Modern, civilized man who has come to live in the era of amazingly fast transformations of civilization and is very often unable to perceive the perspectives of eternity, preoccupied with the chores of everyday life, he’ll live, to be some sixty or seventy years, and not until on his deathbed, will he ask himself with anxiety at heart: what will become of me next? Does God truly exist, and what about Trial by Ordeal?

Following the death of a close relative such as wife, husband, daughter, son, sister or brother, our heart is filled with sadness and sorrow.

Blessed Virgin Mary suffered most of all people, when the body of Her beloved Son and God Jesus Christ was removed from the Holy Cross. The sight of his Most Holy Countenance streaming with blood, and of pierced hands, feet and side penetrated Her Virgin Heart as though it had been a sword.

The detailed accounts of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ are contained in the four canonical Gospels, written almost two thousand years ago, these are received with faith and love but not by everyone. Many people just as Thomas the Believer hold an opinion "seeing is believing". Let us try to see Christ’s sufferings with the eyes of contemporary Thomas the Believer, for whom the world of computers, videos, satellite TV programs and other inventions of the second half of 20th century is frequently the only recognizable reality Whereas the Bible accounts of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection are barely unconfirmed tales and legends.

One of the chapels in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist contains the, relic known worldwide as the Shroud of Turin. It is a linen cloth bearing an incredible image of a dead body of a crucified man. There would be nothing unusual about it if it weren’t for, the scientific study of the Shroud which revealed that, at first, the man was savagely lashed, and prior to being crucified, he had a crown of thorns put on his head. Such a punishment and mockery at a usurper king we will not find in any historical account of crucifixion, except for the one in the Gospel.

The research also proved that the man had had after his death his left side pierced and both his legs were unbroken.

The figure of a man imprinted in the Shroud proves, beyond any doubt, that the body was separated from the linen cloth in a miraculous way. The body removed from under the cloth did not disturb, distort or smudge the imprints in the least, clotted blood was not detached from the cloth, what resulted were very clear traces and contours of wounds. In 1898 the Shroud of Turin was photographed for the first time ever by a Turin lawyer Secondo Pia. One can imagine the shock, when Pia observed on the reverse photographic plate a distinctive photograph of a man’s figure from the Shroud. After Pia came to his senses, he realized he was the first man, to have seen Christ’s body the very same that had been wrapped in grave clothes 2000 years before.

The Face of Christ is filled with death and majesty – its calmness is astounding. One can not observe neither despair nor fear. John Paul II on his arrival in the Sanctuary of Turin said: "Each one of us present"

The Shroud is not the only Witness of our Saviour’s Passion. God in his inconceivable and infinite Mercy placed more such witnesses in human pilgrims’ paths - living witnesses.

One of the first, if not the first, of such people was, St. Francis of Assisi. To his contemporaries, he was a living proof of destitution and kindness. Today, 760 years after his death, there are pilgrims from all over the world visiting his tomb in Assisi.

Nearly 600 years after St. Francis, Anna Catherine Emmerich later God’s Servant was born. God favoured her with a multitude of mystical experiences.

She was privileged to see in her visions, things hidden from common mortals.

Her visions were recorded during her life and therefore they have not sunk into oblivion.

In summer of 1812 she discovered on her body stigmata which bled profusely from her head, hands, legs and side. She died twelve years later, being till her last gasp a personification of patience and perfect allegiance to God.

In 1898 in the night of Good Friday Teresa Neumann was born in the Bavarian village of Konnersreuth

She had been particularly pious since her early childhood, praying and meditating the Passion of Christ.

Teresa when asked on what she lived ? - used to say – "Our Saviour" meaning every day’s Holy Communion.

It may seem impossible, but to Teresa Neumann this was really the only nutrition. Since 1927 till her death, which is 35 years later, she had eaten or drunk nothing else.

The fact of this was corroborated by the results of specialised medical observations, to which Teresa was subject upon the approval of the church authorities. At the time of Lent of 1926 some stigmata appeared on Teresa’a body, Teresa did not have the slightest idea what stigmata were and she did not want them either, as she admitted years later, stigmata seemed to her to be sinful impudence.

At first her wounds were treated with homemade remedies, but as it had no effect – doctors were asked to help. Dr Seidl of Waldsassen examined Teresa and discovered, that the wound in her side was 33 millimeters in length, he applied ointments and dressings, but the harder he tried to heal the wounds, the more painful they became.

