Marthe Robin

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Lifestyle

Notable

Traits

Family

French mystic and stigmatic. She was born into a peasant farming family, sixth of six children. Serious illness marked her adult life, and from her twenties she was confined to bed, crippled, and gradually paralyzed. She ate only wafers and neither drank nor slept, but lived for seven decades and carried on a busy apostolate. From the age of 28 she was completely paralyzed and bedridden. Although she still could move the thumb and forefinger of one hand, she became motionless apart from her head which she could move slightly. Since the previous year, at the age of 25, she could not eat anything at all. And from the age of 26 she couldn't even take a sip of water. When doctors tried to force some water down her throat, it merely came down her nostrils. For the next 53 years Marthe's only food was the holy Eucharist. Once a week she was given the sacred host. On more than one occasion priests saw the host apparently leap from their hands and fly directly to her mouth. Even a bishop testified that he saw it apparently dissolve once it passed her lips. Once she had received the host she went immediately into ecstasy and began her weekly re-living of Christ's Passion and crucifixion. Every Friday the wounds appeared in the palms of her hands and the stigmata, the scourging and crowning with thorns appeared on her body, and she appeared to be dead. She was directed to found two schools in her native village, one for girls and one for boys. All this she directed down to the smallest detail from her bed in her darkened little room. Later on she was told to found a community which would welcome retreatants and which would be a home of "light, charity and love." It became known as the Foyer de Charité and there are now some 70 houses and communities throughout the world. Robin died in Châteauneuf de Galaure on 2/06/1981 at 5:30 PM, France. (Another account states that she first had the stigmata on 11/11/1918.) Link to Wikipedia (French)