Prophecy

MEANING

As the term is used in mystical theology, it applies
both to the prophecies of canonical Scripture and to
private prophecies. Understood in its strict sense, it
means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may
sometimes apply to past events of which there no
memory, and to present hidden things which cannot be
known by the natural light of reason. St. Paul,
speaking of prophecy in I Cor., xiv, does not confine
its meaning to predictions of future events, but
includes under it Divine inspirations concerning what
is secret, whether future or not. As, however, the
manifestation of hidden present mysteries or past
events comes under revelation, we have here to
understand by prophecy what is in its strict and proper
sense, namely the revelation of future events. Prophecy
consists in knowledge and in the manifestation of what
is known. The knowledge must be supernatural and
infused by God because it concerns things beyond the
natural power of created intelligence; and the
knowledge must be manifested either by words or signs,
because the gift of prophecy is given primarily for the
good of others, and hence needs to be manifested. It is
a Divine light by which God reveals things concerning
the unknown future and by which these things are in
some way represented to the mind of the prophet, whose
duty it is to manifest them to others.

DIVISION

Writers on mystical theology consider prophecies with
reference to the illumination of the mind, to the
objects revealed, and to the means by which the
knowledge is conveyed to the human mind. By reason of
the illumination of the mind prophecy may be either
perfect or imperfect. It is called perfect when not
only the thing revealed, but the revelation itself is
made known, that is, when the prophet knows that it is
God who speaks. The prophecy is imperfect when the
recipient does not know clearly or sufficiently from
whom the revelation proceeds, or whether it is the
prophetic or individual spirit that speaks. This is
called the prophetic instinct, wherein it is possible
that a man may be deceived, as it happened in the case
of Nathan who said to David when he was thinking of
building the Temple of God: "Go, do all that is in thy
heart, because the Lord is with thee" (II Kings,
vii,3). But that very night the Lord commanded the
Prophet to return to the king and say that the glory of
the building of the temple was reserved, not for him,
but for his son. St. Gregory, as quoted by Benedict
XIV, explains that some holy prophets, through the
frequent practice of prophesying, have of themselves
predicted some things, believing that therein they were
influenced by the spirit of prophecy.

By reason of the object there are three kinds of
prophecy according to St. Thomas (Summa II-II:174:1):
prophecy of denunciation, of foreknowledge, and of
predestination.

* In the first kind God reveals future events according
to the order of secondary causes, which may be hindered
from taking effect by other causes which would require
a miraculous power to prevent, and these may or may not
happen, though the prophets do not express it but seem
to speak absolutely. Isaias spoke thus when he said to
Ezechias: "Take order with thy house, for thou shalt
die, and not live" (Is., xxxviii,1). To this kind
belongs the prophecy of promise, as that mentioned in 1
Kings, ii,30: "I said indeed that thy house, and the
house of thy father should minister in my sight,
forever", which was not fulfilled. It was a conditional
promise made to Heli which was dependent upon other
causes which prevented its fulfilment.

* The second, that of foreknowledge, takes place when
God reveals future events which depend upon created
free will and which he sees present from eternity. They
have reference to life and death, to wars and
dynasties, to the affairs of Church and State, as well
as to the affairs of individual life.

* The third kind, the prophecy of predestination, takes
place when God reveals what He alone will do, and what
he sees present in eternity and in His absolute decree.
This includes not only the secret of predestination to
grace and to glory, but also those things which God has
absolutely decreed to do by His own supreme power, and
which will infallibly come to pass.

The objects of prophecy may also be viewed in respect
to human knowledge:

* when an event may be beyond the possible natural
knowledge of the prophet, but may be within the range
of human knowledge and known to others who witness the
occurrence, as, for instance, the result of the battle
of Lepanto revealed to St. Pius V;

* when the object surpasses the knowledge of all men,
not that it is unknowable but that the human mind
cannot naturally receive the knowledge, such as the
mystery of the Holy Trinity, or the mystery of
predestination;

* when the things that are beyond the power of the
human mind to know are not in themselves knowable
because their truth is not yet determined, such as
future contingent things which depend upon free will.
This is regarded as the most perfect object of
prophecy, because it is the most general and embraces
all events that are in themselves unknowable.

