The Stigmata

There have been 321 cases of authentic stigmatization recorded. A stigmatist is one who by his close relation to the Crucified Jesus partakes visibly or invisibly of His Sacred Wounds. St. Francis of Assisi was the first stigmatist (though some theologians think St. Paul the Apostle bore Christ’s wounds). Padre Pio, who died in 1968, was the first priest to have the stigmata. No Protestant has ever received this mark of Christ’s love.