Stigmata on palms?

[Matthias123]

Why does stigmata appear on people’s palms when Jesus was crucified with nails through is wrists? (The palms cannot support the weight of a man.)

 

[Seanache]

well perhaps they appear on the palms because Jesus was actually crucified through the palms? I mean they are the wounds of Christ, not to mention I doubt they would care if your weight can be supported since your up there to die anyway, and the whole crucified position is to make it impossible for you to breath, which is why when they want to end your life they shatter your legs so then you suffocate.

 

[Deconi]

Why does stigmata appear on people’s palms when Jesus was crucified with nails through is wrists? (The palms cannot support the weight of a man.)

The physics say it cannot support a man’s weight. But if you’ve ever tried and suspend yourself from a gym wall, you can ACTUALLY **hold **your entire weight with your palms!

True, it lasts only as long as your strength can sustain. But if you use a ‘relief’ for your feet, that is not a platform but a slanted protrusion, you can stay there almost indefinitely!

Of course, when you die, and all your weight is dead weight, the nails on your feet will start to rip through as you sag forward and down. The nailheads on your hands, need to be larger and ‘fat’ so the hand tissues do not rip through and you fall off.

I have seen many examinations of the crucifixion and most claim the wrist theory because of the physics. Actually, it’s harder to fall off if the “stoppers” are on the palms, than on the wrists! The real dead weight is on the feet, not the hands.

My only difference with the ‘studies’ I’ve examined is that the foot “rest” was higher!!..so that the arms were even from the shoulders, meaning the palms were even with the shoulders. In this way, only a portion of the torso weight (not even half) is on each palm.

While He lived, if you’re looking at the Cross, it would appear a perfect “T” - with the head rest extension of course. The most common depiction, when the body sags down, is when He tired and ultimately, death.

Remember also that not one bone of His Body was broken. This includes nails going through the ‘joints’ of the wrist!

 

[Ross09]

I’ve seen depictions where the wrists are tied to the wood of the Cross and the nails through the hands…I don’t know how historically accurate that is though.

 

[Seanache]

I have also seen that depiction, so perhaps that could be the case, because if the wrists were where the nails went one would assume the stigmata would have you bleeding from the wrists

 

[anon5216]

I’m not certain, but I believe that out of the various saints and others who had stigmata, some had the wounds on the palms and others had them on the wrists.

My opinion is that the wounds show up where the person believes they were on Jesus, and that they are the result of deep contemplation on the crucifixion.

 

[thistle]

Why does stigmata appear on people’s palms when Jesus was crucified with nails through is wrists? (The palms cannot support the weight of a man.)

That is not correct. Nails through the palms near the thumb plus the nailed feet can support the heaviest man.

I recommend the book THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS: A Forensic Inquiry by Dr. Frederick Zugibe. You can find it at EWTN.

 

[Matthias123]

Thank you all!

 

[Ron_Conte]

this article
catholicplanet.com/MHT/wounds-Christ.htm

explains that the anatomical wrist is in the base of the palm of the hand, which is one possibility for the location of the nails.

Another possibility is that the location of the palms would hold the weight of a man. Blessed A.C. Emmerich describes the Roman crucifixion technique in which they use ropes to hold the person to the cross, as well as nails, then after they erect the cross, they remove the ropes (which prevents the nails from teaching away from the hand).