Prophecy of the Popes (St. Malachy)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Papal Emblem

The Prophecy of the Popes, attributed to Saint Malachy, is a list of 112 short phrases in Latin. They purport to describe each of the Roman Catholic popes (along with a few anti-popes), beginning with Pope Celestine II (elected in 1143) and concluding with a pope described in the prophecy as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will end in the destruction of the city of Rome.

[edit]Provenance

The prophecy was first published in 1595 by Arnold de Wyon, a Benedictine historian, as part of his book Lignum Vitæ. Wyon attributed the list to Saint Malachy, the 12th‑century bishop of Armagh in Northern Ireland. According to the traditional account, in 1139, Malachy was summoned to Rome by Pope Innocent II. While in Rome, Malachy purportedly experienced a vision of future popes, which he recorded as a sequence of cryptic phrases. This manuscript was then deposited in the Roman Archive, and thereafter forgotten about until its rediscovery in 1590.

On the other hand, Bernard of Clairvaux's biography of Malachy makes no mention of the prophecy, nor is it mentioned in any record prior to its 1595 publication.^{[citation needed]} Some sources, including the most recent editions of the Catholic Encyclopedia, suggest that the prophecy is a late 16th‑century forgery. Some have suggested that it was created by Nostradamus and was credited to Saint Malachy so the purported seer would not be blamed for the destruction of the papacy. Supporters, such as author John Hogue, who wrote a popular book titled The Last Pope about the claims, generally argue that even if the author of the prophecies is uncertain, the predictions are still valid.

[edit]Interpretation

Interpretation of the mottos has generally relied on finding correspondences between the mottos and the popes' birthplaces, their personal arms, and the events of their pontificates. For example, the first motto, Ex castro Tiberis (From a castle on the Tiber), fits Pope Celestine II's birthplace in Città di Castello, on the Tiber.

Pope Clement XIII, referred to in the prophecy as Rosa Umbriae, the rose of Umbria, is stated to have used a rose "as his personal emblem" (his coat of arms does not include one, however, nor was he from Umbria nor had any but the most marginal connection with the region, having been briefly pontifical governor of Rieti, at the time part of Umbria). The technique of word play was evident in instances where interpreters find a phrase fitting more than one explanation.

It is notable that where the interpretation of the prophecy is clear (as is the case for almost all of the Popes prior to 1590), the reference is almost always to some characteristic possessed by the Pope prior to assuming the Papacy -- e.g., his birthplace, his arms, his surname, or his cardinal see. However, for more recent Popes, efforts to connect the prophecy with the pope have often focused on the events of his pontificate.

In recent times, some interpreters of prophetic literature have drawn attention to the prophecies, both because of their success in finding connections between the prophecies and recent popes, and because of the prophecies' imminent conclusion. Interpretations made before the elections of recent popes have not generally predicted their papacies accurately.

[edit]Popes and corresponding mottos

This list, adapted from The Prophecies of St. Malachy by Peter Bander, begins its numbering two numbers ahead of the Vatican's numbering of popes (Benedict XVI is the 265th, not the 267th). The reason for this is unclear (perhaps because of the 2 purported "anti-popes").

The list can be divided into two groups; one of the 74 Popes and Antipopes who reigned prior to the appearance of the Prophecy in 1590, for whom the connection between the motto and the Pope is usually clear. The other is of the 37 Popes who have reigned since 1590, for whom the connection between the motto and the Pope is often strained or totally opaque.

[edit]Popes and Antipopes 1143-1590

The text on the silver lines below reproduces the original text (including punctuation and orthography) of the 1595 Lignum Vitae, which consisted of three parallel columns for the Popes before 1590. The first column contained the motto, the second the name of the Pope or Antipope to whom it was attached (with occasional errors), and the third an attempted explanation or justification of the name. The original list was unnumbered.

[edit]Popes 1590 to present

For this group of Popes, the published text only provides names for the first three (i.e., those who were Popes between the appearance of the text in 1590, and its publication in 1595) and attempts no explanations.

