[31], Amico Bignami in a report wrote that the wounds were caused by "neurotic necrosis".

St. Francis' first biographer, Thomas of Celano, reports the event as follows in his 1230 First Life of St. Francis: When the blessed servant of God saw these things he was filled with wonder, but he did not know what the vision meant. Stigmata have ranged from the nail imprints of St Francis’ wounds to cuts of varying length and depth, blisters, and scabs of dried blood. Stigmata (Ancient Greek: στίγματα, plural of στίγμα stigma, 'mark, spot, brand'), in Christianity, are the appearance of bodily wounds, scars and pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, such as the hands, wrists and feet. The wounds typically appear on the stigmatic's hands and feet (as from crucifixion spikes) and also sometimes on the side (as from a spear) and hairline (as from a crown of thorns). He wondered anxiously what this vision could mean, and his soul was uneasy as it searched for understanding. [30], Giorgio Festa noted that "at the edges of the lesions, the skin is perfectly normal and does not show any sign of edema, of penetration, or of redness, even when examined with a good magnifying glass".

Visible stigmata are frequently located in both hands and both feet, and on the right side of the chest, replicating the sites of Christ’s wounds, which he showed to the disciples in his post-resurrection appearances (Luke 24: 36-40 and John 20: 19-29). Some spiritualist mediums have also produced stigmata. Still, Padre Pio garnered a widespread following and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. St Catherine of Sienna received the stigmata of the five wounds in a vision but asked God to make them disappear, after which she experienced only the pain of the wounds. A psychobiocultural perspective on stigmata", 10.1002/1098-108X(199501)17:1<33::AID-EAT2260170104>3.0.CO;2-2, "New insights into the phenomenon of Natuzza Evolo", Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims on the Paranormal, "Rivas, Catalina (Katya or Catia) - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com", Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stigmata&oldid=985080176, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 23 October 2020, at 20:44. He wasnt talking stigmata. Read on to know all about stigmata. Differently from the Five Holy Wounds of Christ, some mystics like Francis of Assisi and father Pio of Petralcina reported a spontaneous regression and closure of their stigmata in the days following their death. Some stigmata include representations of the wounds on Christ’s back caused by the scourging and/or the head wounds caused by the crown of thorns.

Veteran researcher James Randi, in his "Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural," notes that "Since twenty-four-hour-a-day surveillance would be necessary to establish the validity of these phenomena as miracles, no case of stigmata exists that can be said to be free of suspicion," and though the possibility of genuine stigmata can never be ruled out, "It is interesting to note that in all such cases, the wounds in the hands appear at the palms, which agrees with religious paintings but not with the actualities of crucifixion; the wounds should appear at the wrists.". [37][38] Some modern research has indicated stigmata are of hysterical origin or linked to dissociative identity disorder. Appearance of stigmata frequently coincided with times when issues of authority loomed large in the Church. Until a person suffering from stigmata allows himself or herself to be subjected to close medical scientific investigation, the phenomenon will remain a myth. In some instances only the marks appear, but in the vast majority of cases the appearance of stigmata is accompanied with … [6], Harrison also noted the male-to-female ratio of stigmatics, which for many centuries had been of the order of 7 to 1, had changed since the late 1800s to a ratio of 5 to 4. But they aren’t always real wounds, because many of them occur in the form of purplish skin blotches or tattoo-like markings.