What do you think of the stigmata?

[Spiderman]

Throughout History there have been people like Saint Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio, Gemma Galgani, and Therese Neumann who bore in their body the wounds of Christ. Do you think this phenomenon is self-mutilation?

Therese Neumann (1898- 1962) of Konnersreuth, Bavaria, Germany, was one of the most gifted mystical souls in the history of the Church. During Lent in 1926, Therese received the sacred stigmata. These wounds would last until her death in 1962:

a total of thirty-six years, which is one of the longest time periods that anyone has ever borne the stigmata (Padre Pio holds the record — fifty years!). Therese’s stigmata was one of the most complete among stigmatics as well. Besides the five sacred wounds, she bore eight to nine crown-of-thorn wounds (beginning on November 5, 1926), the shoulder wound (March, 1929), the flagellation marks (Good Friday, 1929), and even shed tears of blood frequently. Examinations proved that there were 45 distinguishable marks of the Passion on Therese’s body: 2 foot wounds, 2 hand wounds, 1 wound near the heart, 30 scourge marks, 1 shoulder wound, and 9 circular head wounds. Bedridden for a good portion of her life, Therese relived her Passion ecstasies on a weekly basis from Thursdays to Fridays. This occurred on an average of half the weeks throughout each year. It has been estimated that she suffered the entire Passion mystery some seven hundred fifty times’
ALL SAINTS: STIGMATA AND STIGMATIST

 

[jonathan180iq]

Self-mutilation, group think, or artistry. It's certainly not magic.

 

[David1967]

Probably. I would have voted yes, but ,,,,,,,strange things happen. But probably not this. Things such as this tend to happen to people that believe in them in the first place. Kinda like demon possession, faith healing , speaking in tongues and the like.

 

[George-ananda]

I have looked into a few cases of the stigmata rather closely and I believe it is very likely to be a genuine phenomena. I do not believe it to be self-mutilation in the stronger cases. My thought is that it comes from the choice to fully experience Christ and his suffering. It is also a sign to the faithful (but not to the disbelievers). This is not for everyone and I wouldn't choose it.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Compulsive self-mutilation, which may be done subconsciously. There's a known history of ascetics carrying out self-injury due to hysteria and deprivation. There's a tie between starvation and self-injury, for example. It doesn't make it a hoax, because it's a genuine religious experience to them, but it's not supernatural in origin. Some of them are deliberate hoaxes or cases of witnesses mistaking the wounds as stigmata.

 

[Nietzsche]

If stigmata happened in the same places, it may have something to it. But they're not. So it's nothing mystical.