts of his time, and nursed them with compassion. William Hart McNichols puts Francis’ ministry into a contemporary context by showing him embracing a gay Jesus with AIDS in “St. Francis ‘Neath the Bitter Tree,” pictured here. Words on the cross proclaim that Christ is an “AIDS leper” as well as a “drug user” and “homosexual,” outcast groups at high risk for getting AIDS. The two men gaze intently at each other with unspeakable love as Francis hugs the wounded Christ. It was commissioned in 1991 by a New Jersey doctor who worked with AIDS patients, and is discussed in the book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More by Kittredge Cherry.
“Saint Francis Embracing Christ” by Francisco Ribalta (Wikimedia Commons)
McNichols created the icon in his own style based on a 1668 painting by Spanish painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo, which was surely inspired by the more passionate 1620 version of fellow Spaniard Francisco Ribalta. In Ribalta’s work, Christ responds to St. Francis’ ecstatic kiss by giving the saint his crown of thorns, the symbol of suffering that leads to divine union.
Francis dearly loved his male companion
When Francis (1181-1226) was a young man, he had an unnamed male companion whom he dearly loved — and who was written out of history after the first biography. Elphick has spent years researching the queer side of Saint Francis, including travel to his hometown of Assisi. There he photographed artwork depicting the man he believes may have been the saint’s beloved soulmate: Brother Elias of Cortona.
Francis of Assisi and the man he loved in “They Shelter in a Cave” by José Benlliure y Gil, 1926 (Wikimedia Commons)
The earliest companion of Francis, a man whom Francis “loved more than any other because he was the same age” and because of “the great familiarity of their mutual affection” remains nameless. Elphick’s research suggests that the unnamed soulmate of Saint Francis was Brother Elias of Cortona.
Francis called Elias “Mother” and gave him a special blessing. Elias expressed much concern about Francis’ body and his health. Francis and Elias each describe the other in affectionate terms. However, very quickly after Francis died, Elias is written out of history and discredited. Elphick presents the scholarly evidence about their relationship in the detailed article at the Jesus in Love Blog: “Brother Elias: Soulmate to Saint Francis of Assisi?”
Early evidence of the various ways that Francis crossed gender boundaries are gathered in the ground-breaking unpublished master’s thesis “Gender Liminality in the Franciscan Sources” by Elphick, who is both a Franciscan scholar and a supervisor on a suicide prevention hotline in New York. He wrote the thesis for a master’s degree in Franciscan studies from St. Bonaventure University in New York.
Francis’ love for another man is described in his earliest biography, The First Life of St Francis of Assisi by Thomas of Celano, a follower of Francis who knew him personally. The biography was completed by 1230, just four years after Francis died. Celano says that when Francis was in his 20s, before embracing a life of poverty, he dearly loved a special male friend:
“Now there was a man in the city of Assisi whom Francis loved more than any other, and since they were of the same age and their constant association and ties of affection emboldened Francis to share his secret with him, he would often take this friend off to secluded spots where they could discuss private matters and tell him that he had chanced upon a great and precious treasure. His friend was delighted and, intrigued by what he had heard, he gladly accompanied Francis wherever he asked. There was a cave near Assisi where the two friends often went to talk about this treasure.”
In his thesis, Elphick points out, “Because homosexuality and ‘gay’ identities are modern constructs, it is impossible and inaccurate to attempt to read these modern categories into the personalities of historical figures.” Instead he uses the word “homoaffectional” to describe the relationship of Francis and his beloved companion.
Brother Elias (center) at the Baptismal font where St. Francis was christened in the Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi, Italy. (Photo by Kevin Elphick)
“The relationship is inescapably homoaffectional, describing a shared intimacy between two Medieval men. That this first companion disappears from the later tradition is cause for suspicion and further inquiry…. The tone in Celano’s earliest account captures the flavor and intimacy of this relationship, perhaps too much so for an increasingly homophobic church and society.”
