In a statement given by the Servant of God Padre Domenico da Cese he spoke of his visit with Saint Padre Pio in 1940 while in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. "When I was with Padre Pio in 1940, my hands itched and I started rubbing them. He looked to me and said, "Oh, do you have the stigmata? "I replied, no it just itches." But Padre Pio looked to me and said clearly, "But you have them. I have them open and yours hidden."
Also in a letter written by Padre Domenico to his Provincial dated October 19, 1941, he wrote, "For over a month I have really high fevers, from 105.8 to 109.4 degrees (Fahrenheit), my legs are really swollen and the feet have open wounds which bleed; I always have strong migraines and on top of that I can't even sleep", this was also reported to the doctor in Dubrovnik at the time.
Many people saw the stigmata, yet at times it was hidden to others. On the handkerchief pictured below; Padre Domenico's own words regarding the event on March 3, 1976.
(Pictures and text taken from the book written by Sr. Petra-Maria Steiner, "Servant of God Padre Domenico da Cese, O.F.M., Capuchin an Illustrated Biography".)
Padre Domenico once said to his spiritual daughter, Maria Venditti, "I cannot work with my own hands, because I always have pain." Throughout the history of the church there have been holy men and women who bore the wounds of Jesus Christ; the pain was always present, yet the wounds were not always visible.