Stories & Legends
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St. Francis Receives the Stigmata
Two years before he yielded his spirit unto Heaven, after many and varied toils, the holy man Francis was brought unto a high mountain apart that is called Mount Alverna. There, according to his wont, he began to keep a Lent there. Fasting in honor of St. Michael Archangel, he was filled unto overflowing, as never before, with the sweetness of heavenly contemplation, and was kindled with a yet more burning flame of heavenly longings, and began to feel the gifts of the divine bestowal heaped upon him. …
On a certain morning on the Feast of the Exaltation of Holy Cross, while he was praying on the side of the mountain, he beheld a Seraph having six wings, flaming and resplendent, coming down from the heights of Heaven.
When in his flight most swift he had reached the air above the man of God, there appeared between the wings the Figure of a Man crucified, having his hands and feet stretched forth in the shape of a Cross, and fastened unto a Cross. Two wings were raised above His head, two other wings were spread forth to fly, while two hid His whole body.
Beholding this, Francis was mightily astonished, and joy, mingled with sorrow, filled his heart. He rejoiced at the gracious mien wherewith he saw Christ under the guise of the Seraph regard him, but His crucifixion pierced his soul with a sword of pitying grief.
He marveled exceedingly at the appearance of a vision so unfathomable, knowing that the suffering of the Passion does in no wise accord with the immortality of a Seraphic spirit. At length he understood from it, the Lord revealing it to him, that this vision had been thus presented to his gaze by Divine Providence, that the friend of Christ might have receive foreknowledge that he was to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ Crucified, not by martyrdom of body, but by enkindling of heart.
Accordingly, as the vision disappeared, it left in his heart a wondrous glow, but on his flesh also it imprinted a no less wondrous likeness of its tokens. For forthwith there began to appear in his hands and feet the marks of the nails, even as he had just beheld them in that Figure of the Crucified.
For his hands and feet seemed to be pierced through the middle with nails, the heads of the nails showing in the palms of the hands and upper side of the feet, and their points showing on the other side. The heads of the nails were round and black in the hands and feet, while the points were long, bent and, as it were, turned back, being formed of the flesh itself and protruding from it.
The right side, moreover, was as if it had been pierced by a lance – seamed with a ruddy scar, from which the blood would often well up, staining his habit and breeches.
What should he do?
Now the servant of Christ perceived that the stigmata thus manifestly imprinted on his flesh could not be hidden from his intimate friends. Nevertheless, fearing to make public the holy secret of the Lord, he was set in a great strife of questioning, to wit, whether he should tell that what he had seen, or should keep it silent.
Wherefore he called some of the Brethren, and, speaking unto them in general terms, set before them his doubt and asked their counsel. Then one of the Brethren, Illuminato by name, and illuminated by grace, perceived that Francis had beheld some marvelous things, inasmuch as that he seemed almost stricken dumb with amazement.
So he said to the holy man: “Brother, you know that at times the divine secrets are shown to you, not only for your own sake, but for the sake of others also. Wherefore, it seems to me that you would have reason to fear lest you be judged guilty of hiding your talent if you kept hidden what you have received, when that thing would be profitable to many.”
At this speech, the holy man was moved, so that, while at other times he was wont to say “My secret remains with me,” he did then with much fear narrate the aforesaid vision, adding that He who had appeared to him had said some words which, so long as he lived, he would never reveal to any man. In truth we must believe that those utterances of that Holy Seraph marvelously appearing on the Cross were so secret that perchance it was not lawful for a man to utter them. …
Miracles wrought by the holy stigmata
Thus, since it belongs to God to reveal the great things that He does for His glory, the Lord Himself, Who had imprinted those seals upon his servant Francis in secret, made diverse miracles openly so that the hidden and wondrous power of those stigmata might be demonstrated by the well-known fame of the signs that followed.
Thus, in the province of Rieti, the people were suffering from a very grievous plague, which devoured all the oxen and sheep so cruelly that no succor had been of any avail. But a certain man who feared God was warned at night by a vision to hasten to a hermitage of the Brethren and obtain some water that had washed the hands and feet of the servant of God Francis, who at that time was sojourning there, and to sprinkle it over all the animals.
Accordingly, he rose at dawn, went to the place, and secretly obtained this water from the companions of the holy man. Then he sprinkled it upon the sheep and oxen that were diseased. Wondrous to relate, so soon as the sprinkling – were it but a drop – fell upon the sick animals as they lay on the ground, they recovered their former strength, and got up forthwith, as though they had felt no sickness and hastened to the pastures!
Thus it happened that, through the marvelous virtue of that water which had touched the sacred wounds, the whole plague was at once stayed, and the contagious sickness banished from the flocks and herds.
*
In the neighborhood of Mount Alverna, before that the holy man had sojourned there, a cloud used to rise often from the mountain and fierce hailstorms would lay waste the fruits of the earth. But after that blessed vision, to the amazement of the inhabitants, the hail ceased, so that the excellence of that heavenly apparition and the virtue of the stigmata that were imprinted there might be attested by the very face of the heavens, made calm beyond its wont.
Moreover, it happened that one winter season that, for reason of his bodily infirmity and the roughness of the roads, he was riding on a poor man’s ass and was obliged to pass the night with him under the edge of an overhanging rock that they might escape the inconveniences of the snow and night that had overtaken them and hindered them from reaching the place where they were to lodge.
And when Francis perceived that this man was muttering, sighing and complaining, and was tossing himself to and fro, unable to sleep by reason of the bitter cold, he, kindled with the glow of the love divine, touched him with his outstretched hand.
