Francis of Assisi was the first Christian to receive the stigmata, according to Catholic tradition.
Francis was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone around 1181 or 1182 in Assisi. He abandoned a life of wealth, embraced poverty, and founded the Order of Friars Minor, commonly called the Franciscans. His movement received papal approval in 1209.
According to Franciscan accounts, Francis received wounds resembling those of Christ during a religious experience on Mount La Verna in September 1224. The event is traditionally regarded as the first recorded Christian instance of stigmata. Sources differ in how they describe the precise visible signs.
Francis died in Assisi in 1226 and was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1228. Padre Pio, canonized centuries later, is another famous saint associated with stigmata, but he was not the first traditionally identified recipient.