The Stigmata


Miracles of the Saints: The holy Stigmata

The stigmata is the wounds of Jesus inflicted by God upon the body of the saint-mystic-victim soul. They consist of the five wounds of Jesus which are the nail wounds in the hands and feet, along with the wound in the side, next to the heart. They can be either visible or invisible. The main purpose of the stigmata is so the saint may suffer in union with Jesus for the conversion of sinners, that is, for the redemption of humanity. Those who bear the stigmata are then “co-redeemers” with Christ, as they, with their limited human capabilities, share in His sufferings and participate in a special way in His Redemption. Simply put, victim souls make reparation for sin and do penance for all those who don't. And through their sufferings in union with Jesus they lead souls to God, by obtaining the graces that certain souls need to turn to God. They participate in and live the Passion of Jesus in their body and souls, for the conversion of sinners.

For the Apostle St Paul says in his letter to the Colossians “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for the sake of his body, that is, the church."(Colossians 1:24).
While St Francis of Assisi is commonly believed to be the first Saint to have been given the stigmata (on September 14, 1224), there are some scripture scholars who believe that St Paul himself may have been the first to have borne it, for in Galations 6:17 Paul himself states: "From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus."
And furthermore, in the Acts of the Apostles we read: "...And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them." (Acts 19:11)
It is suggested that these hankerchiefs were blood soaked from the wounds of Paul's stigmata. As most Catholics know, many in the church follow this practice today with the veneration of the relics of the Saints.

A modern case of the Stigmata
Certainly a very recent and probaly one of the best documented cases of the stigmata would be that of the Italian Saint Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) who also happens to be this writers favorite Saint! Gemma was an extraordinary saint who loved Jesus with all her heart and soul. At an early age she had an remarkable piety, and Jesus began giving her interior locutution at age 7. At age 20 she was miraculously cured of spinal meningitis through the heavenly intercession of another saint- Gabriel Possenti C.P.(who at that time was declared Venerable) who miraculously appeared to Gemma each night and encouraged her to make a Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. One year later she was given the stigmata by Jesus in the prescence of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her guardian Angel

One day after Holy Communion, shortly after her miraculous cure, Jesus said to her: "Courage Gemma! I await you on Calvary on the Mount that I shall show you!"
The suffering through which she had passed during her illness had purified her soul, and the hour was approaching in which she would realize the nature of her vocation. It was June 8th, 1899, the vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. That morning after Holy Communion Jesus revealed to her that in the evening of that day He would give her an extraordinary grace. She went at once to tell her confessor, and then confession to receive absolution, that she might be prepared as much as possible for what Jesus was to do next. Then, with her soul flooded with a wonderful sense of peace and joy, she returned home.

Gemma herself will relate what happened on this night:
"It was Thursday evening, the vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Suddenly, more quickly indeed than usual, I felt a piercing sorrow for my sins; but so intense that I have never since experienced the like again. The sorrow was so great that I thought I must die. After that I felt all the powers of my soul in recollection. My intellect knew nothing except my sins and offences against God; my memory recalled each one, and made me see all the torments Jesus had endured to save me. My will moved me to detest them and be willing to suffer anything in expiation. A world of thoughts surged through my mind; thoughts of sorrow, love, fear, hope and encouragement.

"This was quickly followed by a rapture, and I found myself in the presence of my heavenly Mother, with my guardian angel on her right. He commanded me to make an act of contrition, and when I had done so my Mom said to me:
'Daughter, in the name of Jesus I forgive you all your sins,' and added, 'Jesus, my Son, loves you very much, and wishes to give you a grace. Would you know how to become worthy of it?'

