Here are some fun “facts” about stigmata. Facts, of course, is in quotation marks because this is all highly open to interpretation.

1. Stigmata are known to occur not only in the hands & feet, but also the spear wound suffered by Jesus in the side. In addition to that, others have experienced wounds on their head from the crown of thorns, and lashes on their back from the whip.
2. It’s claimed that the blood flowing from stigmata wounds is sometimes of a different blood type than the person who is suffering them.
3. The wounds of the stigmatist are often seen to correlate with how they are depicted on the crucifix which the person owns.
4. There are supposedly no canonical Gospel mentions of wounds in Jesus’s feet.
5. Historically, Romans didn’t crucify people with nails through their hands, because the bones in the hands are not strong enough to support the weight of a body. Nails, if used at all, were generally put through the wrist. Otherwise, the person was tied to the cross.
6. Some stigmatists have been exposed as frauds, some of whom are believed to have Munchausen Syndrome - wherein you fake symptoms of a serious illness for attention.
7. Stigmata may be visible wounds, or else they may be termed “invisible” where the person doesn’t display the wounds, but is said to experience the pain and suffering associated with them.
8. The first recorded case of stigmata was Stephen Langton of England in 1222, and then St. Francis of Assisi two years later in Italy.
9. St. Francis (and others) were said to have had weird “nails” which developed in the wounds. People generally say these were flesh which had become hard, black in color and shaped like nails, and which went all the way through the wound.
10. The wounds of stigmatists are supposedly not curable by doctors. Also, unlike normal wounds, they do not produce a foul odor from infection. Some stigmata are even said to emit a flowery odor.
11. There are medically reported cases of non-religious stigmata in the emotionally disturbed. These are called psychogenic purpuras and are generally unexplained painful bruising and even sometimes bleeding through totally intact skin.
12. There have also been cases reported of Muslim stigmatists who receive wounds which correlate to those received by Muhammad in battle.

Obviously, most non-religious sources on this topic are super skeptical. They cite one or several of the points described above as proof that there’s nothing miraculous going on here. One of the big ones is the thing about the nails going through the hands vs. the wrists. For me, this doesn’t really ruin it at all. While I’m sure there are frauds who have inflicted stigmatic wounds through artificial means, I don’t doubt for a second the power of the mind to create these wounds in people. If you spent all your time pondering the wounds of Christ, and you were really fucking devoted to it, I can personally believe that you would start to psychosomatically exhibit similar attributes. Does that mean it’s not a miracle, if it’s caused by the imagination? Hardly! What could be more miraculous than the powers of the human mind and heart to create and modify reality?

For further research, here are a variety of useful resources about stigmata:

1. Wikipedia on stigmata
2. Skeptic’s Dictionary on stigmata
3. Catholic Encyclopedia on stigmata
4. An article on Padre Pio, a 20th century stigmatist, on Fortean Times
5. Stigmata on Crystal Links
6. Stigmata on the Straight Dope

For more religious mysteries of this sort, also check out my posts on:

1. Marian Apparitions at Fatima
2. Incorruptible Bodies of Saints
3. Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano