Part 1
             INCREDULOUS PHENOMENON OF THE STIGMATA

          Supernatural phenomenon are hard to accept by the
majority of our population.  This even includes many Christians. Typically if it
something cannot be explained through science, it is frequently considered bogus
or fraudulent.

     It is even easy for Christians to forget that God spoke the whole universe
into existence; that God continues to hold it in existence.

     God can do anything he so chooses. Since he made the laws of nature, he can
supersede them with the miraculous.  History leaves, for us, a path strewn with many
of these supernatural phenomenon. Let's explore the phenomenon of Stigmata.

     Stigmata is an affliction of a select and Godly human who suffers and
bleeds from the same wounds as Christ did...the Jesus who purchased salvation
for us.  Remember what Paul said? "The preaching of the cross of Christ is foolishness
to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved; it is the power of God."
For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the
intelligent I will frustrate." (1Cor 1:18-19)

     Those who believe in "Scripture alone" seem to forget two more
scriptures:  "Now I (Paul) rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my
flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body,
which is the church." (Col. 1:24)  "Now if we are (God's) children, then we are
heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his suffering..."
(Rom. 8:17 NIV)

    The Incredulous Phenomenon of the Stigmata...Part 2

     Dr. Imbert Gourbeyre, a Paris doctor, researched and compiled a two volume
work which says that (up to that date of 1894) there were 321 historically recorded stigmatists. (Stigmata is no fluke or aberration of history.) The Catholic church had at that
point only canonized (officially declared as saints) 62 of them.  This might suggest that
stigmatist's  claims were bogus or exaggerated.  This is simply not true.  
 
     When the Catholic Church declares someone a saint they must meet stringent standards. They must have a life of superior holiness and have a least one miracle which is attributed to them alone. Rigorous criteria are applied.

     A "devil's advocate" is appointed to destroy any claims that are not "air tight",incontrovertible and "bullet proof". The problem is that the process is slow,
usually lasting decades and even centuries. Witnesses and proof data are lost, so no
canonization takes place.
 
     (Incidentally only 1% of the 10,000 deceased religious were declared canonized saints,
 versus 20% for stigmatists.)  The typical pattern for a stigmatist is one of preliminary suffering, and as Archbishop Teodorowicz says, "a period of purgation".  This is
believed to be a  test that proves their "worthiness" to carry the moniker of "stigmatist".

     They must be tried in the crucible of suffering.  Can they stand steadfast... with
a relentless and intense suffering? Many are afflicted with painful diseases before they
actually receive the stigmata.

     I do not have space nor time to give more than some highlights which will hopefully
persuade you of the stigmatist's legitimacy.

     Fr. Herbert Thurston, a modern investigator of stigmatist
Theresa Neumann (who died in 1962), says this: "No power of auto-suggestion, no abnormal pathologic conditions, could enable a contemplative to evolve from the
flesh of his hands and feet four horny excrescences in the form of nails piercing his extremities and clinched at the back.  Such a manifestation if it occurs, must surely
be held miraculous."

     This comment was made because both Theresa and Francis of Assisi had nail like
projection from the flesh of their hands and endured excruciating suffering and bleeding
like Christ from these sources on Fridays. In the case of St. Francis this was attested to
by: Celano, St. Boniventure, and Pope Alexander IV in 1255 AD.

     Two modern stigmatists, Padre Pio and Theresa Neumann, have further
documentation in the form of photographs of their wounds. In addition, Physicians have
examined and documented their findings. The wounds were very  painful and bleed
regularly.

     Regarding the wounds of St. Frances Francesca delle Cinque Piage, her confessor
Don Nitti said this: "I've seen them, I have touched them and to say the truth I, as the
apostle Thomas did, have put my finger into the wounds of her hands and I have seen
the hole extend right through, for, in inserting my first finger into the wound, it met the
thumb which I held underneath on the other side of the hand." (Modern day Padre Pio
also had these kind of through and through wounds.)

     Pascal P. Parente says about Padre Pio:  "The Provincial Superior examined the
wounds immediately after their appearance and said that, looking through the wounds
in the palms of Padre Pio hands, one would have been able to see in all its detail a piece
of writing or another object placed on the opposite side of his hands...the wounds in his
feet  show the same characteristics...the wound in his side is about two and three quarter
inches long and has the shape of an inverted cross, such as a cut by a lance would have
caused.  These wounds have persisted unchanged now for thirty five years."

     Dr. Romanelli, after five exhaustive examinations of Padre Pio and his wounds,
reported this about the wounds of the feet:  "The lesions on the feet present the same
characteristics of those of the hands but on account of the thickness of the feet I have
not been able to make the same experiment as with the hands". (i.e. to make my fingers
meet in the middle of the wound)  He further adds that the contact of the fingers causes
intense pain in the wounds".

   He continues:  "The wound of the side is a clear cut parallel to the ribs, seven to eight
centimeters long, but of a depth difficult to ascertain.  It bleeds abundantly..."

     The doctors and foregoing researchers have investigated the stigmatists and concluded
that "miraculous" is the only plausible explanation.  Not only these doctors and the saints
herein listed, but also numerous other "saints" and doctors have testified over the centuries
of the bona fida validity of the stigmata.

     These phenomenon are considered miraculous, as they have no satisfactory scientific explanation!...Denis Van Loan


     For a more comprehensive study of this phenomenon of "stigmata", I refer you to two
references. Most of the preceding information was taken from the first source.   
    THE STIGMATA AND MODERN SCIENCE by Rev. Charles M. Carty
    Produced by: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc ...Copyright 1974
              P.O. Box 424, Rockford, Illinois

    WHO IS PADRE PIO by Radio Replies