The Stigmata: Destiny as a Question of Knowledge

“Thus, from time to time, such events [the stigmatization] occur that strike one as miraculous, and that can be understood only through knowledge of the world of spirit. Because they seem so hard to explain, they preoccupy everyone and remind people again of the reality of the spirit.” ― Ita Wegman

Stigmata―the spontaneous appearance of bodily marks in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ―have long been a controversial phenomenon. Well-known stigmatics such as Francis of Assisi, Anne Catherine Emmerich, and Therese Neumann have been associated mostly with the Catholic Church. Judith von Halle, a member of the Anthroposophical Society, received the stigmata in 2004 during Passiontide (the last two weeks of Lent). She has published a dozen notable volumes of spiritual-scientific research.

In this book, based on decades of anthroposophic study, Peter Tradowsky presents a comprehensive, though aphoristic, account of the stigmata. He focuses in particular on Judith von Halle, responding to Sergei O. Prokofieff's publication, The Mystery of the Resurrection in the Light of Anthroposophy, which approaches stigmatization from a particular perspective.

Matthew Barton is a translator, editor, teacher, and poet, and taught kindergarten for many years at the Bristol Waldorf School. His first collection of poems was Learning To Row (1999). He has won numerous prizes for his work, including an Arts Council Writer's Award and a Hawthornden Fellowship.