St. Hildegard (d. 1179)

a. "Henoch and Elias are being instructed by God in a mysterious manner in paradise. God shows them the works of men as though they could see these with natural eyes. The two men arey therefore, much wiser than all wise men put together. The same force which removed Henoch and Elias from the earth will bring them back in a storm wind at the time when the Antichrist will spread his false doctrine. As long as they will dwell amongst men they will always be refreshed after 40 days, They have the mission from God to resist the Antichrist and lead the erring back to the road of salvation. Both men, distinguished by age and stature, will speak to men: This accursed one is sent by the devil in order to lead men into error. We have been preserved by God at a secreted place, where we did not experience the suffering of men. We are now sent by God in order to oppose the heresy of this destroyer. Look, if we resemble you in stature and age/ And because the testimony of both shall agree they will be believed. All will follow these two aged men and abandon heresy. They will visit all cities and towns, where previously the Antichrist had sown his heresy, and through the power of the Holy Ghost will work genuine miracles. All the people will be greatly astonished at them. Henoch and Elias will confuse the followers of Satan with thunder strokes, and destroy them and fortify the Christian in faith. Therefore, the Christians will hurry to martyrdom, which the son of evil will prepare for them, like to a banquet, so that the murderers will grow tired of counting the dead on account of their great numbers ; for their blood will run like rivers."

b. "Henoch and Elias have been taught much wisdom and knowledge in Paradise while awaiting their return to earth. God will instruct them every forty days while they are on earth. They will receive exceptional graces and powers from God to use against Antichrist."

c. "When the fear of God has been disregarded everywhere violent and furious wars will take place. A multitude of people will be slaughtered and many cities will be transformed into heaps of rubbish. A few uncommonly cruel people will play their game at the expense of the peace and tranquility of the others. As it has been from the beginning of the world, God will deliver the rod of correction to his enemies for the extirpassion of evil . . .

d. "The apostasy' or 'falling away' spoken of in the Bible as preceding the reign of Antichrist is interpreted by St. Hildegard as meaning — 'ab impero', 'a sede apostolico', 'a fide', i.e. 'from royalty', 'from the Pope', and 'from the faith' of Christ itself.

e. "The Son of Corruption and Ruin will appear and reign only for a short time, towards the end of the days of the world's duration ; the period which corresponds to the moment when the sun has disappeared beyond the horizon ; that is to say, he shall come at the last days of the world. He will not be Satan himself, but a human being equaling and resembling him in atrocious hideousness. His mother, a depraved woman, possessed by the devil, will live as a prostitute in the desert. She will declare that she is ignorant as to the identity of his father, and will maintain that her son was presented to her by God in a supernatural manner, as was the Child of the Blessed Virgin. She will then be venerated as a saint by deceived people.

f. "Antichrist will come from a land that lies between two seas, and will practice his tyranny in the East. After his birth false teachers and doctrines will appear, followed by wars, famines, and pestilence.

g. "His mother will seldom let any one see him, and yet by magic art, she will manage to gain the love of the people for him. He will be raised at different secret places and will be kept in seclusion until full grown. When he has grown to full manhood he will publicly announce a hostile doctrine on religion. He will lure and attract the people to himself by granting them complete exemption from the observance of all divine and ecclesiastical commandments, by forgiving them their sins and requiring of them only their belief in his divinity. He will spurn and reject baptism and the gospel. He will open his mouth to preach contradiction. He will say, 'Jesus of Nazareth is not the son of God, only a deceiver who gave himself out as God and the Church instituted by him is only superstition'. The true Christ has come in his person. He will say, T am the Saviour of the world*. Especially will he try to convince the Jews that he is the Messiah sent by God, and the Jews will accept him as such. His doctrine of faith will be taken from the Jewish religion and seemingly will not differ much from the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, for he will teach that there is one God who created the world, who is omniscient and knows the thoughts of man and is just, who rewards the obeyers of his commands and the trespassers he chastises, who will raise all from the dead in due time. This God has spoken through Moses and the Prophets, therefore the precepts of the Mosaic laws are to be kept, especially circumcision and keeping the Sabbath, yet by his moral laws he will try to reverse all order on earth. Therefore he is called in Holy Writ the 'Lawless One'. • He will think that he can change time and laws. He will discard all laws, morals and religious principles, to draw the world to himself. He will grant entire freedom from the command- ments of God and the Church and permit everyone to live as his passions dictate. By doing so he hopes to be acknowledged by the people as deliverer from the yoke, and as the cause of prosperity in the world. Religion he will endeavor to make convenient. He will say that you need not fast and embitter your life by renunciation, as the people of former times did when they had no sense of God's goodness. It will suffice to love God. He will let the people feast to their heart's content so that they will pity the unfortunate people of former centuries. He will preach free love and tear asunder family ties. He will scorn everything holy, and he will ridicule all graces of the Church with devilish mockery. He will condemn humility and foster proud and gruesome dogmas. He will tear down that which God has taught in the Old and New Testament and maintain sin and vice are not sin and vice. Briefly he will declare the road to Hell is the way to Heaven.

