In A Flight of Saints, pious, pint-sized Little Fey bears the stigmata, and though she feels bad about it, she is also happy to use the holy wounds if it benefits her friends. So, is her stigmata a gift from God, or a gift to herself? No spoilers here.
But what exactly is the stigmata?
In Christian tradition, the stigmata refer to wounds on a person’s body that correspond to the wounds left on Christ at the Crucifixion: nail wounds on the palms of the hands and on the feet; torso wound where Jesus was speared by a Roman soldier’s lance; head scars from the crown of thorns; and lacerations on the back of the body from being whipped.
In medieval times, the stigmata had immense spiritual significance. There was no clearer sign from God of your worthiness than to be marked with the wounds of His Son.
Ansbert of Chaussy (feast day February 9) bishop of Rouen in 7th century Francia, is one of the earliest stigmatics on record, however there is some dispute over what constituted the stigmata in that time. That the body of Ansbert emitted a flowery scent days after his death, and that red crosses were found on his arms, seems to be all it took to declare him a stigmatic.
It is Francis of Assisi (feast day Oct. 4) who is regarded as the first true recorded stigmatic. In 1226, during a 40-day fast in the wilderness atop Mount La Verna in the Apennines, Francis had a vision in which a six-winged angel appeared in crucified form bearing the wounds that Jesus suffered. When the angel departed, nail heads appeared on Francis’s hands and feet; a spear wound appeared on his side and began seeping blood. The eyewitness account concerning the details of the wounds is a harrowing read.
After Francis, stigmatics appeared from time to time. Some were easily identified as frauds; others were not so quickly dismissed. Catherine of Siena claimed to have accepted the stigmata but on the condition that it was only visible to her. It’s not clear who OK’d her request (might this be proof that one really can bargain with God?), nor does it appear to have been questioned by anyone!
Mainly a Catholic phenomenon, the most famous modern stigmatic is the Italian Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (feast day September 23). From the age of five, he knew he was destined for a life in the Church; 10 years later he joined a Capuchin community of monks as a novice. It was in 1918 that the stigmata appeared in Pio’s hands and feet. He was embarrassed by it, and often wore mittens to conceal the marks. He was besieged by the public begging for him to bestow a blessing on them. One can appreciate the awful burden, physical as well as emotional, that stigmatism places on those genuinely afflicted by this blessing (or curse?)
During his life, Pio consented to numerous examinations by the medical community hoping to determine what causes the stigmata. Their findings produced conflicting diagnoses. No matter what the verdict, it didn’t stop religious and non-religious critics accusing Pio of fakery, and of using carbolic acid to perpetuate the appearance of the wounds. In 1968, a few days before he died, Pio’s wounds mysteriously healed, a common occurrence in stigmatics, according to the Catholic Church.
Can stigmata be faked?
There are numerous cases of people whose false wounds were uncovered early on, or who managed to deceive people for decades only to reveal the truth in a deathbed confession. Such was the case of the Spanish Franciscan nun Magdalena de la Cruz who died in 1560. She hadn’t fooled Ignatius of Loyola., however. Though he never outed her during her lifetime, he apparently said he smelled a rat the moment he first set eyes on her.
The research into stigmatism is fascinating. For instance, did you know that 91% of stigmatics are female? Or that nuns routinely shield their fellow sisters who bear signs of stigmata for fear of bringing unwanted attention or the possibility of a damaged reputation upon their convent? In my novel A Flight of Saints, Mother Elena takes a very different attitude: Despite her doubts about Little Fey’s stigmata, she isn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth if it means improving St. Agatha’s coffers.
Another interesting piece of research reveals some of the medical causes for stigmata: Trauma, self-mutilation, anorexia nervosa, starvation, hysteria can all create conditions that manifest the appearance of stigmata. In 2016, a Samoan woman appeared to receive the stigmata while playing Jesus in a Good Friday re-enactment of the Crucifixion.
While researching my novel, I was struck by this passage attributed to U.S. psychologist Leonard Zusne. In his 1989 book Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking, Zusne delved into human behaviours to explain certain paranormal manifestations, such as stigmata:
Cases of stigmatism fall into two categories: self-inflicted wounds, which may be either cases of fraud or of unconscious self-infliction, and those that are caused by emotional states … Self-induced (through autosuggestion) itching and subsequent scratching of which the individual is unaware is likely to occur in suggestible persons if the stimulus is a mental or actual picture of the Crucifixion used during meditation and if the main motive is to receive the stigmata. The motive behind that may be unconscious conflict and a desire to escape from an intolerable situation …
The “intolerable situation” of parental abandonment weighs heavily on Little Fey. It’s something that, as is gradually revealed in the novel, similarly afflicts her companions in various ways as they trudge onward to Bingen.