Nossa Senhora |
| Beato Francisco Palau y Quer O.C.D. (1811-1872) |
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Luis Dufaur
Escritor, jornalista,
conferencista de política internacional, sócio do IPCO, webmaster de diversos blogs |
Blessed
Francisco Palau y Quer, O.C.D.:
A Prophet from Yesterday,
For Today, For Tomorrow,
For the End Times
Francisco Palau y Quer, O.C.D.:
A Prophet from Yesterday,
For Today, For Tomorrow,
For the End Times
Read it in english: Blessed Palau 
Leia em português: Beato Francisco Palau O.C.D.
Lea em español: Bienaventurado Francisco Palau y Quer
Chapter 1 - Sacred Orator, Apostle to the Working Class, Man of Thought and Action
Under the Tempest
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| Blessed Palau and the Vedrà Rock in Ibiza island |
Francisco Palau y Quer was born December 29, 1811, under the sign
of the crises that scourge our world today. His parents were small landowners
on the outskirts of Aytona, a village in the prosperous region of Catalonia,
Spain.
The family home was imbued with piety and age-old customs
developed over generations of faith and work in a milieu brimming with genuine
popular culture.
Francisco's birthplace was in occupied territory however.
Napoleon had invaded Spain and was trying to implement by force the false
ideals of the French Revolution.
Aytona was under the boot of French soldiers led by Colonel
Henriot, headquartered in Lérida. Henriot established a regime of terror and
misery for the population.
He severely repressed those who remained loyal to the
legitimate king, to the traditional customs, the regional rights and privileges
(fueros), and above all the Church.
Most adult males fled to the woods. Only women, children, and
old men remained in the towns. Hunger, cold, destitution, and mourning reigned
everywhere.
When the much-hated Napoleonic troops finally departed, they
left behind them a devastated land. As a child, Francisco had to help his
father and brothers rebuild their house and rehabilitate their plots.
Clothed with the Mantle of Elias
Francisco's intellectual qualities and religious vocation were
manifest from a very early age. At 17 he entered the seminary in Lérida, where
he studied the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas.
There he decided to join the Order of Carmel,[1]
but the seminary rector and his own parents were opposed to this. He prayed a
novena to St. Elias.
According to Father Canudas, one of Francisco's collaborators, “on the last day of the novena, Heaven granted him peace of mind by clearly indicating the religious order to which he should belong: St. Elias himself extended his cape over Francisco and covered him with it. With such a clear sign, he did not hesitate even a minute to head to the desired Mount in the shade of Carmel.”[2]
Elias giving his mantle to St Eliseu.
Juan de Valdés Leal (1622 - 1690), church of Our Lady of Carmel, Córdoba, Spain.
Francisco was admitted to St. Joseph Carmel in Barcelona at
21. He made his solemn profession on November 15, 1833.
At the time, to take religious vows was to risk martyrdom.
“When I made my religious profession,” he wrote years later, “the
Revolution held the torch that would set fire to the monasteries and the dagger
to assassinate those who lived in them.”[3]
On the night of July 25, 1835, a Liberal rebellion broke out.
Bloodthirsty revolutionary groups, carrying torches and daggers, burned
monasteries and martyred religious throughout Spain.
Friar Francisco and his companions awoke to the terrible cry
of “Kill the friars!” and to the light of flames rising from the convent
chapel.[4]
He and some fellow Carmelites managed to save their lives, but
were caught and thrown in jail, where they sat awaiting death.
The ministers of the Spanish monarchy of the day were very
anti-clerical. After the sacrilegious uprising, they suppressed the cloistered
religious orders and confiscated their properties.
The friars were dispersed and forbidden to wear religious
garb. Only secular priests were tolerated. Friar Francisco Palau suddenly found
himself on the streets.
He had no convent to live in, he could not wear his habit or
meet with other Carmelites, and he faced the daily hostility of anti-clerical
pickets. The Carmelites would be persecuted with such iniquitous measures for
decades.
The revolution had turned Friar Palau's life upside down.
However, this enthusiastic admirer of the Prophet Elias made a resolution,
which he carried out unequivocally: to imitate the founder of his Order by
living as a hermit in the mountains of Catalonia.
He finished his studies in that solitude, and returned to be
ordained to the priesthood by the bishop of Barbastro, Don Jaime Fort y Puig,
on April 2, 1836. Bishop Fort y Puig named Fr. Palau assistant pastor of
Aytona, his birthplace.
360º: Cueva del Padre Palau, Aytona
An Intrepid Preacher during a Bloody Civil War
Fr. Palau proved to be an apostle of exceptional valor in his
new function. He walked the streets to bring assistance to the sick,
instruction to children, and conversion to sinners.
His sermons, overflowing with ardor and logic, richness of
imagery and expression, were most persuasive. People flocked to his
confessional. The spiritual progress of his parish was evident.
So was the envy and
hatred of the anti-clerical revolutionaries. He was quickly labeled an “absolutist,”
an “extremist,” a priest incapable of understanding progress and a changing
world. Finally, anti-Catholic agents hired assassins to get rid of him.
Fr. Palau had built himself a stone hermitage to which he
retired whenever his priestly duties permitted. It was there that three paid
assassins went to kill him. Fr. Palau was not intimidated when he saw them.
They themselves were overwhelmed by terror, supernatural terror. The most daring of the three stepped forward: “Come in, my brother,” said Fr. Palau. “What brings you here at this hour?”“I've come to kill you,” answered the criminal.“You've come to kill me?” responded the good priest.“Well, it would have been much better if you had come for Confession, because you haven't confessed for twenty years. Listen. You don't know when God will call you to Judgment. Come now, and make a good Confession.”The assassin fell to his knees and confessed his sins, followed by his two accomplices.[5]
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| Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer O.C.D. (1811-1872) |
The Carlists, who considered Prince Carlos de Borbón the
legitimate heir to the throne, rallied the conservative forces.
They inscribed “Religion” on their banners, and defended the
regional rights of the kingdoms and provinces of Spain, rights that had
developed organically during many centuries of autonomy filled with Faith and
rich local cultures.
Fr. Palau gave the best of self, preaching in dioceses within
Carlist territory and ministering to the people.[7]
Everywhere he went, religious fervor was revitalized, hope was rekindled,
multitudes sought the sacraments. Carlist convictions were strengthened as a
result.
The Holy See was not unaware of Fr. Palau's efforts on behalf
of the Church. Mons. Millau, Military Vicar General and Apostolic Delegate in
Berga, the provisional capital of the Carlists, gave him the title of Apostolic
Missionary on February 19, 1840, and invested him with the authority to set up
Calvary shrines and to hold expositions of the Blessed Sacrament whenever he
deemed it advisable.
Fr. Palau never doubted the legitimacy of the Carlist movement
and was actually one of its most ardent defenders. Nonetheless, he harbored no
illusions and was not motivated by mere nostalgia or traditional-monarchist
sentimentalism.
For him, Carlism was inextricably intertwined with the cause
of Religion, and the great enemy of both was not so much the Liberal Party as
the anti-Christian Revolution burning throughout Europe, fanned by secret
forces.
Continually Fr. Palau implored the Carlist princes and leaders
to be consistent with the traditional religious principles they professed, by
reforming their lives.
In doing this they would give the people the effective example
expected of nobles and other members of legitimate elites. If they did not do
this, he told them, the Carlist cause was doomed to disaster despite the
support given it by the majority of Spaniards.
Just as experience showed that Fr. Palau had a profound
understanding of souls, the facts proved that he foresaw political and
strategic developments more clearly than the Carlist princes and generals did.
These men chose to ignore what Fr. Palau requested; they
postponed-indefinitely-the personal reform he advocated. They relied solely on
their fighting ability and popular support.
The result? By 1840 the routed Carlist forces were fleeing in
droves toward France, as the advancing Liberal troops inflicted terrible
reprisals on the population. Liberal vengeance fell with particular vehemence
on the clergy. Fr. Palau, with other religious, took refuge in France on July 21,
1840.
From Rome, Pope Gregory XVI repeatedly condemned the
anti-clerical government of Madrid and its numerous attacks on the Church.
The government's response was brutal. It imprisoned priests
and bishops, demanded through diplomatic channels that France keep a closer
watch on the Spanish religious refugees, and expelled the Apostolic Nuncio.
The government also installed illicit bishops at the head of
twenty-two dioceses. Several ordinaries were exiled and many sees were left
vacant.[8]
The press mocked the Holy Father for supposedly plotting a
foolish crusade against Spain from the frontier cities.
While helping his fellow exiles Fr. Palau carefully pondered
the words of Gregory XVI. He was so moved by them that he prepared six lengthy
spiritual lectures “for those who wish to pray knowing how to dialogue with God
for the triumph of the Catholic religion in Spain, and the extermination of the
impious sects that fight it.”
These lectures were
published in 1843 with the title “The Soul's Struggle with God.”[9]
In France, Fr. Palau was received by the Countess of Cahuzac
and the Viscount of Serres at the castle of Montdésir (Tarn-et-Garonne). With
their assistance, he and a small group of hermits settled in caves first on the
castle grounds, then in Cantayrac, and later near the shrine of Our Lady of
Livron.
There Fr. Palau gave himself to his cherished isolation,
contemplation, and prayer, as well as meditation on Revelation and the
religious dimension of the social and political events through which God had
destined him to live.
Attracted by the fame of his sanctity and the miracles
attributed to him, people soon began to gather on the small plain in front of
his cave, in order to go to Confession and attend Mass.[10]
Apostle to the Workers
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| Our Lady of Virtues, cherised devotion of Blessed Palau |
Fr. Palau was in exile for fourteen years. In 1851, the
government's animosity toward the refugees having abated, he returned to Spain.
He found Barcelona feverishly agitated.
Rapid industrialization had attracted thousands of landworkers
to the city, uprooting them from their lands and traditional customs. Bereft of
spiritual support, they easily fell prey to anti-clerical agitators.
In addition, the political mainstream was deeply corroded by
the egalitarian and libertarian principles of the French Revolution, which were
quickly developing into socialism, communism, and anarchism. Barcelona had
become a center of agitation against the Church.
Fr. Palau did not stand idle. He obtained permission from
Barcelona's saintly archbishop, Don José Domingo Costa y Borras, to build a
large asssociatioin in the middle of the new working-class neighborhoods.
The bishop, who had already authorized Fr. Palau to minister
in the diocese and appointed him spiritual director to the diocesan
seminarians, contributed financially to the project along with some wealthy
Catholic industrialists.
Fr. Palau also started catechism and apologetics courses. He
called these courses “The School of Virtue” and delivered them at St.
Augustine's Church, in the very heart of what was expected to be a cauldron of
socialist-communist unrest.
These carefully planned courses for children and adults
consisted of fifty-two lessons, one for each Sunday of the year. Sessions
opened with the singing or praying of the Veni Sancte Spiritus.
The lesson, which had been previously distributed in leaflet
form or published in newspapers, was recited from memory by a children's choir.
The adults then sang psalms and listened to an explanation of the day's lesson.
Debates followed.
Under Fr. Palau's guidance, the instructors expounded Catholic
doctrine and refuted the errors of the day, especially socialism, communism,
and atheism.
At the end, everyone made an act of Faith in the Church
teachings discussed, and the director gave a brief speech. Songs, open
discussions, a summation, and closing prayers all helped consolidate in minds
the Catholic and counter-revolutionary principles they had learned.[11]
The Catholic press printed the lectures delivered at the
School of Virtue and spread them far and wide.
On January 1, 1852, Fr. Palau led a procession of the School
of Virtue through the densely populated working-class neighborhoods to the
episcopal palace, a constant target of the Church's enemies.
There the Bishop gave the crowd a large crucifix and blessed a
beautiful statue of Our Lady, which became known as Our Lady of Virtues.
With his ardent faith, impeccable logic, and vigorous oratory,
Fr. Palau attracted hundreds of adults, particularly men.
The School of Virtue's serious religious enthusiasm quickly
spread through the working neighborhoods, becoming an intolerable threat to the
agitators.
They responded with malicious articles and scurrilous lampoons
against Fr. Palau and his work.
He was accused of dividing the working class, of instigating
the workers against the government, of holding sinister acts of worship, of
plotting Jesuitical conspiracies, and of using what yellow journalism would later
term “brainwashing” on victims seduced and mentally enslaved in sacristies and
confessionals.[12]
On March 31, 1854, Barcelona's Captain General, the highest
military authority in the city, closed the School of Virtue.
The bishop of Barcelona complained to the national government.
The archbishop of Tarragona and the bishops of Lérida,
Tortosa, Gerona, and Urgel followed suit.
Numerous lay witnesses testified to the falsity of the
accusations before an ecclesiastical tribunal.
Still the iniquitous decision was upheld. Worse. Fr. Palau was
condemned to compulsory residence on Ibiza (one of the Balearic Islands, in the
Mediterranean), where he arrived on the night of April 9, 1854.
One of Spain's Greatest Sacred Orators
During his exile on Ibiza, Fr. Palau came across a majestic
rock monolith that rises from the sea, surrounded by a collar of waves crashing
against its almost inaccessible cliffs. The rock is known as Vedrá.
Fr. Palau was immediately attracted to it. He resolved to
spend some time on that inhospitable crag every year to examine his conscience,
do spiritual retreats, and write letters.
His experiences on this majestic rock are recognizable in the
fabulous setting between Heaven and Hell he later chose for his literary character
“The Hermit.”
Ibiza was rife with delinquency. Crimes of passion were
frequent. Schools were nonexistent and the police absent.
The Holy See having renewed his faculties as Apostolic
Missionary, Fr. Palau began preaching missions on the island.
The benefits were so great that still today “there exist on Ibiza refrains and songs recalling the unforgettable sojourn of this missionary, as occurred with St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort in Western France.”[13]
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| Blessed Pope Pius IX |
To these apostolic activities were added a voluminous
correspondence with the mainland and the homilies he was invited to give in the
city of Palma de Mallorca.
Fr. Palau's exile on Ibiza lasted more than six years. On
August 2, 1860, the Ministry of Justice restored Fr. Palau to freedom with a
royal decree recognizing his innocence.
Fr. Palau returned to the mainland. In 1861 he preached the
Lenten sermons for the nobility of Madrid at the churches of St. Isidro and St.
Isabel, with the Papal Nuncio presiding.
In prior years the Lenten preacher had been St. Anthony Mary
Claret, Archbishop of Cuba and confessor to Queen Isabel II. Fr. Palau's
sermons were even given an echo in the press.
Now able to work throughout the country, Fr. Palau proved
himself tireless. His missions succeeded each other at a dizzying rate.
Modern historians struggle to recompose the itineraries of the
numerous preaching tours of one of Spain's most gifted sacred orators.
The posthumous list, though extensive, is undoubtedly
incomplete. From the largest city to the smallest hamlet, from gilt pulpits to
the poorest chapels, Fr. Palau exhorted nobles and peasants, rich and poor,
explaining to them the great truths of the Faith, as well as the supernatural
dimension and the preternatural influence in daily life.
In May of 1868, he preached in every parish of Barcelona.
Articles and books poured forth from his pen, while the
religious communities for women he founded spread to many cities, multiplying
both his work and worries.
A Brave Exorcist Honored with Special Graces
Among these religious communities, that of Santa Cruz de
Vallcarca, close to Barcelona, stands out for its role in the last and most
productive years of Fr. Palau's life. He established there a girls' school run
by a community of lay women.[14]
His goals, however, went much beyond this. His pastoral
labors, Scriptural meditations, and deep reflections on the iniquity in the
world had placed him squarely before the influence of Satan and the fallen
angels over the affairs of men.
The vortex of revolutionary doctrines and political upheavals,
the progressive corruption of morals, the precipitous disintegration of the
social order under the pretext of industrialization and modern communications,
seemed somewhat unintelligible to him unless the powers of Hell were taken into
account.
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| Father Gabriele Amorth, famous exorcist of Rome |
Father Gabriele Amorth, famous exorcist of Rome (1925 - 2016) on the Blessed Palau:
“I seek to follow the line initiated by a Spanish saint, Blessed Francis Palau, a Carmelite, who in 1870 came to Rome to speak about the exorcism with Pope Pius IX.
“Later, he returned to Rome during the sessions of Vatican Council I, to discuss the need for exorcists.
“With the interruption of that Council by virtue of the invasion of Rome, the matter wasn’t discussed.”
An unusual occurrence was decisive in bringing him to this
conclusion. Fr. Palau firmly believed himself called to be an indefatigable preacher,
and the fruits of his eloquence seemed to corroborate this belief.
However he was always avid to fulfill the Divine will with
ever-greater perfection, and insistently turned to God for guidance on how he
could do this.
In a letter to the Procurator General of the Carmelite Order
in Rome on August 1, 1866, he describes how he received the light for which he
had so ardently prayed:
“For ten summers I have come to this mountain [Vedrá] to account for my life before God and to inquire into the plans of His Providence for our Order....“In 1864, having withdrawn to this mountain, I heard a great voice that for twenty years had spoken to me in the deserts on our Order's destiny, without my knowing from whence it came.“The voice said very strongly: 'I am the angel spoken of in the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse. To my care are entrusted the standard of Carmel and the direction of the children of this Order....“I come sent by God to instruct you on the future of your Order so you may know the mission you are to accomplish and how....“Sons of the Order of Elias, the great prophet, you are; my finger and the finger of God, and my arm in the battles against the demons and the Revolution, you will be.“That your Faith not falter in the day of battle, God has sent me to you who live in the deserts and are attentive to my voice, to instruct you on the matter and purpose of the office of Exorcist.'“ [15]
The Vedràa cliff, a preferred place for praying and contemplation
From that moment, his thoughts and action were powerfully
channeled to placing the office of Exorcist on a war footing.[16]
He hoped the Holy Father would mobilize the Church's 400,000 priests to expel
the infernal powers instigating the worldwide Revolution.
For this purpose he traveled to Rome twice. He went there in
1866 to speak with Pope Pius IX, and returned in 1870, to distribute a brief
for the renewal and mobilization of the office of Exorcist to the bishops
attending the First Vatican Council.
On this occasion he presented his arguments orally to the
Spanish-speaking Council Fathers. The subject was not discussed in the Council
itself however, due to the military invasion of Rome and the violent
interruption of the Council's proceedings.[17]
At his house in Vallcarca, Fr. Palau already provided shelter
to people who showed signs of demonic possession or felt tormented by the Evil
One.
Should the Pope declare a priestly crusade against Satan and
his minions-as Fr. Palau expected-specialized spiritual retreats for priests
would have to be held. The building would be used for this purpose as well.
In the meantime, many people were claiming that they had been
miraculously cured of physical ailments while visiting Vallcarca; others that
they had been freed from diabolical possession. These cures and liberations
were attributed to Fr. Palau.
Fr. Palau only performed solemn exorcisms when authorized by
the Bishop. At other times, his prayers and personal charisms were sufficient
to rout the evil spirits.
His meticulous obedience to Canon Law and his unfailing
discernment enabled him to identify the cases that belonged to the realm of
medicine. These sufferers he placed in the care of trustworthy doctors.
Fearless Polemist
An irrational fury against the Apostolic Missionary now
erupted in political circles. Attacks in the press, threats, slander, and
police raids were used to destroy his work at Vallcarca and, if possible,
silence him forever.[18]
To make things worse, on September 29, 1868, a revolution of a
Jacobin nature exploded in Spain.
Queen Isabel II was overthrown and exiled. Churches and
convents were ransacked and torched. Revolutionary committees ruthlessly
repressed any opposition.
In Madrid, in the name of freedom, a veiled dictatorship
attacked Religion and the institutions that flourished under her maternal
protection. Numerous anti-family laws were passed and oppressive taxes were
levied on property.
A swarm of government bureaucrats, turned rich overnight,
sanctioned laws and decrees that conflicted with local needs and the legitimate
interests of all social classes.
Fanatical pickets assaulted anyone in clerical garb on the
streets, and broke into homes, robbing and killing those suspected of being
traditional monarchists or Carlists.
The resulting discontent led to the reinvigoration of the
Carlist Party. Rumors of civil war circulated, and provided an excellent excuse
to fan the revolutionary flames.
In this climate of fear and oppression Fr. Palau conceived a
truly bold idea. The revolutionaries invoked the false ideals of the French
Revolution stemming from Jean Jacques Rousseau's myth of the noble savage.
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| 'The Hermit' a poor and fearless paper edited by the Blessed Palau (nº 59) |
To oppose them Fr. Palau created a fictional character of his
own, the Hermit. Albeit vaguely similar to Rousseau's creation, the Hermit is
the Catholic antithesis of atheistic naturalism and freethinking.[19]
The Hermit had lived for over half a century in a cave on a
steep rocky island, surviving on a diet of fish and herbs. His dress was
rustic.
From his lofty and remote abode, the Hermit spoke his mind,
unhampered by any constraint. In short he was a man free of the vices of
society and full of goodness and faith.
So it was that in the very midst of the anti-Christian
onslaught, the first issue of The Hermit, a religious, political and literary
weekly, appeared.
Named after its fictitious signer, it was literary in its
style, political in its immediate focus, and religious in its analysis of the
more elevated and subtle dimension of politics.
It requested one thing of revolutionaries and Carlists alike:
Be consistent with your principles. The revolutionaries cried “Liberty!” The
Hermit responded, “Well then, why don't you give liberty to the Church?” “Equality!”
they demanded.
“And why don't you give equal treatment to the religious
orders instead of outlawing them?” retorted the Hermit. “The power is the
People's!” they clamored.
If so, the Hermit replied, the people should decide how much
tax to pay, and not a cadre of congressmen and government ministers in palaces
of the capital.
When the revolutionary government in Madrid argued that the
clergy would show themselves truly spiritual by accepting the elimination of
State assistance to the Church, the Hermit had an economic suggestion to offer:
Cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, and civil servants in general should forfeit
their salaries; in this way they would prove they truly had the interests of
the country at heart.
As for the Carlists, since they had “God, Country, King, and
Religion” emblazoned on their banners, the Hermit pointed out that it was time
their leaders practiced their religion.
When they threatened new uprisings and another civil war, the
Hermit reminded them it was quite useless to take up arms without knowing and
opposing the masterminds of the Revolution they intended to fight: the forces
of Hell.
The Hermit created a stir from the beginning. Fr. Palau's name
did not appear in the publication, and with good reason!
His authorship was acknowledged only after those responsible
for the 1868 revolution moderated their positions in a strategic withdrawal
that culminated in the restoration of the monarchy.
Calm under Persecution
The hatred unleashed by the liberals against The Hermit and
its founder was implacable.
The new wave of denigration spared no insults: “insane”; “addlepated
by solitude”; “superstitious”; “alarmist”; “hatemonger”; “false teacher”; “provoker
of attacks on the Church”; “delirious visionary”; “demonizer”; “discourager of
Catholics”; “swindler”; “quack”; “friend of immoral people”; “maniacal dreamer”;
“sorcerer”; “founder of an establishment offensive to decency and public
morality”; “director of a house of blasphemy”; “fanatic”; “practitioner of
religious necromancy”...
These were some of the accusations the great enemy of the
anti-Christian Revolution and of the Father of Lies had to refute.
In September of 1870 a cholera epidemic broke out in
Barcelona. In those days there was no cure for the disease; its victims died within
hours. The population fled the city, the dead remained unburied in the streets,
the jails were emptied. It was then that government soldiers raided Vallcarca.
They seized Fr. Palau, the women of the lay community that
helped him, the students, the sick, and the visiting relatives. All were forced
onto carts and thrown into the cholera-ridden prisons.
The intention was clear: to kill them by disease. The
anti-clerical press applauded the deed. “I felt,” wrote Fr. Palau, “like I was
in France during the Red Terror of 1792, on our way to the guillotine.... It
was a prefigure of what the Reds will do when their day comes.”[20]
The murderous attempt did not altogether succeed. Fr. Palau's
health was ruined by disease and ill treatment, but he was granted conditional
freedom after a two-month imprisonment.
He still had to face a judicial process that would torment him
for his remaining years. A definitive acquittal of all charges was delivered to
his attorney only on March 19, 1872.
It never reached Fr. Palau, for he died of the plague in
Tarragona the following day.
As Fr. Palau left jail, however, his spirits were higher than
ever. Counting his sufferings and labors as nothing, he traveled to Calasanz at
the end of February 1872 to minister to the victims of typhus in that
region.
In March he went to Tarragona, where he arrived gravely ill.
After an edifying agony, Fr. Palau departed this life at 7:30 in the morning of
March 20.
In a final gesture he lifted the hand with which he had raised
the Cross so many times during his sermons and exorcisms, and exclaimed: “Now
[Saint] Theresa, the hour has come.”
He was buried in the Carmelite habit. The fame of his sanctity
spread quickly. The diocesan process for his beatification opened on March 20,
1951.
The cause was sent to Rome on April 15, 1958. On April 24,
1988, His Holiness John Paul II declared him Blessed. Fr. Palau's remains await
the resurrection in Tarragona, and his feastday is November 7.
Chapter 2 - A Prophet from Yesterday for Today
The Sources of Fr. Palau's Predictions
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| St Elias, XVIIIth, St Angel's church, Sevilla, Spain. |
During his many periods of hermitic solitude in the course of
a public life filled with apostolic labors and persecutions, Blessed Palau
reflected deeply on the events of his time and their probable aftermath.
He did this assisted by a supernatural discernment that his
biographers do not hesitate to term prophetic.
The vast depiction he made of the future was often confirmed
already in his own day, and its accuracy and its application to today and
tomorrow continue to astonish those who study his life.
For his reflections, the man of God turned to several sources.
Meditation and study in the light of Faith. The wellspring of
Blessed Palau's cogitations was an unshakable Faith.
“Once we lose our Faith,” he would say, “we know nothing; we
remain totally ignorant of what today's politics mean for tomorrow. The
Catholic Faith is the column that guides us and sheds light on our present and
our future. We must seek counsel with it!”[21]
This Faith-filled reflection was complemented by study: “God
does not work in us without us, nor does He save man without man, and He will
not restore today's society to its proper order without man's cooperation.
Therefore, under this rule that Divine Providence maintains
inviolable, it is not just licit but our duty to study, to seek, to understand
those divinely ordained means by which human society will be restored.”[22]
The knowledge acquired through study and meditation was then
applied to the analysis of current temporal and religious events.
The Magisterium and the Doctors of the Church. Blessed Palau
invariably consulted the Magisterium and the writings of the Doctors of the
Church:
“We accept [as official] no revelations but those proposed to us by Holy Mother Church in Sacred Scripture,” he affirmed.“And for their explanation and application we recognize no authorities except those of the Church. We reject everything that contradicts or does not agree with these principles.... Any modern prophecy that does not elucidate the prophecies the Church proposes to us must be rejected.”[23]“As for revelations, we do not accept [as official] any besides those the Catholic Church has proposed and proposes to us as such, and we interpret them according to the teachings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.”[24]
At times Blessed Palau did publish private revelations. But
while worthy of respect-above all when declared free of error by the Holy
See-these private revelations were of secondary importance in his
weltanschauung.
With some frequency Blessed Palau also quoted the
counter-revolutionary writings of ecclesiastical writers of his day, like
Bishop Ségur[25]
and Msgr. Gaume.[26]
Yet it was when echoing the teachings of the contemporary
popes, especially the Blessed Pius IX, whose pontificate extended from 1846
to 1878, that his soul vibrated with enthusiasm.
He was wont to repeat with this holy pontiff: “The Revolution is inspired by Satan himself. His goal is to destroy Catholicism completely and build a pagan social order on its ruins.”[27]“It is Satan who has assailed and continues to assail the House of God.”[28]
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| St Elias, Mount Carmel |
Scriptural prophecy. At the center of Blessed Palau's
reflections were the divine predictions in the Old and New Testaments
concerning a great crisis of the Church and humanity in the end times.
As a Carmelite, Blessed Palau was truly a “son of the prophets.”[29]
He presents himself as such when he has the Hermit say:
“As a son of the prophets, in my solitude I have been and am attentive to God's plans for mankind and the way in which He fulfills them....“I am neither Elias nor the Baptist, nor a prophet. But as a son of the desert I have held the book of the prophecies and revelations God has made to those who having left the world have been attentive to the designs of His Providence.“These revelations I keep, I read, and I study, and based on them I will tell you who abide in the world all that I am permitted.”[30]
A spiritual son of Elias, Blessed Palau was resolved to grasp
the full meaning of Our Lord's words to the disciples after He had transfigured
Himself before their eyes on Mount Tabor: “Elias must needs come and restore
all things.”[31]
Devotion to the Most Holy Virgin. Blessed Palau was afire with
zeal for the glory of God and His Church.
The Most Holy Virgin rewarded him for this with extraordinary
graces that were key in his forming of a universal vision of the past, present,
and future.
He expresses what these graces were when he presents Our Lady of Mount Carmel as saying:“Your mission is threefold:“1) the revelation of my glories to the world;“2) the restoration of the Order of the great prophet Elias; and“3) the mission of this prophet on earth.“For the first,...I will guide your pen, and behind the shadows, figures, images, and enigmas, I will make myself known to those I have chosen, so that when the hour of the great combat arrives, they will love me and be faithful.“For the second, unfurl the banner of the holy mount of Carmel, so that those chosen to be sons of the great prophet Elias may seek protection under it.“Guide them in the deserts, and there prepare them to receive the double spirit of this great prophet....“Come to an understanding about them with your father St. Elias. Tell them that they are under his guidance and protection, that they are to recognize him as their General, and that the Superior General is to have the title of Secretary to the General.“Tell them to ask God to send them the strong spirit of the Prophet.”[32]
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| Final Judgement poliptic. Roger van der Weyden. Beaune, Musée de l'Hôtel-Dieu |
He saw the hand of God guiding earthly existence, using the
enemies of the Church as instruments of His supreme government, which no one
escapes.
“Our projections,” he explained, “are based not on the principles of impious and errant politics, but on the laws of divine justice. These inflexibly logical laws govern today's society and all who comprise it, according to an established and unchanging order.“Although invisible because not believed, this order transforms into blind instruments of God's decrees those who, placed in authority, have made themselves a throne with the bones of present-day society.”[33]“History follows an awesome, invariable logic: Once a cause exists, its effects flow like water from a spring.“The events are linked to one another, in the past, present, and future. Together they form the history of human society. In view of the antecedents, we judge by today what tomorrow will be. This judgment is the property of any man with foresight.”[34]
A critical analysis of the media stories. Blessed Palau
published most of his predictions in The Hermit, the journal he founded on
November 5, 1868, and directed until his death on March 20, 1872.
His thoughts on the future are presented there as an axis of
solid certainties around which revolve a spiral of hypotheses, ranging from the
close to certain and confirmed, to the subtle and unpolished.
These hypotheses he adjusted methodically in light of
constantly changing circumstances and new studies and reflections on the truths
of the Faith.
An assiduous reader of Spanish and French newspapers and of
the news wires arriving in Barcelona, he used the best of this wealth of
information to write weekly news summaries for his readers.
Many of his most insightful commentaries are based on these
summaries.
Unavoidably the news reports he depended on were not always
precise, but he showed remarkable prudence and watchfulness. He did not fall
for fallacious reports.
He discerned the facts behind the confused media stories and
the political game hidden in the changing magma of intrigues and revolutions.
Veils, Enigmas, Mysteries
There are unchanging truths related to Faith and being that
help man discern future possibilities.
However no reflection can do more than provide a blurry
picture of the future, which is contingent; man is limited to conjecture or
hypothesis.
And the fulfillment of the hypothesis depends on innumerable
variables the human mind cannot know or encompass.
Not surprisingly therefore even Blessed Palau's inspired intelligence
encountered veils and enigmas.
He was not afraid to admit it. Rather he warned his readers
against any simplification or wordplay intended to dissimulate the limitations
inherent to the subject.
He accepted the inscrutability of God's designs, while at the
same time, in an apex of fidelity, using every argument of the Faith and logic
to penetrate them.
“The Catholic Church,” he wrote, “though attacked by all the powers of Hell and earth, will triumph; the gates of Hell will not prevail against Her.... How will this be? What means will be used? It is a mystery; it is a future unknown to us; it is a secret, a future event veiled like all future events.”[35]
Believing that legitimate considerations on the future would
have been more developed in a world richer in Faith and reflection, he saw some
veils as a chastisement for man:
“God will save the Church with the means He has chosen and ordained in His Providence. This saving action, however, is a mystery, and it is a mystery because of the unbelief of men, who ignore the mediation of the spiritual ministry in the government of human society.”[36]
Other realities were clear to Blessed Palau, but prudence
dictated he not disclose them:
“The evil and abomination in the holy place is a mystery. It is veiled, and no one believes it.... It is hidden and [the Hermit] does not have the mission to reveal it.”[37]“I will state clearly those truths you ought to know at this time. The rest I will veil in enigma and mystery. There are events God has revealed to His prophets but does not want divulged except in specific periods. These I will present obscured in shadows, figures of speech, and images.”[38]
He also saw mysteries peculiar to the revolutionary age. These
included a darkening in the souls of whole peoples. Their reasoning power was
diminished, their will weakened, their sensibility deadened.
“Night has fallen,” he lamented, “and it cloaks their intellect in darkness. Only with the dawn will they come to again.”[39]
To this somnolence of the faculties of the soul was added a
spiritual lukewarmness leading to moral lethargy, notably among sectors of the
clergy.
Blessed Palau exposed this sad reality in a dialogue between
the Hermit and another of his literary characters, the Shadow.
“Let all who are still loyal and faithful to God rise up as one, and armed like the first Christians, let us hurl ourselves on the enemy. Let us fight together as one man and we shall win.”“Very well. Go and organize a crusade if you can.”“Where shall I go?”“To the cloisters! To the churches!”“What shall I find there?”“Why, Catholics... But Satan has been so cunning that the very first article of Faith he has fought and still fights is the one concerning demons. He has been so successful that you will be hard pressed to find anyone who understands you in these matters.”“I know it well. But how is it that this language is not understood by nuns who live secluded in cloisters and by those who pray in the silence of churches? How can a Christian forget the enemy of his race?... How can a Catholic not take part in this struggle?”“Go ahead and try. You'll see what I mean.”[40]
Given the circumstances, many of his warnings fell on deaf
ears:
“Those of us on nightwatch sound the alarm: To arms! To arms, Catholics!
“To arms! But alas, people are in such deep slumber that they do not hear us, and if perchance one of them is awake, he does not understand us. He thinks the nightwatch has gone mad, announcing catastrophes and disgraces that will never occur.”[41]
On Guard Duty during the Night of the Faith and Civilization
He believed it would be blasphemous and absurd to think the
world could end without the fulfillment of Our Lord's promise on the slope of
Mount Tabor.
Consequently all his labors and reflections were aimed at
discerning the first steps of Elias's return and hastening them as much as
possible:
“Until Elias comes we will fight with our bare hands, sustaining ourselves as best we can. Therein is the merit: Elias's extraordinary mission will be the fruit of our labors and efforts.“We shall pit our reason against their reason, our doctrine against their doctrine, and the blood of our veins against their material strength.”[42]
Psychologically and intellectually he was a watchman in the
depths of a night of the Faith, reason, and civilization.
He faithfully awaited the dawn of a day of Justice and Mercy
in which the Church and all nations will be restored.
Time and again the Scriptural question “Custos quid de nocte?”
(Is. 21:11) “Watchman, what of the night?” appears in various forms in his
writings.
He was ever on the lookout, eager to announce to mankind as
early as possible the dawn of the day of the Lord:
“I am but a poor and simple sentinel in an outpost of the celestial armies, announcing that the hour of supreme combat has sounded. Behind me comes the entire universe set in battle order against the foolish by the arm of the Lord.”[43]“But until when will the impious glory in their triumph? When will the night end? When will day break? These are the questions raised before the throne of God by the angels of heaven and by the just on earth.”[44]
The Hermit: A Means to Say What Few Wanted to Hear
The times could hardly have been more hostile to the truths
Blessed Palau preached. He continually spoke out anyway, using The Hermit.
He made the publication a stage for literary characters born
of a notable imagination placed at the service of the Faith and Christian
civilization.
In this way, he was able to disseminate his reflections in a
fashion at once lively, incisive, and propagandistic
This ingenious style also afforded him a measure of protection
from the vengeance of his enemies.
What band of assassins would ever bother to make their way to
the crags of a nigh inaccessible island to kill a hermit of literature, who
under a burning sun discovered the plots of invisible demons by candlelight?
Who would take too seriously imaginary tales of the Shadow, a
character who could fly around the planet, enter rooms through doorcracks, spy
in Masonic lodges, descend to the depths of Hell or soar into Heaven, all in an
eyewink?
What lukewarm Catholic would feel threatened by the generous
increpations of Friar Onofre, the third fictional character and “editor” of The
Hermit, who lived in a cave in the Pyrenees, from whence with a fantastic
telescope he followed the doings of poor mortals and surprised the demons in
their machinations?
“It is night,” he explained, “and all are asleep. They think there is nothing to this but dreams, phantoms, and tales. That is why I present it in story form. Someone will at least pass it on as a story and explain it to others.”[45]
In this manner he brought realities that were impalpable and
complex within reach of all. “The Hermit's visions,” he clarified, “are meant
to represent truths that demonstrated in the language of the learned are beyond
the grasp of the average intelligence.
“A figure is understood as soon as it is seen, and permits the simplest minds, and not just the learned, to comprehend the truth one is trying to explain.”[46]
A Message from Yesterday for Today?
Paradoxically, Blessed Palau believed that the constraints
imposed on his writing by the anti-clerical hostility of the day and the softness
of Catholics could not last much longer.
The defeat of the anti-Christian Revolution and the
fulfillment of the divine promises would usher in an era when didactic
artifices would not be necessary:
“When the other power, the power of the apostles of the latter times, the power of God and His Church, appears openly before kings and nations;...when Satan is again hurled into the abyss;...“then society will enter a new age. Then the Hermit will no longer need to present shadows and figures, but events, stupendous and terrifying events, that will prove the omnipotence of God, the power of His Church, and the ruin of the adverse power.”[47]
He likewise foresaw a day when there would be a surprising
openness to the truths of The Hermit:
“In this nineteenth century, a thick black fog envelops souls in the chaos of an ugly night.... This darkness will dissipate in due time, and a beautiful day, like that of the most enchanting Spring, will dawn.“On that day, those who now sleep will awaken, and ecstatic, they will see and embrace the Catholic truth, which today, in their sleep they ignore. Then they will abhor the darkness of error they now defend and preach.“On that day, the blind will recover their sight, and astonished, will understand the doctrines they now reject. Then, and only then, will they understand what we teach, preach, write, and publish in these times of darkness.”[48]
Blessed Palau left this world without seeing that day.
Nevertheless the closing words of his last published article repeat the act of
faith he had renewed countless times:
“God has given us His word, and His word tells us that he [Elias] will come and restituet omnia [restore all things].”[49]
After Blessed Palau's death, his writings were stored away in
private and ecclesiastical libraries. With time, many of them were lost. The
surviving texts yellowed with age. Dust and oblivion covered them. All seemed
over.
Then one day, pious hands and curious eyes opened the mildewed
volumes. Amazed, they turned and read the fragile pages, with growing interest.
The long foreseen day had arrived.
In a brief span of time, hundreds of books and articles were
being published, showing that a lively-even passionate-interest had been
aroused by the thought of Blessed Palau.
Thus it is that on the threshold of the twenty-first century,
the predictions of the Hermit reach us as a hundred-year-old message about what
might happen today.
Chapter 3 - Predictions for Yesterday and Today: The anti-Christian Revolution
The Sequence
Blessed Palau's predictions of what would happen in the coming
days are remarkable for their number and insight.
Blessed Palau saw future events unfolding in this sequence:
1. The world heads toward a disintegration of society and the
establishment of a chaotic pseudo-order in which the leader of the
anti-Christian Revolution will manifest himself.
2. God sends someone with the mission of denouncing this
chaotic pseudo-order and punishing its iniquities.
3. The Church and the nations are renewed by work of the Holy
Ghost. The peoples of the earth, imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, give
glory to God as never before in an age lasting until the final sin and the end
of the world.
The Revolution on Earth: A Reenactment of Lucifer's Revolt in Heaven
Blessed Palau was a champion of fundamental institutions of
the Christian order like the family and private property.
Seeing them undermined by the Industrial Revolution's
destruction of morals and consuetudinary ways of life, and by the violent
overthrow of traditional forms of government, he wondered if the attacks on
them did not have a common source and a single mastermind.
He eventually concluded they did. The same Lucifer who had
seduced a third of the angels of Heaven had also ensnared a number of key men
on earth and was waving his flag of revolt again.
His new “I will not serve!” was the main cause of the crises
in the world. And it had a proper name: Revolution.
“What is the Revolution?” Blessed Palau wrote.“It is the earthly version of what happened in Heaven when God created the angels: Satan...has seduced all the kings and powers of the world, and with battle standard unfurled he leads his armies to war against God.... This is revolution; that is to say anarchy among men and war on God.”[50]He paraphrased Msgr. de Ségur:“Satan is the father of the Revolution. The Revolution is his work. He began it in Heaven, and it has perpetuated itself among men from age to age.“For the first time after 6,000 years it has dared to take on, in face of Heaven and earth, its true and satanic name: Revolution! Its motto is that of the devil himself: 'I will not obey.'“Satanic in its essence and intending to overthrow all authority, its ultimate goal is the total destruction of the reign of Jesus Christ on earth.”[51]
For Blessed Palau the Revolution fulfilled the Scriptural
prophecies regarding apostasy in the latter times. His well-reasoned, vigorous
analysis of sociopolitical events confirmed him in this conviction.[52]
The Revolution: A Path to Catastrophe
The nineteenth-century ecclesiastical and civil orders offered
notable resistance to the Revolution's advance in certain fields. Even so,
mankind continued to follow the anarchic tendencies that propel the Revolution.
Blessed Palau took this to mean that the dynamics of the
revolutionary process would indeed plunge the social order into chaos.
Blessed Palau found an analogy for this seeming inevitability
in an unfortunate event that deeply shocked contemporaries.
One night a severe storm destroyed a railway bridge in
Catalonia. The Gerona express-a symbol of industrial progress in those
days-tumbled into the formerly spanned abyss.
The disaster marked the period. Amid the euphoria at purely
mechanical progress, the public was suddenly confronted with a strident
contrast between the passengers' delight as they traveled in luxury cars with
leather seats, silk curtains, etched glass, china, and silverware, and their
despair as the train plunged into the chasm.
This was the parable of a superficial and carefree world with
vestiges of culture and piety, led by the Revolution to a disaster Blessed
Palau desired to prevent,
“a horrific catastrophe foretold by the prophets, by Christ, by the Apostles, and by all the most authoritative bodies of Catholicism.”
Spanish Civil War: one step in the horrific catastrophe of the Revolution
“Today's society,” he wrote, “led en masse by the powers of darkness and the political powers, has boarded a train. The engineers of this train are taking it to Hell.“The station of departure is called Revolution, and the next stop is Social Catastrophe!“The train is traveling between these two stations, while its unthinking passengers ignore the Hermit's frantic shouts, 'Stop! Go back!'“This voice, the voice of Catholicism, is drowned out by the noise of the train.... A storm washed away a bridge not many years ago. It was already night.“The train left Gerona. On it went, its passengers completely unaware of the danger. The bridge was gone, but on they went. Darkness hid the danger. They arrived. The locomotive flies into the air. It has no wings; it has no track, for the abyss cut it.“The engine falls, dragging with it the railcars and those inside, and the waters below swallowed up the passengers. They did not believe in the danger, but it existed, it was a reality.“Their lack of belief did not save them, but rather destroyed them. The engineers and conductors of the train of today's society are inebriated; they are out of their minds.“Can't you see they have it wrong? Get off the train, then, if you can, and cast yourself into the arms of Holy Mother Church if you want to be saved.”[53]
The Revolution: The Key to the Course of Events
Their ignorance had enabled the Revolution to take control of
the temporal power and dictate the course of events:
“The miserable mortal does not see...the evil plotting...sustained and defended by all the powerful of the earth, who are encouraged, guided, and ordered by a single prince, the Devil.“He does not see this revolutionary angel, who following a set plan throughout the centuries has managed by his career to crown himself with the glory and power of all the kings of the civilized world.”[54]
Unaware of the unity and universality of the Revolution, the
promoters of just causes suffered continuous setbacks that seemed
unexplainable.
Pained at seeing so little fruit for so much effort, Blessed
Palau tried to enlighten them:
“What is the Revolution of Spain? A horn, a crown on one of the seven heads of the infernal dragon. This head has manifested itself through its demolition and destruction of the social order....“This head is united in the same criminal body with the other nations, forming in all of them one evil, one army, one dragon, one entity whose unity is sustained by the Prince of Darkness.”[55]
“There is no political explanation for the triumph of the Revolution of Spain. If we judge by the rules of human prudence what the press is saying about the future of this Revolution, everything is murky, doubtful, and changeable.“But if we see the link between this Revolution and that of Italy, that of France in the last century, that of the Protestants,...then our conclusions and projections will be more accurate and useful.”[56]
The Revolution: A War against the Redemption
For Blessed Palau the Revolution was not a construct. Nor was
it happenstance. It was the result of a long historical process with profound
theological and moral roots. In fact, it was a war against the Redemption.
The Redemption's best fruits included the conversion of
numerous nations to the true Faith both in the East and West.
Satan viewed this spreading of the Faith as a theft of his
dominion over nations. According to Blessed Palau, to recover the lost
territories of his kingdom of perdition, the devil launched four major attacks
against the Church and Christian civilization. Save for glorious exceptions the
evangelized East succumbed to the first two.
Islam. Through it the enemy of mankind snatched up the Holy
Land and vast Christianized sections of Africa and Asia. This attack continues.
The Eastern schisms, especially the Greek. These separated
huge sections of the Byzantine empire and all of Russia from Christendom.
Protestantism. It took over most of northern Europe and made
significant inroads in Central Europe.
The French Revolution. This offensive developed into the
communist movement, which in its turn was to prepare the final chaos.
