🌅 Early Christianity Had Transgender Saints

SOURCE

Hotchkiss (1996)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Researchers have discovered at least 34 stories about the lives of transgender saints documented throughout the early centuries of Christianity, including three that gained widespread popularity in medieval Europe: St. Eugenia, St. Euphrosyne, and St. Marinos. The three saints were born female, but chose to live and dress as men and join monasteries.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Throughout the medieval period, stories about a saint’s life were chosen less for the history and more for the morality, teaching audiences how to understand and emulate Christian values, rather than replicate a saint’s life. Transitioning between genders became a metaphor for transitioning from paganism to Christianity, and, since nearly all stories involved saints transitioning from women to men, also reinforced problematic notions of female inferiority by suggesting holiness was earned through the denial of womanhood.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• While there is no uniform way in which societies have regarded sex and gender throughout history, experts say transgender and gender diverse figures have been documented across various societies for millenia. That includes the world’s first civilization, Sumer, which was home to the Gala, a sect of androgynous/cross-dressing priests who worshipped the goddess Inanna.