Posted on 02/11/2013 9:47:24 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Full Question
Someone in my parish told me about the prophesies of St. Malachy, which he claims, prove that we are nearing the end of times. What are these prophesies?
Answer
St. Malachy was an Irish bishop who lived in the 12th century. By far the more famous of his prophecies concerns the sequence of popes.
The prophecy consist of 112 short Latin descriptions of future popes; the prophecies were discovered in 1590 and attributed to Malachy. Each description indicates one identifying trait for each future pope, beginning with Celestine II, who was elected in 1130. In some instances, the descriptions hit home in an uncanny way; they have led to centuries of speculation that the prophecy might be a real one.
For instance, the description of the future John XXII (1316-1334) is "de sutore osseo"--"from the bony shoemaker." This pope was the son of a shoemaker, and his family name was "Ossa," which means bone. In another example, "lilium et rosa" was the phrase used to describe the pope who would be Urban VIII (1623-1644), whose family coat-of-arms was covered with "lilies and roses."
Malachy's prophecy has been cast into doubt by the fact that the descriptions become vague from the 16th century on--about the time the prophecy was "discovered" in the Roman Archives. But there have been a few good matches in modern times. The phrase "pastor et nauta," meaning "shepherd and sailor," was attributed to John XXIII. This pope hailed from Venice, historically a city of sailors, and on the day he took office he indicated the goal of his pontificate was to be "a good shepherd."
There have been many more misses, though. Describing the popes to follow John XXIII are the phrases "flower of flowers" (Paul VI), "from a half-moon" (John Paul I), and "from the toil of the sun" (John Paul II), none of which is an obvious connection. After our current pope there are only two left in Malachy's prophecy, "the glory of the olive" and "Peter the Roman." The latter will supposedly lead the Church through many tribulations, concluding with the last judgment.
Is "Malachy's" prophecy legitimate? Probably not. The consensus among modern scholars is that it is a 16th-century forgery created for partisan political reasons.
Now here is what a REAL PROPHET had to say!
JEAN DIXON! (snicker, giggle) 1904-1991
http://www.historiesmysteriesandstrangeness.com/2009/08/jeane-dixon-and-final-pope.html
“During this century (1900s) one pope will suffer bodily harm. Another will be assassinated. The assassination will be the final blow to the office of the Holy See.
This pope will be the same one who will be chosen in the not too distant future but whose election will not be approved by the Roman clergy. His influence, however, will be such that he will win out over the objections of his opponents.
While this pope will be the last one ever to reign as singular head of the Church, the beginnings of this change will occur with one of his predecessors who will give far-reaching powers to his cardinals. These same cardinals will use their powers to replace him with one more to their liking.”-Jean Dixon
I walked into the Farmer's Market in Bloomfield NM back on August 9, 1974, and there on the front page of STAR TABLOID was the words in huge black letters...
JEAN DIXON SAYS NIXON WILL NOT RESIGN!
That was the day Nixon resigned.
Then in 1986, a local newspaper began a horoscope section by Jean Dixon in the newspaper.
The press release stated how she had prophesied the death of JFK and THE RESIGNATION OF RICHARD NIXON.
I immediately sent a letter to the editor which was published showing she had NOT predicted the resignation.
We can know the season...
End times stuff is, for a lot of us, in our bones. The church I grew up in didn’t emphasize Revelation, but I can remember many many late nights in the car as a kid with the Armstrongs on the radio - “The World Tomorrow”... If you are of a certain age you probably do too.
Being taught to hide under the desk at school (they told us our town would be at the top of the list for a nuclear strike and our school desks evidently had super-atomic-bomb-deflecting properties)...
I think a lot of people believed that the end of the millennium would be the end of the age and assumed that nuclear war with the Soviets would be the catalyst. When the Soviet Union fell it left a lot of people of a certain age wondering, I have to say. Whether you consciously believed in “end times” or not, it was well embedded in most peoples’ psyches that a catastrophic war with the Soviets was destined to happen.
Hal Lindsey’s books in the 70s captured a lot of this. I never read them, but I could have written them myself, this is the stuff that was in the air my whole life.
I think this unspoken sense of doom is what led to the over-hyped panic about the supposed year 2000 software bugs that were supposed to destroy the world. And the manufactured panic about the mayan calendar; people who don’t believe in the bible worrying about what the mayans said or didn’t say. I’m happy to say I never missed a moment of sleep over either of these.
Still, it is in my make-up to watch as history takes its shape. I have my own ideas about how Revelation unfolds in real time but I’ll only talk about it over late night coffee, so it would cost you. Mostly I’m happy to watch and listen and let the events play out, and just be ready. Is the next pope the last one? For a kid who grew up listening to late night radio driving down Oklahoma highways, it would not surprise me a bit. I’ve been expecting Christ’s return a long time. I just don’t know if I’ll be alive in my body to see it, or alive in my spirit.
