Now, Pope Benedict XVI is drawing attention to St. Hildegard of Bingen, by declaring her a Doctor of the Church.
In addition to her many accomplishments, St. Hildegard is also known for a number of apocalyptic prophecies:
THE MINOR CHASTISEMENT
"The time is coming when princes and peoples will reject the authority of the Pope. Some countries will prefer their own Church rulers to the Pope. The German Empire will be divided. Church property will be secularised. Priests will be persecuted. After the birth of Antichrist heretics will preach their false doctrines undisturbed, resulting in Christians having doubts about their holy Catholic faith."
At that period when antichrist shall be born, there will be many wars and right order shall be destroyed on earth. Heresy will be rampant and the heretics will preach their errors openly without restraint. Even among Christians doubt and scepticism will be entertained concerning the beliefs of Catholicism
"Toward the end of the world, mankind will be purified through sufferings. This will be true especially of the clergy, who will be robbed of all property. When the clergy has adopted a simple manner of living, conditions will improve.
At this time as a punishment for their sins Christians especially will attempt armed resistance to those who at that time are persecuting them, sensing no concern for the death of their bodies.
"A powerful wind will rise in the North carrying heavy fog and the densest dust by divine command and it will fill their throats and eyes so they will cease their savagery and be stricken with great fear.
Then within the Christian people the Holy Godhead will accomplish signs and wonders as if accomplished them at the time of Moses with the pillar of cloud and as Michael the archangel did when he fought the heathen for the sake of the Christians. Because of Michael's help Gods faithful children will march under his protection. They will decimate their foes and achieve victory through Gods power As a result of this a large number of heathens will join Christians in true faith and they will say The God of the Christians is true God because such wondrous works have been accomplished among the Christians .
After that there will be so few men left that seven women will fight for one man, that they will say to the man: "Marry me to take the disgrace from me." For in those days it will be a disgrace for a woman to be without child, as it was by the Jews in the Old Testament.
"Before the Comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scoured with want and famine. The great nation in the ocean that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent by an earthquake, storm and tidal waves will be devastated. It will be divided, and in great part submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea, and lose its colonies in the east through a Tiger and a Lion.
The Comet by its tremendous pressure, will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. [After the] great Comet, the great nation will be devastated by earthquakes, storms, and great waves of water, causing much want and plagues. The ocean will also flood many other countries, so that all coastal cities will live in fear, with many destroyed. All sea coast cities will be fearful and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed and even those who escape will die from a horrible disease.
For in none of these cities does a person live according to the laws of God. "Peace will return to Europe when the white flower again takes possession of the throne of France.
(See http://www.unitypublishing.com/aug24_98.html for the White Flower)
During this time of peace the people will be forbidden to carry weapons and iron will be used solely for making agricultural implements and tools. Also during this period the soil will be very productive and many Jews, heathens and heretics will join the Church.
"Peace will return when the Lily ascends the Throne again. The land will be very productive . During this time weapons will be forbidden. Iron will only be used for agricultural tools. In this period the land will be very productive. Jews, heathen and heretics will join the church.
The throne of the last catholic Empire will crumble and the sceptre will fall out of the hand of him who sits on the throne. The Great Monarch by this time will be a very old man. All justice will cease and will be trodden under foot. The latter times will be more evil and corrupt in the eyes of God. Children of God will be persecuted by the most hateful means in the eyes of God. Almost immediately after the death of the Monarch comes antichrist
(Note: This in my opinion is the peace promised by Fatima - Richard Salbato)
ANTICHRIST
When the great ruler (the Great Monarch who is to rule Europe after the collapse of Communism) exterminates the Turks almost entirely, one of the remaining Mohammadans 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, wishing to be pope himself; then when the other cardinals elect the next pope,
(Note by Richard Salbato - this will be the last pope on earth - Peter the Second)
this cardinal will proclaim himself Anti-pope, and two-thirds of the Christians will go with him. He, as well as Anti-christ, are descendants of the tribe of Dan.
An unchaste woman will conceive an unchaste son. The wicked serpent who deceived Adam will influence this child in such as way that nothing good or virtuous will enter him; nor under the circumstances will it even be possible for any good to be in him
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.
