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THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY FOR EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR
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MARTYRED SAINTS
| Your Daily Martyr | The Age of Martyrdom (20th & 21st centuries) | The School of Martyrdom | St. Peter the Apostle | St. Paul of Tarsus | St. James the Great |
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SAINTS OF MARY
| St. Louis-Marie de Montfort | St. Dominic | St. John Eudes | St. Maximilian Kolbe | St. Bernard | St. Alphonsus Liguori | St. Ephrem |
| St. Catherine Laboure | St. Bernadette | St. Bridget | St. Catherine of Siena | Pope St. Pius X |
DESERT SAINTS
| Saints of the Desert | St. Paul the Hermit | St. Anthony of Egypt | Desert Father Wisdom |
SAINTS FOR SINNERS
| St. Paul of Tarsus | St. Augustine | St. Mary Magdalen | Dismas the Good Thief |
(not all links are activated at this time)
THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY FOR EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR
| January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | All 365 Days on One Page |
MARTYRED SAINTS
| Your Daily Martyr | The Age of Martyrdom (20th & 21st centuries) | The School of Martyrdom | St. Peter the Apostle | St. Paul of Tarsus | St. James the Great |
| St. Andrew | St. John the Baptist | The North American Martyrs | St. Christina | St. Afra | The Seven Holy Sleepers | The Cristeros of Mexico |
SAINTS OF MARY
| St. Louis-Marie de Montfort | St. Dominic | St. John Eudes | St. Maximilian Kolbe | St. Bernard | St. Alphonsus Liguori | St. Ephrem |
| St. Catherine Laboure | St. Bernadette | St. Bridget | St. Catherine of Siena | Pope St. Pius X |
DESERT SAINTS
| Saints of the Desert | St. Paul the Hermit | St. Anthony of Egypt | Desert Father Wisdom |
SAINTS FOR SINNERS
| St. Paul of Tarsus | St. Augustine | St. Mary Magdalen | Dismas the Good Thief |
ST. PAUL THE HERMIT
feast day January 15th
Fled to the Desert to avoid persecution and never came back. Ninety years in the Desert made him holy!
feast day January 15th
Fled to the Desert to avoid persecution and never came back. Ninety years in the Desert made him holy!
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Desert Calling
Elias and St. John the Baptist sanctified the deserts, and Jesus Christ himself was a model of the eremitical state during His forty day’s fast in the wilderness; neither is it to be questioned that the Holy Ghost conducted the saint of this day, even though very young, into the desert, and was to him an instructor there: but it is no less certain, that an entire solitude and total sequestration of one’s self from human society, is one of those extraordinary ways by which God leads souls to himself, and is more worthy of our admiration, than calculated for imitation and practice; it is a state which ought only to be embraced by such as are already well experienced in the practices of virtue and contemplation, and who can resist sloth and other temptations, lest instead of being a help, it prove a snare and stumbling-block in their way to Heaven. Paul the Southern Egyptian St. Paul was a native of the Lower Thebais in Egypt, which is the southern region of the country, and had lost both his parents when he was only fifteen years of age: nevertheless he was very proficient in Greek and Egyptian learning, was mild and modest, and feared God from his earliest youth. The bloody persecution of Decius disturbed the peace of the church in 250; and, what was most dreadful, Satan, by his ministers, sought not so much to kill the bodies, as by subtle artifices and tedious tortures to destroy the souls of men. Time of Terrible Christian Persecutions Two instances are sufficient to show his malice in this respect: A soldier of Christ, who had already triumphed over the racks and tortures, had his whole body rubbed over with honey, and was then laid on his back in the sun, with his hands tied behind him, that the flies and wasps, which are quite intolerable in hot countries, might torment and gall him with their stings. Another was bound with silk cords on a bed of down, in a delightful garden, where a lascivious woman was employed to entice him to sin; the martyr, sensible of his danger, bit off part of his tongue and spit it in her face, that the horror of such an action might put her to flight, and the smart occasioned by it be a means to prevent, in his own heart, any manner of consent to carnal pleasure. Fleeing to Desert Safety During these times of danger, Paul kept himself concealed in the house of another; but finding that a brother-in-law was inclined to betray him, that he might enjoy his estate, he fled into the deserts. There he found many spacious caverns in a rock, which were said to have been the retreat of money-coiners in the days of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. He chose for his dwelling a cave in this place, near which were a palm-tree and a clear spring; the former by its leaves furnished him with raiment, and by its fruit with food; and the latter supplied him with water for his drink. Paul Enters the Desert ‘University’ Aged 22 Paul was twenty-two years old when he entered the desert. His first intention was to enjoy the liberty of serving God till the persecution should cease; but relishing the sweets of heavenly contemplation and penance, and learning the spiritual advantages of holy solitude, he resolved to return no more among men, or concern himself in the least with human affairs, and what passed in the world: it was enough for him to know that there was a world, and to pray that it might be improved in goodness. The saint lived on the fruit of his tree till he was forty-three years of age, and from that time till his death, like Elias, he was miraculously fed with bread brought him every day by a raven. His method of life, and what he did in this place during ninety years, is unknown to us: but God was pleased to make his servant known a little before his death. Sought by the Great St. Anthony The great St. Antony, who was then ninety years of age, was tempted to vanity, as if no one had served God so long in the wilderness as he had done, imagining himself also to be the first example of a life so recluse from human conversation: but the contrary was discovered to him in a dream, the night following, and the saint was at the same time commanded, by Almighty God, to set out forthwith in quest of a perfect servant of his, concealed in the more remote parts of those deserts. The holy old man set out the next morning in search of the unknown hermit. St. Jerome relates from his authors, that he met a centaur, or creature not with the nature and properties, but with something of the mixed shape of man and horse, and that this monster, or