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Five Holy Wounds -

The Five Holy Wounds are the five piercing wounds that Jesus Christ suffered during his crucifixion—one through each hand or wrist, one through each foot, and one to the side of the chest.

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Hands or wrists -

Two nails pierced the hands to fix Jesus to the cross-beam of the cross on which he was crucified, very likely driven through by a Roman centurion using a hammer.

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Feet -

Similarly, two nails were hammered through the feet where they passed through both to meet the vertical beam. Interestingly, in 2020, two corroded Roman-era iron nails that some have suggested pinned Jesus to the cross were rediscovered in a box delivered to Tel Aviv University in Israel in 1986, according to the journal Archaeological Discovery.

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Chest -

The final wound was in the side of Jesus' chest where, according to the New Testament, his body was pierced by the Lance of Longinus—the so-called Holy Spear—in order to be sure that he was dead.

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What is stigmata? -

The appearance on the human body of marks or actual wounds like those Christ received during the Crucifixion is known as stigmata. A person who bears stigmata is known as a stigmatic.

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St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) -

St. Francis of Assisi was the first recorded stigmatic. On September 14, 1224, while he was praying on Mounte La Verna in Tuscany during a 40-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas, Francis is said to have had a vision, the result of which he received the stigmata.

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Padre Pio (1887–1968) -

One of the most noted stigmatics was Padre Pio, a Capuchin monk who received the stigmata around 1911. He became famous for exhibiting the marks on his hands (pictured) and bearing similar blemishes on his feet and the sides of his body. Pio was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

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Stigmata stifled -

Interestingly, when the Vatican canonized Padre Pio in 2002, it deliberately avoided mentioning his famous physical features: the stigmata, or "wounds of Christ," that appeared on his hands and left side. At the personal request of Pope Francis, the remains of Padre Pio and that of St Leopold Mandić were displayed in St Peter's basilica in February 2016 in the Vatican (pictured).

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Therese Neumann (1898–1962) -

German Catholic Therese Neumann was a controversial stigmatic. She first reported marks on her chest after claiming to have seen a vision of Christ at the Mount of Olives. The wounds stayed with her until her death in 1962, though never convincingly in the presence of scientific observers.

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Mary Frances of the Five Wounds (1715 –1791) -

Born Anna Maria Gallo in Naples into a family abused by a violent father, Mary Frances became a Franciscan tertiary at the age of 16. At age 38 she experienced visions, including of St. Raphael the Archangel, who cured some of her physical afflictions. She later received stigmata, but wore gloves to cover the marks on her hands. She later became a prophetess, and in 1867 was canonized by Pope Pius IX.

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St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) -

Polish Roman Catholic nun and mystic St. Faustina Kowalska claimed throughout her life of having visions of Jesus and conversations with him. The famous 'Image of the Divine Mercy' is a depiction of Jesus Christ that is based on the devotion initiated by Faustina Kowalska. She was apparently visited by stigmata but, like her extraordinary union with God, hid it within herself.  Image: Marians of the Immaculate Conception

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St. Veronica Giuliani (1660–1727) -

Veronica Giuliani was an Italian Capuchin Poor Clares nun and mystic. She began to experience the wounds of the Crown of Thorns in 1694 and the five wounds of Christ just three years later. However, she was humiliated by the stigmata itself and by her bishop's rigorous testing of her experience.

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Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824) -

A few years after joining the Augustinian Order, Anne Catherine Emmerich, who was born in Flamschen, Germany, ended up bedridden for much of her life. In 1813, stigmata began to appear on Emmerich's body. The bleeding stopped five years later, but left a scar on her breastbone in the unusual shape of a "Y" similar in pattern to a cross in a nearby church.

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St. Gemma Galgani (1878–1903) -

Sickness ran rife through the Galgani family and when she was 16, Gemma Galgani developed spinal meningitis. She attributed her miraculous cure to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the intercession of Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. At the age of 21, she began to show signs of the stigmata. A number of skeptical physicians, however, concluded the phenomenon was self-inflicted. Gemma Galgani died of tuberculosis on Holy Saturday 1903, and was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1940.   Image: Philippe Plet

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St. Catherine de' Ricci (1522–1590) -

As a child, Florence-born Alessandra Lucrezia Romola de' Ricci demonstrated great devotion to the church. By the age of six, she had been placed in a convent by her father. Later, it is claimed that de' Ricci's meditation on the Passion of Christ was so deep that she spontaneously bled. She also bore the stigmata, with wounds on her hands, feet, and head, depicting the crucifixion. De' Ricci, who in 1535 had taken the religious name of Catherine, was beatified by Pope Clement XII in 1732, and canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746. 