In my misery I knew not what to answer. Then She continued: 'I will be a mother to you; will you show yourself a true daughter?' And after saying this She opened her mantle and covered me with it. At that instant Jesus appeared with all His wounds open; but blood no longer issued from those wounds, but flames of fire. In an instant those flames came and touched my hands, feet and heart. I felt I was dying and should have fallen had not my Mom held me up, I remaining all the while covered with her mantle, and thus I remained for several hours. Afterwards my Mom kissed me on the forehead, then everything vanished and I found myself kneeling on the ground, but still feeling intense pain in my hands, feet and heart. I got up to go to bed and saw blood flowing from those places where I felt the pain. I covered them up as best I could and then, with the help of my guardian angel, got into bed." [From the "Autobiography of St Gemma Galgani"]

This event took place on the first floor of a house numbered thirteen in the Via del Biscione in the parish of S. Pietro Somaldi, where Gemma was living with her family. "We point to this house with singular affection," writes her confessor, Venerable Father Germano, "because we believe one day it will be as memorable as La Verna, where St. Francis received the Stigmata."

The following morning Gemma arose early and, despite the intense pain she was enduring, went to church as usual to receive Holy Communion, putting on gloves to hide the wounds in her hands. She came home perplexed. How could she conceal what had happened to her? But perhaps it was nothing exceptional, but a gift bestowed by God on all who had consecrated themselves by vow to Him. What should she do? Finally she went to her aunt and said: "Aunt, just look at what Jesus has done to me!"

The aunt, although she had for some time felt there was something quite exceptional about Gemma, looked at her in amazement, and could not make out what had happened.
"The phenomenon always began in the way Gemma has herself described, and there is little to add to her account of it," says Ven. Father Germano, who further writes in his "Life of St Gemma Galgani": "...From that day it continued to repeat itself, on the same day and hour of each week, that is, from Thursday evening towards eight o'clock and continued till three o'clock on Friday afternoon. No preparation preceded it, no sense of pain or impression of any sort in those parts of the body announced that it was imminent, except the recollection of spirit which preceded the ecstasy.

"Scarcely had this begun when suddenly red marks appeared on the backs and palms of both hands, and under the epidermis a rent in the flesh opened by degrees, oblong on the back of the hands and irregularly round in the palms. A little after and the membrane itself was pierced, and on those innocent hands the flesh wounds were seen, about half an inch in diameter in the palms, and on the back of the hands about five-eighths of an inch long by one-eighth of an inch wide. [Here Ven. Father Germano remarks: "I greatly marvelled at the crescent form of this opening so unusual in other stigmatics until I read the life of the Venerable Diomira of Florence, who had a wound similar to that of Gemma, according to the sworn testimony of medical men, and other eye-witnesses."]

"Sometimes the laceration appeared only on the surface; at others it was scarcely perceptible to the naked eye, but more often was very deep, and ap¬peared to pass through the hand, the openings on both sides touching each other. I say seemed to pass, because these openings were full of blood, partly flowing and partly congealed and when the flow of blood ceased, they closed immediately .... In her feet, besides the wounds being large and livid around the edges, the size of the opening was the reverse of that of the hands, that is larger on the instep and smaller on the sole of the foot. Moreover, the wound on the instep of the right foot was as large as that on the sole of the left. Thus it would have been with our Saviour if both His feet had been fastened to the Cross by a single nail…

"Now we come to the wound in Gemma's side. It had the form of a half-moon in a horizontal direction, with the two ends turned upwards. Its length in a straight line was quite two inches, its width at the centre a quarter of an inch."
"The flow of blood from this wound was so abundant that her underclothing was saturated by it. The humble virgin did what she could to hide it by using manifold linen cloths, which she repeatedly applied to her side; in less than an hour they were saturated, and she hastened to conceal them so as to wash them in secret.
'

Gemma herself describes her experience on one occasion thus: "This morning. . . I felt my senses leaving me. To the pain at my heart was added an acute anguish in all my members. Before all and above all was my sorrow for sin. What excruciating pain! Had it been greater I would have died, and I can say the same of the wound which I received. My heart could no longer bear the restraint, and began to send forth blood in abundance."