[edit]Contemporary Popes and the Prophecy

[edit]Pope Pius IX (Crux de cruce)

Cross of the cross. His successor Pope Pius XII renewed the beatification process for Pius IX, commenting with the words,per crucem ad lucem, through the cross to light. Pius IX was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

[edit]Pope Pius X (Ignis ardens)

The motto means "ardent" or "burning fire". The pope was known for his great personal piety and strong devotion to the church, advocating reforms such as the codification of Canon law, daily communion and the Gregorian chant in the Catholic liturgy. He was known for his zeal in fighting the modernist heresy. He has been the first pope to date in over 400 years to be declared a saint, the last being Pope Pius V.

[edit]Pope Benedict XV (Religio depopulata)

The motto means "religion laid waste". During Pope Benedict XV's reign, three significant events occurred:

[edit]Pope Pius XI (Fides intrepida)

The motto means "intrepid faith". This pope released the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge which condemned Nazi racismand also signed agreements with Fascist Italy which, among other things, gave the Vatican sovereignty, established the pope as head of state, and added 700 million lire to the church coffers.

[edit]Pope Pius XII (Pastor angelicus)

The motto means "angelic shepherd". This pope was known to be very mystical, and it was believed that he received visions. His writings added greatly to understanding of Catholic beliefs and church doctrine. During his reign, Pius exercised Papal Infallibility in defining dogma when he issued, on November 1, 1950 an apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus, which defines ex cathedra the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, on the request of the heavenly father. He was declared Venerable in 2000.

[edit]Pope John XXIII (Pastor et nauta)

"Pastor et nauta" translates to "shepherd and sailor". Prior to his election he was patriarch of Venice, which is a maritimecity, famous for its waterways and gondolas.

According to Peter Bander in The Prophecies of Malachy, during the conclave which was to elect John XXIII, Cardinal Spellman, evidently having taken Malachy's forecast that the next pope would be "pastor and mariner" literally, rented a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber.

The anti-pope Pius XIII of the True Catholic Church has also claimed to be "Pastor et nauta", as their group believes that his last valid predecessor was Pius XII. He has used justifications including his residence in the United States, which is across the Atlantic Ocean from Rome.

[edit]Pope Paul VI (Flos florum)

Pope Paul VI, is described in the prophecies as "flos florum" or "flower of flowers". His personal arms bore three fleurs-de-lis, the heraldic charge best known as that in the arms of the French monarchy. Fleur-de-lis literally means "flower of the lily": yet the medieval flower par excellence was the rose^{[citation needed]}, not the lily; and many popes have borne various flowers in their arms.

The fleur-de-lys has the meaning of purity and chastity in Catholic religion. This is based upon scripture.^{[citation needed]} Paul VI published his encyclical Humanae Vitae subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, on July 25, 1968. In this encyclical he reaffirmed the Catholic Church's traditional condemnation of artificial birth control.

[edit]Pope John Paul I (De medietate lunae)

"De medietate lunae" translates to "from the midst of the moon". It has also been interpreted as "De media aetate lunae", meaning "of the middle age of the moon".

[edit]Pope John Paul II (De labore solis)

The prophetic motto corresponding to Pope John Paul II is "De labore solis", which literally means "Of the labor (work/giving birth) of the sun"; but "labor solis" is a common Latin expression that means a solar eclipse.

There are a variety of explanations that have been given to explain the motto:

[edit]Pope Benedict XVI (Gloria olivae)

"Gloria olivae" or "glory of the olive", is the last short phrase on the list.

