Visions and Apparitions
This article will deal not with natural but with supernatural
visions, that is, visions due to the direct intervention of a
power superior to man. Cardinal Bona (De discret. spir., xv, n. 2)
distinguishes between visions and apparitions. There is an
apparition when we do not know that the figure which we see
relates to a real being, a vision when we connect it with a real
being. With most mystics we shall consider these terms as
synonymous.
THREE TYPES OF VISIONS
Since St. Augustine (De gen. ad litt., 1. XII, vii, n. 16)
mystical writers have agreed in dividing visions into corporeal,
imaginative, and intellectual.
Corporeal vision
Corporeal vision is a supernatural manifestation of an object to
the eyes of the body. It may take place in two ways: either a
figure really present strikes the retina and there determines the
physical phenomenon of the vision, or an agent superior to man
directly modifies the visual organ and produces in the composite a
sensation equivalent to that which an external object would
produce. According to the authorities the first is the usual
manner; it corresponds to the invincible belief of the seer, e.g.
Bernadette at Lourdes; it implies a minimum of miraculous
intervention if the vision is prolonged or if it is common to
several persons. But the presence of an external figure may be
understood in two ways. Sometimes the very substance of the being
or the person will be presented; sometimes it will be merely an
appearance consisting in a certain arrangement of luminous rays.
The first may be true of living persons and even, it would seem,
of the now glorious bodies of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, which
by the eminently probable supernatural phenomenon of multilocation
may become present to men without leaving the abode of glory. The
second is realized in the corporeal apparition of the
unresurrected dead or of pure spirits.
Imaginative vision
Imaginative vision is the sensible representation of an object by
the act of imagination alone, without the aid of the visual organ.
Sometimes the subject is aware that the object exists only in his
imagination, that it is a purely reproduced or composite image.
Sometimes he projects it invincibly without, which is the case in
supernatural hallucination. In natural imaginative vision the
imagination is stirred to action solely by a natural agent, the
will of the subject, an internal or an external force, but in
supernatural imaginative vision an agent superior to man acts
directly either on the imagination itself or on certain forces
calculated to stir the imagination. The sign that these images
come from God lies, apart from their particular vividness, in the
lights and graces of sincere sanctity which accompany them, and in
the fact that the subject is powerless to define or fix the
elements of the vision. Such efforts most frequently result in the
cessation or the abridgement of the vision. Imaginative
apparitions are ordinarily of short duration, either because the
human organism is unable to endure for a long time the violence
done to it, or imaginative visions soon give place to intellectual
visions. This kind of vision occurs most frequently during sleep;
such were the dreams of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar (Genesis 41;
Daniel 2). Cardinal Bona gives several reasons of expediency for
this frequency: during sleep the soul is less divided by
multiplicity of thoughts, it is more passive, more inclined to
accept, and less inclined to dispute; in the silence of the senses
the images make a more vivid impression.
It is often difficult to decide whether the vision is corporeal or
imaginative. It is certainly corporeal (or extrinsic) if it
produces external effects, such as the burnt marks left on an
object by the passing of the Devil. It is imaginative if, for
example, the image persists after one has closed one's eyes, or if
there are no traces of the external effects which ought to have
been produced, such as when a ball of fire appears above a
person's head without injuring it. The time most conducive to
these visions is a state of ecstasy, when the exercise of the
external senses is suspended. However, although the question has
been discussed among mystics, it seems that they may also be
produced outside of this state. This is the opinion of Alvarez de
Paz (De grad. contemp., 1., V, pt. III, cii, t. 6) and of Benedict
XIV (De servorum Dei beatif., 1. III, c. i, n. 1). Imaginative
vision may be either representative or symbolic. It is
representative when it presents an image of the very object to be
made known: such may have been the apparition to St. Joan of Arc
of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, if it was not (which is more
probable) a luminous vision. It is symbolic when it indicates the
object by means of a sign: such as the apparition of a ladder to
Jacob, the apparition of the Sun, Moon, and stars to the patriarch
Joseph, as were also numerous prophetic visions.
Intellectual visions
Intellectual visions perceive the object without a sensible image.
Intellectual visions in the natural order may apparently be
admitted. Even when we hold with the Scholastics that every idea
is derived form some image, it does not follow that the image
cannot at a given time abandon the idea to itself. The
intellectual vision is of the supernatural order when the object
known exceeds the natural range of the understanding, e.g. the
essence of the soul, certain existence of the state of grace in
the subject of another, the intimate nature of God and the
Trinity; when it is prolonged for a considerable time (St. Teresa
says that it may last for more than a year). The intervention of
God will be recognized especially by its effects, persistent
light, Divine love, peace of soul, inclination towards the things
of God, the constant fruits of sanctity.