Francis and his beloved friend are seldom depicted by artists, but they are shown together in a rare and hard-to-find image: “They shelter in a cave” (Se cobijan en una cueva) by Spanish painter José Benlliure y Gil. It is the 8th in his series of 74 images from the life of Saint Francis. The series was published by Franciscans in Valencia, Spain, in 1926 in a book to mark the 700th anniversary of the saint’s death. A commentary in Spanish about the picture is available online.
Elphick finds many more examples of what he calls “gender liminality” in historical documents on Francis. He defines liminality as “crossing the threshold of gender, either symbolically, or by actions within a person’s life that breach the social boundaries of gender.”
Francis and the all-female Trinity: “Three women appeared”
Francis rejoiced when an all-female Trinity greeted him as “Lady Poverty” in a queer experience that has been ignored, sanitized and perhaps suppressed for centuries, even though it is “hiding in plain sight” in the earliest source and in at least one famous altarpiece:.
The 13th-century friar’s little-known encounter disrupts and reverses traditional distinctions of gender and social class. For Francis, such earthly restrictions cannot limit God.
Detail of Saint Francis with female Trinity by Sassetta… better known as “The Marriage of Saint Francis with Lady Poverty” (Wikipedia)
Christian doctrine says that there is one God in three persons: “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Francis saw this Holy Trinity embodied instead as “three poor women.” Does that make them Mother God, Christa and the Holy Spirit? Church authorities sometimes allow the Holy Spirit to be represented as female, but never the entire Trinity — except this time.
Disregarding his biological sex, the women call Francis himself “Lady Poverty” — and he loves it! The genderbending name honors his commitment to upend social hierarchies and embrace poverty as a spiritual path.
Later writers and artists downgraded the identity of the three women. Instead of embodying the Holy Trinity, they were said to represent the virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience. Lady Poverty ceased to be a name for Francis, and was recast as his bride in a mystical marriage.
Take a close look at the 15th-century painting by Italian Renaissance artist Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo, who is known as Sassetta.
Many usually reliable websites display this painting with titles such as “The Marriage of Saint Francis to Lady Poverty” or “The Mystical Marriage of Saint Francis.” Mystical, yes. But what makes them think this is a marriage? And how did the identity of Lady Poverty switch from Francis himself to one of the women? The dominance of heterosexual marriage and gender conformity must have been too powerful to resist. However, the painting matches the original story much better than the marriage model.
The painting is labeled as the mystical marriage of Francis with Lady Poverty, but a close examination shows that it illustrates the story of Francis and the female Trinity. He is not marrying Lady Poverty — he IS Lady Poverty! Later the same female Trinity floats over the ecstatic Francis in the altar’s climactic central image.
A female Trinity appears in “Saint Francis in Ecstasy” by Sassetta. (Wikipedia)
The story of Francis’ encounter with the female Trinity is recorded in chapter LX of “The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul,” one volume in the Francis trilogy. It was written within two years of Francis’ death in 1226 by Thomas of Celano, a contemporary of Francis and his earliest biographer. Here is the text, as translated by Regis Armstrong:
Chapter LX: How three women appeared to him on the road, and how they disappeared after a novel greeting
I will tell in a few words something marvelous, doubtful in interpretation, most certain in truth. When Francis, the poor man of Christ, was traveling from Rieti to Siena for the treatment of his eyes, he passed through the plain near Rocca Campiglia, taking as a companion on the journey a doctor who was very devoted to the Order. Three poor women appeared by the road as Saint Francis was passing. They were so similar in stature, age, and face that you would think they were a three-part piece of matter, modeled by one form. As Saint Francis approached, they reverently bowed their heads, and hailed him with a new greeting, saying: “Welcome, Lady Poverty!” At once the saint was filled with unspeakable joy, for he had in himself nothing that he would so gladly have people hail as what these women had chosen. And since he thought at first that they really were poor women, he turned to the doctor who was accompanying him, and said: “I beg you, for God’s sake, give, something to these poor women.” The doctor immediately took out some coins, and leaping from his horse he gave some to each of them. They then went on for a short way, and suddenly the doctor and the brothers glanced back and saw no women at all on that whole plain. They were utterly amazed and counted the event as a marvel of the Lord, knowing these were not women who had flown away faster than birds.
