The Stigmatization of St. Francis
HISTORY
What is most interesting about the Stigmatization of St. Francis is that though he achieved religious enlightenment at the moment of his stigmatization, his order was not one that emphasized physical suffering. Stigmatization is the mimicking of the wounds of Jesus that appear on the bodies of saints. It occurs when a saint has become so like Jesus in spirit that they must literally mimic his pain. St Francis did not encourage the monks in his order to fast or torture themselves to show their spirituality. He encouraged them to live their lives as Jesus did, devoting themselves to bettering the world and distancing themselves from their earthly possessions. Thus it is interesting that the story of his death suggests that though he had lived as Jesus lived, to truly become holy, he had to die as Jesus had died, as if the physical suffering was part of what made Jesus so holy.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
The central image of the piece, St. Francis, is serenely looking toward the heavens with his arms open and palms outstretched. On his palms there are dark gashes, depicting the moment in which Francis receives stigmata. The painful act of receiving lacerations on one’s hands is juxtaposed by the calming, satisfied visage of St. Francis. He is experiencing an intense form of agony, yet he seems to be deriving almost erotic pleasure from the wounds. The celibate St. Francis finds sensual pleasure through doing God’s will, and is rewarded for his piety with Christ-like stigmata.
BIOLOGY
The puncture wounds on St. Francis’s hand depicted in the picture along with the punctures on his other hand and feet that can be assumed by his story show that St. Francis is going through something that should be painful. However, his face and body show no sign of having experienced pain at all. He appears relaxed and content, even grateful. St. Francis is appreciative of the punctures because they bring him even closer to God. The mindset that he is in is most likely what diminishes and possibly eradicates his pain. It is known that sensory, cognitive, and emotional factors have a strong effect on human perception of pain. St. Francis is clearly distracted from his pain by the divine. Some pain reduction by cognitive distraction relies on descending pain inhibition. Pain reduction by distraction affects basal nociceptive transmission. Basal ganglia are significant in somatosensory information processing, so it makes sense that basal nociceptive transmission relating to pain is affected by such distractions. It is possible that the spinal gate that allows pain to be processed in the brain is closed in this Saint’s situation.