Dr Seidl was puzzled by the wounds of that kind, which showed neither a sign of inflammation nor were festering, after some time he decided to give up his treatment.

Teresa wore long-sleeved dresses ever since it did not prevent her from being visited by more and more pilgrims, or those wanting to satisfy their curiosity.

St28 Those, fortunate enough to see Teresa’s suffering left shockingly impressed and headed for the local church, to pray and receive the Sacrament.

On September 18, 1962, the sufferings of Teresa Neumann ceased for ever. She departed and went to Him, Who was to her the only nourishment and the only love.

Father Pio was surely the most famous of the 20th century stigmatics, a capuchin of the friary of San Giovanni Rotundo in Italy

On September 20, 1918, he became the first friar in the history of Church, to receive the stigmata of the five Wounds of Christ. The news of that event swept across the world. Thousands of people began to flock to San Giovanni Rotondo, looking for help from afflictions of body and soul. They attended the Holy Mass celebrated by Father Pio. He spent more than ten hours each day, hearing confessions, and corresponding.

Prayer was Father Pio’s source of spiritual might. In one of his letters he writes: "It is true that Almighty God is above and beyond anything. He triumphs over anything, but submissiveness and prayer combined with suffering achieve triumph over God Himself".

On September 22, 1968, Father Pio said Holy Mass for his last time, the stigmatic wounds, unhealed for 50 years, began to disappear slowly. The following day, at 2.30 a.m. repeating the words "Jesus, Mary”, Father Pio passed into eternity to receive his heavenly prize.

After his funeral attended by over 100,000 people, his body was buried in a crypt under the main alter of the new capuchin church in San Giovanni Rotondo.

Anna Catherine Emmerich

Father Pio - These are just a few of many chosen by the Heavenly Master, to bear His Saviour Wounds. Throughout the period of two thousand years following Christ’s birth there were over a hundred stigmatics in the catholic church.

St39 They lived in different periods and countries being to their contemporaries a living proof of Passion of God’s Son Jesus Christ.

It will remain a secret of God’s Mercy, how many prodigal sons and daughters have found their way to God the Father after encountering in person with the people bearing stigmata.

You are certain to find them in the lens of an amateur cameraman, who recorded the funeral ceremony of a Polish stigmatic Catherine Szymon who passed away on August 24, 1986

Following the death of a close relative such as wife, husband, daughter, son, sister or brother, our heart is filled with sadness and sorrow.

St44 When she was less than two years of age her mother died having left six orphaned children

Her father, a forest employee, soon remarried. Katarzynka’s stepmother was nothing but unkind towards her, taking no heed of Catherine’s young age, her stepmother exploited her to do all the housework in the home. Despite her difficult childhood, Catherine learned to pray and since then she would spend her every spare moment praying particularly, for the reformation of her father, who frequently came home drunk and beat his children. Her prayers were heard – her father mended his ways and prior to his death he even joined the Third Order of Saint Francis

Catherine Szymon lived all her life in the neighbourhood of Katowice, the mining region where by hard work where they had been extracting coal for many years.

The inhabitans of this region are known for their piety and religiousness, which is based on an old Polish saying: "Do not leave your home without God”

Many of the Katowice residents heard of Catherine – only a few knew her personally

Małgorzata Piksa from Studzienice says: "I have known Cathy since her early childhood. I remember her as a modest person always with her rosary, always smiling, always cheerful, she would address a person telling them: do not quarrel, live in peace and harmony, keep smiling. That is how I know and remember her: modest, free of sin, smiling at everyone, the elderly, the young or children. She was always open to people.

Maria Kuszka says: She was a very honest and good human being. I learnt a great deal from her – I gained more from her than from a retreat. She was a paragon of virtue to us, she spared no pains.She used to go church, walking the distance of 7 kilometres everyday, not minding the weather. She never relied on any vehicle, always going on foot .

Catherina Szymon’s grave in the Kostuchna cemetery is often a place of gatherings for her spiritual sons and daughters, who come to pray for reformation of sinners and for God’s Mercy to the world.

