Posted on 05/30/2004 2:33:48 PM PDT by wagglebee
PARIS (Reuters) - The 19th century German nun whose blood-soaked visions of Jesus's death inspired Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of The Christ" will soon be put on the path to sainthood, Catholic Church officials have said.
Anne Catherine Emmerich, a sickly mystic who lived from 1774 to 1824, has already reached near cult status among traditionalist Roman Catholics for her book that gave Gibson the grisly details the Gospels did not provide.
The Vatican says Pope John Paul II will beatify Emmerich for her virtuous life, not her best-selling book, but the Oct. 3 ceremony will further publicize her Passion accounts that some critics denounce as medieval and anti-Semitic.
"Beatification will almost certainly be interpreted as approval of them," Father John O'Malley, a church historian, wrote disapprovingly in the U.S. Jesuit weekly America.
Bishop Reinhard Lettmann announced the beatification date last week in his Muenster diocese in western Germany where Emmerich lived. Beatification is the last step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
Lettmann stressed how the nun had strengthened others in their faith despite her own frailty, a theme dear to John Paul who struggles on at 84 despite Parkinson's disease.
"AMAZING IMAGES"
Although Gibson said his blockbuster was true to the Gospels, he clearly turned to Emmerich's "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" for some striking scenes.
The episode where Mary mops up her son's blood after his sadistic scourging is pure Emmerich. No Gospel mentions a hooded devil inciting Jews to demand Christ's crucifixion or following him as he carried his cross.
"Amazing images -- she supplied me with stuff I never would have thought of," Gibson told an interviewer earlier this year.
"What you see in her text is a very visceral Christianity," said Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, art professor at Georgetown University in Washington. It is very raw and well-suited to a modern culture with a high level of violence," she told Reuters. "It's not something you want to read to your children before putting them to bed."
Another problem with "The Dolorous Passion" is its anti-Semitism. Emmerich portrays the Jews as cruel Christ-killers, a view the Church renounced as part of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
"I would not recommend it to anyone," O'Malley wrote.
The Vatican suspended an earlier bid to beatify Emmerich in 1928 out of concern that Clemens Brentano, the German Romantic poet who wrote down her visions, had embellished her account with his own details.
But the case was reopened in 1973 and approved in July 2003, eight months before Gibson's film.
"The sales of her book have gone through the roof," said Apostolos-Cappadona, who analyzes Gibson's film in the forthcoming book "Re-viewing The Passion."
She saw traditionalist Catholics' enthusiasm for Emmerich as a reaction to a fast-changing secular world: "There is a nostalgia for certainty from things that existed before."
I must have missed that scene and I've seen the movie more than once. No media bias here (/sarc)
The portrayal of the devil was a satire (some say) of the Virgin Mary -- totally the opposite. Hence the veil (not hood).
And we all know that the devil can appear in any form. You're right -- bias in this article.
Since 1973 Deacon, over 30 years her sanctity has been resonating through Rome. Now we know that St. Katherine is in heaven.
The Passion of The Christ and Anne Catherine Emmerich and Mary of Agreda
Anne Catherine Emmerich: Sign for Our Time
Life of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich
Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich SAID TO HAVE INSPIRED NEW GIBSON MOVIE- PROPHESIED GREAT CHURCH CRISES
Ping
Amen.
Guess that means that the pope DID like the movie.
I would not recommend O'Malley or the CINO "America" rag he writes for to anyone.
I guess the Catholic Church has just found another reason to take their own eyes away from Christ... WOW.....
What is it that you don't understand about the Catholic Church?
Have you ever read the CREED?
Do you know that first and foremost Catholics believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Are you aware that Mary was the Mother of God?
Are you aware that the main forcus of the Catholic liturgy (Mass) is the Holy Eucharist instituted by Christ at the Last Supper?
I am speechless that there are still Protestants on this forum who are so uneducated about the Catholic Church!
Please do some research!!!!!!
Now to answer your question about Mary --
Catholics do not put Mary above Christ -- as witnessed in The Apostles and Nicene Creed.
We venerate Mary and ask for her intercession. We realize that the gifts (answers to our prayers) come from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
BTW, have you ever asked anyone to pray for you? That's exactly what Catholics do -- we ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for us!
So, do you still have a problem with this?
I am a Catholic, what did I say that has you think I'm not?
From the KJV,
Luke1:48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
1:49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
Be incredulous no more. Mary's own prediction as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Symbolum Apostolorum (Apostle's Creed)
The Apostles' Creed can trace its ancestry, in one form or
another, back to the time of the Apostles. The present form first
appeared in the 6th century in the writings of Caesarius of Arles
(d 542), but prior versions can be traced back to 340 AD in a
letter to Pope Julius I and even still further back to a circa 200
document containing the Roman baptismal liturgy. It appears that
originally this Creed was a baptismal creed summarizing the
teachings of the Apostles and was given to the catechumens when
they were baptized. Instead of the continuous prayer as we have it
today, each line was rather in the form of a question to which the
catechumen gave assent indicating he both understood and believed.
This form is similar to the form found in the Easter Liturgy for
the renewal of the Baptismal promises. Eventually this question
and answer style was modified into the prayer form as we have it
today. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite
the Symbolum Apostolorum.
Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae. Et
in Iesum Christum, Filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum, qui
conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine, passus
sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad
infernos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit ad caelos,
sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis, inde venturus est
iudicare vivos et mortuos. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam
Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem
peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem et vitam aeternam. Amen.
And I appreciate your thoughtfulness. You might enjoy the little bit on the origin of the Apostle's Creed.
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