By Megg Rayara Gomes de Oliveira²
Introduction
The narratives observed in sacred art³, especially in painting, contributed to rewrite the life story of some Catholic saints, where it is possible to observe the omission of some details considered inappropriate and the reinterpretation of others in a smoother way. In the case of saints who were adept at homosexual practices, it becomes imperative, from the twelfth century onwards, that they have an established cis 4 heterosexuality in order to justify their sanctity.
John Boswell, researcher at Yale University in the United States of America, who died in 1994 at the age of 47, was the first to state that the Catholic Church did not condemn sexual relations between people of the same sex until the 12th century. (Cynara MENEZES, 2011). On the contrary, the Catholic Church “performed religious marriage rituals throughout the Middle Ages by Catholic and Orthodox priests to consecrate homosexual unions” (BOSWELL apud MENEZES, 2011). These unions would be blessed by Saint Sergius & Saint Bacchus ⁵ .
For Professor Carlos Callón, from the University of Santiago de Compostela, in Spain, the persecution of homosexuals originally came from the State, and became a political weapon. Only later would the Church become the main source of prejudice. (MENEZES, 2011).
The basic traits of prejudice against homosexuality originated in the Late Middle Ages, between the 11th and 14th centuries. It is at this time that homophobic intolerance, unknown in antiquity, emerges. The sin of sodomy, which did not exist in the first thousand years of Christianity, was invented, encompassing all non-reproductive sex, but having relationships between men or women as its main exponent. (CALLÓN apud MENEZES, 2011).
To make such statements, Callón consulted legal codes, historical chronicles, literary prose, religious poetry and, above all, the profane literature of the Medieval Gallego-Portuguese corpus, seeking to dialogue with the work of specialists, such as Boswell, for example. Another argument used by the author is the fact that until the 11th century the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, widely disseminated to condemn homosexual relationships, was not that well known. This situation would only change based on the interpretations of the theologian Pedro Damian {6}.
Carlos Callón also supports his thesis on some contradictions observed both in the church and in society in general, such as, for example, the ideal of friendship in which “men could live together all day, show their disinterest in women, express themselves your love, kissing in public or sharing the bed” (MENEZES, 2011, sp) in the same period in which homosexual relationships are condemned.
These and other behaviors were controlled with the intention of showing a unique story. In the case of the church, its position in relation to sexuality stands out, based on the dissemination of discourses that explain increasingly strict rules of conduct, considering sexual practices that are not aimed at reproduction as a sin, such as anal intercourse and masturbation .
For Michel Foucault (1988), Christian morality, when seeking to prohibit such sexual practices, made them be put into discourse. It was not enough to “confess acts contrary to the law, but try to turn your desire, all your desire, into a speech”. (FOUCAULT, 1988, p.27).
In this context, other discourses circulated non-verbally, such as works of art, whose analysis can provide important clues as to how the body and sex are discussed, including in religious art.
1 – Religious art and control of bodies
Taking the studies of John Boswell and Carlos Callón as a reference, I argue that in the period when the Catholic cults of Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade appeared in the third century, there was no restriction on the part of the church to affective/sexual practices between people of the same sex and/or the same gender.
I also use Renaissance art as a source of questioning, which began in the 15th century, as it established a very close relationship with Christianity, thus being integrated into the exercise of pastoral power. (FOUCAULT, 1984, p. 15). The rules of representation, of the sacred or not, consolidated during the Renaissance were not restricted to that period. Making an analogy with pastoral power, it is possible to assume that “its survival, its history and development do not stop there”. (FOUCAULT, 1984, p. 15).
The Renaissance is “not only a period of technological, economic and social transformation, but also cultural and artistic; and the code of representation that was established in Europe at that time was strongly based on the principle of allegory”. (Nicolau SEVCENKO, 1996, p. 118).
Allegory, in general terms, means saying one thing through another, or simply representing something (SEVCENKO, 1996) allowing the artist to interfere in the way of portraying a person, a historical fact, a mythological or religious scene.
Thus, the allegory constitutes the main characteristic of sacred art and is based on several imperatives, of which I highlight three: 1 - the imperative of immaculate beauty, centered on the plasticity of white skin that cannot have any identified marks, signs or deformities ; 2- the imperative of clothing that determines that the body can be undressed as long as the genitalia are covered; 3 – and finally, the imperative of full visibility that is based on the idea that every face covered is suspect, therefore there can be no element that covers or hides the features. (SEVCENKO, 1996, p. 121-22).
It is fundamental that the imperative of immaculate beauty and the imperative of clothing are complementary and that they contribute to the moral edification of society and provide elements for the artist to produce images where one can “clearly distinguish the sexes and not confuse the man with the woman” . (SEVCENKO, 1996, p. 121). It is also expected that Christian religious art, as advocated by Santo Tomás de Aquino {7}, will function as an information tool to instruct those who cannot read and as a stimulus for devotion (Urbano ZILLES, 1997) and provide efficient visual elements so that recognize, without major difficulties, which bodies are considered sacred and which are not.
2. Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade
Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade lived and died in Cartago in North Africa.
In the 3rd century they were condemned to death due to their Christian faith. They were imprisoned together and remained so until they were beheaded on March 7, 203.
Some details of his arrests are known because Saint Perpétua kept a diary with him.
Thus, explains the art historian Kittredge Cherry, “the first known document that en la historia cristiana was written by a woman”. (2014, np).
The diary of Santa Perpétua entitled The Passion of Santa Perpétua, Santa Felicidade and their Companions became very popular in North Africa precisely because it narrated the story of two women who consoled each other in prison before tragically dying. (CHERRY, 2014).
Perpétua, from a noble family, daughter of a pagan father, had a young son who was still breastfed and Felicidade, a young woman enslaved by Perpétua's family, gave birth two days before her death, when she was already imprisoned.
It was not long before the martyrdom of the two young women became known among Christians. The initial popularity they gained in the northern region of the African continent (CHERRY, 2014), did not accompany the expansion of Christianity around the world.
Although the history and process of canonization of these women are intertwined, the iconography that portrays them does not always respect this fact and the isolated representation of each one is common.
In the Arcivescovile Chapel in Ravenna, Italy, two fifth-century mosaics show Saint Perpetua & Saint Felicity separated in individual portraits.
A painting signed by Antonio Ridolfi in 1857 shows Saint Perpetua without the company of Saint Happiness. Francesco Trevisani, also in the 19th century, portrayed Santa Felicidade alone in a theatrical scene where he protects one of the seven Christians condemned to death along with her.
Other artists have stayed closer to the narratives and writings about them, showing the two together. Hugs, caresses and exchanges of glances are part of the repertoire of these representations that, in a way, reinforce the network of discourses that seek to confirm that the relationship between the two went beyond friendship.
In 1890, the Irishman George Hare (1857 – 1933) proposed a version closer to reality and “painted an erotic, romantic vision of Perpetua y Felicitas”. (CHERRY, 2014, sp). The two naked saints sleep peacefully, with their bodies touching, on the floor of a prison. The genitals of both are covered: Perpétua's by Felicidade's right hand, and Felicidade's is protected by a small bundle of straw that serves as a mattress.
3. Queerizing sacred art
Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade, in religious iconography, with some exceptions, were portrayed in a more restrained way, with a certain modesty, based on the norms of a hegemonic heterosexuality.
The representations of the bodies of these saints, even in works that are not directly linked to the Renaissance, reveal traces of the imperatives of immaculate beauty, clothing and full visibility, which even so proved insufficient to ward off the ghost of lesbianism that surrounds them.
Gradually, the life story of these saints became the theme of the work of artists who developed a language considered queer, as it encompasses “an infinity of disagreements related to the body, sexuality and social behavior that deviates from norms”. (Juan Vicente ALIAGA, 2010, p. 05).
The queer aesthetic, in many situations, seeks to give visibility not only to the sexualities that were undermined by the dogmas of the Catholic Church, but also to recover, in some cases, ethnic-racial characteristics that were purposefully modified.
I understand that sexual orientation, gender identity and racial belonging are important markers that intersect and add up in the interdiction process. “This dynamic of interaction has been called intersectionality” (Tatiana Nascimento dos SANTOS; Denise Maria BOTELHO, 2013), a concept that affirms the coexistence of different vulnerabilities, violence and discrimination that happen simultaneously in people's lives. (Jurema WERNECK, 2013).
The experience of Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade, Africans whitened by European art, can be considered one of the most important examples.
Artists such as Maria Cristina (New Mexico – USA), Jim Ru (Arizona – USA), Eileen McGuckin (New York – USA) and Elisabeth Lamour (France), do not doubt that Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade had black skin and formed a couple , as well as Robert Lentz, from Colorado - USA, a “world renowned iconographer very well known by his progressive icons” (CHERRY, 2011, sp).
In the work of the Franciscan friar Robert Lentz (1946) the ethnic-racial component becomes important as an “object of reflection” (ALIAGA, 2010, p. 05), as it allows questioning the process of European colonization and hegemonic whiteness, drawing attention to to the need to promote the displacement of artistic production to centers other than Europe.
Lentz portrays Santa Perpétua & Santa Felicidade with rigid features, not at all delicate, openly questioning the standardization of female bodies. In addition, the demonstration of affection between them is not at all restrained, as they embrace warmly and have a single heart-shaped halo around their heads, which caused the artist to be accused by the Catholic Church “of glorifying the sin”. (CHERRY, 2011, sp).
