The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich
Volume II
Carl E. Schmöger, C.SS.R. English edition of 1885. These are private revelations recorded by Clemens Brentano. They are not the faith of the Church, and no Catholic is bound to believe them.
APPEOBATION. As the second volume of the work entitled, " Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich/' by Father Schmoger, like the first, contains nothing contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, either in morals or dogma; but which; if read in the spirit of piety, may contribute much to the edification of the faithful, we willingly grant it after a careful perusal the approbation solicited by the author. * PETER JOSEPH, Bishop of Limhourg.
DEDICATION To the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Help of Christians, and Refuge of the Human Race.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. We advance as a proof of the respect and affection in which the venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich is held by the faithful, the fact that, a short time after the appearance of the first volume of the present biography, it was translated into French (1) and Italian (2) with episcopal approbation. This circumstance, most gratifying to the author, has encouraged him in his efforts to present to the public a faithful history of the servant of God, although he believes himself authorized in saying that few books would be issued, were their publication attended by as numerous and grave difficulties as was that of the present work. Clement Brentano himself, whose journal offers the richest materials for it, shrank from the task of arranging them ; the attempts of others came to naught, and the author was often tempted to draw back in discouragement from their labyrinthine maze. The firm conviction that he was rendering testimony to God's wonderful ways in souls, the advice and encouragement of his friend, Rev. Father Capistran, of Kaltern, and the continued prayers of Maria von (1) " Vied' Anne Catherine Emmerich," par le P. SchmGger, tradnite par E. de Cazales, Vicar-General and Canon of Versailles. (2) Vita della serva di Dio, Anna Catertna Emmerich, tradottadair Originate tedescodal Marchcsc Cettare Boccella.
Preface. vii sions, his sympathy with or aversion for those who surrounded her or the visitors who flocked to her sick-bed, and in fine, his own private affairs and those of his intimate friends. These miscellaneous materials formed the contents of his manuscripts, from which the author has selected what he deemed necessary for the present biography. The Pilgrim had no other idea at the time, than that of relating as faithfully and circumstantially as possible whatever he observed. Sister Emmerich's interior life was to him a mystery of which she alone could furnish the key, with permission from her spiritual directors, Dean Overberg and Father Limberg ; yet he took note of all, as circumstances permitted, reserving what was obscure and unintelligible for a closer investigation at some future time. These the author has reproduced as faithfully as possible in their original form. Sister Emmerich was able to relate and the Pilgrim to write but few visions at one time ; consequently, notes, additions, corrections succeeded one another in rapid succession regardless of order or time. The key to some vision was frequently found only after long and wearisome research, and then, perhaps, in some little word of the invalid preserved as if by chance, or in a careful comparison with preceding or following ones. This was particularly the case with the grand vision which she termed the u Nuptial House" (1) and which seems to be the centre to which all her labors tended. The Pilgrim appears never to have clearly comprehended this vision ; but, fortunately, he preserved so many of the ^1) This vision is given in Vol. II., ch. 1 viii Preface. Sister's communications on the subject as to enable the author to penetrate more deeply into its signification. Then only did he seize the order and import of this privileged soul's immense task of prayer for the Church as a body, as well as for her individual members ; then only did he feel that he might attempt the history of her life. The first volume has been drawn mostly from Dr. Wegener's notes, as also the Pilgrim's, of whatever they could glean from the invalid herself, from her confessor, her companions, her relatives, respecting her past life. The Pilgrim during his five years' sojourn in Diilmen kept up a large correspondence with his dearest and most confidential friends. These unpublished letters were placed at the author's service, and he has made use of them with the greatest discretion. He looks upon them as one of the greatest proofs of the blessed influence exercised by Sister Emmerich over her amanuensis. Only two of those that were honored by Sister Emmerich's special affection and confidence are yet living (1870) : Misses Apollonia Diepenbrock and Louise Hensel, both of whom kindly aided the author with their communications. In 1831, the Pilgrim had revised the record of only the first months of his stay at Diilmen ; of this, however, the author has not availed himself, as it does not faithfully accord with the original notes. To avoid copying, the Pilgrim corrected his journal after having recorded some visions; but he seems to have grown discontented with the task, and abandoned any further attempts of the kind.
Preface. ix His interspersing the above with all son* of notes and remarks, many of them quite irrelevant, contributed to the greater confusion of the whole. If, for instance, Sister Emmerich were prevented from communicating her visions, complaints filled his journal against her confessor or any one else who had been, according to him, the cause of these intolerable interruptions. These complaints he repeated in his private letters and, as they were published after his death, the author feels that a word of explanation on the subject is necessary. They to whom his letters were addressed were fully aware of his irritable temperament and also of the circumstances attendant on his penning them ; consequently, they bore not for them that tone of asperity with which they could not fail to impress the general reader. The author, therefore, feels it a duty to expose clearly, justly, and conscientiously, the true state of affairs, that a correct and unbiased opinion may be formed of Sister Emmerich's position and her surroundings so frequently subjected to the Pilgrim's harsh criticism. The author himself was tempted, at first, to sympathize with the Pilgrim, and it was only after a long and close examination that he was able to discover the truth. In this he feels convinced that he conforms to the Pilgrim's own intentions, since ten years before his death he had nourished the thought of intrusting the arrangement of his notes to some one in whose discretion he might perfectly confide • he thought of handing over to such a person his manuscripts just as they were, without retrenching a single line.
x Preface, and of allowing him to estimate their contents conscientiously and impartially. As time glided on and the Pilgrim himself began to cast a cooler, more impartial glance upon the years spent in Diilmen, the more averse did he become to encountering anew the u thorns77 that human frailty had led him to plant around " the roses in his garden.7' He would then have erased from his journal his captious remarks, had he not feared that by so doing he might suppress what was both important and necessary to the clear understanding of Sister Emmerich's position. With rare uprightness and moral courage, he preserved what he had written that even the dispraise thereby accruing to himself might render its own peculiar testimony to the chosen of God. In conclusion, the author submits unreservedly to the decrees of Urban VIII. ? and declares that he attributes only purely human belief to the extraordinary facts and incidents recorded in the present volume. P. SCHMOGER, C.SS.R. Convent of Gars, Bavaria, Feast of St. John Baptist, 1870.
CHAPTER 1. Spiritual Labors and Sufferings for the Church. — The Nuptial House. — Action in Vision
In November, 1820, Sister Emmerich remarked : u It is now twenty years since my Spouse led me into the Nuptial House and laid me upon the hard bridal bed on which I still lie ;" — thus did she designate her labors for the Church, labors imposed upon her from her entrance into Agnetenberg. No account had ever been demanded of this hidden operation, no director had even been willing to listen to her on the subject, and it is only now, toward the close of her career, that she testifies to the ways by which God had led her for the good of the Church j now, for the first time, does she raise the veil which conceals that mysterious action which, though operated in contemplation, derives its origin and merit, its importance and results from the divine virtue of faith. Before her entrance into religion, her principal task consisted in expiatory sufferings referring to the religious vocation and vows; but, when she had embraced the conventual life, her action was extended to the whole Church. What this task embodied she characterized by these striking words : u My Heavenly Bridegroom brought me into the Nuptial House/' for such is the relation that the Church holds with Jesus Christ, her Spouse and Head — a relation which was shown to Sister Emmerich as an immense sphere, embracing the most varied and opposite states, for whose individual failings she was to supply by her sufferings. Jesus is continually renewing His indissoluble union with the Church, His Spouse, and that He may present her spotless to His Father, He incessantly pours out upon her the torrents of His graces. But every grace must be accounted for, and few among those who receive them would be found ready for this, if the Heavenly Spouse did not at all times prepare chosen souls to gather up what others waste, to utilise the talents that others bury, and to discharge the debts contracted by the negligent. Before manifesting Himself in the flesh, in order to ratify the New Alliance with His Blood, He had by the Immaculate Conception of Mary prepared her to be the immaculate type of the Church. He had poured upon her the plenitude of His graces, that her prayers might hasten the Messiah's advent, her purity and fidelity retain Him among the very men who received Him not, who resisted and persecuted Him. When Jesus, the Good Shepherd, began to gather His flock together it was Mary who cared for them, particularly for the poorest, the most abandoned, in order to lead them into the way of salvation ; she was the faithful stewardess, she was the support of all. After the return of her Son to His Eternal Father, she remained many years upon earth tc strengthen and protect the infant Church. And until the second coming of her Son, the Church will never be without members who, following in her footsteps, will be so many sources of benediction to their brethren. It is Mary, the Mother of Mercy, who assigns to these privileged souls their tasks for the ecclesiastical year; and,
Anne Catlterine Emmerich, 3 in accordance with this order, Sister Emmerich received, in what she denominates the " Nuptial House" her yearly portion of expiation for the Church. Every detail was made known to her, all was to be finished in a certain time, for choice and duration of suffering are at the option of none. This order was indicated by the different parts of the Nuptial House, which had both a symbolical and historical signification. It was the house of Jesse near Bethlehem, the house in which David was born, in which he had been trained by God Himself for his future career as a prophet. It was from this house, also, that the Divine Spouse Himself had sprung in His Holy Human;ty. It was the house of the royal race of the Immaculate Virg; ., Mother of the Church, and the paternal house of St. Joseph. It was fitting that Sister Emmerich should contemplate therein the present state of the Church and receive her mission for it, since its former holy occupants had hailed in spirit the advent of the Redeemer, had gazed upon the Church's career through coming ages, and had received their share in the good works that were to hasten Redemption. This house with its numerous apartments, its spacious surroundings of gardens, fields, and meadows, was a symbol of the spiritual government of the Church j with its various parts, its functionaries, with the intruders who laid it waste, it presented to the soul allowed to contemplate it a perfect representation of the Church in her different relations with the state and the country, with certain dioceses and institutions, in fine, with all the affairs connected with her government. The wrongs done her in her hierarchy, rights, and treasures, in the integrity of her faith, discipline, and morals, by the negligence, slothfulness and disloyalty of her own children j all that intruders, that is, false science, pre tended lights, irreligious education, connivance with the errors of the day, with worldly maxims and projects, etc., endanger or destroy — all were shown to Sister Emmerich in visions of wonderful depth and simplicity. The scenes of these visions were the Nuptial House and its dependencies, and thither was she conducted by her angel to receive her expiatory mission. Before considering the details of this action in vision, let us first glance at its hidden nature and signification. We have already remarked that what Sister Emmerich did and suffered in contemplation was as real and meritorious in itself and its results, as were the actions find sufferings of the natural waking state. This double operation sprang from one common source ; but for the perfect understanding of it, we must study her gift of contemplation. Her own communications will throw the greatest light upon the question, since they are both numerous and detailed. We can compare them with the testimony of others favored with the same graces, with the decisions of the holy Doctors, and with the principles that guide the Church in her judgment of such phenomena. Sister Emmerich tells us that the gift of contemplation had been bestowed upon her in Baptism and that, from her entrance into life, she had been prepared in body and soul to make use of it. Once she denominated this preparation, u A mystery of a nature very difficult for fallen man to comprehend, one by which the pure in soul and body are brought into intimate and mysterious communication with one another." The undipamed splendor of baptismal grace is then according to her the first, the chief condition for the reception of the light of prophecy, for the developing of a faculty in man, obscured by Adam's fall : viz., capability of commua profound degradation into which the human soul is plunged by mesmeric influence can have no other result. It is only in abandoning the truth : viz., the doctrine of the human soul, as set forth by the great Doctors, upheld and followed by the Church in her process of canonization, that we can fall into the erroneous and dangerous hypothesis of natural clairvoyance and support false theories upon facts less certain, less positively attested. Before considering Sister Emmerich's physical training in preparation for her action in vision, we shall glance at St. Hildegarde, that great mistress of the mystical life, since there exists so striking a resemblance between them. The latter, being directed by Almighty God to reduce her visions to writing, heard these words (1): — "I who am the Living Light enlightening all that is in darkness, have freely chosen and called thee by My own good pleasure for marvellous things, for things far greater than those shown by Me to men of ancient times; but, that thou mayest not exalt thyself in the pride of thy heart, I have humbled thee to the dust. The world shall find in thee neither joy nor satisfaction, nor shalt thou mingle in its affairs, for I have shielded thee against proud presumption, I have pierced thee with fear. I have overwhelmed thee with pain. Thou bearest thy sorrows in the marrow of thy bones, in the veins of thy flesh. Thy soul and thy senses are bound, thou must endure countless bodily pains that false security may not take possession of thee, but that, on the contrary, thou mayest regard thyself as faulty in all thou dost. I have shielded thy heart from its wanderings, I have put a bridle upon thee that thy spirit may not proudly and vain-gloriously exalt itself, but that in all things it may experience more fear and anxiety than joy and complacency, (1) Scivias, L- I., Prcefatio. Edit- Migne.
Anne Catlieruie Emmerich. 7 Write, then, what thou seest and hearest, O thou creature, who receivest not in the agitation of delusion, but in the purity of simplicity, what is designed to manifest hidden things." Her contemporary and biographer, the Abbot Theodoric renders this testimony (1): — u From her youngest years her purity shone so conspicuously that she seemed exempt from the weakness of the flesh. When she had bound herself to Christ by the religious vows, she mounted from virtue to virtue. Charity burned in her breast for all mankind, and the tower of her virginity was protected by the rampart of humility, whence sprang abstinence in diet, poverty in clothing, etc. As the vase is tried in the furnace of the potter, as strength is made perfect in infirmity, so from her earliest infancy, frequent, almost continual sufferings were never wanting to her. Very rarely was she able to walk and, as her body ever seemed near its dissolution, her life presented the picture of a precious death. But in proportion as her physical strength failed, was her soul possessed by the spirit of knowledge and fortitude ; as her body was consumed, her spiritual fervor became inflamed." Hildegarde herself laid down as a law established by God, that the prophetic light was never received without constant and extraordinary sufferings (2). — u The soul by its nature tends toward eternal life, but the body, holding in itself this passing life, is not in accordance with it ; for, though both unite to form man, yet they are distinct in themselves, they are two. For this reason, when God pours His Spirit out on a man by the light of prophecy, the gift of wisdom, or miracles, He afflicts his body by frequent sufferings, that the Holy Spirit may dwell in him. If the flesh be notsub(1) Vita S. Hildegardis, L. I., C- I.,No. 23. (2) Loc- cit.f L. II.. Cap.IIL. Xo. >\ dued by pain, it too readily follows the ways of the world, as happened to Samson, Solomon, and others who, inclining to the pleasures of the senses, ceased to hearken to the inspirations of the spirit; for prophecy, wisdom, and the gift of miracles give birth to delight and joy. Know, O thou poor creature, that I have loved and called by preference those that have crucified their flesh in spirit." St. HilJegarde continues : u I seek not repose, I am overwhelmed by countless sufferings, whilst the Almighty pours upon me the dew of His grace. My body is broken by labor and pain, like clay mixed with water." And again, u It is not of myself that I utter the following words,- the veritable Wisdom pronounces them by my mouth. It speaks to me thus : c Hear these words, 0 creature, and repeat them not as from thyself. But as from Me, and taught by Me, do thou declare what follows :' — In the moment of my conception, when God awoke me by the breath of life in my mother's womb (1), He endowed my soul with the gift of contemplation. My parents offered me to God at my birth and in my third year I perceived in myself so great a light that my soul trembled; but unable yet to speak, I could say nothing of all these things. In my eighth year I was again offered to God and destined for the religious life, and up to my fifteenth year I saw many things that I recounted in all simplicity. They who listened asked in amazement whence or from whom I had received them. Then I began to wonder within myself at this that, although seeing everything in my inmost soul, yet at the same time I perceived exterior objects by the sense of sight, and, as I never heard the like of others, I commenced to hide my visions as best I could. I am ignorant of (1) St. Hildegarde, in her beautiful and deeply significant letter addressed to the Chapter of Mayence, uses the same words : ik In the light of contemplation poured into my soul by God, the Creator, before my birth, I am forced to write to you, etc,M , many things around me, on account of the state of constant sickness in which I have lain from my birth to the pr )sent moment, my body consumed, my strength utterly wasted. When inundated with the light of contemplation, I have said many things that sounded strange to my hearers ; but, when this light had grown a little dim, and I comported myself more like a child than one of my real age, I became confused, I wept,, and longed to be able to keep silence. The fear I had of men was such that I dared not impart to any one what I saw (1)." How strikingly do not the above words characterize Sister Emmerich ! Her body was from her birth a vessel of sufferings and like Hildegarde, sh^ too was told by the Celestial Spouse why she endured them : u Thy body is weighed down by pain and sickness that thy soul may labor more actively, for he who is in good health carries his body as a heavy burden." And when, during the investigation, the Vicar-General expressed astonishment that she could have received a wound in the breast unknown to herself, she replied simply : u I did feel as if my breast had been scalded, but I never looked to see what it was ; I am too timid for that. From my childhood I have always been too timid to look upon my person. I have never seen it, I never think of it, I know nothing about it." This was literally true, for Sister Emmerich had never thought of her body excepting to mortify it and burden it with suffering. In vain do we strive to understand her great love for penance and mortification. We may form some idea of it as witnessed in a monk in all the vigor of manhood, or in one advanced in years to whom but little sleep and food are necessary, or in the cloistered contemplative ; but in a young and delicate child, lively and ardent, employed in hard labor (1) Acta $. Hildeffarde. Ed. Miffne, p. 13, 14.
Anne Catherine Emmerich. ll u When Lidwina," says an eye witness, u returned from visiting the Holy Places, Mt. Olivet or Mt. Calvary, for instance, her lips were blistered, her limbs scratched, her knees bruised, her whole person bore not only the wounds made by her passage through briers, but even the thorns themselves remained in the flesh. Her angel told her that she retained them as a visible, palpable proof that she had been to the Holy Places not merely in dreams or in imagination, but really and truly bearing with her the faculty of receiving sensible, corporeal impressions. Once in vision she had to cross a slippery road on which she fell and dislocated her right limb and, when returned to consciousness, she found one eye bruised and inflamed. The pain in the limb and other members was violent for several days. In these far-off journeys she wounded sometimes her hands, sometimes her feet, and the marvellous perfume exhaled by her person betrayed to her friends whither she had been conducted. By a divine dispensation her soul not only communicated to her body the superabundant consolations it experienced, but it also employed the latter as an instrument, as a beast of burden in its journeys, and made it a sharer in the fatigue and accidents resulting therefrom. The soul of the saintly virgin struggled in her body, and her body struggled conjointly with her soul up to the moment of her last agony. They ran together the same career; they endured together the same hardships, like companions under the same roof. We must not, then, be surprised if they journey together, rejoice together in the Lord and, during the pilgrimage of this earthly life, receive together a foretaste of the glory that is to come, the first fruits of the Spirit, the abundant dew that falls from heaven. u In all her supernatural journeys the angel was her companion and she treated with him as a friend with a friend. He constantly appeared to her surrounded by a wonderful light which surpassed the brilliancy of a thousand suns. On his forehead shone the sign of the cross, that Lidwina might not be deceived by the evil one, who often appears as an angel of light. At first she used to experience so great an oppression on her chest that she thought herself dying ; but the feeling passed as she became accustomed to the ecstatic state. She lay like a corpse perfectly insensible to external impressions whilst her spirit obeying the angelic voice, after a short visit to the Blessed Virgin's altar in the parish church of Schiedam whither the angel always led her first, set out on the journey imposed upon her. Now, Lidwina's sufferings were such as never to allow her to leave her bed 5 and yet many circumstances combined to certify to the truth of her spiritual and corporal ravishment. She tells us that more than once she was raised, bed and all, to the ceiling of her 'room by the force of the spirit ; and the bruises she bore on her person after her journeys lend strength to her angel's testimony that her body, as well as her soul, had shared in the rapture. How this was effected the angel alone knew." There can, however, be no question here of the material body, no question of the pious virgin's being caught up in her state of ordinary life. The angel only intended to say that her soul in its flights or, as St. Hildegarde expresses it, when it flashed through the realms of space like a ray of light, separated not from the body, ceased not its communication with that infinitely subtle fluid which we term the vital spirits which, in truth, belong to the body, but which are at the same time so closely connected with the nature of the soul as to form the first and chief instrument of its vital activity. The more spiritualized the physical organism of God's chosen ones becomes (a result which follows extra ordinary mortification), the more penetrating become also the vital spirits, like unto fire and, consequently, the nearer do they approach to the nature of the soul ; so that the latter, the soul, acting in vision as if out of the body and without the body, is rendered capable of communication with the world of spirit without really separating from the body, without actually loosening the natural and necessary bond that holds them together. It may be said, therefore, to act in a corporal manner. Freed from the confines of space and the obstacles opposed to it by the weight of the body, it can act in and with the body, effect that for which the senses serve as instruments and receive impressions through their medium. The interior senses, now become spiritualized, no longer offer resistance to the workings of the soul, but follow it whithersoever it leads. Thus, the whole man, body and soul, acts in contemplation, suffers and operates, although the exterior organs of sense remain inactive and, as it were, closed, and the body, owing to its weight, cannot really follow the soul into the far-off regions through which it journeys. We entirely reverse the natural relation existing between the soul and the body when we fancy that the former can receive without the intervention of the latter, impressions of material objects, impressions so powerful that they are forced, so to speak, to find an exit out of it into the body on which they exercise an action wholly new. If we now consider the spiritual and supernatural preparation of a soul to dispose her for the reception of prophetic light, we shall see that, besides sanctifying grace, it is the infused virtue of faith that renders her capable of receiving and making use of this gift. And yet, infused faith is not a simple condition, it is the proper cause and end, by virtue of which God bestows the gift of contemplation. For
14 Lift of man to attain beatitude, the first, the most necessary of God's gifts, is the light of faith. All extraordinary gifts of grace relate to faith as the inferior to the superior, the means to the end, although the visible effects of these gifts are often more striking, more wonderful than the invisible, which are, however, incomparably more elevated. Faith, and not visions, is the source, the root of justification. No one can draw near to God or be pleasing to Him without faith. It is by faith that Jesus Christ dwells in the heart, and it is faith, and not visions, that seizes upon and appropriates the salvation offered with Him. St. Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, calls faith the substance, that is the real and essential possession of things hoped for, the real sign of invisible goods. Although faith gives not a clear, precise intuition of the facts and mysteries of our Redemption, yet it excludes even the possibility of error or doubt, and enables the believer to acquire the immense treasures contained in God's revelations and promises to His infallible Church. The believer by virtue of his faith, possesses actually the goods acquired for him by the Redemption, however multiplied or admirable they may be; but, owing to his imperfect intelligence they are veiled from him just as the appearance and form of the future plant are concealed in the germ. To arrive at a clear perception of his treasures, to appreciate them as they deserve, he needs light to penetrate what is hidden, to read at a glance the history of by-gone ages, or the unfulfilled promises of the future (1). This Almighty God communicates by the angel-guardian of the soul, who sustains its weakness and renders it capable of supporting its brilliancy (2). The angePs assistance (1) Cum prophetia pertineat ad cognitionem, quae supra naturalem rationem exist! t, consequens est ut ad prophetiam requiratur quoddam lumen intellectuale excedens lumen naturale rationis — (St. Thomas, 2, 2ae, quaest- 171, art. 2.) (2) Ipsum propheticum lumen, quo mens propheta? illustratur, a Deo originaliterprocedit : sed taraen ad ejus congruam susceptionem mens humana angelico lumine con
Aniie Catherine Emmerich. 15 is necessary ; without it, the soul could never rise to the marvellous regions of contemplation. The first effect of the angelic teaching is an awakening to the practices of the theological virtues ; for the soul receives this light, not to find in it a source of joy, but an increase of intelligent faith. Therefore, in Sister Emmerich faith was never inactive. From her very Baptism, it manifested itself in uninterrupted acts of love, so much the more perfect as her soul never rested on sensible goods. St. Thomas teaches that faith holds the first rank in the spiritual life, since it is by faith alone that the soul is bound to God, the foundation and source of its life. As the body lives by the soul, the soul lives by God, and that which gives life to the soul is that which binds it to God, namely, faith. This light made known to Sister Emmerich through the angel the signification of the Twelve Articles of the Creed, which is a summary of the mysteries of salvation hidden in God from all eternity, revealed first as a promise and, in the fulness of time, accomplished in Jesus Christ. The whole history of Redemption, with all its circumstances of time, place, and actors, passed before her soul in pictures. Thousands of years could not separate her from these different events. She saw all by faith and penetrated into the interior and mutual relation between the most remote and the most recent facts connected with our Redemption, standing face to face with one another, the promise and the fulfilment. Every outward sign of faith renewed its effects in her soul. Did she witness the adminstration of a Sacrament, its supernatural effects were revealed to her by floods of light which either flowed in upon the soul of the recipient fortatur et quodammodo praeparatur. Cum enim lumen divinum sit simpllctssimum et universalissimum In virtute, non est proportionatum ad hoc quod ab anima human* in statu viae percipiatur,nisi quodammodo contrahatur et speciflcetur perconjunctionem ad lumen angelicum quod est magis contractum et humanae menti magis proportionatum.— (S. Thomas, Quaest. XII. de veritate, art. 8.) or were repelled in their course, thus making known tohei4 his spiritual disposition. Were a pious picture placed under her eyes, she instantly perceived a representation infinitely more faithful than the one before her, since faith awakened in her soul a perfect image of the original. Pious reading, holy conversation, the breviary, the chanting of psalms, everything, in fine, connected with religion, awoke in her emotions so strong and lively that, to resist absorption in vision, she was often obliged to use violence with herself. Sister Emmerich tried several times to give the Pilgrim some idea of her contemplation, but in vain ; she could never satisfactorily explain the spiritual activity of her visions. We quote what the Pilgrim was able to write on different occasions : — u I see many things that I cannot possibly express. Who can say with the tongue what he sees not with the bodily eyes? v 6i I see it not with the eyes. It seems as if I saw it with my heart in the midst of my breast. It makes the perspiration start ! At the same time I see with my eyes the objects and persons around me ; but they concern me not, I know not who or what they are. I am in contemplation even now whilst I am speaking " " For several days I have been constantly between the state of vision and the natural waking state. I have to do violence to myself. In the middh of a conversation I suddenly see before me other things and pictures and I hear my own words as if proceeding from another, as if coming out of an empty cask. I feel as if I were intoxicated and reeling. My conversation goes on coolly and often more animatedly than usual, but when it is over I know not what I have said, though I have been speaking connectcdlv. It costs me an effort to maintain this double stato. I see
Anne CatJierine Emmerich. 17 passing objects dimly and confusedly like a sleeper awaking out of a dream. The second sight attracts me more powerfully, it is clearer than the natural, but it is not through the eyes " After relating a vision one day, she laid aside her work, saying : u All this day have I been flying and seeing ; sometimes I see the Pilgrim, sometimes not. Does he not hear the singing ? It seems to me that I am in a beautiful meadow (1), the trees forming arches over me. I hear wondrously sweet singing like the clear voices of children. All around me here below is like a troubled dream, dim and confused, through which I gaze upon aluminous world perfectly distinct in all its parts, intelligible even in its origin and connected in all its wonders. In it the good and holy delight more powerfully since one sees his way from God to God ; and what is bad and unholy troubles more deeply a3 the way leads from the demon to the demon in opposition to God and the creature. This life in which nothing hinders me, neither time nor space, neither^the body nor mystery, in which all speaks, all .enlightens, is so perfect, so free that the blind, lame, stammering reality appears but an empty drea n. In this state I always see the relics by me shining, and sometimes I see little troops of human figures floating over them in a distant cloud. When I return to myself, the boxes and caskets in which the shining relics lie reappear. v Once the Pilgrim gave her a little parcel into which without her knowledge he had slipped a relic. She took it with a significant smile, as if to say she could not be so deceived, and laying it on her heart, she said : u I knew directly what you were giving me. I cannot describe the impression it produces. I not only see, I feel a light like the will(1) Ameadow* symbol of a festival'
o-the-wisp, sometimes bright, sometimes dull, blowing toward me as if directed by a current of wind. I feel, too, a certain connecting link between the light and the shining body, and between the latter and a luminous world, itself born of light. Who can express it ? — The light seizes me, I can not prevent it from entering my heart; and, when I plunge in deeper, it seems as if I passed through it into the body from which it emanates, into the scenes of its life, its struggles, its sufferings, its triumphs ! Then I am directed in vision as is pleasing to Grod. There is a wonderful, a mysterious relation between our body and soul. The soul sanctifies or profanes the body ; otherwise, there could be no expiation, no penance by means of the body. As the saints whilst alive, worked in the body, so even when separated from it they continue to act by it upon the faithful. But faith is essential to the reception of holy influences. u Often whilst speaking with others on quite different subjects, I see far in the distance the soul of a deceased person coming toward me a©d I am forced to attend to it at once, I become silent and thoughtful. I have apparitions also of the saints in the same way " u I once had a beautiful revelation on this point, in which I learned that seeing with the eyes is no sight, that there is another, an interior sight which is clear and penetrating. But, when deprived of daily Communion, a cloud obscures my clear inward sight, I pray less fervently, with less devotion, I forget important things, signs, and warnings, and Is^e the destructive influence of exterior things which are essentially false. I feel a devouring hunger for the Blessed Sacrament and, when I look toward the church, I feel as if my heart were about to escape from my breast and fly to my Redeemer ,?
luminous sphere on my right. Between these two spheres I hung by one arm poor and abandoned, floating, so to say, between heaven and earth. This state lasted long and caused me great pain ; still I was not impatient. At last, St. Susanna (1) came to me from the luminous sphere with St. Liborius in whose vineyard I had to work. They freed me, and I was brought again into the vineyard which was uncultivated and overgrown. I had to prune the wild, straggling branches on the trellises that the sun might reach the young shoots. With great trouble I worked at a gap in the lattice. I gathered the leaves and decayed grapes into a pile, wiped the mould from others and, as I had no fine cloth, I had to take my kerchief. This labor tired me so that I lay on my bed next morning all bruised and sore ; I felt as if not a bone were left in my body. My arms still ache " u The way in which a communication from the blessed is received, is hard to explain. What is said is incredibly brief; by one word from them I understand more than by thirty from others. I see the speaker's thought, but not with the eyes ; all is clearer, more distinct than in the present state. One receives it with as much pleasure as he hails a breeze in summer. Words cannot well express it " u All that the poor soul said to me was, as usual, brief. To understand the language of the souls in purgatory is difficult. Their voice is smothered as if coming through something that dulls the sound ; it is like one speaking from a pit or a cask. The sense, also, is more difficult to seize. Closer attention is required than when Our Lord, or my guide, or a saint speaks to me, for their words penetrate like a clear current of air, one sees and knows all they say. (1) Sister Emmerich had this vision Aug. 11, 1821. Feast of St. Susanna, M.
One of their words says more than a lengthy discourse v Knowledge of the Thoughts of Others. Late one evening in the winter of 1813, FatheV Limberg returned tired and worn out after a whole day spent in sickcalls. As he sat down in Sister Emmerich's room, breviary in hand, the thought occurred to him: UI am so tired and I have so many prayers to say — if it were no sin, I would let them go." Hardly had he conceived the thought, seated at some distance from her, than she cried out*: u O do say your prayers!7' He asked: u What prayers do you mean f'^ " Your breviary," she answered — u Why do you ask ¥" u This was the first time," remarked the Father, u that I was struck by anything extraordinary in her. " On July 25th, 1821, Sister Emmerich spoke as follows to the Pilgrim : u The Pilgrim has no devotion, he prays nervously, mixing things up quickly. I often see all kinds of bad thoughts chasing one another through his head. They peer around like strange, ugly, wild beasts ! He checks them not, he does not drive them away promptly ; it is as if he were used to them, they run about as over a beaten path." The Pilgrim remarked: "It is, unhappily, only too true \" u 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. Some of the currents are all aglow, others are dull ; some of the characters are round and full, some running, just like different styles of handwriting." When Sister Emmerich characterized her contemplations as u not seen with the eyes but with the soul, the heart being, so to say, the organ of sight," she intended to promptly obeyed the call, and collected together all the powers of her soul to accomplish whatever was demanded of her. She had never known an attachment to perishable goods. Apart from God and His service, she desired nothing, knew nothing. Her soul, delighted by heavenly visions, sought no earthly gratification. Faith and the Commandments were her only measure of created things. St. Hildegarde informs us what rank the heart holds even in the natural order (I) : u When by the mysterious order established by the Supreme Creator, the body is quickened in the mother's womb, the soul like a fiery globe bearing no resemblance to the human form, takes possession of the heart, mounts to the brain, and animates all the members It takes possession of the heart, because glowing with the light of its deep knowledge, it distinguishes different things in the sphere of its comprehension (that is, recognizes the objects that fall under the senses). It takes not the form of the body, because it is incorporeal and immortal. It gives strength to the heart which as the fundamental part governs the whole body, and like the firmament of heaven it holds together what is below it, hides what is above. It mounts to the brain, because in the wisdom of God it has the power to understand not only what is earthly, but also what is heavenly. It diffuses itself through all the members, because it communicates vital strength to the whole body, to the marrow, the veins, to all the different parts just as a tree transmits sap from its roots to its branches that they may clothe themselves with leaves/ " The soul dwells in the fortress of the heart, as in a corner of the house, just as the father of a family takes a position whence he can overlook and direct affairs for the (1) Scivias lib. I. , visio IV.
good of his household. He turns toward the east and raises his right arm to give his orders. The soul does the same, looking toward the rising of the sun through the ways (the senses) of the whole body." u The soul itself is of a fiery nature (1). It penetrates the entire body in which it dwells, the veins with their blood, the bones with their marrow, the flesh with its juices ; it is inextinguishable. The fire of the soul rises from the reasoning faculties whence comes the word, the speech. Were the soul not of a fiery nature, it could not vivify the cold mass with its heat nor build up the body with its venous streams. The soul, breathing, burning in the reasoning faculties, distributes its heat throughout the body in proper measure that the latter may not be consumed." St. Hildegarde's explanation of visions is the same as Sister Emmerich's ; they bear testimony to each other: — u The way in whiph contemplation is carried on is hard for a man subject to the senses to understand (2). I have my visions not in dreams nor sleep, not in the delirium of fever nor through the instrumentality of the external senses, and not in secret places. I receive them by God's will, in in v waking moments, in the untroubled splendor of an unclouded spirit, with the eyes and ears of the inner man, and in places open to all. . . . God works where He will for the glorification of His name, not for that of earthly man. I am in constant dread, because I recognize in myself nothing to assure me ; but I raise my hands to God to be borne by Him like a feather wafted about by the wind. What I see I cannot perfectly comprehend when T am occupied with outward things and my soul not wholly absorbed in contemplation, for then both states are imperfect. From my infancy, when my bones, my nerves, my veins were yet (t) Explanatio Symboli 3- Athanasii, p. 1070. Edit-, Mi.arne. (3) ActaS. Hildegard, p. 17, 18, et p. 98, 99
Aiine Catherine Emmerich. 25 without strength, I have had in my soul this light of contemplation, and I am now seventy years old. In vision, as God wills it, my soul soars above the firmament through regions of space, and beholds the far, far distant nations. And, as in this way, I see all these things in my soul, I see also the various strata of clouds and other true creatures. That is to say, this spiritual contemplation is not an empty imagination, but an extension of the soul through the farthest space, and nothing that I meet escapes my observation. I see it not with my outward senses ; I hear not with my ears; I create it not from the thoughts of ray mind, nor by any co-operation of the five senses, but only through the soul, the eyes of the body being open. The latter never failed me in consequence of ecstasy, for 1 am in contemplation whilst awake by day, as well as by night. u The light that I see is not material light circumscribed by place. It is much brighter than the clouds around the sun ; in it I can discover neither length nor breadth, height nor depth. I call it the shadow of the living light. As the sun, moon, and stars are reflected in water, so in this light the writings, the words, the dispositions, the works of meYi shine out in pictures. What I discover in contemplation I remember long. I see, hear, and know all at once ; I comprehend instantaneously all that I ought to know. What I do not see in contemplation I do not understand, for I have not received a learned education. As for what I have to write in vision, I can trace the words only just as I have seen them, nor can I put them into elegant Latin. I hear them not as flowing from the lips of men; but they are like a lambent flame, a luminous cloud floating in a clear atmosphere. I can no more recognize a form in this light than I can look steadily at the sun's disc." u In this light I sometimes see another which is named to me as the living light, but I do not see it as often as I do the first and still less can I describe it. When I receive it all sadness and sorrow vanish from my mind, so that I am more like a simple child than an old woman. The first light, the shadow of the living light, never departs from my soul. I see it just as I should see a luminous cloud through the starless firmament, and in it I see that which, out of the splendor of the living light, I say." Whatever may be the effect of this divine light upon the soul, the practice of faith can never be superfluous ; the former never substitutes anything more meritorious than the latter. On the contrary, the prophetic light like that of infused knowledge, serves but to strengthen faith, and confers clearer intelligence upon the points proposed for its exercise. For the mind of man there can be no more elevated, no more perfect acts than those of the infused theological virtues. God has opened for him no other way to eternal happiness than that of faith. The simple faithful, though destitute of the light of contemplation, can by instruction, prayer, and meditation, by the practice of the precepts of faith, penetrate its mysteries and appreciate its inestimable value. He who has been raised to contemplation, looks not upon faith as inferior to this extraordinary gift ; the clearer and more comprehensive his visions, the stronger does it become. St. Catherine of Sienna is a proof of this. Treating of the relation of faith to contemplation, she says in her Dialogues, dictated during ecstasy, that the gift of prophecy can be recognized as true only by the light of faith : — u O Eternal Trinity, abyss of love, dissolve the cloud of my body! Thou art the fire that dispels all cold! With Thy light Thou enlightenest the mind and teachest all truth ! Thou art the light above all light ! From Thy light,
Thou givest light to the understanding ; namely, the supernatural light, in such plenitude and perfection that thereby the light of faith is increased, faith by which I know that ray soul lives and that in its light I have received Thy light. In the light of faith I acquire wisdom in the wisdom of the Word, Thy Son ; in the light of faith, I am strong, constant, and persevering ; in the light of faith, I trust that Thou wilt never suffer me to stray from the right path. The light of faith teaches me the way that I should follow ; without its light I should wander in darkness, therefore have I prayed Thee, 0 Eternal Father, to enlighten me with the light of most holy faith ! O Most Holy Trinity, in the light (of contemplation) which Thou hast given me, which I have received through the workings of the light of most holy faith, I have known by many admirable explanations the way of true perfection, that I may serve Thee in light and not in darkness ! Why did I not see Thee by the light of most holy, most praiseworthy faith ? Because the clouds of self-love obscured the eye of my understanding. But Thou, 0 Most Holy Trinity, Thou hast dissipated this darkness \>y Thy light ! How can I thank Thee for this immense benefit, for the knowledge of the truth Thou hast given me ? This instruction (which I have received from Thee by the light of prophecy) is a special grace (granted only to me) over and above the general one which Thou dost accord to other creatures (\).v Sister Emmerich also was, like Hildegarde, taught by her angel in infancy how to practise faith as the foundation of the spiritual life. " When in my sixth year, I meditated on the First Article of the Catholic Creed : i I believe in God, the (1) Acta SS-, die 30 April'is. Vita p. III., c 2.
Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth/ pictures cf the creation passed before my soul. I saw the fall of the angels, the creation of earth and Paradise, of Adam and Eve, and theFallof man. I thought everybody saw them just as we see other things around us. I spcke of them freely to my parents, my brothers and sisters, and to my playmates, until I found that they laughed at me, asking if I had a book in which all these things were written. Then I began to be more reserved on such subjects, thinking I ought not to mention them, though why I could not tell. I had these visions by day and by night, in the fields, and going about my different occupations. One day at school I spoke with childish simplicity of the Resurrection, using other terms than those taught us. I thought every one knew the same, I never suspected that I was saying anything strange. The children wondered and told the master, who gravely warned me not to indulge such imaginations. I still had visions, but I kept silence concerning them. I was like a child looking at pictures, explaining them in its own way, without thinking much upon their meaning. These visions represented the saints or scenes from Sacred History, sometimes in one way, sometimes in another. They produced no change in my faith ; I thought them my picture-book. I gazed at them calmly and always with the good thought: i All to the greater glory of God V I have never believed anything in spiritual things but what God, the Lord, has revealed and proposed through the Catholic Church for our belief, whether written or not ; never have I believed so firmly what I saw in vision. I looked upon them as I devoutly regard, here and there, the various cribs at Christmas, without annoyance at their different style. In each I adore only the same dear little Infant Jesus, and it is the same with these pic tures of the creation of heaven, of earth, and of man. I adore in them God, the Lord, the Almighty Creator. I never studied anything from the Gospels, or the Old Testament, for I have myself seen all in the course of my life. I see them every year; sometimes they are alike, or again they are attended by new scenes. I have often been present withthe spectators, assisting as a contemporary, even taking part in the scene, though I did not always remain in the same place. I was often borne up into the air and I beheld the scene from on high. Other things, mysteries especially, I saw interiorly. I had an inward consciousness of them, pictures apart from the outward scene. In all cases I saw through and through, one body never hid another, and yet there was no confusion. Whilst a child, before I entered the convent, I had many visions principally from the Old Testament, but afterward they became rare and the life of Our Lord took their place. I knew the whole life of Jesus and Mary from their very birth. I often contemplated the Blessed Virgin in her childhood and saw what she did when alone in her little chamber ; I even knew what she wore. I saw that the people of Our Lord's time had sunk lower, were even more wicked than those of our day ; still, there were a few more simple, more pious than now. They differed as much from one another as tigers do from lambs. Now reign general tepidity and torpor. The persecution of the just in those days consisted in delivering them to the executioner, in tearing them to pieces ; now it is exercised by injury, disdain, raillery, patient and constant efforts to corrupt and destroy. Martyrdom is now an endless torment." Sister Emmerich's communications witli the Pilgrim furnished her many opportunities for combating his religious errors and prejudices. One day he maintained ia specious arguments that the institution of the Feast of Corpus Christi was unnecessary, since on Holy Thursday and in the daily Mass the Holy Eucharist is celebrated. She listened in silence, but next day she said to him : — " I have received a severe reproof from my guide. He says I should not have listened to the Pilgrim's words, I should not countenance such talk, it is heretical. All that the Church does, even if there should glide in through human weakness views not altogether pure, is done under the direction of the Holy Spirit of God, and for the wants of the times. The Feast of the Blessed Sacrament had become a necessity, since, at the time of its institution, the adoration due to Jesus therein' was neglected : therefore, the Church proclaimed her faith by public worship. There is no feast, no worship, no article of faith established by her which is not indispensable, not absolutely requisite at the time for the preservation of true doctrine. God makes use of individuals, even with views less pure, to serve His own adorable designs. The Church is founded on a rock j no human weakness can ravish from her her treasures. Therefore, I must never again listen to such denials of necessity in the Church's decisions, for they are heretical. After this severe lesson, I endured cruel sufferings for my condescension." The Pilgrim here adds a note : " This is a warning to me of how wrong it is to speak lightly of what concerns the Church. v Sister Emmerich again expressed herself as follows, on the " Illuminati," who, rejecting the holy usages of the Church, endeavor to introduce in their stead empty formulas and high-sounding phrases : — u If the Church is true all in her is true ; he who admits not the one, believes not the other. Whoever attributes things to chance, denies the effects of cause and makes them the result of chance. Nothing is mere ceremony, all is substantial, all acts through the outward signs. I have often heard learned priests say : ' We must not ask people to believe everything at once ; if they only get hold of the thread, they will soon draw the whole ball to themselves/ Such a speech is bad, erroneous. Most people take very fine thread and wind until it breaks, or is scattered in shreds around. ,The whole religion of either laymen or priests who speak thus is, in my opinion, like a balloon filled with holy things and sent up into the air, but which never reaches the sky. I often see the religion of whole cities floating over them like a balloon. " I have often been told that God has attached to the holy cross of Coesfeld and to all places in which sacred objects are- venerated, the power of resisting evil- but miracles depend on the fervor of prayer. I often see the cross venerated in processions and those that receive with faith the graces flowing from it, preserved from evil, and their petitions heard, whilst their neighbors are shrouded in darkness. I have also been told that lively, simple faith makes all things real and substantial. These two expressions gavo, me great light on the subject of miracles and the granting of prayer." With such words as the above she strove to combat the Pilgrim's inclination to laud the "piety" of the Moravians whilst he bitterly decried the " miseries of the Church" u I was sternly rebuked by my guide when I listened silently to such remarks. He pointed out the rashness of such judgments, saying that one falls thereby into the same faults as the first apostates. He told me that I had to supply what is neglected in the Church, otherwise I shall be more guilty than they to whom it is not given to see what T see. I saw the Moravian settlement. They are as restrained
32 Life if in their movements as a person who tries to avoid waking one who is asleep. It is all so formal, clean, and quiet) they appear so pious, but they are inwardly dead and in a far more deplorable state than the poor Indians for whom I have now to pray. Where there is no struggle there is no victory. They are idle, therefore they are poor ; their affairs go badly enough, in spite of their fine talk and fair appearance. I saw this in the Nuptial House. Under the picture of two invalids^ I saw the difference between souls, and their interior state before God. I saw the Moravian community under the appearance of a sick person who conceals her maladies, who is very agreeable and pleasing in the exterior ; opposite to her, as in a far-off vision, I saw another invalid covered with ulcers which sparkled and shone like pearls. The bed on which she lay was bright, the floor, the ceiling, the whole room, were dazzlingly white like snow. As the sick Moravian drew near this room, she left stains wherever she stepped though she pretended not to see anything of it." Sister Emmerich's manner of acting was even more significant than her words. Though so highly privileged ; though in almost continual contemplation of the highest mysteries and truths of religion, the life of our Blessed Lord and His saints ; though admitted to a corporal participation in His Sacred Passion ; yet her greatest happiness, her most earnest desire was to assist at the celebration of the feasts and ceremonies of the Church in company with the faithful. Her infirmities cut her off for years from this consolation, and she felt the privation most deeply ; no ecstasy, no vision could indemnify her for the loss. In this she resembled Maria Bagnesi arid Magdalene di Pazzi ; the former of whom begged so ardently to be allowed to visit once more the miraculous statue in the Church of the Aa the mirror of their soul, which should reflect alone the bright beams of prophetic light. And by this, also, we understand why the Church, when passing judgment on extraordinary graces, seeks proofs of their reality in those virtues attained only by constant mortification and detachment. It would be in contradiction with the sanctity of Grod for the supernatural light of contemplation to dwell in a soul not wholly dead to itself and creatures ; therefore is this gift so rare, for in very few are found that purity and humility which characterized Sister Emmerich. We need no more convincing proof of the latter virtue than the Pilgrim's own testimony. From close observation he had drawn the conclusion that her unaccountable maladies arose from causes^ in the spiritual order quite foreign to her own physical condition ; and great was his disappointment, not to say disgust, when he saw her attach no importance whatever to their supernatural originand pay little attention to their intimate connection with certain evils of the spiritual order which she was called upon to expiate. His journal contains such lines as the following: u All goes to waste, the greatest graces are not understood ! Her carelessness deprives me of the mcst important revelations concerning the inward workings of her privileged life, etc., etc." And again, when he saw her, regardless of the particular character of her sufferings, accepting and even calling for Dr. Wegener's remedies, his impatience manifested itself. Jan. 20 and Feb. 3, 1823. --" Her sufferings increase, her courage decreases. She lay all night in one position groaning with pain, until we turned her on the other side. She was also tormented by fearful visions. She thought herself a child pursued by wild beasts, swimming over stagnant pools to escape them, and unable to call for assistance. . . . She endured this state till the vigil of
Candlemas. To the terrible hemorrhages of the last few da^s succeeded a general swelling of her whole body. ' I am full of pain/ she groaned, i pain in all my members, even in my heels V This sudden change began at the sound of the evening-bells of the Purification, and it was completed when they ceased to ring. She was quite courageous, though she neither spoke nor seemed to think of the coincidence. This is her usual manner of acting, whatever be her state. She seems unconscious of anything extraordinary; she even begs for help and seems hurt if we do not try to relieve her. Her mysterious life is neither directed nor governed — hence result loss, confusion, want of harmony. " The Pilgrim failed to reflect that her patient sufferings had obtained for her an increase of fortitude, which proves that her childlike simplicity in receiving them without seeking for a cause, was infinitely more agreeable to God than those around her dared to suspect. Three years previously, when struck by her unalterable peace of soul, the Pilgrim had recorded : — " She i3 extraordinarily courageous, full of childlike peace and simplicity. She is always in contemplation, although she tries to resist it. She rejoices only in this, that she lives to suffer. It is impossible to repeat her words, her transition from outward realities to the state of vision, her childlike joy, patience, courage, abandonment, the charm and candor of her whole demeanor. Only they who see her can know it. In this state she is the picture of an innocent, trusting child full not of faith, but of that certainty that sight gives. What we believe by God's grace, she knows ; it is as real to her as is the existence of her parents and family. She is, consequently, free from all returns upon self ; she exhibits nodiscontent,no irritation. She has no enemy ; she is full of peace, of joy, and of love. There is no assumption of false gravity about her. They are
Our Lord to withdraw those visions in which she beheld so much that was incomprehensible to her. But she received the following reply : — "I give thee visions not for thyself, but that thou mayest collect and communicate them. The present is not the time for sensible miracles ; therefore, I give thee visions. T have done the same at all times to show that I am with My Church to the consummation of ages. But visions alone secure not any oneJs salvation. Thou must practise charity, patience, and the other virtues" At another time she related what follows: — "I begged Almighty God to withdraw my visions, that I may not be forced to communicate them, but I was not heard. As usual, T was told to relate all that I could recall, even if I should be laughed at or even if I do not see any use in it. I was again told that no one has ever seen all that I have seen or in the same way, but that that is not my affair, it is the Church's. So much being allowed to go to waste will entail great accountability and do much harm. They who deprive me of leisure and the clergy who have no faith and who find no one to take down my visions will have to render a severe account of their negligence. I saw, too, how the demon raises obstacles. " Long ago I was ordered to tell all, even if I should be looked upon as a fool. But no one wanted to listen to me, and the holiest things that I had seen and heard were so misunderstood and derided that through timidity I shut all up in my own heart, though not without pain. Then I used to see in the distance the figure of a stranger who was to come to write by me. I have found him, I recognize him in the Pilgrim. From childhood I have had the habit of praying every evening for all who are in danger from accidents, such as violent falls, drowning, fire, etc., and which some men were quarrelling. I prayed with all my heart for them to cease their strife. They became calm, and peace was restored. I thought of poor, helpless travellers, and saw a sorrowful-looking man dragging along the road, not knowing where to turn for food or lodging. I was filled with pity. I prayed for him, when there rode up a horseman who, as he passed the poor man, asked whence he came and in what direction he was going. The man mentioned the cities (but I forget the names). The rider gave nim some money and galloped on. The poor man stood in wonder gazing at the money, four whole thalers ! He could hardly realize his good fortune ; he exclaimed : ' How wonderful is God ! Had I reached the city, I should not have received this money.' Then he began to think of all that he would do with it. I can still see him. My guide then took me to about twenty sick people whose ulcers I sucked. When my guide calls me on such errands, 1 follow blindly. We pass through walls and doors to the sick, and he tells me what I have to do. I see all distinctly and even if there be a crowd around the sick-bed, that does not hinder me, there is always room for me. Whilst I assist the invalids, they seem to sleep or to be unconscious, but they get better. Last night I assisted several at Coeslield. I know one of them, a little fellow twelve years old. J shall make inquiries " "I give such assistance only in Christian countries. In far-off infidel lands I float above the darkness, earnestly praying for the inhabitants to be enlightened. I think that every one who prays from his heart for such unhappy creatures, earnestly desirous of helping them all he can, really gives such assistance " " I have to heal spiritual maladies also. My guide took me to a spiritual hospital full of sick, of every age and condition, men and women. There were numbers whom I knew, others were strangers. I had no help excepting my guide, who blessed the water that I carried in a little kettle. I had relics also, but I only used them in secret. All the inmates were sick in soul through sin and their passions, their maladies appearing exteriorly in the body. The degree of sin was indicated by their greater or less poverty, especially shown forth in their beds. The poorest lay on the ground on straw, others in beds, either clean or filthy, which bespoke their good or bad surroundings ; some were lying on the bare ground, whilst others were sitting up, etc. I spoke not to them, nor they to me ; but when I bandaged their wounds or sucked their sores, sprinkled them with the blessed water or secretly touched them with the relics, they were relieved or cured. They who had sinned through sloth, had sore or lame hands ; they who were given to theft and such like practices, had convulsions, cramps in their limbs, and ulcers. Secret evils had their seat in internal ulcers, which had to be dissolved by poultices, or drawn out by blisters. Some were not quite right in their mind from having tormented themselves with useless researches. I beheld them staggering around and suddenly striking their heads against something, which brought them to their senses. I had to attend to many, natives and foreigners, also to Protestants. There was a girl who was suffering from obstinacy. Hard and livid welts ran through her whole body like veins; they looked like the red strokes of a lash. I cured her with holy water. I also raised the dead. They were in a third place and differed from the others in this that they lay quite patient, but utterly incapable of helping themselves. Among them, also, the evil to be cured manifested itself in corporal maladies. I bandaged them "
ideas and such could not be found. His state was fearful. Later I had other patients, my own acquaintances, peasants, citizens, ecclesiastics, and also N. N. I had been commissioned a long time before to tell him something ; his state grew daily worse. He sought honors and neglected souls. "'It was given me to see all whom T had cured by sucking their sores, both really and spiritually. My Spouse told me again that such spiritual assistance is real assistance, that I do it in spirit only because I am now not capable of doing it corporally. " When I worked as a child in the fields, or as a religious in the garden, I used to feel myself urged to beg God to do for men what I could do only for the plants. I often have a clear idea of the mutual relations and resemblances between creatures which, like emblems, can explain one another; so also in prayer and communion with God one can do really in desire and affection what he could not do actually on account of external hindrances. As a portrait can make me know the original, so can I exercise charity, render services, bestow care upon the picture or image of the object for whom I can do nothing personally and directly. If I do it in Jesus and for Jesus, He transmits it to the person for whom I do it by virtue of His merits ; therefore, the merciful God grants to my earnest prayers and longing to assist my neighbor those lively pictures in which I supplicate for the welfare of this or that person. . . . u I have also been shown how unspeakably good it is in God to give such visions, to accept the labor done in them as a full and perfect work and to reckon it as an increase in the treasury of the Church; but, that it may profit the Church, it must be done in union with the merits of Christ. The need v members of the Church can receive help only from
Christ in the Child. It was fearful ! As the Child hung on the cross, He said to me : 1 1 suffered all this from My conception till My thirty-fourth year, when it was accomplished exteriorly/ (The Lord died at the age of thirty-three years and three months). i Go, announce this to men V — But how can I announce it (1) V9 i ^ 3aw Him, also, as a new-born Babe, and I saw how many children abuse the Infant Jesus in His crib. The Blessed Virgin was not there to protect Him. The children brought all kinds of whips and rods, and struck His face until it bled. He tried gently to parry the blows with His little hands, but even the youngest children beat Him cruelly, their parents trimming and preparing the rods for some of them. They used thorns, nettles, scourges, switches of all kinds, each had its own signification. One came with a fine switch like a corn-stalk, which broke when he tried to strike with it. I knew many of these children. Some strutted about in fine clothes which I took away from them. I corrected them soundly. u Then I saw the Lord walking with His disciples. He was thinking of all He had endured even in His Mother's womb, of all that men had made Him suffer in His infancy and His public life by their blindness and obduracy ; but, above all, He thought of what He had undergone from the malice, the envious spying of the Pharisees. He spoke to His disciples of His Passion, but they understood Him not. I saw His interior sufferings like colors and heavy black shadows passing over His grave, sad countenance, through to His breast, and thence to His Heart which they tore to pieces. This sight is inexpressible ! I saw Him grow pale, His whole being agonized, for the sufferings of His soul were (1) The Pilgrim here remarks : " She forgot that she was even then fulfilling her commission. Her question reveals the way in which she always acted in such cases. She has often been directed to tell even what seemed absurd.11 it into the press. I was told not to put in any that were unripe and, when I answered that the few I had gathered were hardly worth the trouble, I was shown how much juice they would yield. I understood neither the vision nor its signification, but it is the beginning of a new task." July 30th — The Pilgrim lays : iC The vision of laboring under the direction of deceased religious was again repeated. She was wearied with carrying fruit to the press, her arms ached violently." July 31st — "There is only one large apple-tree in the orchard. I gathered no apples to-day, but I straightened up the plants around the tree, transplanting some, tying up others, pulling up the dead ones, watering and shading the drooping. All has reference to sectarians (false mystics). There are some over-ripe, worm-eaten apples on the tree. The first decayed from an excess of juice, and the worms in the others indicate pride, self-love, and bad company. They fall and crush the plants below, filling them with worms ; but when gathered and pressed they yield juice that may be used. They signify teachers in parishes that have gone astray. My companions were the holy old nuns of the convent. Then [ had another vision on the state of these people. I saw that most of those th^t had gone north followed dangerous ways and separated more and more from the Church ; and I saw the necessity of importuning God that the proud, exuberant plants may be rooted out of those parishes, in order that the others may not be lost to her." August 2d — "I worked hard in the garden last nightAfter I had picked out the speckod apples, I had to go to a neighboring vineyard. I had a little tub with me and I gathered bunch after bunch of decayed grapes and threw them into it, that the green ones might ripen and no more who is always in the clouds whilst things go to ruin around him." August 10th — "I had to work hard last night in the vineyard, on account of the want of charity among the clergy. I had to endure the same fatigue as St. Clare of Montefalco in her garden. She was with me and showed me a bed full of plants. In the centre were mignonette and an aromatic plant that flourishes in warm countries; outside were smoothleaved herbs with long thorns. I knew not how to get across this hedge. Clare told me to dash bravely through it and I should have all the plants in the centre as a reward. She related many incidents of her own life. I saw her as a child kneeling in prayer by a rose-bush. The Infant Jesus appeared and gave her a written prayer which she wanted to keep ; but it was taken from her. I know some of this prayer: ' I salute thee, 0 Mary, through the sweet Heart of Jesus ! I salute thee, O Mary, for the deliverance of all the poor souls ! I salute thee, O Mary, through all the Seraphim and Cherubim !' — between each of these invocations, she kissed the ground. The last part was beautiful, but I have forgotten it. One of Clare's practices was to kiss her hand when in company, and recall to mind that she was but dust and ashes. I crossed the hedge, but not without scratches ; the pain was so acute that I cried aloud. Then Clare left me, and Frances of Rome appeared. She told me what horrible torments she had endured, but as St. Alexis had helped her she was going to help me. Her malady had been the same as that of the Canaanite woman who touched the hem of Our Lord's robe. Alexis threw his mantle over her and bade her read that passage in the Gospel which related to the miracle. She promised that I should soon be relieved." Sister Emmerich had the following vision of this wonderful cure at the same hour it had actually been wrought in St. Frances. July 17 — "I saw," she said, "St; Frances of Rome. She was married, but still young. She was lying in bed praying, for she had been ill for a long time ; an elderly female slept near by. It was early dawn, when suddenly her room was lit up and St. Alexis in the garb of a pilgrim, approached her bed, holding a book like the golden book of the Gospels which his mother had given him. I am not certain that it was the same book or only one like it. I think the latter more probable. The saint called Frances by name. She started up in bed, and he told her that he was Alexis and that he had come to^ cure her, adding that he had found salvation in the book he had in his hand. Then he held it open before her and bade her read. I do not remember distinctly what followed, but Frances was cured and the saint vanished. She arose, awoke the woman, who was amazed to see her up and well, and they went at daybreak to the Church of St. Alexis to bless God in His saints." August 1 1th — " Last night again I lay all alone in the thorns of the vineyards, which signify priests void of charity. I awoke, thanks to God, about three o'clock." August 12th — "Last night I toiled in the vineyard. St. Clare was there encouraging and consoling me as I lay upon the slanting branches which gave me great pain. She told me that every sharp knot in them signified the rector of a parish, and that grapes would grow out of them, if I lovingly offered for those priests my sufferings in union with Jesus. Then I saw numerous parishes profiting by it." Sept. 5th, whilst in ecstasy, she said : u From Mary's Nativity till the Feast of St. Michael, I shall have to labor and travel. Angels from all parts have come for me I
Aid needed in so many places ! I was told last night that in many parishes in which I had pulled up the weeds and nettles, tied up and pruned the vine branches, the fruit had begun to ripen, but that robbers and wild beasts were roaming through the vineyards, and that I must enclose them by my labor in prayer. I saw the vintage flourishing by my labor, the grapes ripening, and the red juice flowing to the ground from the wine-presses. That signified that when good people aspire to holiness, they have to struggle and endure persecution and temptation. I was told that I had weeded and manured, but that I must now raise a hedge that they [these struggling souls) may not fall a prey to temptation and persecution. It is time for the grapes to ripen, they must be protected. Then I saw innumerable parishes for which I had to do the same between Mary's Nativity and Michaelmas." Sept. 7th — u I was taken to my vineyard and reproved for not having hedged it in. I carried weeds to the mill and then left. I was so glad to be well again, and I did not continue my prayer. I had to pile up the rubbish and make a hedge with thistles to protect the vineyard. Again I saw the whole vineyard of St. Liborius, with all the gardens that compose it, and also the fruit of subjected them to the influence of the planetary spirits. In the centre of each garden I saw a tree covered with all the varieties of its kind which grew around it. I saw pictures indicating the essence and signification of the plants. I saw the meaning of their name in universal language. Wonderful is the saints' influence over plants ! They seem to deliver them from the curse and power of the planetary spirits and, by certain religious invocations, render them remedies in sickness. As they become antidotes against diseases which I see as corporal sins in this lower, earthly region, so in the heavenly gardens are they antidotes against faults and sins which I there see as spiritual sickness. In each garden there stood a small house or tent which, too, had its signification. I saw that bees here play an important part. Some were very large, others quite small, their members transparent, as if formed of light, the legs like rays, the wings silver — I cannot describe it. There were hives in the orchards in which they worked — all was transparent. I have received information on the bees, their work and its signification morally and physically, but I have forgotten it. I was taken into several orchards and I saw wonderful things. I knew and understood everything before I was tormented. I was told, for instance, that nuts signify combat and persecution in vision, as well as in everyday life ; therefore, I often see them growing around the Church and even gathered and given to others. I saw around the nut-gardens visions of strife, single combatants, and whole armies struggling. I saw two men beating each other, neither gaining any advantage until one threw sand into the other's eyes, and so won the victory, though not without a final effort on the part of the vanquished — -the whole scene was ridiculous ! The men were dressed as at the present day. I knew what it all meant and its
62 Lift of relation to the several kinds of nuts. I learned that the mystery of strife and persecution signified by the nuts in the spiritual garden, became after the fall of man and by the power of the evil spirit, the combat of hatred, the origin of homicide. In each garden I was taken into the house, as if I were sick, and I was shown how the nature and secret virtue of fruits gathered in certain states, with certain consecrations, and mingled with other ingredients, were very efficacious in such or such ailments. Unfortunately, I can remember only a little of it : for instance, I understood why, on St. John the Baptist's day, the green nuts should be marked with a cross and allowed to remain on the tree until after a rain when, preserved in honey, they are excellent for weak stomachs. This preparation was explained to me in detail, but I have forgotten ft ; at the time I understood it all clearly, but now it is incomprehensible to finite intelligence. Again I learned that the oil of nuts is hurtful (her own word u poisonous"), and I knew the reason ; but it loses its poisonous qualities, if we cook a morsel of bread in it. I saw a secret relation between it and John the Baptist : the cross made on the nuts, their exposure to the rain, and the power they thus acquire to cure the stomach, refer to the saint's Baptism and his labors as Precursor, the oil to the anointing and sacerdotal consecration. With regard to the baneful influence of the nut-tree's shade, I have had experience of it. I never could stay under the shade of such a tree in our cloister, although the other Sisters could work and wash there quite comfortably. I always had a smothering, oppressive feeling, and I preferred being in the hot sun. I understood all about apples and I saw that like nuts they refer to different things. I saw something about one with six red pips, one of which administered in a certain way and in accursed, deadly poisonous. The people by the aid of witchcraft, extract from them cursed juice to excite lust. They bury them in the ground with dung, then distil them with certain ingredients. I saw that by its use they fall into the most abominable practices, and all who eat of the fruit became raving maniacs, because it is accursed. I saw some unsuspecting strangers entering the country. The Persians offered them some of it in order to destroy them, but God rendered it harmless. I saw these fruits taken to foreign lands for evil purposes, but they were hurtful only in their own country. I saw two kinds, one grew like osiers with delicate branches. I was, also, in a cherry-orchard, and I was shown that cherries signify ingratitude, adultery, and treason, for that is the nature of sweet fruit with a hard, bitter kernel. Of the laurel-tree, I saw that a certain emperor always wore a laurel crown during a storm that he might not be struck by lightning, and I was told, — yes, and I saw it, too, that the perfume of this tree possesses a virtue against storms. I saw some reference to the Blessed Virgin in it ; all was distinct and wonderful. I saw the secret virtue of plants before man's fall ; but Adam's sin infected all nature, for plants as well as men then fell under the influence of the planetary spirits. I saw many of the secret properties which paganism used and abused ; but they were afterward regenerated and purified by Jesus Christ and His Church in their struggle against the planetary spirits." In August and September, 1821, Sister Emmerich's labors introduced her to wheat-fields. One day she said : u 1 am worn out and bruised by the rough work I have done in the fields of some people I know. I had to sow and plough. I had no horses, and the plough, no handle. They were fields belonging to the Church ; some had grain, others none. I had to gather seeds from the best fields and prepare the others to receive it." Then, in the rustic dialect of her country, she described farming and farm utensils, which the Pilgrim could not understand, and she related besides the enemy's attempts to hinder her work: — u Satan struck me so violently, as if with a trowel, that I screamed aloud, and next morning I found my chemise stuck to the wound the blow had made just above the sign on my right side." — She was not discouraged by the enemy's artifices, but boldly undertook a still more severe labor. She had to stow away the harvest in numberless barns, the immensity of the labor being greatly disproportioned to the time allotted for it ; and she was obliged to reap the grain so hurriedly that she thought every moment she would sink from fatigue. Still she reached the end of her task. She had to reap, bind, and thresh the wheat, put the grain into sacks, separate the seed-corn from that for present use. She worked fast as if in dread of a heavy storm that would destroy the whole crop. The labor succeeded, but she was too exhausted to explain its signification ; she only said : u I saw so many ears that had not been reaped, that I ran to help. I saw all clearly, the people, the task imposed, the neglect, all that was wanting. The vision gave me a clea* and rapid perception of the case, because I know all about field-labors, having been so engaged when a child. I prayed whilst I worked, for by prayer I knew who were suffering and struggling with me, and it seemed as if I often sent my angel to obtain their help. I had visions in which were shown me the cowardly, the slothful, the negligent, the wavering, whose place I had to take. I saw here and there some weak ecclesiastics on the point of spoiling everything, by hesitating to sign, to regulate something either good or bad ; and by prayer I had to force them, as it were, to choose the ferings, and I felt by my pains the strict bond existing between the fault and its atonement. I saw a future war, many dangers and sufferings in store for me. All these varied instructions and revelations of history, nature, and the mysteries of God's kingdom upon earth, appeared to me in perfect order, following one another, arising from one another clearly and intelligibly. All were explained to me in parables of labor and tasks, whilst suffering, satisfaction, and reparation were shown me under the form of sewing, I have had to rip others' work, as well as my own, and do it over with great pains and trouble. I had to examine what was crooked, see how it had happened, and patiently fix it straight. In the shape of different articles, in the various kinds of sewing, in the trimming, and the careless way in which it was all done, I saw the origin and consequence of every sin ; in the repairing of it, I saw the effect of spiritual suffering and labor in prayer. I recognized work belonging to deceased persons, my former acquaintances, work which had actually been done and which was now brought to me to do over again. I had, also, to rip some of my own sewing : for example, an undergarment which I had embroidered too richly to gratify a vain woman, and other things of the kind ; but my work for the Church and the poor was good. I went into the Nuptial House as if to a school, and there my Spouse explained everything to me, showing me in great historical pictures all He had done to repair the sin of Adam. I saw all as going on under my eyes ; and yet at the same time it seemed as if I beheld it in a mirror, which mirror was myself. "My Affianced explained to me how all things had deteriorated since the Fall, all had become impure. When the angels fell, innumerable bad spirits came upon the earth and filled the air. I saw many things infected by their malice, and possessed by them in various ways.
u The first man was like heaven. He was an image of God. In him was unity and his form was a reproduction of the Divine Model, He was to receive and enjoy creatures, accepting them from God and returning thanks for them. He was free and, therefore, was he subjected to trial. The Garden of Eden with all it contained was a perfect picture of the kingdom of God. So too was the Tree of Knowledge. Its fruit, on account of its essence, its properties, and effects, was not to be eaten by man since he would thereby become an independent being, having his principle of action in himself; he would abandon God to concentrate himself in himself, so that the finite would compass the infinite ; therefore was he forbidden to eat its fruit — I cannot explain how I saw this. When the shining hill upon which Adam stood in Paradise arose, when was hollowed out the bright flowering vale in which I beheld Eve, the corrupter was already near. After the Fall, all was changed, divided, dispersed ; what had been one became many, creatures looked no longer to God alone, each was concentrated in self. At first, there were two, they increased to three, and finally, to an infinite number. They wanted to be one like unto God, but they became a multitude. Separating from God, they reproduced themselves in infinite varieties. From images of God they became images of themselves, bearing the likeness of sin. They entered into communication with the fallen angels ; they participated in the fruits of the earth already tainted by these spirits. This indiscriminate blending of things, this division in man and fallen nature gave birth to endless sins and miseries. My Spouse showed me all this clearly, distinctly, intelligibly, more clearly than one sees the ordinary things of life. I thought at the time that a child might comprehend it, but now I am unable to repeat it. I sa\y the whole plan of Redemption from the very beginning. It is not perfectly correct to say that God need not have become man, nor died for us upon the cross, that He could have redeemed us otherwise in virtue of His omnipotence. I saw that He did what He did in His infinite goodness, mercy, and justice. There is, indeed, no compulsion in God. He does what He does, He is what He is ! — I saw Melchisedech as angel, as symbol of Jesus, as priest on earth ; inasmuch as the priesthood is in God, he was like an angel, a priest of the eternal hierarchy. I saw him prepare, found, separate the human family and serve them as a guide. I saw, too, Enoch and Noe, what they represented, what they effected ; on the other side, I saw the influence of the kingdom of hell, the infinitely varied manifestations and effects of an earthly, carnal, diabolical paganism; corrupting virtue through a secret, inborn necessity. In this way I saw sin and the foreshadowing, the prophetic figures of Redemption which, in their way, were the images of divine power as man himself is the image of God. All were shown me from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to the prophets, all as symbols of our own time, as connected with our own time. Here followed an explanation why priests no longer relieve or cure, why it is either not in their power, or why it is now effected so differently from what it used to be. I saw this same gift possessed by the prophets and the meaning of the form under which it was exercised ; for instance, I saw the history of Eliseus giving his staff to Giezi to lay upon the dead son of the Sunamitess. Eliseus's mission and power lay spiritually in the staff, which was his arm, the continuation of his arm, that is his power. In connection with this, I saw the interior signification and effects of a bishop's crozier and a monarch's sceptre if used with faith which, in a certain way, binds them together, separating them from all others. But Giezi's faith was weak and the mother thought that her prayer could be answered only by Eliseus in person. Between the power bestowed by God upon Eliseus and his staff, there intervened human doubts, so that the latter lost its efficacy. But I sa>v Eliseus stretch himself hand to hand, mouth to mouth, breast to breast upon the boy and pray, and the child's soul returned to his body. This form of healing was explained to me as referring to and prefiguring the death of Jesus. In Eliseus, by faith and the gift of God, were all the avenues of grace and expiation opened again in man which had been closed since his fall in Adam : viz,, the head, the breast, the hands, the feet. Eliseus stretched himself as a living, symbolical cross upon the dead, closed cross of the boy's form, and through his prayer of faith, life and health were restored. He expiated, he atoned for the sins his parents had committed by their head, heart, hands, and feet, sins which had brought death to their boy. Side by side with the above, I saw pictures of the Wounds and death of Jesus, as also the harmony, the conformity existing between the figure and the reality. After the crucifixion of Jesus I saw in the priesthood of His Churcli the rich gift of repairing and curing. In the same proportion as we live in Plim and are crucified with Him, are the avenues of grace, His Sacred Wounds, open to us. I learned many things of the imposition of hands, the efficacy of a benediction, and the influence exerted by the hand even at a distance — all was explained by the staff of Eliseus. That priests of the present day so seldom cure and bless, was shown me in an example significant of the conformity to Jesus upon which all such effects depend. I saw three painters making figures in wax : the first used beautiful white wax very skilfully
Anne Catherine Emmerich, 71 and intelligently, but he was full of himself ; he had not the likeness of Christ in him, and so his figures were of no value. The second used bleached wax ; but he was indolent and self-willed, he did nothing well. The third was unskilful and awkward, but he worked away earnestly on common wax — his work was good, a speaking likeness though with coarse features. And so did I see renowned preachers vaunting their worldly wisdom, but doing nothing ; whilst many a poor, unlettered man retains the priestly power of blessing and curing. "It seemed all the time as if I were going to the Nuptial House to school. My Affianced showed me how He had suffered from His conception till His death, always expiating, always satisfying for sin. I saw it also in pictures of His life. I saw that by our prayer and suffering, many a soul who labors not during life, can be converted and saved at the hour of death. u I saw the Apostles sent over the greater part of the earth to scatter benedictions and to cast down Satan's power, a power which Jesus by His full atonement acquired and secured forever to such priests as had received or who would receive His Holy Spirit. The countries in which they labored were those which ha^ been most contaminated by the enemy, and I was shown that the power of withdrawing various regions from Satan's dominion by the sacerdotal benediction, is signified by these words : 6 Ye are the salt of the earth.7 It is for the same reason that salt is put into holy water. That these countries did not persevere in Christianity, that they are now lying uncultivated, I saw also as a wise dispensation of Divine Providence. They were only to be blessed, prepared for a future time, in order that being again sowed they may bring forth magnificent fruits when other countries shall lie desolate, when other lands shall lie uncultivated. I saw that David understood the plan of Redemption ; but Solomon did not, for he took too much complacency in his wisdom. Many prophets, especially Malachias, comprehended the mystery of Christianity. I saw innumerable things, all inwardly related, ail following one another naturally. Whilst I was thus instructed, I saw about twenty other persons in various positions, some walking, others lying down, who seemed to be taking part in the same instruction. They were all far distant from me and from one another, and there were more women than men. Communicating rays from the pictures fell upon them, but each one received them differently. I wanted to speak to them, but I couljl not reach them. I thought : 'Now, I should like to know if they receive this light in its purity/ when I saw that, unfortunately, all changed it in something. I thought: c I do not mix anything with it,} — when, on a sudden, a tall female appeared to me, one long deceased, and showed me a garment of her own making. Around the neck and sleeves the sewing was beautiful, but the rest was very badly done. I thought : ' See, what work ! No, no, I never sewed like this V — when I was made to feel that I, too, mixed things up, that I was vain, and that this very work, some parts good, others bad, was symbolical of the manner in which I had received this instruction. The thought troubled me. I saw, too, in this vision, that the punctilios of sensual, worldly life are most scrupulously observed, that the malediction (the so-called benediction and miracles in the kingdom of Satan), the worship of nature, superstition, magic, mesmerism, worldly art and science, and all the means employed for smoothing over death, for making sin attractive, for lulling the conscience, are practised with rigorous exactitude even to fanaticism by those
Very men who look upon the Church's "mysteries as superstitious forms for which any others may be indifferently substituted. And yet these men subject their whole life and all their actions to certain ceremonies and observances; it is only of the kingdom of the God-Man that they make no account. The service of the world is practised in perfection, but the service of God is shamefully neglected ! Ah ! if souls should ever claim what is owed them by the clergy, through whose carelessness and indifference they have lost so much, what a terrible reckoning there would be!" The nearer the ecclesiastical year drew to its close, the more painful and multiplied became Sister Emmerich's spiritual labors. As each different period approached its term, the heavier became her task of satisfying for the offences offered to God by the omissions and negligence of His servants. This was plainly visible in her increase of fatigue and suffering, since she had to expiate for the whole mass of the faithful not only their abuse of the means of salvation within their reach, but also their culpable loss of time. 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. For this blindness Sister Emmerich did sharp penance, expiating for many who without her aid would never have attained salvation. The following vision presents a symbolical picture of the abundant blessings flowing from her labors in prayer : — u Last night I was in the Nuptial House. I found there three wild cows, plunging and raging. I had to milk them. With immense fatigue I had to draw milk from my own face, hands, feet, and side, and put it into a large pail for people of all ranks. I was told : ' These people have dissipated their gifts, and now they are in want ; but thou hast laid up so many treasures from the Church, that thou canst indemnify th jm for what they have lost J UI went again with my guide to the Nuptial House, and again I was told to milk the three cows. They had now grown quite gentle, and their litter was so clean that one might have slept on it. I milked first from the middle one and then from the other two three large pails full which I had to carry to a place where it was measured out by priests into small vessels which they counted. Many received it, priests, school-masters and mistresses. It even flowed around outside of the house. I asked my guide why none was kept in the house and why I always had to do the milking. I was told not to ask questions, but to do as I was bid ; that I should obey like Isaac whom Abraham answered not when questioned regarding the sacrifice ; that the milk will be distributed, because the female sex bears no fruit, it is not fitted for it, it only receives, preserves, fosters ; and that the fruits of my labor were to be propagated by the priesthood. ' Thou must milk, and not question. The priests will distribute it, through them it becomes fruitful ? They brought me a poor, miserable cow which I thought was about to die. It stuck up close to me. I could not get it away. Not knowing what to do with it, I invoked Mary who instantly appeared and said to me : 6 Take care of the poor animal. It comes alone, because its keeper, who ought to work and pray for it, demands not for it any one's assistance.' Then she told me with what I should feed it, prayers, sufferings, self-victories, alms, etc., all shown under the form of plants and fi uits. I had so miserable a night from colic and other pains that I cried. At last, when quite worn out, I took some blessed oil which relieved me. . . .'
Anice Catherine Emmerich. 75 "Again, I had to busy myself in the stable of the Nuptial House, cleaning and feeding the cows ; my feet were bare and I dreaded the dirt. The stable was so crowded that I had to push my way through, holding on to the cows; but they did not hurt me, and I had many souls to help me. It was always the Mother of God, however, who gave advice and directions, pointing out this or that herb for this or that cow, and showing me a bitter one for a cow that was too fat. I milked none to-day, but I had, in my bare feet among stones and briers, to gather all kinds of herbs, for all had to be done with suffering and love. When I invoke her the Mother of God always appears as an apparition in the air, tall, majestic, white as snow, her light robe uneonfined at the waist and formed from top to bottom of pure rays or folds. Although no corporal figure is visible, nevertheless this apparition impresses one with its majestic, supernatural bearing "I went into the vineyard of the Nuptial House and found there all the children for whom I had worked, whom I had clothed. They were entwined among the vines and growing with them. The boys were just above the knots of the vine, their hands and feet twisted in the branches, their arms extended in the form of a cross. From them grew branches laden with grapes. The girls bore no grapes, but great ears of wheat. Here I had to work hard ; for, entangled around the wheat and grapes were two kinds of weeds against which the Lord had warned the bridegrooms of Sichar to guard in the "cultivation of the fields and vineyards. They can easily be cleared from the vines, but not from the wheat. I took what the girls produced, crushed the grains between my hands, ground them with a stone, sifted the flour, which seemed too coarse, through very fine gauze, and took it to the sacristy of the church along with a whole cask of wine which I had made from the grapes. I was told what it all signified, but my pains were so great that I forgot it. Then I saw religious going out of the vineyard into the different houses of their Order ; among them were many for whom I had made clothes, whom I had prepared for school, for confession and Communion. The girls from whom I had taken the wheat to grind and to make into bread, became nuns : the boys, who bore the grapes for the Church that the wine should be changed into the Blood of the Lord as the bread into His Body, entered the priesthood. Wheat is heavier, more material, and signifies nourishment, it is flesh ; wine is spirit, wine is blood." As Sister Emmerich related the above, she spoke also of the great dangers that menaced the Church, urging the Pilgrim to unite with her in prayer, renunciation, and mortification, and to endeavor to overcome himself, saying: "It often happens that I cannot approach the Pilgrim. I am held back, my soul is restrained. It certainly comes from our sins." " When later I returned to the Nuptial House, I found in two separate halls the youths and maidens who were to enter different Orders. They were the children of the vine. They had already been replaced by others. In both halls I saw an apparition of the Mother of God seated on a throne. The halls were full of magnificent, shining, heavenly fruits which the future religious took with them when they left the house and scattered throughout the Church. The children of the vine are all those whom I clothed and directed during my life." Sister Emmerich's labors, as we have already remarked, were accompanied by uninterrupted physical sufferings, the most excruciating and varied. To encourage herself, she used often to say : u Now is a holy time, the new ecclesias
Anne Catlwrine Emmerich. 77 tical year is approaching, and the old one bears with it many faults that must be redeemed by suffering. I have much work to do, and so I must suffer.1 She often lay as if at the point of death. One day, feeling a chilly sensation around her heart, she requested her sister to apply a warm cloth ; but the latter did so only after having steeped it in hot wine which brought on most painful vomitings. On November 27th, she awoke from ecstasy with a cry of pain, the blood gushing from the wound in her side. u I saw/7 she said," high above me a resplendent figure from which streamed rays of light. They met in a sharp arrow and pierced my side. I cried out with the pain. For some days I have constantly had before me a double picture of the Church, the Church Triumphant treating with the Church Militant. The former I see as a beautiful, heavenly church on a mountain of precious stones. In it are holy pastors and angels making entries on tablets and rolls of parchment, which seem to be the accounts of the Church Militant, the faults and omissions of the clergy and the faithful, faults and omissions which abound everywhere. Then I have pictures of the innumerable shortcomings of priests and their neglect of their flocks. I see people ill-prepared kneeling at the Communion Table. I see others left \Wtaout consolation in the confessional! I see negligent priests, soiled altar ornaments. I see the sick not consoled or receiving the holy Viaticum too late, relics disrespectfully thrown around, etc. Then I sigh ardently to remedy these evils. I implore God to satisfy His justice on me, to accept my good will in reparation for the faults of other weak members of the Church, and I unite my sufferings to the inexhaustible, superabundant sufferings of Christ. I see sin effaced by the angels and saints, and the omissions of priests in the service of God and the salvation of souls supplied in most wonderful ways. . . ,
" The Mother of God has divided the task among seven persons, most of them females. I see among them the stigmatisee of Cagliari and Rosa Maria Serra, as also others whom I cannot name. I see too a Franciscan in the Tyrol and a priest in a religious house among the mountains ; the latter suffers unspeakably from faults committed in the Church. I, too, received my share. I know my pains, their cause and effect. I shall have to suffer the whole week.7' December 2d — u Till noon to-day." says the Pilgrim, "she suffered intensely throughout her whole person. Her hands were icy-cold, she looked like one who had died on the rack. The pains in her head were the most violent, but she endured all with loving patience. ' Last night/ she said, ' I saw St. Bibiana. She did not help me, but she was so kind and the sight of her sufferings gave me strength for my own. I had a vision of the different kinds of martyrdom. I saw the holy martyrs piling up all sorts of instruments of torture until they formed a high and wonderful tower on the summit of which appeared the cross ; then with the Blessed Virgin Mary at their head they surrounded this trophy of their victories. I saw, too, all who had suffered like myself and all who now, at the close of the ecclesiastical year, are sharing with me the task of expiation. I saw myself pierced from head to foot with thorns. I have constant visions of the two Churches, Triumphant and Militant, and I must labor for three places in which all goes wrong. My last work was to gather honey from thistles, a heavy, painful task. I began by gathering figs from thorns, I ended with honey from thistles. There is a small, white worm in the large ripe tin tie heads which possesses virtue against fever and rheumatism, and especially incurable earaches. It is to be bound on the pulse of children, but taken internally by adults."
tion. I saw the immense results of Christ's journey through Arabia before His Passion, when He promised the nations of the Three Kings that some one should come to baptize them, and pointed out to them a country to which they should remove, there to become a separate nation. He seemed to refer to a land in which they should have priests and teachers. I saw the journey they made at a later period toward the south-west, not the whole nation, but about one hundred men in separate bands. They bore with them the bodies of their dead chiefs. I saw them distinctly. They were clothed with flesh and habited in the style of their country, the hands and feet bare, the raiment white. The wives of these Arabs followed them later when they had founded a settlement. I saw them increase and become a nation. There was a Bishop among them who had formerly been a goldsmith. The eagerness of these people to receive his instructions and the purity of their lives, so different from those among whom they dwelt, gave him great consolation. I recognized the descendants of the races that had offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh. u I saw all the feasts of Our Lord's life to the descent of the Holy Ghost. I learned that on this day when her cycle recommences, the Church receives the Holy Spirit in her pure and well prepared members in proportion to each one's desire. Whoever wishes lovingly and zealously to repair whatever might be an obstacle to the general reception of the Holy Spirit, will endure sufferings for Jesus and, uniting them to His merits, offer them for this intention. Ev3ry one can draw down upon himself the effusions of the Holy Ghost, in such measure as his love and self-offering participate in the sacrifice of Jesus. I saw the effusion of the Holy Spirit over the works of the Apostles, disciples, martyrs, and saints. Suffering gladly
Blessed Virgin putting everything in order. This was the end of the task I had begun with her in the Nuptial House on St. Catherine's day, that tiresome gathering of fruits and herbs, bleaching of sacristy linen, and cleaning of church ornaments. It is hard to describe, for nature, man himself, has fallen so low, is in so constrained a position, man's senses are as it were so tightly bound, that the visions in which I really act, which I understand, which never surprise me at the time, appear to me when returned to consciousness as strange as they do to others. I had, for instance,to press honey from thistles with my bare hands, and carry it to the Blessed Virgin to pay off the balance of the Church debt. She boils and refines it, and mixes it with the food of those who are in need of it. This signifies that during the ecclesiastical year the faithful have neglected or squandered grace which a right use would have changed into multiplied blessings, into sweet strengthening food for which many poor souls are languishing. The Lord supplied all that was necessary from the Church Triumphant. The Church Militant must now render an account, must pay capital and compound interest too. In this account, the honey had been omitted (God's grace appears in the natural world under the form of honey) and it should have been represented. In the flowering season it might easily have been gathered, a little care bestowed on the hives was all that was needed; but now it can be procured only with suffering and fatigue, for the flowers have disappeared, and thistles alone are to be found. The merciful Jesus accepts the pains and sufferings of some as an expiatory sacrifice for the omissions of others, and with blood-stained hands had the honey to be extracted from, the thistles. The Blessed Virgin, the Mother of the Church, cooks and applies it where the gifts of grace, which it typifies, have been wamting during the year. Thus was my martyrdom accomplished during those days and nights by manifold labors in vision. The two Churches were ever before me and, as her debt was paid off, I saw the lower one issuing from its obscurity. u I saw the members of the Church Militant as I had seen those of the Church Triumphant. I saw about one hundred thousand great in faith and simple in their actions. I saw six persons, three men and three women, working with me in the Church in the same manner as I do. The stigmatisee of Cagliari, Rosa Maria Serra, and a female laden with great bodily infirmities; the Franciscan of the Tyrol, whom I have often seen united in intention with me, and a young ecclesiastic in a house with other priests in a mountainous country. He grieves bitterly over the state of the Church and through God's grace, he endures extraordinary pains. He prays earnestly every evening to be allowed to expiate all the failings of the Church that day. The sixth of my fellow-laborers is a married man of high rank; he has a wicked, perverse wife and a large household of children and servants. He resides in a great city full of Catholics, Protestants, Jansenists, and Freethinkers. His house is perfectly regulated ; he is very charitable to the poor, and bears most nobly with his bad wife. There is a separate street for Jews in that city, closed at either end by gates. Immense traffic is carried on in it. My labors were mostly in the Nuptial House and garden. The visions in which I drew milk from all mv members and which weakened me so, referred to my frequent effusions of blood on those days. Some of my tasks were under the form of washing. I remember one in particular: a so-called devotee who made profession of pious practices, ran to pilgrimages, etc., brought me his bundle. He had often asked why this one or that one did not do as he ; consequently, he had a dream in which he saw many of those over whom he had gloried far above him in piety, and he was filled with confusion. u When I had finished my work, I saw by the Saviour two large tablets on which were recorded all neglects and their expiation. All my labors were shown to me in figures and I saw whatever was lost. On one side were beautiful crowns, ornaments, and flowers, on the other faded garlands, garments slovenly made or only half- finished, and scraps of fruits and vegetables ; on one side a pile of the most magnificent of God's gifts, on the other a heap of rubbish and potsherds. I was overcome by sorrow. I prostrated on the ground and wept bitterly tor two whole hours. I felt that my heart would break. Then I was shown all this rubbish behind Jesus. He turned his back on if; but I still wept. The loving Saviour approached me and said : i These tears alone were wanting ! I allowed thee to see all this that thou mightest not think thou hadst done anything of thyself; but now I take all upon My own shoulders !? I saw the six other laborers weeping in like manner and receiving the same consolation. Then I saw the Blessed Virgin extend her mantle over the Church and a crowd of the poor, the sick, and the lame raise it in some way, until it floated in the air clear and shining, where it met and united with the Church Triumphant. Jesus and the Apostles appeared in the upper choir and distributed the Holy Eucharist as a renewal of strength, and numerous souls, among them kings and princes, went from Abraham's bosom into the Church. I saw, above all, many a soul, thought to be among the saints, still in Abraham's bosom, not yet in possession of the vision of God, and I saw others going to heaven after one or two days' purification. I saw purgatory in this vision as the Church Suffering, a vast, sombre cave were torn with racking pains and the h ot tears flowed copiously from her eyes, greatly aggravating her misery. Another vision showed her the Church after being purified with immense trouble and fatigue, again degraded and dishonored by faithless ministers. St. Barbara appeared and consoled her, reminding her that she, too, had labored and prayed in vain for the conversion of her own father. Then she had a vision on the state of several individuals among the clergy who fulfilled not their duty toward the souls intrusted to them. She saw that they would have to render an account for all the love, all the consolation, all the exhortations, all the instructions upon the duties of religion that they do not give their flock ; for all the benedictions that they do not distribute, although the power of the Hand of Jesus is in them ; and for all that they omit to do in imitation of Jesus. They will have to give a strict account to Jesus for their neglect of souls. For such pastors she had to undergo great trouble and fatigue, carrying them in spirit through water, and praying for such of them as were tempted. St. Hildegardeand St. Catherine of Sienna often saw the Church under the form of a virgin or a matron, sick, persecuted, struck with leprosy, their spiritual labors assuming an analogous form ; and so, too, did Sister Emmerich find in the Nuptial House and its dependencies the Church symbolized under the form of a matron in various positions. Tn the last week of Advent, 1819, she related the following: " As I was going to Bethlehem, I found on the road to the Nuptial House an old matron covered with ulcers which she tried to conceal under her soiled mantle. I invoked St. Francis Xavier to overcome my repugnance, and I sucked her sores from which immediately streamed forth rays of light which shed their brilliancy all arou d
The sucking of these wounds was wonderfully sweet and pleasant. A resplendent lady floated down from on high, took from the matron, who was now almost well, her old, stiff mantle, threw around her her own beautiful, shining one, and disappeared. The matron now shone with light and I took her into the garden of the Nuptial House, from which she had formerly been driven. It was whilst wandering around that she had fallen sick. I have never been able to get her any farther than the garden which I found overrun by weeds and the flowers nearly all dead, because the gardeners were not united. Each one gardened for himself alone. They did not consult the old man placed over them, they gave themselves no trouble about him. The poor old man was sick ; he knew not of the spreading weeds until the thistles and brambles mounted up to his very windows. Then he gave orders for them to be rooted out. The matron who had received the mantle from the Mother of God carried a treasure in a box, a holy thing which she guarded without knowing clearly what it was. It is the mysterious spiritual authority of the Church with which they in the Nuptial House no longer want to have anything to do, which they no longer understood. But it will again silently increase, and they who resist will be driven from the house. All will be renewed." During the above recital, the invalid had assumed a listening attitude as if in expectation of some one's approach. Suddenly she was rapt in ecstasy. She was with her Spouse whom she tenderly conjured to allow her to sufter for the matron and for u those three homeless women, wandering about with their poor children/' symbols of the various denominations separated from the Church, wandering out of the sheep-fold. — " There," she exclaimed, still in ecstasy, "there I can suffer no more, there all is pure joy ! Ah !
Anne Catherine- Emmerich. 89 Above it rose a shining spiritual altar, a pledge of future increase. The church and everything in it kepi growing larger and larger, the saints continued their work, and the bustle in the Nuptial House became greater." Of separate denominations, Sister Emmerich spoke as follows : — u I came across the house with the weathercock. People were going in and out with books in their hands ; there is no altar in it, all looks bare. I went through it. It is like a public highway, benches and seats thrown here and there — some have been stolen ; the roof is in a bad state, and through the rafters can be seen the blue sky. I saw two mothers covered with ulcers wandering around with two children by the hand, they seemed to be lost ; a third, the most wretched of all, lay with a little child near the dilapidated meeting-house, unable to move. These three women were not very old and not dressed like common people. They wore long, narrow garments which they seemed to draw around them in order to hide their sores. I saw that the children derived no strength from them ; but that, on the contrary, all the mothers' strength came from the children. The mothers were not what they ought to be, but the poor children were innocent. Homeless, they tottered along one after the other, tramping about everywhere, lodging miserably, and thus contracting disease. I saw them again later on in the night. I sucked their sores and bound them up with herbs. I wanted to take them to the church, but they were as yet too timid and they turned away These Christians separated from the Church have no place near the Holy Sepulchre, although they now try to introduce themselves into such places. They have lost the priestly ordination and rejected the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to their own great misfortune " u I spoke to the poor wanderers and their children. Sure great deal with her, and I found that she was not full of charity. She was so emphatic with regard to her rights, her privileges, her possessions that one could easily see she was not animated by that virtue. I asked her what she had in the box. She answered : ^ It is a mystery, a holy thing/ She knew not what it was nor what use to make of it, but kept it locked up. She was displeased at my not curing her perfectly. I led her past the shepherd to the vagrant mothers whom the four children were dragging to meet her. She accosted them a little stiffly, at first, and tried to persuade them to be reconciled with her and go into the garden of the Nuptial House. The children wanted to do so, but the mothers insisted on speaking first to the shepherd ; so they went all together to see him. When they found him, the matron addressed him. I was in dread lest, dissatisfied at not being entirely cured, she would manage things badly. This really was the case. She made indiscreet assertions, saying that she owned everything, all belonged to her, grace, strength, goods, rights, etc. The shepherd wore a three cornered cap, and was not very gracious. He said, i What is in that box you are carrying around with you?? She answered that it was a mystery, and one might readily perceive that it was, indeed, a mystery even to herself. He replied disdainfully : ' Indeed ! If you come again with your mystery, I'll hear nothing of it. It is on account of your traffic in mysteries that we are separated from you. Whatever will not bear the light of day, the scrutiny of all, is worth nothing/ and so they parted. The mothers would not now go with her, and she and I returned to the garden alone. Rut the children could not be prevented from running after us. They seemed to have a special attraction for the matron and went with her into the garden when, after examining every thing, they ran back to tell their mothers all they had seen. They were very much impressed." During the last week of the ecclesiastical year,November, 1820, Sister Emmerich saw the result of her labors for the conversion of schismatics. u In my sufferings I invoke the dear Mother of God that all hearts drawing near to the truth may be converted and enter the Church. Mary appeared to me in the Nuptial House and told me that I would have to cook for two hundred and twenty different guests. I had to gather all kinds of fruits and vegetables upon which dew from the heavenly gardens had fallen. My task resembled that of a pharmacist, for I had to prepare mixtures against spiritual evils. It was quite different from ordinary cooking. By the fire of charity something earthly had to be destroyed and the ingredients intimately mixed together — it was a troublesome work. Mary explained to me all I had to do as well as the signification and effect of the various spices which, according to the spiritual state of this or that guest, were to be added to the food. All these symbolical operations in vision were most painful to my earthly nature. During my work, I saw the hard and difficult points in some natures softened; and, according to the different defects of character, was my task more or less difficult. At last, I saw the guests arriving at the Nuptial House and partaking of the food prepared for them and, at the same time, I saw in far-off countries many hurrying with the children of the Church to the Banquet of the Lord." Conversion of an Ancient Sect (Maromte). '• I went to Bethlehem. I went in reality with great fatigue and rapidity. Near the Nuptial House I met an old woman, so old that one might think she had lived at the birth of Christ. She was so tightly enveloped in a black robe from head to foot that she could hardly walk. She begged my aid and accepted also some alms and clothing; but she persisted in hiding something from me of which, however, I had an instinctive knowledge and which had chiefly attracted me to her. It was an infant which she kept concealed under her mantle as if she were ashamed of it, or feared that I would deprive her of it. She seemed to own nothing but this child, to live for it alone, and she hid it as if she had stolen it ; but she had to give it up to me. Ah ! it was pitiful to see how tightly and painfully it was swathed ; it could not move a limb. I loosened some bandages which were injuring its health, bathed it, and wanted to take charge of it, to which however the old woman would not consent. I thought if the little thing, which loved me and clung to me with its hands now free, were let to run around the Nuptial House, it would grow very fast. I thought, also, that if I had the old woman in the garden of the Nuptial House, she could help me clear away the weeds. u I told her that I would soon return and that, if I found her behaving more reasonably toward the child, she should receive more help from me. She was something like the obstinate old man with the cross, but she promised everything. The poor, feeble creature is proud of her origin and the perfect preservation of the customs of the primitive Church among her people. It is on this account she is so closely enveloped and so solitary and that the sect live scattered in little isolated groups. She really means nothing bad, but she has become horribly stubborn and ignorant. So it always happens when the wife separates from the husband and wants to preach. She goes apart into the mountains ; she swathes her child tightly that it may not grow and she conceals it to preserve its innocence ; but, whilst the old swather thinks thus to guard her child, she has nothing for her pains but her miserable obstinacy, and she helplessly drags herself here and there through the wilderness. With heart-felt pity and in all charity, I represented to her her unreasonableness,her poverty, her obstinacy which drove her even to starvation, her pride, and her misery. Again and again, I conjured her to have pity on herself, to turn from her absurd isolation to the source of life, to the holy Sacraments of the Church. But sba was hardened in her selfwill. She spurned me haughtily, saying that Catholics practise not what they teach. I replied that to turn away from the teacher of truth on account of the faults of individuals, would be as unreasonable as to abandon virtue on account of the wicked. She had nothing to reply though she still persevered in her obstinacy. The poor woman has been driven from the Holy Sepulchre, to which she no longer has a right; but in the spiritual church which I see above the Grotto of Bethlehem, prayer is still offered for her. It is her good fortune to possess still a living fibre by which she derives a little strength. Ah ! I hope she will yet return ! " In the Advent of the preceding year Sister Emmerich had already had dealings with this sect, the Maronites and their chief. She then received a task which was to continue for the next five years, ending in October, 1822, by a mission given to bring about their reunion with the Church of Rome. " Among those whom I met on my way to the Nuptial House," she said in December, 1818, u there were more women than men. This surprised me. They wore long robes, their heads bound with linen, one end hanging down behind. Near them was one of their priests, a poor helpless fellow, not like a priest. He scarcely knew how to read or pray !
66 A fiery wild horse was brought to hiiri to tame, but he ran away in fright followed by all his people. Then my guide ordered me to mount the animal. He helped me upon his back himself. I sat sideways, the horse becoming quite gentle. I was ordered to ride five times around the place where the people were gathered, each time widening the circle, to keep off the impure beasts which I had already driven away, but which were doing their best to return. I chased them away at last and, on my fifth round, I discovered a sheep-fold. I thought, ' You must make a turn around it in order to unite it with the Church.' Then Ireturned to the priest with the horse which had become quite gentle. It had no saddle, only a bridle.77 This horse of the desert is a symbol of wild, uncurbed nature which the weak priest could not master ; but Sister Emmerich mounted and tamed him to prove that it could be subdued by the discipline of the true Church clothed with strength and authority from God. The five turns on the horse signified the five ecclesiastical years at the end of which the stray sheep would return to the fold. October 4, 1822, she related the following: — "I have had a tiresome journey to deliver a message, against the accomplishment of which a thousand obstacles arose. I was pursued, maltreated, tormented by evil spirits. I endured hunger and thirst, heat and fatigue ; but, in spite of all, I fulfilled my commission. Under the form of Maleachi, the scout of Moses, I had to go from Jagbeha to an ancient Christian sect ardently sighing for the truth. I was clothed in the habit of Maleachi and accompanied by the prophet Malachias who instructed me what to do. We went through Judea, the wilderness of Sinai, and along the Red Sea. On the whole way I saw the events that had formerly happened there and which bore some reference to our mission. I saw also many circumstances in the life of Malachias himself. The people to whom I was sent dwelt in five establishments under an Ecclesiastical Superior whose decision was law in all religious matters. He was very much attached to the Old Testament and the Mosaic Law, so I had to explain to him some prophecies : for instance^ the words, u Thou art a priest forever according to the. order of Melchisedech.' I asked him if Aaron had been such a priest ; if Moses on Sinai had received other than an outward, disciplinary law for a people who had believed in an anterior sacrifice of bread and wine ; if this sacrifice was not holier and, properly speaking, the beginning and the end ; if Abraham had not offered Melchisedech bread and wine, paid him tithes, and bowed down before the sacrifice of his Church. I cited texts from the Psalms, such as : i The Lord said to my Lord,' etc., and passages from Malachias upon the Unbloody Sacrifice. I exhorted him to go to Rome, there to be instructed and to have the above passages particularly explained. After these words, I saw him rise, take a Bible, and consult the texts quoted. These people have no fixed abodes, but they seemed about forming some for they took possession of land, enclosed it with walls, and built mud huts. They seemed to be descendants of the Madianites. Children profit by the good works of their ancestors. He that sins breaks the blessed chain ; he that lives virtuously extends the source of benediction. " Sister Emmerich also described the Greek Schism: — u On my way from Bethlehem to the garden of the Nuptial House, I met a distinguished looking, gray-haired, man, wandering around sick and covered with wounds. I understood that he had lost or wasted something belonging to his family and that he was looking for it, unconscious that it lay quite near him. He appeared to belong to a matron
Anne Catherine Umrne-rich. 97 whom I saw wrapped in a mantle near the garden of the Nuptial House, but he did not want to go to her. He has apparently more repugnance to her than she to him. He always carries with him an old black wooden cross, about as long as one's arm and in shape like a Y. It struck me that he must have had it a long time, for it is well-used and quite polished ; he holds on to it most tenaciously. Ah ! you dear old man, of wh&t advantage is the wooden cross to you, if it makes you forget yo\i>: Saviour! The poor man is so hardened, so obstinate, so full of his own ideas j one cannot make him move, and he himself advances not a step. He has been separated from his wife a long time, and he will not be reconciled to her, because she cannot grant him what he demands. I fear great evils will yet follow from their disunion ! — I cured something in the perverse old man." When the Pilgrim heard the above, he expressed his admiration at the merciful dispensations of Almighty God, who deigned not only to relieve the corporal wants of the poor by means of His faithful servant, but also to grant spiritual assistance to the stray children of the Church. Sister Emmerich replied : u It would, indeed, be a matter of astonishment if one lived only in one's self, but the love of Jesus makes all His members one. Every work of mercy performed for His wounded members, goes to the Church as to the Body of Jesus. The perverse old man with the cross has no child. He will not listen to reason, he will never come round, he will yet cause many miseries and troubles. The sick matron with the holy thing in the box has no child either. She is the Church herself with the various diseases existing in her members, and like her she is ill-treated and repulsed by her children. After all, she is now once more in the garden."
Sister Emmerich's visions, as well as her whole mission upon earth, bear a striking analogy to those of St. Hildegarde, as may be seen by a perusal of the magnificent epistle the latter addressed in 1170 to the Provost Werner of Kirchheim. The saint, in obedience to a divine command, had undertaken ajourney into Suabia, in order to portray the state of the Church before the clergy of Kirchheim. The impression produced by her words was so powerful that, after her return home, the Provost wrote to her begging in his own name and u that of his fellow- laborers/' that they might meditate constantly upon it, a copy of what under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost she had said on the negligence of priests in offering the Holy Sacrifice. The following is a copy of the saint's reply ; — u Confined to my bed by sickness, I had in the year of the Lord, 1170, a beautiful vision of a lady more lovely and attractive than human mind can paint. Her form reached from earth to sky, her countenance shone with splendor, her eyes were fixed on heaven. She wore a shining robe of white silk and a mantle embroidered with precious stones., emeralds, sapphires, pearls, and flowers of gold ; on her feet were shoes of onyx. But her face was soiled with ashes, her robe was torn on the right side, her mantle was stained, her shoes were covered with mud. In a clear, plaintive voice she cried: 'Hear, 0 ye heavens! my face is disfigured ! — Be afflicted, O earth, for my vesture is rent ! — and thou, 0 abyss, tremble, for my shoes are soiled! The foxes have holes and the birds nests, but I, I * have none to assist or console me, I have no support on which to lean ! — I was hidden in the bosom of the Father until the Son of Man, conceived and born of a virgin, shed His blood in which He espoused me and endowed me with His grace that, in the pure regeneration of spirit and water; I might bring forth those anew wliom the serpent's venom had infected. But my nurses, the priests, who should have preserved my countenance resplendent as the aurora, my robe brilliant as the lightning- flash, my mantle glittering as precious stones, my shoes white as snow, have sprinkled my face with ashes, have torn my robe, soiled my mantle, and stained my shoes. They who should have adorned me have" allowed me to perish. They sully my countenance when they handle and eat my Bridegroom's Flesh and Blood in spite of the impurity of their life, their fornications, their adulteries, and their rapacity in selling and buying, a thing unlawful for them. Yes, they cover His Flesh and Blood with opprobrium. It is like casting a new-born babe to swine. As man became flesh and blood at the very instant that God formed him from the slime of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life, so the same power of God, at the words of the priest, changes the offering of bread, wine and water upon the altar into the true Flesh and true Blood of Christ, my Spouse ; which, however, on account of the blindness occasioned by Adam's fall, man cannot see with his corporal eyes. The wounds of my Spouse remain fresh and open, as long as those of sinful man are not closed. They are outraged by those priests who, instead of preserving me pure and serving me in holiness, seek with insatiable avidity to heap up riches, and benefice on benefice. They tear my vesture by their infidelity to the Law, to the Gospel, to the priesthood. They stain my mantle by their neglect of the precepts laid down for them, instead of fulfilling them joyfully and perfectly by continence like unto the beauty of the emerald, by alms-giving like unto the sapphire, and by the practice of all other good works which honor God as so many precious stones. They soil my shoes by walking not in the right path.
' Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.' When God created man, He delineated in him every creature, as are written upon a scrap of parchment the seasons and numbers of a whole year ; therefore it was that God named man cevery creature.1 And I, poor woman, saw again a drawn sword floating in the air, one edge toward heaven, the other toward the earth. And it was raised above a spiritual race that the prophet foresaw when he exclaimed in astonishment : ' Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows V (Isaias lx. 8) ; for they who are raised above the earth, separated from ordinary men, they who should live holily, showing forth in their actions the simplicity of doves, are evil in their works and manners. And I saw the sword strike the priestly race in many places as Jerusalem was destroyed after the Saviour's Passion ; and I saw, also, that in the time of tribulation God will spare many pure and upright priests who fear Him, as He said to Elias that he had left in Israel a thousand men who had not bent the knee to Baal. May the inextinguishable fire of the Holy Spirit be enkindled in you to convert you to better things !" Such are Hildegarde's words. Sister Emmerich saw in the Nuptial H*^ise, not only the state of the Church in general, but also that of individual dioceses. Munster in particular was shown her. In numerous symbolical pictures, she saw its special necessities and how she was to aid it. Her first vision, recounted in December, 1819, clearly tended to the reawakening of piety throughout the country by devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the restoration of religious communities. In one of the chambers of the Nuptial House called the u Bridal Chamber/' she had to arrange the dowry and spiritual wedding-garments for those for whom they were destined, u As I went over the sea to the Promised Land, a sudden storm arose and I saw an open boat full of wicked, clamoring people. The thought occurred to me : ' Those people use a boat;for the waters are deep. How does it happen that I can walk over them ? ? — and immediately, just like doubting Peter, I sank in the waves up to my neck. But my guide caught me by the arm, bore me to the shore, and reproached me with my want of faith. When I reached the Nuptial House near Bethlehem, I was going to pass it ; but my guide made me go in, and he took me all through it. I saw many strangers in it, men and women. A fine-looking youth in blue uniform seemed to be in command, and there was also a tall, imperious woman strutting around with an 'important, insolent air. She was attending to everything, and pretending to know every thing better than others ; but ecclesiastics seemed to be banished from the premises. Although the Bridal Chamber was locked, still I was able to enter it. I found the walls hung with cobwebs, but the Nuptial robes in good condition. There were four unfinished and twenty finished wax tapers, also twenty full sacks and four empty ones. The youth followed me all over the house, astonished at all I did and said. He showed me a hole into which he and his people had swept, though not without difficulty, swarms of unclean animals, such as toads, etc. He tried to prevent my removing the stone that covered it, saying that I would run a risk in so doing. I replied that I had nothing to fear having often cleaned the place out, and after peeping at the ugly things, I replaced the cover. Then he told me that his people could not cast these reptiles out. I replied that our priests could do it, and I bade him reflect upon it as a proof of their power. I found also a sealed package of writings whose seal, the youth told me, his people some kind of black mould, into a deep hole on the very edge of which I had to stand. The old Lutheran woman stood over in a corner enraged at my return, and doing all she could to annoy me. She scattered, as if in defiance, a quantity of dirty trash around where I was. In sweeping it up my broom happened to touch where she stoodShe cried out that I need not sweep near her, she could do it herself. I replied that then she should not have thrown the dirt toward me. Her daughter (shallow rationalism) was always occupied in adorning and beautifying herself, hiding her filthiness so as to catch the eye of the unwary and entice them to her, for she was not chaste. The odious, crafty boy was among the ecclesiastics, but the Stern Superior now saw more clearly into his intrigues and labored seriously to baffle them. I swept the filthy room that the Dean occupied when he came there, and he seemed a little confused. The schoolmaster (Overberg) had another bride whom he wanted to hand over to the Protestants. I saw, too, that the stern Superior still wanted to remove me to Darfeld ; but I had a vision which showed me how miserable I should have been there lying as if on a bed of state, and that Miss Soentgen would have played a role, if I had gone '' Sunday, February 6th, Gospel of the Sowers. — " I saw three gardens or territories: the first was covered with rocks, mountains, and stones ; the second, with brushes, brambles, and weeds, here and there flower-beds ; the third, which was the largest and best cultivated, was full of seas, lakes, and islands ; everything flourished for it was fertile ground. I was in the middle one. First I went, or rather, I gazed into the rocky garden which at the first glance looked like a mere scrap of land, but when considered attentively, turned out like all such pictures to be indeed a little world. Here and there, sprang up good grain among the stones, and the people wanted to transplant it to a bed. But a man came along, saying they should not do so, because without the support afforded the plantlets by the thorns they would fall to the ground. The best land was in the garden on the island. The grain there flourished and produced a hundredfold, but in some places the plants were entirely rooted up. The seed was in good condition, the little fields fenced in. I recognized in this garden other parts of the world and islands in which I so often 3ee Christianity spreading. In the central garden, the one in which I was, I saw by the weeds, by its neglected condition that its gardeners were slothful. It had everything to make it productive, but it was neglected, choked with weeds, briars, and thistles. I saw in it the state of all the parishes in Europe, and the garden of the Pope was not among the best. In the part symbolical of my own country, I saw a lord filling a deep pit with money, the produce of all the fields. Over the pit sat the devil. I saw, to my amazement, and it made me laugh, a half-dozen sly, nimble little fellows cutting underground passages to the pit and dragging off with the greatest ease all the produce that had been so laboriously stowed away from above. At last, the master spied one stealing off with a sack full of gold. He gazed down into the treasure-pit over which the devil watched so well, and expressed his surprise at seeing it almost empty; but his servants told him that the fields produced no more, that they were badly cultivated, insufficiently manured, etc. In the garden in which I live, I saw many fields attended by gardeners and workmen whom I know and many beds in charge of under-gardeners; but very few of them sowed and cultivated even tolerably well. I saw it all overgrown with weeds, dry, and parched. I went from bed to bed, recognized all, and understood their condition. I saw people in perilous positions, running on the edge of a black abyss, others sleeping, others wasting their labor over crops of empty ears of corn, and among them some men going around like masters, giving orders, etc., although they really had no business there. The poor creatures worked hard, digging and manuring, but with little success. Suddenly they dragged in a child stealthily. The place was shown me as the city of Miinster, for I recognized most of the people. There was something repulsive, something that inspired horror about the child. I saw that it was illegitimate ; it knew not its father, and its mother had sinned with many. At first it only played around, but it soon showed itself in all its ugliness. It looked old, sick, pale, pock-marked; it was bold, proud, scornful, and servile. It never went to church, but ridiculed everything, dragging itself along laden with books and manuscripts. One ecclesiastic sent it to another. It insinuated itself everywhere, and I saw, to my surprise, some French priests whom I knew letting themselves be cajoled by it. Few opposed it, for it could perform wonders ; it was so insinuating, it understood everything, spoke all languages. I saw it aiming chiefly at schoolmasters. The mistresses it either passed by or ridiculed, but it avoided me altogether. I feared it would do much harm, for wherever it wTent the garden was still more neglected, bearing rank weeds, but no fruit. I saw that the pious schoolmaster (Overberg) would have nothing to do with it ; the stern Superior (Droste) let it go its way; another amused himself talking to it ; but the Dean gave it a particularly flattering reception, even wanting it to lodge in his house. The child worried me the whole day. It introduced itself so readily everywhere, so quickly extended its influence, that it seemed to me a real pest. It is always before me with its old, insolent, unchildlike ways. I know that it signifies the new school-system (rationalistic). I have had a frightful vision of persecution. I was in the hands of a masked enemy who tried to drag me away secretly. I was already out of the house and was abandoning myself to the will of God, when a dove flew around screaming so that it attracted a crowd of other birds. They kept up such a noise that my enemies hurried me back into the house. It was a perfect tumult. I recognized the birds as my old friends : a lark that my confessor had taken away from me in order to mortify me ; a pigeon which I used to feed at my window in the convent; and some finches and redbreasts that used to light upon my head and shoulders in the cloister garden." Sister Emmerich's frightful visions were repeated in proportion to the encouragement given to the illegitimate boy in the diocese of Minister ; for, as the representative of its spiritual interests now so seriously endangered, she had to endure the wrong offered to the diocese by the ecclesiastical patrons of the boy. She saw, also, her enemies forming a project to get possession of her as soon as fresh effusions of blood should furnish them a pretext to remove her from Diilmen (at Dean Rensing's instigation), and for this to arm themselves with the authorization of Ecclesiastical Superiors. The sight filled her with such compassion for her persecutors that, although in ecstasy, she sprang up on her knees to say a Rosary for them and, being in a profuse perspiration, she suffered for several days from frequent and violent spells of coughing. Again it seemed to her that she was lying unprotected in a field and set upon by dogs, whilst twenty-four children whom she had clothed since Christmas stood around her, keeping them at bay. St. Benedict also came to her aid and helped her wonderfully.
"I had/1 she exclaimed, u to endure so much that, if it had not been for St. Benedict, I should surely have died. The saint appeared to me, promised me relief, but warned me not to be too discouraged if it were not accorded at once. Then I had a vision in which I saw myself under the form of another, seated on a stool and resting against the wall in a dying state unable to speak or move. Around stood priests and laymen conversing ostentatiously of this, that, and the other thing, but taking no notice whatever of me, that is of the person who represented me. As I gazed on the scene I was filled with pity for the poor creature, when suddenly I saw. St. Benedict indignantly making his way toward her through the throng of ecclesiastics (1), and, as he spoke to her, I became conscious that she was none other than myself. He said he would send me Holy Communion. He introduced to me a gentle-looking young priest and martyr in alb and stole, who gave me the Holy Eucharist. Benedict said : ' Be not surprised at the presence of this youth. He is a priest and martyr, my pupil Placidus.' — I felt, I tasted the Blessed Sacrament, and I was saved. The gentlemen seemed to notice by my attitude what had happened,and they became more reserved. A stranger appeared wrapped in a mantle ; he addressed them sternly and put them to shame. Benedict said: 'Behold these priests! They strive after offices, but pass by the needy, saying: I have not time, or: It is not my duty, it is not customary, I have received no order to attend to it.1 Placidus showed me the parable of the Samaritan and how it applied to me — priest and Levite pass by, a stranger comes to my aid.'' From Quinquagesima Sunday the pains in her wounds were so violent as frequently to deprive her of conscious(1) The apparition of St. Benedict, the great teacher of the West, is connected with Sister Emmerich's sufferings on account of the young schoolboy.
Anne Catherine Emmerich. Ill ness, but she received in vision many sweet consolations. All the poor old people to whom she ha 1 given alms in her youth passed before her one after another, displaying the gifts they had received from her ; even in the midst of her intense pains she cculd not restrain a smile at the sight of the multifarious articles produced for her amusement. The old people themselves seemed to be rejuvenated whilst the clothes, food, and other alms she had once bestowed upon them, bore no trace of time ; indeed they, too, presented an improved appearance. Here was an aged woman of Coesfeld, for whose sake she had years ago in a retired corner in broad daylight, deprived herself of a skirt. There was a poor sick man to whom she had sent clothes, a package of the best tobacco, and some cracknels (bretzehi), since, being sick herself, she had nothing else in her cupboard. The sight of the cracknels amused her much, for they were over twenty years old. Instead of the tobacco, the old man laid on the table a fragrant bouquet (symbol of sufferings). Then came an old woman, now rejuvenated, of whom Sister Emmerich said : "I had almost forgotten her. She had a daughter who turned out badly and whom, as she told me, she could not reclaim. She had vowed, if God wrould convert her daughter from her sinful life, to make the Way of the Cross on her knees ; but it was quite impossible for her to do so, as she was old and weak. Tt would have taken three hours to perform the devotion, which would certainly have been too much for her. She told me of her vow and her great anxiety at not being able to fulfil it. I comforted her and promised to make satisfaction for her through the intervention of others. I went on my knees by night several times around a cross in a neighboring field for her intention. u I went to the Holy Land and saw Our Lord on the
Good-Friday, March 30th — " Her sufferings up to this time have been steadily on the increase and, although in almost continual contemplation, she has to receive the visits of her friends. But this increase of pain and the terrible violence she endures in the transformation by which she readers testimony to the death of the Man-God, combine to diminish the effects of exterior distractions, and she is entirely absorbed by her task of expiation.'* — At ten that morning the Pilgrim found her forehead, hands, and feet bleeding. He tried to remove the blood, but with little success, on account of the intense pain any such attempt produced. She was also in dread of some new investigation. She hid the effusions as best she could from both the doctor and Abbe Lambert, fearful of the effect the fact might have upon the latter, himself sick and weak. Dean Rensing was again informed of her state ; but he paid as little attention to the second announcement as to the first, merely sending her word not to trouble herself about the Landrath, that he, the Dean, would take all upon himself (1). She endured intolerable agony up to six P. M., although, as she remarked, Jesus gave up the ghost at about one o'clock. When contemplating the descent from the cross and Mary holding the Body of her Son in her arms, the thought occurred to her : u How strong she is ! she has not fainted once lv — whereupon, she heard her angel's voice, saying : " Well then, do thou feel what she felt !" — and on the instant she fainted away from the violence of her grief, for Mary's sword had pierced her soul. The Pilgrim had placed under her feet some relics wrapped in linen which soon received a few drops of blood from her wounds. That evening he applied the little parcel to her shoulder, from which she was suffering acutely. She exclaimed, though in (1) And yet, before a year had passed, Dean Reusing accused Sister Emmerich of imposture !
Aiine Catherine Emmerich 115 ecstasy : u How strange ! here I see my Spouse alive surrounded by thousands of saints in the Heavenly Jerusalem, and yonder I see Him lying dead in the tomb ! — And what is this! Among the saints I see a person, a nun, whose hands, feet, side, and head are all bleeding, and the saints standing near her hands and feet, her side and shoulder !" The following year, 1821, she was told: " Take note, thou wilt shed thy blood with thy Lord not on the ecclesiastical, but on the real anniversary of His death/' GoodFriday of this year fell on April 20th. The Pilgrim records : — i: What has never before happened since Sister Emmerich has had the stigmata, occurred to-day. Her wounds bled not, although it is Good-Friday, and for the last few days they have even wholly disappeared, a circumstance for which she cannot account. She lay, however, in ecstatic contemplation of the Passion when, at the instant of the Saviour's Crucifixion, the burgomaster suddenly entered her room, gazed sharply around, asked a few questions, and took his departure as unceremoniously as he had come. Strange sight ! the poor, ignorant man and the helpless ecstatica face to face ! He had come, as he said, 'by orders of Superiors/ " The Pilgrim's journal of March 30, 1821, explains the above phenomenon respecting the date of her bloody effusions : — ^Sister Emmerich celebrates Good-Friday to-day. At ten this morning her face was covered with blood and her whole person bore the marks of the cruel scourging. About two P. M., the blood gushed from her hands and feet, but she was then in ecstasy, unconscious of the outer world, dreading not discovery, wholly absorbed in the contemplation of the work of Redemption."
Sufferings on Account of Mixed Marriages. u I saw many churches of this country in a sad state as if betokening their future decay, and young ecclesiastics hurrying through their duties negligently. Entire parishes seemed dying out. I saw the Nuptial House of Miinster. The old woman and her daughter were absent ; but there was an old man in it, a diplomatist, a pettifogger, whom the devil seemed to have raised up, so smooth, so cunning was he. A sort of council was being held, and I saw the stern Superior and Overberg earnestly acting together on some question of marriage. It made n:e sad to see only five others, one a very aged person, standing up for the right with these two men; the rest were all against them. The gathering was numerous and, to my great alarm, they began to dispute and quarrel. The Superior's party at once withdrew, leaving the others to side with the Lutherans. But the saddest part of it was that some secretly joined the wicked party again, for instance R , to the great chagrin of Droste and Overberg " u I went again to the Nuptial House which I found crowded with people of two different parties. Down-stairs were the good around Droste and Overberg and with them the youth in blue uniform who seemed about to be converted. But he no longer wore his uniform, and seemed to be in high favor with the above-named gentlemen ; they trusted him, he was all in all to them. Tables stood around with chalices on them. The young people were sent out, as if on messages, but affairs did not go well. To the upper story they had built an outside staircase up which people were crowding, men and women, ecclesiastics and seculars, Catholics and Protestants. All up there was motion, activity, but the people were entirely separated from the Church, quite antagonistic to her. And yet I saw among them several priests whom I knew, siding with the Protestant party against those down-stairs. I saw also several who carried on both shoulders. They ran up and down the whole time betraying the good party. But what alarmed me most was to see that the young man who gave himself out for a convert, .whom the Catholic party so implicitly trusted, was an infamous traitor who secretly revealed up-stairs all that went on below. I wept, I wanted to press through the crowd and disclose his treachery, but my guide restrained me, saying : ' It is not yet time. Wait, let him betray himself!' — This spectacle lasted a long while, when something happened up-stairs and the Protestant party were all cast out together. All that had mounted by the outside staircase, that had »ot entered the slieepfold by the right door, were ignominiously expelled and took to flight. I saw in the garden a flower-bed out of which arose a narrow ladder which reached to heaven. They who had been driven out were not allowed to mount it. I saw people ascending and descending to help up others. I saw some apparently very distinguished people turned away, whilst others mounted the ladder which hung down from heaven. It was guarded by a youth with a drawn sword who repulsed the unworthy. " The preceding vision referred to mixed marriages, from which Sister Emmerich endured [ifelong torments. She used to lie for whole days a prey to violent cramps of the bowels, her arms extended in the form of a cross. She saw again in the Nuptial House the Lutheran cook and her project of marrying her illegitimate daughter to the young schoolboy who was now of age. She beheld the clergy open to all sorts of attacks on the score of such marriages now so numerous, and she exerted herself to enlist the prayers of other 8 in behalf of their members vacillating between right and wrong ; — all this she saw in pictures back as far as the Mosaic period, since the Church has never countenanced such unions excepting in cases of absolute necessity. She saw how detrimental they are to the Church, how they weaken her influence. " I saw Moses before reaching Mt. Sinai, separating entirely from the people and sending away some of the degenerate Israelites who had married among the pagans. They had chosen wives from among the Madianites, I think, and so lost their nationality. Their descendants had mingled with the Samaritans and these again with the Assyrians, and finally, had became heretics and idolators. I saw such marriages contracted out of necessity during the Babylonian Captivity; but they teemed with fatal consequences. I saw such unions tolerated in the infancy of the Church, on account of the state of the times and for the propagation of the faith. But never has the Church consented that the offspring shouldbe reared out of her own fold, an event which happens only by violence. As soon as she was solidly established, the Church positively prohibited such marriages. I have seen whole countries from which the orthodox faith has entirely disappeared in consequence of them ; still more, I have seen that, if the new system of marriage and education succeeds, in less than a century affairs will be in a bad state in our own land." July, 1 821. — u For the last week she has writhed on her bed from the intensity of her sufferings, groaning and finding relief in no position. She is, however, always in contemplation and spiritual action, occupied day and night with the ecclesiastical affairs of Germany whose miseries she sees far and near. She says it is difficult to converse with those around her as she is always absent in spirit ;— she went out into the garden and trampled it under foot ; wherever she passed, the flowers faded and died, all turned to worms and infection. But this ignoble bride wanted to marry, and no one would suit her but a pious, intelligent young priest, one of the twelve, I think, whom I so often see doing great things under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He was among those who had fled from the house on her entrance, but she enticed him back with the sweetest words. When he returned, she showed him everything and wanted to place him over all. He hesitated a little, when she threw off all reserve and used every imaginable artifice to induce him to marry her. The young priest became indignant, solemnly cursed her and her arts as those of an infamous courtesan, and quickly withdrew. Then I saw all her attendants trying to escape, swooning, dying, turning black. The whole house grew dark and swarmed with worms that ate into everything, and the woman herself sank worm-eaten to the ground, all dried up like tinder. I crushed some of the worms lying there dead and shining, and found that they, too, were all dried up, burned to ashes. When everything had fallen to dust and silence reigned around, the young priest returned with two others, one an old man who looked like a Roman legate. He carried a cross which he set up in front of the charred Nuptial House. After having drawn something from the cross, he entered the house and threw open the doors and windows, whilst his companions outside prayed, consecrated, and exorcised. Then a furious storm arose. The wind blew through the house, driving out before it a black vapor which floated toward a great city and hung over it in heavy clouds. The Nuptial House, thus purified, was again occupied by people selected from among the former occupants, and some of the retinue of the unchaste bride, who were now converted, were installed in it. All began again to prosper, and the garden once more flourished.'7 The Body of the Church. — Labors of the Harvest. June, 1820. — u I was in the church of the Nuptial House, where a ceremony was being performed, as if preparatory to the setting out of harvesters. I saw the Lord Jesus as a Shepherd, the Apostles and disciples with the saints and blessed in an upper choir, whilst in the nave of the church were crowds of priests and laymen still alive, many of whom I know. The ceremony seemed intended to invoke a blessing on the harvest,; to bring laborers to it. Jesus seemed to be inviting them in these words : c The harvest is great, but the laborers are few ; pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.' — Then He sent the Apostles and disciples forth with blessings and prayers, just as He had done whilst on earth. I, too, went out to the harvest with some of the priests and laics still alive. Some excused themselves and would not go, when immediately their places were filled by the saints and blessed spirits. Then I saw the harvest-field near the Nuptial House and in it a body rising up toward the sky. It was horribly mutilated, the hands and feet cut off, and large holes in many parts of it. Some of the wounds were fresh and bleeding, others covered with decayed flesh, and others were swollen and gristly. The whole of one side was black and worm-eaten. My guide explained to me that it represented the body of the Church, as also the body of all mankind. He showed me in what way each wound referred to some part of the world, and I saw at a glance far distant nations and individuals who had been cut from it. I felt the pain of the amputation of these members as acutely as if they had been cut from my own person.
Aiine Catherine Emmerich. 123 i Should not one member sigh after another, suffer for another ? Should it not aim at being healed and again united to the body ? Should not one suffer for the welfare of another V said my guide. ' The nearest, the most painful amputations are those made from the breast around the heart.* — I thought, in my simplicity, that this must mean brothers and sisters, near relations, and Gertrude came to my mind. But then it was said to me : l Who are My brethren ? They who keep My Father's commandments are My brethren. Blood-relations are not the nearest to the heart. Christ's blood-relations arc they who were once of the same mind, Catholics who have fallen away from the faith.7 — Then I saw how quickly the side of the body was healed. The proud flesh in the wounds are heretics, and dissenters form the gangrened part. I saw every member, every wound, and its signification. The body reached to heaven; it was the Body of Christ. The sight made me forget my pains, and I began to work with all my strength to cut, to bind, and carry the sheaves to the Nuptial House. I saw the saints helping from on high and the twelve future Apostles taking part successively in the labor. I saw also some living laborers, but they were few and at great distances apart. I was almost worn out, my fingers ached from binding, and I was drenched with perspiration. I had just one sheaf more of good wheat, but the ears pricked me, I was quite overcome. Suddenly a polished fop with very insinuating manners stepped up to me saying that I must cease working, it was too much for me, and that, after all, it did not concern me. At first, I did not recognize him ; but, when he began to make love and promise me a fine time, I discovered that it was the devil and I repulsed him indignantly. He instantly disappeared. I saw the harvest-field surrounded by an immense
Anne Catherine Emmerich* vine, and the new Apostles working vigorously at it and calling upon others to do the same. They stood, at first, widely apart. When the harvest was over, the laborers all joined in celebrating a great feast of thanksgiving." Consoling Symbol of the Effect of Prayer. " I am still much fatigued from my work, every limb aching. From the harvest-field I went into a large empty barn and found some poor people famishing in a corner. I began to think how I could assist them, when in came crowds of ecclesiastics and laics of all ages and callings, rteh and poor, from far and near, known and unknown, all seeking help. My guide told me that I could supply the wants of all, if I worked hard. I expressed my readiness, when he took me over a heath to a large field of wheat and rye, where I set all the people to work at the harvest, binding the sheaves and carrying them away. I directed all. I set the most distinguished to oversee the others. But they were, for the most part, both lazy and awkward ; their sheaves would not stand. I had to put one in the centre and lean the others up against it. They carried the wheat to the barn where it was threshed and divided. In the upper story a quantity was stored for the Pope, some for a very pious Bishop whom I did not know, and some for the V;carGeneral and our own country. I saw the different parishes and priests receiving their share, some much, others little. The good received most, and the best, more wheat than rye» the bad got nothing at all. Very little came here : the pastor of H — got a very large share ; the confessor, a very small portion, and what remained was distributed to any who wanted it. Sometimes a simple vicar received a portion whilst the pastor got nothing. My guide made the division of it. I am so worn out by this work that I cannot get rested. . . J*
CHAPTER 2. Journeys to the Nuptial House. — Sufferings on Account of the Profanation of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Daily during the ecclesiastical year did Sister Emmerich travel to the Holy Land under the care of her angel, who chose the route both going and returning. This he deter* mined by the various tasks she had to fulfil for the sick, the dying, the needy, and the souls in purgatory, in accordance with the order laid down by God. No one was excluded from her charitable ministrations, but the Head of the Church received her chief attention when in need of aid to lighten the burden of his pastoral charge. Rome was as familiar to her as the Holy Land. The Vatican, the various churches of the Eternal City, were as well known to her as the Temple, the Palace of David, the Cenacle, and other Holy Places of Jerusalem. On these journeys she visited those places sanctified by the birth, labors and death of the saints, who frequently appeared to her and gave an account of the various details of their life and sufferings. Every day brought its own special tasks, its own particular visions on the mysteries connected with the work of Redemption, so that we must not be surprised at her inability to relate all, weighed down as she was by corporal and mental sufferings. The connection between the Church's calendar and Sister Emmerich's mission was close and real ; only the contemplative can understand the multiplicity and variety of action thereby entailed. Although the fragments contained in the following communications are short, they are, nevertheless, most striking and sufficient to convince the reader of the marvellous ways by which this soul was led in the accomplishment of works whose surprising manifestation will redound to the greater glory of God on the Judgment Day. July, 1820, she related the following: — "I was commanded to travel over the world in order to see its misery. I went through St. Ludger's vineyard to that of St. Peter, viewing everywhere the sad state of mankind and the Church represented by different degrees of cold, fug, and darkness, though here and there I beheld bright spots and people standing in prayer. I had visions of these individuals. Wherever I went, I was taken to the needy, the abandoned, the sick, the persecuted, the imprisoned, for whom I prayed, aiding and consoling them in many ways. Everywhere I saw the state of the Church, the saints of the countries, Bishops, martyrs, religious, and anchorites — all upon whom the grace of God had descended. I saw especially those who had had visions and whut their visions were. I saw them appearing in prayer to others and others to them. I saw all that they had done, and I understood that the Church has always had such servants, visions^ and apparitions. They existed even in the time of promise, constituting one of her richest graces And contributing largely to her welfare and union. I saw everywhere holy bodies lyingin tombs. I saw their influence, their connection with the saints, and the blessing emanating from them through their union with their souls. In this immense vision I had scarcely any other joy than that of seeing the Church founded upon a rock, and of knowing that love follows her and imitates Jesus, from which spring eternal blessings. I was told that in the Old Testament God sent angels to men and warned them in dreams. But, after all, that was not so clear and perfect as the spiritual teaching of Christianity — • and yet, how faithfully and simply the people of the Old Law followed such divine inspirations ! — u When I arrive in any country, I generally see in the chief city, as in a central point, its spiritual state indicated by cold; fog, and darkness. I see the headquarters of corruption and pictures of its greatest perils. I understand all. From them I see streams and pools spreading through the land like poisoned veins, and in their midst pious souls in prayer, churches containing the Blessed Sacrament, countless holy bodies, good works being performed, sin expiated or prevented, assistance given to the needy, etc. When I see the sins and abominations of a nation, their good and evil works; when I have discovered the source of the poison, the cause of their maladies, I see as a necessary result the suffering, chastisement, destruction they entail and a total or partial cure effected in proportion as the good performed by its own people produces salutary effects, or the charitable efforts of others done for the love of Jesus, bring forth streams of grace and salvation. Over some places sunk in darkness I see destruction floating in threatening pictures; over others are strife and bloodshed darkening the air, and from them frequently issues another striking picture with its own signification. These dangers and chastisements do not stand alone. They are connected with the crimes of other countries ; and thus, sin becomes the rod that strikes the guilty. " Whilst all this appears in dark, earthly pictures over these lands, I see above them the good, luminous germs giving rise to other pictures like a world of light, representing what is done for it by its holy members through the treasures of grace they pour out upon it from the merits of Jesus Christ. I see above desecrated churches other qhurches floating in light, and I see the Bishops, doctors, martyrs, intercessors, prophets and all the privileged souls that once belonged to them ; pictures of their miracles, graces, visions, revelations, and apparitions pass before me; and I see their influence far and near, the effects it produced even at the most remote distances. A blessing still lingers over the paths they have trodden, since they are still united with their country and flock through pious souls who keep their memory alive. I see that their bones, wherever they rest, are in mysterious communication with them and become the sources of their loving intercession. Unless supported by God's grace, one could not contemplate such misery and abomination side by side with so great mercy and love — one would die of grief. u If on the road there are some needy souls for whom the Lord deigns to receive the prayers of a poor creature, I am conducted to them and I behold the cause of their misfortunes. I draw near to their bed if they sleep, I approach them if awake, and I offer to God a fervent prayer for them that He may receive from me in their behalf what they cannot, or know not how to do for themselves. I often have to take upon myself a part of their sufferings. Sometimes they are people who have implored the prayers of others, or even my own, and this is the reason I have to take these journeys ; they are all for my neighbor's relief. Then I see the poor creatures turning to God, from whom they receive consolation and all that they need, rarely in a miraculous way, but by ordinary though often unexpected means. This shows that corporal and spiritual distress comes most frequently from man himself who, instead of turning like a child to beg and receive help from the everopen Hand of God, shuts himself up in himself incredulous and defiant. My intervention, I who have the gift of seeing, is in itself the Hand of God that sends to manv a blind, closed heart one who sees, who is open to the light, who is as a channel for His plenteous mercy. On these journeys I am often directed to hinder sin by intervening to strike terror into, to disconcert some evil-minded person. I have more than once aroused mothers whose infants were in need of them, or in danger of being smothered either by themselves, or drowsy nurses, etc." " I went over Ludger's vineyard (Minister) where I found things in a miserable state, as usual ; through that of St. Liborius (Paderborn) in which I last labored and which I found improved ; and then by the place where lie Nepomecene, Wenceslas, Ludmilla, and other saints. This place is full of holy remains, but there are few pioug priests among the living, and I saw that the good, holy people generally live hidden. I went southward to a great city (Vienna) with a high tower, around which are many streets and avenues j a broad river flows by the city (the Danube). I turned to the left into a high mountainous district (Tyrol), where dwell many pious souls, especially in the thinly settled parts. Still journeying toward the south, I arrived at a city on the sea (Venice) in which I lately saw St. Ignatius and his companions, St. Mark and other saints; but great corruption prevails there. I went into Ambrose's vineyard (Milan) and there I saw many visions and graces granted to St. Ambrose, and especially his influence over St. Augustine. I learned many things about him, his knowledge of a person who possessed in some degree the gift of recognizing relics. — I had visions on this point and I think the saint has referred to it in a book. I learned, also, that no one ever had this faculty so fully as God has imparted it to me, and this because of the shameful neglect of relics, and because the veneration of them must be renewed. I saw as I went south an incredible number of churches and saints favored with various graces. I saw clearly the works, visions, apparitions of St. Benedict and his companions ; the two Catherines of Sienna and Bologna, Clare of Montefalco, their visions and apparitions. During my great vision in the diocese of St. Ambrose, it seemed to me that the saint spoke from heaven, for I saw the influence and ministry of women and virgins in the Church through the gift of contemplation, apparition, and prophecy, and he said something on the discernment pf true and false visions ; but I cannot repeat his words. I ought to say that in the different countries I generally saw holy Bishops in the first rank, then priests, monks, nuns, hermits, and laics. I saw the apparitions of saints to them in their lifetime and in time of pressing need, when they bore them counsel and consolation from God. I saw in this great country Magdalene diPazzi and Rita of Cassia, and many of Catherine of Sienna's visions, missions, etc. u I came to the church of Peter and Paul (Rome) and saw a dark world of distress, confusion, and corruption, through which shone countless graces from thousands of saints who there repose. Could I relate but a portion of what I saw in this central point of the Church, it would furnish material for a lifelong meditation. Those Popes whose relics I possess I saw most distinctly. — I must have some of Callistus I., the seventeenth Pope, which I have not yet found This Pope had many apparitions. I saw John the Evangelist's death and his appearing to Callistus, once with Mary and once with Our Saviour, to strengthen him in time of need. I saw several apparitions made to Xystus, of whom I have a relic, and numberless others of the Apostles ahd disciples to one another and to their successors, giving them warning in times of distress. In these apparitions I saw a certain order of rank and dignity and their correspondence to the needs of him who received them. The messengers from the Church Triumphant are delegated with due regard to the importance of the occasion on which they are sent, and not in accordance with the blind judgment of the world. With regard to the gift of recognizing relics, I mast add that St. Praxedes possessed'it to a certain degiee. u I saw the Holy Father surrounded by traitors and in great distress about the Church. He had visions and apparitions in his hour of greatest need. I saw many good pious Bishops; but they were weak and wavering, their cowardice often got the upper hand. I saw the black fellow plotting again, the destroyers attacking the Church of Peter, Mary standing with her mantle over it, and the enemies of God put to flight. I saw Sts. Peter and Paul laboring actively for the Church and their basilica greatly enlarged. Then I saw darkness spreading around and people no longer seeking the true Church. They went to another, saying : 1 All is more beautiful, more natural here, better regulated ' — but, as yet, I have seen no ecclesiastic among them. I saw the Pope firm, but greatly perplexed. The treaty thought to be so advantageous to us will be of no use ; things will go from bad to worse. The Pope shows more energy now 5 he has been advised to hold out till death, and this he gained by his late act of firmness. But his last orders are of no account, he enforces them too feebly. I saw over the city terrible evils from the north. " Thence I went over water in the midst of which lie islands with their good and evil ; the most insolated are the happiest, the brightest. I travelled westward into Xavier's country (Portugal) where I saw many saints and the whole land full of soldiers in red. The master was toward the south beyond the sea. This country was pretty tranquil
Aiine Catherine Emmerich. 133 and their visions, that the thought arose in my mind : ' Why must I, miserable sinner, see all this ? The greater part of it I cannot understand, much less relate' — then spoke my guide: i Repeat what thou canst ! Thou knowest not howmany souls will one day read it and be consoled, reanimated, and encouraged by it. There are numerous accounts of similar graces, but sometimes they are not related as they should be. Ancient things are distasteful to the people of this age, or they are often maliciously misrepresented. What you relate will be published in a better way, and will be productive of blessings far greater than you can imagine.' — This consoled me, as for a few days I had bean discouraged and scrupulous. u From this unhappy land I was taken over the sea, a little toward the north, to an Island in which St. Patrick had been (Ireland) and here I found faithful, sincere Catholics, but very much oppressed. They held relations with the Pope, but very secretly, and there was still much good in the country because the people were united. I had an instruction at this point on the communion of the Church's members. I saw St. Patrick and many of his works. I learned much of his history, and I saw some pictures of the great vision of purgatory he once had in a cave, when he recognized many of the poor souls whom he afterward delivered. The Blessed Virgin used to appear and instruct him what to do. "From St. Patrick's island I crossed a narrow sea to another large island (England), dark, cold, and foggy, in which I saw, here and there, a band of pious sectarians ; but, for the rest, all was great confusion, the whole nation divided into two parties and engaged in dark, disgusting intrigues. The more numerous part was the more wicked. The smaller one had the soldiers on their side and, though which the light of the Gospel is now breaking. One large island she mentioned particularly, in which the faith is making" rapid strides. The people, both Catholics and Protestants, are truly good and gladly receive instruction ; the latter being well-inclined toward Catholicity, the church is crowded at all public functions. The city is so densely peopled that they are beginning to extend its limits. The native population are excellently well disposed. They are of a brown complexion, some of them quite black. They were accustomed to go almost naked, but they now dress as their teachers prescribe. Sister Emmerich saw their idols which she described— the island seems to be the same for which she had prayed on Christmas night. In India she met the people whom, on a former occasion, she had seen drawing the sacred waters of the Ganges and kneeling before a cross ; they were now in a better condition, receiving instruction, and about to form into a community — it was here she had a vision of St. Thomas and St. Xavier. Thence she went into the neighborhood of the Mountain of the Prophets, traversed the dark country of Semiramis where she met Sts. Simon and Jude, saw the huge columns of the ruined city, passed through the land of St. John the Baptist and that in which the Evangelist John wrote his Gospel, and entered the Promised Land to find ruin on all sides. The Holy Places are hardly recognizable, though grace still operates through them. Here her visions became general, portraying the malice of men by frustrating the abundant means of salvation offered them. On Mt. Carmel she had a vision of St. Berthold and the discovery of the Holy Lance at Antioch. She saw many fervent religious, monks and nuns, still serving God there. " I saw that my relic of the Knight of Malta is one of St. Berthold whom the hermit, Peter of Provence, took on the
Crusade. They were together at the seige of Antioch. When their need was most pressing, Berthold thought : l If we had the lance with which Our Lord was wounded, we should surely conquer' — then he, Peter, and another, though unknown to one another, severally invoked God's assistance. The Blessed Virgin appeared to all three separately. She told them that the lance of Longinus was concealed in the wall behind the altar of the church, bidding them communicate this intelligence to one another. They obeyed ; they sought and found the sacred lance walled up in a chest behind the altar. The iron point was rather short, and the shaft was broken into several pieces. Victory followed the lance everywhere. Berthold had vowed to devote himself to the Blessed Virgin on Mt. Carmel, if the city were delivered ; he became an anchorite, and later on the Founder and Gen* eral of the Carmelite Order." Sister Emmerich then spoke of other holy monks and hermits whom she had met on her spiritual journey through the Holy Land, and of many chosen souls who like herself had been taken there in ecstasy. She found all dark and dreary in the country in which the Israelites had sojourned, and she met there some ignorant, but well-meaning monks belonging to a certain sect. She passed many half-ruined pyramids belonging to the earliest ages, and saw St. Sabbas and other saints of the desert. Thence she turned to the land of St. Augustine and Perpetua, pushed on southward through frightful darkness, and visited Judith whom she found pensively planning some way of escape that she might receive instruction, for she was at heart a Christian. Sister Emmerich begged God to help her. After this she crossed over to Brazil where, also, she met saints, visited the islands, saw many new Christian settlements, passed through America, found a new impulse given to religion and met St. Rose and others. She returned over the sea to Sardinia and found Rosa Maria Serra, the stigmatisee of Ozieri, still alive to the astonishment of all who knew her, though old and bedridden. She saw another similarly favored whom she had met some time previously at Cagliari; a maritime city of Sicily. The people of this country were in a tolerably good state. She went on to Rome, thence to Switzerland, visited Einsiedeln and the abodes of the ancient hermits,of Nicholas von derFlue, and others. She saw in passing St. Francis de Sales, and St. ChantaPs convent ; crossed into Germany where she saw Sts. Walburga, Kilian, the Emperor Henry, and Bonifacius; recognized Frankfort, saw the infant-martyr (1) and the old merchant in his tomb ; crossed the Rhine and met Sts. Boniface, Goar, and Hildegarde, of whom she had special visions. She was told that to the latter had been imparted, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, the power of committing her visions to writing, although she had never learned to read or write ; of calling down chastisement upon prevaricators; and of prophesying concerning the wicked woman of Babylon. No one ever received so many graces as Hildegarde whose revelations are fulfilled even in our own day. Sister Emmerich now met Elizabeth of Schoenau and, on visiting France, saw Sts. Genevieve, Denis, Martin, with a host of others ; but frightful misery, corruption, and abomination reigned in the capital. It appeared to her to be in a sinking condition and that no stone would be left upon another. Thence she went to Liege, Belgium, and saw Sts. Juliana and Odilia ; in Brabant, she had visions of St. Lidwina who was wholly insensible to the worms that ate her body, her miserable state of poverty, or the tears that froze on her cheeks as they flowed, for Mary stood by her bed extending her mantle (J) The details will be given later on, over her. Mary of Oignies she saw In a country still in* habitated by pious Christians, and returning through Bockholt, she found many of the same stamp on the frontiers of Holland. Whilst passing through Saxony, she had seen Sts. Gertrude and Mechtiide. She had visions of their gifts and graces, and of what they had done for the Church. In the country of the infant-martyr, she struck terror into two men who were about murdering a poor courier, in order to seize his papers. This journey exhausted the poor invalid ; its frightful pictures agitated her soul like the waves of an angry sea. Without the support received from on high, she would, as she declared, have been unable to endure the sight of even a small part of the miseries that passed under her eyes. She saw upwards of a thousand saints with the detailed life and visions of about one hundred. But she beheld none of the clairvoyants of the day among them ; indeed, she had never seen one of the latter under favorable colors — they all appeared in a suspicious light and in the train of the abominable bride of the Nuptial House. She saw the twelve future Apostles of the Church, each in his own country and present position. The saints of whom she possessed relics appeared to her more distinctly than others. From this fact she inferred that there are among her treasures some of Apostles and disciples which she would discover later. This extended journey was accompanied by corporal sufferings in expiation of the outrages offered to her Divine Spouse in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. She was taken into the various churches she met on her way, there to atone by her fervent prayers for the affronts to which Jesus was exposed from the tepidity, indifference, and incredulity of the age. The first communication on this sub ject relates to the celebration of Corpus Christi in which she herself took part, 1819. It is given, as follows, by the Pilgrim : — " All night I went around among the unhappy and afflicted, some known to me, others unknown, and I begged God to let me bear the burden of all who could not approach the Holy Communion with alight and joyous heart. Then I took their sufferings on my own shoulders. I found them so great as to weigh me down almost to the earth. The poor people passed before me in pictures, and from each I took a part or the whole of his burden according as I could get it. I drew it from his breast under the form of fine, flexible rolls, light as a tender switch, but so numerous as to make an enormous package when bound together. My own torments were under the form of a long^ white leathern girdle, about a hand in breadth, streaked with red. I bound all the rolls together, folded them in two, and fastened the great, heavy package over my cross with the two ends of my girdle. The rolls were variously colored according to the different sufferings they symbolized — if I reflected a little, I should be able to name the colors of many whom I knew. I took the huge bundle on my shoulders and made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament to offer these sufferings for the poor, blind creatures who know not that infinite treasure of consolation. First I went into a chapel, unfinished, unadorned, but in which, notwithstanding, God was waiting on the altar. There I offered my package and prayed to the Blessed Sacrament. It seemed as if this chapel had sprung up merely to give me strength, for I was almost sinking under the burden which I carried on my right shoulder in memory of the wound made on Our Lord's shoulder by the cross. I have often seen that wound, the most painful of all on His Sacred Body. At last I came to a place in which a procession was being made and I saw, at the same moment, similar processions in distant places. In the one in which I took part figured most of those whose sufferings I bore and I saw, to my astonishment, the same colors issuing from their mouth as they sang, as were the rolls I had drawn from them. The Blessed Sacrament had the appearance of a little luminous, transparent Infant in the centre of a resplendent sun, surrounded by myriads of angels and saints in great splendor and magnificence. It is inexpressible ! If the others had seen what I saw, they would have sunk to the ground unable from terror and amazement to bear the monstrance further. I prayed and offered my p&ck. Then the procession entered into a church which now appeared in the air surrounded by a garden and cemetery. The graves of the latter were covered with lovely flowers : lilies, red and white roses, and white asters. From the east side of the church advanced in unspeakable splendor a priestly figure like unto Our Lord. He wras soon encircled by twelve resplendent men, and these again by numerous others. I had a good position, I could see everything. There issued from the Lord's mouth a little luminous form which gradually increased, took a more definite shape, and then again decreasing entered the mouth under the figure of a little shining child, first of the Twelve then of all the others around the Lord. This was not the historic scene which I see on Holy Thursday, the Lord reclining at table with His Apostles, but it reminded me of it — all was luminous and sparkling, a divine function, a Church festival. The whole church was crowded, some sitting, some standing, some hovering in the air. There were seats raised in tiers, but perfectly transparent. I saw in the Lord's hands a figure into which entered the little luminous body that issued from His mouth and around which appeared a spiritual church highly ornamented— it was the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance as It is when exposed for adoration or Benediction. The Lord repeatedly uttered into It His loving Word, and the Body, ever one and the same, entered the mouth of all the assistants. "I laid down my burden awhile and received the Heavenly Manna* When I took it up again, I beheld a troop of people whose bundles were so filthy that I dreaded to touch them. I was informed that they were still to be severely judged and punished according to their works of penance, but I felt no pity for them. The feast ended, and it seemed to me as if I had seen some men who would rekindle over all the world faith and fervor in the admirable mystery of the real presence of God. The chapel in which I had first rested with my burden was in a mountain as; when a child, I had seen the altars and tabernacles of the early Christians — it represented the Blessed Sacrament in time of persecution. The cemetery signified that the altars of the Unbloody Sacrifice should stand over the tombs and relics of martyrs, that the churches themselves should be erected over them. I saw the Church under the form of a spiritual, heavenly festival. A four-branch candlestick stood before the altar. I saw the Feast of Corpus Christi, first directly through Jesus, then through the Blessed Sacrament Itself, the treasure of the Church. 1 saw the feast celebrated by numbers of the early Christians, by those of our own times, and by many belonging to the future, and I received an assurance that Its worship would flourish with new vigor in the Church. "On the feasts of the holy peasant Isidore, many things were shown me on the importance of celebrating and hearing Mass, and I saw how great a blessing it is that so many are said though even by ignorant and unworthy priests, as it averts all sorts of dangers, chastisements, and calamities from men. It is well that many priests do not realize what they do, for if they did they would be so terrified as not to be able to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice. I saw the marvellous blessings attached to hearing Mass. It facilitates labor, promotes good, and prevents loss. One member of a family returning from Mass, carries home a blessing to the whole house and for the whole day. I saw how much greater is the advantage attached to hearing a Mass, than to having one said without assisting at it. I saw all defects in the celebration of Mass supernaturally supplied." The week preceding Pentecost, 1820, Sister Emmerich's sufferings both of mind and body were almost insupportable. These sufferings she had to offer as an atonement for the outrages committed against the Blessed Sacrament. She was assisted by the saints of the day, and particularly by the highly gifted' souls who in the past had suffered in the same manner as she now did. u To-day, May 17, 1820," writes the Pilgrim, "I found the invalid in tears, because Clara Soentgen wanted to bring some strangers to see her. — c Every moment I think I shall die of pain/ she groaned, c and yet they leave me no rest !' — Her malady (retention and a suffocating cough) is intolerable and the shooting pains in her wounded side intense \ her longing for the Blessed Sacrament consumes her and her deep sadness makes her shed torrents of tears. Her sufferings of body and soul are pitiful to behold. She begged the child (her niece) to say three Our Fathers to obtain for her strength to live, if it were God's will that she should do so. The little girl prayed with her, and she became calm." May 18th — u Her desire for the Blessed Sacrament becomes more violent. She languishes, laments the privation of her daily bread, and cries out in ecstasy : i Why dost lU Life of 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 endued with light and strength. The sight awoke in me great joy and confidence that the Church amid her ever-increasing tribulations, will not succumb j 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. I saw in St. Peter's at Rome a grand feast celebrated with myriads of lights, and I saw the Holy Father and many others receiving the strength of the Holy Ghost. I did not see the dark church last night (Protestant) which is always a horror to me. I saw in different places the twelve enlightened men whom I see so often as twelve new Apostles or Prophets of the Church. I feel as if I know one of them, that he is near me. I saw the Holy Spirit poured out on some of our own land. I knew them all in my vision, but it is seldom that I can name them afterward. I think I saw the stern Superior. I felt certain that the persecution of the Church here in our own country will turn out well, but great troubles await us." On Whit- Monday, a painful task of reparation to the Blessed Sacrament was announced to her ; — u I knelt alone with my guide in a large church before the Blessed Sacrament which was surrounded by indescribable glory. In It I saw the resplendent figure of the Infant Jesus before whom since my childhood I have always opened my heart and poured out my prayers. As I presented my petitions, I received an answer to each one from the Blessed Sacrament in the form of a ray which pierced my soul and filled me with consolation. I was, also, gently reproved for my faults. I passed almost the whole night before the tabernacle, my angel at my side." Sister Emmerich's humility would not allow her to give the details of this vision. It was immediately followed by apparitions of St. Augustine and two holy Augustinians, Rita of Cassia and Clare of Montefalco, who prepared her to undergo sufferings such as they themselves had formerly endured for the Blessed Sacrament. She fell into ecstasy and, to the amazement of her confessor and the Pilgrim, who were conversing together in the antechamber, she suddenly stood up on her bed (a thing she had not done for four years), her countenance radiant with joy, her hands raised to heaven, and recited slowly and devoutly in a sweet, clear voice, the whole of the Te Deum. Her face was emaciated and slightly sallow, but her cheeks were flushed and a look of enthusiasm beamed from her dark eyes. She stood upright, firm and secure in her position. At certain parts she joined her hands and inclined her head suppliantly, her voice betraying a tender, caressing accent like a child reciting verses in its father's honor. Her ample robe fell below the ankles, giving her a most imposing appearance, and her prayer, repeated in a loud voice, excited in the hearer a feeling of mingled piety and awe. " St. Augustine stood by me," she said next day, "in his episcopal robes, and O he was so kind ! I was rejoiced to see him and I accused myself of never especially honoring him. He replied : ' Still I know thee. Thou art my child V — When I asked him to relieve my pain, he presented me a nosegay in which was a blue flower — a feeling of strength and relief instantly pervaded my whole person. The saint said to me : l Thou wilt never be entirely well, for thy way is that of suffering. But, when in need of help and consolation, think of me. I shall always give them thee. Now rise and say the Te Deum to thank the Most Holy
Trinity for thy cure.' Then I arose and prayed. I was per* fectly strong and my joy was very great. Afterward I saw St. Augustine in his glory. First, I beheld the Most Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin, I can hardly say how. I seemed to see an old man on a throne. From his forehead and breast streamed rays of light in the form of a cross from which, in turn, shot numerous other rays over the choirs and orders of angels and saints. At some distance, surrounded by blessed spirits, I saw St. Augustine's celestial glory. He was seated on a throne, receiving from the cross of the Holy Trinity streams of light which he imparted to the surrounding choirs. Around him were priests in various costumes, and on one side, rising like a mountain one above the other and floating like clouds in the sky, were numerous churches, all of which had emanated from the saint. This was a picture of his heavenly greatness. The light received from the Trinity symbolized his own personal illumination. The choirs around him were the different vessels, the different souls that received light through him. They, in their turn, poured it upon others whilst receiving, also, rays directly from God. The sight of such things is unspeakably beautiful and consoling, and so natural — yes, more natural, more intelligible than the sight of a tree or flower upon earth. In the choirs around the saint were all the priests and doctors, all the Orders and communities which had emanated from him, inasmuch as they are blessed, inasmuch as they have become vessels of God, gushing fountains of living waters whose source is in him. After this I saw him in a heavenly garden, but this picture was a little lower down. The first was a vision of his glory, his place in the starry heaven of the Most Holy Trinity ; the second was rather a picture of his actual influence upon earth, his assistance to the Church Militant, to living men. All pictures of the celestial gardens appear lower than those of the saints in God, in glory. I beheld him in a beautiful garden full of the most wonderful trees, shrubs, and flowers. There were many others with him, among whom I remember particularly St. Francis Xavier and St. Francis de Sales. They were not seated in order as for a feast, but going around, distributing the flowers and fruits of the garden, which represent the graces and good works of their life. I saw numbers of the living in the garden, many of whom I knew, and they were receiving gifts in manifold ways. The apparition of the living is something very special, the counterpart, as it were, of the apparition of saints upon earth. They appear in the garden of the saints like spirits under certain, indeterminate forms, and receive all kinds of fruits and flowers. I see some who seem to be raised into this sphere of grace by prayer, and others who seem to receive such favors without conscious effort on their part ; they are vessels of election. The same difference exists between these two classes as between one who takes the trouble to gather fruit in a garden, and another who sees it falling at his feet as he walks along, or to whom God deigns to send it by this or that saint. " After this my guide led me on my own road to the Heavenly Jerusalem, and I saw that I was now far beyond the place where I had seen the little notes of warning (1). I climbed a mountain and reached a garden of which St Clare of Montefalco had charge. In her hands I saw luminous wounds and around her brow a shining crown of thorns j for, although she had not had the exterior marks of the Wounds, she had felt their pain. Clare told me that this was her garden and that, as I loved gardening, she would (1) See Vol. I., Chap. 39.
show me how it should be carried on. There was a wall around it, but it was only symbolical, for one could both see and pass through it ; it was built of round, variegated, shining stones. The garden was laid out in eight beautiful beds all verging toward the centre. There were some handsome large trees in full bloom, and a fountain which could be made to water the whole place. A vine was trained all around the wall. I stayed almost all night in the garden with St. Clare. She taught me the virtue and signification of every plant and how to use it. We passed from one flower-bed to another, but I do not now remember where she got the roots. It seemed to be supernaturally in the air, or from an apparition. I worked with her near a fig-tree, though I do not now recollect at what. I only remember that there were beds of bitter-cress and chervil. Clare told me that, if my taste were too sweet, I must take a mouthful of cress, and if too bitter, a mouthful of chervil. I have always been very fond of these herbs. I used to chew them when I was a child, indeed I could have lived on them. The hardest thing for me to understand was Clare's management of the vine, how she trained it, divided it, and pruned it. I could not succeed. It was the last thing she taught me in the garden. During our work the birds flocked round us, perched on my shoulders and were just as familiar with me as they had been in the convent cloister. Clare told me that she had the instruments of the Passion engraven on her heart and that, after her death, three stones had been found in her gall. She spoke, also, of the graces she had received on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, bidding me prepare for a new labor on the coming feast. She looked very thin, pale, and exhausted. u I saw, too, St. Rita of Cassia. As she prayed one day before a crucifix, she begged in her humility for one single thorn from the crown of her Crucified Saviour, when a ray of light shot from the crown and wounded her in the forehead. She suffered in that spot a lifelong, indescribable pain, matter continually oozing from it which caused her to be shunned by all. I saw also her great devotion to the Blessed Sacra n en t. She told me many things." Qn the eve of the Most Holy Trinity, the task foretold by St. Clare began. Sister Emmerich saj s : u When I saw the bad preparation of so many persons who were going to confession, I renewed my petition to God to let me suffer something for their amendment ; and then, indeed, my task began. It seemed as if I were being pierced incessantly by fine darts of pain shot at me like arrows, and in the night they became more intense than I had ever felt before. They began around my heart which felt like a furnace of pain tightly bound in flames. Waves of fiery pains swept thence through all parts of my body, through the marrow of my bones, to the tips of my fingers, my nails, and my hair. It was like the regular flow of the tide from my heart to my hands, feet, and head and back again, my wounds being the principal centres. My sufferings increased until midnight when I awoke, steeped in perspiration and unable to move. I had only one consolation — the indistinct idea of the cross formed by the principal centres of my pain which seemed to be grinding me to powder. At midnight I could bear it no longer, for my stupor made me forget its cause ; so I turned like a child to my father, St, Augustine. 'Ah! dear father, St. Augustine, thou didst promise to help me whenever I invoked thee ! Ah ! see my distress V — my prayer was instantly heard. The saint stood before me, telling me most kindly why I was suffering so, but that he could not take away my pains since I was to endure them in union with the Passion of Jesus Christ.
Anne Catherine jEmraernch. 151 A little below the Holy Trinity and to the right, I saw Mary's throne. A ray darted to her from the old man and another from her to the cross. All this is quite inexpressible. But in vision; although dazzling and swimming in light, it was perfectly intelligible : one and three, vivifying all, enlightening all, and most wonderfully sufficing for all. Below the throne were the angels in a world of colorless light; above them the four-and-twenty ancients with silver hair, surrounding the Most Holy Trinity. All the rest of the boundless space was filled with saints who were themselves the luminous centres of shining choirs. At the right of the Trinity was St. Augustine surrounded by his choirs, but much lower than Mary, and all around lay gardens, shining palaces, and churches. — I felt as if I were wandering among the starry heavens. These vessels of God are of every variety of form and appearance, but all are filled with Jesus Christ. The same law governs all, the same substance pervades all though under a different form, and a straight line leads through each into the light of the Father through the cross of the Son. I saw a long line of royal females extending from the Mother of God, virgins with crowns and sceptres, though not earthly queens, souls who had preceded or followed Mary in the order of time. They seemed to serve her as the twenty-four ancients serve the Most Holy Trinity. They were celebrating the feast by a marvellously solemn movement severally and all together. I can compare it only to beautiful music. The angels and saints advanced in one or many processions to the throne of the Most Holy Trinity like the stars in the sky revolving around the sun. And then I saw down on the earth innumerable processions corresponding to the celestial ones, also celebrating the feast — but how miserable ! how dark ! how full of breaks ! To look upon
June Catherine Emmerich. 155 u I saw a vision of the institution of the Most Blessed Sacrament. — The Lord sat at the centre of the long side of the table. On His right v as John ; on His left a graceful, fine-looking Apostle very like to John. Next to the latter sat Peter who often leaned over him. The Lord sat and taught for awhile, then He arose and all the rest with Him. They looked on in silence, wondering what He was about to do. He took up the plate with the bread, raised His eyes, made incisions in the bread with a bone knife, and broke it into pieces. Then He moved His right hand over it as if blessing it, at which moment there flashed from Him into the bread a bright ray of light. Jesus became all resplendent, drowned, so to say, in the splendor which spread over all present. The Apostles now grew more recollected, more fervent. Judas was the only one that remained in darkness, repulsing the light. Jesus raised His eyes, elevated the chalice, and blessed it. — For what I saw passing in Him during this ceremony, I have but one expression : I saw and felt that He was transforming Himself. The bread and chalice shone with light. Jesus placed the morsels on a flat plate like a patena and, taking them one by one in His right hand, He communicated all present, commencing, I think, with His Mother who advanced to the table between the Apostles opposite Jesus. I saw light issuing from the Lord's mouth, and the bread shining and entering into that of the Apostles under a luminous human form. All were filled with light, Judas alone was dark and gloomy. The Lord then raised the chalice by the handle and gave them to drink — and here, again, I beheld a flood of light streaming over the Apostles. After the ceremony, all stood for awhile filled with emotion, and then the picture vanished. The morsels that the Lord gave the Apostles were like two little rolls joined in the middle d^vvn which wasafun ,w."
The above vision was followed by others relating to the changes that have been introduced in the form of the Sacrament, Its distribution and worship, of which Sister Emmerich relates the following : u I saw that in course of time whiter bread was used for the Blessed Sacrament, and the morsels were smaller. Even in the time of the Apostles, I saw St. Peter, at Jerusalem, giving only a morsel to communicants ; at first it was square, but at a later period it was round. When the Apostles dispersed, the Christians having no churches as yet, but only halls in which they assembled, the Apostles kept the Blessed Sacrament at their homes. When they carried It to the place of assembly, the faithful followed reverently, whence originated procession* and public veneration. Later on, the Christians got possession of the great pagan temples which they consecrated, and in which was preserved the Blessed Sacrament. When men communicated, they received the Sacred Host in their hand and then swallowed It ; but the women made u-e of a small linen cloth. Up to a certain time, they were allowed to take the Sacred Species to their homes. They hung It around their neck in a little box, or casket, with a gold drawer wherein It reposed folded in linen- When this custom ceased to be general, it was still permitted to certain very devout persons. I had a vision also of the Holy Communion under two kinds. In the early ages and afterward at certain periods, I saw the faithful very enlightened, full of faith and simplicity ; but later, I beheld them straying, misled, and persecuted. I saw the Church inspired by the Holy Spirit, introducing various changes in her discipline when devotion and veneration toward the Blessed Sacrament had grown weak. Among those that separated from the Church, I saw the Sacrament Itself cease. I saw the Feast of Corpus Christi and public adoration instituted at a time of great coldness. Incalculable graces were thereby bestowed upon the whole Church. Among many other pictures, I saw a great celebration in a city known to me, I think Liege, and in a far-off, warm country, whence come fruits like dates, I saw Christians assembled in church. The priest was at the altar, when a frightful tumult arose outside, and a brutal tyrant appeared riding a white horse. He was surrounded by his followers. He led by a chain a raging wild beast which struck terror into all the beholders. The man's intention seemed to be to force the animal into the church by way of insult) and I thought I heard him say that he would show the Christians whether their God of bread were really a God or not* The people looked on in horror, whilst the priest, turning toward the entrance, gave benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. — Instantly, the furious beast stood spellbound ! The priest advanced still holding the Sacred Host, when the animal meekly fell on its knees, and the tyrant and his followers were completely changed. They knelt to adore, and entered the church confused, humbled, and converted. — Last night I endured pain so violent that I often cried out. It passed through all my members, and I was shown pictures which explained to me its cause ; viz., sins committed against the Holy Eucharist. I had also a picture which I cannot describe. I learned from it that Our Lord Himself watches over the parishes of bad priests in most wonderful ways and animates the people to piety." On June 2d the Pilgrim found Sister Emmerich calm but very suffering, retaining but a slight remembrance of her visions of the preceding night. She had again seen St. Clare of Montefalco's garden. St. Clare explained to her that its eight divisions, of which three were already under cultivation, signified the eight days of the octave of
That afternoon Sister Emmerich, in obedience to an inspiration, sent for a man who often abused his wife. She exhorted him in words so earnest to treat her kindly, that he was moved to tears. The wife, also, came to be consoled and encouraged by Sister Emmerich's counsel, and the children whom she had clothed for the feast thanked her most gratefully. Then her pains recommenced. Every member was convulsed, the wounds in her hands grew red, the middle fingers contracted, and thus she lay in unmitigated suffering till the evening of June 7th. Once she said whilst in ecstasy that she was now enduring an excruciating trial, that she had reached the fig-tree in the southern end of the garden (St. Clare's) and that she had eaten one fig which contained all sorts of torments. Four beds still remained to be cultivated (four days of the octave). Sister Emmerich had no relic of St. Clare of Montefalco ; but the saint came in virtue of her connection with the Augustinian Order, to which Sister Emmerich belonged, and because their sufferings had been similar. u 0 that these four days were over ! ?> sighed the Pilgrim, " for her sufferings do but increase ! " And yet it was not without regret that the poor invalid saw morning dawn upon her nights of dreadful agony. At nighi she could at least suffer in peace, whereas day added its burden of vexations and interruptions to her weighty cross. On June 5th, she had a vision of St. Boniface: — uj knelt before the Blessed Sacrament in a church in the middle of which were high seats, and there I saw the holy Bishop surrounded by people of every age in ancient costume, some even in the skins of beasts. They were simple and innocent. They listened open-mouthed to their holy Bishop. Around him shone a light like rays from the Holy Spirit which fell in various degrees upon his hearers. Boniface was a tall, strong, enthusiastic man.
160 Ufe of He was explaining how the Lord marks out His own, imparting to them at an early hour His grace and Spirit. — 1 But/ said he, 'men must co-operate. They must carefully preserve and make use of such graces, for they are only given that their possessors may become instruments in the hand of God. Strength and ability are given to each member that it may act, not only for itself but for the whole body. The Lord gives vocations even in childhood. He who does not labor to maintain the life of grace and make use of it for his own good and that of others, steals from the body of the faithful something which belongs to it, and becomes thereby a robber in the community. Man should reflect that in loving and assisting a member of the Church, he is loving and assisting a member of one and the same body, a chosen instrument of the Holy Spirit. Above all, should parents look thus upon their children. They should not prevent their becoming the instruments of the Lord for the good of His Body, the Church. They should maintain and develop the life of grace in them and aid them to a faithful co-operation, since they can form no idea of the great injury they do the faithful by a contrary line of conduct.' — It was also shown me interiorly that, Respite men's wickedness and the decadence of religion, the Church has had in every age living, acting members raised up by the Holy Spirit to pray and lovingly to suffer for her. Whilst these living members remain unknown, so much the more efficacious is their action.— The present age is no exception. Then I saw shining out through the darkness that envelopes the world, scenes of holy souls praying, teaching, suffering, and laboring for the Church. Of all the pictures that rejoiced and encouraged me in my sufferings, the following did me most good: — I saw in a great maritime city far away toward the south a sick nun in the house of a pious, industrious widow. The nun was shown me as a holy person chosen by God to suffer for the Church and other intentions. She was tall, extremely emaciated, and marked with the stigmata, though it was not publicly known. She had come from a suppressed convent and had been received by the widow who shared her means with her and some priests. The piety of the inhabitants of the city did not please me. They had many exterior devotions ; but they gave themselves up not less ardently, on that account, to sin and debauchery. u Far away from the last-mentioned city, off toward the west, I saw in an ancient convent lately suppressed, an infirm old lay-brother confined to his room. He, too, was shown me as an instrument of prayer and suffering for his neighbor and the Church. I saw the sick, the poor, and many in affliction receiving consolation and assistance from him. Again I was told that such instruments are never wanting', that they never shall be wanting to the Church of God. They are always placed by Divine Providence where they are most necessary, nearest the centres of corruption." On Wednesday, June 7th, 9 o'clock P. M., occurred the crisis of Sister Emmerich's present suffering. The pains left her bones, and the intolerable agony she had endured for the last days sensibly abated. She fell into a state of utter prostration, unable to move a limb, utter a sound, or give the least sign of life. Her confessor became uneasy. He put several questions to her which she understood, but to which she could answer only after the lapse of some hours. Then, weeping and stammering like a child, she begged him to pardon her silence, and told him that her pains had ceased. Next morning, Thursday, she lay like a corpse, but without pain. As she herself remarked she had fainted just as she reached the goal, and death seemed inevitable. The doctor spoke of quinine, but she made him understand that she was without fever and that in such paroxysms she generally experienced chilly sensations. " God alone can help me," she exclaimed (1), and then went on to say that Jesus, her Spouse, had sweetly relieved and consoled her ; that Clare of Montefalco had appeared to tell her that the work in the garden was finished ; the vine was the Blood of Jesus Christ; the fountain, the Blessed Sacrament ; that the wine and water had to be mingled together ; and that the rosebush near the fountain signified the sufferings in store for her toward the end of her life. She was too weak to give further details, excepting that, at break of day, she had recited the u Te Deum" the u Seven Penitential Psalms/' and the u Litanies/' and now she was to have four days of uninterrupted rest to commune with God alone. When she recalled her pains of the last eight days as well as the mercy of God to her, she could not restrain her tears. Her friends were touched with compassion at her altered appearance. And yet not one of them, not even the Pilgrim, dreamed of taking her words literally and granting the longed-for repose. He writes : June 9th — u She is pale as a corpse, but she is allowed no rest since no one wards off annoyances from her. After her last martyrdom in union with Christ's Passion, she spoke of three days' repose, as the Body of Jesus had lain that time in the tomb, but she knows not whether she will get it. The doctor wanted to rub her with liquor; but the confessor, who expected her death, would not allow it.'' — Sister Emmerich could with difficulty ward off the Pilgrim's questioning, because as he says : "From her interior state (1) " No remedy bas ever been able to interpose an obstacle to the designs of Clod over her. We are blind, blind in everything. Science itself is but specific blindness." — (Brentano's Notes).
graces appeared as costly sacred vessels, precious stonea, pearls, flowers, grapes, and fruits. The procession was headed by children in white, followed by nuns of all the different Orders especially devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, all wearing a figure of the Host embroidered on their habit. Juliana of Liege walked first. I saw St. Norbert with his monks and numbers of the clergy, secular and regular. Unspeakable joy, sweetness, and union reigned over all " I had pictures referring to the defects in divine worship and how they are supernaturally repaired. It is hard for me to say how I sawjt, how the different scenes blended and harmonized, one explaining another. One thing was especially remarkable: viz., the failings and omissions in divine worship on earth only increase the indebtedness of the guilty. God receives the honor due Him from a higher order. Among other things I saw that when priests have distractions during the sacred ceremonies, Mass, for instance, they are in reality wherever their thoughts are and, during the interval, a saint takes their place at the altar. These visions show frightfully the guilt of carelessly celebrating the Holy Mysteries. Sometimes I see a priest leaving the sacristy vested for Mass ; but he goes not to the altar. He leaves the church and goes to a tavern, a garden, a hunt, a maiden, a book, to some rendezvous, and I see him now here, now there, according to the bent of his thoughts, as if he were really and personally in those places. It is a most pitiful and shameful sight ! But it is singularly affecting to behold at this time a holy priest going through the ceremonies of the altar in his stead* I often see the priest returning for a moment during the Sacrifice and then suddenly running off again to some forbidden place. Such interruptions frequently last a long time. When the priest amends, I see it in his piety and recollectedness at the altar, etc., etc. In many parish churches I saw the dust and dirt which had long defiled the sacred vessels cleared away, and all things put in order." On the night of June 12-13, Sister Emmerich was consoled by visions on the life of St. Anthony of Padua. u I saw the dear saint," she said, u very handsome and noblelooking, quick and active in his movements like Xavier. He had black hair, a nose long and beautiful, dark, soft eyes, and a well-shaped chin with a short, forked beard. His complexion was veiy fair and pale. He was clothed in brown and wore a small mantle, but not exactly in the style of the Franciscans of the present day. He was very energetic, full of fire, yet full of sweetness too. u I saw him eagerly entering a little wood on the sea-shore and climbing a tree whose lower branches extended over the water. He sprang from bough to bough. He had hardly seated himself when the sea suddenly rose and inundated the thicket, and an incredible number of fishes and marine animals of all kinds were borne in on the waves. They raised their heads, looked quietly at the saint, and listened to him as he addressed them. After a little while, he raised his hand and blessed them, when the sea receded carrying them back to the deep. Some remained on the shore. The saint put them back carefully into the waters which bore them off. I felt as if I were lying in the wood on a soft bed of moss. By me lay a wonderful marine animal, flat and broad. The head was round as a battle-axe with the mouth underneath ; the back was green streaked with gold. It had golden eyes, and golden spots on the lower part of the body. There it lay floundering from side to side. I tried to drive it away by striking it on the back with my handkerchief, and I also chased off an enormous spider which was forward, his arms under his little mantle, as if affirming something. After this he pushed his way through the crowd and left the place. It was a large meadow planted with trees and surrounded by a wall. It extended from the city to the shore, and was full of people walking about or listening to the saint. — Then I had another vision : Anthony saying Mass in a church, the broad road leading to it from the city gate filled with an expectant crowd, and the man who had disputed so hotly with him driving up to the city an immense ox with long horns. Meanwhile, the saint having finished Mass, walked solemnly to the churchdoor, bearing in his hands a consecrated Host. Instantly, the ox began to struggle ; it freed itself from its master, and j-n rapidly up the street toward the church. The owner and several others pursued it, the tumult became general, women and children fell one over the other, but the ox could not be caught. When, at last, it reached the church, down it knelt, stretched out its neck, and bowed humbly before the Blessed Sacrament which Anthony, standing at the door, held up before it. Its master offered it hay, but the animal noticed it not, changed not its position ; whereupon, the whole crowd including the owner prostrated humbly, praising and adoring the Blessed Sacrament. Anthony reentered the church followed by the people. Then only did the ox arise and allow itself to be led back to the city gate, where it ate the food presented it. i(I saw a man accusing himself to Anthony of having kicked his mother, and in another scene I saw the same man so contrite in consequence of the saint's exhortations, that he was about to cut off the foot that had done the wicked deed. But St. Anthony suddenly appeared before him and restrained his arm." June 15th — UI turned toward the Blessed Sacrament to
Annt Catherine Emmerich. 169 anxiety, and I saw that another spiritual director was shown her to whom she was to make known the revelation, since the first one had paid no heed to her. Whilst she was in prayer, 1 saw in the distance a Pope likewise engaged, and near him the number IV. Urged by a vision and in consequence of a certain favor some one had received from the Blessed Sacrament, he resolved to establish the feast in the Church. Between these two pictures, I found myself again in the church before the Blessed Sacrament. I saw come forth from It first a shining finger, then a hand, and lastly, there stood before me a youth resplendent with light and covered with pea»^s. He said : 'Behold these pearls ! Not one is lost, and all may gather them.? The whole world was illumined by the rays that shot from the glorious youth. Then I poured out my soul in thanksgiving for I knew by this picture that the Blessed Sacrament with all Its graces has, at length, become an object of special devotion among the faithful. u Toward midday I beheld on the horizon over a lovely, fertile plain, five broad, luminous bands, like the sun in color and brilliancy, which united to form a dome overhead. They came from five great, distant cities like the bands of a rainbow in the blue sky. On the dome in indescribable splendor, was enthorned the most Blessed Sacrament in a richly adorned monstrance. Above and below the five arches hovered myriads of angels going to and fro between the cities and the Blessed Sacrament. The pomp attending this picture, the devotion and consolation it inspired, I cannot express " June 1 7th — " As I was fainting with desire for the Blessed Sacrament, a dying religious was shown me (Juliana Falconieri). She could not always receive Holy Communion, on account of her frequent vomiting. But to console her, the then I saw for my own consolation, a picture of her glory in heaven. The Church has always had such members, w June 1 8th — St. Ignatius consoles and assists Sister Emmerich : — u During my last great sufferings, I had by me the relic which Dean Overberg sent me. All at once, it became brilliant and, as I prayed to know what relic it was, I saw a resplendent figure surrounded by a white aureola, descending toward me from on high. The light issuing from the relic united, as usual, with that from the apparition, and I heard interiorly these words : c That is one of my bones. I am Ignatius!' After that I had a long night of horrible torture, of expiatory sufferings. It was as if a knife were being slowly buried in my bre^t and then turned round and round on all sides, and my wounds pained so intensely that I could not repress my groans and complaints. I cried to our Lord for mercy. I begged Him not to let me suffer beyond my strength, for I feared I should yield to impatience. I gained by my prayers an apparition of Our Lord, under the form of a youth, my Spouse, and I was inexpressibly c ^soled. In a few words, which I cannot repeat precisely He said : — 'I have placed thee on My nuptial couch of pain. I have lavished upon thee the graces of suffering, the treasures of atonement, and the jewels of good works. Thou must suffer, but I shall not abandon thee. Thou art bound to the vine, thou wilt not be lost.'-— In such words as these the Saviour consoled me, and I suffered patiently and quietly the rest of the night. Toward morning I had another vision of St. Ignatius. I saw his relic shining. I invoked the dear saint, whom I now knew, and clasped his relic lovingly and reverently. I called to him through the sweet Heart of Jesus. He immediately came a3 before, the two lights uniting, and again I heard the words : i That is my bone V — He consoled me, telling me that he had received everything from Jesus. He promised to stand my friend, to assist me in my labors, to relieve me in my pains, and he bade me make the usual devotions in his honor during the following month. Then he arose in the air and vanished, after which I saw some scenes of his life. " I thought that I lay on a little bed at the entrance of a church whose choir was shut off by a grating. There were some people in the church, but not many. In the choir were about twelve of St. Ignatius's companions, among whom I recognized Francis Xavier and Favre. It seemed as if they were about to start on a journey. They were not all priests. They wore a habit something like that of St. Ignatius, but not exactly like it. It was very early, and still quite dark ; the candles were burning on the altar. St. Ignatius, not entirely vested for Mass, a stole around his neck, and attended by another who carried the holy water, passed down the church among his companions and gave the blessing with the asperges. I, too, prepared to receive it. He came, indeed, to my little bed and sprinkled me abundantly. At the same instant I experienced a sensation of sweet relief throughout my whole being. Returning to the sacristy, he came forth again in full vestments and went to the altar for Mass, during which a flame suddenly appeared over his head. One of the twelve ran with outstretched arms to his assistance ; but, when he saw his countenance all on fire, he respectfully retired. Then, when Mass was over, I saw the saint led from the altar by his companions. He was bathed in tears and so agitated as to be unable to walk. His Mass usually lasted an hour, much longer than our ordinary Masses. u After that I saw the men whom I had before seen in the maritime city, introduced to the Pope. He was in a large hall seated on a magnificent chair before a table covered with papers and writing materials. The Pope wore a short cloak ; I think it was red. I know for certain that he wore a red skull-cap. At the door were standing several ecclesiastics. The companions of Ignatius entered. They knelt before the Pope, and one spoke in the name of all. I do not remember distinctly whether Ignatius was there or not. The Pope blessed them and gave them some papers. Then I saw some other pictures of the saint's life. I saw him make so earnest a confession of his past life to a bad priest , that the latter burst into tears quite converted. Again, I saw him whilst on a journey, suddenly leave his companions and go to a house in which dwelt a bad man, a slave to his passions. I saw the latter trying to elude the saint who, however, caught him. Falling on his knees before him, he embraced him and implored him to think of his salvation. The man was converted and followed him. I saw the .saint in a beggar's garb, journeying alone through a gloomy, mountainous district, and the devil lying in wait for him under the form of a dragon with a thin body and a great, crispy head. Ignatius drove his stick into its neck from which there immediately issued fire. He then pinned him down firmly with a stake, took up his stick, and coolly went on his way.? That evening the Pilgrim found the invalid reciting in a low voice and without a book the Office of St. Ignatius in Latin. When finished, she related what follows : — " I received from Ignatius such comfort and kindness, I saw him so penetrated with ardent love for Jesus, that I turned earnestly and reverently toward him, and his apparition descended from on high in a beam of light, the most holy name of Jesus shining in his heart like a sun. Then
I wanted to make some devotions in his honor, when lo ! words and antiphons streamed toward me from him, and I found great sweetness in this gift of prayer." She concluded her devotions with the prayer: u Or atio recitanda ante imaginem Sancti Ignatii. A prayer to be recited before the image of St. Ignatius." The following night St* Ignatius again appeared to her and strengthened her to endure her pains. Next day she related the following vision to the Pilgrim : — " I saw Ignatius and Xavier and their intimate union of heart in Jesus Christ. I saw them shedding around consolation and relief whilst they instructed and served the sick and incurable. As I contemplated their powerful and efficacious action among the people, my heart turned to them with the words : — c If during your life as frail creatures, you so loved and served in the strength God gave you, O how much more efficacious must be your influence now that you revel in light and love ! See, here are your sacred relics which once labored so much for your fellow-men ! O help us still ! Work, pour around grace, O ye perfect vessels of the fountain of grace ! ?— Then all things earthly vanished, and I saw the two saints in heaven standing together in a sphere of light. St. Ignatius's aureola was perfectly white; Xavier's of a rosy tinge, something like the glory of a martyr. And whilst I gazed upon them, whilst life and light streamed down upon me from them, my sold rose up and gave back as it were in heart-felt, earnest prayer the light and love God shed upon me through them. Just as I received yesterday the prayer to Ignatius, so to-day words of love and joy flowed into my soul, and I called all creatures to praise and to invoke ; my heart swelled and poured itself out in jubilation. I praised and prayed through all the choirs of the blessed, and the whole heavenly court was set in mo tion. My prayer went up to God through Our Lord Jesirs Christ, to Christ through His holy Mother, to the holy Mother through all the saints, and to all the saints through Ignatius and Xavier. It seemed as if I knew exactly what flowers and fruits, what perfumes, what colors, what precious stones and pearls were the purest, the most agreeable to iny God ; as if from the inexhaustible abundance of these treasures, I had lovingly made and presented to Him a crown, a pyramid, a throne ; and as if all precious things streamed down to me in the light from the two saints. '' — (That afternoon the Pilgrim having read to her an old canticle of Sts. Ignatius and Xavier, in which all creatures are invited to praise them, she exclaimed : u That's it! That is just the way I prayed to them ! ") u In this jubilee of prayer and praise and supplication, the vision continued to unfold before my soul ; but with this change, I went with the two saints into the Heavenly Jerusalem. What words can describe the joy, the bliss? the splendor that I there beheld ! It was not as when I saw it before with its walls and gates, a city seated on the summit of the mountain of life; but it was an immense world of light and splendor, the streets stretching far and wide in all directions, and all in perfect regularity, order> harmony, and unending love. High up, over the centre of the city, in light incomprehensible, I see the Most Holy Trinity and the twenty- four ancients, and below in a world of glory, the angelic host. I see the saints in their different ranks, bands, and hierarchies, all in their own palaces, on their own thrones, and in their various relations. They with whom I am more particularly connected , whom I honor most frequently, whose relics I have, are more distinct to me, or rather I am nearer to them, and they introduce me to the others. — I have seen, also, their wonderful influence.
li The streets were paved with pearls in all shapes and figures, and some of them also with stars. I thought in my simplicity (for it was stupid nature thinking) : i Look ! there are the stars that we see above the earth V — I saw, too, Augustine and his whole Order, and Bishop Ludger with a church in his hand as he is usually represented, and many others with their various insignia, some of whom I recognized, among therr St. Joachim and St. Anne. I was quite sure about the last-named, as this is Tuesday, the day on which I always honor holy Mother Anne. Both held a green branch and, as I knew not what it signified, I was given to understand that it was a sign of their ardent desire for the advent of the Messiah who was to spring from them according to the flesh. Then I had visions of their ardent desires, their prayer, mortification, and penance. u The whole night I was consoled in the midst of my pains by these contemplations. I cannot repeat all the magnificent things I saw, nor their truth and clearness. The figures were not thrown together at random, but they formed one grand whole — one explained another, lived and loved in the other. During this vision my heart beat with joy, my lips sang canticles of praise." Whilst relating the above, Sister Emmerich, though lying in death- like exhaustion, was full of joyful emotion, and tears flowed down her cheeks. June 21st — The Pilgrim found her to-day, as the confessor also thought her, nigh unto death, but full of gladness at the remembrance of her last night's vision. She had assisted in spirit at the celebration of the Feast of St. Aloysius : " I was at a grand spiritual festival, a great solemnity with numerous processions : maidens in white with lilies in their hands carried the Mother of God on a throne, and then came St. Aloysius borne by youths also in white. The saint wore them carrying him around in their arms and, in spite of his fever and sufferings, he always smiled on them sweetly. — I saw him in another very grand house. He was always a gentle, earnest boy. Again, I saw him sitting in the midst of ecclesiastics, speaking to them gravely whilst they listened in deep attention, highly edified at his words. They seemed to be preparing him for Holy Communion but, enlightened by God, the pupil taught his masters. He was filled with wonderful devotion and intense desire for the Holy Eucharist. Wherever he was, wherever he went, he always turned toward the Blessed Sacrament in some church. He often drew on the wall of his room a chalice with a Host or a monstrance, before which he prayed with inexpressible devotion, quickly effacing it on the approach of any one. It reminded me of St. Barbara whom I had seen doing the same in her prison. I saw him afterward in a church receiving Holy Communion, the Sacred Host shining before him and, as it were, flying into his mouth. Then I saw him in the convent, his cell so small as to admit of no furniture but a bed. I often beheld him radiant with light when he disciplined himself and prayed. It was told me that his greatest sin had been a distraction for the space of an Ave Maria at the end of a prayer which had lasted all day. Aloysius's companions loved him very much. They used to follow him to the door of his cell which, however, he would never allow them to enter for fear of their praising his poverty. I always saw him, even in infancy, with his eyes lowered. He never looked any woman in the face. It was no affectation in him, but an act of self-renunciation which guarded his purity. — Through God's grace I never knew that necessity, and I often wonder when I read such things in the saints7 lives." —
Sister Emmerich wept when the Pilgrim told her that St. Aloysius's father had tried to prevent his entrance into religion. June 27, 1822 — "I had a painful labor to perform in a church in which, through fear of profanation, they had walled up the Blessed Sacrament in a pillar. Mass was said secretly in a cave below the sacristy. I cannot say where this was, but the church was very old and I was in dread of the Blessed Sacrament's being exposed to danger. Then my guide exhorted me to pray and to ask prayers of all my acquaintances for the conversion of sinners and, above all, for faith and perseverance for the clergy. — ' For terrible times are approaching, non-Catholics will use every artifice to oppress the Church and snatch from her her possessions. The troubles will ever increase. ' " — For several subsequent days Sister Emmerich experienced intense pains in her stigmata. She exhibited all the symptoms of dropsy, the malady of a poor woman living in France and which Sister Emmerich had taken upon herself. During it she was occupied in a labor of prayer that had been imposed upon her. The following is her account : u I was taken by my guide up an immensely high stair-case and I saw people in prayer coming from all directions, drawn, as it were, by threads. I was on the top of the stair-case, but still about five feet below a great, dazzlingly bright city, or rather a world. An immense blue curtain was drawn aside to allow me to gaze into the magnificent scene. Rows of palaces and flower-gardens ran toward the centre where all was so brilliant that one could not look upon it. Wherever I turned my eyes, I beheld hierarchies of saints and angels whose intercession I implored. The virgins and martyrs were the first to present their petitions before the throne of God, and they were followed by the other choirs. The Most Holy Trinity appeared to draw near to them like the sun breaking through the clouds. The angelic choirs were composed of small, delicate forms swimming in light. The cherubim and seraphim were winged spirits, their wings formed of sparkling rays, and I saw the choirs of angels and guardian- angels. Among the holy virgins I saw souls who had lived in the married state, St. Anne and others of early times, St. Cunegundes and other chaste spouses, but not Magdalen. There were no birds or animals in the gardens. When I looked down from the steps on which I stood all was gray to right and left — it was blue only behind the curtain. I saw islands, cities, fields, and gardens, earthly regions which appeared in proportion as my thoughts wandered toward them. I saw all sorts of people praying, their prayers mounting like pennants, like written scrolls to the hearts of the blessed from whose countenance they shot in dazzling rays to the throne of God. I saw some of these scrolls turning black and falling down again to earth, and some unfinished ones taken up and offered by others. It was like an exchange between men and between the saints and angels. There was great movement among the latter as they bore aid to the needy and miserable : for instance, to ships in distress. Last night, though very sick, I was carried away by my guide. It was strange how curious I was to know what was behind the blue curtain ! — I thought the Mountain of the Prophets lay to the left as I ascended." On July 1st, she added the following : — u I think my wounds of the Crown must have bled during my great vision on the intercession of the saints, for I saw so much of the Dolorous Passion ! Whilst the saints in turn offered before the throne of God their share of compassion for sinners, I saw all Christ's sufferings and the sympathy they excited, all the thorns of the Crown, and other things relating to the Passion." Toward the close of August, 1820, Sister Emmerich suffered inexpressibly from the continual sight of the tep idity and indifference of both priests and laics toward the Most Blessed Sacrament, and, side by side with the latter, she beheld honest pagans aspiring after salvation. " I saw/7 she said, u in all places priests surrounded by the graces of the Church, the treasure of Jesus Christ's merits as well as those of the saints ; but they were tepid, they were dead. They taught, they preached, and offered the Holy Sacrifice most slothfully. — Then a pagan was shown me standing on a pillar and addressing a multitude below. He spoke so feelingly of the new God of all the gods, the God of a strange people, that his hearers were seized with the same enthusiasm as himself. — I am assailed day and night by these visions, I cannot get rid of them. Present misery and decadence are always shown me side by side with past good, and I have to pray unceasingly. 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. I saw the A and the 0, and how all is contained in the 0 (1). I understood the signification of the circle in the spherical form of the earth and the heavenly bodies* the aureola of apparitions, and the Sacred Host. The connection between the mysteries of the Incarnation, the Redemption, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was also shown me, and I saw how Mary compassed what the heavens themselves could not contain. These pictures extended through the whole of the Old Testament. I saw the first sacrifice offered and the mar(1) The Alpha and Omega.
vellous significance of holy relics when placed in the altar on which Mass is said. 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. I looked in and saw Adam's skeleton entire with the exception of the right arm and foot and a part uf the right side. Through the latter I could see the ribs of the left side. In the right side lay Eve's skull exactly in the spot whence the Lord had drawn it, I was told that Adam and Eve's resting-place has been a point of dispute, but they have always lain just where I saw them. There was no mountain on this spot before the Deluge ; only in consequence of that event did one appear. The tomb was untouched by the waters. Noe had in the Ark a portion of their remains which he laid on the altar when offering his first sacrifice. Abraham did the same at a later period, the bones of Adam having come down to him through Sem. The bloody sacrifice of Jesus upon Calvary over the bones of Adam was a foreshadowing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass over relics placed under the altar-stone. For it the sacrifices of the patriarchs were but a preparation. They, too, possessed sacred relics by which they re* minded God of His promises. The five openings in the Ark were typical of the Saviour and His Church* At the time of the Deluge fearful disorders reigned over the earth and mankind was steeped in vice. They plundered and carried off whatever they pleased, laying waste their neighbor's houses and lands, and dishonoring the matrons and maidens. This passage of Scripture : 'The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair,' signifies that the pure stock, 'born of God, not of the flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of men (1),' mingled with impure races, gave (1) (John i. 13).
birth to a powerful people in an earthly human sense, and so sullied the line from which the Messiah was to spring. Noe's own relations were corrupt, all save his wife, his sons and their wives, who dwelt in his immediate vicinity. They used to build in those early times great stone buildings, and erect around them tents or huts of oiser. The further Noe's family removed from him, the worse they became, the more corrupt in their morals ; they even robbed him and revolted against him. It was not that they were rude or savage, for they lived quite commodiously in wellarranged households; but it was because they were given up to vice, to the most abominable idolatry. They made idols for themselves out of whatever pleased them best. u I saw Noe, an artless old man, in a long white robe* He was walking in an orchard pruning the trees with a crooked bone knife. Suddenly a cloud hovered over him, in it a human figure. Noe knelt and received the commission to build an ark, as God was about to destroy the world by a flood. The news saddened him very much, and I saw him praying that the punishment might be averted. He deferred compliance with *he order. The Lord again appeared to him, repeated His command, and told him to begin the work at once unless he wanted to perish with the rest of mankind. Then I saw him leaving his home with his family and going to an uninhabited district where there was plenty of wood. He took agreat many persons with him, and they all established themselves in tents. They had an altar on which to offer sacrifice and before which they daily prayed at the beginning and close of their labor. A long time elapsed before the work was completed, as Noe frequently discontinued it for years at a time, hoping that Almighty God would relent. Three times did God warn him to go on with it ; each time Noe engaged more workmen, but again discontinued it u I was told that in the Ark, as afterward in the cross, there were four kinds of wood : palm, olive, cedar, and cypress. I saw them felling the trees and fashioning them on the spot. Noe himself carried all the wood on his shoulders to the place of building, just as Jesus afterward carried His cross. The place chosen for the construction of the Ark was a hill surrounded by a valley. First they built the keel of the vessel which was rounded in the back; it was like a trough and was smeared with pitch. There were three stories. The two upper were supported by hollow posts formed from the rough trunks of trees and covered with large leaves, and another kind of wood was used for the light planks. I saw them punching the pith out with some kind of an instrument When Noe had carried and prepared all the materials, the building was commenced. The bottom was put in and smeared with pitch, then holes made and filled with pitch into which the posts were firmly placed. On these was laid the second floor with another row of posts all around ; and, lastly, the third floor with the roof. The spaces between the posts were inclosed by brown and yellow laths placed crosswise, the holes and chinks filled up with a sort of wool and white moss which grew very abundantly around certain trees. Then the whale was covered with pitch. The roof of the Ark was also rounded. The door was in the middle of one side, a little more than half-way up, with a window on either side, and in the centre of the roof there was likewise a square opening. When the Ark was entirely covered with pitch, it shone like a mirror in the sun. Noe continued to work a long time alone on the compartments for the animals, for all had separate places. There were two passages through the middle of the Ark. Back in the oval part was a wooden altar concealed by hangings, and a little in front of the
Temple where in time of danger a pit had been dug wherein to hide the sacred vessels, candlesticks, and censers. I saw several of the last named with two handles. In the centre of the pit was placed the sacred fire of the altar, and over the top were laid all kinds of beams } the whole was then covered with earth so that the spot was not noticeable. The beam which formed the trunk of the holy cross was found here. It had formerly been a tree by the brook Cedron. Its lower branches shot out over the water and came, at last, to be used as a bridge. After the hill had been levelled, it was used for various purposes. I sawNehemiah, when returned from captivity, making excavations around the pit in which the sacred fire had been buried. He found a mass of black mud formed by the swampy earth, from which he removed the vessels. When he smeared the sacrificial wood with it, it immediately burst into tiame^' Sister Emmerich's visions now changed from the Mosaic to the Christian era, and she saw men clothed with the highest spiritual and worldly dignity vieing with one another in honoring the Most Blessed Sacrament. " I saw the holy Pope Zephyrinus who, on account of his zeal for the dignity of the priesthood, suffered much both from Catholics and heretics. He was very strict in the admission of candidates whom he closely examined and of whom he rejected many. Once out of an immense number he chose only five. I often saw him disputing with heretics who unrolled parchments, spoke angrily, and even snatched his writings from hhn. Zephyrinus exacted cbedience from priests, sending them here and there, and silencing them if they would not obey. I saw him send a man, not yet ordained, to Africa, I think, where he became a Bishop and a great saint. He was a friend of Zephyrinus and a very celebrated man. I saw the Pope exhorting the faithful to bring him their silver-plate, wheu he replaced the wooden chalices ofthe churches by silver ones. The cruets were of clear glass. Zephyrinus retained the wooden vessels for his own use; but as some were scandalized at it, he had them partly gilded, and all the rest he gave to the poor. I 6aw him contracting debts for the relief of a poor family, whereupon one of his female relatives reproached him for running into debt for strangers rather than for his own poor relations. He replied that he had done it for Jesus Christ, at which she indignantly withdrew. Now, God had allowed him to see that, if he did anything for this woman, she would be perverted. — I saw that he caused candidates for the priesthood to be examined and ordained in presence of the faithful. He drew up strict rules for their observance when Bishops celebrated, assigning to each his own rank. He also ordained that Christians of a certain age should receive the Blessed Sacrament at Easter in the church. He no longer permitted them to carry It to their homes suspended from their necks in a box, since It was often taken into improper places where feasting and dancing were going on. Zephyrinus bore deep veneration for the Mother of God, and he had many visions of her life and death. He arranged a bed for himself just like the couch on which she had died. He always kept it concealed by a curtain, and with fervent devotion he used to lie down to rest in the same position in which he had seen her die. He also wore secretly under his robe another of sky-blue in honor of Mary's sky-blue mantle. — I saw him receiving again, after their canonical penance, sinners who had been separated from the faithful for adultery and impurity. He had disputes on this point with a learned priest(Tertullian) who was too rigid and who afterward fell into heresy. " It was shown me how St. Louis of France at the age of seven prepared by a rigorous fast for his First Communion. He told this to his mother. She had accompanied him to the church to implore the Mother of God for light as to whether her son should receive Holy Communion or not. Mary appeared to her and said that her son must prepare foi* seven days and then communicate, that she should receive at the same time and offer her boy to her (Mary) and she would ever be his protectress. I saw that all took place as was directed, and I learned that religious instruction at that period was both given and received in a different and more earnest manner than in our day. In all his expeditions Louis had the Blessed Sacrament with him and, wherever he encamped, the Holy Sacrifice was offered. — I saw him on the Crusade. Once during a violent tempest the crew of his own vessel and those of the other ships, cried to him for help, begging him to intercede with God for their delivery from danger. As the Blessed Sacrament was not on board, the saintly king took up a new-born, baptized infant, went on deck, and held it up in the storm, begging God to show pity for its sake. Then, turning slowly around, he gave benediction with the child and the storm instantly ceased. He afterward exhorted his grateful people to an increase of devotion toward the Blessed Sacrament, telling them that, if God had wrought so great a miracle for the sake of an innocent baptized child, what would He not do for the sake of His only Son V9 Side by side with such scenes as the above, Sister Emmerich beheld others of a different nature intended to animate her to renewed zeal in her task of prayer and expiation.— ' In a certain city I saw over a gay party of ecclesiastics and seculars, men and women who were feasting and jesting, a heavy black fog stretching off into a region of darkness. In it sat Satan under a hideous form, and around him as many devils as there were guests in the assembly below, all busily engaged in inciting the latter to sin, whispering to them and inflaming their passions. They were in a dangerous state of excitement and they freely conversed in a light and wanton strain. The ecclesiastics belonged to the number of those whose motto is, 'Live and let live ! J — who argue thus : ( In our day one must not be singular, one must not play the misanthrope ; rather let us, Rejoice with those that rejoice.1 — And in such dispositions they daily celebrate Holy Mass. I saw but one young girl in the party still perfectly innocent, and that was owing to her devotion to her patron, a saint whose name is well known and whom she was in the habit of invoking. I saw how they bantered her and tried to lead her astray. But over her appeared abreak in the darkness through which her patron shed light upon her and kept the evil spirits aloof. Then Satan from his dark circle called out to the saint, asking what he wanted and how he dared encroach upon his rights ; he boasted with a contemptuous smile that all the priests below were his, since in their present state they said Mass daily, thereby plunging deeper into his meshes. The saint bade him retire, telling him that, through the merits of Jesus Christ, he had no right over the girl whom he could not even approach. Satan boastingly retorted that he would yet catch her, that he would make use of a stranger who had once made an impression upon her,and who would soon do the work. — Satan's figure was horrible: short arms with claws, long feet and knees turned outward so that he could not kneel even if he wished ; his face was human, but cold, wicked, fearful, and he had certain appendages like wings. He was black and obscure, spreading darkness wherever he went. As I was surprised to hear him speaking of his right s, I was told that he really did ac quire a positive right over every baptized person who> though endued with the power of Jesus Christ to resist him, yet freely and voluntarily delivers himself up to sin. — This vision was most impressive and affecting. I knew the people as well as the girl protected by her patron. u I went to several dying persons, and one case touched me deeply. A worldly, dissipated woman lay on her death-bed. She would not be converted ; she had no faith, she disdained the Sacraments. I made the Stations for her with some souls. Then we prostrated before the crucifix of Coesfeld and prayed so perseveringly that the Saviour detached His hands from the cross and descended. Instantly I found myself again by the dying one before whom stood the Saviour clothed in a mantle which He opened to show His Wounds. The woman was seized with fright, entered into herself, made a contrite confession, and died. . . . " I went with my guardian-angel into seven churches to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and to offer the Passion of Jesus Christ in atonement for the injuries and affronts, committed against It by bad priests. The patron of each of the churches was present, and joined in the devotion with my angel. The prayers we said were like litanies. Two of these churches were in distant lands over the great waters; I think the people were English." On Sunday, August 28th, the Pilgrim found her toward noon still in ecstasy, praying with her arms extended. When returned to consciousness, she was unable at first to recall her surroundings or the hour of the day ; but after some time she related the following : — " This morning I had to say prayers enjoined upon me last night. First, I heard a Mass here in our own church, after which I saw the Pilgrim communicate, and this was followed by several other Masses. I saw all the faults and negligence of both priests and seculars, and endured all kinds of sufferings on their account. I offered up all for them, presenting to God in reparation His Crucified Son at each elevation of the Host. I did this not only here, but in all the churches, perhaps a thousand, to which I was transported most wonderfully and rapidly, for I went into all I had ever visited in Europe or elsewhere. What I saw could not be told in twa large volumes. I saw here and there, even in our own country some deeply pious people ; but, for the most part, tepidity reigns. I saw piety in the Low-Countries, in a district bordering on the sea. In Switzerland I saw some good parishes in the midst of bad ones ; and, again, in the north of Germany and the Polish district, where there are priests whom I joften see. In Italy I saw many zealously serving God in the old, holy way, and others thoroughly bad and insolent. At the close of this manifold labor of prayer, I had toward noon a picture of St. Peter's which seemed to be floating above the earth in the air. Crowds, great and small, priests and laics, women and children, yes, even old cripples, ran to support it. I was in an agony lest the church would crush them all, for the foundations and the lower part seemed to be crumbling away ; but the people put their shoulders under it and held it wi. In so doing, they all became of the same height and every one was in his right place, the priests under the altars, laymen under the pillars, and the women under the entrance. Still I feared that its weight would be too much for the supporters, when I saw the heavens open above it and the saints sustaining it by their prayers and helping those below. I was hovering and flying in the air between the two. Then I saw the church borne forward a short distance, and a whole row of houses and palaces in front of it sank into the earth like a wheat-field trodden under foot. The church was deposited in their place. Then I had another picture. I saw the Blessed Virgin over (he church surrounded by Apostles and Bishops, and below a grand procession and solemn ceremonies. I saw all the bad Bishops who thought they were able to act by themselves, who received not for their labors the strength of Christ through the intercession of their saintly predecessors, driven out and replaced by others. I saw immense blessings descending from heaven and mTiny changes effected. The Pope regulated everything. I saw numbers of poor, simple-hearted men arise, many of them quite young. I saw many aged Church dignitaries who had entered the service of bad Bishops and neglected the interests of the Church, now on crutches as if lame and paralyzed, led by two persons to receive pardon." At the close of this labor undertaken that the Unbloody Sacrifice might be offered in a becoming manner, Sister Emmerich had another very comprehensive vision. In it was shown her the Holy Mass as the line of demarcation between men both in time and in eternity ; and she saw also its cessation at the time of Antichrist. "I had/7 she says, "a great picture of the Church, but I can no longer give the details in order. I saw St. Peter's surrounded by fields, gardens, countries, and forests; and I saw multitudes from all parts of the world, many of whom I knew naturally or by my visions. Some of them were entering the church and others passing it indifferently. A great ceremony was going on. Over the church floated a luminous cloud from which came out the Apostles and holy Bishops and formed into choirs above the altar. Among them were Augustine, Ambrose, and all who had labored for the exaltation of the Church. It was a grand solemnity and Mass was being celebrated. In the middle of the church on a desk lay a great open book with three seals hanging from one side and two'from the other. I saw the Evangelist John, and I was told that the book contained the revlations he had had at Patraos. Before it was opened something happened which I have forgotten, and it is a pity there is a break here ! The Pope was not present, he was concealed somewhere. I think the people knew not where he was, and I do not remember now whether he was praying, or whether he was dead. All present, the laics as well as the clergy, had to lay their hand on a certain passage of the Gospels. Upon many of them descended as a sign a light from the holy Apostles and Bishops, but for many others the ceremony was only an empty form. Outside the church I saw numbers of Jews who wanted to enter, but could not as yet. At the close of the ceremony there came a great crowd, an innumerable multitude ; but the great book was suddenly shut as if by an invisible power. Tt reminded me of the evening in the convent when the devil blew out my candle and shut my book. All around in the distance I saw a terrible> bloody combat, and off toward the north a great battle going on. The whole picture was grand and imposing. I am sorry I have forgotten the passage in the book on which they had to put their finger. "
CHAPTER 3. The Souls in Purgatory. — The Angels. — The Heavenly Jerusalem
We have already spoken of Sister Emmerich's compassion for the souls in purgatory, her unremitting prayers and sacrifices for them. We shall here give those visions which refer to them particularly, as also the various good works undertaken by her for their relief. The first Feast of All-Souls that the Pilgrim spent in Diilmen, the invalid noticed in him that general indifference toward the dead, that comforting assurance with which the living look upon their deceased relations and friends as no longer in need of special assistance ; consequently, she often repeated with a sigh : "It is truly sad to think how few help the poor souls in purgatory. Their misery is so. great ! They cannot help themselves, though they may be so easily relieved by prayers, alms, and suffering offered for them! O how joyful they then are ! — as happy as a thirsty man to whom a cool drink is given.77 When she saw that her words produced a deep impression, she went on to say how powerful are meritorious works offered for the poor souls ; for example, acts of self-abnegation and mortification of self-will, victories gained over evil inclinations, acts of patience, meekness, humility, forgiveness of injuries, etc. — u Ah ! how many poor souls are left to suffer in consequence of lukewarmness, want of zeal for God's glory and the salvation of the neighbor ! What can help them except satisfactory works, acts of those virtues which
Life cf Anne Catherine Emmerich. 197 they themselves neglected most on earth ? The saints in heaven can no longer do penance, they cannot satisfy for them. — Help can come only from the children of the Church Militant. And how the souls long for it ! They know that no good thought, no earnest desire to help them is lost ; and yet, how few trouble themselves about them ! A priest who says his breviary devoutly with the intention of supplying for the failings the poor souls have still to expiate, can procure for them incredible consolation ; yes, the power of the sacerdotal benediction penetrates even into purgatory and, like a celestial dew, refreshes the souls to whom it is sent in the spirit of faith. One who could see all this as I see it, would certainly try to relieve them as far as he is able," Above all, did Sister Emmerich pity the poor souls whose friends send them to heaven at once in reward for natural good qualities, or those to whom relatives bear so soft and foolish an affection as not to be able to endure the idea of their needing the purifying flames of purgatory before their admittance to the enjoyment of God. Such souls she always saw among the most suffering and abandoned. u Immoderate praise," she used to say, u is a theft committed to the prejudice of those upon whom it is lavished.'7 One day, after a conversation with her on the relations existing between the survivors and the deceased, the Pilgrim wrote down the following, which embodies the most salient points of their discourse: — u All that man thinks, says, or does, has in it a living principle for good or evil. He who sins should hasten to efface his faults by the Sacrament of Penance, otherwise he will not be able to prevent the full or partial consequence of his crime. I have often seen such consequence even in the physical sickness and sufferings of many individuals and in the curse attached to cer tain places. I am always told that a crime unpardoned, unexpiated, entails an infinity of evils. I have seen such chastisements extending to posterity as a natural and necessary consequence ; for instance, the curse attached to illgotten goods, and I have felt involuntary horror in places where great crimes were once perpetrated. This is as natural, as necessary as that a benediction should bless and what is holy, sanctify. I have always had an intuitive perception of what is sacred arid of what is profane, of what is holy and what unholy ; the former attracts me, the the latter repels, disquiets, and terrifies me, forcing me to resist it by faith and prayer. This impression is especially keen near human remains, nay more, near the smallest atoms of a body once animated by a soul. The feeling is so strong that I have always thought there exists a certain relation between soul and body even after death, for I have felt the most opposite emotions near graves and tombs. Near some I have had a sensation of light, of superabundant benediction and salvation; by others a sentiment of poverty and indigence, and I felt that the dead implored prayers, fasts, and alms ; by many others I have been struck with dread and horror. When I had to pray at night in the cemetery, I have felt that there brooded around such graves as the last named a darkness, deeper, blacker than night itself, just as a hole in black cloth makes the blackness still deeper. Over them I sometimes saw a black vapor rising which made me shudder. It also happened sometimes that when my desire to render assistance urged me to penetrate into the darkness, I felt something repulsing my proffered aid. The lively conviction of God's most holy justice was then for me like an angel leading me out from the horrors of such a grave. Over some, I saw a column of gray vapor, brighter or darker ; over others,one of light more or less brilliant ; and over many others, I beheld nothing at all. These last made me very sad, for I had an interior conviction that the vapor, more or less brilliant, issuing from the graves, was the means by which the poor souls made known their needs, and that they who could give no sign were in the lowest part of purgatory, forgptten by everybody, deprived of all power of acting or communicating with the body of the Church. When I knelt in prayer over such graves, I often heard a hollow, smothered voice, as if calling to me from a deep abyss : * Help me out V and I felt most keenly in my own soul the anguish of the helpless sufferer. I pray for these abandoned, forgotten ones with greater ardor and perseverance than for the others. I have often seen a gray vapor slowly rising over their empty, silent tombs which by the help of continued prayer grew brighter and brighter. The graves over which I saw columns of vapor more or less bright, were shown me as those of such as are not entirely forgotten, not entirely bound, who by their own expiatory sufferings, or the help of their friends, are more or less consoled. They have still the power to give a sign of their participation in the Communion of Saints, they are increasing in light and beatitude, they implore that help they cannot render themselves, and what we do for them they offer to Our Lord Jesus Christ for us. They remind me of poor prisoners who can still excite the pity of their fellow-men by a cry, a petition, an outstretched hand. A cemetery, such as I have described, with its apparitions, its different degrees of light and darkness, always seemed to me like a garden all parts of which are not equally cultivated, but some allowed to run to waste. When I earnestly prayed and labored and urged others to the game, it seemed as if the plants began to revive, as if the ground were dug and renewed, as if the seed sprang forth under the beneficent influence of the rain and dew. Ah ! if all men saw this as I see it, they would surely labor in this garden with far more diligence than I ! Such cemeteries speak as plainly to me of the Christian zeal and charity of a parish, as do the gardens and meadows around a village proclaim the industry of its inhabitants. — God has often allowed me to see souls mounting joyously from purgatory to Paradise. But as nothing is accomplished without pain and trouble, so too when praying for the dead, I was frequently terrified and maltreated by lost spirits even by the demon himself. Loud noises and frightful spectres surrounded me, I was pushed off the graves, tossed from side to side, and sometimes an invisible power tried to force me out of the cemetery. But God strengthened me against fear. I never recoiled one hair's breadth before the enemy, and when thus interrupted, I redoubled my prayers. 0 how many thanks I have received from the poor, dear souls ! Ah ! if all men would share this joy with me ! What a superabundance of grace is upon earth, but forgotten, despised, whilst the poor souls languish for it ! In their manifold sufferings they are full of anguish and longing, they sigh after help and deliverance ; yet, how great soever their distress, they still praise Our Lord and Saviour, and all that we can do for them is a source of unending bliss." All-Saints and All-Souls (1819). u I made a great journey with my guide, how I know not. At such times I neither know who I am nor how I exist. I follow unquestioningly, I look, and I am satisfied. If I happen to put a question and receive an answer, well and good ; but if not, still I am satisfied. — We went over the city of martyrs (Rome), then across the sea, and through a wilderness to a place where once stood the house of Anne and Mary, and here I left the earth. I saw innumerable cohorts of saints of endless variety, and yet in my soul, in my interior, they were all only one, all living and revelling in a life of joy, all interpenetrating and reflecting one another. The place was like a boundless dome full of thrones, gardens, palaces, arches, flower-gardens, and trees, with pathways sparkling like gold and precious stones. On high, in the centre, in infinite splendor was the throne of the Godhead. — The saints were grouped according to their spiritual relationship : the religious in their Orders higher or lower, according to their individual merits ; the martyrs, according to their victories ; and laics of all classes, according to their progress in the spiritual life, the efforts they had made to sanctify themselves. All were ranged in admirable order in the palaces and gardens which were inexpressibly brilliant and lovely. I saw trees with little yellow luminous fruits. They who were associated by similar efforts to sanctify themselves had aureolas of the same form, like a supernatural spiritual habit, and they were otherwise distinguished by emblems of victory, crowns and garlands and palms, and they were of all classes and nations. Among them I saw a priest of my acquaintance who said to me : i Thy task is not yet finished !* I saw, too, legions of soldiers in Roman costume, and many people whom I knew, all singing together. I joined in a sweet song with them. I looked down on the earth which lay like a speck of land amid the waters ; but, where I was, all was immense. Ah ! life is so short, the end soon comes ! One can gain so much — I must not be sad ! Willingly and joyfully shall I accept all sufferings from my God !" November 2d — u I went with my guide into a gloomy prison for souls, where I consoled on all sides, The souls
Anne Catherine Evvmerich. 205 spirits have something sharp, violent, and penetrating in their countenance. They attach themselves with extraordinary tenacity to the human soul as insects to certain odors and plants, rousing in them all kinds of thoughts and desires. They are full of stings; of rays, of seductive charms. They themselves produce no act, no sin, but they withdraw man from the divine influence, lay him open to the world, intoxicate him with self, bind him, attach him to the earth in many ways. If he yields, he plunges into darkness, the devil draws near and marks him with his seal ; — now some act, some sin, and his separation from God is effected. I have clearly seen that mortification and fasting weaken the influence of these spirits and facilitate that of the angels, whilst Holy Communion is the most effectual means of resisting them. I have seen that certain inclinations and aversions, certain involuntary antipathies, and especially the disgust we have for certain things, such as insects, reptiles, vermin, etc., have a mysterious signification, since these creatures are images of those sins and passions to which, through their connection with these spirits, we are the most exposed. I was told that when one feels disgust for such things, he should recall his sins and evil propensities symbolized by them. I have seen such spirits presenting to people in church all sorts of toys and trinkets, filling their heads with all sorts of thoughts and desires, whilst their angels are busy recalling them to better things. I cannot relate these multiplied pictures. The great ones of the earth are attended by the most powerful both of the good and bad spirits. I have often seen a man receive a higher and more powerful guardian when called to great things. — I myself have had on more than one occasion a different guide. I have seen the angels that protect the fruits of the earth spreading something over the trees and gardens or storehouses for certain fruits and influences, 1 see places in which are souls who, although not Christian, yet led good lives on earth. They are now in uncertainty, feeling that some day or other their lot will change ; they are without joy or pain. Like the others, they feed upon certain fruits. u The moon is chilly and rocky ; full of high mountains, deep cavities, and valleys. She both attracts and repels the earth. Her waters are constantly rising **nd falling, drawing up masses of vapor from the earth which like great clouds fill up the hollow places ; again they appear to overflow and gravitate so powerfully upon the earth that men become melancholy. I see in her many human figures flying from light into darkness as if hiding their shame, as if their conscience were in a bad state. This I see more frequently in the centre of the moon. In other parts are fields and thickets in which animals roam. I never saw any worship offered to God on the moon. The soil is yellow and stony ; the vegetation like pith, fungi, or mushrooms. The moon exerts a wonderful influence over the earth and all nature. Men regard her so wistfully, because one naturally turnsto what belongs to him. I often see descending from her huge clouds like masses of poison which generally hang over the sea ; but the good spirits, the angels, scatter them and render them harmless. Certain low districts en the earth are cursed on account of sin there committed, and over them I see falling poison, darkness, fog. The noblest races live in the most highly favored regions. " The souls that I see hiding in darkness seem to be without suffering or joy, as if imprisoned till the Day of Judgment.— The moon's light is dull, of a bluish white, and the farther from the moon, the brighter it becomes. " Comets are full of baneful influences ; they are like birds of passage. — Were there not between them and the earth so great tempests and other influences exercised by the spirits, they might easily do the latter much harm. They are the abodes of the passionate spirits. Their tail, that i3 their influence, follows as smoke from fire. " The Milky Way is formed of watery globules like crystals. It seems as if the good spirits bathe therein. They plunge in and pour forth all kinds of dew and blessings like a Baptism.— The sun follows an oval path. It is a beneficent body peopled by holy spirits. It has no heat in itself ; light and heat are generated only around it. It is white and lovely and full of beautiful colors. " Many of the heavenly bodies are still uninhabited. They are beautiful regions awaiting a future population, gardens and storehouses of certain fruits. One can understand it only by representing to one's self a state perfectly well-regulated, a city, or a great, wonderful household in which nothing is wanting. Of all these bodies none has the grandeur or the internal force of the earth. The others possess certain special properties, but the earth comprises them all. The sin of Eve made us fall, but we can now become conquerors, for the poorest saint has a higher rank than the highest angel." Sister Emmerich related the above with the simplicity of a child describing its garden. u When a little girl," she continued, u I used to kneel out in the fields at night in the snow, and look up joyously at the beautiful stars. I said to God : i Thou art my true Father, and Thou hast so lovely things in Thy house — now, then, show them to me V — And He took me by the hand, and showed me everything — it all seemed perfectly natural. Full of joy I gazed at everything. I cared for nothing else." September 2; 1822, she related the following: "I went bodies as I had seen them before in a vision. We went around the whole earth and through all the celestial worlds, in which I saw innumerable gardens with their fruits and signification. I hope some time to be allowed to enter, for I want to get medicines and recipes to cure pious sick people. I saw the choirs of the blessed and sometimes, here and tliere, a saint standing in his sphere with his own distinctive insignia. Still soaring upward, we arrived at a world of unspeakably wonderful magnificence. It was shaped like a dome, like an azure disc, surrounded by a ring of light above which were nine other rings on every one of which rested a throne. These circles were full of angels. From the thrones arose many-colored arches filled with fruits, precious stones, and costly gifts of God, which met in a dome surmounted by three angelic thrones. The middle one was St. Michael's. Thither he flew and placed the tabernacle on top of the dome. Each of the three angels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael stood severally over a part of the dome formed by three of the nine angelic choirs, and four great, luminous angels, veiled with their wings, moved constantly around them. They are the Elohim : Raphiel| Etophiel, Emmanuel, and Salathiel, the administrators and distributors of God's superabundant graces, which they receive from the three archangels and scatter throughout the Church, to the four points of the compass. — Gabriel and Raphael were in long, white robes like a priest's. Michael wore a helmet with a crest of rays, and his body seemed encased in armor and girt with cords, his robe descending to the knees like a fringed apron. In one hand he held along staffsurmounted by a cross under which floated the standard of the Lamb ; in the other was a flaming sword. His feet also were laced. u Above the dome lay a still higher world in which I
Anne Gatlierine Emmerich 215 Sister Emmerich knew not the time of this battle, although she said it would happen in Italy, not far from Rome, where many ancient things would be destroyed and many holy things, unknown till then, would come to light. She related what follows : — u As I was once very much disgusted and discouraged, on account of the miseries around me and my own personal pains and troubles, I sighed : i O that God would grant me even one single day of peace, for I live as if in hell V — and then came a severe reprimand from my guide: c That thou mayest no more compare thy state to hell, I shall show thee hell.' and he led me toward the north by the side on which the earth makes a steep declivity. First we mounted high in the air.— I felt that the Mountain of the Prophets was on my right to the east, above which still further eastward I saw Paradise. I was carried northward over steep paths of ice until we reached a horrible region. I felt that we had gone all round the earth, to the steep descents on the north. The way down to hell was wild, dark, and icebound. When I reached the abode of terror, I felt as if I had come to a lower world. I saw a disc, a section of a sphere, and when I think of what I there beheld, I tremble in every limb. I saw everything in confusion : here, a fire, there smoke, everywhere pitchy darkness — a land of unending torments." September 24, 1820. — "I have had some rough work in the Nuptial House, but I could not finish. With a stiff broom quite unfit for the work, I had to sweep away a quantity of trash ; but I could not succeed. Then my mother came and helped me, as also the soul of her to whom I gave the picture of St. Catherine which I had received in a supernatural manner (1). She wore a little picture on her breast and See vol- 1-, chap XII souls are not tormented by devils. He was in another place of torment and surrounded by dogs, barking at him and tearing him, because he had during life subjected others to the same cruelty. Sometimes he was bound to a block in different positions and drenched with seething blood which ran through all his veins. The hope of deliverance was his only consolation. When he had told me the above he disappeared in the mountain, leaving the grass around him scorched and burnt. This was the third time I had seen him. u I was afterward transported with several souls whom the Lord had delivered at my petition, into a Franciscan convent in which a lay-brother was struggling in fearful deathagony. The convent was situated in a mountainous district ; it had not a large community and there were some seculars among them. The dying man had lived there three years. After a misspent life, he had entered the Order to do penance. It was night when I arrived. I found a troop of evil spirits raising a horrible din around the house. It was swept by a tempest. The tiles were flying from the roof, the trees beating up against the windows, and demons, under the form of crows, other sinister birds, and frightful figures, were dashing around the place and even into thecellof the dying man. Among the assistants at his deathbed, was a holy old monk around whom I saw many souls who had been delivered from purgatory by his prayers. The tumult increased and the monks fled in terror. But the good old man went to the window and adjured the evil spirits in the name of Jesus to say what they wanted. Then I heard a voice demanding why he wished to deprive them of a soul that had served them for thirty years* But the old monk, all the souls, and I myself resisted the enemy until we forced him to withdraw. He vowed that he would enter arms was a dark-skinned child which she incessantly killed, but which always came to life again. The mother was condemned to wash it white with her tears. Souls can shed tears, otherwise they could not weep in the body. The poor creature begged my prayers and related to me her fault, or rather I saw it all in a succession of pictures. She belonged to a Polish city and was the wife of an honest man who kept an inn for the accommodation of ecclesiastics and others of retired life. The wife was thoroughly good and pious and had a very holy relative, a missionary in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Her husband being obliged to absent himself from home for a short time, there came to lodge at the inn a stranger, a wicked wretch, who, using violence, forced her into sin. This drove her almost mad. She repulsed the miserable man, but he refused to leave the house even when her husband's return drew near. Her agony of mind became frightful. The fiend suggested to her to poison her seducer, which she actually did, when remorse well-nigh drove her to despair; and, yielding again to the evil one's whisper, she later on destroyed the fruit of her womb. In her misery, she sought a strange priest to whom she might confess. A vagabond disguised as a priest presented himself at the inn. She made her confession to him with unspeakable grief and torrents of tears. Shortly after she died, but God, in His mercy, was mindful of her bitter repentance ; and, although unabsolved and without the Sacraments, yet He condemned her to the place of punishment wherein I found her. She must by her own satisfaction complete the years God had destined for her child, before which it cannot attain to light. Such children have a growth in the other world. Five years after her death she appeared to her relative, the priest, during the Holy
Mass. I knew the pious old man ; he prajed in union with me. " On this occasion I saw many things concerning purgatory, and particularly the state of children put to death before or after their birth ; but I cannot relate it clearly, I will pass it over. Of one thing I have always been certain and that is, that all good in soul or body tends to light just as sin if not expiated tends to darkness. Justice and mercy are perfections in God ; the first is satisfied by the second, by the inexhaustible merits of Jesus Christ and the saints, and by the works of faith, hope, and love performed by the members of His spiritual Body. Nothing done in the Church in union with Jesus is lost. Every pious desire, every good thought, every charitable work inspired by the love of Jesus, contributes to the perfection of the whole body of the faithful. A person who does nothing more than lovingly pray to God for his brethren, participates in the great work of saving souls." April 12, 1820. — A young peasant-girl having fallen into sin and dreading her parents' anger, had secretly given birth to a child which died shortly after in consequence of the mother's imprudence. She hid the body away, but it was soon discovered. The affair was deeply afflicting to Sister Emmerich; she suffered and prayed incessantly for the guilty one's repentance. She said : u I know the girl. She came to see me about a year ago, and since Christmas I have often seen her in vision covered up in a mantle. I always had a secret dread of its concealing something bad. I saw her last at the time for her confession, but she was not in good dispositions. I prayed for her and warned her confessor to pay particular attention to her — but she went not near him ! Last night I was occupied with her and greatly distressed at her state. Although she is rather
Anne Catherine JUrnrnerich. 221 simple, she is not altogether innocent of the child's death. I saw the whole affair and prayed much for her. — Then I remembered the two ex-Jesuits to whom I had gone to confession in my youth, and I thought, 'How piously they lived ! How much good they did ! Nothing like this ever happened in their time I*— but whilst these thoughts were passing through my mind, the two holy men appeared to me, both in a very good state. One of them fed me to his sister with whom he had formerly lived and whom I knew. She was in a very singular place, walled up as it were in a narrow, dark, four-cornered hole in which she could only stand upright ; but she was quite content and patient. She had many companions in the same position. Soon I saw her pass to a more roomy prison in front of the other. I could never have imagined that so pious a person would have anything tc expiate ! She begged me to come oftener to see her. I spoke for some time with the holy old priests and asked them something " For a long while I have had interior lights on the state of children dying without Baptism, and I have seen the unspeakable blessings, the treasures they lose when deprived of this Sacrament I cannot express what I feel on beholding their loss ! I am so grieved to hear of such a death that I offer to God my prayers and sufferingi in satisfaction for the neglect, that the want of charity in some may be compensated for by the body of the faithful, by myself as one of its members ; therefore it was that I was so distressed about the child of the unhappy girl. I offered myself to God in satisfaction." April 10, 1820. — " Last night I had a painful vision, a difficult task. Suddenly there stood beside me the shining j&oul of a good wife of Coesfeld. Sh6 had been deeply devoted to her husband who seemed to be a good, pious mto, I had not thought of that couple for a long time. The wife died and the husband married again, but I knew not the second wife. The soul said to me : ' At last I have been permitted by God to come to you* My state is a happy one, but my husband's gives me pain* During my last sickness he had with his present wife very sinful intercourse, and now in marriage he does not live with her in a Christian manner. I fear for his soul and-that of his wife/ On hearing this I wondered, for I had always thought him so good. She told me much more and begged me to warn .her husband, who was coming to see me. — I went with her to Coesfeld. I could see distinctly over the whole road, for she shone like a sun. This greatly rejoiced me. I recognized every turn of the road and found many places changed. She led me into her husband's house in which I had often been before ; in it, also, I found changes. We approached the bed of the married pair who lay asleep. The wife seemed to perceive us, for she sat up. I spoke to her a long time, bidding her reflect on her state and lead her husband to do the same. She promised everything. I think the husband will come to see me and, since the soul has so earnestly begged me to pray for him and give him advice, I feel a little anxious as to how I shall introduce the subject if he does not begin it himself." Labor for Two Sovereigns. October 6, 1820. — " I have had a picture of a pious Franciscan of the Tyrol who foresaw great danger menacing the Church in consequence of a political convention about to be held. He had been commanded to pray unceasingly for her, and I saw him doing so in a little convent on the outskirts of a town. He knelt at night before a miraculous picture of Mary. I saw the demons trying to distract him by rais ing a great din in the church and dashing violently against the window-panes under the form of crows. But the good monk was not disturbed ; he went on praying with extended arms. — As a consequence of his prayer, I beheld three figures drawing near to my bed: the first was a being like my guide ; the others were souls seeking prayers ; one a Catholic prince of Brandenburg, the other a pious Austrian emperor. They had been sent by the Franciscan's prayer to ask my help, for he had seen the same dangers as I. They petitioned to be raised to a higher state in which they would be better able to influence their present successors on earth. I learned that such souls have more influence over their descendants than others. Something very remarkable now happened to me. Their conductor took my hands himself and held them up. I felt his hand, smooth and soft and airy like down. As often as I allowed my hands to sink, he raised them up again with the words : 4 Thou must pray longer ! J — This is all I can remember.'7 October 8th — u Returning from Rome with my guide, I went again to the Tyrol to see the pious Franciscan to whose prayer I was indebted for the visit from the sovereigns whom I had seen before in the mill (1). He is the same old religious that lately chased the demons from the death-bed of his dying confrere. When I arrived he was praying as usual, his arms extended, to ward off danger from the Church. He held his rosary in one hand. When he retired to rest, he used to hang it around his neck. — I went from here with my guide and a beautiful, resplendent lady (I think Mary), to a charming high mountain on which were all sort of fruits and lovely white animals gamboling among the bushes. Higher up we came to a garden full of magnificent roses and other kinds of flowers. In it were H> See pa#e 212, Vol. II figures walking around. Here I saw the two sovereigns who had been promoted. They approached the gate (for I could not go to them) and again begged prayers that they might mount still higher where they could better influence their descendants for the welfare of the Church. — How I longed for some of those roses ! I wanted a whole apronful ! I thought if Abbe Lambert's foot were bound up in them, it would surely do him good. But my guide gave me only a few which were of no use." — We see by the above that she asked for expiatory sufferings sufficient to obtain the Abbe's cure ; but she received no definite assurance of obtaining them. Feasts of All-Saints and All-Souls, 1820. For some time previously to these feasts, Sister Emmerich suffered in every member for the souls in purgatory, sitting up in bed whole nights, and counting every hour. Like a child, she was unable to help herself Consumed with thirst yet unable to drink ; ardently desirous of assisting the souls, yet feeling herself bound as it were in chains ; tortured until she lost consciousness, yet preserving the utmost patience and tranquillity — thus she prepared for the Feast of All-Souls. On November 1st, she said : " I have had an indescribably great and magnificent vision, but I cannot well express it. I saw an immense table with a red and white transparent cover. It was laden with all sorts of dishes. They were all like gold with blue letters around the rim. Flowers and fruits of every description lay there together, not broken from their stems, but living, growing, and though consumed, eternally renewed — the mere sight of them gave strength. (1) Bish(1) Tbat is, one was nourished by merely gazing upon them ; but the strength, the nourishment they imparted lay in t£e interior perception of their essence, in their jign location ops and all their clergy who had had charge of souls, appeared at the table as stewards and servers. Around it, seated on thrones or standing in half-circles were troops of saints in their choirs and orders. As I stood at the immense table, I thought the innumerable choirs around it were in one garden ; but on looking more closely, I saw that each choir was in a separate garden and at a separate table. All received, however, a part of everything on the great table. And in all the gardens and fields and borders, the plants and branches and flowers were living as on the great table. The fruits were not eaten ; they were received by a certain conscious perception. — All the saints appeared with their various distinctive characteristics: many Bishops had little churches in their hands, because they had built churches; and others, croziers, as they had only discharged their duties as pastors. By them were trees laden with fruits. I wanted so badly to give some to the poor that I shook them (1). Quantities fell upon certain regions of the earth. I saw the saints in choirs according to their nature and strength, bringing materials to erect a throne at one end of the table, and all sorts of garlands, flowers, and decorations for it. All was done with indescribable order as is proper to a nature exempt from defect, sin, and death ; all seemed to spring forth spontaneously. In the meantime, spiritual guards watched over the table. Twenty-four old men now seated themselves on magnificent seats around the throne with harps and censers praising and offering incense. An apparition like an old man with a triple crown and widespread mantle descended from on high upon the throne. In his forehead was a three-cornered light in which was a mirror which reflected everything : every one could see his own image therein. (1) Her earnest prayers drew down to earth the fruits of heaven.
mense height. Darkness lay to the right and left, and sometimes the path was so narrow that I had to go sideways ; below was the earth, shrouded in mist and obscurity, and mankind wallowing in misery and mire. Almost the whole night was passed in this painful ascent. I often fell and I should certainly have been dashed to pieces, had not my guidfe given me his hand and helped me to rise. It may be that we journeyed toward some point on the globe, for my guide pointed out certain places on our way wherein were accomplished various mysteries connected with the deliverance of God's people. I saw the countries over which the Patriarchs and later on the Children of Israel travelled. They seemed to spring forth from th~ darkness and grow distinct &s my guide pointed them out, appearing as deserts, great ruined towers, huge bending trees, marshes, etc. He told me that when these countries shall again be cultivated and Christianized, the end of time will draw nigh. Souls accompanied by their guides floated around us over the road, looking gray in the surrounding darkness. They did not come on the path, but fluttered by me and behind me the whole length of the way. They were souls lately deceased, for whom I had had to suffer and pray for some days past. Sts. Teresa, Augustine, Ignatius, and Francis Xavier had appeared and exhorted me to prayer and labor, promising that on this day I should know for what end. My road led to purgatory proper which lay below us, and I saw the souls entering for a purgation of about eight days, some more, others less. This they owed to my prayers which I still had to continue for them. I saw the planetary spirits, not yet damned, teasing and tormenting the poor souls, reproaching them, trying to make them impatient, etc. The part I entered was an immense, skyless region covered with foliage as with an arch. There were indeed some trees, fruits, and flowers, but the place breathed an air of melancholy ; in it there was neither actual suffering nor real happiness. There were innumerable other sections separated by vapors, mist, clouds, or barriers according to the different degrees of isolation to which the souls in them were condemned. This region was one between purgatory proper and heaven. On my arrival I saw a number of souls flying out three by three, each set accompanied by an angel, to a place on which a glimmering of light descended from on high — all were uncommonly joyous. They shone withcoloredlight which as they mounted became clearer and brighter. I received an instruction on the signification of their colors; ardent charity which they had not practised purely in life, emitted a red light which tormented them ; the white light was that of purity of intention which sloth had made them neglect ; green was that of impatience to which their irritability had made them yield; but the yellow and blue I have forgotten. As they passed me in threes they saluted and thanked me. I knew many of them, mostly people of the middle class and peasants. I saw indeed some of the higher ranks, but only a few. Though one can scarcely speak of rank in the other world, yet those who have received a more polished education are easily recognized. There is an essential difference between nations as may be detected in these apparitions. Strength, vigor, decision, distinguish the male sex ; whilst the female may be known by something soft, passive, impressionable — I cannot express it. There are angels here who nourish the souls with the fruits of the place. These souls exercise an influence over purgatory and the earth and have, too, a faint consciousness of heavenly beatitude. This with their waiting for its full attainment forms their last purification. Further on I came to a brighter region with more beautiful trees. They were angels going to and fro. I was told that this was the abode of the Patriarchs before Christ's descent into hell, and I saw where Adam, Abraham, and John had been. I returned home by a fatiguing road to the left and passed by the mountain where I had seen the man tormented by dogs ; but he was no longer there, he was now in purgatory." November 3d — "Last night I confidently invoked all the saints of whom I had relics. I begged especially my dear blessed sisters, Madeline of Hadamar, Columba of Bamberg, Juliana of Liege, and Lidwina to come with me to purgatory and help out the souls dearest to Jesus and Mary. I had the happiness of seeing many relieved and many delivered." November 4th — u Last night I went over almost the whole diocese. In the cathedral I saw all the carelessness and neglect of the clergy under the appearance of a place whose filth is skilfully covered over. I had to carry the dirt and rubbish to a stream which bore it away. — The fatigue was great, and I was almost exhausted. During my task the soul of the daughter of a woman of my country came to beg me to go with her to her mother's assistance. She was in purgatory. I saw the mother, a gossiping epicure sitting alone in a room like a little kitchen, incessantly moving and smacking her lips as if tasting and chewing. She implored me to stay with her all night. She, too, passed to a higher, a less painful abode. I accompanied and consoled her. "The planetary spirits act in purgatory. They reproach the sufferers with their sins. The poor souls are informed by angels of what goes on in heaven and on earth relative to the affairs of salvation, and are visited also by souls from Abraham's bosom. The soul of the daughter who called
Anne Catherine Emmerich, 231 were confined long-bearded men. Their souls were in a good state and they seemed to be doing penance. I consoled them. These places were shown me as terrestrial purgatories,— Afterward I visited some Bishops — one, a very worldly man, was giving a banquet to which even females were invited. I calculated the cost of the feast as well as the number of poor people it would have fed, and held it up before the Bishop. He grew indignant, but I told him that it was all being recorded by an angel holding a book and a rod above him. He replied that it was nothing, that others did still worse. — I saw that this was indeed true, but the chastising angel is every where/' In the midst of her painful spiritual labors for the suffering souls, Sister Emmerich had at the close of the octave a consoling vision in which she saw the effects of all the charitable works she had ever performed for them. u I was again in my father's house, and it seemed to me that I was going to be married. All the souls for whom I had ever prayed came with gifts of various kinds and placed them on the nuptial car. I could not make up my mind to take my seat in the coach and await the moment of departure, for I was confused at the sight of so many things ; therefore, I slipped under it and ran on before to the house in which the ceremony was to be performed. But in creeping under the car, I soiled my white dress which, however, I did not perceive until I had reached Martinswinkle. I was dreadfully annoyed when I caught sight of the stain. I knew not what to do. But Blessed Brother Nicholas came to my aid and took it every bit out with a little butter. The house of the marriage was noneother than tiie school-house to which I had gone in my childhood, and which was now greatly enlarged and beautified. The two holy old nuns were to be my bridemaids. Thencamemy Affianced and the bridal coacfa.
When I found myself in the school-house, I thought : Here I am for the third time. The first time I was brought as a child to school, and on the way the Mother of God with the little Boy appeared to me, promising that if I studied hard He should be my bridegroom ; the second time was when going to the convent I was espoused in a vision in this same house ; and now for the third time, I was come to it for the marriage celebration, — It was now magnificent and full of luscious fruits. The house and garden were elevated high above the earth which lay dark and desolate below. I was told that my creeping under the bridal car signified death incurred by impatience before the completion of my task, and the consequent loss of much merit." November 9th — " I have had to go into several neglected vineyards and cover up the grapes from the frost. I went also to three vineyards in the neighborhood of Coblentz where I worked hard. As I was thinking of applying to the poor souls for help, nine figures suddenly appeared around me with loads upon their backs, and a tenth laid down his and retired. I had to take on my shoulder and under my arm the long, heavy bundle and mount with the nine toward the east. The road was not an ordinary one ; it shone with light and ran straight on in the midst of fog and darkness. I soon fell, unable to support the load, when a bank suddenly appeared on the roadside whereon I rested it. The bundle contained a great human form, the same that two days previously St. Ignatius had shown me sunk in the mire, I understood by the Elector's cap fastened to his arm that he was one of the last Electors of Cologne. The nine others were his running-footmen. Not being able to keep up with them, the Elector had been dragged along by one of his men who, however, had grown weary of the task and banded it over to me. — Continuing our ascent, we arrived at a large, wonderful place at the gate of which were spirits on guard. The nine entered without difficulty ; but after my burden was taken from me and deposited in a safe place, I was shown to the top of a rampart surrounded by trees. I could see all around upon an immense expanse of water full of hills and fortifications on which multitudes of souls were working. They were kings, princes, Bishops, and people of other ranks, principally servants. Some of the kings had their crowns on their arms and others again, the more sinful, had them fastened to their lower limbs. All were obliged to labor at the works, digging, hauling, climbing, etc. I saw some continually falling and climbing up again. The servants drove on their former masters. As far as one could see there was nothing but ramparts and waters, excepting the few sterile trees near me. I saw the Elector whom I had carried, working hard. He was condemned to dig continually under the earth. The nine spoke to me. I had to help them In something, but in what I cannot now remember. There were no females in this place. It seemed to be less dreary than purgatory, for here there were movement and life ; here the souls labored, levelling and filling up. I was surprised to see no horizon, only the sky above, the laborers below, and to right and left a boundless expanse of space and water. u Opposite the last another region, or sphere, was shown me peopled only by females. My guide bade me cross over the water to it, but I knew not how. He said : l Obey by thy faith V and at once I began to spread my cloak on the water to cross on it, when lo ! a tiny raft appeared which bore me over without rowing. My guide floated by me just skimming the waves. In the sphere to which I was now introduced; was a huge square dwelling full of females of all classes, even nuns, some of whom I knew. They had numerous gardens to cultivate and here, too, the former mistresses were ordered about by their maids. The souls dwelt in bowers, and at the four corners of the abode floated four spirits on guard; they had little watch-houses hanging from the branches of high trees. All kinds of fruit were cultivated here by the souls ; but, on account of the clouds and fog, it does not ripen. What the souls here gained was handed over to some little, deformed creatures whom I saw wandering around in another region among huge icebergs. Rafts laden with this fruit were sent to them. They picked it over and, in their turn, passed on the best of it to souls in another place. Those on the iceberg were the soulsof barbarians, of nations never Christianized. — The women asked me what year it was and how affairs were progressing on earth. I told them and, also, that I thought very few would join them in the future, on account of the great sins committed on earth. I cannot remember what else I did there. — I returned by a narrow descending path and saw the Mountain of the Prophets, on which everything seemed even more flourishing than usual. There were two figures occupied under the tent with the books : one laid aside the .resh rolls of parchment, the other erased certain passages from them. As I glanced down I saw the tops of the highest mountains on the globe, the rivers looking like silver threads, and the seas glistening like mirrors. I recognized forests and cities. I descended, at length, near the Ganges. The road behind me looked like a slender beam of light which, like a lambent flame, was soon lost in the sun's bright rays. The good Indians whom I saw recently praying before the cross, had constructed for themselves in wicker-work a very beautiful chapel covered with verdant foliage in which they met for divine service. — Thence I
Anne Catherine Emmcriclt. 235 went to Persia, to the place where Jesus taught shortly before His Crucifixion. But nothing remains of it now, excepting some fine fruit trees and the traces of a vineyard which Our Lord Himself had planted. Then I went to Egypt through the land in which Judith dwells. I saw her castle, and I felt that she sighs more ardently than ever to become a Christian. 66 1 pursued my wonderful journey over the sea into Sicily where I found many places laid waste and deserted. I crossed a mountain-chain not far from Rome, and saw in a sandy plain near a forest of fir-trees a band of robbers about attacking a mill. As my guide and I drew near, one of them was seized with fright and cried out to his companions : ' Such fear comes over me ! I feel as if some one were behind us !' — and with that they all took to flight. I am so worn out by this journey, especially with dragging that heavy soul that I am aching all over. I saw and did extraodinary things, but many of them I have now forgotten.'' December 31st. — u I settled up accounts with myself for the closing year. — I saw how much I have lost, how much I have to repair. I saw my own misery, and wept bitterly over it! I had also many pictures of the poor souls and of the dying. I saw a priest who died yesterday evening at nine o'clock, a most pious, charitable man who nevertheless went to purgatory for three hours, because he had lost time in jesting. He was to have remained for years, but numerous Masses and prayers had shortened his punishment. I saw his sufferings during the three hours. When he was delivered I almost laughed to hear him say to the angel : ' Now I see that even an angel can deceive. I was to have been here but three hours, and yet I have been so long ! so long !' — I know this priest very well."
June 29, 1821, the Pilgrim, unknown to her, attached to the invalid's dress a little parcel containing the hair of a deceased woman and that of her two children, one having died without baptism a few hours after its birth, the other at the age of two months after receiving the Sacrament, Next day Sister Emmerich spoke, as follows : — "I have seen the life of St. Peter and scenes from that of Maria Marcus. At the same time, I had another picture of some poor souls to whom I was powerfully drawn, but whom I could not reach. I wanted to help a mother and her two children, but I could not. The mother was in a deep abyss to which I could not approach, and she spoke in a hollow, smothered voice scarcely intelligible. The children were in another sphere to which I had access. One was baptized and I could speak to it 5 it belonged to a higher sphere and seemed to be only on a visit in the place in which I saw it. When I tried to go to the mother, it seemed as if I became too heavy, I sank down unable to move. I tried every means of assisting her by prayer and suffering, but I could not go to her. I saw into a vast, dark region, a world of fog, in which are many spheres. The souls here confined are in restraint, pain, and privation, the necessary consequences of their earthly imperfections and transgressions. Some are in bands, others solitary. Their abodes are dark and foggy, more or less dense, damp or parched, hot or cold, with various degrees of light and color, the whole lit up by a glimmer of morning twilight. The children are nearest the entrance. The unbaptized suffer chiefly from their connection with sin and with the impurity of their parents ; the baptized are free and purified. One can approach the souls only by grace, meditation, prayer, good works,the merits of the saints, and sometimes by some good trait in their, the souls' own life on earth. The clearest idea one can form of their state is from those houses of correction which are conducted according to rules of perfect justice, in which the punishments inflicted, the satisfaction demanded exactly correspond to the faults committed. Let us imagine our corporeal separation set aside so that one can act in and for the other, and we may possibly gain some idea of the manner in which one can satisfy for, can deliver another. The poor captive can do nothing but suffer ; he is what a diseased or paralyzed member is to the body. But if the veins and nerves that connect it with the body are not entirely dead, the suffering of the affected part awakens a sympathetic chord in the other members which immediately seek to relieve their afflicted neighbor. As one enters such a house only by the intervention of friends and officials, and yet can by his own petitions, labor, payment of debts, etc., obtain pardon and again lead a happy life ; as they who are confined in deep dungeons can make their voices heard at a distance, though the sound be dull and muffled ; so, in some respects, can the same be done by the poor souls in the other world. On earth all is mingled with sin, lying, and injustice ; but in purgatory's abodes of purification, whatever tends to console and assist the poor inmates is executed with the most rigid and impartial justice. There is as much difference between the two as between the currency of earth and that of heaven. I made many attempts to understand the soul and to help her and her children ; but, when I thought I was about raising her up, something always prevented. At length, I pursuaded St. Maria Marcus to go with me (for the vision of these souls was always accompanied by another of the Feast of St. Peter and Maria Marcus). She went with me and, by her merits, I was enabled to draw nearer to the poor souls. I received also information respecting a poor unburied child whom I must have interred at the Pilgrim's expense. The woman's soul stands in need of this good work. She told me, also, what else was to be done for her besides continual prayer. I shall notify the Pilgrim of it in good time." Next day, a poor woman of Dulmen came begging money to bury her child aged three years. The Pilgrim gave the necessary sum and Sister Emmerich furnished the linen, which good wrork was offered for ,the benefit of the soul mentioned above. July 1st — "I was again with the poor mother and her little child, the latter of whom I had to clothe ; but it was so weak as to be unable to sit upright. I put on it a little dress given me by a lady, the Mother of God, I think. It was white and transparent and seemed to have been knit in stripes. I felt much ashamed, I know not why, unless it was of those who so neglected the little one. Before this the poor little thing could not stand, but now it went to a feast and played with the other children. The place in which this scene was enacted and in which the mother then was, was better, brighter than the one in which I had first seen them." (This vision took place after the burial of the child above spoken of). "The mother thanked me, but not as we do in this life. I did not hear, I merely felt. Great trouble is necessary to reach such souls, for they can do nothing of themselves. If one of them could spend only a quarter of an hour on earth, it could shorten its punishment by many years." July 3, 1821. — u I had to work in the cathedral cloister of Miinster? washing with great fatigue altar linen brought me by the priests of the whole country around. Clare of Montefalco, Frances of Rome, Louise, and other deceased nuns of our convent helped me. My share of the work was the starching and bluing. As my fatigue was great, I was continually running to look at the clock. Then came a poor soul whom the Pilgrim had recommended to my prayers. She gave me a little hour-glass which she took from her side, saying that she found it frightfully heavy. When I took it from her, she seemed unspeakably relieved and overjoyed to get rid of it. It did not seem to me to be so heavy and I returned to my work thinking I could sell it for the benefit of the poor, when lo ! my washing was all spoiled ! — I began to feel impatient, when the soul hastily returned and whispered in my ear : ' Gently, gently ! you have still time enough !' — She begged me earnestly to go on quietly with my work, as if my impatience would do her much harm. She left me, and I contentedly resumed my washing. I made over the spoiled starch so that I was able to use it. Again, I felt my eagerness return and a desire to look at the time, but I repressed it. — The clucks were symbols of time and patience. The poor soul was relieved by my quietly continuing my work and, when I took her hour-glass, her time no longer seemed so heavy." During the first week of July, 1821, a poor woman of Diilmen, in the pangs of childbirth, sent to implore Sister Emmerich's prayers ; the latter beheld the woman's alarming condition and ceased not her supplications that the unborn babe might receive Baptism. The nurse hesitated but, at last, baptized the child which next day came into the world lifeless; the poor mother died about a week later. The child appeared to Sister Emmerich on the 8th, lovely and radiant with light. It greeted her familiarly, thanked her for its Baptism, and said : u Without it I should now be with the pagans." In consequence of the above incident, the invalid had the following vision : — July 13, 1821.—" I saw the life of St. Margaret of An tioch. Her father was a very distinguished pagan,a priest of Antioch, who resided in a splendid mansion almost like that of St. Agnes. There was a benediction attached to Margaret's birth, for she came into the world radiant with light. Her mother must have had some connection with Christianity, for I saw her die happily soon after the birth of her babe. She died with a great desire of Baptism and requesting that Margaret might be reared a Christian. The father gave the infant over to a nurse who lived in the country, an unmarried woman, who had had a child and lost it, and who was now a Christian in secret. So impiossed was she by the wonderful wisdom of her charge, that she became most pious and virtuous and reared the child in a truly Christian manner. I often saw her mother and the angels bending over Margaret's crib. On one occasion when the nurse took the child into the city to see its father, he wanted to present the little thing before his idols ; but «he struggled so violently that he had to desist, which circumstance very much provoked him. In her sixth year, I saw her placed by him at a school over which a pagan teacher presided. There were many children in it, boys and girls, with their mistresses. I often saw angelic apparitions and divine direction vouchsafed to Margaret. She learned all kinds of embroidery and how to make stuffed dolls. After a time her master sent her on a visit to her father who tried to make her sacrifice to his idols. She absolutely refused and was severely punished. Her young companions all loved her and aimed at being with her. I often saw her punished, yes, even flogged on account of her Christian tendencies. In her twelfth year I saw her shut up with youths charged to corrupt her, but she was always divinely protected. Once she was called upon tosacrificein the temple. She refused, and was again severely punished by her father, who set her with some others to guard sheep. A distinguished judge of Antioch, happening to pass, noticed the maiden and asked her of her father in marriage. She was then taken back to th«* city and, as she declared herself a Christian, she was submitted to trial and torture. Once I saw her in prison all bruised and mangled. As she knelt in prayer, her mother and an angel appeared and healed her, after which she had a vision of a fountain out of which arose a cross. By it she understood that her martyrdom was nigh. The fountain was typical of her Baptism. When her persecutors found her perfectly healed, they attributed the miracle to their gods ; but Margaret cursed their idols. I saw her led to execution, burned with torches, and cast into a ditch. She was tied to stakes with several others and sunk so deep that the water rose above her head. Margaret had plunged into the water with an ardent desire of its being to her a Baptism — aluminous cloud in the form of a cross descended upon her and an angel appeared bearing a crown. The miracle was witnessed by many of those around ; they immediately confessed Christ, were imprisoned and martyred. But now a mighty earthquake shook the place, the virgin's fetters were severed, and she came forth from the water safe and sound. Then arose a tumult, in the midst of which she was reconducted to her prison. As she stood in prayer, I saw a huge dragon with the head of a lion dart upon her; but Margaret thrust her hand into his jaws, made the sign of the cross, and forced his head into the ground. At the same moment two men with evil intentions rushed into her prison, but the earth trembled and they fled. I saw the maiden again led to a place where an immense multitude was assembled. Around her was stationed a troop of girls for the purpose of intimidating her ; but she
An?ie Catherine Emmerich. 243 to perform, but which they never could finish as certain tools were wanting. All cried to me to help them. With great fatigue I had to do this or that piece of work for them, mostly field-labors, whereby they were relieved. After each task I returned home, but only to set out again for another. I worked, also, for the clergy in their vineyards which were so full of sharp stakes that one could not move without hurting one's self. I slipped and a stake ran into the calf of my leg, which bled profusely, " and there did, indeed, appear in the spot specified a large, triangular wound. During these days she was subjected to a special torture as if certain parts of her body were compressed in a vice. August 30, 1821. — "Last night I worked hard for the poor souls and also for the Jews, both living and dead. My first assistance was given in a case of great misery. The soul of one of my country-women claimed my aid. I saw her being horribly scourged and maltreated, I heard her cries ; but I could not go to her. It seems that she had had a good, pious, but rather simple daughter, whom she had been in the habit of abusing cruelly; and for this she was now being punished. I suffered long for her. I must now find some means to rouse up the daughter, who is still alive, to pray for her mother's soul. " Yesterday, I saw a Jewish wedding, but I cannot now recall it." (There had been one in the city). u Last night the soul of a poor Jewess came and took me around to exhort her brethren to be converted and amend their life." — Then Sister Emmerich recounted various scenes in which Jews, living and dead, known and unknown, figured, and whom she visited in far-off lands even in Asia and near Mt. Sinai. She entered the store of a Jewess, of Coesfcld. She was busily arranging her goods, mixing up lacesandlinen of inferior quality with the superior in order to deceive customers. This fraud Sister Emmerich prevented by perplexing the woman in such a way that she could not find what she was seeking, could not open the drawers, etc. Greatly disquieted she ran in tears to her husband who, on hearing her trouble, decided that she had committed some sin, yielded to some bad thought perhaps for which she must do penance. Then Sister Emmerich received a certain power over her. She spoke to her conscience and made her feel so sensibly the wrong she wa3 about to do that the woman cried out to her husband for assistance and consolation. He ran to her, saying: "Now, do you not see that you did something wrong V9 — and the wife resolved to give a quantity of old linen and other alms to poor Christians in expiation of her fraud. She thus obtained pardon for many other sins. u I was taken by the soul of the old Jewess to the abode of Jewish souls to help and comfort many poor creatures belonging to Coesfeld, some of whom I knew. It is an isolated place of purgation, quite separate from that of Christians. I was deeply touched at seeing that they are not eternally lost, and I beheld their various pitiable conditions. I saw a poor, but uncommonly pious Jewish family who used to trade in old silver and little crosses as goldsmiths do, and who now had to work incessantly, melting, weighing, and filing. But not having the implements necessary, they could never finish anything, something obliged them continually to begin all over again. I remember making a bellows for them, and I spoke to them of the Messiah, etc. All that I said the old Jewess repeated and confirmed. I saw some of them swimming in blood and entrails which produced an ever-abiding loathing ; others running without a moment's rest ; some dragging heavy loads ; others constantly rolling and unrolling packages ; and others, again, tormented by bees, wax, honey — but it is inexpressible ! — u I visited all the Jews of this city. I went by night into their dwellings. The rabbi was perfectly inflexible, petrified as it were. He possesses no bond of grace. J could in no way approach him. Mrs. P — is chained down by the firm, fundamental principle that it is a sin even to think upon Christian truths. One must repel such thoughts at once, she thinks. The nearest to Christianity is the big Jewess who sells meat. If she were not such a cheat, she would receive still more grace. — But no one sympathizes with these people. I stood at her bedside and tried to influence her ; I told her many things. — She awoke in fright and ran to her husband, saying that she thought her mother had appeared to her. She was in great agony of mind, and she resolved to give an alms to poor Christians. u I was also among some Jews in a large street where none but their race reside. Very many of them are good and pious. Some are quite rich and distinguished. They have quantities of gold and jewels concealed under their floors. I could do them no good. — I went also to Thessalonica. In another great Jewish city I met many pious Jews whom later I saw assembling together and speaking as if the Messiah had come. They communicated to one another their various emotions and projects. I was also among some Jews who lived in caves near Mt. Sinai and committed numerous robberies and cruelties in the country around. I had to frighten them — perhaps for the sake of the Christian pilgrims as well as for that of the inhabitants of the place." September 18, 1 821 . — " I saw a peasant-woman returning from a village fair and a soul approaching and whispering something into her ear. The soul was a gray, sad'
246 Ufe of looking figure. The woman shuddered, seemed annoyed, and tried to believe it all imagination. She went into a room to speak to her servant, the soul still pursuing her with its remonstrances. Next morning she went again to the fair. Then the gray, sad-looking soul came and addressed me in a hollow, deep voice which sounded as if it came from the depths of a well, but in few words full of meaning. I understood that he was the peasant-woman's deceased husband who was detained a captive, because he had been in a fold in which the sheep went not to true pasturage ; they knew not their pastor, they could receive nothing from him. It is a terrible thing to live in such misery and blindness through the fault of one's ancestors, and to see it clearly only after death ! — He had been commissioned by God to remonstrate with his wife, and warn her not to follow the advice of false friends and enter into a lawsuit which would only result in the loss of her house and farm and reduce her daughter to poverty. She had married her son to the sister of a widow with whom she had so entangled her affairs that she was about to begin a suit fatal to her credit and property. The soul could find no rest until he had dissuaded her from such a course ; but, unhappily, he was in so restrained a state that he was unable to do more than disquiet her by interior reproaches. He continued his efforts but as yet with little success, for his wife attributed her uneasiness to imagination, disclosed it to no one, sought distraction in weddings, baptisms, and festivities, and harkened to domestics cunningly urging her on in her false step rather than to her honest neighbors. No blessing fell on her household, since she stifled the voice of conscience and confessed not her sins. Grace comes to such a soul only by the way of penance. u i For a long time/ said her husband, ' I have disquieted my unhappy wife, but she yields more and more to the influence of the widow who is leading her to ruin. She will not listen to me and, when she cannot restrain her anxiety, she runs to the stable or meadow, visits her flocks, or engages in sojue manual labor. Thou hast prayed lately for my poor wife, thou hast prayed so fervently that God has heard thee, and, in virtue of the cruel sufferings thou didst offer for her to-day, I have been allowed to come to beg thee to help me. 1 shall now take thee to my son that thou mayest speak to him, for I am bound, I cannot do it myself. He may perhaps be able to change his mother's mind, for he is good and simple-hearted, and he will believe us.? — Then I accompanied the soul* first to the fair where his wife was sitting with her companions. He went up to her, whispered into her ear that she must absolutely free herself from all connection with the widow and not risk body and soul, goods and property in an unjust lawsuit. She grew uneasy, left her companions abruptly, and sought to divert herself elsewhere. The husband told me that the foolish woman was on the point of beginning the suit, but that he would not desist from his efforts, since his sufferings and privation of light in the other world would be greatly prolonged by his wife's perversity ; for, through his fault, the affairs of the family had often been very badly administered. Then he took me to his son by a long dreary way over a broad pool of raging waters. The danger was great, anguish and peril encompassed us, and I was worn out by fatigue and alarm. The soul was at my side, but his voice sounded hollow and as if far off in the distance. As we passed certain fields and cottages, he told what danger threatened them and on account of what sins. He urged upon me the necessity of prayer and told me what to do. When we had crossed the water the road ran north through a desolate region until we reached the son's cottage. We entered and went straight to his room. He was seized with fright (I think he saw his father's spirit), but he soon recovered himself. I exhorted him to pray more earnestly and pointed out what he should do regarding his mother's business affairs. I explained to him that his father's soul was not at rest, that he, the father, could not himself actually address his mother, but that he, the son, should do it and tell her the cause of his father's disquietude. I told him other important things which I now forget. The son is a good, simple-hearted young man with a round face and slightly turned-up nose. He was much affected, very desirous of doing right, and distressed at his mother's state. — His simplicity was truly touching. Then I saw the effect of my words in a far-off picture. The son called his wife from her spinning and she came, ungraciously enough, still holding her distaff. He told her what had just happened, and begged that his mother might be released from the lawsuit. I heard the wife remark : 'We shall take from her even the gown on her back!' — whereupon the young husband went on his knees, begging that they would at least leave her two fields,or farms, that I saw hanging like islands in the air. Then I heard the wife reply : l Since you are so good and honest, I shall leave your mother one gown if I can.' — From that moment things took a turn, the widow's affairs inclinedtothe dark side with herself,and the peasant- woman was freed from her evil influence. The latter remained poorer indeed than before, but in far better dispositions among the peasants of the parish, against which the widow had begun the iniquitous suit. I shall often have to accompany the poor soul of the husband in whose distress and unavailing efforts there was something truly affecting. I could not approach the woman ; she seemed to be surrounded by a lake in whose waters she was about to be engulfed."
