STIGMATA CLAIM IN GERMANY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28260, 24 April 1957, Page 13

STIGMATA CLAIM IN GERMANY

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, April 19. Nearly 3000 pilgrims gathered in pouring rain outside the little cottage of Therese Neumann, at Konnersreuth in Germany, today to file, past the bed where she again appeared to suffer the agonies of crucifixion, according to the American Associated Press.

The 59-year-old woman has been attracting crowds to her tiny Bavarian village every Good Friday since 1926, when she was first reported to have displayed the Crucifixion stigmata. Police on hand to keep today’s crowd in order reported that the stigmatisation as usual reached its peak shortly before noon, the time that Christ is believed to have been nailed to the Cross. Unlike last year, when she was too ill to have visitors troop through her home, pilgrims were again allowed inside to see the apparent stigmata. They reported signs of bleeding on her hands, feet and head. It is estimated that more than 200,000 persons have seen Therese Neumann’s apparent stigmata in the last 31 years. The Roman Catholic Church authorities have never officially recognised the stigmatisation of Therese Neumann, but they have never advised Roman Catholics that her experiences were not genuine.