Saints were sometimes rewarded by God for loving Him so much that they offered the Lord total dominion over their heart.
Many famous saints, including several Doctors of the Church, experienced different forms of the transverberation, which could come in the form of mystical vision, a physical wounding of the heart by a dart or a flame of love.
In one very rare instance, that of St. Veronica Giuliani, the imprint of the cross was actually made upon the heart of a saint, and after her death this heart and the image upon it has been preserved.
St. John of the Cross – Doctor of the Church
In Living Flame of Love, St. John of the Cross explains this wounding of the heart. “It will happen while the soul is inflamed with the love of God. It will feel that a seraphim is assailing it be means of an arrow or dart which is all afire with love.”
St. Teresa of Avila – Doctor of the Church
The best known case of transverberation occurred with St. Teresa of Avila around 1582.
Describing a short angel who was very beautiful and who appeared to be one of the highest kinds of angels who appeared to her as all on fire, she said, “In his hand I saw a long golden spear and at the end of the iron tip I seemed to see a point of fire.”
He pierced her heart so many times that she described it as feeling as though it went through her entire abdominal cavity. She described the aftermath as one of complete fire for the love of God, but the pain was so intense, she was audibly moaning.
The heart was removed from St. Teresa of Avila’s body during an exhumation, and in 1872 was studied by three doctors at the University of Salamanca.
The perforation caused by the fiery dart was noted, and the doctors agreed that the heart could not be preserved by any natural or chemical means. It was completely incorrupt and is kept at the convents of the Carmelite reform.
St. Therese of Lisieux – Doctor of the Church
St. Therese only explained this event on her deathbed to her sister Pauline. In her description, she stated that she had been praying the stations of the cross when it happened.
Very suddenly, she felt herself wounded by a dart of fire that she actually believed she was going to die. But, she told her sister Pauline, it was a fire of pain and love at the same time.
Others who Experienced the Transverberation
Other saints who were known to have experienced the transverberation were St. Padre Pio, Sister Mary Martha Chambon, Ven. Maria Villani of Naples, St. Lutgarde, St. Charles of Sezze, St. Clare of Montefalco, St. Veronica Giuliani, St. Catherine of Siena, Ven. Dominia A Paradiso, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Michael of the Saints, Blessed Margaret of Citta Di Castello, St. Gerard Majella, St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Philip Neri, St. Paul of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Francis de Chantal.
Related Reading
Readers may also enjoy learning about The Odor of Sanctity, along with Miraculous Transport.
Sources:
- Mysteries, Marvels and Miracles: In the Lives of the Saints, By Joan Carroll Cruz.