phantom of the devil, (St. Jerome pretends not to determine which it was,) upon his making the sign of the cross, fled away, after having pointed out the way to the saint. Our author adds, that St. Antony soon after met a satyr, who gave him to understand that he was an inhabitant of those deserts, and one of that sort whom the deluded Gentiles adored for gods. Saint Antony, after two days and a night spent in the search, discovered the saint’s abode by a light that was in it, which he made up to. Having long begged admittance at the door of his cell, St. Paul at last opened it with a smile: they embraced, called each other by their names, which they knew by divine revelation. St. Paul then inquired whether idolatry still reigned in the world? Fed By Food From Above While they were discoursing together, a raven flew towards them, and dropped a loaf of bread before them. Upon which St. Paul said: “Our good God has sent us a dinner. In this manner have I received half a loaf every day these sixty years past; now you are come to see me, Christ has doubled his provision for his servants.” Having given thanks to God, they both sat down by the fountain; but a little contest arose between them who should break the bread; St. Antony alleged St. Paul’s greater age, and St. Paul pleaded that Antony was the stranger; both agreed at last to take up their parts together. Having refreshed themselves at the spring, they spent the night in prayer. |
Death Approaches
The next morning St. Paul told his guest that the time of his death approached, and that he was sent to bury him, adding: “Go and fetch the cloak given you by St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in which I desire you to wrap my body.” This he might say with the intent of being left alone in prayer, whilst he expected to be called out of this world; as also that he might testify his veneration for St. Athanasius, and his high regard for the faith and communion of the Catholic Church, on account of which that holy bishop was then a great sufferer. St. Antony was surprised to hear him mention the cloak, which he could not have known but by divine revelation. From Desert to Paradise Whatever was his motive for desiring to be buried in it, St. Antony acquiesced to what was asked of him: so, after mutual embraces, he hastened to his monastery to comply with St. Paul’s request. He told his monks that he, a sinner, falsely bore the name of a servant of God; but that he had seen Elias and John the Baptist in the wilderness, even Paul in Paradise. Having taken the cloak, he returned with it in all haste, fearing lest the holy hermit might be dead, as it happened. Whilst on his road, he saw his happy soul carried up to Heaven, attended by choirs of angels, prophets, and apostles. Desert Tomb St. Antony, though he rejoiced on St. Paul’s account, could not help lamenting on his own, for having lost a treasure so lately discovered. As soon as his sorrow would permit, he arose, pursued his journey, and came to the cave. Going in, he found the body kneeling, and the hands stretched out. Full of joy, and supposing him yet alive, he knelt down to pray with him, but by his silence soon perceived he was dead. Having paid his last respects to the holy corpse, he carried it out of the cave. Whilst he stood perplexed how to dig a grave, two lions came up quietly, and as it were mourning; and tearing up the ground, made a hole large enough for the reception of a human body. St. Antony then buried the corpse, singing hymns and psalms, according to what was usual and appointed by the church on that occasion. After this he returned home praising God, and related to his monks what he had seen and done. He always kept as a great treasure, and wore himself on great festivals, the garment of St. Paul, of palm-tree leaves patched together. Ninety-Years a Hermit in the Desert St. Paul died in the year of our Lord, 342, the hundred and thirteenth year of his age, and the ninetieth of his solitude, and is usually called the first hermit, to distinguish him from others of that name. The body of this saint is said to have been conveyed to Constantinople, by the Emperor Michael Comnenus, in the twelfth century, and from thence to Venice in 1240. Louis I, King of Hungary, procured it from that republic, and deposited it at Buda, where a congregation of hermits under his name, which still subsists in Hungary, Poland, and Austria, was instituted by blessed Eusebius of Strigonium, a nobleman, who, having distributed his whole estate among the poor, retired into the forests; and being followed by others, built the monastery of Pisilia, under the rule of the regular canons of St. Augustine. He died in that house, January the 20th, 1270. St. Paul, the hermit, is commemorated in several ancient western Martyrologies on the 10th of January, but in the Roman on the 15th, on which he is honored in the anthologium of the Greeks. Learning From St. Paul the Hermit An eminent contemplative draws the following portraiture of this great model of an eremitical life; St. Paul, the hermit, not being called by God to the external duties of an active life, remained alone, conversing only with God, in a vast wilderness, for the space of nearly a hundred years, ignorant of all that passed in the world, both the progress of sciences, the establishment of religion, and the revolutions of states and empires; indifferent even as to those things without which he could not live, as the air which he breathed, the water he drank, and the miraculous bread with which he supported life. What did he do? Say the inhabitants of this busy world, who think they could not live without being in a perpetual hurry of restless projects; what was his employment all this while? Alas! Ought we not rather to put this question to them; what are you doing whilst you are not taken up in doing the will of God, which occupies the heavens and the earth in all their motions? Do you call that doing nothing which is the great end God proposed to himself in giving us a being, that is, to be employed in contemplating, adoring, and praising him? Is it to be idle and useless in the world, to be entirely taken up in that which is the eternal occupation of God himself, and of the blessed inhabitants of heaven? What employment is better, more just, more sublime, or more advantageous than this, when done in suitable circumstances? To be employed in anything else, how great or noble soever it may appear in the eyes of men, unless it be referred to God, and be the accomplishment of his holy will, who in all our actions demands our heart more than our hand, what is it, but to turn ourselves away from our end, to lose our time, and voluntarily to return again to that state of nothing out of which we were formed, or rather into a far worse state? |
AN AFTERTHOUGHT ...
