Saint Wilgefortis
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Wilgefortis is a female fictitious saint of popular religious imagination whose cult arose in the 15th century. Her name derives from the Old German "heilige Vartez" ("holy face"), a translation of the Italian "Volto Santo". The Volto Santo of Lucca (picture:Volto Santo) is an early Byzantine iconic image depicting a bearded — but androgynous — Christ crowned and crucified and dressed in a full-length tunic, instead of the normal loin cloth. This unfamiliar image, paraded in ceremony through the streets of Lucca each year, led westerners to create a narrative to explain the image.
According to legend, a teenaged noblewoman named Wilgefortis had been promised in marriage by her father to a pagan king. To thwart the unwanted wedding, she had taken a vow of virginity, and prayed that she would be made repulsive and in answer to her prayers she sprouted a beard, which ended the engagement. In rage, Wilgefortis's father had her crucified.
Wilgefortis was venerated by people seeking relief from tribulations, in particular by women who wished to be liberated ("disencumbered") from abusive husbands. A folk etymology derives her name from virgo fortis, "strong virgin." In England her name was Saint Uncumber. In German lands she was known as Saint Kümmernis (where her name means "grief" or "anxiety"). She was known as Saint Liberata in France, and Saint Librada in Spain.
The legend of Saint Wilgefortis plays a part in Robertson Davies' Fifth Business. Her feast day was formerly observed on July 20; the Roman Catholic Church removed her commemoration in the liturgical reform of 1969.
[edit] References
- Wilgefortis from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
- Ilse E. Friesen (2001). The Female Crucifix: Images of St. Wilgefortis Since the Middle Ages. ISBN 0-88920-365-2
