Stigmata facts for kids

A young Padre Pio showing the stigmata.

Stigmata are marks on a person's body, that are like the wounds Jesus got from being crucified. They supposedly happen to other religious people like Saint Francis of Assisi, as well as Jesus. The marks include nail holes in the hands and feet, as if the person had been crucified, but without that having happened. Those who believe say that actual nails were not used. The holes just appear as a miracle. Those who do not believe say it is not a miracle. They have other ways to explain those stories.

Images for kids

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  Hands with stigmata, depicted on a Franciscan church in Lienz, Austria

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  St Catherine fainting from the stigmata by Il Sodoma, Church of Saint Pantaleon, Alsace, France

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  Saint Francis of Assisi contemplating the wounds of stigmata as part of the Imitation of Christ.

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  St. Francis of Assisi

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  Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena

See also

In Spanish: Estigma (milagro) para niños