Prophecy

End of the Twentieth Century

Pope Saint Pius X wrote in his first Encyclical, E Supremi, on October 4, 1903: “When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the world the “Son of Perdition” of whom the Apostle speaks (II. Thess. ii., 3).” This was over 110 years ago.

Prophesy attributed ¹ to Saint Nilus, fifth century: “After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable.”

Sister Ludmilla of Prague (cir. 1250): “Hardly three generations will pass after the world war, when one will also endeavor to prevent the Pope from exercising his sacred office, which will be a sign that the fall of Rome and the end of the world is near.”

St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373) “Forty years before the year two thousand, 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. The sign of when these events will occur will be when priests will have discarded their holy habits and dress themselves in lay clothes and when women will dress like men and men like women.’

Jean de Roquetaillade (died 1365): “Because it is said that twenty centuries after the incarnation of the Word the Beast would also be embodied and she would threaten the earth with evils as impressive as the graces brought by the divine incarnation.”

St. Bridget of Sweden (died 1373): “In the year 1980 the wicked shall prevail; they will profane and sacrilegiously defile the churches, by erecting in them altars idols to Antichrist.”

Mary said to Mother Mariana at Quito Ecuador on January 21, 1610 (Our Lady of Good Success): “First meaning: at the end of the 19th century and for a large part of the 20th, various heresies will flourish on this earth which will have become a free republic. The precious light of the Faith will go out in souls because of the almost total moral corruption: in those times there will be great physical and moral calamities, in private and in public.”

Sister Bouquillon (19th century). “The beginning of the end shall not come in the 19th century, but in the 20th for sure.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1950) “We are living in the days of the Apocalypse–the last days of our era…. The two great forces of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Mystical Body of Antichrist are beginning to draw up the battle lines for the catastrophic contest.”

An Old German prophecy says: “In the truth you will rejoice, after darkness you will see light, because before the beginning of 2000, the Beast and the Whore will be thrown headlong into the abyss. They will never come forth again. The Sign of the Cross will be resplendent in the glory of light, with faith and law-one flock and one shepherd.”

The Vision of Pope Leo XIII

Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed a prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere.

When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices – two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: “I can destroy your Church.” The gentle voice of Our Lord: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”

Satan: “To do so, I need more time and more power.”

Our Lord: “How much time? How much power?”

Satan: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”

Our Lord: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”

Long Saint Michael’s Prayer

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V/ Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

R/ The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

V/ Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

R/ As we have hoped in Thee.

V/ O Lord hear my prayer.

R/ And let my cry come unto Thee.

V/ Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. R/ Amen.

Comments on the Long Saint Michael’s Prayer

This prayer appeared as above in The Raccolta for many years. More recently in the 1940’s, the prayer was shortened and the meat of the prayer removed.

“In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.” We shall consider this in due course.

Prophecy of Blessed Tomasuccio de Foligno

“One from beyond the mountains shall become the Vicar Of God. Religious and clerics shall take part in this change. Outside the true path, there will be only disreputable men; I shrug my shoulders when the Bark of Peter is in danger and there is no one to lend it help…The schismatic shall fall into the scorn of the Italian faithful…By about twelve years shall the millennium have passed when the resplendent mantle of legitimate power shall emerge from the shadows where it was being kept by the schism. And beyond harm from the one who is blocking the door of salvation, for his deceitful schism shall have come to an end. And the mass of the faithful shall attach itself to the worthy Shepherd, who shall extricate each one from error and restore to the Church its beauty. He shall renew it.”

Comments

We have twelve private prophecies placing the Great Apostasy at the end of the last century. This last prophecy seems to indicate that shortly after the turn of the millennium, the beginning of the end of the Great Apostasy occurs. As such it also appears to confirm our time frame for the Great Apostasy.

Conclusion

Looking at these prophecies, it is apparent that the Great Apostasy began in the latter part of the last century. Saint Pius X feared the Son of Perdition, that is Antichrist had already been born.

The Great Apostasy

We have already read from Saint Paul: “That you be not easily moved from your sense, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, Who opposeth, and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God.” (II Thessalonians 2:2-4)

Jesus says: “But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)

Above Saint Jerome compared the abomination of desolation to heresy, which shall invade the Holy place according to the Prophet Daniel. In Proverbs (6:12-13) we read: “A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth, He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the foot, speaketh with the finger.”

Apostasy is actually a technical term. Pope Pius XII states in Mystici Corporis: “For not every sin, however great it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.” Apostasy and heresy are sins against the Faith, whereas schism is a sin against charity.