“1) In the sixth century,” explained Blessed Palau, “Satan left his prison, and covered in armor offered battle against the Church. He founded the Moslem empire....“2) Satan quickly offered battle again, but a different type of battle.... Within the very heart of the sanctuary he provoked a schism.... The East separated from the Latin Church, and on the ruins Satan raised an empire more dreadful than the first, that of all the Russias.“3) Unrecognized in these two conflicts, Satan prepared a third attack, aimed at the heart of Catholic Europe. Luther was chosen.... Protestantism established a third empire of Satan in the bosom of Europe....“4) Victorious in these three battles, Satan prepared a fourth attack. Italy, Spain, and France had survived, and Austria had not fallen....“Catholicism was still firmly supported by these four columns. Satan mobilized all his legions, and attacked.“After the bloodiest struggle ever seen, he has won. Toward the end of the last century a flag appeared over the ruins of the Church in France.“It was the very same flag that had fluttered over the revolutionary legions in Heaven. 'War on God! Revolution!' it read.”[57]
The Chain: Protestantism, French Revolution, Communism, chaos
However, to Blessed Palau the link between the third and
fourth attacks was patent. He considered Protestantism the progenitor of the
French Revolution, in turn the parent of communism.
He referred to this “genealogy” of revolutions when writing
about the crushing of the Paris Commune by the troops of the French Republic:
“The Reds will vanish from Paris, but she [the Revolution] will remain queen and mistress amid the conquerors, adored by all who seem to fight her.“Are not the Red and the Tricolor perchance children of the same mother? And is not this cruel mother who burns her children alive the French Revolution of 1793, which was conceived in the fifteenth century by German Protestantism?”[58]
Regarding the defeat of the socialist-communist International
in Paris he also stated:
“The Revolution represented in France has received a blow that is only apparently mortal. The Revolution has a serpent's head: it is hidden in the Masonic lodges, while its attacks on all authority are visible.“The Revolution has neither a human king nor head, for its head is the devil. The devil, incarnated in German Protestantism, seeing Napoleon III giving an imperial form to the Revolution, his daughter,...invaded France.“To the astonishment and admiration of the world, in the blinking of an eye he sent that head rolling onto foreign soil. He now presents his creation as it truly is: without a head, without a king, looking just as it did at its birth in 1792.”[59]
The Revolution: A Return to Paganism
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| Chilean bishop culting Pachamama, indian goddess |
“The kings having been dominated, and the masses having followed their governments, in this visible material political world they have rebuilt ancient paganism, adapting it to the special situation of today.”[60]
Such statements were extremely bold in a century dazzled by
scientific and technological progress. The worship of Gaia, the earth goddess
of the ecologists, had not been openly proclaimed yet.
Neither had the somber
religions of the Orient (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) become popular in the
western world, as they have today.
Nor had the superstition and fetishism of American or African
tribes been praised by “progressivist Catholics,” communist-tribalist
missionaries, or charismatics searching for “new forms” of prayer!
Blessed Palau compared this reversion to paganism to a new
deicide, committed against the Mystical Body of Christ:
“The nations...have officially declared through their representatives, 'You shall not reign.'“They have said it to Christ and His Church, to Christ and the Pope, to Catholicism. Abusing their power and authority they have ignominiously expelled from their midst, that is, from the official world, the Spouse of the Spotless Lamb....“Is this not matricide? Yes, it is. It is an act of matricide one hundred times more abominable than the deicide committed by the Jews.”[61]
In view of this, to cease fighting against the Revolution
would be to abandon the Church in its deadly struggle:
“For it is not possible to compromise or agree. Rather we must prepare ourselves for a decisive blow. Between these two extremes there is no middle ground.“Either the Revolution finishes with Catholicism, or the latter will devour the Revolution.”[62]
The Minds behind the Revolution
How is it, he wondered, that miniscule groups of revolutionaries
can influence and change the course of entire nations?
And why is it that good endeavors seem fated to be harmed at
decisive moments by strange coincidences and just regular chance, when the evil
ones do not?
An effect cannot be greater than its cause, and fate does not
exist.
Therefore Blessed Palau concluded there must be impalpable
beings superior to man that decisively contribute to the victories of the
Revolution.
Without these forces, the revolutionary agents could not
possibly be so quick and organized in their work of destruction.
“Around us and in the very air we breathe,” he stated, “there is a vast empire, whose princes acknowledge one king, an absolute king....“They are pure spirits, intelligent beings that exist as much as man does, but independent of matter.“They are superior to man in physical and spiritual strength, if we consider man merely as a natural being.“They surpass man in knowledge, intelligence, malice, and astuteness....“The men who apostatize from God and the Catholic Church form with these spiritual beings a family, a people, a nation, an empire, and become subject to their power.“These men, apostates from God and soldiers of Satan, constitute on earth, in union with the demons, that visible kingdom of evil we call the world....“From the air the princes and superior powers govern the kings of the earth who have surrendered to them through apostasy, and lead them to complete anarchy, to societal disintegration, and to war against Christ and His Church.”[63]
Blessed Palau also observed that from a natural standpoint
what the Revolution achieved by defying the laws of nature should collapse; yet
it did not.
Anarchy, for example, should make impossible the building of
the revolutionary Tower of Babel.
Nevertheless this tower continued to rise chaotically, mocking
all logic and reason:
“These political powers,” he thundered, “that have laid so heavy a yoke upon mankind.... Who gives them this power?“What force sustains them year after year as they enslave, destroy, disorganize, and dissolve even natural order itself?“How can two hundred thousand men in constant war against eighteen million prevail in Spain?“Why does this mass of peoples not rise like a stormy sea and sink this fragile skiff in which sail a handful of men held in abomination and execration by the multitude?“Explain this enigma to me. Not without the Catholic Faith!...“Those famous men...we see at the head of the Revolution in Spain, Italy, and France form a single moral body, a single army, a single empire with those rebellious angels who initiated the Revolution in Heaven.“The only difference is that these evil spirits, being superior to the men they have defeated, are the true powers that lead this struggle.“The deluded man they have seduced is just a tool to carry out plans they made many centuries ago.”[64]
The “Priesthood” of the Revolution
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| A new universal religion devoted to Gaia, with new 'priests' |
Open and direct communication with the spirits of darkness is
restricted to a handful of revolutionary leaders.
These select few usually are not public figures in
revolutionary politics, but subject to the evil spirits and backed by their
active intervention, they guide the Revolution with malignant precision.
Blessed Palau considered this secret inner circle the
Revolution's “priesthood,” in other words, the Revolution's grotesque
caricature of the true priesthood instituted by Our Lord:
“In the same way that the Word Incarnate has His priests and pontiff in order to establish an official relationship and communicate with peoples and nations, so also the demons, our adversaries, have established...“a priesthood in order that that through its members they can have an official relationship with human society.”[65]
The importance of this group of minions in the Revolution is
analogous to that of warlocks in paganism.
“When idolatry was destroyed,” said Blessed Palau, “and the Catholic religion was erected publicly over its ruins, the devils conceived another plan to attack the Church.“It was not convenient for them to present their priesthood publicly and officially, for the royal power of the Church would not tolerate it.“It suited Satan's plans to hide his priesthood. His priests have no official color; they have taken and continue to take on various appearances, hiding their work in caves of the earth under cover of dark.“Their existence neither perceived nor believed, their work is safe from the attacks of the law and authority.“There are false priests, false doctors, and false writers; so also today, more than ever, there are sorcerers and witches, who with invisible armies at their service, kill, poison, corrupt, seduce, and pervert.”[66]
As the Roman Ritual warns, it is common in sorcery for a witch
to give his victim a fetish, an object to which a diabolical influence is
attached.[67]
Certain revolutionary leaders who have contact with demons
resort to similar practices.
They do not use common fetishes however; the diabolical
influence is attached instead to anti-Christian or anti-natural laws or
regulations. Blessed Palau explains:
“If the sorcerer is a politician...he casts a political spell, which harms not only an individual or a family, but a whole nation.“How? By impious, barbarous laws, which despoil the nation of all that it has of holy and sacred.“From these centers come the laws enacted against the prelates, against the religious orders, and against religion....“The political spell has the power of the higher-ranking demons behind it.... It is the most terrible of spells, for it can affect one or more nations, or the whole world.”[68]
The revolutionaries in the deepest levels of this satanic “priesthood”
choose to be possessed by the devil:
“In this abominable group, secrecy about everything that is done is imposed under pain of death. The devils being responsible to chastise the traitor, secrecy is rarely broken.“These men and women are the type of people who have chosen to be possessed, and since they have given their soul, body, person, and belongings to the devil, the chances that one of them would convert to God are very slim.”[69]
The revolutionary “priesthood” is also exercised in a way that
is perceptible to the public.
In Blessed Palau's day this was done through spiritism, and
superstition and magic in general. Since then, these satanic practices have
evolved; they now bear such generic labels as “New Age” and “alternative
medicine.”
“Spiritism,” said Blessed Palau, “is the priesthood of modern paganism, and its apostles work wonders. For instance, they have the power-not the grace-of healing, which is given to them by Beelzebub, prince of demons.”[70]
In function of their contact with man, Blessed Palau divided
the devils into three categories.
For the most part, those who take possession of men belong to
less important ranks.
Demons of a higher rank possess outstanding revolutionary
leaders such as Luther.
The third and worst category is in communion with the
Revolution's highest leaders, who usually act hidden from the public eye and
even from many revolutionaries.
“I see all the enemy forces divided into three army groups, each with millions of combatants,” he wrote.“One group resides in the bodies of men....“Another occupies...the highest spheres of politics. The Catholic kings having been overthrown, their thrones are taken by men possessed by the devil....“The third army commands the first two. Its headquarters are in a society of men who call themselves spiritists, another name for wizards and sorcerers....“The demons... direct all the forces at war against Christ and His Church.”[71]
In his exposing of this collusion between men and demons
Blessed Palau cited cases and documents he knew from his pastoral experience.
Numerous articles in The Hermit include transcriptions of
satanic pacts, as well as descriptions of exorcisms performed by Blessed Palau
in which he extracted confessions from the possessing demons.
The revolutionaries' recourse to demons did not discourage
Blessed Palau. He firmly believed the angels of light fought at the side of the
good on earth.
Apart from possessing what to man are unimaginable natural
powers, these angels are bearers of divine grace.
Over them reigns the Most Holy Virgin, Queen of Angels, whom
Blessed Palau piously considered a commander ordering the heavenly hosts to
begin the attack that will crush the Revolution, its leaders, and henchmen.
If the Catholic faithful would only turn to Her and the armies
of Heaven, and beseech their succor, they would be invincible.
The Revolution within the Church
,+Nationalmuseum,+Stockholm,+1024.jpg) |
| Claudius Civilis conspiration Rembrandt (1606 – 1669), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
“By corrupting customs, Satan has penetrated the Holy of Holies. And while he leads all the kings and political powers of the earth in battle against“Me from outside the holy city, within My own fortress he paralyzes My actions, retards My undertakings, and frustrates My projects.”[72]
Referring to these infiltrators, Blessed Palau wrote:
“Some of these men and women lead an apparently devout life: They go to Confession, hear Mass, receive Holy Communion very often, but, wait! Oh horror!“They remove the Sacred Host from their mouth, take It home, and trample on It in their satanic ceremonies.“They are the Judases inside the sanctuary itself, who have brought the demons into the place where they do not belong and have filled the temple of God with abominations.”[73]
Witches's Sabat. Francisco Goya (1746 – 1828),
Prado Museum, Madrid“Satan has entered the sanctuary,” he added, “and assisted by people in power who call themselves Catholic has filled it with abominations.“From within the sanctuary itself he wages war against us, an atrocious war, the most dangerous war the Church has ever seen....“Because it is to his advantage to fight us from within our fortifications, he wears the Catholic uniform and bears the Catholic name.“Using this name, he puts on religious acts that fascinate the multitudes and carry confusion to the very gates of Heaven.”[74]
,+Museu+del+Prado,+Madri+1280.jpg)
A hundred years later, Blessed Palau's denunciation of this
penetration of the Church would be reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI. In his
allocution Resistite fortes in fide, of June 29, 1972, the Pontiff stated: “The
smoke of Satan has entered into the temple of God.”[75]
The Spiritual Lineage of Judas
Blessed Palau alluded frequently to the existence of a Judas
within the Church. By this he meant not a single individual, but a spiritual
lineage that down through the centuries has worked within the Church against
the Church.
This lineage was noticeable in certain heresiarchs. Most of
the time, however, it plotted in secret, unnoticed by most clergy and faithful.
What exactly is this lineage? How did it enter the Holy
Church? How does it sustain itself? How does it act? What are its
characteristics?
In answering these questions, Blessed Palau is sparse in historical
details. Nevertheless he clearly held there had always been diabolical attempts
to infiltrate the Church.
The first was that of Judas Iscariot, who gave himself away by
selling Our Lord to His enemies.
A few years later, still in apostolic times, this line of
perdition was already at work anew. St. John hints at it in his first epistle:
“Even now, to prove to us that it is the last stage of time, many Antichrists have appeared.
Judas selling Our Lord, Giotto “They came to our company, but they never belonged to our company; if they had belonged to it, they would have persevered at our side.“As it is, they were destined to prove that there are some who are no true companions of ours.”[76]The Apostle adds that the Antichrist “is here in the world already.”[77]
Moreover, in the Acts of the Apostles we read of Simon Magus,
whom St. Irenaeus calls the Father of Gnosticism. He tried to buy from the
Apostles the power of calling down the Holy Spirit[78]-hence the term
simony-and had an important role in the history of the first heresies.
To this “lineage of Judas” Blessed Palau attributed the growth
of errors and disorders in the Church:
“Judas and the devil joined forces against Christ, but they were both expelled from amongst the apostolic college....“The devil then looked for other ways to enter the bosom of Catholicism, and found one in the heretics.“Christians themselves opened the door to him, giving him the keys of disbelief and corruption of doctrines. He is now inside.“Do you want to see him? Enter. What will you see?“Men who call themselves Catholic, but blaspheme like demons and furiously persecute Catholicism....“You will see the devil in the sanctuary, challenging God's omnipotence with blasphemies uttered before His very altars.“You will see in the sanctuary, that is, in the Catholic people, the abominations predicted by the Prophet Daniel.“You will see anti-Christianity invested in power. You will see that the devil has entered into the sacred place, and there corrupts, perverts, tempts, and tests.”[79]
Blessed Palau imagined a demon exulting at the eventual
success of this lineage's plan:
“It is with supreme pleasure that we see the completion of the work we plotted and concealed so carefully since the days of Judas the Traitor until this very day. All nations have apostatized.”[80]He also foresaw the outcome: “O Hermit,...listen closely. The devil and the impious will complete the mystery of iniquity that began inside the sanctuary with the traitor Judas.”[81]
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| St Pius X |
His description of the Modernist conspiracy coincides with
Blessed Palau's view of the serpentine lineage of Judas Iscariot:
“The partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; but, what is to be most dreaded and deplored, in her very bosom, and are the more mischievous the less they keep in the open.“We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who...put themselves forward as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ....“Nor indeed would he be wrong in regarding them as the most pernicious of all the adversaries of the Church.“For, as We have said, they put into operation their designs for her undoing, not from without but from within.“Hence, the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate....“There is no part of Catholic truth which they leave untouched, none that they do not strive to corrupt.“Further, none is more skillful, none more astute than they, in the employment of a thousand noxious devices....“To this must be added the fact, which indeed is well calculated to deceive souls, that they lead a life of the greatest activity, of assiduous and ardent application to every branch of learning, and that they possess, as a rule, a reputation for irreproachable morality.“Finally, there is the fact that is all but fatal to the hope of cure that their very doctrines have given such a bent to their minds, that they disdain all authority and brook no restraint; and relying upon a false conscience, they attempt to ascribe to a love of truth that which is in reality the result of pride and obstinacy.”[82]
The Unstoppable Course of the Revolution
“The empire of evil is in movement,” wrote Blessed Palau.
“The empire of evil is in movement,” wrote Blessed Palau “The more it is weighed down by crime, the faster it goes. At this point, it is unstoppable.“It breaks, flattens, destroys, shreds, and overcomes all the obstacles we put in its path to turn it back. 'Progress! Forward! Progress!' shout those who guide it.”[83]
Blessed Palau had no illusions. If mankind, given to pride and
sensuality, did not convert, it would suffer the punishment prefigured by the
crash of the Gerona night express.
When would this happen? He never set a date, but he expected
certain clear signs, one being mankind's terror as the disaster became
imminent:
“As mankind nears catastrophe, it will experience horrible convulsions. It will have a sure premonition of its disgrace, and will say in a deep, firm voice, 'We're in trouble!... Go back! Stop! Stop the train!'“Then everyone will clamor in a hoarse, thunderous voice, 'Stop!!! We're lost! Engineers, stop! Put on the brakes! Woe to us! We're lost!'“The train's engineers will arrogantly respond: 'No, you damned! You're coming with us to Hell! We have made you in the image of the vices that brought this punishment on you....“The voracious fire of your concupiscence produces the steam of your impious, obscene, impure, blasphemous doctrines.“This filthy steam, which you yourselves breathe, powers this train. You must come down to the abyss with us, you cursed race!'“[84]
Global Interconnection: A Revolutionary Must
According to Blessed Palau the Revolution already enjoyed most
of the conditions needed to attain its goal.
What it still lacked were advances in transportation and
communications that would so effectively link men in all places that a single
authority-whether an individual or a faceless organization-could rule the whole
planet even in face of some resistance.
As the Revolution immersed the world in chaos, Blessed Palau
argued, people would take fright and perhaps finally resist.
So while universal chaos would be a triumph of the Revolution,
it would also be a great risk for its authors. It might provoke a reaction that
would destroy the Revolution.
Foreseeing this deadly pass, the intelligence behind the
Revolution would prepare a deception. He would raise up a pseudo-savior or
pseudo-prophet, who would “miraculously” emerge from nowhere professing to be
the only alternative to chaos.
In exchange for an appearance of order, he would demand the
surrender of individual wills to his own.
The media would loudly proclaim how such a savior was
desirable and would bombard the world with his deceitful promises of peace and
prosperity.
His magnetism would be such that the last faithful in the
world would be strongly inclined to stop resisting the Revolution and to bend
to this new idol, who would actually be strengthening the kingdom of the
Revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte would have prefigured this type of revolutionary
maneuver when he consolidated the French Revolution threatened by the reaction
to the chaos of the Terror.
“Railroad tracks and electric cables,” Blessed Palau explained, “have linked one people to another...so that it is easier now for one man to govern all of mankind, than it was for a king to rule a nation.“The drawing together of nations has led to the contrasting of political and religious policies. The clash in the intellectual and moral realm is comparable to a head-on collision of trains.“It has produced in its horrifying explosion-thanks to the press, lithography, and other easy and quick means of communication-such a confusion of doctrines that we can affirm without fear of being proven wrong that human society reached its darkest hour on the day the steam engine and electricity were invented.“This confusion of ideas has resulted in revolutions in all countries. Republics rise on the ruins of monarchies....“Every nation is thrown into convulsion by conflicting government policies. This king cannot trust the word of that king, and since everyone looks on the others as enemies, they are all armed to the teeth and discoursing on new killing machines.“To avoid war, European congresses convene, but no one understands or agrees with anyone, so they break up, and each prepares for hostilities, thereby bankrupting his country.“Economic ruin brings misery to the nation, which then revolts. Thus does society go from bad to worse....“All this is most conducive to the establishing of a universal empire. The coming of an emperor who would reduce to one all the nations of the earth, and reduce to one all the political and religious policies that now divide us, would mean the end of all these revolutions through which the terrible agitated nations of today writhe like mortally wounded serpents.“'One god, one king, one religion,' this is the motto that emblazoned on the imperial standards will one day astound the world and shortly thereafter give it peace and prosperity.“This day is as close as the universal collapse of society, which we feel is close indeed.”[85]
In this passage and elsewhere Blessed Palau refers to the
Revolution's dominion as an empire in order to emphasize the dictatorial aspect
it will assume.
At other times he refers to it as a universal republic to
highlight its rejection of legitimate authority and harmonious inequality.
This contradictory coexistence of absolutism and
libertarianism is characteristic of the Revolution and of Satan's capricious
tyranny over the chaos of Hell.
Examples of it can be seen in the apogees of revolutions: the
Anabaptist revolt in Münster, the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution,
and the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union, for instance.
The Fusion of All Creeds
“Officially, there will be no religion but that of the State. There will be one god and one religion. This god will be the Antichrist, and this religion, the anti-Christian one.”[86]
All creeds would be fused into this religion, in a chaotic
convergence imposed by the events, without much weighing of truth or error.
This pragmatic convergence would not bring true peace however.
Presented as the fruit of mutual awareness and understanding, it would in fact
be the seed of deeper ignorance and discord:
“United by steam and electricity, riding in the same car are the Christian, the Moslem, the Jew, the Protestant, the schismatic, the missionary, the nun, the friar, the prostitute.“The religious policies of all the nations having been compared, a religious clash much worse than the political one becomes inevitable.“This religious war will turn father against son, neighbor against neighbor, town against town, and nation against nation.“It will put an end to any semblance of social order in the world, from the very bosom of the family to palaces and their kingly thrones.”[87]
Satanism would lurk behind the Revolution's chaotic religious
utopia. Blessed Palau discerned it, for example, in a spiritist statement of
the day. He wrote:
“Obeying the superior spirits, this sect has just made a general invitation to all religions, Catholicism included, to unite into a single religion under their direction. Can things go much further? What is this? Where will we end up?”[88]
The technological dreams and feats of the time helped answer
these questions. A century before the digging of the tunnel beneath the English
Channel, Blessed Palau had this to say of a proposal to build a bridge between
England and the Continent:
“According to the plan presented by the French engineer M. Boutet, twenty-nine arches would support the bridge....“Already the canal through the isthmus of Suez is scheduled to be inaugurated in October, linking the waters of the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.“We report on these events because they are developments that give us a better understanding of the prophecies regarding the universal earthly empire of the Antichrist, which will be followed by that of Christ and His Church.“By means of this gigantic bridge, England will be joined to the other nations of Europe, and by means of the Suez Canal, the president of the republic will communicate with the four corners of the earth.”[89]
“The Suez Canal is now open to the shipping of all nations. At the joining of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, the waters were blessed simultaneously by a Catholic priest, a Greek Orthodox pope, a Protestant pastor, an Armenian, an imam, and a Buddhist.”[90]
In gestures such as these-today so commonplace-Blessed Palau
saw an imprudent ecumenism influenced by the spirit of the Revolution.
This ecumenism was not aimed at leading all souls to the only
true Church.
Rather it was the beginning of an ecumenism leading to the
worship of Satan, who would inhabit as it were some figure acting as the
Revolution's supreme representative.[91]
The Revolution's Empire and the Antichrist
The Revolution's universal republic or empire would be
established as a defiant abstraction from God.
In history's boldest imitation of Lucifer's “I will not serve!”
man would build a world according to “laws” created by himself in total
disregard of the Supreme Lawgiver.
Contemplating his immense but precarious Tower of Babel, he would
surrender to a self-satisfaction bordering on self-adoration.
