It is very important to realize that
stigmata has not been traditionally viewed as some kind of
curse or
punishment.
Consider the following: there is a man who
loves you so well, he allows himself to be
tortured for you. Beaten for you, whipped for you, humiliated for you so that you could find
salvation. He must certainly hold you dear to
suffer so for your sake. And, in return for his complete and utter love, in return for the
grace he has offered you, you love him completely and utterly as well.
Now because you love him so utterly, and because he has suffered - is suffering? - so much for your sake, would you not want to suffer along with him so that you might perhaps take a little of his suffering upon yourself? And would it not be one of the greatest
honors you could conceive that he thinks you
righteous enough to suffer along with him?
I do not know if these people inflicted the stigmata on themselves - That is not for me to decide. But assuming stigmata is not
mystical in nature, the
Via Dolorosa has a long tradition. Through the centuries, a great number of people have seen suffering as a way to grow closer to
God. If one is going to suffer for grace, what more fitting way is there than to suffer in the manner of
Jesus?
This is, of course, all by Christian theology.