No stigmata for 1200 years?

[Goya]

What I mean is faith without signs. As in “blessed is he who has not seen but believed”. Not that we should make our beliefs invisible and hidden. This is why I say we need miracles to edify our faith toward the same acts.

Gotcha’. My bad. I read your post as meaning that ‘invisible faith’–which I took to be synonmous with ‘interior life’–is preferable to overt, public life. IOW, the former, which I take to be instrumental means to the latter, the deriable objective, or end.

I get ya now.

Faith based on, or taken on…‘faith’…is more honorable than faith based on miracles, or that which is seen and/or experienced tangibly.

In that case (assuming I have it right now)…I concur.

 

[Goya]

Do you think that the Church would canonize someone who was in the habit of lying?

Excellent point.

People often underestimate what is involved in Cannonization. Many skeptics–especially secularist and/or anti-Catholic types–impute secularist motivations, and figure the Church just goes about tapping popular folks (or sanctioning popular apparitions), on a whim, or such…

Most don’t realize that an in depth analysis is undertaken; a ‘Devil’s Advocate’ is appointed, to present every possible objection, overturn every rock, uncover all possible ‘dirt’; a great deal of scrutiny is applied; evidence is collected, and anaylzed; testimonials are taken under oath–and thsoe are further scrutinzied…then if, and only if, after all that, more than one miracle is left inexplicable, and the person otherwise warrants being Cannonized…then, and only then, are they Cannonized.

 

[Semangelof]

Faith based on, or taken on…‘faith’…is more honorable than faith based on miracles, or that which is seen and/or experienced tangibly.

In that case (assuming I have it right now)…I concur.

Yep, that exactly.

 

[bsroufek]

Suppose there is someone who reportedly has the stigmata today. We Catholics would lean upon the Church Magisterium to conclude on its veracity. If the Church concludes that indeed the stigmata are real in that case, would you believe in it?

If not, you may need faith in miracles.

Jesus said that if we didn’t believe in Him because of His words, then we should believe in Him because of His works, which testify.

 

[Goya]

Suppose there is someone who reportedly has the stigmata today. We Catholics would lean upon the Church Magisterium to conclude on its veracity. If the Church concludes that indeed the stigmata are real in that case, would you believe in it?

If not, you may need faith in miracles.

Jesus said that if we didn’t believe in Him because of His words, then we should believe in Him because of His works, which testify.

Supposing further, this being the case…would people flock by the thousands, daily, for decades, to see the stigmata on a person?

Because that’s what happened with Padre Pio. The stigmata was a manifestation of his ture sainthood; it was incidental–not at all essential. Folks would have flocked from all over the globe to see him anyway–due to word of mouth. He LISTENED intently; he CARED; he was a living incarnation of the imitation of Christ. Sainthood, personified. The Gospels, personified. Like Mother Theresa. What we are all called to live our lives like, according to the Gospels.

People don’t fly accross the world to see a carni freak show; not even just a ‘miracle’ that has no bearing on their lives. The faithful are motivated to do so, when they believe that there is a good chance of encountering the Divine–however peripherally.

That’s why millions continue to flock to Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima, every year–and the Vatican, for that matter. Every year. The faithful take pilgrimages to partake of the Divine. That’s what Padre Pio represented. 16 hours a day (often), hearing confession; sworn testimony placing him at multiple locations, at a time; many miracles attributed to him; and countless believers and non-believers, whose faith was confirmed, revivied, enflamed, or even initiated–by the inspiration of his faith.

As for your hypothetical–I don’t believe that alone, would yield those kinds of results. Maybe a wave of curiosity seekers, and the like…but not a sustained, committed following, as St. Padre Pio had.