God can enlighten the human mind in any way he pleases.
He often makes use of angelic ministry in prophetic
communications, or He Himself may speak to the prophet
and illuminate his mind. Again the supernatural light
of prophecy may be conveyed to the intellect or through
the senses or the imagination. Prophecy may take place
even when the senses are suspended in ecstasy, but this
in mystical terminology is called rapture. St. Thomas
teaches that there is no suspension of the sense
activities when anything is presented to the mind of
the prophet through impressions of the senses, nor is
it necessary when the mind is immediately enlightened
that activity of the senses should be suspended; but it
is necessary that this should be the case when the
manifestation is made by imaginative forms, at least at
the moment of the vision or of the hearing of the
revelation, because the mind is then abstracted from
external things in order to fix itself entirely on the
object manifested to the imagination. In such a case a
perfect judgment cannot be formed of the prophetic
vision during the transport of the soul, because then
the senses which are necessary for a right
understanding of things cannot act, and it is only when
a man comes to himself and awakens from the ecstasy
that he can properly know and discern the nature of his
vision.

RECIPIENT OF PROPHECY

The gift of prophecy is an extraordinary grace bestowed
by God. It has never been confined to any particular
tribe, family, or class of persons. There is no
distinct faculty in human nature by which any normal or
abnormal person can prophesy, neither is any special
preparation required beforehand for the reception of
this gift. Hence Cornely remarks: "Modern authors speak
inaccurately of 'schools of prophets', an expression
never found in the Scriptures or the Fathers" (Comp.
Introduct. in N.T., n. 463). Neither was there ever any
external rite by which the office of prophet was
inaugurated; its exercise was always extraordinary and
depended on the immediate call of God. The prophetic
light, according to St. Thomas, is in the soul of the
prophet not as a permanent form or habit, but after the
manner of a passion or passing impression (Summa II-
II:171:2). Hence the ancient prophets by their prayers
petitioned for this Divine light (1 Kings, viii, 6;
Jer., xxxii, 16; xxiii, 2 sq.; xlii, 4 sq.), and they
were liable to error if they gave an answer before
invoking God (II Kings, vii, 2,3).

Writing on the recipients of prophecy, Benedict XIV
(Heroic Virtue, III,144,150) says: "The recipients of
prophecy may be angels, devils, men, women, children,
heathens, or gentiles; nor is it necessary that a man
should be gifted with any particular disposition in
order to receive the light of prophecy provided his
intellect and senses be adapted for making manifest the
things which God reveals to him. Though moral goodness
is most profitable to a prophet, yet it is not
necessary in order to obtain the gift of prophecy." He
also tells us that the angels by their own natural
penetration cannot know future events which are
undermined and contingent or uncertain, neither can
they know the secrets of the heart of another, whether
man or angel. When therefore God reveals to an angel as
the medium through which the future is made known to
man, the angel also becomes a prophet. As to the Devil,
the same author tells us that he cannot of his own
natural knowledge foretell future events which are the
proper objects of prophecy, yet God may make use of him
for this purpose. Thus we read in the Gospel of St.
Luke that when the Devil saw Jesus he fell down before
Him and, crying out with a loud voice, said: :What have
I to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the most high God?"
(Luke, viii,28). There are instances of women and
children prophesying in Holy Scripture. Mary, the
sister of Moses, is called a prophetess; Anna, the
mother of Samuel, prophesied; Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist, by a Divine revelation recognized and
confessed Mary as the Mother of God. Samuel and Daniel
as boys prophesied; Balaam, a Gentile, foretold the
advent of the Messias and the devastation of Assyria
and Palestine. St. Thomas, in order to prove that the
heathens were capable of prophecy, refers to the
instance of the Sybils, who make clear mention of the
mysteries of the Trinity, of the Incarnation of the
Word, of the Life, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ.
It is true that the Sybilline poems now extant became
in course of time interpolated; but, as Benedict XIV
remarks, this does not hinder much of them, especially
what the early Fathers referred to, from being genuine
and in no wise apocryphal.

That the gift of private prophecy exists in the Church
is clear from Scripture and the acts of canonization of
the saints in every age. To the question, what credence
is to be given to these private prophecies, Cardinal
Cajetan answers, as stated by Benedict XIV: "Human
actions are of two kinds, one of which relates to
public duties, and especially to ecclesiastical
affairs, such as preaching, celebrating Mass,
pronouncing judicial decisions, and the like; with
respect to these the question is settled in the canon
law, where it is said that no credence is to be
publicly given to him who says he has privately
received a mission from God, unless he confirms it by a
miracle or a special testimony of Holy Scripture. The
other class of human actions consists of those of
private persons, and speaking of these, he
distinguishes between a prophet who enjoins or advises
them, according to the universal laws of the Church,
and a prophet who does the same without reference to
those laws. In the first case every man may abound in
his own sense whether or not to direct his actions
according to the will of the prophet; in the second
case a prophet is not to be listened to" (Heroic
Virtue, III, 192).

