Toronto Star
· collected 2026-10-09 · by Aleja Hertzler-mccain The Associated Press
In March 2024, Francis Palmquist bent over his right calf and carefully tattooed the tear rolling down Mary’s cheek as depicted in the famous image.
asserted
Palmquist → bend → image
It was six years after he left Catholic priesthood and the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.
“Happy Mary doesn’t resonate with me, but Mary in front of the cross feeling so much sorrow — a sword going through her heart — that’s where I relate,” Palmquist said.
asserted
Palmquist → leave → heart
“Our Lady of Sorrows” was the first piece he tattooed on himself in the realism style, which has quickly become his signature.
asserted
which → tattoo → style
In some traditionalist circles, Palmquist’s story — from SSPX priest to his two-year stint on YouTube discussing the faith and being gay — is already infamous.
asserted
story → discuss → faith
Unlike in more mainstream branches of Catholicism, there aren’t other former members of the society, which rejects many Second Vatican Council reforms, who are talking on the internet about coming out.
asserted
who → be → internet
But in the last four years, Palmquist’s online presence has reflected his new vocation: a dedication to his clients and tattooing craft through his business, St. Francis Tattoo.
asserted
presence → reflect → business
In March 2024, Francis Palmquist bent over his right calf and carefully tattooed the tear rolling down Mary’s cheek as depicted in the famous image.
asserted
Palmquist → bend → image
It was six years after he left Catholic priesthood and the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.
asserted
he → leave → priesthood
“Happy Mary doesn’t resonate with me, but Mary in front of the cross feeling so much sorrow — a sword going through her heart — that’s where I relate,” Palmquist said.
asserted
Palmquist → resonate → heart
“Our Lady of Sorrows” was the first piece he tattooed on himself in the realism style, which has quickly become his signature.
asserted
which → tattoo → style
_
This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press.
asserted
content → write → Press
In some traditionalist circles, Palmquist’s story — from SSPX priest to his two-year stint on YouTube discussing the faith and being gay — is already infamous.
asserted
story → discuss → faith
Unlike in more mainstream branches of Catholicism, there aren’t other former members of the society, which rejects many Second Vatican Council reforms, who are talking on the internet about coming out.
asserted
who → be → internet
But in the last four years, Palmquist’s online presence has reflected his new vocation: a dedication to his clients and tattooing craft through his business, St. Francis Tattoo.
asserted
presence → reflect → business
“He’s a prophet for authenticity,” said C., a fan who asked to be identified by an initial only to maintain relationships with his family.
asserted
who → ’ → family
A former older Latin Mass attendee, C. said the vulnerability Palmquist shares, still without attacking the church, helped him to be more authentic and less ideologically defensive.
asserted
him → say → church
The journey to this point — where Palmquist, 37, is fully “being myself,” living with his partner and throwing himself into his art — has not been easy, he recalled to RNS during an August interview at the tattoo studio in Exton, Pennsylvania where he works.
asserted
he → live → Exton
Leaving the priesthood in 2017 was so traumatic that his brain “shut off religion,” he said.
asserted
he → leave → religion
He’s not sure he’d remember the steps of the Mass.
asserted
he → ’ → Mass.
But he has also spent his years since then inscribing symbols from his former life all over his body — an owl carrying the Sacred Heart of Jesus on his chest, the Immaculate Heart of Mary just below it and Mary Magdalene above the devil on his right arm.
asserted
he → spend → arm
He has asked himself, “Why the heck am I getting all these religious tattoos?”
asserted
I → ask → tattoos
Growing up in Belmont, North Carolina, a Charlotte suburb, Palmquist doesn’t remember being interested in religion when his family attended the most common Catholic liturgy, known to traditionalists as the Novus Ordo.
asserted
family → grow → Ordo
But after his mother decided the family would attend an SSPX chapel when he was a preteen, he threw himself in head first.
asserted
he → decide → himself
“ There was almost like this silent competition for who could be holier,” said Ryan Arcia, a lifelong friend whose family switched to the same SSPX parish around the same time.
uncertain
family → be → time
The SSPX is known for celebrating the older Latin Mass, a liturgy used before the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
asserted
SSPX → know → Council
The reforms that the SSPX rejects include celebrating Mass in local languages and embracing dialogue with other religions.
asserted
SSPX → reject → religions
After ordaining bishops in July without the pope’s approval, the group and the lay Catholics who formally participate in it were excommunicated.
asserted
who → ordain → it
he SSPX, which says there are approximately 25,000 lay people attending its chapels in the U.S., represents just a fraction of the Catholics in the U.S. who attend the older Latin Mass.
But Palmquist’s priest went beyond typical early 2000s SSPX traditionalism.
asserted
priest → say → traditionalism
He recommended parishioners get rid of their televisions and rock-and-roll albums, Arcia remembers.
asserted
Arcia → recommend → televisions
Palmquist said the priest reinforced a version of masculinity that felt inaccessible.
asserted
that → say → masculinity
Arcia said he never wondered whether Palmquist might be gay — even when he was “sticking up” for his friend when other boys called him feminine.
uncertain
boys → say → him
“That’s the very last thing you think about your best friend” in that world, Arcia said.
asserted
Arcia → ’ → world
But Palmquist said he always felt a “natural attraction” to men.
asserted
he → say → men
Confused, he found “peace” and “order” at Mass and looked for every opportunity to be in the church.
asserted
he → confuse → church
Like many SSPX young men, he began to consider becoming a priest.
asserted
he → begin → priest
Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist at the Center for Studies on New Religions based in Italy, who interviewed SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, said Lefebvre’s goal was to “freeze the priesthood as it was in the 1950s,” placing heightened importance on the role.
asserted
it → base → role
Palmquist referred to his seven years in a Winona, Minnesota, seminary as “militaristic.”
asserted
Palmquist → refer → seminary
He thought he was “getting over” his attraction to men, but he now recognizes that was “a facade.”
asserted
that → think → men
Looking back, he believes his spiritual director, with whom he was “100% open,” should have cautioned him against getting ordained.
asserted
he → look → him
But instead, in June 2016, he laid face down outside the seminary chapel and was ordained.
asserted
he → lay → chapel
…and 58 more, not listed.
The Aporia
