The Spooky Prophesies of St. Malachy
Today I read Peggy Noonan’s wonderful column on the Holy Father and the Luminous Mysteries. It was linked by Mark Shea on his blog and Greg Popcak at HMS Blog. She mentioned the prophesies of St. Malachy:
In the pope’s letter he used the words luminous or light 29 times. That reminded me of something. In the unofficial but ever-interesting prophecies of St. Malachy, mystic of the Middle Ages, each coming pope is named with a phrase that seems to denote his work. The nicknames seem uncannily accurate. The pope’s predecessor, John Paul I, who reigned for a month, from waning moon to waning moon, got the nickname “Of the Half Moon.” John Paul II is “Of the Labors of the Sun.” Which is of course the brightest, most luminous star, the bringer of light to the world. I used to wonder what his nickname meant, but not now.
I did a little digging on the internet and found this article on the prophesies of St. Malachy. It is worth reading. According to the article the prophesis are now believed to be “elaborate forgeries, probably perpretrated by a school of Jesuits in the 1600s.” I assume this was before they developed an avid interest in American musical theatre. Hilarity aside, St. Malachy shows two popes serving after “De labore Solis,” the last to be named “Petrus Romanus.” Here is an explanation of that from the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 edition:
The last of these prophesies concerns the end of the world and is as follows: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.” It has been noticed concerning Petrus Romanus, who according to St. Malachy’s list is to be the last pope, that the prophecy does not say that no popes will intervene between him and his predecessor designated Gloria olivoe. It merely says that he is to be the last, so that we may suppose as many popes as we please before “Peter the Roman”. Cornelius a Lapide refers to this prophecy in his commentary “On the Gospel of St. John” (C. xvi) and “On the Apocalypse” (cc. xvii-xx), and he endeavours to calculate according to it the remaining years of time.
This sounds quite a bit like the end-times kookiness that has been embraced wholeheartedly by Fundamentalists and Evangelicals in recent decades. The “anti-Pope” in the theologically backward “Left Behind” series takes the name “Peter II.” The previous pontiff in the books was “caught-up” with Mother Teresa and a bunch of other people who found Christ before the Rapture. I honestly don’t think a future Pope would have the audacity to take the name “Peter.” But what if one did? The poor souls who have been taken in by the rapture crap put forth in books like the “Left Behind” series would have a conniption.