c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ For screenwriter Tom Lazarus, the movie”Stigmata”was a journey into his own faith, an unusual venture into a realm traditionally believed to be Roman Catholic.”This was my personal journey, examining my own beliefs and lack of beliefs,”said Lazarus, the co-screenwriter and writer of the original story,”Stigmata,”on which the film is based. The MGM movie, directed by Rupert Wainwright, opened Sept. 10.

Lazarus was born of two Jewish parents from Scarsdale, N.Y., and raised in the Reform tradition. His Hebrew surname means”one God has helped,”and he mentions the two New Testament biblical characters of Lazarus in Luke and John.”My lack of faith has been an issue for me,”said the 56-year-old writer, whose credits include”Centerfold”and TV’s”Mazes and Monsters”and”Hear No Evil.””I went into this not believing in anything. It was ground zero for me. It was originally a movie of stigmata, a `what if’ God exists. I wanted the movie to relate to me, I guess.””Stigmata”is the story of Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), a young woman whose life is thrown out of control by an unseen but powerful force. Frankie is a 23-year-old hairdresser who lives in Pittsburgh, has a boyfriend and is an atheist. But when a series of attacks causes her to bleed from her wrists, feet and head, her life dramatically changes. A local priest witnesses the stigmata and sends word to a high-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal Houseman (Jonathan Pryce).

But Frankie’s wounds stir up controversy among Vatican officials when Houseman dispatches Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) to investigate. As Kiernan fights to save Frankie’s life, he discovers a high-level church conspiracy behind her condition.

The word “stigmata” evokes powerful images of wounds resembling those of the crucified body of Jesus. Many devout Roman Catholics _ from St. Francis of Assisi to Padre Pio, the Franciscan priest recently beatified by Pope John Paul II _ are believed to have received the stigmata.

But a stigmatic nonbeliever, while not unheard of, is a genuine surprise. Even in Hollywood movies like”Agnes of God”and”Touch,”the stigmatic traditionally has been a Catholic.”For me, it was much more interesting to have someone off the street to relate to,”Lazarus said of the Frankie character, whose bohemian lifestyle seemed incompatible with church institutionalism.”I was interested in writing a script that I felt at the time the motion picture audience was looking for _ something to believe in. A non-religious (character) made more sense.” One of the movie’s technical advisers, the Rev. Edward Siebert, said the idea of an atheist stigmatic was not familiar to him.”Usually, the stigmatic is someone who is very spiritually connected, someone who has faith and mystical qualities. So for (Frankie), it was somewhat jarring and interesting,”Siebert said.”I definitely found it unique.” Indeed, the stigmata has affected people of various religious backgrounds, according to Ian Wilson, British author of”Stigmata: An Investigation Into the Mysterious Appearance of Christ’s Wounds in Hundreds of People from Medieval Italy to Modern America.” While the majority of stigmatics have been Roman Catholic, Wilson noted the cases of Ethel Chapman, an Anglican woman who reportedly bled from her palms, and Cloretta Robinson, an African-American Baptist from California who was said to bleed from her hands, feet and forehead.

Several medical scholars, on the other hand, argue the stigmata is a form of”psychogenic purpuras”_ a hemorrhage into the skin tissues producing a purplish or brownish-red discoloration. These strange, spontaneous hemorrhages can and do occur with no evidence of physical trauma.

One theory suggests the bleeding is caused by emotional factors _ for example, stress or hysteria _ combined with a physiological predisposition toward skin bruising and hemorrhaging.

Dr. Oscar D. Ratnoff, a semi-retired internist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has written that events similar to the stigmata have occurred in nonreligious people as well. He also referred to cases in which Muslims were known to have stigmata resembling the wounds of the Prophet Mohammed in battle.”There have been Jewish people who have gotten the stigmata,”said Ron Hansen, a professor of creative writing and literature at Santa Clara University in northern California. Hansen, a practicing Catholic, is the author of”Mariette in Ecstasy,”a fictional story of a nun who received the stigmata.

Hansen also wrote an article on the subject in which he said a 20th century “nominal Protestant” who never attended church apparently had received wounds resembling those of the crucified Christ.”The stigmata has always been a gift freely bestowed by God,”Hansen said.”These aren’t things that you earn. It’s not as if anybody who ever had the stigmata prayed for it.”I think that God is relentlessly pursuing us all the time and tries to attract our attention,”he added.”(But) why God would choose one person over another is baffling to me.” Looking back, Lazarus believes his story of the stigmata was a first step in recognizing his own spirituality. Perhaps a higher power was at work in his life after all.”I now believe in things where I never believed in anything before. The gift that I have as a creative person is a gift,”he said.”That’s how it was a part of the journey for me.” DEA END ALEISS