Katarzyna (Catherine) Szymon – A stigmatic from Poland

STIGMATA

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

on the first Friday of Lent. At first they were small wounds Catherine managed to hide. However, as time passed, they got larger and bled more and more profusely. Włodzimierz Wojciechowski, doctor of medicine, says:

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.

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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.

It was the scent of flowers. While in ecstasy, Jesus and Mother of God would speak to us through her mouth, teaching us human dignity. For example: The mother of God told us, the students of medicine, that every ill child or adult should be treated as Jesus Himself. It was very uplifting to us. We kept coming there and sang. Catherine was a cheerful friendly person. Full of love to God and her fellow human beings. It was a great school of life to us.

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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.

WŁODZIMIERZ:

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

or some kind of a knife. But in this case – just two hours after she died, the wounds were healing and took four days to heal up. It looked as though the clots were subliming, that is evaporating. Her skin smoothed out, and it could be said that at the moment of Catherine’s funeral, there were only clot marks left on her body.

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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.

MARTA GODZIEK:

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.

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