Who are these three supernatural women? Early Franciscan writer Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274) wrote in his Life of Saint Francis that this triple goddess symbolized the three virtues of charity, obedience and poverty. His interpretation has been widely accepted.
Kevin Elphick, a scholar specializing in queer Franciscan subjects, explains in a recent article how “the language describing the three women is inescapably Trinitarian in formula.” The description of them as “a three-part piece of matter, modeled by one form,” closely resembles Christian creeds that proclaim the Trinity as three distinct persons of one substance.
He points out how the appearance of the three women also echoes the story in Genesis of how Abraham and Sarah welcomed three mysterious visitors. They are interpreted in Christian tradition as the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Elphick presents full evidence for the Trinitarian understanding in his article “Thee Poor Women Appeared” in the winter 2016 issue of “Franciscan Connections: A Spiritual Review.”
Of course, all this mislabeling makes it virtually impossible for researchers to find the beautiful paintings of Francis with the female Trinity… despite the fact that art prints are widely available for both the “marriage” and the ecstasy of Francis.
Francis embraced a Muslim sultan
A famous peace prayer is attributed to St. Francis. It begins, “God, make me an instrument of your peace.” Late in his life Francis embodied this message through man-to-man Christian-Muslim dialogue in the Mideast, a region where people are still at war.
In 1219 Francis went to Damietta, Egypt, with the European armies during the Fifth Crusade. He hoped to discuss religion peacefully with the Muslims. He tried to prevent Crusaders from attacking Muslims at the Battle of Damietta, but he failed. Francis was captured and taken to the sultan Malek al-Kamil. At first they tried to convert each other, but each man soon recognized that the other already knew and loved God. They remained together, discussing spirituality, for about three weeks between Sept. 1 and Sept. 26.
“Francis Meets the Sultan of Egypt” by JR Leveroni
Florida artist JR Leveroni painted Francis meeting the sultan in a colorful modern style that he calls “evolved Impressionism.” The third man in the painting is Francis’ travelling companion, a friar named Illuminatus. They travelled together, just the two of them. Leveroni specializes in painting religious themes, sometimes exploring theme of same-sex love.
“St. Francis and the Sultan” by Robert Lentz. Prints available at Amazon and Trinity Stores.
Their meeting is celebrated as a model of interfaith dialogue in the icon “St. Francis and the Sultan” by Robert Lentz, a Franciscan friar known for his innovative and LGBTQ-positive icons. He is stationed at Holy Name College in Silver Spring, Maryland. Lentz discussed the icon in a video.
Francis received the stigmata
In 1224, when Francis was in his 40s, he received the stigmata — marks like the crucifixion wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side. California artist Kevin Raye Larson emphasizes the sensuality of the ecstatic moment in “St Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata,” pictured here. The painting has appeared on the cover of the spirituality issue of “Frontiers,” the Los Angeles gay lifestyle magazine.
Along with the stigmata came other health problems. When Francis sensed death approaching, he called for Jacoba de Settesoli, a Roman noblewoman devoted to him and his teachings. Francis stayed in her house when in Rome. Celano’s 13th-century account in the “Treatise on the Miracles of Blessed Francis” reports that Francis greeted the news of her arrival at the male-only cloister with a decidedly queer statement that breaks gender rules::
“Blessed be God, who has guided the Lady Jacoba, our brother, to us. Open the door and bring her in, for our Brother Jacoba does not have to observe the decree against women.”
The widow called “Brother Jacoba” by Francis kneels near the dying Francis of Assisi in “48. Jacoba of Settesoli is associated with the mourning” (Jacoba de Settesoli se asocia al duelo) by José Benlliure y Gil, 1926 (Wikimedia Commons)
Francis died a few days later on Oct. 3, 1226. Two years after Francis’ death, Pope Gregory IX declared him a saint and commissioned Celano’s biography, the one that includes the love between Francis and his male companion.
Elphick adds an intriguing footnote about how the queer side of Francis has manifested outside official Christianity. Francis is venerated in the Yoruba religion of Africa as Orunmila, the orisha of wisdom, patron of animals and a transgendered deity who engages in same-sex eroticism.
