Stigmata has been described in the Christian faith as the marks, sores, or wounds related to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. specifically in same locations Christ was nailed to the cross. These wounds have been documented since the 13th century. From men of God, St. Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio, who have encountered the wounds of stigmata, to common day people, stigmata wounds are difficult to prove. Whether the wounds are psychological or truly an infliction from Christ is hard to dispel. While there have been numerous accounts of stigmata documented throughout history, it has neither been proven or disproven that the stigmata wounds are directly related to the wounds of Christ. Stigmata, or the Greek word stigma, simply means “brand …show more content…
Francis Assisi is credited with being one of the first people recorded as a stigmatic in Christian history. In 1224, St. Francis received the wounds when he began a journey to Mount La Verna for a fast. His biography, First Life of St Francis by Thomas of Celano states, “…The marks of nails began to appear in his hands, and feet, just as he had seen them slightly earlier in the crucified man.”(Celano). Stigmata and Physiological and other Phenomena of Mysticism declares that “His stigmata were described as fleshy excrescences resembling the curved-ver point of a nail on the palm and a nail-head on the back of the hand” (5). Considering that there were few, if any stigmatics before 1224, the problem reduces to the origins of the …show more content…
However, is the stigmata a psychological phenomena? According to Irreducible Mind: Toward A Psychology For The 21St Century, “Some writers have attempted to interpret stigmata in psychoanalytic terms, noting not only the hysterical symptoms, but the parallel between stigmata and menstruation.” (Kelly, Crabtree, Kelly, 55). It is said the St. Francis of Assisi received the wounds in his hands and feet after a vision of a seraph received during ecstasy. According to Joe Nickell in Stigmata: In Imitation of Christ, the case of Therese Neumann is discussed. He states, “Therese Neumann experienced alternate bouts of convulsions, blindness, deafness, mutism, paralysis and so on—effects that appear to have been due to hysterical hypochondria”(Nickell, 26). Taking into account that stigmata is referred to as an hysterical illness, Stigmata and Physiological and other Phenomena of Mysticism argues, “Stigmata has no organic cause and is psychological in origin” (9). Considering that the stigmata seems to occur when the person is spiritually, or psychologically connect with Christ. Before the stigmata presents itself, there is an intense emotional experience that comes with the markings. Irreducible Mind: Toward A Psychology For The 21St Century