STIGMATA

This is another post of some of the most ridiculous beliefs of the catholic church.

Stigmata is when a person has unexplained wounds on their body that match those that Jesus Christ supposedly had following his torture and death at the hands of the Jewish authorities and the Romans.
Sometimes the wounds show up in one or two of the reported areas - say hands and feet but in other 'cases' they have occurred in all five places that Christ was wounded. The wounds can be painful and are worse on holy days.

"Now I wonder how that happened"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Stigmata (singular stigma) is a term used by members of the Catholic faith to describe body marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, such as the hands, wrists, and feet. An individual bearing the wounds of Stigmata is referred to as a Stigmatist or a Stigmatic.
The term originates from the line at the end of Saint Paul's Letter to the Galatians where he says, "I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." Stigmata is the plural of the Greek word στίγμα stigma, meaning a mark, tattoo, or brand such as might have been used for identification of an animal or slave.
Stigmata are primarily associated with the Roman Catholic faith. Many reported stigmatics are members of Catholic religious orders. St. Francis of Assisi was the first recorded stigmatic in Christian history. For over fifty years, St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin reported stigmata which were studied by several 20th-century physicians.
A high percentage (perhaps over 80%) of all stigmatics are women. In his Stigmata: A Medieval Phenomenon in a Modern Age, Ted Harrison suggests that there is no single mechanism whereby the marks of stigmata were produced. What is important is that the marks are recognised by others as of religious significance. There have been many cases of fraudulent stigmata."

Major take-out from this is the last sentence -

"There have been many cases of fraudulent stigmata."

Oh really?

Many of the stigmatists are women which isn't surprising when they are nuns locked up behind stone walls separated from family, children and loving relationships.

Sister Mary Fruitloop got a bit carried away with the knitting needles here.

Give us a break.