8. Therese Neumann (1896 – 1962)
Therese Neumann was a German Catholic mystic and stigmatic. On March 10, 1918, Therese Neumann was partially paralyzed after falling off a stool while attending to a fire in her uncle’s barn. She sustained more falls and injuries during this period. After one particular fall in 1919, she lost much of her eyesight. Therese reported that her eyesight was fully restored on April 29, 1923 — the day Therese of Lisieux was beatified (the first step to sainthood) in Rome.
She said that on March 5, 1926, the first Friday of Lent, a wound had appeared slightly above her heart, but that she had kept this secret. However, she did report a vision of Jesus at Mount Olivet with three Apostles. On Easter Sunday, she claimed a vision of the resurrection of Christ. For several consecutive Fridays after that, she stated she was experiencing the Passion of Christ, supposedly suffering in her own body along with all his historic agonies.
She especially suffered the Passion on Good Fridays each year. By November 5, 1926, she displayed nine wounds on her head as well as wounds on her back and shoulders (most of which are visible in the image above). According to several sources these wounds never healed or became infected and were found on her body at death.
From the years of 1922 until her death in 1962, Therese Neumann said she had consumed no food other than The Holy Eucharist, and to have drunk no water from 1926 until her death. In July 1927 a medical doctor and four Franciscan nurses kept a watch on her 24 hours a day for a two-week period. They confirmed that she had consumed nothing except for one consecrated sacred Host a day, and had suffered no ill effects, loss of weight, or dehydration. Formal proceedings for her beatification were begun in 2005.