During the first week of October, 1821, Sister Emmerich labored hard and unremittingly for the poor souls, suffering at the same time intense pains in the abdomen. u I was in a dark place with souls of non-Catholics who were in need of something which I had to supply. They entreated me to make and have made for different poor people some articles of clothing, the materials for which I was to beg. — The articles were shown me and I was told where to get materials. At first I declined, but the poor souls were so pressing that I consented. It has proved a very difficult task.?' — For several days Sister Emmerich was very busy cutting out clothes for the poor in the midst of excruciating pains and incessant interruptions and annoyances from visitors. But she calmly overcame every feeling of impatience as the Pilgrim tells us in his notes : u October 4th — Although suffering intense pains in the abdomen, Sister Emmerich has been all day cheerful, patient, and kind. Visits which could not be declined have greatly fatigued her, without, however, ruffling her serenity. She speaks kindly of all that have wearied and annoyed her." She herself says : " Again, I have been busy with the poor souls, and I know exactly what articles are needed — I have seen their shape and size as well as the materials necessary. I have been told to ask thePilgrim to contribute to the work. — I went to the poor souls on my journey to the Nuptial House in one of whose fields I had to weed. I found there the big cook with an iron girdle around her waist from which hung spoons, ladles, and other kitchen utensils. My pains were intense, but as my confessor had ordered me to bear them I kept quiet. Toward midnight they became still sharper,and I saw something like a horrible figure casting itself upon me. I sat up in bed and cried with simple faith : 1 Be off ! What do you want with me ? I have no need of you ! My confessor has given me my orders V — Instantly the pain ceased, and I rested quietly till morning." On October 10th, the clothing demanded by the holy souls was finished, and she received instructions regarding its disposal. On October 7th, the Pilgrim had made the following entry : u The invalid prepared all the articles requested by the holy souls although she knew not, as yet, for whom they were destined. When she sent to purchase the materials, she knew exactly where they could, or could not be procured." Close of October,1821. — " For several nights/' says the Pilgrim, u Sister Emmerich has had, on account of the approach of All-Souls, to work hard for the poor souls, some known, others unknown to her. She is often requested by them or by their guardian-angels to do such or such a thing in satisfaction for their shortcomings, and sometimes she is commissioned to exhort the living to certain good works. The soul of a woman appeared to her begging her to inform her daughter that some of the property she then possessed had been dishonestly acquired by her grand-parents. To do so Sister Emmerich had to take a long journey through the snow. She remembers also a wonderful spiritual church in which she had to serve Mass and distribute the Holy Communion to some souls. 'I was very much frightened,' she said, 'although I took the Host in a linen cloth. I felt that I, a woman, dared not do it, and even the serving of Mass gave me great uneasiness, until the priest turned around and told me very earnestly that I must do it. In him I recognized the deceased Abbe Lambert. He was perfectly luminous. I do not remember the vision very well, nor do I understand it/ " On the morning of October 25th, the Pilgrim found her greatly distressed and terrified. " Last night/' she said,
Anne Catherine Ummerich. 251 "I had a frightful vision which still haunts me. As I was praying for the dying, I was taken to the home of a wealthy lady who I saw was about to be damned. I struggled with Satan by her bedside, but in vain ; he pushed me back— it was too late ! I cannot express my grief on seeing him carry off the poor soul, leaving the body a distorted, frightful carcass, for so it looked to me. I could not approach it. With the angels I could only gaze upon it from on high. She had a husband and children. She passed for a worthy person according to the world ; but she had maintained illicit communications with a priest, and this sin of long standing she had never confessed. She had received the last Sacraments. All praised her edifying preparation and resignation ; and yet she was in mental agony on account of her concealment in confession. Then the devil sent to her one of her friends, a miserable old woman, to whom she expressed her anxiety ; but she urged her to banish such thoughts and beware of giving scandal. The old woman told her not to worry over the past, that she had received the Sacraments to the great edification of her friends, and that she must not now excite suspicion by sending again for the priest, but go in peace to God. After this harangue, the old woman left the room and gave orders that the dying woman should not be disturbed. The unhappy woman, so near her end, still dwelt with pleasure on the thought of the priest, the accomplice of her guilt. As I drew near I found Satan under the form of this priest praying by her. She herself prayed not, for she was dying full of bad thoughts. The accursed one prayed in the words of the Psalms : ( Let Israel hope in the Lord, for in Him is mercy and plentiful redemption / etc., etc. He was furious with me. I told him to make a cross over her mouth, which I knew he could not doj but all my efforts were useless — it was too late, no one could reach her, and so she died ! It was horrible, Satan carrying off her soul ! I wept and cried. — The miserable old woman returned, consoled the relatives, and spoke of her beautiful death. As I was crossing the bridge on ray way from the city, I met gome people going to see the dead woman. I thought : *Ah! had you seen what I did, you would fly far from her V — I am still quite sick, lam trembling in every limb." Scarcely had she finished the above when she begged to be left alone. — They were calling her, she said, she saw something, she must pray — and the Pilgrim, seeing in her countenance that look of abstraction he so well knew, drew the curtain in front of her bed and left her. That afternoon, she related what follows : — u This morning when I asked to be left alone, I saw a dying nun who could not receive Holy Viaticum as the sacristy key was lost. She was in a suppressed convent in which some members of the community still remained, but in secular dress. The others lodged in the neighboring town which had a mixed population of Catholics and Protestants. They often visited their former companions and gossiped and drank coffee at the bedside of the sick one, who now lay at the point of death and longing for the Blessed Sacrament. Divine service was still held in the church of the convent and the Blessed Sacrament kept there. At the time of which I speak, some careless nun had mislaid the key of the sacristy. The priest came to administer to the dying sister, but there was no admittance ! The whole house was thrown into confusion, a general search was instituted, the nuns ran talking here and there, and at last the priest went away. I saw it all, and I also saw that the nun was absolutely dying though none knew it. My guide ordered me to pray, and I remember not how, but the key was immediately found in a crevice near the fireplace where a sister had laid and forgotten it. The priest was recalled, the Sacraments administered, and the nun died* I did not know the religious, nor do I now remember where it all took place. i% In the same city in which the unhappy lady died, I attended the deathbed of an author. The good man had written some things against his conscience, but of which he had quite lost sight. He had confessed and received all the last Sacraments, and was now left alone by the advice of some individuals inspired by the enemy of souls. Then Satan suggested to him all kinds of thoughts calculated to drive him to despair, filling his imagination with images of people who reproached him with the harm done by his writings. He fell into an agony of despair, and so was about to die abandoned by all. Then it was that my guide took me to him. I had by my prayers to disquiet his confessor and make him hurry back to the dying man. The latter recognized him, but begged not to be disturbed, as he had business with the people present. The priest seeing that he was delirious, sprinkled him with holy water and made him kiss something that he wore around his neck* The dying man recovered his senses lyid told the priest the mental anguish that had so suddenly come upon him. This time the accursed one was caught in his own net ; for, had he not driven the man to despair, he never would have recalled what now troubled him. He had his papers hunted up, the priest put them in order before witnesses, and the man died in peace. — I have had also to assist at the deathbed of many young people who had gone aBtray through love of dancing. They died happily." On September 2 1 st, a notorious drunkard died suddenly at Diilmen in a state of intoxication. Sister Emmerich saw his horrible state all night, the devils lying around him, suckling him under the form of young dogs. October 28, 1821. — u Last night, I saw the holy maiden Ermelinda, a most innocent child, who in her twelfth year was introduced to a youth whom her parents intended she should marry. She was noble and rich, and resided in an elegant mansion. One day as she ran to the door to meet the youth, Jesus appeared to her, saying ; ' Dost thou not love me more than him, Ermelinda ?* — In transports of joy, she exclaimed : i Yes, my Lord Jesus !' — Then Jesus led her back into her room and gave her a ring with which He espoused her. Ermelinda at once cut off her beautiful hair, and informed her parents and the youth that she had pledged her troth to God. — I begged the saint to take me to the dying and to the poor souls, and I think I travelled with her through Holland, a most tiresome journey, over water, marshes, bogs, and ditches. I went to poor people who could get no p.iest, so far over the water did they live, I consoled them, prayed for them, assisted them in various ways, and went on further toward the north. I cannot say exactly where purgatory lies. But when going tljere I generally journey northward for awhile when leaving the earth by a gloomy, difficult road of water, snow, briars, swamps, etc., I descend by dark, aerial paths as if far under the earth to dismal places of different degrees of cold, fog, and obscurity. I go around among souls in higher or lower positions, of more or less difficult access. Last night I went among them all, consoling them and receiving their commissions for various labors. I had to say right off the Litany of the Saints and the Seven Penitential Psalms. My guide warned me to guard carefully against impatience and to offer every vexation for the poor souls. The other morning I almost forgot his admonition and was on the point of yielding to impatience, but I repressed it. I am very glad I did so, and I thank my good angel for helping me. No words can say what immense consolation the poor souls receive from a little sacrifice, a trifling self-victory." November 2, 1821. — For fourteen days, Sister Emmerich had been constantly occupied with the poor souls, offering for them prayers, mortifications, alms, and spiritual labors, and arranging numerous things to be given away on the Feast of All-Souls. She related the following : — " I went again with the saints to purgatory. The prisons of the souls are not all in the same place, they are far apart and very different. The road to them often lies over icebergs, snow, and clouds ; sometimes it winds all around the earth. The saints float lightly by me on luminous clouds of various colors, according to the different kinds of help and consolation their good works entitle them to bestow. I had to travel painful, rugged paths, praying the while and offering it all for the souls. I reminded the saints of their own sufferings, and offered them to God in union with the merits of Jesus Christ for the same intention. The abodes of the souls differ according to each one's state, yet they all struck me as being round like globes. I can compare them only to those places which I call gardens and in which I see certain graces preserved like fruits ; so, too, are these sojourns of the souls like gardens, storehouses, worlds full of disagreeable things, privations, torments, miseries, anguish, etc., etc., and some are much smaller than others. When I arrive I can clearly distinguish their round form and perhaps a ray of light falling upon some point, or twilight on the horizon. Some are a little better than others, but in none can the blue sky be seen, all are more or less dark and obscure. In some the souls are near one another
25f> Life of and in great agony ; some are deeper down, others higher and clearer. The places in which souls are separately confined are also of various forms : for instance, some are shaped like ovens. They who were united on earth are together in purgatory only when they have need of the same degree of purification. In many places the light is colored, that is fiery, or of a dull red. There are other abodes in which evil spirits persecute, frighten^ and torment the souls, and these are the most horrible. One would take them for hell, did not the inexpressibly touching patience of the souls proclaim the contrary. Words cannot describe their consolation and joy when one among them is delivered. There are also places for penitential works, as those in which I once saw them raising and storming ramparts, the women on the islands cultivating the fruits which were taken away on rafts, etc. These souls are in a less suffering state ; they can do something for others worse off than themselves. It may be symbolical, but it is symbolical of truth. The vegetation is scanty and stunted, the fruits the same j yet they afford relief to those still more needy. Kings and princes are often thrown with those whom they once oppressed and whom they now serve in humble suffering. I have seen in purgatory Protestants who were pious in their ignorance ; they are \ery desolate, for no prayers arc offered for them. I saw souls passing from a lower to a higher grade to fill up the vacancies left by some who had finished their purgation. Some can go around giving and receiving consolation. It is a great grace to be able to appear and beg help and prayers. I have also seen the places in which some souls canonized on earth were purified ; their sanctity had not reached its perfection in their lifetime. I went to many priests and churches and ordered Masses and devotions for the souls. I was at Rome in St. Peter's, near noble ecclesiastics,
Cardinals, 1 think, who had to say seven Masses for certain souls. I know not why they had omitted doing so. Whilst they were being said, I saw the neglected souls, dark and sad, gathered around the altar ; they exclaimed, as if hungry : ' We have not been fed for so long, so long !' — I think it was foundation Masses that had been neglected. The confiscation of foundations for Masses for the dead is, as I see, unspeakable cruelty and a theft committed against the poorest of the poor. On my route I saw few if any of the living, but I met souls, angels, and saints, and I saw many of the effects of prayer. During these days, I have had to drag to the confessional and to church many people who otherwise would never have gone." Sister Emmerich spent the whole day in prayer for the souls and recited for them the Office of the Dead. The wounds in her breast and side bled so copiously that her garments were saturated. When the Pilgrim visited her in the evening, he found her in ecstatic prayer. About half an hour after, her confessor entered the room. Sister Emmerich suddenly left her bed. .walked with a sure, firm step to the astonished Father and, prostrating at his feet, attempted to kiss them. Father Limberg drew back in confusion but, at last, yielded to her desires ; then kneeling, she begged his blessing for herself and the souls with her. She remained thus in prayer several moments, again asked a blessing for the souls, and rising returned quickly to her bed. Her forehead was bathed in perspiration, but her countenance glowed with joy. She was in ecstasy. The next day when the Pilgrim related to her the scene of the preceding evening, she could scarcely credit what she beard, although she distinctly remembered that some souls, former penitents of Father Limberg, had begged her to merich consumed by thirst, but never did she try to allay the fever that parched her with its withering blast — all for the poor souls, all for the dear souls ! November 3d — " I have been in a region before purgatory, in the ice country near the mill in which princes, kings, and rulers have to grind as formerly they made men and horses do. They have to grind ice and all sorts of choice food and precious objects which women bring to the mill, and which when ground are thrown to the dogs. Their former servants are now their task-masters." Sister Emmerich spoke of the road by which she went to purgatory and the countries through which she passed. She seems to have travelled through Asia toward the north pole, passing through the ancient land of Oshcmschids into another in which rises a lofty mountain full of monkeys large and small. When it is too cold for them on one side of the mountain, they run to the other. She afterwards came uto a land whose inhabitants are clothed in skins. They are an ugly, long-haired race who live miserably and are drawn by dogs whose instincts are so sharp that they may be intrusted with whole sledges of merchandise which they convey in safety to their destination without a driver. There are both whites and blacks here, but the latter are not natives. The inhabitants hunt small, long-bodied animals for the sake of their fur. These animals have long ears and short legs and are not so pretty as these at the foot of the Mountain of the Prophets. They are found still further north. There is here a region of marshes and deserts, which is a little warmer, as if the morning sun sometimes shone upon it. I saw some of the animals I have just mentioned running around, and here and there miserable looking little people with flat noses. The vegetation is scanty." Sister Emmerich went on to describe the country, but not as inhabited — all is dark and foggy in the black distance. Passing over the metal street or ring, as she calls it, she loaches purgatory under which is hell, deep down toward the centre of the earth, u On such journeys/' she says, " the moon appears to me very large and full of cavities and volcanoes ; but all on it is stony, like coral trees. It both attracts and discharges quantities of vapor, as if absorbing fluids to pour them forth again. I never saw people like ourselves on the moon, or in any of the stars, of which many are like dead, burnt-out bodies. I saw souls and spirits in them, but no beings like men." November 4th — " I know not where I have been, nor why I had the following vision : I was taken into a beauts ful mansion in which a lady showed me exquisite pagan statuary belonging to her husband. We descended, passing through doorways so low that we were obliged almost to creep through them. The otatues grew uglier and uglier as we descended, becoming at last quite horrible. Then catae a gentleman who took me through galleries of the most lovely pictures, each more beautiful than the last. I often thought : ' Ah ! If the Pilgrim could only see this V The longer we stood gazing at them the more exquisite their loveliness became. At last we left the place, and I had another vision. 1 saw a Protestant with his Catholic wife going through room after room filled with works of art. He pointed out the vaulted halls with their treasures of paintings and curiosities in which he took the greatest delight. I heard the wife say that he practised idolatry toward all these things, that he should rather think upon God and His Church. The husband replied that it was his opinion that God loves every honest man, religion is but a secondary consideration. The wife replied that it is not so, adding that when near him she felt her faith weakened, but that one lesson of her youth (here she named it) she had ever carefully practised. Then I saw her take him into a vault in which his ancestors were entombed. The hollow, but powerful voice of one of them now sounded from a tomb containing but mould and dust, and for a long time addressed the husband in broken words. It was in the gentleman's power, he said, to make good what he himself had neglected in life, he had the means, nothing prevented him. Then he spoke of the domain he had forcibly wrested from its rightful owner, of his falling off from the Church, of the numbers who followed his example, and of the misery and confusion it had entailed. Balls, amusements, the fine arts were not the things for his descendants ; his people would be given over to the wolves which would tear them to pieces and fatten on their substance ; therefore, he should hearken to his commands, restore the true faith, and give back to the Church what belonged to her. If he delayed this work of restitution, he would lose all his wealth and nothing would remain to him but the dust of the tomb. u During this long discourse, in which the whole family history was set forth, the gentleman swooned repeatedly and more than once tried to make his escape ; but his wife held him tenderly in her arms, encouraging him to remain and hear all. I have forgotten what followed and I know not what fruit the exhortation produced. The father of the gentleman, who I think already had two children, was still alive, but imbecile. This son was soon to take entire charge of the family estate. He was fondly attached to his wife, who had great influence over him. I had this vision in the morning and when I was perfectly awake,"
li I was surprised/' she said, " that it did not burn him and I could scarcely restrain a laugh at seeing him so perfectly unconscious of the many-colored flames like the rainbow that he was carrying with him. At first I saw only the colored light ; but, as he drew near, I saw the vase also. He carried it past my lodgings and all through the town. I could not understand it, and it made me sad when I thought he was going to carry it away by the other gate. The relics it contained attracted my attention. I felt that there were some very ancient ones and some of a more recent period which, at the time of the Anabaptists, had been removed from their shrines." The next day, Father Niesing delivered the reliquary to Sister Emmerich. She received it with expressions of joy and gratitude and, on the 12th of January, related the following vision respecting one of the relics it contained : " I saw the soul of a youth approaching me under a luminous form and in a robe something like my guide. A white aureola surrounded him and he told me that he had gained heaven by chastity and victories over nature. It had even been a help to him to refrain from gathering roses which he very much loved. — Then I had a vision in which I saw this youth as a boy of thirteen, playing with his companions in a beautiful large garden. He wore a plaited hat, a tight yellow jacket, open in front, the sleeves trimmed around the wrist. His small-clothes and stockings were all in one and laced tightly up the side with another color; he wore kneebuckles and shoes strapped with ribands. The gardenhedges were neatly trimmed and there were scattered around many rustic ornaments and summer-houses, square outside and round within. There were also orchards and at work in them men clothed very much in the way I used to dress up the shepherds for our Christmas Crib iji the con* middle height, was dressed in red and brown with a rich, though odd-looking head-dress. Her hair was rolled above her forehead and fastened by a silver clasp ; on the back of her head was a pointed cap of broad lace from which hung wide ribands. The youth was the eldest of the children. u The picture changed, and I daw the youth sent to study in a solitary convent about twelve leagues from the city on a mountain covered with vineyards. He was very industrious and so full of confidence in the Mother of God that, when he found something too difficult in his books, he turned earnestly to his picture of Mary ; ' Thou didst teach thy Son/ he would say, ' thou art my mother also. 0 then, teach me, too !' — and Mary used to appear and help him out of his difficulty. He was full of simpli ity and confidence. His piety won for him the esteem of all who knew him, but his great humility would not allow him to enter the priesthood. After three years in the convent, the last of which was passed on a sickbed, he died and was buried among the deceased religious. He was only in his twenty-third year. Among his acquaintances was a man about thirty years old, who often fell into sin from the violence of passion. He had great confidence in the deceased and, several years after, he came to pray at his grave. The youth appeared to him, exhorted him to good, and told him to look on his corpse for a certain mark which he gave him as a sign that he had really appeared to him. — The mark was on his finger in the form of a ring which he had received at his betrothal to Jesus and Mary. The friend reported what had happened, the body was disinterred, the mark found, and the finger taken off to be preserved as a relic. The youth has never been canonized. He reminded me very much of St. Aloysius Gonzagain his ways. " The youth took me to a place like the Heavenly Jerusa lem, for it was all shining and transparent. We went to a great circular place surrounded by beautiful, sparkling palaces. In the centre stood a large table covered with dishes perfectly indescribable. From four of the palaces stretched arches of flowers which united above the table in a magnificent crown around which sparkled the holy names of Jesus and Mary. It was not a production of art, it was all alive and growing, each part producing fruit according to its kind, the arches formed of most varied flowers, fruits, and shining figures. I knew the signification of each and everyone, not only symbolically but as a substance, an essence which penetrated and enlightened the mind like sunbeams — but I cannot express it in words. On one side, a little beyond the palaces, stood two octagonal churches; one was Mary's, the other the Christ-Child's. As I approached, there floated from all parts of the shining palaces, even through the walls innumerable souls of deceased children who came to bid me welcome. They appeared at first in the usual spiritual form ; but afterward they were shown me as they were during life. I recognized several of my play-fellows long since dead. Among them was little Caspar, Diericke's little brother, a frolicsome, though not a bad child, who had died in his eleventh year after a long and very painful illness. He showed me all around and explained everything. I wondered to see naughty little Caspar now so fine and beautiful. I expressed my surprise at being there, when he said : ' Yes, thy feet have not brought thee here ; it was thy good life!' — and this gave me great joy. As I did not recognize him right away, he said: i Don't you remember how I sharpe ed your knife once ? I overcame myself in that, and it turned out to my own good. Your mother had given you something to cut, but your knife was too dull ; you cried, for you were afraid your mother would scold. I was looking on, and my first thought was : Now, let's see what her mother will do to her ! But my second thought was : Fll sharpen the poor little thing's knife. I did it. I helped you, and all for the good of my own soul. Do you remember the day when the children were playing so naughtily ? You said it was a wicked game, they must not play it, and then you went and sat down by the ditch and cried. I went to you, and asked why you would not play with us. You answered that some one had led you away by the arm. I thought over it and resolved not to play such games any more ; and that, too, was for my own good. And do you remember the day we all went together to gather fallen apples ? You said we ought not to do it, but I replied that, if we did not take them, others would. Then you said that we must never give any one a subject for scandal, and you would not touch them. I remarked that also and drew a lesson from it. — One day, I threw a bone at you, but something drew you suddenly aside from the stroke, and that went to my heart/ — -and so, little Caspar went on recalling all sorts of incidents by which I saw that we receive for every self-victory, for every good action, a special reward, a certain kind of food which we eat in this sense that we have the full perception of it. It shines in us — but it is inexpressible ! We did not sit down at the table ; we floated from one end to the other, tasting a particular enjoyment for every act of self-renunciation. A voice was heard proclaiming : ' Only he can comprehend this nourishment who partakes of it.?- — The food consisted for the most part of marvellous flowers, fruits, sparkling stones, figures, and herbs of quite another, of a more spiritual substance than those here below. They were served in glittering, transparent dishes of indescribable beauty, and they furnished wonderful strength to those who, by such or such an act of renunciation performed on earth, were brought into a certain relation with one or other of them. The table was covered with little crystal, pear-shaped glasses, like those in which I used to receive health-giving beverages, out of which we drank. One of the first dishes was marvellously prepared myrrh. On a golden plate stood a small covered cup on which was a knob surmounted by a delicate little crucifix. Around the rim of the plate were violet-blue letters which I could not make out, but I will understand them after awhile. From the plate grew the most lovely bunches of myrrh, yellow and green, in the form of pyramids, reaching to the top of the cup. There were tiny crisp leaves with blossoms like carnations of uncommon beauty, above which was a red bud surrounded by the most exquisite violet-blue flowers. The bitterness of the myrrh was changed for the spirit into a wonderful aromatic and strengthening sweetness. I shared in this dish, because of the bitterness of heart I had silently borne all my life. For the fallen apples that I would not touch, I now received a whole branch of apples glittering with light, and I had a dish also for the quantities of dry bread I had distrib* uted to the poor, It looked like sparkling colored crystals shaped like loaves of bread. The plate, likewise, was of crystal. For shunning the improper game, I received a white robe. Little Caspar explained everything to me as we went around the table. I saw intended for me a little stone on a plate which I had once received in the convent, and I was told that before my death I should receive a white robe and a stone on which would be inscribed a name which only I could read. At the end of the table, the love of one's neighbor received its reward, white robes, white fruits, great white roses, and all kinds of wonderful dishes and objects of dazzling whiteness. I cannot describe them.
Then little Caspar said : ' Now, you must see here what we have in the shape of cribs, for you always loved to play with them/ and we all went to the churches, first into that of the Mother of God in which the sweetest singing was constantly going on. In it was an altar upon which all the scenes from Mary's life were incessantly succeeding one another, and all around, row above row, were crowds of worshippers. We had to pass through this church to reach the little crib which was in the other church, the church of the Christ-Child. In it, also, was an altar upon which was a representation of His Birth and successive scenes of His life up to the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, as I always see them in vision." Here Sister Emmerich interrupted her narrative to exhort the Pilgrim to labor more ardently at his salvation, to do what he can to-day, not to put off till to-morrow, for life is so short and judgment rigorous! She continued: u From the church I mounted to a higher region, to a garden full of magnificent fruits, richly ornamented tables, and cases of elegant gifts. On all sides I saw souls floating who, by their studies and writings, had been useful to others. They were dispersed throughout the garden singly and in groups, and they paused at the different tables to receive their respective rewards. In the centre of the garden arose a semicircular structure in tiers. It was laden with the most exquisite objects, and from the front and sides extended arms holding books. The garden opened by a beautiful gate on to a road along which came a superb procession. All the souls crowded over to that side of the garden and ranged in two rows to welcome the new-comers, a troop of souls escorting the lately deceased Count von Stolberg. They advanced in regular order with banners and garlands. Four bore up on their shoulders (but without weight) a litter of state in which the Count half reclined. They who went to meet the procession also had flowers and crowns. Stolberg wore a crown formed principally of white roses. sparkling gems, and stars; it rested not on his head but hovered just over it. The souls all appeared at first under similar forms, like those I saw lower down in the children's heaven ; but afterward each assumed the garb that distinguished him on earth. I saw that they were only such as had by their labors and teaching led others to salvation. Stolberg descended from the litter, which then disappeared, and advanced toward the gifts prepared for him. I saw an angel standing behind the semicircular tiers, to whom the surrounding spirits gave books one after another. After he had erased something from them or written something in them, he laid them on two stands at his side. Then he gave to the spirits writings, great and small, which they passed on from one to another. On one side I saw an extraordinary number of little pamphlets circulated by Stolberg. It seemed to be a continuation in heaven of the earthly labors of those souls. Then Stolberg received a large, transparent plate in the centre of which stood a beautiful golden chalice. Around it were grapes, little loaves, precious stones, and tiny crystal flasks. The chalice was not stationary as upon the plate of myrrh. The souls drank from it, as also from the flasks, and they partook of the other things for Stolberg passed them around. In their communication, I often saw the souls giving their hand to one another. Then all went up on high to give thanks. After this vision my guide told me that I must go to Rome, to excite the Pope to greater ardor in prayer, and he explained to me all that I should have to do. "
CHAPTER 4. Prayer and Sufferings for Pope Pius VIL, for the Ecclesiastical Province of the Upper Rhine^ for the Conversion1 of Sinners, and for the Dying. — Tableaux of Feasts
I. Pius VII. The last five years of Pius VII. 's pontificate were a time of trial not less severe than that of former years ; viz., his arrest by Napoleon's minions, his imprisonment, and the illtreatment attending it. We may reasonably conclude that captivity was far less painful to the august and magnanimous sufferer than the network of deceit, treason, and artifice spread by his enemies around the Holy See, to prevent the discharge of his duties as Supreme Pastor toward the Church in Germany. During these two periods of his pontificate, fraught with anxiety and suffering, Sister Emmerich was, perhaps, the most remarkable of the hidden instruments destined by Almighty God to serve the Pope against his adversaries. As at a later period Gregory XVI. and Pius IX. found their faithful auxiliary in Maria von Moerl, so did Sister Emmerich during the whole reign of Pius VII. faithfully typify the apostolic community at Jerusalem earnestly supplicating for Peter imprisoned by Herod (1). The very small part she was able to communicate is quite sufficient to convince us both of the truth of her visions and the vast extent of her mission. (1) Acts, xxii. 5.
'3 Nov. 15, 1819. — u I had to go to Rome, for the Pope is too yielding to his enemies in weighty affairs. There is a black man in Rome who knows how to attain his ends by flattery and promises. He hid behind some Cardinals. The Pope in the hope of obtaining a certain advantage has consented to something which will turn out to the prejudice of the Church. I saw it under the form of conferences and an exchange of writings. Then I saw the black man proudly boasting to his party : l Now, I have it ! Now, we'll soon see where the rock is upon which the Church is built ! ' — But he was too quick with his boasting. I had to go to the Pope who was kneeling in prayer. I seemed to hover over him. — It was very strange! I repeated earnestly the message entrusted to me for him, but there seemed to be something between us, and he spoke not. Suddenly he arose, touched a bell, and sent for a Cardinal whom he commissioned to recall the concession that had been granted. The Cardinal looked thunder-struck, and asked whence came this change. The Pope answered that he would give no explanation. l Let it suffice,' said he, i that it must be so,' and the Cardinal went away stupefied. I saw many people in Rome deeply saddened by the intrigues of the black man, who looks like a Je\y. u I went afterward to Minister to the Vicar-General. He was seated at a table, reading a book. I was charged to tell him that he spoils things by his severity, that he ought to attend more seriously to the particular needs of his flock, and remain at home more for such as wished to see him. It seemed to him that he found in his book a passage suggestive of these thoughts,and he began to feel dissatisfied with himself. — I went also to Dean 0 verberg, whom I found as usual calm and recollected, advising and consoling women and girls of all classes, and quietly praying in his heart all the time."
274 Lift of January 12, 1820. — "My guide told me I must go to the Pope and stir him up in prayer, and that I should be told all I had to do. I arrived in Rome and, singular thing ! — I passed through the walls and stood on high in a corner looking down upon the people below. When 1 thought of this afterward during the day, it seemed to me very strange, though I am often thus placed writh regard to others. I was told to say to the Pope in prayer that he should be more attentive, as the affair then being so artfully negotiated was one of great moment, that he ought to use his pallium more frequently, for then he would be more abundantly endued with strength and grace from the Holy Spirit. There is some connection between this little mantle and the ornament worn by the High Priest of the Old Law when he prophesied. It is thought that the Pope ought to wear it only on certain days, but necessity knows no certain days. He must also solemnly convene the Cardinals oftener. He manages his affairs too quietly, too privately; consequently, he is often deceived, the enemy daily becomes more cunning. There is now some question of Protestants sharing in the government of the Catholic clergy. I had to tell the Pope to invoke the Holy Ghost for three days and then he would act right. Many of those around him are good for nothing. He ought to convict them openly of their want of uprightness and then they would, perhaps, amend. " January 13th — 4i I was still in Rome with the Pope, who is now firmly resolved to sign nothing. But his adversaries are resorting to more artful measures, and once more I saw the movements of the cringing, cunning black man, They often appear to resign what they are sure of gaining later." Sister Emmerich's labor for the Holy Father was accompanied by great sufferings of which the Pilgrim speaks, as follows: " Sister Emmerich is full of a monk, though he wore something like a religious badge. The state of the Church she described as extraordinarily distressing ; her enemies subtle and active, her clergy timid and indolent. They neglected the power they held from God, they even aimed at the tiara which, however, they were never to attain. During her martyrdom, she seemed to be lying in a horizontal position, on a mountain, the Mountain of the Prophets far away in the distance. u I still feel," she added, u the sharp pressure of last night's cords. Once I fell, and the cords around my body cut deep into my waist. J felt as if my every vein and nerve had snapped. The first time that I endured such sufferings for my neighbor was after my Confirmation, for before that I had only such as were self-imposed. All my singular accidents and maladies were of the same nature, especially those that befell me in the convent." February 22, 1820. — " I was in a city beyond Frankfort, in a country of vineyards, and I saw in one of the churches, great disorder occasioned by bad priests. I had to console one old priest who had been misrepresented to his Bishop by his wicked assistants, because he had with the aid of the two sacristans driven them from the confessional and the church which they had presumed to enter p.fter having spent the whole night in carousing. The affair caused great excitement. The old priest said Mass himself, otherwise there would have been no divine service ; but he still lies under the accusation. No one will help him but God," 2. St. Mary of the Rotunda and the Chapel of the Protestant Embassy, at Rome. May 13, 1820. — "Last night, from eleven to three, I had a most wonderful vision of two churches and two Popes and a varietv of things, ancient and modern. I shall relate, every conceivable posture. Many of them were very beautiful, and others exceedingly odd; there were even some of geese which received divine honor. In the centre of the building stood a very high pyramid formed entirely of those images. I saw no idolatrous worship at the time of which I speak, although the idols were still carefully preserved. I saw messengers from Pope Boniface going to the emperor and petitioning for the temple to be changed into a Christian church, I heard the latter declaring distinctly that the Pope should allow the ancient statues to remain, though he might erect therein the cross to which the highest honors should be paid. This proposal, as it seemed to me, was made not wickedly, but " in good faith. I saw the messengers return with the answer and Boniface reflecting as to how he might in some measure conform to the emperor's will. Whilst he was thus deliberating, I saw a good, pious priest in prayer before the crucifix. He wore a long white robe with a train, and an angel hovered by his side. Suddenly he arose, went straight to Boniface, and told him that he should by no means accede to the emperor's proposal. Messengers were then despatched to the emperor, who now consented to tha temple's being entirely cleared. Then I saw his people come and take numbers of the statues to the imperial city ; but still many remained in Rome. Then I saw the consecration of the temple, at which ceremony the holy martyrs assisted with Mary at their he$d. The altar was not in the centre of the building, but against the wall. I saw more than thirty wagon-loads of sacred relics brought into the church. Many of them were enclosedin the walls and others could be seen through round openings covered with something like glass. When I had witnessed this vision even in the smallest details, I saw again the present Pope and the dark church of his time in Rome, It seemed to be a large, old house like a town-hall with columns in front. I saw no altar in it, but only benches, rnd in the middle of it something like a pulpit. They had preaching and singing, but nothing else, and only very few attended it. And lo, a most singular sight ! — Each member of the congregation drew an idol from his breast,s^t it up before him, and prayed to it. It was as if each man drew forth his secret thoughts or passions under the appearance of a dark cloud which, once outside, took some definite form. They were precisely such figures as I had seen around the neck of the illicit bride in the Nuptial House, figures of men and animals. The god of one was short and broad with a crisp head and numerous, outstretched arms ready to seize and devour all in its reach ; that of another was quite small with miserable, shrunken limbs ; another had merely a block of wood upon which he gazed with rolling eyes ; this one had a horrible animal; that one, a long pole. The most singular part of it was that the idols filled the place ; the church, although the worshippers were so few, was crowded with idols. When the service was over, every one's god re-entered into his breast. The whole church was draped in black, and all that took place in it was shrouded in gloom. — Then I saw the connection between the two Popes and the two temples. I am sorry that I have forgotten the numbers, but I was shown how weak the one had been in adherents and human support, but how strong in courage to overturn so many gods (I knew the number) and to unite so many different forms of worship into one ; and, on the contrary, how strong in numbers and yet how irresolute in action was the other since, in authorizing the erection of false temples, he had allowed the only true God, the only true religion to be lost among so many false gods and false religions. It was also showa full of sap compared with the other which was like a chest of lifeless institutions. The former was like a bird on the wing ; the latter, like a paper dragon, its tail adorned with ribands and writings, dragging over a stubble-field. I saw that many of the instruments in the new church, such as spears and darts, were meant to be used against the living Church. Every one dragged in something different, clubs, rods, pumps, cudgels, puppets, mirrors, trumpets, horns, bellows — all sorts of things. In the cave below (the sacristy) some people kneaded bread, but nothing came of it ; it would not rise. The men in the little mantles brought wood to the steps of the pulpit to make afire. They puffed and blew and labored hard, but the fire would not burn ; all they produced was smoke and fumes. Then they broke a hole in the roof and ran up a pipe, but the smoke would not rise, and the whole place became black and suffocating. Some blew the horns so violently that the tears streamed from their eyes. All in this church belonged to the earth, returned to the earth j all was dead, the work of human skill, a church of the latest style, a church of man's invention like the new heterodox church in Rome." November 12, 1820. — u I passed over a dark, cold country to a large city, and I saw again the great, odd-looking church with nothing holy about it and innumerable planetary spirits laboring at it. I saw it in the same way that I see a Catholic institution being erected, angels, saints, and Christians all laboring in common ; only here the concurrence of the laborers was shown under forms more mechanical. The planetary spirits ascended and descended and shot down rays upon the workmen ; but all was done in accordance with human reasor I saw a spirit on high drawing lines and tracing figures, and down below the de sign, the plan immediately carried out. I saw the in flu? lights in the form of a pyramid burned at the same time. Then she took her stand at the ri^ht of the altar. Now came the Saviour Himself in sacerdotal vestments, bearing the chalice and veil. Two angels served Him as acolytes, and two others accompanied Him. Our Lord's head was uncovered. The chasuble was a large, heavy, red and white mantle shining with light and precious stones. The minis tering angels were white. There was no little bell, but there were cruets. The wine was as red as blood and there was also some water. The Mass was shorter than with us and there was no Gospel of St. John at the end. I saw the Offertory and Elevation ; the Host was like ours. The angel read the Gospel and carried the book to Mary to kiss, and then, on a sign from Jesus, to Henry that he might do the same. At first, he dared not obey, but at length gained courage to do so. At the end of the Mass, Mary went to Henry and gave him her right hand, saying that she honored thus his chastity and exhorted him not to grow remiss. Then I saw an angel approach and grasp him by the right side as had been done to Jacob. Henry showed signs of intense pain, and afterward limped a little. During the whole of this ceremony, there were numerous angels in adoration, their eyes fixed upon the altar. " 4. Feast of the Scapular. July 15, 1820. — "I was on Mt. Carmel where I saw two hermits who dwelt far apart. One was very aged and never left his cell, the other, a Frenchman named Peter, visited the old man occasionally and brought him something ; but long intervals sometimes elapsed between his visits. I saw him taking journeys to Jerusalem, Rome, and to our own country, whence he returned with bands of warriors wearing crosses on their clothing. T saw Berthold with leaves of a tree in the sunshine, in the splendor which radiated from Mary. The holy Virgin was surrounded by the an gelic choirs and at her feet, above the tabernacle wherein reposed the Blessed Sacrament, hung the large scapular she had given the hermit in vision. On all sides were ranged choirs of holy Carmelites, men and women, the most ancient in white and brown striped habits, the others in such as are now worn. I saw, too, the Carmelite Order, monks and nuns of the present day celebrating the feast in their several convents, either in choir or elsewhere, but all upon earth." 5. Vision of the Feast of the Indulgence of portiuncula. August 1, 1820. — u I had a vision of a feast, but I know not clearly what it signified; however, this is what I can recall : — I saw a great aureola of saints looking like an immense wreath in which they sat, each distinguished by different emblems, such as palms, churches, etc. Below them floated innumerable relics and sacred objects in precious vases; they seemed to belong to the saints above. In the middle of the wreath floated a little church and over it the Lamb of God with His standard. Throned above the altar were the Lord Jesus and His Mother surrounded by myriads of angels. An angel flew into the circle and led St. Francis to Jesus and Mary in the little church, and it seemed as if the saint petitioned for some favor by virtue of the treasure of Christ's merits and those of His holy martyrs, viz., an Indulgence for the little church. — Then I saw Francis go to the Pope, but not in Rome, petitioning for something, an Indulgence, the same that I had seen in the vision. — I saw that the Pope would not grant it at first; but suddenly a light shone upon him, a writing floated before him, and he was inspired to grant what the the snow at once disappeared. — Then I had another vision. I saw the church built and Mass being celebrated in it by a Pope named Martin. Just at the moment of communicating a certain great personage, the Pope was to be assassinated by a man stationed near for that purpose. The assassin had been chosen and instructed for the crime by the nobleman about to receive Holy Communion, and all in obedience to the orders of the Emperor Constantius. I saw the murderer enter the crowded church, but he was instantly struck blind. He ran here and there, stumbling against the pillars and uttering cries. A great tumult was raised. Again, I saw Pope Gregory celebrating High Mass in the church. The Mother of God appeared surrounded by angels, answered Et cum spiritu tuo, and served him at the altar. Lastly, I saw in the same church a feast celebrated in our own days. The Mother of God appeared under the same form as she had done to its founders. This is the church in which I lately saw the holy Emperor Henry praying whilst Christ Himself said the Mass. There is a chapel of the Holy Crib in it." 7. From August to the close of October, 1820. Sister Emmerich's labors at this time were constantly directed to the welfare of the Church which, as usual, she beheld typified by St. Peter's, at Rome. The secret society, with its world-wide ramifications engaged in ceaseless war against the Bride of Christ, was shown her as the empire of Antichrist symbolized by the beast in the Apocalypse rising out of the sea and fomenting attacks upon the flock of Christ. In relating this vision, the Pilgrim makes the following remarks : u It is, indeed, full of breaks, for the invalid saw it under allegorical representations difficult for her to describe. What is most astonishing, is that it touch fifth and last was made up of citizens and peasants, many of whom were marked on the forehead with a red cross. As this army drew near, the captives and oppressed were delivered and swelled the ranks, whilst thedemolishers andconspirators were put to flight on all sides. They were, without knowing how, gathered together into one confused mass in the midst of a dense fog ; they knew neither what they did nor what they ought to do ; and they ran pell-mell against one another, as I so often see them. Then I saw the church speedily rebuilt and more magnificent than before, for its defenders brought stones from all parts of the earth. When the most distant circles drew near, the nearest withdrew to make way for them. The former appeared to represent the various labors of prayer ; the latter, the soldiers, the deeds of war. I saw among these last friends and enemies of all nations, simply soldiers like our own and dressed like them. They did not form a perfect circle, but a crescent opening toward the north into an immense dark abyss like a chasm, a precipice, like a descent into darkness, like that to which Adam was driven from Paradise. I felt that a region of darkness lay beyond. I saw that some out of these circles remained behind. They would not advance, but stood gloomily huddled together. I saw some also who would one day be martyred for Jesus ; but there were many wicked people among them, and another separation was to take place. — The church was completely restored. Above it on a mountain, was the Lamb of God surrounded by a troop of virgins with palm-branches, and five circles of celestial cohorts corresponding to the five circles below. They all arrived together, and all acted in concert. Around the Lamb stood the four mysterious beasts of the Apocalypse." On the Feast of the Purification, 1822, Sister Emmerich related the following : u 1 saw during the last few days marvellous things connected with the Church. St. Peter's was almost entirely destroyed by the sect, but their labors were, in turn, rendered fruitless and all that belonged to them, their aprons and tools, burned by the executioners on the public place of infamy. They were made of horse-leather, and the stench from them was so offensive that it made me quite sick. In this vision I saw the Mother of God laboring so earnestly for the Church that my devotion to her greatly increased." 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 ovn 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 andnight. 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. But he has by him a very simple-hearted, pious old priest, his true friend, whom his enemies on account of his simplicity think it not worth while to remove. Now, this good old priest is full of God's grace. He sees, he remarks many things which he faithfully communicates to the Holy Father. More than once I have had to point out to him in prayer traitors and evil-minded men among the Pope's high, confidential officers, that he might give him notice of them. Iu this way he has been warned against one who was all-influential up to the present ; hut who will be so no more. The Pope is so feeble that he can no longer walk alone." August 25. — "I know not now how I went to Rome last night, but I found myself near the church of St. MaryMajor. 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. She said also that the soldiers who were approaching the city would be of no assistance ; they would bring only misery and devastation in their train, since the war had been undertaken without prayer or the ministry of priests. She added many other things. She said what is most painful to 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 know not whether the people saw the apparition or not, but they must have been impressed by something super
294: Life of natural for, when the Blessed Virgin said they should pray to God with extended arms, all lifted up their arms. They were good and pious, but they knew not where to turn for counsel and assistance. There was no traitor, no enemy among them, and yet they were anxious and distrustful of one another ; by this we may judge of their situation. It seemed to be an association of prayer." From this time Sister Emmerich assisted nightly at the pious exercises in St. Mary-Major's. On August 31st, she remarked : u Prayer is now general and continual, pious souls are everywhere kneeling at the tombs of the saints and imploring their aid. I have seen the saints whom they especially revere, and I have again seen the Pope — he is in much trouble. I have had great anxiety on his account and I have redoubled my prayers Cardinal Consalvi's last petition was rejected by the Holy Father ; he did not approve it, and it has been withdrawn. This man's influence is at an end for the present." Sept. 10th — "I saw St. Peter's utterly demolished, all excepting the choir and main altar. St. Michael, girt and armed, descended into the church and with his sword repulsed several bad pastors who were trying to enter. He drove them into a corner where they sat looking at one another. The part of the church that had been demolished in a few instants was surrounded by light wicker-work so that divine service could be perfectly celebrated. Then from all parts of the world came priests and laics, who built up the walls of stone, for the enemy had not been able to shake the firm foundation." Sister Emmerich at this time passe'd whole nights praying with her arms in the form of a cross and frequently subjected to the assaults of the devil. The first night ha the seven days' task, had prescribed certain alms, pointing out what children were to be assisted and what each one was to receive. "The Church/7 she groaned, u is in great danger. I must ask every one who comes to see me to say an Our Father for that intention. We must pray that the Pope may not leave Rome, for unheard-of evils would result from such a step. We must pray the Holy Ghost to enlighten him, for they are even now trying to exact something of hiin. The Protestant doctrine, as also that of the Greeks, is spreading everywhere. Two men live at this time who long to ruin the Church, but they have lost one who used to help them with his pen. He was killed by a young man about a year ago, and one of the two men of whom I speak left Germany at the same time. They have their employees everywhere. The little black man in Rome, whom 1 see so often, has many working for him without their clearly knowing for what end. He has his agents in the new black church also. If the Pope leaves Rome, the enemies of the Church will get the upper hand. I see the little black man in his own country committing many thefts and falsifying things generally. Religion is there so skilfully undermined and stifled that there are scarcely one hundred faithful priests. I cannot say how it is, bu* I see fog and darkness increasing. There are, however, three churches that they cannot seize : St. Peter's, St. Mary-Major's and St. Michael's. Although they are constantly trying to undermine then, they will not succeed. I help not. All must be rebuilt soon for every one, even ecclesiastics are laboring to destroy — ruin is at hand. The two enemies of the Church who have lost their accomplice are firmly resolved to destroy the pious and learned men that stand in their way." When the Pilgrim visited Sister Emmerich on October
4th, he found her perfectly worn out by the exertions of the preceding night. That St. Michael's commands were being fulfilled, was very evident, u I have had combats more terrible," she said, u than any I have ever endured, and I am almost dead. I cannot say how fearfully I have suffered. This struggle was shown me long ago under the symbol of a person buffeted by demons, and now I know it was myself. I fought against a whole legion of devils who excite minds against me and do all they can to harass me. I have also undertaken too many prayers. They want to install bad Bishops. In one place they want to turn a Catholic church into a Lutheran meeting-house. I must pray, suffer, and struggle against this, for such is my present task. If the saints did not assist me, I could not endure it. I should be overcome, and that would be most grievous to me ! I see the devil using every artifice to put me to shame. — He is continually sending all sorts of people to visit me, to torment and wear me out (1). u Last night I had a vision of the Pope. I saw St. Francis carrying the church, and the basilica of St. Peter borne on the shoulders of a little man who had something of the Jew in his countenance. It looked very perilous. Mary stood on the north side of the church with her mantle extended over it. The little man was almost bent double. He is, as yet, a laic. I know who he is. The twelve men whom I always see as the twelve new Apostles ought to have helped him, but they arrived too late; however, just as he was about to fall, they all ran up with myriads of angels to his assistance. It was only the pavement and the back part of the church, (1) The day before, owing to Gertrude's carelessness, a French milliner unceremoniously entered the invalid's little room and spread out her goods on the bed. It was only with the greatest difficulty that Sister Emmerich could rid herself of her importunate visitor, whose loquacity annoyed tier so that she could scarcely relate her visions to the Pilgrim, who arrived soon after.
Father, and I cannot express how very real my presence there seemed to be ; for I, too, was extremely weak and the people around were constantly obliged to support me. I spoke with the Bishops soon to be appointed, and I again told the Pope that he must not leave Rome, for if he did, all would go to ruin. He thought the evil inevitable and that his personal safety as well as other considerations, would oblige him to go, a measure to which he felt himself strongly inclined and to which also he was advised by his counsellors. — Then Frances spoke to him a long time, whilst I stood by weak and fainting, supported by my companions. Before I left, the Pope gave me a little saucer of sugared strawberries which, however, I did not eat, as I wanted them for a sick person." — Later, she exclaimed still in ecstasy : " Those strawberries have no very good signification. — They show that many ties still bind the Pope to earth." u I saw Rome in such a state that the least spark would inflame it, and Sicily dark, frightful, abandoned by all that could leave it." — One day whilst in ecstasy, she groaned: UI see the Church alone, forsaken by all and around her strife, misery, hatred, treason, resentment, total blindness. I see messengers sent on all sides from a dark central point with messages that issue from their mouths like black vapor, enkindling in the breast of their hearers rage and hatred. I pray earnestly for the oppressed ! — On those places in which some souls still pray I see light descending ; but on others, pitchy darkness. The situation is terrible ! May God have mercy! How much I have prayed ! O city ! 0 city, (Borne) with what art thou threatened ! The storm approaches — be on thy guard ! I trust thou wilt stand firm !" October 16th — u Last night I made the Way of the Cross at Coesfeld with a crowd of souls who showed me the distress of the Church and the necessity of prayer. Then I had a vision of many gardens lying around me in a circle, and the Pope's situation with respect to his Bishops. He sat enthroned in one of these gardens. In the others were the rights and privileges of his Bishops and their sees symbolized by various plants, flowers, and fruits. Their mutual connection, their communication and influence, I saw under the forms of threads, of rays extending from them to the see of Rome. In these earthly gardens, I saw the temporal, spiritual authority, and above them in the air I saw their future Bishops ; for instance, I saw above the garden of the stern Superior, a new Bishop with the cross, mitre, and other episcopal insignia, and standing around him Protestants who wished him to enter the garden below, but not on the conditions established by the Holy Father. They tried to insinuate themselves by all sorts of covert means; they destroyed a part of the garden, or sowed bad seed in it. I saw them sometimes here, sometimes there, cultivating the land or letting it lie un tilled, tearing up and not clearing away, etc. ; all was full of pitfalls and rubbish. I saw them intercepting or turning away the roads that led to the Pope. When they did succeed in getting a Bishop according to their liking, I saw that he had been intruded contrary to the will of the Holy Father; consequently, he possessed no legitimate spiritual authority. — Many such scenes were shown me, and it is for me to pray and suffer ! It is very distressing ! — I see one who has few claims to holiness about to be installed in the see of a holy deceased Bishop." Sister Emmerich's sufferings during these contemplations were simply frightful. She felt as if her breast were girded tightly with cords; she had frequent vomitings, and so lively an impression of a huge, thorny crown that she dared not rest her head on a pillow. The wounds of her forehead and side bled several times. Whilst in this state,she related the following fragments of a vision of the Sacred Passion : — u The crown of Jesus was very large and heavy, and stood far out from His head. When the executioners dragged His woven tunic over His head, the crown came off with it. I have an indistinct remembrance of their platting a smaller one (I know from what thorns) and putting it on Him by the cross.— The three holes in the latter were too far apart and, when they had nailed down one hand, they had to stretch the other with cords to reach the second hole. The feet also were found to be too high up ; they had to be stretched in like manner. One of the executioners knelt upon the Saviour's limbs, whilst the others drove the nails. The Sacred Body was dislocated in every joint. One could, as it were, see through it, and below the breast it was quite sunken and hollow. It was a horrible moment when they raised the cross and let it fall into the hole prepared for it. The shock was so violent that the Sacred Body quivered. u I did not see Jesus go into purgatory ; but, when He was in limbo, the souls came from purgatory to Him and all were delivered by Him. I saw the angel gathering and restoring to His Sacred Body before the Resurrection the Blood and Flesh lost during the Passion, and then I saw Him issuing from the tomb in indescribable glory, His shining Wounds so many holy, ineffable ornaments to His Sacred Body. He did not appear to the disciples in this radiant glory, for their eyes could not have endured the sight. ''• The Blessed Virgin had some linen stained with the
Blood of Jesus's circumcision and His other Wounds. She gave the Apostles when they dispersed crosses of about an arm's length, made of flexible reeds, which they carried under their mantles. They had also metal boxes for the Holy Eucharist and relics, which were, I think, pieces of the linen that Mary had. I think, too, that the Blessed Virgin wove them robes like that of her Son, for she made many such, sometimes on two needles, or again with a hooked needle. " At the close of this painful task of prayer, Sister Emmerich had a very consoling vision of which she co nmunicated the following: — " I lay on a plank in the midst of thorns which wounded me whenever I moved. In the hedge were numbers of red and white roses and other white flowers. Jesus appeared to me as my Bridegroom and showed me His familiar communications with His brides, Teresa, Catherine of Sienna and Clare of Montefalco whom I saw, one after another, in positions similar to my own : one seated in the midst of thorns, another rolling in them, and the third entirely surrounded by them. I saw how familiarly and confidently they addressed Our Lord. Clare of Montefalco was dragging a cross upon which many of her fellow-religious laid heaps of trifles, little nothings, until it became so heavy that she sank under its weight. Then Jesus reminded her that He, too, had fallen under His cross. Clare exclaimed: " Ah ! then, stretch out to me Thy hand as Thy Heavenly Father did to Thee V — Jesus showed me also how all who approached my bed pressed upon me, though without intending it, the pricking thorns. I saw too the infirmities, the sufferings, the sorrows, often very grievous, of all these brides. Then Jesus placed before me a shining table and covered it with a snowy cloth. Upon it was immolated by a priest of tention, burning thirst, and inability to drink. She looks like one in death agony, She can with extreme difficulty and only at long intervals pronounce a few words ; but her soul is in peace. She is constantly in vision, laboring in a poor, neglected church. About noon she appeared to be dying. She lay stiff and cold, unable to ask assistance. Fortunately, her sister happened to approach her bed and, seeing her condition, raised her up, otherwise she would have strangled from the vomiting which came on suddenly. After this she again lay for awhile like one dead when she sat up suddenly without effort or support, joined her hands, and so remained for about six minutes in an attitude of earnest prayer. c Ah ! I#have rested and thanked God for my difficult task !' She exclaimed, L 0 that broom I used was a very heavy one P Her words came slowly, but her breathing was easier, though at intervals her pains were still very intense. They lasted for about five minutes at a time, her feet trembling so violently as to shake the chair on which they rested. They are like so many sharp bones wrapped in bandages ; a mere touch on them produces a quivering that communicates itself to the lower limbs. Her labor was not yet finished, as she said. When her confessor exhorted her to patience, she replied: 'Patience hovers yonder in a globe !' and fell again into her former suffering state. " May 30th — u Her vomitings have ceased j but there has come upon her so acute an ear-ache that she hides her head under the pillows to avoid hearing the least sound." May 31st — u The headache and ear-ache lasted all night. They have become almost unendurable, nearly depriving her of consciousness. Her condition is pitiable. " June 1st — The Pilgrim found her this morning serene and singularly joyous, the pain in her head abated, though struct ion, and one in particular taking part in it through vanity and ignorance. He will see his error only when it will be too late to retrieve it. The misery under him will be great. Many simple-minded, enlightened men, and especially the school-master, are praying for the removal of this pastor* I saw, at the most, only four ecclesiastics in the whole country steadfast and faithful. These visions were so frightful that I came near crying out. I see in the future religion falling so low that it will be practised only here and there in farm-houses and in families protected by God during the horrors of war. " I had another singular vision. St. Cunegundes brought me a crown and a little piece of pure gold in which I could see myself. She said : *I have made thee this crown, but the right side " (where Sister Emmerich's great pain was) "is not quite finished. Thou must complete it with this gold. I made thee this crown because thou didst place a precious stone in my crown even before thou wert born' — and then she pointed to a stone or pearl in one side of her crown so dazzlingly bright that one could scarcely look at it — and this I had put there ! I thought that really laughable, and so I said right out : l How can this be f It would indeed be strange had I done that before my birth ! To which the saint replied that all my labors and sufferings, as well as those of all mankind, were already portioned out and divided among my ancestors ; and she showed me pictures of Jesus working in the person of David, our own fall in Adam, of the good we do already existing in our ancestors, though obscurely, etc. She showed me my origin on my mother's side (she was named Hillers) up through several generations to her own ancestors where a thread appeared connecting them. She explained to me how I had put the jewel in the crown. I understood it all in vision, but now I cannot explain it. It was as if the property of patient suffering which sprang from the thread of life connected with my existence, had been communicated to her ; and thus I, or something of mine in her had gained a victory which was represented by the jewel in her crown. — In the beginning of the vision I saw her in a heavenly sphere or garden in company with kings and princes. I saw the Emperor Henry, her holy spouse, in a sphere. He appeared fresh and younger than she, as if she had existed there a longer time in the persons of her ancestors. But this I cannot explain, indeed I did not understand it at the time, and so I let it alone. — There was, above all, in this vision something unspeakably disengaged from the conditions of time ; for, although wondering to find that I had even before my birth labored at a pearl in Cunegundes's crown, yet it seemed very natural. I felt that I had lived in her time — yes, that I was even anterior to her, and I felt myself present to myself even in my earliest origin. — St. Cunegundes showed me on her left her extraction according to the flesh and on the right her descendants according to the spirit, for she had had no children. Her spiritual posterity was very rich, very fruitful. I saw her ancestors as well as ray own far, far back to people who were not Christians. -Among them I saw some who had received a merciful judgment. This astonished me, since it is written : i Whoever believes not and is not baptized shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' But St. Cunegundes explained it thus : ' They loved God as far as they knew Him and their neighbor as themselves. They knew nothing of Christianity, they were as if in a dark pit into which light never penetrated. But they were such as would have been perfect Christians had they known Christ, consequently, they found mercy in His sight.' —
I had a vision of my being before my birth or that of my forefathers, not like one genealogical tree, but like numerous branches spread over all the earth and in all sorts of places. I saw rays extending from one to another which, after uniting in multiplied beams, branched out again in different directions. I saw many pious members among my ancestors, some high, some low. I saw a whole branch of them on an island ; they were wealthy and owned large ships, but I know not where it was. I saw very many things in this vision. I received many clear lights upon the importance of transmitting to the world a pure posterity and of maintaining pure, or of purifying in ourselves that which our ancestors have handed down to us. I unstood it to refer both to spiritual and to natural posterity. u I saw, too, my father's parents. His mother was named Rensing. She was the daughter of a rich farmer. She was avaricious and, during the u Seven Years' War," she buried her money near our house. I knew almost the exact spot. It will be found long after my death when the house will have passed into other hands. I knew this long ago, even when a child. June 2d — The Pilgrim found Sister Emmerich very much agitated. With agonizing tears she recounted the following: "I have had a frightful night ! A cat came to my bed and sprang at my hand. I caught it by the hind legs, held it out of the bed, and tried to kill it ; but it escaped from me and fled. I was wide awake, I saw everything. I saw the child lying asleep there disturbed, and I was afraid she would see what was going on. The whole night until three o'clock did the enemy under a horrible, black figure, maltreat me. He struck me, dragged me out of bed, hurled me forward with the pillows, and squeezed me terribly* He kicked me before him, threw the pillows on me, been pricked by thorns. Sister Emmerich knows well why this suffering was imposed upon her, and also that it was symbolized by the crown that St. Cunegundes gave her to finish. And yet, what is very remarkable, she constantly speaks of inflammation and of deafness. She even begs the physician for remedies which he prescribes, but which after all she does not use." June 6th — u Sister Emmerich declares that this ear-ache will continue till Pentecost. — 6 God wants this labor/ she sa^s. i He will make use of it, there lies the secret. St. Cunegundes is connected with n.e by a secret tie existing between those that from infancy have been freed from the concupiscence of the flesh. It is impossible to explain this to the impure world. It is a secret of an unknown nature. I am, moreover, related to the saint through our ancestors.7" June 8th — u Her deafness and pain still continue, and last night the tempter again appeared to her under the form of an angel. He told her that, as Dean Overberg came not to her, it would be well for her to turn to him for he could help her. But she, raising her heart to God, recognized Satan and boldly put him to flight." June 9th — ;i As Sister Emmerich had predicted, the ear-ache left her to-day, though slight deafness still remains. She says she has finished and offered to God the crown given her by St. Cunegundes to complete. The saint, moreover, showed her for whom the task was performed. — ' I have seen an influential Protestant who has some idea of returning to the Church. He would, indeed, be very useful to it, for even now he does much for the Catholics, though secretly. He is known to the Pope, My suffering will purchase his crown if he conquers human respect and follows the dictates of conscience. — By my labor united to the merits of Christ, the crown has been finished for him,"
11. Pentecost. — The Mountain of the Prophets. UI have seen as usual the Feast of Pentecost, and many pictures of the communication of the Holy Spirit throughout the whole world, also the twelve new Apostles and their connection with the Church. I saw from several parishes which received the Holy Ghost, a spiritual ohurch formed, symbolical of the infusion of new life into the Church Militant, and I also saw numerous individuals receiving the Holy Spirit. u Last night I made a long journey, chiefly to the Mountain of the Prophets and Paradise in its vicinity. All was as usual on the mountain, the man under the tent writing and arranging books and rolls of parchment, erasing many things, and burning others. I saw him giving leaves to doves which flew away with them. I had also a vision of the Holy Ghost, a winged figure in a triangle surrounded by bands of light of seven different colors which spread over the spiritual Church floating below and over all in communication with her. In this vision I felt that the effusion of the Holy Ghost exercises an influence over all nature. I stood above the earth near the Mountain of the Prophets and saw the waters that fall from it spread out like a transparent, many-colored veil above the earth, and I saw all sorts of things shining through it. One color sprang from another and produced a different effect. When the veil is rent, the rain descends. These effusions take place at certain seasons commemorative of the saints and their victories. The feast of a saint is his true harvest-day. On it he dispenses his gifts as a tree does its fruits. What souls do not receive in this out-pouring of spiritual gifts falls upon the earth as rain and dew ; in this way, does a superabundance of rain become a chastisement
Anne CatJierine Emmerich. 819 Judith looked much older. She seems to be much nearer to Christianity, if not really a Christian in heart. I do not think she has yet been baptized ; but, were a priest at hand, it might be done immediately. In the room in which I once saw her taking coffee with several others stood something Jike a little altar ; above it was the picture of an infant in a manger, below which was a cavity in the altar, cut out like a basin, in which lay a small spoon and a white bone or stone knife. Lamps burned around and near by were desks with rolls of writings. Judith knelt there in prayer with many younger than herself and an old man, her assistant. All seemed to be suddenly convinced that the Messiah was already come ; but I saw as yet no cross. In the upper room in which were the old busts, the aged Jews were still assembled. — The treasure in the cellar was greatly diminished, for Judith gave much to the poor. Her abode is very wonderful ! Her house to the west faces a deep valley beyond which rises a mountain that shines and Sparkles in the sun like stars; on the opposite side,, far away in the distance, are seen strange high towers and long buildings on the mountains. They cannot be descried from the castle, but I saw them. I saw also the people on the Ganges. Their church is in beautiful order, and they have among them an old priest, a missionary, I think." 13. Sufferings for Five Bishoprics of the UpperRhine. March, 1820.— " I passed through Frankfort (1) and saw in a large house not far from a great church, a society assembled for deliberation on evil projects; among them (1) Precisely at this moment the ecclesiastic and the lay delegates of the petty German States were convened for the second time to deliberate on the means to be adopted for the gradual extinction of Catholicity in the five dioceses.
were ecclesiastics, and devils were crouching under the chairs I went again to the large house at whose entrance lay sleeping, under the form of a black dog with red eyes, Satan himself. I roused him with my foot, saying : 4 Up, Satan ! why sleepest thou here V — ' I can sleep quietly here/ he replied, c for the people inside are attending to my work.' " Sister Emmerich saw also in a symbolical picture, the results following from this new way of establishing Churches: — "I found myself," she says, "lying in the only sound spot of a ship that was all punctured. The crew kicked and ill-treated me in many ways whilst I prayed earnestly for them that they might not fall into the deep from the sides of the vessel on which they were sitting. I saw the ship going to pieces, and I was sick unto death. At last they put me ashore where my friends were in waiting to convey me to some other place. I kept on praying that the unhappy people might also disembark ; but, scarcely had I reached the shore, before the ship capsized and to my great grief, all were lost. — There was an abundance of fruit where I was." On Wednesday after Passion-Sunday, March 22, 1820, the Frankfort Convention held its first formal sitting to deliberate upon the means to be adopted to seise Jesus by stealth and deliver Him to death. Its members said : " Let it not be in daylight, lest the Pope perceive it and make opposition !" Whilst this was going on, Sister Emmerich's attention was attracted to them and she entered the lists against them. u I am bearing" she said, uan enormous weight on my right shoulder, for I am atoning by my many afflictions for the sins of others. I am almost sinking and my visions on the state of mankind, particularly of the clergy, are so sad that I cannot help taking still heavier for us, Mary renewing the offering of her sorrows through Jesus, and all the saints offering their merits and prayers in like manner. It was a vision in which variety and unity, action and repose, supreme magnificence, love, and peace were inexpressibly blended. As I continued to gaze upon it, I perceived all at once that I was lying in one side ol a pair of scales, for I saw the needle and beam above me. In the other scale, hanging in darkness, lay God's most hardened enemies, around them many others seated on the rim, as they had been on the sides of the ship. As at the sight I redoubled my patience and my prayers, as my pains also increased, the scale rose a very little ; but it was too heavy and most of the men fell off. All, however, for whom I had given my sufferings as a counter-balance were saved. Above me I saw heaven and the efficacious merits of Jesus, and I rejoiced that with God's grace I had been able to gain something by my pains. — These men are hard as rocks; they fall from sin to sin, each more grievous than the last." The cunning with which these plotters sought to hide their intrigues was shown to Sister Emmerich under the form of the tempter : "After my examen," she says, "I was saluting the Wounds of Jesus, when I suddenly fell into the greatest mental agony. An ecclesiastic appeared before me saying that he had just returned from Rome with all sorts of sacred objects for me ; but I felt intense repugnance both for him and his gifts. He showed me all sorts of little crosses and stars, but not one of them was perfect; all were crooked and deformed. lie told me in many words that he had spoken of me to the Holy Father, that I had not a suitable confessor, etc. His words were so plausible that, although I still felt aversion for him, I thought : l Perhaps I judge him too severely ! —I again examined his sin tion flowed so copiously from her head and breast as to soak the bed on which she lay ; and she was tormented by incessant attacks of whooping-cough which, she said, was to last for six hours. At intervals she swooned away from the violence of her sufferings. She afterward related the following : u I found lately at the Nuptial House hedges of walnut-trees outside the choir of the church where there used to be beautiful vines, and just behind the main altar was a high nut-hedge full of ripe nuts. I saw a distinguished ecclesiastic wearing a cross, (something like a Vicar-General) who went to the hedge with a nut- cracker in his hand. I saw it distinctly. He cracked and ate numbers of nuts, after which he hid the shells and went into the church. I felt the great impropriety of his entering the church after eating the nuts, for the act of cracking nuts is a symbol of treachery and discord. He was from the unhappy house connected by an outer staircase with the Nuptial House. In it were assembled all who entered not by the true gate ; but he was driven from the church. He was the cause of my profuse perspiration, the sharp pain in my shoulder, and the paralysis of my right side. Seeing him after he had been chased away standing before a wall unable to advance or to go back, I grasped him by the shoulders and drew him with incredible difficulty to the top of the wall. I was told just to let him drop down on the other side. But I saw that he would be dashed to pieces, and so with great fatigue I carried him down and dragged him into a region quite new to me. Here I met first a great river, then a lake on whose banks stands a city (Constance). Around lay towns and villages. As I carried my heavy load across the lake, invisible hands placed under my feet two narrow planks, one after the other, which as I stepped on them rose and sank alternately. It was a difficult passage, but
I accomplished it. Before me arose high mountains. — I have more than once seen this ecclesiastic (Wessenberg) in the Nuptial House. He is a worldly man to whom the Protestants are as well inclined as he is to them. He will help them as far as he can. He intruded himself into his high position by all sorts of artful means, signified by the nut-cracker ; he is strongly opposed to the Pope and he has many adherents. I prayed very much for the Church and the Holy Father, and then I was commissioned to perform this task. It would be well if this man could without scandal come to some terms with his partisans. The Protestants would thereby receive a severe blow, for they are c< ntinually exciting and defending him. They are getting the upper hand ; but they will lose much, if this unworthy priest does not succeed." The invalid was at this time continually engaged in repelling the attacks of the enemies of the Church ; consequently, her state was most distressing. The Pilgrim writes : u She is sick, very sick, but quite supernaturally so ! Her state is one of constant change : sometimes drenched with icy death-sweats ; again radiant as if in full health ; and shortly after falling from one swoon to another. But she rejoices in having already accomplished a great part of the task undertaken. When her sufferings become quite intolerable, she is so consoled and rejoiced by some beautiful vision that she often laughs with joy ; for example, when sinking under her pains, St. Benedict appeared and said pleasantly to her : ' Ah ! thou art always stumbling although so old! — ? and St. Joseph took her to a beautiful meadow full of flowers, telling her to walk on them without bruising them. This feat, possible only to the Child Jesus, she could not accomplish, whereupon St. Joseph said : i Now thou seest thou dost not belong here ! J — There was shown her a rich treasure of pearls ; viz., lost graces, which she by her sufferings was to gather up and pay off the debt of those who had squandered them. Her weakening, death-like sweats she offers for the poor souls whom she beholds hourly becoming brighter, and who thank her for the relief her charity affoids them.— Again she saw the fatal intrigues of the false suitor in the Nuptial House. ' I met few ecclesiastics there according to my liking/ she said. c I had to cook for them, that is, prepare spiritual nourishment for them. Many sat at table, and I saw him whom I had to drag so far enter and boldly seat himself with his five followers. I had prepared three dishes ; but when I set them on the table, the insolent fellow cried out scorn* fully : " The Pope h^s given us a fine cook, indeed ! now we'll get nothing but gray pease VJ ' " In Easter week, 1820, Sister Emmerich had another vision in which was shown her the immense evil this man and his supporters would do the Church, as also the fatal consequences of the Frankfort convention :— " I saw," she said, " a field (1) full of people and hard by a circular building /ith a gray cupola like a new church. In it were some learned men, and such crowds were flocking into it that I wondered how it could contain them all ; it looked like the influx of a whole nation ! Then the air all around grew darker and darker. A black vapor filled the church and poured out of its windows spreading over meadows, fields, and parishes, till the whole country, far and wide, was changed to a bleak, wild moor. Then I saw numbers of well-meaning persons pressing toward one side of the (1) The green field, or meadow, signifies the festivals of the Church, the ecclesiastical year, the communion of the faithful from which the friends and abettors of the " new lights" wished not to separate, despite their incredulity, their revolt against legitimate authority. Like the Jansenists, they directed their destructive darts against the Church from her very bosom ; therefore it was that, though in the meadow, they stood apart. They erected a church in the Church, spreading therein the night of unbelief, the horrors of spiritual death.
out of it into the bright green fields, and wended their way to a luminous city. Behind the black church all remained dark as night. " The following vision, though chiefly upon the ravages made in the Church by the infidelity of Sister Emmerich's own day, comprehends many other things and embraces seven periods of time. This was indicated to her ; but her sufferings prevented her, unfortunately, from specifying these periods or saying which among the events would be realized in her own lifetime, or which would take place only after her demise. "I saw the earth's surface covered with darkness and obscurity, al] creation, trees and shrubs, plants and flowers, withering and dying. The waters seemed to have flowed back to their sources, brooks, fountains, rivers, and seas to have returned to the waters above the firmament around Paradise. I wandered over the desolate earth. I saw the rivers like fine threads ; the seas like black abysses with here and there a tiny stream ; and, wallowing in the slime, lay huge animals struggling with death. I went so far that I could distinctly see the shore on which St. Clement was drowned. Mankind was in a sad state of confusion and, as the earth became more arid and desolate, the deeds of darkness increased. I saw in detail many abominations. I recognized Rome, and I beheld the oppression of the Church, as also her internal and external decadence. Then I saw immense troops marching from various quarters to a certain place near which was a great black spot like an enormous abyss into which numbers of the troops seemed to fall, unnoticed by their companions. Again I saw in the midst of these disasters the twelve new Apostles laboring in different countries, unknown to one another, each receiving streams of living water from on high. They all did the others whom I recognized, in the first rank^(that is> with oth«rs who like herself had contributed to the renewal of life). u Now all is again flourishing. I saw a new, very resolute Pope, and the black abyss gradually closing until the opening was so small that a water-pail could cover it. Lastly > I saw again three troops or parishes uniting in the light under holy, enlightened men, and entering into the Church* The waters again gushed forth ; all was renewed, all wad living and flourishing, churches and convents were rebuilt. — Whilst that frightful drought prevailed, I was taken over a verdant meadow full of those lovely white flowers I once had to gather, and I came to a thorn-hedge on which I scratched myself badly in the dark j but it also was full of buds and I pressed through joyously." April 12, 1820.- — UI have had another vision on the great tribulation everywhere reigning. It seemed as if something were exacted of the clergy, something that could pot be granted. I saw many aged priests, some of them Franciscans, and one, in particular, a very old man, weeping bitterly and mingling their tears wkh those of others younger than themselves. I saw others, tepid souls, willingly acceding to conditions hurtful to religion. The old faithful in their distress submitted, to the interdict and closed their churches. Numbers of their parishioners joined them ; and so, two parties were formed, a good and a bad one.'7 As the supporters of the u new lights," the Illuminati, especially hated the devotion of the Rosary, the value of this popular form of prayei was shown Sister Emmerich in a very significant vision u I saw Mary's Rosary with all its mysteries. A pious hermit had thus honored the Mother of God, weaving in his childlike faith a garland of leaves and flowers for her; and, as he understood their significa tion, his garlands were always profoundly symbolical. He begged the Blessed Virgin to obtain for him some favor from her Son, whereupon she gave him the Rosary." Then Sister Emmerich described this Rosary ; but after the vision was over; neither she nor the Pilgrim could clearly repeat what had been seen and heard. It seems that the Rosary was surrounded by three rows of different colored notched leaves, on which were represented in transparent figures all the mysteries of the Church from both the Old and the New Testament. In the centre of the Rosary stood Mary with the Child surrounded by angels and virgins, hand in hand, their colors and attributes expressive of the various mysteries. Sister Emmerich described each bead, beginning with the coral cross on which is said the Creed. The cross grew out of a fruit like the apple of the forbidden tree ; it was carved, it had certain determinate colors, and it was full of little nails. On it was the figure of a youth, in his hand a vine which sprang from the cross, and sitting on the vine were other figures eating the grapes. The beads were joined by colored, spiral rays, like roots, each possessing some natural and mystical signification. Every Our Father was enclosed in a wreath of leaves from whose centre sprang a flower in which was portrayed one of Mary's joys or sorrows. The Hail Maries were stars of precious stones on which were cut scenes from the lives of the patriarchs and Mary's ancestors relating to the Incarnation and Redemption. Thus does the Rosary comprehend heaven and earth, God and nature and history and the restoration of all things through the Redeemer born of Mary. Every figure and color in its essential signification was employed for the perfecting of this divine master-piece. This Rosary, though inexpressibly profound in signification was described by the invalid with deep feeling and child
Still, however, her physical pains were perhaps even more endurable to the poor invalid than were the ill-advised efforts to relieve her and the disturbance occasioned her little household. The Pilgrim's brother, Christian Brentano, was in Diilmen at the time and, finding a noisy game of ninepins going on just beneath Sister Emmerich's window one day, he resolved to have her removed to a more retired neighborhood. For this end he sought to gain Father Limberg and Dr. Wesener's approval, hoping to win thrpugh the latter the consent of the old Abbe Lambert, then sick and confined to his bed. But the old priest, weighed down by infirmity and desirous of ending his days in peace, would by no means consent to the change. u Full of sadness/' as the Pilgrim says, he dragged himself to the invalid's bedside and protested against a removal. Sister Emmerich, anxious and annoyed by the repetition of such scenes, fell into a most deplorable state. Then it was that all concerned urged the use of various ineffectual remedies. They forgot the supernatural character of her sufferings which, had they been other than they were, must have ended in death. In view of this irritating commotion, we may readily understand the effort it cost the poor invalid to preserve her patience unruffled and the earnestness with which she longed for Dean Overberg's presence to lull the storm. The Pilgrim gives us the following details : — April 15th — "I found Sister Emmerich quite unable to speak from excessive pain. She had lain all night unable to stir on account of the violent suffering in her left side. She could neither stretch out her hand to the tumbler at her side, nor move her feet from the bottle of hot water that had been placed in her bed ; and thus she spent the night, abandoning herself to the mercy of God. When vertebral column. Although in this pitiable state, she thanked God for all and, thinking herself in purgatory, she rejoiced in the thought of never being able to offend Him again." April 20th — u Her pains still continue ; her bed is steep* ed with perspiration, and even Gertrude (not very easily moved) shed tears at her sister's sufferings. The invalid declares that, unless relieved, she must surely die ; she cannot longer support her pains. She is quite deformed. She sent in haste for the Cure, who came at once. He prayed and imposed hands upon her, when she instantly fell into a gentle slumber. Afterward she said in allusion to this crisis: 'I begged God earnestly to forgive me if I had asked for sufferings beyond my strength, to pity me for the sake of His Son's Precious Blood, and to help me to do His holy will, if I can still be of any service on this earth. I felt sure that, had I died this time, I should, in some measure, have been guilty of my own death and that I should have had to do penance in purgatory. As I received no other answer than : u The fire thou thyself hast lighted must burn to the end !" — I became discouraged, for I saw myself in a very precarious state. I recommended my affairs to God, since I should have to leave them behind me in disorder. When the Cure prayed and imposed hands upon me, it seemed as if a gentle stream of light passed through me. I fell asleep feeling that I was again a little child being rocked to rest. A luminous ray rested upon ine which vanished when he withdrew his hand; but I was relieved, I was again full of courage ! v Toward noon, Sister Emmerich had another attack which the old Abbe Lambert relieved by the imposition of hands and the recital of the Rosary. The Pilgrim put into her hand the crusts that had fallen from her stigmata.
She smiled with a surprised air, and said : " There is a poor sick person in a most pitiable condition ! The Cure of Haltern must know her ! There she lies over there ! She is much worse off than I, but she is patient ! Ah ! she is in great danger, but the Cure has helped her. I cannot bear to see her suffering so ; it makes me worse ! I shall pray for her. She must have been shown me for my humiliation, for she is far better, far more patient than I, though much more suffering !" — and here the Pilgrim removed the crusts. April 21st — "She appears better to-day. St. Walburga and Madeline von Hadamar have appeared and consoled her. She is in continual contemplation. ? April 2 2d — u Her pains are not so severe, but she is so weak as to be hardly able to speak. Her confessor told her to-day : 6 You are averse to brandy lotions, yet I know they are good for the stomach and back.7 " April 23d — Second Sunday after Easter : " At the Abbe Lambert and Gertrude's request, the mistress of the house made Sister Emmerich a small cup of chicken broth without seasoning ; for, as they said, she would never get strong without nourishment. The poor invalid patiently yielded to their united solicitations, but no sooner had she done so than her stomach revolted and she lay until evening in a state calculated to draw tears from the beholders. Fever, chills, cramps, and total insensibility succeeded one another in rapid succession; at last, the doctor pronounced mortification as having set in, and her death was momentarily expected. But after some time, she suddenly opened her eyes and said smilingly : ' I am no longer ill, I have no pain V The confessor ordered her to go to sleep which, however, her burning fever prevented, and she replied in a deprecating tone : L I want to, but I cannot/ and she be being done to assist me, to arrange things as is customary in this lower world. It struck me as being so very ridiculous that I had to laugh, though I was in such pain.'" April 27th — " She was very weak this morning. When she received through the Pilgrim the announcement of Dean Overberg's inability to come just then she wept, but soon regained her composure and related a vision she had had the night before : ' I was a child again. I was home, sick unto death, and all alone, father and mother absent. But ever so many of the neighbors' children, those of the mayor and others, came in and waited on me, and were so sweet and kind ! They got green branches, (it was in May) stuck them in the ground, find made a little hut. They carried leaves to it a. id made a bed for me. Then they brought me the most wonderful playthings, more beautiful than I could ever have dreamed of: dolls, cribs, animals, cooking utensils, little angels — and I played with them until morning. At times I feel as if some of them were still lying around. — I wept much this afternoon, and once I pressed the Mother of God right to my heart, saying over and over again : u Thou art my mother, my only mother !" and that did me good.'" How often the poor sufferer had to struggle against the frightful evil that attacked the celibacy of the clergy may be seen by the following vision of August 16, 1821; — "I was taken to a flock (a diocese) at one end of the field by the Nuptial House (that is, a diocese surrounded by Protestant sects). Among the sheep were many goodfor-nothing goats that injured them with their horns. I was ordered to drive them out, a task which proved both troublesome and difficult, as I knew not how to tell the good from the bad. Then appeared St. Stanislaus Kostka who helped me. First, I went to the banks of a swift, broad stream and called all the goats together, TJw whom these good results were to emanate. The gifts bestowed upon the clergy were very varied ; each received what he most needed There appeared to be very peculiar plants and flowers among them. From the ecclesiastics the best were chosen." Again we find Sister Emmerich's labors directed to the good of ecclesiastical seminaries, as the following vision shows : — • May, 1821. — u I was in a long hall, on either side of which at their desks were young men in long robes like seminarists ; passing up and down among them was a tall man. I was in one corner. All at once, the young men turned into horses and the tall man into an immense cudchewing ox. The horses showed their teeth behind him and made all sorts of mocking grimaces. I was wishing the ox would show them his horns and make them behave, but all he did was to butt the wall every time he came to the end of the hall. There was a hole in it already, and I thought the building would soon come down on top of us. I knew not how to get out when, all at once, one of the horses left his place to go to another. I perceived a door behind the seat he had vacated, and by it I made my escape." On the evening of Jan. 15, 1822, Sister Emmorich vomited blood freely, and then suddenly exclaimed : if Ah ! a pious, parish-priest has just died in Rome of old age ! I received the general absolution with him ! His soul went straight to purgatory, but he will very soon be released. We must pray for him. He was greatly attached to the Pope during whose captivity he did much good in secret. The Pope himself has not long to live." And again she said : "That good old priest was one of the twelve unknown Apostles whom I always see supporting the Church and of whom I have often spoken. He is the second that has died.
which she rose in her bed to pray until ordered by her confessor to lie down. Sister Emmerich spent the fall of 1822 in coptinual labors for the Church in Germany, She made nightly journeys to Rome ; averted dangers from couriers, whose dispatches robbers and assassins were lying in wait to seize ; assisted the sick and leprous whom she found on the road, and took charge of their disgusting packages; protected brides from false bridegrooms, that is opposed the illegitimate occupation of certain episcopal sees ; and all this she did with so much fatigue, with corporal sufferings so intense, as to be able to give very little account of them. The following vision, however, distinctly points to the object of these journeys ; viz., the ecclesiastical affairs of the Upper-Rhine province. Just at this epoch strenuous efforts were being made to gain the Holy See to renounce all right to certain bishoprics and to recognize as lawful incumbents men who had formally ratified an engagement with their patrons to betray the Catholic faith and to ignore for the future the laws and jurisdiction of the Church. Sister Emmerich was the instrument employed by God to oppose these iniquitous projects: — Oct. 22, 1822. — "I was on my way to Rome, when I found a singular-looking child on a heath by the roadside. It seemed to be only one day old. It lay in the centre of a dark globe which looked like fog, but which in reality was formed of thousands of twisted threads proceeding from the most distant regions. I had to pierce this web to get at the child which I found closely enveloped in a beautiful little cloak with a large scalloped cape. I felt something under the cloak fastened to the child's back. I tried, though in vain, to remove it, for I suspected that it was nothing good, when this child of a day began to laugh ! I shrank from it unable to account for its mirth. I now know what it meant. The authors of the trick doubted not of its success. They had wrapped it (the book) up with the gentle child in order to have it secretly conveyed to Rome. I do not now remember to whom I confided the child, but I think it was to a secular. I saw many whom I knew exulting over my taking the child, for there are in Rome even among the prelates many whose sentiments are not Catholic, and who had connived at the success of the scheme. Isawin Germany among worldly- wisejecclesiastics, and e nlightened Protestants, plans formed for the blending of religious creeds, the suppression of Papal authority, the appointment of more superiors, the diminishing of expenses and the number of ecclesiastics, etc., which projects found abettors in many of the Roman prelates. (I have often seen that C. C — is not of much account) (1). He does much harm, he hates his father ; but he is so mixed up in affairs that they cannot get rid of him. He is perfectly entangled by the secret society, that wide-spread association which works more quickly and still more superficially than even the Freemasons." The child in the globe of fog typifies the plan conceived for the suppression of Catholicity enveloped, as in a cloak, by beautiful figures of rhetoric ; the fog signifies imposture which works in the dark; the laughing of the child, the premature triumph of the plotters (men devoted to the pleasures of the table) at having outwitted the Sovereign Pontiff despite his protests and briefs ! The book under the mantle represents the writings forwarded to Rome in favor of the projects. They were on their way, indeed, but they were incapable of preventing 9 the discovery and defeat of the plot. Sister Emmerich saw the same wicked designers hunting up the decisions of (1) (Icb iufte oft geieben, da* c. C. nichte taugt, etc > sea like a ship. With mighty efforts I had to help to restore its balance, and we sent many people into it, chiefly children, stationing them around on the beau;s and planks (1). In the three aisles of the church lay twelve men prostrate and motionless in fervent prayer, and there were crowds of children at the entrance prostrate before an altar. I saw no Pope, but a Bishop prostrate before the High Altar. In this vision I saw the church bombarded by other vessels, but we hung wet cloths before it and it received no damage. It was threatened on all sides ; it seemed as if its enemies wanted to hinder its landing. When by the help of extra weight it was again righted, it sank a little in the sand. Then we laid down planks to the shore. Instantly all sorts of bad ecclesiastics ran in with others, who had given no assistance in time of need, (2) and began to mock the twelve men whom they found in prayer and to box their ears ; but the latter were silent and went on praying. — Then we brought great stones which we stuck all around for a foundation which began to increase as if it were growing of itself. The stones came to gether, and it seemed as if a rock sprang up and all became solid. Crowds of people, among them some strangers, entered by the door, and the church was again on land." This vision lasted several nights and was accompanied by hard labor. Once Sr. Emmerich, still in ecstasy uttered the following words : u Tbey 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 !" — Then she shook her hand indignantly, crying out : u O ye (i) A symbol of the future. This church, tossed to and fro and about to be engulfed by the waves, was to find by decrees a more solid foundation on the rock of Peter. (2) The old liberal party who, when they could do so without danger or fatigue sought to possess themselves of the rights of others.
