Three Historical Cross Dressers: Part 3, Marina the Monk

This final installment will deal with a young woman who was the total opposite of the other female cross dressers that I have written about who were both "Amazons" and in the case of Catalina de Erauso sometimes exhibited unsavory conduct.

Few would believe that there was a Christian saint who was a cross dresser, but Mariam who was later called St. Marina the Monk was such. There is no exact date, but St. Marina was born in either the 5^th or 6^th century in northern Lebanon. St. Marina was the daughter of a wealthy Christian gentleman. Her mother died when she was a little girl leaving her with a father whom she developed a very close and loving bond. Ancient and medieval Christians had a very different out look about the world than most modern, particularly western Christians do. Unlike us, they thought vertically, not horizontally. In other words, their focus was on their religious faith and God, whereas our view is very much tied to the here and now and our existence on this earth. Because of this outlook, Mariam’s father decided that once he had found a suitable husband for his daughter, he would retire to a monastery to become a monk. Mariam was also very pious just like her father and was not interested in marriage, wanting to live the contemplative and ascetic life of prayer and fasting. She cut her hair like a boy. Her father seeing that she was not going to be swayed took her with him to the Monastery of Qannoubine in Lebanon. Other versions of the story of Mariam and her father say that they were admitted to a monastery near Alexandria, Egypt.

Mariam took the name of Marinus and resided with her father in the same cell in the monastery. Father and daughter lived there together in prayer and contemplation for the next ten years or so until her father died at an old age. After his death she continued to live the way she had with none of the other occupants of the monastery suspecting that she was really a female. It was noted by some that her voice was rather high pitched for a man, but it was just thought that was it was because of her fasting and extreme devout living.

One day the monastery’s superior sent Marinus and some other monks to the nearest town on some business where they lodged at an inn. There are about three versions of the story about what happened there. One version goes that the inn keeper had a flirtatious and immoral daughter who had been having a sexual liaison with a soldier. She discovered that she was pregnant and after seeing Marinus and maybe liking “him” better than the soldier, did what some women have always done when they were caught off guard by a pregnancy: create a fiction and claim that a guy they like best is the baby’s father. A second version of the story says that the girl made advances toward Marinus, and “he” rejected her. Later when she discovered that she was pregnant, she falsely accused Marinus of seducing her.

Sometime later, the inn keeper went to the monastery and told the superior what his daughter said that Marinus had done. He raged and accused all the monks of being hypocrites. Of course, the superior and the others were shocked. The superior tried to pacify the angry man and then sent him on his way. Then the superior called for Marinus and demanded to know if the accusations against “him” were true. It is not known why Marinus admitted to having an illicit relationship with the inn keeper’s daughter and did not reveal that she was a woman, but my guess is that she was looking down the road into the future. What was going to happen to the baby born out of wedlock? It was likely that the child would have a very difficult time because in eastern societies then as now and in Christian societies up until the last few generations illegitimacy was frowned upon. The woman who was unmarried and her child were usually treated as outcasts. Perhaps Marinus felt she had a moral and humane responsibility to accept the child. She also may have felt as a highly devout Christian that she should not fight against the will of God and should accept whatever hardship and ridicule that might come her way. Maybe she felt that this experience might be God’s way of teaching her a great lesson that would make her an even better person.

The superior listened to Marinus’ confession and then banished her from the monastery. Marinus was now homeless. One version of her story says that she hung around outside the monastery’s gates begging. Some of the monks would sneak food out to her. A second version goes that she lived near some shepherds who felt sorry for her and would share their food and milk with her.

The baby that the inn keeper’s daughter had given birth to was a little boy. The inn keeper brought him to Marinus one day during her exile, dropped off the infant, and left them without looking back.

Some of the monks at the monastery begged the superior to allow Marinus to come back to live with them. They wanted him to show Marinus some mercy and forgiveness. He finally gave in and permitted Marinus to move back inside and to bring her child too. She had been homeless for four years. The superior did not make it easy for Marinus though. Marinus had to do penance for her sins by working very hard and taking on many tasks around the monastery. Marinus continued to grow in her faith. Being raised in the monastery, her son even grew up to be a monk.

St. Marinus died some time later, by some accounts in 508. When her body was being prepared for burial it was discovered that she was a woman. Shocked and guilty over the way Marinus had been treated, the superior and other monks prayed over her body and asked God’s forgiveness. One legend says that the bells of the monastery rang out on their own when Marinus died.

What happened to the inn keeper and his daughter, you might ask. Did they get what was coming to them? One story says that the superior sent for the inn keeper to tell him that Marinus could not have corrupted his daughter because Marinus was actually a woman. When the inn keeper learned this he came to the monastery and expressed his deep remorse for his accusations and actions. His daughter was said to feel so much guilt that for the rest of her days she would visit Marinus’ tomb where she would weep and pray for forgiveness. Despite their bad behavior, the inn keeper and his daughter was very different from many people now who blame the victims they had a hand in victimizing and who never show any remorse for their wrong deeds. But the characters who had a part in the life of St. Marina lived in an age that is very alien to our own.

There is an interesting story about what happened to the village where the inn was located in which all of St. Marina’s troubles began. Tourza is the name of the village in northern Lebanon where the inn keeper and his daughter lived. Legend has it that Tourza remained impoverished and was destroyed by several earthquakes over the centuries because of the sins of the inn keeper and his daughter.