Karol Kolba, a lawyer from Bielsko-Biała says: "Catherine was a true emissary, sent from heaven, for the times in which we live. Being gifted with charisma of suffering and prayer, she could attract people, even though she did not wish it. I guess it was a kind of specific magnet, a magnet of love and submissiveness, able to attract those, who were able to read the appropriate signs of the time. Catherine’s true message was to tell her beads. Apparently, Catherine, despite being literally unable to read or write, could win with her beads the souls of people who felt attracted to her. The words from Gospel of Saint Luke the Evangelist Cross one’s mind here – of Christ saying to all by turns: To the publicans. "Do nothing more than that which is appointed you. Do violence to no man, neither slander any man and be content with your pay". Catherine used to convey a similar message: "stay pleased with what you possess, do not desire material things so badly that they could kill your spirit ". Catherine Szymon spoke like St. John the Baptist, but unfortunately, not all the people listened to her. It is with great regret that we had to bid her farewell, but I think that the task she handed over to us, will be realised by publicising her thoughts and words. We trust we will be able to attract many people who stay away from God, and from true Christian ideas and deeds.

St55 The town of Frydek is the location of a tragedy which took place nearly 500 years ago when a whole village and church caved in.

It is the very place Catherine on July 24. 1954 experienced the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Queen of the Universe. The Mother of God told Catherine to make a figure of Her, of the shape and appearance as seen by Catherine.

St57 Catherine was assisted in this task by late Karol Wojtala, who contacted her with a sculptor from Rybnik - Franciszek Masoż.

"I do not recall exactly whether it was in August, but I’m sure it was summertime. Mr Wojtala and Miss Catherine came to my home and asked if I would make a figure of the Mother of God. I wanted to know what sort of figure, so I asked: What sort of a figure would you like, as there are various sizes and shapes. Mr Wojtala said that the figure must be exactly like the one in Catherine’s revelation. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and began drawing according to Catherine’s instructions.

Catherine and Mr Wojtala came again when an austere figure was ready. I had to make some corrections, improve the face and dress - so I did".

The Figure of the Mother of God, the Queen of Universe, had been kept for many years at Karol Wojtala’s little house in Frydek.

The hospitable host would warmly welcome anyone who wished to pray there. Many people would arrive to participate in night pray-watches, as, would Catherine.

Today, the Figure of the Mother of God, the Queen of the Universe is permanently displayed on the main altar of the newly built churchin Frydek, the church of which the Blessed Virgin Mary spoke of in her revelation.

Catherine Szymon did not have a home of her own. She would find modest accommodation offered by friendly and kind-hearted people. From 1946 and for most of her life she lived in Pszczyna. However, she spent her last years at the house of Marta Godziek in Katowice – Kostuchna,

From 1981 Catherine lived there permanently. Many people used to pay her a visit :

This is the room which Catherine occupied until her death, all the items are as they were when she was alive, even the bed is still in the same place.

There are a few Catherine Szymon’s photographs remaining - most of them were taken by Edward Ożóg of Bielsko-Biała.

Many quite amateurish. I kept asking her for permission but she did not like being photographed, she did not like to be advertised. She would say she appreciated modesty and needed no publicity - urging us to show her photographs if we wished but only after her death. She would modestly make a point of being just as anyone else, agreeing to suffer for all of us, and for all the wickedness (impurities, filth)

Marta Godziek’s home was open to all those who wanted to meet with Catherine. Basia was a frequent guest – then a student of medicine – now a doctor.

I first met Catherine Szymon in 1982 when together with a group of students from an academic ministry we came as we had learnt of an incredible phenomenon - stigmata. She came across as a very simple woman, but very intelligent. In a few simple words she would hit home. The stigmata she had on her hands were huge wounds that kept bleeding from crevices. Her wounds gave off an aroma.

Catherine Szymon had at the end of her life her own chauffeur – Stanisław Płonka of Katowice.

This is the very car in which I used to drive Catherine Szymon around. I got to know her in 1978. At that time I was constantly sick and it was her pleadings that made me recover – in return I decided to drive her to all those miraculous places.

St72 Turza – a town not far from Katowice – is a place of the famous Mary’s sanctuary under the invocation of Our Lady of Fatima.

Catherine and her chauffeur would arrive at this place on 13th and 29th day of each month, to participate together with other pilgrims in night pray-watches.

During such expiation nights Our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is carried in a solemn procession.