German cheats! (1) Wait awhile! You will not succeed! The Shepherd stands upon a rock ! O ye priests ! You stir not, ye sleep, and the sheepfold is everywhere on fire ! You do nothing ! O how you will bewail this some day ! If you had said only one Our Father ! The whole night have I seen the enemies of the Lord Jesus drag Him around and maltreat him upon Calvary ! I see so many traitors ! They cannot bear to hear said: 'Things are going badly V — All is well with them if only they can shine before the world !" April, 1823. — a I almost killed my self working last night, I am full of pains ! First, I had to drag a great man into the church. He had tried to prevent my adoring the Blessed Sacrament in a spiritual church and had seized me by the shoulders. When I caught him he resisted ; but I held him firmly by the hands and, not being able to free himself, he dragged me backwards on my knees. At last, after much struggling, I succeeded in bringing him before the altar. The house from which he had come (the Nuptial House) was on fire, which ii seems he himself had kindled. With infinite trouble, I had to save everything, to carry all to the sheep-fold. The fire had already mounted to the roof and there wasno human being to help me, although I saw many priests, whom I knew, walking leisurely around. At last an ecclesiastic approachedwith one who looked like alawyer, and they helpedme. We rescued from all corners of the house chests, boxes, mantles, candlesticks, and church chandeliers, and took them to the sheep-fold. I worked myself to death ! — As the flames darted out through the roof, the priest rushed in and snatched up a son, (2) a child from one (1) The so-called German patriots who were opposed to the Latin tongue as the language of the Church. They sought to establish a national German Church, without God, without the Sacraments, without the Pope. (2) The son, the child , viz., the plot to establish certain relations with the Greek schism. Sister Emmerich saw this son go to Russia.
of the rooms that he whom I had dragged into the church had tried to kill, but which was still alive. The servants slept over that room ; but, fortunately, they were saved. The smoke and fumes soon cleared away. We three saved all." Sister Emmerich about this period was also engaged in the conversion of N whom she saw surrounded by a fog, cut off by a wall of separation as if under the ban of excommunication. She begged God to cure him corporally and spiritually. li His condition is somewhat improved ; his long illness has been a grace from God, and his sentiments on many points are quite changed. It is as if he died and came to life again an altered man. He confessed many things to the Holy Father, accused himself of many things, gave up all, died to all, and then lived again. I saw him lying on his bed surrounded by high Church dignitaries, and once too the Pope was by him. Around lay writings, many of which he gave up. They spoke, they questioned, and I often saw him raising his hand as if affirming something ; perhaps he could no longer speak distinctly, but I know not for certain. He seemed to be declaring that he disengaged himself from everything, that he gave up everything. The Pope was with him alone for some time, perhaps hearing his confession. I know not, but he used his hand as before and I think he put his arm around the Pope's neck. — I know not whether he was merely embracing him, or bidding him adieu, or whether the Holy Father was forgiving him something. — Then the latter went out. Among the papers that N gave to the Pope was one in particular relating to our Church. It was not perfectly conformable to the Holy Father's sentiments ; indeed he even seemed not to have had any previous knowledge of it. It is well that events fell out thus !
* there you will see,' — He did so, read the plot laid for him and fled. u Then I had an immense labor on all kinds of ecclesiastical vestments in the house I had seen on fire last spring. I had to make an alb for a Bishop whom I saw in the distance* but I had not wherewith to finish it, and so I asked alms from everybody. Dean Overberg said he could give only a groschen, and that mortified me. I had to make that alb because I must soon die. . . . Again, in Switzerland I had to beg materials for surplices. I rolled them into a large bundle and dragged it to Rome where they were to be made up. u I was in Rome, in the midst of an assembly of ecclesiastics presided over by the Pope. There was question of re-establishing or organizing something, but the resources for it had been squandered. The ecclesiastics were for letting the affair drop, saying: 'Nothing can be made of nothing ;' but the Holy Father was for going on with it. Then I interposed : l A good undertaking ought not to be abandoned. K there is nothing, God will supply.' The Pope told me that I had a good deal of courage for a nun, but that I was right. " Again I went to Rome, and I was very much vexed to find a quantity of church linen that had been washed in the time of the last Pope and which had been hanging there ever since. I myself had made and brought many pieces. Much of it had never been used but had lain neglected, laces, ribands, borders torn off, even great holes in them. The ivory crucifixes I had taken there were now minus the figures, only the crosses and marble stands remained. On one they had even hung a little brass figure. In the midst of this wash, walked all sorts of distinguished ecclesiastics taking great notice of the school-examination and First-Communion dresses, and other unimportant article?, u The five vile chemises/' says the Pilgrim, u signify the occupation of the five vacant sees by men who, instead of forming a chaste and lawful union with their bride, the Church, founded on faith and fidelity, rested their adulterous claims upon treason and perjury under the patronage of the secular powers; men whose intrinsic vileness had to be veiled by high sounding expressions, peace, gratitude, toleration, etc. The picture could hardly be more striking both upon this point and upon those that refer to school exhibitions and to the theatrical costumes worn at First Communion. Such dresses banish from the souls of many hundreds of children that piety and recollection, that reverence and devotion so necessary for the worthy reception of their Eucharistic God. Sister Emmerich was so much the more affected by this vision as she knew how important, how decisive for after-life is the child's First Communion. One day the Pilgrimfound her consoling and instructing her little niece who was in a flood of tears because the teacher had demanded from each pupil a sketch of the Sunday sermon. The little thing had caught nothing of it, excepting a few words relating to the justification of the Pharisees in their own eyes. Her aunt told her that that would be quite sufficient, She remarked at the same time that the task imposed upon children was already the fruit of tfte impetus given by the mischievous young school-master of theNuptial House; for the sermons and instructions were given in High German, whilst the poor little ones understood only the Low German patois." 21. Journeys Undertaken for Her Neighbor. u Last night I performed a wonderful task. I was thinking yesterday evening of the misery of those who, living in a state of impurity, make insincere confession*^ had a daughter, a very discreet maiden apparently, but who was in the habit of meeting her lovers secretly and by appoint iient in the garden. There I found her last night awaiting one of them. I stood by, begging God to corne to her aid. Suddenly I saw a figure trying, but in vain, to approach her. I recognized Satan. The girl grew agitated and withdrew into a summer-house. I followed and found another figure enveloped in a mantle whom she took for her expected sweetheart. She went up to him, drew aside the cloak that concealed him, and there she saw (and I saw also) the figure of the Saviour covered with blood and wounds, His hands bound, the crown of thorns upon His head ! —The piteous figure spoke : * Behold to what thou hast reduced Me V and the girl fell to the ground as if dead. I took her in my arms, told her in what crime she was living, and urged her to confess and do penance. She recovered consciousness and thinking, no doubt, that I was a servant or perhaps some stranger who had come across her, she moaned plaintively : l O if I were only in the house ! My father would kill me if he found me here V — Then I told her that, if she would promise to confess and do penance, I would help her to regain her room ; otherwise, she would have to lie there until morning and steal in as best she could. She promised everything, her strength returned, and she slipped into the house as she was accustomed to doj but, when safe in her rocm, she again fell ill. The priest for whom she sent next morning was found by God's mercy ready to attend her. She confessed, repented sincerely, and died fortified by the Sacraments. Her parents had no suspicion of her sins. " I saw ten such cases last night ; but I am not successful in all, some will not give up their evil ways. It is horrible ! I still must weep, the devil holds them so fast !, , . . f
I have found it particularly difficult to convert ecclesiastics given to such sins. I met some last night for whom prayer is the only hope." November, 1820. — " I took a great journey on which I had much to do, but I only remember the following cases distinctly : — Near Paderborn, my guide took me to a house, saying: ' There is in this house a young girl immersed in frivolity. You must warn her. She will soon return from a dance. I shall give you the voice and language of a pious young neighbor and, whilst she prepares to retire, you will reproach her with her levity/ — Then I saw a picture of the girl's whole life- — she was vain, giddy, fond of dress and dancing, in short, a practised flirt. And now I beheld her returning from the dance. — She went to her room without a light, and laid off her ornaments to go to bed. I drew near and said : c It is time for you to think seriously of your life. In laying aside this toilette, abandon also your evil courses. Serve no longer the devil rather than your God who gave you body and soul, who redeemed you with His blood V At these words, she grew angry, told me I had better go off home, what did I want there with my prattling* She needed no monitress, she knew very well what she was about, etc. — She jumped into bed without a prayer. When she had fallen asleep, my guide said : Rouse her ! I shall show her some pictures of her life V — I did not see the pictures, but I knew that she saw Satan, herself, and her lovers. My guide called Satan by another name, I think the prince of this world. I shook her. She arose tremblingly upon her bed and, in great terror, hastily recited all the prayers she knew. I saw her run to her mother, and tell her how frightened she had been and that she would never again go to a dance. Her mother in vain tried to dissuade her from her resolution. Next morning she did as I had direct ed, and made a good confession of her whole life. I know for a certainty that she amended." March 8, 1820. — " I went last night on a journey through the snow, and saw two poor travellers set upon and beaten by others with clubs. One fell dead and, as I ran to his assistance,the assassins seemed to be frightened and fled. Thesecond was still alive. Some of his kinsmen came up and carried him to a physician's in the neighborhood. This I obtained by my prayers. I knew well that I ought not to add anything to my burden, and yet I was so anxious to suffer a part of his pains. I obtained my wish. — Then I made another long journey, and returning I again met snow. As I neared my home, I saw a poor famished man who, whilst trying to get bread for his children, had met with a serious falL He could not extricate himself from the snow. I helped him to get free, as also to obtain food. I think we shall hear of him soon" — and, in effect, that very afternoon the Pilgrim found Sister Emmerich sick and drenched in perspiration, which state she said was to last till five o'clock. The profuse perspiration, a mixture of blood and water, had been imposed upon her for the relief of the wounded man. She said : u People may think as they please, but I know that it is God's will for me so to do, so to suffer. I have done so from my youth, I am called by Him to such works of mercy. When only four years old, I heard my mother groaning with pain at the birth of my sister. I slept with an old woman, and I began to pray to God, saying over and over : u I will take my mother's pains ! Give me my mother's pains !" 22. Journey to Palermo. August, 1820. — " All yesterday afternoon I felt that I should have to set out somewhere. Some one called for prayers and help, and last night I had a vision. In the is land south of Italy, during a period of frightful murders and robberies which happened there lately, I saw one of the ringleaders earnestly beseeching God and the Blessed Virgin to help him. He had resolved to change a life which, for too many years, had been a Godless one. He had a wife and children, but the former was among the most furious of the gang. During all his reckless life this man had worn a little picture of the Blessed Virgin painted on parchment or something similar, concealed in his coat between the buttonholes. He never went without it, and he often thought of it. The picture was variegated blue and gold and quite neatly executed. — The man was a sort of subaltern over the armed insurgents. The latter wore no uniform. It seemed as if an attack was to be made before morning, for they were lying in the open air before a town. There was great misery throughout the whole country. Many good people had been murdered and many more are yet to perish in the same way, that they may not see the deluge of coming woes. The distress, rebellion, and disorder are truly frightful, and the people are very poor and superstitious. I saw that poor man in great agony of conscience unceasingly calling upon God and Mary : c Ah ! if what religion teaches be true, then let the Blessed Virgin intercede for me that I may not die in my sins and be damned forever ! Send me help, for I know not how to free myself V — (I had also a vision of St. Rosalia after whose feast these horrors began). — Hardly had I seen and felt the poor fellow's distress and anguish, than I earnestly begged God to pity him, to save him ; and instantly, without being conscious of having made a journey, I stood before him in the midst of his sleeping comrades. I cannot remember all I said to him, but only that he should rise and depart, for his place was not among them. I do not think he saw ine j he had only an danger during the Revolution. They embarked, and arrived safe in Sicily where the gentleman became very rich, the owner of magnificently furnished houses, lovely gardens and villas supported in grand style. But he was no longer as pious as he used to be. He was mixed up with all sorts of wicked undertakings, and his public office brought him into connection with the revolutionary faction. His position Was such as to force him either to take part in the rebellion, or expose himself to the greatest risks; he could not draw back. Some of the old pious customs were still kept up in his family, and the light was burned on Saturdays in honor of the Mother of God. The good servant was now much better than his masters, and he wove his garlands as before. More than once I had to go to exhort the gentleman to amend his life and make his escape from the island. The first time (eve of the Assumption) I went by night to his bedside and reminded him and his wife of their pious, innocent days when, before this same feast, they had converted the sick slave through the garland in Mary's honor. This was now the anniversary of that happy day. I contrasted with it their present state. I exhorted the husband to make a garland of all his sins and evil inclinations as he had formerly done of flowers, burn it with sincere repentance before the Mother of God on her feast, and then leave the country as quickly as possible. I shook him by the arm ; he awoke and aroused his wife. Both were deeply affected and related to each other the same dream. The' slave had already placed the light before the picture for the feast. I had to return several times and urge the husband to depart, as it was a severe trial to them to leave their houses, their gardens, and all their wealth ; but the last night I went I found them all ready to go. They took with them gold, more than sufficient for their wants,
He told me, however, to go on pushing in spite of trouble and fatigue, that it must be done in that way. Pointed instruments are for worldly affairs, and only too many of them are now in use in Sicily. The ship reached land in safety." 24. A Theft Prevented. " I was in a little town, a hundred leagues distant, and I saw in a church a picture of Mary surrounded by silver offerings which three men had planned to dteal the following night. I recognized one of them. I had given him a shirt just before he left home. He used to be a good young man; it was hunger and misery that had driven him to sin. I pitied him, but for the others I had no such feeling — perhaps they were not Catholics, and I could not pray for them fervently. They argued thus : ' We are starving, the picture has need of nothing/ and so they thought they were robbing no one. The poor parents of the one I knew had, on bidding him adieu, recommended him to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and I was now charged to dissuade him from the robbery. They had planned to enter the church that night through a window by a ladder. The one of whom I speak was to keep watch whilst the others despoiled the shrine ; the whole affair was repugnant to him, but hunger pressed. Fortunately, just at the moment for the evil deed, a poor woman came to pray before the church. She was the mother of a large family. Her wretched husband had abandoned her, leaving her deeply in debt. Pier little household effects were about being seized and, in her distress, she had recourse to the Mother of God. Her presence frightened the unfortunate men, who put off their design till next morning. I prayed for the poor woman" (and here Sister Emmerich earnestly begged the Pilgrim to unite with her in prayer for the miserable husband).
u' At noon next day I saw the three comrades sauntering along and deliberating upon their projected theft, but the young man wanted to have nothing more to do with it. He said that he would rather pull up potatoes and roast them when hungry than rob the shrine. His two companions threatened to kill him if he did not join them, so he promised; but he left them, resolved to take no part in the affair. The church stands on the outskirts of the town. "Once, yearj ago, I had to frighten a young man and thus prevent his committing sin. Later on, he married the person and I often had occasion to advise him and his wife. There was not much blessing on their union, and the husband was tempted to rob. More than once I saw him by night lurking around ovens, a sack on his back, with the intention of stealing bread of which he really had no need. I used to make a noise or frighten him off in some other way, and thus I had the happiness of several times preventing his thefts. One night, I saw him stealing into the house of one of my friends who had a batch of bread in his trough. I was as if spell-bound, I could not stop him. He had already filled his sack with dough when the owner, awakened by the barking of dogs, got up to strike a light. Now, if he did this the thief would be detected and his family forever disgraced, for in order to escape he would be obliged to pass the owner of the house. Not being able to prevent the theft, I sought to screen the thief that he might reform ; consequently, I gathered up strength and slammed the door several times. The light went out, and the fellow escaped with his sack. Some weeks after the good man who had lost the dough, came to see me and related the whole affair. He knew not, he said, why he had not seized the thief, but he felt a sort of pity for him ; perhaps, it was just as well that he had not discovered him, he could now amend; etc. He spoke very wisely. The thiefs wife also came to see me and, as she reminded me that I had before her marriage preserved her from sin, I took occasion to speak to her of the facility with which one falls from small faults into great ones. She wept bitterly, for she knew of her husband's doings. Both have made restitution and corrected.— I acted thus by the direction of God." January 22, 1820. — "I was suddenly called by an earnest prayer, and I saw on the shore across the sea an old man praying in great trouble. The country was covered with snow ; there were pines and similar trees with prickly leaves growing around. The man wore a large fur coat and a rough cap trimmed with fur. He lived in a large house which stood by itself in the midst of smaller ones. I saw no church, but some buildings like schools. He seemed to be truly gopd. His son, who led a very disorderly life, had left the house in a violent passion, and gone to sea in a ship richly laden with silver and merchandise. The father had a presentiment of the great dangers she would encounter in a tempest and dreaded his son's being lost in his present state; therefore he began to pray, dispatched his servants in all directions with alms and requests for prayers, whilst he himself went to a wood wLere dwelt a holy solitary in whose intercession he placed great confidence. All this I saw across the sea ; and on the stormy waves I saw the ship in imminent peril, tossed hither and thither by the tempest. It was an enormous ship, almost as large as a church. I saw the crew climbing and scrambling and shouting; few of them had any religion, and the son I saw was not good. Things seemed desperate. I prayed to God with all my power and, in various directions, I saw others in prayer for the same intention, especially the old man in the forest. I prayed fervently; I presented my petition to God boldly and persistently. I was, perhaps, too bold, for I received a rebuke j but I thought not of it. It seemed as if I were not to be heard ; but the distress before me was heartrending. I ceased not to pray, to implore, to cry, until,,! beheld the ship enter a harbor in safety. The father received an interior assurance that tranquillized him, and I felt that the son would reform, for all which I thanked God. I did know the whole history of the widowed father and his son, but I have forgotten it." July 16, 1820. — aI had to make a long journey with my guide to a city of the north where lived in a small isolated house a poor, miserable couple, seemingly farm-tenants. They were expecting to be driven from house and home and reduced to misery, though why I know not. They had confidence in me and, in their distress, they thought of me that I might intercede with God for them. Some of their children were quite young. In a distant country they had grown ones : a son, a fine young man, who travelled on business, and a daughter who seemed to be in my vicinity and pushing me on to her parents. The husband had not always been good, but he had reformed ; his wife seemed older than he. They drew me to them by prayer, I had to go to them, and my guide ordered me to follow him. I carried something with me, what, I no longer know; it may have been real or only symbolical. I came to a steep rampart on the way over which to all appearances I could not possibly climb. I thought of the words of Jesus that faith can move mountainsand, full of this truth, I set about penetrating it, when the steep mountain was levelled under my feet. I passed through the country where I had once seen the father of a family saved through prayer from a tempest which threatened his life. I saw in a mountainous district St. Hedwiges on my right, and I met other saints, after the poor man to stab him in the back ; but my guide and I obstructed his path. On whatever side he ran, there we stood before him ; at the same time the money became so heavy that he could no longer carry it. He was terror-stricken, his limbs trembled, and he cried out: ' Friend ! Friend ! wait ! take back your money V and then he found himself free to advance. The traveller paused. The robber ran up, restored the money, told him all, even of his design to murder him, but that the sight of two white figures had terrified him, and he resolved never again to commit such a crime. He was a student and had several accomplices whom he warned to follow his example and amend their life. He continued his journey with the traveller, who promised io take an interest in hitn." 25. Assistance in the Kingdom of Siam. November 12, 1820. — UI went to a vast wilderness and saw a man and woman savage and miserable, on their knees and crying to God. I approached them and they asked me what they should do, for that I was surely the person who, in answer to their prayers, had been shown them in a dream as the one who was to comfort them. I do not remember whether I had seen their distress in vision, or whether I learned it from themselves. They were thus abandoned in this desert in punishment of a great crime for which they would have had to undergo mutilation, had not their guards in pity allowed them to escape. Their great misery took the place of penance, but they knew nothing of God. During their stay in the wilderness they had prayed earnestly for instruction. Their angels had told them in a dream that God would send them some one, and what they were commanded that should they do. They dwelt in a cave. A great hunt was annually held in was the reason the vessel could not proceed on its course. I was commissioned to tell them that they would surely be lost unless they restored their ill-gotten goods. This they hardly knew how to do without betraying their guilt. I advised them to deposit the treasure on the shore, addressed to the rightful owners, where it would be found and taken back by some other ship.- IknewthatGodwouldtakecareofit. When they had done so, they were able to continue their voyage." 26. Labors for Convents. August 13, 1820. — u I had to go to a distinguished ecclesiastic who allowed many very pressing affairs to lie neglected to the great detriment of all concerned. His whole interior was shown me — good judgment, humility, apparently a little exaggerated, but great negligence. I saw that once, in some business matter connected with a convent, he received letters from the Superioress which he threw among other papers and entirely forgot, thus giving rise to much confusion. I saw, too, that he took not sufficiently to heart the present state of the Church. I could hardly believe that I was to admonish so distinguished a man as he, one so humble. I looked upon it all as a dream, I was perfectly incredulous. — Then St. Thomas suddenly appeared before me and spoke against incredulity. I had several visions of him. I saw how he had doubted from the very first ; but his disbelief of Christ's miracles had led him to Jesus and had ended in the conviction that made of him a disciple. I saw many other incidents of his life. — Then I was taken to the priest for whom I had to pray. He lay in a large room, reading by the light of a taper. I saw that he was anxious ; his many oversights were like a weight on his heart. He arose, looked in his secretary for the long-neglected letter of the Superioress, and began to read it.
" I had, also, work to do for some future nuns. I saw over thirty young girls conversing together in a convent. They bad not yet embraced the religious life. They seemed to belong to three different classes : some to two institutions still existing, devoted to the education of the young and the care of the sick, but which were to be reformed; the others were destined for a third not yet founded whose object would be manual labor and education. It pained me to see that these girls allowed so much disorder around them. There was one among them destined to be a Superioress, and some who wanted merely to be lay-sisters, although they appeared to be of as good standing in society as the others. My guide said to me : ' See ! these girls are all hesitating, they will and they will not ! They say, "This is GocPs will, that is God's will, where is God's will t If it is the will of God" (&c; but at the same time they are full of self-will ! They have out-doors some wild horses which thou art to tame/ and he took me out. I saw a herd of wild horses, symbolical of the passions of those aspirants to the religious life, as also of some others, secular persons, who were opposed to the establishment of the convent. They were all bound together by these passions and both parties concurred, though in different ways, in marring the success of the undertaking. The horses were almost equal in number to those inside. They went raging around the house, as if about to attack it. It reminded me of the summer-time when the cattle, tormented by flies, try to run into houses. It seemed strange that, weak as I was, Ishouldbe appointed to tame these animals ; besides I had never been accustomed to them, excepting when a little child I used to bring my father's horse to him at daybreak. My guide said to me : ' By spiritual means, thou must mount and tame them/ But I thought : How could that ever be done f He said : ' Thou canst do it and thou wilt do it, but only by prayer and patience, by bearing calmly and meekly what is still in store for thee ! Thou wilt have to begin again and again. Hast thou not so often declared thou wouldst begin anew a thousand times t Now, so begin that at every instant thou mayest be ready to endure new sufferings. Think always that as yet thou hast suffered nothing, accomplished nothing, and thus thou wilt tame all those horses ; for until thou hast mastered them, these young girls will remain imperfect. In this way also thou wilt influence all arouild thee. Thou art the spiritual Superioress of these young plants of the spiritual life. By spiritual means must thou cultivate them, purify them, urge them on in the spiritual life ! 9 I replied that the task seemed absolutely impossible, as some of the animals were perfectly furious ; whereupon my guide said : 'The owners of those horses will become the very best, the strongest columns of the Nuptial House. They have superior talents ; they will be very influential when their horses are tamed.' Then I went out and began to chase the herd before me. They fled in all directions, and I saw all around me pictures of those who, wittingly or unwittingly, opposed the success of the house. Among them were the malevolent and the good, people with a good enough will, but with little judgment ; and, to my sorrow, I saw these latter doing e^eu more harm to the undertaking than the former. There were some very respectable members of the clergy among the ill-affected. u Again I had to pray for the re-establishment of a convent of women pointed out to me by two deceased nuns. I saw the convent, and the meadow in which the linen was washed and bleached. There was more than enough linen for a wash, but all in the greatest disorder. At one end of the garden ran a cool, limpid, sparkling stream ; but the nuns made no use of it, they went rather to a muddy pool nearer the house. My companions remarked : l Notice, how difficult a task it would be to arrange all this disordered linen ! A much more difficult one will it be to restore regularity in the community. Try if thou canst do it V I set to work at the linen and found it full of rents and old stains ; it will give me much trouble, and take along time." 27. Prayer for Greece. July 31, 1821 — " All last night I worked at a singular task, praying for innocent Christians who endure such misery in Turkey, and I had to repel the attacks of the Turks. I invoked St. Ignatius Loyola, who gave me his staff and taught me how to use it. I hovered above a city situated tolerably high on a bay toward the west. Numberless ships lay before the city, like a forest of masts, and many of the citizens took refuge in them. — I saw in vision the holy martyr, St. Ignatius of Antioch brought there in chains on his way to Rome and receiving the visits of other Bishops. — The city was surrounded by Turks trying to enter it, sometimes at one point, sometimes at another, by the gardens or by breaches in the wall. All was confusion. I hovered in the air as if I were flying and, when I rose a little, I did indeed fly. I gathered my robe around my feet and, holding Ignatius's staff in my hand, I flew to meet the assailants. I repulsed them at every encounter, the bullets whizzing around me. Troops of white-robed figures accompanied me, but they often remained behind and let me go on alone. I was at times very much afraid of getting entangled in the high trees which bore great, broad leaves and black fruit shaped like grapes. I often thought : 1 It is well that my folks cannot see me now flying in this way ! They would certainly think me a witch.' Whilst I fought now here, no\y there, I saw multitudes hastily minded race, some of them apparently silly. They act like children. About two leagues from a large river stands a castle surrounded by other buildings. Here dwelt the bride. She had consented to elope with a stranger who was on the watch at the gate with a carriage and servants; she had packed up secretly, and was all ready to start. Her own bride-groom was away ; he was too rigid, too severe for her. Urged by Odilia I went to arouse the brothers who were asleep in one of the neighboring houses, a difficult undertaking, for they were sound asleep. I shook them, I called them and, at last, I held to their nose a little herb I had gathered on the way. This awoke them. I told them all and made them come with me. As the bride stepped out of the courtyard, we seized her gently and bore her back. The seducer waited and waited, and at last, rode back home in a fury. He rushed into a beautiful apartment which was adorned with artificial flowers and hung with mirrors, all borrowed for the occasion. I saw some men bringing in still more. The man was fairly beside himself with rage; he would willingly have shattered everything in the room. — This labor cost me much. I found the roads all obstructed by rocks, stones, fallen trees, beams" (symbols of difficulties to be overcome), "but I received the explanation of it. The bride is a distant parish in which a certain preacher has led a large number into heresy, and they have formed a project to separate from the Church ; the sleeping brothers are two of their priests, good enough, but negligent ; the lawful bridegroom, living at some distance, is the parish priest, somewhat stern and careless also; the seducer symbolizes vain-boasting and frivolous joys. When this task was ended, Odilia went toward the east, Walburga to the west, for they still had others to perform."
Anne Catherine Emmerich.. 381 November 24 — "I have had more and very fatiguing work to do in that parish. My father's blessing was necessary ?and to get it I was obliged to make a most painful journey beset with a thousand obstacles. But I found him, at last, in a lovely garden surrounded by beautiful dwellings. I spoke to him of my eldest brother's sternness toward the youngest one, and he replied that he knew from experience how grievous such a thing is. He gave me his benediction, and I ascended to a higher region and into a spiritual church. There I found holy Bishops of the early ages who had evangelized the country in which lay the infected parish : Maximus, Rupert, Vital, Erhardt Walburga's brothers, and some pious parish-priests who had died there. From them I received a large blessed candle which, through many difficulties, I had to carry lighted into the parish. The way was long and each instant I thought my light would be extinguished ; but I succeeded at last. I placed the candle on a candlestick in the centre of the parish whence it diffused all around rays as bright as the sun. There was a dirty old oil-lamp hanging near the ground from the end of a long pole. It cast around only a dull, dingy glare ; it looked more like a hole in the ground than anything else. This I had to remove, though not without great trouble. I could not keep it at the end of the pole. The road was hilly and full of stones and rubbish. I hurt myself, bruised my knees, soiled my clothes with the grease, and became so tired and impatient that, at last, I ran to my mother. I found her lying in a beautiful bed in a fine house. She tried to console me; but, as I still wept, she told me to put the lamp down, that I could not manage it, for it had to be twisted and hung out of a beam in the hall. Then the thought came to me that it could not be twisted, for it was made of iron} whereupon my mother commanded me to try, and I
382 Lift of found that I could twist it just like lead. I hung it out of the beams in the unfinished hall, and my mother took me into bed with her and bound up my feet. Then I saw all in the parish gathering around the light. The two pastors labored earnestly among the people in union with a third, a very zealous man from a distance. I saw also the rector of the parish about a quarter of a league away ; he was a little stiff. I saw Rupert, one of the holy apostles of the country, giving instructions with his spiritual voice, and the light increasing wherever he went The stranger priest was enraptured. He asked the rector if he did not think the sermon admirable. The latter answered that he did not hear a word of it. But his two assistants heard it and led him up nearer to the preacher, when he could hear a little. Things are better now in that parish." 29. Voyage to an Island of Japan. December 24, 1822. — u Last night I made a long journey, partly by land, partly by water, to an island of Japan. For a long time I sailed with both Christians and Jews, to the latter of whom I spoke of Jesus. I saw that they were touched by my words. It was somewhat similar to a case which happened lately here in Diilmen. I had to speak in vision to some persons whom I convinced and who, after a few days, came tome asking if they ought not to do such and such a thing. They could get no peace — it was the effect of my remonstrances. — The island on which I landed lay in the midst of others, large and small, and it is called P-ah-g-a-i" (Sister Emmerich pronounced each letter separately). u The shores are steep and rocky. It is dark and bleak all around. Ships seldom touch here. The island may be ten leagues in circumference ; it contains a city, but there are no Christians on it. I saw the woven. It lay in a basket of lovely flowers and moss in the centre of a garden and under a tent made of the best materials that could be produced. There was a figure dressed in finely plaited paper to represent the Blessed Virgin ; but I thought the child rather large compared with the mother. St. Joseph, the Three Kings, and the shepherds were all dressed in paper. All around were long, hollow reeds stuck in the ground, furnished with oil and a wick ; around the stem was a ring to force the oil up. The effect of these lights under the trees was very baautiful. These flambeaux were trimmed off with colored paper folded to represent roses, stars, garlands, etc. — The people own flocks of very agile animals which they keep penned up. They are not sheep or goats like ours ; they have long hair and run very swiftly. The whole scene was wonderfully beautiful ! Crowds of grown people and children came in procession with torches in their hands and bearing crowns and garlands ; they knelt around the crib and offered all sorts of things as ahns for the poor. The woman instructed them, explained all that had happened to her, all that had been told her of the Birth of Christ, His Childhood, doctrine, Passion and Ascension. Her hearers were full of joy and eager to know more. The woman was very old, but still uncommonly active and vigorous. I saw the Blessed Virgin and the Child Jesus assisting at this celebration, both clothed as they had been in the caveat Bethlehem. The infant wore a cap with a pointed fold on the forehead. The people did not see them. u I spoke again with the old woman and learned that two centuries before in an island not far off, the inhabitants used to erect a tomb on the anniversary of St. Thomas's death, and go on a pilgrimage to it for the space of twenty days. (This number is usual in their festivals.) They used to lay fine white bread on the tomb, which, the Apostle appearing, blessed. It was then divided as a sacred thing. But something happened later on which deprived the people of this grace, and the Apostle came no more. They think that he was offended. Such is the tradition, such the belief of these people, handed down from father to son. As I listened to the old woman's earnest desires that her only son, who was at sea, might introduce into his country some ideas of Christianity, it was given me to glance at him. He was more than a common sailor, something like a pilot on the ship which had a mixed crew. He had spoken in some place with so much earnestness of his people's longing after Christianity, that two men resolved to visit them. I do not think they are priests, but they will report the case at Rome 5 perhaps they will ask for a priest. There dwells in another wild part of the island a darker race who are slaves. The people to whom my woman belongs wear long garments and pointed caps, larger or smaller ; they are rich in rice and immense nuttrees. The monkeys climb the rocks like men, and leap around freely. The woman lives about two leagues from the sea." 30. Conversion of a Rabbi, at Maestricht. February 26, 1821. — The Pilgrim began to read a letter to Sister Emmerich containing the news of the conversion of a Rabbi of Maestricht. But she interrupted him : u I know all about it. I have seen him several times. Once I saw him in a mail-coach with some devout persons who spoke of the Mother of God and of the miracles they had just witnessed before a miraculous picture, Our Lady of Good Counsel, I think, which they had just visited. The Jew interposed : < Mother of God ! Mother of God !
God has no Mother P — and he mocked their faith. The good people were saddened. They prayed and asked the prayers of others for the Jew's conversion through Mary. All my life I have felt great compassion for the Jews and, through God's mercy, many things have been shown me in vision for which I had to pray ; consequently, I saw this man also and prayed for him. After the incident related above he was shown me more frequently, and I perceived that he was unable to drive the thought of Mary from his mind. I used to see her approaching him and presenting the Infant Jesus to him with these words : 6 This is the Messiah V — I know not whether he really saw her, or if his inmost thoughts were thus shown me, symbolized as I am accustomed to see consolations and temptations. He looked upon them as temptations and struggled against them. He used to find out where processions of the Blessed Sacrament were to be made for the sole purpose of attending them, thus to excite in himself disgust and to mock at them in his heart. I saw him on such an occasion, I think it was Corpus Christi, fall involuntarily upon his knees. I know not whether it was through some inexplicable emotion, or whether he saw what I did ; viz., the Mother of God in the Sacred Host holding toward him the Infant Jesus. Straightway he became a Christian. I am sure were he questioned on the subject, he would say that the thought of Mary pursued him constantly. I have heard nothing of this conversion and, indeed, I thought it only a dream." 31. An Infanticide Prevented. On the evening of February 27, 1821, as Sister Emmerich lay in prayer, she suddenly cried out : " O it is well that I came ! It is well that I came ! The child is saved! I prayed that she might bless it, for I knew she could not inclined toward the good one ; but, finally, I took the other for the sake of the poor souls in purgatory. The castle was old, dilapidated, and surrounded by trenches ; but the land was fertile, and there was a fir-forest near. I was at a loss how to enter. Again my mother appeared, and showed me an opening in the wall like a window through which I climbed. Inside I found a noble old lady in a most pitiable condition. She was at the point of death. She was a most disgusting object, covered with filth and sores. She lay off in a deserted part of the house, abandoned by every one excepting one old domestic who had been appointed to wait on her. By her, on oblong porcelain plates, lay several small slices of buttered bread. Not one in the house gave th^ poor lady a thought. The young people lived in another part of the castle; they were just then having a feast, celebrating a name's day I think. The poor old lady had no priest, for they were no longer Catholics. An ecclesiastic, who had once attended her, had become a Jansenist, and she had followed his example.-^ Here I was shown something connected with the history of the Jansenists which, however, I do not remember very well. Their first separation from the Church was caused by an ill- regulated desire of greater piety, and they ended by becoming a sort of Calvanists. I saw, also, that that pious sect lately formed in Bavaria, will very likely fall into similar errors. — At my guide's command and to overcome myself, I had to kiss the poor old lady. As I entered, she seemed quite changed, sat up, thanked me joyously tod heartily for coming, and expressed her desire for a Catholic priest. The nearest was three leagues away, but he was brought to her secretly by the old servant. She confessed, received the Sacraments, and died in peace shortly after her return to the Church,"
August 28, 1822. — As Sister Emmerich was conversing with Father Limberg, her confessor, she suddenly paused, and fell into ecstasy, her countenance becoming unusually grave. When she returned to consciousness,she exclaimed: u I was called by my angel to pray for a man belonging to the middle class, who was just then dying in a fit !" Such cases were of frequent occurrence. 33. Affecting Death of a Converted Sinner in Munster. September 2, 1820. — "I saw a poor, God-fearing man dying in sentiments of deep contrition, the Blessed Virgin and the Infant Jesus at his bedside. Then I saw his whole history. He belonged to a distinguished French family. At his birth he had been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by his parents who were, I think, afterward guillotined. He grew up, became a soldier, and deserted ; but, because of his secret veneration for the Blessed Virgin, he always escaped the greatest dangers. At last, he joined a band of robbers, or rather assassins, among whom he lead a debauched life ; but as often as he passed an image of Mary, he was seized with shame and fear. For some crime or other, he was sentenced to imprisonment for life. His comrades found mfeans to procure his escape, and he afterward led a wandering life until again committed to prison for robbery in a certain city. On an invasion of the French, he recovered his freedom. He again enlisted in the army, once more deserted, took foreign service, received a wound in his arm, and then settled down peaceably on his pension. He married and devoted himself to the care of the sick and similar charitable offices. He was again tempted to commit a robbery at Ucberwasser ; but the Blessed Virgin appeared to him;told him of his con secration to her at his birth, and exhorted him to amend his life. He entered into himself, reflected upon God's patience toward him and began a new life, a life of rigorous penance, passing his nights in sharp disciplines and prayer. I saw him die last night in peace and joy, assisted by Jesus and Mary. He had often changed his name during his wild career. " November 28, 1822. — Sister Emmerich, though very ill, related the following : UI have had much to do in the Low-Countries. I was with a pastor who lay dying miserably. One could do nothing for him. He was a Freemason, and a crowd of the brethren gathered around him like a strong chain, the padlock of which was another parish-priest who lived a scandalous life with a certain person. He, too, was a Free-mason and in such disrepute that the faithful would not receive the Sacraments from his hands. He was now called upon to prepare his friend for death, the latter being fully aware of his evil life. — It was altogether a villainous affair. The chain was fast locked, but the two went through the ceremonies with as much pomp and gravity as if it were a saint assisting a saint. With difficulty I pushed my way to the dying man and, by prayer, obtained that he should live till the morrow and perhaps repent. This nest of impiety must be cleared out. I hnd business also with the Bishop and his affair at Rome. I went, likewise, to five beguines who are full of self-conceit, who live perfectly at their ease. I had to send to them a devout man to rouse them up and make them change their life. " November 29th — u The pastor is still alive and even getting better. He confesses all — many things will now come to light !" (Sister Emmerich was herself very ill at this time). u The other will also confess and amend his life, and the persons seduced by him, as well as their children,
CHAPTER 5. Sister Emmerich's Gift of Recognizing Relics and Blessed Objects
With the gift of prophecy, Sister Emmerich had also received the power of discerning holy objects, even by the senses. Blessed bells had for her a melody all their own, a sound essentially different from every other that struck her ear; her taste detected the blessing imparted to holy water as readily as others can distinguish water from wine ; her sense of smell aided her sight and touch in recognizing the relics of saints; and she had as lively a perception of the sacerdotal benediction sent her from afar as when given in her actual vicinity. Whether in ecstasy or the state of consciousness, she would involuntarily follow the consecrated fingers of a priest as if deriving from their influence strength and benediction. This keen perception of all that was holy, of virtues, of spiritual properties, was not conveyed to her senses by previous knowledge received in vision. It was perfectly independent of the activity of the mind and as involuntary as is the transmission of ideas to it through the medium of the senses. This faculty of realizing what the senses could not perceive had, like the gift of prophecy, its very foundation in the grace of Baptism and infused faith. Her angel once said to her : " Thou perceivest the light from the bones of the saints by the same power thou dost possess of realizing the communion of the faithful ; but faith is the condition on which depends the power of receiving holy influences."
Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich. 395 Sister Emmerich saw all that was holy radiant with light, " I sometimes see/' she said, ik when lying fully awake, a resplendent form hovering in the air, toward which rise thousands of brilliant rays, until the two lights unite. If one of these rays should happen to break, it falls back, as it were, and darkness takes its place." This is an image of the spiritual communion of the faithful by prayer and good works. She felt the influence of this light as of something that relieved and strengthened her, something that filled her with joy and powerfully attracted her to itself; whilst, on the contrary, she turned suddenly and involuntarily, filled with horror and disgust, from whatever was unholy, from whatever was tainted with sin. ic It is very difficult to explain this clearly," she once said to the Pilgrim. u I see the blessing and the blessed object endowed with a healing and helping power. I see them luminous and radiating light ; evil, crime and malediction appear before me as darkness radiating darkness and working destruction. I see light and darkness as living things enlightening or obscuring. For a long time I have had a perception of the authenticity of relics and, as I abhor the veneration of false ones, I have buried many such. My guide tells me that it is a great abuse to distribute as genuine relics objects that have only touched relics. One day whilst I was baking hosts in the convent, I felt suddenly attracted toward a certain cupboard, indeed, I was violently drawn to it. In it I found a round box containing relics, and I had no peace until I gave them a more honorable resting-place." On July 19, 1820, she spoke as follows : u I have been told that the gift of recognizing relics has never been bestowed upon any one in the same degree as God has given it to me, and this on account of their being so sadly neglected and because their
Anne CaUterine Emmerich. 397 I went with them into underground caves full of passages, chambers, round apartments like chapels, into which several others opened, and in the centre of which stood a pillar supporting the roof. Many of these pillars were ornamented with beautiful figures. In the walls were deep, quadrangular excavations in which reposed the bones of the dead. As we passed along, sometimes one of my guides, sometimes another would say : i See, here we lived in time of persecution, here we taught and celebrated the mysteries of Redemption V — They showed me long stone altars projecting from the wall, and others round and beau* tifully sculptured upon which the Holy Sacrifice had been offered. ' See/ they said, 'we lived here for a time in poverty and obscurity, but the light and strength of faith were ours V and after those words, the different leaders disappeared with their choir. Sometimes we came to daylight, but only again to plunge into the caves. I saw gardens, walls, and palaces overhead and I could not understand how the people up there knew nothing of what was going on below, how all these things had been brought down into the caves, how it was all done ! At last, there remained with me of all the saints only one old man and a youth. We entered a spacious apartment whose form I could not determine, as I could not see its limits. It was supported by numerous pillars with sculptured capitals, and beautiful statues larger than life lay around on the ground. At one end the hall converged to a point where, standing out from the wall, was an altar and behind it other statues. The walls were full of tombs in which rested bones, but they were not luminous. In the corners lay numberless rolls, some short and thick, others as long as one's arm, like rolls of linen. I thought they were writings. When I saw everything so well preserved, the hall so neat and
Aung Catherine Emmerich. 399 placed by the saints on this candlestick, this ornamental stand, which seemed constantly to increase in size. Whilst thus engaged, the saints very often saw their own relics brought in by those who lived after them. I saw the disciples of St. John bringing in his head and other relics of him and the Blessed Virgin with little crystal phials of the Blood of Jesus. In one of them the Blood was still clear and shining. All were in the costly reliquaries in which the Church preserves them. I saw saintly men and women of Mary's time depositing in precious vases, holy things that once belonged to her ; they were given the place of honor on the right. There was a crystal vase shaped like a breast in which was some of her milk, also pieces of her clothing, and another vase with some of her hair. 1 saw a tree before the church, and I was shown how it had fallen and been fashioned into the Saviour's cross. I saw it now in the form in which I always see it, brought in by a woman wearing a crown. It hovered in the air over Mary's relics. The three nails were stuck in it, the little foot-ledge was in its place, as also the inscription, and, skilfully arranged around, were the instruments of the Passion ; the ladder, the lance, the sponge, the rods, the whips, the crowbars, the pillar, the cords, the hammers, etc., whilst the Crown of Thorns hung from the centreAs the sacred objects were brought in and arranged, I had successive visions of the places in which these relics of the Passion were found, and I felt certain that of all I saw some particles are still preserved and honored. There must be many relics of the Crown of Thorns in different places. I discovered that my particle of the lance is from the haft. I saw in all directions, on altars, in chambers, churches, vaults, in walls, in rubbish, under the earth and on the earth, portions of the relics and bones which were brought
It was only at the close of those investigations which so closely scrutinized Sister Emmerich's whole life, both interior and exterior, that God provided occasions for the manifestation of the extraordinary gifts of His servant. He willed the perfection of her virtue to prove the reality of her supernatural gifts, rather than that the latter should be made the touchstone of her holiness. The first trial made with false relics and condemned by her angel,is thus recorded by the Pilgrim under date of August 30, 1820 : — u The parish-priest of N — had sent to Sister Emmerich three small packages of bones by Christian Brentano, the Pilgrim's brother. At the Pilgrim's request one of them was laid by her. The next day she related the following : 1 1 saw far away dark, desolate tombs full of black bones, and I did not feel that they were holy. I saw the Father take some of them, and then I found myself up high in a dark chapel around which all was cold and bleak and foggy. My guide left me, and I saw a stately figure approaching me with a most gracious air. At first I thought it was an angel, but soon I trembled with fright. I asked : u Who art thou V9 — The answer came in two unknown words. I thought of them all the morning, but now I cannot recall them They signified ; "Corrupter of Babylon, Seducer of Juda" Then the figure said : u I am the spirit that reared Semiramis of Babylon and built up her empire ! I am he who brought about thy Redemption, for I made Judas seize Him /"— (he named not Christ) — and this he said with an important air as if wishing to impress me with the greatness of his exploits. I made the sign of the cross on my forehead, whereupon he grew horrible to behold. Ho began to rage furiously against me for having once snatched a young girl from him, and then he disappeared uttering fearful threats. As he pronounced the first of the unknown words, I saw Semiramis as a little girl under some beautiful trees, the same spirit standing before her and offering her all kinds of fruits. The child looked up at him unshrinkingly and, although she was very beautiful, there was something repulsive about her ; she seemed to be full of thorns, full of talons. The spirit nourished her, and gave her all sorts of gewgaws. The country around was lovely ; it was covered with tents, green meadows, whole herds of elephants and other animals with their keepers. It was shown me also how Semiramis raged against God's people, how she drove Melchisedech from her realm and committed many other abominations; and yet, she was almost adored! — At the second word the spirit pronounced, I had a vision of Christ on Mount Olivet, the treason of Judas, and the whole of the bitter Passion. I do not understand why this spirit appeared to me; perhaps these are pagan bones and, consequently, the enemy has power to approach me. My guide has strictly forbidden me ever to take such bones again. u I tell thee/' he said, a in the Name of Jesus, it is a dangerous experiment ! There is treachery in it. Thou mightest be seriously injured by it. We must not cast pearls before swine ; that is, before the unbelieving, for pearls should be set in gold. Attend to such relics only as come to thee by the direction of God I"' " In September following, some relics were sent to her by a priest who had visited her in Diilmen. Sister Emmerich remarked : u I have had no particular vision concerning these relics. But I saw that the priest who sent them is a good man, although there are in his parish certain souls inclining to pietism not in accordance with the spirit of the Church. He cannot detect them, he thinks them very devout ; but I have seen them spreading darkness all around.
December 21st, St. Thomas's Day. — The Pilgrim, on entering to pay his accustomed visit, found Sister Emmerich busily engaged with her box of relics, her church, as she playfully called it. Among them she had discovered several very ancient ones. The Pilgrim was surprised to see in what beautiful order she had arranged them during the previous night. Although in a state of contemplation, she had lined the box with silk as neatly as if she had been wide awake. The five relics of St. James the Less, St. Simon the Chananean, St. Joseph of Arimathea, St. Denis the Areopagite, and a disciple of St. John, whom she called Etiud she had folded separately. " I had," she exclaimed, " a very bright night ! I found out the names of all the bones by me and I saw all the journeys of St. Thomas, as also those of all the Apostles and disciples whose relics I have. I had a vision of a great festival and of how all these relics came to Miinster. They were collected by a foreign Bishop at a very remote period, and they afterward fell into the hands* of a Bishop of Miinster. — I saw all with the dates and names, and I trust in God it will not be lost ! I received permission, also, to reveal to my confessor the name of the relic that the friend brought me that he may note it down ; but 1 must not tell the friend himself." The friend, however, would not understand these words so indicative of Sister Emmerich's bond with the Church and the supernatural origin of her marvellous gift ; and she, seeing his ideas still unchanged, felt a lively desire to make known to him the secret name. She says most ingenuously : " Ah ! I thought, if I could only tell him the name of that relic ! and I had the word on my tongue when all at once a shining white hand was stretched forth from the closet there and laid on my lips to prevent my uttering it. It came so suddenly, so unexpectedly that I almost laughed out ! " This scene was repeated under almost similar circumstances a few days later when she was again seized with desire to gratify the friend's curiosity on the score of the relic he had given her. "I was again tempted to name the saint whose relic had caused me so much annoyance ; but just as I was about to pronounce it, I heard a rapping in the closet which checked me, and I dared not, I could not say it. More than once 1 have had the word on my tongue, but I could not speak it, although I wanted to do so." Her confessor and the friend had likewise heard the rapping in the closet and were unable to account for it. But when the former exclaimed : u The evil one shall play us no tricks ! "— Sister Emmerich quietly took thev relic from the closet, saying : " It is the saint the Pilgrim's friend brought." We shall here subjoin some facts which clearly show the power of the priest over this chosen soul. On January 18, 1821, Father Limberg placed by Sister Emmerich a little sealed package, saying to the Pilgrim as he did so : a I do not know what it contains ; but when she notices it, I shall tell her where I got it." Then, turning to the invalid he asked : u What is this ? Is it good ? Tell me what it is." Although interrupted in her vision, Sister Emmerich answered after a short pause: u It belongs to a pious man in the seminary at Paris. He brought it from Jerusalem and Rome. It contains various things : some hair belonging to a Pope ; a particle of the body of a new saint who died in a convent in the Holy Land ; a small stone from the Holy Sepulchre ; some earth from the spot on which Our Lord's Body lay ; and some hair belonging to another person." The Pilgrim remarked to Father Limberg : " You found it, I pre the nuns one was pointed out as Emerentiana, and I heard these words : u That is Emerentiana, and there is her bone !" I was surprised, for I had never heard that name before. Then I saw a maiden with a crown of double roses round her brow, holding in one hand a lovely garland of roses, in the other a bouquet, and I heard these words : c That is Rosalie who did so much for the poor. She now holds the flower garland as she once did her pious gifts, and there lies her relic !' Then I saw a nun in a shining troop, and I was told : c That is Ludovica, and there is her relic. See, how she scatters her gifts V — and I saw that she had her apron full of loaves which she distributed to the poor. Then I saw a Bishop and heard the words : ' He lived in Ludger's time. They knew each other ; they labored together/ and yet, I saw them far apart. And now, among other blessed maidens, I saw a very ycung secular clothed in a spiritual garment of the style of the Middle Ages, Her body had been found incorrupt and entire. Her sanctity had thus been recognized, and one of her bones was placed among other relics. At the same time, I saw her open tomb. Then I saw a delicate youth of the early ages and near him six others and a woman. The name Felicitas was pronounced and, immediately, a round place enclosed by walls and arches was shown me, and I was told that in the dens on one side were the wild beasts, and in the prisons opposite the martyrs in chains waiting to be torn to pieces. I saw also people diggipg by night and carrying off bones, and it was said to me : c They do this secretly. They are the martyrs' friends. In this way their relics are carried to Rome and distributed.' I saw Felicitas near seven youths.'7 A week later, the Pilgrim presented Sister Emmerich with the rest of the relics in Sister Neuhaus's package. u I tioners slipped when they released the animals. Facing the entrance against the wall, was a stone seat up to which steps led on either side. Here sat the wife of the wicked emperor with two tyrints. Just back of this seat, upon the platform, sat a man who appeared to superintend affairs, for he made gestures right and left as if commanding something. And now the door of one of the cages was thrown open, and out dashed a spotted animal like a huge cat. The executioners stood behind the door, slipped into the nook for safety, and then mounted the steps to the platform. Meanwhile, two other executioners had dragged a maiden from the prison opposite and removed her white tunic. Like all the martyrs she shone with light. She stood calmly in the middle of the arena with raised eyes and hands crossed on her breast j she showed no sign of fear. The beast did her no harm but, crouching before her, sprang upon the slaves who were urging it on with spears and cries. As it would not attack her, they got it back into its cage, I know not how. The maiden was then led to another place of execution around which there were only railings. She was fastened to a stone by a stake, her hands bound behind her, and beheaded. I saw her put her hands behind her back herself. Her hair was braided round her head ; she was lovely, and she showed no fear. Then a man was led out into the arena ; his mantle was removed, and only an under- garment left that reached to his knees. The beasts did him no harm, and he, too, was beheaded. He was, like the maiden, pushed from side to side and pricked with sharp iron rods. These grievous tortures were borne with such joy that the looker-on can but regret not sharing them. Sometimes the executioners themselves are fo wonderfully affected by the sublime spectacle that they boldly join the martyrs, confess
Jesus Christ, and suffer with them. — I see a martyr in the arena. A lioness pounces upon him, drags him from side to side, and tears him to pieces. I see others burned alive, and one from whom the flames turn away and seize upon the executioners of whom numbers perish. A priest who secretly consoled the sufferers has his limbs cut off one by one and presented to him in the hope of making him abjure his faith ; but the mutilated body, full of joy, praises God until the head is struck off. I went, also, into the catacombs. I saw men and women kneeling in prayer before a table on which were lights. One priest recited prayers, and another burned incense in a vase. All seemed to offer something in a dish placed on the table. The prayers were like a preparation for martyrdom. Then I saw a noble lady with three daughters, from sixteen to twenty years of age, led into the arena. The judge seated on high was not the same that I had last seen. Several beasts were let loose upon the Christians, but they harmed them not ; they even fawned upon the youngest. The martyrs were now led before the judge, and then to the other place of execution nearby. The eldest was first burned with black torches on the cheeks and breasts and under the arms, and pincers applied to her whole body ; after which she was conducted back before the judge. She noticed him not, however, for she was intent upon her sister whom they were now torturing. The same happened to all four, and then they were beheaded. The mother was reserved for the last, her sufferings intensified by the sight of her daughters' torments. — I saw a holy Pope betrayed, dragged from the catacombs, and martyred) whilst one of the most furious of the Romans, suddenly touched with repentance, rushed among the martyrs and perished with them. I longed so for the same favor that I cried out j but a voice said to me : c Every one goes his own way ! We suffered martyrdom but once, but thou art constantly martyred. We had one enemy, thou hast many V " On another occasion, the Pilgrim offered the invalid some relics which she took, pressed to her heart, arranged in order, again pressed to her heart, and regarded attentively. Then she gave them back separately, removing one from the lot as spurious and exclaiming : u They are grand ! No words can describe their beauty !'' To the question as to what she experienced from the sacred bones, she answered : ' I see, I feel the light ! It is like a ray that pierces me, ravishes me. I feel its connection with the glorified spirit, with the whole world of light. I see pictures from the life of the saint, and his place in the Church Triumphant. There is a wonderful connection between body and soul, a connection which ceases not with death ; consequently, the blessed soul can continue its influence over the faithful through particles of its earthly remains. It will be very easy for the angels to separate the good from the bad at the last day, for all will be either light or dark." On July 31st, whilst rapt in contemplation, Sister Emmerich took her little box of relics and, from among more than one hundred, chose out one particle which she said belonged to St. Ignatius of Loyola. On returning to wakefulness, she began again to hunt up fragments belonging to one another, and in about five minutes she had made up six separate piles. Of one of them she said: " I ought to have ten pieces." She counted again, but found only nine. Ci There ought to be ten" she repeated. At last, she found the tenth. She fell back exhausted, saying : u I can do no more. I can see no more! " — After a pause, she exclaimed: u I felt irresistibly drawn to look for these relics. They attracted me, and I sighed fell into contemplation from which she soon returned with the words: u I see an old palsied man, lying on a bed in an open square. — A Bishop, with a crosier resting on his arm, is leaning over him, his head upon his shoulder, whilst his attendants stand around with lighted torches/' and she pointed out the relic with the beautiful light as connected with this scene, naming it Servulus. She also named St. Quirinus in connection with one of these relics. The Pilgrim brought her a small package of relics belonging to the Castle of Diilmen. It contained eight scraps of old stuff which she laid aside with the words : "It was once worn by a saint. It is a piece of a stole, a vestment which touched a holy thing." When asked how she knew that, she answered that ever since the package entered her room, she had seen four saints by her clothed in this stuff. They had cut and touched it, and again they appeared to her as she was picking out the shreds. The Pilgrim inquired if she did not see St. Thecla whose relic lay by her. "Yes," was the answer, u I see her, now here, now there, in a vision, as if on the watch near the prison in which St. Paul is confined. Sometimes I see her gliding along by a wall, sometimes under an arch, like a person anxiously seeking something." Picking up a splinter of brown wood wrapped in blue, she said : u This is a piece of the wood of which the cross Mary had at Ephesus was made. It is eedar-wood, and the scrap of blue silk belonged to a mantle that once clothed an image of Mary. It is very old." On November 6, 1821, Sister Emmerich found among her relics a scrap of wood which she gave the Pilgrim, saying : u This was brought from the Holy Land long ago by a pilgrim. It was taken from a tree which stood in the little garden of an Essenian. .Jesus was carried up over it by the tempter at the close of His forty days' fast,'7 Then
AnnOt Catherine Emmerich. 423 silent, retired, and poor, keeping by them no provisions whatever, but depending wholly upon alms. They lived under a superior and recited the Canonical Hours. They wore a coarse, brown habit with a cowl. In front of their cells were neat little gardens which they cultivated themselves ; each had its own entrance and contained orange trees. Here I saw the recluses. I saw them occupied also in some labor new to me. On a machine like a loom were stretched cords which they wove into various colored carpets, coarse but very neat ; they also did beautiful basketwork out of fine white straw. They slept on the ground, on a plank with two coverlets and a poor pillow, and they ate scarcely anything cooked. They took their meals together off a table in which holes were hollowed out to serve for plates ; on either side swung leaves which could be raised to cover these stationary plates. I saw them eating a brownish-looking- stew of vegetables. The greatest simplicity reigned also in the chapel. Whatever there was beautiful in it was of plaited straw. I thought : ' Here are golden prayers and straw ornaments ; but we have prayers of straw and gilded ornaments V The stone altar was covered with a beautiful straw matting, scalloped on either side and falling at the ends. In the centre stood a small tabernacle on which was that same cross that the Pilgrim has. Two wooden candlesticks and a pair of wooden vases, with bouquets very symmetrically arranged in the form of a monstrance, stood on either side. The little convent was a square, stone building with a shingle roof. The rooms were partitioned off by a box-wood wickerwork, the openings about as large as one's hand, and they were of various heights. In the chapel they were higher than a man, though they did not reach the roof ; but in the cells they were lower, the recluses could see over them.
m Life of They were woven on rods fixed in the walls. The entrance, which faced the sea, led into the kitchen which opened into the refectory with its singular table ; behind was the chapel. To the right and left were three cells before which lay the little gardens. The doors leading into them from the cells were in the form of an arch, low and narrow, and the windows were over the doors, so that the inmates could not look out. Before the windows were straw mats that could be raised on sticks like screens. The straw stools had no backs, only a wooden handle to raise them. The chapel was covered with the coarse striped carpet which the recluses made themselves. They did not have Mass every Sunday, but a hermit came , from time to time to say it for them and give them Holy Communion. They kept the Blessed Sacrament, however, in their little chapel. I saw them one evening at prayer in their chapel when they were attacked by pirates. They had short, broad swords, wore turbans on their head, and they spoke a strange tongue ; they often carried off people into slavery* They were very savage, almost like beasts. Their vessel was large and lay at some distance from the shore to which they came in a small boat. They destroyed the hermitage and dragged off the recluses, but without offering them insult. One of the religious, still young and robust, took the reliquary from the altar as a protection, fervently imploring God's assistance. Before the robbers reached the shore, they quarrelled over their prey and, during their struggle, the young girl crept into a thicket, vowing to serve God in the wilderness if He would deliver her. The pirates sought her long, but in vain. At daybreak she saw them embark. Kneeling before the cross, she thanked God. The wilderness lay in a narrow, deep valley, snow-capped mountains on either side, far confidence in Our Lady of the Hermits, and from her childhood she had heard a voice, urging her to leave her home and serve God in solitude. To this, however, she had paid little attention. At last, a youth appeared to her saying : ' What ! still here ? Not yet set out !' and he led her away. She thought it all a dream ; but on awaking, she found herself in another country, far from her home. She entered the little convent of recluses among whom she was well received. The hunter kept the cross devoutly for some time, and then gave it to a man who lived in a town across the mountains. He too prized it very highly and always prayed before it. He attributed to it his own preservation and that of his property during a tempest that destroyed the whole town. At his death^ it passed to his heirs and, at last, fell into the hands of a peasant who sold it with other effects ; but misfortune followed this transaction, for the man lost all that he possessed. Then I saw the precious cross thrown aside with all sorts of things among people who thought little of the fear of God. A stranger, with no fixed principles of faith, purchased it from them not through piety, but through pure curiosity. He knew not the treasure he acquired, and yet it brought him great good." Here the Pilgrim makes the following remark in his journal : — u This last incident refers to the Pilgrim himself who, at a time in which he lived in deplorable blindness, purchased the reliquary at Landshut from an old-clothes* dealer. Sister Emmerich knew nothing of this by human means ; therefore, if her last remark is beyond questioning, why should we hesitate to receive as authentic all that refers to this singular story V9 Then, as if deeply impressed by the invalid's supernatural knowledge, he exclaimed : — " How wonderfully are all things preserved in the treasury of God ! Nothing is lost, nothing annihilated, nothing comes to pass without design ! All is eternal in the mind of God ! Now do I understand why God must punish every idle word ! The thought of my sins saddens me. Does this evil exist eternally ? Are a man's sins visible after penance, after repentance ? " And Sister Emmerich answers : " No, Jesus Christ atones for them ; they no longer exist ! I never see them, unless when they are intended to serve as an example ; for instance, the sin of David. But sins that have never been expiated, sins that a man carries around with him shut up in his heart, I clearly see. The expiated are like foot-prints in the sand, which the next step, the step of repentance7 effaces. The contrite confession of sin blots out sin ! " An Infant-Martyr of Sachsenhausen. The Pilgrim presented a relic to Sister Emmerich which she had already designated as belonging to a hermit. After a few days, she related the following vision of a child, a relative of the old hermit, who had been martyred by the Jews. u I have had an apparition of a child about four years old, surrounded by the martyrs7 rosy aureola. There was something wonderfully attractive about him ; his words were few, but full of wisdom. I went a long journey with him, and I was deeply impressed on seeing the little boy so brilliant with light, so grave, and so wise ! We passed over a city, and I was instantly conscious of its state, I felt that its pious souls were few. The child led me over a bridge and showed me the house in which he was born, a tolerably large, old-fashioned dwelling. All was still within. On our approach, the inmates thought of the little boy, a faint remembrance of their history recurred to them, and I was told that the sudden remembrance of the dead often arises from their proximity. The child showed me that, as the union between the soul and the body never ceases, not even after death, so the influence of a holy soul never ceases to be exerted over all belonging to it by ties of blood. A saint continues his influence over his family and, in proportion to their faith and piety, do they profit by it. He told me also of the salutary influence he had exercised over his relatives, and that he had attained by martyrdom to that perfection to which he would have arrived, if his life had not been cut short by man's wickedness ; yet more, his relatives had profited spiritually by the influence he would have exercised had he lived, instead of being snatched away in his fourth year. Evil happens not by the will of God, but only by His permission, and the accomplishment of good, prevented by another's sin, is not wholly frustrated ; it is effected most surely, but in a different way. Crime in its essential consequences attacks its author only. As to its innocent victims, martyrdom leads them all the more speedily to perfection. Though sin against another be an act directly opposed to the law of God, yet the designs of God are never frustrated, since all that the victim would have achieved during life, he accomplishes spiritually and with the same freedom of will. — Then I saw the history of the martyred child. His parents were very pious people who lived about three hundred years ago,at Sachsenhausen, near Frankfort. They had a near relative in Egypt, an anchoret, whom they regarded with great affection and veneration. They frequently remarked, as they looked on their child, how happy they would be if he, too, would one day lead a holy life and serve God in solitude. Surely, parents who could form such a desire for an only child, still in his first year, must have been persons of more than ordinary piety ! When solemnity they had been brought from Rome to Miinster, mostly by Bishops, and with what veneration they had been received and distributed. I saw devout women assembling together to fold and ornament them, and I saw the priests who divided them. To be allowed to share this labor, one had to be most pure and holy. The relics were glued, surrounded by embroidery and flowers, and arranged in pyramids. The first time they were exposed for veneration was a grand festival ; the whole city rejoiced. I saw that many sacred relics were put into the altars of the Ueberwasser church. I saw devout Canons of the Cathedral who, whenever they heard of a saint, or holy person, tried to get a relic of the same. This they honored as a great treasure. When the church was rebuilt, the relics of the different altars were mixed and the members of several of the holy bodies were scattered; thus it was that the remains of the holy maiden of whom I have a bone were discovered. The great blessings diffused around by relics I saw withdrawn when they are treated with neglect. It was not by chance that these bones fell into Dean Overberg's hands. Without knowing to whom they belong, he gave them the honor due them." — u How wonderful are the ways of God ! v remarks the Pilgrim. "He willed that these relics should be scattered that they might fall under the supernaturally enlightened e^es of her who knows so well their value." One day having taken up the box of relics, her church as she called it, the Apostle St. Thomas appeared to her, and she had a full vision of his journeys and apostolic labors in the Indies. He went from kingdom to kingdom, wrought many miracles, and uttered many prophecies. He set up a stone at a great distance from the sea, made a mark on it; and said : c When the sea flows this far; another of the Apostle, whom he saw not. But the latter laid his hand upon him and cured him. After this he preached in the city and converted all the inhabitants. ul have again had visions of different saints. I saw the martyrdom of one St. Evodius who, with Hermogenes, his brother, and a sister, suffered in Sicily. I saw also many pictures of a holy white-robed nun, the Cistercian,Catherine of Parcum. I saw her still a Jewess, reading from rolls of parchment things relating to Jesus which deeply affected her. Some Christian children told her of the Child Jesus, of Mary and the Crib, to which they took her secretly, and she was still more drawn to Jesus. She received instructions privately and, in consequence of an apparition of Mary, fled to a convent. I saw many other touching things concerning her, especially her longing to be despised." — This saint's relic was firmly sewed in red velvet, and when Sister Emmerich took it to label and wrap, she saw, being in contemplation, that it contained a scrap of stuff that touched the Saviour's Crib, some splinters of the same, and a ticket on which all was marked. This relic of the Crib was the one that had belonged to St. Catherine herself and had been particularly honored by her, for she had seen in a vision the Infant Saviour lying in His Crib, and she often had the honor of holding Him in her arms. All the above Sister Emmerich related to the Pilgrim before opening the little package. Judge of his satisfaction, then, when on removing the covering, he found just what she had described, some scraps of word, wrapped in a piece of brown stuff, with the inscription : " Deprcesepio Christi" Sister Emmerich had fallen into ecstasy and, when the Pilgrim offered her the scraps of word, she took them smilingly, saying: " Ah ! these belong to the Crib of Our Lord. The little nun used to venerate them !" — The Pilgrim, seized with a
The bone belongs to Martha ; the clothing, to Magdalen. It is blue with yellow flowers and green leaves, the remnants of her vanity, which she wore under a mourning mantle, in Bethanifi, at the raising of Lazarus. This dress remained in Lazarus's house when he and his sisters went to France, and pious friends took it as a memento. Some pilgrims when visiting their tomb in France, wrapped this relic in a part of the dress, thinking both belonged to Magdalen ; but only the clothing is hers, the relic is Martha's." When the Pilgrim closely examined the inscription, he, indeed, found : " Sancta Maria Magdalena" Among these relics of Dean Overberg's, Sister Emmerich recognized "a bone of Pope Sixtus VIII. and another of the third Pope after Peter." She appeared pleased at having been able to decipher the numbers; but next day she said: u When I again saw the saints to whom the relics belong, it was said to me : i Not the third, but the thirteenth ! His name signifies Saviour.'" — "How wonderful!" exclaims the Pilgrim. "The thirteenth Pope is Soter, the Greek for Saviour !" Father Limberg presented her a little package marked : u St. Clement" asking if it really was a relic of Pope St. Clement. Sister Emmerich laid it by her and next day answered, no, it was not St. Clement's, but one of St. Marcella, widow. The confessor asked for more precise details. After some days, the invalid gave the following : "I have again seen the life of St. Marcella. I saw her as a widow living very retired in a beautiful large house built in Roman style, like St. Cecilia's : around it were gardens, courtyards, and fountains. I often saw St. Jerome with her opening rolls of writings. Marcella gave all she had to the poor and to prisoners whom she used to visit by night, the prison doors opening of themselves to admit her. She was
Anne GatheHne Emmerich. 439 beasts intended to be let loose upon the martyrs. These Marcellus had to feed, but they were tame and gentle with him. Here, too, he found means to assist his brethren in secret. Through the intervention of Lucina, who bribed the jailers, he often left the pris.on by night to bury the dead and encourage the faithful. I saw, too, that he received the Blessed Sacrament from other priests and distributed It by night. He was, at last, liberated, again imprisoned, and again liberated for having cured the wife of a great personage. After this he lived retired in the house of Lucina which he secretly converted into a church, and wherein he practised, as usual, his works of mercy. But his enemies again attacked him, turned the house into a stable, and condemned him to serve in it. As he still persevered in his spiritual labors for souls, they had him horribly scourged with the whips used for the beasts of burden. He died in a corner of the stable, on the ground, and the Christians gave him burial. — After this I had visions of Ambrose, Liborius, and of St. Gregory's pontificate. They referred chiefly to the communications of these saints with holy women, which had given rise to many calumnies. Gregory established numerous convents of nuns. On the ancient pagan festivals, public prayers were offered and penances performed by hundreds of their members clothed as penitents, to repair the scandals then committed. A threat deal of good was thus effected and the number of festivals consecrated to the demon and sin was thereby diminished ; but St. Gregory had much to suffer from it I saw also a picture of a certain deacon Cyriacus, who suffered unspeakably. Once he lay hidden and almost starving in the catacombs not far from where St. Peter's now stands. He was, later on, martyred. I remember that the deacon Cyriacus received Orders from Marcellus, and th^t, with two Christians, Largus and Smaragdus, he assisted the faithful condemned to labor at the publioworks. He was himself afterward condemned to do the same. He delivered the daughter of his persecuter from the power of the devil. u I recognized the bones of Placid us and Donatus, the former of whom was as elegant in appearance as St. Francis de Sales. He was martyred in Sicily with his brothers. I saw many scenes of his life, particularly- of his infancy. He was the youngest of five children, three brothers and one sister older than himself. Even as a child, he was looked upon as a saint. I saw him, an infant in his mother's arms, seize a roll of writings and joyously lay his tiny hands upon the names of Jesus and Mary. He was universally loved. Often whole families gathered round him on his mother's knee. Then I saw him as a boy in the garden with his pious tutor, where he amused himself tracing crosses in the sand, or weaving them of flowers and leaves, the birds hopping familiarly about him. When older he was taken to another place to make his studies, and afterward to the convent of St. Benedict which still had a few scholars. He was slender, handsome, and rapidly developing into a most distinguished-looking youth. — At the same time, I had a vision of another saint of very low condition in life, reared as a herdsman, but who afterward became Pope. I saw the life of each side by side. — I spoke with Placidus and he again promised me help, telling me that I had only to invoke him when I wanted him and he would surely come." One day the Pilgrim drew Sister Emmerich's attention to the fact that St. Teresa's Feast was at hand, adding : u We have a relic of her here, also one of Catherine oj Sienna. There they lie among several others," whereupon she began and named in their order the saints whose relics hung in a cross at the foot of her bed. " I see their names, either at their feet or by their side, and I see, too, their attributes. There is Ediltrudis with the crown she resigned, and there are Teresa, Radegonda, Genevieve, Catherine, Phocas, and Mary Cleophas. The last named is taller than Mary, but dressed in the same style ; she is the daughter of Mary's eldest sister. And there I see Ambrose, Urban, and Silvanus /" — The Pilgrim asked : u Where isPelagia V} and she answered : " She is not by me any more, she is there," pointing to the Pilgrim's breast-pocket, where indeed, the relic really was, he having taken it to fold and label as one already recognized. The same was the case with another which he still had about him for a similar purpose. As he approached her she cried out : " 0 I see Engelbert! Have we his relics too V — The Pilgrim handed her the relics and next day she said : UI recognized that relic. It belongs to Engelbert of Cologne. Last night I saw many incidents of his life. He was very influential at court, where he was occupied with important diplomatic affairs. He led an upright, fervent life ; but on account of his position, he was not so much given to interior things as other saints. His devotion to Mary was very great. I saw him busy in the Cathedral, arranging in caskets precious relics no longer known and burying the^i altogether under the altars. But that was not proper. I saw his death. — He was attacked whilst on a journey and horribly maltreated by a relative whom he had once been obliged to punish. I counted over seventy wounds on his body. He was sanctified by his earnest preparation for death, for he had shortly before made a fervent general confession. The unspeakable patience with which he endured his slow murder also contributed thereto, for he never ceased praying for his assassins. The Mother of God was with him visibly consoling and encouraging him to suffer and die patiently ; he was indebted to her for his holy death. I have also recognized the relic of St. Cunibert of Cologne. I saw him a^ a boy sleeping near King Dagobert." St. Agnes and St. Emerentiana. "I saw a very lovely delicate maiden dragged through the streets by rude soldiers. She was wrapped in a long brown woollen mantle, her braided hair concealed under a veil. The soldiers seized her mantle by the sides and dragged her so violently forward that they tore it apart. They were followed by a crowd, among them a few women. She was led through a high gateway, across a square court, and into an apartment destitute of furniture, saving some long, cushioned chests. They pushed her in and dragged her from side to side, and tore from her both mantle and veil. Agnes was like an innocent patient lamb in their hands, and light and airy as a bird ; she seemed to fly as they pulled her here and there. They took her mantle and left her. Agnes in a white, sleeveless undergarment open at the sides now stood back in the corner of the room praying calmly with outstretched hands and face upturned. The women who had followed her were not admitted into the court-yard. All sorts of men stood around the doors as if the saint were their common prey. I saw her white tunic bloody around the neck frcm a wound received, perhaps on the way. — First two or three youths entered and fell upon her, furiously dragging her hither and thither, and tearing from her person the open garment. I saw blood on her neck and breast. She did not attempt to defend herself, for, on the instant they deprived her of her garments, her long hair fell down around her, and I saw a shining figure just above her in the air, who spread over her, like a garment, a stream of light. The wretches who had assaulted her fled terror-stricken. They encountered her insolent lover outside who began to mock their cowardice. He rushed in himself to seize her; but Agnes grasped him firmly by the hands and held him back. He fell to the ground, but arose quickly, and again rushed madly upon her. — Again did the virgin drive him back as far as the door, and again did he fall j but this time motionless. She stood calm as before, praying, shining, blooming, her face like a brilliant rose. A loud cry was raised, and several distinguished personages hastily entered the room. One of them seemed to be the youth's father. He was furious, indignant, he spoke of sorcery j but when Agnes told him that she would pray for his son's restoration, if he would ask it in the name of Jesus, he grew calm and begged her to do so. Then Agnes turned toward the dead youth, and addressed a few words to him. He arose, and was led away still weak and tottering. And now came other men toward Agnes ; but like the first they too retired in fright. Then I saw the soldiers go into the room. They took with them a brown robe, open at the side and fastened by a clasp, and an old veil such as were generally given to the martyrs. Agnes put the robe on, twisted her hair under the veil, and accompanied the soldiers to the judgment-hall. This was a square place, surrounded by a wall in which were prisons, or chambers ; one could stand on it and watch what was going on below. There were spectators on it at the time of which I speak. Many Christians were led to the tribunal from a prison which seemed not far from the place in which Agnes had been so ill-used. I think they were a grandfaiher, his two sons-in-law, and their children, all bound together with cords. They were led before the judge who was seated on a high stone seat in the square court-yard, and Agnes with rounded her whole person was rosy in the centre, the rayg changing to blue. She was full of joy ; she consoled me in my sharp pains, saying : ' With Jesus to suffer, in Jesus to suffer, is sweet V — I cannot describe the great difference there is between these Romans and people of the present day. There was no mixture in them ; they were wholly one thing or another. With us all is so indifferent, so complicated ! It is as if there were in us a thousand compartments within a thousand compartments. " I had another vision. I saw a maiden prostrate in prayer at Agnes's tomb whither she often went by night, wrapped in a long mantle, gliding along like Magdalen to the tomb of Our Lord. I saw the enemies of the Christians lying in wait for her ; they fell upon her and dragged her off. — Then I saw a little church, a perfect octagon, and over its altar a feast among the saints, apparently a patronal feast, very simple, innocent, and yet solemn, A lovely young martyr sat on a throne whilst other Roman martyrs, youths and maidens of the early times, wreathed her with garlands. I saw St. Agnes and by her a little lanib." Here the Pilgrim handed Sister Emmerich a relic under which in legible characters appeared the name of the Apos tie St. Matthew, but which she had already designated as belonging to St Emerentiana. Scarcely had ihe touched it when she exclaimed: " O what a lovely child ! Whence comes that beautiful child? And see, there's a woman with another child !" — Next morning she related what follows : — "Last night I saw two lovely children with a nurse. First, one about four years old, came out through a gate in a portico, followed by an old woman with a hooked nose, like a Jewess. She was dressed in a flowing garment, a scalloped collar, and lappets like maniples on her arms. She led another little girl of about five and a half jears.
The old nurse walked up and down under the portico whilst the children played. The centre columns of the portico were round, capped by curled heads crowned with crisped leaves, and entwined by sculptured serpents with beautiful human faces which stretched out from the columns. The corner ones were square with huge masks cut on the inner side, like oxen's heads, below which were hollowed out three round holes one under the other. At certain distances in the inner wall stood pillars j above it was a platform to which steps led on either side. In the middle was an arrangement like a tabernacle by which something could be turned out from the wall. All around were seats sculptured like the lower part of the columns ; below them were compartments in which the children could put their toys. Here the nurse sat and watched them. The two lovely children wore little knit or woven slips like shirts confined by a belt. Some other children from the neighborhood joined them and they played very nicely together, mostly near the tabernacle which they drew out and in which they put their toys, little puppets on wires very artistically made. They skipped around the steps by the tabernacle, and ran up and down to the platform. They had, also, some little vessels with which they played by the seats with the semi-circular boxes. I took a peevish little thing up into my lap, but she struggled and would not stay with me. This made me feel sad, for I thought it was because of my unworthiness. Then the strange children went home, and the servant, or nurse, took her two in through the gate, across a court-yard, and up a flight of steps to an apartment in which the mother of one was seated apparently reading from a book. She was a large woman, wore a robe with folds, walked heavily and languidly, had a grave air, and took little notice of the children. She did not caress them although she gave them little cakes of different shapes and colors. She took still less notice of the strange child than of her own. The seats in this room were like cushions, some leather, others worsted, and they had something by which to lift them. The ceiling and walls were covered with paintings. The windows were not glass, but furnished with nets embroidered in all sorts of figures* In the corners of the room stood statues on pedestals. — Then I saw the nurse and children in a garden which lay like a court-yard in the middle of the building, with rooms all around it and a fountain in the centre. Here the children played and ate fruit. I saw not the father. — And now I had another picture. I saw the two children a few years later alone and in prayer, and I felt that their nurse was a Christian in secret and that she directed their steps. I saw them going by night stealthily with other maidens to one of the small houses next the large mansion. I also saw persons cautiously approaching by night the house in which they lived, and giving the inmates a sign through a hole in the wall, whereupon the latter arose and came out. The nurse used to lead the children out by a back passage and then return I saw them wrapped in mantles and gliding with others by an old wall to a subterranean apartment in which many people were assembled. There were two such rooms. In one was an altar on which all on entering deposited an offering. In the other was no altar ; it appeared to be used only for prayer and instruction. To these secret underground reunions, I saw the children going by night. " Again I stood before the house in which I had seen the little ones at play, and I felt an eager desire for them to come out. I saw one of their playmates, and I sent her in
448 Lift of to coax the nurse to bring the children out. She did so with Agnes in her arms, an infant of about eighteen months. She said that the other child was not there. I replied that she would certainly come soon, and we went together to a great shade tree like a linden. Sure enough, here came the other child in the arms of a young girl from a small, neighboring house. But the nurses could not stay; they had something to do. I begged them to leave the children with me a little while which they did. I took them both on my knees, kissed, and caressed them ; but they soon grew uneasy and began to cry. 1 had nothing to give them and, in my perplexity, I laid them on my breast when they became quiet. I threw around them my large mantle when suddenly, to my surprise and alarm, I felt that they were really receiving nourishment from me. I handed them to their nurses who soon returned followed by the children's mothers. Emerentiuna's mother was the smaller, the more active, the more pleasing of the two. She carried her child home herself, whilst Agnes's mother let the nurse carry her. But now, to my great alarm, I noticed something strange about my breasts, as if by the children's suckling they had become swollen, full of nourishment, and I felt an oppression, a burning in them which gave me great anxiety. I was hardly half-way home, when two poor children of our neighborhood came and drained my breast, causing me much pain. Several others did the same. I noticed on these poor little ones swarms of vermin wrhich I removed : so they were fed and cleaned at the same time. I was relieved of the oppression in my breast ; but, as I thought it had all happened in consequence of the relics, I put them away in the closet." The following day as Sister Emmerich lay in ecstasy, the Pilgrim approached her bed with the relics of Sts. Agnes and Emerentiana. She turned quickly away, exclaiming : " No, No ! I cannot ! I love those children, but I cannot again ! " — St. Paula. Father Limberg handed the invalid a scrap of brown stuff from a package of relics, with the question: "What is this ?" Sister Emmerich looked at it attentively and then said in a decided tone : li It belongs to the veil of the lady who went from Rome to Jerusalem and Bethlehem ; it is a scrap of St. Paula's veil. I see the saint standing there in a long veil that falls over her face. She holds a gnarled stick in her hand." Then she recognized another scrap of silk as part of the curtain that hung before the manger in Paula's little chapel. li The saint," she said, u and her daughter often prayed behind this curtain. The Infant Jesus frequently appeared to them there." The Pilgrim asked : u Was it the curtain of the true Crib, the Grotto f" She answered : "No! it hung before the little representation of the true Crib which St. Paula's nuns had in their chapel. The monastery was so near the Holy Grotto that the chapel seemed to join it. It was right next the spot in which Jesus was born. It was built only of wood and wicker-work, and the inside was hung with tapestry. From it ran four rows of cells lightly built, as the pilgrims' quarters always are in the Holy Land. Each had a little garden in front. Here it was that Paula and her daughter gathered together their first companions. In the chapel stood an altar with a tabernacle behind which, concealed by a red and white silk curtain, was the crib arranged by St. Paula. It was separated only by a wall from the true place of the birth of Jesus. The crib was a true representation of the Holy Crib, only smaller and of white stone j but so exact that even the straw was imitated. The little of His presence. I saw her increase wonderfully in interior purity and strength of soul. It is impossible to say how one sees such things. — It is as if some object continually became more magnificent, like gold being purified, a spark becoming a star, a fire becoming a sun ! I saw Agatha's extraordinary fidelity to grace. I saw her constant turning-away from every shadow of impurity, from every little imperfection for which she punished herself severely. When she would have wished to lie down in the evening, her guardian-angel often stood visibly by her side reminding her of something, some forgotten duty perhaps, which she would then hasten to perform : some prayer, some alms, something relating to charity, purity, humility, obedience, mercy, or some effort to prevent sin. — I often saw her as a child gliding along unknown to her mother with alms and food for the poor. She was so noble, so dear to Jesus, — and yet she lived in a constant struggle ! I often saw her pinch and strike herself for the least faults, the slightest inclinations ; but with it all, she was so open, so frank, so courageous ! — I saw her in her eighth year taken in a carriage with several other maidens to Catana. — This was by her father's orders, for he wanted her reared in all the liberty of paganism. She was placed in the house of a shameless woman who had five daughters. I cannot say that she kept a public-house of infamy, such as I have often seen in those times ; she seemed rather to be a bold worldly woman of high position. Her house was beautifully situated, everything about it sumptuous. Here Agatha remained a long time, but she was never allowed to go out. I generally saw her with other little girls in a handsome room before which lay a lake which reflected in its waters the whole house ; the other sides of the dwelling were guarded. The lady and her five daughters gave themselves the greatest trouble imaginable to form Agatha to their kind of virtue. I saw them walking with her in the beautiful gardens and showing her all kinds of elegant clothes ; but she turned away indifferently from such things. And here too I often saw the Heavenly Boy at her side, whilst she daily became more serious, more courageous. Agatha was a very beautiful child, not tall, but perfectly formed. She had dark hair, great black eyes, a beautiful nose, round face, a very mild but firm manner and an expression indicative of extraordinary strength of soul. Her mother died of grief during her child's absence. u I saw Agatha in this house constantly and courageously overcoming herself and her natural inclinations, resisting every seduction. Quintianus, who afterward condemned her to death, often visited the house. He was *a married man, but he could not endure his wife. He was a disagreeable, very vulgar, and insolent man, and he used to go prowling around the city spying out everything, annoying and tormenting the inhabitants. I used to see him with the lady of the house. He often looked at Agatha as one might gaze on a beautiful child ; but he never offered her any improper attentions. I saw her Heavenly Bridegroom standing by her, visible to her alone, and I heard Him say to her : i Our bride is little, she has no breasts (1). When she will have them, they will be cut off j for none shall ever drink thereof P— The Youth spoke these words to Agatha in vision, and they mean that but few Christians, few priests were then in her country (Sicily) (2). I saw that the instruments of her martyrdom were shown her by her Bridegroom ; indeed, I think they played with them. — (1) Canticle viii., 8. (2) Agatha was " The Bride," the Church of Sicily, as yet young Her martyrdom was here foretold, by which she was to become the spiritual mother of innumerable souls, to whom the milk of her breasts ; viz., the rich blessings flowing from her martyrdom, was to procure the grace of salvation.
Later, I saw Agatha again in her native city, after her father's death when she was about thirteen years old. She made an open profession of Christianity and had only good people around her. — Then I saw her dragged from her house by men sent by Quintianus from Catanato arrest her. In passing out of the city-gate, she stooped to fasten her shoe and looking back, she perceived that all her friends had abandoned her and were hurrying back to the city. Agatha begged God to set up some sign as a memorial of their ingratitude, when instantly there arose on the spot a sterile? olive-tree. u I saw Agatha again with the wicked woman and her Heavenly Bridegroom by her. He said : ' When the serpent, formerly mute, began to speak, Eve should have known it was the devil. ? — The woman tried again in every way to seduce her by flattery and amusements, but I heard Agatha applying to her the teachings of her Bridegroom. When she urged her to wantonness, Agatha replied : c Thy flesh and blood are, like the serpent, creatures of God ; but he who speaks through them is the devil V I saw Quintianus's communications with this woman, and I knew very well two of his other friends there. — Then I saw Agatha thrown into prison, interrogated, beaten, and finally, her breasts cut off. One man held her whilst a second took off the breasts writh an instrument shaped like a poppy-pod. It opened in three parts like a mouth, and bit off the breast in one piece. The executioners had the revolting cruelty to hold them up mockingly before the maiden, and then throw them on the ground at her feet. During the torture, Agatha said to Quintianus : c Dost thou not shudder to tear from a woman that from which thy own mother once fed thee V She stood firm, self-possessed, and once she exclaimed : My soul has breasts more noble than
454: Life of those thou canst take from me !' Agatha was scarcely more than a child, and her bosom was far from being developed. The wound was perfectly round ; it was not lacerated, the blood gushed out in little streams. I often saw that same instrument used in torturing the martyrs. They used to tear off whole pieces of flesh from their person with it. How wonderful were the help and strength the martyrs received from Jesus Christ ! I often see Him by them strengthening them for the combat : they faint not where another would die. — Then I saw Agatha in prison where an aged man appeared to her, offering to hSal her wounds. She thanked him, but replied that she had never had recourse to medicine ; that she had her Lord Jesus Christ who could heal her if He so willed. ' I am a Christian and a gray-haired old man/ said he, ( be not ashamed of me V She replied : ' My wounds have nothing about them revolting to modesty ! But Jesus will heal me, if He sees fit. He created the whole world, and He can also restore my breasts !' Then the old man laughed and said : i I am His servant Peter ! Behold ! Thy breasts are healed V and he disappeared. — T saw that an angel fastened to the roof of her prison something like a ticket on which was writing, but I do not now remember what it was. Agatha's breasts were perfectly restored. It was not merely a healing of the skin, it was a new, a perfect bosom. Around each breast I saw circles of light, the inner one composed of rainbow-colored rays. Again was Agatha led forth to martyrdom. In a vault were rows of furnaces like deep chests, stuck full of sharp points and potsherds . under them burned fires. There was room to pass between the chests, and many poor victims were roasted at the same time. As Agatha was thrown into one of these furnaces, the earth quaked, and a falling wall crushed the two friends of Quintianus. The latter had fled during a revolt of the people. Agatha was led back again to her prison where she died, I saw Quintianus, when on his way to seize Agatha's property, drowning miserably in a river. — I afterward saw a mountain vomiting forth fire, and people fleeing before the fiery wave. It rolled as far as Agatha's tomb, where it was extinguished." St. Dorothea. 11 Again I recognized this saint's relic and I saw a large city in a hill country. Playing in the garden of a house built in the Roman style, were three little girls between five and eight years old. They took hold of hands, danced in a ring, stood still, sang, and gathered flowers. After awhile the two eldest ran away from the youngest, tearing up their flowers as they went, and leaving the little one deeply hurt at their treatment of her. I saw her standing there all alone with a sharp pain in her heart, a pain which I also felt. Her face grew pale, her clothing became white as snow, and she fell to the ground as if dead. Then I heard an interior voice saying : ' That is Dorothea !' and I saw the apparition of a resplendent Boy approaching her with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He raised her, led her to another part of the garden, gave her the bouquet, and disappeared. The little thing was delighted ; she ran to the other two, showed them her flowers, and told them who had given them to her. Her companions were amazed ; they pressed the child to their heart, appeared sorry for the pain they had caused her, and peace was restored. At this sight I felt an eager desire for some such flowers to strengthen me. All at once, Dorothea stood before me as a young maiden, and made me a beautiful discourse in preparation for Communion. ' Why sighest thou after flowers V she asked, 'thou who so often receivest the Flower of all flowers !' — Then she explained the vision I had just had of the children, the desertion and return of the two elder ones, and I had another vision referring to her martyrdom. I saw her imprisoned with her elder sisters, a contest going on among them. The two elder wished not to die for Jesus, and so they were set free. Dorothea was sent by the judge to the two apostates in the hope that she would follow their example and advice. But the contrary was the case ; she brought her sisters back to the faith. Then Dorothea was fastened to a stake, torn with hooks, burned with torches and, finally, beheaded. Whilst she was being tortured, I saw a youth, who had mocked at her on her way to martyrdom and to whom she had addressed a few words, suddenly converted. A resplendent boy appeared to him with roses and fruits. He entered into himself, confessed the faith, and suffered martyrdom by decapitation. With Dorothea suffered many others ; some by fire, some by being fastened to animals and quartered." St. Apollonia. "I had the saint's relic by me, and I saw the city in which she was martyred. It stands on a cape not far from the mouth of the Nile ; it is a large and beautiful city. The house of Apollonia' s parents stood on an elevated spot surrounded by court-yards and gardens. Apollonia was, at the time of her martyrdom, an aged widow (1), very tall. Her parents were pagans. But she had been converted in childhood by her nurse, a Christian in secret, and had married a pagan in obedience to her parents, with whom she lived at home. She had much to suffer; married life was for her a rude penance. T have seen her lying on th§ (1) In toe Roman Martyrology and Breviary sfce is designated as V, Mt ground, praying, weeping, her head covered with ashes. Her husband was very thin and pale, and he died long before her, leaving her childless. She survived him thirty years. Apollonia was extremely compassionate to the poor persecuted Christians ; she was the hope and consolation of all in suffering. Her nurse also suffered martyrdom shortly before her in an insurrection, during which the dwellings of Christians were plundered and burned, and many of the occupants put to death. — Later on, I saw Apollonia herself arrested in her house by the judge's orders, led before the tribunal, and cast into prison. Again I saw her brought before the judge and horribly maltreated, on account of her severe and resolute answers. It was a heart-rending sight and I cried bitterly, although I had witnessed with less emotion even more cruel punishments ; perhaps it was her age and dignified bearing that touched me. They beat her with clubs, and struck her on the face and head with stones until her nose was broken. Blood flowed from her head, her cheeks and chin were all torn, and her teeth shattered in her gums. She wore the open white robe in which I have so often seen the martyrs, and under it a colored woollen tunic. The executioners placed her on a stone seat without a back, her hands chained behind her to the stone, her feet in fetters. Her veil was torn off, and her long hair hung around her face, which was quite disfigured and covered with blood. One executioner stood behind and violently forced back her head, whilst another opened wide her torn mouth and pressed into it a small block of lead. Then with great pincers he drew out the broken teeth one after the other, tearing away with each a piece of the jaw-bone. Apollonia almost fainted under this torture, but I saw angels, souls of other martyrs, and Jesus Himself strengthening and consol ing her. At her own request, the power was conferred upon her of relieving all pains of the teeth, head, or face. As she still continued to glorify Jesus and insult the idols, the judge ordered her to be thrown on the funeral pile. She could not walk alone, she was half dead ; consequently, two executioners had to support her under the arms to a high place where a fire burned in a pit. As she stood a moment before it, she appeared to pray for something ; she could no longer hold up her head. The pagans thought she was about to deny Jesus, that she was wavering, and so they released their hold upon her. She sank on the ground as if dying, lay there a moment, and then suddenly arose praying, and leaped into the flames. — During the whole time of her martyrdom, I saw crowds of the poor whom she had befriended wringing their hands, weeping, and lamenting. Apollonia could never have leaped into the fire by herself. Strength came to her with the inspiration from God. She was not consumed, but only scorched. When she was dead, the pagans withdrew ; and the Christians, approaching stealthily, took the holy body and buried it in a vault." St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. " Through the relics of St. Scholastica. I saw many scenes in her life and that of St. Benedict I saw their paternal house in a great city, not far from Rome. It was not built entirely in the Roman style j before it was a paved court-yard whose low wall was surmounted by a red latticework, and behind lay another court with a garden and a fountain. In the garden was a beautiful summer-house overrun by vines, and here I saw Benedict and his little sister Scholastica, playing as loving, innocent children are >yont to amuse themselves. The flat ceiling of the summer* house was painted all over with figures which I thought, at first, sculptured, so clearly were their outlines defined. The brother and sister were very fond of each other and so nearly of the same age that I thought them twins. The birds flew in familiarly at the windows with flowers and twigs in their beaks and sat gazing at the children who, also, were playing with flowers and leaves, planting sticks and making gardens. I saw them writing and cutting all sorts of figures out of colored stuffs. Occasionally their nurse came to look after them. Their parents seemed to be people of wealth who had much business on hand, for I saw about twenty persons employed in the house ; but they did not seem to trouble themselves about their children. The father was a large, powerful man, clothed in the Roman style ; he took his meals with his wife and some other members of the family in the lower part of the house, whilst the children lived entirely up-stairs in separate apartments. Benedict had for preceptor an old ecclesiastic with whom he staved almost all the time, and Scholastica had a nurse near whom she slept. The brother and sister were not often allowed to be alone together ; but whenever they could steal off for awhile, they were very gleeful and happy. I saw Scholastica by her nurse's side, learning some kind of work. In the room next that in which she slept stood a table on which lay in baskets the materials for her work, various colored stuff, from which she cut figures of birds, flowers, etc., to be sewed on other larger pieces. When finished they looked as if carved on the ground-work. The ceilings of the rooms, like that of the summer-house, were covered with different colored pictures. The windows were not glass ; they were of some kind of stuff on which were embroidered all sorts of figures, trees, lines, and pointed ornaments. Scholastica slept on a low bed behind a curtain. I saw her in the morning when her nurse left the room, spring out of bed and prostrate in prayer before a crucifix on the wall. When she heard the nurse returning she usel to slip quickly behind the curtain and be in bed again before she re-entered the room. I saw Benedict and Scholastica separately learning from the former's tutor. They read from great rolls of parchment, and they painted letters in red, gold, and an extraordinarily fine blue. As they wrote they rolled the parchment. They made use of an instrument about as long as one's finger. The older the children grew, the less were they allowed to be together. u I saw Benedict at Rome, when about fourteen years old, in a large building in which there was a corridor with many rooms ; it looked like a school, or a monastery. There were many young men and some old ecclesiastics in a large hall, as if at a holiday feast. The ceilings were adorned with the same kind of paintings as those in Benedict's home. The guests did not eat reclining. They sat on round seats so low that they were obliged to stretch out their feet ; some sat on one side, back to back, at a very low table. There were holes hollowed in the massive table to receive the yellow plates and dishes ; but I did not see much food, only three large plates of flat, yellow cakes in the centre of the table. When all had finished, I saw six females of different ages, relatives of the youths, enter the hall bearing something like sweetmeats and little flasks in baskets on their arms. The young men arose and conversed with their friends at one end of the hall, eating the dainties and drinking from the flasks. There was one woman of about thirty years of age, whom I had once before seen at Benedict's home. She approached the young man with marked affability : but he, perfectly pure and innocent, suspected nothing bad in her. I saw that she hated his purity and entertained a sinful love for him. She gave him a poisoned, an enchanted drink from a flask. Benedict suspected nothing, but I saw him that evening in his cell restless and tormented. He went, at last, to a man and asked permission to go down into the court-yard, for he never went out without leave. There he knelt in a corner of the yard, disciplining himself with long thorn branches and nettles. — I saw him, later on, when a hermit, helping this his would-be seducer who had fallen into deep distress precisely because she had sought to tempt him. Benedict had been interiorly warned of her guilt. ' -'Afterward I saw Benedict on a high, rocky mountain when, perhaps, in his twentieth year. He had hollowed out a cell for himself in the rock. To this he added a passage and another cell, and then several cells all cut in the rock ; but only the first opened outside. Before it he had planted a walk of trees. He arched them and ornamented the vaulted roof with pictures which seemed to be made of many small stones put together. In one cell I saw three such pictures: Heaven in the centre, the Nativity of Christ on one side, the Last Judgment on the other. In the last, Our Lord was represented sitting on an arch, a sword proceeding from His mouth ; below, between the elect and the reprobate, stood an angel with a pair of scales. Benedict had, besides, made a representation of a monastery with its abbot, and crowds of monks in the background. He seemed to have had a foresight of his own monastery. " More than once I saw Benedict's sister, who lived at home, going on foot to visit her brother. He never allowed her to stay with him over flight. Sometimes she brought him a roll of parchment which she had written. Then he showed her what he had done, and they conversed together on divine things. Benedict was always very grave in his sister's presence whilst she, in her innocence, was all mirth and joy. When she found him too serious, she turned to God in prayer, and he instantly became like herself, bright and gay. Later on, I saw her under her brother's direction, establishing a convent on a neighboring mountain distant only a short day's journey. To it flocked numbers of religious women. I saw her teaching them to chant ; they had no organs. Organs have been very prejudicial to singing. They make of it only a secondary affair. The nuns prepared all the church ornaments themselves with the same kind of needlework that Scholastica had learned when a child at home. On the refectory table was a large cloth on which were all sorts of figures, pictures, and sentences, so that each religious always had before her that to which she was especially obliged. Scholastica spoke to me of the sweets and consolations of spiritual labor and the labor of ecclesiastics. u I always saw Scholastica and Benedict surrounded by tame birds. Whilst the former was yet in her father's house, I used to see doves flying from her to Benedict in the desert ; and in the monastery I saw around her doves and larks bringing her red, white, yellow, and violet-blue flowers. Once I saw a dove bringing her a rose with a leaf. I cannot repeat all the scenes of her life that were shown me, for I am so sick and miserable ! Scholastica was purity itself I see her in heaven as white as snow. With the exception of Mary and Magdalen, I know of no saint so loving.''
St. Eulalia (1). Among Sister Emmerich's relics were two teeth marked St. Eulalia. After some time, she said : "Only one of these teeth belongs to the holy virgin-martyr Eulalia of Barcelona. The other belongs to a priest who received Holy Orders at an advanced age, and whom I have seen journeying around helping widows and orphans. St. Eulalia's tooth was drawn about six months before her martyrdom. I saw the whole operation. The tooth caused her much suffering andshehad it extracted at a young friend's house because her mother, through excessive tenderness, could not endure that it should be done at home. The old man who drew the tooth was a Christian. He sat on alow stool, Eulalia before him on the floor, her back to him. She rested her back against him and he quickly drew the tooth with an instrument which fitted closely around it. — The instrument had a transverse piece to the haft. When the tooth came out, he held it up in the pincers before the two girls, who both began to laugh. Eulalia's friend begged her to make her a present of it, which she readily did. All Eulalia's companions loved her and, after her martyrdom, the tooth became a more precious object, a sacred relic to the possessor. It passed successively into the hands of two other females. Later on, I saw it in a church enclosed in a silver box shaped like a little censer. It hung before a picture of St. Apollonia. In this picture Apollonia was represented not as old, but young with pincers in her hand and a pointed cap on her head. Then I saw that, when this church had been despoiled of its silver, the tooth fell into the possession of a pious maiden Sister Emmerich had frequently felt and referred to the presence of this relic, saying : 44 There must he a St. Oulalia in my church ! She belongs to Barcelona.1' She had seen the name in vision in small Roman letters, and had mistaken C for J5.
far away from Eulalia's native land. A little piece of one of the roots had been broken off, which I also saw preserved as a relic, but I cannot name the place. The tooth shines, but not with the glory of martyred bones. It shines by reason of Eulalia's innocence and the ardent desire to die for Jesus which even then animated her • and also on account of the intense pain she endured so patiently from it. I do not see the bones that the saints lost before martyrdom shining with the colors of the glory that distinguishes their other relics. To the light of this tooth was wanting the martyrdom of the whole person. Eulalia's parents were very distinguished people. They lived in a large house surrounded by olive-trees and others with yellow fruits. They were Christians, but not very zealous ones ; they allowed nothing of their faith to be remarked in them. Eulalia was intimate with a female older than herself, a zealous Christian, who lived not far from Eulalia's home in which she was often employed to do great pieces of embroidery. I saw her and Eulalia making church-vestments secretly by night, fastening in round-stitch figures on cloth. They used a lamp with a transparent shade; it gave a very clear light. I used to see Eulalia retired in her own chamber, praying before a simple cross which she had cutout of box wood. She was consumed with a desire to confess Jesus openly, for he often showed her in vision the martyr's crown. I saw her walking with other maidens and expressing to them the longings which she dared not utter in her father's house. v St. Walburga. Sister Emmerich took from u her church11 a finger-bone, looked at it in silence for a moment, and then exclaimed : "What a sweet little nun ! so clear, so beautiful, so trans parent ! She is altogether angelic I It is Walburga ! I see her convent, too." Then followed visions of the saint and of the disinterring of her sacred remains, which Sister Emmerich gives as follows : " Two blessed nuns took me into a church in which a grand festival was being celebrated, either the translation of a saint's relics, or a canonization. A Bishop was superintending everything, and assigning places to the assistants. It was not the church of the convent in which Walburga had lived j it was another and a larger one, and the crowd was far greater than I had ever seen around the crucifix at Coesfeld. Numbers were obliged to remain outside the doors. I stood near the altar, not far from the sacristy, the two nuns by me. On the steps of the altar was a plain white chest containing the holy body; the white linen cloth was raised and hung at either side. The body was white as snow, and one might have thought her alive, so rosy were her cheeks. Walburga always had the pure, fair complexion of a delicate little child. The feast began with High Mass. But I could not stand any longer. I must have fainted, for I found myself lying on the ground, my two companions at my head and feet. I saw an abbess of Walburga's convent in the sacristy preparing three kinds of dough for bread : two fine ; the third coarser, of white flour indeed, but full of chaff, and I began to wonder for whom they were. Here I lost sight of the earthly festival and. I entered a heavenly garden in which 1 was shown Walburga's reward in heaven. I saw her with Benedict, Scholastica, Maurus, Placidus, and many holy virgins of Benedict's Rule, at a table spread with marvellous dishes. At the head sat Walburga completely surrounded by garlands and arches of flowers. — When I returned to the church, the feast was over ; but I received from the Bishop and abbess a loaf of coarse bread,
466 Lift of marked with the number IV. The fine bread Was given to my companions. The Bishop told me that my loaf was for myself alone, that I must not give it away. Then he led me out before the church door where St. Walburga's nuns had their little oratory, and I had another vision of Walburga. She had, a short time before her blessed death, been found as if dead in her kneeling-place. Her brother Willibald was sent for and, to his surprise, he saw her face ami hands covered with white dew-drops like manna. He gathered it into a brown bowl and gave it to the nuns as a holy thing. They wrought numerous cures with it after Walburga' s death. When she returned to herself, Willibald gave her Holy Communion. The dew prefigured Walburga's oil, which I saw had begun to flow on a Thursday, because the saint bore so great a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Saviour's agony in the garden of Olives. As often as I take this oil, I feel strengthened as by a heavenly dew ; it has helped me greatly in severe sicknesses. Walburga was full of tenderest love for the poor. She used to see them in vision. She knew even before they came to her how she should distribute her bread among them. She gave to some whole loaves, to others half, and to others pieces which she cut herself. She gave them, also, a certain oil, thick poppyoil, I think, which she mixed with butter and spread on the bread; besides which she gave them some for their cooking. On account of her bounty and the soothing, consoling influence of her gentle, loving words, her relics have received the property of distilling oil. Walburga also protects against vicious dog3 and wild beasts. I saw her going by night to the sick daughter of a gentleman in the neighborhood of her convent. She was assailed by his dogs which, however, she put to flight. She wore a narrow brown habit, a broad girdle, and a black veil over a white one ; it was more the dress of pious females of the time, than a regular religious habit. I saw a miracle which took place at the time of the great pilgrimage to her tomb. Two assassins joined a pilgrim on his way thither, the latter kindly sharing with them his bread ; but they, in return, killed him as he slept. Then one took up the corpse on his back to bury it out of sight; but he could not lay it down again, it stuck to him as if it had grown fast. I saw him wandering around in despair with the corpse on his back until, at last, he plunged into the river to drown himself. But he could not sink, the waters would not have him ; jhey cast him up on the opposite bank, the horrible load still clinging to him. Then I saw some one try to loosen the hands of the dead man with his sword ; but, far from succeeding, he remained himself fastened to the corpse until he freed himself by prayer." — When the Pilgrim objected to this narrative, saying that it was strange she should see as true so many singular things which even pious priests denied, she replied: u One cannot say how simple, natural, and connected all such things appear in the state of contemplation ; and, on the contrary, how perverse, unreasonable, and even insane are the intentions and actions of the enlightened world compared with them ! People who think themselves very intelligent and who are esteemed such by others, often appear to me insane enough to be confined in a madhouse." Sts. Paschal and Cyprian. " As I took my church to arrange and venerate the holy relics, I recognized a splinter of an arm-bone as belonging roany different ways. Trees opposite one another were bent down, and the martyrs bound to them by a leg or an arm. When the trees were allowed to resume their upright position, the Christians were torn asunder. I saw maidens hung up by the feet, their head almost touching the ground, their hands tied behind their back Whilst in this posture spotted animals, which looked like great cats, devoured the breasts of their still living body. PaschaPs sister fled with many other Christians; but Paschal and Cyprian courageously repaired to the place of execution, to console and encourage their friends. They were, at first, driven off; but, having declared themselves Christians, they too were interrogated and martyred. The Christians were sometimes condemned to be crushed between immense stone plates which covered the whole body, with the exception of the arms and feet, which projected beyond them. Sometimes two were laid, one upon another, face to face, and crushed together. Paschal and Cyprian thus suffered, but side by side. Then my vision changed to a later period, one in which the Christians enjoyed more liberty, one in which they could visit and honor the tombs of the saints. I saw a father and mother carrying a lame boy about seven years old across a field in which many martyrs were interred. Monuments and little chapels stood here and there over the graves. At the end of the cemetery, which was named after Pope Calixtus, the parents halted with their afflicted children on a spot covered only with grass ; for here, the boy said, lay two holy martyrs who would help him. They prayed. I think the child invoked them by name, and up he arose perfectly cured. Then I saw the mother and child kneeling to thank God, and the father running back to the city to proclaim the miracle, He returned with some men, among them priests, who carefully dug around, until they came to the bodies of the two saints. They lay arm in arm, well-preserved, perfectly white and dry. The tomb was quadrangular and, at the spot in which the saints' arms locked there was a break in the low wall of partition between the bodies. They were not entirely disinterred at this time, but a festival was celebrated on the spot, the tomb was beautifully repaired, and a writing deposited in it. It was then closed, a roof supported by four or six columns raised over it, and the whole sodded. I saw various kinds of plants on it, one with very large leaves, a thick tuft like the house-leek. Under the roof was a stone before which was raised an altar with an opening on top which could be closed at pleasure. On the vertical stone was an inscription. I saw the Holy Mass celebrated and Holy Communion given, the communicants holding under the chin a plate and white cloth. The sacred remains still lay buried there,though the little edifice over their grave was destroyed at a later period.—Then I had a vision of many graves in this cemetery being opened and the holy remains removed, among them those of Paschal and Cyprian, now mere skeletons, but still lying in good condition, Then I saw them in two little four-cornered caskets, in possession of the Jesuits of Antwerp, who with many solemn ceremonies and in grand procession richly encased the relics and laid them in beautiful shrines." Sts. Perpetua and Felicity. On February 27, 1820, Sister Emmerich related the following: "Last night, as I began to bemoan before God my pitiable state, I received this just reproach : ' How canst thou complain, surrounded as thou art by so rich a treasure of relics for which others had to journey so far ? Thou
Anne Catherine Emmerich, 471 hast the privilege of living with the&e holy personages, of seeing all they did,of knowing all they were V I felt then how wrong it was in me to repine, and I saw a whole troop of saints whose relics are here by me. In the life of St. Perpetua, I saw many scenes. Even as a child, she had visions of her future martyrdom. — It reminded me of a dream I had had in my childhood in which 1 thought I was to have nothing but black bread and water. I thought this signified that I was to be a beggar ; but now I think Walburga's black bread which I received explains the dream. — I saw all the sufferings of Perpetua, Felicity, and others, martyred with and after them in the same country. They were hunted by beasts and put to the sword." At these words, Sister Emmerich took one of the relics, kissed it, laid it upon her heart, and said : "Perpetua is there by me !" then, taking another little particle, she exclaimed : "This is very precious. It is the bone of a little boy who courageously suffered martyrdom with his father, mother, and two sisters. He was imprisoned with Perpetua and he suffered by fire. There were little eminences in an enclosed place and on them stakes, or seats, on which the martyrs were placed, the fire being lighted all around them. The bone shines with wonderful brilliancy, a glory of the finest blue with golden rays, such as surrounded the child-martyr. The light is so wonderfully invigorating that no words can express it.- -I thought at first that Perpetua and Felicity were martyred in Rome, because I saw them executed in a building similar to the one in that city ; but now I know that it was in a place far distant." March 2d — u I had St. Perpetua's relic and I saw many pictures of her captivity and martyrdom ; but all will be more clear on her feast-day. I saw the captive Christians ia a round, subterranean prison under an old building, tenderly embracing each other, by which I knew that their love began in childhood. I was told that they had promised never to separate. They often played that they were Christians and were being martyred ; but even then they would not be separated. St. Monica (of whom I had a relic) told me that the city is called Carthage." March 6th — "I was until two o'clock with Perpetua a.id Felicity, and I saw successive pictures of their youth up to the time of their imprisonment. They did not reside in the place in which they were imprisoned and martyred, but about half a league distant, in the suburbs where the houses stood far apart. It was connected with the city by a road running between two low walls and several high archways. Perpetua's home stood by itself. It was tolerably large, and her parents seemed to be people of distinction. It had an enclosed court and inner colonnade, though not exactly like that of Agnes's house in Rome, and there were statues in the walks. In front was an open space, and behind, though at some distance, the circular garden I lately saw. Perpetua's mother was a Christian, but in secret, and she knew that her children were the same. The father alone was a pagan. I saw some young men in the house. — Felicity was younger than Perpetua. She was the child of very poor people who lived in another part of the city, in a miserable little house built in the city-wall. The mother was a stout, active, dark-complexioned woman ; the father was already old at the time of the martyrdom. I saw them as they carried fruit and vegetables to the market in baskets, and 1 often saw Perpetua going to visit them. As a little girl, she was very much attached to Felicity, with whom she and her brothers and other little boys used to play together most innocently. I often saw them in the garden. In their childish games, Perpetua and Felicity were always
Christians and martyrs ; the former was wonderfully courageous even from childhood, boldly promoting good and the Christian faith, on which account she often ran great risks. Felicity was pretty and delicate, and altogether more beautiful than Perpetua. The features of the latter were more strongly marked ; her manners rather independent and masculine. Both were dark, like all the people of that country, and they had black hair. I saw Perpetua when a young girl often going to Felicity's home ; and once I saw their future husbands, good, pious men, Christians in secret. Perpetua had seen in vision that, if she married, she would attain martyrdom more speedily. In the same vision, she had also seen her father's displeasure and the greater partof her own sufferings. After her own marriage she forwarded that of Felicity and assisted her in her poverty. Perpetua's husband seemed tome to be far beneath her in station; she accepted him only through respect for his virtue. When she left the house of her father, who was greatly dissatisfied with his daughter's marriage, her friends neglected her, and she lived a retired life with her husband. Felicity's husband was also a pious Christian, but very poor. I used to see them going by night to a distant, retired place, like a large under-ground cave, supported on square pillars. It lay beyond the walls under a ruined building. Here about thirty Christians met quietly, closed all the entrances, lighted flambeaux, and ranged in groups. I saw no divine service, but only instructions." March 7th — u I saw two holy men approach my bed on one side, and three holy women on the other. They were the two husbands, and Perpetua, Felicity, and Perpetua's mother-inlaw, a dark-complexioned old woman. Perpetua and Felicity took me up and laid me in a bed with blue curtains bound with red, and the mother-in-law moved a round table up to it on which she laid all 6orts of marvellous food. It seemed as if she did it in Perpetua's name. The table stood in the air near my bed without any support. Then the two holy women passed into another and larger apartment and, as I fancied that their silent departure betokened some trouble for me, I became sad. The mother-in-law followed them and the two men, likewise, disappeared. Then I perceived that my hands and feet were bleeding. Suddenly several men lushed toward me, crying out : ' Ah ! Ah ! she is eating V and the alarm was soon spread. The saints returned. The mother-in-law told me that I should have had a cruel persecution to endure on account of the bleeding of my wounds, if the prayers of the saints had not averted or mitigated it; that the three children whom I had clothed for Communion would by their prayers ward off many trials from me; and that, instead of a new persecution, I should endure a painful illness. It was in view of this that I had received the nourishment of fruits and flowers and fine bread on the golden plates with blue inscriptions. The holy woman, the mother-in-law, stayed by me and told me many things. She was surrounded by a white aureola which dissolved into gray. She told me that she was the mother of Perpetua's husband and that she had lived near them. She had neither been imprisoned nor martyred with th^m, but she now enjoyed their companionship because, like so many others during the persecution, she had died of grief and want in her place of concealment. This circumstance God rewarded as martyrdom. Perpetua and Felicity could have escaped very easily, but the former longed for martyrdom. She had openly declared herself a Christian when the persecution broke out. She told me also that Perpetua had married in consequence of a vision she had had, and also that she might more easily leave her father's house. I saw exactly the same spot that was afterward torn when she was tossed by the cow. I saw her lying on the ground, and then suddenly rising to arrange her dress. This was what the torn dress of the vision signified. I often saw her whilst in prison, speaking undauntedly to the guards, defending her companions, and gainingforherselfuniversal esteem. During her torture, when being tossed by the cow, she seemed to be in vision, utterly unconscious of pain. She was dragged horribly from side to side and hurled up into the air in a frightful manner ; on falling she arranged her dress and seemed, for an instant, to have some consciousness of her position. As they were leading her across to another court, I heard her asking if she would soon be martyred now. She was in continual contemplation, conscious of nothing. In the middle of this second court, were little seats to which the martyrs were dragged and their throats pierced. Perpetual death was horrible to behold ! she could not die ! The exeQutioner pierced her through the ribs and then through the right shoulder to the neck, she herself guiding his hand ; and, when lying on the ground apparently dead, she still stretched forth one hand. She was the last to die and only after a long and hard agony. The two women had been stripped and put into a net and, owing to the tossing and scourging, their whole body was covered with blood. Their remains were taken away secretly and buried by the people of Carthage. I saw that many were converted by Perpetua's heroic behavior, and the prison was soon filled again. " March 8th — "I had the relics of Perpetua and Felicity by me all night: but, to my great surprise, I saw nothing of the two saints ! I had hoped for some pictures of their life, but I got not even a glance ; therefore, I see that such visions are very special, one cannot have them at pleasure. "
St. Thomas Aquinas* u My sister received from a poor woman the present of a relic in a case. She put it away in her chest ; but I felt its presence and gave her in exchange for it a picture of the saint. The relic shone with a beautiful light, and I laid it in my little closet. Now, last night after having endured all the pains, all the tortures that a human body can undergo, I had a vision of St. Thomas. I saw a large mansion in which was a nurse with a child in her arms, to whom she gave a scrap of paper on which was written Ave Maria. The little fellow held it fast, put it to his lips, and would not give it up. His mother entered the room and tried to take the writing from him, but the child struggled. He cried bitterly when she succeeded in opening his little hand and getting the paper. At last, however, seeing him so distressed, she gave it back to him, when he quickly swallowed it. Then I heard an interior voice saying: ' That is Thomas of Aquin ! ? — and the saint appeared to me several times from the little closet, but each time at a different period of his life. He told me that he would cure me of the pain in my side, and the thought struck me : My confessor belongs to his Order ! Now, if I can only tell him that Thomas cured me, he will readily believe that that is his relic ! — whereupon the saint replied in answer to my thought: ' Thou mayest tell him. I will cure thee ! ? and he laid his girdle on my head." The confessor relates on this point the following : u Sister Emmerich spoke of St. Thomas. She said that he was by her, that he would certainly cure her, if I thought well of it. I ordered her to look for the relic. She did so and handed it to me ; but the pain in her side was so intense that she could, so to speak, neither live nor die. I touched to Mass ; but they were always hindered and put to flight. I had many other pictures of his holy life; and then I saw him among the saints ; once in his odd-looking peasant costume, and again, as a blessed, shining soul." Sts. Stephen, Lawrence, and Hippolyte. On August 3, 1820, Sister Emmerich addressed these words to the Pilgrim : u I feel that there is among my relics one of St. Lawrence. It is just a tiny splinter of bone." The Pilgrim hunted in the box of relics and found a small parcel containing two scraps of bone in a brown envelope tied with gold thread. He handed her both. Scarcely had she touched them, when she exclaimed : 0 one is Stephen's ! O what a treasure ! — This belongs to Lawrence," and, becoming more profoundly absorbed, she continued : u See, there they both stand ! Lawrence is behind Stephen. Stephen wears the white robe of a Jewish priest with lappets on the shoulders, and a broad girdle. He is a beautiful youth, taller than Lawrence. Lawrence wears the flowing robe of a deacon.' Sister Emmerich's joy at having found this treasure was very great. The vision she beheld seemed so real that, all at once, she exclaimed: u But we have none of their bones ; they are still alive ! There they are ! It is truly laughable ! How could I think we had their relics, when they are yet alive ! " Later on, she said : u Besides the white priestly robe and broad cincture, Stephen wears on his shoulders a scalloped cape, woven in red and white, and carries a palm branch in his hand. Lawrence appeared in a long plaited robe of bluish white with a wide cincture ; he wore a stole around his neck. He was not so tall as Stephen; but he was young, beautiful, fearless like him. His relic must have been scorched by fire ; it is wrapped in a scrap of calling after him not to leave him behind. Sixtus, di. vinely inspired, predicted his deacon's approaching martyrdom, and ordered him to distribute the treasures of the Church to the poor. Then I saw Lawrence hurrying with a large sum of money in his bosom to the widow Cyriaca, with whom were concealed numbers of Christians and sick people. He humbly washed the feet of all ; relieved by the imposition of hands the widow, who had long suffered from violent headache ; healed the lame, the sick, the blind ; and distributed alms. Cyriaca aided him in every way, especially in converting the sacred vessels into money. That night I saw him entering a vault, penetrating deep into the catacombs, giving alms and other relief, distributing the Sacrament, and inspiring all with extraordinary courage. He was radiant with joy, full of supernatural fortitude and earnestness. Then I saw him with Cyriaca hastening to the Pope's prison. As the latter was led forth to death, Lawrence told him that he had distributed the treasure, and that he was now ready to follow him to death as his deacon. The Pope again foretold his martyrdom, and Lawrence was arrested on the spot by the soldiers, who had heard him speaking of treasures." Sister Emmerich here saw every detail of St. Lawrence's imprisonment and martyrdom, just as related in the legend of the former and the Acts of the latter. She saw also the cures he wrought in prison, the conversion of Romain and Hippolytus, etc. She says : — u Lawrence's tortures were long ; they were continued all night with uncommon cruelty. Between two courtyards used as places of execution, ran a colonnade in which were kept the instruments of torture and in which all the preparations for the same were made. It was thrown open to spectators, and here Lawrence was stretched on the grid iron. Strengthened by his angel, he stepped lightly toward it with a gay remark, and laid himself upon it, ref us ing, however, to allow himself to be bound. I felt that, by divine assistance, he was insensible to the greater part of his torments; he lay as if upon roses. Other martyrs have had more terrible sufferings to endure. He wore the white robe of a deacon, a girdle, a stole, a scalloped cape, and a kind of upper garment like Stephen's. I saw him buried by Hippolytus and the priest Justin. Many wept over his grave and Mass was said there. Lawrence once appeared to me when I had scruples about receiving Holy Communion. He questioned me upon the state of my soul. When I had answered him, he said that I might communicate every other day." On recognizing a relic of St. Hippolytus, Sister Emmerich spoke as follows : u I have had visions of his life. I saw him the child of indigent parents. His father died young ; and his mother, a quarrelsome woman, was, although poor and mean herself, hard and proud toward others of her class. Several incidents of Hippolytus's youth were shown me which, as I was told, were the germs of future grace in store for him as a Christian, a martyr for Christ. I was then informed that graces are ever the reward of generous deeds, even those of pagans. I saw his mother quarrelling with another poor woman whom she treated shamefully, scornfully driving her out of the house. This greatly grieved the young Hippolytus, and he secretly took one of his under-garments and gave it to the poor woman, as if his mother had sent it to her in token of reconciliation. Hippolytus did not say this to the woman in express terms, but she naturally inferred it. She returned to his mother who, surprised at her bright, cordial manner after such treatment, now received her kindly. More than one of these charitable acts were shown me in the boy's life. Hippolytus became a soldier. One of his companions was sentenced to severe chastisement for some fault, but Hippolytus presented himself before the judge instead of the guilty one. His generosity led to a mitigation of the punishment, which he suffered in the place of his friend. The latter was so deeply impressed by this act of charity that with Hippolytus he became a Christian, a martyr. I learned from this that kind acts and good works inspired by disinterested love are never overlooked by the Lord ; they prepare the way for future graces. Hippolytus was one of Lawrence's guards. He was greatly touched on seeing the saint present the poor to the emperor as the treasures of the Church. He was upright, a pagan in the same sense as Paul was a Jew. I saw him converted in the prison and after Lawrence's martyrdom, weeping and praying with the other Christians for three days and three nights over his grave. Justin celebrated Holy Mass on the tomb and gave Holy Communion. All did not receive, but over those who did not I saw shining the flames of desire. Justin sprinkled the Christians with water. The martyr's tomb stood by itself in a retired spot behind a hill. Hippolytus was soon after arrested with many of his companions, and dragged by horses in a deserted spot not far from the grave of St. Lawrence. The horses were unwilling to move ; but the executioners struck them, pricked them, and goaded them on with lighted torches, so that Hippolytus was rather quartered than dragged. In many spots were prepared stones, holes, and thorns to tear the body. About twenty others suffered with him, among them his friend. He wore the white baptismal robe."
Anne Catherine Emmerich* 491 St. Nicodemus. Sister Emmerich had several times declared that there ought to be in " her church" a, relic of Nicodemus, for she had seen him in vision visiting Jesus by night. At last she found it and then had the following vision :— u When Nicodemus returned with Joseph and the others from the burial of the Lord, he went not to the Cenacle where some of the Apostles lay concealed, but proceeded alone to his own house, carrying with him the linen used in taking Jesus down from the cross. But the Jews, who were on the watch for him, seized him and confined him in a room intending to bring him to trial after the Sabbath. That night I saw an angel delivering him. There was no window in the room ; it appeared as if the angel raised the roof and took him out over the wall. Then I saw him going by night to join the Apostles in the Cenacle. They hid him ; and two days after, when he also knew of Christ's resurrection, Joseph of Arimathea concealed him in his own house, until they undertook to destribute alms. It was then that these linens, used for the descent from the cross, fell into the hands of the Jews. I also saw in vision that the Roman Emperor, in the third year after Christ's ascension, allowed Veronica, Nicodemus and a disciple named Epaphras, a relative of Joanna Chusa, to come to Rome, for he wanted to see some witnesses of Christ's death and resurrection. Epaphras was a simple-hearted man, and a very zealous, useful disciple. He had been a servant in the Temple and a messenger of the priests, and had with the Apostles seen Jesus in the first days of His resurrection and frequently after. — I saw Veronica in the emperor's presence. He was sick;and he lay on a raised couch before which hung a curtain. It was a small square room with no window in it, the light being admitted through the roof, from which hung cords attached to valves which could be opened or closed at pleasure. Veronica was alone with the emperor, his attendants having withdrawn into the ante-chamber. She had the sacred napkin and one of the linens of the tomb. The napkin was a long strip of stuff, a veil that Veronica used to wear around her head and neck. She now spread it out before the sick emperor, the impression of the Sacred Face being on one side of it. The face of Christ here depicted was not like a painting. It was impressed in blood, and broader than a portrait, because the napkin had been applied all around the face. On the other cloth was the bloody imprint of Our Lord's torn Body. I think it was the one on which the Sacred Body had been washed before burial. I did not see the emperor touch these linens, or that they were applied to him in any way. He was cured by the mere sight of them. In gratitude for this favor, he wanted to keep Veronica in Rome, make her rich presents, give her a house, faithful servants, etc. ; but all the reward she asked was permission to return to Jerusalem and to die where Jesus had died. — I saw Pilate also in my vision. He was summoned to the presence of the angry emperor; but before obeying, he laid upon his breast, under his own robe, a piece of Christ's mantle which he had received from the soldiers, I saw him standing among the guards, awaiting the emperor, and it seemed as if he already knew how irritated the latter was against him. At last the emperor arrived full of rage, but as soon as he approached Pilate's vicinity, he became calm and listened to him kindly. But when Pilate withdrew, the emperor again fell into a rage and ordered him to be recalled. He was obeyed and again grew calm on Pilate's approach. I saw that this was owing to the scrap of Jesus' mantle which Pilate wore on his breast. — I think, however, that I afterward saw Pilate exiled and in misery. — Nicodemus was maltreated by the Jews and left for dead. Gamaliel took him to his home where Stephen lay buried, and here he died and was interred.7' The Holy Martyr Susanna. u I have a relic of St. Susanna. She kept me company all last night. I saw many scenes in her life, but I only remember some of them. I saw her in a large house with courtyard and colonnade in Rome. Her father was called Gabinus ; he was a Christian and brother to the Pope who dwelt not far away. Susanna's mother must have been dead, for I never saw her. There were other Christians in the family of Gabinus. Like his daughter he was very charitable to the poor • he secretly shared his wealth with them. I saw a messenger sent from the Emperor Diocletian to Gabinus, who was his relative, proposing a marriage between Susanna and his own widowed son-in-law. Gabinus, seemed, at first, well pleased with the offer ; but Susanna met it with extreme repugnance. She said that, having espoused Christ, she could never marry a pagan. On receiving this answer, Diocletian caused her to be removed from her father's house and brought to the court of his wife (Serena). He hoped by this to change her sentiments. The empress was a Christian in secret, and Susanna laid her case before her ; they prayed together, and then she was reconducted to her father's house. And now came another messenger from the emperor, one Claudius, a relative of his own, who on saluting Susanna, attempted to kiss her, not impertinently, but either through custom, or because they were relatives. But Susanna kept him off with her hand and, on his declaring his intention innocent, she replied that lips sullied with praises of the false gods should never touch hers. She then spoke to him earnestly, and pointed out his errors. Then I saw him, with his wife and children, instructed and baptized by the Pope, Susanna's uncle. As Claudius did not return with an answer, the emperor sent a brother of the same to see what detained him. On entering he found Claudius and his family kneeling in prayer. Concealing his amazement, he asked his brother what was Susanna's reply to the marriage proposal. Claudius evaded a direct answer, but persuaded his brother to accompany him to Susanna and convince himself that such a person could never espouse an idolater. They went together to her presence, and lo ! this second messenger was converted by Susanna and her uncle the Pope ! The Empress Serena had three Christians in her service, two men and one woman. I saw them all going together by night, Susanna along with them, into a subterranean apartment beneath the palace. In it stood an altar before which a lamp constantly burned. Here they prayed, and sometimes a priest came secretly to consecrate and administer to them the Blessed Sacrament. The emperor was furious when he heard of the two brothers' conversion. He ordered both to be imprisoned with their families j they were afterward martyred. Susanna's father also was imprisoned.— Then I had another vision in which I saw Susanna sitting alone in a large hall, by a little round table ornamented with gilded figures; her hands were joined, her face raised in prayer. Round apertures in the roof admitted air, and in the corners of the apartment stood white statues as large as a child. Here and there were animals' heads, especially on the feet of the furniture. Some winged figures with long tails were sitting back on their hind legs ; others held scrolls in their fore-paws, etc." (Probably sculptured ornaments, winged lions, griffins, etc.) " As Susanna sat thus in prayer, I saw that the emperor sent his son himself to offer her violence. I saw the mati leave his attendants outside and enter a door at Susanna's back, when lo ! a figure stood before her and confronted the bold intruder ! The latter instantly fell to the ground like one dead. Then only did the maiden turn. Seeing a man lying behind her, she cried out for assistance. His friends rushed in astounded, raised him up, and bore him from the room. The apparition stood before Susanna, her enemy approached her from behind and, when she was halfway between the two, the latter fell to the ground. — Then I had another vision. I saw a man with twenty others going to her, and two pagan priests who carried between them on a platform furnished with handles,a gilded idol whichmust have been hollow, for it was very light. They placed it in a niche under the colonnade of the court-yard and stood before it a little round three-legged table which they had brought from the house. Then several went in for Susanna, who was still in the upper hall. They dragged her out to sacrifice to the idol. She prayed fervently to God and, even before she reached the spot, I saw a miracle. The idol, as if hurled by an invisible power, shot across the court and colonnade far out into the street, where it fell shattered into a thousand pieces ! At the same time I saw a man running to spread the news. Then they tore off Susanna's upper-garment, leaving only a little covering on her breast. Her back and shoulders were bare. In this state, she had to cross the crowded vestibule where the soldiers pricked and wounded her with their sharp spears, until she sank down apparently dead. They then dragged her into a side room and left her lying there on the floor. Again
I saw them trying to force her to offer sacrifice in a temple, but the idol fell to the ground ; lastly, she was dragged by the hair into the court-yard of her own house and beheaded. The empress and Susanna's nurse came by night, washed the body, wrapped it in a winding-sheet, and buried it. The empress had first cut off one of her fingers and some of her hair. I afterward saw the Pope saying Mass on the spot of her martyrdom. Susanna had a round face, a resolute expression, and black hair braided around her head. She was dressed in white with a veil which fastened under the chin and fell behind in two ends. " St. Clare. " I had St. Clare's relic by me and I saw her life. Her pious mother when devoutly praying before the Blessed Sacrament for a happy delivery, was interiorly warned that she would give birth to a daughter brighter than the sun ; hence, the child was named Clare. Before the event the mother went on a pilgrimage to Rome, Jerusalem, and the other Holy Places. The parents were noble and very pious. From her earliest infancy Clare was wonderfully attracted by whatever was holy. If she were taken into a church, she stretched out her tiny hands to the Blessed Sacrament; but other objects, no matter how highly colored, such as pictures, etc., made no impression upon her. I saw the mother teaching the child to pray and the little one zealously practising self-renunciation. The devotion of the Rosary must have been in use at the time, for I saw Clare's parents reciting every evening with their whole household, a certain number of Our Fathers and Hail Maries. I also saw the child seeking little smooth stones of various sizes which she carried around her in a leathern pouch with two pockets into which she dropped the stones her with lighted candles, chanting the Veni Creator. I saw her in the church, receiving a penitential habit and cutting off her hair, after which Francis took her to a convent in the city. She already wore a horse-hair girdle with thirteen knots, which she now changed for one of boar skin, the bristles turned next to her person. I saw a nun in her convent who had conceived bitter hatred for her and who would not be reconciled to her. This religious had been sick for some time when Clare lay on her death- bed. The dying saint sent to be reconciled to the sister, but the latter refused. Then Clare prayed fervently and bade some of the nuns bring the sick sister to her. They went to her, raised her up, and lo ! she was cured ! She was so deeply affected by this that she hastened to Clare and begged her pardon. The saint responded by begging hers in return. — I saw the Mother of God present at her death with a troop of holy virgins. " Visions op St. Augustine, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal. Among the relics sent to Sister Emmerich by Dean Overherg, was one of St. Augustine, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Jane Frances respectively, all which Sister Emmerich had indeed recognized, but which the Pilgrim had inadvertently changed, marking St. Augustine's as St. Francis de Sales's, and vice versa. One he took away with him, leaving the one marked as St. Augustine's with the invalid. More than once she declared that she felt the presence of St. Francis de Sales. She said : u I saw a holy Bishop and a saintly woman. Their relics must be here, for the apparitions descended and ascended by me. Whenever I see the apparition of a saint whose relic is by me, a light issues from the latter and unites with that surrounding the former; but when I have no relic, both the light and the apparition come from above/' On hearing the above, the Pilgrim thought he would return her the little parcel in which was the relic marked by him St. Francis de Sales. She was at the moment in ecstasy, but seizing the package she pressed it joyously and smilingly to her heart, exclaiming : "0 I have my dear Father Augustine by me !" — and afterward she related the following: "I saw the saint in his episcopal robes, at his feet his name in angular characters. What seemed strange to me was that I thought I saw his holy relics in a curiously twisted house, like a snail's shell. I could not imagine what it meant, when, suddenly, I saw the house under a more beautiful form, polished like marble ; inside lay the relic." — St. Augustine's relic, of which Sister Emmerich here speaks, was inclosed in a box of mother-of-pearl ! The visions of his life run as follows : — "I saw the saint, a boy in his father's house, not far from a tolerably large city. It was built in the Roman style with a court-yard and colonnade, around it other buildings with gardens and fields ; it looked to me like a villa. The father was a tall, vigorous man with something morose and severe about him. He must have had many orders to give, for I saw him speaking earnestly to people who looked like his inferiors. I saw others kneeling before him as if presenting petitions ; they may have been servants or peasants. In little Augustine's presence he was more affa ble and gracious toward Monica, his wife, as if he were fond of the boy ; he did not seem to have much to do with him, however, for Augustine was generally with his mother and two men. Monica was a little woman already advanced in years,slightly stooped in her carriage, and of very dark complexion. She was exceedingly gentle and God-fearing and in constant dread and anxiety on Augustine's account. She followed him everywhere, for he was restless and mischievous. I saw him climbing perilous heights and scampering recklessly around on the very edge of the flat roof. Of the two men, one seemed to be his preceptor, the other his servant ; the former used to take him to a school in the neighboring city which many little boys a tended, and bring him home again. Augustine was at all sorts of tricks when out of school. I saw him beating animals, throwing stones at them, quarrelling with other boys, running into people's houses, ransacking cupboards, and eating the good things. Still, there wassomething very generous in him, for he always divided what he found with his companions ; sometimes he even threw it away. There lived also in his father's house a female who was, perhaps, a nurse, or servant of some kind. Later on, I saw Augustine placed at school in a larger and more distant city, to which he went in a low chariot on small heavy wheels, drawn by two beasts. He was always accompanied by two persons. Then I saw him in school with many other boys. He slept with several of them in a large hall, their beds separated by a reed, or light wooden partition. The school-room was larger than the sleeping-hall. It had stone benches all around the wall. On these the scholars sat holding little brown boards on their knees for writing, rolls of parchment and pencils in their hands. The master stood in a little pulpit raised about two steps, behind which was a larger board on which he drew numerous figures. He called his pupils, now this one, now that one into the middle of the floor, where they stood facing each other and reading from their parchment rolls, gesticulating, at the same time, as if they were preaching, and again as if disputing. In school Augustine was well-behaved and almost always stood first } but out-doors he carried on all sorts of pranks with the other boys, damaging and destroying whatever fell in his way. I saw him, out of pure mischief, beating and stoning to death certain long-necked birds, the domestic fowl of that country, and then carrying away the dead bodies with tears of pity. I saw him running and wrestling with other boys in the shady walks of a circular garden, and stealing, injuring, wasting many things. u I saw him return home from this school and give himself up to all kinds of mad pranks and disorders. One night I saw him robbing an orchard with companions like himself, and afterward throwing away a whole mantleful of the fruit. I saw Monica incessantly remonstrating with him, praying and shedding many tears. Then I saw him crossing a bridge over a broad river, on his way to the great city in which Perpetua was martyred. I soon recognized it. On one side arose rocks with walls and towers jutting out into the sea where lay many ships. A smaller city stood at no great distance from the large one. There were many great buildings as in ancient Rome, and also a large Christian church. I had numerous visions of Augustine's follies committed here with other young people. He dwelt alone in a house and held constant disputations with other young men. I used to see him going by himself to visit a certain female ; but he did not remain long in any one place, he was constantly on the go. I often saw him at public shows, in my eyes, truly diabolical. They were held in a great round building. On one side seats arose, one above the other, like steps and below were numerous entrances opening on the stairways which led to the seats. The building had no roof, only a tent-like covering. The place was crowded, and opposite the spectators, on an elevated platform, were enacted abominable scenes. In the background were all sorts of pictures tears, but she did not stay with him whilst in the city. — I never saw in Monica's house either cross or holy picture. There were all kinds of pagan statues, but neither she nor her husband took any notice of them. I constantly saw her in some secluded corner of the house or garden, bent in two praying and weeping ; and yet, with all this, I saw that she was not without her own faults. Whilst lamenting her son's thefts of sweetmeats, etc., she herself loved dainties ; it was from her that he had inherited his inclination. Whenever she went to the cellar to draw wine for her husband, she used to sip a little herself from the cask and eat good things ; but she greatly regretted this inclination and struggled against it. Then many of her pious customs were shown me : for instance, at certain seasons she used to take baskets of bread and other provisions to the cemetery which was surrounded by strong walls. She laid the food on the tombstones with a pious intention ; the poor afterward came and took it away. I saw her once, her son having now attained the age of manhood, journeying on foot with a servant, who carried a small package. She was going to visit a Bishop who spoke to her a long time and encouraged her on the score of her son. She shed abundant tears, but he said something to her that calmed her. Again, I saw Augustine returned from Carthage after his father's death, and teaching in the little city, where his life was as restless and disorderly as ever. I saw him at the bedside of a sick friend who, shortly before death, received Baptism, at which Augustine hooted, although deeply afflicted at his friend's death. Then I saw him again at Carthage, living as before." The Pilgrim now saw the mistake he had made in marking the relics, and the invalid promised to look in " her church " for those of St, Francis de Sales and St.
Jane de Chantal. On May 29, 1820, he record*, as follows : " This afternoon, I found Sister Emmerich in ecstasy. I offered her the box of relics, which she took and pressed to the bosom, her features, drawn by pain, immediately becoming serene. I asked if St. Francis de Sales were not in " the church?11 She answered with an effort, as if speaking from a great height : l There they are ! y pointing meanwhile to the shelf before her closet. Surprised, I hunted for the relic, but in vain ; when she, tearing, so to speak, her right hand from its ecstatic rigidity, removed quickly and in the greatest order, the books from the shelf. With anxious curiosity, I glanced at the empty shelf, whilst that wonderfully endowed hand went groping between the shelf and the panel, until it grasped the missing treasure, a particle of bone wrapped in green silk. She pressed it reverently to her lips, and handed it to me as the relic of St. Francis de Sales. I must not neglect to state that during this search she, with the exception of the right hand and arm, remained perfectly rigid, her head immovable, her eyes closed, her left hand firmly pressing the box of relics to her breast. Whilst I wrapped and labelled the relic, she replaced in the same mechanical way all that she had removed from the shelf and then opening her eyes, she glanced into the box of relics, and allowed her hand to rest some moments on a tiny parcel which 6he afterward presented to me as the relic of St. Jane de Chantal. I asked her how it was that these relics had got mixed up with those of the early Roman martyrs. She answered : (fc Long ago, repairs were made in the Church of Ueberwasser, Minister, when all the relics of the different altars and shrines were thrown together indiscriminately. " Sister Emmerich afrerward saw at various times the following symbolical figures of St. Francis de
Sales's apostolic ministry : a I saw," she said, u a young ecclesiastic of high rank, zealously laboring in a mountainous country between France and Italy, and I accompanied him in his numerous journeys. I saw him in his youth an earnest student. One day with a firebrand he put a shameless woman to flight. Then I saw him going from village to village with a burning torch enkindling a fire everywhere ; the flames leaped from one to the other and finally reached a large city on a lake. When the fire ceased to burn, there fell a gentle rain which lay on the ground like pearls and sparkling stones. The people gathered them up and took them into their houses. Wherever they were carried, prosperity followed, all became bright. I was amazed to see St. Francis so indescribably gentle and, at the same time, so zealous in his undertakings, so vigorous in pushing things forward. He went everywhere himself, climbing over snow and ice. I saw him with the king in France, with the Pope, and then at another court between the two. Day and night did he journey on foot from place to place,teaching and doing good, often passing the nights in a wood. Through him I was introduced to a noble lady, Frances de Chantal, who took me over all his journeys, showing me all he did. I travelled with her here and there, and spoke much with her. She was a widow and had children ; once I saw them with her. I received an account of something concerning her and all the sorrow it caused her, and I saw many scenes of the same. A little frivolous lady of distinction,seemingly penitent, was introduced by her to the Bishop; but she constantly relapsed into her evil ways. Frances said that this lady had caused her much trouble; indeed, she thought she had been bewitched by her. 'Later on, the Bishop founded a convent in concert with Frances, and the bad person; who seemed to have corrected, did penance in a small house near by. I remember Frances's showing me the present state of this person in a dark place, u I saw the Bishop saying Mass in a place in which many of the inhabitants doubted the real change wrought in the Blessed Sacrament. During his Mass he saw in vision a woman who had come to the church merely to please her husband ; she believed not in transubstantiation and she had ji piece of bread in her pocket. In his sermon the Bishop remarked that the Lord could as truly change the bread of the Holy Sacrifice into His Body as he could change bread in the pocket of an unbeliever into stone. On leaving the church, the woman found the bread in her pocket turned into stone. The holy Bishop was always neatly and properly dressed. I saw him surrounded by enemies, and I also saw him concealed in a hut to which about twenty persons came by night for instruction. His life was sought and snares were laid for him in the forest to which he had fled.— I went with the lady (St. Frances) to a large city where, as she told me, the Bishop had disputed with a heretic, who in his arguments never kept to the points under discussion. The saint, without losing sight of the truth, had followed him in all his windings in order to bring him back to the right road ; bat the man would not be saved. The lady and I had to cross a large square in this city. It was crowded with citizens and peasants who were being drilled in separate troops. I was dreadfully afraid of their attacking us and, besides, the good lady said she could not possibly remain longer without food ; she would faint from hunger. I looked around and saw a man eating bread and meat from a paper. I begged him for just one mouthful, and he gave me some bread and a piece of chicken. When the lady had eaten it, she was able to proceed to her convent. — With regard to those visions in which I exercise some act of charity toward the apparition of a saint, I have from ray childhood been interiorly instructed that they are works which the saints demand of us with the design of turning them over to others ; they are good works which they cause to be performed for themselves, but which are, in reality, for the benefit of others. l We do for the Lord what we do for the neighbor/ is here reversed ; for here we do for the neigh* bor what we do for the saints. — 1 went to the convent which the lady had founded in concert with the Bishop. I went all through it. It was a singular old building ; I saw every nook of it. In many of the rooms were large stores of various kinds of fruits and grains, quantities of clothing, and odd-looking caps. The religious must have given away much to the poor. I put everything in order. A saucy young nun continually followed me, reproaching me and accusing me of trying to steal. She said I was avaricious; for, though declaring money to be mire, yet I turned over every penny ; that I mixed myself up unnecessarily in worldly affairs ; that I wanted to accomplish so many things, and yet never finished any, etc. She kept at my back, not having the courage to face me. I told her to stand out before me, if she could. But she was, in fact, the tempter who tormented me greatly during those days. Away off in a remote corner of the convent I found a nun with a pair of scales. She had been placed there by the Foundress. On a plate by her side were heaps of mixed pease, little yellow seeds, of what kind I know not, pearls, and dust — all which she was to pick out and clean. Then she was to carry half the good seed to the front of the convent for seed-corn. But she would not do it ; she refused to obey. Then came another in her place, but she was no better than the first ; and, at last, I undertook to sort and separate the
Anne Catherine Emmerich- 509 amused herself watching them straightening themselves up like tapers, their head moving from side to side. They did not hurt her ; they were quite at home with her. Among them were some about a foot long, like those we call chubs (salamanders) ; they were used in the worship of the idols. Justina once heard in a Christian church a sermon on the Fall of Man and the Redemption. She was so impressed by it that she received Baptism and converted her mother. The latter informed her husband who, having been very much troubled by an apparition, was baptized also with his wife, and they afterward lived most piously and happily. One scene struck me especially. Justina had a lovely round face and the most beautiful yellow hair that shone like* gold. It was wound round her head in exquisite silken braids, or fell on her shoulders in luxuriant curls. I saw her standing at table b} her father and mother, eating little loaves. The father, glancing with admiration at her hair, said •. 4 1 fear, my child, you* will not be able to pass through the world. Like Absalom, you will remain hanging in it by your hair.? Justina had never thought of her hair, and these words made her very grave. She withdrew, and I know not what she did to her beautiful hair,but she completely disfigured it as well as her eyebrows. They looked as if she had singed them. In this trim she went through the city to her father, who scarcely recognized her. I saw a youth in love with her. He was about to carry her off by force, as he could not hope to win her. He waited for her with armed companions in a lonely road between walls ; but when he seized her, she repulsed him with both hands, commanding him to remain standing where he was. And there he stood until she was out of danger. Then I saw the same youth engaging the assistance of the magician Cyprian, who confidently promised him success.
u This Cyprian, though naturally noble and generous, was entirely given up to necromancy. In his youth he had been instructed in sorcery. He had journeyed afar in pursuit of knowledge ; and had finally settled with great renown in Antioch where Justina and her parents had been converted. He was a bitter pagan. He had gone so far as often to revile Jesus in the Christian churches and to chase the people out by his sorcery. I used to see him calling to the demon. He had in his house a semi-subterranean vaulted cellar which was lighted from above. Around the walls stood hideous idols in the form of animals and serpents. In one corner was a hollow statue the size of a man, the open jaws resting on the edge of a round altar on which was a pan of live coals. When Cyprian invoked the demon he put on a particular costume, lighted the fire on the altar, read certain names from a roll of parchment, mounted upon the altar, and pronounced the same in the jaws of the idol. Instantly the spirit stood in human form beside him, under the appearance of a servant. There was something sinister and frightful,like a bad conscience, in the features of these apparitions. The spirit twice attempted to seduce Justina under the form of a youth, waylaying her in the courtyard ; but she put him to flight by the sign of the cross and escaped his influence by the crosses she erected in the corners of her room. — Then I saw her in a secret vault of her house, kneeling in prayer before a niche in which were a cross and a little white Infant. The lat ter seemed to be in a case, the upper part of the body free, its tiny hands crossed. Whilst Justina thus knelt, a youth approached her from behind with evil intentions; when suddenly I saw the apparition of a lady, as if coming out of the wall, and the youth sank to the earth even before Justina had perceived his presence. She turned and fled. — I saw her completely destroy her beauty with ointment. I saw Cypprian gliding around and sprinkling Justina's house, at an unguarded moment for her when she was not in prayer. She became violently agitated, ran around the house, and at last fled to her chamber, where before the crosses she had herself set up, she knelt in prayer until the charm was broken. When Cyprian made his third attempt, the enemy appeared under the form of a pious young girl who conversed with Justina on the subject of chastity. The latter was at first very much pleased; but when her companion began to speak of Adam, Eve, and marriage, Justina recognized the tempter and fled to her crosses. Cyprian saw all this in spirit, and became a Christian. I saw him lying prostrate in a church, even allowing himself to be trodden under foot as a fool. He was deeply penitent, and he burned all his books on magic. He afterward became a Bishop and placed Justina among the deaconesses. She dwelt next the the church. She made and embroidered grand church vestments. — Later I saw bothCyprian and Justina martyred. They were hung by one hand to a tree and torn with hooks." St. Dionysius, the Areopagite (1). "I saw this saint in his boyhood. He was the child of pagan parents, and of an inquiring turn of mind. He always recommended himself to the Supreme God who enlightened him by visions in sleep. I saw his parents reproving him for his neglect of the gods and placing him under the charge of a stern preceptor ; but an apparition came to him by night and bade him flee whilst his preceptor slept. He obeyed, and I saw him traversing Palestine and listening eagerly to whatever he could hear concerning Jesus. Again I saw him in Egypt where he studied astronomy in the (1) This was the saint whose name she was not permitted to mention when the Pilgrim's friend tested her miraculous faculty.
place in which the Holy Family had sojourned. Here I saw him, standing with several others before the school, observing the sun's eclipse at the death of Jesus. He said : 'This is not in accordance with nature's laws. Either a God is dying, or the world is coming to an end !' — I saw the preceptor himself, a man of upright intentions, warned to seek his scholar. He did so, found him, and went with him to Heliopolis. It was long before Dionysius could reconcile himself to the idea of a crucified Qod. After his conversion, he often travelled with Paul. He journeyed with him to Ephesus to see Mary. Pope Clement sent him to Paris where I saw his martyrdom. He took his head in his hands, crossed them on his breast, and walked around the mountain, a great light shining forth from him. The executioners fled at the sight, and a woman gave him sepulture. He was then very old. He had had many celestial visions besides which, Paul had revealed to him what he himself had seen He wrote magnificent works of which many are still extanv. His book on the Sacraments was not finished by himself, but by another." A Relic of St. Luke. On March 11, 1821, Sister Emmerich said : " For some time past, I have frequently seen near me a beautiful white particle of Luke's skull. I see it distinctly ; but, as T would not believe it in vision, I was punished when awake by forgetting it. Last night I saw its whole history. Gregory the Great brought from Constantinople to Rome the skull of St. Luke and an arm of St. Andrew, which drew down upon him so many blessings that he made large gifts to the poor. The holy relics were placed in his monastery of St. Andrew. Afterward Cologne also was enriched with a portion of them7 to the great joy of its
Anne Catfierine Emmerich. 518 Bishop. Later on, Mayence, Paderborn, and Munster received part of these relics, and now they are both with tne. The relic of St. Andrew is encased, and that of St. Luke must be in a corner under some pieces* Just now I know not exactly where. " The next day, the Pilgrim begged her to look for the above-mentioned relics ; and, though in ecstasy, she complied with his request* She found that of St. Luke, a small, three-cornered fragment of skull, hidden under a heap of scraps in a corner of her press. She said : u I again saw that this body was found in a ruined church of Constantinople, and its authenticity proved by its being applied to the sick. The bones were washed and the water given to a leper who drank of it and was cured. I saw many things of St. Gregory, how highly he esteemed relics, and how many cures he effected by them; the first was that of an insane woman, the second a young girl possessed of an unclean spirit. He laid the relics on their head. I saw how some of the relics were brought to Cologne by a holy Bishop then to Treves, Mayence, Paderborn, and finally, to Munster, I think under a Bishop Furstenberg." St. Ursula. a Ursula and her companions were massacred by the Huns, about the year 450, near Cologne and in other places. Ursula was raised up by God to preserve the maidens and widows of her time from seduction and dishonor, and to enrol them in the celestial army of crowned martyrs. She accomplished her mission with extraordinary energy and constancy. The archangel Raphael was given her as a guide. He announced to her her task, saying that the mercy of God willed not that, at this frightful epoch of destruction, so many virgins and widows left defenceless and deprived of protectors by the bloody wars should fall a prey to the savage Huns ; rather should they die as innocent children than live to fall into sin. Ursula was not exactly beautiful ; she was tall and strong, resolute and energetic, of a very grave countenance and masculine bearing. She was, at the time of her martyrdom, thirty-three years old. I saw her as a little girl in the house of her parents, Deonotus and Geruma, in a city of England. The house stood on a broad street ; it had steps before the door, and a metal railing with yellow knobs. It looked like the paternal house of St. Benedict, in Italy, which too had brass railings surmounting a low wall. Ursula had ten playmates who joined her every morning and evening in an inclosed field where, divided into two bands, they exercised in running, wrestling, and even in the use of the lance. They were not all Christians, though Ursula and her parents were. Ursula was the instructress of her companions, and she exercised them thus by order of her angel. Her parents often watched their games well-pleased. Maximian, a pagan, was then lord over England, and I am not now sure that he was not the husband of Ursula's eldest sister, Ottilia. Ursula had vowed herself to God. A warrior, powerful and renowned, requested of her father the privilege of witnessing the exercises of the maidens of whom he had heard so much. Though embarrassed by the request, Ursula's father dared not refuse. He tried, at first, to put him off; but the man insisted until he gained his point. He was charmed with Ursula's skill and beauty and at once, asked her in marriage, saying that her young companions should espouse his officers in a country beyond the sea not yet peopled. I thought of Bonaparte, who made matches for his officers. I saw the father's deep affliction and the daughter's fright when apprised of this offer which could not be declined. Ursula went by night to the play-ground and besought God in earnest prayer. The archangel Raphael appeared to her, consoled her, and instructed her to request that each of her companions might be allowed to choose ten other maidens, and to demand a delay of three years in which to practise all sorts of naval combats and manoeuvres. He exhorted her to confidence in God, who would not permit her vow of virginity to be violated. In these three years she was, with God's help, to convert her companions to Christianity. Ursula delivered these conditions to her father who, in turn, proposed them to the suitor. He accepted them. Ursula and her ten companions chose respectively ten other maidens, who became their pupils. The father had five small vessels fitted out for them, upon each of which were about twenty girls and also a few sailors to teach them how to manage the sails and fight at sea. And now I saw them exercising daily, first in a river, then along the sea-shore. They sailed along quietly, gave one another chase, separated, leaped from ship to ship, etc. I often saw a crowd on the shore watching them, especially the father and suitor, the latter rejoicing in the prospect of soon having so valorous and skilful a wife ; for he thought with such a* one by his side, he would be able *o overcome every obstacle. After awhile I saw the maidens practising alone without the sailors, Bertrand, the confessor, and two other ecclesiastics being upon the vessels. Ursula had, by this time, converted all her maidens, among whom were some only twelve years old. They were baptized by the priests. Ursula's courage and confidence in God increased every day. I saw them landing on small islands and practising their naval exercises, all accompanied with prayer and the chanting of the psalms, all performed with great freedom and boldness. Ursula's wonderful earnestness and courage are quite indescribable. The maidens wore short dresses, descending a little below the knee ; they were quite plain on the hips and had close-fitting bodies. Their feet were laced. Some had their hair uncovered and braided around the head, whilst others wore a sort of headdress with ends hanging behind. In their exercises they used light, blunt spears. When the three years agreed upon drew to a close, I saw that the maidens were one heart and one soul. When, having already taken leave of their parents, they were about to embark to go to their future husbands, I saw Ursula in prayer. A luminous figure stood before her bidding her trust all to God, the Lord, who would give them the martyr's crown as His own brides, pure virgins ; that she herself should propagate Christianity wherever the Lord would lead her; and that many virgins should through her be saved from dishonor and enter heaven adorned with the crown of martyrdom. The angel ordered her also to proceed to Rome with part of her virgins. Ursula confided all this to her ten assistants whom it greatly encouraged. But as many of the others murmured against her because, having started for their nuptials as they thought, she now wanted them to be brides of Christ, Ursula went from ship to ship, reminding them of Abraham, of the sacrifice of his son. and of the miraculous help he had received from God. She told them that they, too, should receive similar strength to offer Him a pure and perfect sacrifice. Then she ordered the cowardly to leave the vessels and return home ; but all were encouraged by her words to remain faithful. As they sailed from England under pretence of joining their destined husbands, a great storm arose which separated their vessels from those of their attendants, and drove them toward the Nether lands. They could make use of neither sails nor oars, and the sea miraculously arose as they neared the land. As soon as they disembarked, their dangers began. A savage nation tried to oppose their progress ; but at Ursula's words, the maidens were allowed to return unmolested to their ships. A city lay at the point at which they quitted the open sea to sail up the Rhine, and here they encountered great troubles ; but Ursula spoke for all, answered all. When violent hands were about to be laid on the virgins, they boldly flew to arms and received supernatural assistance which paralyzed their aggressors, rendered them powerless to harm them. Many maidens, as also widows and their children joined them on their journey. Before reaching Cologne, they were more than once challenged, interrogated, and threatened by the barbarous tribes along the shores. It was Ursula who always responded, and who urged her companions to ply their oars. They arrived safe at Cologne where they found a Christian community and a little church. Here they sojourned for a time. The widows who had joined them on the journey and many young girls remained behind when Ursula proceeded further on her way. Before setting out, however, she earnestly exhorted them to martyrdom as Christian matrons and virgins, rather than suffer violence from the pagan barbarians. They scattered throughout the surrounding district, spreading everywhere the teachings and heroic spiiit of Ursula, who had departed with five vessels. On reaching Basle, some of her little company remained therewith the ships whilst she herself set out for Rome with about forty of her maidens, accompanied by the priests and guides. They went processionally like pilgrims, through wildernesses and mountainous districts, praying and chanting psalms. Wherever they halted, Ursula spoke of the espousals with Jesus and of the pure, immaculate death of virgins. Everywhere were they joined by recruits, whilst some of their number remained behind to diffuse their own spirit among the people. " At Rome they visited the tombs of the martyrs and the different places sanctified by their death. As they were informed that their short dresses and freedom of demeanor attracted attention, they procured mantles. The Pope, Leo the Great, sent for Ursula who disclosed to him the secret of her mission, related her visions, and received his advice with humility and submission. He gave her his benediction and presented her with some relics. On their departure, they were joined by Bishop Cyriacus and two priests, one Peter of Egypt, and the other from St. Augustine's birth-place, a nephew of the one who had bestowed lands on the saint for his monastery. Reverence for the holy relics was their chief motive in following Ursula. She took with her to Cologne a relic of St. Peter which is still venerated as such, though none know whence it came ; one of St. Paul ; some hair of St, John the Evangelist, and a scrap of the garment he wore when cast into the boiling oil. On the return of the pilgrims to Basle, they were joined by so many recruits that eleven vessels were necessary to convey them to Cologne. Meantime, the Huns had made an irruption into the country, bringing with them misery and confusion. At some distance from the city, the angel Raphael appeared to Ursula in a vision, made known the approach of her martyr's crown, and told her all that she was to do ; among other things, that she was to oppose resistance until her little army had been duly prepared and baptized. This vision Ursula communicated to her assistants, and all turn* ed their thoughts to God. As they approached Cologne, they were saluted by the shouts and darts of the Huns ;
Anne CatJierine Emmerich. 519 but they rowed vigorously and passed the city. They would not have disembarked at all in its vicinity, were it not that so many of their party were there awaiting their arrival. They landed, therefore, about a league and a half aboveCologne and halted inafieldbetweentwo thicketswhere they pitched a sort of camp. Here I saw those that had remained behind hurrying to join them with their recruits. Ursula and the priests addressed the different bands and prepared them for the struggle. The Huns approached and their leaders accosted Ursula ; they insisted on being allowed to choose among the maidens. The latter, however, courageously prepared to defend themselves, whilst some of the inhabitants of the city and the country around who had suffered from the Huns, and others who had become acquainted with the virgins that had remained in Cologne, joined the pious little army armed with poles, clubs, and whatever else they could find. This was what had been commanded Ursula by the angel, that time might be gained until all were prepared for martyrdom. During the engagement, I saw Ursula running hither and thither, zealously exhorting the bands in the rear and ardently praying. The priests were everywhere busily baptizing, for numbers of pagan women and girls had come over to them. By the time all were prepared for death, the Huns had surrounded them on all sides. They now ceased defending themselves and gave themselves up to martyrdom, singing the praises of God. Then the Huns fell upon them and slew them with axe and spear. I saw a whole row of virgins fall at one time under the darts of the barbarians ; among them was one named Editha, of whom we have a relic. Ursula herself fell pierced by a lance. Among the bodies that strewed the field of martyrdom there were, besides the British virgin^, great numbers of those that had joined them at various places, also the priests from Rome, some other men, and some of their enemies. Many more were massacred on board the ships. Cordula was not among those who had accompanied Ursula to Rome. She remained at Cologne where many joined her. When the slaughter began, she hid at first through fear ; but she afterward gave herself up with all her companions, requesting to be put to death. The Huns were eager to spare them ; but they offered so sturdy a resistance that, after a long delay, they were placed in a line, bound together by the arms, and shot with arrows. They went joyfully singing and dancing to martyrdom as if to a marriage-feast. Later on many others gave themselves up and were put to death in different parts of the country. Shortly after, the Huns withdrew from the district. The bodies of the virgins and other martyrs were soon after interred in an enclosed field near Cologne. Deep pits were dug and walled in, and there the bodies were devoutly laid in rows. " The ships of the virgins were open, beautiful, and very light, with galleries around them from which floated little standards ; they had masts' and projecting sides. By the oars ran benches used both for seats and births. I have never seen vessels so well ordered. About the time that Ursula left England, the saintly Bishops, Germain and Lupus, lived in France ; the former visited St. Genevieve, in Paris. She was then about twelve years old. When he crossed over to England with Lupus to combat the heretics, he consoled the parents of Ursula and those of the other maidens. — The Huns mostly went bare-legged ; they had leathern thongs hanging around the lower part of their body, and wore wide jackets and long mantles. These last they often rolled up and carried on their shoulders,"
Beeking her Son,' and they set down the statue before him. Cyril was charmed with its beauty. He thanked them adding words to this effect that he would pray that she would also seek and find them ; then their joking would be changed to seriousness. This he said with his kindly smile, and the youths took it, as usual, in jest. But, as they returned home a strange fear and emotion took possession of both, of which however they said nothing to each other. Some time after, they set to work on a statue of Venus when, by a miracle which I do not now recollect, they made instead of a Venus an inconceivably beautiful and modest statue of a female martyr. In consequence of this four of the young sculptors received instructions and Baptism from Cyril. After this they made no more idols, though they still continued their occupation as sculptors. Actuated by faith and piety, they marked all the stone before using it with a cross, which wonderfully facilitated the success of their labors. I saw a statue of a holy youth bound to a column and pierced with arrows ; a virgin kneeling before a block, her throat pierced by a sword ; and a stone coffin in which lay the remains of a holy martyr who had been crushed to death under a marble slab. I saw a fifth sculptor, still a pagan, Simplicius by name, who said to them: '1 adjure you by the sun, how is it that your work succeeds so well?' — They told him of Jesus and how they always marked their stone with the sign of the cross ; whereupon, Simplicius, also, asked for instruction and Baptism. The Emperor Diocletian highly prized the skill of these workmen but, when it became noised around that they were Christians, he ordered them to make an idol of iEseulapius. On their refusal to do so, he commanded their arrest. They were taken before the judge and martyred. Their bodies were enclosed in leaden cases and
4nne Catherine Emmerich. 525 sunk in the river. But after some days they were miraculously found by a pious man and buried, an inscription with their names being interred with them. These leaden cases did not sink near the shore, for fine holes were bored in them that the water might enter only gradually. A clay mould, about the size of a man, was put into a hole and a thin layer of molten lead poured around it. The mould was then withdrawn and in its stead the holy martyrs were put into the hot case and covered up, the holes were pierced, and it was thrown into the water. I saw the feast of these martyrs to-day (Nov. 8, 1821), but I think the 7th is the real anniversary of their martyrdom. " St. Theoctista* " Whilst on ray way to the Holy Land, I saw the life of this holy virgin, hitherto perfectly unknown to me. She belonged to the Isle of Lesbos. Before the city of her birth arose a chapel of the Mother of God in which was a statue of Mary without the Infant Jesus ; it had been chiselled from her portrait by St. Luke. The sculptor was a holy confessor of the faith belonging to Jerusalem, who afterward lost both his arms and legs in one of the persecutions. Around the chapel were cells in which dwelt pious women who followed a Rule founded on the life of Mary and the holy women at Ephesus* They had erected on the mountain a " Way of the Cross/7 like that planned by Mary at Ephesus. They reared and instructed little girls and, as their Rule ordained, examined their inclinations and dispositions, in order to choose for them a state of life. Theoctista had been with them from childhood and her only desire was to remain with them. Her parents were dead. The chapel and convent being destroyed in war; Theoctista entered another community on the same island. The religious dwelt in caves on a mountain under the Rule of a holy woman who, in consequence of a vision, recognized the chain of St. Peter ; but I have forgotten her name. Here Theoctista remained until her twenty-fifth year, when she went to visit her sister who lived at a distance. But the ship on which she was fell into the hands of Arab pirates when sailing from the Isle of Crete, and the whole crew was dragged into captivity. The pirates landed on the Isle of Paros, which contained many marble quarries. Whilst they were disputing over the ransom for their captives, Theoctista made her escape and hid in the quarries. Here she lived as a hermitess for fifteen years without human aid, until discovered one day by a hunter. She related to him her history and implored him to return with the Holy Eucharist in a pyx. This was permitted to laics at that time, as the Christians were often scattered and priests were few. At the end of a year, he returned with the Blessed Sacrament which she received as Viaticum. She died the same day. The hunter buried her, after first removing one of her hands and a piece of her clothing which he carried away with him. Through that blessed hand he happily accomplished his voyage home, in spite of the imminent risks he ran from pirates. When he related the affair to his Bishop, the latter reproached him for not having brought away the whole body of the saint." St. Gertrude. u I saw that Gertrude's mother had a prophetic dream before her child's birth. It appeared to her that she brought forth a little daughter who held in her hand the crosier of an abbess from which sprang a vine. The mother dwelt in an old castle, and once she and all her neighbors were greatly annoyed by mice which destroyed the crops and provisions. She had a great horror of these pests. Once I saw her in tears, recounting to her little Gertrude the ravages they had made. Gertrude instantly knelt down and fervently begged God for deliverance from the plague. Instantly, I saw all the mice scampering out of the castle and drowning in the waters of the moat. Gertrude by her childlike faith obtained great power against these and other noxious animals. She had some pet mice which she fed and which obeyed her call ; she had also birds and hares. She was asked in marriage, but she rejected the proposal, and exhorted her suitor to choose the Church for his spouse, that is to become a priest. He did so in effect, but only after having seen the other maidens whom he sought die suddenly. I saw Gertrud s as a religious, her mother as abbess ; later on, she herself held that office. At the instant the crosier was presented her, there sprang from its top a vine-branch with a bunch on which were nineteen grapes, which she gave to her mother and her eighteen religious. Two mice ran around the crosier, as if paying homage to her authority. Thus was the mother's prophetic dream realized." St. Cecilia. November 22, 1819-' 20.— "I saw the saint sitting in a very plain four-cornered room, on her knees a flat triangular box, about an inch high, over which were stretched strings which she touched with both hands. Her face was upturned and over her hovered bright, shining spirits like angels or blessed children. Cecilia seemed conscious of their presence. I often beheld her in this posture. — There was also a youth standing by her, of singularly pure and delicate appearence ; he was taller than she, and full of de~ ference for her. He seemed to obey her orders. I think it was Valerian, fori afterward saw him bound with another to a stake, struck with rods, and then beheaded. But this did not happen in the great circular marty r- place ; it was in a more remote, a more solitary spot. St. Cecilia's house was square with a roof almost flat, around which one could walk. On the four corners were stone globes, and in the centre there was something like a figure. Before the house lay a circular court-yard, the scene of Cecilia's own execution. Here burned a fire under an immense cauldron in which sat Cecilia, full of joy, clothed in a shining white robe, her arms outstretched ; one angel, surrounded by a rosy light, held out to her his hand, whilst another held a crown of flowers above her head. — I have an indistinct remembrance of having seen a horned animal, like a wild cow, though not such as we have, led in by the gate and through the court to a dark recess. Cecilia was then removed from the cauldron and struck three times on the neck with a short, broad sword. I did not witness this scene, but I saw the sword. I also saw Cecilia wounded, but still alive, conversing with an old priest whom I had formerly seen in her house. 1 afterward saw that same house changed into a church and divine service celebrated in it. Many relics were there preserved, among them Cecilia's body, from the side of which some portions had been removed. This is what I recollect just now of my many visions of Cecilia's life." November 22, 1820. — u Cecilia's paternal home stood on one side of Rome and like Agnes's house, it had courts, colonnades, and fountains. I rarely saw her parents. Cecilia was very beautiful, gentle though active, with rosy cheeks and a countenance almost as lovely as Mary's. I saw her playing in the court with other children and almost always by her side an angel under the form of a lovely boy. He conversed with her and she saw him, although he was invisible to others to whom he forbade her to speak of him. I often saw him withdraw when the other children gathered around her. Cecilia was then about seven years old. I saw her again sitting alone in her chamber, and the angel standing by her teaching her how to play on a musical instrument. He laid her fingers on the right strings and held a sheet of music before her. At times she rested on her knees something like a box over which strings were stretched, whilst the angel floated before her with a paper to which she occasionally raised her eyes ; or again she supported against her neck an instrument like a violin, the chords of which she touched with her right hand, whilst at the same time she sang into the mouth-piece which was covered with skin. It produced a very sweet sound. I often saw a little boy [Valerian) by her, along with his elder brother and a man in a long white mantle who lived not far off and who seemed to be their preceptor. Valerian played with her; it seemed as if they were being reared together, as if destined for each other. Cecilia had a Christian servant through whom she became acquainted with Pope Urban. I often saw Cecilia and her playmates filling their dresses with fruit and all kinds of provisions. Then hooking them up at the sides like pockets and wrapping their mantles around them, they slipped stealthily with their loads to a gate of the city. The angel was always at Cecilia's side. It was a charming sight ! I saw the children hurrying along the high-road to a building made up of heavy towers, walls, and fortifications. Poor people dwelt in the walls. In the underground caves and vaults were Christians; whether imprisoned or only concealed there, I do not know, but the poor creatures nearest the entrance seemed to be always on their guard against discovery. Here it was that the children secretly distributed their alms. Cecilia used to fasten her robe around her feet with a cord and then roll down a steep bank. She passed into the vaults, and thence through a round opening into a cave where a man led her to St. Urban; who instructed her from rolls of parchment. Some of these rolls she brought to him concealed in her garments. She took others back home with her. I have an indistinct remembrance of her being baptized there. Once I saw the youth Valerian and his preceptor with the little girls as they were at play. Valerian tried to throw his arms around Cecilia, but she pushed him off. He complained of it to his preceptor, who reported the affair to her parents. I do not know what they said to Cecilia, but she was punished by being confined to her own room. There I saw the angel always with her teaching her to sing and play. Valerian was often allowed to visit and remain with her; at such times, she invariably began to play and sing. Whenever he wanted to press her in a loving embrace, the angel instantly flung around her a glittering, white garment of light. This had the effect of gaining Valerian over to Cecilia's way of thinking. After that he often remained in her room alone, whilst she went to St. Urban ; her parents, meanwhile, imagining them together. Lastly, I had a vision of their betrothal. I saw the parents of both and a numerous company of people young and old in a hall magnificently adorned with statues; in the centre stood a table laden with dainties. Cecilia and Valerian wore festive suits of many colors and crowns and garlands of flowers. They were led to each other by their parents who presented them, one after the other, with a glass of thick red wine, or something of the kind. Some words were pronounced, some passages read from manuscripts, something was written, and then all partook of the refreshments standing. I saw the angel ever at his post between Cecilia and her bridegroom. Then they went in festal procession to the back of the house where, in an open court, stood a round building supported by columns ; high up in the centre were two figures embracing each other. In the procession little girls, two by two, carried a long chain of flowers suspended on white drapery. As the betrothed stood before the statues in the temple, I saw the figure of a boy which seemed to be inflated with air, flying down, moved by some kind of machinery, first to Valerian's lips, then to Cecilia's, to receive from each a kiss ; but, when it flew to Cecilia, the angel laid his hand over her lips. Then Cecilia and Valerian were entwined in the flower-chain by the little girls so that the two ends should meet around and enclose both ; but the angel still stood between them, thus preventing Valerian's reaching Cecilia, or the chain's being closed. Cecilia said some words to Valerian like these : Did he see nothing ? She had another friend and he j Valerian, should not touch her ! Then Valerian grew very grave, and asked if she loved any other of the youths present. To this Cecilia only answered that, if he touched her, her friend would strike him with leprosy. Valerian replied that, if she loved another,he would kill them both. All this passed between them in a low tone, one would have thought it only modesty on Cecilia's part. She told Valerian that she would explain herself later. — Then I saw them alone together in an apartment. Cecilia told him that she had an angel by her. Valerian insisted on seeing him too. She replied that he could not do so until he was baptized, and she sent himto St. Urban. At this time Valerian and Cecilia were married and in their own home."
