Malachian prophecy

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Emblematic representation of the Pope's prophecy of Malachia, Metten Monastery Church, Lower Bavaria; 1724.

The so-called papal prophecy of St. Malachy , in short: the Malachian prophecy , is a pope prophecy consisting of 112 short sayings about all popes and (except for two) antipopes from Celestine II (1143–1144) to Francis . They were first printed by Arnold Wion in 1595 in a work entitled Lignum Vitae, and were probably incorrectly ascribed to the canonized Irish Archbishop Malachias .

In this prophecy, each pope and each (except for two) antipope is assigned a motto, often consisting of only two or three words. Only 3 of the 112 sayings are statements, including the last one:

"In persecutione extrema SRE sedebit."

"In the extreme (last or extremely great) persecution of the Holy Roman Church he will be enthroned."

This motto is followed in a new paragraph with "Petrus Romanus" an alleged papal name or a papal synonym, which is followed by a relative clause, which stylistically resembles the interpretations of the first 74 proverbs and also seems to interpret the last proverb in terms of content. The added names of the Popes and interpretations are expressly not ascribed to Malachias in Lignum Vitae, but to the church historian and catacomb researcher Alfons Ciaconius , who died in 1599 .

Many consider Philipp Neri to be the true author and those sayings that precede Philipp Neri's prophetic vision to be invented forgeries based on known facts. Some conversational and theological lexicons saw, or even see, all of prophecy as a forgery. This may be due to the difficult to understand deep symbolic content of the sayings ascribed to Neri. In addition, the lack of observance of prophecy in the assumed 450 years from its creation to its first written mention in 1595 is noticeable, although for the average believer in this period of time it would have to appear as "arrived".

In this sense, this sees u. a. also Hildebrand Troll : It refers to a cut between the 71st and 72nd aphorisms, which René Thibaut (1883–1952) was the first to recognize and who recognized the first 71 aphorisms (from Celestine II to Pius V ) of the aphorisms No. 72 to 111 (from Gregory XIII. To Benedict XVI. ) Separates. The former refer to purely formal things such as coats of arms, names of the noble family, etc. and are probably invented later, while the latter, the really prophetic ones, primarily characterize the Pope or his pontificate by means of a symbolic language. This could be an indication that Philipp Neri (only) was given the forecast of all subsequent Conclavias noted in Lignum Vitae at the time of Pope Pius V (1566-1572).

Probably also because of the difficult to access symbolic language, the Malachian prophecy fell somewhat into oblivion in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. It gained special attention again when Pius VI. around 1800 as an "apostolic pilgrim", so his motto, had to travel through Europe. From then until today, sayings ascribed to Philipp Neri, especially with regard to the characterizations of the popes of the 19th and 20th centuries, are said to be surprisingly plausible and unmistakable reference points.

publication

Cover of the book

The prophecies first appeared in 1595 in a book by the Belgian Benedictine monk Arnold Wion (also Arnoldo, Vvion and Wyon, 1554 to before 1610). "Lignum vitae ..." (German: "Tree of Life ...") (2 volumes with 5 "books") is a biobibliographical description of famous members of the Benedictine order. In Volume 1, 2. “Book”, Chapter 40, the place letter “D” is treated, where on page 307 in the section “Dunenses in Hibernia , sub Archiepiscopo Armacano” (German: “Down [Diocese, name of the village Downpatrick , Latin Dunum] in Ireland, under Archbishop of Armagh ”) the Saint Malachias (1094 / 95–1148) is treated. This is followed by the "Prophetia S.Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus" (German: "Prophecies about all (future) popes of the Holy Archbishop Malachias") reaching up to page 311. It is also known as the Prophetia de futuris Pontificibus Romanis or Prophetia de summis pontificibus .

Through the independence struggles of the Netherlands ( Eighty Years War 1568-1648) Wion fled to Italy, where he was accepted, among other places, in the Abbey of Montecassino (1577) and in the monastery of San Benedetto in Polirone near Mantua . So it came about that the work of the Belgian was published by Giorgio Anglieri in Venice .

shape

The entries are arranged in three columns in two different ways.

  • Entries 1 to 74 (1143–1590, Cölestin II. - Urban VII.) Contain
    • the motto,
    • the name of the Pope
    • and a commentary, which should show to what extent the motto characterizes the name or coat of arms of the respective Pope or distinctive circumstances of his pontificate. The comment may be broken, with the second line beginning indented in the second column. From the second page onwards, the visual separation between the second and third column is not so clear.
  • Entries 75 to 77 (years 1590–1592, Gregory XIV - Clement VIII) up to the year of publication only contain the motto and the name of the Pope. The third column is empty.
  • Entries 78 to 111 contain only the short motto and are arranged in three columns to save space.
  • At the end of the three-column arrangement, two paragraphs follow.

