Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich on “The Church of Darkness”

It seems these prophecies are extraordinarily relevant for our times.



“I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church;
I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city.”
—Ven. Anne C. Emmerich



The Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) was a German Augustinian nun of great sanctity. She endured a life of sufferings, bore the stigmata of our Lord and was a seer, who witnessed scenes from the life of Christ with the vividness of one who was there. Those revelations were one of the sources used in making the film The Passion of the Christ. She also foretold future occurrences in the Church. The following are from her visions pertaining to the emergence of a subversive Church of Darkness that would deceive many of the faithful into “complete decadence”.

May 13, 1820: “Last night, from eleven to three, I had a most wonderful vision of two churches and two Popes and a variety of things, ancient and modern…. I saw the fatal consequences of this counterfeit church; I saw it increase; I saw heretics of all kinds flocking to the city. I saw the ever-increasing tepidity of the clergy, the circle of darkness ever widening. And now the vision became more extended. I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, restricted, and deprived of liberty, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. I saw rude, ignorant people offering violent resistance, but this state of things lasted not long. Again I saw in vision St. Peter’s undermined according to a plan devised by the secret sect while, at the same time, it was damaged by storms; but it was delivered at the moment of greatest distress. Again I saw the Blessed Virgin extending her mantle over it.”

June 1, 1821: “I saw the Holy Father very prayerful and God-fearing, his figure perfect, though worn out by old age and manifold sufferings, his head sunk on his breast as if in sleep. He often fainted away and seemed to be dying. I often saw him supported by apparitions during his prayer, and then his head was upright. When it sank upon his breast, then were the minds of many turned quickly here and there; that is, viewing things in a worldly light…. These visions were so frightful that I came near crying out. I see in the future religion falling so low that it will be practiced only here and there in farmhouses and in families protected by God during the horrors of war.”

August 10, 1822: “I see the Holy Father in great distress. He lives in another palace and receives only a few to his presence. If the wicked party knew their own great strength, they would even now have made an attack. I fear the Holy Father will suffer many tribulations before his death, for I see the black counterfeit church gaining ground, I see its fatal influence on the public. The distress of the Holy Father and of the Church is really so great that one ought to pray to God day and night. I have been told to pray much for the Church and the Pope…. Last night I was taken to Rome where the Holy Father, plunged in affliction, is still concealed in order to elude dangerous exigencies. He is very feeble, quite worn out by distress, anxiety, and prayer. His chief reason for lying concealed is because he can now trust so few.”

August 25, 1822: “I know not now how I went to Rome last night, but I found myself near the church of St. Mary-Major. Around it I saw crowds of poor, pious souls, in great distress and anxiety on account of the Pope’s disappearance and the agitation and alarming reports throughout the city. Led by one common impulse, they had come to invoke the Mother of God. They did not expect to find the church open, they intended only to pray outside. But I was inside, I opened the door and they entered, astounded at the door’s opening of itself. I was standing aloof where they could not see me. There was no service, only the chancel-lamps were burning, and the people knelt in quiet prayer. Then the Mother of God appeared. She said that great tribulations were at hand; that the people must pray earnestly with extended arms, if only for the length of three Our Fathers, for it was thus that her Son had prayed for them upon the Cross; that they should rise at midnight to pray thus; that they should continue to come to her church which they would always find open; and that they should, above all, pray for the extirpation of the dark church.”

September 27, 1822: “I saw heartrending misery, playing, drinking, gossiping, even courting going on in the church. All sorts of abominations were committed in it; they had even set up a ninepin alley in the middle of it. The priests let things go their way and said Mass very irreverently; only a few of them were still a little intelligent and pious. I saw Jews standing around the doorways. All this grieved me deeply. Then my Heavenly Spouse bound me as He Himself had been bound to the pillar, and He said: ‘So will the Church yet be bound. She will be tightly bound before she shall again arise.’”

October 22, 1822: “‘Very evil times are coming,’ [my guide] said. ‘The non-Catholics will mislead many. They will use every possible means to entice them from the Church, and great disturbances will follow.’ I had then another vision in which I saw the King’s daughter armed for the struggle. Multitudes contributed to this with prayers, good works, all sorts of labors and self-victories which passed from hand to hand up to Heaven where each was wrought, according to its kind, into a piece of armor for the virgin warrior. The perfect adjustment of the various pieces was most remarkable, as also their wonderful signification. She was armed from head to foot. I knew many of those who contributed the armor, and I saw with surprise that whole institutions and great and learned people furnished nothing. The contribution was made chiefly by the poor and lowly. And now I saw the battle. The enemies’ ranks were by far the more numerous; but the little body of the faithful cut down whole rows of them. The armed virgin stood off on a hill. I ran to her, pleading for my country and those other places for which I had to pray. She was armed singularly, but significantly, with helmet, shield, and coat of mail, and the soldiers were like those of our own day. The battle was terrible; only a handful of victorious champions survived!”

[Not dated:] “They want to take from the shepherd his own pasture grounds! They want to fill his place with one who will hand all over to the enemy!”

All quotations taken from Volume 2 of The Life and Revelations of Anne Catherine Emmerich by the Very Rev. Carl E. Schmoger.

