Posted on 04/26/2004 6:46:08 PM PDT by Arguss
Anne Catherine Emmerich was told by Our Lord that her gift of seeing the past, present, and future in mystic vision was greater than that possessed by anyone else in history.
Born at Flamske in Westphalia, Germany, on September 8, 1774, she became a nun of the Augustinian Order at Dulmen. She had the use of reason from her birth and could understand liturgical Latin from her first time at Mass. During the last 12 years of her life, she could eat no food except Holy Communion, nor take any drink except water, subsisting entirely on the Holy Eucharist. From 1802 until her death, she bore the wounds of the Crown of Thorns, and from 1812, the full stigmata of Our Lord, including a cross over her heart and the wound from the lance.
Anne Catherine Emmerich possessed the gift of reading hearts, and she saw, in actual, visual detail, the facts of Catholic belief which most of us simply have to accept on faith. The basic truths of the catechism--angels, devils, Purgatory, the life of Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the grace of the Sacraments--all these truths were as real to her as the material world.
Born at Flamske in Westphalia, Germany, on September 8, 1774, she became a nun of the Augustinian Order at Dulmen. She had the use of reason from her birth and could understand liturgical Latin from her first time at Mass. During the last 12 years of her life, she could eat no food except Holy Communion, nor take any drink except water, subsisting entirely on the Holy Eucharist. From 1802 until her death, she bore the wounds of the Crown of Thorns, and from 1812, the full stigmata of Our Lord, including a cross over her heart and the wound from the lance.
Anne Catherine Emmerich possessed the gift of reading hearts, and she saw, in actual, visual detail, the facts of Catholic belief which most of us simply have to accept on faith. The basic truths of the catechism--angels, devils, Purgatory, the life of Our Lord and the Blessed Mother, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the grace of the Sacraments--all these truths were as real to her as the material world.
The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich: http://www.emmerich1.com/ANNE_CATHERINE_EMMERICH.htm
Her revelations make the hidden, supernatural world come alive. Below are some of the most enthralling of these revelations:
She saw that each parish and diocese, each city and country has its own particular and powerful guardian angel.
She saw that the Church never has allowed children of Catholics to be raised outside her fold, and that as soon as solidly established, she banned mixed marriages.
She saw how the various indulgences we gain actually remit specific punishments which otherwise would await us in Purgatory.
She revealed that to gain an indulgence we must approach the Sacraments with true repentance and a firm purpose of amendment--or we do not gain it.
She deposes that it is more holy to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory than for sinners who are still alive.
She describes the nature, extent and power of victim souls, and their role in the life of the Church. She describes the condition of St. Lydwine of Schiedam, a victim soul during the time of "three popes," and how her body came apart into three pieces, joined only by the slenderest of sinews. She saw only 6 victim souls in her time working like herself on behalf of the Universal Church, and about 100,000 Catholic people worldwide who were great in their faith.
She revealed that saints are particularly powerful on their feast days and should be invoked then.
She saw that many saints come from the same families, the antiquity of which often extends far back into the Old Testament. She saw the strong link--even long after their deaths--between holy souls in Heaven and their descendants here on earth, lasting even centuries.
She saw that the Garden of Eden, with all it contained, was a perfect picture of the Kingdom of God.
She revealed that Enoch and Elias are in Paradise where they await their return to the world to preach at the End of Time. She revealed that Our Lord suffered from the wound in His shoulder more than from any other.
She continually saw a false church, and wicked men scheming against the Catholic Church and doing much harm--both in her own time and in the future. She saw in a vision the enemies of the Church tearing it down and trying to build a new one on strictly human plans--but none of the saints would lend a hand.
Later, this church of men is destroyed and the saints of God join in to rebuild the true Church of God, which becomes more glorious than ever before. She saw the revival of the priesthood and the religious orders after a period of great decadence.
She describes in detail her visions of heaven, which she saw as "the Heavenly Jerusalem."
Powerful Quotes from Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich:
"The Church is the only one, the Roman Catholic! And if there were left upon earth but one Catholic, he would be the one, universal Church, the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ against which the gates of Hell shall never prevail."
"Then I had the sweet assurance that Mary is the Church; the Church, our mother; God, our father; and Jesus, our brother."
"O who can tell the beauty, the purity, the innocence of Mary! She knows everything, and yet she seems to know nothing, so childlike is she. She lowers her eyes and, when she looks up, her glance penetrates like a ray, like a pure beam of light, like truth itself! It is because she is perfectly innocent, full of God, and without returns upon self. None can resist her grace."
"All over the world I saw numberless infusions of the Spirit; sometimes, like a lightning-stroke, falling on a congregation in church, and I could tell who among them had received the grace; or again, I beheld individuals praying in their homes, suddenly endowed with light and strength. The sight awoke in me great joy and confidence that the Church, amid her ever-increasing tribulations, will not succumb; for in all parts of the world I saw defenders raised up to her by the Holy Ghost. Yes, I felt that the oppression of the powers of this world serves but to increase her strength."
"There is no created good so lightly esteemed, so carelessly trifled away by an immense majority of human beings as the fugitive moments of this short life so rapidly flying toward eternity."
"Man's value before God is estimated by the dispositions of his heart, its uprightness, its good-will, its charity, and not by keenness of intellect or extent of knowledge."
