Does anyone have stigmata now

Footage of her at the church broadcast on television shows what appears to be blood running down her arms, and later emerging from her side.

In a subsequent television interview with TV1 Samoa, she claimed to be spontaneously bleeding while on camera. The station said it could not independently verify her claim. We are therefore undertaking our own investigations into the matter," said general secretary Afereti Uili, who added that the church would release a statement later. Her story has been greeted with both scepticism and joy in Samoa.

He was quoted in the Samoa Observer newspaper as saying: "We should be happy about these events Others, however, have accused her of manufacturing a hoax. Those are inflicted wounds. Padre Pio was said to have been able to fly, and also to bilocate to be in two places at once ; his stigmata was allegedly accompanied by a miraculous perfume; the Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty, in his biography of the saint, noted that it smelled of "violets, lilies, roses, incense, or even fresh tobacco," and "whenever anyone notices the perfume it is a sign that God bestows some grace through the intercession of Padre Pio.

Journalist Sergio Lizzatto, in his book " Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age " explains the social context in which Padre Pio's stigmata emerged: "In the first years of the twentieth century, when Padre Pio was a seminarian, the Eucharist — the body and blood of Christ — was at the height of its importance in Catholic practice.

Communion was celebrated frequently and became a mass phenomenon. At the same time, asceticism was interpreted in ever more physical terms. Body language — ecstasy, levitation, the stigmata — was held to be the only real mystical language.

Pio's stigmata appeared, Lizzatto argues, because that's exactly what the church and its followers expected to appear in its most devout servants: Jesus' real, physical torment visited upon the holiest of men.

Though Padre Pio was widely beloved, many weren't convinced that the friar's wounds were supernatural. Among the skeptics were two popes and the founder of Milan's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Agostino Gemelli, who examined Padre Pio and concluded that the stigmatic was a "self-mutilating psychopath.

There have been about stigmatics since then, and about 25 remain bleeding today. Most are women and virtually all are Catholic. Wounds appear most commonly on the hands and feet, but also on the sides of the body - where Jesus was speared while on the cross - and on the forehead, representing the crown of thorns. Most stigmatics bleed little, though some squeeze out up to a pint at a time.

The personality profile of the typical stigmatic is not a happy one. From then on, Therese forced herself to be active as much as her limitations would permit her, but her efforts resulted in more accidents and injuries, and by Therese was not only bedridden but totally blind. Unable to move and ridden with bedsores that exposed bone, Therese turned to God. On the day of the beatification ceremonies for the Carmelite nun Therese of Lisieux, Therese Nuemann found that her sight was completely restored.

Two years later, as Therese of Lisieux was canonized, she was visited by an apparition of the saint that told her she would walk again. In , she first received the stigmata, but refused to tell anyone out of fear. Over the next several days the wounds worsened, and while the accompanying visions of the last days of Christ left Therese in a state of divine ecstasy, she was also at death's door.

After last rites were given, she miraculously returned to a normal state and from then on, the stigmata would appear on Therese every week for two days. She was told in a vision to abstain from food and drink, and from to her death in , Therese took no nourishment with the exception of the Holy Eucharist. The process for the beatification and canonization for Therese Neumann was officially opened in Perhaps the most well known of stigmatics, Padre Pio had visions from the age of five and from an early age dedicated his life to the Lord.

He became a Franciscan in , and a few years later he became a fully ordained priest. In , Padre Pio had a vision in which he saw himself pierced with a lance. The lance wound remained with him, and a month later he was also bleeding from the palms of his hands and feet. Pio was stigmatic for approximately 50 years. He lost about a cup of blood daily, but the wounds never closed or became infected; instead of the smell of blood, the wounds always emitted a sweet odor. Over the years, it has been rumored that Padre Pio caused the wounds himself with carbolic acid, as evidenced by his request for the liquid in a document found in the Vatican's archive.

Frances of Assisi is the first recorded stigmatic in Christian history. A wealthy and wild young man who was not necessarily pious, Francis devoted his life to God after a couple of brushes with death. In , Francis went to a mountain retreat to celebrate the Assumption and fast for 40 days.

It was there that he had his first vision. Shortly after that, the stigmata appeared.