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.
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 endeavour to prolong their pain until they renounce their faith. Yet some will receive a special grace from God to die during the torments.
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. He will appear to be crucified and rise from the dead. All in all, Christians will be astounded and in grievous doubts while the followers of Antichrist will be confirmed in their false faith.
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 have taken place, leading to his destruction, will produce a cloud that will spread an unbearable odour. Through this many people will again come to their senses and to understanding.
Then the people should prepare for the last judgment, the day of which is indeed veiled in secrecy and obscurity, but not far distant."
Henoch and Elias are being instructed by God in a mysterious manner in paradise.
(This is the same thing that Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich says of paradise and Henoch and Elias)
God shows them the works of men as though they could see these with natural eyes. The two men are 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 renounce 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 Christians 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. 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. / Enoch and Elias will be instructed by God in a most secret manner in paradise. God reveals to them the actions and condition of men that they may regard them with the eyes of compassion. Because of this special preparation, these two holy men are more wise than all the wise men on the earth taken together. God will give them the task of opposing antichrist and of bringing back those who have strayed from the way of salvation. Both of these men will say to people: This accursed one has been sent by the devil to lead men astray and into error; we have been preserved by God in a hidden place where we did not experience the sorrows of men but God has now sent us to combat the heresy of this son of perdition. They will go into all cities and villages where previously antichrist had broadcasted his heresies and by the power of the Holy Spirit will perform wonderful miracles so that all nations will greatly marvel at them. This as to a wedding feast, Christians will hasten to death by martyrdom which the son of perdition will have prepared for them in such numbers that those murderers will be unable even to count the slain, then the blood of these martyrs will fill the rivers
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.
The Son of Corruption and Ruin will appear and reign for. only 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 equalling 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.
Antichrist will come from a land that lies between two seas, and will practise his tyranny in the East. After his birth false teachers and doctrines will appear, followed by wars, famines, and pestilence. 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, `I 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 raises 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 commandments 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 endeavour 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.
"After having passed a licentious youth among very perverted men and in a desert, she being conducted by a demon disguised as an angel of light, the mother of the son of perdition will conceive and give birth without knowing the father. In another land, she will make men believe that her birth was some miraculous thing, seeing that she had not appointed a spouse, and she will ignore that, she will say, how the infant she had brought into the world had been formed in her womb, and the people will regard it as a saint and qualified to the title.
"The son of perdition is this very wicked beast who will put to death those who refuse to believe in him; who will associate with kings, priests, the great and the rich; who will mistake the humility and will esteem pride; who will finally subjugate the entire universe by his diabolic means.
"He will gain over many people and tell them: "You are allowed to do all that you please; renounce the fasts; it suffices that you love me; I who am your God."
"He will show them treasures and riches, and he will permit them to riot in all sorts of festivities, as they please. He will oblige them to practice circumcision and other Judaic observances, and he will tell them: "Those who believe in me will receive pardon of their sins and will live with me eternally."
"He will reject baptism and evangelism, and he will reject in derision all the precepts the Spirit has given to men of my part.
"Then he will say to his partisans, "Strike me with a sword, and place my corpse in a proper shroud until the day of my resurrection." They will believe him to have really given over to death, and from his mortal wound he will make a striking semblance of resuscitation.
"After which, he will compose himself a certain cipher, which he will say is to be a pledge of salute; he will give it to all his servitors like the sign of our faith in heaven, and he will command them to adore it. Concerning those who, for the love of my name, will refuse to render this sacrilegious adoration to the son of perdition, he will put them to death amidst the cruellest torments.
"But I will defend my two Witnesses, Enoch and Elias, whom I have reserved for those times. Their mission will be to combat the man of evil and reprimand him in the sight of the faithful whom he has seduced. They will have the virtue of operating the most brilliant miracles, in all the places where the son of perdition has spread his evil doctrines. In the meanwhile, I will permit this evildoer to put them to death; but I will give them in heaven the recompense of their travails.