One of those who lived with Gemma declared upon oath that the blood from her side alone, unless it had been stopped, would have flowed down to the ground. The same can be said of the wounds in her hands and feet. Her spiritual director, Father Germano continues: "The blood was fresh, of a rich colour, such as flows from a newly opened wound, and so it remained, even after it had dried upon the skin, the clothing and the floor."

"The disappearance of the wounds was no less remarkable, for as soon as the ecstasy on Friday was over the flow of blood from all five wounds ceased, the raw flesh healed, and by the following day, or at latest by Sunday, not a trace of those wounds remained. Only the places where the wounds had been showed a whitish colour which indicated where they had been the day before."
[From the "Life of St Gemma Galgani" by Venerable Father Germano, C.P.

These supernatural manifestations continued every Thursday and Friday, until prohibited by her directors, and after her death, although the stigmata had ceased for two years, these white marks were distinctly visible, especially upon her feet.

More notes on the stigmata in the lives of the Mystics of the Church:
Throughout the history of the Church there have been some souls who have received the invisible or "hidden" stigmata, and even moreso there have been numerous stigmatics who initially received the stigmata in a visible form, but in their great humility they asked God that it might become invisible (hidden), which at their request God granted in all the cases that I have read.

Additionally, most stigmatics do not have a permanent stigmata; for most the stigmata normally appears on Thursday evenings, and disappears on Friday afternoons, only to reappear again the following Thurday, although some, like St Padre Pio for example, bore the stigmata permanently (meaning he had the stigmata all the time--and in his case, it was 50 years and 3 days, until his holy death on September 23, 1968)

The invisible (or hidden) stigmata can be just as painful, or even more painful than the visible stigmata. In fact, the physical bleeding of the stigmata often seems to lessen the pain, so that for most visible stigmatics, the time prior to when the wounds completely open (on Thursday evenings) is most painful...then once the wounds open and the blood begins to flow, the pain often lessens somewhat.
________________________________________

Click here for more information about the stigmata of St Gemma with detailed descriptions from several eyewitnesses.

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Saint Gemma Galgani ora pro nobis.

Anonymous said...

I experience my first invisible stigmata during the Holy week, Maundy Thursday and had it again last Friday early morning. The first time was so painful that I was crying not only in pain but from knowing and feeling the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. I felt the pain from the time our Lord Jesus Christ was arrested, the scourging at the pillar, crowning of the thorns, the crucifixion and the stab in the chest. It only lasted for about 40 minutes but the thought of how our Lord Jesus Christ has gone through the suffering much longer to save us from our sin.

Anonymous said...

Would you like to be a Saint? Do you want to be in union so close with Jesus that you comfortably feel his five wounds all the time?

Jesus wants to convert thousands of people into Saints before his Second Coming! He granted us a devotion so powerful that our intentions get granted hands down! AND your life becomes SUBSTANTIALLY less frustrating as you cope with a world that no longer knows which choices are sin and which choices are acceptable to God.

Paste this into your browser to see Jesus's promises in reference to the Precious Blood Chaplet-

http://valtorta.org/precious_blood_promises_defaultpage.asp

DO PRAY IT DAILY!

Precious Blood Chaplet-

http://www.preciousbloodinternational.com/prayers_05.html

If you like, I can email you PDF documents that summarize this new devotion or I am happy to answer any questions you might have.

Email-

preciousbloodforus@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

This was very helpful but I need to ask and I feel very crazy for asking but I too have been feeling more intense pain ever since I found my way to God but even as a child I always had a lot of faith and even remembering playing with Jesus (my mother never believes me :) and also I remember there was this one time where I felt the power? Or maybe his anger? I dont know how to explain but it happened when I just got scolded by my mother and I was so angry that the first thing I did was strike a picture of Jesus, then all of a sudden my nose poured out blood and trust me when I say my nose never bleeds. And just a few weeks ago A man I never seen before tab me on the shoulder and said "You are power house of God, God just want me to tell you that"...? Well my pain started after a beautiful morning I had I was outside watering my garden I started to speck to both Mary and Jesus it felt as if I could feel them in the cool wind that blew so i prayed and said to them both that I wanted to bring faith back to sinners.So the very next day my pain started on my left hand then my right, the pain comes and goes but now it feels like sharp more intense. So now I'm getting sharp pains, right in the middle of my foot it to also comes and goes and now I have a very painful pain on my side? So tonight I wanted answer's and I stumbled upon this Precious Blood Chaplet and I still feel crazy for asking this but could it be Stigmata? And how can I find out if it is? ( also I tried taking pain medication but nothing takes the Pain away ) email at msauceda760@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Pedre pio
Pls cure my sister from cancer please interven with God, give her hope and cure her thank you

