On Saint Wilgefortis Lore Books

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On Saint Wilgefortis or Starosta.

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About Saint Wilgefortis
or the Starosta

Wilgefortis, or in the Bohemian tongue, Saint Starosta, was a girl and saint who lived in the land of Portugal at the very end of Rome’s greatness and witnessed great movements of the peoples and the great strife and unrest that the entire continent faced from the barbarian pagans, particularly from the Huns, Goths, and Avars. Starosta was a virtuous girl and did live in love of Christ, but her father, a nobleman, wished to married her to the chief of a pagan tribe in order to gain more land and to please the raiders. The wretched girl, wishing to avoid this unwanted union, began to pray and she prayed to God and to all the saints for so long that she grew a thick beard, the type which old men have, which thus prevented the wedding from occurring.

The barbarian chieftan, having seen his would-be bride and her beard, one that not even he would be ashamed of, withdrew from the marriage. But her father was infuriated that the wedding had been called off and he had his daughter crucified, for this all transpired in times when Christians were still persecuted. Starosta, also known as Wilgefortis from a corruption of the Latin “virgo” (that is, virgin) and “fortis” (that is, strong), who became the patron saint and protector of all that have been unjustly condemned, never achieved as much fame as other saints. But nonetheless, several statues and paintings that do portray this bearded virgin on a cross can be found.