St. Catherine. u St. Catherine's father was named Costa. He belonged to a royal race and was a descendant of Hazael whom Elias, by God's command, anointed king of Syria. I saw the prophet with the box of ointment, crossing the Jordan and anointing Hazael, with whom after that all went well. Costa's immediate ancestors emigrated to Cyprus with the Persians or Medes, and there obtained possessions. They were like Costa himself star and fire-worshippers, and held also to the Syro-Plioenician worship of idols. Catherine, on her mother's side, was descended from the family of the pagan priestess Mercuria, who had been converted by Jesus at Salamis. She had after her conversion emigrated to the Holy Land, received in Baptism the name of Famula and, in the persecution that broke out after the stoning of Stephen, she had gained the martyr's crown. There had long existed in her family the oft-told prediction that a great prophet would come from Judea to change all things, to overturn the idols, to announce the true Cod, and that he would come in contact with this family. When Mercuria fled to Palestine with her two daughters, she left behind in Cyprus an illegitimate son whose father was then the Roman Consul. He had been baptized as early as the time of Jesus, and he afterward left the island with Paul and Barnaby. This son married his mother's youngest sister, from which union was born Catherine's mother. Catherine was Costa's only daughter. Like her mother, she had yellow hair, was very sprightly and fearless, and had always to suffer and to struggle. She had a nurse and, at an early age, she was provided with male preceptors. I saw her making toys out of the inner bark of trees and giving them to poor children. As she grew older, she wrote a great deal upon tablets and parchment which she gave to other maidens to copy. She was well acquainted with the nurse of St. Barbara, who was a Christian in secret. She possessed in a high degree the prophetic spirit of her maternal ancestors, and the prediction of the great prophet was shown her in vision when she was scarcely six years old. At the mid-day repast, she related it to her parents to whom Mercuria's history was not unknown ; but her father, a very cold, stern man, shut her up, as a punishment, in a dark vault. There I saw her, a bright light shining around her and the mice and other little creatures playing tamely by her. Catherine sighed earnestly after that promised Redeemer of mankind ; she begged Him to eome to her, and she had numerous lights and visions. From that time she conceived deep hatred toward the idols. She broke, she hid, she buried all she could lay her hands on. For this reason, as also for her singular and deeply-significant words against the gods, she was often imprisoned by her father. She was instructed in all knowledge, and I saw her during her w7alks scribbling in the sand and on the walls of the castle, her playmates copying what she wrote. When she was about eight years old, her father took her to Alexandria, where she became acquainted with him who was one day to aspire to her hand. After some time she returned with her father to Cyprus. There were no longer any Jews on the island, only here and there a few in slavery, and only a small number of Christians, who practised their faith in secret. Catherine was instructed by God Himself; she prayed and sighed for holy Baptism, which was given her in her tenth year. The Bishop of Diospoiis sent three priests secretly to Cyprus to encourage and strengthen the Christians, and on an interior admonition, he also allowed the child to be baptized. She was, at the
534 Lift of time, again in prison, her jailer being a Christian in secret. He took her by night to the secret meeting place of the Christians outside the city in a subterranean cave, whither she often went for instructions to the priests by whom she was finally baptized. She received with the Sacrament of Baptism the gift of extraordinary wisdom. The priest, in performing the ceremony, poured water over the neophytes out of a bowl. Catherine gave utterance to many wonderful things, though like all the other Christians she still kept her religion secret. But her father, though fondly attached to his beautiful and intelligent little girl, was unable longer to endure her persistent aversion to idolatry, her discourses, and her prophecies. He took her toPaphos and left her there in confinement, hoping thus to cut off all communication between her and her co-religionists. Her servants, both male and female, were by his orders frequently changed, as many among them were found to be Christians in secret. Catherine had already had at this time an apparition of Jesus as her Heavenly Affianced. He was always present to her, and she would hear of no other spouse. She returned home from Paphos. Her father now wanted to marry her to a youth of Alexandria, named Maximin, a descendant of an ancient royal house and nephew to the governor of Alexandria who, being childless, had adopted him as his heir. But Catherine would not listen to such a thing. She smilingly but fearlessly repelled all their advances, warded off every temptation. So great were her wisdom and learning that few could be found who were not forced to acknowledge her superiority. Before these marriage-proposals, she had, at the age of twelve years, seen her mother die in her arms. Catherine told her mother that she was a Christian, instructed her, and prevailed upon her to receive Baptism. I saw ber with a little green sprig, sprinkling water from a golden bowl on her mother's head, forehead, mouth, and breast, u There was always frequent intercourse between Cyprus and Alexandria. Catherine's father took her to a relative in that city, hoping she would at last yield to his wishes concerning her marriage. She was then thirteen. Her suitor went out in a vessel to meet her and, again, I heard her uttering admirable, profound, and Christian sentiments. She inveighed against the idols, whereupon the suitor playfully struck her several times on the mouth. Catherine laughed, and spoke more enthusiastically than before. On disembarking, he took her to his father's house, in which everything breathed of the world and its delights. All hoped that Catherine's feelings would soon change ; but here, too, she showed herself fearless and dignified, though affable as before* Her suitor, who lived in another wing of the house, was as if mad from love and disappointment ; for Catherine spoke incessantly of her other Affianced, Every means was taken to change her, learned men were sent to argue with her and turn her from the Christian faith ; but she confounded them all, put them all to shame. " At this time, the Patriarch Theonas was in Alexandria. He had obtained by his great sweetness that the poor Christians should not be persecuted by the pagans ; but still they were greatly oppressed, they had to keep very quiet, and carefully repress every word against idolatry. From this state of affairs resulted very dangerous communications wfth the pagans and great lukewarmness among the Christians, for wjiich reason God ordained that Catherine, by her superior intelligence and burning zeal, should rouse them to renewed fervor in His service. I saw Theonas give her the Holy Eucharist,which she carried home
Anne Catherine Ifinmerich. 537 She was imprisoned, beaten with scorpions, and exposed to the beasts. Here the thought struck me : ' It is not lawful thus to provoke martyrdom V — but there are exceptions to every rule, and God has His own instruments. Violence had always been employed to force Catherine into idolatry and a marriage abhorrent to her. Immediately after her mother's death, her father frequently took her to the abom^ inable festivals of Venus, iii Salamis, at which, however, she constantly kept her eyes closed. At Alexandria, Christian faith lay dormant. The pagans were well pleased that Theonas should console their ill-treated Christian slaves and exhort them to serve their barbarous masters faithfully. They were so friendly toward him that many weak Christians thought paganism not so bad, perhaps, after all ; therefore did God raise up this fearless, intrepid, enlightened virgin to convert by word and example, above all by her admirable martyrdom, many who would not otherwise have been saved. She made so little concealment of her faith that she went among the Christian slaves and laborers in the public squares, consoling and exhorting them to remain firm in their religion ; for she knew that many of them had grown tepid and fallen off, owing to the general toleration. She had seen some of these apostates in the temple, taking part in the sacrifices, and hence her holy indignation. The beasts to which she was exposed after her scourging, licked her wounds, which were miraculously healed when she was taken back to prison. Here her suitor attempted to offer her violence, but he was put to shame and withdrew utterly powerless. Her father returned from Salamis. Once more was Catherine taken from her prison to the house of her lover, and all possible means employed to make her apostatize; but the young pagan girls sent to persuade her were converted by her to
Christ, and even the philosophers who came to dispute with her were won over. Her father was mad with rage; he called the whole affair sorcery, and had Catherine beaten and imprisoned again. The wife of the tyrant visited her in prison and she, too, was converted as also one of her officers. As she approached Catherine, I saw an angel holding a crown over her and another presenting her with a palm-branch ; but I cannot say whether the lady saw it or not. u Catherine was next taken to the circus and seated on a high platform between two broad wheels, stuck full of sharp iron points like a ploughshare. When the executioners attempted to turn the wheels, they were shivered by a thunderbolt and hurled among the pagan crowd, about thirty of whom were wounded or killed. A terrible hailstorm followed ; but Catherine remained quietly seated with outstretched arms amid the shattered wheels. She was reconducted to her prison where she remained for several days. More than one pagan tried to offer her violence, but she drove them back with her hand, and they stood spellbound, motionless as statues. When others attempted similar violence, she pointed to those victims of her power, and thus averted further attacks. All this was regarded as sorcery, and Catherine was again led to the place of execution. She knelt before the block, laid her head on it sideways, and was beheaded with a piece of the iron from the broken wheels. An extraordinary quantity of blood flowed from the wound, spouting up into the air in one continuous jet until, at last, the flow became colorless as water. The head had been completely severed. The body was thrown upon a burning pile; but the flames turned against the executioners, leaving the holy remains enveloped in a cloud of smoke. It was then taken from the pile suddenly attacked by different maladies and just as suddenly cured. I saw her wounds bleeding, and I saw the supernatural relief she received in her sufferings. When the prioress or any other nun stood by her, I beheld on the opposite side of the bed the forms of angels or deceased religious, floating down to her, consoling her, supporting her, or giving her a drink. She was well treated by her fellow-sisters ; but her state became too public and she had to endure much from visits and false veneration. Her case was imprudently exaggerated, and this caused her great vexation, as she told me herself. Her confessor published an account of her state, rather expressive of his own admiration than a faithful record of facts. After the suppression of her convent, she was subjected to an inquiry in which both ecclesiastics and surgeons took part ; but the former were indifferent and left everything to the physicians. I saw nothing improper, but these men were very rude and coarse, though far less false and crafty than those with whom I had to deal. They tormented her exceedingly, trying above all to make her eat. Such attempts always brought on vomiting. Even as a child, Madeline had been accustomed to privation, her parents being very poor, though very good people. Her mother particularly used often to say to her child at meals : i Now, one bite less, one mouthful less for the poor, for the suffering souls V — There were many wonderful things about Madeline, but she had become too public. She died before her time. She fretted and kept her sorrows to herself, consequently her life was shortened. I saw her death, not the ceremonies nor the obsequies, but the soul departing from her body." When the Pilgrim again approached Sister Emmerich with the stained linen, she cried out : " Why, there thou art, little darling ! O she is so active and kind, so obliging and charitable I" — Then, after a long silence, she asked in a quick, animated tone : " Why did Jesus say to Magdalen, 1 Woman, why weepest thou ? ? — 1 know, my Affianced told me why He thus spoke ! Magdalen had sought Him so eagerly and impetuously that, when she did meet Him, she took Him for a gardener. Then said He : ' Woman, why weepest thoa? ? — But when she exclaimed: i Master !? and recognized Him, He said to her : ' Mary ! J — As we seek, so we find ! u I saw all this by little Madeline. I saw her lying in a small, dark room into which many persons entered ; they were going to examine her case. They were rough, but not wicked like those who examined into mine. They spoke of an enema at which Madeline showed too great unwillingness. She began to complain ; but, when she resigned herself to their treatment, her vexation vanished. It was at this moment that I had the vision of the garden before her window. Perhaps she had had the same herself, since she despaired of finding her Affianced, although He was at her side. Madeline still owes me the pieces she- promised me. u I saw also the Dominicaness, Colomba Schanolt of Bamberg. She was inexpressibly humble, simple-hearted, and unaffected; and, notwithstanding her stigmata, she was ever active and laborious. I saw her in her cell, praying prostrate on the ground as if dead. Again, I saw her in bed, her hands bleeding and blood flowing down from under her veil. I saw her receiving the Holy Eucharist, the form of a little luminous Child escaping to her from the hand of the priest ; and I, also, saw the visions she had had. They passed before her in pictures as she lay in her bed, or knelt in prayer. They were scenes from the life of Our if I were forced to fly thither whilst drawn at the same time in a contrary direction. In this excited state, I saw numerous successive scenes. I saw over there the whole of Christ's agony in the garden of Olives. I saw Him kneeling on the rock in the grotto and sweating blood. I saw the disciples sleeping near, whilst the sins of mankind were crushing their Lord. I saw the rock sprinkled with the drops of congealed blood,which were in time completely hidden by the overlying dust and earth. It seemed as if that covering had been removed, that I might see those drops. I seemed to see it all in the far, far past. Then I had a vision of the Most Blessed Virgin who, whilst her Son agonized in the grotto, knelt on a stone in the court-yard of Mary Marcus's house. She left upon it the imprint of her knees. She suffered the agony of Jesus with Him ; she became unconscious, and her friends supported her. These two scenes were presented to me at one and the same time. — Then I had a vision of Mary's hair, and I saw again that it had been divided into three parts and that the Apostles cut some off after her death." — Here the Pilgrim produced the little bag with the above-named relics, which the invalid regarded devoutly for a few moments. She then said : — u Mary's hair is in it also. I see it again, and that is really the Blood of Christ ! There are three tiny particles, and they exert an influence totally different from the bones of the saints. They attract me most wonderfully ; they excite in my soul a sweet, longing desire ! Other relics shine with a light which, compared to this, is as a fire compared to the splendor of the noonday sun." At intervals, she repeated: u It is the Blood of Christ! Once before I saw some that had flowed from a Host. This is truly some of the Blood of Christ that remained on the earth. It is not the substance of blood, but it is like it in color. I cannot explain it. I saw the angels gathering up only what flowed to the earth during the Passion and on the road to Calvary." And now, Sister Emmerich had repeated visions upon the discovery, the worship, the whole history of this relic. She related them at intervals, as follows: — "I saw a devout princess in pilgrim's garb, going to Jerusalem with a numerous train. She belonged to the Isle of Crete. She was not yet baptized, though she ardently sighed for that grace. I saw her first in pagan Rome in a time of peace just before a persecution ; for the Pope, who instructed her, dwelt in an old ruined edifice, and the Christians held secret assemblies here and there. — The Christians were tolerably secure in the Holy Land, though a journey to Jerusalem was attended by many dangers. The city was very much changed : hills had been levelled, valleys filled up, and streets built over the principal Holy Places. I think, too, that the Jews were confined to one quarter of the city, and only the ruins of the Temple were to be seen. The site of the Holy Sepulchre was near Calvary and still beyond the city limits ; but it could not now be reached. The road leading to it had been closed, and buildings had been raised over and around it. There dwelt in caves hard by, many holy personages who venerated the sacred spot, and who seemed to belong to a community established by the first Bishops of Apostolic times. They could not visit the Holy Sepulchre in body, but they often did so in spirit. Few of the inhabitants seemed to trouble themselves about these Christians. They could, by using some precautions, freely visit the Holy Places around the country. They could also dig in search of, and collect precious things. It was at this period that many bodies of the saints of the early ages were found and preserved.
"The pilgrim-princess, whilst praying on Mt. Olivet, saw in vision the Precious Blood. She pointed it out to a priest rf the Holy Sepulchre. With five companions he went to the spot indicated, turned up the earth, and found part of the colored rock upon which Jesus had knelt sprinkled with blood. As they could not remove the whole stone which formed a part of the solid rock, they detached from its surface a piece as large as one's hand* Of this the princess received a part, as also some relics of the garments of St. Lazarus and the old Simeon, whose tomb not far from the Temple lay in ruins. I think the princess is inscribed in the calendar, although she is not known among us. The piece of stone was three-cornered with various colored veins. At first it was placed in an altar, and afterward in the foot of a monstrance." July 8th — "The father of the princess was descended from the Cretan kings; but Crete was, at this time, in the hands of the Romans. He still had vast possessions and lived in a castle near a city in the western part of the island, Cydon, or Kanea (or something of the kind) where grow quantities of yellow, ribbed fruit, broad at the stem and flat at the top (1). Between the city and the castle was a great arch through which one could see right into the former. A long avenue led to it. The father had five sons living. The mother died whilst the daughter was still young. The father had been to the Holy Land and Jerusalem. One of his ancestors had been an acquaintance of that Lentulus who had loved Jesus so much and who had been a friend of Peter, from whom he had learned the doctrines of Christianity. Hence it was that he was not unfavorable to the new religion. Once he was in Rome with his daughter's future husband. They conversed to(1) Doubtless, she meant quinces, known as malum Cydonium,
Precious Blood in a girdle, for the princess had given It him as a pledge of her fidelity. His castle was on an island in the Rhone about seven leagues from Avignon and Nimes, near a little village later known as St. Gabriel's. It owed its origin to a miracle by which a man had been saved during a storm on the lake. Tarascon and Martha's Solitude were not far off. St. Martha's monastery being situated on a mountain lying between the Rhone and a lake. There were at that period in Nimes some Christian catechists living together secretly, and the count received from time to time the visit of aholy hermit, a priest. The Precious Blood was, at first, preserved in a dark, underground vault whose entrance lay through many others, in one of which were stored plants and provisions ; in winter even green trees were there preserved. It was kept in a vase like a chalice on an altar which had a little tabernacle with a locked door. Before it burned a lamp. I often saw the count and his lady praying before this tabernacle. u I saw that, at a later period, they lived apart like hermits and at a distance from their castle. They went to it only to make their devotions before the Precious Blood. Once they heard a voice enjoining on them to place the relic in a chapel ; whereupon they prepared a suitable place for It near the dining-hall. Their devotion toward It ever increased, though they continued to venerats It only in secret. The relic was afterward transmitted to their heirs with numerous precautions and duplicate documents. u I saw at this time something connected with St. Trophimus of Aries : but I can now recall only the names. Before the count's marriage* some Christians had immigrated to that country from Palestine; they were supported by him and they lived there in little communities. — The countess's father had concealed his sentiments from his
July 13th — Sister Emmerich designated a relic as belonging to Pope AnaclctiiSj saying that he had been the fifth Pope, had succeeded St. Clement, and had been martyred. At the same time she remarked in allusion to the relic of the Precious Blood : u The priest who searched for the Precious Blood was the saintly Bishop Narcissus of the race of the Three Holy Kings with whom his ancestors had journeyed to the Holy Land. It was perfectly light when he dug that night upon the Mount of Olives and the young princess was present. Narcissus was dressed like the Apostles. — Jerusalem was then scarcely recognizable for, when it was destroyed, valleys had been filled up and hills levelled. The Christians still had a church at the pool of Bethesda between Sion and the temple. They had had one there even in the Apostles' time ; but it was not now in existence. They dwelt around it in huts and although perfectly isolated from the other inhabitants, they were obliged to pay a tax for the privilege of entering their own church. A man and a woman sat at the gate to receive from the faithful five small pieces of money as toll. This regulation lasted some time. — The pool of Bethesda with its porches was no more, all was closed up ; but there was a covered well whose waters were regarded as sacred and used by the people in time of sickness, just as we use holy water. " The count's name was the same as that of one of St Augustine's friends, Pontianus ; that of the countess was Tatula, or Datula, I cannot give it correctly. There is such a saint toward the close of May, or the beginning of June." On the afternoon of July 18th, Sister Emmerich suddenly exclaimed : u There was a man here just now, a Cardinal, the confessor of a holy queen named Isabella. He was a very able director of souls. He told me that I
552 Lift of must accuse myself of the good I neglect to do, and do penance for the sins of others. He showed me St. Datula, who possessed the relic of the Precious Blood. For Its sake she had abandoned all her wealth and retired with her husband to grieve over their sins. The Cardinal was called Ximenes7 a name I never heard before. He is not canonized." — One day, having seen several things in St. Martha's life, Sister Emmerich pointed out more precisely the abode of Pontianus and Datula. u The island with the castle," she said, u lay at the mouth of the eastern branch of the Rhone, and was about half a league in circumference. Pontianus had soldiers under him ; his castle looked like a strong fortress. Seven leagues further up the river lay the city of Aries, and at about eight leagues distance was St. Martha's Monastery in a rocky, mountainous district." On June 24th, Sister Emmerich had a vision, occasioned by what, or referring to what, she did not know. She recounted it with all the simplicity and astonishment of a peasant-girl beholding the march of a grand procession. She constantly interrupted her recital to give expression to her admiration at the magnificence, order, and propriety displayed in every part of it. " Crete," she began, u is a long, narrow island, with numerous indentations, the centre traversed by a mountain- ridge. The castle of St. Datula's father was a very handsome, spacious building apparently terraced out of a marble rock ; on the different terraces were colonnades and porticoes, on top of which were gardens. After embracing Christianity, Datula's father had built these porticoes and hanging gardens, as a screen to cut off his home altogether from the abominable; idolatrous temple and its labyrinths. He was a very skilful man j he could do almost anything; and he constantly superintended the architects and workmen himself. He was bald and stooped in the shoulders, but still very active and most benevolent. He owned other large property on the island,and he also exercised some kind of authority. The wall mentioned above was built in terraces which were full of well-kept plants. They opened into rooms and passages. "To-day is the anniversary of the day on which Pontianus led his bride Datula from her brothers' castle, the father being then no more. All night I saw the grand feast, so distinctly that I still have the servants and children under my eyes. Two of Datula's brothers lived in the castle with their respective families. There were many children, boys and girls, and crowds of domestics ; for every child had, besides its tutors, several attendants, both male and female, each with a special duty. All the relatives of the family with their children and servants were then at the castle for the marriage. The road for half a league was adorned with triumphal arches and seats erected on either side, artistically twined with flowers, and ornamented with statues and rich hangings. Here sat the young musicians. At the gate of the castle was a raised throne for the bride and her attendants. Pontianus had arrived at a neighboring port the day before with a numerous retinue of ladies, soldiers, servants, and presents. He repaired to another castle at no great distance and there marshalled his procession. The joy of the bride's domestics and slaves was most touching. They had always been most lovingly treated and rewarded and now they were all delight. They were stationed in order on the road, the highest grades nearest the castle, the children with their attendants on raised seats. Pontianus appeared in sight with a grand cortege. Before and around him marched his soldiers, and servants in rich
654: Life of dresses leading asses and little nimble horses laden with baskets of clothing and pastry. Pontianus himself rode in an elegant large car, like a great canopied throne. It was surrounded by lighted torches in stands transparent as glass, the canopy surmounted by a flambeau. The whole car was covered with gold and ivory, adorned with rich hangings, and drawn by an elephant. In Pontianus's suite was a long train of ladies. u All moved so orderly, so joyously through the lovely country with its charming walks of golden fruits, beautiful flowers, and happy people — it was a real jubilee, but without any disorderly shouting. When the procession reached the first row of servants, clothing and flat cakes, some of the latter stuck full of little shrubs, were distributed to every one by Pontianus's servants, and so they advanced, distributing gifts to the joyous crowd. When the bridegroom reached the seats of the children of the family, they stretched silken draperies with fringes and long streamers across the road before him, whilst the choir of children saluted him with music. Pontianus arose, presented them with gifts, and the procession moved on toward the brothers and sisters-in-law of the bride. At last, it passed through an immense arched avenue of trees elegantly decorated, and across a bridge. And now appeared between the magnificent buildings and gardens a kind of stage in tiers, covered with rich carpets and ornamented with garlands a"nd beautiful statues transparent and glittering. I remember among others the representation of a whole chase; the eyes of the animals sparkled like fire. The procession took place in the day-time ; but the throne of the bride was placed in a recess lighted partly from behind, partly from the sides by flambeaux such as surrounded the bridegroom's car. Around it was raised a semi-circle of little balconies whence burst forth at the instant of Pontianus's arrival a chorus of voices accompanied by flutes — it was all wondrously charming ! u But loveliest of all was Datula, the bride, seated high on her throne, and below her, in double rows, her young companions and attendants all in white with long veils, their hair braided artistically around their head and adorned with rich ornaments. Datula wore a glistening white robe, I think of silk, which fell in full, long folds, and her hair was entwined with most beautiful pearls. I cannot say how powerfully I was touched when I beheld through her clothing the gleaming of the relic of the Precious Blood. It lay on her heart in Its richly embroidered girdle, shedding rays of celestial glory over the magnificent scene. Her heart was perfectly absorbed in the thought of the sacred object she bore about her. She looked like a living monstrance when her betrothed appeared before the throne, his attendants, male and female, in a semi-circle around him. They bore upon a great silken cushion under a beautiful cover presents of costly dresses, jewels, and ornaments of all kinds. The cushion was presented to the female attendants and then to Datula, who with her suite now descended from the throne. Veiling her face, she knelt humbly before Pontianus, who raised her up, lifted her veil and led her by the hand first to the right and then to the left, the whole length of the semi-circle, presenting her to his followers as their future mistress. — It was a touching sight, the Precious Blood borne on Datula's person in the midst of these pagans! I think Pontianus knew of Its presence, so respectful, so reverential was he. At last, they all entered the castle with the family. "No words can describe the order that reigned throughout the joyous multitude scattered in the chambers, the
556 Life tf courtyards, the terraces and groves, or under tents, eating, singing, jesting. I saw no dancing. There was a grand banquet in a spacious, circular hall into which one could see from all points. The bride sat by Pontianus at a table higher than those in use among the Jews. The men reclined on couches, the women sat cross-legged. Most wonderful looking things were set on the table : great animals and figures with the meats in their sides, in their backs, or in baskets held in their mouth. It was droll and fantastic, and drew forth many pleasantries from the guests. The drinking vessels shone like mother-of-pearl. I gazed upon this scene all night ; but yet, I did not see any nuptial ceremony, though I saw Datula's departure with Pontianus. A great deal of baggage was sent on before to the ship, and amid tears and good wishes they proceeded in festal procession to the port. Pontianus, Datula, and several others rode in a long, narrow chariot on many wheels and built in sections. At the turns in the road, sometimes it wheeled so as to bring the occupants into a semi-circle. It was drawn by little frisky horses. I saw nothing disorderly during the whole feast, nothing even slightly improper ; and, although these people were not all Christians, there was nothing idolatrous about them. They seemed to be pleasing to God, as if all were inclining toward Christianity. The men were remarkably handsome, and I cannot forget those tall, beautiful, healthy-looking women and girls. Datula took some of them with her, among them her nurse, or governess also, whose sentiments were very Christian. I did not see them embark." On February 11, 1821, as Sister Emmerich lay in ecstasy, the Pilgrim dropped from a prayer-book a little picture of Jesus Crucified which fell on the coverlet of her bed. She seized it quickly, her eyes still closed; ran her fingers over it several times, and exclaimed : u It must be venerated ! It is very precious ! It has touched some sacred object ; it shines brilliantly !" Then laying it on her breast, she said : "It has touched Christ's robe on the neck of which is a stain of the Precious Blood of which no one knows !" April 8, 1823. — "I have had to perform a wearisome task connected with relics of the earliest ages, in a country beyond the Holy Land where the priests do not dress exactly like Catholic priests. They wear very antique vestments something like those I saw on Mt. Sinai. It seemed to be in the country I always see next to that of the Three Kings ; the city in which was the old book of prophesies on copper plates (Ctesiphon) lay to the left of it. Here I had much to do with the Blood of Christ, and I had to discover a treasure of relics to the priests. I saw seven old priests digging under ruined walls in an underground cave ; they first propped the wall up for fear of its falling in. There they found holy relics sealed up in a great stone seemingly of one piece, but really formed of many three-cornered pieces skilfully put together. When it was opened, first appeared a thick haircloth under which reposed the treasure, the principal relics of the Passion and the Holy Family, all preserved in threecornered vases placed side by side : sand from the foot of the cross, moistened and tinged with the Blood of Jesus ; and, in little phials, some of the water from His Side, clear, consistent, no longer liquid 5 thorns from the Crown ; a piece of the purple mantle of derision ; some scraps of the Blessed Virgin's clothing ; some relies of St. Anne, and many others. Seven priests were there at work whilst deacons held torches, and I think they placed the Blessed Sacrament above them. I had much to do there and many poor prisoners, that is poor souls, to deliver, in which work the Precious Blood helped me. I think the Apostles had to say Mass in that cave." October 9, 1821, Sister Emmerich related the following : i( I saw many things in the life of St Francis Borgia, both as a man of the world and as a religious. I remember his having scruples about daily Communion and his praying before a picture of the Mother of Gfod, where he received a stream of Blood from the Child Jesus and another of milk from Mary. He was told not to deprive himself of that oft which he lived, daily Communion. This reception of milk from Mary I have often seen represented in the pictures of saints where they are painted in the act of suckling at her breast, like children, or the milk flowing from her breast to them ; but all that is wrong and absurd ! I saw it in an entirely different way : from Mary's breasts, or from the region of the breasts, something like a little white vapor streamed out to them and was breathed in by them. It was like a stream of manna from her, whilst from the Side of Jesus shone upon them a ray of rosy light. It is like wheat and wine, like flesh and blood — but quite unspeakable ! " Effects of the Sacred Lance. In July, 1820, Sister Emmerich's confessor, Father Limberg, received some relics without labels that had once belonged to the house of Diilmen ; among them was a particle of the Sacred Lance. When he presented it to the invalid, she exclaimed : "It pricks ! that's a sign ! I have received a thrust !" — and the wound in her side became red. Then she had the following vision of St. Longinus : "I saw the Lord dead on the cross. I saw all the people standing around in just the same position as on Good-Fri my left ribs. I held it in the wound to direct it through between the ribs." Sister Emmerich, on this occasion, vomited blood and her side bled freely. A Particle of the True Cross. Dr. Wesener's journal contains the following, dated Oct. 16, 1816. It is the first fact reported by an ocular witness respecting Sister Emmerich's power of recognizing relics : " I found the invalid in profound ecstasy. Father Limberg was in her room. I showed him a little case I had found among some objects left me by my mother-in-law, lately deceased. Among other relics it contained two tolerably large particles of the True Cross. Father Limberg made no remark, but took the case. Approaching to within some distance of the bed, he held it out to the invalid. She arose instantly, eagerly stretched out her hands toward it and, on obtaining possession of it, pressed it closely to her heart ; whereupon Father Limberg inquired : 6 What is that V c Something very precious ! some of the Holy Cross !' — she answered and, when withdrawn from her ecstasy by a command from the Father, she expressed her astonishment on finding that the relic was mine. She thought it had come among some pieces of old silk sent her from Coesfeld for her poor, and she wondered much that the pious donor had not taken better care of the precious case." Five years later, the Pilgrim writes : u To-day they presented to Sister Emmerich a piece of the True Cross, belonging to Dr. Wesener. She grasped it eagerly, exclaiming: "I, too, have that! I have it in my heart and on my breast !" (She always wore a relic of the True Cross sent her by Dean Overberg). " I have a piece of the lance also. On the cross hung the Body, in the Body was the
Amie Catherine Emmerich. 561 lance ! Which shall I love the more ? The cross is the instrument of Redemption, the ^ance opened a wide door to love. 0 yesterday, I was far, far in !'? The yesterday alluded to was a Friday. u The particle of the True Cross renders my sufferings sweet, the relic chases them away. I have often said to Our Lord, when the particle of the True Cross sweetened my pains, ' Lord, if it had been so sweet for Thee to suffer upon this cross, this little piece of it would not now make my pains so sweet V " In August, 18'20, Sister Emmerich was moved to other lodgings, and the particle of the True Cross was lost in the confusion consequent on such a change. She was greatly distressed; she prayed to St. Anthony of Padua and had a Mass said in his honor for the recovery of her treasure. On returning from vision a few days later, she found it in her hand: u St. Joseph and St. Anthony, " she exclaimed, u have both been with me, and St. Anthony put the cross in my hand !" Relics of the Blessed Virgin's Clothing. July 30, 1820. — "In the little package of relics which my confessor gave nie, I have more than once come across a small piece of brownish stuff belonging to a garment of the Mother of God. I had, in consequence, a vision of Mary. I saw her, after the death of Jesus, living with one servant in a small house off by itself. In a glimpse at the marriage-feast of Cana, I saw that Mary wore this dress there ; it was a holiday dress. When she lived alone with her servant, she was frequently visited by John, or some other Apostle or disciple, but no man lived in the house. The servant provided the little that was needed for their support. The country around was still and tranquil; a forest stood not far from the house. I saw Mary in this to the lining, but to the outside stuff. It seemed to be a holiday dress of ancient Jewish style. Anna had one like it. She wore an under- robe, the bodice shaped like a heart. The front and sleeves were not concealed by the upper-robe j the latter were narrow and gathered in around the elbows and wrists. The hair was concealed by a yellow cap which fell on the forehead and which was caught in folds at the back of the head ; over this was a veil of black stuff which fell half-way down the back. " I beheld Mary in her last years, making the Way of the Cross in this robe. I know not whether she wore it because it was a holiday dress, or because she had worn it at the time of Christ's Crucifixion under the mantle of prayer and mourning which completely enveloped her. She was, at this time, advanced in years, though there was visible in her no other sign of age than an ardent desire for her transfiguration. She was remarkably grave. I never saw her laugh, and the older she grew, the fairer and more transparent became her countenance. She was thin, but I saw no wrinkle, no trace of decay about her ; she was like a spirit. "I have examined the relic; it is a piece of stuff about the length of one's finger." Other Relics of Mary. Nov. 14, 1821. — "I made my usual journey into the Holy Land and to many places in which I saw all sorts of relics of Mary and learned their history. I wras also in Rome with St. Paula. It appeared to be on the day of her departure for the Holy Land, and she .visited the Holy Places with me. I know not why I saw so many relics of the Blessed Virgin. " I have been to that place, (I think Chiusi) where was once the ring of Mary which is now at Perugia. They still exhibit there a white stone in a vase, but the ring is gone. Of this ring I still remember that a youth before his burial, arose in his coffin, declaring that he could not rest until his mother, a worldly woman named Judith, would give to the Church Mary's wedding ring which she had in her possession. After these words he lay down again. " I have been some place. I know not whether it is the same-an which the House of Loretto first stood, or whether only the vessels I saw came from it. They were not in an orthodox Christian church ; the people looked like Turks. There were bowls and earthen vessels like those in the Holy House wrhen it came to Loretto, but I know not whether they were genuine, or only the models that St. Helena had made. There are still many of them at Loretto, but St. Helena had both the original and the copies covered with a thick coat of glazing to preserve them. I think those at Loretto are genuine. Those that I saw in the place of which I speak were carefully kept under an altar. u I saw also in a Greek church somewhere in Asia a piece of faded blue stuff, a part of Mary's veil. It was once very large ; but so much had been given away that only this small piece remained. Through St. John's influence, it was presented to the church in which I saw it. I saw in a vision people disputing its authenticity. One rash man, attempting to seize it, boldly reached out his hand which was instantly paralyzed. His wife began to pray earnestly for her husband's cure. Luke, who was present, proved its authenticity by laying it on the man's hand, which was instantly cured. He also gave them something in writing concerning it which is stiH preserved there. He spoke to them of his own life, of his travels, of his having frequently seen Mary when he was with John at Ephesus, and of his own connection with the liberal arts. He mentioned the portraits he had painted. UI went also to a place where was preserved an undergarment pf Mary. I think it was in Syria, near Palestine. The garment was one that Mary had given to two women before her death. The people of the country were not Roman Catholics, but Greeks, I think ; they held the relic in high veneration and were very proud of it. I think St. Francis of Assisi went there once and wrought a miracle in confirmation of its authenticity. I saw in the place in which are Mary's veil and Luke's writing, a letter written by the Mother of God. It is very short, but not even slightly discolored by age. I heard it read and, perhaps, I shall remember some of it. John wished her to write it to the people because they were incredulous about many things concerning Jesus. u I had a vision of the cincture of Mary and the swathingbands of Christ which were once preserved in a magnificent church at Constantinople. Where they now are, they are not known. I had another great vision of a pilgrim bringing from the Holy Land all sorts of relics of Mary, her clothing and also some of her hair. He was attacked and wounded by robbers who cast the sacred objects into the fire. But the holy man afterward crept to it. found the relics uninjured, and was healed. u Where Mary's house at Ephesus stood, there still lies hidden under the ground, a stone upon which both Peter and John used to say Mass. Whenever they went into Palestine, they visited the House of Nazareth, and offered there the Holy Sacrifice on an altar raised where the fireplace once was. A little stand which Mary had used stood on the altar for a tabernacle, Anne's house was in the moment of the Annunciation, Anne was sleeping in an alcove to the left near the fireplace.'' Spurious Relics of Mary's Hair. Sister Emmerich had received from the convent of Notteln through one of her former fellow-religious, some hair said to have been brought into the country by St. Ludger as the hair of the Blessed Virgin. It was not long before she had the following vision concerning it: "From thefoot of my bed there to the right, an uncommonly lovely maiden approached me. She wore a shining white robe and yellow veil ; the latter fell down to her eyes, and through it I could see her golden hair. The whole room was suddenly lighted up around her, not as by reflected light, but as if by a sunbeam. Her whole appearance and her surpassing loveliness reminded me of the Mother of God ; and, as this thought passed through my mind, she addressed me pretty much as follows : — c Ah ! I am far, far from being Mary, though I sprang from her race about thirty or forty years after her. I am of her country, but 1 did not know her, nor did I ever visit the places of her sufferings ; for I could not make known my religion at a time in which the Christians were very much persecuted. But the memory of the Lord and His Mother was so greatly revered in my family that I strove in every way to imitate their virtues. In spirit I followed the footsteps of the Saviour as other Christians do the " Way of the Cross. " I received the grace of realizing Mary's secret sufferings, and that formed my martyrdom. A successor of the Apostles, a priest, was my friend and guide* (here she told me the name, but I have forgotten it ; it was not one of the Apostles, nor is it in the Litanies. It is an ancient, foreign name which, it seems to me, I have heard more than once).
* This man was the cause of my being known ; only for him I should have remained wholly unknown. He sent some of my hair to Rome and a Bishop of the country obtained possession of it. He brought it here with many other things ; but the circumstance has long been forgotten. Many relics of my time were sent to Rome, though no relics of martyrs/ — This is about all I learned from the apparition. The way in which such communications are received cannot be explained. What is said is singularly brief, though one single word then imparts more knowledge than thirty would at another time. One sees the speaker's thoughts, though not with the eyes, and all is clearer, more distinct than any ordinary impression. The recipient experiences such pleasure as is produced by a cool breease in the heat of summer ; but words cannot express it ! Then the vision disappeared." Blessed Objects. " I never saw miraculous pictures shining, though I have seen before them a beam of light from which they receive the rays which fall upon those praying below. I never saw the crucifix of Coesfeld shining, but only the particle of the True Cross in the upper part of it. I have also seen rays darting from the relic toward the devout suppliants kneeling before it. I think every picture that recalls God or one of His instruments may receive the power of working miracles by virtue of prayers said in common and with lively confidence. In this faith triumphs victoriously over the weakness of nature." One day the Pilgrim presented Sister Emmerich an Agnus Dei, which she took with the words : u This is good and endued with strength. It is blessed. But here, in these relics" (she was at the time arranging some) ki I have
Anne Catherine Emmerich. 5G9 strength itself." Of a blessed crucifix, she said: "The blessing shines upon it like a star ! Keep it reverently. But the consecrated fingers of the priest" (turning toward her confessor) u are still holier. This crucifix is perishable, but the sacerdotal consecration is ineffaceable ; it will last for all eternity, neither death nor hell can annihilate it ! It will shine forth in heaven ! It is from Jesus who has redeemed us." Some one brought her a little picture of the Mother of God which had beenblessed, u It is blessed !" she said. u Keep it carefully. Do not let it lie among profane things. He who honors the Mother of God is honored by her before her Son. It is good in time of temptations to press such things to our heart. Keep them carefully !" Another little picture given her she laid on her heart, saying, u Ah ! the strong woman ! This picture has touched the miraculous picture." St. Benedict's Medal. The Pilgrim gave Sister Emmerich a reliquary inclosing a medal on a scrap of velvet ; she said : " This is a blessed medal of St. Benedict, blessed with the benediction that Benedict left to his Order by virtue of the miracle which took place when his monks presented him a poisoned draught. The glass fell to pieces when Tie made the sign of the cross over it. It is a preservative against poison, pestilence, sorcery, and the attacks of the devil. The red velvet on which the medal is sewed is also blessed ; it once rested on the tomb of Willibald and Walburga, the place where oil flows from the bones of the latter.* I saw the priests carrying it there barefoot, and then cutting it up for such purposes as this. The medal was blessed in that monastery." One day, the Pilgrim laid near the invalid's hand a is still as God created it, though the garden seems to me much larger now than Paradise was at first. No man can enter therein ! The wonderfully clear, the magnificent, holy water which there springs forth and flows in limpid streams through the garden of the animals, forms around the whole of Paradise a great liquid wall, not a lake — a wall ! and O what a wonderful, sparkling wall it is ! The top is formed of clear drops like precious stones, like the morning dew on the hedges — such is this wall at the top, but clear, transparent as crystal. At the base it flows in tiny rivulets which unite and form further down an immense cataract. 0 how it roars ! No one can hear it without being deafened ! All the waters of our earth come from there ; but when they reach us they are altogether changed, they are quite impure! — The Mountain of the Prophets also receives its water and moisture from Paradise, which is situated as far above it as the sky is far above our earth ; and the place in which I see the saints is as far above Paradise as Paradise is above the Mountain of the Prophets. By the time the great cataract, formed by the waters of Paradise, reaches the mountain, it is changed into clouds. No human being can reach that mountain, nothing is seen above it but clouds. — In Paradise there are no buildings of stone, but only green groves, and alleys, and walks for the animals. The trees are enormously high, their trunks so straight and elegant ! I see white, yellow, red, brown, and blackno not black, but shining steel-blue. And what wonderful flowers ! J see quantities of roses, chiefly white, very large, growing on high bushes, some of them running up into the trees; and there are also red ones and tall white lilies. The grass looks soft as silk. But I can only see it. I cannot feel it, it is too far away. O what beautiful apples ! so large and yellow ! And how long the leaves of the trees are ! The fruits in the garden of the Nuptial House look perfectly deformed in comparison with these ; and yet, they are unspeakably beautiful when compared with those of earth. I see numbers of birds, but no words could tell their beauty, their brilliancy of color, their variety ! They build their nests in flowers, in clusters of the loveliest flowers. I see doves flying over the wall with tiny leaves and branches in their beak. I think the leaves and flowers I sometimes received for relief in my pains must have come from this garden. I see no serpents like those that crawl the earth, but there is a beautiful little yellow animal with a serpent's head. It is large around the body and tapering off toward the tail ; it has four legs, and when it sits up on its hind feet, it is as tall as a child. Its fore feet are short, its eyes bright and intelligent, and it is uncommonly swift and graceful. I only see a few of them. It was an animal like this that seduced Eve. u How wonderful ! There is a gateway in the water wall and there lie two men ! They are asleep, their back resting on the glittering water wall, their hands joined on their breast, their feet turned, one toward the other. They have long fair curls. They are spirits clothed in long white mantles, and they have under their arms small rolls of shining writings : their crooks lie near them. They are prophets ! Yes, I feel it ! they are in communication with the man on the Mountain of the Prophets. And on what wondrous couches they repose ! Flowers grow around them in brilliant, regular forms, and surround their head, white, yellow, red, green, blue, shining like the rainbow." At this moment Father Limberg held out his consecrated fingers toward Sister Emmerich when she exclaimed : 11 And now, see, a priest ! How came he here ? Ah ! it is well ! He ought to see the wonders of God !"
On the following day, the Pilgrim found Sister Emmerich a little troubled at her confessor's having laughed at her vision of the preceding evening, as at things unreasonable and impossible. He chided her for her uneasiness, asking how she could complain of her enemies' looking upon her as an impostor, since she herself was so ready to treat as extravagant the wonders shown her by God* At this she repeated the above recital, adding thereto the following details: UI stood high up, outside the walls of Paradise, over which and through which I could see. In several parts of it I caught a glimpse of myself, and I looked incredibly large. Paradise is surrounded by drops of water (1) round, three-cornered, and of various shapes, which touch one another without mingling and form all kinds of figures and flowers like pictures woven in linen. One could see through it, though not so distinctly as over it. The extreme top was colored like the rainbow, but it had no figures ; it arose toward the heavens as does the rainbow that we see on earth. Toward the lower part of this wall are seen crystals m'elting into tiny streams like silver threads which unite to form the huge cataract. So great was its roar that I think to hear it, would be to die. It still sounds in my ears ! At a vast distance below, it vaporizes and forms clouds from which the Mountain of the Prophets receives all its waters. The top of the gate- way was arched and colored, but down toward the middle of the wall the light was not so clear. It was as when we see one thing through another. — The sides of the wall against which the prophets leaned were neither drops nor crystal, but one solid surface, snow-white like milk, like the finest silk. The prophets had long, yellowish white hair. Their eyes (1) Calderon in hi* drama : " La Vk, est un Snngc," makes the Eternal Wisdom address the waters in these words : " Divide, ye waters, divide ! Rise up to heaven and form the crystal fJn»;am were closed, and they lay as if on flower-beds; their hands were crossed on their breast, and they were wrapped in long, bright mantles. Their faces were turned earthward and encircling their brows was a halo of many colors, like the glory of the saints, the extremities paling off into light. Their rolls of writings had no knobs; they were thin and brilliant, with blue and gold lettering. Their crooks were white and slender, and variegated flowers seemed to be growing around them. The gate opened toward the east. — Some of the elephants had smooth skins, not thick curls like the others, and the little ones ran like lambs between their feet. They paired off with their young into great groves. I saw also white-haired camels, very beautiful, bluish asses striped, and animals like large white cats, spotted yellow and blue. The yellow serpent seemed to serve the other animals. " In the limpid streams I saw shining fish and other animals ; but I saw no vermin, no disgusting things, such as frogs. All the animals had separate abodes which were approached by different roads. Paradise is as large as our earth. It has round, smooth hills planted with beautiful trees; the highest I thought the one on which Adam rested. Toward the north was an egress, but not through a gate ; it was like a gleam of twilight, like an aperture, like a steep descent, and it seemed to me that the waters of the deluge had been there poured forth. Near the great waters from which the cataract fell, 1 saw a broad green field scattered over with enormous bones bleached white, which seemed to have been cast up by the waters. Highest of all is the crystal wall; a little lower down run the silvery threads ; and then appears the vast body of waters whence dashes the cataract with its deafening roar. This last is lost in the clouds which supply the Mountain of the Prophets with its waters. The mountain is much lower than Paradise and lies toward the east ; even there everything is more like our earth." November 1, 1823. — "Of the mammoths, those immense animals so numerous before the Deluge, a very young pair entered the Ark last and remained near the entrance. In the times of Nimrod, Dschemschids, and Semiramis, I still saw many. But they were constantly being hunted and soon they became extinct. Unicorns still exist and herd together. I know of a piece of the horn of one of these animals which is for sick beasts what blessed objects are for men. I have often seen that unicorns still exist, but far remote from the abodes of men, away up in the valleys around the Mountain of the Prophets. In size, they are something like a colt with slender legs ; they can climb steep heights and stand on a very narrow ledge, their feet drawn close together. They cast their hoofs like shells or shoes, for I have often seen them scattered around. They have long yellowish hair, very thick and long around the neck and breast ; it looks like wreathes. They live to a great age. On their forehead is a single horn, an ell in length, which curls up toward the back of the head, and which they shed at certain periods. It is sought after and preserved as something very precious. The unicorns are very timid, so shy that one cannot approach them, and they live at peace among themselves and with other animals. The males and females dwell apart and come together only at certain times, for they are chaste and produce not many young. It is very difficult to see or catch them, as they live far back behind the other animals over which they exercise a wonderful empire ; even the most venomous, the most horrible seem to regard them with a species of respect. Serpents and other frightful things excuse her! They are given'her that she may make them known — and yet, she makes no account of them !" Dr. Wesener came in for his share of the Pilgrim's strictures : u He has fought a good fight with many bodily ills, but he is not humble enough to acknowledge that this patient is very different from any he has hitherto met. He is not willing to own the inefficiency in her case of his treatment and scribbling. " Now it is Father Limberg, Sister Emmerich's confessor, who falls under the lash : — u As the confessomever wants to acknowledge his mistakes, he can have no true charity; and he never will have it, as long as he holds to such ideas. The Pilgrim is convinced that, if the confessor would only introduce some kind of order into Sister Emmerich's life, none of her visions would be lost. It could be effected without the slightest inconvenience, and how great would be the peace and tranquillity it would procure her ! But it is impossible in the way in which she is directed ! If she begins a communication, the writer is at every moment ox^ posed to the mortification of being forced to yield his place by her to an insignificant visitor, some servant-girl, or gossiping old woman ! Serious, important things are counted for nothing ; they must be pushed aside together with the poor writer who sacrifices to them the last precious years of his life. But it is useless and tiresome to speak of it ! One thing is certain, no true idea wrill ever be had of the harmony of her interior life ! — She herself lives in ignorance of it. — The Pilgrim has no power over her and the confessor, who holds the key to the great mystery of her life, does not interest himself in it, nor, indeed, is he capable of understanding it ! — And yet in a certain sense, it is well that it is so ; for, if this abyss of separation existed not between the confessor's involuntary power over her and the fessor, I dare not, nor do I ever write anything about her. Still, I know all that is necessary for me to know ; and if God wills me to render testimony of her, it will all recur to my memory. I never question her on her affairs, though not through indifference. I often think the Pilgrim imagines I do things covertly, give secret orders, etc. ; but it is not so. I have always found Sister Emmerich, whether waking or in ecstasy, most careful and exact in her words, and she has often reproached me when, in spiritual direction, I have spoken shortly to any one or failed to listen patiently. Once she told me my very thoughts, though she begged God not to give her such knowledge any more." The Pilgrim appended the following remark to the above : u May the Lord keep us all in the way of truth and charity, and lead us not into temptation !" Dec. 14, 1821. — u The last three days and nights have been one succession of cramps, hemorrhages, nausea, and swoons, though her visions continue and she gently exclaims: *I must suffer! I have taken it upon myself, I will endure it all V — It is wonderfully affecting to behold her in such a state. Rapt in contemplation, she calls for her confessor, thinking she has something of the highest importance to say to him. But he troubles not himself about such things, he never truly enters into her visions. When in ecstasy, however, she seems ignorant of his indifference. She is attracted toward him by a spiritual force quite unknown to him, although in her waking state, she is usually silent before him upon many little domestic incidents for fear of vexatious results. If she falls into vision in his presence, she involuntarily inclines toward him, though he relishes not her narrations and treats them in his usual summary way. Is she worse than usual, her desire for his presence increases, though she seldom experiences relief, unless, when in great need, he imposes upon her his priestly hand." Daily experience taught the Pilgrim how great was the distance between Father Limberg and himself in the invalid's estimation a distance which he sought in vain to diminish. He jealously watched every word, every sign, with the hope of reading some trace of her preference for himself over the confessor, or even that she placed him on an equality with the latter ; but he watched in vain, and all illusion vanished on beholding " the immense power of obedience to his priestly word" or when he heard her exclaim in ecstasy : a I must have my confessor. The Pilgrim cannot help me, he cannot tell me. I must ask my confessor!" Sister Emmerich did, indeed, willingly consult the Pilgrim on all her affairs both within and without the house, her alms to the poor and sick, etc. But her interior was open only to the eye of Father Limberg ; he alone was the representative of God for her who, in waking or in ecstasy, knew but one law of action, viz., faith and obedience. As nothing was further removed from her heart than the desire of being treated by her confessor otherwise than as an ordinary Christian, so, too, was it utterly impossible for her to prefer contemplation to the practice of charity or any other virtue. May 9, 1820. — ■" Sister Emmerich had a vision last night which she distinctly remembered this morning. But, about eight o'clock, in came the mistress of the house with her baby and prattled until it was almost all forgotten. Since her last serious attack, she has suffered from great weakness of the head, which is aggravated by the noise of the workmen. The fragments preserved in these pages render sad testimony to the graces, the treasures, the richest and most abundant in fruits of salvation of any known ceive what a sea of bitterness surrounded the weary, suffering couch of Sister Emmerich's last years. The author of the present biography hesitates not to mention these facts, as they contain a faithful testimony to the ways by which it pleased Divine Providence to raise His servant to so high a degree of perfection. The habitual presence of the Pilgrim and the occasional sojourn of his brother, Christian Brentano, formed the school in which, in the midst of cruel sufferings, Sister Emmerich practised those eminent virtues that distinguished her: charity, forbearance, resignation. Christian Brentano looked upon her as a phenomenon in which he hoped to discover a confirmation of his pet theory, mesmerism ; whilst to Clement she was a pure mirror whose lustre should be tarnished by no exterior influence, upon which he alone was to gaze. However different the light in which the two brothers regarded her, yet both agreed in this, that she should be withdrawn from every special contact with the outer world arid become inaccessible to all but themselves. It was the working out of this scheme, though with the very best intentions on the part of its authors, that was to put the finishing stroke to Sister Emmerich's sanctification. Visions Foreshadowing Sister Emmerich's Death. February 28, 1820. — " Four sufferings have been announced to me," said the invalid, "one of which and the most painful of all will arise from a misunderstanding between the Pilgrim and his brother. I had also another vision which tormented me. I was in the greatest distress, I felt as if about to swoon, and I wanted *oine water; but it was so muddy that I could not drink it. Then appeared two men. One wanted to relieve me by giving me cherries from a tree that stood in shifting, marshy soil in which it swayed two and fro with its fruit on the extremities of the lower branches ; there were no cherries high up. He climbed the tree with difficulty to get the fruit because the water was bad. Then the other began to reproach him, to quarrel with him about the trouble he was giving himself. He would fatigue himself, he said, he should have done so and so, etc.; and they disputed the point so warmly that the first came down from the tree and both went off in opposite directions, leaving me there in my great need abandoned and alone. I have been thinking all day of that distressing scene, and I feared it might mean the Pilgrim and his brother." — The cherries produced by the tree growing in marshy ground, denote good intentions, benevolent assistance, springing not from motives of faith, but from human considerations and preconceived opinions, none of which were based on very reliable foundations (1). The marshy water signifies water flowing not from the pure source of divine love, but rendered turbid by self-love and an obstinate attachment to one's own views, which cannot furnish a just appreciation of the invalid's state nor afford real refreshment. March 4th — The Pilgrim writes : " Sister Emmerich did not, at first, want to relate what she had seen, but after awhile she yielded — trouble with the Pilgrim ! It has been shown her now for the third time. — 'I saw myself/ she says, ' laid by my confessor and the Pilgrim in a wheatfield in which the ears were ripe. I wanted to rest there awhile ; but no, they hurried me off into a gloomy dark room. The Pilgrim was very angry with me, although I had done nothing. — We were widely separated. When he spoke to me so harshly, I saw the devil behind him with (1) January 10, 1820, Sister Emmerich remarked to the Pilgrim : " I have had a vision relating to your brother. He will cause disturbance here. He has false ideas of my case, and I saw the Abbe Lambert much annoyed by him. I thank God for showing me this, for preparing me for it. I shall bear it all for my humiliation.1'
one hand on his shoulder. It seemed as if the Stations of the Cross passed before me, at each of which I found myself still further from the Pilgrim. Behind the Crucifixion, I saw the devil about to attack me. I drove him away and continued to gaze after the Pilgrim, who at last began to return. I resolved to receive him more kindly than ever." Sister Emmerich's humility led her to take all the blame upon herself and to redouble her kindness and patience toward the Pilgrim. She hoped thus to finish the task undertaken with his assistance. His withdrawal from her in proportion as she followed the Stations of the Cross signifies his ever-increasing discontent and coldness with the vexatious consequences resulting therefrom. Like new and sorrowful stations, they strewed the pathway of her life. But he would not understand her admonition. In his journal we find the following note : u She has become ridiculously faint-hearted and self-reproachful, as if seeking to annoy her hearer ! She weeps and torments herself about faults she may possibly commit, and she cannot arise from her pitiable state of discouragement." Shortly after we find the following record of Sister Emmerich's words : u My Heavenly Spouse has told me not to torment myself. He will not impute the fault to me. I must follow the middle course/' words which, though carrying with them a most striking signification, the Pilgrim declares imcomprehensible. The invalid was placed between her confessor and the Pilgrim. She had to maintain peace between them, exhorting the former to forbearance and the latter to the restraint of his fiery, impetuous nature. It was with good reason she responds to his impatient strictures : u The Pilgrim has not understood me since Christmas. He is against me !"
Easter of 1820 brought Sister Emmerich the last joyful Paschal solemnity she was to have on earth. The Pilgrim thus describes it : u On Easter morn, I found the invalid, who only the day before was a picture of woe, truly resuscitated. She was beaming with peace andjoy ; her words, her whole demeanor breathed fervor and the inward sentiment of the Redeemer's resurrection. The sentiments of her soul imparted an indescribably noble air to her every look and gesture. She had heard the songs of the parishioners as; toward one in the morning,they marched through the streets of Dulmen. They were headed by the burgomaster, who bore the crucifix which had lain in the church on Good-Friday and which the pastor had placed in his hands for the nocturnal procession by virtue of an ancient privilege. Those canticles of joy were repeated by thousands of peasants and their children, many of whom from Good-Friday had neither eaten nor drunk, and who after their hard day's work had spent most of the night in making the i Way of the Cross.' These sounds had reached her bed of pain, and in vision she had followed the praying and chanting multitude. She afterward explained with deep emotion this custom of olden times. It seems that an epidemic having once carried off all the priests, the burgomaster on this sacred night took the crucifix from the Holy Sepulchre and bore it processionally around the city followed by the citizens. The pestilence ceased. From that time the privilege of carrying the crucifix belonged by right to that functionary. It is also the custom on Holy Saturday when the new fire is blessed, for the sacristan to light little fagots at it and distribute them to the people. The Pilgrim, having brought one home with him, placed it on the invalid's bed as she lay in vision. In a moment or two, she exclaimed : * How came that charred wood on my bed V and then, holding her hand over it as if warming herself, she said: i That is holy fire, just kindled in the Church. She has a new light to-day, a new fire, though many, alas! are not warmed by it !" A few days later, we find recorded in the ever-faithful journal the following instruction given her by her angel : — UI was very sick, and I laid before God my distress and desire to be freed from household cares and visitors : for instance, the Abbe had yesterday six guests to dinner, some priests who are visiting him and my brother's chidren. But my guide reproved me, saying that I should remain on my cross, for Jesus came not down from His. The less I worry about such things, the more surely shall I receive assistance. I had a long instruction on this point. " Shortly after follows some intimation of the old Abbe's state : — u The Abbe Lambert daily grows worse and needs many attentions. Sister Emmerich regards his state as critical and looks forward to the worst. She has had a vision of his interment. She saw a corpse borne out with lighted candles. She ran to see where it would be laid and found it to be in the neighboring cemetery. At the entrance two souls clothed in white stopped her ; they extended before her a white veil through which she could not pass. Then she begged to be allowed to take upon her the Abbe's pains. She was fully aware of their nature and grievousness, the good old priest being threatened with inflammation of the bowels. She spoke of the debt of gratitude she owed him. The Pilgrim and his brother found her very miserable, the noise of the ninepin-alley under her window distressing her greatly. Christian Brentano thought she ought to be moved to another house. He is convinced that all might be satisfactorily arranged by earnest remonstrances."
April 24th — "The Abbe is better; he is more cheerful and his foot less swollen. 6 1 must/ says Sister Emmerich, 'leave the rest to God. I cannot free him entirely from suffering. When he came weeping and afflicted at the prospect of moving I saw that if mortification set in, he could not live more than four days ; so I begged God to send me his sufferings, that he might not die unresignedly. Instantly my pains increased and the Abbe was relieved. I hope he will soon be able to say Mass again.7 — But she herself has scarcely strength to speak. When the Pilgrim told her that a decree had been issued at Berlin forbidding the professors of Minister to lecture, because the Vicar-General had prohibted the students from frequenting Bonn, she was deeply distressed. She said : ' Not what I now hear afflicts me most, but the far worse things in store for the future ! I see them in vision, but I cannot describe them. I have earnestly prayed for this affair, for I have been expecting it ; but it will yet be worse !' — And falling into contemplation, she exclaimed : L Liborius defends me at Paderborn where they are abusing me !' " April 25th — u The Pilgrim asked the invalid if she would not consent to a change of lodgings and separate from her sister Gertrude ; but her only answer was that she could not. He would not accept her excuse, feeling convinced that, were she so disposed, the change might be easily effected." Sister Emmerich was, on this occasion, very much dejected by the pertinacity of the Pilgrim and his brother so anxious to carry out what they looked upon as benevolent intentions in her regard. She had the following vision on the subject: u Quantities of flowers lay scattered around me. With them I had to twine a garland. I had already advanced far in my task when there arose around me a green thorn-hedge, the thorns turned outward as if to form a barrier of protection. It was covered with numbers of tiny flowers on pedicles as fine as linen thread ; they were sky-blue with red centres. They had five stamens like a silver hammer on which rested dew of marvellous sweetness. The flowers grew among other plants and I wanted to gather them. But the Pilgrim and his brother opposed it. They said that it was not worth the trouble; however, I snapped off a thorn from the hedge and drew some of the flowers out with it." — The tiny blue flowers signified the little virtues of patience and meekness which she was then practising in the midst of her friends and her domestic cares. Of their merit she would be deprived if, in accordance with the Pilgrim's advice, she changed her abode and manner of life. The thorn-hedge, the living barrier around her, symbolized the prohibition of her angelic guide and the sufferings of her daily life. The Pilgrim, however, was unwilling to comprehend the lovely vision in this way. He objected that the flowers signified her complaints under trifling sufferings to which she ought not to be so sensitive. His remarks greatly troubled the poor invalid who, as the journal informs us, u wept bitterly, calling God and His Holy Mother to witness her affliction, since she knew not how to help herself, how to rise above her misery. They might, she said, represent her faults to her without disguise." That the Pilgrim understood not the drift of this prayer, his journal testifies in these words : "She was quite overcome by sadness and desolation, though seemingly without cause. It was only a temptation, which, alas! she bore so impatiently that the Pilgrim was a little tried with her." On May 1st — Sister Emmerich related the following : " Again I saw the little flowers, but they were all trodden down and destroyed by the Pilgrim and his brother. I wept at the sight. I stuck among them the cross of my gray robe, and, to my great joy, up sprang a thick sod all around. I had also a vision of a fire in the Abbe Lambert's room ; it burned over him in his bed. It was formed of many tongues of flame which suddenly uniting rushed down the kitchen toward the staircase. I saw, too, many things connected with him, different people and details which however I no longer remember. I was so alarmed that I awoke. There flew out of the fire upon me a cloud of little crosses that quite covered my gray robe; that, too, frightened me greatly. But two blessed spirits like the Apostles appeared and told me not to be alarmed, that I had already consumed the most of these crosses ; and indeed, they were perfectly black and only a few were left. I awoke from this vision in fright." May 2d — u Sister Emmerich changed her room to-day for another further removed from the noise of the carpenters. Into it her canary had previously been taken. For three years she had raised the little creature in a nest on her bed. It had become so tame, so fond of its mistress, that it never left her. Whenever she was sick, its whole body swelled up and it fell down by her side as if dead. When it saw her enter the new room, its excitement was something remarkable ; it hopped joyfully over the bed and gave every sign of satisfaction. But when it perceived her suffering state down it fell on its side ; one would have thought it dying. After some moments Sister Emmerich made a sign with her hand for it to enter its cage. Its liveliness returned, it pecked at its feathers for joy, and swung itself in its ring. A lark, which had been tamed in the same way, unfortunately met its death one day in the kitchen fire. It used to sing its song on Sister Emmerich's bed; and hop from side to side 5 even if chased in that direction, it would not fly toward the window. If any one spoke unkindly to its mistress, it would pursue the unlucky individual to the door, screaming around his head. Sister Emmerich often spoke feelingly of the bird's wonderful attachment." May 6th — "I have had a vision of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist and I saw several scenes illustrative of his relations with the Lord. He asked me : i If the Lord were now to visit thee and wanted to eat with thee, what wouldst thou set before Him, for thou hast nothing V I answered : 'I would give Him myself, I have nothing else/ And then, indeed, the Lord did come to me and my whole soul melted into sweetness. Next morning, when I received Holy Communion, with ardent desires I offered myself to Him in sacrifice !" May 17th — " I have had a short vision of St. Paschal. I saw that he had a vehement love for the Blessed Sacrament which he went to adore whenever he possibly could. He was deprived of It for a time as a trial, from which privation he suffered much, although he received spiritually in his cell. This vision was vouchsafed me for my own consolation, since Dean Overberg gave me little hope of permission to communicate daily. I would often languish, did I not receive spiritually. Once, when my un worthiness prevented my approaching the Holy Table, I saw St. Gereon, in his military dress, going to church on Christmas day. He had intended to communicate j but beholding over the altar an apparition of Jesus on the cross, the Blood from His Side dripping into the chalice, he was filled with fear at his own unworthiness, and-dared not receive the Holy Sacrament. I saw that for a long time he dared not communicate ; at last, Mary appeared to him. She told him that, if he allowed himself to be deterred by the vision he had
I had a long talk about you with my confessor." Then she laid before him many reasons why he should overcome his impatience, treatFather Limberg with greater consideration, and try to suit himself to her position, as it was not in her power to change it. He assured her that sbe mistook the cause of his chagrin ; that it was the confusion and disorder that distressed him ; that he had indeed hummed an air, but only to repress his vexation, etc. u Nevertheless," he continues, "she would have the last word and ended by bursting into tears. She has thought the Pilgrim unreasonable all this Lent, whilst he is only distressed that the most magnificent visions are not recorded. If the confessor is worried by him, it is all his own fault. He is incessantly repeating that the Pilgrim and his brother are too learned for him, that they judge too severely, etc. It is all his own distrustful spirit, his unwillingness to accept advice ! v Sister Emmerich having remarked that she had seen many things which her weak state and domestic affairs forbade her communicating, as for instance, a long vision on the Magnificat and the ancestors of Mary, her words fell like burning coals upon the Pilgrim. He exclaims bitterly : aYes, those people torment her, beset her, smother her like wool sacks ! And thus are lost things more wonderful than were ever before revealed ! Those miserable trifles for which all is sacrificed drive one to desperation ! " June 19, 1820. — u The invalid received the following instructions from her angelic guide : " 'Be not distressed, if thou now seest fewer details on the relics of the saints. Thou hast now another task before thee. It will*be enough for thee to recognize them in ashort vision; thou canst no longer spend so much time in it. There is something else now to be done. Relate thy visions as before, Hold for truth what
598 Ufe of thou seest, and repeat all to thy confessor, whether he be inclined to listen or not/ — My angel spoke to me in words like the above. They consoled me, and I think I shall not die yet." It soon became evident that her angel's words referred to the communication of her visions on the l Life of Christ/ her last and most painful task. She had had all her life the clearest intuition of the earthly career of her Divine Spouse, she had imitated Him most faithfully, conformed her every action most closely to His ; but now, she was to contemplate Him, no longer for herself alone, but that she might make to her contemporaries a recital which by its fidelity to life, its unadorned simplicity, its perfect concordance with the holy Apostles and Doctors, would lead numbers of souls to the knowledge of the truth, and increase in others the fervor of piety. As this Divine Life has already appeared in German and French, mention will be made in the following pages of only the circumstances attendant on its recital. Her task began toward the latter part of July, 1820, and by the end of August, the Pilgrim rejoiced over the rich harvest he had been able to gather. September brought with it increased sufferings and domestic cares, to the infinite disgust of her amanuensis, and we again find his journal teeming with such words as the following: "She thinks her pains have caused her to forget everything, she has nothing to communicate; but the real cause is anxiety about her nephew who has been enrolled for military service. — All these vexations fall upon her. He was here last evening and this morning and, as she interests herself in his affairs, woful disorder necessarily follows. This is the reason of her inability to relate her visions. When the Pilgrim expressed his regret,she was troubled. If he very naturally feels impatience at her waste of time and strength on such things; she is ever ready to tax him with injustice; and yet, his only motives are those of duty and charity." Some days later, three of her fellow- religious visited the invalid. The journal remarks : u By their empty talk they made her forget her visions." — And again : u The Pilgrim is very sad at being able to gather so little in the celestial garden opened by God in this soul, but which is carelessly, stupidly, ignorantly allowed to go to waste. 0 how heavy is the heart of him who records this ! And yet, it must be done ! Where lies the fault, the Pilgrim knows not. Of one thing, however, he is certain : the confessor could remedy much, yes, all of it — but he cares not ! The Pilgrim complained to him of the disorder around Sister Emmerich's sick-bed ; but he soon saw that his words gave offence." From these records we may easily form some idea of the difficulties the poor invalid had to contend against in her communications with her impetuous, but highly appreciative friend. Whilst sympathizing largely with her, we cannot wholly ignore the fact that Brentano, also, held a most unenviable position near her. It must certainly have been most grievous to him to witness what he terms the loss of treasures so rich. We feel inclined to forgive his chagrin and impatience in consideration of the motives from which they spring. In September, the confessor found it necessary for the sake of peace to withdraw the permission accorded the invalid to recount her visions. The result of his prohibition was the following touching picture which deeply affected the Pilgrim :
The Dying Nightingale, "I saw a shining table on which lay a number of groschens in a semi-circle. Just below the empty space I stood with my guide. Behind the table was a row of magnificent flowers. The flowers were mine, the table was mine, the treasure, the groschens, were mine ; but, where I stood, there was nothing. I could touch neither the table, the flowers, nor the money. Then my guide stepped before me, a dying nightingale in his hand, and said : 'Thoushalt no longer have these flowers, these pictures, these treasures, since the means of making them known (for which end alone they were given thee) have been withdrawn. As a proof of what I say restore life to this bird with the breath of thy mouth. ? — He held the bird to my lips and I breathed into its beak. Life and strength and song returned, after which my guide took it away. Then all vanished, all became dead and mute. I saw nothing more." And now the journal laments : u Her memory is almost entirely gone} she can relate nothing ! Things seem to her as if they happened long ago. i Because/ she says, k my misery increases and they leave me no peace to recount the holy things shown me as I should, God has withdrawn them from me. When peace returns, my visions also will return.' She begged the Pilgrim with tears not to render her sufferings intolerable : l You think not of the pain you inflict ! God alone knows it, to Him alone can I complain I I have constantly before me the dread of some new suffering. * — -She speaks incessantly of her unknown sufferings. Her expressions are fretful, she is captious and easily wounded. The Pilgrim ascribes it to the loss of her sublime visions and consolations,"— so runs the journal. As on similar occa sions, Sister Emmerich now had recourse to her spiritual director, Dean Overberg (1). She wrote to him and deputed F. Niesing, the chaplain, to describe to him her situation and receive advice ; for, as she declared to the Pilgrim, it was only in obedience that she found the strength necessary for the task of communicating her visions. She took this step with Father Limberg's approbation. u Dean Overberg/7 she said, u was the first to tell me to communicate all to the Pilgrim, and he often reiterated the injunction. But the permission was given some time ago ; it must be renewed to be effective." The Pilgrim could not hide from himself the gravity of the affair. He writes : u She is still deprived of her high contemplations, still without memory, very suffering, and apparently very anxious about some impending evil. What it is, one cannot imagine, and it is useless to torment one's self about it." He went himself to Minister to demand of the Dean a renewal of his powers which the latter granted, exhorting him, at the same time, to patience in the midst of the incessant and exceedingly vexatious interruptions of which he so bitterly complained. Father Limberg likewise withdrew his interdict, and Sister Emmerich could again relate her visions. Some days before, being in ecstasy, she exclaimed ; u I see a heavenly garden full of magnificent fruits, but it is closed to me. My guide says I am not now able to bear the fruit." u I have had a vision of my death?I saw myself dying,not here but out in the fields. I fell from swoon to swoon. St. Teresa was by me, as also the holy little nuns who are always with me. It seemed to me that I was again able to (1) When the noble old man heard of the AbbS's Illness, he at once offered assistance " See," he writes to Sister Emmerich 4k that the Abb6 Lambert wants for nothing that could strengthen, relieve, or recreate him in his sickness. I shall be responsible Xor all extra expenses."
the hand. I was goirigto stop my Work and turn toher. But she put her hand on me and told me to go on sewing, for my labor was more useful than veneration ; it was serving the Infant Jesus. Then she showed me a scene from her own life, the Infant Jesus sitting on her robe on$ day whilst she was working for the poor. He did not say a word until she had finished. She helped me." Dec. 5, 1820. — I have had a sad vision. I saw that after the Abbe's death, my enemies tried to steal me away and shut me up ; but they were prevented by some unforeseen obstacles. I was in great fear on seeing them around me again. — Then, in another vision, I saw that I shall be moved by my friends, the Pilgrim insisting on one place, his brother on another. I suffered much from their discord." (This vision was literally fulfilled on the day of the Abbe's interment). December 9th — " Last night I gave the Mother of God no rest. I sat by her busily sewing on a cap. I showed it to her, telling her it was for her Child, and that she must give some relief to the Abbe Lambert. I gave her no peace ! It was very hard, but I kept on saying: c You must! You must V — I only begged for him to suffer patiently, that nothing might prejudice his soul, only a little relief! But I had to take much upon myself, for I was answered : 'Sufferings must be endured !? As I thus pleaded, I saw all at once numbers of sick throughout the world. Again I was told : ' This one thou must help and that one/ and they passed before me in succession. Thus I spent the greater part of the night in prayer, labor, and visiting the sick ; but at noon, when the Abbe sent me his greetings, saying that he felt better, that he had eaten with appetite, I was truly rejoiced." December 10th — " Again did Mary speak to me in con fidence. She told-me that her pregnancy had not been burdensome to her ; that she had felt, at times, interiorly elevated, transported out of herself. She encompassed God and man, and He whom she bore carried her. I must make Him a little crib. Mary told me to recite daily nine Aves in honor of the nine months she bore the Saviour under her heart." December 14th — u The Pilgrim found the invalid preparing bandages for the Abbe. She had seen in vision that he had had a profuse hemorrhage; in fact, when he attempted to rise this morning, blood gushed from his mouth, and he was obliged to remain in bed. She wants to get a man to sit up with him, but he is not willing for it. She herself lay all night in frightful convulsions with none to assist her/' u It is astonishing that, in her miserable state, she can remember anything. In the midst of the cruel sufferings which she shares with the sick Abbe, she was besieged by visitors and in the afternoon she took so much trouble with the newly-washed linen that her cramps returned." u She is so taken up with the Abbe that she forgets all else ; she related very little to-day. The thought of all these wonderful visions on the mystery of Redemption, so badly preserved, so lightly esteemed, breaks one's heart! Jesus was, indeed, sold for thirty pieces of silver !" December 16th — "She has been sewing for the sick Abbe and her countenance wears an expression of suffering and annoyance. Her cheeks are wet with tears, her head aches violently, she vomits blood, her side bleeds, and again does she endure the pains of retention. When asked if these are not some of the Abbe's pains, she does not deny that they are. Advent is for her ordinarily the most joyous season of the year. Last year she was in constant con templation, singing canticles of praise in Mary's honor; but now sufferings and annoyances overwhelm her. She communicates only fragmentary visions." December 17th — u The Pilgrim found her to-day very much affected, the Abbe Lambert having dragged himself on his crutches to see her for the last time, to bid her adieu. The poor old man wept, and said he would never see her again. Father Limberg looked on with compassion. l Sister Emmerich,' he remarked. L will never again find so faithful a friend/ and he begged God not to let her survive him long." December 19th — " She was very much exhausted to-day. She spent it in attending to the linen of the Abbe. At night she takes his sufferings upon herself as they are generally worse then. She has been accustomed to do this from her earliest childhood, curing ulcers by sucking them, etc. Compassion urges her thereto. She once cured her mother of erysipelas by her prayers and simple remedies. Her confessor sometimes dissuades her from such things, telling her that all is purely natural, that only ordinary remedies ought to be applied." December 20th — u Sufferings, annoyances, graces, and great patience. She is- worn out by her labors of last night. ( I was/ she said, i in the garden of the Nuptial House where all that is beneficial to mankind may be found. Five roads lead thereto from all parts of the world ; in the midst of it stands a building with many gates from which are distributed all kinds of good and salutary things. I saw many people there, among whom I recognized the three young girls and the four men who labor with me. There was also a Crib with pictures of the Holy Innocents and of Herod's punishment for having tried to frustrate the coming of the Saviour0 I was told how they apply to the present j
606 Lift of viz., to those who seek to destroy in the world the fruit of His coming. I had to pray for all who are preparing to celebrate the Holy Feast of Christmas, that they may cast out the old leaven and with Christ become new men in the Church. I saw all around in the distance numbers of men whom I had to take up and carry ; they were all hindered, opposed in various ways. I had to carry and drag many ecclesiastics and heavy people. I would have been willing to carry the old Abb6, but I was told that he must creep along by himself. I had to carry the Pilgrim, though I could not see why he was unable to get along; he was on a very smooth road. Then the vision changed into a church and a magnificent festival ; but I cannot describe it, I am worn out ! The scenes followed one another in rapid succession. " This vision was followed by a great increase of suffering. For several days with frightful retchings she vomited blood and water almost every half hour, which weakened her so that she could scarcely speak. In this she clearly recognized her mission to obtain for impenitent sinners the grace of conversion. December 23d — u Sister Emmerich was found this morning perfectly insensible and Father Limberg, who was obliged to go to the country, sent Father Niesing to recite over her the prayers for the sick. This Father Niesing did from the 6 Little Book of Benedictions/ by Martin Cochem, and the invalid returned to consciousness ; or, as she herself expressed it, she could again think. Her pulse was hardly perceptible, she was stiff and cold, she could not speak. An hour after, Father Niesing repeated the prayers, when she opened her eyes, moved a little and, at last, sat up in bed exclaiming : i See, what prayer and the hand of the priest can do ! Last night I suffered everything. I had pains all over me and burning thirst. I did not dare to drink, and indeed, I cannot do so yet. At last, I fainted. I thought I should surely die, for all night I was like one in agony. I wanted only to think the holy names Jesus, Mary, Joseph ; but I could not even remember the words. Then I felt how little man can do of himself; he cannot even think on God, unless God give him grace to do so. My very desire, however, was an effect of that same divine grace. 1 knew when Father .Niesing came, yet I could neither move nor speak. I knew, likewise, that he had the little book with him and I hoped he would pray. When he began, his compassion penetrated me like warmth. I regained consciousness, and with deep emotion I felt that I could again remember the names Jesus, Mary, Joseph ! Life was a gift of the priestly blessing." That evening she again begged a benediction and asked also for the relic of St. Cosmas. Next day, she relapsed into a miserable state, though she was able to articulate. ' I pressed the relic to my heart/ she said : i I saw the saint by me and a stream of warmth passed over me. I have now a little more life, though I am full of racking pains. My greatest torment is thirst, but I dare not drink. ? All Christinas Eve she lay like a corpse ; but since her increase of suffering the Abbe Lambert is better." Sister Emmerich begged the Pilgrim to defer his visit next day till noon, as she had need of repose, which request gave rise to the following lines in his journal : — " Her request is like an insinuation that the Pilgrim is troublesome, as if he were ever willing to prove such to her. He cannot understand it ! It saddened him during the holy night ; he knows not why he should be made to suffer so ! At noon, when he saw her, she was cured, cheerful, though weak. ' I received at the Crib/ she said,
Jesus Crucified. In a few instants she was deep in ecstasy) her whole person became light as a feather, and to the marks of pain on her countenance succeeded a radiant expression of peace and joy. The Pilgrim can express the brightness, the beauty that shone on her features only by one word, she was perfectly luminous. Her confessor presented the prayer-book to her j she took it and, her eyes still closed, continued reading the prayer to the end.7' December 2!)th ~u She has been taking a little barley broth every evening since Christmas, but she throws it off immediately. She cuts out and distributes clothes for poor children. She is very anxious about the Abbe." December 31st — u Sunday. She confessed yesterday and was to have communicated to-day j but her confessor went on a mission to the country and forgot to engage some other priest to carry her Holy Communion. Her countenance wears the distressed expression of one who languishes with weakness. She shed tears, and she was not disposed to relate her visions — in truth, that is no rare thing now! She seems to attach very little weight to the admonition she receives from her angel to relate all, and the visions themselves seem to be a worry to her ; she is always praying to be delivered from them. She still declares to the confessor that her guide has told her to send for the Pilgrim's brother, as she has something to tell him ; but Father Limberg wants her to wait until he comes of his own accord. This brother sees in her state only a case of mesmerism ; he judges whatever he beholds in her by this erroneous standard. ' But/ she says, i it is not my affair ; it is God's. I see how much annoyance that person will yet cause me. My guide told ine that even the ignorant Landrath had more correct ideas of me.' " January 1; 1821. — "I was at the Crib last night and I begged for just a little relief — that God would, at least, take off one burden, free the poor child from its dreadful cough . but I was not heard, I received no encouragement. I had a real struggle with God. / laid before Him His promises. I named those to whom they had been made, those to whose prayers He had listened) but I was not heard I I learned that I should be still more severely tried this coming year. I implored God to withdraw my visions, that I may be relieved of the responsibility of communicating them. In this, also, I was not heard. I received, as usual, the injunction to relate what 1 could, even if I should be ridiculed for it, even if I saw no utility in it. I was told again that no one had ever had visions of the same kind or in the same measure as I ; but it is not for myself, it is for the Church. I saw St. Joseph clearly, distinctly. —He was old, thin, and bald, but with ruddy cheeks. I entered into conversation with him, laid before him all my needs, and he told me to abandon myself entirely to God; that he, too, had had great trials before the angel told him that the Infant was of the Holy Spirit and that he was to be the Mother's protector ; again when he had to go unexpectedly to Bethlehem and found there no lodgings ; and, when from Nazareth where he had hardly begun to feel at home, he had to flee into Egypt, the Child scarcely nine months old. He uttered not a word, but hastily got together some clothing, some bread and a pair of small flasks, laid them on the ass and set out by night, thinking : God has ordered it. He will direct all things. Once he met numbers of serpents in the wilderness, and he thought : Now it is time for God to help j and he prayed for assistance. An angel appeared, and the serpents fled. I saw the whole scene, great serpents crawling out from among the bushes. — But, I interrupted, it was easy for him to endure such trials, since he had Jesus with him. He answered only by a look that silenced rae, and he bade me prepare to be well tried this year. I thought yesterday I should have much to suffer in three weeks, or for three weeks." To this communication are appended the Pilgrim's own remarks which we give in all their ingenuousness, as he himself would have us do : u In praying for a withdrawal of her visions, the good Sister has made a very unwise demand which clearly proves her non-appreciation of what she sees ; for the only support and relief in her miserable state, in the midst of the disorder that surrounds her, is that highest prerogative of hers, the faculty of vision — and from it she begs to be freed ! It looks, indeed, as if she hardly knew what she requested. The refusal of her petition is the greatest favor shown her. She would like to occupy herself exclusively with the poor — and yet, she could hardly give them more time than she does. She devotes scarcely two hours a day to the Pilgrim, notwithstanding the order to recount all she knows (1). As an instance of what he has to endure, behold the following : — The miller's wife brought some flour the other day for the Abbe Lambert and asked, at th^ same time, to see the invalid, Sister Emmerich. The Pilgrim was at the moment writing by her bedside and the woman was kept waiting a minute or two in the ante-room ; but as soon as the Sister spied her, she got a scruple. fc We must not give scandal/ she said. 'The woman might make reflections on what she was saying to the Pilgrim; she might hear something/ etc., and she was all anxiety. The Pilgrim was, consequently, sent away till the afternoon, when very likely some new obstacle will arise to frustrate his work." " She is suffering with Lambert. Every evening brings (J) No, not all that she knows, but all that she is able to relate* fever and hemorrhages ; and several times in the day she is obliged to hold the sick child half an hour at a time, lest it stifle whilst coughing. ' I have/ she said, c continual visions of coming troubles. A white robe has been put on me and over it a black one, a black veil over a white one. There are many little crosses on the robe which I can put together ; among them three black ones tipped with gold and united into one. They lay on the robe, but when touched they sank in. I had also successive visions of great trials, no one any longer able to understand me. I was abandoned and ridiculed. I learned also that I should again take nourishment and be able to walk. My sister was not allowed to stay with me ; I was attended by some one else, and I was in another place. The Pilgrim brought me something to eat, but I could take only porridge, coarse bread, a couple of beans, and water. I was told that fruits, sweetmeats, and wines are poisonous to me. I saw, too, the experiments made upon me (1). u To-day her countenance is unusually calm and serene. She had herself carried to the Abbe, whom she found very weak. He wept on seeing her and again bade her farewell. She was so affected that she fell from swoon to swoon." lt She is again bright and cheerful, though very sad at the approaching death of the good Abbe. God gives her courage and consolation ; her resignation is His pure gift. She had a vison of Lambert's death : ' I thought I was by him, and I saw over him a great fire which vanished by degrees in a tiny flame.7 She recounted also a vision of a child sacrificed by the Three Kings before they had received the divine light. i When I saw on my right the horrible vision of the child's martyrdom, I turned away, but (1). All Oils we aiiall see literally verified.
there it was again on my left ! I begged God to deliver me from the awful spectacle, and my Spouse answered me : u There are still worse sights ! See how they daily treat Me all over the world !"— and then I saw priests in mortal sin saying Mass the Host like a little live child on the altar before them. They cut It and gashed It horribly with the patena ! Their sacrifice was murder. I saw in many places at the present day numbers of good people oppressed, tormented, persecuted- -It is to Jesus Christ Himself such injuries are offered. This is an evil age. I see no refuge anywhere. A dense cloud of sin hangs over the whole world, tepidity and indifference everywhere ! Even in Rome, I see wicked priests murdering the Child Jesus in their Mass. They want to exact something very pernicious from the Pope ; but he sees what I do and, whenever they try to approach him, an angel with a drawn sword repulses them.' " January 7th — " This morning calm and peaceful, toward noon anxious about the Abbe. When the Pilgrim returned about four o'clock, he found six children praying around the invalid's bed, on which was her little niece in one of the most frightful spells of convulsive coughing. Sister Emmerich's countenance had lost its serene expression; she asked for her confessor. As the Pilgrim could do nothing, he left perplexed and worried." The next day, the 8th, she recounted the following: u All day long, even when talking or doing my work, I see before me the sick Abbe with all his sufferings and interior dispositions. I see the temptations by which the evil one tries to drive him to despair. He reads him a long list of faults and omissions, and conjures up visions of his failings. This renders him more cowardly and impatient, makes him more sick. Then I pray, I labor, I make all kinds of representations to God I take upon myself the
January 11th — u Lambert's sickness increases, and Sister Emmerich is worn out with anxiety. She says Aie Abbe has still some distance to go through the darkness. She has gained a respite for him from death, that he may not have to remain long in purgatory. The child's fearful coughing-spells will help to obtain for him a peaceful death." January 12th — " She is very calm, thank God ! although in a pitiable state and in expectation of the Abbe's death. His strength has greatly diminished, and she is constantly praying for him. She is making a chemise for a poor child who was shown her as needing one." January 13th — aThe efforts she makes and the cares devolving on her, greatly tax her strength. She says herself that her burden is a heavy one. She looks perfectly exhausted and the perspiration rolls down her pallid face. She still supports the child in its spells of coughing." January 14th- u She related what follows: 'My mother appeared whilst the child was coughing, and consoled me. As long as she stayed, the child was relieved. She was more beautiful and luminous than usual, and I felt a certain awe in speaking to her. I did not see her all the time ; she vanished and reappeared. She promised me no help. I must suffer. The child also suffers and merits by it. I must persevere to the end. She showed me my sufferings and struggles as so many flowers, fruits, and crowns, and then as gardens and palaces, saying that what is there tasted and enjoyed is infinitely sweeter than mortal can conceive. — I am making in vision a painful journey with the Abbe. Sometimes he is quite near the Heavenly Jerusalem ; then he pauses, he has lost something which I have to take to him. T often pass over cemeteries where lies some one who has forgotten something which, with infinite toil and fatigue, I have to take to him over bad roads, the mud up to my waist. I have a thousand such tasks, and near by there is always some one to contradict me, to prevent my accomplishing anything.7 " January 15th< — u The Pilgrim found her in ecstasy. She bad had herself carried to the Abbe Lambert's room. As soon as she saw him, she fell into ecstasy, in which state she was borne back to her own room. When the Pilgrim entered, she seemed to be engaged in a very fatiguing spiritual labor. On returning to consciousness, she knew not where she was. l How did I get here V she asked. At Iiist; recalling what had happened, she said : ' I saw, when with the Abbe, that his soul still needed something and so, 1 went barefoot through the snow to the chapel to make the Way of the Cross for him. I saw that that would pay off all his debt. The road was difficult, my feet cold.' — The Pilgrim saw that the whole day was as good as lost. What could benefit mankind is thrown away uselessly, for she remembers very little compared with what she might were .she more favorably situated. It grieves him to record these lines, for it would be very easy to preserve all, were there ever so little order in the house. She breathes painfully and says : ' I feel that the Pilgrim is again dissatisfied, but I am not in fault.' — He would, indeed, be callous, were he not chagrined by this woful waste ! — That afternoon the Pilgrim found her in conversation with one of her old convent companions, a Miss Woltermann. He cannot understand how she can wear herself out entertaining such a person, especially as it makes her forget her visions. Whilst he sat lamenting the irreparable loss, in came her unmarried brother and the Pilgrim had to withdraw to the adjoining room, whence he could hear the tones of her voice in animated conversation. She did most of the talking.