The first of these contains the statement interrupted by a questionable point

“In persecutione. extrema SRE sedebit. "

"In the extreme (last or extremely great) persecution of the Holy Roman Church he will be enthroned."

And the last one begins with “Petrus Romanus”, followed by a relative clause, which resembles the style of a pope's name found in the first 74 aphorisms, followed by the interpretation of the aphorism written on the left. This is followed by the one-word sentence Finis. ( End. ) To:

"Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, & Iudex tremendus iudicabit populum suum. Finis. "

“Peter the Roman, who will feed his sheep in many tribulations; when these are over, the seven-hilly state (citizenship, city) will be destroyed, and the terrible (more precisely: before whom one must tremble) judge will judge his people. The End."

Often these two paragraphs are quoted as a single continuous sentence - from "In persecutione ..." to "... populum suum", but usually without the Finis ending - so that the question of whether the statement "Petrus Romanus, qui pascet ... “is assigned to the seer or his interpreter - called Ciaconius - is not even raised.

  • Finally, the comment is written across the entire width of the page:

"Quae ad Pontifices adiecta, non sunt ipsius Malachiae, sed RPF Alphonsi Gioaconis, Ordinis Praedicatorum, huius Prophetiae interpretis."

"What has been added to the popes is not the property of Malachias himself, but of Alphons Ciaconius of the Order of Preachers, the interpreter of this prophecy."

Alfons Ciaconius († 1599) was a well-known church historian and catacomb researcher under Gregory XIII. and penalties at Santa Maria Maggiore .

  • Page 307

  • Page 308

  • Page 309

  • Page 310

  • Page 311

Noticeable

Up until the end of the 16th century, prophecy had very much in common with a list by the Italian historian Onofrio Panvinio (1530–1568). In his work Epitome pontificum Romanorum a S. Petro usque ad Paulum III , published in Venice in 1557 , all necessary information is included, such as coats of arms and biographical information. Incorrect biographical information is also the same.

The Belgian Jesuit René Thibaut (1883–1952) claims to have found a difference between the sayings of the first 71 (until 1566) and the other prophecies (from 1572) according to his work published in 1951. In his opinion, the first part contains exact details about the past life of the popes such as baptismal and family names, place of birth, coat of arms, etc., while the second part requires a lot of interpretation and symbolism.

Suspected originator

Malachias

The authorship of Malachias (1094 / 95–1148) brought into play by the publication is no longer given any faith. It is true that Archbishop Malachias traveled to Rome in 1139 to regulate agendas for the diocese, and according to Father François Cucherat (1812–1887) he is said to have had strange visions there, where the popes were revealed to him until the end of the Church. He is said to have entrusted the manuscript to Pope Innocent II (reign 1130–1143) to comfort him. Thereafter, it is said to have been in the Vatican Archives until it was rediscovered in 1590. His friend and hagiographer Bernhard von Clairvaux (around 1090-1153) mentions, however, that his prophecies never mentioned popes.

There is also no reference to the prophecies between the first mentioned Pope in Malachia's lifetime and the publication by Wion, i.e. for 452 years. Above all, however, it would be inexplicable, if Malachia was the author, why the sayings from number 72 (for Pope Gregory XIII , 1572–1585), shortly before their publication in 1595, are no longer purely formal (names, coats of arms, title churches) let, but mainly characterize the Pope and the pontificate using a symbolic language, as René Thibaut (1883–1952) has established.

Philipp Neri

Philipp Neri, the alleged author of the Malachian prophecy

There are essentially three reasons for Philipp Neri's authorship .

  • His credibly confirmed ability to foresee the popes who emerged from the conclave during his lifetime
  • Ganganelli, who would later become Pope Clement XIV, ascribed a prophecy everyone speaks of to Philip Neri in a letter.
  • The fact that his year of death coincides with the year of publication of Lignum Vitae and that he burned all of his own documents before his death, so he did not value fame through his own publications

Philipp Neri's ability to foresee popes

Hildebrand Troll writes that Philipp Neri foresaw the result of almost all conclaves of his time and quotes his oldest biographer Antonio Gallonio from the Acta Sanctorum of May in Volume VI on page 507:

"Illud de beato Patre hic mirabile adjiciam, ... quod Romana Sede Pastore orbata, semper ferme, nunc dormiens, nunc vigilans, nomen illius, qui in Summum Pontificem eligendus erat, maxima voce pronuntiari audiebat: quam rem paucis admodum viris aperire consueverat."