Marvelous to relate, so soon as that holy hand touched that shivering man, his sense of cold was utterly banished, and as great a warmth came upon him within and without as if the flaming breath from the mouth of a furnace had blown upon him. Strengthened thereby in mind and body, he slept more sweetly until the morning among the rocks and snow than he had ever done resting in his own bed, as he himself did thereafter declare.
Wherefore it is proven by sure tokens that those sacred seals were imprinted by the might of Him Who doth by the ministry of Seraphs purify, enlighten and kindle, seeing that they brought health out of pestilence by driving it forth, and with wondrous efficacy bestowed ease and warmth upon men’s bodies. Moreover after his death, it was shown by even clearer portents, which shall be related hereafter in their own place.
St. Francis receiving the stigmata
When in his flight most swift he had reached the air above the man of God, there appeared between the wings the Figure of a Man crucified, having his hands and feet stretched forth in the shape of a Cross, and fastened unto a Cross. Two wings were raised above His head, two other wings were spread forth to fly, while two hid His whole body.
Beholding this, Francis was mightily astonished, and joy, mingled with sorrow, filled his heart. He rejoiced at the gracious mien wherewith he saw Christ under the guise of the Seraph regard him, but His crucifixion pierced his soul with a sword of pitying grief.
He marveled exceedingly at the appearance of a vision so unfathomable, knowing that the suffering of the Passion does in no wise accord with the immortality of a Seraphic spirit. At length he understood from it, the Lord revealing it to him, that this vision had been thus presented to his gaze by Divine Providence, that the friend of Christ might have receive foreknowledge that he was to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ Crucified, not by martyrdom of body, but by enkindling of heart.
Giotto’s rendering of the St. Francis receiving the stigmata on Mount Alverna
For his hands and feet seemed to be pierced through the middle with nails, the heads of the nails showing in the palms of the hands and upper side of the feet, and their points showing on the other side. The heads of the nails were round and black in the hands and feet, while the points were long, bent and, as it were, turned back, being formed of the flesh itself and protruding from it.
The right side, moreover, was as if it had been pierced by a lance – seamed with a ruddy scar, from which the blood would often well up, staining his habit and breeches.
What should he do?
Now the servant of Christ perceived that the stigmata thus manifestly imprinted on his flesh could not be hidden from his intimate friends. Nevertheless, fearing to make public the holy secret of the Lord, he was set in a great strife of questioning, to wit, whether he should tell that what he had seen, or should keep it silent.
He consulted with some of his Brothers
to know what to do
So he said to the holy man: “Brother, you know that at times the divine secrets are shown to you, not only for your own sake, but for the sake of others also. Wherefore, it seems to me that you would have reason to fear lest you be judged guilty of hiding your talent if you kept hidden what you have received, when that thing would be profitable to many.”
At this speech, the holy man was moved, so that, while at other times he was wont to say “My secret remains with me,” he did then with much fear narrate the aforesaid vision, adding that He who had appeared to him had said some words which, so long as he lived, he would never reveal to any man. In truth we must believe that those utterances of that Holy Seraph marvelously appearing on the Cross were so secret that perchance it was not lawful for a man to utter them. …
Miracles wrought by the holy stigmata
Thus, since it belongs to God to reveal the great things that He does for His glory, the Lord Himself, Who had imprinted those seals upon his servant Francis in secret, made diverse miracles openly so that the hidden and wondrous power of those stigmata might be demonstrated by the well-known fame of the signs that followed.
The medieval village of Rieti
Accordingly, he rose at dawn, went to the place, and secretly obtained this water from the companions of the holy man. Then he sprinkled it upon the sheep and oxen that were diseased. Wondrous to relate, so soon as the sprinkling – were it but a drop – fell upon the sick animals as they lay on the ground, they recovered their former strength, and got up forthwith, as though they had felt no sickness and hastened to the pastures!
Thus it happened that, through the marvelous virtue of that water which had touched the sacred wounds, the whole plague was at once stayed, and the contagious sickness banished from the flocks and herds.
In the neighborhood of Mount Alverna, before that the holy man had sojourned there, a cloud used to rise often from the mountain and fierce hailstorms would lay waste the fruits of the earth. But after that blessed vision, to the amazement of the inhabitants, the hail ceased, so that the excellence of that heavenly apparition and the virtue of the stigmata that were imprinted there might be attested by the very face of the heavens, made calm beyond its wont.
He touched the man with his hand &
the man became warm
And when Francis perceived that this man was muttering, sighing and complaining, and was tossing himself to and fro, unable to sleep by reason of the bitter cold, he, kindled with the glow of the love divine, touched him with his outstretched hand.
Marvelous to relate, so soon as that holy hand touched that shivering man, his sense of cold was utterly banished, and as great a warmth came upon him within and without as if the flaming breath from the mouth of a furnace had blown upon him. Strengthened thereby in mind and body, he slept more sweetly until the morning among the rocks and snow than he had ever done resting in his own bed, as he himself did thereafter declare.
Wherefore it is proven by sure tokens that those sacred seals were imprinted by the might of Him Who doth by the ministry of Seraphs purify, enlighten and kindle, seeing that they brought health out of pestilence by driving it forth, and with wondrous efficacy bestowed ease and warmth upon men’s bodies. Moreover after his death, it was shown by even clearer portents, which shall be related hereafter in their own place.
Excerpt from The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by St. Bonaventure,
tras. By E. Gurney Salter, NY: 1904, c.13
Posted October 24, 2026
tras. By E. Gurney Salter, NY: 1904, c.13
Posted October 24, 2026
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