AGNES MARTINKO Unforgettable stigmata of Therese Neumann

A strange phenomenon has occurred to certain individuals as the wounds of Christ's crucifixion have appeared on their own body in some way.
One source lists as many as 300 instances of what is referred to as the stigmata.
The popular St. Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio, who was recently canonized, experienced the wounds on their feet, hands and side. During high school, I read several biographies of the German peasant, Therese Neumann, who was experiencing the stigmata, and a decade later I was able to visit her while the event was occurring.
Therese was born on Good Friday in 1898 and was the first of 11 children. She received the stigmata in 1926, seven years after Padre Pio received his. In addition to the five wounds of Christ that most stigmatists experience, Therese also received the head wounds from the crown of thorns and whip marks on her back.
But, the most unusual aspect was that she reportedly never ate anything from the time she received the stigmata until she died in 1962. Her only nourishment was the Communion wafer that she received as the consecrated host at Mass each morning.
Local connection
There was an Ohio connection to the events in the little village of Konnersreuth.
The mother of Archbishop Joseph Schrembs from Cleveland lived in the same village. In 1927, the bishop and his chancellor, Monsignor James A. McFadden who later became the first bishop of the newly formed Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, visited Konnersreuth at Christmastime.
Dorren Rossman gives details about their meeting with Therese Neumann in her 1997 biography. The archbishop was very moved by the encounter and wrote about her in the Cleveland diocesan newspaper.
As the news about Therese spread, the Nazi party was gaining strength in Germany. Before Hitler had appeared on the scene, a group of prominent businessmen and clerics met in Konnersreuth to voice their opposition toward the Nazi philosophy. They met in Konnersreuth because Therese had been having visions about the terrible things to come, and the group appointed her their spiritual advisor.
Therese was constantly under surveillance and threatened. Members of her family were also imprisoned.
During this time, Therese continued to ingest only the Communion wafer and experienced the stigmata 35 times a year (Fridays during lent and certain liturgically significant days of the year.) She agreed to a request by church officials to have a medical team verify that she ate nothing. For three weeks, she was constantly monitored. All bodily secretions were collected and analyzed.
The team found no evidence that she received any nourishment while she maintained her plump body weight.
When the results were made public, Hitler sent his own medical team to conduct tests. Therese and her family agreed to cooperate but when their tactics became invasive to the family and painful to Therese, her father asked them to leave.
The Nazi team announced to the public that it was all a hoax and that she refused to be tested.
Visit
I arrived in Germany in 1960. It wasn't until my second year there that my memories of Therese returned when I saw a picture in the military paper The Stars and Stripes of a U.S. helicopter lowering a cross atop the steeple of the newly restored church at Konnersreuth.
The paper stated that in the final days of World War II, German tanks encircled the village and opened fire. The Nazi version was that they were firing at American soldiers hiding in the village. But, it is well documented that no Allied forces were anywhere nearby. Some versions say that Hitler gave the order to fire upon Konnersreuth intending to have Therese killed.
Therese survived, as she had taken some children to the cellar of a friend's barn. The church, her house and most of the village was badly damaged but were rebuilt. The finishing touch was the installation of the cross.
One of the teachers and I made plans to visit Therese on Good Friday. Upon arriving, we were surprised that there were no crowds. About 3,000 people were expected to visit Therese that day.
I parked the car and we went up to the house. A priest told us that it was all finished for today and that we were not permitted to enter. I knew that visitors were only allowed during the three hours she was in trance, which ended at 3 p.m. I was puzzled because my watch said 2:30 p.m. What I didn't know at the time was that Therese followed Palestinian time, so that the trance would have ended at 1 p.m. German time.
Invited in
We walked back to my nearby car with its USA decal and red and white civilian license plate clearly visible from the house. I was taking photos when an upstairs window opened and another priest asked if we were from America. When told we were, he asked us to come in. As we climbed the stairs, we were told that Therese experienced great pain as she regained consciousness, so we could only stay a few minutes.
Therese's plump body was moving about under a white feather comforter with only her arms and head exposed. Blood was seeping through her bandaged hands and through the scarf tied around her head. Pools of dried blood had crusted over her closed eyes. She moaned in pain and tossed her arms from side to side. We silently made our way down the stairs too stunned to speak but so glad that we were able to witness such a spectacle.
That was Therese's last experience of the stigmata as she became ill and died the following September. The funeral was a Saturday and I was able to attend. Since her death, the Diocese of Regensburg has received more than 35,000 petitions to begin the beatification process for sainthood. However, the claim that she did not eat for 36 years, her involvement in politics and conflicting reports from Nazi sympathizers all make her case controversial. There seems to be confusion as to whether this process is proceeding.
XDr. Agnes Martinko is a member of St. Columba Cathedral and a charter member of the St. John Chrysostom Society.