The National tribune., 1903-08-06
Recent q. S. Treasury Receipts.
PROPHECIES OF MALACHY,
List of P0pes Until the End of the World,
as FOret0ld by an Irish Archbishop.
RaIph D. Paine in Golfers Weekly


During the Illness of Pope Leo XIII
many references appeared relating to the
Prophecies of Saint Malachy," as indi-
eating the personality of the successor to
the Pontificate, and this curious and an
cient document has been discussed with a
widespread interest that shows surpris-
ing amount of credence in the value of
the predictions. Much of the information
published recently has been inaccurate,
perhaps because the true history o. these
prophecies cannot be CLEANED off hand.
1t seems a picturesque CLEAN out of the
darkness of the Middle Ages. that in this
10th century. the alleged list Of the Popes,
until the end of the world, as foreshad-
owed by an Irish Archbishop. who died
more than $50 years ago. should be stud
led, Interpreted and discussed. in the eff
fort to fOreshadOw the election in the Sa-
cred College of Cardinals.
THE PREDICTIONS OF ST. MALACHY.
Saint Malachy undertook to describe by
a series of Latin notices or titles the line
of Popes who should rule through nearly
thousand years after his time. Many of
these prophecies have fitted so accurately
the Popes they were intended to describe
or suggest that popular belief is not shak-
Ell to this day. despite the icOnoclastic at
tacks of scholars who have made out
case to prove that the prophecies were
forgery of the 10th century. and that their
popularity is based on the success of their
predictions prior TO that time, when the real
author was writing with the facts before
him. However, hostile research has not
blighted the fame of Saint Malachy. and
authorities within the Church can be found
to defend the prophecies as having been
written by the Irish saint, in the true spirit
of inspiration.
AS high an authority as an exhaustive
encyclopedia of Church history declares
that the prophecy lis always attributed to
the saint, who was Archbishop of Ar
magh, and died in 114S. Saint Bernard
reports as an eyewitness several miracles
and prophecies of Saint Malachy. In
1896, Arnold of WyOn. learned Bene-
dictine. discovered the manuscript ig-
nored until then, of the prophecy concern
ing the succession Of the Popes. since Ce-
lestine III. in 1l43, until the end of the
world. He intrusted the discovery to the
Spanish Dominican and historian, Cia-
conius Charcon. who provided the work
with notes. and the document has been
often reprinted. The characteristic attrib-
uted to each Papal reign by the proph-
ecy does not always refer to the Pope
himself, but often to II historic person
age of the period"
Another authority who calls the work
"a series of fictitious prophecies, which
popular voice seems somehow bent upon
into inspired oracles." yet tenn
pers his attack by this Acknowledgement:
Foolish and trivial as these interpreta-
tions may sound, there is no room for
doub: that these and no others were in
tended by the author of the prophecy.
Once the fact is grasped that the prophet
mortal bearings, sometimes frcm a cardi-
nalatial title, sometimes from the Christ
IAN or family name. sometimes from the
place of origin of the Pore. or from n COM |
bination of two or more of these elements.
Il sort of law will be found to run through
the whole. Certainly the identifications |
are in the aggregate so str king as far to
transcend the possibilities of mere coin |
ridence. 1t is surely impossible that any
lucky guess could show score, or several
score, of such hits"
This authority qualities his tribute by |
declaring that no reasonable man would |
hesitate to admit the preternatural charac-
Ter of such vaticinations. if only the facts
were established that the prophecies had |
preceded events.'
Be that as it may. for more than three
centuries one of the popular factors in |
the election of every Pope has been the
Prophecies of Saint Malachy," and to-
lay they are causing as much specula-
tlon as ever, as to who among the likely |
candidates may fit the motto or title des-
snating the successor to Leo XIII. His |
part in the predictions was expressed in
the words, 'Lumen in Ceelo'' (the light
IN the heavens), and was interpreted to
refer to the comet which appears with the
ieur-de-lys and cypress tree in the shield
IF his family coat-Of-arms. The motto for
he next Pope is ''Ignis Ardens'' (the bIaz-
ng fire.. 1t has been noted that in Cardi-
lal Domenico Syampa there is a seeming
iptness, and his career and personal quail.
les have long since ranked him among
he possible Popes. The word 'Svampa"
n Italian means flaming torch and in
he quarterings of his coat-of-arms there
S blazing torch. More fanciful is the
lain of the partisans of Cardinal Gotti,
hat the prophecy fits him nasmuch as he
s of the Carmelite order, whose original
lome was on Mount Carmel, from whose
'eak the Prophet Elijah went up by q
yhirlwind in a chariot of fire. Moreover.
here is flaming altar on the escutcheon
Il Cardinal Gotti. and it may be said also
hat there is similar device in the quar-