Saint Mychal: A Virtual Saint

Abstract

This article explores the representation of Mychal Judge, New York City Fire Department chaplain who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001, as an example of changing processes of signification that result from the role that online media play in the development of identities and communities. Using Katherine Hales's concept of the “flickering signifier,” the article demonstrates how attempts to canonize Mychal Judge illustrate negotiations over ownership of images and notions of authenticity at the blurring boundary of secular heroism and religious sainthood. The appropriation of Saint Mychal within gay communities demonstrates how contestations over sexual and national identities are negotiated in the ongoing engagement with visual representations that makes possible the phenomenon of a “Saint Mychal.”