Queer Saints

Saints are the powerful, benevolent dead. They remain connected to the living to provide assistance, especially in times of need. Everyone has patron saints, even the marginalized who may feel abandoned and removed from these spiritual traditions. Antonio Pagliarulo, author of The Evil Eye, grew up among Italian immigrants, practitioners of folk magic and saint veneration, in New York City. Pagliarulo, a lifelong lover of saints, seeks to bring their blessings to those who have long felt cut off from these traditions.

Queer Saints: A Radical Guide to Magic, Miracles, and Modern Intercession is a contemporary reimagining of an ancient spiritual practice—the intercessory power of saints. “Intercession” is typically defined as the action of intervening for another. Saints intervene with the highest powers on behalf of their devotees to provide them with protection, safety, prosperity, healing, and fulfillment of needs and desires.

Saints derive from many spiritual and religious traditions, not just Roman Catholicism. No canonization process is required for folk saints, also known as unofficial saints. Pagliarulo offers readers a wide range of saints that includes the traditional, such as Mary Magdalene, Francis of Assisi, and Hildegard of Bingen, as well as re-envisioned saints specifically for a queer constituency. These include Saint David Bowie, Saint Freddie Mercury, Saint Alexander McQueen, Saint Moms Mabley, and Saint André Leon Talley.

Pagliarulo explains why these are queer saints and offers practical information on how to venerate them—from building altars to making offerings. Both a primer on magical practice and a guide to radical transcendence and transformation, Queer Saints is a book with widespread appeal. Queer Saints makes change and self-empowerment accessible to readers of all faiths and belief systems by spotlighting the transformative impact queer saints have had on our world and their burgeoning influence on our spiritual future. Whether queer themselves, or people whose allyship or achievements are embraced by the queer community, queer saints are a new and needed paradigm for those seeking new paths to meaning.