"ARE WE HEADED FOR A WORLDWIDE HERMITAGE?"
"ARE WE HEADED FOR A WORLDWIDE HERMITAGE?"
God is a good God Who Does Not Begrudge Us Good Things
God doesn’t mind giving us good things—provided that we remain good and do not let those ‘goods’ get in the way of serving God. Unfortunately—as history has shown in the case of the “Chosen People”—goods do get in the way of serving God and lead people to complacency, a love of comfort, a lack of mortification, a lukewarmness, and, little by little, more and more sins. The “Good Life” does not always promote a “Godly Life”—as is shown in the case of the rich young man of the Gospel, whose riches and possessions were an obstacle to his perfection and salvation:
“And behold one came and said to Jesus: ‘Good master! What good shall I do that I may have life everlasting? Who said to him: ‘Why asketh thou Me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ He said to Him: ‘Which?’ And Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ The young man saith to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’
“Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible. Then Peter answering, said to him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, and every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting!” (Matthew 19:16-29).
A Not So Good Good! When is a Good NOT a Good?
When is a good not a good? When it weakens our spiritual life in any way! As Our Lord warned: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Jesus further says: “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
This is why St. James warns the rich of the dangers found in their wealth: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you.! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
God Will Make the Earth Like a Desert
Since we are so besotted with “things” and “pleasures” and “comfort”—it is only fitting that God will make of the Earth a vast “desert” as a just dessert for our sins. Not that all the Earth will be one big sand-dune—but it will be a “desert” more in the sense of being “deserted” with most life being killed-off.
This has been abundantly prophesied in both Divine Public Revelation (the Bible) and in Divine Private Revelation (the prophecies by Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints).
Signs of a Desolating Chastisement in Divine Public Revelation
There are dozens more private revelations that speak of a sudden and tremendous chastisement by which Christ will impose peace on the Earth. The prophecy of the “Three Days of Darkness” is perhaps the most repeated of them all. Undoubtedly, someone could object that nothing of this is said in official Divine Public Revelation, that is to say, in Sacred Scripture. Let us see if this is true:
► The Book of Zacharias states: “And it shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, that two-thirds in it shall be scattered and shall perish: but the third part shall be left in it” (Zacharias 13:8).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no light, but cold and frost. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light” (Zacharias 14:6-7).
► The Book of Isaias states: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it” (Isaias 13:9).
► The Book of Apocalypse states: “For it is a day of slaughter and of devastation and of weeping! For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogance of the mighty!” (Apocalypse 13:9-11).
“For it is a day of slaughter and of devastation and of weeping” (Apocalypse 22:5).
“Therefore shall a curse devour the Earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall be desolate: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be burned, and few men shall be left. … For it shall be thus in the midst of the Earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended” (Apocalypse 24:6).
“And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire” (Apocalypse 24:13).
“For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies: He hath killed them and delivered them to slaughter” (Apocalypse 34:2).
“Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burned them” (Apocalypse 42:14).
► The Book of Sophonias states: “Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of the land, saith the Lord: I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord” (Sophonias 1:2-3)
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the strong cities, and against the high bulwarks. And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as Earth, and their bodies as dung. Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for He shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the land” (Sophonias 1:14-18)
“For then I will pour upon them My indignation, all My fierce anger: for with the fire of My jealousy shall all the Earth be devoured” (Sophonias 3:8)
“Because then I will restore to the people a pure language, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one shoulder” (Sophonias 3:9)
The “Day of the Lord” that the Prophet announced will be a tremendous and unimaginable chastisement, even to the ends of the Earth, which will fall upon all the nations. After this terrible chastisement, the survivors who remain will invoke with new fervor the name of the Lord. The Church and the world will be restored in a radical and supernatural way.