h. "A great enemy of the Church, a precursor of Antichrist, will take the title of Saviour. Heretics will join this precursor of Antichrist and persecute the true Church of Christ. Their cunning will be great, so great in fact that they will be able to draw many righteous men to their side. The Bishops in general will remain faithful, but all will, on account of their courage and faithfulness to the Church, suffer much, yet many Protestants will console the children of God by their conversion to the Catholic Church. Immediately preceding Antichrist there will be starvation and earthquakes. (It will be remembered that Protestants did not yet exist at the date assigned this oracle) .

i. "When the great ruler exterminates the Turks almost entirely, one of the remaining Mohammadens will be converted, become a priest, bishop and cardinal, and when the new Pope is elected (immediately before Antichrist) this cardinal will kill the pope before he is crowned, through jealousy, he wishing to be pope himself ; then when the other cardinals elect the next pope this cardinal will proclaim himself Anti-Pope, and two-thirds of the Christians will go with him. He, as well as Antichrist, are descendents of the Tribe of Dan. (Some say that the Turks are of the Tribe of Dan).

j. "The mark (of Antichrist) will be a hellish symbol of Baptism, because thereby a person will be stamped as an adherent of Antichrist and also of the Devil in that he thereby gives himself over to the influence of Satan. Whoever will not have this mark of Antichrist can neither buy nor sell anything and will be beheaded.

k. "He will win over to himself the rulers, the mighty and the wealthy, will bring about the destruction of those who do not accept his faith and, finally, will subjugate the entire earth.

1. "The streets of Jerusalem, will then shine in the brightest gold with the blood of Christians which will flow like water. Simultaneously Antichrist will try to increase his wonders. His executioners will work such miracles when they torment the Christians that the people will think Antichrist is the true God. The executioners will not permit the Christians to win the martyrs' crown easily for they will endeavor to prolong their pain until they renounce their faith. Yet some will receive a special grace from God to die during the torments.

m. "Antichrist will make the earth move, level mountains, dry up rivers, produce thunder and lightning and hail, remove the leaves from the trees and return them again to the trees, make men sick and cure them, exorcise devils, raise the dead to life (1). He will appear to be crucified and rise from the dead. All in all Christians will be astounded and in grievous doubts while Antichrist will be confirmed in their false faith.

n. "Finally, when he shall have converted all his plans into action, he will gather his worshippers about him and tell them that he will presently ascend toward heaven. However, at the moment of the ascension a bolt of lightning will overwhelm and annihilate him. The planned ascent into heaven will have been prepared by the artful employment of ingenious devices, and the moment at which the event was to

1. Only God can raise the dead, only He will cast out devils. This we know from the Gospels. A copyist probably left out the words "seem to."

2. 'and which' is probably a copyists error for 'than'.

have taken place, leading to his destruction, will produce a cloud that will spread an unbearable odor. Through this many people will again come to their senses and to understanding.

o. "Then the people should prepare for the last judgment, the day of which is indeed veiled in secrecy and obscurity, but not far distant.

p. "A longer time of peace is to follow the desolation and wars, and which (2) will precede the second coming of Christ. During this time God will pour out His richest blessing. During these blessed days fertility and blissful prosperity will spread over the earth. As the clouds fertilize the earth, so shall the Holy Spirit enrich the nations with the dew of His Grace. A real summer of spiritual life will come. During this time also the holy angels, who formerly were held back from human society by the vapor of sin, will associate intimately with men, because they are delighted with the renewal and holiness of their lives. Many pagans will also be converted during this time, be baptized and acknowledge Christ with praise. Many converted Jews and heretics will also increase the glory of the Church, much to the surprise of mankind. Many wise men with the gift of prophecy will unfold the secrets and meaning of Holy Scripture. "

q. See also Prophesy 84.