"If the Church is true, all in her is true; he who admits not the one, believes not the other." "What the Pilgrim [Clement Brentano, her self-appointed secretary] gathers he will bear far away, for here there is no desire to have it. But it will produce fruit where he goes, and that same fruit will one day return and make itself felt even here."
"I was again told [by Our Lord] that no one has ever seen all that I have seen or in the same way."
"From the lips of those that pray I see a chain of words issuing like a fiery stream and mounting up to God, and in them I see the disposition of the one who prays, I read everything. The writing is as varied as the individuals themselves."
"I saw Adam's bones reposing in a cavern under Mt. Calvary deep down, almost to water level, and in a straight line beneath the spot on which Jesus Christ was crucified."
"Mass badly celebrated is an enormous evil. Ah! it is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it."
"Were man and the earth in perfect harmony, there would be paradise here below. Prayer governs the weather . . . I see the life of nature intimately connected with that of the soul."
"She said what is most painful for me to repeat, that if only one priest offered the Unbloody Sacrifice as worthily and with the same sentiments as the Apostles, he could ward off all calamities from the Church."
"I can never grieve for a person who dies resignedly, nor for a child suffering patiently; for patient suffering is the most enviable state of man."
"Now, for all who are not in living union with Jesus Christ by faith and grace, nature is full of Satan's influence."
"Owing to the spirit of the world and tepidity, if the Savior returned to earth today to announce His doctrine in person, He would find as many opponents as He did among the Jews."
"Now I saw clearly by this that the dear God looks only at the heart in time of prayer."
"No grace, no degree of sanctity surpasses in intrinsic dignity and grandeur the sacerdotal [priestly] character."
"The poor souls suffer inexpressibly." "Many stay a long time in purgatory who, although not great sinners, have lived tepidly."
"The prayer most pleasing to God is that made for others and particularly for the poor souls. Pray for them, if you want your prayers to bring high interest."
Beatified pending; Cause formally introduced on 14 November 1892; due to slanderous accusations about her vow of chastity, the investigation was halted on 30 November 1928; the accusations being proved false, the investigation resumed on 18 May 1973 and is still under investigation; decree of beatification miracle promulgated on 7 July 2003
Very many of the visions she had of Our Lord can be found here. They are amazingly detailed: http://www.emmerich1.com/DOLOROUS_PASSION_OF_OUR_LORD_JESUS_CHRIST.htm
Interesting.
Sounds familiar.
This strikes me as just a tad prideful. Even if it were true, wouldn't the visions prove that, in themselves?
This is why "visionaries" cause so much heartburn for the Church in regards to their canonization.
This had to do with her male "secretary", who transcribed her visions.
My understanding, however, was that chastity was not the issue, but the veracity of some of the visions.
That's why the Church is proceeding with her canonization on the basis of her personal holiness, and basically ignoring her "visions."
Even if it were true, wouldn't the visions prove that, in themselves?This is basically my reasoning concerning Garabandal -- the prophecies related by the seers are so specific that the appearances will prove or disprove themselves.
Garabandal, isn't that the one that predicts John Paul II is the last pope? If so, I guess we will be able to prove/disprove it in our lifetimes.
That's why the Church is proceeding with her canonization on the basis of her personal holiness, and basically ignoring her "visions."
Where did you get that information? I always keep my eyes open for information on her Beatification/Canonization, and have not found any reasons for the hold up. I was elated last year when the miracles attributed to her were accepted, and I thought Beatification was imminent. She does hold the title "Venerable" now.
I doubt if her chastity could ever have been seriously in doubt. After the disbandment of her Order she was extremely sick and bedridden. And her secretary, so to speak, was Clement Brentano, the darling poet laureate of England. He gave up his whole career to sit by her bedside and write down anything she said.
She did have her detractors, even at the time, it was a time of greater apostacy than even now, but was found in every instance, to be proven on the up and up. They checked her stigmata to make sure she wasn't pinching herself to produce it, and making sure that for the twelve years she subsisted only on the Eucharist that she wasn't getting other nourishment.
She could, by just holding relics of the Saints, determine just who they were, and their life story. So representatives of the Church would test her by bringing in Relics that they knew - and she was always right. Eventually they usd her to sort out relics that might have gotten mixed up.
Her personal holiness, I don't think, was ever in question, except mabye by whatever enemies she was bound to attract.
The comment was made that she was a tad egocentrical, or something like that, to announce that nobody else in the history of the world was given visions like she received. You have to realise that most of her comments were given while in ecstacy, and that she actually wrote nothing. I don't think she even knew how to write.
My understanding is that when Conchita, the main seer of Garabandal, was questioned about this particular prophecy, she took great pains to say that she and the other seers were not told it would be the end of the world or the last pope, just that the current pope will mark the end of our time. Conchita continues to maintain that she does not know the meaning of the phrase. IMO, it could mean something as simple as the end of the second millennium ... in which case, this particular prophecy is true.
If this is the case, then this does not square with the current position of the Catholic Church in regards to Orthodox and in regards to Anglican/Episcopalian church members, both of which can receive Communion. How could someone capable of receiving Communion not be part of the Universal Church?
There is only one Church, Roman Catholic. Anything else is not, no matter what is said about them. Orthodox and Anglican are not Roman Catholic. Theirs, especially Anglican, are not valid consecrations.
There may be mitigating circumstances in regards to Orthodox, but they split from the Church in 1050?, so no longer beieve what we believe, and are not faithful to the Chair of Peter. That puts them not in Communion with the Church.
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