Francis Patrick Kenrick

"Stigmata," as St. Augustin teaches, were marks, or brands, which slaves bore on their bodies. Some, of whom Herodotus speaks, 1. ii., by receiving a brand of an idol on their bodies, were regarded as sacred, so that no one ven- tured to touch them irreverently. The apostle refers to his scars, he having been scourged and beaten for Christ. " If any one saw a soldier coming from the ranks, with the blood streaming from his wounds, could he suspect him of cow- ardice and treachery, whilst he bore in his body the evidence of his bravery ?" St. Chrysostom. " Perhaps, also," says St. Jerome, "he who macerates his body and brings it into subjection, lest preaching to others, he himself be found repro- bate, bears the stigmata of the Lord Jesus in his body."