Blessed Palau was convinced that the building of this empire
was already so advanced that the times of the Antichrist prophesied in the
Apocalypse had arrived:
“What St. John saw in prophetic vision we see with our bodily eyes. He tells us in chapter 20 that 'Satan will be let loose from his prison, and will go out to seduce the nations that live at the four corners of the earth.' This corruption, seduction, and apostasy has taken place.”[92]
The world empire or republic would fulfill the dream of the
Son of Perdition foreseen by St. Paul in his second epistle to the
Thessalonians:
“The apostasy must come first; the champion of wickedness must appear first, destined to inherit perdition.“This is the rebel who is to lift up his head above every divine name, above all that men hold in reverence, till at last he enthrones himself in God's temple, and proclaims himself as God.”[93]
The installation of this universal seducer would come as a
surprise to superficial spirits uninterested in whether the Revolution exists
and what its goals are.
To give an idea of the suddenness with which the reality would
strike them, Blessed Palau cited examples from lightning military campaigns of
Napoleon Bonaparte and William I of Prussia.
The world had yet to witness the disconcertingly quick
conquests obtained through psychological warfare, and the media's brusque
making or breaking of political leaders and public opinion.
“The Antichrist will catch us by surprise,” he said. “Today we are what we are. Tomorrow we will awaken to the news that a military genius has defeated the greatest powers of the earth, that we have lost our nationality and are under his dominion.“The following day an imperial decree will suppress Catholic worship throughout the world, and the day after that, the penalties incurred by those who do not accept the emperor's laws will be made known.”[94]
The Nature of the Antichrist
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| The Antichrist. Lucca Signorelli, Orvieto cathedral. |
He had the ability to analyze his own conclusions objectively,
and held in disdain the simplification of things that really were complicated.
In this spirit, he tackled the most delicate issues. Among
these was the nature of the Antichrist, whose path the Revolution prepares.
His writings on this point reflect the diversity of opinion
among the best exegetes. As for himself he had no doubt that the Antichrist
would be the incarnation of Satan's power:
“The Antichrist is the triumph of the devil and sin in the battle against Christ and His Church in the realm of politics and sheer force.“The Antichrist is the devil incarnate and made visible through the communication of his power to men.”[95]
It is no wonder, then, that he frequently referred to the
Revolution and its followers-a single moral body-as the Antichrist:
“The Antichrist is the empire of evil on earth protected, shielded, and assisted by kingly political powers.“The Antichrist is the dragon made flesh in them, personified in their doctrines and authority.
Nevertheless, Blessed Palau believed that a specific
individual of flesh and blood would be exalted as the supreme expression of the
Revolution. This person would be the Antichrist par excellence.
The devil is pure spirit and as such cannot be physically perceived
by men.
To have himself adored by a carnal and atheistic mankind
during the final phase of the Revolution, the devil would have to manifest
himself in a visible, palpable way.
He would choose a human being in whom he would display his
powers as if they were divine.
This person would be the blasphemous parody of the Incarnation
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, and would therefore rightly
deserve the epithet Antichrist.
From where will this demiurge come? Blessed Palau answers the question
when speaking of revolutionaries initiated in the black arts:
“These men have regular schools or lodges,...where the demons make themselves visible, not as demons, but as angels of peace and guardians of social well-being.“The Antichrist will emerge well schooled from these lodges.... This malefic society...will become clearer and clearer until it appears without disguise in the Antichrist.”[98]Is the Antichrist of the lineage of Judas within the Church? We find nothing in Blessed Palau's writings that categorically affirms or denies this.But drawing on the second chapter of St. Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians, Blessed Palau does emphasize that the Antichrist would try to deceive even good people through fantasies, illusions, and lies.He would present himself as a wonderworker, fascinating and/or perplexing souls by means of the powers given to him by the king of infernal ambiguity.His bewitching influence would be directed especially at those who have not yet fallen into the grasp of the Revolution. His acts of imposture would be so prodigious that they could well be taken for virtue:[99]“The Antichrist will be recognized as the greatest magus of all times”;[100] he is “that celebrated man who according to prophecy will present himself to the world in omni operationi satanae, with portentous signs to deceive even those whose names are inscribed in the Book of Life, if this were possible.”[101]The time allowed the Antichrist to tempt the faithful remnant would be short.Since this great deceiver had not yet shown himself to men of faith, Blessed Palau continued to refer to both him and the moral body of the Revolution as the Antichrist:“The Revolution is all the political power of the governments of the earth. Its head is the Antichrist. We already see the body, that is, all the kings of the earth united under one principle: War on God!“We have yet to see its head, which will be empowered by the devil. In the Antichrist, the devil will attain the highest degree of power possible to him on earth.”[102]“This is how things stand: We see the body of the Antichrist, but not yet its head. We also see that his empire is already formed.”[103]
The Antichrist would reflect the Revolution in all its phases
and would consequently enjoy the confidence of all revolutionaries.
The false religions would see in him sparks of the divinity
they adore. This would encourage them to press on with their false global
convergence of religions.
When will the Antichrist reveal himself? Will he come in our
days? Or will we see only a prefigure of him?
On one hand Blessed Palau judged that the extreme advances of
the Revolution meant the Antichrist's appearance was imminent.
On the other he believed that God in His mercy would halt the
revolutionary iniquity by sending someone invested with the mission of the
Prophet Elias to convert the nations.
In other words, almost half a century before Our Lady's
apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, Blessed Palau had a prophetic presentiment of
what Our Lady would announce to the three shepherd children:
After great chastisements, the world would convert and have
peace; it would see the triumphal reign of her Immaculate Heart.[104]
This prospect meant that the Antichrist would not come right
away. To decipher the enigma this presented, Blessed Palau meditated on the
great prophet of Carmel and his return.
Chapter 4 - The Coming of the Restorer
The Divine Consistory
Will we have the common good resulting from the practice of
virtue, or will we have its opposite, revolutionary chaos. That is the great
political question.
Politics, Blessed Palau explained, is preeminently a joint
activity of intellects; only beings with intellect can be political. Shallow
souls might think this means only human intellects engage in politics, but in
fact the angelic intellects-good and bad-do as well. Above all, so does the
Creator and Supreme Judge of the universe.
The destiny of mankind is at stake in this political struggle.
What would God do therefore? asked Blessed Palau.
Would He allow the Revolution to take over the world?
Would He destroy the world because of the sins committed by
revolutionaries?
Or on the contrary would He rescue it from Satan's grip, in
view of His promises?
Blessed Palau was certain God was preparing the world's moral
restoration. But how would He do it, and when?
What was lacking for it to happen?
What factors advanced or delayed the moment Our Lord would say
“Enough!” to the Revolution?
To illustrate his quandary, Blessed Palau resorted to an image
based on the theological truth that nothing escapes the divine knowledge.
The universe of virtue and sin is constantly before God like
an immense living tableau. Every act-even the most insignificant occurring in
the deepest recesses of the soul-has weight before God.
Some acts incline Him to mercy; others clamor for greater
license for evil as a chastisement for men.
Blessed Palau portrayed this fact as a consistory or
parliament gathered at the feet of the throne of God and attended by all
intelligent creatures: from Mary Most Holy, Queen of Heaven, St. Michael the
Archangel and all the choirs of angels, the saints, all men on earth-whether
nobles, burghers, peasants, or nuns forgotten in the solitude of their
cloisters-down to Satan with his diabolical legions, and the damned in Hell.
Each participant, with his merits, prayers, and sacrifices, or
with his sins and demerits, contributes to tip the scales of divine justice one
way or the other. This image is clearly inspired by the Book of Job (1:6 ff.).[105]
For his consistory, Blessed Palau imagined vehement
discussions where participants request permission to speak, argue their case,
and are challenged by opponents.
In these polemics, for example, Satan lists the sins of a
particular nation to obtain from God allowance to damn it even further.
Arguing on the nation's behalf is its guardian angel, who
requests that the devil be humbled and punished. God as Supreme Judge decides
who will speak and gives the sentence.
In one scene, the Hermit's Shadow argues against Satan before
God on behalf of fallen humanity:
“Lord, we Catholics have sinned against Thee-people and priests, kings and princes, and all the nations of the earth. Just is Thy wrath, and more than deserved Thy chastisements.“In justice hast Thou handed us over to the fury of the demons. By our wickedness we have surrendered voluntarily to Satan's dominion. Just Thou art and just are Thy judgments.“Against our evil deeds, Lord, I appeal to the throne of Thy clemency. The redemption of the nations now in existence was sealed on Golgotha by a contract between Thee and Thy Son, and is renewed night and day throughout the world upon thousands of altars erected to Thy glory.“In virtue of this perennial and perpetual sacrifice, the title on which the Catholic Church Thy daughter bases her rights retains all its strength and vigor, despite the wickedness and crimes of men.“Against this title, everything the devils allege in their favor is false and null, for they cannot peacefully hold nor present a valid title of their own....“'Satan!' said the Judge. 'Defend yourself, or consider your case lost....'[Satan:] “'Bring forth the scales of Thy justice!“Weigh the deicide and the unbelief of the Jews, the resistance of the pagan nations to the preaching of the Gospel, the schism of the Greeks and Russians, the apostasy of the Protestants, the tremendous blasphemies against Thee by France, Spain, Italy, and all the other revolutionary countries, the corruption of morals among Catholics, even among Thy priests...“Then place on the other side the merits and virtues of those who serve Thee, and Thou wilt see to what side the scales tip!“Thou wouldst cease being just, O God, if Thou didst not punish the criminal! Furthermore, whoever voluntarily violates Thy law, voluntarily surrenders to my banner.“Command over him belongs to me, for by his wicked doings he has voluntarily submitted to my orders, and therefore my title of ownership over him is legitimate.'“[106]
Mary Most Holy, the queen of the celestial hosts, was ready to
send the angelic armies under the command of St. Michael into the fray.
Satan and the Revolution, realizing this, were fomenting every
kind of sin, especially collective sin (revolutions, impious laws, the
separation of Church and state, laws detrimental to the Church, official or
generalized blasphemy, etc.), hoping to delay as much as possible the day of
divine mercy for the good and of divine wrath for the revolutionaries.
Meanwhile the whole consistory was wondering when God would
send the Prophet Elias or someone invested with his mission. The Hermit writes:
“I see...the celestial consistory gathered before the throne of God.... Here, before the throne of the Supreme Lawgiver, contemporary society has been judged....“I see before the throne of God, Elias the Thesbite already armed and ready for battle. The infernal serpent has also been summoned to trial before Moses, Peter, and Elias.“Hark the Supreme Judge's fulminating sentence: 'Daemones effugate ecce ego dedi vobis potestatem.'“The serpent is condemned to be crushed underfoot and locked in the abyss along with the Revolution, whose author and head he is. Elias is to execute the sentence.”[107]
An Extraordinary Mission and the Coming of Elias
Only an extraordinary intervention of Providence could
enlighten and rescue the faithful disoriented by the chaos created by the
Revolution:
“Since it [contemporary society] is unable to save itself with the ordinary assistance of His grace, God will entrust someone with a mission, and it will be the last....“All the nations have surrendered to the flag unfurled in heaven...with the motto 'War on God!' and carried by no less than the highest angel....“Pius IX is helpless against this flag in the normal course of things; so also the bishop, the parish priest, the religious orders, the secular clergy, the faithful, and the Church herself. Humbled, let us confess our inability....“The Church needs an extraordinary mission. Who will be chosen by God to give Him triumph in the battle?...“I repeat: An apostolate will come.... The last mission God is preparing for His Church is so stupendous that the voice of the apostles will silence the politicians.”[108]“Satan,” he said, “has entered the bosom of Catholicism, and wages war against us from within....“Our ordinary forces are insufficient to hurl him from the sanctuary. God in His providence has prepared an extraordinary assistance that is all the closer the more evil worsens.”[109]
In the chaos created by the Revolution how could one
distinguish the real Antichrist from possible prefigures?
How could one resist his seductions?
These are compelling questions, for the Antichrist will be
endowed, as St. Paul says, with a great capacity of deceiving:
“He will come, when he comes, with all of Satan's influence to aid him; there will be no lack of power, of counterfeit signs and wonders; and his wickedness will deceive the souls that are doomed, to punish them for refusing that fellowship in the truth which would have saved them.“Which is why God is letting loose among them a deceiving influence, so that they give credit to falsehood; he will single out for judgment all those who refused credence to the truth, and took their pleasure in wrong-doing.”[110]
In answer to the above questions, the Apocalypse states that
toward the end of the world two witnesses (Elias and Enoch, according to
prevailing theological interpretation) will be sent to preach for the last
time.[111]
Besides, Our Lord affirmed on the slope of Mount Tabor that “Elias must needs come and restore all things,”[112] confirming the words of the Prophet Malachias:“And before that day ever comes, great day and terrible, I will send Elias to be your prophet; he it is shall reconcile heart of father to son, heart of son to father; else the whole of earth should be forfeit to my vengeance.”[113]
Blessed Palau concluded that a manifestation of Elias was to
be expected:
“The social body is speeding like a locomotive to its dissolution. Either God finishes with man, or He redeems him anew and restores him....“In the first case Elias the Thesbite, precursor of the Supreme Judge, will soon come to announce to the world its end. In the second case he will come as well, for he is the promised restorer.”[114]
In which case are we?
Will Elias Come in Person, or in Spirit?
This alter ego would be invested with Elias's spirit and
mission, and like St. John the Baptist would deserve to be called Elias due to
a resemblance in virtue and calling:
“Will it be Elias the Thesbite, the same who prophesied during the reign of Achab and Jezabel in Israel?“We do not know, but there is nothing against the Faith in believing that it will be an ordinary man, a fisherman like Peter, the son of a carpenter like Jesus, a poor man, ignorant according to the world, but wise in the accomplishment of his mission.”[115]“Will it be the Thesbite himself,” he wondered on another occasion, “or will it be his spirit and mission in a new Moses? We dare not guess.“Perhaps it will be his mission, and not his person. In this event many will make the mistake of saying of him what was said of Jesus: that he is the son of a carpenter and of a woman named Mary....“It will be a man with a special mission from God. This man-call him Elias, Enoch, or whatever you want-will be the restorer.”[116]“This apostle will be Elias, the promised Elias, whatever name is given him when he appears. John, Moses, Peter, it matters little.“Elias's mission will restore human society, for God has ordained it in His providence.”[117]
This distinction between the person of Elias and his spirit
and mission presents difficulties that the Scriptural association of Saint John
the Baptist with Saint Elias helps solve.
In St. Luke's Gospel, the angel tells St. Zachary that his son, John, “shall bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, ushering in his advent in the spirit and power of an Elias.“He shall unite the hearts of all, the fathers with the children, and teach the disobedient the wisdom that makes men just, preparing for the Lord a people fit to receive him.”[118]
Also when the disciples ask Our Lord about a new coming of
Elias before the Messias, Our Lord answers:
“But I tell you this, that Elias has come already, and they did not recognize him, but misused him at their pleasure, just as the Son of Man is to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had been speaking to them of John the Baptist.”[119]
St. John the Baptist therefore was Elias in a symbolic,
mystical way. He was Elias in spirit.
The authoritative exegete Fr. Cornelius a Lapide, S.J., explains:“The spirit of Elias is the spirit of virtue, that is, of strength and efficacy.... This spirit was similar in Elias and in John the Baptist....“Just as Elias will precede Christ's second coming with great strength of spirit and efficacy in order to shake the infidels and bring them to the Faith, so also John preceded the first coming of Christ with the same spirit and efficacy to 'unite the hearts of all, the fathers with the children, and teach the disobedient the wisdom that makes men just.'“[120]
Hence Blessed Palau believed that if Elias did not come
himself to restore the Church and Christian civilization, whoever did would
have his strength and efficacy.
Two Scenarios, Two Hypotheses
He was certain however that God, through the prayers of Mary
Most Holy, would have pity on sinful humanity.
Divine clemency would mitigate the chastisement the Revolution
had brought upon mankind, and a parenthesis as it were would be opened in
history.
The world would enter an age of unequalled splendor for the
Church and Christian civilization, while the chastisement due in justice would
remain hanging over humanity like a sword of Damocles.
When men returned to the Revolution, God would close the parenthesis,
and the tragic, grand events of the end of the world would unfold.
Blessed Palau therefore focused on two distinct but similar
historical scenarios: the chastisement of the modern world, later announced at
Fatima, and the end of the world.
What he said about each of these scenarios is applicable, with
some adjustment, to the other.
For example, the great moments of the Revolution's
chastisement and the Church's glorification can be a preview of the close of
history.
And what is written in the Apocalypse about the day when “the
sky will fold up like a scroll”[121]
can shed light on events today.
On which of these occasions would the historical Elias come,
and how? In several articles Blessed Palau raises an hypothesis that points to
the present:
“We have said several times that the opinion that these two prophets [Elias and Enoch] will return only on the eve of the world's end is unfounded. It is not so.“It will be at the end, it is true, but the world may still last another century, another fifty years, during which the nations will see the triumph of the Cross.”[122]
According to this hypothesis, Elias would come in person
during the Revolution's apogee. His glorious deeds would precede a revivifying
action of the Holy Spirit in the Church and the nations.
This divine action would inaugurate a historical period that
coincides with the Reign of Mary prophesied by St. Louis Marie Grignion de
Montfort and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary promised at Fatima.
The conversion of nations would postpone the end of the world,
to whom the second coming of Our Lord would have been announced.
As soon as it forgot this message, the closing events of man's
pilgrimage in time would occur.
In many other texts, however, Blessed Palau formulates a
second hypothesis, which differs from the first in only one fundamental: a
restorer who is not the historical Elias would come now, while Elias himself
would come only when mankind fell back into the iniquity of the Revolution.
Elias's own coming would precede the coming of Our Lord, the
Final Judgment, and the end of the world.
The two hypotheses have a common structure:
1) God sends someone with the mission to destroy the
Revolution in modern times;
2) there is a new age of Faith, and the converted nations
flourish; and
3) a new collective sin, the Final Judgment, and the end of
the world take place.
Over the years Blessed Palau wavered between these hypotheses.
This is seen in his writings, where at times he uses the first hypothesis, at
other times the second, and occasionally even both together.
Time will tell which hypothesis was more adequate.
The Spiritual Lineage of the Prophet of Carmel
He felt he saw this spirit in Venerable Pius IX and in the
ecclesiastics fighting the demons who instigate the Revolution:
“Elias is Pius IX, Elias is the bishop, Elias is the parish priest. Do you see? Do you see the crosier in his hands? Do you see some keys in the hands of Pius IX?“They are the symbol of power over the enemy. He has a sublime mission. God tells him: 'I give you power. Expel the demons.'“Once the prince and king of all the heretics, impious, and blasphemers is bound and chained, once the commander of the Revolution in the world is defeated and imprisoned, all the nations are saved!”[123]
This notwithstanding, Blessed Palau thought the extremes
reached by the Revolution required an intervention that would be equal to
Elias's own presence.
Such a mission was reserved by God for the spiritual lineage
of the Prophet:
“As they were coming down from the mountain [Tabor], the apostles asked their master about the mission of Elias, and Jesus answered: 'Elias must needs come and restore all things.' See chapter 17.“Here is a restorer prepared for the law of grace, as Moses was prepared for the written law. Is this restorer alive? Tradition says so, and we should believe it.“In the sixteenth century Our Lord chose a Spanish woman, the great Theresa of Jesus, and He chose her to restore the Carmelite Order.“He appeared to her repeatedly, assuring her that in the latter times her Order would advance to the combat with great power.[124]“If this restorer still lives, where is he? In the Carmel, that is, among the Carmelites, who inherited through Eliseus, the cloak of Elias, and with his cloak, his spirit and mission.”[125]
The Moses of the Law of Grace
Blessed Palau had endless questions and conjectures concerning
the coming of Elias in person or in spirit. For example, he wondered if the
historical Elias would come alone, or accompanied by Enoch.
He also wondered whether the “Elias in spirit” would be an
individual, or a group of disciples who would fulfill his mission.[126]
Having thought of the possibilities, Blessed Palau concluded
that better than presenting his hypotheses would be to describe to his readers
the moral and religious profile of the promised restorer. Whoever fit the
profile would be the awaited Elias.
He named this profile the Moses of the Law of Grace. The Law
of Grace is the New Testament.
The restorer would be a Moses, for just as Moses delivered the
Jews from slavery to the Egyptians, he would free Catholics from the
Revolution's yoke.
“Let us search history for an image of the present situation of the Church,” Blessed Palau wrote.“Perhaps then we will see the means Divine Providence has in store to save us. We find everything we are looking for in the mission given by God to Moses in order to save His people enslaved in Egypt.”[127]“God saved Israel from bondage to the Pharaoh by the hands of Moses and Aaron. So too by His almighty arm will He save mankind from the enemy that today enslaves it.“To do this He will make use of an apostolate, giving it the most extraordinary mission the ages have seen.”[128]
The Moses of the Law of Grace would unmask and foil the Revolution
Seducers of the people through the use of the black arts,
these magicians were a prefigure of the priests of the Revolution. The Pharaoh
represented the political powers of the world.
The promised restorer would expose the Revolution, exorcise
its diabolical leaders, and confound its human followers.
And just as the Egyptian magicians attempted to outdo Moses
with their prodigies and failed, so the leaders of the Revolution would strike
back at the restorer without success.
Awaken Catholics to the Revolution within the Church. He would
clearly show Catholics the abomination and defilement in the temple of God,[129]
the Catholic Church. His denunciation would lead to Church renewal:
“Elias will restore ecclesiastical things to their proper order with a strong hand. He will cast out from the bosom of the Church the false, anti-Christian politicians and the phalanxes of writers and doctors who in the name of Christ seduce the peoples.“He will cleanse the temple of God of the abominations with which bad Catholics defile it.”[130]
Come unexpectedly. Blessed Palau never gave a date for the
coming of the restorer, but he did think it would occur when the faithful,
reduced to a remnant, were disheartened:
“There is no day or hour. He will come when no one, not even the Carmelites, is waiting for him or hoping in him.”[131]
Organize the remnant against the Revolution. He would come
especially to encourage the Catholic remnant, to organize it throughout the
world, and set it in battle array against the Revolution:
“The main purpose of Elias's mission will be to organize all the Catholics who are still faithful to God.”[132]“Following his example, the Catholics who remained faithful amidst terrible trials will gain new life, virtue, and strength.”[133]
Preach penance. He would not take on appearances to please the
world and the flesh.
He would call upon individuals and nations to adore the true
God, whom they had abandoned, and to burn the idols of the Revolution. In other
words, he would preach penance:
“Expect nothing from politics except deceit and betrayal. The restoration will not come from here. It will come from Heaven and bring us men in sackcloth who will call the world to penance.”[134]
His word and example would revive the spirit of nations,
reinvigorate their elites, restore their fundamental principles, and thus lead
them to conversion:
“Since the true restoration consists in the conversion of all the nations and their kings, the restorer is not a king, but an apostle.”[135]“He will reestablish social order on its true foundations.”[136]
Be persecuted, even by false Christians. Blessed Palau did not
have a triumphalist idea of the restorer's life and apostolate.
