Comments on: not stick

not stick

four panels — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 18:32:02 -0800

Stigmata fraud. A mostly skeptical look.

By: LittleMissCranky

LittleMissCranky — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 19:15:14 -0800

And what St Francesca Romana did, I find I am not able to write down. Well, that's just kind of a tease, isn't it?

By: skallas

skallas — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 20:00:09 -0800

I think its fairly safe to say stigmata (when not an outright fraud/self-inflicted) is nothing more than an extreme case of a psychosomatic illness. Its not that crazy, until recently doctors and dentists would use hypnosis to control pain and blood flow. The mind body connection is quite real. Your culture/environment dictates what weird experiences you'll have. Even then exteme psychosomatic events are very, very rare. Nice write up at the skepdic here.

By: notme

notme — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 20:30:53 -0800

From page 2 of the first link: Many stigmatics seem--also like St. Francis--to have had an early life that might be characterized as notably "worldly," before coming to believe they had been called to serve Cod. Now that is my kind of religion. Fish-based.

By: quasistoic

quasistoic — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:36:45 -0800

Many stigmatics seem--also like St. Francis--to have had an early life that might be characterized as notably "worldly," before coming to believe they had been called to serve Cod. Being a waiter in a seafood restaurant is a noble calling indeed, and I've been characterized as "worldly" plenty of times. These scars on my hands will never go away.