Tomorrow, Sept. 17 is the day our Seraphic Father, Saint Francis, received the Stigmata. The Latin Calender celebrates it as the Imprinting of the Holy Stigmata on the Body of St. Francis of Assisi. Here are some words from the Omnibus of Sources, Volume II, Legend of the Three Companions, Chapter XVII:
One morning two years before his death, about the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, while he was praying on the side of a mountain named La Verna, there appeared to him a seraph in the beautiful figure of a crucified man, having his hands and feet extended as though on a cross, and clearly showing the face of Jesus Christ. Two wings met above his head, two covered the rest of his body to the feet, and two were spread as in flight.
When the vision passed, the soul of Francis was afire with love; and on his body there appeared the wonderful impression of the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed Francis did all in his power to hide these wounds, not wishing that God's gift should …More