Women saints disguised as men are a special case of hagiographic heroines. They do not
achieve a higher social status or have privileges resulting from being a man. Besides the presentation
of saints: Maryna, Eufrozyna, Eugenia and Apollinara, based on Żywoty świętych [Lives
of the Saints] by Piotr Skarga, this article attempts to respond to the questions concerning the sense
of their efforts. Did they struggle to hide their biological sex to free their sexuality, or did they
want to achieve a special sanctity reserved exclusively for men? Yet another reflection is connected
with the manner of presenting these ambiguous heroines as well as the assessment of their behaviour
carried out by the author of Żywoty świętych.
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