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useless-catalanfacts · 11 months

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When Catalonia's National Art Museum (MNAC) acquired this piece, they thought it represented Jesus Christ on the cross. On a closer study, they realised it represents a woman: Saint Wilgefortis (Santa Lliberada in Catalan, which means "Saint Liberated").

This wooden sculpture was made by an artist called Andreu Sala around the year 1689 for the church of El Carme in Barcelona, Catalonia. But why does a female saint have a beard? This is not a shock to anyone familiar with this saint's story.

According to the legends, Wilgerfortis was the daughter of a pagan king of Portugal. She converted to Christianity in secret and made a vow of chastity. Her father gave her hand in marriage to a pagan or Moorish king, but she refused to marry anyone. To avoid marriage, she prayed to God to disfigure her to make men find her ugly. God answered her prayers and blessed her by making her grow a beard. The marriage was broken and that made her father angry. He accused Wilgerfortis of witchcraft and had her crucified, like Christ had been.

There are different hypothesis about the origin of this legend:

Some say it might be related to ancient intersex divinities, such as the Ancient Greek Hermaphroditus.

Others say it might have its origin in a side-effect of malnourishment that many nuns had. In convents, it was very common to fast (=not eat for long periods of time for religious reasons), so many nuns had hormonal imbalances that can result in growing facial hair.

The most widespread hypothesis seems to be that Saint Wilgerfortis and similar legends were created to re-interpret the Christs in Majesty that culturally didn't seem male anymore. Because of Byzantine influence, in the Romanesque period (11th-13th centuries), sometimes Christ on the Cross was represented wearing a long tunic tied at the waist and looking calm. After that period, Christ on the Cross was always represented half naked and suffering. They are so different that they look like different saints and the long dress fitted at the waist was associated with women at the time, so people who saw the old representations of Christ would assume it was a woman with a beard, and came up with legends to explain the beard.

Here you can compare the two ways of representing Christ. On the left, the statue called Majestat Batlló, made in the 1100s in la Garrotxa (Catalonia) in Romanesque style. On the right, the Calvari painting made around 1470 in Granollers (Catalonia). Both of them are kept in MNAC.

There are some other saints with very similar stories to Saint Wilgefortis, like Saint Múnia of Barcelona.

Now you might be wondering, how do we know this statue represents Saint Wilgefortis and not Christ? First of all, this statue is from the Baroque period, where Christ was never represented wearing a long tunic and hadn't been for centuries. Culturally, it would not make any sense for a Catalan artist in the 1600s to represent Christ or any normative man wearing what by then was a woman's dress. Secondly, if you look at the statue from the side, you can see that she has some boobs. And lastly, when the statue was restored, they found a textile fragment at the bottom of the tunic, which was a stitching work made from lace. Traditionally, lace has been a type of decoration used in women’s clothing.

So there is no doubt that this statue, like others that can be found all around Europe, represents Saint Wilgefortis. The woman who was blessed with a beard, and who we call Saint Liberated because her beard liberated her.

Couplets in honour of Saint Wilgefortis for the church Sant Cugat del Rec in Barcelona, Catalonia. 18th century. Source: Mediateques Montpellier. Here, the images represent her without a beard, but the poem explains her story.

Traditionally, Saint Wilgefortis has been patron saint of agriculture, travellers, children who were stunted or had difficulty walking, skin diseases, pets, laundresses, and the agony of the dying. In more recent times, two more were added: Saint Wilgefortis is the patron saint of transgender people and has been claimed as a lesbian martyr.

Source: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

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lonelyspelltoconjureyou · 9 months

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Santa Muerte by Kypris Aquarelas

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k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9 · 1 year

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#Jesús Malverde #Narcosaint #El Chapo Guzman #Jesús Juarez Matzo Campos #folklore #narco-saint #Mexican state of Sinaloa #Sinaloa #Spanish heritage #folk saint #Mexico #Robin Hood

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ocean-not-found · 6 months

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Ave Sancta Mortis

💀🥀🖤

#santa muerte #holy death #our lady holy death #our lady of the most holy death #santa muerte devotee #folk catholicism #folk saint #saint death #latin prayer

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dramoor · 1 year

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Over 60 years ago, a little Cajun Catholic farm girl died in agony of leukemia. A lot of people believe that she is a saint

By Rod Dreher

#Christian #folk saint #Charlene Richard #RodDreher #leukemia #miracles #Cajun

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onyxtides · 2 years

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Newest Rosary in my handmade collection, made with Garnet which is none as the blood of Christ and evil eye glass beads

#santa muerte #santa Muerte necklace #santisimamuerte #folk catholicism #folk Saint #folk witch #hand made #prayer beads #witch crafts #witchblr #witchcraft #hand made jewelry #witchythings #rosary #custom rosary #custom prayer beads

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mamaangiwine · 6 months

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I think one of the most powerful tools a practitioner can use in ritual, though not one I see discussed often, is reenactment.

Reenacting the myths of your gods.

Reenacting the trials of your saints.

Reenacting the movement and rhythm of the natural world around you.

To act as these is to invoke these, body and soul- both from without and within. To feel the exact space that they occupy in the ritual, which is yourself. It is to clothe yourself in their divinity, so that a small part shall remain.

This is the spell, you see. That piece, that part, is the gift imparted to you. To shape you or guide you in the way you ask.

