• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Stigmata / Stigmatics

A

Anonymous

Guest
I'm quite ashamed that I got interested in this after watching the film of the same name. but does anyone know anything more about it??
 
Padre Pio suffered from it (aparently he cold bilocate and he cures the sick too dispite being dead, now there is a saint to be if ever I saw one:D ) also saint francis of ascici suffered from it.
It appears to be like speaking in tounges in american churches, where a person starts saying the first nonsence words they think of to try to appear as if they are reviveing the holy spirit (toungs must be in a language never spoken before by the speaker that actuly exists and is spoken by another person present, the speaker must know what they are saying in the language even if they haven't spoken it before. that is how it is portrayed in acts anyway. back to the subject of stigmata; some preachers have been known to cut themselves with concealed razors in order to fake it :( this just makes anyone belive tales of any genuine stigmata less.
There are no cases known to me where the person reciveing stigmata was not christian so that sugests it is a very spesific phenominnom.
Aparently as well it is posible to sweat blood when under imence stress and capileries adjacent to sweat glands burst, maybe this has something to do with one or two cases.

For more about Padre Pio see:
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/padre-pio.12055/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What puzzles me is, the Romans used to nail through the wrists, as nailing through the hands wouldn't support the weight of the body on the cross. All the pictures of stignatics I've seen have the marks on the wrists. Something wrong somewhere . . .

Carole
 
'The Bleeding Mind' by Ian Wilson is a useful book on this subject but I don't know if it is still in print.
It takes the view that stigmata is in some way psychosomatic, starting with the first known stigmatic, Francis of Assisi ,up to modern cases.
It is also interesting that the wounds appear on a stigmatic in the same places as on the image of the crucifixion that they are most familiar with, specifically 'thorn' wounds on the forehead and stab wound to the side, which can vary greatly in different versions.

I thought 'Stigmata' the movie was sensationalist tosh however...
 
. . . but enjoyable tosh . . .

Carole
 
I was rather disappointed with Stigmata actually. It looked nice and silvery and all, but I felt it was something of a cop out as far as plot was concerned.

Padre Pio was placed under quite stringent observation by the Vatican and local Archbishops. They couldn't find anything to accuse him of, not from want of looking. They even made a few things up, but none of it would stick. They were quite keen to get him out of his monastery and locked up somewhere, but popular opinion swayed them. That and the fact that Padre Pio was quite sickly throughout his life. He hardly ate, food rarely staying down if he did. And he had a strange ability to read people, even knowing what they weren't telling him in confession.

I think there's more to stigmata than mere holes in the hands and feet. Even in the cases where it is psychosomatic, it's quite amazing that the subconscious mind can do that. I think it's one of those phenomena that defies a simple straightforward explanation. Sure, it might fit one or two cases, but it wouldn't explain them all.
 
religious experiences

I agree, even psychosomatically you must have some serious faith to be able to do that. There's something profound out there.
 
I have suffered from a stigmata in my left palm for 35 years. It appears about twice a year and lasts for a couple of weeks. It starts as an itchy red patch 1cm diameter. Then it hurts like a burn and small colourless blisters can be seen under the skin. These coalesce and fill with blood to form a large blood blister. The area around this blister is inflamed and the inflammation passes up the lymph vessels of my arm to form a red streak up the inside of my arm half way up to the elbow.
If I hold my hand up in crucifiction pose it looks pretty impressive. If I was to dig my fingernail into the bloodblister and release the blood it would look even more impressive.
After a few days it is no longer painful, the inflamation goes, and it gradually dries up. I eventually pick it off like a scab revealing undamaged skin.
I have been to the doctor and he says it is an alternative to a migraine. My mother and daughter have migraines but I do not. I would rather have my stigmata.
I have never been able to recignise what triggers it off.
Alas in this irreligious age nobody has recognised me as a latterday saint but I bet many old-time stigmatics just had my complaint.
 
I once had stigmata-like wounds which I seemed to acquire in very spooky, heavily-symbolic Christian cirumstances.
I feel unsettled and perplexed about it to this day, about 10 years later. Brrr.
 
If (lets be nice) a form of stigmata is caused by a simular process as Migrain could it be that the "Crown of Thorns" is symbolic of a true migraine attack?

Niles "Migarine Sufferer, but not a Stigmatic" Calder
 
escargot said:
I once had stigmata-like wounds which I seemed to acquire in very spooky, heavily-symbolic Christian cirumstances.
I feel unsettled and perplexed about it to this day, about 10 years later. Brrr.

interesting, Please tell:eek!!!!:
 
Drying up

Why has this dried up??!!

Does anyone know of anyone who has received all 5 stigmatic wounds? I don't know that Padre Pio did... and what's the Vatican's official view???

I demand answers!

:)
 
I don't know anyone personally who has exhibited stigmata, which obviously apply solely to christian faith, but as a youngster i had a dream about the devil and in the morning discovered an arrow shape on my back across the left shoulder which faded over a few days. Of course it could have been simply a creased sheet that made the mark but it scared the hell out of me for a bit!
i read somewhere that it's possible to produce stigmata & other marks on the skin using hypnosis, which has the same intensity as a state of religious fervour.
 
Padre Pio exhibited all forms of stigmata during his life time. The spear in the side wound became an 'internal' wound in that he felt the pain but did not exhibit the wound (don't get picky on this one!) He certainly exhibited them all at various times.
 
