Franciscan Feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis

Collect for the Feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis:
Almighty God, you renewed the marks of the sufferings of your Son in the body of our holy Father Francis in order to inflame our hearts with the fire of your love. Through his prayers may we be conformable to the death of your Son and thus share also in his resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

Reading for the Stigmata of Saint Francis

From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

The Catholic world had never imagined, much less seen, anyone marked literally with the wounds of Jesus. The Catholic memory carried many stories of martyrs; with rare exception all of the saints were martyred. Up till the thirteenth century there was no other way to be recognized as a real saint. But no one supposed saints would be marked with wounds on their hands, feet, and side as Jesus had been. 

When Francis received the wounds, following an extraordinary vision, he allowed no one to see them. Only a friar who acted as his personal nurse could cleanse, treat, or bind the wounds that persisted and refused to heal. He could not walk with the wounds in his feet and so he was carried about on a stretcher. Only after he died did the world discover his secret. 

But he was soon buried and his body hidden, and prelates argued whether the stories could be true. How was it possible that this man -- although he was recognized as a saint even before he died -- would be marked with the wounds of Jesus? What precedents were there? Which other saint or martyr had ever been singled out like that? 

Since then innumerable stigmatics, including Saint Pius of Pietrelcina ("Padre Pio") carried similar wounds. Some were marked for life; others, only temporarily. Some were severe; others, less so. And some described invisible stigmata. Skeptics still argue about it. Some posit a disease like leprosy, a nervous or psychosomatic disorder, or self-inflicted fake. But medieval believers were no more credulous than we are today. I prefer to be amazed with my ancestors, and I respect their intelligence and integrity as I hope they respect mine. 

Medieval scripture scholars found a precedent in Saint Paul's Letter to the Galatians. They supposed that Saint Paul was boasting of the same physical wounds on his hands, feet, and side: "...for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body." 

Saint Francis's stigmata are similar to the scars, disfigurements, and traumas of people everywhere. The main difference is their nature as a most extraordinary gift. Everyone is familiar with scars and many people have lost fingers, toes, and limbs to severe injuries; not to mention the long term effects of psychic injuries. A momentary incident can persist in the form of trauma, and millions of people describe their psychic and spiritual wounds. Doctors call it post-traumatic stress disorder. These wounded people also bear the wound marks in their minds and sometimes, like Saint Paul, boast of them. 

Francis's stigmata remind us of the Lord's insistence that his disciples must take up their cross and follow in his footsteps; and few attain the age of forty without some physical, psychic, and spiritual wounds. We too bear the brand marks of Jesus though we might be more ashamed than proud of them. We learn to share these painful memories and recognize them as the indelible signs of our human frailty. No one must have, or needs to have, a beautiful body, mind, or spirit. If we live the Imitation of Christ, we share with him the disappointment, sorrow, and persistent hurt of all humankind. 

And we are modestly grateful for them. We need not boast of them, except perhaps when someone insinuates that we have never suffered as they have. Even then, we might let it go as not pertinent. (What parent has not heard their teens complain that they were "never in love like I am," and "never suffered as I do?") 

Franciscans boast of the unprecedented stigmata of Saint Francis. Saint Bonaventure believed they were divine proof of his holiness, a "seal of approval" from God. The Assisi's body had been impressed as hot wax on a sealed document is impressed by a signet ring. 

And finally, we remember that Jesus suffered with us. Before Saint Francis, crucifixes did not depict a suffering or dead Messiah. The Poverello taught us to recognize Jesus as a man like us in all things but sin. As Isaiah had predicted, 

...it was our pain that he bore,

our sufferings he endured.

We thought of him as stricken,

struck down by God and afflicted,d

But he was pierced for our sins,

crushed for our iniquity.

He bore the punishment that makes us whole,

by his wounds we were healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)