Never despair that a departed friend or relative is lost

by T. Stanfill Benns | Nov 2, 2026 | New Blog

+Feast of All Souls+

Prayer Society Intention for November, Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

“O Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit.” (Raccolta)

Introduction

The following chapters are taken from the work Paths to Eternal Glory,” a collection of sermons for  funerals by Rev. Clement Henry Crock, (1948). They provide us with hope for our beloved departed, especially those whose deaths were sudden, and remind us to pray always for them, regardless of whether their departure appeared to us to be holy or not. One story from a book on Purgatory tells of a soul everyone thought had gone straight to heaven, but who instead languished in Purgatory with no one to pray for him. We must never presume to know God’s will for our departed brethren, but be generous with our prayers for these poor souls. For they suffer pains for their sins only slightly less than those suffered in hell and cry to us for relief.

Despair of None, Pray for All

There are many grateful souls in heaven whom we have eternally befriended through our prayers and good deeds, just as we aim to do for our departed friend today by uniting our prayers with yours in his behalf this morning and promise to do in days to come. Grateful indeed are the souls who were temporarily detained in purgatory to satisfy God’s justice and whom we aided in their speedy release, but especially grateful are those souls who even while on earth were considered great sinners and at the moment of their death were considered lost, but who on account of some special prayers by friends employing God’s mercy, were at the last moment granted a special grace of repentance and now and are now numbered among the blessed in heaven.

According to the Fathers of the Church and many distinguished theologians, it will be surprising to all on the final judgment day how vast is the number in heaven of those who belong to this latter class. We should therefore never despair of the salvation of anyone, but continue to pray for all, no matter how far from the ideal the life anyone has been, even down to the very moment of death. We must never presume to judge anyone before his time. Only God is our judge. No matter how great the sinner, the Church condemns no one to eternal torments. She may publish decrees declaring that one or the other is in heaven, but through all the centuries she has never published a decree declaring that anyone is in hell.

In the life of St. Francis de Sales, we read that one day some of his friends were discussing the passage of Holy Scripture which states, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” They were speaking of the parable in the Gospel of Saint Matthew in which the kingdom of heaven is likened to a vineyard in which the master employs all the laborers who apply. In the evening at the close of day, all received the same wages agreed upon. Some complained, but the master merely answered that he had paid them all what he had promised. It was Jesus who told the story, and in relating it, He added, “The last shall be first and the first last, for many are called but few are chosen.” Hearing the discussion, Saint Francis commented thus: “I am of the opinion that very few Christians will be lost because they have the root of the true faith which sooner or later will mature its fruit which is eternal life. The torpid root awakens to life and operates through divine mercy. And when asked about the story of the Gospel, he replied, In truth, if we compare the number of Christians to the rest of the world and unbelieving nations, their number is very small, but of this number, I believe very few will be lost.”

Many theologians and Fathers of the Church concur with St. Francis, for once God has granted the gift of faith through baptism, God will also, they argue, give the means to live according to that faith and to persevere in it. And as to the Gospel story, far from being an expression of divine wrath, it is, on the contrary, a proof of God’s mercy towards the sinner and of the wonderful efficacy of perfect contrition which, in a moment, can make one a friend of God. Their conclusion is further confirmed by another parable in St. Matthew’s Gospel in which the kingdom of heaven is likened to a marriage feast. Some of the invited guests rejected the invitation. Then the servants were ordered to go out into the highways and byways and to call to the marriage feast as many as they could find. They invited all, good and bad, and the marriage feast was filled with guests. Of them all there was but one who did not have on a wedding garment. That is interpreted to mean that only one came with a soul unadorned with sanctifying grace.

Therefore, following the example of the pious and learned Father de Ravignon, we would rather prefer to speak at this sad moment of those mysteries of divine grace called into existence at the hour of death. We prefer to believe that at the last moment a great number of apparently unreconciled sinners are converted and expire reconciled with God. For there are in certain deaths, as my thirty years as a priest have confirmed, mysteries of mercy and moments of special grace where the eye of man sees only strokes of justice. By a flash of light, God sometimes reveals himself to souls whose greatest misfortune was not to have known Him or to have ignored Him, but at the last breath He may have granted the dying a special sigh calling for pardon, a sigh that was accepted by Him who understood the cry of the thief hanging beside Him on the cross and granted his dying request. As long as a single breath of life remains, no barrier is placed between the soul and grace, therefore we must never despair of God’s mercy, but continue to hope and to pray for our departed, no matter what may seemingly have been their end.