Cardinal Ratzinger's choice of the name Benedict XVI was seen by some as the fulfillment of the prophecy gloria olivae, since it is claimed that the olive branch is sometimes used as a symbol of St. Benedict. However, prior to his election there were numerous speculations in the media as to what could be considered as "fulfillment of the prophecy". For example, it was said that any pope from the Benedictine Order; or any Latin American pope (with olive complexion) or any black pope; or any pope from Italy or Spain (two countries strongly associated with the cultivation of olives); or any pope with links to Judaism—any of the aforementioned possibilities was advanced as constituting a fulfillment of the prophecy, giving a broad array of possibilities. It has also been noted that the choice of name, while interesting for those who predicted the choice of the name, was not statistically unlikely, as modern papal names are generally chosen from a fairly limited set of names. In the last 250 years, for example, there have only been eight names used for Popes: Clement, John, Benedict, Pius, Gregory, Paul, Leo, and John Paul. Media comments on Pope Benedict XVI's choice of name have suggested that his motive was to emulate Pope Benedict XV's legacy of diplomacy and theological conservatism.

[edit]Petrus Romanus

The longest and final motto reads:

However, in the 1595 Lignum Vitae, the line In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit. forms a separate sentence and paragraph of its own, and it is unclear whether it is grammatically related to gloria olivae which precedes, or Petrus Romanus which follows.

Several anti-popes claiming to be Pope Peter II have emerged in recent years, possibly inspired by this motto.

Not everyone who takes the prophecy seriously believes that Petrus Romanus will be the last pope ever, or that he will be called Peter II. Ronald L. Conte Jr., who in 2002 correctly predicted that the pope immediately after John Paul II would be called Benedict XVI but incorrectly predicted that he would be black,^[67] believes that Cardinal Francis Arinze will take the name of Pius XIII after the death of Pope Benedict XVI, and that the description "Peter the Roman” means that the "Pope will reaffirm the authority of the Roman Pontiff over the Church; this authority is based on his place as a Successor of Peter" and "will emphasize the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Faith and the Roman Catholic Church above all other religions and denominations, and its authority over all Christians and all peoples of the world," and also will be “the last Pope for about a generation (until the 2040's) to rule from Rome."^[68] In Conte’s opinion, St. Malachy’s list ends with Petrus Romanus because his reign will coincide with the beginning of the first part of the Tribulation.

[edit]Authenticity and Skepticism

Spanish writer father Benito Jerónimo Feijóo wrote in his Teatro Crítico Universal (1724-1739), in an entry called Purported prophecies, that the ones by Saint Malachy's were a shameful forgery, claiming that they were created ad hoc during the 16th century. As a proof, he offers an accurate fact: that the first time the prophecy is mentioned is on a handwritten account by patriarch Alfonso Chacón (a.k.a Alphonsus Ciacconus, 1540-1599) in 1590 (this account would be later published, in 1595, by the abovementioned historian Arnold de Wyon); in this account, Chacón only comments the prophecies until the papacy of Urban VII (whose papacy only lasted September 1590, and was the current pope at the time Chacón wrote the comment). According to Feijóo, Chacón, who held a great intellectual prestige at the time, was lured to comment the prophecies by someone who wanted to help cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli (1522-1605) reach the papacy. By showing them to be accurate till Urban VII, it was expected people to believe the next ones; that way, Girolamo Simoncelli could be easily elected pope, since the prophecy after Urban VII's one tells about a pope Ex antiquitate urbis (from the antiquity of the city), a fact that seems to fit him, who was cardinal of Orvieto (literally "old city", urbs vetus), or at least better than Gregory XIV, who was elected pope after Urban VII. Thus, the forgery would have been useless, since Simoncelli was not elected pope. Jesuit father Claude-François Menestrier also claimed that the prophecies were forged in order to help the papal candidacy of Girolamo Simoncelli, offering similar reasons to those of Feijóo. Spanish historian José Luis Calvo points out that the prophecies seem to be very accurate till Urban VII, fitting perfectly even the antipopes, but that afterwards great efforts have to be made in order to make the prophecies fit their pope. Feijóo's explanation is usually regarded as being the most probable proof of the forgery.

[edit]Erroneous claims

A number of claims have been made about the original text of the Prophecies, which are not borne out by an examination of the evidence. Many of these claims attempt to allay some anxiety arising from the apparently imminent appearance of the "last Pope" and the subsequent Last Judgment. These claims include the following:

[edit]See also

[edit]References

[edit]Notes