Maria Domenica Lazzari, 1846
L. Giuditti after L.G. de Ségur
Wellcome Library no. 708242i
In the 1840s there was a steady flow of tourists and pilgrims to the idyllic valleys of South Tyrol, Italy to visit two women said to have received spontaneously bleeding wounds (stigmata) on their hands, feet, or head like those caused to Jesus Christ when he was nailed to the cross and forced to wear the crown of thorns. One of the two women was Maria Domenica Lazzari, and the other was Maria von Moehrl. The former was known as L'Addolorata (the woman of pain), the latter as L'Estatica (the woman of ecstasy), for reasons which will become clear.