St. John Chrysostom imagines that one of his audience interrupts him saying, “But I mourn this dear deceased because he died a sinner.” And his immediate reply was, “Is not this a vain pretext? For if such be the cause of your tears, why did you not make more effort to convert him when he lived? You must in the first place go to his help as far as you are able, not with tears, but with prayers, supplications, alms, and sacrifices. Is it not one of God’s ways to do good to some out of regard for others?” Let us then show ourselves eager to aid our dear deceased, and let us earnestly and perseveringly pray for them. And was it not the prayers and patience on the part of St. Monica that aided in the conversion of her pagan husband? Was it not persevering prayer for 18 long years that resulted in the conversion of her wayward son, Augustine?

Having a pagan father, Augustine had grown up among all the evils of a pagan civilization. Numerous and grievous were the sins of his youth, as he himself testifies to in his Confessions. But eventually God granted St. Monica’s request, and before her death, she saw her repentant son already on the road to become the great St. Augustine, second only to the great apostle St. Paul. And many another mother has prayed for a wayward son and obtained the grace of final repentance. This was directly revealed to St. Gertrude by the Lord himself, saying, “For my divine light… piercing into the future, having made known to Me that thou wouldst offer this prayer for him, I placed good dispositions in his heart to prepare him for the enjoyment of the fruits of thy charity. And after death ensued, Jesus added, “I take singular pleasure in the prayers addressed to me for the dead, when natural feeling is added to the good will which renders them meritorious, and when both concur to give this work of mercy all the plenitude and perfection it is capable of receiving.”

Who knows what effect the sight of eternity has on a dying person when he already feels the presence of the judge into whose hands it is so terrible to fall? It is easy to forget God and eternal truths while one is in good health. Business and amusements and the bustle of life remove and dull the sense of faith. But when all about us vanishes and one feels like slipping away, then all illusions are likewise dispelled and the heart and mind turn to the contemplation of their eternal destiny. One moment of contrition, even one phrase such as “Pardon me, God”: yes, even less, a mere sigh of the heart suffices to reconcile the sinner with the merciful God whom he has grievously offended.

In conclusion, therefore, let us follow the example of Saint Francis de Sales, who would never have people despair of the conversion of sinners, even with their last breath. Let us never pass unfavorable judgment, for we can draw only uncertain conclusions. We judge from the exterior alone and even the most prudent are often deceived by appearances. For which of us can comprehend the mercy of God who wills not the death of a sinner, but the salvation of the whole world? Did not our Lord, by the mouth of Isaiah, say, “Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands.” Therefore, in the words of St. Gertrude, pray, suffer, act. Your prayers, while consoling and sanctifying you for the present, will also contribute to save those whom you love. Until the crown of victory is theirs, their plaintive cry continues to be, “Have pity on me, at least you, my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.” Let us pray for the faithful departed

Never despair of the Salvation of Any Soul

Of all the sorrows that crush the heart of friends over the death of a loved one, the most depressing is the thought that he might have gone into eternity as a reprobate, unrepentant, that, in the words of Saint Paul, he might have appeared before the judgment seat of God without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. For such there could only be an eternity of torments amongst the damned in hell; for such our prayers are of no avail; for such there is no possible hope of a happy reunion; in the case of such, all affection for friends or relatives has ceased and nothing but hatred and scorn has forever taken possession of that soul. How can such a nightmare of memories ever be reconciled with the happiness of those who hope to join the Blessed in heaven and will be there forever without them?