He expected the restorer to be misunderstood and persecuted by
the Revolution, just like Our Lord had been by the scribes and Pharisees:
“Pharisaical politics promised the Jews a Messias. The true faith of the prophets also promised a Messias.“The Messias came, and the politicians did not recognize Him. He was not what they had been waiting for; He was not what they wanted.“He was not their Messias, so they crucified Him. So it will happen now....“The restorer will come, and not being the one promised, desired, wanted, and awaited by politics, not being a king who hands out honors, titles, positions, and money, but rather a prophet, a martyr, one who accompanies us to martyrdom, pharisaical politics will wage an atrocious war against him.”[137]
Bad Catholics would reject the restorer's exhortation to
penance and sacrifice. They would work with the Revolution to block his
apostolate and persecute him and his followers:
“He will be despised and fiercely persecuted even by Catholics who will have damned the world through their unbelief.“The elect will gather around him, and the bad Catholics will form a united front against him with the apostate kings.”[138]
The Death of the Restorer
The best of his inspiration on this persecution is from the
verses of the Apocalypse regarding the two witnesses sent by God.
We learn there that Elias and his companion will preach long
enough to make themselves known to those receptive to the voice of the Most
High.
The Antichrist will lay a thousand traps for them, but they
will destroy them with the extraordinary powers received from on high for the
fulfillment of their mission. Eventually, though, the Antichrist will kill the
heralds of God.[139]
Blessed Palau saw these verses as applicable to the restorer.
Like Elias before the Second Coming, he would have to confront an Antichrist, a
precursor of the Antichrist.
He might be killed by the Revolution, but not “before the
Catholics have been organized”[140]
and he had formed disciples: “There will be others to continue the fight.”[141]
So there would be a difference between these deaths. The death
of the restorer would be an event in a war that continues and eventually ends
in victory for the Church and in conversion of entire nations.
Whereas the death of the two witnesses would immediately
precede the Second Coming and the end of the world.
The Return to Calvary
In a theological-moral interpretation of history, Blessed
Palau believed that the Church, following the example of the Divine Redeemer,
had made the Via Sacra with Him.
On Calvary, spiritually nailed to the Cross, she had conquered
the nations for Our Lord and governed them in this way since apostolic times.
With the centuries, those called to keep the Bride of Christ
always united to the Cross came to believe they could relax.
The Church had become so powerful and solid, they thought. Why
not replace asceticism with the enjoyment of the Church's position in society?
From this historical-psychological moment-Blessed Palau places
it in the late Middle Ages-a continual decadence set in.
The enemies of the Church were able to organize within her and
enthroned the Revolution in the most intimate and unsuspected part of the
sanctuary.
As the laxity of ecclesiastics increased and the faithful
became more decadent, the devil made greater and greater inroads.
He conquered influential souls, organized the Revolution
throughout Christendom, and pushed mankind toward the chaos we see today.
Given this situation, the splendorous reinstatement of the
Church and Christian civilization would require a turnabout.
The Church Militant-both clergy and laity-which for centuries
had distanced itself from sacrifice and holocaust, would have to retake the
road to Calvary and embrace the Cross.
The restorer's acceptance of suffering, misunderstanding,
persecution, and death would powerfully draw Catholics to the Way of the Cross.
Following the example of the restorer, under the blows of the
Revolution, the Church Militant would climb anew to the top of Calvary, and
from there reign resplendent in glory and sanctity:
“If God in the high designs of His providence has chosen Calvary to be the center of Catholicism, when the time comes the Church will go there and will arrive there crowned with thorns.“There she will be crucified, and there the world will be redeemed again. Here, in this world, the Bride of the Lamb will receive at the foot of the Cross all the nations redeemed again with the blood of Jesus and of the last martyrs.”[142]
Appeasing the Divine Wrath
Provoked by the immensity of sins committed over centuries of
Revolution, God chastises out of justice and out of desire to bring man to
repentance. When punishing, at times he makes use of demons:
“I see,” Blessed Palau wrote, “the wrath of God hanging over our heads because of the crimes of men. The demons do not surrender, for they are the rod with which“He strikes criminal nations and peoples. It almost seems as if God protects the demons and the Revolution they command, like the judge protects the instruments of his justice.”[143]And he added: “It is the fire of the wrath of God, lit by the breath of the devil and of corrupt man.“It burns unceasingly, producing in its eruptions revolution upon revolution, ruin upon ruin, and universal social dissolution.”[144]
However, when the sweet odor of the sacrifice of “Elias's
mission,” in union with the infinite merits of Our Lord, ascends to Heaven, the
Most High would change His wrath to mercy.
When this happens, God would drop His instruments of
punishment, namely the devil and his legions. Then they would be despised and
expelled from the world by the faithful Catholics:
“To destroy the Revolution, God need only leave it to itself. Left to its malice, it collapses under its own weight.”[145]
From the narrow perspective of human wisdom, the death of the
restorer would entail the permanency of the Revolution's empire.
Paradoxically, however, his death would in fact speed up the
defeat of the Revolution and of an eventual precursor of the Antichrist:
“Satan...also defeated Christ and Saint Peter, but only physically and momentarily; His blood was the redemption of the world.”[146]
Another Age of Martyrs
“Elias...is the head, the leader of all the victims who with their blood will appease the wrath of God. Their blood presented with that of Jesus will merit the peace now sought in vain.”[147]
These martyrdoms, whose number Providence alone knows, would
complete the sacrifice of God's envoy.
Blessed Palau lived in times of bloody anti-clerical
persecution, of which he himself was a victim.
Therefore he thought that the false prophet's acts of
arbitrarity would be a paroxysm of those he was witnessing; he did not know the
twentieth-century's refined forms of moral pressure and torture.
The death of the restorer, he believed, would lead the Revolution
to imagine that its megalomaniac goals were within reach.
It would attempt then to disperse or annihilate the remaining
faithful, since the obstacle it feared no longer existed:
“This will be the beginning of the age of martyrs, not just in this or that nation, but in the entire world.“These are the victims of propitiation marked and numbered by the supreme sacrificer to appease the wrath of God aroused by mankind's enormous crimes.“They will merit the redemption of this society enslaved by its iniquities to the devil and today's kings.”[148]“Only those whom God has chosen for a special mission will remain faithful.”[149]
These victims would pool their merits to attract the mercy of
God upon humanity and the end of the Revolution:
“Once the last victim marked by God is slain and the sacrifice of expiation is consumed, the arm of the Almighty will turn the wrath of His justice against the instrument of testing and bring it to an end much more terrible than that of the two Napoleons.”[150]
It should be noted that when Blessed Palau uses the term “Age
of Martyrs” he is suggesting not a prolonged historical period, but a striking
succession of tribulations and holocausts suffered out of fidelity to the
message of the promised Elias.
The Central Role of the Holy Mass
Being a zealous priest, Blessed Palau was deeply devoted to
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.The sacrifice of Calvary is the center of history from where the graces of the Redemption radiate upon Adam's sinful progeny.
Consequently, Blessed Palau saw in the unbloody renewal of the sacrifice on Golgotha the very soul of the resistance to the Revolution and to the fallacies and evil works of the Antichrist and his prefigures:
“This is how the battle is fought: The priest, and with him the people, fight from the altar against the wrath of God provoked by crime....“The triumph of the Faith regarding the redemption of the nations, having been obtained on the altar through prayer and sacrifice, brings victory in the second part of the camp, which is that occupied by magic, spiritism, and the devils visible in the possessed....“Once the prince of this world is vanquished before the throne of God from the altar,...the world is left without a king and disintegrates like a corpse.”[151]
For these reasons the Revolution, through its universal
anti-Christian religion, would do everything in its power to abolish the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, the center of Catholic worship.
It would fail. The Catholic worship, the only worship shining
in sanctity, truth, and divine light, would continue.
“Impossible to abolish, the Catholic worship alone will sustain the struggle against the decrees of the emperor,” Blessed Palau asserted.“It will disappear from public view, but will go on in the catacombs, deserts, and hidden places.”[152]
The Resurrection of Elias
The Apocalypse speaks of the festivities sparked by the death
of God's two witnesses. Seeing themselves rid of these prophets of penance, the
populace will dance, feast, and exchange gifts.
But the prophets will resurrect for the confusion of those
rejoicing amid the deceitful wealth and peace provided by the Antichrist. The
two witnesses will rise to Heaven at the command of a loud voice.
Their assumption will be followed by a great earthquake in
which many will perish, while others, filled with dread, will acknowledge the
glory of God.[153]
Composing a possible setting for this event, Blessed Palau
recalled the dispute in Rome between St. Peter and Simon the Magician, which is
narrated in ecclesiastical history and depicted in a painting in St. Peter's
Basilica.
St. Peter had performed miracles that greatly astonished the
imperial capital. Simon the Magician, a high priest of paganism and a prefigure
of the Antichrist, challenged him. He boasted he would fly by his own power
before the eyes of all.
At the appointed time, in the crowded amphitheater, the
magician soared through the air with the help of demons. St. Peter exorcised
the demons, and the impostor crashed to the ground and died.
With these elements, Blessed Palau imagined the Antichrist
attempting to match Elias and his companion by imitating their assumption, and
plummeting to his death because of a divine intervention.
As in the case of Simon the Magician, the end of the
Antichrist will come not by human but divine intervention.
At the peak of his influence, when the resources of the just
seem totally exhausted, the breath of God will strike him with the deserved
punishment:
“Elias having been slain, the Antichrist will perish like Sennacherib the blasphemer,[154] through God's direct action.”[155]“This direct action will take place...as follows: The man who has received from God the power to expel demons, by virtue of a mission established on the mandate 'Cast out devils,'[156] with faith and authority commands the devil to leave....“The good angel intervenes, ordering the demon on the part of God to surrender to the man's command. The devil having resisted both, God intervenes, and by Himself, without the use of any creature, enforces the order given by the man to Satan.”[157]
If Elias did not come in person now, Blessed Palau believed,
something analogous could occur with “Elias's mission.”
The revolutionary world would rejoice at the death of the
restorer. Unexpectedly, though, God would somehow glorify him.
If a precursor of the Antichrist sought a similar glorification,
he would be fulminated by God.
The sudden destruction of the Son of Perdition, or some
prefigure of his, would sound the death knell for the Revolution.
Satan would see his plans ruined and his cause lost.
Frustrated and deranged, he would vent his desperate rage against the last
faithful:
“Satan...feeling himself dragged by the chains coming from the hand of the Most High, shrieking in fury, knowing that his time to work evil is short, seeing himself uncovered by the Faith of the last apostles...will declare open war against the Church, now organized, restored, and ready for battle.”[158]
This last phase of revolutionary persecution would reveal the
depths of the hearts of men.
“The hypocritical Catholics will distance themselves from the true ones. The light and darkness will separate.“Here will begin the horrific persecution against the Church and these chosen ones of the end times, which has been announced by all of tradition.”[159]“The final persecution will strike in an age thought to be of peace. It will surprise the multitude of foolish Catholics, who did not believe in it and who will lose the Faith because they lack charity.”[160]
Blessed Palau added that Satan in his insane fury would
destroy his own works with all kinds of cataclysms.
He would turn on his human accomplices, especially those who
had denied his existence and thus weakened Catholic resistance and facilitated
the advance of the Revolution.
In all things, though, he would act as an instrument of divine
justice, unable to do more than God allowed:
“In those fearful days, when the angel of God's justice enters the homes of Catholics to punish their unbelief, will he find there belief in the existence of devils?“'Here I am,' he will say, revealing himself in hideous forms to the unbelieving. 'Do you see me? You believe now because you see me. You have believed too late!“I come not as an apostle to preach my existence, but as your torturer to punish your unbelief! Come! You will be my partner of misfortune in hell!'“[161]
A Sudden Catastrophe
He likewise felt the ingratitude of people who saw the
fulfillment of predictions made for their benefit. Consequently he rightly
feared this attitude would still exist come the day of God's chastisement.
The optimists, reveling in the peace and prosperity of the
universal republic, would not want to hear or think of chastisements.
Indifferent or hostile to the preaching of the restorer, they
would not heed his counsels and warnings.
They would live their everyday lives making no effort to understand
what was really happening around them. The chastisements would catch them-even
Catholics-by surprise.
Given the extent of the Revolution, its crash would be
monumental.
“The work of the devil cannot fall without a thunderous universal social catastrophe,”[162] wrote Blessed Palau.“The arrest of the devil in the political world where he reigns will bring the most horrifying catastrophe the centuries have seen.”[163]
The Apostles of the Latter Times
Blessed Palau used the designation “apostles of the latter
times” or “last apostles” to refer to Elias-whether in person or in spirit-and
Enoch:
“Elias and Enoch...are the last apostles God has prepared to restore the world.”[164]
He also uses it for the disciples of the restorer, who will
support his mission and continue his work until the end of history:
“I see an order of apostles descending from heaven. They are the last apostles. They hurl Satan from the midst of society and convert the world by their preaching.”[165]“Elias will come, and he will come in an order of apostles or missionaries.”[166]
The prophetic hope in the arrival of these “apostles of the
latter times” burned in many virtuous souls, some of whom the Church has
canonized.
St. Vincent Ferrer urged people to meditate on these future
apostles.[167]
St. Bonaventure compared them to the Seraphim and predicted
they would arrive in times of great tribulations.[168]
The incomparable preacher of perfect devotion to Our Lady, St.
Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, described them prophetically in these terms:
“The Most High with His holy Mother has to form for Himself great saints who shall surpass most of the other saints in sanctity, as much as the cedars of Lebanon outgrow the little shrubs....“These great souls, full of grace and zeal, shall be chosen to match themselves against the enemies of God, who shall rage on all sides; and they shall be singularly devout to our Blessed Lady....“They shall fight, overthrow and crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries and the sinners with their impieties....“Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might, and in grace, in these latter times....“Mary must be terrible to the devil and his crew, as an army ranged in battle, principally in these latter times, because the devil, knowing that he has but little time, and now less than ever, to destroy souls, will every day redouble his efforts and his combats.“He will presently raise up cruel persecutions, and will put terrible snares before the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom it gives him more trouble to conquer than it does to conquer others.“It is principally of these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till the reign of Antichrist, that we ought to understand that first and celebrated prediction and curse of God, pronounced in the terrestrial paradise against the serpent:...“'I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel' (Gen. 3:15)....“But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares against her heel; that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him.“They shall be little and poor in the world's esteem, and abased before all, like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body.“But in return for this, they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly.“They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God's assistance that, with the humility of the heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph....“They shall be the ministers of the Lord, who, like a burning fire, shall kindle the fire of divine love everywhere.“They shall be 'like as arrows in the hand of the mighty' Mary to pierce her enemies (cf. Ps. 126:4)....“They shall be clouds thundering and flying through the air at the least breath of the Holy Ghost; who, detaching themselves from everything and troubling themselves about nothing, shall shower forth the rain of the Word of God and of life eternal.“They shall thunder against sin; they shall storm against the world; they shall strike the devil and his crew; and they shall pierce through and through, for life or for death, with their two-edged sword of the Word of God, all those to whom they shall be sent on the part of the Most High.“They shall be the true apostles of the latter times, to whom the Lord of Hosts shall give the word and the might to work marvels, and to carry off with glory the spoils of His enemies....“These are the great men who are to come, but Mary is the one who, by order of the Most High, shall fashion them for the purpose of extending His empire over that of the impious, the idolaters, and the Mahometans. But when and how shall this be? God alone knows.”[169]
* * *
We must highlight at this point the fundamental distinction
between “the latter times” or “end times” and “the end of time.”
The “latter times” are the final phases of history, which may
last several centuries, depending on the degree of fidelity shown by the just.
The “end of time” is the brief sequence of episodes swiftly
and definitively closing history.
When will “the latter times” begin? Have they begun already?
Opinions vary. In any event, from Blessed Palau's perspective,
the days of the promised restorer are fully in that era.
Chapter 5 - The Restoration of the Church and the Nations
The Papacy Divinely Protected and Gloriously Restored
Blessed Palau saw that the Revolution's persecution of the
Church might force the Pope into temporary exile:
“What will be of Rome? Lactancius, Tertullian, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Orosius, Andreas, Cesariense, Arethas, Victorianus, Sixtus, Senense, Lindanus, St. Robert Bellarmine, Bozóo, Suárez, Salmerón, Pererio, Prado, Cornelius a Lapide, Alcázar, all of whom Tirini quotes, apply not to the Church or the Papacy but to Rome, the city of Rome, the capital of Italy, to pagan Rome, what we read in chapters 7 and 8 of the Apocalypse.“Rome will be destroyed.... Is it possible that the Pope will transfer his see somewhere else?“Beyond any doubt: ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia.... The Pope has been forced to flee Rome several times already.“Is it possible that he will establish himself in Jerusalem? Yes. Just as he moved to Avignon (France) he can establish himself in Jerusalem for a longer or shorter length of time....“Rome, in the sense of Catholic Church, cannot lose its faith, but Rome, as head of the gentile nations, can surely fall into apostasy, abandoning God and Christ.“It can return to paganism. If this happens, where will it end up?“It is written of her: et tu excideris-you too will be cut off from the tree of life, as were the Jews, if you do not persevere in the Faith and are ungrateful for the favors God has bestowed upon you.”[170]
This outcome seemed quite plausible in the times of Blessed
Palau. Rome was besieged and occupied by the troops of the apostate Garibaldi
and the excommunicate Victor Emanuel II.
The life of the Pope, and that of the Roman clergy, was in
jeopardy. The most radical anticlerical harangues urged the destruction of the
Roman churches and the extinction of Catholicism by violence.
These sinister intentions did not materialize, but they did
show the ultimate goal harbored by the Revolution. Shortly before the disorders
of the Paris Commune, Blessed Palau wrote:
“Rome-not the Catholic Church, but the false, traitorous Catholics-will be punished. God will pour the cup of His wrath over it with greater severity than over Paris. Such is the Hermit's opinion regarding Rome.”[171]“And Rome, what will happen to it?” Blessed Palau asked. “What will happen to the papal throne? The throne of the Supreme Pontificate will never fall into ruins. Regardless of who sits upon it-Peter, Paul, or Pius-be it in Rome or in Jerusalem, it will last until the end of the centuries.“Even in a cave upon a rough and cold rock? So what! Wherever Peter is, there is his throne.“If Peter sits on a tree trunk in the middle of a desert, this rough trunk is his throne, and if he is crucified, his throne is the cross!”[172]
In face of revolutionary threats, the Vicar of Christ might
even have to hide:
“An order of things that human hands cannot contain leads mankind to the abolition of all public Catholic worship, and its replacement in the official world with the religion of the State. The Pope will return to the catacombs.”[173]
Blessed Palau believed the confusion and chaos in the Church
could reach such extremes in the future that only an extraordinary divine
intervention could clarify who was the legitimate successor of Peter.
When this happened, the humiliations of persecution would be
replaced by a marvelous glorification of the Papacy:
“Once the Antichrist is defeated...God Himself will name a Pope according to His Heart.”[174]
The Church Renewed
In these extreme moments, Blessed Palau reflected, the Holy
Ghost would send His revivifying breath over the persecuted Church, which
renewed by extraordinary graces would launch the counteroffensive:
“The Church will change the face of the earth a second time. Before this, however, she will descend to the silence of the tombs. Her temples in ruins, the Church will take refuge in the solitude of the mountain.“There she will receive from the Holy Ghost the plenitude of the gifts she needs to save modern society.”[175]
This action of the Holy Ghost would present a remarkable
analogy to the descent of the Paraclete upon the Apostles gathered in the
Cenacle.
It would take place, however, during persecutions and
martyrdoms, in full struggle against the crazed Revolution, conditions so
different from the festive displays often associated with interconfessional
pentecostalism:
“The Holy Ghost descended upon Mount Sinai amidst thunder and lightning to reveal to the people the Law they had forgotten.“The Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles amidst a great wind, and amidst a storm will He descend again.“Then will He hurl into the abyss the evil and impious spirit, the sinister revolutionary spirit, which possesses the moral body of human society and agitates it from the airs we breathe.”[176]
The Church Counterattacks
Under the renewing breath of the Holy Ghost, the Church would
counterattack She would denounce the Revolution, its leaders and henchmen to
the whole world.
Such preaching would have an irresistible vigor:
“The Church is consistent. Once she recognizes as an historical fact that Satan leads the work of the Revolution, sustains it, gives it strength, power, and form, she will go on the offensive and defeat it.”[177]“The Church alone...will show up fearlessly on the battlefield to wage offensive war; She alone will fight; She alone will triumph, and She alone will receive the glory and honor from the nations, her children.”[178]“It will not be the Revolution that will pronounce itself publicly against the Church, but rather the Church will invest against the Revolution.”[179]
Before the bewildered gaze of the multitudes the disciples of
the promised restorer-the apostles of the latter times-would expel the true
mentors of the Revolution, denouncing their insidious maneuvers and true
objectives.
These apostles would oblige the devils to confess their role
and would order them without recourse to desist from doing harm to mankind and
to abandon the earth:
“When you see an order of apostles or missionaries who cast out the devils and unmask them...“on the spot, in the public squares and streets and in the homes; when you see that human illnesses are cured instantly; when you see that the devils no longer resist us, and flee even from our shadow....“Once the princeps hujus mundi is cast out from the sanctuary, once the king of darkness is cast out from amidst the sons and daughters of the people of God;“once he has been defeated on his own terms, which are those of purely spiritual ecclesiastical power, this triumph leads infallibly to the Church's victory in the realm of politics and material power. The Revolution will collapse in the world.”[180]
Thus, according to Blessed Palau, God, Who in the heyday of
the Revolution seemed to have crossed His arms, would make His power shine as
never before during the toppling of the Revolution:
“The wrath of God, which today chastises the race of Adam, invisibly and spiritually, by allowing the triumph of error, will make itself visible, so visible indeed that nobody, absolutely nobody, will doubt the omnipotence of that God Who today Catholics invoke and Who appears not to hear us. This day will come when no one expects it.”[181]
“God,” he explained, “will visit His wrath, anathema, and malediction upon unbelievers, and among them, the unbelievers who call themselves Catholic...“the type of Catholics who mock what Catholicism teaches on divine justice and on demons, its executors. Hell will direct all its fury upon these souls.”[182]
The revolutionary structures that rose tall, defying the
natural order, but sustained by the powers of hell, would topple with a
reverberating crash.
Entire regions, Blessed Palau suspected, would shake as the
demons possessing them left:
“Just as the spirits sent to possess human bodies take the place of reason, so do these [spirits of darkness] possess nature, and direct it (with God's permission) against man.“Because of this, the day in which these spirits of error and evil are hurled into the abyss will be horrendous.“For God, being the author of the natural and social orders they upset, will vomit them using nature itself....“On purging so much evil from its bosom, the orb will show signs whose meaning will be clear to all.”[183]“Nature will vomit into the abyss these angels of evil in one of those horrible convulsions, which will be more terrible for the unbelieving than the day of the Flood.”[184]
Many could be tempted to think such great convulsions were no
more than natural disasters.
The apostles of the latter times, however, would oblige the
devils to confess their doings for the edification of those whose Faith was
weak.
The spirits of darkness would make clear what their role was
in the Revolution.
