STIGMATA: On September 17, Franciscans celebrate the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi, to recall Francis's body being wondrously marked with the wounds of Christ. The Chapel of the Stigmata at the Franciscan Sanctuary of La Verna in Tuscany, Italy, is perched on the edge of the same sheer precipice where St. Francis stood two years before his death and was swept up into the mystery of God’s overwhelming love for him and for humanity. He had made the journey in the summer of 1224 to a favorite hermitage on Mount Alverna in preparation for the feast day of St. Michael. His purpose was to go apart at this critical stage in his life with a few companions to observe the "Lent of St. Michael" — a forty-day retreat devoted to prayer and fasting from the Assumption to the feast of the Archangel. On one particular day, Francis had gone apart from the others to meditate more intently on the Passion of Christ when something happened.
St. Bonaventure, in his Life of St. Francis,
describes Francis as being more inflamed than usual with the love of God as he
began a special time of prayer: “His unquenchable fire of love for the good
Jesus,” Bonaventure writes, “was fanned into such a blaze of flames that so
many waters could not quench so powerful a love” (see Song of Songs 8:6–7).
Vision of a Seraph
Bonaventure goes on: “While Francis was praying on the
mountainside, he saw a Seraph with six fiery and shining wings descend from the
height of heaven. And when in swift flight the Seraph had reached a spot in the
air near the man of God, there appeared between the wings the figure of a man
crucified, with his hands and feet extended in the form of a cross and fastened
to a cross. Two of the wings were lifted above his head, two were extended for
flight, and two covered his whole body.”
“When Francis saw this, he was overwhelmed, and his heart
was flooded with a mixture of joy and sorrow. He rejoiced because of the
gracious way Christ looked upon him under the form of a Seraph, but the fact
that he was fastened to a cross pierced his soul with a sword of compassionate
sorrow.”
When the vision disappeared, writes Bonaventure, Francis was
left with a “marvelous ardor” in his heart. At the same time, there “was
imprinted on his body markings that were no less marvelous.” These markings were the stigmata, the wounds
of Christ crucified.
More about the Seraph
There are two things to dwell on here. First is the Seraph.
Seraphs are angels closest to God, burning with love as they bow before God,
shouting, “Holy, holy, holy!” Their fiery wings suggest the flaming intensity
of God’s love that Christ communicated to Francis, which, in turn, set Francis’
heart afire. The word seraphic is often used to describe Francis’ passionate
style of relating to God and is often applied to the Franciscan Order, which is
sometimes called the Seraphic Order.
Second, we focus on “the gracious way that Christ looked
upon him.” This is something of a repeat of the vision Francis had in the
beginning of his spiritual life in which “Jesus appeared to him fastened on a
cross. Francis’ soul melted at the sight, and the memory of Christ’s passion
was so impressed on the innermost recesses of his heart that from that hour
whenever Christ’s crucifixion came to mind, Francis could scarcely contain his
sighs…” (Bonaventure’s Life of St. Francis).
Suffering for Christ
In themselves, sickness and suffering are tragic and
senseless. But Christ has sanctified even the wounds of human nature. This
terrible scourge can be changed into a blessing by being united to the
sufferings of Christ. Many people feel that this sublime privilege does not
count for them. They are not good enough. Their sickness is not that important.
They believe it is a punishment. But Christ wants to take your individual
suffering and unite it to his.
Of all the statements about our continuing Christ’s life,
none is more astounding that this: “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for
your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24).
Francis received the highest proof of Christ’s love and need of him when his
body was literally put on a cross with Christ by the reality of the five wounds
of the stigmata.
The stigmata of St. Francis stands as a powerful reminder of
the transformative power of the Cross. It is a call to each of us to embrace
the suffering in our lives as a means of growing closer to Christ and to bear
witness to God’s love in the world. The wounds that Francis bore on his body
were not signs of defeat but of victory—victory through suffering, victory
through love.
As we reflect on this
profound event in the life of St. Francis, let us ask for his intercession,
that we might learn to embrace the Cross in our own lives with the same spirit
of humility, joy, and love. May we, too, become living witnesses of Christ
crucified, bringing the light of Christ to a world in need of healing and hope.
Through the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, may we be granted the grace
to live more fully in the spirit of the Cross, finding in it not only the
source of our redemption but the path to eternal glory. Amen.
Mostly by
Leonard Foley, OFM. Retrieved from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-tradition-and-resources/the-stigmata-of-st-francis/
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