It is also important that those who have to teach and
direct others should have rules for their guidance to
enable them to distinguish true from false prophets. A
summary of those prescribed by theologians for our
guidance may be useful to show practically how the
doctrine is to be applied to devout souls in order to
save them from errors or diabolical delusions:

1. the recipient of the gift of prophecy should, as a
rule, be good and virtuous, for all mystical writers
agree that for the most part this gift is granted by
God to holy persons. The disposition or temperament of
the person should also be considered, as well as the
state of health and of the brain; 2. the prophecy must
be conformable to Christian truth and piety, because if
it propose anything against faith or morals it cannot
proceed from the Spirit of Truth; 3. the prediction
should concern things outside the reach of all natural
knowledge, and have for its object future contingent
things or those things which God alone knows; 4. it
should also concern something of a grave and important
nature, that is something for the good of the Church or
the good of souls. This and the preceding rule will
help to distinguish true prophecies from the puerile,
senseless, and useless predictions of fortune-tellers,
crystal-gazers, spiritualists, and charlatans. These
may tell things beyond human knowledge and yet within
the scope of the natural knowledge of demons, but not
those things that are strictly speaking the objects of
prophecy; 5. prophecies or revelations which make known
the sins of others, or which announce the
predestination or reprobation of souls are to be
suspected. Three special secrets of God have always to
be deeply respected as they are very rarely revealed,
namely: the state of conscience in this life, the state
of souls after death unless canonized by the Church,
and the mystery of predestination. The secret of
predestination has been revealed only in exceptional
cases, but that of reprobation has never been revealed,
because so long as the soul is in this life, its
salvation is possible. The day of General Judgment is
also a secret which has never been revealed; 6. we have
afterwards to ascertain whether the prophecy has been
fulfilled in the way foretold. There are some
limitations to this rule: o if the prophecy was not
absolute, but containing threats only, and tempered by
conditions expressed or understood, as exemplified in
the prophecy of Jonas to the Ninivites. and that of
Isaias to King Ezechias; o it may sometimes happen that
the prophecy is true and from God, and the human
interpretation of it is false, as men may interpret it
otherwise than God intended. It is by these limitations
we have to explain the prophecy of St. Bernard
regarding the success of the Second Crusade, and that
of St. Vincent Ferrer regarding the near approach of
the General Judgment in his day.

CHIEF PARTICULAR PROPHECIES

The last prophetic work which the Church acknowledges
as Divinely inspired is the Apocalypse (Revelations).
The prophetic spirit did not disappear with the
Apostolic times, but the Church has not pronounced any
work prophetic since then, though she has canonized
numberless saints who were more or less endowed with
the gift of prophecy. The Church allows freedom in
accepting or rejecting particular or private prophecies
according to the evidence for or against them. We
should be slow to admit and slow to reject them, and in
either case treat them with respect when they come to
us from trustworthy sources, and are in accordance with
Catholic doctrine and the rules of Catholic morality.
The real test of these predictions is their fulfilment;
they may be only pious anticipations of the ways of
Providence, and they may sometimes be fulfilled in part
and in part contradicted by events. The minatory
prophecies which announce calamities, being for the
most part conditional, may or may not be fulfilled.
Many private prophecies have been verified by
subsequent events, some have not; others have given
rise to a good deal of discussion as to their
genuineness. Most of the private prophecies of the
saints and servants of God were concerned with
individuals, their death, recovery from illness, or
vocations. Some foretold things which would affect the
fate of nations, as France, England, and Ireland. A
great number have reference to popes and to the papacy;
and finally we have many such prophecies relating to
the end of the world and the approach of the Day of
Judgment.

