We are all generally familiar with the idea of a saint – an exemplary individual who is, after death, venerated and invoked in prayer, a holy person who embodies praiseworthy qualities, less than a goddess but more than human. Although the cult of the saints is most strongly associated with Catholic Christianity, many religions recognize this kind of spirit. As well as the formally recognized and canonized saints there are folk saints, spirits like Santa Muerte or St. Expedite, that are accepted by the people but not institutionally recognized. Many of the saints of hoodoo or vodou and folk magic in general fit into that category.
Pagliarulo’s book is about the process of recognizing and making a folk saint, and specifically, LGBTQ saints, who they might be, what the qualities in life were that made them inspirational and saintly, and how to work with them in magic and in veneration. How intercession and miracles can happen explicitly for LGBTQ people working with these saints.
They are allies, companions, teachers, protectors, and defenders. It is ancestor work, loving relationships with our honoured dead, access to power and to hope. Saints are powerful because they were human – they suffered, loved, struggled, bled like us, and they remain closer to us than our deities. And they are stronger in death than in life, more aware, more connected, and unafraid.
After introducing the idea of queer saints, Pagliarulo briefly profiles several recognized Catholic saints that were gender-nonconforming - Saint Francis of Assisi who liked to be called ‘Mother’, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, St. Sebastian, St. Joan of Arc, and others from Christian tradition like same sex couples Sergius and Bacchus, Perpetua and Felicity, Jonathan and David.
He then has a chapter defining queer sainthood, recognizing that the holy lives in our brokenness and struggles, giving saintliness the criteria of being benevolent and compassionate in life, serving or inspiring communities with courage to stand against injustice, seeking authenticity and integrity, being chosen by people seeking to change both their own lives and the world around them, and making miracles not only in the outer world but inside the hearts, souls, and minds of people. It is passion and purpose that defines the queer saint. He sees the sex worker saint like Mary Magdalene bringing forward the divine feminine, the activists for social justice, and the magicians like Marie Laveau and Saint Cyprian.
He follows up that chapter with a discussion of intercession and supplication, particularly in Catholicism, and then switches into alchemy – rather than making yourself small and working though guilt, approaching the saint with confidence as a partner in spirit and transmutation. A chapter follows detailing setting up an ‘inner altar’ for meditation and prayerful connection. One on saint magic and miracles, prayers and spells, offerings and reciprocity, and some folk magic practices – a written petition, candle magic, and creating a mojo bag. A quick outline of creating a queer saints’ physical altar.
The final chapter is more than a hundred pages of well-written short hagiographies of queer saints – Saint Freddie Mercury, Saint Bayard Ruskin, Saint Keith Haring, Saint Josephine Baker and many others, both LGBTQ and allies like Saint Diana, Princess of Wales. For most of them he gives the Tarot card associated with the saint, their area of power, sacred offerings, and their feast day. Many of these saints were prominent artists, musicians, designers and fashionistas, and other cultural figures but Pagliarulo draws more widely than just pop culture or the Anglosphere for his saints, and has Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist saints as well. A short list of queer saint pilgrimage locations and bibliography round out the book.
Although this book will be especially interesting to recovering Catholics and LGBTQ folk, I will recommend it for ancestor work and understanding folk magic practice as well.
~review by Samuel Wagar
Author: Antonio Pagliarulo
Weiser Books 2026
223 pg. Paperback £15 / $29 Can / $21 US
