The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-10-03


and value?
st. Malachy, an Irish Bishop, great
saint to whom God gave the power
of working miracles and predicting the
future, according to the testimony OF
his friend, the great St Bernard, being
in Rome in the year 1889 on Irish
Church business, is said to have been
shown the vision of the line of Pom
tiffs from Celestine II, then reigning
to the end of time. To console limo
cent II in his trial and sorrows he
wrote down an account of the vision
in short prophetical announcements
Each announcement contains a myS
tical title of a future Pope. The names
of the Popes are not given in these
titles, but some trait connected with
place of birth, country, achievements
family, sufferings, ETC., is indicated
The list is too long for this place. A
few examples may suffice. Pope Eu
gene III (1145-1153), disciple of st
Bernard, third in line after Innocent
ii (1130-1143), is described in the
prophesy as Eek magnitudine MONTHS
that is, From the greatness of the
mountain, and he came from the town
of Great Mountain. Adrian ", the
English Pope, is called de rure albo,
from the white country. He reigneC
from 1854 to 1859, was originally call
ed Nicholas Breakspear, was born neal
st. Adams, the county of Hereford, il
England or Albion, so called from its
white cliffs, and was Bishop of Alba
Honorius III is "Canonicus de latere,'
and was canon of St. John Lateran
Urban VIII is "Lilium ct Rosa," the
Lily and the Rose. He was a native
of Florence, on the arms of which city
figured fieur de lis; he had en-
graVed on his escutcheon three bees
and bees gather honey from lilies an(
roses. Plus vi G775-1800) is "Pere
grinus Apostolicus," the Apostolic Pill
grim, or the Pilgrim Pope. He jour
neyed to Germany, and was eXpa
triated from Rome at the end of his
pontificate. Plus TX is "CruX dc
Cruce," Cross from a Cross. He haC
many trials to bear during his Ions
reign (1846187S), and the chief Of
them came from the House of Savoy.
whose emblem is a cross. Leo XIII,
his successor, perhaps the greatest
statesman and one of the ablest mer
and most brilliant scholars who ever
sat in the Chair of Peter, is called
"Lumen in Coelo," The Light in the
Sky. Plus X is 'Igris Ardens," Burn
ing Fire, which obviously applies tC
his Apostolic love for God and man
the secret of all holiness. The next
title is "Religio Depopulata," that is
Religion laid waste, the exact meaning
of which it is too soon to try to deter
mine. Then come "Fides Intrepida,
Intrepid Faith; Pastor Angelicus, .
Angelic Pastor; pastor ct Nauta,
Pastor and Sailor; "Flos Florum, >
flower of flowers; DE Medietate
Lunae," from the half of the Moon
de Lahore Soils" from the Labor OF
the Sun; Gloria Olivae,' the glory of
the olive. And last of all comes Petrus
Romanus. 1t is not asserted or i'm
piled that there will be no Pope be,
tween Glory of the Olive and Peter
the Roman. The prophecy is as fol
lows: 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 de,
stroyed, and the dreadful Judge will
Judge the people. The End" We may
sheer at all this and make it the sub,
ject of exceedingly fiat pleasantly, just
as Voltaire and his disciples sneered
at the Bible. Or we may accept it
at once as genuine without any critical
examination; or we may calmly eX-
anime it, admit doubts, obscurities
difficulties. Against the genuineness OF
the document it is pointed out: first
st. Malachy's intimate friend and
biographer, st. Bernard, says nothing
about it, and it was unheard of till the
year 1890, when, according to
Cucherat, it was found in the Roman
Archives. Silence, however, is a mega
tive argument only and a dangerous
one as has been shown by infidels who
say that the Latin and Greek his
torians say little or nothing about our
Divine Saviour. In the immense mass
of documents of the Roman Archives
one could easily lie hidden for years
as is being shown every day. Second
ly, it is said that the prophecies are
obscure and the explanations given
mere fantastic and far-fetched guess
work. Just the same is said about the
prophecies of the Old Testament by
nnbelievers. Perhaps the Irish st. Ma
lachy like his Hebrew namesake de
mands spiritual enlightenment and the
special grace of God in his readers
The Hebrew prophet Malachy foretold
the offering to God of a clean oblatior
from the rising to the setting of the
sun, and the whole Protestant world
fails to understand his prediction. Oh
course we dare not put st. Malachy's
prophecies on the same level with the
Bible, even in regard to documentary
authenticity. But we must see at least
a wonderful coincidence in the fitness
of many of the titles, as explained by
men who are not at all fanciful. Il
is not easy to explain away the fac
that the document gives us the pre-
else number of Popes- ninety-fve-
and anti-Popes-eight-in all one hun
dred and three from the year 1143 tt
the year 1914. 1t seems best to re
serve judgment, seeing that Church