"Surrender & Evacuation" book sales and speakers fees are way, way, down since the Camping fiasco. Selectively reversing their claim that no Catholic has ever been right about anything to embrace Saint Malachy is nothing for them if it revives sagging sales and fees. People who can overlook the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD in order to embrace the interpretation of an author or speaker won't have any problem overlooking a a Catholic Saint being thrown into the mix.
The really funny posts will be the ones explaining Saint Malachy was right because he wasn't really Catholic.
Do Catholics read and study the Bible? I can’t say what this man’s prophecy is all about- but according the Bible, we are pretty clearly in the end times.
We have been in the endtimes since Christ’s Ascension.
Catholics compiled the Bible. Of course we study it.
We do not follow Protestant flavor du jour as far as the pre and post mil arguments.
That is strictly your preoccupation.
Stuff like that proves only that Paul VI knew about the Malachi "prophecies" as well.
Pope Kevin Bacon?
Six degrees of Pope Peter.
I remember “The Land of Hatchy Malachy”
Yeah, my school was on a Marine Corps Air Station, the closest one to Cuba.
I'm pretty sure we really were, if not at the top, pretty darned close!
You probably really were. Ours was no doubt just conceit. There was no military base close by, we were just convinced that a town as cool as ours had to be on the list. :)
Or not. If he did, did the the prophecy cause him to? Would he have anyway?
Why would the Pope "fix the race" if he did know?
I understand. We were just convinced that our desks really would protect us!
:) If I were you, I would go to your Bible and just start reading. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Revelation.
The son of man complied the Bible into human letters, which is the word of God- and the Holy Spirit is the way we interpret the Bible.
There is no Catholic- in the Bible. Catholic is a religion- much the same as Muslim or Hindu or Shinto.
If you are a believer and lover of Jesus- then go and read and see.
LOL. I don't know if you were serious in your inquiry or not, but this is the precise, twisted "logic" some use to justify their near obsession with "end times events". They tell us, "True, we can't know the day or the hour, but we can know the time period" (or "age" or "season" some say). Much in the same way you ask, "can we know the year, or decade, or century?"
Intentionally or no, you have exposed the absolute folly of trying to determine if we live in the "end times" by following and piecing together current events. First, to do so, justifying such endeavors with the "logic" above, obviously twists or perverts the Scripture in question. But this isn't very surprising for anyone who comes from a "dispensational" eschatology, after all, to such people, Scripture is something to be parsed ala "Clinton", that is, it's to be "rightly divided". Funny how they are the ones who know how to rightly "divide" Scripture, like they are the real Pope or something. (Who knows how other non Catholic Christians justify their obsession, if they have one)
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, as was correctly pointed out upthread, since the Ascension of our Lord, we have been living in the "end times", and indeed, many of the so called "signs" that are given so that we "may know" this have not only come to pass, but repeatedly so throughout history since His Ascension, such as "the sun turning black as sack cloth" (eclipses) and the "moon turning red as blood" ( lunar eclipses) and " wars and rumors of wars" and "famine".
These all, when taken together, can and DO let us know we are in the "end times", but when He returns it is not our place to know, AT ALL, or else the passage above truly has no meaning, unless (again) one is some kind of dispy-ite who has no problem parsing and carving up Scripture like some kind of pig roast, in order to sell books, ala Jack van Impe or Hal Lindsey.
Do not forget the claim that the Jewish leaders removed 243+/- years from their calendar because Jesus showed up when predicted by the Jewish prophets.
I say this not as a bashing but for clarifications .I have to wait to talk to our neighbors son who is a priest but thought it imprudent as his last visit was to perform his mothers funeral mass (and I did attend)...
but these are the ones I see right now and as I prepare that chat, I wanted to get some thoughtful backup...
Can a Catholic explain to me the Rosary and the our lady of Fatima?
And how about the catholic ten commandments excludes the thou shalt not make any graven images nor bow down to them or worship...
Saw that with my own eyes when I visited boys town... the jewish and protestant ten commandments have that in there ...
somethings missing... or amiss...
Jesus taught us how to pray.. and it didn’t start-; queen of the holy rosary... and yet that prayer is in the booklet I received from a nice catholic servant while I was walking with my dad in the local mall( he is working for catholic charities assisting the mentally disabled and we see him in the mall as I am my dads full time caregiver who is battling Alzheimers-try to keep him walking even a little...)
Obviously we have mutual respect for each other and the jobs we have chosen (where God has placed us) but reading through I do fear that idols are too prevalent in the catholic customs and traditions and gets away from a simple gospel message..
catholic bashing not allowed.. honest thoughtful discussion... satan and his need to distract Christ’s believers to falseyour doctrines makes me extremely worried for my catholic believers....
I did have a dream months ago about a Fatima and had no idea about the story..... I felt it was actually about a girl named fatima( and I know none ) but only God knows and if you all this know one, direct her to mathew 6:8-15.. and more specifically, 14 and 15...
Thanks to anyone and all...
I predict that the next pope will be from South America, Maybe having something to do with Olives. We have never had a south American as Pope.
Always gotta be someone throwing a monkey wrench in the calculations!
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