"Later, however, after the coming of Enoch and Elias, the Antichrist will be destroyed, and the Church will sing forth with unprecedented glory, and the victims of the great error will throng to return to the fold."
"The Man of Sin will be born of an ungodly woman who, from her infancy, will have been initiated into occult sciences and the wiles of the demon. She will live in the desert with perverse men, and abandon herself to crime with so much the greater ardor, as she will think she is authorized thereby to by the revelations of an angel. And thus, in the fire of burning concupiscence she will conceive the Son of Perdition, without knowing by what father. Then she will teach that fornication is permitted, declaring herself holy and honoured as a saint.
"But Lucifer, the old and cunning serpent, will find the fruit of her womb with his infernal spirit and entirely possess the fruit of sin.
"Now when he shall have attained the age of manhood, he will set himself up as a new master and teach perverse doctrine. Soon he will revolt against the saints; and he will acquire such great power that in the madness of his pride he would raise himself above the clouds; and as in the beginning Satan said: "I will be like unto the most high", and fell; so in those days, he will fall when he will say in the person of his son, "I am the Saviour of the World!"
"He will ally himself with the kings, the princes and the powerful ones of the earth; he will condemn humility and will extol all the doctrines of pride. His magic art will feign the most astonishing prodigies; he will disturb the atmosphere, command thunder and tempest, produce hail and horrible lightning. He will move mountains, dry up streams, reanimate the withered verdure of forests. His arts will be practiced upon the elements, but chiefly upon man will he exhaust his infernal power. He will seem to take away health and restore it. How so? By sending some possessed soul into a dead body, to move it for a time. But these resurrections will be of short duration.
"At the sight of these things, many will be terrified and will believe in him; and some, preserving their primitive faith, will nevertheless court the favour of the Man of Sin or fear his displeasure. And so many will be led astray among those who, shutting the interior eye of their soul, will live habitually in exterior things...
"After the Antichrist has ascended a high mountain and been destroyed by Christ, many erring souls will return to truth, and men will make rapid progress in the ways of holiness."
"Nothing good will enter into him nor be able to be in him. For he will be nourished in diverse and secret places, lest he should be known by men, and he will be imbued with all diabolical arts, and he will be hidden until he is of full age, nor will he show the perversities which will be in him, until he knows himself to be full and superabundant in all iniquities.
"He will appear to agitate the air, to make fire descend from heaven, to produce rainbows, lightning, thunder and hail, to tumble mountains, dry up streams, to strip the verdure of trees, of forests, and to restore them again. He will also appear to be able to make men sick or well at will, to chase out demons, and at times even to resuscitate the dead, making a cadaver move like it was alive. But this kind of resurrection will never endure beyond a little time, for the glory of God will not suffer it.
"Ostensibly he will be murdered, spill his blood and die. With bewilderment and consternation, mankind will learn that he is not dead, but has awakened from his death-sleep.
"From the beginning of his course many battles and many things contrary to the lawful dispensation will arise, and charity will be extinguished in men. In them also will arise bitterness and harshness and there will be so many heresies that heretics will preach their errors openly and certainly; and there shall be so much doubt and incertitude in the Catholic faith of Christians that men shall be in doubt of what God they invoke, and many signs shall appear in the sun and moon, and in the stars and in the waters, and in other elements and creatures, so that, as it were in a picture, future events shall be foretold in their portents.
"Then so much sadness shall occupy men at that time, that they shall be led to die as if for nothing. But those who are perfect in the Catholic faith will await in great contrition what God wills to ordain. And these great tribulations shall proceed in this way, while the Son of Perdition shall open his mouth in the words of falsehood and his deceptions, heaven and earth shall tremble together. But after the fall of the Antichrist the glory of the Son of God shall be increased.
"As soon as he is born, he will have teeth and pronounce blasphemies; in short, he will be a born devil. He will emit fearful cries, work miracles, and wallow in luxury and vice. He will have brothers who are also demons incarnate, and at the age of twelve, they will distinguish themselves in brilliant achievements. They will command an armed force, which will be supported by the infernal legions.
"After the Son of Perdition has accomplished all of his evil designs, he will call together all of his believers and tell them that he wishes to ascend into heaven.
