Bavarian peasant girl Theresa Neumann was said to suffer Christ's
Passion every Lent for the last thirty-two years of her life. Great weals
appeared on her back from the scourging, bleeding punctures marked
her forehead where it had been pierced by the crown of thorns and
her hands, feet and side gushed blood as. though they had been torn
by nails and a sword.
Few people were allowed near her. She spent most of her life in bed
wrapped in white linen and seldom gave any sign of curiosity about
the outside world.
Born in 1898 in the village of Konnersreuth, Bavaria, she came from
a very poor family but in her youth seemed no different from any
other girl of her age. She went to work as a domestic on local farms,
then suddenly succumbed to a series of mysterious illnesses which no
doctor could explain.
During Lent 1926, when she was twenty-eight, she had an over-
whelming vision of the Passion which cured her of her various
afflictions but left her bearing the marks of the stigmata. Every Friday for
the next thirty-two years she wept blood or bled from the wounds, but
at Lent she went through the whole terrible ordeal of the Passion over
again, writhing in agony, gushing blood from every wound. Sometimes
she lost as much as a pint of blood and eight pounds in weight during
her vision.
She was watched closely by the Bishop of Ratisbon, who wanted to
protect her from the pilgrims, curiosity-seekers and miracle-hunters
who poured into the village of Konnersreuth once her condition was
known. Doctors were allowed to examine her thoroughly, taking
advantage of her trances and periods of unconsciousness. Many said
that her wounds bore a strong resemblance to those of St Francis,
especially those on the hands which gave the impression of a forged
iron nail piercing and protruding from them. The nail head was
described as rectangular, admirably regular, its edges being delicately
adorned with zigzag borders. The wounds remained dry until dawn
broke each Friday, then the figure in white lying in bed would begin
to stream with blood.
Theresa was said to be clairvoyant and to speak in Aramaic, Christ's
own language, when in a trance. Another extraordinary aspect of her
story is that no food or liquid, except the communion wafer and wine,
had been seen to pass her lips for thirty-five years. Her total fast started
in the twenties and she was subject to long periods of medical scrutiny.
Doctors once kept her under strict surveillance for several weeks, night
and day, but in the end testified that to the best of their knowledge
nothing had passed her lips but the wafer and wine.
She was said to have remained in reasonable health, though photo-
graphs of her show a waxen, ghost-like image. Doctors noted that
her excreta, which had progressively diminished since 1926, ceased
altogether after 1930 and her intestinal tract simply withered away.
She continued to have ecstasies and visions up to her death in 1962.
