This work depicts the gender-nonconforming Saint Wilgefortis. The saw blades depict tadpoles and toads both sacred to Wilgefortis and symbols of transformation.

According to legend, Wilgefortis was one of 7, septuplet daughters born to an unnamed pagan Portuguese King. When Wilgefortis came of age, the king sought her betrothal to the King of Sicily. Wilgefortis was a Christian convert and sworn virgin. Before her wedding, she prayed to Christ to render her hideous, in hopes of thwarting her marriage. The next morning she awoke with her prayers answered, having sprouted a full beard. The marriage was subsequently called off.

Enraged by this miracle, the Portuguese King retaliated, crucifying his daughter in the same manner as her savior.

She is most often depicted as bearded, femme, wearing a gown and crown, nailed to the cross. There is usually a violinist at the foot of the cross with one of Wilgefortis’ slippers, having fallen off her foot, beside the violinist. Often you will find a cup or chalice beside the slipper. Despite her long gown, some representations show her feet bound.
The worship of St. Wilgefortis was rooted in popular piety and flourished among the peasantry of rural Holland, Belgium, northern France, Germany, and Italy. In England she was known as "Uncumber," which is related to the Dutch and German names "Ontkommer" and "Kumer- nis." All three are derived from the German word "kummer," meaning "grief," "pain." In French she is known as Livrade, and more popularly, Debarras; in Italian she is called Liberata.

Wilgefortis was invoked as protectress of crops, of travelers, and of the marriage bond, so that her image, in addition to being displayed at rural crossroads, was hung over the marriage bed. Above all, however, she was patron saint of the marginalized. She was prayed to by women as a source of fertility, and as a sign of this, votives in the form of a toad were hung under her image.

Art historians and hagiographers alike dismiss the story of Wilgefortis. They say that the legend arises from a misgendering of Eastern depictions of the crucified Christ. They specifically point to the Holy Face of Lucca, a large 11th-century carved wooden figure of Christ on the Cross bearded, but dressed in a full-length tunic that might have appeared to be a woman’s gown instead of the loin cloth familiar in the West by the Late Middle Ages.