“I would like to add the following astonishing thing about the Blessed Father: almost always when the papal chair of his Shepherd was orphaned, he heard, sometimes asleep, sometimes while awake, the name of the one who was going to be elected Pope proclaimed in a loud voice; he was in the habit of confiding this fact to very few people. "

Troll also quotes the biographer Girolamo Branabei on page 599 of this Acta Sanctorum :

"Philippus futurorum pontificum electiones ferme omnes divinitus praevidebat."

"Philip foresaw almost all elections of future popes by divine inspiration."

According to Troll, this biographer also shows how Philip revealed the name of the cardinal to his confidants, who will be leaving the conclave as Pope. Occasionally he also predicts the day and hour when this will happen and the name the newly elected will take. And Troll also mentions that these events were also discussed during the canonization process of Philipp Neris.

Ganganelli's letter

Hildebrand Troll mentions that in the middle of the 18th century in Rome, predictions of future popes dedicated to St. Filippo Neri and refers to a letter from Lorenzo Ganganelli, later Clement XIV , to Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi from Rome on March 13, 1750, in which it concludes:

“In deep reverence, I kiss your hands in anticipation of the moment when we will kiss your feet, when St. Prophecy attributed to Filippo Neri, of which everyone speaks meanwhile, comes true. "

"Le bacio le mani col più profondo rispetto, in attenzione die quel momento in cui le baceremo i piedi, se avrà luogo la profezia attribuita a S. Filippo Neri, e che da ognuno intanto vien pubblicata."

Document burning and correspondence of year of death and year of publication

Troll who used the sayings from Gregory XIII. believes that this is true prophecy, in search of a person “who was extraordinarily accessible to the charismatic” and who lived in the second half of the 16th century, the time when prophecy was written, it is easy to come across the priest Philipp Neri (1515–1595 ), who bears the honorary title of Apostle of Rome . What Troll doesn't explicitly mention is that even his year of death coincides exactly with the year Lignum Vitae was published . In addition, the fact that he burned all of his own documents at the end of his life shows that he did not value his own publications. He, the “happy fool”, was someone who gave all glory to God and sought to be despised rather than honored by people. The burning of his documents is also particularly compatible with the fact that no trace of the original edition of the so-called Malachian prophecy has been found.

Arnold Wion

According to Troll, Hermann Weingarten tried to prove that Wion, as the editor of the prophecy, was also its author and interpreter at the same time. This was strongly contradicted. Indeed, there is no explanation why he should leave entries 75 to 77, which refer to three popes before the publication date, uncommented. Troll also asks whether Wion, if he were the author, would not have given these sayings with less symbolism, instead with clearer allusions to individual traits, and also refers to the existing consensus that Lignum Vitae has the purpose of glorifying the Benedictine order serves. “Wouldn't it be obvious that Wion, if he was the author of the prophecy, would have emphasized the Popes from the Benedictine order as such? Innocent V and Benedict XI. are marked as Dominicans, Sixtus IV as Franciscans ( Concionator Gallus; Concionator patereus; Piscator minorita ), but not once is the order of a Benedictine Pope taken into account. "

Further presumptions about authorship

Further presumptions relate more to the purpose of the alleged forgery of the Malachian divination, whereby the forgers are usually not identified by name; and the few names mentioned like Nicholas Sanders (1530–1581), Alfonso Ceccarelli (1532–1583) and Alfons Ciaconius (1530–1599) are considered untenable.

Nicholas Sanders is brought into play by René Thibaut. Sanders was an English Catholic theologian who had to leave his chair at Oxford during the Catholic persecution and was ordained a priest in Rome. Among other things, he was a consistent defender of papal rights, but that, according to Troll, is not enough to connect him with the Spaniard Ciaconius, who is known as an interpreter of Malachian prophecy.

According to Luigi Fumi and Orazio Premoli, the author of the Malachian prophecy is to be found in the “cunning impostor and professional forger of documents” Alfonso Ceccarelli (1532–1583), who had to atone for his frauds in Rome in 1583 with his life. Troll only mentions this view "for the sake of curiosity". Ceccarelli's year of death reveals at least that it should hardly have anything to do with the theory that prophecy was created at the time of the Sedis vacancy after the death of Pope Urban VII (1590).