Sorry for bringing this thread back to everyone's attention, but I didn't want to take up place by starting my own...

I don't know if anyone has heard of her, but there's an Irish stigmatic, Christina Gallagher from Mayo (Achill, I think). She reportedly suffers the usual stigmatic wounds, aswell as having visions, which she regards as prophecies of things to come...

An American judge spoke on RTE Radio1 one afternoon this week claiming he accompanied Christina on a visit to the World Trade Centre on Sept.11 2000. On arrival she apparently predicted the events which were to happen exactly a year later...
I myself remain doubtful as to the veracity of this, since the judge bloke started babbling on about those killed in the attack being returned to God, as He felt their time was up...

Did anyone else hear this radio interview or have any opinions or info on Christina, the 'Prophet'...
 
Phillippa,

I would see another doctor. Your's hasn't a clue. It is absurd to think of this affliction as an "alternative to migraine". No, I am not a doctor, but I am as well-versed as any layman in the area of migraine/cluster headaches having been a victim for 20 years. I certainly know more about them than my GP, although I defer to my neurologist. The recurrent blisters on your palm are not related to the headaches your relations suffer from.
 
I'm sure I heard somewhere that according to Catholicism (I'm not Catholic, maybe someone who is, could help out), there are meant to be at any one time only 12 true stigmatics in the world.
 
carole said:
What puzzles me is, the Romans used to nail through the wrists, as nailing through the hands wouldn't support the weight of the body on the cross. All the pictures of stignatics I've seen have the marks on the wrists. Something wrong somewhere . . .

Carole

If we acept that atleast some cases of stigmata are manafestations of spiritual extacy then the reason for the inconsistasncy in the positioning of the wounds is plane.

Christian iconography represents jesus as having the nails in his palms and therefore when an individual who meditats on these images raises themselfs to this leval they exibit the marks on their palms not the wrists.

Or meby I'm wrong.
 
I don't think that the reasons are plain, if stigmata is due to spiritual ecstacy ( i think the phrase itself might need explaining!). Christian iconography or indeed any iconography is just that. Iconography, representational not exact photographic images.

I'd be interested to know about the only 12 stigmatics thing tho...

Mobeena
 
Homerjaymc said:
I don't know if anyone has heard of her, but there's an Irish stigmatic, Christina Gallagher from Mayo (Achill, I think). She reportedly suffers the usual stigmatic wounds, aswell as having visions, which she regards as prophecies of things to come...
Oh yes, I've heard of her. She really freaks me out. I lose all rationality and start shrieking "Mammy was right! Mammy was right" It's a fine line for a Catholic Agnostic. :(
 
Spooky angel said:
I'm sure I heard somewhere that according to Catholicism (I'm not Catholic, maybe someone who is, could help out), there are meant to be at any one time only 12 true stigmatics in the world.

The only time I've heard this is on the film Stigmata. They also said that no one had ever exhibited all the wounds of Christ (which is not true) and that if anyone did exhibit all the wounds, it would kill them (strike three). Pretty looking film, with the silvery look to it, but that's about it. Rather disappointing, I felt.

The wounds through the wrist thing is rather open to debate. Different victims of crucifixtion seem to have different wounds, so it can't be stated exactly where Christ's wounds would be. Also, I remember reading somewhere about there being a channel from just below the middle of the palm through to the wrist which would take a lot of weight. Piercing this would sever the tendons to the thumb, causing it to be drawn tight into the palm. Same with the piercing of the feet. Sometimes this was done, sometimes it wasn't. So basically there doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule about where the nails went exactly.
 
Some muslims suffer the wounds of Mohamed

And priests of Cybele exhibited wounds of her lover - though those were known to be self inflicted.

BTW on that red mark in the palm, Phillipa. Go get another quack, I knew someone with a very similar symptom and it eas a very nasty fungal infection - which explains the *redlining* toward the lymph node.
 
beakboo said:
Oh yes, I've heard of her. She really freaks me out. I lose all rationality and start shrieking "Mammy was right! Mammy was right" It's a fine line for a Catholic Agnostic. :(

I know what you mean. I generally pride myself on my rational nature, but I still like to scare the crap out of myself by reading about weird happenings...
I'd love to believe that something exists beyond what science tells us...Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, depending on my mood at the time...
What do you make of the theory that Christina Gallagher is a fraud, only interested in the revenue generated by pilgrims to her house (I can't remember the name of it now, but it has some sort of visitor's centre)?
 
mobeena said:
Wounds of Mohammad (PBUH)? What wounds of Mohammad (PBUH)?
Check out this months FT. They were the wounds Mohamed received in battle.
 
I haven't got it yet - what battle? What wounds? What the hell is this? You follow a religion for 21 years.... :)
 
I am a stigmata.............I am bleeding on my mouse right now!!:D
 
mobeena said:
I haven't got it yet - what battle? What wounds? What the hell is this? You follow a religion for 21 years.... :)
Well when he fled from Mecca to Medina (the Hegira?) the city of Mecca didn't say "you were right, Mohamed". Medina had to make war on Mecca. I don't know the name of the battle where Mohamed was wounded, better check with your Imam
 
Well just pop down to your local mosque, they're in the phone book under Churches and places of worship.
 
Back
Top