Lentz is a white man who broadens the debate regarding a normalizing vision beyond issues of gender and sexualities and draws attention to the fact that the questioning of the church's positions in relation to cis heteronormativity by white artists/gays or lesbians, for the most part, leave ethnic-racial issues aside and do not always problematize the process of whitening.
When discussing the multiple forms of representation of canonized bodies, white and black, both in sacred art and in queer art, it is necessary to pay attention to the multiple discourses that are in operation, precisely because they make it possible to analyze issues that can reinforce or destabilize prejudiced views about gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, among others.
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Megg Rayara Gomes de Oliveira is a black transvestite, PhD in Education from the Federal University of Paraná, professor, researches ethnic-racial relations, African and Afro-Brazilian art, gender and sexual diversity, works in the social movement of black men and women and in the LGBT movement .
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FOOTNOTES
1. This text was extracted from my article “OPENING THE DOORS OF THE CELESTIAL CUPBOARD: the representation of bodies of gay saints and lesbian saints in Christian religious iconography and Queer Art”, presented at the VII International Congress of Studies on Sexual Diversity and Gender of the Brazilian Association of Homoculture Studies (ABEH), in 2014 at the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), in the city of Rio Grande/RS.
2. Black transvestite, PhD in Education from the Federal University of Paraná, professor, researches ethnic-racial relations, African and Afro-Brazilian art, gender and sexual diversity, works in the social movement of black men and women and in the LGBT movement.
3. Sacred art tends “by nature to express in some way, in the works that come from the hands of man, the infinite beauty of God, and will be more oriented towards the praise and glory of God if they have no other purpose than that of devoutly guiding and as effectively as possible, through his works, the spirit of man towards God” (Conciliar Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium On the Sacred Liturgy, 1962/65).
4. Cis is the abbreviation of cisgender/a, that is, the person who identifies with the gender compatible with their biological anatomy.
5. At the beginning of the fourth century, Sergius of Resapha and Bacchus of Barbalissus - considered erastai (couple of lovers) - lived in Coele, Syria and held high positions in the army of Emperor Caesar Maximian. Sergius as primicerius, that is, head and commander of the elite troop and Bacchus as secundarius, his direct assistant. Converted to Christianity, Sergius and Bacchus were denounced for their refusal to participate in rites they considered pagan, being condemned to death.
6. Pedro Damián, San (1007-1072) - Italian monk, doctor of the church and saint, born in Ravenna and died in Faenza. He was named cardinal bishop of Ostia and made diplomatic missions in France and Germany, fighting two antipopes. His importance is due above all to his work as a church reformer, carried out within the movement that would culminate in the pontificate of Gregory VII (Gregorian reform). He insisted on supporting monastic life for the papacy and imposing monastic practices on secular clergy as well. In the field of theology, he belongs to the group of so-called anti-dialectic theologians, because they were opposed to the growing scholastic philosophy and theology: dialectic and its methods are not valid in matters concerning faith
7. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274), Italy, was the greatest exponent of scholastic philosophy. Member of the Order of Dominicans and professor at the University of Paris. Strongly influenced by Aristotle and Averroes, his philosophy is of paramount importance to the Catholic Church to this day. During the Council of Trent, his work was placed on the altar next to the Bible, being considered fundamental for the combat and refutation of Protestantism.
8. Whiteness defines the practices of those white individuals who assume and reaffirm the ideal and unique condition of being human, therefore, the right to maintain socially perpetuated privilege. (Edith Pizza, 2002).
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__________________. The History of Sexuality 2; the use of pleasures. Rio de Janeiro: Grail, 1984.
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ZILLES, Urbano. Iconoclasm. Teocomunicação Magazine, v. 27. Dec., 1997. Available at: <http://www.ecclesia.com.br/biblioteca/iconografia/a_iconoclastia.html>. Accessed on 14 Mar. 2014.
2 comments
Muito interessante o texto e mais interessante é a proposta do blog como ferramenta de descontrução das “verdades” vigentes, dos estudos da historia real, incentivo a leitura séria, com as citações etc….Muito bom trabalho! Obrigada.
Sensacional esse texto. Estou extasiada.
Gostaria de agradecer pelo texto e pergunta onde encontro o artigo “ABRINDO AS PORTAS DO ARMÁRIO CELESTIAL: a representação de corpos de santos gays e santas lésbicas na iconografia religiosa cristã e na Arte Queer” ?
Quero muito ler o artigo.
Sou lgbt e é sempre incrível saber que existe pessoas vasculhando e nos trazendo informações tão importantes.
Esse ano me deu uma vontade enorme de cursar Antropologia com foco na temática lgbtqi+, gêneros e afins para trazer mais e mais importância, visibilidade e representatividade pra nos.
Obrigado mais uma vez.