The intellectual vision takes place in the pure understanding, and
not in the reasoning faculty. If the object perceived lies within
the sphere of reason, intellectual vision of the supernatural
order takes place, according to the Scholastics by means of
species acquired by the intellect but applied by God himself or
illuminated especially by God. If it is not within the range of
reason it takes place by the miraculous infusion into the mind of
new species. It is an open question whether in intellectual
visions of a superior order the understanding does not perceive
Divine things without the aid of species. In this kind of
operation the object or fact is perceived as truth and reality,
and this with an assurance and certainty far exceeding that which
accompanies the most manifest corporeal vision. According to St.
Teresa "We see nothing, either interiorly or exteriorly. . . But
without seeing anything the soul conceives the object and feels
whence it is more clearly than if it saw it, save that nothing in
particular is shown to it. It is like feeling someone near one in
a dark place" (first letter to Father Rodrigo Alvarez). This is
the sense of the presence, to use the expression of modern
writers. And again: "I have rarely beheld the Devil in any form,
but he has often appeared to me without one, as is the case in
intellectual visions, when as I have said, the soul clearly
perceives someone present, although it does not perceive it in any
form" (Life, 31). The vision is sometimes distinct, sometimes
indistinct. The former attests the presence of the object without
defining any element. "on the feast of the glorious St. Peter,"
writes St. Teresa, "being at prayer, I saw, or rather (for I saw
nothing, either with the eyes of the body or with those of the
soul) I felt my Savior near me and I saw that it was he who spoke
to me" (Life, 27).
At a certain degree of height or depth, the vision becomes
indescribable, inexpressible in human language. St. Paul, rapt to
the third heaven, was instructed in mysteries which it is not in
the power of the soul to relate (II Cor. 12:4). There is no
occasion, however, to accuse the mystics of agnosticism. Their
agnosticism, if we may so speak, is merely verbal. The
inexpressible is not the incomprehensible. Since Pseudo-Dionysius
Areopagitica mystics have been in the habit of designating the
profundity of Divine realities by negative terms. The avowal of
the powerlessness of human speech does not prevent them from
saying, as did St. Ignatius, for example, that what they have seen
of the Trinity would be sufficient to establish their faith, even
though the Gospels were to disappear. It is impossible to
establish a parallel between the degree of spirituality of the
vision and the degree of the mystic state or the sanctity of the
subject. Imaginative or even corporeal visions may continue in the
most advanced state of union, as seems to have been the case with
St. Teresa. However, intellectual visions of the supernatural
order, as of the mystery of the Trinity, point indisputably to a
very high degree of mystical union.
VISIONS OF DEMONS
Since the day when, in the terrestrial paradise, the enemy of the
human race took the form of a serpent in order to tempt our first
parents, the Devil has often shown himself to men in a sensible
form. The struggles of St. Anthony in the desert against the
visible attacks of the enemy are well known (St. Athanasius, Vita
S. Antonii) as also in more recent times are the Devil's visible
attacks on the Cure of Ars, St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney. As
St. Paul says (II Cor. 11:14) Satan often transforms himself into
an angel of light in order to seduce souls. Sulpicius Severus has
preserved the account of an attempt of this kind made against St.
Martin. One day the saint beheld in his cell, surrounded by a
dazzling light, a young man clad in a royal garment, his head
encircled by a diadem. St. Martin was silent in surprise.
"Recognize," said the apparition to St. Martin, "him whom thou
seest. I am Christ about to descend upon earth but I wished first
to show myself to you." St. Martin made no reply. "Martin,"
continued the apparition, "why dost thou hesitate to believe when
thou seest? I am Christ." Then said Martin: "The Lord Jesus did
not say that he would return in purple and with a crown. I will
not recognize my Savior unless I see Him as He suffered, with the
stigmata and the cross." Then the diabolic phantom vanished,
leaving behind an intolerable odor (De Vita Martini). Newman has
given an interpretation of this vision for his own period (Martin
and Maximus, 206). The best way of judging of the origin of these
manifestations is that given by St. Ignatius, namely, to examine
the series of incidents; to question one's self concerning the
beginning, the middle, and the end, will lead to a good result
(Spiritual Exercises: Rules for the Discernment of Spirits, 5 a).
EVOCATION OF THE DEAD AND SPIRITISM
It is written (I Kings 28) that Saul, when defeated by the
Philistines, went to the witch of Endor and asked her to bring
before him the shade of Samuel, and the shade rose out of the
earth and revealed to Saul that God was angry with him because he
had spared Amalec. Numerous pagan cults practiced evocation of the
dead; magicians practiced it in the Middle Ages, and in modern
times medium or spiritists have taken upon themselves the task of
communicating with the souls of the dead or with disembodied
spirits (see SPIRITISM). The Catholic Church has on various
occasions condemned the practice of magnetism and spiritism,
inasmuch as this practice evokes the spirits of the dead and may
call evil spirits into action. But it has never thereby declared
that each operation puts us into real relation with the spirits of
the dead or an evil spirit. The chief condemnations are those of
the Holy Office, 4 August, 1856; 21 April, 1841; 30 March, 1898.
[See also Acta Concil. Baltim., II (Col. Lac., III, 406).]
LUCIAN ROURE
Transcribed by Simon Parent
http://www.knight.org/advent
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
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
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