Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 32: The Twelfth Mark: Light of Prophecy
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Ecclesia Militante, On the Church Militant (of the controversy On Councils and the Church). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The twelfth Mark is the light of prophecy. For as Christ, Mark last chapter, promises the Church the gift of miracles, so also, Joel 2, Peter expounding it in Acts 2, He promises the gift of prophecy, which certainly is a very great thing; since it is certain that no one knows future contingents but God, Isaiah 41: Show the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. And on the contrary, Deuteronomy 18, it is set as a mark of false doctrine, if a Prophet has foretold something and it has not come to pass.
Now among the Heathen and Heretics there were no true prophecies, but many false — unless perhaps they were made in testimony of our faith, as were the prophecies of the Sibyls and of Balaam. For although the Heathen had very many oracles of Apollo, yet those either answered by ambiguities, namely when Apollo did not truly know what was to come; or foretold those things which the Demons themselves were about to do; or announced to the ignorant, as future, those things which had already begun to be done; or finally foretold those things which have natural causes unknown to us, but known to them because of the greater subtlety of their nature. Of which matter see Saint Athanasius in the life of Saint Antony, Saint Augustine in his book on the divination of Demons, and Theodoret in his book on oracles.
The heretics too, as often as they wished to foretell anything, were deceived. This is plain of the false Prophets in the Old Testament, 3 Kings 22. But in the time of the New Testament there was once Montanus, who wished to seem a Prophet, with two Prophetesses Prisca and Maximilla, and they foretold wars, and I know not what other things then to come; but the plain contrary happened, as Eusebius notes, Book 5 of the history, chapters 16 and 18.
In our times Luther, whom the Lutherans constantly call the German Prophet and Elijah, in Cochlaeus in the acts of Luther of the year 1525, foretold that it would come to pass that, if he preached his doctrine for two years more, the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Monks, Nuns, towers, bells, Masses, etc., would vanish; and yet he preached afterward not two, but nearly 22 years — for he died in the year 1546 — and yet the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Monks, etc., did not vanish. In the same place Cochlaeus relates of Thomas Münzer, who called himself Gideon, and had armed innumerable peasants against the Princes of Germany, that he foretold a certain victory to his men, and that he would catch in his sleeve all the balls of the war-engines; and yet a little after almost all the peasants were slain, and Thomas taken and struck with the axe. The same Cochlaeus, in the acts of Luther of the year 1533, writes that the Prophets of the Lutherans so constantly asserted that in that year would come the day of the last judgment, and designated the very day, that many would neither plough nor sow; who yet were found liars.
But in the Catholic Church, besides the Prophets of the Old Testament, and those who were in the first five hundred years from the coming of Christ — as Agabus, of whom Acts 11, and Gregory Thaumaturgus, of whom Basil in his book on the Holy Spirit, chapter 29, and Antony, of whom Athanasius in his life, and Abbot John, of whom Augustine, Book 5 of the City of God, chapter 26 — there were also in the later ages, in which, according to the Lutherans, the Church had perished among the Romans, true Prophets, and indeed Monks and devoted to the Roman Pontiff. Of Saint Benedict thus writes Gregory, Book 2 of the Dialogues, chapter 15: “Benedict rebuked the King for his deeds, and in a few words foretold all that was to befall him, saying: Thou dost many evils, thou hast done many evils; now at length cease from iniquity. Indeed thou art to enter Rome, to cross the sea, reigning nine years, in the tenth thou shalt die.” All which Gregory testifies in the same place that he saw fulfilled.
