Stigmata are marks or wounds that appear on the body without an apparent physical cause. They are often associated with religion and spirituality, and are considered divine signs or mystical manifestations.
The history of the stigmata goes back to antiquity, with the accounts of saints and mystics who claimed to have received wounds similar to those of Jesus on the cross. Over the centuries, many other cases of stigmata have been reported in different religions, especially among Christians, Muslims and Hindus.
Stigmata are often seen as signs of piety and devotion to God. In some religious traditions they are associated with the holy passion of Jesus and are seen as marks of God's love for humanity. People who claim to have received stigmata are often considered saints or mystics by their religious community.
The stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi.
One of the best-known cases is that of Saint Francis of Assisi . Born in 1181, Saint Francis was an Italian mystic who founded the Order of Friars Minor. He is best known for his stigmata, which appeared to him while he was praying on Mount La Verna in 1224. Saint Francis began to suffer intense pain in his hands, feet and side, similar to wounds suffered by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. Saint Francis also developed wound marks on his body which were considered stigmata by people of his day.
Father Pio
Another famous case of stigmata is that of Padre Pio, an Italian Catholic priest born in 1887. Padre Pio began showing signs of stigmata in 1918, and he quickly came to the attention of many worshipers who saw in him a man endowed with divine powers. Padre Pio's stigmata were visible on his hands, feet and side, and he also suffered severe pain. He has been examined by many doctors over the years, but no explanation has ever been found for his stigmata.
Therese Neumann
There is also the case of Therese Neumann, a German mystic born in 1898. She began to show stigmata in 1923, and she quickly became famous for her abilities to cure disease and predict the future. Therese's stigmata were visible on her body every Friday, the day of the week Jesus Christ was crucified, and she also suffered severe pain.
Maria Gemma Umberta Pia Galgani
Maria Gemma Umberta Pia Galgani was an Italian Roman Catholic mystic born in Camigliano, Italy. She received the first wounds of Christ at the age of 21. On June 8, 1899, the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Galgani swore to suffer in atonement. She then experienced a rapture and saw her guardian angel alongside the Virgin Mary. Painful wounds opened on her hands, feet, and chest, and she had whip marks on her back and a crown of thorns on her head. For the rest of his life, blood would regularly flow from the stigmata of Galgani from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon. At the same time, she would experience visions of Jesus Christ, saints and angels. Eventually, a spiritual director helped her record her autobiography, though Galgani was never able to fulfill her dream of becoming a nun. Tuberculosis took her life in 1903 and she was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1940. Saint Gemma Galgani is the patron saint of students and is to this day particularly popular in Italy and Latin America.
Catherine of Siena
Catherine of Siena hid her stigmata. The wounds could still be seen when her body was scattered throughout Europe to serve as a relic... The wounds of Marie Francis, who died in 1791, completely perforated her hands. Her confessor, more than once, plunged the tip of his finger through them. Those of Elisabeth de Herkenrode, a Belgian Cistercian nun from the 13th century, still bleed today, while in the 1880s another Belgian stigmatized, Louise Lateau, lost blood every Friday from small red marks and ovals on the palms of his hands, which however showed no tearing. Claire de Brigny, an Italian nun of the 15th century, presented a pectoral wound which was bleeding alarmingly, before being completely stigmatized. Like many of the stigmatized, Madeleine de la Croix, who received the marks 39 years before her death in 1560, had been surprised in full levitation.
Alexandrina Maria da Costa
Alexandrina Maria da Costa was a mystical soul and "victim" born in 1904 in the rural parish of Balasar, Portugal. She was paralyzed at 14 when she jumped from her bedroom window to escape a sexual assault. At the age of 19, she was completely paralyzed and unable to leave her bed. In 1938 da Costa began receiving visitations from Christ on Fridays of each week. During these times she often experienced hidden stigmata and suffered from the crucifixion of Christ. Yet da Costa also had unique beliefs about his experiences of the stigmata. In particular, she believed that Christ gave her a regular blood transfusion through a love tube and that the devil tormented her with sexual visions. After her death in 1955, the cleric investigating her canonization admitted that she had suffered psychological problems. Yet his faith led to his beatification in 2004, and his written works gave birth to the Alexandrina Society, which is committed to spreading his teachings.
Marie-Rose Ferron
Marie Rose Ferron was the tenth child of a devoutly Catholic family from Saint-Germain-de-Grantham, Quebec. Three years after she was born, they moved to Fall River, Massachusetts in 1906, where "Little Rose" experienced the first visions of Christ on the cross when she was 6 years old. At thirteen, Ferron had suffered mysterious muscle contractions that required the regular use of crutches. After a few years, his twisted feet would not allow him to leave his bed. In 1925 the Ferron family moved to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. There, Marie Rose experienced the stigmata in 1926. By Lent the following year, her wounds appeared regularly on Fridays of each week. These included whip marks on his arms and the standard "five holy wounds" on his hands, feet, sides, chest and head. Ferron also experienced ecstatic seizures, a spontaneous arm dislocation, and bleeding from the eyes and mouth. From age 22 until her death in 1936, she followed a diet of liquids and the Holy Eucharist. Seven years before his death, 'Little Rose' predicted his own death at the age of 33 - the same age at which Jesus died on the cross. Ferron was one of 30 people who suffered all of Christ's wounds at the same time, and as such more than 15,000 people attended his funeral.
Cora Evans
From the age of three, California housewife Cora Evans regularly entered a trance-like state and experienced divine visions. To begin with, however, Evans was a member of the latter-day Church of Jesus Christ. After becoming disillusioned with the Mormon Church, she was baptized a Roman Catholic in 1935. At the same time, her visions became clearer about the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, whom she dubbed The Master. As part of what she called "The Mystical Humanity of Christ", Evans believed that Jesus spoke to her regularly during her trances. During one such episode in 1947, he gave her the option of coming to his eternal home or accepting the sufferings of the world. When she chose the latter, she felt God's infinite devotion and saw Christ's wounds with her own hands. She manifested the stigmata in both palms and a crown of thrones on her head, all of which exuded odor or roses. Since her death in 1957, the Vatican has declared Evans a "Servant of God" and set her on the path to sainthood.
Zlatko Sudac
Zlatko Sudac was born in 1971 in the town of Vrbnik on the island of Krk. He completed the required service in the Yugoslav army and began studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1993. Five years later he was ordained a diocesan priest and began serving the community in Krk, Croatia. There he gave religious seminars and held retreats as Father Sudac – before manifesting the stigmata at a community meeting in 1999. The wounds started as a 1-inch imprint on his forehead that looked like a cross . Over time, more marks appeared on her wrists, feet, and sides. With each apparition, Sudac felt intense awe and awe of the Lord and His power. Yet he felt no pain except when he prayed, when the wounds pulsated. Father Sudac also discovered that he now possessed divine gifts of levitation, prophecy, and bilocation. Even when he painted, which he did as an amateur, the stigmata appeared on the tops of his fingers. Although his experiences are still under investigation, the Vatican said Sudac's injuries were "not man-made".
However, the stigmata are often viewed with skepticism by the scientific and medical community. The causes are often thought to be psychosomatic, resulting from mental disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. Other theories suggest that stigmata may be caused by vascular or neurological disorders.
Despite these scientific explanations, many people continue to believe in the veracity of the stigmata and to regard them as divine manifestations. The stigmata are also a subject of fascination for many people, who regard them as an unexplained mystery.
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