The “lineage of Judas” itself, which in the greatest secrecy
had been destroying the Church from within, would be dragged into the light for
public execration:
“The devil made people lose their Faith and all belief in the work of evil that he is promoting throughout the earth in union with the evil man.“On being hurled into the abyss, the devil himself will undo this harm. He will bear witness to his existence and to the power he communicated to this man over his entire army.“Woe to this day! Woe to those who today defend him and fight against the Faith! Woe to this man!“Woe to the Judas who from within the sanctuary delivers the temple of God to the devil, sells the sheep, and protects the wolves so they can devour the flock at will!”[185]
The apostles of the latter times would perform great wonders
that would seal the end of the Revolution and the harm it did souls:
“On that day the earth will open at the voice of the prophets, and Hell will swallow alive the apostles of lies before the eyes of all....“On that day the prophets sent by God for the redemption of the nations will beat back the brute force of man with divine power.“At their command, fire will descend from heaven, and before the eyes of all the powerful who attempt to block their mission will be reduced to ashes.”[186]
Awesome as these chastisements would be, the glorification of
the Church, their supreme purpose, would be more so:
“The last mission God has prepared for His Church will be so astonishing, that its voice, the voice of the apostles, will silence the world of politics.“It will be a voice of thunder, the trumpet of an archangel, that no roar of cannons or cries of warriors will be able to stifle.”[187]
The Three Days of Darkness
The Revolution's destruction could well reach its apex during
the so-called three days of darkness.
These have a Scriptural foundation and were the object of
commentaries and visions of saintly and privileged souls. The best known
private revelation regarding them was received by Blessed Ana Maria Taigi
(1769-1837).
 |
| Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, St Crysogonus's church, Rome |
“In 1818 the Servant of God told me everything about the revolution in Rome. She repeatedly told me the even more stunning fact that it had been mitigated by the prayers of many souls dear to God who had offered themselves up to Him to satisfy the divine justice.“About the future she said iniquity will parade in triumph and many people believed to be good will unmask themselves, since the Lord wants to separate the chaff, knowing exactly what to do with it afterward.“Such will be the state of affairs that man will no longer be able to put things in order. God's almighty arm will remedy everything.“She told me that while the scourge of the earth will be mitigated, that of the skies will be a horrible, awesome, and worldwide punishment, the likes of which Our Lord did not reveal even to his most beloved souls.“The chastisement will come unexpectedly and the impious will be destroyed. Before it comes, all those thought holy will be buried.“Many millions will perish by steel in wars or conflicts. Everywhere millions will die suddenly of unknown causes.“Consequently, entire nations will return to unity with the Catholic Church. Many Moslems, pagans, and Jews will convert and Christians will be astonished at their fervor and observance.“In sum, she told me the Lord wants to purge the world and His Church, for which He is preparing a new harvest of souls who will humbly carry out great works and operate surprising miracles.“She told me that the earth will be cleansed with wars, revolutions, and other calamities. After the chastisement ends amidst great convulsions of nature and loss of life, a heavenly era will start.
Blessed Palau commented on this vision in detail, using the
version he received:
“This is what is foretold: On a calm, bright day, suddenly a darkness so dense one can touch it will cover the face of the earth.“The sky will take on such a frightful tone that looking at it people will run and hide in the most secluded parts of their homes, closing doors and windows as in times of fierce storms.“Horrifying figures will appear in the air, letting off ear-splitting shrieks. If for a moment the moon opens a path through the darkness, it will appear clothed in blood to those courageous enough to look at it.“These will be days of wrath and malediction; days in which death, with the exterminating angel as its mount and with hell in its wake, will visit the homes of the impious, of the unbelieving, of the man who filled with arrogance challenges God's omnipotence, just as it visited Egypt when it killed the firstborn sons in one night.“Many will die of fright, believing the end of the world has come and feeling surrounded by an eternal night. Horrific convulsions of nature will proclaim that God, its creator, is irate.“Like a possessed woman who shakes as the spirit of evil is cast out from her, nature will shake as it casts out of its bosom those revolutionary angels who together with the man of iniquity upset its laws.“Nature will thus make known that the supreme hour of its renovation has arrived. Death will pass swiftly through the homes of the impious, reaping with its scythe the elderly and the babes, the men and the women.“Those it leaves living will seek a light with which to see the cadavers, and lightning will show them the yellowed features of a wife, a daughter, a brother, a father.“Wanting to help the dying, they will try to start a flame, and it will refuse its light and warmth.“The just one, he who believes, will light a flame and it will burn before the Lord. He will pray prostrate on the ground, awaiting the end of the visit of the God of Vengeance and the dawn of His mercy.“He will close his doors and windows, and recollected with his family in the oratory he will humble himself with fasting, prayer, and penance before the Judge who chastises the evildoer. Meanwhile the impious will perish in their impiety.“During these three days God Himself will give battle to the foolish who today mock His omnipotence. The entire universe in arms will follow Him, testifying to the truth of the Catholic Faith.“Upon leaving the field of battle, the triumphant Victor will hurl the darkness and the spirits who produce it into the eternal fire.“This is what the venerable Taigi preaches. Will this happen? When? Can this be?“Yes, it will happen. In what epoch? We will answer with a simple opinion, the fruit of profound meditation:“1) This happened once. Therefore another era might come in which it is useful for the glory of God that it happen again.“Read chapter 10 of Exodus: 'And when Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, all over the land of Egypt utter darkness fell; for three days no one caught sight of his neighbor's face, or moved from where he was. But wherever sons of Israel dwelt, the light shone.'“Can God renew now by the hands of some man what He did in Egypt through the hands of Moses? Yes, He can. Will He do it? Yes. How do we know?“Let us hearken to the prophets. Isaias says in chapter 13:“'The day of the Lord is coming, pitiless, full of vengeance and bitter retribution, ready to turn earth into a wilderness, ridding it of its sinful brood.“The stars of heaven, its glittering constellations, will shed no ray; sunrise will be darkness, and the moon refuse her light.“I will punish the world's guilt, and tax the wicked with their misdoings, stilling the rebel's pride, crushing the haughtiness of tyrants.'“Describing the punishment of the impious, Ezechiel in chapter 32 says: 'Thy light when I quench, muffled the skies shall be, the stars dim, the sun beclouded, and the moon shall refuse her light; no luminary in heaven but shall go mourning for thee, and in that land of thine, the Lord God says, all shall be darkness.'“And Joel says in chapter 2: 'I will shew wonders in heaven, and on earth blood, and fire, and whirling smoke.“The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great, the terrible day.'“[190]
Blessed Palau expected that the demon would be the most
noticeable instrument of divine justice at the beginning of the chastisements.
As these continued, though, the participation of the good
angels and of God himself would become clearly dominant.
The three days of darkness would occur in the final stage of
the chastisements, confirming the mission of the envoy of God:
“Of what use will be three days of darkness such as those predicted by the venerable Taigi unless they are signs that bear witness to a mission, as was the darkness brought upon the Egyptians by Moses?“Without the intervention of a prophet they would have the same effect as epidemics and wars.“So the impious cannot attribute them to nature alone, and so people will believe in the omnipotence of the God of Catholics and the truth of the power of the Church, an apostolic voice must bring them and send them away.”[191]
In this perspective, the three days of darkness would be the
decisive episode in the final victory of the Church.
The Importance of Exorcism
The more the Revolution advanced, the more the demon became
master of society and pushed it on to greater sins and disgraces, which, in a
kind of vicious circle, accelerated the Revolution.
As the days of the false prophet approached, this possession
would become more intense, for the Antichrist would be the ultimate embodiment
of bewitching power.
Blessed Palau consequently believed it was indispensable to
make a wide and systematic use of the ministry of Exorcism. He wrote:
“This is our ideal: that under the direction of the Pope the ministry of Exorcism be organized and used.“It would have an infallible effect, namely, the imprisonment of the devil, the ruin of his empire, and the triumph of Catholicism in the conversion of the kings who now fight us. Is this wishful thinking of the Hermit?“Or is it a reality? If a reality, this is how the world will be renewed sooner or later. A spiritual power will imprison the devil, and his imprisonment will be the liberation of the nations.
Father Gabriele Amorth, famous exorcist of Rome
Father Gabriele Amorth, famous exorcist of Rome (1925 - 2016) on the Blessed Palau:
“I seek to follow the line initiated by a Spanish saint, Blessed Francis Palau, a Carmelite, who in 1870 came to Rome to speak about the exorcism with Pope Pius IX.
“Later, he returned to Rome during the sessions of Vatican Council I, to discuss the need for exorcists.
“With the interruption of that Council by virtue of the invasion of Rome, the matter wasn’t discussed.”
This ideal was not achieved. Blessed Palau died in 1872 and
Venerable Pius IX passed away in 1878.
A few years later, the new Pope, Leo XIII, ordered that at the
end of Mass a prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel-a true exorcism-be recited.[194]
On May 18, 1890, the same Pontiff promulgated the Exorcismus
in Satanam et angelos apostaticos, whose content-observes the Positio of Fr.
Palau's process of beatification-”coincides exactly with Francisco Palau's
thinking.”[195]
However, the ordinary resources of the office of Exorcist were
not put to use in the systematic manner Blessed Palau thought indispensable for
ending the power of the devil and the Revolution.
Foreseeing that his ideal would not be realized, Blessed Palau
predicted that God would provide an extraordinary assistance:
“It is true the ordinary means Divine Providence has to stop and chain Satan are finding insurmountable obstacles.“It is also true, though, that to save His Church from the voraciousness of the infernal wolves, God in His providence will extend His omnipotent arm, and will hurl them from within the sanctuary itself with all the incredulity of unbelieving Catholics.”[196]
He believed that extraordinary means would be granted to
“Elias's mission” and that the restorer's disciples would share in them. Armed with exorcistic powers, the apostles of the latter times would second on earth the action of the Archangel Michael and the angelic hosts.“On earth,” he said, “the Revolution will perish by the same hand that decapitated it in Heaven:...the ministry of the angels, together with that of men who are not revolutionary.”[197]
Exorcism would have a decisive role in the victory of the
Church:
“The office of Exorcist will be the Faith's ministry of war in the world. It will arm true Catholics for direct confrontation with Satan, as the Catholic Kings physically armed fighters against Mohammed, Photius, and Luther.“This ministry was instituted for the war against the Antichrist. While it has always existed, in the last persecution it will form for battle with a plenitude of power against the Revolution.“It will bring about Satan's imprisonment and the ruin of his empire on earth.”[198]“The power within the ministry of Exorcism...“will imprison Satan. It will bind him and hurl him into the abyss, lock the gates and seal them, so that he will leave his prison again only on the day of the Final Judgement, to appear before the Supreme Judge.“Then the world will have peace. Then mankind will receive the law, hear the precepts of the Decalogue, and surrender to the preaching of the Gospel.”[199]
In a letter of March 1, 1870 to Bishop Pantaleón Monserrat of
Barcelona, Blessed Palau stressed again why he desired the ministry of
Exorcism: Satan, the father of the Revolution, had to be expelled from the
world.
The good of diabolically tormented individuals-for whom
Blessed Palau spared no sacrifice-was not the main reason.
“If the ministry of Exorcism,” he wrote, “were a ministry ordered to the individual good, or the good of a certain number of families, perhaps I could have ignored it. It transcends this.“The power behind the veil of the Faith is ordered to nothing less than chaining directe et inmediate the strong one who leads the Revolution in the world and dominates, through apostate governments, all the nations.“His imprisonment or liberty depends on the use or nonuse of the ministry of Exorcism. The world's salvation or ruin hinges on these.”[200]
The Moral and Social Resurrection of the Nations
“The same spirit of the Lord will blow over the nations and they will rise like a healthy and vigorous woman. The sin of deicide will have been expiated and the Moslem empire will have been annihilated.“Palestine with all its tribes will return to God. The sign of this social regeneration will be the Holy Cross atop Golgotha. From this hill the God-man will rule over the nations and their kings.”[201]“The spirit of God will blow over this decomposing social body, and it will return to life. This do we believe, this do we hope, this do we earnestly pray.”[202]
In Josue Blessed Palau saw a prefigure of the leaders of the
reborn nations. Just as the military leadership of Josue followed the prophetic
mission of Moses, so the leadership of legitimate rulers would follow “Elias's
mission”:
“After Moses came Josue, and after Peter, the Emperor Constantine. After the restorer will come the Catholic kings. They will not triumph, nor will they ascend to their thrones until the restorer has confounded the material force of the evil man, of the iniquitous king, with the material force of God.”[203]
Members of legitimate elites would be at the head of peoples
and would work in close unison with the apostles of the latter times.
Certain passages of Blessed Palau seem to indicate there would
be a sole monarch; others seem to allude to a resurgence of countless natural
leaders. But neither possibility excludes the other.
“When the Antichrist is defeated, and with him the power of the kings of the earth...“the Catholic kings will rise up on the same day, with a Josue, a Gedeon, a warrior called forth by God, at their head, to reinforce that order of cross-bearers St. Francis of Paula mentions in his letters to Simon de Limena.[204]
They will quickly finish with the remnants of the
anti-Christian empire and set their thrones on the ruins of Satan's kingdom.”[205]
The resurgence of the nations would begin with their natural
representatives, whether members of ancient lineages or founders of new ones.
Their grandeur would be such that Blessed Palau compares them
to Old Testament heroes and Catholic kings like St. Ferdinand III of Castile
and St. Louis IX of France:
“Together with the new Moses will resurrect Josue, Deborah, Gedeon, St. Ferdinand, and St. Louis, those great princes whom Divine Providence keeps hidden and who are preparing to enter the fray at a sign from Heaven.”[206]
The Period of Peace
The study of the Apocalypse gave Blessed Palau the conviction
that after the restorer fulfilled his mission there would be a time of peace.
Once the Revolution was defeated and Satan was chained in the
abyss, the victorious Church and the nations that survived the universal
chastisement would enjoy a period of unmatched splendor.
“Either God destroys the world,” Blessed Palau argued, “or He redeems it. He will redeem it.“Before the Supreme Judge calls men to judgment in the Valley of Josaphat, before mankind ceases to exist on earth, it will be given time to prepare to receive the Supreme Judge of the living and the dead.“It will have peace. And that it might have peace, God will chain Satan, who disturbs the earth, and lock him in the depths of hell.”[207]
On another occasion he explained:
“We believe that once the Antichrist is defeated, the Church will have a time of peace, when all nations and their kings will serve her and recognize her as the queen and mother of all the living.“This period may be long or short. It may enjoy the glories of triumph for a hundred, fifty, twenty, or ten years.“When men forget God again, they will be surprised by the Supreme Judge of the living and the dead, whose imminent coming will have been announced by the Thesbite.”[208]
In this time of peace the Church would shine with a new
brilliance, especially in those aspects most despised by the Revolution.
Blessed Palau makes use of an imaginary dialog on the life of a hermit-a life
so loved by him and so hated by the Revolution-to illustrate the colossal
change that would occur:
“These men [anchorites and hermits] were consecrated to God, and in the large cities they were considered oracles of Heaven. Since at the creation of the world God had dictated laws He willed to subject Himself to, He was bound by the prayers of these men, and instead of chastising the guilty, forgave.“That time ended. Another replaced it. In this new era-the present one-I visited my hermitage. The bricks of the old oratory and narrow cell were scattered on the hill.“Parts of the walls were torn down to the foundations; others still stood with ruinous cracks. The site, however, was intact, permanent, solid.“I called the spirit who had embellished this hill when he had placed on its crest an edifice that bespoke penance, solitude, prayer, silence, and contempt for the vainglories of the world.“A sad voice answered from among the ruins:“'I am here and I dwell here. When I gave shape to the materials you see here, the Faith arose, and from the top of this hill my hermitage and the Hermit preached prayer, penance, and faith.“When the hermitage was still standing, I used to say, 'I am here!' to those who visited me.'“'And what do you say now?'...“'I await the restoration. My hermitages will be rebuilt. Monasteries of men will rise anew.“Once again, they will appease the wrath of God with prayer and penance from the deserts.'“[209]
A rebirth of Christian culture and civilization would result.
The words of Leo XIII about medieval Christendom would become applicable to the
future as well:
“There was a time when the philosophy of the Gospels governed the states. In that epoch, the influence of Christian wisdom and its divine virtue permeated the laws, institutions, and customs of the peoples, all categories and all relations of civil society.“Then the religion instituted by Jesus Christ, solidly established in the degree of dignity due to it, flourished everywhere thanks to the favor of princes and the legitimate protection of magistrates.“Then the Priesthood and the Empire were united in a happy concord and by the friendly interchange of good offices.“So organized, civil society gave fruits superior to all expectations, whose memory subsists and will subsist, registered as it is in innumerable documents that no artifice of the adversaries can destroy or obscure.[210]
“On the ruins of the anti-Christian empire,” adds Blessed
Palau, “the Catholic kings will erect their thrones, and the empire of peace
will be established throughout the world. This peace will not be disturbed
until the end of the world.”[211]
Such a perspective coincides in a striking way with the Reign
of Mary foreseen by St. Louis de Montfort and the promise made by Our Lady at
Fatima: “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
The apostles of the latter times would watch to ensure that
the Prince of Darkness did not recommence the Revolution, which had brought so
many evils and disgraces upon men.
After this Reign of Christ in Mary, would come the end of the
world:
“The peace of the world will be disturbed by the end of time. The Church, having concluded its days of pilgrimage on earth and having locked evil and all its workers in Hell, will ascend from the Valley of Josaphat to Heaven covered with glory.”[212]
In those last and terrible days what was mentioned earlier
about the coming in person of Elias and Enoch will be consummated.
Their death will be immediately followed by the Second Coming.
In power and majesty, Our Lord will destroy the Antichrist with the sword that “comes
from his mouth.”[213]
Chapter 6 - The Credibility of Blessed Palau's Predictions
In the Old Testament the prophets foretold the coming of the
Messias and His Redemption of mankind. They also predicted far less important
events that came to pass without much delay.
Saint Jerome explains this peculiarity when he comments on the thirty-eighth chapter of the Book of Isaias:“The fulfillment of short-term prophecies proves that the long-term ones will be fulfilled as well.”[214]
To evaluate the credibility of what may be Blessed Palau's
predictions for our time, it is therefore useful to examine if what he
predicted for his own time actually occurred.
The degree of accuracy we see in the latter will help us
determine how much faith to place in the former.
The Violent Interruption of the First Vatican Council
Pope Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council with the
intention of breaking the backbone of the world Revolution by refuting the
errors of the day.
When the Council opened with great solemnity on December 8,
1869, the holy Pontiff knew there would be virulent attempts to prevent the
Council from peacefully completing its work.
Blessed Palau shared Venerable Pius IX's apprehension.
Carefree and myopic Catholics-and they were many-did not. They received Blessed
Palau's warning that force would be used to stop the Council with skepticism
and even antipathy.
To the question “What will the Council accomplish?” he
answered: “It will organize the apostolate, but the invisible forces, working
with the political powers of the world, will impede the preaching of the
Catholic truths, and by brute force will prevent this mission from bearing its
fruit.”[215]
On July 19, 1870, the day after Pius IX proclaimed the dogma
of papal infallibility, the Franco-Prussian War began. The bishops of France
and Germany immediately asked to be dispensed from the Council assembly, and
returned to their dioceses.
On September 20 the excommunicate king of Sardinia and
Piedmont, Victor Emmanuel, invaded Rome.
On October 20 the First Vatican Council was suspended
indefinitely due to the military occupation of the city. Blessed Palau's
prediction had tragically come true.
The Fall of Napoleon III, the Abandonment of the Pope, the
Disbanding of the Papal Zouaves
Rome had been the capital and last remnant of the Papal States
long depredated by the revolutionary unifiers of Italy. Its defense had seemed
ensured by a unit of the French army stationed there by agreement with Napoleon
III.
The Papal Zouaves, made up of volunteers from various
countries and committed to defend the Pope to the death, served with this army.
To many Catholics the French military presence represented a
long-term guarantee that Rome was safe from invasion. Blessed Palau disagreed.
“Rome may well be suddenly surprised,” he warned his readers.“A telegram arrives from Paris stating Napoleon III is no more and the Revolution led by Richelieu[216] and Ledru Rulin[217] has triumphed.“Oh! What horror! The walls of the Vatican tremble, and the Council Fathers meet to discuss the course Church affairs should take henceforth in Rome. Another message arrives, this one for the French general: 'Disband Zouaves. Send everyone home.“Seize the royal crown of the Pope, melt it down, and bring it to be the hilt of my sword. If Zouaves resist, squeeze them until their bones break.'“With this, the French Revolution, which now guards Rome, will hand her over to the executioner for the carrying out of the sentence. This is only a dream, but it may come to pass from one day to the next.”[218]
Essentially it did. Napoleon III, having declared war on
Prussia, withdrew his troops, leaving Rome virtually defenseless before the
revolutionary rapacity of Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi.
The Pope lost his States, and the excommunicate king installed
himself in the papal apartments of the Quirinal Palace.
The Papal Zouaves were repatriated. Some formed a French
legion under the legitimist officer de Charette and fought heroically against
Prussia.
At Mans, only 350 of 1,000 Zouaves, and two out of nine
commanding officers survived.[219]
In Loigny, on December 2, 1870, less than a third survived an epic charge
against vastly superior Prussian and Bavarian troops.[220]
By then, Napoleon III had lost his throne. On September 5 yet
another revolution, whose most active elements were radical socialists, had
proclaimed the Third Republic on the ruins of the spurious Second Empire.
On December 15 of the same year Blessed Palau commented on how
Catholics had received the predictions that were now confirmed:
“Force has invaded the Papal States, and force now possesses Rome....“We foresaw this, and from the earliest issues of our newspaper announced it. At the time a thousand other prophecies and prognoses were promising great glories, and our prediction was taken as grounds for casting doubt on our loyalty to Pius IX and the Church.“We traveled to Rome, then basking in an Octavian peace, where the Council was carrying out its work amidst such calm that everything we had said seemed a dream, a delirium.“Unfortunately our calculations were correct.... The crown of the Pope-King now rests on the head of his adversary. There is no denying the reality today.”[221]
The Paris Commune
After Napoleon III's shameful defeat and overthrow within
weeks of the opening of hostilities with Prussia, the French republican press
attempted to awaken in citizens a renewed sense of patriotism and belligerence.
Many observers thought this might reverse France's misfortunes
on the battlefield. Blessed Palau did not. He prophesied unequaled humiliations
and upheavals in Paris:
“The German armies march victoriously on Paris. France has proclaimed the Republic and is preparing for a new military campaign.“Unhappy country! She does not know the avenging hand of God that hangs over her! Since she will not humble herself, she will be humbled.“Who is Paris ready to receive? Oh! Descendit ignis de coelo, et devorabit eos. Does the wicked repent? No! What awaits Paris? Fire that will reduce it to dust and ashes. Just are the judgments of God!”[222]
 |
| Paris Commune, the first communist outbreak with a global impact |
The Communards vented their anti-hierarchical and
anti-religious fury by torching palaces and ecclesiastical buildings.
Arsonists burned the royal palace of the Tuilleries to the
ground, as well as the Palais-Royal, the Hôtel de Ville, and many other public
and private buildings.
Utopian socialists and anarchists, along with freed criminals
and prostitutes, ransacked and desecrated the Catholic churches, which were
converted into Masonic clubs, dens of sacrilegious debauchery, or arsenals.
The tombs of the clergy were profaned. The vestments and
sacred vessels were used in blasphemous orgies, and the tabernacles violated
with satanic hatred. Large numbers of priests, including the Archbishop of
Paris, Mons. Darboy, were mercilessly martyred.