When, at last, the brother took his leave, the Pilgrim again returned to his post,remarking that she had held a long and brisk conversation. l Yes/ she said, ' I spoke a little too much, for I said: What would have become of the poor Abbe Lambert , had he not fallen among strangers ? An ecclesiastic in the hands of his relatives, is like a bird in the hands of children ! I ought not to have said that to my brother/ " In the midst of her trials, Sister Emmerich was consoled by visions of her own childhood. "My deceased playmates took me with them to our old play-ground and to our crib. The ass was standing outside the grotto. I climbed on a mound and got on his back. i See/ said I to the children, L the Mother of God sat this way V — The ass allowed itself to be stroked and held around the neck. Then we all went to the crib and prayed. The children gave me apples and flowers and a rose-bush surrounded by thorns; but I refused them all. They asked me why I never invoked them in my needs; for they were ready to help me. L Men call so little upon the children, and yet they are very powerful with God, especially such as die shortly after Baptism. ? There was one such among them who told me that I had obtained his blessed death for him. If his parents knew it they would be displeased with me. Then I remembered his having been brought to me directly after Baptism, when I held him up and prayed God with all my heart rather to take him in his innocence than let him live to lose it. He thanked me now for having asked heaven for him and promised to pray for me. They told me to pray particularly that new-boi*n infants may not die without Baptism ; for, when we so pray, God promptly sends help. I often have visions of assistance so obtained/7 After some time, being in ecstasy, she called her confessor, saying : — u About five thousand are dying at this moment, among them many priests. We must pray that we may meet in the valley of Josaphat, and they will pray for us in heaven. The valley of Josaphat is not now far away, only a short distance — a broad wall black and gloomy! Godgrant them eternal rest and may the Lord enlighten them ! I see an amazing multitude in various situations. I am standing on an arch above the earth. From all points come rays to me through which I look as through a tube. I see the couches of the dying with their attendant circumstances; some are quite lonely and abandoned." January 17th — " Lambert had a hemorrhage last night to the fright of the invalid and the whole household. She has, consequently, been very much exhausted the whole day, and the confessor is on the watch that she may not be disturbed. As I write, she is coughing and vomiting blood ; but, for the rest, she is, day and night, in almost continual ecstasy, though of different degrees of absorption; she lives in one succession of marvellous visions. On no day yet, even amidst the most varied and complicated sufferings, have they failed ; besides those now usual to her on the ' Life of Jesus/ she has others as the feasts of the saints recur, not to mention her spiritual journeys, etc. Her courage seems to have increased with her pains, for she is calm and serene. After one of her severe spells of coughing, she exclaimed : 1 1 have to travel so quickly from country to country, the air makes me cough V On another occasion, she started up suddenly and looked around her for something; then, having found her crucifix, she said : 1 There is a bear lying in wait for me in a thicket through which I have to pass. If I have my crucifix, I can chase him away.? One could see she was on her way to the Holy Land for she spoke of the Life of Jesus and of the Jordan."
January 1 8th— u Lambert thought he was dying last evening and said to the Pilgrim : 1 1 am waiting God's call ! I pray Him, my dear sir, to reward you for what you have done for us ! I cannot do it myself V and, at the Pilgrim's request, he gave him his blessing. His countenance was full of quiet dignity. He is a little better now. In the morning in came the old sister-in-law for a visit, but the Pilgrim proposed to her to go make the Way of the Cross. Sister Emmerich is miserable, but always in contemplation. On the Abbe Lambert's condition, she says : c I cannot say how clear, how bright it looks to me. I see his soul like a little human figure of light hovering over his heart trying to go, trying to escape from the bonds that clasp it on all sides. It seems to be opening a way for itself, to be separating from the body, which is like a cloud torn asunder. I see its anxiety to get loose and the struggle to retain it. The body embraces it more closely, enfolds it more tightly ; it is again caught on one, or perhaps, on all sides. Sometimes it is surrounded by darkness, then by a fog, or again a ray of light breaks through to it, whilst a fire burns over the sick man all the time. And there, in the midst of it all, is the evil one constantly approaching with all kinds of torturing pictures, On the other side is his angel defending him, whilst bright rays fall upon him from his patron and other saints.' " On this same day, the Pilgrim wrote to Dean Overberg: u By the time these lines reach you, the Abbe Lambert may be no more. With full consciousness, he has received the Last Sacraments and general absolution. Up to the week before last, he recited his Breviary and, until the day before yesterday, he said the Rosary, a practice which he began as a student and never omitted a single day since. He now clasps it in his hands, his scapular on his breast.
Of Sister Emmerich I can say, with full and calm conviction, that of all the souls favored by God (and I have read the lives of very many) not one appears to me to have been so privileged and, at the same time, so neglected, so abandoned, $o tor-mented, so tempted as she ! But I still continue to gather roses on thorns, to collect the leaves so ruthlessly scattered, and to weep over others borne lightly away on the sudden breeze." January 1 9th — " As the Pilgrim entered to-day, the invalid awoke from vision, her countenance like that of a little child, half crying, half smiling, and she said plaintively : ' Now begins my misery ! The little Child has gone away ! Now it will begin ! The Child told me all, He spoke earnestly. — I was at the Crib and I felt a great desire to have the Infant Jesus, to talk with Him. When I left the grotto, I was taken up a little hill which stood in the midst of limpid water. The hill was covered with the finest grass, as soft as silk. I thought : How soft it is ! just like that under trees, and yet there are no trees here ! I was a little thing in my baby-clothes. I remembered them well — a little blue frock, and I had a switch in my hand. After I had sat there awhile, the Christ-Child came. I spread out my frock and He sat down on it. I cannot say how lovely, how charming the virion was! I cannot forget it and sometimes, even in my pains, I have to laugh for joy. The Child spoke to me so sweetly, told me all about His Incarnation and His parents ; but He reproached me very gravely for having complained, for being so cowardly. I should think, He said, of how things used to be with Him, what glory He had quitted, what snares had been laid for Him even in His earliest years, and to what a depth He had humbled Himself. Then He went over His whole childhood. O He told me so many things ! He told me how
Anne CatJierine Emmerich. 621 His coming on earth was retarded, because men opposed obstacles to it, blocked up the "way. He spoke of St. Anne's great merit, how high she stands before God, and that she had become the Ark of the Covenant. He told me of Mary and Joseph's hidden, unknown, and despised life ; and then I saw numerous pictures of it all. He related something relative to the Three Kings, of their wanting to take Him and His parents with them when they learned in a dream of Herod's rage. He showed me the treasures they had given Him, the beautiful gold pieces, the pure gold, and all sorts of things, particularly the lovely covers. He spoke of Herod's fury which had blinded him, had driven him to madness, and had made him despatch officers to seek the Child. But, as they sought only the son of a king, they passed over the poor little Jewish Babe in the grotto. When Jesus was nine months old, Herod, being still more disquieted and tormented, caused all the infants to be slain.' — Lambert rallies wonderfully from each attack, his wounds have lost their offensive odor and are now healed. He is more calm and serene, whilst Sister Emmerich's malady is greatly aggravated, her cough and hemorrhages more frequent.'' January 21st — -" Lambert's improved condition continues, whilst Sister Emmerich evidently grows worse* She had herself carried to his room and, in spite of her cough, had a long talk with him. St. Agnes appeared to her, consoled and exhorted her to suffer, for no pain is lost." January 24th — " Sister Emmerich's cough and oppression have so increased that she cannot speak ; she seems to be strangling. The confessor prayed over her. He laid his folded stole on her throat and breast, when she instantly fell into ecstasy, her face beaming and luminous, full of devotion, and innocent as a little child's. As often as the confessor made the sign of the cross over her, she took the posture of a devout worshipper in church, crossing himself at the blessing. Though perfectly rigid, she assumed this attitude each time the sign of the cross was made. When an action ceases in this state, the hand often remains immovable where the act ended ; for example, if making the sign of the cross, the hand sometimes remains resting on the right shoulder, but if the devotion continues, then the hands are laid one in the other, the fingers never clasped. When the blessing ended, she fell back gently on her bed, obeying in that movement a spiritual rather than a physical law. Attracted by the stole and the priest's hands, she moved toward the latter, until some one replaced her in her proper position when she became calmer and easier." Although Sister Emmerich, in the midst of her trials and sufferings, interrupted not the recital of her visions, yet we still find such words as the following in the Pilgrim's journal : u The greater part of these immense graces is going to waste, no importance is attached to them, etc.! It was to some such exclamation, we may imagine, that the invalid quietly replied : " Yes, that is what my Spouse told me last night when I complained to Him of my wants and misery, of my seeing so many unintelligible things, etc. He replied: 'I give thee visions, but not for thyself. Thou must communicate them that they may be committed to writing.' He added that this is not the time for miracles ; therefore He gives visions, to prove that He is with His Church till the consummation of ages. But visions save no one. Charity, patience, and the other virtues insure salvation ! Then He showed me a whole row of saints who had had visions of different kinds, but who attained beatitude only by the good use they made of them.' "
February 6th — u She is in a pitiable state, her suffering and inquietude increasing with the increasing weakness of the Abbe, She wanted to be taken to his room this evening, but she was not gratified. The Pilgrim found her almost unable to speak from weakness." February 7th, 1821. — " Lambert died this morning at a quarter after ten" Such are the words that record the death of this faithful friend of Sister Emmerich, and we cannot but regret their brevity on an occasion so painful to her. The obsequies of the Abbe Lambert were performed on the morning of February 9th. The former Superioress of the Augustinians, Mother Hackebram, purposed remaining with Sister Emmerich during the ceremony. She it was who had received the good Abbe as chaplain to the convent, thus giving rise to the spiritual tie which afterward bound him so closely to their common child, the favored stigmatisee, who ever^ regarded the good lady as her revered Superioress and Mother. The journal tells us : — u Whilst the funeral of the Abbe was taking place, the Pilgrim found the former Superioress by Sister Emmerich's bedside. Fearing her presence might incommode the invalid, he persuaded her to withdraw to the adjoining rocm, where he sat and entertained her. She is a good, simplehearted person. Through the open doorway he could see the invalid. As he gazed, she suddenly became rigid, her hands joined, her face expressive of fervent piety, the blood trickling from under her forehead-binder. ' It comes from the plain chant V she exclaimed. 'We are sitting as we used to do, facing choir and choir.' — And later, she said : *I had made the Way of the Cross, and I met the funeral near the churchyard. I saw many souls accompanying the procession, one of whom had a lighted taper. I assisted at the services and joined with great effort in the Office. I now see the Abbe in a celestial garden with other priests and souls like himself. In it are things corresponding to the pure root, to the spirit of their inclinations here below, without earthly admixture or deformity. I saw by him at his last hour St. Martin and St. Barbara, whose assistance I had invoked." Thus did Sister Emmerich perfectly fulfil the task announced to her by Sts. Augustine and Ignatius, thus had she prepared her worthy friend for a peaceful, blessed death ! How admirable are the ways of God ! The Abbe Lambert had been called from the heart of France to be the guardian of the soul who, perhaps, more than any other of her age, struggled and suffered for the most precious treasure of mankind, the Christian faith. Who was more worthy to stand by her side than the generous confessor who ^preferred exile and poverty to the betrayal of the Church ? From the very first, he had divined the mystery of Sister Emmerich's life and hence his great desire to conceal its treasures as well from herself as from the world at large. What must not the noble old man have suffered when he beheld her suspected, maltreated, branded as an impostor ? What must have been his feelings to hear himself denounced as the author of those mysterious marks, declared guilty by the Illuminati " of having made her wounds by artificial means, of having bound his victim to lifelong secrecy by most terrible oaths V} Did his enemies believe their own calumnies? This will be known only on the Judgment Day. Of one thing wTe are certain, the names of Lambert and Limberg will be pronounced with respect as long as the memory of Sister Emmerich shall be held in love and veneration by the faithful.
Aunt Catherliie Emmerich. 625 Ou February 8th, Friday before Sexagesima, Sister Emmerich was shown in vision her task for the coming Lent. "My Celestial Spouse has clothed me in a new black garment all strewn with little crosses. He presented the in one by one, asking me so sweetly if I would accept them. 'For/ said He, 'there are so few willing to suffer; and jet, so much sin to expiate, so many souls to be saved !? — Then I silently took aH the crosses. I was told that ] should wear the robe for ten weeks and that it would become a help to me. I was also told that ^6 want of intelligence in those around me respecting my state, is alone sufficient to cause my death; but I must suffer all patiently." The fulfilment of the preceding vision was not long delayed. Hardly was the Abbe buried when Sister Emmerich was amazed by the demand of Christian Brentano to change her lodgings and dismiss her sister Gertrude. The Abbe being no more, Christian Brentano thought the chief, if not the only obstacle to his cherished scheme was now removed. He and the Pilgrim were so sure of success that the latter enters into his journal the following lines : "Everything is arranged for the invalid's removal, a lodging hired at the house of the school-master, and measures agreed upon with Dean Kensing and the burgomaster. All is ready !" — But now arose opposition in another quarter as we see by the words : " The confessor will come to no decision, although he can give no good reason for thwarting the plan. At last, he resolves to apply to Dean Overberg, wants to go himself to Minister to take advice where never yet has advice been given. Sister Emmerich declares her inability to act without her confessor's co-operation. Things are in horrible confusion! The whole affair is tiresome, perplexing, incomprehensible !" Sister Emmerich seeing the storm gathering around her felt the necessity of coming to some decision and, on Sexagesima Sunday, having received strength in Holy Communion, she resolved to have an explanation with the two brothers, Christian and Clement Brentano, the latter of whom reports : u She has communicated ; she is strengthened and full of serenity. Past sufferings seem to her as nothing ; for, however miserable her physical condition may be, she is all day long in ecstasy. Her increase of strength to-day is a magical effect of Christ's presence within her ! My brother Christian visited her in the afternoon ; the Pilgrim followed him later. She was full of peace, mild,and kind. She made some remarks about certain things which she had to endure and of which complaints have already been made to her. But they were mere trifles, things for which we could make no satisfaction, as they were wholly without foundation. She said, for instance : c When the Pilgrim is here, he sends visitors away under the pretext that I am asleep, and many are vexed by it. My own relations complain that he prevents their seeing me, and even my good brother says he was sent away by him. The Abbe Lambert told the confessor how hard it was to put up with the Pilgrim. He is like a spy, he watches everything that goes on.' This must have been one of Lambert's last temptations ! It was, however,very humiliating to the Pilgrim to hear such things. Unfortunately, he cannot with truth promise amendment, though the invalid thinks all might be easily rectified. The confessor also had a word to say to the same effect, but he was very friendly, very kind and affable." The Pilgrim, however, despite the gentle remonstrance of the invalid and her confessor, seems to have insisted on a change of residence, as we may glean from the following entry in his journal: — u She has been ill, all night in convulsions. The Pilgrim found her in a pitiable state, though her soul is calm. She said to him : i My confessor bade me tell you that I am willing to change my abode ; but last night I received very clear and repeated warnings against it. The Abbe Lambert appeared and told me earnestly and decidedly that, if I did so, I would die before my time, after enduring unspeakable misery from the weakness of those around me. He chided me severely for having consented to the change. When about to excuse myself* and speak to him as I used to do, he said shortly : l Be silent and obey! We judge of things differently where I am.' Then falling into ecstasy, she said in a clear, firm voice which seemed to proceed from another, a very resolute person: c God must help me; or I shall die! Since I put on the black robe, I have been pierced through and through. I have seen all, I have heard all that, up to the present, has been said about my moving, as well as the sentiments of the individuals concerned. It is a terrible sight for me ! The wrath excited on my account and for which I really am not responsible, is for me a hell ! It may cause my death V " u The next day the Pilgrim did, indeed, find her perfectly disfigured in countenance and apparently at the point of death. All night she had had hemorrhages and during the day chills and fever. Once she held up her burning hands to her confessor, exclaiming : c Take away these hands ! They are not mine ; they belong to Francis P She became so much worse toward evening that, persuaded she was going to die, she sent, notwithstanding the late hour, for the Pilgrim's brother." February 14th — " Next morning she was deathly weak, but calm and peaceful. She could speak only in a whisper. ( I am still alive/ she said, ' by the mercy of God ! Last
CHAPTER 6. Sister Emmerich is taken to a New Abode. — Sufferings for Souls in Temptation, for the Agonizing, etc
After the Abbe Lambert's death, in February, 1821, Sister Emmerich received from Chancellor Diepenbrock, of the Chamber of Finances, father of Cardinal Melchior Diepenbrock, a kind invitation to come to Bocholt and spend the rest of her life in the bosom of his family. That she might not be deprived of his spiritual assistance, the position of almoner was offered to Father Limberg. Both the invalid and her confessor received this mark of benevolent sympathy with sentiments of liveliest gratitude. The Sister declared after reading the letter : — " Years ago when, in extreme distress, I cried out to God that I could not preserve my soul pure in the midst of my continued embarrassments, He told me to persevere to the end ; that when abandoned and despised by even my best friends, He would help me, I should have a short period of peace. I have always looked forward to this help." These words expressed a certain degree of willingness to accept the invitation. To her glance of inquiry, Father Limberg answered : "We will pray to know the will of God." Some weeks later Mr. Diepenbrock renewed his offer through his daughter Apollonia who had come to Diilmen to visit Sister Emmerich, accompanied by Miss Louise Hensel. In former years these ladies had spent some time with the invalid, Both were of the small number of intimate friends with whom she was ever spiritually united, interesting herself in their soul's affairs and following them with her prayers through all the paths of life. That Sister Emmerich made no attempt to conceal her joyful emotions at the generous offers made her ; that she should frequently and earnestly repeat words of gratitude ; that she should dwell with pleasure upon the thought of the cordial reception she would meet, was perfectly natural ; nor did such words militate against her settled conviction, her interior assurance that in the designs of God she would never quit Dulmen to end her days in a more agreeable or tranquil position. This conviction she succeeded in insinuating into Father Limberg's mind, though the Pilgrim and his brother were slow to relinquish the idea that her removal to Bocholt would be the greatest benefit to her. It would free her, as they so much desired, from those endless annoyances which opposed their own designs. Firmly persuaded that they were furthering her spiritual and temporal interests, these high-toned men, following the impulse of poetic and scientific tastes rather than a solid vocation to a more elevated life, perfectly ignored the fact that her departure for Bocholt could be a step more serious than a change of inns to a traveller. The Pilgrim says in his joun al : " In the midst of the confusion that surrounds her (1) and the phenomena wrought in her, phenomena which demand absolute retirement and the care of intelligent friends, her inveterate condescension leads her to entertain all sorts of people. They are good without doubt, but perfectly incapable of understanding her case. They are scandalized that others (the Pilgrim and his brother) should interest themselves in ameliorating her condition ; they stir up enmity and vain talk, whilst the invalid herself attributes all such annoyances to those who assist (1) Her exterior situation such as it appeared to him*
Anna Catherine Emmerich. 633 without troubling her. If she is not entirely sequestered ; if worldly affairs are not wholly retrenched ; if she dies not perfectly to the outer world, and ceases not to give long, private interviews, the disorder will never be remedied. The Pilgrim told her lately that she often speaks confusedly. She took his words very much to heart; her tears began to flow, and a copious hemorrhage followed." In July, Dean Overberg came to Diilmen and Sister Emmerich laid before him the whole state of affairs. She gave him an account of conscience, and received in return consolation and advice. She said: u He has taken all my scruples on himself, and nothing more has been said of a change of lodgings." — Some days after she repeated several times : " The devil tries to hinder what God demands of me. I see before me a large cross which seems to be constantly increasing I saw myself dying on a heath which I was crossing in a vehicle. To Bocholt I will go only in spirit They want to seize me and carry me off. " On the first of August, she exclaimed : "I feel such dread. I feel as if great suffering were coming upon me. " But the Pilgrim remarks after the above : " These are only the pictures of a fevered imagination. They are of no account whatever. . .." and again : "She has been in a miserable state all day, a prey to feverish delirium." On August 6th, however, it became evident that her agonizing presentiment was only too well founded. A carriage drew up before her abode with the Pilgrim and his brother to convey her to Bocholt. We find the incident recorded in the journal, as follows : " Madam Hirn and Dr. von Druffel arrived at noon (1)* There was much talk of the measures taken with His Excellency, the Prince-Bishop of Miinster, and the Dean. Every obstacle to the journey (1) on Brentano'g invitation.
634; Life of seemed removed, and various plans were proposed. Tke invalid became worse ; whereupon the confessor, contrary to expectation, opposed her being borne to the carriage. In his excitement, he had recourse to the strangest subterfuges. Dr.vonDrufFeland Madam Him represented to him that they had a written authorization from the Bishop for the invalid's removal. But even after it was produced, he would not yield. Dr. von Druffel retired in disgust. Madam Hirn imprudently mentioned to the invalid's simple brother that his sister was going away and he, naturally averse to such a step, repeated it to the perverse Gertrude — an explosion followed and the whole plan was frustrated !" Sister Emmerich was greatly distressed at beholding such discord on her account. To prevent further dissensions, she resolved to accede to the wishes of the two brothers as far as she could in accordance with the divine direction. Father Limberg, too, influenced by the fact of the Prince- Bishop's having lent his authority to a change of domicile, at last declared, in the name of God, that his penitent might remove to another lodging and dismiss her sister Gertrude. Sister Emmerich, wishing to have the approbation of her former Superioress in religion, Mother Hackebram, sent for her to this effect; but she being absent from Diilmen at the time, Sister Neuhaus, the Mistress of Novices, responded to the call. In her presence and that of her confessor, the Sister declared to the two brothers that she was now ready to obey any command laid upon her. Let us listen to the Pilgrim's account of the interview : — " That silly old Sister Neuhaus stormed at the Pilgrim's brother and would not let the invalid be removed. But he soon silenced her. The invalid said not a word to relieve his embarrassment, never hinted that it was her own wish to be moved. Such weakness and dissimulation wounded him, confirmed him in his bad opinion of her. Then the mistress of the house joined her reproaches to those of Sister Neuhaus. She declared that the Pilgrim was a con* stant annoyance to the invalid, etc. Here, again, the latter ventured not a dissenting word, which second evidence of dissimulation hurt the Pilgrim's brother still more deeply. Then came the sister and the child to swell the chorus. Madam Hirn declared that she would not leave the house until the invalid had been removed (1). At last, on the evening of the 6th, Sister Emmerich was taken from this abode of confusion (2). Although wholly unconscious, she inclined profoundly to the Blessed Sacrament when passing the church, and next day she said that she thought she had been carried through it. This fact is most impressive, and to the unbeliever instructive. When installed in her new abode on the first floor, the Pilgrim and his brother reproached her with not having seconded their efforts in her behalf. The latter told her in plain terms what he thought of her moral state (3) ; whereupon she fell into trouble and doubt and told all to her confessor, who likewise became monstrously uneasy ! — And so her misery recommenced and ended in renewed hemorrhages. But the expression of her countenance denotes the highest peace of soul" August 9th — "Sister Emmerich is extremely troubled by what the Pilgrim's brother said to her. Very probably, she (1) This good lady never had had any special relations with Sister Emmerich. That she should assume such authority over her is an additional proof of the way in which all believed themselves authorized to control this chosen soul. (2) And yet in this so called abode of confusion, Sister Emmerich was so loved and venerated that up to the year 1859, the owner, Clement Limber*?, kept the two small rooms she had occupied in the same condition as she had left them. After the publication of the first volume of her biography he sent to the author a written statement of his reminiscences of her which he retained unimpaired to an advanced age. (3) For a layman but lately returned to the practice of his religion, to pass so severe a judgment upon one who had ever been scrupulously faithful to her religious vows and to the direction of enlightened guides, was revolting injustice. Sister Emmerich's silence, so odious to Christian Brentano, was dictated by her sense of truth. She could no more contradict the statements of her friends respecting the annoyance to which the Pilgrim's exactions subjected her, than she could declare a forced assent to her removal for the sake of peace to be her own free will and desire.
does not fully understand the nature of his remarks, for she calls upon God and His justice. Still she is at times unspeakably calm j a very picture of peace" August 10th — u To-day she was very sick j she was covered with a copious sweat of blood and water. She is, consequently, unable either to speak or to move. But her countenance is indescribably peaceful, bespeaking the sweetest tranquillity and purity of soul. No words can say how gentle she is in her utter prostration ! Once she murmured : ' I am better now. I am always better when I am sick. Ignatius had ordered me to ask God for the true spirit of peace and understanding. I often received consolation through him, but we can never know how we stand with God." Sister Emmerich's deep and solid humility made her ever accept as true and deserved the accusations brought against her. She looked upon herself as the real cause of the u discord and irritation going on around her," as Mr. Christian Brentano expressed it. Just at this time, Almighty God recompensed her by the consoling view of her own manner of contemplation, as mentioned in Vol I., Chap. VIIL, in the vision beginning with these words : u When I saw these annoyances arise, etc." She was so strengthened and comforted by this sight that the Pilgrim remarks : " I found her this morning in vision softly singing canticles in Mary's praise. On awaking, she said : i I have been in a procession / and her countenance wore an expression of happy y peaceful gravity. This proves how detrimental it is to her soul to meddle in exterior affairs." Although Gertrude had been banished from the invalid's new abode and all the Pilgrim's plans seemed to succeed, yet she was not sufficiently isolated, he thought, as long as her little niece remained under her care. u The Pil grim asked her quite innocently," he writes, "if she did not intend the child to return to its parents — whereupon she complained that even the child would not be allowed to remain near her. Then he said jestingly : 'I know you so well that I venture to say, if you could, you would take your sister back again/ at which she began to weep." He was not, however, deceived in counting upon her submission ; for Gertrude was not recalled, and the little niece was sent home to her parents. "The child's return home," he writes, "gives the invalid so much anxiety that her visions are laid aside for the sake of a couple of linen caps; and so, once more, all is lost ! Since she has had perfect repose her communications have, in general, become dull and languid — a most singular thing since her confessor instead of opposing obstacles to them, seems now even anxious to encourage them." — Again, we read : "She is exhausted, but calm. Her communications are very unconnected, on account of the great effort it costs her to make them. This inability seems to have increased since her removal to her present peaceful abode She had beautiful visions of the angelic host, but their communication was postponed for some domestic trifle, the wash, perhaps ; and others very important have also been passed over in consequence of a very useless conversation with the Chaplain Niesing." In complaints such as the above closes the month of August which, however, had given an unusually rich harvest to her amanuensis. Sister Emmerich's almost passive submission to the Pilgrim's demands may, at first sight, seem inexplicable to the reader as it did to the writer of these pages ; but serious reflection upon the way followed by this favored soul presents her conduct under a different aspect. All that she endured from the communications of her visions had been amanuensis, her sweet condescension to his importunate demands, we behold in her actions a chain of sublime virtues, and a pledge of her fidelity to God. The Pilgrim himself, when viewed in this light, appears but as an instrument of Divine Providence. His proceedings lose much of their apparent severity, when we consider the zeal, the intentions that prompted them. Sister Emmerich saw in him only the instrument of God's inscrutable designs, by whose aid she was to attain perfection through the unremitting exercise of the most difficult virtues. She neither could nor would dismiss him. His presence was necessary for the perfect accomplishment of her mission. "The Pilgrim had now obtained what he had so long sighed for ; and yet, he was soon as dissatisfied as ever. A few days after the Abbe Lambert's demise, he renewed his complaints against Father Limberg for not discountenancing the visits of Sister Emmerich's former companions in the convent : — "After the death of the troublesome old Abbe," he writes, "the house became a perfect rendezvous for gossips and the most tiresome disorder reigned, instead of the peace that should have ensued. No measures were taken to secure rest to the invalid, and her sister became simply unendurable. It was not the Abbe who had disturbed the good arrangement of the household. He was, on the contrary, like a prop to support the pile of ruins 'neath which the poor little child of Mary struggles. When he was taken away, all fell upon her. There is no order, no discretion, only stupid eagerness in all that is done for her, whilst she herself receives visitors kindly, sends no one away, though wishing all the time that none would come !" A year after the Abbe's death, we read : "She often laments Lambert's loss, because whilst he lived, she could more frequently receive Holy Communion, the privation of which is most painful to her. She cares only for priests who can bless her, and give her the Bread of Life. He who would bring her Communion daily would be her best and only friend ; other kind services seem to make no impression on her. As the Pilgrim is not a priest, as he cannot bring her the Blessed Sacrament, she has no sympathy with him or his efforts in her behalf. Regardless of his feelings she exclaims in her spiritual hunger and weakness : 'I have no help, no consolation ! Even the Pilgrim is tired of me. I feel it more and more ! ' — All that know her must truly say that she never had more consolation than she has at present. How could she, surrounded as she was by endless cares? Her complaints proceed only from the privation of the Blessed Sacrament, after which she hungers." Dr. Wesener also kept aloof at this period in whioh, as her visions, her interior direction, and exterior events indicate, began a new era in Sister Emmerich's existence. The Pilgrim writes : u Dr. Wesener's absence saddens the confessor. The invalid was exhausted from her sufferings of the previous night. She says she abandons herself wholly to God. She does nothing to procure relief; but she seems to be in temptation, owing to old habits. She worries about the confessor, as also over the discontinuance of Wesener's visits, which, perhaps, God allows for some greater good." If the truth must be told, the good doctor came rarely now, that he might not encounter Brentano at the invalid's bedside. The wilful Gertrude was, at last, got rid of and her place near her sister supplied by a strange nurse ; yet the former had not left Dulmen and she came every week to see the invalid who, to the Pilgrim's intense disgust, received her kindly and even shed tears on seeing her. The nurse, too, soon came in for her share of his animadversion when he found her not only disinclined to vanish noiselessly on his approach, but even presuming to address herself to Sister Emmerich for advice, etc. He denominates her "Very unskilful, quite awkward and useless;" but the u unwearying condescension" of Sister Emmerich made her not only endure her patiently, but even ll work, sew for the old creature who can never finish anything herself; consequently the most important visions are laid aside." And again, " The invalid, alas ! is miserable to-day, full of care and anxiety, her wounds very painful,her hands constantly quivering. She wore herself out sewing and chatting with the old nurse. The minute or two granted to the Pilgrim were not seriously utilized. — She has neither will nor desire to communicate her visions ! One has actually to beg for them ! The Pilgrim asks for them only when he finds her ready to talk of other things wholly unworthy her attention. Each day brings irreparable loss. She is simply a mirror and, when speaking in vision, reflects perfectly all she sees. In her waking moments she passes over many points, through her disinclination to talk, and over other very important ones, through a thousand scruples arid prejudices. She is always ready with her convenient remark : ' YovUll find that in the Holy Scriptures? And if the Pilgrim replies no a thousand times, back she comes to her point ! She seems not to weigh the trouble she gives him. — Things are all just as they used to be in her old lodgings. Yes, she even complained to the Chaplain Niesing that the Pilgrim fatigues her by his importunities though, in truth, he is scrupulously careful about pressing her too much. Her complaints are pure fancies ! Ought he not to grieve at so great a loss? — She feels that his heart is troubled, and that increases her difficulty in relating her visions to him."
Lastly, Brentano is as much provoked at the poor old nurse as he had formerly been at Gertrude : — u The confusion and disorder around the invalid are disgusting ! Through her total inability to help herself; her various interior sufferings; the exterior neglect resulting from the ignorance and stupidity of the eld nurse, she is, with her sore eyes and dreadful vomiting, a true picture of woe. And the more easily all this could be remedied, the more painful does its continuance become to the beholder. The best way would be to discharge this stupid old woman and hire an humble, orderly servant-girl ; but the confessor objects to any further change." The Pilgrim betrays the secret motives of his efforts to banish from the invalid's vicinity whatever could disturb her ecstatic contemplations when he remarks: "In ecstasy she resembles a pure mirror which reflects truly every image presented before it ; whilst, in the state of consciousness, she passes over many things unheeded." His zeal for the preservation of those visions, so precious in his eyes, made him forget that, not by them, but by the daily practice of the love of God and the neighbor was Sister Emmerich to sanctify herself. He failed to perceive that he was struggling against the ordinance of God Himself ; therefore the failure of his cherished plans rendered him, though naturally compassionate and kind-hearted, irritable and severe toward all whom he looked upon as an obstacle to the communication of her visions during the actual period of her ecstatic prayer. Nor did he spare the invalid herself when she cordially welcomed intrusive visitors : the sick, the poor, the sorrow-stricken were all received with kindness so sincere that no one left her unconsoled. If, under the pressure of more than ordinary suffering, a feeling of repugnance arose in her soul, she instantly surmounted it
Anne CatJwrine Emmerich. 643 for the love of God, received the strength requisite to serve Him in her neighbor, and thus accomplished something incomparably greater than the contemplation of her visions. This was precisely the point that the Pilgrim could not comprehend ; and hence arose the vexation which found utterance in such complaints as the following : — " All has been lost to-day ! Sister Emmerich, though ill unto death, has been besieged by visitors. No one has been denied admittance. She receives all kindly but, no sooner are they gone, than she almost dies of pain, torture, and sickness. One cannot answer for all this ! These people have nothing to say, so she has to gather up her strength to entertain them ; and, in the end, they fancy themselves most welcome. What follows ? The loss of all her visions, though she sighs in the evening at not having related them ! The Pilgrim has never yet known her to excuse herself from the most insignificant visit for the sake of communicating her visions.** " Sick and in a most pitiable state, she wept because visitors were expected ; and yet, when they came, she received them graciously, chatted with them, and even gave them presents." Sister Emmerich's relations came but seldom during the year to spend a few days at Diilmen and, in their intercourse with her> they observed the strictest reserve. But it was on such occasions more than any other that the Pilgrim looked upon himself as a truly unfortunate man. He considered the interest she manifested in their affairs an unpardonable infidelity to the mission of her life. Her eldest brother had a son studying for the priesthood. Every year the young man was allowed to spend part of his vacation with his aunt, who felt for him the tender solicitude of a spiritual mother. Her only desire was that he might one day become a holy priest. But as long as the poor young student remained in Diilmen, both he and Ms aunt lived in continual dread of the Pilgrim who could ill-brook such "interruptions." u Her nephew and niece/' he writes, u are here again and she is unnecessarily busy, anxious, preoccupied about them. — She batters bread, cuts ham, pours out coffee for them ! — and for such duties graver ones are neglected. The more she sees of her relatives, the less she has to relate. The Pilgrim should have iron patience to preserve calmness in such disorder. There is neither foresight nor regularity in her household !" Sister Emmerich wept over the Pilgrim's unjust remarks and exclaimed : u I am always told in vision how to act. I must keep my nephew near me that he may not fall into sin, that feeling his poverty, he may not grow proud. And I dare not send my niece among the peasants, for I see her dispositions ; I know what would befall her in Flamske. I have had visions of her future life, and I have to pray and labor that she may escape the dangers that menace her soul. The Countess Galen would kindly take the child ; but I know not yet whether I ought to accept the offer." — To the above the Pilgrim adds a few of his remarks : — u That the niece and nephew wish not to stay with their parents is conceited ignorance in the one and self-will in the other." September 8, 1822.— " This is Sister Emmerich's birthday. She is worried over the faults of her rustic nephew. She speaks of them freely herself, but let the Pilgrim gently suggest a remedy, and she instantly appears mortified. Whilst he, the nephew, was tramping around her room, she said she could communicate nothing to-day. The Pilgrim annoyed reminded her of her promise and withdrew, when she became very ill. That evening, through the confessor's intervention, the Pilgrim persuaded the nephew to make a little excursion on foot11 September 9th — " The nephew is gone, but the invalid is still taken up with the thought of him and the niece. She is distracted and overwhelmed with useless cares." Oct. 13th — " The niece is going home. Great interior trouble." Oct. 1 4th — " Somewhat calmer, though still thinking of the niece." After-years proved that Sister Emmerich was right in the course she pursued relative to the young student, her nephew, and that she clearly recognized the designs of God in his regard. He became one of the ornaments of the Minister clergy from whom, to the regret of all, he was snatched away by a premature death. Oct. 20, 1822. — " Violent vomiting with convulsive cough. As she began to relate the ' Life of Jesus/ in came her brother, the tailor ; and, though the visit was inopportune, and perfectly useless, the Pilgrim had to retire, as if for the Pope ! When her sister comes, the invalid generally signs for him to withdraw, and thus the most serious work of his life has to give way before every servant-girl, every old gossip, without his daring to show a sign of vexation. Another peasant followed the brother, and there they sat until after mid-day ! In the evening she had a visit from Mrs. Wesener. This left the Pilgrim but a few moments to finish taking down the oft-interrupted vision. This is a sample of her exterior life, which for years nothing has been done to regulate. She has never, for the sake of her communications to the Pilgrim, kept the most insignificant visitor waiting an instant. Serious affairs must be cast aside for every trifle ; but, notwith fied by the vision pointing to its prolongation, was to be employed principally in preparing the agonizing for a good death by taking upon herself their corporal and spiritual suffering. For this end, the assistance of the saintb, whose relics were in her "church," was promised hen August 30, 1821. — " I have had a wonderful vision of all my relics. I saw them all just as they are, the color of their wrappings and the number of particles. The saints issued from them and ranged around me in their rank. I recognized all and saw pictures of the life of each. Between them and me stood a large table (1) covered with celestial viands, and the relics disappeared. I sang with the saints the Lauda Sion (2) with celestial accompaniment. I saw the instruments on which many of them played. In the crowd of heavenly visitors were many blessed children ; but the vision made me sad, for I felt that the saints were bidding me farewell. They were so affectionate to me, because I had loved and honored them. I understood interiorly that I was no longer to have the visions of relics, as other work was in store for me. The saints withdrew to the sound of celestial harmony, wheeling around and turning their back upon me. I ran after them and tried to catch a glimpse of the last one's features, St. Rose; but I could not. Then the Mother of God, Augustine, and Ignatius of Loyola appeared and gave me such consolation and instruction as I may not repeat." The instructions referred to concerned her new labors of (1) The consolations the saints were to afford her. (2) The chant of the Lauda Sion is connected with the task intrusted to Anne Catherine. She had to contribute to the accomplishment in many dying souls of the following words of the hymn ; Bone pastor, panis vere, Jesu, nostri miserere ; Tu nos pasce, nos tuere, Tu nos bona fac videre In terra viventiunL suffering ; for shortly after the Pilgrim had to record a state of the invalid such as he had never before beheld in her : — "Since the 29th of August," he writes, "she has passed from sickness to sickness, a series of convulsions, pains in her limbs and wounds, profuse sweats, etc.; she often appears to be at the point of death. Between these attacks, she has had to struggle with the strangest temptations, such as anxiety about food, etc. On the afternoon of September the 2d, this mental disorder took the form of well-defined delirium, followed by anew attack of physical sufferings. She was, at one and the same time, awake and in vision, and she incessantly groaned: ' This cannot last much longer. I never was so poor before. I cannot pay my debts; all is lost," etc.- — And yet she did not seem dejected; on the contrary, she was almost gay. She shook her head, bade the silly thoughts be off, and looked upon her own talk as foolish. When she uttered such extravagance before the mistress of the house, she instantly begged pardon with the excuse that she was in pain and trouble. A night of cruel suffering followed. These attacks lasted day and night until the evening of the 4th, when she struggled so vigorously against them as to lose consciousness. Her wanderings all bore upon the point of her penniless condition; she thought that she could not supply her wants, and she had no one on whom she could rely. — It is frightful to see one so favored by God in such a state of misery and weakness when grace is withdrawn ! Of course, there is now no record of visions. What a frail vessel is raan? and how patient, how fnerciful is God toward him !" Grace had not been withdrawn from Sister Emmerich, as the Pilgrim erroneously thought, nor had she been delirious. She had taken the place of a dying man, and bad
Anne CatJierine Emmerich. 649 vigorously combated against the passions that had held him captive all his life. The terrible task was first announced to her on the Feast of the Assumption. "I saw in the heavenly Church the Feast of Mary's Assumption. I saw the Mother of God taken up from the low earthly Church by innumerable angels, borne, as it were, on a crown of five arches, on which she hovered over the altar. The Holy Trinity descended from the highest heavens and laid a crown on Mary's head. The choirs of angels and saints surrounded the altar at which the Apostles celebrated the divine service. These choirs were ranged like the sidechapels in a church. I received the Blessed Sacrament and Mary came to me, and, as if from one of the side-chapels, approached St. Ignatius, to whom I had just made special devotions. I was told that, if my confessor ordered me in the name of Jesus, to rise and walk, I should be able to do so, even were I ill and in the most miserable state. I was so impatient for this that I exclaimed : * Why not now, right away V (1) And I heard a voice like that of my Heavenly Spouse, saying : i Thou art mine ! Why this questioning, if I wish it thus and not otherwise ? M'-Father Limberg would not act on this vision. He declined giving any command before further manifestation of God's will. The promise was fulfilled, however, on the Feast of Mary's Nativity, as Sister Emmerich herself tells us : — " On the eve of the feast, I lay in intense pain and violent cramps, notwithstanding which I was full of inward joy. The night was a weary one, but at three o'clock in the morning, the hour of Our Lady's birth, she appeared (1) Her Impatience is the joyful longing for the task connected with the power of walking. This task consisted in preparing sinners for a happy death, a task which, like an others, can be accomplished only by the means marked out by the Church : viz., obedience to her confessor
Upon a chair. She was exhausted by the effort, but radiant with delight. She was not accustomed to the light which now falling full upon her, dazzled her weak eyes. With assistance she took a few more steps around the room, and then sat in an arm-chair until evening, v, hen she returned to her bed full of joyous emotion. The wounds in her hands, feet, and side caused her much pain. FrOm this time, Sister Emmerich began to rise and walk around regularly, though at the cost of great fatigue. She regarded it as a duty to be daily fulfilled as far as she was able, in obedience to Our Lady's commands. The Pilgrim, seeing her painful efforts procured her a pair of crutches. This he seems afterward to have regretted, as he feared such exertions would interfere with the narration of her much-prized visions. Impelled by this fear, he addressed her one day ; u Strange that one prevented by so many graces should be so eager for a few perilous, miserable steps on crutches !" — to which she replied : " More than once I have seen the most perfect of creatures, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the Temple impatiently asking holy Anna : i Ah ! will the Child be born soon t Ah ! if I could only see Him 1 Ah ! If I could only live until He is born V — Then Anna almost annoyed would say : l Do not interrupt my work ! I have already been here seventy years, and I must await the Child's coming nearly a hundred ! — And thou, thou art so young, canst thou not wait ?'*--and Mary often wept with desire. ?' The Pilgrim did not understand the deep significance of her touching reply. She was not impatient for her poor walk on crutches, but she teas impatient to help souls, for which end alone had the power of eating and walking been restored to her. He remarks, November 1st — u For sev eral weeks the invalid has found more facility in rising, walking with the crutches, and sitting up to sew. She can now dress herself slowly, and take a little broth and coffee. Her vomiting has decreased. Toward tne last of October, she took a little carrot juice." Whilst her friends looked upon this change as a purely natural amelioration in her physical condition, and her eagerness to walk as a sign of her desire to be cured, it was, in fact, a work of painful expiation for poor sinful souls. She no longer simply prays for them, endures great bodily sufferings for them— she now becomes their actual substitute, taking upon herself and vigorously combating their spiritual evils, their temptations, and vicious inclinations. She had a great vision on this sort of substitution from which she related what follows: — *'I had a vision in which it was given me to see why I had so much sickness. I saw a gigantic apparition of Jesus Christ between earth and heaven in the same form and dress as when He bore the insults of the Jews. But His hands were outstretched and pressed down upon the world — it was the hand of God that pressed ! I saw many colored rays of woe and suffering and pain falling upon people of every condition. When, through compassion, I began to pray, whole torrents of pains were diverted from their course and pressed heavily upon me in a thousand different ways, the greater part coming from my friends. The apparition was of Jesus, and yet the Three Divine Persons were also included. I saw them not, but I felt them." The following fact, related by Sister Emmerich, February 18th, shows how the strength given her for her present task was increased by her sufferings and struggles. — u I was fully conscious and speaking to my confessor, when suddenly I felt faint and about to die. He noticed the change and asked : i What does this mean V — I answered that I felt that strength had gone out from me. I saw it under the form of rays streaming over twenty different itidividuals,some in Rome,some in Germany,others in our own immediate country. They were thereby strengthened to struggle against a mighty power^a fact which greatly pleased me. Then I saw the harlot of Babylon under a scandalous form, in her hand a colored jacket with its ribands The strength that still remained to me went out against her, much to my dissatisfaction at first ; but it forced her to cover herself with her jacket. With each ray of strength I laced the ribands tighter and tighter, until all within her, all the different impious plots against the Church conceived by her connection with the spirits of the world and the age, were smothered and stifled." In this state of substitution for others, Sister Emmerich appeared to possess a two-fold existence. One might read in her countenance, her speech, her gestures, her tone of voice, the character of the individual whose struggles she took upon herself. Her own purity of soul shone like a sunbeam through the clouds,proving that nothing could tarnish its brilliancy. Let us picture to ourselves a saint given to austerity and penance, yet who, in spite of his disgust and horror, takes upon himself the miserable state of a drunkard in order to save him from helPs abyss, and we may be able to form some idea of this double state. Without losing consciousness, he struggles against the strange power that is benumbing his senses, a power which creates in him but loathing and disgust ; thus are simultaneously manifested in him the two states of sobriety and inebriety. When Sister Emmerich tried to explain this, she said: " It seems to me then that I am two-fold, as if there lay on my breast a wooden image of myself which speaks without my power to prevent or direct it." (That is by which her assumed state of despair? impatience, intemperance, etc., expresses itself). " Then I reflect that I must endure it, that the image must know better than I what it ought to do, what it ought to answer for me. Consciousness is then in me like a smothered voice." 16 Sometimes I know not how to resist my numerous visions of terror and anguish. They are not sudden thoughts or attacks, but whole scenes in which I both see and hear, which attract me violently, affright me,irritate me. I have to resist with all my strength not to be overcome. Persons and future events are shown me, and the intentions with which such or such a thing is done against me. I hear the scoffs of the wicked fiend, and it is not without a struggle that I recognize the permission of God and repel the enemy with his lies. When these crowds of pictures incite me to impatience, my confessor's approach, a word of consolation from him or his blessing are an immediate relief ; but the irritation of some around me is, in such moments more painful than at other times." u Once a great mirror with a magnificent golden frame was held before me in which I could see only such things as were calculated to irritate me. The very sight of the vain thing vexed me, and I hid my face in the pillows so that I might not see it; but still it was there, always before me. At last I seized it and dashed it to the floor, crying ; ' What have I to do with such vanity, with such a mirror? '— but it fell gently without breaking. It disappeared only when, with contempt of its magnificence, the feeling of my own lowliness and misery also increased. Then I wad permitted to visit Mary in the Grotto of the Crib." The most humiliating of these assumed states was that of the gluttonous. In it she experienced sudden and devouring hunger which gave way to the most intense disgust, as soon as satisfied. The Pilgrim wrote in 1823 : — "She is sick all the time, without consolation, overwhelmed with pains, and struggling against the temptations and attacks of the enemy. We hear only coughitig, vomiting, and sighing to eat, and yet she is unable to take food. Hunger suddenly seizes upon her and she faints. — She eats and vomits. She craves all sorts of coarse, unsuitable food, and then moans and weeps for having eaten against her will. — All this refers to the state of an old companion, Sr. M , who is at the point of death and for whom she is praying and suffering. Sr. M — is afflicted with dropsy of the chest and in this her last illness she is, as Dr. Wesener says, still a victim to her capital fault, gourmandizing." In this state of substitution, Sister Emmerich endured in turn the various symptoms and sufferings of dropsy, rheumatism, consumption, internal diseases, etc., as well as the desolation, weariness, impatience, and temptations of the poor dying one. All this suffering for individuals added to that which she underwent for the Church in general, rendered her condition truly pitiable. From ber words dropped in ecstasy, the Pilgrim recognized the elevated spiritual character of her various maladies, but he would have wished for more precise information : for instance, he would have desired a special explanation as to what particular faults were expiated by each particular pain. But in this he proposed to himself an unattainable end. He resembled a physician who sympathizes with his patient only in proportion as the latter describes minutely the symptoms of his disease. He is thus enabled to observe more perfectly a particularly interesting case, the study of which is likely to enrich his pathological knowl edge and experience. In December, 1821, he writes : — u The last three days have been one succession of fearful pains which ended in death-like prostration. They did not, however, interfere with her visions. Sometimes she declares calmly and confidently: L I must suffer this. I have taken it upon myself. I must endure it V — but soon comes a temptation to impatience, and thus she alternates between war and peace. One becomes so accustomed to these exterior sufferings as to appear almost barbarous to a spectator who witnesses them for the first time. Thus did those around her appear to the Pilgrim during the early days of his sojourn in Diilmen. But when something of their interior signification is known, they excite the greatest astonishment, they afford a solution to the strangest enigma of life, of Christianity, although their study is rendered impossible by a thousand trifles of every day occurrence. . . ." u Though her sufferings are closely linked with spiritual labors and she herself knows it well, she speaks of the fact only superficially and without attaching due importance to it. She esteems another's calm, deep reflection on it a want of sympathy." January, 1822. — u Her maladies would be most instructive were she ordered to explain their end and design, for she always has as their forerunner a vision so much the more remarkable as it is wonderfully allegorical. It is like a deeply significant parable. What she will have to suffer and the end for which she suffers are generally shown her in visons of gardening and agriculture : first, a general view of existing evils, under the symbol of crumbling churches, flocks with their shepherds, etc. ; next she has to run, carry, dig, warn, etc. ; or again, she makes painful journeys to bring souls back to their duties and prevent sin. In all these various tasks she is assisted by the saints of the day. But all this is lost to the writer I Nothing remains but the signs of the temptations to which the fiend subjects her during her task. Her sufferings render her, it is true, an object of compassion ; but, being inundated with graces and visions so real and fruitful, she is, after all, more deserving of envy than pity. Her negligence in communicating them, the endless histories she retails after her periods of actual ecstasy, make one rather inclined to sympathize with posterity than to pity her. The continual danger of death which, however, never occurs, tends to reassure the beholder with regard to her frightful, unaccountable maladies. One grows used to them, looks upon them with a sort of compassion, it is true, a kind of endurance, neither improving nor elevating, but which begets a species of policy, a secret desire to extricate one's self from the whole affair." February 1, 1822. — u Although Sister Emmerich relates less and less every day ; although she consumes much time in describing her maladies and pains, which are very obscure, on account of her silence as to their interior cause j yet she remarks : ' Since the beginning of my pains last Christmas, I have suffered much from the Pilgrim's dissatisfaction at my not communicating every thing to suit him. My heart has been well-nigh crushed with sorrow. I would willingly have satisfied him, but I could not. I have often been so depressed by his appearance as to be unable to speak. I have made special devotions to know what I should do, but I have received no answer. I hoped God would take me in this last illness, that I might have nothing more to communicate. The Pilgrim will one day understand how willingly I would have made all known to him, were it in my power/ This she said with a good intention. Such prayers for release from the duty of relating her vis made her Easter. The oppression on her chest increases." April 7th — "Sister Emmerich's sufferings increase as the good lady's end draws near. She bears a whole half of her pains and her state is precisely similar ; though, as a general thing, Mrs. B — is easier when Sister Emmerich suffers most. The Pilgrim verified this by daily comparison. He found that the feeling Sister Emmerich had of not having made her Easter, proceeds from the dying woman's own state ; for she, in effect, has not made hers. Sister Emmerich has engaged her confessor to go again and remind the family of it." April 9th and 10th. — "All the symptoms and pains of a person dying of dropsy were still seen in our invalid this morning, and during the night she struggled in death agony; but the restless, agonizing lady has grown calm and resigned to death, much to the consolation of her family. Toward noon the Pilgrim found Sister Emmerich deathly weak, scarcely able to give a sign of life ; whilst Madam B — slumbered sweetly, repeating at intervals the pious little prayers of her youth. At half- past three, Sister Emmerich grew suddenly strong, sat up in bed, and recited in a low voice the Litanies of the Passion. At the same instant, Madam B — expired sweetly as a child falling asleep. Sister Emmerich's oppression instantly ceased, all symptoms of dropsy disappeared, and she again breathed freely. But her clear-sighted compassion allowed her no repose. Her malady suddenly assumed the character of inflammation of the chest and fever as indicated by her pulse. Another sick person, a Madam S — with whom Siscer Emmerich was only slightly acquainted, took the place of Madam B — She suffered intensely for her until the following day, when she died. And now another poor creature in the last stage of consumption, the wife of W — ,
In November and December, 1822. — Sister Emmerich suffered much for the Church. " My present sufferings," did she say on the Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury, " were imposed on St. Catherine's Day for the Church and her prelates. To-day I saw the life of the holy martyr Thomas and the sharp persecution he endured, opposed to which were portrayed the weakness and tepidity of pastors of the present day. My heart was torn at the sight !" The Pilgrim here remarks : u Her sufferings increase and she cannot speak, on account of her insupportable cough j but her patience is wonderful ! Notwithstanding her frightful tortures, she is all courage and peace. The wound of her side and the crown of thorns cause her incessant pain; she cannot rest her head an instant. She has a continual feeling of the great sharp crown. She often speaks of the severe, though salutary pains she is enduring." In the early part of 1823, her sufferings were simply intense, accompanied by uninterrupted visions on the state of the Church. On the evening of January 11th, the Pilgrim found her in ecstasy. She asked for a poultice of boiled figs and barley for her right side. Its application gave relief and when returned to consciousness, she said : u There is inflammation in my side ; it has been pierced. I heard it crack. I feel the internal dislocation, and I can recover only by a miracle." Father Limberg replied : u You have been delirious the whole afternoon." But the Pilgrim on close observation found her perfectly sensible and consistent, speaking and acting comformably to her interior and exterior direction, her ideas clear, her soul at peace. She directed a plaster to be prepared, asked all to pray, and next day was in a state to account for what had happened. u I had to go to the Pastor's city (Rome), for danger threatened the faithful chief-servant who has the little dog. They were about to murder him (1). I threw myself before him, and the knife pierced my right side through to the back. The good chief-servant was returning home and on a lonely part of the road where escape would be easy, a traitor met him with a three-cornered knife concealed under his cloak. In mock friendship, he was about to embrace him, but I cast myself between them and received the thrust in my back. It cracked. I think the knife must have broken in it. The chief-servant parried the blow and fell senseless ; people came up, and the assassin fled. I think the villain on meeting such resistance, thought the chief servant wore a cuirass As I warded off the blow, the devil turned on me in a rage, mocked me, and dashed me from side to side. — ■' What dost thou here V he cried. 1 Must I meet thee everywhere ? But Pll catch thee yet!'" Sister Emmerich's wound did not heal the whole of January, and she passed through the different stages of fever and inflammation consequent upon such wounds. January 17th — " She still suffers severe pains in her wounded side; sometimes even she loses consciousness. Her side is much inflamed and a violent cough torments her: but she is otherwise patient and cheerful." January 18th — u She had a glimpse into the anatomical nature of her wound, of which she gives a minute description. Her pains are intense." January 22d — " Her sufferings have decreased but, unfortunately, she speaks of insignificant things, such as household affairs and the sick child of one of the townsmen. It is unaccountable to the Pilgrim how such things can so interest her !" (1) "Caniset coluber" emblem of Pope Leo XII, In St, Malachy's prophecy. (Father SchmSger.) Cardinal Wiseman says, in his <4 Recollections of the Last Four Popes," that Leo XII. had habitually in his apartments a faithful companion, a very intelligent uttle dog.
Temptations Assumed. On Holy Saturday, 1822, Father Limberg recommended to his penitent's prayers a poor peasant, who, having lost two horses, had fallen into melancholy bordering on despair. On Easter-Sunday morning, Sister Emmerich was assailed by visions which became so horrible during the celebration of High Mass that she thought she should die of fright. After Divine Service, Father Limberg visited her and told her that the man had been so violently agitated just at the moment of Consecration, that groaning and weeping, he had to be removed from the church. Sister Emmerich shuddered involuntarily at this confirmation of what had been shown her in vision. She lay till Tuesday evening struggling against rage, anguish, and despair, arid complaining of the sad Easter festivals she had spent. When her struggle ceased, Father Limberg found the poor man calm and in better dispositions ; but, before he could acquaint Sister Emmerich of the change, she exclaimed joyfully and thankfully : u St. Ann did it ! I invoked her all the time for the poor fellow ! She obtained this grace ! She is the patroness of the despairing, of all who are tormented by the evil spirit. For days I have suffered terribly for this man who was shown me some time ago. He has no religion. He is not in the state which renders a Christian invulnerable, the state of grace j therefore, a malediction fell upon him. By superstitiously cooking a horse's heart, he put himself in relation with the demon. Despair seized him, and on Easter-Sunday, with rage and hatred in his heart, he assisted at the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Son of God who gave His life for His enemies. St. Ann has delivered him. But if he does not now thoroughly amend, something worse will befall him \"
668 Lift of Dr. Wesener, who visited the man professionally, heard him acknowledge having cooked the heart of one of the dead horses whilst uttering imprecations against him whom he suspected of having caused their death. At the same time, he resolved to shoot the first person he met after his magical incantations. Some weeks later, the same man, threatened with the loss of another horse, seemed about to relapse into his miserable state. Sister Emmerich was greatly distressed. She said to Father Limberg : — u It must not be ! The man will again fall into despair. We must pray that the horse may not die/' — and for two days she again sustained a struggle in the poor man's behalf. Her manner became nervous and agitated, her countenance dark and gloomy, her glance wandering and timorous ; but the horse was cured. May, 1823. — Sister Emmerich about this time supplied clothes and baby-linen to a poor woman whose brutal husband treated her shockingly. He had not been to the Sacraments for years, and he lived in enmity with his neighbor. Sister Emmerich had often prayed for his conversion. She now renewed her efforts for him, assuming his miserable state of anger and resentment to such a degree that her countenance became quite distorted. The wretched object of her prayers was seized with anxiety and trouble, as he himself acknowledged to his ill-used wife. At last he went to Father Limberg and made his confession. But Sister Emmerich's struggles, far from abating, became still more severe, and it was evident that this poor man had furnished her an occasion for obtaining similar graces for numerous others. She said : u I thought I should die of pain. I received no help, and I offered it up for all those miserable creatures who languish without the consolation of the Sacraments. I was wide awake when I suddenly saw around
Anne Catherine Emmericlu 669 me, far and near, over the whole earth, countless scenes of sorrow and desolation: the sick and the dying, the wandering and the imprisoned, all without priests, without Sacraments. I cried aloud for help ; I besought God to aid them ; and I heard the words : c Thou canst not have it without cost. . .It must be purchased by labor!' — Then I offered myself for the task and fell into a frightful state. — Cords were tightly bound around my upper and low^r limbs, which were then stretched so violently that I thought all my nerves were torn asunder. My neck was throttled, my breast-bones protruded, and my stiffened tongue fell back in my throat. I was in agony ; but, to my great joy, I saw that many souls were saved. " These excruciating tortures were renewed the following night when she saw herself actually crucified. The Pilgrim found her throat and tongue very much swollen next day, and it was only with difficulty she could relate the fol lowing : — u I have seen that the Church's distress springs from treason, omissions, and negligences; and, though great is the misery here among us, it is still greater in other places. I saw priests in taverns, in bad company, and their parishioners dying without the Sacraments; and again I had a vision of how the secret sect cunningly attacks the Church of Peter on all sides. They used all sort s of tools and ran here and there with the broken stones ; but they had to leave the altar standing, they could not carry it off. I saw them profane and rob a statue of Mary. I complained to the Pope of his tolerating so many priests among the destroyers, and I saw why the Church was founded in Rome. It was because Rome was at that time the centre of the world, the metropolis of nations. It will stand like an island, like a rock in the sea, when all around it goes to
God to relieve my greatest pain, that caused by the trouble in my bowels, when He answered me gravely : l Why today ? Will not to-morrow do ? Hast thou not given thyself to Me ? May I not do with thee as I will V— Then I abandoned myself entirely to Him ! May it be done according to His will ! O what a grace to be able still to suffer ! Blessed is he who is mocked and despised! It is all that I deserve. Hitherto I have been only too much honored. Ah ! if I were spit upon in the public street, if I were trodden under foot, I should gratefully kiss the feet of all ! St. Agnes also suffered. I have seen what she endured." On the evening of this day, Dr. Lutterbeck came to Diilmen and received from the Pilgrim, though not in her presence or hearing, a full account of the invalid's state. She cried out of her ecstasy : " How can you tread among my flowers ! You are trampling down my beautiful flowers ! " She had seen him who revealed her secret tortures under the symbol of one carelessly crushing the flowerbeds of her garden. The next day the pains in her abdomen were so intense that Father Limberg in pity gave her some blessed oil, and commanded them in the name of Jesus to leave her. She was instantaneously and entirely relieved. The words : u Will not to-morrow do?" were then verified. During this sickness Sister Emmerich made the following declaration : u The sufferings of the impatient are far harder for me to bear than those of others ; for with them I experience an irresistible inclination to impatience, and I have to struggle hard against it. Through the whole course of this illness, I have been wonderfully sustained. Almost . all night and frequently by day, I see a table white like marble floating near me full of vessels of juices and dishes of herbs.
Now one saint or martyr, now another, male or female, approaches and prepares medicine for me, sometimes a compound weighed in golden scales, but oftener the juices of herbs. Sometimes tiny bunches of flowers are presented for me to smell or taste. They often relieve my pains, though more frequently they increase my strength to bear the more extraordinary and complicated sufferings that immediately follow. I see all this going on so clearly and orderly that I sometimes fear ray confessor, in passing in and out, will overturn the heavenly dispensatory." This table suddenly vanished one day, when, by an unguarded word, Sister Emmerich afforded some one a chance to praise her. She was giving the person in question advice upon the best way to lead a retired life, and she happened to conclude with the words : " It was thus I acted in my youth and I derived benefit from it." Some words of commendation were uttered in reply, and the table disappeared. Suffering for Penitents* " When I see people going to confession, I often have frightful visions of the necessity of praying for them : for instance, I sometimes see the penitent spitting out a serpent and taking it back again, often indeed, even before Com* munion. They who hide sins appear with a hideous countenance and near them a horrible beast seizing their breast with its claws. I often see a figure whispering into the ear of those who live in criminal connections. He urges them to say nothing about it. I behold others pressing to their hearts whilst they confess a figure like a dragon. I have always understood that disgusting things, such as worms and certain insects, rise from sin and are images of sin. Nearsuch as conceal secret sins, but who are exteriorly modest and pious, I
Anne Catherine Emmerich, 673 see horrible things either at their side,or on their clothing, or often covered up and secretly caressed and fed. I have often seen such things so distinctly near certain persons that I tried to remove them, and desisted only when I perceived their amazement at my efforts. The cricket is an image of sin, restless, greedy, shrill, noisy. It moves all its hairs, cleans itself, and flaps its wings when it chirps, as do they who cherish such sins as those that it symbolizes. " One day, Sister Emmerich related the following : — u I was praying, at his own request, for a certain priest's penitents and I had a very painful labor to perform. I saw two boats about to sink. In one were men, in the other women, the latter the more numerous. Their confessor was on the shore, trying to draw the boats to land, first one, then the other. The men's boat was easily managed. But many, or rather almost all the women had, in disobedince to their confessor and partly unknown to him, cats hidden under their kerchiefs which were the cause of the boat's sinking. The cats held fast; they would not let go ; they clawed right and left. I rowed out on a plank to the boat, and urged the women to throw the cats overboard. They obeyed very reluctantly, and began to quarrel with me. The confessor pulled with all his might, though not always in the right way. I had to call out to him to pull in the opposite direction." Sister Emmerich, though eating absolutely nothing, was subject at intervals, for two days at a time, to violent spells of retching. These efforts reduced her to such weakness that she frequently swooned, unconsciously uttering the words : u Sins must be cast out; they must be confessed!" which bore evidence to the fact that she was expiating sacrilegious confessions. She had a special devotion to St. Anthony of Padua.
On his feast and during the octave she received the commission to urge sinners to repentance. On such days she lay a victim to rapidly changing maladies, convulsions, interior anguish, and spiritual abandonment. One day she related what follows: — " The saint {St. Anthony) showed me some people whom I was to urge to make a general confession, which they actually did to Dean Overberg and Father Limberg. I did not know them except in vision. Such atfairs are carried on as if the saint sent a message, or an order to my guide who said to me : — ' Arise ! Follow me, if thou dost wish to aid such or such a one P Then comes a tiresome journey full of difficulties, typical of the spiritual obstacles in the souls of penitents; perverse ideas, passions, and struggles against a sincere and contrite confession. Some of these souls seem very small, very far off ; others appear to be nearer, and this signifies their dispositions for confession. Some who are really near me seem to be very small, and far away ; whilst others, who are actually at a distance, appear large and spiritually near. To reach some who are near me, I have to climb rugged mountains down which I incessantly stumble. When by the help of God's grace and the saint's (St. Anthony's) assistance I succeed in crossing it, I find their heart changed." On November 29, 1822, six fierce outlaws condemned to imprisonment passed through Diilrrien. They spent the night in the city jail. This was shown Sister Emmerich in vision, and she immediately set to work to pray for the miserable wretches. Next morning she said : u I visited the prisoners for whom I was praying and, as I drew near the prison I found it surrounded by thorns which grew even over the walls. I got my hands all torn by them. The enclosure had no roof and I descended ; but I could not reach the prisoners. They seemed to be in holes and windings with beams and rafters over and in front of them. All was dark and desolate, as if turned to stone. I labored hard, but reached none of them ; they were perfectly hardened. Then came N — , the police officer, and I hurried away for fear, if he saw me, he might think I wanted to set the prisoners free." April, 1820. — Sister Emmerich was suddenly seized with violent pains in her left side. She could lie only on her right, she could not speak ; she frequently swooned and she thought surely she was going to die. But she said calmly: u This is the remains of Lent. I burdened myself too heavily. I thought it would come ! I took it upon myself for a stranger who wanted to make his Easter confession here. I saw him at the confessional in bad dispositions ; he was not sincere, and so he became more culpable. I begged Our Lord to let me suffer for him, to satisfy Divine Justice, and to change his heart. Then this intense pain came on, but lean scarcely bear it !" The Abbe Lambert prayed over her and she was, for the tixe, somewhat relieved; but when he left her, the pain returned so violently that she swooned away, the cold perspiration rolling in great drops down her forehead. Her confessor was sent for. He came, blessed her, and commanded the pain to depart in the name of Jesus, when she instantly fell into a gentle sleep. Easter-tide, 1823, — "I had to drag a man by force into the church and up to the Communion rail. He resisted and almost threw me to the ground. I suffered fearfully and received so severe blows on my heart that I felt as if it were being crushed." Such was the invalid's task at this time and the foregoing scene was frequently renewed until the week before Pentecost, when she said one day to
Anne CatheriTie Emmerich. 677 and tortures a human being can possibly endure. I found some relief for my intense ear-ache from a little blessed oil on cotton.' — Then suddenly exclaiming: l Now, there's a dance!7 she writhed on her bed, her feet quivering with pain, whilst in terror and as if defending herself she cried out : i They have set a furious cur on me !7 — Later on she explained as follows : ' I was sent to a village in which the peasants were dancing again to-day. I had to reprove them for their levity. They became enraged, and it seemed as if they let a mad dog loose against me. I was, at first, terrified, but then came the thought: Thou art not here in body, so he cannot bite thee ! — and I squeezed into a little corner and discovered that the dog was the devil. He had horrible claws and fiery eyes. Just at that moment, a saint reached me from above a large iron club which seemed to be hollow, it was so light. He said : i Here, I often drubbed Satan with this V — I took it and held it out to the dog. He bit it and tugged at it until, at last, he ran off with it. Then I was able to execute my commission and the dance was broken up.7 77 April, 1822. — u The invalid is in a most pitiable state, though singularly patient, even joyous in her pains which seem ever to increase. To her cough, vomiting, and retention, are added sharp pains in her face and swelling of the lips which are covered with white blisters ; she can neither speak nor drink. The doctor prescribed external applications, but the only relief she experiences is from St Walburga's oil. Her angelic guide told her to leave herself to God, as she was expiating sins of the tongue. This state lasted about seven days, during which, at her angePs bidding, she recited long vocal prayers almost all night, a hundred Our Fathers, Hail Maries, and Litanies.77 only a few, and in some the seeds were mixed. We spoke not, but I worked and planted diligently. The garden was laid off in small beds. The nun had worked here and there, but the greater part was still uncultivated, the ground hard. She had no help and sometimes she knew not what to do." This was Sister Emmerich's last communication, for at Christmas the Pilgrim made the following entry in his journal: ''The invalid, generally bright and joyous on this festival, continues in a dying state, in consequence of her sympathetic sufferings with rheumatic and other sick people. She cannot speak ; she groans and coughs, and is indescribably weak. A young person was shown her who had procured for herself a very showy breast-pin. To shield her from the danger to which her vanity exposes her, Sister Emmerich has to endure in her neck and breast as many different pains as the goldsmith gave blows and cuts in making the pin. She had to pray also for such as approach the Sacramei.ts on these feasts out of mere custom and laden with sins of frivolity." January 6, 1824. — u She has began the New- Year very miserably, fever, cramps, rheumatism, but still she is actively employed in spirit for the Church and the dying. Once she said : i The Pope has laid his terrible burden upon me. He was very ill. He suffered so much from the interference of Protestants ! I heard him say once that he would rather be executed before St. Peter's than tolerate such encroachments longer. The See of Peter must be free ! ' " January 9, 1824. — " Her confessor thinks her mission will soon end, for she exclaimed earnestly in vision : 'I cau undertake no new labors ! I have reached the goal ! ? " January 10th — Ci She sighs and groans with pain. She the death-rattle sounds day and night. She can scarcely hear. Her countenance expresses gravity mingled with peace; it is truly awe- inspiring. Seldom, excepting when in absolute need of assistance, does she stammer a few almost unintelligible words in a hollow voice. Her back from constantly lying on it is covered with sores j if turned on her side, she begins to suffocate. The Pilgrim gives her morning and evening St. Walburga's oil. Sometimes when taking it she exclaims faintly, '0 how sweet V She never sleeps, but rests in a half-reclining posture, groaning and breathing heavily, her eyes constantly closed." January 22-26. — u Her sufferings are the same. She has no hope of life. She sent for her brothers and their children, also for her nephew, the student at Minister* Though she can say but a few words to them, yet she wishes them to remain by her a little while, a thing she never did in any former illness, even apparently mortal. When her brother's second son, a fine young peasant, took leave of her this morning, she told him, as her confessor says, in an unusually distinct tone to lead a good life and to keep God ever before his eyes. After that she requested that her relations would not come again to see her." January 27th — u Sister Emmerich is more dead than alive, scarcely able to swallow the Walburga oil the Pilgrim offered her. Her cheeks glow with fever, her hands are deathly white, and the stigmata shine like silver through the parched skin. She wishes to die as a religious, so in the afternoon she begged Madam Hackebram, through her confessor, to be present as her Superioress, the representative of her former community, when Extreme Unction days ago Dr. Wesener declared from the state of her pulse that she might die at any moment. Thank God, she has had up to the present the grace to endure with patience ! Pray, nevertheless, for your afflicted fellow-sister that the will of God may be done In her ; that He may be glorified by the trial to which He subjects her ; and that she may persevere to the end. . .Have the kindness to acquaint her couslnBernard Emmerich of her state, that he may redouble his prayers for her.''
would be administered. She received the Sacrament calmly, in full consciousness, and sent the Chaplain, Father Niesing, and Madam Hackebram to Dean Rensing to ask pardon in her name for any offence she might have given him, although involuntarily and unwillingly. They fulfilled their commission. But the Dean still absents himself." January 31st — "She speaks now only to her confessor and an occasional word to her niece." February 1st — The Pilgrim visited her in the evening and found her breathing with great difficulty. Suddenly she seemed to recollect herself. The evening bells were ringing for the morrow's feast, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin." February 2d — "To-day she whispered softly : i It is a long time since I felt so well. The Mother of God has done so much for me ! I have been sick eight days, have I not ? I know nothing of what has been going on. 0 what has the Mother of God not done for me ! She took me with her, and I wanted to stay with her.* Then, as if reflecting, she said with raised finger : i Hush ! I dare not tell all !' She is ever on her guard against praise ; it makes her suffer more." February 6th — " She requested a Mass to be said tomorrow for the Abbe Lambert. It is his anniversary." February 7th — " She constantly sighs to God for help ; her sufferings do not abate. She often prays : l Ah ! Lord Jesus, a thousand thanks for my whole life ! Lord, not as I will, no, but as Thou wilt !f And once she uttered these touching words : i Ah ! the lovely little basket of flowers there! Take care of it! And that young laurel-tree, take care of it also. I have tended it long, but I can do so no more/ Probably she alluded to her niece and her nephew, the student."
Saviour who forgave the thief on the cross, and she uttered these significant words : 'The people of that time, even the murderer on the cross, had not so much to answer for, they received not so many graces as we. 1 am far worse than the murderer on the cross ! ? — And again, ' I cannot die, because some good people are deceived in me ; they think too well of me. Tell them all that I am a miserable sinner ! ? — As I again tried to reassure her, she replied energetically : 'Ah ! that I could cry out loud enough for all to hear that I am nothing but a miserable sinner far worse than the murderer on the cross ! 7 — after which she grew calm just as the Vicar Hilgenberg arrived. The good old man knelt by her a whole hour in prayer." The closing scene of Sister Emmerich's life we take from the Pilgrim's ever-faithful journal : — "The Pilgrim arrived at about half-past six, just as Father Limberg drew the blinds of her little room, saying in low tones, ' The end has come ! 7 — Kneeling around were her sister, her brother, and her niece, the Vicar Hilgenberg, Father Limberg's sister and sister-in-law, Madam Clement Limberg, with the latter of whom Sister Emmerich had formerly lodged. The door was open to admit air to the dying one. She lay half reclining in her little willow bed, her breathing short, her countenance imposing, her eyes raised to the crucifix. The blessed candle had burned low. After a few moments, she drew her right hand from under the bed-clothes and laid it upon the coverlet. Father Limberg spoke words of comfort and repeatedly presented to her the crucifix to kiss ; her lips invariably sought and pressed the feet with lingering love. She never touched the head or breast. And now she seemed desirous of communicating something to her confessor. Obedient to the last, she responded instantly to his question regarding her wish to speak to him. All left the room, and the Pilgrim saw her no more alive. It was then just eight o'clock. Father Limberg afterward told us that she spoke of a trifle already confessed and then remarked : ' I am now as peaceful and confident as if I had never sinned.1 She kissed the crucifix and again Father Limberg recited the prayers for the agonizing. At intervals she sighed : ' 0 Lord, help ! Help, O Lord Jesus !? — Father Limberg placed the blessed candle in her right hand and rang a little Loretto bell, which had formerly been used in the Agnetenberg convent on the death of the religious, saying; ' She is dying/ It was now half after eight (1). The Pilgrim approached the bed just as she sank down on the left side, her head upon her breast, and her right hand upon the coverlet, that miraculous hand to which the Giver of celestial gifts had attached the unheard of privilege of recognizing whatever was holy, whatever was blessed by the Church. No one before her, perhaps, had ever possessed that grace in so high a degree. The Pilgrim took that blessed hand, that organ of spiritualized sense which could discover the sanctified substance even in a grain of dust — it was cold and lifeless ! Yes, that humble, beneficent hand which had so often fed the hungry and clothed the naked, now lay cold and dead ! The gift wras withdrawn from earth, and with us lies the blame ! Some years previously she had in vision told her confessor that he should remove her right hand from her body after death (2), and the Pilgrim remembers her assuring him that even after death, if ordered to do so, she would still be able to discern whatever is blessed. Once she saw herself lying in her coffin before the church without her hands, which were floating up in the air toward (1) Sister Emmerich died on the Monday before Septuagesima. (2) See Vol. 1,39.
the holy things in the church. Father Limberg trembled till the last moment with the fear of the invalid's repeating her request of previous years. ' Perhaps/ he said, ' seeing my dread, she refrained from doing so.? " The next day, February 10th, the Pilgrim went to Haltern and Bocholt, returning only toward the close of the month. Father Limberg and Dr. Wesener conformed scrupulously to Sister Emmerich's dying request that her body should not be subjected to examination. The care of preparing her blessed remains for burial was intrusted by Father Limberg to his brother Clement's wnfe, to whom the Pilgrim renders the following testimony : "Humbler hands could not have been found for the task, which »he reverentially regarded as a favor, a high distinction conferred upon her." This good lady gives us the following account of her labor of love: "On Wednesday afternoon, the 11th, in accordance with the wish of the deceased, I wrapped the body in a large winding-sheet, and removed it from the bed on which she died to a mattress. The feet were firmly crossed one over the other, the wounds of which, as well as those of the hands, being of a deeper red and more distinct than usual. As I raised the body, blood and water flowed from the mouth. All the members were perfectly supple. Our Sister looked very lovely. Contrary to her wish for a poor, plain coffin, they furnished a handsome one, and in it she was placed on Thursday at noon. The funeral took place Friday, at half-past eight A. M., the concourse of people being so large that never before had the like been seen in Dulmen : clergymen, citizens, the schoolchildren, the poor, all took part in it." On February 11th, Father Limberg gave alms to a poor woman to make with her children the Way of the Cross for the deceased during nine days. He afterward told the Pilgrim what follows : u Several days before her death Sister Emmerich charged me to have a Mass said for her by Vicar Hilgenberg, for nine days in St. Anne's chapel, and to burn a candle before the saint's picture. She likewise requested that the poor woman and her children would make the Stations for the same time. The last part of the commission I did not fulfil, on account of the bad weather. Though Sister Emmerich could naturally know nothing of the omission, yet shortly before her death she said to me : i You have deprived me of one consolation. You have not sent the woman to make the Stations for me." Dr. Wesener was another witness of Sister Emmerich's last hours. From his notes we cull the following : — u All winter Sister Emmerich suffered intensely from her eyes. When, by applications customary in such cases, external inflammation was allayed, the disease attacked the interior of the eye-ball. Remedies proved vain, as she herself declared whilst in ecstasy, for it was a spiritual labor, imposed in the form of suffering, which had to be finished at Christmas. In effect, the malady ceased on the day after that feast, only to be succeeded, however, by a most painful convulsive cough. For several weeks she clearly forsaw her death. Fourteen days before it actually happened, she sent for her nearest relations and took a most edifying leave of them, consoling them with the hope of a speedy reunion and begging them not to visit her again. The last eight days she spoke but little excepting to her confessor, the few remaining hours of life being wholly consecrated to prayer. Up to the last sigh she preserved, though in the greatest pain, her unalterable patience, and gracious demeanor. When unable to speak she pressed our hands. On my morning visit of Feb. 9th, I found her in a pitiable state. Her copious expectoration had ceased, and she complained of pains in her side. I was convinced that a fresh attack of pleurisy had come on in the night. She suffered indescribably till four P. M., when the struggle appeared to come to an end, pulmonary paralysis having set in. Her countenance fell, her pulse vanished, and her extremities became icy cold. She regained her serenity and spoke up to a few moments before her death, which occurred at half-past eight P. M. She died in full consciousness. v On February 10th, the Vicar Hilgenberg penned the following lines to Sister Soentgen :- — " Our dear friend has finished her course. Having kept the faith, we may rightly believe that she now wears the crown. Her death was edifying as her life. During the whole winter she suffered more than usual. Eight days ago she said to me : * Stay by me when I am dying P — Yesterday evening she sent for me about six o'clock, and at half-past eight she sweetly expired after kissing the crucifix repeatedly. Father Limberg, her confessor, never left her. Brentano, too, was there, with Madam Clement Limberg, her sister Gertrude, her brother, her niece, and the nurse, Wissing. — All were silently praying in the adjoining room. Some moments before her death, she signified her desire to speak with Father Limberg, after which he called us in, saying, i She is dying V — Sweet was her death and most sensibly do we feel her loss ! Still, I must say that I experienced real joy at seeing her triumph, her victory over the world. Pray with the friends around you for our glorified one if, perchance, she have need of such help, though I feel that she is now praying for us.v Again the Vicar wrote en February 16th — " In reply to your questions, I inform you that Sister Emmerich's obsequies took place on Friday, the 13th. No examination of the body was made ; such a step would have been a most painful one to good Dr. Wesener. It was not removed from the bed of death till the afternoon of the 1 1th, when her cheeks were still flushed. The water which, on her deathbed, she had taken more freely than usual, flowed from her mouth and nostrils and her head was covered with a bloody moisture. The body was immediately enclosed in the coffin on account of the crowds that flocked to see her, a favor granted only to few. Although she had expressed a desire for an humble, simple funeral, without the pomp of a High Mass, and the attendance of the confraternity and school-children, yet the concourse of mourners was so great that the oldest inhabitants of Diilmen remember nothing like it. The church was crowded as on a Sunday. All Diilmen mourns her loss. I have made known your request to Father Limberg, who sends cordial greetings to you. He promises to be in Miinster soon. On Saturday, the 14th, Dean Rensing received a visit from a person who offered on the part of the Hollanders, 4000 florins for Sister Emmerich's remains. He alleged that he was authorized to do so by the Pro-vicar and the Chief-President Vinke ; but the offer was very justly rejected. God grant that she, whose life was one of such annoyance, may now rest in peace !" The Pilgrim visited the Dean for the purpose jf obtaining a full explanation of the proposed purchase. The following is his statement of the affair : — u On Sunday, February 29th, the Pilgrim went to see Dean Rensing about a tombstone for the deceased ; he spoke to him also concerning the offers to purchase the body upon which he received the following account. — c The evening after the funeral the merchant, Mr. H — of Miinster, came to see me. He had been commissioned by a Hollander to pay 4000 florins to Sister Emmerich's family or to the parish church of Diil men for her body. He likewise stated what seemed to me rather doubtful, that the Pro- vicar and the Chief-President Vinke had no objection to the bargain's being made. But, when I asked what he wanted with the body which had already begun to decompose, he withdrew his offer." The Pilgrim went on to speak of the extraordinary graces granted the deceased, when the Dean remarked : 6 Yes, she certainly was one of the most remarkable personages of the age? — And jet he had not taken one step to console this member of his own flock who, when dying, had craved his pardon, though she had never offended him. It did not escape the Pilgrim that the Dean, after declaring in the beginning of the conversation that a tombstone could not be placed over the grave without the authorization of Ecclesiastical Superiors, and that the grave could not be opened without the same, yet ended by saying : i Before a tombstone is erected, it would be well to see whether the body is still there or not.? v After the foregoing speech, it would seem as if Dean Rensing also gave some faith to the report that a Hollander had secretly carried off the body, a report which spread rapidly and raised so great excitement in Dulmen that the authorities found it expedient to open the grave to assure themselves of the truth. On March 26, 1 824, the Vicar Hilgenberg again wrote to Sister Soentgen : — " I write to inform you that, on the night of the 21-22d of March, the Burgomaster Moellmann, in presence of the police and Witte, the carpenter, had Sister Emmerich's grave opened by two grave-diggers (as she had herself predicted). They found the body lying in precisely the same condition as at the time of burial, the winding-sheet enveloping it in such a way that only the face and forepart of the head could be seen. A reddish liquid had flowed from her mouth and her cheeks were tinged with red. She looked even more beautiful than on the bed of death, without a sign of corruption, though six weeks in the grave. The wounds of the feet were still plainly visible, but those of the hands could not be seen as they were enveloped in the folds of the winding-sheet. Around the top of the head, as also at the sides of the body, could be seen a bloody moisture. The police officers, fearing an offensive exhalation, had lighted their pipes and the burgomaster held his handkerchief to his face. But no such precautions were necessary ; there was not the slightest odor. The burgomaster, who was commissioned to make the investigation will now send in his report, and false rumors will cease. Miss Hensel has planted a rose-bush and other flowers on the grave. I feel confident that Our Lord will reward the deceased with an unfading crown, and that He will accept her prayers for us." Some days previously Miss Hensel had had her friend's grave opened, but secretly, as much through disquiet at the alarming reports current, as through desire to gaze once again on the features of her whom she so greatly revered. u She had been buried five weeks," she wrote to the author of this biography. u The straw on which she lay was already full of mold, and yet there was not the slightest disagreeable odor. The winding-sheet was damp, as if lately washed, and it clung close to the limbs. Her features were lovely, not the least change in them. Her remains in their linen winding-sheet left upon me an ineffaceable impression. I slipped under her head a leaden plate inscribed with her name and date of decease." On October G, 1858, Sister Emmerich's grave was opened for the third time, as may be seen by the the Sisters in an oak coffin. The whole skeleton was, at last, found in a natural position, only a small part, which had dissolved and mingled with the dust, was wanting. The coffin was then conveyed by the Sisters, followed by the assistants,to the hospital where it was hermetically sealed. When the tomb was ready to receive it, the coffin was again borne processionally to its final resting-place in which it was solemnly deposited with the accustomed blessings and prayers. A brick vault now holds the remains and on it lies the old marble slab, surmounted by a handsome Gothic cross." Some years later the grave was inclosed by a beautiful iron railing and surrounded by kneeling-benches on which devout souls may often be seen in silent prayer. In March, 1824, Mr. Clement Brentano, "the Pilgrim," as the good Sister herself taught us to style him, bade a final farewell to Diilmen. He took with him the precious harvest he had zealously gleaned and which he has transmitted to us in his journal, that ingenuous record of over five years spent by the invalid's bedside. All feelings of bitterness had been effaced from his heart by the loss of her to whom he owed so much, and all remembrance of past annoyance perfectly obliterated. His farewells to the Vicars Hilgenberg and Niesing, to Father Limberg, Dr. Wesener, and others were so sincere and cordial, that the kindest feelings ever afterward existed between him and his friends in Diilmen. The numerous letters which he annually received from them testify to this. Dr. Wesener wrote to him the following lines, March 18, 1825 : — " You have learned through our friends here that I have been to the gates of the tomb. I allude to it, that I may make mention of one fact which with me you will esteem the most important of my illness ; viz., my perfect peace of soul in the severest sufferings. This peace I owe to close union with Our Lord Jesus Christ and the use of His spiritual remedies. Father Limberg and the Vicar Niesing were my faithful supporters ; both rejoiced on beholding the consolations of faith sweetening my great pain and enabling me to bear it with patience. My cure was wrought at the moment in which all, including myself, thought me dying. It was on a January morning about four o'clock. In her distress, my wife ran to the cemetery and invoked the intercession of our dear Sister Emmerich. O dear, good soul, how often in my illness did I not call to mind thy nameless sufferings \" Mr. Brentano wrote to one of his intimate friends in the early part of the year 1832 : — "I am working diligently on my journal of the first three months of my sojourn near Sister Emmerich ; but on account of its personal connections, it is a difficult t&sk." Another letter to the same friend ends with these words : li I beg you earnestly and in all confidence to pray for my intentions; namely, that God may still have mercy on me, and give me grace and strength not to offend Him so often and so grievously by my words. I am so frequently and easily led to speak imprudently and uncharitably of others without necessity or utility ; it is for me a subject of daily discouragement. Pray, too, that God may prolong my life until I finish my task and dispose of what I possess in favor of the poor." Some months later, Mr. Brentano published from his journal, " The Dolorous Tassion of Our Lord Jesus Clirist, with a Short Sketch of the Life of the Servant of God, A. C. Emmerich (1)." Notwithstanding the rapid sale of the " Dolorous Passion" and the blessed fruits it produced, he (1) Salzbach, 1833.
could not resolve upon publishing anything else from the same source. He sought the aid of younger, more vigorous workmen than himself to whom he might confidently confide the publication of his manuscripts. Writing to Guido Goerres, he says : " Would that you and I were not so far apart ! I would intrust to you, to you and Frederick Windischmann, my journal with the sum necessary for its publication j but that cannot be done at so great a distance. Order in arrangement of the notes is indispensable. And for this much reflection and many oral explanations would be absolutely requisite j for what there is of good in them is as delicate as the dust that paints the butterfly's wing. I sit alone as in a desert of shifting sand, eagerly bending over my treasure of fugitive leaves, and languishing in the noise arid bustle of the careless world." But the labors of their profession allowed not these chosen friends to assume the arduous task of publication, and two other attempts to find an associate in the work were equally unsuccessful. Clement Brentano, the faithful friend and zealous amanuensis of Sister Emmerich, died July 28, 1842, with the unshaken conviction that God would not permit the precious treasure of his manuscripts, the fruit of so much toil and suffering, to lie hidden. His generous, magnanimous soul could never resolve to efface a single line of the endless complaints against the invalid and her surroundings that fill its pages. Ignoring self, he preferred leaveing it as it fell from his pen under the impulse of passing impressions, that the future laborer at the work of its arrangement might have as exact an idea of every incident recorded, as if he had been an eye-witness of the same, and consequently be enabled to judge of it impartially, with truth and justice. Christian Brentano survived his broth