At that time, according to this theory, the Malachian prophecy was written and circulated in its present form to give Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli of Orvieto ( = “urbs vetus” = “old city” ) the saying “Ex antiquitate Urbis” (“Aus the age of the city ”) into office. (The next Pope, however, was Niccolo Sfondrato - Gregory XIV (1590–1591) and the prophecy was now interpreted as a “lover of antiquity”.) After Troll, this hypothesis was the first to represent the French Jesuit Ménestrier in 1689; but according to the English Wikipedia it comes from the French encyclopaedist Louis Moréri (1643–1680), among others . Döllinger and Pastor and, with regard to the time of origin, Harnack too, supported this thesis.

Maitre and Schmidlin, however, rejected it as untenable, Troll continued. Simoncelli was already an old man (the oldest among the voters) and had neither prospects nor personal ambitions for the papacy. In addition, it is hardly understandable why a document should have been written for the sake of this one candidacy, which, with detailed knowledge of papal history, reached so far into the past and, above all, prophesied so many future popes. Medieval papal prophecies, on the other hand, break off soon after the motto for the pope in whose favor they were written. What is particularly noteworthy, however, is Troll's statement that in “Ex antiquitate Urbis” the Urbs is capitalized and therefore does not mean “city” in the sense of any city, but in the sense of the city of Rome. The city of Orvieto ( = "urbs vetus" = "old city" ) could not be meant by "Ex antiquitate Urbis".

