Monday, February 11, 2013

Another tidbit on the Papacy...


The Prophecies of St. Malachy
For those of you heretics and pagans (and a lot of Catholics), St. Malachy was an Irish priest and scholar.  In 1139 he travelled to Rome to report on his diocese to Pope Innocent II.  While in Rome he received visions of the future, listing all the popes who were to rule the Church until the end of time.  Malachy wrote down the prophecies, gave them to Innocent II where it was placed in the Vatican archives and forgotten until 1590.  Since their discovery there has been debate as to whether they are the actual predictions of St. Malachy or forgeries. 
As with most prophecies, they are vague and open to wide and varied interpretations and only really make sense once the new pontiff is elected.  I will say that as an amateur scholar of all things Catholic, all things endtimey, and all things in general Neat-O, these fit the bill.  According to Malachy’s short riddle-like prophecies there will be 268 popes from St. Peter to the end, 112 extend from Malachy’s time to the present.  Even as prophecies go, good St. Malachy was intriguingly accurate.

The following is taken from the website biblebelievers.org and gives an accurate take on the prophecies:

…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 endeavors to calculate according to it the remaining years of time (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913).
And so, will the next pope be “Petrus Romanus” and what does that entail?  By cross-referencing a number of Catholic prophecies over the years I heard one that is strangely interesting – and I paraphrase…the last pope shall be Jewish.
Now in light of Petrus Romanus that makes sense.  Peter was by all accounts a good and faithful Jewish man who was also the first Pope of the Catholic Church…
In the last papal conclave there was one Jewish cardinal who had converted to the faith, however, Jean-Marie Lustiger passed away in 2005.
What happens now?  Wait, Pray, and see.

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