St. Marina the Monk is venerated as a saint in the Maronite Church of Lebanon, the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Coptic Churches.

Some sources say that the story of St. Marina may only be a legend. After all, cross dressing devout Christians is a little out in left field, but in life the highly unusual sometimes takes place. I would like to think the story is true with its emphasis on the love of a father and his daughter and on the daughter who kept her head up patiently through so much suffering and humiliation.

Links about St. Marina the Monk:

Qannoubin Valley
St. Marina the Monk Gallery

Three Historical Cross Dressers: Part 2, Catalina de Erauso

When I first contemplated doing this series I had planned to write about Amandine Aurora Lucile Dupin better known as George Sand, but I later decided to focus on one of my recent discoveries, a cross dresser who was not particularly savory or admirable, but who led a an intensely picaresque life.

Catalina de Erauso was born in 1592 in the Basque Country of Spain. She was a member of a family of military men, her father and brothers all being soldiers. When she was four she was placed in a convent with the idea that she would take holy vows once she came of age, but at the age of fifteen Catalina escaped from the convert after having a heated confrontation with one of the nuns which resulted in Catalina receiving a severe beating. Though it was common during that period for some families to hand a daughter over as a gift to the church, I have to wonder whether Catalina was so unruly at home that perhaps her parents felt that having nuns raise her might be the wisest route. Was she running all over the place trying to beat up her siblings?

After fleeing the convert, Catalina began to wear male attire. She created her first outfit from her nun’s habit that she herself sewed together. For a short period she worked as a page, but when she became confident enough that her male impersonation was convincing, she decided to hit the road or rather the high seas to the New World.

On arriving in Panama, Catalina became an enlisted soldier under the name of Alonso Diaz Ramirez de Guzman. Now she had begun to seriously take on a male persona and a highly macho one at that. She became a brawler, thief, outlaw, mercenary, and even to a certain degree a womanizer. Gay and lesbian studies pay honor to her as a hero even though it is not fully clear if she was indeed a full blown lesbian. She admitted that her tastes were always for pretty faces. Several times she even ended up in fights with men over women who were attracted to her. Still after all these centuries there is no concrete proof that she was a serious lesbian.

Catalina de Erauso seemed to thrive on danger and conflict. She got into several duels with men and fought bravely in battle even when she was wounded. In one duel in which she was the second to one of the duelists, she got into a fight and killed her own brother who was the second to the other duelist. She had served under him as a soldier during the Indian wars in Chile. She knew from the beginning when she first met him that Captain Miguel de Erauso was her brother, but he never suspected that she was his younger sister. Being a compulsive hothead, Catalina had not intended to kill her own brother, and she felt great remorse and shock at doing so. After this she deserted the army and fled to Peru with two companions. While crossing the Andes into that country, her two friends perished and she almost died as well. However, she was rescued and nursed back to health by the widow of a rancher. The widow took a liking to Catalina and believing that she was a man thought Catalina might be a good match for her unattractive daughter. Catalina had no intention of marrying the girl, but underhandedly agreed to accept a portion of the girl’s dowry. Taking it, she slipped away abandoning the girl.

In another incident which took place in Cuzco, Catalina got into a street brawl, was gravely wounded, but managed to kill her opponent. Believing that she was dying, she received the last rites and prepared to meet her maker. She did not die though, and four months later escaped Cuzco with the law on her trail. She continued to get into all sorts of misadventures and was even sentenced to be hanged. While on the way to the gallows she shouted at the executioner, “You, drunk! Put it on right, or don’t put it on at all. I’ve got my hands full with these priests!” A last minute pardon saved her.

Catalina continued her exploits until the law finally caught up with her. She escaped once again and told a bishop her true identity. An examination by midwives proved that she was still a virgin, so she was admitted into a convent under the patronage of the bishop. She remained there for two and a half years.

Restless, she struck out for Europe where she was received with acclaim, her reputation having preceded her. She met the king of Spain who gave her a pension. Then she went on to Italy to have an audience with the Pope who gave her a dispensation or exemption from the law against allowing women to wear men’s clothing. An Italian writer who met her wrote this,

"On the fifth of June the Basque lieutenant Catalina de Erauso came to my house for the first time, having come from Spain and just arrived in Rome. Her compatriot Father Rodrigo de San Miguel was my friend and introduced me to her. Tall and sturdy of stature, masculine in appearance, she has no more bosom than a little girl. She told me she had applied I don't know what method to make it disappear. I believe it was a plaster administered by an Italian; the effect was painful but much to her liking. She is not bad looking, but well worn by the years. She has the look of a Spanish gentleman and wears her sword as big as life, tightly belted. Only by her hands can one tell that she is a woman as they are full and fleshy, although large and strong, and occasionally gesture effeminately."

The Lieutnant Nun as she was now called returned to the New World once again. She settled in Mexico where she took to transporting clothes from place to place using mules and the help of some black people.

Catalina de Erauso died in 1650. An autobiography supposedly written by her appeared in 1626, but the oldest manuscript of it only dates back as far the late 1700s. The autobiography can be purchased at Amazon.com here.