On May 26, 1871, the Communards tried to burn Notre Dame, but
the local residents saved it in a supreme effort.
 |
| Woman preaching in a Paris Church. Communards: firestorm over a humiliated Paris |
After besieging the City of Light for two months, government
troops fought their way into its smoking ruins, inflicting dreadful reprisals
on the Communards. As prophesied, a firestorm had fallen on a humiliated Paris.
The Spread of Communism
During Blessed Palau's lifetime the socialist-communist
International was still a very small extremist movement. The Commune of Paris
served as its gigantic springboard to notoriety.
Europe held its breath in horror as the Commune perpetrated
its atrocities. Once the new monster was crushed, however, people relaxed.
Such hideous egalitarian and anti-Christian violence would
never be repeated, so it was thought.
Blessed Palau's prophetic lights shone anew on this occasion,
and as usual were rejected.
He announced that the communist movement that had been stamped
out in Paris would spread its work of death and destruction to great cities of
the world. His Hermit affirms:
“I see an arrogant woman with her head held high emerging from the flames [of Paris]. She rises up to God, the true God, the God Catholics adore, and says:“'You shall not reign! I reign and will reign in the pinnacles of power. I have expelled both You and Your church from the bosom of Europe, political Europe, just as I expelled You from the rest of the world.'“The woman, drunk with human blood, turns the capital of the political world into a lake of blood and fire! Can you see her? With torch in hand, she has set Paris on fire and marches on!“Do you know where she is going? Woe to the capital cities of today's world!... Tomorrow we will awake and hear the news that she has set fire to Rome, Vienna, Berlin, London, Madrid, and Barcelona....“This woman, with burning torch in hand, brings a leveler: Equality! Yes, equality under the cold tombstone. Will she come to Barcelona? Yes, so the Hermit warns.”[224]
Quick mention of some communist atrocities during the Spanish
civil war of 1936-1939 will have to suffice.
The communists martyred 13 bishops, 4,184 secular priests,
2,365 friars, and 283 nuns; in other words 13% of the secular and 23% of the
regular clergy. These atrocities took place throughout Spain, especially in
Madrid and Barcelona.[225]
Class Struggle, Rising and Falling Superpowers
The social order of nineteenth-century Spain retained strong
elements of hierarchy and harmony.
The class conflicts provoked by the Industrial Revolution were
just beginning, and many people believed their resolution was in the offing.
Blessed Palau saw them instead as expanding into an all-out
war on civilization in the twentieth century thanks to the instigation of
international communism:
“While Prussia, Russia, and the United States in secret pacts divide the dominion of the world...a voice is heard in the midst of the masses. Gaining in strength, this voice becomes a clamor and a pronouncement:“'War of extermination against kings and those in places of glory, honor, dignity, and authority! War against the rich! War against the clergy for being rich! Torch the palaces! Cheer the hovels!'“This voice organizes the so-called lower class, and as a result those in it come to form just one body, one family, in all nations. This body arms itself against all kings, and behold, you have the [Communist] International.”[226]
How much tragedy, bloodshed, and mass destruction would have
been spared the world if such warnings had been heeded!
It was not to be. Though this passage lists great powers that
would mark the twentieth century (the United States, Russia, and Germany) and
omits others that would lose much of their importance (Austria, England,
France, and Turkey), it received little attention.
The Failure of Amadeo of Savoy
In 1870 an attempt was made to give Spain a king who would
satisfy monarchists and republicans alike. Prince Amadeo of Savoy, Duke of
Aosta and second son of the excommunicate king of Italy Victor Emmanuel II, was
raised to the Spanish throne.
Power was actually held by anti-Christian politicians of a
revolutionary democratic stripe. The new king's role was to maintain the
appearances of monarchy and thus lull the resistance to a government that
intended to continue pursuing its revolutionary agenda.
Blessed Palau put it this way: “What good are Victor Emmanuel in Rome and his son Amadeo in Spain? They provide a cover for the Revolution, whose plan of destruction is hidden behind the glitter of the royal mantle.”[227]
Blessed Palau foresaw the bitter failure of this political
trickery:
“'Look! The throne of Saint Ferdinand is vacant.' 'But what about King Amadeo?' 'He's a democrat. He's no king in the real sense of the word....“There's the Revolution in Spain with the crown! Can you see? Since the head is fictitious and illusory, and not a natural one, the woman [the Revolution] who has placed it on her neck will pack it off to exile whenever she pleases.'“[228]
Sure enough, the fleeting reign of Amadeo I foundered amid the
intrigues of his cabinet and military and civil unrest.
Enthroned in January of 1871, the King had come under
immediate criticism from every political faction. In 1872 civil war broke out
anew, there were republican uprisings, and an attempt was made on the life of
the King.
Seeing his authority ignored by all, in a bout of
discouragement Amadeo exclaimed that he was ruling a mental asylum. On February
11, 1873, a republic was proclaimed, while the figurehead king sought refuge in
the Italian embassy. He left Spain shortly thereafter, never to return.
The Military Defeat of the Carlists
The Third Carlist War, which began in May of 1872, had been
provoked by the excesses of the September 1868 revolution.
The Carlists, led by the pretender Charles VII, were confident
of success given their widespread support among the population.
Although a supporter of Carlism, Blessed Palau had tried to
dissuade Charles VII from plunging the country into civil war.
“I do not believe the young Charles has this mission for the time being,” he warned. “If he unsheathes his sword without a special order from God and wages war, this is what will happen to him:“The devil will enter through the ranks of his army and corrupt his soldiers. This corruption of morals will render him useless as an instrument for the glory of God; the Lord God of Hosts will not be found among his battalions.“He will be defeated, not by dint of arms, but by the devil.... If he cannot secure victory in what is spiritual, he certainly will not do so in politics or war.”[229]
The war began anyway a few weeks after Blessed Palau's death.
It ended in utter defeat for the Carlists in 1876.
On July 21, 1876, the government abolished all the regional
rights and privileges (fueros) in whose defense the Carlists had declared war.
The legitimist traditionalist movement never recovered.
* * *
Copious other examples of religious, political, social, and
cultural predictions by Blessed Palau could be given. Equally numerous are his
predictions about the future of individuals who turned to him for help or whose
lives simply crossed paths with his.
Fr. Duval, for instance, mentions other predictions of Blessed Palau that came true.“On Majorca, in the presence of several witnesses, he accurately predicted in 1866 and 1867...the overthrow of Isabel II and the cholera epidemic in Barcelona.”“Regarding the chapel at Vallcarca he once stated: 'I waged a war without quarter against the devil here, but he will destroy this chapel, not leaving stone upon stone.' Time proved him right.”“On another occasion he said there would be a world war, and that afterwards Spain would become a republic [again] and blood would flow in abundance.“'Will we see this, Father?' they asked him. 'Perhaps yes, perhaps no,' he answered. 'It is more likely that your children will see it.'“
That is exactly what happened. According to Fr. Duval, Blessed
Palau also predicted his approaching death.[230]
[1] The Carmelite Order, or more precisely, the Brethren of the Blessed Virgin Mary, finds its origins in the Old Testament. It is the oldest of all monastic orders, and is destined according to pious tradition to last until the end of the world. The Order has the Prophet Elias, born in Thesbe of the tribe of Gad in the 9th century B.C., as its founder. St. Elias established communities of disciples in the Holy Land. He lived in the most famous of these, on Mount Carmel (near today's Haifa). The followers of Elias were called “sons of the prophet.” The best known was St. Eliseus (cf. 3 Kings 19:16-21, 4 Kings 2:1 ff.). St. Elias is considered the first devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of whom he had prophetic knowledge from the heights of Carmel. The title of Our Lady with the most ancient roots is Virgo Flos Carmeli (Virgin Flower of Carmel).In the second half of the 12th century, a group of crusaders became hermits around the “fountain of Elias,” on Mount Carmel. They dedicated themselves entirely to devotion to the Blessed Mother and the imitation of the great Old Testament prophet. The first superior general of the Order in the New Testament was St. Berthold of Malefaida. The second, St. Brocard (d. 1220), inspired the Carmelite rule approved by St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the beginning of the 13th century. This notwithstanding, the Carmelites recognize no founder other than the Prophet Elias. In St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, among the statues of the founders, there is one of Elias as father and head of the Carmelite Order.Seven Popes (Sixtus IV, John XXII, Julius III, St. Pius V, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, and Clement VIII) state in papal bulls that the Carmelites “conserve the hereditary succession of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, and of the other fathers who lived next to the fountain of Elias on the holy mount of Carmel.” Sixtus V authorized devotion to Elias and Eliseus as patrons of the Order, as well as feastdays in their honor and Offices in their memory (cf. Cornelius a Lapide, S.J., Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, In librum III Regnum - cap. XVIII [Paris: Ludovicus Vivès Bibliopola Editor]).When the Moslems retook Palestine, the Carmelites fled to Europe. From there, through the workings of Divine Providence, they spread to many countries.
[2] Tarraconem, Sacra Congregatio Pro Causis Sanctorum, Canonizationis Servi Dei Francisci a Jesu Maria Joseph - Positio Super Virtutibus (Rome: Tipografia Guerra, 1985), vol. 2, p. 34. Hereafter Positio.
[3] Canon Odilon Bosc, Palau y Quer (Montauban: Ateliers du Moustier, 1983), p. 25.
[4] Cf. Fr. Alvaro Huerga, “El P. Francisco Palau y la eclesiología de su tiempo,” in Una Figura Carismática del siglo XIX - El P. Francisco Palau y Quer O.C.D., Apóstol y Fundador (Burgos: Imprenta Monte Carmelo, 1973), p. 283.
[5] Bosc, op. cit., p. 33.
[6] Ferdinand VII died in 1833. The Spanish political world dominated by anti-clerical tendencies recognized his daughter, Isabel II, as queen. Maria Cristina, the Queen Mother, was to act as regent until Isabel came of age. In fact, however, a group of Liberal politicians ran the government and abused its powers.The succession to the throne was contested by Prince Carlos de Borbón (1788-1845), younger brother of Ferdinand VII. He claimed that an anti-Catholic, Liberal monarchy that was destroying the country's foundations was intrinsically illegitimate. He declared himself the defender of a traditional monarchy as Charles V of Spain.His followers were known as Carlistas (Carlists), and those of Isabel, Isabelinos. The disagreements between the two political camps were so great that they generated civil wars and numerous other conflicts throughout the nineteenth century, with repercussions in the twentieth.
[7] Cf. Positio, vol. 1, pp. 53-54.
[8] Cf. Fr. Armando Duval, P.B., O Padre Francisco Palau y Quer - Fecundidade do Fracasso (Barcelona: FISA I.G., 1988), p. 37.
[9] Francisco Palau, Lucha del alma con Dios, in Obras Selectas, vol. 7, Maestros Espirituales Carmelitas (Burgos: Editora Monte Carmelo, 1988), pp. 21ff.
[10] Cf. Fr. Gregorio de Jesús Crucificado, Brasa entre cenizas - Biografía del R. P. Francisco Palau y Quer O.C.D. (Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer, 1956), pp. 49, 50 and 54.
[11] Cf. Fr. Ramiro Viola González, Historia de la congregación de Carmelitas Misioneras Teresianas (Burgos: Imprenta Monte Carmelo, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 297-365; Sor Josefa Pastor, “La Obra Socio-Religiosa del P. Francisco Palau en Barcelona, 1851-1854,” in Una Figura Carismática del Siglo XIX, p. 523.
[12] A pamphlet entitled “The School of Vice or the New Inquisition” is an example of this low propaganda. The pamphlet shows a dark, sinister cellar. In it, three cowled monks stand with two skeletons on either side. Before them kneels their blindfolded victim, swearing on a missal. The text reads:“A true and free revelation by a member of the filthy and Jesuitical sect known as the School of Virtue, after learning of the iniquitous and diabolical plots hatched by the wicked sectarians of this forever-abolished society“_ Fear not the evil sect / nor their evil inquisition, / for we must seal their fate / making known their disposition: / they are revolting, vile, and evil, / of our souls they are invaders, / they entice us with the cross / then nail us to it later_.“I confess before all / to have accepted the lies / of this sect that fooled me / and that I now despise. / I speak of the infamous sect / that enthralled the incautious youth / by the misuse of the name of Virtue._“In this manner they succeeded / in fanaticizing me indeed / and made me a walking corpse / void of strength or will. / Such a pathetic situation! / A situation so servile! / How quickly they did turn me / into an instrument so vile!_“Oh! Pity the wretched member / who disloyal to the School / is headed to the dungeon / and perhaps to death itself! / A hunchbacked sacristan / was the greatest spy. / Now he played the dandy, / now he cleaned the sty. /“Plotting Carlist conspiracies, / tricking the folk to riot, / to think that it's all planned / under St. Augustine in quiet. / It would be impossible / to finish the narration / of the filthy mysteries / of this latest inquisition_.“On guard, then, more and more! / See they are conspirators. / Beware those Jesuit traitors, / those brothers of the Devil! / See that though their haunt / was destroyed by fire / the beasts live on so hatefully / and their poison still kills so awfully!” (Francisco Palau, La Escuela de la Virtud Vindicada, in Obras Selectas, vol. 7, Maestros Espirituales Carmelitas, pp. 295-302).
[13] Duval, op. cit., p. 161.
[14] These dedicated ladies were the seed of a religious congregation formed years after Fr. Palau's death.
[15] Palau, Cartas, in Obras Selectas, vol. 7, Maestros Espirituales Carmelitas, pp. 851-855.
[16] Exorcism is the ordering of an evil spirit, in the name of God and by the power of the Church, to leave a place or person (cf. Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, s.v. “exorcisme”). Our Lord commanded His disciples to practice it (Matt. 10:8). With the passage of time Holy Mother Church regulated its exercise, determining that solemn exorcisms be performed only by a priest duly authorized by the diocesan bishop and following the rubrics of the Roman Ritual. The minor order of Exorcist was conferred on all seminarians until its suspension along with that of the other minor orders by Paul VI on August 15, 1972. The order conveys the power to expel diabolical spirits in the name of the Church. Every Catholic, however, has the right and/or duty according to the natural order to repel the attacks of diabolical forces through the use of the supernatural means the Church provides him: Sacraments, prayers, sacramentals (holy water, etc.).
[17] Cf. Viola González, Historia de la congregación de Carmelitas Misioneras Teresianas, vol. 1, p. 679.
[18] Positio, vol. 2, pp. 552-553.
[19] St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that man is social by nature. Whoever removes himself from society either becomes a dangerous criminal or, if he leaves society by divine call, he walks toward sanctity, like St. John the Baptist (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, In Libros Politicorum Aristotelis Expositio [Turin: Marietti, 1951], bk. 1, lectio 1, no. 35).
[20] “Un signo en el cielo,” El Ermitaño, no. 104, 11/3/1870.
[21] “Fin del mundo: aparición de Elías Tesbites,” El Ermitaño, no. 120, 2/23/1871.
[22] “La acción inmediata de Dios,” El Ermitaño, no. 116, 1/26/1871.
[23] “El triunfo de la Iglesia y de Carlos VII según los profetas modernos,” El Ermitaño, no. 47, 9/23/1869.
[24] “Programa del Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 33, 6/17/1869.
[25] Louis Gaston de Ségur (1820-1881), bishop and apologist, was a descendant of the Marquesses de Ségur. A Vatican diplomat and chaplain of the French troops defending Rome, he dedicated the last years of his life to works of charity in several countries. He wrote many books on moral formation, the errors of his day, and freemasonry.
[26] Msgr. Jean Joseph Gaume (1802-1879), apostolic prothonotary, vicar general of Rheims, Montauban, and Aquila, canon of Paris, and author of several widely published catechetical and apologetic books, received letters of praise from noted prelates such as Cardinal Altieri, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Index, and Cardinal François Morlot, Archbishop of Paris.Pope Gregory XVI bestowed on him the Cross of St. Sylvester for services on behalf of religion. Of his numerous works, mention should be made of La Révolution, recherches historiques sur l'origine et la propagation du mal en Europe, depuis la Renaissance jusqu'à nos jours (The Revolution: Historical Research on the Origins and Propagation of Evil in Europe, from the Renaissance to Our Days) (Paris: Gaume Frères Libraires-Editeurs, 1856, 12 vols.) and his French translation of the New Testament.
[27] “Espiritismo,” El Ermitaño, no. 16, 2/18/1869.
[28] “El Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 83, 6/9/1870.
[29] Blessed Juan Soreth (d. 1471) says in his “Explanation of the Rule of Carmel”: “We are the sons of the prophets, not according to the flesh, but through the imitation of their works. The Holy Redeemer told the Jews who gloried in being descendants of Abraham, 'Do the works of Abraham.' So today it should be said to all Carmelites: 'Do the works of Elias'“ (apud Fr. Rafael María López-Melús, O.C.D., San Elias, profeta y padre espiritual del Carmelo [1986]).
[30] “La sombra del Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 3, 11/18/1868.
[31] Mark 9:12; Matt. 17:11.
[32] Palau, Mis relaciones con la Iglesia, in Obras Selectas, vol. 7, Maestros Espirituales Carmelitas, pp. 457-458.The grace mentioned here has been the subject of various commentaries. Fr. Eulogio Pacho, editor of Blessed Palau's writings, observes:“It is not clear whether he is referring to the Carmelites forced out of their convents like himself or to people inspired by the person of Elias who wish to live the prophetic spirit of Carmel. If the latter, the proposal should not be interpreted in a strict, juridical sense_. It is clear that the remembrance of St. Elias and the flight of his followers to the desert is conditioned by the struggle against Satan and the Antichrist” (ibid., note 6, p. 458).
[33] “La Internacional,” El Ermitaño, no. 147, 8/31/1871.
[34] “Triunfo de Satanás en las altas regiones de la política: fundación y establecimiento de su imperio, su ruina,” El Ermitaño, no. 124, 3/23/1870.
[35] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 160, 11/30/1871.
[36] “París y Roma,” El Ermitaño, no. 99, 9/29/1870.
[37] “Batalla en ambos mundos,” El Ermitaño, no. 17, 2/25/1869.
[38] “La sombra del Hermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 3, 11/18/1868.
[39] “La Iglesia y sus enemigos,” El Ermitaño, no. 47, 9/23/1869.
[40] “Ruinas del imperio de Satanás - El ermitaño y su sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 96, 9/8/1870.
[41] “Adentros del catolicismo - Abominaciones predichas por Daniel profeta en el lugar santo: Apostasía,” El Ermitaño, no. 21, 3/25/1869.
[42] “La sombra del ermitaño en Roma,” El Ermitaño, no. 31, 6/4/1869.
[43] “La incredulidad,” El Ermitaño, no. 109, 12/8/1870.
[44] “Antro tenebroso de la política moderna,” El Ermitaño, no. 39, 7/29/1869.
[45] “Cuento de mi sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 157, 11/9/1871.
[46] “Mi sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 9, 12/31/1868.
[47] “Prospecto para 1872,” El Ermitaño, no. 165, 1/4/1872.
[48] “El dogma católico,” El Ermitaño, no. 80, 5/19/1870.
[49] “Cismas,” El Ermitaño, no. 175, 3/14/1872.
[50] “Triunfo de la Cruz,” El Ermitaño, no. 125, 3/30/1871.
[51] “Adentros del catolicismo,” El Ermitaño, no. 21, 3/25/1869.
[52] The ultramontane authors of the nineteenth century defined the Revolution as a movement for the total destruction of the Christian social order by the overthrow of altar and throne and the building of the Synagogue of Satan in its place. Blessed Palau developed this concept, emphasizing the preternatural dimension of the movement.The most complete definition of the Revolution, and its opposite, the Counter-Revolution, can be found in Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira's essay Revolution and Counter-Revolution. This work carries a letter of praise from Archbishop Romolo Carboni, apostolic nuncio to Peru and later cardinal, and was termed “masterly” and “prophetic” by Fr. Anastasio Gutiérrez, C.M.F., dean emeritus of the Pontifical Lateran University's School of Canon Law.Prof. Corrêa de Oliveira characterizes the Revolution as an “immense process of tendencies, doctrines, and political, social, and economic changes stemming ultimately from a moral deterioration born of two fundamental vices that arouse in man a profound incompatibility with Catholic doctrine: pride and impurity.”The Revolution's utopia is “a world where countries, united in a universal republic, are but geographic designations; a world with neither social nor economic inequalities, run by science and technology, by propaganda and psychology, in order to attain, without the supernatural, the definitive happiness of man” (Revolución y Contra-Revolución, 3rd ed. [Buenos Aires: Ediciones Tradición Familia Propiedad, 1992], introduction, p. 22).“In such a world, the Redemption by Our Lord Jesus Christ has no place, for man will have overcome evil with science and will have made the earth a technologically delightful paradise. And he will hope to overcome death one day by the indefinite prolongation of life” (Revolution and Counter-Revolution, 3rd ed. [York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, 1993], pp. 67-68).
[53] “Catástrofe social,” El Ermitaño, no. 40, 8/5/1869.
[54] “El reino de Satán sobre la tierra,” El Ermitaño, no. 32, 6/10/1869.
[55] Ibid.
[56] “España: la esperanza de los católicos,” El Ermitaño, no. 10, 1/7/1869.
[57] “Una ilusión funesta,” El Ermitaño, no. 156, 11/2/1871.
[58] “La Revolución en París,” El Ermitaño, no. 135, 6/8/1871.
[59] “La causa de la religión: defensa,” El Ermitaño, no. 126, 4/6/1871.
[60] “Relaciones entre los espíritus y el hombre,” El Ermitaño, no. 117, 2/2/1871.
[61] “Adviento de 1871,” El Ermitaño, no. 161, 12/7/1871.
[62] “Cuento de mi sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 28, 5/13/1869.
[63] “El reino de las tinieblas,” El Ermitaño, no. 122, 3/9/1870.
[64] “La causa de Don Carlos,” El Ermitaño, no. 78, 5/5/1870.
[65] “Programa del Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 33, 6/17/1869.
[66] “El maleficio,” El Ermitaño, no. 103, 10/27/1870.
[67] Cf. Rituale Romanum, titulus X, cap. I, De exorcizandis obsessis a daemonio, no. 20 (Tournai: Desclée et soc., 1926), p. 446.
[68] “El dogma católico con referencia a la redención de la sociedad actual,” El Ermitaño, no. 170, 2/8/1872.
[69] “Relaciones entre los espíritus y el hombre,” El Ermitaño, no. 119, 2/16/1871.
[70] Ibid.
[71] “Crónica del teatro de la guerra,” El Ermitaño, no. 85, 6/23/1870.
[72] “Roma vista desde la cima del monte,” El Ermitaño, no. 58, 12/9/1869.
[73] “El maleficio,” El Ermitaño, no. 103, 10/27/1870.
[74] “Campamento de epidemia en Vallcarca,” El Ermitaño, no. 99, 9/29/1870.
[75] Insegnamenti di Paolo VI (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana), vol. 10, p. 707. Cf. also Paul VI, allocution to the students of the Pontifical Lombard Seminary, December 7, 1968, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 1188.
[76] 2:18-19.
[77] 4:3.
[78] Cf. Acts 8:9-24.
[79] “El suicidio,” El Ermitaño, no. 87, 7/7/1870.
[80] “Un misterio de iniquidad,” El Ermitaño, no. 111, 12/22/1870.