Of Saint Bernard it is written in his life, Book 4, chapter 3, that he foretold conversion to four men — three of them thinking nothing of it, and the fourth even most averse from the matter; all which, as he had foretold, came to pass. But it is altogether wonderful what is there narrated of a certain noble man; for when, that Saint Bernard might pray for his conversion, a certain son of his asked it, the Saint answered: “Fear not; I will bury him, an approved Monk, in this Clairvaux.” How many prophecies are there in this one sentence? For that that man would some day be a Monk, and would persevere in the monastic order until death, and would close his last day holily and piously, and that before Bernard himself, and in Clairvaux, and be buried by the hands of Bernard himself. Six prophecies diverse among themselves, and all yet — not without the singular providence of God — fulfilled. For thus the author proceeds: “And he became a perfect Monk, and was buried by the holy Father (as he himself had foretold) in Clairvaux; for, as though he could not die in his absence, being sick for five months, and having in himself the most frequent, nay continual, sentence of death, he held out until the holy Father returned, who, as he had once promised, delivered him to burial.”
Saint Francis (as blessed Bonaventure writes in his life), when the Christian army was on a certain day about to fight with the Saracens, admonished the leaders not to fight on that day; for it had been revealed to him by God that the victory would fall to the enemy on that day. But when the leaders despised the warnings of blessed Francis, the Christians were slain and routed with unheard-of slaughter. Many other things of the same kind could be added; for scarcely any holy men are venerated in the Church who, together with miracles, did not shine also with this gift. But these few in this place will suffice.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XV. Nota duodecima. Duodecima nota est lumen prophetieum. Sicut enim Christus Marci ult. promittit Ec¬ clesiae donum miraculorum, ita etiam. Joel II, exponente Petro Act. II, promittit do¬ num prophetiae, quod certe est maximum; cum certum sit, neminem cognoscere fu¬ tura contingentia, excepto Deo, Isaiae XLI : Annuntiate quce ventura sunt in futurum, et sciemus quia Dii estis vos (1). Et e contrario Deiit. XVIII ponitur tamquam nota falsae doctrinae, si Propheta praedixerit aliquid, et non evenerit. Jam apud Ethnicos et Haereticos nulla fuerunt vera vaticinia, sed multa falsa, nisi forte fierent in testimonium nostrae fidei, ut fuerunt vaticinia Sybillarum etBalaam. Etsi enim Ethnici habuerunt plurima oracula Apollinis, tamen illa, vel per ambages res¬ pondebant, quando scilicet Apollo non scie¬ bat revera, quid esset futurum ; vel ea prae¬ dicebant, quae Daemones ipsi facturi erant; vel ea, quae coepta erant fieri, ignorantibus nuntiabant tamquam futura: vel demum ea praedicabant, quae naturales habent causas nobis ignotas ; illis autem notas propter ma¬ jorem naturae subtilitatem. De qua re vide S. Athanasium, in vita S. Antonii, S. Au¬ gustinum lit>. de divinatione Daemonum, et Theodoretum lib. de oraculis. Haeretici quoque , quotiescumque aliquid praedicere voluerunt, decepti sunt. Id patet de falsis Prophetis in Testamento veteri, III. Reg. XXII. Tempore autem novi Testamenti fuit olim Montanus, qui Propheta videri vo¬ luit cum duabus Prophetissis Prisca etMa- ximilla, et praedixerunt bella, et nescio quae alia tunc futura ; sed plane contrarium ac¬ cidit, ut notat Eusebius lib. V hist. cap. 16 et 18. Nostris temporibus Lutherus, quem Lu- therani constanter Prophetam