► The Book of Jeremias states: “I beheld the Earth, and, behold, it was void and nothing! And the heavens, and there was no light in them! … For thus saith the Lord: ‘All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy!’” (Jeremias 4:23, 27).
“Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked. The wrath of the Lord shall not return until He executes it, and until He accomplishes the thought of His heart: in the latter days you shall understand His counsel!” (Jeremias 23:19-20).
► The Book of Ezechiel states: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘The affliction, behold an affliction is come! An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee! Behold it is come! Destruction is come upon thee that dwells in the land! The time is come! The day of slaughter is near!’” (Ezechiel 7:5-7).
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy and say: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Howl ye! Woe, woe to the day! For the day is near, yea, the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the chastisement of nations!’” ’” (Ezechiel 30:1-3).
► The Book of Joel states: “Alas, alas, for the day! Because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the Almighty!” (Joel 1:15).
► The Book of Amos states: “Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. … Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18, 20).
► The Book of Malachias states: “For behold the day shall come that shall burn as a furnace: and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch. But unto you that fear My name, the Sun of justice shall arise with healing in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachias 4:1-3).
► St. Paul states: “For He shall finish His work, and cut it short in justice; because a short word shall the Lord make upon the Earth” (Romans 9:28 citing Isaias).
► St. Peter states: “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the Earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of the ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:6-7).
Divine Private Revelations
Before we look at these revelations, it is useful to once again remind ourselves of the role and scope of Divine Private Revelation in relation to Divine Public Revelation. Divine Public Revelation is “Divine” in that it comes from God; it is “Public” in the sense that it is meant for ALL the Church at ALL times in history, and it ended with the death of the last of the Apostles (who was St. John the Evangelist). Nothing new can be added to Divine Public Revelation—it is, so to speak, “set in stone”.
Divine Private Revelation is “Divine” in that it also comes from God, either directly (e.g. the Sacred Heart of Jesus appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque), or it comes indirectly from God (e.g., Our Lady, or an angel, or a saint relaying a message from God). These Divine Private Revelations do not possess the same authority as Divine Public Revelation. Their purpose is NEVER to add anything new to Divine Public Revelation, but only to remind us what we are neglecting to do, or giving us a warning of the consequences of our actions, or giving a deeper, further, clearer explanation of what has already been revealed in Divine Public Revelation.
So, in many of Our Lady’s apparitions and revelations, we are reminded of what is already contained in Holy Scripture, but which we are forgetting, ignoring or refusing to pay attention to—for example, praying more (“Pray without ceasing” [1 Thessalonians 5:17] … or doing more penance (“Unless you do penance, you shall perish” [Luke 13:3]) … and that God will chastise the world (“The day of the Lord is near: it shall be the time of the chastisement of nations!” [Ezechiel 30:1-3]) ... and so on.
We would be foolish to ignore such revelations under the often quoted pretext of “You don’t have to believe private revelations and you won’t go to Hell for not believing them!” If we have a moral certitude—expressed by the ‘healthy’ authorities of the Church—that such and such revelation is worthy of belief, then who the heck are we to throw it back in God’s face with such a pretentious and flimsy excuse? If God has gone to the trouble of trying to tell us something for our spiritual benefit and our salvation, it takes either a devil or a dumb-fool to throw it into the proverbial “trash-can”! This is especially so if the Divine Private Revelation dovetails with, and does not contradict Divine Public Revelation, and if the Divine Private Revelation is deemed worthy of credence by the ‘healthy’ authorities of the Church. I say ‘healthy’ because Modernism and Liberalism are far from being ‘healthy’ and is more ‘Hell-fy’ than ‘healthy’!
Anyway, let us look at SOME of the many Divine Private Revelations that “dovetail” and perhaps further explain the Divine Public Revelation quotes shown above, and show that the Earth will, in many parts, become like a DESERT.
► Our Lady of La Salette (1846): “Then, Jesus Christ, by an act of His justice and His great mercy toward the righteous, will command His Angels to put all His enemies to death. At one blow the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all men given to sin will perish, and the Earth will become like a desert. Then, there will be peace.”
► Our Lady of Fatima (1917): "Many nations will be annihilated!"
► Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973): “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
► St. Bridget (1303-1373): “Forty years before the year 2000, the Devil will be let loose for a period to tempt men. When all will seem lost, God Himself will suddenly bring all evil to an end.”
► St. Vincent Ferrer (14th century): “A time will come such as no one has seen until then. … It will cause a great chaos, such as never was or ever thought of, except for the one that will take place at the Final Judgment. The Church shall shed tears ... But that sorrow shall be turned into joy. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords will purify and regenerate everything.”
► Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th century): “The Omnipotent, then, will intervene with an admirable blow that no one can imagine. For three days the Earth will be submersed in a complete darkness. As before in Egypt, the Exterminating Angel will cut down all those who rose up with satanic hatred against the Church.”
► St. Gaspar del Bufalo (19th century): “Those who survive the three days of darkness and horror will believe themselves to be alone on the Earth, because the ground will be covered with corpses.”