Also "for the sake of curiosity" Troll mentions another theory by Thurston, which has never been seriously accepted by research. According to her, the author would have drawn from history up to Sixtus V and looked around for alleged papal candidates from the future, i.e. from Urban VII. So, in sequence, the sayings “De rore coeli” (for Castgna, the bishop of Rossano), “Ex antiquitate Urbis” (for Simoncelli from Orvieto), “Pia civitas in bello” (for Bellarmine from Montepulciano), “Crux Romulea "(For Santa Croce from Rome) and" Undosus vir "(for Baronius, in whose coat of arms wavy lines appear). The remaining 33 (the last, a statement, is not counted here) sayings are completely systemless invented. Thurston suspects Alfons Ciaconius of this capricious game.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Arnold Wion: Lignum vitae, Ornamentum et Decus Ecclesiae . in quinque libros diuisum. In quibus Totius Sanctiss. Religionis Diui Benedicti initia; Viri Dignitate, Doctrina, Sanctitate, ac Principatu clari describuntur: & Fructus qui per eos SRE accesserunt, fuisissime explicantur. 1st edition. tape 1 . Giorgio Anglieri, Venice 1595, p. 307-311 (Latin, online in the Google book search - Liber 2, Cap. 40).
  2. ↑ a b c Martin Bachmaier: Malachias prophecy and Petrus Romanus foolishness. Why "Petrus Romanus, qui pascet ..." is an interpretation attributed to the Ciaconius and therefore not part of the Malachian prophecy. (Retrieved March 3, 2016.)
  3. ↑ Already in Zedler's Universal Lexikon , which appeared between 1732 and 1754 as the most extensive encyclopedic project in Europe in the 18th century, the Malachian prophecy is dismissed as a forgery. Malachias de Hybernia. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 19, Leipzig 1739, column 689 f.
  4. ↑ As early as 1913, the Catholic Encyclopedia expressed its skepticism, see: here . Likewise, the Malachian prophecy is considered a forgery in the Lexicon for Theology and Church .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Hildebrand Troll: The Pope's prophecy of St. Malachy. A contribution to solving their secret. EOS-Verlag, St. Ottilien 2002, ISBN 3-8306-7099-0 .
  6. ↑ a b c d René Thibaut: La Mystérieuse Prophétie des Papes (=  Bibliothèque de la Faculté de philosophie et lettres de Namur . Volume 10 ). Édition J. Vrin, Paris 1951 (French, de.scribd.com [accessed March 13, 2013]).
  7. ↑ Jean-Noël Paquot: Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire littéraire des dix-sept provinces des Pays-Bas, de la principauté de Liège, et de quelques contrées voisines . tape 1 . L'Imprimerie Academique, Louvain 1765, Arnold Wion, p. 347 (French, online in Google Book Search).
  8. ^ Renate Juergensen: Bibliotheca Norica . Patrician and scholarly libraries in Nuremberg between the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment (=  contributions to books and libraries ). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-04540-X , p. 816 .
  9. ^ Andrea Donati: L'Albero genealogico benedettino di Arnoldo Wion nella stampa degli Olivetani di Scola. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini, archived from the original on June 20, 2012 ; Retrieved March 13, 2013 (Italian).
  10. ↑ Sven Loerzer: Visions and Prophecies. The most famous prophecies in world history. Pattloch Verlag Augsburg. Licensed edition for Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1999. Pages 240–58.
  11. ↑ Heiner Boberski: And again the apocalypse threatens. If the ominous “Malachy prophecy” has its way, the last Pope and the Last Judgment are imminent. In: Wiener Zeitung Online. February 22, 2013, accessed March 14, 2013 .
  12. ↑ Prosopographia SJ BSE 1814-2003. (PDF; 718 kB) (v0901). jesuitica.be, January 6, 2009, p. 81 , accessed on March 13, 2013 (English): "Surname-SJ: Thibaut First Name: René Birthplace: Ciney Birthdate: 1883-12-13 Entrance: 1901-09-23 Place of death: Egenhoven Date of death: 1952-11-23 "
  13. ↑ René Thibaut: The Mysterious Prophecy of the Popes (=  Library of the faculty of philosophy and letters of namur . Volume 10 ). J. Editions Vrin, Paris 1951 (French, de.scribd.com [accessed March 13, 2013] Original title: La Mystérieuse Prophétie des Papes .).
  14. ↑ François Cucherat: La prophétie de la succession des papes . depuis le XIIe siècle jusqu'a la fin du monde, son auteur, son authenticité et son explication. Nouvelle ed., Series rev. et considérablement augm. Librairie Baratier Frères et Dardelet, Grenoble 1873, chap. 15 (French, online in Google Book Search - USA - first edition 1871).
  15. ^ Charles G. Herbermann (ed.): The Catholic encyclopedia . - an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the catholic church. tape 12 . Appleton, New York 1913, Prophecy, pp. 476 (English, Wikisource ).
  16. ^ Bernhard von Clairvaux: Vita Sancti Malachiae episcopi. 1149. A German translation was published as part of the collected works of Bernhard von Clairvaux in Tyrolia Verlag, Volume 1, 1990, ISBN 3-7022-1732-0 .
  17. ↑ Werner Kaltefleiter (1962–2003 ZDF editor): Election of the Pope: The Prophecies of Malachias. (No longer available online.) In: The Vatican Glossary. kath.de, archived from the original on February 13, 2013 ; Retrieved March 13, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kath.de
  18. ^ A b Acta Sanctorum Maii, Tomus VI, 1688. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  19. ^ Lettere, Bolle e Discorsi di Ganganelli (Clemente XIV) da Cosimo Frediani. Firenze, 1845, p. 53.
  20. ^ Hermann Weingarten: The prophecy of Malachias about the order of the popes. Theological Studies and Criteria. A journal for the entire field of theology. Born 1857, No. 3, Gotha, 1857, pp. 555-573.
  21. ^ A b Adolf Harnack: About the author and the purpose of the Prophetia Malachiae de summis pontificibus 1590. Journal for Church History. Edited by D. Theodor Brieger, Volume 3, Gotha, 1879, p. 319.
  22. ↑ It is known that he was baptized on December 15, 1530.
  23. ↑ Cf. Ludwig von Pastor: History of the Popes since the end of the Middle Ages . Volume IX, pp. 297, 300-302.
  24. ^ Luigi Fumi: L'opera di falsificazione di Alfonso Ceccarelli. Perugia, 1902.
  25. ^ P. Orazio Premoli: Un falso profeta . Rassegna Nationale, 41st vol., 2nd series, Volume 23, 1919, pp. 7-14.
  26. ^ Claude François Ménestrier SJ: Réfutations des prophéties faussement attribuées à saint Malachie sur les élections des papes . Paris, 1689; German by M. Christian Wagner, Leipzig, 1691.
  27. ↑ Ignaz von Döllinger: The belief in prophecy and prophethood in Christian times. Historical diary, edited by WH Riehl, 5th episode, 1st year, Leipzig, 1871, p. 265 f.
  28. ↑ See Ludwig v. Pastor: History of the Popes since the end of the Middle Ages. Volume X, p. 529.
  29. ^ Joseph Maitre: La prophétie des Papes attribuée à S. Malachie. Étude critique, Paris-Beaune, 1901, p. 580 ff.
  30. ↑ Joseph Schmidlin: The papal prophecy of St. Malachias. Festival ceremony for Heinrich Finke, Münster i. W., 1904, p. 33.
  31. ^ H. Thurston: The Socalled Prophecy of Saint Malachie. The War and the Prophets . London, 1915, pp. 120-161.