Germanicum, et Eliam vocant, apud Cochlaeum in actis Lutheri anni 1325 praedixit fore, ut, si ipse adhuc per duos annos suam doctrinam prae¬ dicaret, evanescerent Papa, Cardinales, Epis¬ copi, Monachi, Moniales, turres, campanae, Missae etc. et tamen praedicavit postea non duos, sed fere 22 annos ; obiit enim anno 1546, et tamen non evanuerunt Papa, Car¬ dinales, Episcopi, Monachi etc. Ibidem Co- clilaeus refert de ThomaMuncero, qui seGe- deonem vocabat, et infinitos rusticos arma¬ verat contra Principes Germaniae, quod prae¬ dixerit certam victoriam suis, et se in ma¬ nica excepturum omnes globos tormento¬ rum bellicorum, et tamen paulo post caesi sint fere omnes rustici, et Thomas captus, et securi percussus. Idem Cochlaeus in actis Lutheri anni 1533 scribit, tam constanter as¬ seruisse Lutheranorum Prophetas, illo anno futurum diem ultimi judicii, et ipsum etiam diem designasse, ut multi nec arare, nec serere voluerint; qui tamen mendaces in¬ venti sunt. At in Ecclesia Catholica praeter Prophe¬ tas Testamenti veteris, et eos qui fuerunt primis quingentis annis a Christi adventu, ut Agabum, de quo Actor. XI, et Gregorium Thaumaturgum, de quo Basilius lib. de Spi¬ ritu sancto, cap. 29. et Antonium, de quo Athanasius in ejus vita, et Abbatem Joan- nem, de quo Augustinus lib. V de Civ. Dei, cap. 26. fuerunt etiam posterioribus saeculis, quibus juxta Lutheranos perierat apud Ro¬ manos Ecclesia, veri Prophetae, et quidem Monachi ac Romano Pontifici addicti. De S. Benedicto ita scribit Gregorius lib.IIDialog. cap. 15. : « Benedictus, inquit, Regem de suis actibus increpavit, atque in paucis ser¬ monibus cuncta, quae illi erant eventura, praenuntiavit dicens : Multa mala facis, mul¬ ta mala fecisti, jam aliquando ab iniquitate conquiesce. Equidem Romam ingressurus es, mare transiturus, novem annis regnans, decimo morieris. » Quae omnia completa se vidisse ibidem Gregorius testatur. (1) Isai. XLI, 23. 404 LIBER IV. 'De S. Bernardo scribitur in ejus vita lib. IV, cap. 3. eum quatuor hominibus praedi¬ xisse conversionem, tribus de ea nihil cogi¬ tantibus, quarto etiam ab ea re alienissimo ; Quae omnia, sicut praedixerat, evenerunt. Sed mirabile est prorsus, quod ibidem de nobili quodam viro narratur ; nam cum pro ejus conversione, ut S. Bernardus oraret, quidam illius filius peteret, respondit Sanc¬ tus : « Ne timeas, ego illum probatum Mo¬ nachum in hac Claravalle sepeliam. » Quot sunt in hac una sententia vaticinia? Nam et Monachum illum aliquando futurum, et in ordine monastico usque ad mortem perse¬ veraturum, et sancte, ac pie diem extremum clausurum, idque ante ipsum Bernarduin, et in Claravalle, et ipsius Bernardi manibus se¬ peliendum. Sex vaticinia sunt inter se di¬ versa, et omnia tamen, nec sine singulari Dei providentia, impleta. Sic enim auctor pergit : « Et perfectus, inquit, Monachus factus est, et a Patre sancto (sicut ipse prae¬ dixerat) in Claravalle sepultus : tamquam enim mori illo absente non posset, quinque mensibus infirmatus, et celeberrimum, imo continuum responsum mortis in seipso ha¬ bens, sustinuit, donec Pater sanctus rediret, qui, ut olim promiserat, eum traderet sepul¬ turae. » S. Franciscus (ut scribit in ejus vita B. Bonaventura) cum Christianus exercitus certo die cum Saracenis pugnaturus esset, admonuit Duces, ne eo die pugnarent : sibi enim a Deo revelatum, victoriam hostibus eo die cessuram. Sed cum contemnerent Du¬ ces beati Francisci monita, caesi fusique sunt Christiani inaudita strage. Addi possent multa alia ejusdem generis; fere enim nulli coluntur in Ecclesia sancti homines, qui si¬ mul cum miraculis, non etiam hoc dono cla¬ ruerint. Sed haec pauca hoc loco sufficient.