► Fr. Bernard Maria Clausi (19th century): “Things will reach the apex, and when everything seems lost, God will transform all things with a flick of the eye, as from morning to night… A terrible uproar will come, directly against the impious. It will be a completely new and terrible chastisement, such as the world has never seen. This chastisement will be felt throughout the entire world and will be so terrible that the survivors will imagine themselves to be the only ones living. This punishment will be instantaneous, but terrible.”
► Venerable Fr. Jacinto Coma (19th century): “Providence has reserved an unexpected means that will do in a single stroke what would have taken a very long time in the normal course of things.”
► Sr. Maria des Vallés (17th century): “Because there are three deluges, sent to destroy sin. The first deluge is that of the Eternal Father, which was a deluge of water. The second is the deluge of the Son, which was a deluge of blood. The third is of the Holy Spirit, which will be a deluge of fire. But it will be sad like the others because it will encounter much resistance and a large quantity of green wood that will be difficult to burn. Two have already passed, but the third is pending and, just as the first two were predicted long before they arrived, so also will be the latter. Only God knows the time.”
► Venerable Isabel Canori (18th century): “I saw the world in complete revolution; order and justice no longer reigned. The seven capital sins were raised in triumph. From every side injustice, fraud, debauchery and every type of iniquity spread. … All the faithful who preserved in their heart the Faith of Jesus Christ … saw themselves … freed from the horrible chastisement … Suddenly a violent and impetuous wind rose that sounded like the roar of a lion and was heard all over the Earth. Fear and terror struck both man and beast. …
“The power of Hell will be used to exterminate those impious and heretical persons who desired to overthrow the Church and destroy her to her very foundations. … But the Lord will despise their artifices and through an effect of His Mighty Hand He will punish these impious blasphemers, permitting the infernal powers to come out from Hell. …
“Innumerable Legions of devils will overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice by causing terrible calamities and disaster. They will attack everything and cause injury to families, properties, cities and villages. Nothing on Earth shall be spared. God will permit those mendacious ones [lying sinners] to be chastised … giving them a rapid and terrible death, because they voluntarily submitted themselves to the infernal power, forming a pact with it against Divine Justice. …
“Then, I saw a dark and frightful cave of fire where a multitude of devils were issuing forth under the form of man-beasts. They came to infest the Earth, leaving ruin and blood everywhere. … Those evil spirits plundered the places where God was outraged, blasphemed and treated in a sacrilegious way. The profaned places will be pulled down and destroyed, and nothing but ruins will remain of them.”
► Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837): “Three pestilences, filled with horrendous sights, will cover the Earth for three days. The punishment … from Heaven will be frightful and universal. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish during that darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will afterwards convert. The air shall be infested with demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
► Josefina Reverdy (19th century): “A part of the Earth is all desert; nothing without the power of God can sustain itself. The more fervent souls will fall into moral anguish. There will be three terrible tempests that will move the mountains and merge together houses and buildings. A third of all men will perish. At this moment the sun will hide itself. Three dense clouds filled with satanic spirits will cover the Earth. The moon will become red like blood. … After the persecution, the Church will triumph and flourish again.”
► Maria Julia Jahenny (1850-1941): Our Lord said to her: “I will rise up suddenly in all the splendor of My justice. … I will transform the Earth; I will strike down the culpable souls. … It will be a deluge of terror.”
► Sr. Elena Aiello (+1961): “Rome will not be saved because the Italian rulers have abandoned the Divine Light and because only a few people really love the Church. But the day is not far off when all the wicked shall perish under the tremendous blows of Divine Justice.”
“The world no longer deserves pardon, but rather fire, destruction and death. … The chastisement will be quick to remove the evil from the Earth. A tempest of fire will fall upon the Earth. This terrible chastisement never before seen in the history of humanity will last for 70 hours. The atheists will be struck down and annihilated and many will be lost because they will remain in the obstinacy of their sins. Then you will see the power of light triumph over the power of darkness. The chastisement of fire is near and will purify the Earth of the iniquity of the wicked.”
► Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876-1966): Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
When those terrible days finally come to pass, then those who survive will find themselves living like the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers of old. There will little or nothing left by way of modern conveniences and comforts. In a sense, the world will find itself having to start all over again, as in the time of Noe, after the Great Flood—and Our Lady of Akita says that this coming chastisement will be worse than that of the Great Flood! St. Paul the Hermit, PRAY FOR US!!
God doesn’t mind giving us good things—provided that we remain good and do not let those ‘goods’ get in the way of serving God. Unfortunately—as history has shown in the case of the “Chosen People”—goods do get in the way of serving God and lead people to complacency, a love of comfort, a lack of mortification, a lukewarmness, and, little by little, more and more sins. The “Good Life” does not always promote a “Godly Life”—as is shown in the case of the rich young man of the Gospel, whose riches and possessions were an obstacle to his perfection and salvation:
“And behold one came and said to Jesus: ‘Good master! What good shall I do that I may have life everlasting? Who said to him: ‘Why asketh thou Me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ He said to Him: ‘Which?’ And Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ The young man saith to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth! What is yet wanting to me?’
