Dr. Jeremy Wasser

A central tenet of the Christian faith is that Jesus was crucified by the Romans and died on the cross at Golgotha. The art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance is replete with representations of Christ’s Passion prior to the crucifixion and of Christ crucified including works by unknown artists as well as masterpieces by many of the great Renaissance painters from both southern and northern Europe. The imagery is ubiquitous and often quite graphic and sanguinary. This attests to the importance of this transformative event in the life of Christ; his death followed three days later by his resurrection. These beliefs are the essence of the Holy Week celebration culminating in the remembrance of the crucifixion on Good Friday and the Resurrection itself on Easter Sunday.
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The Gospels describe five specific wounds that Jesus suffered during his crucifixion. Known as the Five Holy Wounds or the Five Precious Wounds these are the nail holes in his hands and feet and the wound in his side, as legend has it, pierced by the spear of the Roman soldier, Longinus. Jesus suffered additional injuries during the Passion including the laceration of his forehead and scalp by the Crown of Thorns. All these wounds are collectively referred to as “stigmata”, from the Greek word “stigma” (στίγμα) originally indicating a mark on the skin or a brand. In the 2000 years since the crucifixion of Jesus, some 300 people have been reported to have spontaneously manifested on their bodies some or all of Jesus’ wounds. The first and most famous of these “stigmatics” was St. Francis of Assisi, who manifested the stigmata in September 1223 while praying at La Verna on Mount Penna in Tuscany.
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So, what are we in the 21st century to make of the phenomenon of stigmata? Is it solely a miracle bestowed on individuals with a special relationship to God and thus a sign of divine grace? Or are there, at least in some instances, medical explanations, either somatic or psychosomatic, for the appearance of these wounds?
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In this webinar I will first review the Roman practice of crucifixion at the time of Christ. What do we know of the Roman system of execution and what might this tell us about the crucifixion of Jesus himself? I will then discuss the cases of selected stigmatics beginning with St. Francis and including the famous 19th century stigmatics, Louise Lateau of Belgium and Therese Neumann of Germany. Finally, I will address the case of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina perhaps the most famous of the stigmatics of the 20th century. I will make abundant use of artistic representations of the crucified Christ and of St. Francis as well as modern medical images illustrating the potential differential diagnoses of people showing the wounds. What insights can science provide regarding these claims? Can we, in the end, separate the miraculous from the medical?