Stigmata Page #4

- Hey, I think you made a mistake.

- What do you mean?

- I can't have stigmata.

Jesus was crucified through

the palms of his hands, not his wrists.

My wounds are through the wrists.

So you're wrong.

Actually, scientists have discovered that

in Roman times people were crucified

through the wrists, not the palms.

The hands couldn't support

the body weight,

so they did crucify them

through the wrists.

No, wait, you're telling me

that every painting,

every statue of Christ,

every single crucifix

in the whole world is wrong?

No, no, just inaccurate.

They're impressions of the truth.

Icons are meant to be inspirational.

Miss Paige,

there's something else you should know.

The words you keep repeating

that, uh, you thought were nonsense.

It's not.

It's actually a very specific language.

It's a form of Aramaic.

What?

It's a form of Aramaic

that hasn't been used for 1900 years.

It's a dialect that was used in Galilee

around the time of Jesus.

Split a piece of wood and I am there.

Lift a stone and you will find me.

- Did you get through?

- No.

Her machine didn't even pick up.

Miss Paige?

Frankie?

Who are you?

The messenger is not important.

I feel like my heart is breaking.

Why am I so sad?

It smells like flowers in here.

Like... jasmine or...

.. rose or something.

- Can you smell that?

- Yes, I can.

- Who wrote that?

- You did.

- I wrote that?!

- Yes.

- Have you heard from Father Andrew?

- No, Eminence.

- He hasn't filed a report.

- What are these?

These are newspaper clippings

from our office in New York.

The first one is from Pennsylvania.

The others are from New York

and Washington.

These are even more damaging.

This one mentions the stigmata.

- He isn't defusing the situation.

- Shall I call him home?

Have him conclude his investigation

and report to me in New York next week.

Frankie, can you please come over here

and have a look at this?

I just can't believe that none of this

means anything to you.

Frankie?

Frankie, can you please...

Can you please look at this?

Sometimes subjects retain fragments

or images that can be transmitted

subconsciously.

This subject doesn't retain

fragments of images.

You don't get it, do you, Father Kiernan?

I don't know what the hell that means!

I don't know what the hell this means.

I just want my life back, OK?

I'm sitting amongst yourselves

Don't think you can see me

I haven't gone anywhere

But out of my body

Reach out and touch me

Make effort to speak to me

Call out and you'll hear me

Be happy for me...

Miss Paige?

Miss Paige, I'm sorry.

Don't "Miss Paige" me

just because you messed up.

I'm not gonna let you off the hook.

OK, but I am sorry.

You know, for a priest

you're pretty relentless.

Yeah, I guess I stopped being a priest

and slipped back into being a scientist.

It happens.

Hey, what kind of a scientist

is a priest, anyway?

You don't want to know.

Oh, yes, I do!

You were an organic chemist?

Did you walk around

with those glasses

with Scotch tape around the sides,

and pocket protectors?

I did, actually.

Anyway, one day I just decided that

I was going to become a priest.

Why?

- The holes.

- The holes?

- The holes in the theories.

- What theories?

The world is six billion years old.

There's been life for three billion years,

but before that there was nothing.

No life.

Just a bunch of elements swirling around.

And then one day,

for no apparent reason whatsoever,

all these elements

came together in perfect harmony

and there was suddenly life.

Living things like lilac

and... and hedgehogs and...

Beer and... cheesecake.

Beer and cheesecake.

Did you know monks invented alcohol?

- Yeah. Everybody knows that.

- You knew that?

Yeah.

Well, anyway, to get back to the big hole.

There really...

There really isn't any explanation.

And, I figured that

there was something more than

well, more important than

organic chemistry going on,

and I figured that... it was God.

And that God was responsible

for all this... life.

- I really can't get a line on you.

- Why not?

- I can't understand a man who's never...

- Never made love to a woman?

Well, this may come

as a great surprise to you, but

I wasn't born a priest.

- You didn't like it?

- What's not to like?

- But you don't miss it?

- Yes, of course I miss it.

I mean, I'm human, you know.

I struggle with it, but I've made a choice.

Basically, I've exchanged

one set of complications for another.

So this is the fourth?

- What do you mean?

- When I first met you,

didn't you say that

there were five wounds?

Well, this is the fourth. What's the fifth?

The spear.

That's the wound that killed him.

Don't worry, Frankie.

No stigmatic has ever received

the full five wounds.

Have you ever met another person

who had stigmata?

I did make a pilgrimage to a small village

in the mountains of southern Italy.

There I met a priest called Padre Pio.

He first received the wounds

when he was 23 years of age,

the same age as Saint Francis of Assisi.

Who's Saint Francis of Assisi?

Saint Francis was the first person

to receive the stigmata, in the 13thC.

He was a wild young man,

who suddenly changed his ways

after he'd had a vision

of being crucified alongside Christ.

When he woke up, his hands

and his feet were... were bleeding.

This priest,

were his wounds as bad as mine?

Padre Pio.

Sometimes he lost a pint of blood a day.

And he suffered terrible demonic attacks.

A priest?

All stigmatics suffer

the most intense spiritual conflict.

The nearer they come to God,

the more open they are to temptation,

to evil visions,

to the torment of their demons.

A smell accompanies the wounds.

The odor of sanctity, the smell of...

Flowers?

Yes.

Flowers.

Well, what happened to him?

How many wounds did he receive?

He...

He lived to old age.

How many wounds did he receive?

Two.

I'm dying, aren't I?

This thing is killing me.

Here's a closer shot.

My guess is it's probably Aramaic.

Aspetta.

I'm looking at it.

Is there a... Is there a problem, Gianni?

Yes. Don't send me any more pictures.

- How many did you send?

- Six. Why?

- The problem is what it says.

- Well, what does it say?

It says, "The kingdom of God is

inside you, and all about you."

Andrew, forget you saw this.

- Drop it immediately.

- Gianni, what is the problem?

Do you remember the Gospels...

Gianni? Gianni, are you still there?

Do you remember

the Gospels Commission?

It was closed down suddenly

by your friend Cardinal Houseman.

Yes, a few years ago, yes.

We discovered a document that

looked like a completely new gospel.

- What's the significance?

- I was one of the three

translators of this gospel.

It was written entirely in Aramaic.

The language of Jesus and his disciples.

It may be Jesus actual words.

He's...

Where is it now?

Gianni? What's going on?

Are you there?

Gianni?

Buona sera.

What's this?

Is that a painting?

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