What do you know about stigmata? Do you believe it is from God and if so, what would be the purpose?

Question

only one person has given me a "purpose" for this and that I did not see as something that would help spread the gospel. Why would God need some to feel the suffering that Jesus had more ....that way? What point would it make now since Jesus has risen? I just don't get it.

Answer 1

It's a very rare phenomenon. Padre Pio, the Italian Franciscan priest (and now, a saint) who died in 1968, had it. His is the best-known case, as far as I know. The wounds would bleed so much that he'd have to wrap them in bandages or use special gloves on his hands. They also caused him great pain. However, they never got infected.

St. Francis of Assisi probably had it, as well.

Authentic cases of stigmata appear to be from God, and given to certain members of the faithful for the purpose of giving them a greater share in the sufferings of Jesus.

Answer 2

Wow, did you get a S***load of bad answers. I know a lot about the stigmata, including that it's not limited to Catholics, by any means, though some of the saints that had it are very well documented as far as that goes. Research (St.) Padre Pio. He had it for 50 years (he died in 1968). He's my favorite story and since he lived within my lifetime, I did most of my studying about him.
I suspect it's divine in origin, but my opinion means nothing, and I'm no longer in the church.
If you do some research about the lives of those who had it, you can probably tell from their own statements what they thought it was all about, which would be a good place to start in forming your own opinion.
There have been Catholic books written about Catholics who had it, and there are a bunch of them. Look up "Stigmatists" on Amazon.

Answer 3

To decide merely the facts without deciding whether or not they may be explained by supernatural causes, history tells us that many ecstatics bear on hands, feet, side, or brow the marks of the Passion of Christ with corresponding and intense sufferings. These are called visible stigmata. Others only have the sufferings, without any outward marks, and these phenomena are called invisible stigmata.

For more info go to the link below.

Answer 4

Stigmata is considered a rare hysterical mental illness by the mental health community; and a sign of holiness by the Catholic Church. My pathophysiology instructor said it was caused by endometrial tissue that left the uterus and migrated to other places in the body, especially the palms of the hands. Most people who experience it are women; but men also do experience it. If it is, indeed, migrated endometrial tissue, 1. where does it come from in men? and 2. it would seem Hippocrates was right about hysteria being related to the migration of the "uterus" in the body.

Answer 5

He died with the stakes still in His hands and feet in the most brutal/vital places in the human body. Likely they would be death, but death was overcome and the holes left as a sign of genuineness, but also what would happen if that's the way someone was killed and they came back? Apparently that part doesn't grow back after everything else that could die. Possibly the way a death like that could occur with the reasonable ability to come back alive, anything else might lose whole parts of the body. Only small parts were lost; not the whole thing.

Answer 6

Only very holy men and women have had the stigmata. St. Francis of Assi had it, and in recent years Padre Pio had the stigmata. Look up on the internet about Padre Pio, who has now been declared to have been a saint.

Answer 7

I would be very careful when answering this question because you really have no way of knowing that it is not of God. If it was and you said it wasn't wouldn't that be like blaspheming the Trinity? Remember God is capable of everything. What if someone told God that they wish they could have interceded for some of His pain. The bible says be careful what you pray for. Maybe that might be an answer? I am not sure though I don't truly understand it either????

Answer 8

One thing to keep in mind is that during actual crucifictions, they didn't put nails into palms. The nails would have gone into the wrists, so the bones would hold the rotting corpses up. The bones in the hands aren't big enough or strong enough to hold the weight.

The concept behind crucifiction is that the person would serve as an example. That is why the bodies were nailed, so that they could rot upon their crosses and be bird food.

Answer 9

It isn't from God. People who have so called "stigmata," have it in the middle of their hands, where they think Christ was pierced, but the nails actually went through Jesus's wrists.

Answer 10

No, stigmata are not from God. They are self induced and invariably in the wrong place. They usually appear in the middle of the palms of the hand, whereas all the evidence suggests that the nails were driven in through the wrist.