von Neumann

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Therese Neumann
German stigmatic

Therese Neumann
Born: 1898 Germany
Died: September 18, 1962 (aged 64) Germany

At the age of 20 Neumann underwent a severe nervous shock after the outbreak of a fire and later suffered from hysterical paralysis, blindness, and gastric troubles for several years. In 1926 a blood-coloured serum began to ooze from her eyes, and during Lent of the same year the stigmata (wounds resembling those of Christ in hands, feet, and side) appeared. Throughout the next 30 years these continued to bleed on many Fridays, especially during the last two weeks of Lent, and were accompanied by trances and other striking phenomena that attracted many visitors. Following her stigmatization, Therese claimed to live without food or drink, being sustained only by Holy Communion. At the request of her bishop she was subjected to a fortnight’s investigation in 1927. Later the church authorities recognized this to have been inconclusive, as hysterical subjects are known to be able to sustain a complete fast for more than three weeks; in 1932 and 1937 she was requested to submit to another examination but refused, alleging that her father forbade her to do so. Hence her bishop issued no more permits for visits to her, which nevertheless reached a new peak in the years after World War II, when U.S. soldiers and others came to Konnersreuth in large numbers. After 1950 the Passion ecstasies became much less frequent, though she continued to be visited by thousands each year until her death. The controversy about the supernatural or purely neurotic origin of the phenomena continues.

Key People: St. Francis of Assisi Blessed Anna Katharina Emmerick Therese Neumann Padre Pio Saint Catherine
stigmata, singular stigma, in Christian mysticism, bodily marks, scars, or pains corresponding to those of the crucified Jesus Christ—that is, on the hands, on the feet, near the heart, and sometimes on the head (from the crown of thorns) or shoulders and back (from carrying the cross and scourging). They are often presumed to accompany religious ecstasy. A stigmatic person may temporarily or permanently have one or more of these wound marks, which may be visible or invisible to others. According to the Roman Catholic Church, the presence of stigmata is a sign of mystical union with the suffering of Christ, and a genuine stigmatic must have lived a life of heroic virtue.

The first example of the alleged miraculous infliction of stigmata occurred in St. Francis of Assisi. While in his cell on Mount Alverno in 1224, pondering on the sufferings of Christ, Francis was purportedly visited by a seraph who produced upon his body the five wounds of Christ. Pope Alexander IV and others attested that they had seen these marks both before and after Francis’s death. The divinely attested sanctity of its founder gave to the newly established order of Franciscans a powerful impulse.

In the next century the same alleged wonder occurred to a Dominican sister, Catherine Benincasa, better known as St. Catherine of Siena. Her biographer implied that she was subject to hystero-epileptic attacks, during one of which, at the age of 23, she received her first stigma. From the 14th to the 20th century, more than 300 persons were identified as having been stigmatized; more than 60 were declared saints or the blessed in the Roman Catholic Church. Famous among these are St. Padre Pio, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Rita of Cascia, and Therese Neumann.