Pilgrims with candles in their hands follow Him, who for his love of man, became nourishment for eternal life.

During the Holy Father’s second pilgrimage to Poland, John Paul II met Catherine briefly at the Katowice Cathedral

Catherine Szymon was in the Cathedral, sitting then on a small low folding chair. The Holy Father rose to approach the sick, knowing nothing of Catherine Szymon’s presence in the Cathedral he went straight towards her and knelt. I moved about three metres away so as not to overhear their conversation.

Understandably, Catherine Szymon was visited by many priests. Father Aleksy Płatek says

I was in the second year studying the faculty of philosophy and theology when I visited Catherine Szymon first, she told me:"You will be a priest”. It helped me with my difficult studies, as it did with my prayer and everyday life. Today I thank God for more than six years of being a priest.

She was a woman of considerable humbleness and simplicity. I felt as if it was her vocation of suffering and praying. She frequently repeated: ”I am a simpleton, a rustic”. Indeed, she could neither read nor write, but she possessed a great wisdom. Wisdom from God, wisdom from the Holy Spirit. One could feel from her the aura of unity with God through prayer. One could also say she did not part with her beads. She always carried them. When she was visited by people - she would give them the Cross to kiss – a sign of love.

St82 I also visited her with Holy Communion on several occasions, and I said mass two or three times on Miss Catherine’s request.

Catherine Szymon received the stigmata of the five Wounds of Jesus on March 8, 1946,

I got to know Catherine Szymon in autumn of 1984. I can express my opinion on her stigmata as a doctor. I must admit that it was the first time I had seen this marvel of stigmata. Her stigmata were round flat clots on both sides of her palms and feet about 3 cm in diameter. The skin around the clots was corrugated and wrinkled. I heard stories on how her stigmata were examined in different ways. The clots were removed, for example, and the surface of fresh scars appeared. I also once watched her stigmata bleeding. It looked like this: on the edges of the clots a serious – haemorrhagic areola appeared, flowing and spreading radially from under the clots. It had a fragrance of violets or roses.

Catherine’s sufferings always intensified during Lent, she suffered then in a particular way in unison.

It was during Holy Week when she fell three times. Just like Jesus Christ had. Her wounds ripped open. You could see a great pain and a horribly white face. Blood seeped from the spots which Jesus Christ’s crown of thorns had left. It was those pores that were bleeding. And then the agony followed. I would rather omit the description of agony, as it made my heart bleed. I will never forget that moment - the moment of what was happening and how it looked. It seemed to ages take. Perspiration streaming down her face, her pupils close to bursting, and the tears flowed. She was in such a condition for about 20 minutes – looking as if she had been outside This world. I thought then that she would not regain consciousness.

Catherine Szymon bore sufferings which were not only physical, without any complaint and always with forgiveness at heart she accepted many painful and false judgements and even calumnies.

But what was most sorrowful was the fact that she was harassed. Some people accused her of scratching her wounds herself. I had been an eye-witness for six years, observing everything and I know she did not scratch herself. She bled idiopathically on Fridays and Wednesdays - blood gushed from the wounds in her side, head, feet and from her eyes.

St89 Catherine was endowed with an exceptional gift of mystical experiences. When she was unable to go to church unaided - she received Holy Communion from Heaven.

This miracle repeated many times in the presence of many witnesses.

It was such a joyful moment when Jesus the Lord was coming to Catherine in the shape of a white Host. I have no words to express it. But above all, there was this divine scent – unlike any other perfume fragrance of lilies or roses. As Jesus the Lord descended on Catherine’s lips, everyone present knelt with joy, because it was Our Lord Jesus Christ alive who came to Catherine. Jesus the Lord rested on her tongue for a while, quite a long time. We could not notice who carried the Host. The Host seemed as though it flowed in the air towards Catherine to rest on her tongue. Later, Catherine told us it was Jesus Himself who had brought it to her, she said he’d been barefoot, dressed in a white and very long gown. He looked as if his whole body had been stabbed all over with a knife. His body was covered in large and small scratches resembling peoples sins. Those are the happiest moments in my entire life.

