Stigmata (1999): Bleeding Saints, Banned Scriptures and Billy Corgan
Description
The wounds of Christ. A chain-smoking atheist. Gabriel Byrne as a brooding Vatican investigator in designer black. Welcome back to Hot Priest Summer.
This week on Morally Offensive, we’re going full incense-and-industrial as we revisit Stigmata; the aggressively 1999 Catholic horror film where Patricia Arquette becomes an accidental mystic and Gabriel Byrne has his faith (and sex drive) tested. It’s a heady mix of the Gospel of Thomas, the Nag Hammadi library, anti-clerical paranoia, and… Chumbawamba?
We break down the film’s chaotic theology, its obsession with silenced gospels and Vatican coverups, and why so many ex-Catholics thought they were watching something dangerous. We also take a deeper look at the real history of stigmatics, from St. Francis of Assisi to Padre Pio, and dare to ask the question: Why was Padre Pio hoarding Carbolic acid?
Featuring a Billy Corgan-curated soundtrack, strobe-lit nightclubs, exorcisms of non-demons, and 90s fashion choices we can’t unsee, Stigmata is a movie best enjoyed with your Catholic brain turned off, and your popcorn thoroughly buttered.
Our guest this week is film teacher Christopher Hoppe, with co-hosting duties from Kevin of A24 On the Rocks.
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