“Jesus saith to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’
“And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible. Then Peter answering, said to him: ‘Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee! What therefore shall we have?’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, and every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting!” (Matthew 19:16-29).
A Not So Good Good! When is a Good NOT a Good?
When is a good not a good? When it weakens our spiritual life in any way! As Our Lord warned: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also ... No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” (Matthew 6:19-24).
Jesus further says: “The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in choke the word of God, and it is made fruitless” (Mark 4:19). “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
This is why St. James warns the rich of the dangers found in their wealth: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you.! Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire! You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days!” (James 5:1-3).
God Will Make the Earth Like a Desert
Since we are so besotted with “things” and “pleasures” and “comfort”—it is only fitting that God will make of the Earth a vast “desert” as a just dessert for our sins. Not that all the Earth will be one big sand-dune—but it will be a “desert” more in the sense of being “deserted” with most life being killed-off.
This has been abundantly prophesied in both Divine Public Revelation (the Bible) and in Divine Private Revelation (the prophecies by Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints).
Signs of a Desolating Chastisement in Divine Public Revelation
There are dozens more private revelations that speak of a sudden and tremendous chastisement by which Christ will impose peace on the Earth. The prophecy of the “Three Days of Darkness” is perhaps the most repeated of them all. Undoubtedly, someone could object that nothing of this is said in official Divine Public Revelation, that is to say, in Sacred Scripture. Let us see if this is true:
► The Book of Zacharias states: “And it shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, that two-thirds in it shall be scattered and shall perish: but the third part shall be left in it” (Zacharias 13:8).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no light, but cold and frost. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light” (Zacharias 14:6-7).
► The Book of Isaias states: “Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it” (Isaias 13:9).
► The Book of Apocalypse states: “For it is a day of slaughter and of devastation and of weeping! For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogance of the mighty!” (Apocalypse 13:9-11).
“For it is a day of slaughter and of devastation and of weeping” (Apocalypse 22:5).
“Therefore shall a curse devour the Earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall be desolate: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be burned, and few men shall be left. … For it shall be thus in the midst of the Earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended” (Apocalypse 24:6).
“And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire” (Apocalypse 24:13).
“For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies: He hath killed them and delivered them to slaughter” (Apocalypse 34:2).
“Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burned them” (Apocalypse 42:14).
► The Book of Sophonias states: “Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of the land, saith the Lord: I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord” (Sophonias 1:2-3)
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the strong cities, and against the high bulwarks. And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as Earth, and their bodies as dung. Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for He shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the land” (Sophonias 1:14-18)
“For then I will pour upon them My indignation, all My fierce anger: for with the fire of My jealousy shall all the Earth be devoured” (Sophonias 3:8)
“Because then I will restore to the people a pure language, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one shoulder” (Sophonias 3:9)
The “Day of the Lord” that the Prophet announced will be a tremendous and unimaginable chastisement, even to the ends of the Earth, which will fall upon all the nations. After this terrible chastisement, the survivors who remain will invoke with new fervor the name of the Lord. The Church and the world will be restored in a radical and supernatural way.
► The Book of Jeremias states: “I beheld the Earth, and, behold, it was void and nothing! And the heavens, and there was no light in them! … For thus saith the Lord: ‘All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy!’” (Jeremias 4:23, 27).
“Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked. The wrath of the Lord shall not return until He executes it, and until He accomplishes the thought of His heart: in the latter days you shall understand His counsel!” (Jeremias 23:19-20).
► The Book of Ezechiel states: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘The affliction, behold an affliction is come! An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee! Behold it is come! Destruction is come upon thee that dwells in the land! The time is come! The day of slaughter is near!’” (Ezechiel 7:5-7).
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, prophesy and say: “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Howl ye! Woe, woe to the day! For the day is near, yea, the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the chastisement of nations!’” ’” (Ezechiel 30:1-3).
► The Book of Joel states: “Alas, alas, for the day! Because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the Almighty!” (Joel 1:15).
► The Book of Amos states: “Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. … Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18, 20).
► The Book of Malachias states: “For behold the day shall come that shall burn as a furnace: and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch. But unto you that fear My name, the Sun of justice shall arise with healing in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachias 4:1-3).
► St. Paul states: “For He shall finish His work, and cut it short in justice; because a short word shall the Lord make upon the Earth” (Romans 9:28 citing Isaias).
► St. Peter states: “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the Earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of the ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:6-7).
Divine Private Revelations
Before we look at these revelations, it is useful to once again remind ourselves of the role and scope of Divine Private Revelation in relation to Divine Public Revelation. Divine Public Revelation is “Divine” in that it comes from God; it is “Public” in the sense that it is meant for ALL the Church at ALL times in history, and it ended with the death of the last of the Apostles (who was St. John the Evangelist). Nothing new can be added to Divine Public Revelation—it is, so to speak, “set in stone”.
