Masculinity across Sexual Difference in the Bearded Image of St. Wilgefortis

Through an analysis of the image and legend of St. Wilgefortis, the folk princess saint who prayed to be delivered from a forced marriage arranged by her/their father to another pagan king and received a beard as her/their answer, this paper will explore the ways the bearded crucifix of St. Wilgefortis is a dangerous figure that transgressed gender boundaries and social norms with God’s blessing to become a symbol of hope for the oppressed. Analyzing the image and legacy of St. Wilgefortis through Elizabeth Grosz’s work on the pliability and plasticity of bodies, this paper argues that St. Wilgefortis is a model case to demonstrate that masculinity does not belong maleness and that masculinity’s definition and cultural location is malleable and not fixed.