If it is true that the original elements of natural affection remain even in hell, it is alas only true in so far as these elements are evil and disunited from God and the Blessed in heaven; “…for as they have resolved against possessing the knowledge of God, God has given them up to a reprobate sense” (St. Paul, Romans 1:28). Moreover, these affections no longer produce anything in hell but fruits of bitterness, a hatred so much the greater as there seemed the greater love while here on earth. On the other hand, heaven is love and light, and the Blessed there can feel no affliction over the thought of that same depraved relative or friend who will never join them. For from the lofty heights of eternal glory, we shall better perceive the horror of sin, the perverse obstinacy of the sinner, and the justice of his condemnation. There God is and will forever be the center of attraction, freely accepted, keeping the souls of the blessed forever in the orbit of salvation.

The saints, it is true, witness with attention from the eternal hills the vicissitudes of that struggle which will lead those whom they love either to heaven or to hell. They love and long to see the divine attraction itself, the very power of mercy acting upon the sinner and subduing the obstinate and determined resistance. But at length they see that ungrateful prodigal, that man who crucifies Jesus repeatedly, voluntarily yield to the allurements of sin, to the impulses of his passion. Therefore, says St. Paul, “They are without excuse, seeing that although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God.” And thus the affection of the Blessed for such souls on earth is weakened in proportion to their separation from the sovereign good, and for those who are lost, the affection becomes totally extinct.

(Quoting one theologian, he writes): “Henceforth the blessed will only that which God wills, because they love only what God loves. For as the Lord has revealed, the inhabitants of Heaven have their desires fully accomplished, and are never at variance with Me. Their free will is so bound by charity that they cannot desire anything but what I have desired. Their will is so conformed and united to mine that the father and mother who behold their children in hell, that the children who behold their father and mother delivered over to eternal sufferings, grieve not at that sight. They even rejoice in seeing that those parents or those children who persisted in being my enemies justly punished.”

But once again I assert, never to despair of the salvation of any soul. One of the first companions of the famous Dominican preacher Lacordaire was Father Hernsheim. Born in Strasbourg of Jewish parents, he became a Christian as a youth and was baptized. However, during his secular studies at the university, he lost his faith. Soon after he obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, he became so seriously ill that the physicians feared for his life. Let Father Hernsheim himself tell what followed. When face-to-face with death, he declared after he had recovered, the world seemed a mere nothing. “In an instant, I loved God more than those things to which I had clung so passionately. I took the crucifix in my hands and meditated on the sufferings of our Savior. I prayed with the incredible fervor. to the Mother of God and to the saints, and often repeated in a kind of ecstasy the simple and consoling words, Hail Mary, full of grace, but with special joy I repeated the last part, Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. I felt that God poured out all his mercies upon me, for I was burdened with sin before Him. Had someone then spoken to me of a philosophic system, he would have been an object of utter contempt. Beside me were all my pamphlets in which I had written all the doctrines that were ever conceived by man, but all this vanished in the face of death and appeared like smoke.”

Therefore, following the example of St. Francis de Sales, we should encourage all to have hope for the deceased, no matter how impenitent a death a person may seem to have died. This saint based his principle chiefly on the doctrine that, as the first grace of justification is not merited by any previous good work, so also the final grace of perseverance need not necessarily depend upon our merits. How consoling, therefore, are those thoughts of the great and saintly son of Holy Mother Church. How comforting to those who have had dear ones snatched away suddenly, seemingly unprepared. God is infinite mercy. He would have us trust him implicitly and murmur not as those who have no hope.

Let us then never despair of the salvation of anyone, but rather let us pray for all the departed. For in bringing the lost sheep back to the good shepherd and the prodigal child back to his father, we prepare for ourselves in heaven the fulfillment of the words of the prophet saying, “Lift up thy eyes round about and see all these are gathered. Together they are come to thee. I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament and as a bride. Thou shalt put them about thee” (Isaias. 49, v. 18). Let us pray for the faithful departed!

Falling cross video, a Halloween twist and the Mount of Olives

by T. Stanfill Benns | Oct 24, 2026 | New Blog

+Christ the King+

“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth” (Zacharias 14:9)

Introduction

Many readers may have recently seen videos of a huge crucifix falling and crushing to death a Novus Ordo “priest” in Ecuador.  This dreadful event occurred while he was delivering a sermon at what passes for “mass” — a sermon on the certainty of death and the right use of our time on earth. His words were simple, for an audience that perhaps was not particularly well-educated. And what he said was dramatically punctuated by his startling demise, caught on video. I think it is important that we look at this from the proper perspective and take to heart what the true message might be.