One of the last priests to get to know Catherine a few months before her death was the priest Jan

Catherine Szymon was in a critical condition when I met her. She suffered from an immensely painful illness, but did not complain. She only mentioned that: "it is time to depart, I must prepare for my last journey”. There was no fear in her eyes, on the contrary, she was confident, that once her earthly pilgrimage was over, she was bound to receive what she believed and trusted.

Catherine Szymon died on August 24, 1986. The moment she died, the stigmata she had borne for over 40 years started miraculously to heal, confirming thus their supernatural character.

Which would not if her stigmata had been false, pricked – that is pricked with needles,

When I came to the funeral on August 28 I could see no wounds on her palms. They were healed and her body was limp although it was the fifth day after she had died. There was no smell typical in such circumstances. On the contrary, the only scent noticeable was that of a healthy person.

Catherine Szymon will remain in my memory for ever. I owe her so much as do those who accompanied me on ny visits. She was to us a living example to us. She taught us to pray, to be patient, humble, trusting. She kept repeating that only a prayer, humbleness and trust can change another man, or change the world. That was what she begged for. She went on asserting Almighty God’s kindness, and mercy for all the people, each and every person.

On November 16, 1985, on Church Holiday of Our Lady of Mercy, an amateur VHS camera recorded, an extraordinary and one of its kind documentary, of Catherine Szymon’s ecstasy.

ECSTASY: "Oh Jesus, oh Jesus you see - sweet Jesus. You were so horribly murdered by a sinful people. They murdered You, Jesus and nailed You to the Cross, oh Jesus. Sweet Jesus, love, Jesus love all your children. Jesus, love those who abandoned You and receive them. Jesus do not cry, give me your tears, Jesus, don’t cry, Jesus. Will all those children go to Heaven? Oh Jesus, will those who are crucifying You go, too? The entire world is crucifying You, oh Jesus have mercy, have mercy over your children, Jesus. Save them and take them all to Heaven. And those inveterate drunkards. And those who committed the terrible sin of incontinence. And those broken marriages,

"My daughter - If they wish to go to Heaven – there must be much penance and offering. Then I will forgive them. But not everyone because there are throngs of sinners, there are multitudes of children killed”.

"Jesus I cherish You. Will You really never leave me, of Jesus, never leave children who have come. Take them to Your care”.

"Daughter - I’ll take them – they will not perish. They must do penance. I will open Heaven to them".

SONG: Like a rose flower, among sharp thorns, like a God’s sign for the sinful world, lived among us, here on earth, a simple illiterate poor little girl. God chose her and gave her a Cross to carry till the end of her life. Christ the Master was always a source of persistence to her and to Him she devoted her sufferings. Eyes crying with tears of blood, pierced feet, side and hands. were the stigmata of Christ, Gospel’s "Stamps”. These are for Thomases the Believers, for the people of weak faith, to give them strength so that they would not renounce God! To make them follow Christ and want to serve Him, and use all their talents to God’s Glory.

And though she has already gone there where Our Lord prepared lodgings for his servants, the sight of her Divine Wounds will remain in our hearts as will the stigmatic’s name ”Katarzynka”.

According to statistics, every second two, every minute a hundred, every hour, as long as this film takes, over six thousand people die on earth.

No matter whether they believed in God and lived according to His commandments, or were atheists, or declared to be believing Christians, but were not practising Catholics, they all turned out to be equal in the face of death. They all had to face Ordeal before Christ. The Eternal Bliss in Heaven, absolving suffering in Purgatory, or the eternal damnation in Hell are now for them their reality and present.

We, too, still walking the paths of our earth’s pilgrimage, will unavoidably sooner or later face the Divine Justice to account for our deeds, words, thoughts and negligence. Death is only the bridge joining earthly life with eternity. On the other end of the bridge our Divine Lord – Jesus Christ is awaiting each one of us.

“Come to Me all who work and bend under the weight of your burden, I will strengthen you, take My Harness and learn from Me, to be silent and of humble heart, and you will find rest for your souls, as My Harness is sweet, and my Burden is light”.

This film was made between 1985 and 1989. The credit for it goes to: Barbara, Nina, Roma, Ewa, Ela, Natasza, Andrzej, Benedykt, Edward, Jerzy, Zbigniew, Adam and many others. They all were barely "Unserviceable servants”, who were subtly and noticeably guided by Mary – Our Lady of Mercy.

Katarzyna (Catherine) Szymon – A stigmatic from Poland