NORA said...

BLESSED SAINT PADRE PIO CAN YOU INTERVEN TO OUR HOLY FATHER IN HEAVEN,FOR MY NEPHEW MICHAEL,HE IS ONLY 26 YEARS OLD,SIX YEARS AGO HE WAS IN A CAR ACCIDENT AND HURT HIS HEAD,HE IS BEDRIDDEN EVER SINCE,HIS BRAIN WAS HURT BAD,MAY JESUS BLESS AND FOR GIVE HIM HIS SINS.MICHAEL WAS THE FRONT PASSENGER,BLESSED MOTHER IN HEAVEN WATCH OVER HIS MOTHER, SHE IS NOT WELL HER SELF SENCE MICHAEL GOT HURT.

Anonymous said...

Greetings to all the saints in Christ Jesus our LORD.

I too have marks in my feet that appeared only a few years back. I led a life of sin and shame and had to confess my sins to my wife. It was very difficult, but I said in my heart, I'd rather lose my family than GOD. My wife packed her bags after confession and then left without it. She came back after a few hours and said, If GOD forgave you, who am I to keep it against you. This happened two times, but we're still married today. I thank GOD and JESUS for that.

I want to ask you to pray for me please. I have fallen many times into sin and struggled with many things.

Thank you before hand.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anonymous, it is very difficult not to stumble in today's times. There are some things that I would like to share and recommend to you that has helped me and makes me think twice before I stumble and damage my soul and hurt Jesus and the Virgin. There are great books that are free on the internet and websites concerning Apparitions of Fatima and Garabandal and the Diary of Saint Faustina and Saint Faustina's Vision of Hell. Also the Bible- Matthew 18:9
If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. "It is better for you to enter life with one eye,than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.

At the Apparitions at Fatima, our Blessed Mother Mary told the Portuguese visionary Jacinta Marto: "More souls go to Hell because of the sins of the flesh than for any other reason."

The Visionary Lucia asks the Virgin some questions concerning Heaven. Lucia asked the Virgin if two of her friends were in Heaven. Is Maria de las Nieves in Heaven?”
- “Yes she is.” “and Amelia, whose between 18 - 20 years old?” “She will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” And then She said: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God and accept all the sufferings that He desires to send you in reparation for the sins by which He is offended and to implore for the conversion of sinners?”
- “Yes, we want to.” “You will have to suffer much the Virgin tells the 3 seers to Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say often this prayer, especially during any sacrifice: "O my Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of poor sinners, and in reparation for all the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.". As she spoke these words, Our lady stretched out her hands, and bright rays came forth which seemed to penetrate into the earth. All at once the ground vanished, and the children saw Hell, frightened they lifted their eyes to the Lady who told them:"You have seen Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go.

The thing that is hard for me to fathom is that here you have a girl around 20 years of age approx 100 years ago who goes to Purgatory. There was no television, radios, probably very few magazines, very little transportation. They were basically secluded in the mountains. Now move it forward 100 years. We have pornography all over the internet which 50 percent of kids under 10 will have already been exposed to. Divorce,adultery, birth control,homosexuality, fornication and drug use runs rampant. I remember when I was young the worst thing on television was Starsky and Hutch or Baretta. We really need to pray for the kids today!!! One of the things that the Virgin had mentioned in both Fatima and Garabandal, was that the fashion of the girls and lust would be very deplorable. Saint Faustina even admitted that even she experienced some attacks of purity until The Virgin helped her.