At any moment Christ could come as a thief. We could leave this earth as individuals at any time; we know this. We also live in the Last Days. Protestants, the Novus Ordo sect, even LibTrads speak about the nearness of the Final Judgment or at least some horrific end-times event. But it is hard to believe, given their actions, that they really take what they say they believe seriously. Some put away survival food and construct bunkers, as if they can hide from our Lord when He comes, like Adam and Eve. They secure their financial future, pay thousands for their children’s weddings, plan for a leisurely retirement, book their next cruise. It seems more like the times of Noah where they were conducting business as usual until the flood came and took them all away.

The NO cleric in Ecuador was trying to explain to people how precious our time is; how we must use it to love God, spend time with family and help others. Despite his Novus Ordo affiliation, he was saying nothing different than the saints have taught us. And precisely because our time is so short, his simple message is more poignant than it would be otherwise. Perhaps livestreaming his death during this sermon on time was God’s way of driving home the clear message that He could visit us with death at any time, or appear for the Final Judgment any day, and we need to prepare ourselves accordingly.  And maybe it was something more.

We must consider the fact that the sins of humanity Christ died for on the Cross are sins no longer atoned for by those only simulating the Holy Sacrifice. As one theologian has noted, “It is by Christ’s blood in the Mass that the anger of God is daily placated, the vengeance of the Divine Judge disarmed, that He no more curses the earth on account of man, whose mind and thoughts are prone to evil from his youth (Genesis 8.21). When this sacrifice for sins shall be no longer celebrated, ‘Then there remains but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries’” (Heb. 10: 26-27). (Rev. Nicholas Gihr, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, 1942).  And when it is fraudulently celebrated, imagine God’s anger at such a sacrilege. God’s righteous and wrathful judgment and the lack of any acceptable offering to delay it may also be what prompted Him to broadcast this message.

The saints on the use of time

• “Do not waste your time with useless thoughts, but keep your mind fixed on the things of heaven, for this life is but a fleeting shadow.” —  Saint John of the Cross

• “We must not let a single moment pass without seeking to please God in all that we do, for our time is short and eternity is long.” — Saint Alphonsus Liguori
• “God gives us time so that we may learn to love Him better, and every act of service is an opportunity to grow in that divine love.” —  Saint Vincent de Paul

• “Let your life be a testament to the goodness of God, using every hour to spread kindness and truth to those you encounter along the way.” —  Saint Francis of Assisi

• “Work as if everything depends on you, but pray as if everything depends on God, for this balance is the secret to a well-ordered life.” I— Saint Ignatius of Loyola

• “Life is short, but the consequences of how we spend our time are eternal, so let us live each day as if it were our last.” — Saint Basil the Great
• “The brevity of life is a reminder that we must love with urgency, for we know not the day nor the hour when we shall be called.” — Saint Therese of Lisieux

The sinister story behind Halloween

Many older readers in this audience only reluctantly accepted Halloween as a children’s holiday as their children grew up and some may have even refused to acknowledge it at all. I have never seen what I am about to relay here mentioned anywhere before but it explains why Halloween may have become a national holiday in the first place. While doing research for another project, I discovered the following online:

“10 Ways to Celebrate Reformation Day October 31… Reformation Day celebrates the joyful beauty of the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ. On October 31, 1517… Martin Luther took a stand against the traditions of the state and the Roman Catholic church to proclaim his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. In effect, what Luther posted became the Five Solas of Protestant belief: “Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone for God’s glory alone.” Halloween, then, is the birthday of evangelical Christians.