 

On May 13 (feast of Our Lady of Fatima) in 1820, the visionary Blessed Ann Catherien Emmerich (died 1824) had a vision of two popes and two churches. The remarkable element here is that the vision happened on May 13 almost 100 years prior to the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima on May 13 1917. Dr. Taylor Marshall analyzes the vision of Anne Catherine Emmerich about the two popes and sees if it applies to the current situation of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Excerpt (go to 2:30):
"She had a vision of two popes. One pope promoting idolatry. (...) There is a good pope who is removing idols and a bad pope who is bringing idols into the church."

"She had a vision of two churches and two popes, one good one bad."

Vision of Two Popes: by Ann Catherine Emmerich on May 13 and Fatima

 

Those visions are not related to what we are living now. Absolutely

 

Are you sure?

Dr Marshall and numerous other commentators think they might be.

 

Could you expand on your opinion, Prince of Peace? Which visions specifically ae you referring? And why do you think they are not related to what we are living now?

 

In the course of a previous discussion about the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, someone posted a link to this article in OnePeterFive written by Steve Skojec in 2016: https://onepeterfive.com/anne-catherine-emmerich-and-the-two-popes/
From the article:

"It is my contention — and I’m open to correction on this — that Sister Emmerich’s vision of the false dark Church and the pope who oversaw it was a prophetic vision; whereas the actions of Pope St. Boniface IV was a vision of the past. The relationship, then, of “the two popes” was not a relationship between two contemporaries, but two historical bookends, as it were, held apart by centuries: the pope who Christianized the most notable symbol of the pagan world, and the pope who would subsequently paganize the Catholic Church, thus reversing his sainted predecessor’s gains.​

In sum, I do not believe it can be argued that Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich’s vision of the two popes applies to the relationship between Pope Benedict and Pope Francis; this is a misreading based on missing context and wishful thinking."​

 

What about her vision:
I saw again the relationship between the two popes. I saw how baleful it was...

What about her vision where the true Pope is lonely and a prisoner in the Vatican, only able to speak to few close friends, whereas the Afterchurch (as she calls it) is very strong in numbers.

 

We have a Pope. His name is Francis.
And the Catholic Church right now has seriously dwindled in numbers.


Dolours, I remember this article by Steve Skojec. I am glad you posted it again. I think he is correct. Lots of mentions lately of wishful thinking. For some reason, that expression keeps cropping up.

 

Whilst it is true the 'vision' of the 2 Pope is a false flag there is a prophetic scene in Emmerich's visions that could may apply to our times or to the very near future - which seems to refer to a short period of persecution and distress followed by victory under the Mantle of our Lady and the renewal of the Church.

And now the vision became more extended. I saw in all places Catholics oppressed, annoyed, restricted, and deprived of liberty, churches were closed, and great misery prevailed everywhere with war and bloodshed. I saw rude, ignorant people offering violent resistance, but this state of things lasted not long. Again I saw in vision St. Peter’s undermined according to a plan devised by the secret sect while, at the same time, it was damaged by storms; but it was delivered at the moment of greatest distress. Again I saw the Blessed Virgin extending her mantle over it.

In this last scene, I saw no longer the reigning Pope, but one of his successors, a mild, but very resolute man who knew how to attach his priests to himself and who drove far from him the bad. I saw all things renewed and a church which reached from earth to Heaven. I saw one of the twelve new apostles in the person of the young priest whom the unchaste bride wanted to marry. It was a very comprehensive vision and portrayed anew all that had been previously shown me regarding the Church’s destiny.

 

Garabandal, I DO feel oppressed and annoyed.

 

I know the folks on this forum would drive you to drink

 

She didn't mention the booming craft beer market so it can't be about our time.

 

Maybe her vision of the two popes does not refer to our dear Pope emeritus and the other man who currently occupies the chair of peter.

But her vision of the “church of darkness “ does seem to apply to our times - and probably the near future - before the triumph of our holy Mother’s immaculate heart.

 

maybe? it is clearly that it is not Francis and Benedict!

the church of darkness it is not the church we have now. Our church has Jesus, sacraments, Eucharist.

A church of the future of course. they have to built another one with different dogmas and without real eucharist

 

In the context of what she called an "Afterchurch", Emmerich spoke about a new Mass where people draw out idols from their chest and worship them at Mass. She said that new Mass is "short, and in the end the Gospel of St. John is no longer read".

I find it remarkable that she foresaw a new, man-made Mass, even though she lived in the 1800's. In the Novus Ordo Mass, the beginning words of St. John's Gospel are not read at the end of Mass. However, the beginning of this Gospel is read at the end of each Tridentine Mass.

Regarding the vision of two popes, I find it remarkable that she speaks about a "relationship between the two popes" that appears "baleful". It strikes me that two popes have a relationship. This seems to imply that two popes are living at the same time, a unique situation that actually became reality from 2013 onwards.

Regarding the feeling that Emmerich's visions do not apply to our time, this reminds me of Pope John XXIII. When he opened the letter with the Third Secret of Fatima in 1960, as he was supposed to publish it then according to the wish of Sr. Lucia dos Santos, he read the letter, became pale, then he claimed: "This is not for our time."

God bless.

 

I think they apply to our time. Her vision of the ruined Cathedral and the demons with churchmen trying to build a new one...and her vision of the bishops processing and one was missing a head and one was without eyes etc. Memory is a little spotty but very pertinent to our time.

 

Hope you don't mind, but I just want to state that it was actually not merely the wish of Sr Lucia, but the explicit instruction of Our Lady of Fatima that the Third Secret be released by 1960.

+

 

Baleful is a strong word.