I know this is going to sound stupid but, one of the things that I have been trying to do lately when I am out and about is, when I see a woman, I try hard not to glance at her and offer that very small sacrifice up to God for the reparation of someone's lustful sin. It also seems to help me from getting a lustful thought. Also, whenever I pray the Rosary it definitely works. Most of all, go to confession and go to church with your wife and receive the Eucharist (Jesus) at least weekly.

God Bless

Anonymous said...

Thank you
from October 30, 2015 at 3:50 AM

Bernard Dissa said...

I am from the villagea, Gonawila(Sri Lanka) where famous stigmatist(Helena von Bolwatte) born, died and barried. Now we have started a Canonization Process
for Her. All your prayers are welcome for that intention. Thank you, God Bless you.

Anonymous said...

God pray for me, im depressed and bedridden from it. I pray every night that i will pass away into the arms of God!

Glenn Dallaire said...


Hi Anonymous,
I pray that Jesus may strengthen and heal you. In Jesus holy Name, AMEN +

Anonymous said...

My God Enlighten your gift that you lay at my feet. I feel it wont be long before this will end. Angels above are waiting for my present among them. My soul longs for the ever eternal light of God and the Universe as ONE.

Unknown said...

bethemedium gmail. com
I would like more info. I have had .... Let's just say some experiences. And want to know more. It is with an extremely heavy heart I write this. God bless

Anonymous said...

jeff said:

dear padre pio please grant my mother a successful recovery from her infection; help her body be at peace so her soul can leave when it is time. Please guard my daughter from the wickedness of modern media. please help me endure my injury, job contoversy,and help me be of service to my fellow addicticl.

Unknown said...

Hi I am very confused and I need some light on this situation. I'm a 15 year old girl and last year I went on a trip with my school to the vadican. Right when I went in everything became blurry and I started getting this headache around my head in a crown shape. We had headphones in for our tour guide but they were turned off. But mine kept getting this static noise. I then heard church music the more I walked even though no one else heard it. Then a child came through my headphones just laughing then the child's voice said "help." After that I got this jolt of pain rushing through the palms, wrists,feet and forehead for 10 seconds. Then I wasn't really in control of my body as it lead me to the front. As I left I went to a cafe with my friends as one of the pointed out I got bruises all over my hands. I rushed to the bathroom and looked to see I got bruises on my palms, wrists and feet. Also scratches and burn marks, some in the shape of the cross. They stayed for a day then all of it went away. Then today I was back home watching the Pope for Christmas and the same thing happened again. What does this mean. I'm not big in the Christian faith nor do I praticing it regularly as I never went to church in 8 years. Thus I'm confused as to what this means and I really need to know. Thank you.

Unknown said...

When i was a little girl I knew I was different from the other children, from my siblings. I grew up in the house of debrah, and a poor environment at that, but she made it a point to always send us to church no matter what, even as a child I loved God soooooo much, we had a pastor strictly for children and I always looked forward to that peace, cause I knew that for the next week till church again i wouldn't find that peace, instead I would be followed by demons who truely showed themselfs, I would be beaten and barely fed. I have had a great deal of sorrow in my life not because thats life but because Christ Jesus suffered the same. As i grew the Holy Spirit grew as I did and I remember feeling the wounds for the first time when i was 12. I'm 31 now and they are starting to show, my names Anastasia Bonnie Kvale, which does mean resurrection beautiful wisdom, and the closer I get to got it seems the more I get attacks on my life. I am not afraid of it. I embrace the solitude and go to where I am called. Praise God for his unspeakable Gift!!

Unknown said...

The mark so called the 'stigmata' which received by the person is a sign of god's love for the soul to share the same love of Him with sincere to everyone through the continuation prayer. It's kinda of private mission for the soul to begin with a new page in that person's life to prayer for the sake of all souls. The mark would more pierce deeply and yet slowly will build understanding and acceptance that all sufferings are not in vain yet as the person's fulfilment of her or his generosity in sharing the lord's suffering for the sake of humankind. This's what i believe. Thanks

Seal of the Lamb said...

