What It Really Means To Have Stigmata

According to the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion all four Gospel accounts(via KJV Bible Online), Jesus likely experienced six specific wounds during the event. Consistent with most crucifixion victims, nails were driven into each of his two hands, or possibly his wrists or even forearms, fastening him to a cross. Nails were also driven into each

According to the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion all four Gospel accounts (via KJV Bible Online), Jesus likely experienced six specific wounds during the event. Consistent with most crucifixion victims, nails were driven into each of his two hands, or possibly his wrists or even forearms, fastening him to a cross. Nails were also driven into each of his two feet (whether the same nail was driven though both feet, or if there was a nail for each foot, is lost to history); and, according to John's account, after he died, a Roman soldier pierced Jesus' side with a spear, from which blood and water flowed. Earlier in the account, Jesus was given a crown of thorns in an act of mockery, and that would have also likely wounded him on his head.

As Kenyon University explains, a stigmatic — a person who claims to be experiencing stigmata — claims to experience suffering from those identical wounds of Jesus on themselves, such as a searing pain. Others experience visual manifestations of these wounds, such as bleeding from where Christ would have been injured.

Stigmatics don't consider any of this a bad thing, according to Live Science. "Stigmatics ... do not see their affliction as a terrifying menace but instead as a miraculous blessing — a sign that they have been specially chosen by God to suffer the same wounds his son did," writes Benjamin Radford.

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