STIGMATIZATION, derived from the Greek word stigma, a puncture, the name ap plied by Roman Catholic writers to the im pression on certain individuals of the °stig mata," or marks of the wounds which Christ suffered during the course of His Passion. In the early days many Christians branded the name of Christ on their foreheads, and various voluntary mutilations for Christ's sake were practised by enthusiasts. The stigmata comprise not only the wounds of the hands and feet, and that of the side, received in the crucifixion, but also those impressed by the crown of thorns and by the scourging. The most remarkable example of stigmatization is that narrated of Saint Francis of Assisi and occurring in 1224, on the mountain of Alverno. Being absorbed in rapturous contemplation of the Passion of Christ, he saw a seraph with six shining wings, blazing with fire, and having between his wings the figure of a man crucified, descend from heaven and approach him, so as to be almost in contact. After a time the vision disappeared, leaving the soul of Francis filled with reverence and awe. And now he became aware that in hands, feet and side he had received externally the marks of cruicifixion. These mysterious marks continued during the two years until his death, and are declared by the saint's biograph ers to have been seen by many eye-witnesses, including Pope Alexander IV.
The Dominicans openly disputed the fact, but at length made the same claim for Catharine of Sienna, whose stigmata were explained as at her own request made invisible to others. The Franciscans appealed to Sixtus IV, and that pope, himself a Franciscan, forbade representa tions of Saint Catherine to be made with the stigmata. Still the fact is recorded in the
breviary office, and Benedict XIII granted the Dominicans a special feast in commemoration of it. Many others, especially women, are enumerated as having received all or some of the stigmata. Among these is Saint Veronica Giuliani, who is said to have received in 1694 first the marks of the crown of thorns, and afterward those of the crucifixion. More re cent cases are those of Anna Katherina Em merich (1774-1824), who became a nun at Ag netcnberg; Maria von Mori of Caldaro (1839) k Louis Lateau (1850-83, in 1868), whose stigmata were stated to bleed every Friday; and Mrs. Girling (1827-86, about Christmas 1864), of the New Forest Shaker community. Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, in his work Stigmatisies) (1873), enumerates 145 persons, of whom but 20 were men, as hav ing received the stigmata, and of these 80 lived before the 17th century. By 1894 he had col lected 321 examples of stigmatization. Apart altogether from the question of the value of the evidence offered, we may reasonably conclude that some kind of stigmatization is a pathologi cal condition of occasional occurrence. The Roman Catholic Church is extremely cautious in giving credence to cases of stigmatization as genuinely supernatural and Theodor Schwann, a professed Catholic professor at Louvain and a noted biologist, who carefully looked into the subject, refused to admit for stigmatization other than a perfectly natural character. See STIGMATA.