Prophecies of St Malachy

[Fidei Defensor]

PROPHECIES OF ST. MALACHY EXHIBIT TOO MANY 'COINCIDENCES' TO DISCOUNT AS MYTH
[url="http://spiritdaily.com/malachycoincidences.htm"]http://spiritdaily.com/malachycoincidences.htm[/url]

The intrigue over the alleged predictions of St. Malachy continues to grow, despite attempts to dismiss them. For those just tuning in: Malachy O'Morgair, born in Armagh, was the first Irishman to be canonized in the formal process of the Church, and died in 1148 -- but not before setting down in Latin 112 brief descriptions said to be symbolic titles for each pope to come after the prophecy, until the end of time or at least the conclusion of an entire Church era.

The predictions go on for all the subsequent popes (as well as some anti-popes, which caused confusion) and are each summarized in a book called The Prophecies of St. Malachy. They do not arrive without controversy. There are those who wonder why it took 400 years, until the 16th century, for the predictions to come to light, and those who suspect they were the forgery of a man who was trying to sway a papal election in favor of the Bishop of Orvieto in 1590.

There is yet additional doubt because Malachy's biographer was none other than St. Bernard of Clairvaux -- who mentioned Malachy's prophetic gifts but never the papal prophecies.

In some cases it seems like interpreters have used tortuous methods in applying the predictions as they have counted down popes through the centuries. In the case of Innocent XII in 1691, St. Malachy's foresight of this Pope as "rake of the poor" seemed to find no satisfactory interpretation. The same was true in 1769 of Clement XIV (described as "the swift bear" for no documented reason).

But in a number of startling cases there were predictions so deadly accurate that they were either some of the boldest forgeries in history or the most stunning examples of precognition.

Case in point: St. Malachy's prophecies described the man who would become Pope Eugene III as ex magnitudine montis, which means "from the great mountain," and he indeed was born in a place called "Montemagno." Another: Clement IX was forecast as "a star of the swans" and as it turns out his coat of arms was emblazoned with a swan (and stars overhead).

Pius IV was pre-described by Malachy's list as "the medicine of Aesulapius" and it so happened that this Pope studied medicine, was a qualified doctor, and bore the last name was "Medici"!

Another Pius, the seventh, was attached to the expression "rapacious eagle" and was overshadowed by Napoleon -- whose emblem was the eagle. It is alleged that in a number of the prophecies, St. Malachy even named a region attached to the future Pope!

Such was the case, according to the book, with Gregory XVI -- who was seen as "from the baths of Etruria" and who had started his religious life in the order of Camaldolese, which was founded in Etruria.

The Malachy prophecies foresaw by more than a century the one who would be Pope John XXI as piscator tuscus, or "a Tuscan fisherman," and he was indeed Bishop of Tusculum. Urban IV, who was foreseen as "Jerusalem of Champagne," was born in Champagne, France and was raised to the title of Patriarch of Jerusalem!

Moreover, many of these are prophecies that materialized after the time that skeptics say they were forged -- meaning that if they were forgeries, the perpetrator was himself prophetic.

In just recent decades, there was Paul VI, who the alleged prophecies foresaw as flos florum -- "flower of flowers" -- and whose coat of arms indeed contained three isis blossoms, or what are called fleurs-de-lis.

After him came John Paul I, who Malachy had foreseen as "of the half moon" (he was born in the diocese of Belluno, which means "beautiful moon," and became Pope during a half moon) and then of course John Paul the Great, whom St. Malachy allegedly prophesied as de labore solis, "from the labor of the sun."

Noted Peter Bander, who wrote the introduction for the book in 1969, a decade before John Paul II's election: "The Pope who will reign under the motto de labore solis arouses my special interest. In 1856 one interpreter, who signs himself 'a son of St. Jarbath,' is not quite sure how to translate this Latin legend. He cannot find any explanation if he were to translate it as 'of the laboring sun,' and so he tells us that de labore solis obviously refers to an eclipse of the sun."

John Paul II indeed was born on the day of an eclipse and his funeral occurred on the day of another eclipse.

Likewise, John Paul was closely associated with the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, which involved famous sun miracles.

That's what we'd call a direct hit, and such was also the case with Pope Benedict XVI. Malachy had foreseen the current pontiff as gloria olivae, or "the glory of the olive," and many were those who wondered if the new Pope would in some way be connected to the Benedictines, who have a branch major called "Olivetans."

"The Order of St. Benedict is also known as the Olivetans, which may well account for another interpretation of the prophecy," noted the book more than three decades before this papal election.

When Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger assumed the name "Benedict," this came like a thunder bolt for many who had followed the speculation. Immediately after his election, the Pope set about offering what news headlines described as "olive branches" (to China, to Muslims); and the new Pope was greatly influenced by St. Augustine -- who in a famous commentary on the Gospel of John discussed the "fruit of the olive."

In addition, Pope Benedict chose as his successor at the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco -- who is the most important assistant named thus far and whose family coat of arms includes an olive tree symbolizing the Oliveira family, from which the name of Levada is derived.