Canon 1325 provides us with the definition of these three sins: “The faithful are bound to profess their faith publicly, whenever silence, subterfuge, or their manner of acting would otherwise entail an implicit denial of their faith, a contempt of religion, an insult to God, or scandal to their neighbor. Any baptized person who, while retaining the name of Christian, obstinately denies or doubts any of the truths proposed for belief by the divine and Catholic faith, is a heretic; if he abandons the Christian faith entirely, he is called an apostate; if, finally, he refuses to be subject to the Supreme Pontiff, or to have communion with the members of the Church subject to the Pope, he is a schismatic.”

A heretic retains the name of Christian, while obstinately denying the Faith. An apostate abandons the Faith completely. A schismatic refuses to obey the Pope or to be in communion with those who are obedient to the Pope.

And so the Great Apostasy is a movement which brings almost all Catholics to abandon the Catholic Faith. Apostasy often begins with heresy as heresy often begins with schism. Saint Jerome says: “Between heresy and schism there is this difference, that heresy perverts dogma, while schism, by rebellion against the bishop, separates from the Church. Nevertheless there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church”

Cessation of the Mass

When the Fathers of the Church are in unanimous agreement on some matter of interpretation of Sacred Scripture, the Church considers their opinion to be infallibly true. In regard to Antichrist, there are two important points where they are in agreement. The first is that fact that Antichrist will take away the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass completely.

Of Antichrist the prophet Daniel (8:11-12) says: “And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary. And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper.” From this we also draw the conclusion that the sins of Catholics will bring about this sad state of affairs.

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning says: “The holy Fathers who have written upon the subject of Antichrist, and of these prophecies of Daniel, without a single exception, as far as I know, and they are the Fathers both of the East and of the West, the Greek and the Latin Church—all of them unanimously,—say that in the latter end of the world, during the reign of Antichrist, the holy sacrifice of the altar will cease. In the work on the end of the world, ascribed to St. Hippolytus, after a long description of the afflictions of the last days, we read as follows: “The Churches shall lament with a great lamentation, for there shall be offered no more oblation, nor incense, nor worship acceptable to God. The sacred buildings of the churches shall be as hovels; and the precious body and blood of Christ shall not be manifest in those days; the Liturgy shall be extinct; the chanting of psalms shall cease; the reading of Holy Scripture shall be heard no more. But there shall be upon men darkness, and mourning upon mourning, and woe upon woe. Then, the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible, hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking-places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were, from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early centuries.” ²

Saint Francis de Sales writes: “Is it not written that the revolt and separation must come (II Thessalonians 2:3), and that the sacrifice shall cease (Daniel 12:11), and that the Son of Man shall hardly find faith on earth at His second visible return (Luke 18:8), when He will come to judge? Answer: all these passages are understood of the affliction which antichrist will cause in the Church, during the three and a half years that he shall reign mightily; but in spite of this the Church during even these three years shall not fail, and shall be fed and preserved amid the deserts and solitudes whither is shall retire, as the Scripture says (Apocalyspe 12)” ³

Saint Alphonsus

Saint Alphonsus discusses this in several of his works:

“Hence the devil has always sought to deprive the world of the Mass by means of heretics, constituting them precursors of Antichrist, whose first efforts shall be to abolish the holy sacrifice of the altar, and, according to the prophet Daniel, in punishment of the sins of men, his efforts shall be successful: “And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice because of sins.” (Daniel 8:12)” ⁴

“It is true that it” (the Sacrifice of the Mass) “will cease on earth at the time of Antichrist: the Sacrifice of the Mass is to be suspended for twelve hundred and ninety days, that is, for three years and six months and a half, according to the prophesy of Daniel: “And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” (Daniel 12:11)” ⁵

Hence St. Bonaventure says that in the Mass God manifests to us all the love that He has borne us, and includes in it, as in a compendium, all His benefits. On this account the Devil has always endeavored to abolish the Mass throughout the world by means of heretics, making them the precursors of Antichrist who, before all things, will endeavor to abolish, and in fact will, in punishment for the sins of men, succeed in abolishing the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, according to the prediction of Daniel: “And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice because of sins.” ⁶

Universal Conversion

Saint John Eudes reports: “All the holy Fathers ⁷ agree that after the death of antichrist the whole world will be converted, and although some of them assert that the world will last but a few days after his death, while others say a few months, some authorities insist that it will continue to exist many years after. St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Francis of Paula and a number of other saints have predicted this ultimate universal conversion.” ⁸