#magic #folk magic #spirituality #magic practitioners #folklore #ritual magic #sorcery #myths #polytheism #gods #saints

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folkfashion · 24 days

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Saint Lucian women, Saint Lucia, by ANSE CHASTANET ST.LUCIA

#saint lucian #saint lucia #america #carribean #folk clothing #traditional clothing #traditional fashion #cultural clothing

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illustratus · 1 month

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A Saint, from the 'Jackdaw of Rheims' by Briton Rivière

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ourstaturestouchtheskies · 2 months

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Joan Hears the Voices – Luc-Olivier Merson // Actress Amanda Linder as Joan of Arc – Christian Wilhelm Allers // Illustration from La Normandie – Alfred Johannot // Illustration from Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc – Frank DuMond // Pray – The Amazing Devil

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babacontainsmultitudes · 5 months

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So it was established in the last episode that Taylor still believes in Santa (tbh I wouldn't be surprised if it's come up prior to this ep too but anyways-) so... Do you think (saint) Nicky been has portalling in every year since the betrayal to sneak in a gift for his son amongst the pile? That Cassandra doesn't even notice because it's just one among the many many presents she herself has bought and wrapped? But every year without fail... Taylor gets one gift that simply says "from: Nick" and well, obviously that has to mean it's from Santa (a conclusion which Nicky expects him to come to, and why he can sign his name at all, though he misses when he could just write "dad"). And one year when he's still quite young, a sleepy little Taylor actually catches Nicky in the act, and Nicky wishes more than anything that he could just *stay*, but instead he only softly tells Taylor to go back to bed, and Taylor thinks that Santa is a lot younger and a bit sadder than he expected, but what's he gonna do- not listen to Santa Claus? So he smiles meekly at the man he does not know to be his father, and hurriedly heads back to his room.

Also yes of course Nicky eats the fucking cookies left out of course he's not gonna pass up on free cookies (which are home-baked to top it off) come on that's a given.

#at my conspiracy board like ''he sees you when you're sleeping... he knows when you're awake- just like Nicky watching Taylor from Hell!''#dndads #dungeons and daddies #nick foster #I'm sure I mustn't be the only person who's proposed a headcanon to this effect but anyways in light of recent events!#and Taylor asks Nicky what kind of cookies he likes and Nicky says ''oatmeal raisin'' and Taylor says ''gross''#but insists on putting those ones out next year and every year after that #nicky freeman #taylor swift dndads #highkey knowing Nicky and the dumbass shenanigans he gets wrapped up in he would do something to accidentally become the real santa claus #like he shows up to the wrong house one year and gets spotted #so then in his mind he has to show up to *both* houses next year #but then the kid from the other house tells all their friends #and what is he gonna do- not get gifts for all of them too? that wouldn't be fair.#you see where I'm going with this?#dndads holiday special starring Nicky in the tale of how he became saint nick #I won't lie to you folks the Closes and Swifts are basically the only reason I care at all about this holiday haha #(though happy holidays to all of you celebrating- whatever you're celebrating!)#''but you're hosting a holiday event!'' YEAH AND LOOK WHO IT'S FOR LOL #(back at my conspiracy board) santa... is just an anagram for satan... it all makes sense!

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ikenoklasm · 5 months

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drawn over prompt by damso_2018 on twt!

#saintspierre #robespierre #saint just #art #my art #thats all for this year folks

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fallbabylon · 7 months

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Medieval wood carving and a modern stone counterpart of St. Procopius who, legend has it, plowed a field with the chained devil- Prague, Czechia

#folklore #gothic #occult #folk horror #devil #demon #imp #plow #saint #st. procpopius #religion #legend #myth #prague #czech republic #czechia #stone carving #wood carving #folk art

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xiaq · 6 months

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My POC is finished. My two big custom demos are finished as of tomorrow. We've closed on the house but aren't moving for another month. We're three days away from the reception.

I'm so close to having a life again. A week from now, I'll have a normal working schedule again and no active outside-work-hours projects. I'll have no personal projects. I can write again. I can go to the gym again. I can finally start working on my massive TBR book pile. I can pick back up my gf pie crust experiments. Free time!! I can't wait.

#While DIYing my own reception top to bottom has saved us a ton of money #it has not saved me much stress #lol #but my mother is a saint and B is doing his best to keep me sane #for folks waiting on new chapters #the wait is almost over #one more week and updates will resume

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timmurleyart · 3 months

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Valentine pig. 🐖💗💌 💕❤️

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seraphimfall · 1 year

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maybe it’s just my ex-catholics vibes, but the way evangelical christian circles treat mother mary and mary magdalene always rubbed me the wrong way.

their roles as disciples of christ are often so shamelessly downplayed that it’s laughable.

mary magdalene is never given any mention outside of “whore who closed her legs and repented” despite being one of jesus’ closest disciples and the first one to be notified that christ had risen. not to mention the belief that she was a prostitute before becoming a disciple is not biblically supported.

mary the mother gets the same treatment— albeit a further fall from grace given how highly regarded she is in catholicism. evangelicals remove every trait from mother mary except for her submission and willingness to get pregnant. they never talk of her anguish at the cross, or her hand in jesus’ ministry. they also shame the concept of veneration towards her. they teach that she was not born without sin, she was not assumed into heaven, and she cannot intercede on behalf of people who pray for her. she is essentially stripped of her title as “queen of heaven”. she’s just some woman who god picked to bear his child. there was nothing special about her and she receives no title or reward for her unimaginable struggle.

these women, and others like them, travelled alongside jesus and his apostles for their ministry journey. yet, you would never know according to evangelical teaching.

at the end of the day, catholicism is sexist as hell— but at least it gives mother mary and mary magdalene the honor and attention they deserve.

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