2023-10-04 05:15:00
Saint Francis of Assisi receives the stigmata in the form of rays from a Seraphim with a crucified man in its center
Every October 4 the Church celebrates Saint Francis of Assisi. This same day is celebrated World Animal Day. Assisi is considered his patron. He is considered the first person who believed that all living things, including animals, are creatures of God. So much so that Pope John Paul II in 1980 declared him patron of veterinarians, animals and environmentalists.
The story of this saint begins on September 17, 1224. At that time, a 42-year-old hermit, originally from the city of Assisi, was lost in the solitude of Mount Averna. 72 hours had passed since the solemn celebration of the Holy Cross. Since the day of the Assumption of the Virgin, that place had been his refuge in search of peace and serenity. There, in the Casentino region, nestled in the Tuscan Apennine, north of the province of Arezzo, between the sources of the Tiber and the Arno, the mountain rises like an island of rocks barely visible among the thickness of a forest. It is claimed that the name originates from the word “herna”, which means stone or rocky place.
The hermit, whose name was originally Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone, but who would eventually adopt the nickname Francis, meditated on the passion of Christ. He had left a military career. At that precise moment, the scene transformed. A resplendent Seraph, endowed with six majestic wings, appeared before him. In the center of this being the unmistakable figure of a crucified man emerged. From that apparition rays of light emanated that, with surgical precision, pierced the hermit’s hands, feet and side, inflicting the sacred stigmata on him.
The type of wounds reflects their correspondence with the Passion of Jesus through the following signs: wounds on the hands or wrists and feet caused by nails, wounds on the head similar to those caused by the crown of thorns and on the back, similar to those caused by the crown of thorns. those of the whip in flagellation.
The moment of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi. His brothers and Jacoba surround him – with the shroud that he had worn from Rome – whom he also called “brother” and not “sister.”
Fray León was the only witness of the moments prior to the stigmatization of Saint Francis. At the end of his life, the saint entrusted the care of his person to four of his closest friends. One of them was precisely Brother León. Francisco tried to hide the stigmata, but it was almost impossible. His was the first well-documented case of a stigmatized person in the history of the Church, and the only case with its own liturgical feast granted by Pope Benedict XI (Nicola Boccasini, Supreme Pontifical from 1303 to 1304).
Similarly, the noble lady Jacopa dei Settesoli, a close friend of the saint of Assisi, made him some cotton espadrilles and mittens of the same material to protect the sores. It was thanks to her that Francis came to see Pope Innocent III, since she was the sister-in-law of the first papal advisor.
Francisco, who had given her the title of “Fra” – that is, “brother” – and not “Sor”, wrote her a letter days before she died: “To Doña Jacopa, servant of the Most High, Brother Francisco, poor man of Christ, he desires health in the Lord and communion in the Holy Spirit. Know, dear, that the blessed Lord has given me the grace to reveal to me that the end of my life. Therefore, if you want to find me still alive, as soon as you have received this letter, hurry up and come to Santa Maria degli Angeli. Because if you come later on Saturday, you won’t be able to see me alive. And bring with you an ash-colored cloth to wrap my body.”
Also Dante, in his “Divine Comedy”, mentions the prodigious fact of Mount Averna, in the eleventh of Paradise: “On the rough mountain between the Tiber and the Arno / Christ received the last seal / that his members carried for two years ).
Fra Jacoba holds the shroud of Saint Francis of Assisi, frescoed in the Lower Basilica of Assisi
Today, the place where the miraculous event occurred is an important Franciscan sanctuary. A chapel was built on that mountain in the place where Saint Francis received the stigmata. The Basilica of Santa María de los Ángeles stands out there, next to the original entrance to the sanctuary. This was the first church on this land, built in the 13th century and adorned with glazed ceramics. The Stigmata Chapel is located at the end of a hallway. A slab was placed on the floor in front of the altar, in memory of the exact place.
Other cases of stigma
Although Saint Francis of Assisi was always considered the first documented case of stigmatization in the history of the Church, there was another before him, twelve years before, and it was that of Mary of Oignies, a beguine and mystic who was born in Nivelles in 1177 and died on June 23, 1213 in Oignies, Belgium.
In the Catholic Church there are 70 saints or blesseds, of both sexes, who received stigmata. And the most popular of the 20th century was Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), an Italian capuchin.
It is worth clarifying that when the phenomenon is recognized as authentic it is accepted, but in no case is it proposed to be believed as a dogma of faith. The Church does not canonize anyone just because they are stigmatized, but rather because they have lived their lives practicing theological virtues and then, through their intercession, a recognized miracle is obtained from God. That is why although more than 350 cases were reported and only 70 were canonized.
The body of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, the most famous stigmatized person of the 20th century (EFE)
Some scientists claim that these events occur only in people who lead a very spiritual and mystical life. His religiosity and obsession with the wounds of Jesus make him enter a deep ecstasy, generating an autosuggestion capable of somatizing the psychic experience. And the stigmatized people report visions in which Christ or angels appear, they maintain conversations with God or religious figures and even perceive strange smells. For this reason, some professors indicate that it is possible for the mind to influence their organisms, to the point of causing bleeding wounds corresponding to their faith in Christ. From this it follows that the stigmata in these people appear in the places predetermined by iconographic art and images and not in the places where, according to modern studies, Christ was crucified.
For example, signs appear on the palms of the hands, but according to studies Jesus was not nailed to the cross by his palms (it was proven that they cannot resist the weight of a body) but rather below the wrist, through the space between the ulna and radius bones. The same thing happens with the feet: it is very possible that he was crucified to the stake by the heels and not by the instep as it is usually seen.
Therefore, everything related to stigmas and those who are stigmatized is only credible to those who have faith, and for these people, their faith is enough to be able to follow the path of life.
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