So unbeknownst to nearly all of us, we were helping Protestants celebrate their Reformation Day birthday by sending our children out to participate in an increasingly Satanic holiday every year. (After all, Luther was known to have had discourses with the Devil.) I am sure some of those Catholic haters among them have sniggered behind our backs for decades about the irony in all this, assuming, however that they realized it in the first place. I always thought that Halloween, positioned as it was the day before the feast of All Saints, a vigil day and fast day in previous times, was suspicious — feasting on a day previously dedicated to fasting. This is a reversal of the order God ordained, something Satan glories in. Now we have even more reason to refuse to celebrate this day, although something else should be arranged for children who will not understand its sinister implications.

Does trick or treat make more sense now? They tricked us into helping them celebrate the very beginning of the Great Apostasy that went on to destroy the juridical Church. The treat part was the fact that they managed to keep this hush-hush all these years and turn something holy into a celebration rather than a penance. Like all other holidays, Halloween has become a big commercial venture, further sweetening their pot. Historians claim this was once an ancient Druidic feast in Ireland and France, with roots that possibly go back even further. Establishing the feast of All Saints and All Souls Day was the Church’s practice of instituting Christian feasts to replace those of the pagans. In medieval times, children dressed as various saints and Old Testament figures and even participated in mystery plays. And this is how Catholics should celebrate this day.

Pray the exorcism prayer on October 31, and beg God to lift the veil from the eyes of Protestants whose ancestors were once our Catholic brethren.

The Mount of Olives and the Second Coming

It is currently reported in many Internet videos that fissures are appearing on the Mount of Olives that foretell Christ’s Second Coming. This is based on the prophecy of Zacharias, Chapter 14. But to set the stage for that chapter, the previous chapter should be read, for it contains much that will strike us as very familiar. Zacharias 13:1-12. “On that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman.  2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of the earth.  3 And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.

4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy, neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive:  5 But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is my example from my youth. 6 And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me.  7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones.  8 And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein.  9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.

10 And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and shall dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower of Hananeel even to the king’s winepresses. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.  12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.  13 In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his neighbour’s hand. 14 And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance.  15 And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those tents, shall be like this destruction.”

And from Zacharias 14: 14:

1 Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.

2 And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women shall be defiled: and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city.

3 Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is over-against Jerusalem toward the east: and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the north, and half thereof to the south.

5 And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall flee *as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias, king of Juda: and the Lord, my God, shall come, and all the saints with him.

6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no light, but cold and frost.

7 And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light:

8 And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them to the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter.

9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one.

10 And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill to Remmon, to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and shall dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners; and from the tower of Hananeel even to the king’s wine-presses.

11 And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.

12 And this shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord shall strike all nations that fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

13 In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his neighbour’s hand.

14 And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance.”

Haydock commentary

Rev. George Leo Haydock applies the above verses to the Church as Jerusalem, not to the Jews. These are part of the verses the Jews claim for their promise when their messiah comes, but this promise has been transferred to the Church, for the Jews forfeited it by rejecting the true Messiah. What some of these videos suggest then is that the true Messiah has yet to come and will inaugurate a golden millennium at his coming. Other videos claim the fissures on the Mount of Olives point to the imminent coming of Our Lord as the Divine Judge and the final judgment. Christ gave the sermon on the Last Days of the world on the Mount of Olives and did much of his teaching on this mount. It is there that he also suffered his bloody sweat and betrayal by Judas. And it was on this mount that he ascended into Heaven. At His Ascension, an angel came down to announce that just as the Apostles and the Blessed Mother had seen Him ascend into Heaven, so again would He come back to earth (Acts 1: 10-11).

Haydock comments on the following verses in Zacharias 14:

“Ver. 4. Olives. Here the tenth legion was stationed, (Josephus, Jewish Wars vi. 3.) on the spot where Christ had denounced this judgment, and ascended into heaven, Luke xix. 41., and Acts i. 12. — South. We cannot shew the literal accomplishment. If it regard the latter times, this must be hidden. But it suffices that some great earthquake should take place, according to most interpreters,,,” And on verses 9-11 and 14:

“Ver. 9. One Lord. The apostles justly gave this title to Christ, John xiii. 14. He is possessed of all power, Matthew xxviii. 18., and Philippians ii. 10. Pastors are all subject to him. (Calmet) — The Pope styles himself, “servant of the servants of God,” since St. Gregory’s time. (Haydock)