[81] “Adentros del catolicismo,” El Ermitaño, no. 21, 3/25/1869.
[82] Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Boston, MA: The Daughters of St. Paul) pp 7-9.
[83] “Faraón y el Anticristo,” El Ermitaño, no. 77, 4/28/1870.
[84] “¡Horrorosa Catástrofe!” El Ermitaño, no. 40, 8/5/1869.
[85] “La cuestión del Oriente: Un imperio universal,” El Ermitaño, no. 11, 1/14/1869.
[86] “Incendio de barracas en Barcelona,” El Ermitaño, no. 170, 2/8/1872.
[87] Ibid.
[88] “Plan del espiritismo,” El Ermitaño, no. 29, 5/20/1869.
[89] “Monarquía democrática,” El Ermitaño, no. 32, 6/10/1869.
[90] “El Istmo de Suez,” El Ermitaño, no. 58, 12/9/1869.
[91] Regarding how ecumenism and other terms have been completely distorted, see Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira's Unperceived Ideological Transshipment and Dialogue, published as an issue of Crusade magazine (no. 4, 1982) by the Foundation for a Christian Civilization.“The word 'ecumenism' clearly has an excellent meaning in itself (cf. chapter 4, 2, D). Nevertheless, it is also susceptible of an irenic meaning. Once all religions are admitted as relative 'truths' in a Hegelian dialogue, ecumenism assumes the aspect of their dialectical march toward a single, universal religion synthetically fabricated from the fragments of truth in each one and despoiled of the dross of current contradictions. Seen in this light, ecumenism is an immense preparation of all religions, through Hegelian dialogue, to participate, once they are all united, in a subsequent dialogue with the communist antithesis” (p. 38).
[92] “Antonia,” El Ermitaño, no. 81, 5/26/1870.
[93] 2:2-4. On this point, Pope St. Pius X states in his encyclical E Supremi apostolatus, of October 4, 1903: “There is good reason to fear that this great perversity may be the foretaste and perhaps the beginning of those evils reserved for the last days, and the “son of perdition,” of whom the Apostle speaks (2 Thess. 2:3), may already be in the world.“Moreover, and according to the same Apostle this is the distinguishing mark of the Antichrist, with unlimited boldness man has put himself in place of God, exalting himself above all that is called God.“He has done this in such a way that although he cannot utterly extinguish in himself all knowledge of God, he has contemned God's majesty and made of the universe a temple in which he himself is to be adored. 'He sits in the temple of God and gives himself out as if he were God'“ (2 Thess. 2:4).
[94] “Roma,” El Ermitaño, no. 12, 1/21/1869.
[95] “El Anticristo,” El Ermitaño, no. 16, 2/18/1869.
[96] “Counterfeit signs and wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9).
[97] “El dragón,” El Ermitaño, no. 46, 9/16/1869.
[98] “El dogma católico con referencia a la redención de la sociedad actual,” El Ermitaño, no. 170, 2/8/1872.
[99] St. John Damascene states that “the Antichrist will not be the devil incarnate, but a son of fornication who, formed in secret, will establish his kingdom all of a sudden. In the beginning he will give an appearance of sanctity, but he will soon tear off his mask and persecute the Church of God” (“La foi orthodoxe,” IV, 26, Raymond Le Coz, ed., Saint Jean Damascène - Ecrits sur l'islam [Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1992], p. 90).
[100] “Milagros del espiritismo,” El Ermitaño, no. 138, 6/29/1871.
[101] “Cosas de mi pueblo,” El Ermitaño, no. 139, 7/6/1871.
[102] “Crímenes y atrocidades de la magia maléfica,” El Ermitaño, no. 33, 6/17/1869.
[103] “Fin del mundo: aparición de Elías Tesbites,” El Ermitaño, no. 120, 2/23/1871.
[104] Cf. Antonio Augusto Borelli Machado, Our Lady at Fatima: Prophecies of Tragedy or Hope for America and the World? (York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, 1998).
[105] This sacred book presents Satan appearing in the court of God and challenging Him to allow the just and wealthy Job to be tempted through misfortune. God gives the Prince of Darkness license to afflict Job with destitution and disease. Job remains faithful in his tribulations, and God restores him to his former state with blessings, descendants, and wealth.
[106] “Noticias del cielo: vuelta de mi sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 8, 12/24/1868.
[107] “La Iglesia Católica y la Revolución,” El Ermitaño, no. 79, 5/12/1870.
[108] “Un rayo de la aurora boreal,” El Ermitaño, no. 172, 2/22/1872.
[109] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[110] 2 Tess. 2:9-12.
[111] 11:3 ff.
[112] Matt. 17:11.
[113] Mal. 4:5-6.
[114] “Anarquía social,” El Ermitaño, no. 113, 1/5/1871.
[115] “Cálculos del Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 163, 12/21/1871.
[116] “La Restauración,” El Ermitaño, no. 154, 10/19/1871.
[117] “Anarquía social,” El Ermitaño, no. 113, 1/5/1871.
[118] 1:17.
[119] Matt. 17:12-13.
[120] Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, in Lucam, cap I.
[121] 6:14.
[122] “Las tinieblas,” El Ermitaño, no. 166, 1/11/1872.
[123] “Fray Onofre - Cuento de mi sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 29, 5/20/1869.
[124] Regarding these visions, St. Theresa of Avila writes: “12. Once when I was in prayer, and deep in recollection, sweetness and quiet, I thought I was surrounded by angels, and very near to God.I began to entreat His Majesty for the Church. I was shown what a great benefit would be conferred upon it in the latter days by one of the Orders and by the fortitude with which its members would uphold the Faith.“13. Once when I was praying before the Most Holy Sacrament there appeared to me a holy man whose Order had been to some extent in a state of decline.In his hands he was holding a large book; he opened this and told me to read a few words which were in large and very legible print. 'In the times to come,' they said, 'this Order will flourish; it will have many martyrs.'“14. On another occasion when I was at Matins in choir, I saw in front of me the figures of six or seven members of this same Order, with swords in their hands. I take this to mean that they are to defend the Faith.For at another time, when I was in prayer, my spirit was carried away and I thought I was in a great field where many people were fighting and the members of this Order were doing battle with great fervor.They had lovely faces, quite lit up with zeal; many were vanquished and laid low by them; others were killed. This, I thought, was a battle against the heretics.“15. I have seen this glorious Saint several times, and he has told me various things and thanked me for praying for his Order and promised to commend me to the Lord.I do not name these Orders. If the Lord wishes it to be known which they are, He will make it clear, and in that case the rest will not be offended.Each Order, and every individual member of an Order, should strive that the Lord may use it and him to bless it so that it may serve Him in the Church's present great necessity. Blessed are the lives which are spent in doing this!” (The Autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila [Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960], pp. 391-392).Several religious orders have claimed the honor of this mission. Fr. Jerónimo de San José, in Historia del Carmen Descalzo (The History of the Discalced Carmelites, 1.1, c. 21, no. 5, pp. 214-215), after considering their arguments for doing so, concludes that it is the Order of Carmel that has this mission:“These conjectures are sufficient to accept as certain what we have said, but a more certain word and testimony of its truth we have in the Saint herself, who while living declared that they referred to her reformed Carmelite Order.“She was so convinced and assertive of this that one day, when a religious disciple of hers called Friar Ángel de San Gabriel asked her about it, she answered with the familiarity and love of a mother: 'Dummy, who else could it be but our Order?'“This has always been accepted within the Order, having been attested to by members who heard it from the Saint herself” (cf. The Autobiography of St. Theresa of Jesus, p. 215, note 3).
[125] “El Carmelo,” El Ermitaño, no. 154, 10/19/1871.
[126] Cf. “¡Guerra a Dios!” El Ermitaño, no. 40, 8/5/1869.
[127] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 160, 11/30/1871.
[128] “París y Roma ¡Guerra!” El Ermitaño, no. 98, 9/22/1870.
[129] Cf. Daniel 9:27.
[130] “La guerra imperio universal,” El Ermitaño, no. 102, 10/20/1870.
[131] “Tres días de tinieblas,” El Ermitaño, no. 119, 2/16/1871.
[132] “Cálculos del Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 163, 12/21/1871.
[133] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[134] “La Restauración,” El Ermitaño, no. 141, 7/20/1871.
[135] “Anarquía social,” El Ermitaño, no. 113, 1/5/1871.
[136] “El Carmelo en 16 de julio de 1870,” El Ermitaño, no. 89, 7/21/1870.
[137] “La noche del año 1872,” El Ermitaño, no. 165, 1/4/1872.
[138] “El Carmelo en 16 de julio de 1870,” El Ermitaño, no. 89, 7/21/1870.The prediction of the coming of someone with a mission to restore the Church and Christian civilization is not Blessed Palau's alone. It is found in prophetic writings and in private revelations of other saintly people.For example, it is interesting to compare the writings of Blessed Palau with a vision received by Venerable Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesús Torres y Berriochoa, abbess of the Immaculate Conception Convent in Quito, Ecuador. Blessed Palau is not known to have been aware of this revelation, which had occurred many centuries earlier on a faraway continent.On February 2, 1634, the Servant of God being in prayer saw the sanctuary lamp go out. When she was about to rise and light it again, Our Lady of Good Success, to whom the convent had much devotion, appeared to her and said: “The sanctuary lamp that burns before Our Lord in the tabernacle and which you saw go out has many meanings:“The first is that toward the end of the nineteenth century and throughout a great part of the twentieth many heresies will be propagated in these lands, which will then be a free republic.“With these heresies in control, the precious light of faith will be extinguished in souls because of an almost total corruption of customs. In those times there will be great calamities, both physical and moral, public and private.“The few souls who remain faithful to grace will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will descend to their graves due to the violence of suffering and will be counted among the martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the Church and the country_.“Thirdly the lamp was extinguished because of the poisoned atmosphere of impurity which will reign at that time like a filthy sea. It will flow through the streets, squares and public places with such an astonishing lack of restraint that there will be almost no virgin souls left in the world_.“Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Heavenly Father...to put an end to these ominous times by sending to this Church the prelate who will restore the spirit of her priests.“We shall endow this dear son of mine with a rare capacity, a humility of heart, a docility to divine inspiration, the strength to defend the rights of the Church, and a tender and compassionate heart, so that, like another Christ, he will assist the great and the small, without despising the less fortunate....“Into his hand the scale of the sanctuary will be placed so that all may be carried out in due measure and that God be glorified. However, the lukewarmness of souls consecrated to God in the priestly and religious states will tip the scales in the opposite direction, thus allowing the cursed Satan to take possession of this land_.“There will be a formidable and frightful war, in which both native and foreign blood will flow, including that of secular and regular priests and other religious. This night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to have triumphed.“This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my heel and chaining him in the infernal abyss” (Msgr. Luis E. Cadena y Almeida, A Spanish Mystic in Quito: Sor Mariana de Jesús Torres [Mount Kisco, N.Y.: The Foundation for a Christian Civilization, Inc., 1990], pp. 97-100).
[139] Cf. Apoc. 11:3 ff.
[140] “La Restauración,” El Ermitaño, no. 154, 10/19/1871.
[141] Ibid.
[142] “La Iglesia coronada de espinas,” El Ermitaño, no. 156, 2/11/1871.
[143] “Importancia del ministerio del exorcistado, El dogma católico,” El Ermitaño, no. 24, 4/15/1869.
[144] “El Estado, y la Iglesia en España: divorcio,” El Ermitaño, no. 27, 5/6/1869.
[145] “El paganismo en España,” El Ermitaño, no. 25, 4/22/1869.
[146] “Dos grandes profetas,” El Ermitaño, no. 101, 10/13/1870.
[147] “La guerra: imperio universal,” El Ermitaño, no. 102, 10/20/1870.
[148] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[149] “¡Ermitaño alerta!” El Ermitaño, no. 63, 1/13/1870.
[150] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[151] “Programa,” El Ermitaño, no. 41, 8/12/1869.
[152] “Incendio de barracas en Barcelona,” El Ermitaño, no. 170, 2/8/1872.
[153] Cf. Apoc. 11:7 ff.
[154] While besieging Jerusalem, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, defied God with terrible blasphemies. When the city seemed about to capitulate, an angel of God struck the Assyrian camp, killing 185,000 men. Sennacherib abandoned his campaign and returned to Nineveh, his capital, where while prostrate in a temple before false gods he was murdered by his sons (cf. IV Kings 18:13 ff.).
[155] “Anarquía social,” El Ermitaño, no. 113, 1/5/1871.
[156] Matt. 10:8.
[157] “El dogma católico con referencia a la redención de la sociedad actual. Dios y el diablo. II,” El Ermitaño, no. 169, 2/1/1872.
[158] “El apostolado y un ejército,” El Ermitaño, no. 123, 3/16/1871.
[159] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[160] “Roma y Jerusalén,” El Ermitaño, no. 63, 1/13/1870.
[161] “Lluvia de estrellas,” El Ermitaño, no. 158, 11/16/1871.
[162] “Noticias de Roma,” El Ermitaño, no. 73, 3/24/1870.
[163] “El Papa, Carlos, Enrique,” El Ermitaño, no. 106, 11/17/1870.
[164] “Dos grandes profetas,” El Ermitaño, no. 101, 10/13/1870.
[165] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[166] “Fray Onofre - Cuento de mi sombra,” El Ermitaño, no. 29, 5/20/1869.
[167] Cf. Saint Vincent Ferrer, Tratado de la Vida Espiritual, in Biografía y escritos de San Vicente Ferrer (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1956), pp. 539-541.
[168] Cf. Saint Bonaventure, Colaciones sobre el Hexaemeron, in Obras Completas, 3rd ed. (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1972), p. 522.
[169] St. Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary (Bay Shore, N.Y.: Montfort Publications, 1977), pp. 28-29, 31-33, 35, 36-37, 38.
[170] “La Iglesia coronada de espinas,” El Ermitaño, no. 156, 11/2/1871.
[171] “París y Roma,” El Ermitaño, no. 99, 9/29/1870.
[172] “Esclavitud de las naciones,” El Ermitaño, no. 132, 5/18/1871.
[173] “Las tinieblas: eclipse total de sol en el mundo oficial,” El Ermitaño, no. 145, 8/17/1871.
[174] “Tres días de tinieblas sobre el orbe entero,” El Ermitaño, no. 119, 2/16/1871.
[175] “La Internacional,” El Ermitaño, no. 147, 8/31/1871.
[176] “La Tempestad,” El Ermitaño, no. 149, 9/15/1871.
[177] “Incendio de barracas en Barcelona,” El Ermitaño, no. 170, 2/8/1872.
[178] “Esclavitud de las naciones,” El Ermitaño, no. 132, 5/18/1871.
[179] “Las tinieblas: eclipse total de sol en el mundo oficial,” El Ermitaño, no. 145, 8/17/1871.
[180] “Elías y el Anticristo,” El Ermitaño, no. 22, 4/1/1869.
[181] “La noche,” El Ermitaño, no. 169, 2/1/1872.
[182] “Preservativo para las casas y campos contra el fuego de la ira de Dios,” El Ermitaño, no. 144, 8/10/1871.
[183] “Signos en el cielo y sobre la tierra,” El Ermitaño, no. 143, 8/3/1871.
[184] “El reino de las tinieblas,” El Ermitaño, no. 122, 3/9/1870.
[185] “Triunfo de la Cruz,” El Ermitaño, no. 125, 3/30/1871.
[186] “Cataclismo social,” El Ermitaño, no. 148, 9/7/1871.
[187] “Un rayo de la aurora boreal,” El Ermitaño, no. 172, 2/22/1872.
[188] During much of her life Blessed Anna Maria Taigi saw constantly before her a golden disc, like a sun, in which she saw represented current or future events (cf. Msgr. Carlo Salotti, La Beata Anna Maria Taigi secondo la storia e la critica - Madre di famiglia e terziaria dell'Ordine della Ss. Trinità [Rome: Libreria Editrice Religiosa, 1922]).
[189] Salotti, op. cit., pp. 340-342. Proc. Ord. fol. 695-696.
[190] “Tres días de tinieblas sobre el orbe entero,” El Ermitaño, no. 119, 2/16/1871.
[191] “La cruz,” El Ermitaño, no. 159, 11/23/1871.
[192] “Observaciones sobre energúmenos,” El Ermitaño, no. 65, 1/27/1870.
[193] St. Anthony Mary Claret was one of the great saints who lived during Blessed Palau's time. He was a zealous defender of the Church against the attacks of the Revolution and actively supported Blessed Palau during the iniquitous closing of the School of Virtue in Barcelona.In a letter about the School, Blessed Palau tells the Saint: “I see you as an instrument of Providence, a spokesman for the spirit of God whom I should consult in this matter” (Palau, Cartas, in Obras Selectas, vol. 7, Maestros Espirituales Carmelitas, p. 714).All the same, these two great souls did not always see eye to eye. For instance, Blessed Palau disagreed with statements made by St. Anthony to the priests of the congregation the Saint had founded, regarding the number of possessed people and the pastoral approach to be adopted toward them.Blessed Palau expressed his view to St. Anthony in the clear, manly, and charitable way they both liked. The incident is an example of the distinction and elevation with which two saintly souls discuss their differences in the plenitude of the Catholic spirit.“We have differences of opinion regarding debatable issues with respectable people whom we love,” wrote Blessed Palau.“This is neither unusual nor strange, for there would be no debates or discussions during the Council if the Fathers all thought alike. Discussion cannot be harmful so long as all of us recognize one infallible tribunal and humbly submit ourselves to its decision” (“El ermitaño ante el Concilio,” El Ermitaño, no. 77, 4/28/1870).Death came to both soon after, putting an end to a debate that could have led to great progress in the doctrinal and pastoral fields.Polemics due to a burning love for the Church are not rare among saints. Perhaps the most famous, truculent, and fruitful one was between St. Jerome and St. Augustine, both Fathers and Doctors of the Church.“Let neither you with me nor I with you silence what may shock us in our letters, provided, of course, that our intention in God's sight never depart from brotherly charity,” once wrote the Eagle of Hippo (St. Augustine) to the Lion of Bethlehem (St. Jerome) (Cartas de San Jerónimo [Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1962], vol. 2, p. 389, letter 116).
[194] Fr. Alejo de la Virgen del Carmen, O.C.D., Vida del R.P. Francisco Palau Quer (1933), pp. 316-317.
[195] Positio, vol. 2, pp. 541-542.
[196] “La acción inmediata de Dios,” El Ermitaño, no. 116, 1/26/1871.
[197] “¿Venció la Reina?” El Ermitaño, no. 152, 10/5/1871.
[198] “El dogma católico con referencia a la redención de la sociedad actual,” El Ermitaño, no. 170, 2/8/1872.
[199] “Esclavitud de las naciones,” El Ermitaño, no. 132, 5/18/1871.
[200] Palau, Cartas, in Obras Selectas, vol. 7, Maestros Espirituales Carmelitas, p. 880.
[201] “El tiempo en Jerusalén, Roma, Babilonia,” El Ermitaño, no. 62, 1/6/1870.
[202] “Cataclismo social,” El Ermitaño, no. 148, 9/7/1871.
[203] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 160, 11/30/1871.
[204] Blessed Palau is referring to prophecies supposedly recorded by St. Francis of Paula (b. 1416) in letters to Simon de Limena. On June 10, 1659, the Holy See ordered that the copies of these letters be withdrawn from circulation. It was ascertained that apocryphal, false, and invented statements had been added to them. By then, the letters had been quoted by eminent scholars like Fr. Cornelius a Lapide, S.J., who reproduced passages on the “cross-bearers,” a future order of chivalry that would restore the Church and perhaps be formed by the apostles of the latter times. Many saintly souls-for example St. Louis de Montfort-yearned for these “cross-bearers,” and said so.Thus these prophecies of uncertain origin circulated widely, endorsed by the authority of scholars and saints (cf. P.L. Joseph Célestin Cloquet, Histoire révélée de l'avenir de la France, de l'Europe, du monde et de l'Eglise Catholique, d'après l'Ecriture Sainte, les Saints-Pères, les Docteurs de l'Eglise, les Révélations modernes ou contemporaines, et de récentes prophéties inédites [Paris: Bertin Editeur, 1880], pp. 117-118).
[205] “Tres días de tinieblas sobre el orbe entero,” El Ermitaño, no. 119, 2/16/1871.
[206] “El rey de España,” El Ermitaño, no. 111, 12/22/1870.
[207] “La Revolución se hunde,” El Ermitaño, no. 106, 11/17/1870.
[208] “Tres días de tinieblas sobre el orbe entero,” El Ermitaño, no. 119, 2/16/1871.
[209] “Las ruinas de mi ermita,” El Ermitaño, no. 98, 9/22/1870.
[210] Encyclical Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885 (Paris: Bonne Presse) pp. 10-11.
[211] “Cálculos del Ermitaño,” El Ermitaño, no. 163, 12/21/1871.
[212] “Elías y Henoch,” El Ermitaño, no. 6, 12/9/1868.
[213] Apoc. 19:21.
[214] Abbé J.-M. Curicque, Voix prophétiques - ou signes, apparitions et prédictions modernes touchant les grands événements de la Chrétienté au XIXe siècle et vers l'approche de la fin des temps, 4th ed. (Paris: Victor Palmé Editeur, 1872), vol. 2, p. 292.
[215] “Concilio Romano,” El Ermitaño, no. 49, 10/7/1869.
[216] Maybe he refers to Henri Rochefort (1830-1915), anarchist leader and founder of the bulletin La lanterne. In Mot d'Ordre, the Paris Commune's official publication, Rochefort praises the Commune in these terms: “For the second time in history the atheist and socialist revolution is victorious” (Emmanuel Beau de Loménie, La Restauration manquée [Paris: Editions des portiques, 1932], p. 99).
[217] Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (1808-1874), French revolutionary republican, hated the Church and tended to extreme socialism and communism.
[218] “Los zuavos en Roma,” El Ermitaño, no. 70, 3/3/1870.
[219] Cf. Fr. Lecanuet, Les dernières années du Pontificat de Pie IX (Paris: Librairie Félix Alcan, 1931), pp. 77-78.
[220] Cf. Pierre Descouvemont and Helmuth Nils Loose, Thérèse et Lisieux (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1991), pp. 9-10.
[221] “La fuerza brutal contra la ley,” El Ermitaño, no. 110, 12/15/1870.
[222] “El triunfo de la Iglesia,” El Ermitaño, no. 97, 9/15/1870.
[223] Lecanuet, op. cit., p. 107.
[224] “La Revolución en París,” El Ermitaño, no. 135, 8/6/1871.
[225] Cf. Mons. Antonio Montero Moreno, Historia de la Persecución Religiosa en España 1936-1939 (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1961), pp. 761-763.
[226] “Cataclismo social,” El Ermitaño, no. 148, 9/7/1871.
[227] “Política del Rey Amadeo,” El Ermitaño, no. 175, 3/14/1872.
[228] “O monarquía o república,” El Ermitaño, no. 153, 10/12/1871.
[229] “España: la esperanza de los católicos,” El Ermitaño, no. 10, 1/7/1868.
[230] Cf. Duval, op. cit., p. 231.
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Thank you very much for all the effort in putting this together. I read many prophecies here and there but now the whole puzzle is put together. It all now makes sense.
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