Tuesday, September 29, 2015

St. Michael: Archangel, Spiritual Warrior, Icon of Homoerotic Love

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Notes Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit:

Saint Michael the Archangel, usually depicted with a sword and/or standing over a dragon he has conquered, is one of the archangels of Christianity. Michael is often thought of as a spiritual warrior who leads the hosts of heaven and protects the soul at the hour of death. Saint Michael the Archangel is fêted on September 29.

In the work of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, Michael becomes an icon of homoerotic love. In "San Miguel (Granada)," Lorca depicts the archangel as a beautiful young man "fragrante de agua colonia" ("fragrant with cologne"). In the Yoruba-diasporic religion of Candomblé, Michael is associated with Logunedé [left], an androgynous deity.


For more of St. Michael the Archangel at The Wild Reed, see:
The Archangel Michael as Gay Icon
St. Michael the Archangel: Perspectives and Portraits
Michaelmas (2008)
The Inherent Sensuality of Roman Catholicism

Images: Artists unknown.


1 comment:

Michael Dodson said...

Deo gracias.