What Is the Meaning Of Stigmata?

[Sunstone]

http://friarminor.blogspot.com/2006/09/stigmata.html

What religious or spiritual significance do stigmata have? When Francis received the stigmata of Christ, what did that mean?

I'm genuinely confused about the religious or spiritual meaning of stigmata. Help!

 

[darkpenguin]

foamy the squirrel knows all feel his squirelly wrath!
http://www.illwillpress.com/vault.html then click on eye stigmata! have fun

 

[Halcyon]

I always assumed it was because the individual was so devote and had such empathy and love for Christ, that they share in his suffering.

 

[lamplighter]

I'm really skeptical about the stigmata thing, the hindu god drinking milk day seems more reasonable because every statue of Ganish was said to have been "drinking" milk. I say this because the catholic sect seems to be the most susceptible to fanaticism and stigmata seems to be only effecting catholics.

 

[Buttercup]

I'm genuinely confused about the religious or spiritual meaning of stigmata. Help!

Padre Pio was a more famous stigmata sufferer and was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 2002. Here's an exerpt from Wikipedia:

Invisible Stigmata
On the the 20th of September, 1918, as Pio was kneeling in the chapel of Our Lady of Grace, it is believed that he had a mystic experience. Roughly a month later, he descirbed this experience in a letter to his spiritual advisor, Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis as follows:

"It all happened in a flash. While all this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious Person, similar to the one I had seen on August 5th, differing only because His hands, feet and side were dripping blood. The sight of Him frightened me: what I felt at that moment is indescribable. 'I thought I would die, and would have died if the Lord hadn't intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. The Person disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were pierced and were dripping with blood"

[19] and in another of his letters, written in 1911 and addressed to the same person, describing something he had been experiencing for a year, he says,

"Then last night something happened which I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks. The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feet it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain" .[20]

Replying to a letter from a beloved friend Padre Agostino who had written to him in 1915, asking him specific questions such as when he first experienced visions, whether he had been granted the stigmata, and whether he felt the pains the Passion of Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging, Padre Pio says that he was favoured with visions since his noviciate peroid (1903 to 1904), that he had been granted the stigmata, but that he was so terrified in the face of this phenomenon that he begged the Lord to withdraw them. He did not wish the pain to be removed, only the visible wounds, since, at the time he considered them to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.[21] From then on, it is believed, the visible wounds disappeared, and reappeared only in September 1918. Their pain, however, remained and was felt more acutely on specific days and under certain circumstances. He also said that he was indeed experiencing the pain of the crown of thorns and the scourging. He was not able to clearly indicate the frequency of this experience, but said that he had been suffering from them at least once weekly for some years.[22]


Padre Pio was also associated with many miracles.......

http://www.padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/miracles.htm

 

[Valjean]

"Though clearly a sign of sincere devoutness, I always assumed stigmata a psychosomatic disorder.

 

[gnostic]

I am not familiar with this word "stigmata".

Do you mean St Francis? Does stigmata have to do with having wounds like Christ when he was crucified?

 

[Valjean]

I am not familiar with this word "stigmata".

Do you mean St Francis? Does stigmata have to do with having wounds like Christ when he was crucified?

Precisely.

 

[gnostic]

I don't know much about St Francis. Was he supposed to be the first stigmata?

Is stigmata supposed to be a miracle?

Or is simply self-mutilation?

 

[lamplighter]

Yeah, Stigmata is where the wounds of Christ appear where he was nailed to the cross, it also manifests itself in the form of oily hair (oily to the point of dripping). The only problem is Jesus couldn't have been nailed through the palms unless he was also tied to the cross as well, because the nails would've have ripped out from his body's weight. It's likely he was nailed through the wrists.

 

[darkpenguin]

Yeah, Stigmata is where the wounds of Christ appear where he was nailed to the cross, it also manifests itself in the form of oily hair (oily to the point of dripping). The only problem is Jesus couldn't have been nailed through the palms unless he was also tied to the cross as well, because the nails would've have ripped out from his body's weight. It's likely he was nailed through the wrists.

or with the bleeding of the eyes any the hurting and the ouchee!
confused? see my last post!

 

[lamplighter]

Of course! I use to watch Neuroticaly Yours all the time. One of my favorites is the Amityville Toaster.

 

[darkpenguin]

Of course! I use to watch Neuroticaly Yours all the time. One of my favorites is the Amityville Toaster.

lol that one rocks, he actaully makes some valid points in some of the toons lol

 

[James the Persian]

To me they are one of two things, spiritual delusion (plani/prelest is how you'll usually see this referred to by the Orthodox) or a psychosomatic disorder. There is also, obviously, the possibility of deliberate fraud, though I'd discount that for the most famous stigmatics. The Orthodox Church has always been extremely wary of the stigmata especially given some of the issues we have with the theology and practices of such people as Francis of Assisi (who is most certainly not a saint for us and nor could he ever be - a potential stumbling block for any future reconciliation talks, I think). Stigmata have only been seen since the Great Schism and only in the RCC. They, and the whole spirituality behind them, are completely foreign to the other Apostolic churches.

James

 

[Halcyon]

Yeah, Stigmata is where the wounds of Christ appear where he was nailed to the cross, it also manifests itself in the form of oily hair (oily to the point of dripping). The only problem is Jesus couldn't have been nailed through the palms unless he was also tied to the cross as well, because the nails would've have ripped out from his body's weight. It's likely he was nailed through the wrists.

Does anyone know whether Christ was traditionally not also tied to the cross?

I know they used to simply tie a lot of people, because nails were expensive. Maybe Jesus was tied and then nailed for fun?

 

[James the Persian]

Does anyone know whether Christ was traditionally not also tied to the cross?

I know they used to simply tie a lot of people, because nails were expensive. Maybe Jesus was tied and then nailed for fun?

I think the answer to your question is yes. I believe, though may be misremembering, that there is a tradition that He was tied around the upper arms and nailed through the hands.

James

 

[gnostic]

To me they are one of two things, spiritual delusion (plani/prelest is how you'll usually see this referred to by the Orthodox) or a psychosomatic disorder. There is also, obviously, the possibility of deliberate fraud, though I'd discount that for the most famous stigmatics. The Orthodox Church has always been extremely wary of the stigmata especially given some of the issues we have with the theology and practices of such people as Francis of Assisi (who is most certainly not a saint for us and nor could he ever be - a potential stumbling block for any future reconciliation talks, I think). Stigmata have only been seen since the Great Schism and only in the RCC. They, and the whole spirituality behind them, are completely foreign to the other Apostolic churches.

I just get the feeling that the stigmata have all self-inflicted their wounds.

 

[Ozzie]

"Though clearly a sign of sincere devoutness, I always assumed stigmata a psychosomatic disorder.

Whether psychosomatic or not I think the ability to ooze blood constitutes a gift rather than a disorder.

 

[LeslQl]

I understand the difficulties one may encounter in life as being a "cross" to carry. What I would like to know is if the actual markings of both hands and both feet simultaneously are indentified as some significance in an everyday individual who is a Roman Catholic?

 

[lamplighter]

I'd believe in spontaneous combustion before stigmata. It's probably self inflicted, open sores don't randomly appear and even IF it somehow was of a divine nature, why would it happen anyway? It unnecessarily exposes you to risks like infection.