The more noteworthy of the prophecies bearing upon
"latter times" seem to have one common end, to announce
great calamities impending over mankind, the triumph of
the Church, and the renovation of the world. All the
seers agree in two leading features as outlined by E.H.
Thompson in his "Life of Anna Maria Taigi" (ch. xviii):
"First they all point to some terrible convulsion, to a
revolution springing from most deep-rooted impiety,
consisting in a formal opposition to God and His truth,
and resulting in the most formidable persecution to
which the Church has ever been subject. Secondly, they
all promise for the Church a victory more splendid than
she has ever achieved here below. We may add another
point in which there is a remarkable agreement in the
catena of modern prophecies, and that is the peculiar
connection between the fortunes of France and those of
the Church and the Holy See, and also the large part
which that country has still to play in the history of
the Church and of the world, and will continue to play
to the end of time."

Some prophetic spirits were prolific in the forecasts
of the future. The biographer of St. Philip Neri states
that if all the prophecies attributed to this saint
were narrated, they alone would fill entire volumes. It
is sufficient to give the following as examples of
private prophecies.

(1) Prophecy of St. Edward the Confessor

Ambrose Lisle Philipps in a letter to the Earl of
Shrewsbury dated 28 October, 1850, in giving a sketch
of English Catholic history, relates the following
vision or prophecy made by St. Edward: "During the
month of January, 1066, the holy King of England St.
Edward the Confessor was confined to his bed by his
last illness in his royal Westminster Palace. St.
Aelred, Abbott of Recraux, in Yorkshire, relates that a
short time before his happy death, this holy king was
wrapt in ecstasy, when two pious Benedictine monks of
Normandy, whom he had known in his youth, during his
exile in that country, appeared to him, and revealed to
him what was to happen to England in future centuries,
and the cause of the terrible punishment. They said:
'The extreme corruption and wickedness of the English
nation has provoked the just anger of God. When malice
shall have reached the fulness of its measure, God
will, in His wrath, send to the English people wicked
spirits, who will punish and afflict them with great
severity, by separating the green tree from its parent
stem the length of three furlongs. But at last this
same tree, through the compassionate mercy of God, and
without any national (governmental) assistance, shall
return to its original root, reflourish and bear
abundant fruit.' After having heard these prophetic
words, the saintly King Edward opened his eyes,
returned to his senses, and the vision vanished. He
immediately related all he had seen and heard to his
virgin spouse, Edgitha, to Stigand, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and to Harold, his successor to the throne,
who were in his chamber praying around his bed." (See
"Vita beati Edwardi regis et confessoris", from MS.
Selden 55 in Bodleian Library, Oxford.)

The interpretation given to this prophecy is remarkable
when applied to the events which have happened. The
spirits mentioned in it were the Protestant innovators
who pretended, in the sixteenth century, to reform the
Catholic Church in England. The severance of the green
tree from its trunk signifies the separation of the
English Church from the root of the Catholic Church,
from the Roman See. This tree, however, was to be
separated from its life-giving root the distance of
"three furlongs". These three furlongs are understood
to signify three centuries, at the end of which England
would again be reunited to the Catholic Church, and
bring forth flowers of virtue and fruits of sanctity.
The prophecy was quoted by Ambrose Lisle Philipps on
the occasion of the reestablishment of the Catholic
hierarchy in England by Pope Pius IX in 1850.

(2) PROPHECIES OF ST. MALACHY

Concerning Ireland. This prophecy, which is distinct
from the prophecies attributed to St. Malachy
concerning the popes, is to the effect that his beloved
native isle would undergo at the hands of England
oppression, persecution, and calamities of every kind,
during a week of centuries; but that she would preserve
her fidelity to God and to His Church amidst all her
trials. At the end of seven centuries she would be
delivered from her oppressors (or oppressions),who in
their turn would be subjected to dreadful
chastisements, and Catholic Ireland would be
instrumental in bringing back the British nation to
that Divine Faith which Protestant England had, during
three hundred years, so rudely endeavoured to wrest
from her. This prophecy is said to have been copied by
the learned Dom Mabillon from an ancient MS. preserved
at Clairvaux, and transmitted by him to the martyred
successor of Oliver Plunkett.