"In the designs of Providence there are no mere coincidences," said John Paul II in 1982, and after a while, skeptics can discuss all the nuances and posit all the speculations they want but in too many cases, it seems, coincidence argue against them.

"I could, as so many of my contemporary indifferentists are wont to say, not have cared less" about the prophecies, noted one such former skeptic, Joel Wells, editor of The Critic. "But count me now among the utterly concerned and utterly converted."

As for the 112th pope, who Malachy lists as the next (and last, at least on his list): "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman," he allegedly foresaw, "who will feed his flock among many tribulations."

[geetarplayer]

That's pretty weird.

-Mark

[Fidei Defensor]

[quote name='geetarplayer' date='May 31 2005, 04:41 PM']

That's pretty weird.

-Mark [/quote]
I agree.

I guess we will have to wait a while and see what is to come.



Spooky.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Interestingly, "Malachy" did not provide a number for Petrus Romanus, leading some to believe he was added by someone else later or that there could be Popes between Gloria Olivae and Petrus Romanus.

[lil bull 04]

[quote name='geetarplayer' date='May 31 2005, 04:41 PM']

That's pretty weird.

-Mark [/quote]
i agree

[Qoheleth]

During the conclave somebody at my school found that website and everyone had fun reminding each other that the end was near. But I don't think a Pope will ever take the name Peter. Those shoes are too big to ever fill.

[corban711]

oh man!!! i just received the latest Karl Keating's E-letter today. This is really interesting to me. check it out.


[quote]ST. MALACHY'S PROPHECY

During the interregnum following the death of a pope we see a flurry of
interest in the prophecy of St. Malachy. The interest seems to grow
each time a pope passes from the scene because, according to some
interpretations of the prophecy, the line of popes is about to end.

Since the Church will last until the end of time, and since Christ will
not suffer his Church to be leaderless, the implication is that the
ending of the papal line coincides with the Last Days.

Deal Hudson, the former publisher of "Crisis" magazine, titled the
April 28 edition of his e-letter "St. Malachy Predicts the Election of
Benedict XVI." Did he really?

Malachy's prophecy purportedly lists all of the popes from his time
until the end of the world. Each pope is listed not by name but by a few
Latin words that indicate a personal attribute, a symbol of his place of
origin or of his family, or some other detail from his life. According
to the list, Benedict XVI is the penultimate pope--or maybe not.

The confusion arises from the way the last pope on the list is
described: "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign
Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after
which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge
will judge the people. The end."

What is unclear is whether Peter the Roman is supposed to reign
immediately after the next-to-last-listed pope or at some indeterminate later
time, with any number of popes serving between our present Pontiff and
Peter the Roman.

But set all that aside. Consider the prophecy as a whole. Although
Malachy lived in the twelfth century, the prophecy attributed to him was
unknown until the sixteenth century, when it was "discovered" in a
Vatican archive, where it supposedly had lain forgotten for four centuries.
One problem is that none of Malachy's biographers make any reference at
all to the prophecy. In fact, there is no mention of it by anyone prior
to its "discovery."

A bigger problem is the aptness of the papal descriptions. Those popes
who reigned between Malachy's time and 1590 are described with great
accuracy. After 1590, the descriptions become obscure. In many cases
devotees of the prophecy have been unable to explain how a particular
description could refer to the pope to which it corresponds. Many post-1590
descriptions simply make no sense.

Catholic scholars, following the lead of a Jesuit researcher of the
seventeenth century, say that the prophecy of St. Malachy did not
originate with the saint at all but is a forgery worked up to influence the
conclave that elected Gregory XIV. It would have been easy for a forger to
make up descriptions of popes who lived before his time, but he would
have had to rely on creative obscurity to describe popes of succeeding
centuries.

Some modern-day Catholics put great stock in the prophecy regardless,
based on what they see as eerily accurate descriptions of the last few
popes. Here is how Hudson put it:

"The prophecy for Paul VI 'Flos Florum' ('flower of flowers') and his
coat of arms contained three fleurs-de-lis (Isis blooms). The
description of John Paul I was 'De Medietate Lunae' ('the half moon'). He was
baptized Albino Luciani ('white light'), was born in the diocese of
Belluno ('beautiful moon'), became pope when there was a half moon (Aug. 26,
1978), and died after an eclipse of the moon. John Paul II was
prophesied under the title 'De Labore Solis" ('from the labor of the sun'), and
indeed he was born during an eclipse of the sun on May 18, 1920."

There is less here than meets the eye. When we say that someone was
born during an eclipse of the sun, what do we mean? I think everyone would
say that if you were present at the birth, you could have stepped
outside and noticed the eclipse. The eclipse would have been visible from
the place where the birth occurred.

