May 23rd 2012

To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming.
-English Proverb  

 

We finished looking at Padre Pio today, and then we had a look at Saint Therese Neuman who was also a stigmatist, although she seemed to have a much worse time of it. There are some graphic pictures of her stigmata. She literally seems to have experienced the Passion, at one point bleeding from her eyes. The kids were fascinated with stigmate. What I find fascinating is just how random their occurrences are. There is no telling who will get them, how long they will stay, what their severity is, and how much pain is associated with them. Currently, there is a reputed stigmatist residing in Ontario, but there is some indication thatshe may be a fake. Padre Pio is, in fact, the last genuinely considered stigmatist to be acknowledged by the Church.