Divine Private Revelation is “Divine” in that it also comes from God, either directly (e.g. the Sacred Heart of Jesus appearing to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque), or it comes indirectly from God (e.g., Our Lady, or an angel, or a saint relaying a message from God). These Divine Private Revelations do not possess the same authority as Divine Public Revelation. Their purpose is NEVER to add anything new to Divine Public Revelation, but only to remind us what we are neglecting to do, or giving us a warning of the consequences of our actions, or giving a deeper, further, clearer explanation of what has already been revealed in Divine Public Revelation.
So, in many of Our Lady’s apparitions and revelations, we are reminded of what is already contained in Holy Scripture, but which we are forgetting, ignoring or refusing to pay attention to—for example, praying more (“Pray without ceasing” [1 Thessalonians 5:17] … or doing more penance (“Unless you do penance, you shall perish” [Luke 13:3]) … and that God will chastise the world (“The day of the Lord is near: it shall be the time of the chastisement of nations!” [Ezechiel 30:1-3]) ... and so on.
We would be foolish to ignore such revelations under the often quoted pretext of “You don’t have to believe private revelations and you won’t go to Hell for not believing them!” If we have a moral certitude—expressed by the ‘healthy’ authorities of the Church—that such and such revelation is worthy of belief, then who the heck are we to throw it back in God’s face with such a pretentious and flimsy excuse? If God has gone to the trouble of trying to tell us something for our spiritual benefit and our salvation, it takes either a devil or a dumb-fool to throw it into the proverbial “trash-can”! This is especially so if the Divine Private Revelation dovetails with, and does not contradict Divine Public Revelation, and if the Divine Private Revelation is deemed worthy of credence by the ‘healthy’ authorities of the Church. I say ‘healthy’ because Modernism and Liberalism are far from being ‘healthy’ and is more ‘Hell-fy’ than ‘healthy’!
Anyway, let us look at SOME of the many Divine Private Revelations that “dovetail” and perhaps further explain the Divine Public Revelation quotes shown above, and show that the Earth will, in many parts, become like a DESERT.
► Our Lady of La Salette (1846): “Then, Jesus Christ, by an act of His justice and His great mercy toward the righteous, will command His Angels to put all His enemies to death. At one blow the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all men given to sin will perish, and the Earth will become like a desert. Then, there will be peace.”
► Our Lady of Fatima (1917): "Many nations will be annihilated!"
► Our Lady of Akita, Japan (1973): “The Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead.”
► St. Bridget (1303-1373): “Forty years before the year 2000, the Devil will be let loose for a period to tempt men. When all will seem lost, God Himself will suddenly bring all evil to an end.”
► St. Vincent Ferrer (14th century): “A time will come such as no one has seen until then. … It will cause a great chaos, such as never was or ever thought of, except for the one that will take place at the Final Judgment. The Church shall shed tears ... But that sorrow shall be turned into joy. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords will purify and regenerate everything.”
► Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th century): “The Omnipotent, then, will intervene with an admirable blow that no one can imagine. For three days the Earth will be submersed in a complete darkness. As before in Egypt, the Exterminating Angel will cut down all those who rose up with satanic hatred against the Church.”
► St. Gaspar del Bufalo (19th century): “Those who survive the three days of darkness and horror will believe themselves to be alone on the Earth, because the ground will be covered with corpses.”
► Fr. Bernard Maria Clausi (19th century): “Things will reach the apex, and when everything seems lost, God will transform all things with a flick of the eye, as from morning to night… A terrible uproar will come, directly against the impious. It will be a completely new and terrible chastisement, such as the world has never seen. This chastisement will be felt throughout the entire world and will be so terrible that the survivors will imagine themselves to be the only ones living. This punishment will be instantaneous, but terrible.”
► Venerable Fr. Jacinto Coma (19th century): “Providence has reserved an unexpected means that will do in a single stroke what would have taken a very long time in the normal course of things.”
► Sr. Maria des Vallés (17th century): “Because there are three deluges, sent to destroy sin. The first deluge is that of the Eternal Father, which was a deluge of water. The second is the deluge of the Son, which was a deluge of blood. The third is of the Holy Spirit, which will be a deluge of fire. But it will be sad like the others because it will encounter much resistance and a large quantity of green wood that will be difficult to burn. Two have already passed, but the third is pending and, just as the first two were predicted long before they arrived, so also will be the latter. Only God knows the time.”