Concerning the Popes. The most famous and best known
prophecies about the popes are those attributed to St.
Malachy (q.v.). In 1139 he went to Rome to give an
account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope,
Innocent II, who promised him two palliums for the
metropolitan Sees of Armagh and Cashel. While at Rome,
he received (according to the Abbe Cucherat) the
strange vision of the future wherein was unfolded
before his mind the long list of illustrious pontiffs
who were to rule the Church until the end of time. The
same author tells us that St. Malachy gave his MS. to
Innocent II to console him in the midst of his
tribulations, and that the document remained unknown in
the Roman Archives until its discovery in 1590
(Cucherat, "Proph. de la succession des papes", ch.
xv). They were first published by Arnold de Wyon, and
ever since there has been much discussion as to whether
they are genuine predictions of St. Malachy or
forgeries. The silence of 400 years on the part of so
many learned authors who had written about the popes,
and the silence of St. Bernard especially, who wrote
the "Life of St. Malachy", is a strong argument against
their authenticity, but it is not conclusive if we
adopt Cucherat's theory that they were hidden in the
Archives during those 400 years.

These short prophetical announcements, in number 112,
indicate some noticeable trait of all future popes from
Celestine II, who was elected in the year 1130, until
the end of the world. They are enunciated under
mystical titles. Those who have undertaken to interpret
and explain these symbolical prophecies have succeeded
in discovering some trait, allusion, point, or
similitude in their application to the individual
popes, either as to their country, their name, their
coat of arms or insignia, their birth-place, their
talent or learning, the title of their cardinalate, the
dignities which they held etc. For example, the
prophecy concerning Urban VIII is Lilium et Rosa (the
lily and the rose); he was a native of Florence and on
the arms of Florence figured a fleur-de-lis; he had
three bees emblazoned on his escutcheon, and the bees
gather honey from the lilies and roses. Again, the name
accords often with some remarkable and rare
circumstance in the pope's career; thus Peregrinus
apostolicus (pilgrim pope), which designates Pius VI,
appears to be verified by his journey when pope into
Germany, by his long career as pope, and by his
expatriation from Rome at the end of his pontificate.
Those who have lived and followed the course of events
in an intelligent manner during the pontificates of
Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X cannot fail to be
impressed with the titles given to each by the
prophecies of St. Malachy and their wonderful
appropriateness: Crux de Cruce (Cross from a Cross)
Pius IX; Lumen in caelo (Light in the Sky) Leo XIII;
Ignis ardens (Burning Fire) Pius X. There is something
more than coincidence in the designations given to
these three popes so many hundred years before their
time. We need not have recourse either to the family
names, armorial bearings or cardinalatial titles, to
see the fitness of their designations as given in the
prophecies. The afflictions and crosses of Pius IX were
more than fell to the lot of his predecessors; and the
more aggravating of these crosses were brought on by
the House of Savoy whose emblem was a cross. Leo XIII
was a veritable luminary of the papacy. The present
pope is truly a burning fire of zeal for the
restoration of all things to Christ.

The last of these prophecies concerns the end of the
world and is as follows: "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." It has
been noticed concerning Petrus Romanus, who according
to St. Malachy's list is to be the last pope, that the
prophecy does not say that no popes will intervene
between him and his predecessor designated Gloria
olivoe. It merely says that he is to be the last, so
that we may suppose as many popes as we please before
"Peter the Roman". Cornelius a Lapide refers to this
prophecy in his commentary "On the Gospel of St. John"
(C. xvi) and "On the Apocalypse" (cc. xvii-xx), and he
endeavours to calculate according to it the remaining
years of time.

(3) Prophecy of St. Paul of the Cross

During more than fifty years this saint was accustomed
to pray for the return of England to the Catholic
Faith, and on several occasions had visions and
revelations about its re-conversion. In spirit he saw
the Passionists established in England and labouring
there for the conversion and sanctification of souls.
It is well known that several leaders of the Oxford
Movement, including Cardinal Newman, and thousands of
converts have been received into the Church in England
by the Passionist missionaries.

There are many other private prophecies concerning the
remote and proximate signs which will precede the
General Judgment and concerning Antichrist, such as
those attributed to St. Hildegarde, St. Bridget of
Sweden, Venerable Anna Maria Taigi, the Cure d'Ars, and
many others. These do not enlighten us any more than do
the Scriptural prophecies as to the day and the hour of
that judgment, which still remains a Divine secret.

ARTHUR DEVINE
Transcribed by Marie Jutras

From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright �
1996 by New Advent, Inc., P.O. Box 281096, Denver,
Colorado, USA, 80228. ([email protected])

Taken from the New Advent Web Page
(www.knight.org/advent).

This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia
Project, an effort aimed at placing the  entire
Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 edition on the World Wide
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