“Ver. 10. Return. This in some measure was verified by means of the Machabees; but is rather to be taken in a spiritual sense, as relating to the propagation of the Church and kingdom of Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the anathema of destruction, or God’s curse. (Challoner)

“Ver. 11. Anathema. It shall not be sentenced to utter ruin. The Church may suffer losses, but cannot perish. (Calmet)

“Ver. 14. Even Juda, &c. The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join in persecuting the Church. (Challoner) — The Jews shewed themselves the most virulent, 2 Corinthians xi. 24., and Acts viii., &c.”

Certain verses from the prophet Isaiah seem similar to Zach, 14:4. For Isaias 13:9-13 reads: “Behold the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it…The stars of heaven and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising and the moon shall not shine with her light… the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of His fierce wrath.” And in Isaias 24:3, 5: “With desolation shall the earth be laid waste and it shall be utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word…And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinances, they have broken the everlasting covenant.” And in Isaias 24:19-20: “With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved …With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.”

A total of “84,653 earthquakes were recorded worldwide in 2026, of which 6,866 reached magnitude 4 or above and 1,698 reached magnitude 5 or above,” and the year has not yet ended (https://earthquake.now/earthquakes/2026). Between 1960 and 1980 there were only 29 major earthquakes in the world. This was more than a threefold increase from the previous 20-year period. According to 2026 statistics, this is a fivefold increase. This does not factor in volcanic eruptions. The day of the Lord Isaiah refers to appears to be the one mentioned in Apocalypse 16:18. Other instances of earthquakes in Apocalypse also are notable. And it is difficult to speculate about what earthquakes could affect or correlate with what events that have been ongoing for the past several decades. But the one thing we do know is that the Day of the Lord, as mentioned by Isaiah, is the final judgment and probably refers to a pole shift. That is exactly how pole shifts are described in the research literature that exists at present.

Some believe a pole shift is imminent and is described in the Apoc. Ch 16: 17-21.

The Seventh Bowl of Wrath

“17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple from the throne, saying: It is done. 18 And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and there was a great earthquake, such an one as never had been since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts; and the cities of the Gentiles fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the indignation of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail, like a talent, came down from heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God for the plague of the hail: because it was exceeding great.”

What must precede Christ’s Second Coming and the Golden Gate

Zacharias 14:4 is linked by some with the Golden Gate, which sits opposite the place where Christ preached on the Mount of Olives. The stones of the gate are said to be coming loose somehow, possibly because of tiny seismological tremors. According to one Bible site: “Jewish tradition holds that the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through this gate. This belief is mirrored in Christian eschatology, where the return of Jesus Christ is anticipated to involve the Eastern Gate. The gate’s closure is traditionally dated to the 16th century when the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed it,” after several troubling dreams of a holy man walking through it. Again, these prophecies refer to the Church and Christ’s Second coming. It is no coincidence that these fissures are appearing on the Mount of Olives, seeing that plans are going forward to rebuild the Temple.

“The Roman emperor Julian the Apostate tried to rebuild the temple in A.D. 363, but a series of unexplained events stopped the construction. “The Jews entered upon the undertaking, without reflecting that, according to the prediction of the holy prophets, it could not be accomplished…  It is said that on the following day when they were about to lay the first foundation, a great earthquake occurred… many were caught thereby, some perished immediately… A more tangible and still more extraordinary prodigy ensued; suddenly the sign of the cross appeared spontaneously on the garments of the persons engaged in the undertaking. These crosses were disposed like stars, and appeared the work of art. Many were hence led to confess that Christ is God, and that the rebuilding of the temple was not pleasing to Him; others presented themselves in the church, were initiated, and besought Christ, with hymns and supplications, to pardon their transgression” (Sozomen, ca. A.D. 375-447; Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter XXII).”

