The mystics themselves do not seem to have believed their physical and mental sufferings to be a sign of grace, but it is unfortunate that it is precisely physical manifestations which appeal most to the religiosity of the mob. A woman might spend twenty years nursing lepers without having any notice taken of her, but let her once exhibit the stigmata or live for long periods on nothing but the Host and water, and in no time the crowd will be clamoring for her beatification.
— W. H. Auden, "Introduction to The Protestant Mystics"
anthologized in Forewords and Afterwords
[photo is Saint Francis embracing a man with leprosy]