"At the moment of his ascension, a thunderbolt will strike him to the ground, and he will die.
"The mountain where he was established for the operation of his ascension, in an instant will be covered with a thick cloud which emits an unbearable odor of truly infernal corruption... At the sight of his body, the eyes of great number of persons will open and they will be made to see their miserable error.
"After the sorrowful defeat of the Son of Perdition, the spouse of my Son, who is the Church, will shine with a glory without equal, and the victims of the error will be impressed to re-enter the sheepfold.
"As to the day, after the fall of Antichrist, when the world will end, man must not seek to know, for he can never learn it. That secret the Father has reserved for Himself."
After Enoch and Elias suffer physical death the spirit of life will reawaken them raise them up into the clouds and the rejoicing of that man s followers (antichrist) will change into fear, sorrow and dismay. Then the son of corruption will gather together a large group of people in order that his glory can be openly shown forth. He will attempt to walk through the heavens so that any remnant of the catholic faith that might remain throughout the world might completely disappear. In the sight of crowds standing around and listening he will order the high strata of the sky to lift him up during his ascension into heaven and the words of my loyal servant Paul will be fulfilled and these are the words which Paul who is full of the spirit of truth says and the lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and will destroy him with his glorious appearance at his coming when the son of corruption ascends on high through diabolical trickery he will be thrust down again by divine power. The fumes of sulphur and pitch will consume him such that the crowds standing nearby will flee into the mountains for protection. Such abject fear will seize all who see and hear these things that they will reject the devil and his spiritual son antichrist and be converted to the true faith by baptism.
The son of perdition will come when the day declines and the sun sinks, that is when the time arrives and the world loses its stability."
St. Hildegard's prophecies play a central role in the attachment of a certain segment of traditionalist Catholics to the idea of a return of Monarchy.
It is certainly possible to read too much into our Holy Father's recent actions, but one can't help but wonder if he's trying to tell us something.
ADDENDUM:
It is worth comparing part of St. Hildegard's prophecy,
The Comet by its tremendous pressure, will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. [After the] great Comet, the great nation will be devastated by earthquakes, storms, and great waves of water, causing much want and plagues. The ocean will also flood many other countries, so that all coastal cities will live in fear, with many destroyed. All sea coast cities will be fearful and many of them will be destroyed by tidal wavesWith the words of Pope John Paul II regarding Fatima (from a file at EWTN):
When people at Fulda, Germany asked John Paul II in 1980 if the Third Secret of Fatima contained a threat from God, the Pope responded:"If there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish . . . there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message.
Many want to know merely out of curiosity, or because of their taste for sensationalism, but they forget that "to know" implies for them a responsibility. It is dangerous to want to satisfy one's curiosity only, if one is convinced that we can do nothing against a catastrophe that has been predicted....
(At this point the Holy Father took hold of his Rosary and said:) Here is the remedy against all evil! Pray, pray and ask for nothing else. Put everything in the hands of the Mother of God!"[9]
John Paul II's reply seemed to imply that a threat of flood is part of the Third Secret of Fatima.
Later, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger admitted in an interview with journalist, Vittorio Messori, that he had read the Third Secret of Fatima. Messori then tells how he questioned the Cardinal about the "secret":
"Undenied versions are circulating in the world, I continue, which describe the contents of that "secret" as disquieting, apocalyptic, as warning of terrible sufferings. John Paul II himself, in his personal visit to Germany, seemed to confirm (albeit with prudent circumlocutions, privately, to a select group) the undeniably disconcerting contents of that text. Before him, Paul VI, during his pilgrimage to Fatima, also seems to have alluded to the "apocalyptic" themes of the "secret." Why was it never decided to make it public, if only to counter rash speculations?"[10]
Cardinal Ratzinger's response, that revealing the Third Secret would add nothing necessary for the Christian to know and that it "would mean exposing the Church to the danger of sensationalism, exploitation of the content," also seemed to "confirm (albeit with prudent circumlocutions)" that the contents of the Third Secret of Fatima did contain those "disconcerting" messages.[11]