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, and praying for peace, but few know about his love for
another man and his gender nonconformity. His feast day is today
(Oct. 4). 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. Other
Franciscan friars referred to Francis as “Mother” during his
lifetime. He also liked to be greeted as “Lady Poverty.” He
encouraged his friars to live as mothers with children when in
hermitage together, and used other gender-bending metaphors to
describe the spiritual life. also known as (See full image
below) Early evidence of these and ways that Francis crossed
gender boundaries are gathered in the ground-breaking
unpublished master’s thesis “Gender Liminality in the Franciscan
Sources” by Kevin Elphick, a Franciscan schola