► Venerable Isabel Canori (18th century): “I saw the world in complete revolution; order and justice no longer reigned. The seven capital sins were raised in triumph. From every side injustice, fraud, debauchery and every type of iniquity spread. … All the faithful who preserved in their heart the Faith of Jesus Christ … saw themselves … freed from the horrible chastisement … Suddenly a violent and impetuous wind rose that sounded like the roar of a lion and was heard all over the Earth. Fear and terror struck both man and beast. …
“The power of Hell will be used to exterminate those impious and heretical persons who desired to overthrow the Church and destroy her to her very foundations. … But the Lord will despise their artifices and through an effect of His Mighty Hand He will punish these impious blasphemers, permitting the infernal powers to come out from Hell. …
“Innumerable Legions of devils will overrun the Earth and shall execute the orders of Divine Justice by causing terrible calamities and disaster. They will attack everything and cause injury to families, properties, cities and villages. Nothing on Earth shall be spared. God will permit those mendacious ones [lying sinners] to be chastised … giving them a rapid and terrible death, because they voluntarily submitted themselves to the infernal power, forming a pact with it against Divine Justice. …
“Then, I saw a dark and frightful cave of fire where a multitude of devils were issuing forth under the form of man-beasts. They came to infest the Earth, leaving ruin and blood everywhere. … Those evil spirits plundered the places where God was outraged, blasphemed and treated in a sacrilegious way. The profaned places will be pulled down and destroyed, and nothing but ruins will remain of them.”
► Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837): “Three pestilences, filled with horrendous sights, will cover the Earth for three days. The punishment … from Heaven will be frightful and universal. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish during that darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will afterwards convert. The air shall be infested with demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.”
► Josefina Reverdy (19th century): “A part of the Earth is all desert; nothing without the power of God can sustain itself. The more fervent souls will fall into moral anguish. There will be three terrible tempests that will move the mountains and merge together houses and buildings. A third of all men will perish. At this moment the sun will hide itself. Three dense clouds filled with satanic spirits will cover the Earth. The moon will become red like blood. … After the persecution, the Church will triumph and flourish again.”
► Maria Julia Jahenny (1850-1941): Our Lord said to her: “I will rise up suddenly in all the splendor of My justice. … I will transform the Earth; I will strike down the culpable souls. … It will be a deluge of terror.”
► Sr. Elena Aiello (+1961): “Rome will not be saved because the Italian rulers have abandoned the Divine Light and because only a few people really love the Church. But the day is not far off when all the wicked shall perish under the tremendous blows of Divine Justice.”
“The world no longer deserves pardon, but rather fire, destruction and death. … The chastisement will be quick to remove the evil from the Earth. A tempest of fire will fall upon the Earth. This terrible chastisement never before seen in the history of humanity will last for 70 hours. The atheists will be struck down and annihilated and many will be lost because they will remain in the obstinacy of their sins. Then you will see the power of light triumph over the power of darkness. The chastisement of fire is near and will purify the Earth of the iniquity of the wicked.”
► Fr. Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876-1966): Father Constant Louis-Marie Pel (1876–1966) is not a name well-known among the souls gifted by God with a knowledge of how God is going to set today’s world straight, but, for those who knew him, he was a priest very close to God. Doctor in theology, seminary professor, founder of a convent for women and of a seminary for men, with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he was a personal friend of Padre Pio, who said of him to some French pilgrims in San Giovanni Rotondo, “Why do you come to see me when you have so great a saint in France?”
Fr. Pel would spend nights on his feet in church with his forehead leaning against the Tabernacle, conversing with God in a permanent ecstasy. He died in a car accident just after Vatican II, but not before a seminarian, one of his spiritual sons, had been able to note down a prophecy of his, dating from 1945, concerning the chastisement which will strike France in particular. Here it is, quoted and abbreviated:
“My son,” said Fr. Pel, “know that with the sins of the world increasing in horror as this age wears on, great punishments from God will come down on the world and no continent will be spared by the Wrath of God. France being guilty of apostasy and denying its vocation will be severely chastised. East of a line stretching from Bordeaux in the south-west to Lille in the north-east, everything will be laid waste and set on fire by peoples invading from the east, and also by great flaming meteorites falling in a rain of fire upon all the Earth and upon these regions especially. Revolution, war, epidemics, plagues, chemical poison gases, violent earthquakes and the re-awakening of France’s extinct volcanoes will destroy everything ...
“France to the west of that line will be less affected ... because of the Faith rooted in the Vendée and in Brittany ... but any of God’s worst enemies, seeking refuge there from the worldwide cataclysm, will be found out, wherever they hide, and put to death by devils, because the wrath of the Lord is just and holy. Thick darkness caused by the war, gigantic fires and fragments of burning stars falling for three days and nights will cause the sun to disappear, and only candles blessed on Candlemas Day (February 2nd) will give light in the hands of believers, but the godless will not see this miraculous light, because they have darkness in their souls.
“In this way, my son, three quarters of mankind will be destroyed, and in certain parts of France survivors will have to go 60 miles to find another live human being ... Several nations will disappear off the face of the map ... A France thus purified will become the renewed “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” because all the Cains and Judases will have disappeared in this ‘Judgment upon the Nations.’” This Judgment is not yet the end of times, but so great is the punishment, due to the sins of the nations, that Our Lord told Fr. Pel that the desolation at world’s end will be lesser.
When those terrible days finally come to pass, then those who survive will find themselves living like the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers of old. There will little or nothing left by way of modern conveniences and comforts. In a sense, the world will find itself having to start all over again, as in the time of Noe, after the Great Flood—and Our Lady of Akita says that this coming chastisement will be worse than that of the Great Flood! St. Paul the Hermit, PRAY FOR US!!