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