{"id":74223,"date":"2014-07-21T17:30:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T21:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=74223"},"modified":"2014-07-21T17:52:03","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T21:52:03","slug":"beards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/21\/beards\/","title":{"rendered":"Beards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"5458566862_398eff4fc4_o\"<\/a>

An early illustration of Saint Wilgefortis.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you had asked me two days ago if there existed any Catholic-themed YouTube video stranger than the one<\/a> where G.\u2009K. Chesterton battles a cartoonishly evil Nietzsche, I would have said, \u201cOf course not.\u201d But that was before I saw this group of French feminists in beards<\/a> paying tribute to Saint Wilgefortis.<\/p>\n

Wilgefortis is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as \u201ca fabulous female saint known also as UNCUMBER, KUMMERNIS, KOMINA, COMERA, CUMERANA, HULFE, ONTCOMMENE, ONTCOMMER, DIGNEFORTIS, EUTROPIA, REGINFLEDIS, LIVRADE, LIBERATA,<\/small> etc.\u201d; her attributes are listed as \u201cbearded woman; depicted crucified, often shown with a small fiddler at her feet, and with one shoe off.\u201d Considered a \u201cpious fiction\u201d\u2014that is, a sort of unofficial folktale\u2014she enjoyed popularity throughout Europe. Before the Church removed her commemoration in \u201969, July 20 was her feast day.<\/p>\n

Though her cult is thought to date to the fourteenth century, concrete details are sparse: generally, Wilgefortis is described as a young, Christian, sometimes Portuguese, occasionally septuplet princess who, rather than marry a pagan against her will, prayed for disfigurement. Her prayers were answered in the form of a beard. Her father, furious with this development, had her crucified.\u00a0Nowadays, it\u2019s thought that the Wilgefortis story\u2014as well as the related fiddler\/shoe legend\u2014evolved from a misinterpretation of the famous Volto Santo crucifixion sculpture in Lucca, Italy. The art historian Charles Cahier wrote, <\/p>\n

\n

For my part, I am inclined to think that the crown, beard, gown, and cross which are regarded as the attributes of this marvelous maiden (in pictorial representations), are only a pious devotion to the famous crucifix of Lucca, somewhat gone astray. This famous crucifix was completely dressed and crowned, as were many others of the same period. In course of time, the long gown caused it to be thought that the figure was that of a woman, who on account of the beard was called Vierge-forte.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although the cult was vigorously debunked in the Gothic period, several famous representations still exist\u2014and she is, after all, a distinctive figure. Wikipedia describes \u201can especially attractive carving in the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey of a beautiful standing Wilgefortis holding a cross, with a very long beard\u201d; another \u201cvery lightly bearded, on the outside of a triptych door by Hans Memling\u201d; and, at the church of Saint-\u00c9tienne in Beauvais, a sculpture in which she is \u201cdepicted in a full blue tunic and sports a substantial beard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whither the French feminists, you ask? Wilgefortis is the patron of tribulations, with a special focus on those women who wish to be disencumbered from abusive spouses. If you wish to commemorate Encumber (that\u2019s her English name) without any social overtones, and you happen to be in London, you\u2019re in luck, or you would\u2019ve been yesterday. According to the page of a beard-enthusiast group called the Capital Beards,<\/p>\n

\n

The Capital Beards will next meet along with the rest of The British Beard Club on July 20th for St. Wilgefortis\u2019s feast day. St. Wilgefortis is a notably bearded saint, and so we try to meet up on her feast day every year.<\/p>\n

Our venue will be the Buckingham Arms on Petty France. A pub notable for being one of only two in London to have been in every edition of CAMRA\u2019s Good Beer Guide.<\/p>\n

As normal we should be there from about Midday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you had asked me two days ago if there existed any Catholic-themed YouTube video stranger than the one where G.\u2009K. Chesterton battles a cartoonishly evil Nietzsche, I would have said, \u201cOf course not.\u201d But that was before I saw this group of French feminists in beards paying tribute to Saint Wilgefortis. Wilgefortis is described […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[9378,6215,9375,14678,1102,14680,14677,14679],"class_list":["post-74223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-beards","tag-catholicism","tag-facial-hair","tag-feast-days","tag-feminism","tag-misinterpretations","tag-saint-wilgefortis","tag-traditions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPaying Tribute to Saint Wilgefortis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on the cult surrounding the bearded saint, who, rather than marry a pagan against her will, prayed for disfigurement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/21\/beards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beards by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 21, 2014 \u2013 If you had asked me two days ago if there existed any Catholic-themed YouTube video stranger than the one where G.\u2009K. 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