At the end of his thesis, Elphick concludes that breaking gender rules is an extraordinary God-given power or “charism” that Franciscans offer to the church and the world.
“What are the lives of figures like Mother Francis, Brother Jacoba and Mother Juana de la Cruz revealing to us in our own day? I think that the Franciscan charism of gender liminality has much to teach our Church and fellow community of humans in our day. In a church divided over issues of ordination of women, inclusive language, and sexual orientation, I believe that the Franciscan tradition has important figures to hold up and from whom to learn. For issues which we have not even yet begun to explore theologically in authentic ways, issues such as hermaphroditism, transsexuality, genderedness and sexual orientation, I believe the Franciscan voice can be prophetic.”
“Saint Francis in Ecstasy” by Caravaggio (Wikimedia Commons)
Poet explores love between Francis and Jesus
Poet Jim Wise explores the love between Francis and Jesus with a touch of homoeroticism in his poem “Stigmata.”
He describes himself as “Queer Poet, Hermetic Mendicant, and Pantheist, itinerant theologist and roving Chaote – an Earth-centered, Eros-loving, Logos-chasing, dirt-worshiping revolutionary – living in the American Midwest.” He considers himself “something of a UCC Old Catholic spiritual pilgrim” because he attended seminary under sponsorship of the United Church of Christ and was ordained in an Old Catholic jurisdiction. The following poem comes from his “Queer Psalter” collection, currently a work in progress. Wise’s poetry has appeared in RFD Journal, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, and a host of online literary journals and zines.
Stigmata
By Jim Wise
Pierced by Christ,
the great penetration
only a God can give.
Assisi boy Francis
was the first, you know.
Out of all the pious faithful,
out of all the priests and
monks and friars and
whispering mystics who
cruised Christ down
the centuries, it took a
beggar boy dressed out
in a rough habit, singing
songs to the sun and moon
to catch the Messiah’s eye.
Francesco,
Saint Francis,
the beloved of the Lover
who was Love Itself
in human form.
Christ loves everyone.
So we’re told and
so we believe but
the stigmata is proof
that Christ, like most
of us, has a type.
He may love everyone
but his sacred lust is
reserved for barefoot
hippie boys who live
life wild and free,
who don’t clutter their
brief lives with things
and stuff and junk,
who always keep a
backpack near the
door just in case
the spirit moves.
Christ goes for those
careless guys who rent
apartments instead of
buy big houses with
thirty year loans,
who drive beat-up old
junkers or second-hand
jeeps or who take the
bus when they need
to go downtown, who
let their hair grow out
and give their stubble
permission to go wild,
who never waste a minute
worrying about whether
or not they have enough
in their retirement fund
to get them through life
and safely in the ground.
I’ll bet Christ loved
Berkeley back in the day,
and I have to wonder.
If I drove down to Asheville
on the hottest day of summer,
would I see a group of
barefoot hippie boys with
bleeding hands and feet?
For the feast of Saint Francis: Get a pet portrait
Get a pet portrait of your dog or cat! Artist Trudie Barreras has renewed her pet-portrait offer for the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals.
She will make a pastel drawing of your animal companion for a $25 donation to the Q Spirit / Jesus in Love project on LGBTQ spirituality. Click here for more info.
Pet portraits by Trudie Barreras
Links related to Francis of Assisi
“The Message of St. Francis” by Kevin C. A. Elphick (The Empty Closet)
To read this post in Spanish / en español, go to Santos Queer:
San Francisco de Asís: La evidencia histórica revela su lado gay
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Top image credit:
“St. Francis ‘Neath the Bitter Tree” by William Hart McNichols ©
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in October 2017 and was updated for accuracy and expanded with new material on Oct. 3, 2020.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
FollowKittredge CherryFounder at Q SpiritKittredge Cherry is a lesbian Christian author who writes regularly about LGBTQ spirituality.She holds degrees in religion, journalism and art history.She was ordained by Metropolitan Community Churches and served as its national ecumenical officer, advocating for LGBTQ rights at the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches.(Visited 3,591 times, 56 visits today)