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Marie Rose Ferron (1902–1936) -

Originally hailing from Quebec in Canada, Marie Rose Ferron moved with her family to the United States at age four. By six it is claimed she had her first vision of Jesus. At age 13, Ferron was stricken with a mysterious paralysis and painful contraction of the muscles, and she had to remain on crutches for nearly 12 years. By 1927, she was being regularly visited by stigmata. Many people, including members of her own family, thought her wounds were faked and that her pain was a hoax. The jury is still out on whether she was a clever fraud, but that hasn't stopped Marie Rose Ferron being declared the first American stigmatist. Image: Catholic Web

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Mariam Thresia Chiramel (1876–1926) -

The first saint from India with stigmata was nun Mariam Thresia Chiramel. Born Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan in the village of Puthenchira in Kerala, Chiramel is said to have received the stigmata as early as 1905, but she hid any visible signs from public view. Pope John Paul II beatified the late nun on April 9, 2000; she was canonized on October 13, 2019 by Pope Francis.

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Marguerite Bays (1815–1879) -

Swiss-born seamstress Marguerite Bays lived a simple life as a Franciscan nun until she was visited by stigmata around 1854, feeling the intense pain of Christ once a week and noticing red blotches appear on her hands as well as on her feet and at her chest. Her symptoms worsened and for the next 25 years Bays was in more or less constant pain. She was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paull II and canonized by Pope Francis in 2019.

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Rita of Cascia (1381–1457) -

Augustinian nun Rita of Cascia is especially known for a bleeding wound on her forehead, which is understood to indicate a partial stigmata. It appeared when she was about 60 years old, apparently caused by a thorn from the crown that encircled Christ's head that had loosened itself and penetrated her own flesh. She was canonized in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII.

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Teresa Helena Higginson (1844–1905) -

Teresa Helena Higginson, pictured here in 1875 by an unknown photographer, was a British Roman Catholic mystic. During her time as a schoolteacher, Higginson's hands and feet started to bleed. Her saintly demure vanished, however, when she fell into extended prayer trances and would violently re-enact scenes in the Station of the Cross. After her death she was briefly considered a possible candidate for canonization.

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Marthe Robin (1902–1981) -

French Roman Catholic mystic Marthe Robin was a sick child. At one year old she contracted typhoid. In 1918, she fell into a coma that lasted four days and left her partially paralyzed. Practically bedridden, her stigmata first appeared in late 1930 and she thereafter relived the Passion of Christ every Friday, until her death in 1981.

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Catherine of Siena (1347–1380) -

Dominican tertiary, mystic, and one of the patron saints of Italy, Catherine of Siena, born Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa, devoted herself to God from an early age and eventually became one of the outstanding figures of medieval Catholicism. It was in Pisa, in 1375, that she received the stigmata, though she kept the bodily marks largely hidden from public view.

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Alexandrina Maria da Costa (1904–1955) -

Portuguese mystic Alexandrina Maria da Costa, known as Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar, was paralyzed at 14 after leaping from her bedroom window to escape a sexual assault. In 1938, immobile and bedridden, she began experiencing visions of Christ, visitations that were later accompanied by hidden stigmata. Her obvious psychological problems notwithstanding, her faith led to her beatification in 2004.

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Louise Lateau (1850–1853) -

Belgian mystic Louise Lateau gained notoriety in the 1860s for her esoteric trances witnessed by numerous physicians, members of the clergy, and visitors to her house at Bois-d'Haine (pictured). In 1868, blood began to flow from her left side and feet. It then started flowing from both hands. The wounds reappeared without apparent cause every Friday (at any other time she led a normal, pain-free existence) until her death in 1883.

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Natuzza Evolo (1924–2009) -

Natuzza Evolo was an Italian Catholic mystic said to have evidenced stigmata after witnessing a series of visions of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints. The appearance on her body of blood-colored images and words around the time of Easter caused her great psychological and physical pain. Evolo was practically illiterate, so the presence of these words, some found to be in Hebrew and Aramaic, lent credence to her claims of stigmata. When she died, death notices pasted up in the town of Paravati di Mileto declared her a "Servant of God."

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Magdalena de la Cruz (1487–1560) -

Stigmata has often been debunked as trickery, and fraud certainly figures in some cases. Magdalena de la Cruz, a 16th-century Franciscan nun of Córdoba in Spain, for many years was honored as a living saint. Indeed, her frequent self-mortification and spectacular wounds made her a favorite at court. She was eventually dismissed as a fake, however, and spectacularly confessed that her stigmata and claims of performing miracles were phony and deceitful.

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Johann Jetzer (1483–1515) -

A member of the Dominican order in Bern, Johann Jetzer claimed to be haunted by spirits and apparitions, assertions he backed up by revealing the "wounds of Christ" on his body. But in 1507 he confessed that his stigmata were fake. He escaped execution after managing to break out from jail dressed as a woman, wearing clothes smuggled in by his mother.

Sources: (The Guardian) (Archaeological Discovery) (New World Encyclopedia) (New Liturgical Movement) (Smithsonian Magazine) (The Divine Mercy) (Mystics of the Church) (Vatican)   

See also: History's most notorious lies, hoaxes, and deceptions

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