Stigmata of Christ - Stigmatist Cases | Wounds, Symptoms
The Passion of Christ
When Jesus Christ was crucified, his hands and feet were pierced with nails. A crown of thorns was then placed on his head, and then he was pierced with a lance. In the centuries that followed, many people claimed to bear wounds similar to those of Christ. They are called the stigmatist.
Stigmata wounds
Stigmata wounds can take many forms. Sometimes these wounds are just bruises or skin discolouration, but these marks can also be extremely painful ...
Indeed, it is often open wounds that occur for some time. In other stigmata cases, these wounds never heal, without ever festering or getting infected. The phenomenon of stigmatization concerns almost exclusively Catholics and, for the most part, women.
Stigmatist
Eighty cases of people affected by stigmata have so far been canonized. However, in the eyes of the Church, the presence of stigma wounds is not alone a criterion of canonization, and other factors are also taken into account.
In many stigmata cases, the authenticity of the wounds is reported by unreliable historical sources. In some cases, the mention of stigmatas probably symbolizes a close relationship between the person concerned and Jesus Christ.
St. Francis of Assisi stigmata case
Thus, apostle Paul is one of the first people to speak of these marks of Christ. He evokes them in particular in his Epistle to the Galatians. But it is unlikely that these are true stigmata wounds. On the other hand, the Church recognizes St. Francis of Assisi stigmata case (v. 1181-1226) ; these indelible marks would have appeared to him as he meditated on the Passion of Christ.
Explanatory attempts
According to one theory, man is able to influence his body through the mind. It is known, for example, that when placed in extreme conditions, some people can perform superhuman feats, such as lifting extremely heavy objects. The stigmata appearing mainly on Catholics, it was thought that these people were so believing that their bodies were producing their wounds themselves. However, it is argued that a small number of non-Christians also bore stigmata wounds.
According to another theory, the people concerned would suffer from hysteria. In other words, these people would have been subjected to a very strong emotion that would have caused the appearance of various stigmata symptoms, such as, for example, bleeding. Some researchers have tried to verify this hypothesis by hypnosis. In fact, tested people developed dark spots exactly where they thought they bore stigmata wounds.
Stigmatization phenomena
Stigmatization has also given rise to many mystifications. Thus, if some stigmatist are content to say that they bear stigmata symptoms, others will voluntarily inflict wounds to present their scars as proof that they have been stigmatized. In extreme cases, these stigmatist keep their wounds alive for a while, which can lead to medical complications.
Although stigmatization is not common, recent examples of stigmatas have been reported and studied. To date, however, there is no satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon.
