{"id":5236,"date":"2025-07-21T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?p=5236"},"modified":"2025-07-21T21:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:27:09","slug":"st-uncumbers-day-july-20th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/st-uncumbers-day-july-20th\/","title":{"rendered":"St Uncumber’s Day July 20th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
St Uncumber or St Wilgerfortis Chapel of Henry VII Westminster Abbey, London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My jaw literally dropped when I first came across a reference to St Wilgerfortis.\u00a0 She is also known as St Uncumber. The stories of early Catholic martyrs, particularly female ones, are often so bizarre that I’m surprised I can be surprised.\u00a0 But let’s uncumber the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Portuguese father promised her in marriage to a Moorish King or in other versions, a Sicilian King.\u00a0 She had made a vow of virginity.\u00a0 She prayed to God to make her repulsive so that the marriage would not go ahead.\u00a0 God heard her prayers and she grew a beard.\u00a0 The marriage was cancelled.\u00a0 But her angry dad had her crucified.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is normally shown on a cross in female attire with a prominent beard. She is the patron saint of people who are trapped in unwanted or abusive relationships. So those who need to uncumber themselves from an unsuitable partner.\u00a0 Wilgerfortis’s name is thought to derive from Latin “virgo fortis” meaning “courageous virgin”.\u00a0 She goes under different names in different parts of Europe.\u00a0 For instance, in France she is known as D\u00e9barras<\/strong>\u00a0meaning “riddance”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cult was suppressed in the 16th Century but continued in some areas into the 19th Century.\u00a0 The location of a statue to her in Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey suggests she had some influence in England late into the medieval period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious trans aspects of her story gives her contemporary resonance.  Her status as protector of those wanting to uncumber themselves from unsuitable relationships has interesting discontinuities with traditional catholic theology.  I would love to hear a medieval Catholic discussion about her role.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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St Wilgerfortis St Etienne Beauvais c 1500 AD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

She is both woman and man, and by being crucified both human and divine.\u00a0 She is often shown with only one shoe on.\u00a0 One explanation of this is that a fiddler played at her feet to comfort her during he death agonies.\u00a0 So she dropped a silver shoe to reward the fiddler.\u00a0 Others propose that the shoe is a symbol of female genitalia. One shoe on, one off can, therefore, be a symbol of shared male and female genitalia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a modern discussion on her role read this article; https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2077-1444\/13\/7\/616<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the cult developed is not known but a suggestion is made that early medieval icons of the crucifixion were dressed in gowns that were confused with female attire.\u00a0 And it caught on providing comfort for people the image talked to.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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St Wilgerfortis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Perhaps, she shows the power of Art to break down traditional values.\u00a0 There above you on the Church wall, the image evokes Christ, But both female and yet male. Human and Divine. And graphical condemning male violence against women. So a Saint who is non-binary, existing in the gaps between the normative?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to see my post on St Agatha<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published July 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My jaw literally dropped when I first came across a reference to St Wilgerfortis.\u00a0 She is also known as St Uncumber. The stories of early Catholic martyrs, particularly female ones, are often so bizarre that I’m surprised I can be surprised.\u00a0 But let’s uncumber the story. Her Portuguese father promised her in marriage to a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “St Uncumber’s Day July 20th”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-almanac-of-the-past"],"yoast_head":"\nSt Uncumber's Day July 20th - And Did Those Feet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"St Uncumber or Wilgerfortis, a virgin dedicated to God, crucified by her father, and depicted crucifed and with a beard.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/st-uncumbers-day-july-20th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St Uncumber's Day July 20th - 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