Today, I came to this page as a form of solace. I was given the invisible stigmata a little over four years ago after a long period of suffering. I am now 52 years old. It moves to different parts of my body. I have had it in my right shoulder which is very painful. However, yesterday, it presented in my left hand as a raised nail head and looked like it was going to start bleeding. I showed my oldest son, and he said it actually scared him due the very strange appearance. I pray the rosary at least once a day. I started having visions of the Blessed Mother about six years ago as well as other mystical gifts. Now, I have the gift of discernment and can see into the spiritual realm.
All those who have the stigmata are victim souls and are chosen to suffer in union with Christ for the redemption of souls. I believe the Lord and the Blessed Mother are seeking more people to serve as victim souls to offset the tremendous darkness presently in the world. For those of you who have posted on this page, I understand. It is not an easy burden. However, I think that our increased suffering is an indication of the times and the soon return of the Lord.

Anonymous said...

I pray for the right marriage partner

Frances said...

Please write to me!!! I have had experiences too that i can't share with just anyone. My email is dandycat@hotmail.com

Unknown said...

I had a vision years ago. The bottom half of Christ and the wound marks. His whiteness and cloak draped glowingly above his feet ..peace that I cannot explain. My mother suffered a heart attack survived after triple by pass. I left my children for one month to help her through recovery. The vision happened on the first night of my return to my family . As I described this to people I received answers but the best answer csnrcin s church I had never been in on palm Sunday! The cross that he was hanging on was my answer.. the wound marks were free of nails. He rose, died for my sins.. my belief has always been strong but what could this vision have meant?

fireheart said...

I am father Dan in Mexico. I have known many good catholics who are feeling the invsble stigmata. If you want to write me. padredaniel@gmail.com. Ask the Blessed MOther for strength

Have a deep and blessed Holy Week

Unknown said...

Has anyone else had blood appear on their hands and after a moment or so it disappears? I have. i was young and i wasnt scared... didnt start wondering what it was until recently. after just having too many un explainable events happen throughout my life. -FEMALE 36 MY NAME IS TREASURE

Unknown said...

Take heart. Depression is just another form of stigmata. Stigmata everyone is just another word for suffering on earth for no apparent reason. I have suffered crown of thorn headaches, felt piercing in my side and more recently pain in my hands and feet. I sometimes wonder whether frequent cramps in my hands and feet weren't forms of stigmata? However that is debatable. Every stigmata like pain is accompanied by a sorrow which pierces the soul, to the point that, either inconsollable hysterical crying develops (which I have experienced my whole life in bouts) or a feeling of utter desolation occurs. In the last kind, you feel like you are in a tornado or whirlwind. You suddenly feel incapable of thinking anything and feel as if heaven is slicing up your soul without knowing why? That is how I experience it! I then become aware of all my sins. Accompanied with white clean pure energy all .y life i have also fallen victim to paranoid, strange nightmares, and often feeling my integroty attacked by the closest people I know (sometimes even feeling demons take them over). My rosaries have strangely been pulled off me or literally an invisible hand untied it from my waist once I had tried to put it together and feel into my friend's car. The supernatural really does exist. Amen.

Unknown said...

Dear Anastasia, I am very moved by everything you recount. You have a beautiful name full of wisdom. I am Jules Christian previously Julianna Magdalena. I have lead a life of sin in the past (possibly having MagdalenÄ™ in my name wasn't good) but since changing my name I have found much more serenity. I also get stigmata like pain in my soul and on my body. One particular time I got a suddenly sharp pain In my foot as if a nail had gone through it! This was whilst walking on a beach in Bournemouth. Since then I feel it was Christ's way of making himself known to me and leaving behind a relationship which had been built around lust rather than love and later marriage. I have turned to serving in the community now and bringing the light of Christ into people's lives. Amen.

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