'What are these wounds?' stigmata and/as memory in italian religious literature

The wounds of Christ represent the most effective paradigm for reminding the Christian community of the event that constitutes its own foundation, and consequently for rebuilding its identity, through the identification with an open God, as it were, displaying his vulnerability, his inner being, his incarnation. Every single wound on the Holy Body reproduces, in a highly vivid way, every single detail portrayed and narrated in the Passion story, each detail functioning, therefore, as a clue for an imaginary reconstruction of the entire scene, the complete tale of the Passion of Christ. This chapter focuses on the function of the Stigmata-metaphor in Italian religious literature; particular attention will be given to a group of poetic texts describing depictions of the blood stains left on the Holy Shroud.