VENERABLE ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH
1774 to 1824
|
Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich
Mystic, Visionary, Stigmatist, Prophet
The greatest visionary in the history of the Church...
Anne Catherine Emmerich was told by Our Lord that her gift of
seeing the past, present, and future in mystic vision was
greater than that possessed by anyone else in history. Born at
Flamske in Westphalia, Germany, on September 8, 1774, she became
a nun of the Augustinian Order at Dulmen. She had the use of
reason from her birth and could understand liturgical Latin
from her first time at Mass. During the last 12 years of her
life, she could eat no food except Holy Communion, nor take any
drink except water, subsisting entirely on the Holy Eucharist.
From 1802 until her death, she bore the wounds of the Crown of
Thorns, and from 1812, the full stigmata of Our Lord, including
a cross over her heart and the wound from the lance.
Anne Catherine Emmerich possessed the gift of reading hearts,
and she saw, in actual, visual detail, the facts of Catholic
belief which most of us simply have to accept on faith.
The basic truths of the catechism--angels, devils, Purgatory,
the life of Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, the Real Presence
of Christ in the Eucharist, the grace of the Sacraments--all
these truths were as real to her as the material world. Her
revelations make the hidden, supernatural world come alive.
Below are some of the most enthralling of these revelations:
She saw that each parish and diocese, each city and country has its own particular and powerful guardian angel.
She saw that the Church never has allowed children of Catholics to be raised outside her fold, and that as soon as solidly established, she banned mixed marriages.
She saw how the various indulgences we gain actually remit specific punishments which otherwise would await us in Purgatory.
She revealed that to gain an indulgence we must approach the Sacraments with true repentance and a firm purpose of amendment--or we do not gain it.
She deposes that it is more holy to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory than for sinners who are still alive.
She describes the nature, extent and power of victim souls, and their role in the life of the Church. She describes the condition of St. Lydwine of Schiedam, a victim soul during the time of "three popes," and how her body came apart into three pieces, joined only by the slenderest of sinews. She saw only 6 victim souls in her time working like herself on behalf of the Universal Church, and about 100,000 Catholic people worldwide who were great in their faith.
She revealed that saints are particularly powerful on their feast days and should be invoked then.
She saw that many saints come from the same families, the antiquity of which often extends far back into the Old Testament.
She saw the strong link--even long after their deaths--between holy souls in Heaven and their descendants here on earth, lasting even centuries.
She saw that the Garden of Eden, with all it contained, was a perfect picture of the Kingdom of God.
She revealed that Enoch and Elias are in Paradise where they await their return to the world to preach at the End of Time.
She revealed that Our Lord suffered from the wound in His shoulder more than from any other.
She continually saw a false church, and wicked men scheming against the Catholic Church and doing much harm--both in her own time and in the future.
She saw in a vision the enemies of the Church tearing it down and trying to build a new one on strictly human plans--but none of the saints would lend a hand. Later, this church of men is destroyed and the saints of God join in to rebuild the true Church of God, which becomes more glorious than ever before.
She saw the revival of the priesthood and the religious orders after a period of great decadence.
She describes in detail her visions of heaven, which she saw as "the Heavenly Jerusalem."
|
|
(JULY, 1820) Catherine Emmerich: "I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church. He had visions and apparitions in his hour of greatest need. I saw many good, pious Bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand. I saw the Black Fellow plotting again, the destroyers attacking the Church of Peter, Mary standing with her mantle over it, and the enemies of God put to flight… Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church. They went to one another saying: ‘All is more beautiful, more natural here, better regulated’: but as yet I have seen no ecclesiastic among them.
(Aug. 10, 1822) Catherine Emmerich:
" I see the Holy Father in great distress. He lives in another palace and receives only a few to his presence. If the wicked party knew their own great strength, they would even now have made an attack. I fear the Holy Father will suffer many tribulations before his death, for I see the Black Counterfeit Church gaining ground, I see its fatal influence on the public. The distress of the Holy Father and of the Church is really so great that one ought to pray to God day and night. I have been told to pray much for the Church and the Pope…Last night I was taken to Rome (in vision) where the Holy Father, plunged in affliction, is still concealed in order to elude dangerous exigencies. He is very feeble, quite worn out by distress, anxiety, and prayer. His chief reason for lying concealed is because he can now trust so few…More than once I had to point out to him in prayer traitors and evil-minded men among the Pope’s high, confidential officers, that I might give him notice of them…The Pope is so feeble that he can no longer walk alone."
(Oct. 1, 1822) Catherine Emmerich:
"The Church is in great danger. I must ask everyone who comes to see me to say an Our Father for that intention. We must pray that the Pope may not leave Rome, for the unheard-of evils would result from such a step. We must pray the Holy Ghost to enlighten him, for they are even now trying to exact something of him. The Protestant doctrine, as also that of the Greeks, is spreading everywhere. Two live at this time who long to ruin the Church, but they have lost one who used to help them with his pen. He was killed by a young man about a year ago, and one of the two men of whom I speak left Germany at the same time. They have their employees everywhere.
"The little Black Man in Rome, whom I see so often, has many working for him without their clearly knowing for what end. He has his agents in the New Black Church also. If the Pope leaves Rome, the enemies of the Church will get the upper hand. I see the Little Black Church in his own country committing many thefts and falsifying things generally. Religion is there so skillfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely 100 faithful priests. I cannot say how it is, but I see fog and darkness increasing…All must rebuilt soon; for everyone, even ecclesiastics, are laboring to destroy (and) ruin is at hand. The 2 enemies of the Church who have lost their accomplice are firmly resolved to destroy the pious and learned men that stand in their way."
Comments:
Do these prophecies refer to our own times? If so, then the 3 men spoken of would seem to be Villot, Benellii and casaroli (the Cardinals which Our Lady spoke of). Villot being the one "who use to help them with his pen" (see Bayside messages further on in the chapter on Aug. 21, 1974, and Sept. 27, 1975). Villot also died in 1979.
|
| |