Saints to Celebrate as Transgender History Month Closes
In an essay for the National Catholic Reporter published during Transgender History Month (August), writer Emma Cieslik highlights how the Catholic Church’s own tradition is rich with historical figures who disrupted rigid gender binaries, offering a vital framework for understanding transgender identity within the faith today.
“This history is intimately tied to the Catholic Church, where a rich history of saints whom medieval historians now identify as transgender inspires a new generation of saints living among us,” Cieslik writes.
St. Joan of Arc
Cieslik points to a wide range of holy figures across church history whose lives challenge traditional gender constructs, from monastics assigned female at birth who lived as men to mystics who experienced divine physical shifts:
“Saints that transgress and explode gender binaries have existed since the beginning of the church itself — from people assigned female at birth who lived as men and entered monasteries (such as St. Babylas of Perge, St. Eugenios, St. Euphorsyne of Alexandria, St. Theodore, St. Marinos, St. Pelagius and St. Hilarion), to saints who stated that God changed their gender (such as St. Onuphrius, St. Wilgefortis, St. Juana de la Cruz and St. Perpetua), and saints who were persecuted for cross-dressing (St. Joan of Arc).”
Drawing on the groundbreaking work of scholars Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt, editors of Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography, Cieslik notes that recognizing these historical figures is not a matter of projecting modern concepts onto the past, but of taking medieval records seriously.
“‘A text will say something like he was transformed. He was born a woman but then he was transformed into a man, and it was a miracle, and people will read the text and they might say that’s clearly a metaphor. That’s not real,” Gutt explained.”I’m just taking these people at their word when they show us how they are living their authentic lives.”
Spencer-Hall also counters the common objection that using a modern lens on premodern texts is historically inaccurate:
“‘My favorite counterpoint to people saying transgender didn’t exist as a term [is] well, neither did heterosexual, but yet you say everyone’s heterosexual in the past.”
For contemporary LGBTQ+ Catholics, discovering this legacy provides essential spiritual grounding and a sense of continuity. Transgender Catholic man Max Kuzma shares how learning these accounts transformed his relationship to the faith. “Learning these stories provides examples of positive role models and creates meaningful solidarity and a sense of community across time with those who came before us,” Kuzma said.
Ultimately, Cieslik argues that the presence of gender-expansive saints dismantles the narrative that transgender identity is incompatible with Catholic life, reframing the persistence of trans believers as a profound act of faith:
“Their existence and commitment to stay in Catholic spaces, to remain within a church that continues to rail against their very personhood despite the rich history of trans saints, is a form of faith that everyone should strive for.”
—Wesley Coccozello, New Ways Ministry, August 31, 2026
This story confirms today’s offering.
“Apollinaria was a daughter of Anthemius, called “emperor” in the Life, but actually only praetorian prefect in the early 5th century. She had a sister who was “possessed” by “an unclean spirit”. Apolinaria refused to accept an arranged marriage. Relenting to her demands, her parents hired nuns “to teach her the Psalms and how to read”. Eventually, they gave her an escort and sent her with much wealth to visit the Holy Places.[4]
“Apollinaria first sailed to Ashkelon, where she visited churches and dispensed alms. She dismissed some of her escort and went on with the rest to the Jordan and Jerusalem, dispensing alms along the way. She dismissed more of her servants and returned to Ashkelon, where she took ship to Alexandria to visit the shrine of Saint Menas. In Alexandria, she secretly purchased a monastic habit and dismissed the rest of her escort, taking as her companions only an old man and a eunuch.[4]
“In Alexandria, she hired a covered litter to take her to pay her respects to the monks of Scetis. When it stopped at a place that later came to be called the Spring of Apolinaria, she pulled aside the curtain and found the men asleep. She changed into her monk’s clothes and went into the marsh, where she lived off dates. The eunuch and litter-bearer awoke to find only her clothes. Her disappearance was relayed to the emperor, whereupon even the Senate wept.[4]
“Apollinaria lived in the marsh for several years “contending with the devil”. Her skin became “like the shell of a tortoise and she became food for the gnats”. In a vision, Christ told her to leave the marsh and take the masculine name Dorotheos. On the road she met Makarios, who took her for a eunuch and gave her a cell in his monastic community, where she practised basket weaving. Although she resisted the devil’s nightly temptations, a demon took possession of her sister as a means of getting to her.[4]
“The emperor sent his possessed daughter to Scetis to be cured. Makarios entrusted her to Dorotheos, who exorcised the demon. Back in Constantinople, the devil causes the sister to appear pregnant and to believe that she was impregnated by the monk who exorcised her demon. The emperor sent men to destroy the monastery, but they merely took Dorotheos back to Constantinople. In a private audience with the emperor and empress, she proved that she was a woman by exposing her breasts and revealed her true identity. She then healed her sister’s false pregnancy.[4]
“Apollinaria remained in Constantinople some days before returning to Scetis. Only a few days after her return, as she lay dying, she asked Makarios not to let the monks prepare her body for burial. Nonetheless, they washed her body anyway and discovered that she was a woman. Her name and her life were subsequently revealed to Makarios in a vision.[4] She was buried in the cave of Makarios.[5]”
How wonderful to read these things!
Many thanks
Just a thought: does a woman have to be transgender just because she wears men’s apparel?
No. It’s more than what is worn. She wants the same acceptance and respect as men. Maybe that’s why so many clergy wear what is considered “dresses”? Just a question.