The Catholic church named a millennial saint—when is it going to name a queer one?

I was preparing for one of my annual pilgrimages to Manhattan's Church of St. Francis of Assisi when it was announced that Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian web designer, had been canonized as the first millennial saint.

Every summer, I travel there to cross myself and genuflect in front of a piece of twisted steel with an emerging golden rose. I make silent communion with a saint you've likely never heard of because the Catholic Church has not yet taken up his cause—and likely never will be after the Pope's repeated use of a slur to refer to gay men in the priesthood.

Father Mychal Judge, a gay man, Franciscan friar, and chaplain for the New York City Fire Department, is most remembered from images of his lifeless body on September 11, the first recorded casualty of the attacks. The site of my pilgrimage is a piece of the wreckage that’s been transformed into a shrine.

Father Mychal spent his career ministering to the underserved of the parish and beyond. But his greatest attribute was his fearlessness.

He was a recovering alcoholic who faced his own demons while counseling other addicts. At the height of the AIDS crisis, he established a ministry for the afflicted and dying. He marched in the first gay-inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade.

And he rushed to the Twin Towers to support first responders.

I always joke that former Catholic schoolboys like me have old habits that die hard. We cross ourselves when passing a church, try to skip meat on Fridays during Lent, and delight in the saints.

This was especially true for someone who grew up with folk magic practices melded with Catholicism. Each of us had our favorite intercessor. Your saint knew the secrets of your soul, was always by your side, and answered your prayers, bolstering your connection with the divine.

That is why Father Mychal has been added to my list of beloved dead that includes St. Therese of Lisieux and my namesake, St. Anthony of Padua.

We are living in a time when saints are making a comeback. Beyond the Acutis canonization, Hollywood gave us the Padre Pio biopic in 2022. In 2024, Cabrini rendered the life of St. Frances Cabrini, the first canonized American. Tens of thousands across the U.S. viewed the relics of St. Jude in the past few months.

These developments are giving new meaning to an old and universal spiritual practice. Every year, millions of various faiths visit their saints' graves or the sites of great miracles to appeal for healing, protection, prosperity, love, fertility, and more.

It's time we recognize this lasting power and how it's extending beyond mainstream religions to meet the needs of spiritual seekers today—the evidence is compelling.

A group labeled "secular saints" has flooded the commercial marketplace recently. There's the rise of celebrity prayer candles featuring famous individuals, dead or alive, deified and invoked for inspiration. Though sarcastic, the practice reveals a thirst for new spiritual modalities.

That correlates to other trends. A December 2023 Pew poll found that 64 percent of Americans consider themselves "spiritual." Among those, 46 percent "believe it is true that the dead can assist, protect, or give guidance to the living," and 42 percent believe the living can communicate with the dead.

This indicates a large cohort of those who reject the trappings of organized religion but still desire experiences drawing in wisdom from beyond the mortal plane. Among them are members of the queer community.

A 2020 survey by UCLA's William's Institute found that nearly half of LGBTQ+ Americans are religious, and more than a third come from faiths that have saint figures as part of their traditions. The Trevor Project found almost one in four queer youth engage in prayer, meditation, or private reflection on at least a weekly or daily basis. All of this positions us at the forefront of efforts to recast sainthood.

We, too, have our beloved dead. Some choose Saints Francis of Assisi or Joan of Arc, whose deep faith and bending of gender norms made them ideal to venerate. Others call upon the Madonna di Montevergine. Legend has it she came to the aid of a 13th-century same-sex couple, saving their lives after they were severely beaten and left for dead.

Then there is a new pantheon: queer people, or those whose allyship or achievements are embraced by our community, who we can call on for spiritual nourishment and help.

They include social pioneers like Bayard Rustin and Cecilia Gentili; fashion designer Alexander McQueen and painter Simeon Solomon; America's first drag performer, William Dorsey Swan; and trans advocate and spiritual practitioner Rachel Pollack. There's groundbreaking comedienne Moms Mabley and musicians Tina Turner and Freddie Mercury, each renowned for their bold talent and queer community support.

Why would queer people venerate these saints?

First and foremost, they lived earthly lives. They experienced the full spectrum of struggles, joys, and fears that comprise the human condition, including sexual and gender identity. For every existential need, there is a saint with whom to identify.

Second, they died. Saints suffered from and succumbed to all manner of illness and pain, often enduring tremendous trauma and self-doubt. Some met grisly ends if martyred for their beliefs or differences. A saint understands our pain, offering hope in their ultimate end.

Father Mychal was such a person. Several years before his death, he prayed with a couple whose baby was to be born with a devastating disease, but the child was born healthy. This is commonly believed to be the first miracle attributed to his intercession. Others have been reported since his demise.

At a time when old hatreds seem far from fading, it's time to claim our queer saints. Father Mychal should be the first, but with any luck, he will not be the last.

Antonio Pagliarulo is the author of The Evil Eye: The History, Mystery and Magic of the Quiet Curse, and is currently working on a book about queer saints.

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