St. Euphrosyne-Smaragdus: A Saint Beyond the Binary

Each week during June, the month in which much of the world celebrates Pride, Bondings 2.0 will be share at least one story of Catholics who are “Pilgrims of Pride.” We begin this series today with a story from our collective Catholic past.

The story of Saint Euphrosyne-Smaragdus is preserved in an ancient fresco in the Catacomb of Saint Senator in Albano Laziale, near Rome, Italy. Euphrosyne was a woman who became a monk under the name Smaragdus in order to follow Christ without betraying herself. 

Her story resonates deeply with the experiences of many LGBTQ+ Catholics today. It reflects the tension between imposed identities and inner truth, and the search for a space where one can be both authentic and faithful to the Gospel. 

Saint Euphrosyne was born around 413 AD in Alexandria, Egypt, into a wealthy and noble family. Her mother – whose name is lost to history – died when Euphrosyne was around 12-years old. She was then educated by her father, Paphnutius, astonishing those around her with her intelligence and spiritual wisdom from a very young age. Paphnutius was a very devout Catholic and frequently visited a local monastery. When Euphrosyne was 18, her father decided it was time for her to get married to a wealthy man, chosen for reasons of social status and convenience. He brought her to the monastery to receive the abbot’s blessing for the future wedding, but the visit instead inspired Euphrosyne to pursue monastic life herself.

Although Euphrosyne understood celibacy as a vocation traditionally reserved for men, she reportedly refused to let her gender prevent her from embracing that path herself. She questioned the monks extensively about monastic life and eventually confessed her desire to enter the monastery. She wasn’t afraid of disobeying her father to follow God’s calling.

St. Euphrosyne-Smaragdus

Eventually, she disguised herself and entered the monastery as a monk. She lived there for 38 years, taking the name of Smaragdus, until her death around 470 AD. When she entered the monastery, she presented herself as a eunuch from the emperor’s household who wished to embrace eremitical life. Medievalist Andrew Scheil describes the figure of the eunuch as a liminal and ambiguous presence, someone who unsettles rigid social and bodily categories. In his interpretation, the monks’ discomfort toward Smaragdus is linked not only to Euphrosyne’s physical appearance, but also to the way her body challenged established ideas of masculinity and gender within the monastic community.

Her beauty was considered a distraction by the monks. Some even believed that she was a demonic presence sent to disturb their prayers, so the abbot ordered her to remain isolated in her cell, praying alone instead of joining the other monks in church.

According to some sources, she didn’t tell her family about her vocation. Her father Paphnutius searched for his daughter with deep sorrow, visiting convents and other places where he thought she might be hidden. Eventually, he sought comfort from a monk named Smaragdus, who reassured him that God was taking care of Euphrosyne in a safe place. This “emerald of God” became the spiritual father of her biological father. Over the following years, Paphnutius continued to visit Smaragdus, receiving spiritual advice and consolation, never realizing that the monk was actually his daughter living in disguise. Only when Euphrosyne was close to death did she reveal her identity to him, asking him to keep her secret even after her passing. 

Saint Euphrosyne’s feast day is celebrated on September 25 in the Greek Orthodox tradition and on January 16 in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2022, Euphrosyne was officially added to the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church, which commemorates her on September 27.

Some scholars interpret Euphrosyne-Smaragdus as a figure who destabilizes rigid understandings of gender. Although later versions of the story often attempt to restore a clear distinction between male and female identities at the end of the narrative, the saint’s life continuously complicates those boundaries. The figure of Smaragdus moves between categories, inhabiting a male religious identity while remaining associated, in different ways, with femininity and womanhood. For this reason, Euphrosyne-Smaragdus has become an important figure in contemporary discussions about gender variance in Catholic history and about the possibility of recognizing complex experiences of identity and holiness within religious tradition.

The icon of Chris in the Catacomb of Saint Senator, with Mary on his right and St. Smaragdus on his left.

In the Catacomb of Saint Senator, located along the ancient Appian Way beneath the Church of Saint Mary of the Star in Albano Laziale, a Byzantine-style fresco depicts a traditional iconographic representation of Christ enthroned, flanked by two saints. In this one we can see Christ at the center, the Virgin Mary on one side, and on the other a male figure identified by the inscription “Smaragdus.” Many scholars believe this figure represents Euphrosyne of Alexandria. .

The catacomb, carved into volcanic stone and used between the third and twelfth centuries as a place of burial, prayer, and remembrance, preserves an image of sanctity that seems to transcend both gender and time. For some contemporary readers, Smaragdus becomes a reminder that Catholic tradition has, at times, preserved and venerated figures whose lives challenged the social categories of their era.

For many LGBTQ+ Catholics today, Saint Euphrosyne-Smaragdus speaks to the dignity of living one’s own path against social expectations without abandoning Christ. Her story resonates with those who experience gender as something complex or difficult to contain within fixed categories, and with those who understand holiness not as perfection or conformity, but as something that can also emerge through disguise, transformation, and perseverance.

A Greek Orthodox prayer dedicated to Saint Euphrosyne says: 

“The image of God was faithfully preserved in you, O Mother […] By Your actions you taught us to look beyond the flesh.”

These words sound like an invitation to recognize that human dignity and the image of God cannot be reduced to external appearances or rigid expectations about gender and identity.

—Elisa Belotti, New Ways Ministry, June 3, 2026