The term Stigmata originates from Saint Paul’s Letter to The Galatians, in which he states ‘I bear on my body the stigmata of Jesus.’ It is the plural of the Greek ‘Stigma’, an identification brand or mark as used on an animal or slave.

Stigmata is defined as sores, wounds, bodily marks or sensations of pain in locations ( the head, hands, feet and side) which appear to correspond to the wounds allegedly inflicted on Christ that occur spontaneously and without any discernable cause. To bear the marks of stigmata is to be termed stigmatic.

Stigmata is widely considered by most to be of supernatural or religious origin, and though many stigmatics are highly religious, belonging to the Roman Catholic faith or Catholic religious orders, no case of stigmata has to date been proven as paranormal in origin.

Over 500 hundred cases of stigmata were reported in the 20th century, in most cases the stigmatic was female and nearly all were of the Catholic faith, so would we be safe to assume that stigmata is a ‘Blessing from God?’, an ‘Affinity with Christ’s suffering?’.. Alternatively, even some physical manifestation of the zealous hysteria endured, suffered or enjoyed by the highly pious?

As with any phenomena considered to be a little out there, copious amounts of money, time and labor has been poured into finding a cause – with little publicity or result shown for the effort, but a quick trawl through the internet reveals some snippets of information, which I find interesting.

First of these is the statement that ‘No known case of Stigmata is known before the 13th c.’ – This coincides, incidentally, with the first emergence of images of the crucified Christ in Western Christianity. Does this mean that faced with visual evidence of the suffering of their idol, people begin to actually feel His pain? A theory favored by Christian theologian Ivan Illich in his paper ‘Hospitality and Pain’.

“Compassion with Christ is faith so strong and so deeply incarnate that it leads to the individual embodiment of the contemplated pain”

Interesting enough, but surely that’s not exactly very good advertising for the Church is it? Telling your disciples if they really cared about their Idol, they would really suffer his pain? What kind of person would actually want to suffer pain? Hmmm… Bad marketing, methinks.. Probably why that particular theory wasn’t extensively published..

Next up on the Stigmata list of possible causes is… Self-Infliction. Yes, I know how bad that sounds, but hear me out on this, we aren’t talking deliberate fraud here..

“There is evidence to suggest that some stigmatics do indeed mark themselves in an attempt to suffer with Christ as a form of piety.”

Admirable.. in an odd, sadistic kind of way.. A bit like the monks who whip themselves.. again, not the greatest advertising campaign..

Interestingly enough though, the same person who revealed this in his study also revealed that the female ratio of women to men had changed from 7:1 to 5:4 over the last 100 years. Stigmata are no longer a female dominated phenomenon, but do appear to manifest primarily in the non-ordained. Having stigmata would give these people direct access to the body of Christ without requiring the permission of the Church through the Eucharist.

One of the early stigmatics was St Francis of Assisi. The unusual thing here was the fact that this case actually predates the time that the image of Christ on the cross began to be displayed, suggesting perhaps that since the wounds displayed did conform to the sites of Christ’s wounds, some supernatural shenanigans may be afoot.

Apparently not. Records show that the holy man was plagued by many afflictions of a medical nature, and modern doctors believe they know what some of these afflictions were. One thing doctors believe he suffered from was a condition called Quartan Malaria.

Quartan Malaria sounds a little bit Deep Space 9, but is actually a very nasty disease. It involves the liver, spleen and stomach becoming infected and causes the victim intense pain. One complication of Quartan Malaria occasionally seen around the time Francis was around is known as Purpura, a hemorrhaging of blood into the skin causing purplish marks. Purpuras are often observed to occur symmetrically, which means if one hand or foot was affected it would be possible for the other limb to be affected in exactly the same way.

If memory serves me correctly (and it’s a distinct possibility that it doesn’t – I was never that interested in RE classes at school, and most of the information taught was the teachers own interpretation anyway..) Francis’s wounds were observed shortly after his return from the wilderness – so it is feasible to theorize that Francis was actually afflicted with ecchymoses, which are large Purpura that had been punctured appearing like an open wound. Modern doctors believe this to be a possibility.

In conclusion, I have to say that I for one would prefer that there be a little bit of the unknown left in the world, and that not every presumed paranormal or supernatural phenomenon can somehow with the right investigation and research be disproved. Unfortunately though, it seems the paranormal eludes and slips out of reach yet again.

Kirst D’Raven.