But this is not what happened at the birth of Karol Wojtyla. Yes, there
was an eclipse of the sun on May 18, 1920, but it was visible only from
a small portion of the southern hemisphere. No one in Poland could have
witnessed it. See
[url="http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEcat/SE1901-2000.html"]http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEcat/SE1901-2000.html[/url]

Astronomically, a bit more can be said about John Paul I, who "became
pope when there was a half moon." Indeed there was a "half moon," but
not on the date of his election. He was elected on August 26, and the
"half moon" occurred on August 25. See
[url="http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_moonphases.pl?year=1978&ZZZ=END"]http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_moonpha...ar=1978&ZZZ=END[/url]

Maybe what was meant was that the conclave occurred during a "half
moon." Okay, let's grant that, but then let's also grant that this would
not have been a distinctive event. Although I have not bothered to look
up each one, it must be the case that many conclaves have witnessed a
"half moon," what astronomers actually call a "quarter moon." (The moon's
phases are called "new moon," "first quarter," "full moon," and "last
quarter.")

Each month there are two "half moons": the first and last quarters. You
can do the arithmetic yourself, but it turns out that an average-length
conclave has about a one-in-three chance of seeing a "half moon."

Another thing about John Paul I. Hudson said he "died after an eclipse
of the moon." This pope died on September 28, 1978. An eclipse of the
moon occurred twelve days earlier. Lunar eclipses are not rare: They
usually occur between two and four times a year. See
[url="http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEcat/LEdecade1971.html"]http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEca...decade1971.html[/url]

One always can say that a pope died "after an eclipse of the moon."
Everyone who ever has died has died "after an eclipse of the
moon"--sometimes as long as half a year after, but after nevertheless. When we use
"after an eclipse of the moon" as a clue to the identity of someone,
surely we mean "immediately after." That was not the case with John Paul
I.

Now let's turn to the current pope. The description that corresponds to
Benedict XVI is "Gloria Olivae," "the glory of the olive."

"Guess what?" asked Hudson. "The Order of St. Benedict had a branch
called the Olivetans," and the name chosen by our current pontiff is, of
course, Benedict.

What does this prove? Not much, I'd day. First of all, the descriptions
in St. Malachy's prophecy are supposed to concern pre-election facts
about the popes. In theory, one could determine the identify of the next
pope by considering the description that corresponds to him.

But this would have been impossible with respect to our newest pope.
Joseph Ratzinger never was a Benedictine and never was connected with the
Olivetan Benedictines. "The glory of the olive" would not have led
anyone to suspect that it described him (unless, perhaps, the cardinal was
fond of martinis, but I have seen no evidence of that).

Hudson says that "the uncanny accuracy of St. Malachy's last four
predictions has fueled another round of apocalyptic curiosity." I would not
dispute the fact that there has been plenty of curiosity, but I would
deny that there is "uncanny accuracy" in the descriptions of the last
four popes.

As I noted, the one that corresponds to John Paul II ("of the labor of
the sun") is interpreted to mean that he was elected under an
eclipse--which he was not. And the one that corresponds to Benedict XVI suggests
his pre-existing connection with the Benedictine order, and he had no
such connection.

(In fact, until the last conclave, believers in the prophecy said that
the pope described as "the glory of the olive" would be a Benedictine
monk. That's how sure--and how wrong--they were.)

What should we make of the prophecy of St. Malachy? I think we should
come to the same conclusion reached by that seventeenth-century Jesuit
scholar and by scholars since: The prophecy is not from St. Malachy and
does not give us real information about the popes of the last four
centuries and certainly not about the popes of our own time or of the
future.

Until next time,

Karl[/quote]

[Qoheleth]

I don't want to hear it!

It's so much cooler if it's real.

[SarahB]

[quote]But in a number of startling cases there were predictions so deadly accurate that they were either some of the boldest forgeries in history or the most stunning examples of precognition.[/quote]

Personally, I think there's too many questions about how authentic they actually are to trust them. Also....the above statement could be said about anything, really. I mean, what about people like John Edward(not the guy who ran with Kerry) who picks people out of the audience and "discerns" stuff about their dead family memebers? You can take any ambiguous statement and get whatever you want out of it.

If they're true, wonderful. If not, who cares. My faith doesn't hinge on them, and I think way too much is being made out of them.

Just my two cents.

[cmotherofpirl]

The Church does not accept the prophecies as real.

[philothea]

I could probably take that list of descriptions and convincingly apply them to a random sort of Phatmassers, given detailed enough biographies.

Human brains are extremely good at finding patterns. Even when the patterns are meaningless.

[jezic]

i found that a while ago based on a tip from a friend. They are interesting and a good indication that sometimes people might know what they are talking about

Actually though, it does nothing new, Jesus told his first generation to be ready. Now we are much later and should be as ready as we can be.

[Old_Joe]

You should hear the dreams that St. John Bosco had, some were considered prophetical.

[Ash Wednesday]

This is all so last month!

[franciscanheart]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Jun 1 2005, 01:07 AM'] This is all so last month! [/quote]



['it's funny cuz it's true']

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

My favorite prophecy of St. Malachy is his vision of the future of Ireland. I wish it were real...