The Christian population in general has been taught to believe that we will all know when the end times are near because we will see these signs, and certainly the increase in earthquakes and natural disasters and plagues, constant wars in divers places, the terrible evil that exists in the world, fulfills those signs.  But where is that horrid political figure identified as Antichrist who will begin to persecute Christians and put them to death? They have not seen him yet and every time someone new appears that might fit the bill, they suggest that person is the one.  It is hard to understand how “Bible-believing Christians” and those identifying as Catholic can really think Christ’s Second Coming is imminent when they have not even identified Antichrist, the Man of Sin, or defined when the Great Revolt occurred.

St. Paul says of this: “And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto him, that ye be not easily moved from your senses, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God… Remember you not that I told you these things? …For the mystery of iniquity already worketh: only he who now holdeth will hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that Wicked One shall be revealed” (2Thess. 2: 1-7).

Conclusion

So before anyone can anticipate the Second Coming, they must first identify the great revolt and specify who he who withholdeth is that is taken out of the way, that the man of sin be revealed. If one believes that:

• the great revolt happened beginning with the Reformation in 1517 and ended with the defection of the entire hierarchy in 1958;
• the proofs on this site that Antichrist has already come, and he who withholdeth was the papacy;
• that the Holy Sacrifice has been taken away by the usurpers in fulfillment of prophecy and this is why evil has exploded since it was abolished;
• that we cannot expect even a spiritual era of peace, i.e, the so-called “millennium”

then certainly it makes sense that the Mount of Olives may well be beginning to split in two and the Golden Gate could be “opened” by the great earthquake in Apocalypse Chap. 16. But as St. Paul warns, “Let no man deceive you…”  These gullible Christians and Novus Ordo types are ripe for even greater deception than they are involved in already. Prophecy has been manipulated to make it appear that things are other than they appear to be. And the Internet is the perfect breeding ground to promote these deceptions. Satan comes to us in all power signs and lying wonders. Therefore, stand fast. (2 Thess. 2: 9, 14).

Millenarianism and a possible link to the Fatima secrets

by T. Stanfill Benns | Oct 13, 2026 | New Blog

+St. Edward, King of England+

In the past, there’s been some objections to the designation by the Church of certain suppositions as not safe for belief, and this would include the recent topic we discussed in our last blog concerning the Millennium. The designation for that error as not safe appears to indicate that there will be some time of peace between the death of Antichrist and the Second Coming, as certain private prophecies and Scripture commentators predict. Below we see how the Church classified “not safe for belief,” and what that classification means.

“When an opinion which at one time the Church declared could not be safely taught is later established by new arguments, it can be accepted by Catholics without any implication that the doctrine of the Church has changed. There is no inconsistency in holding that a view which at one time could not be reasonably maintained because the arguments were insufficient can later be demonstrated by virtue of new proofs” (Rev. Francis J. Connell, “Does Catholic Doctrine Change?,” American Ecclesiastical Review, Nov., 1947).

What Rev. Connell says above is dependent on the assumption that there would be canonically elected popes to determine such things. And as we know, there is no possibility now that we will have another pope, nor as with other decisions of this nature, can he answer the question on whether it could still be speculated upon by approved theologians, who all disappeared with the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. Pope Pius XII’s papal election constitution Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis is written ins such a way that that no other conclusion is actually rational. If you accept the vicar of Christ as God’s mouthpiece, then you must accept the fact that certain things cannot be done during an interregnum, and that if they are done despite what he legislates, that they are null, void and invalid. Obedience allows us no other choice.

We either believe that the Pope speaks with Christ’s voice or we don’t. It is either true or it is not true. If we don’t accept it, then I don’t see how anybody not accepting it can be members of the Catholic Church because it’s a tenet for belief. What probably needs to be done here is to track down why Catholics believe so strongly there would be an era of peace in the first place. And I think this can be laid up mainly to the Fatima apparition and messages given to the children. It’s appropriate that we mention that today since October 13 is the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun. Now I have explained in other articles on my site that I believe that there are some major, major problems with Fatima. And I say this with very good reason, having thoroughly researched it and prayed about it for a long time.

But I do believe Our Lady appeared there. I do believe that she told Sr. Lucia certain things, maybe up to the 1930s, in addition to those secrets given to the three children, and that she reported accurately her vison of the Trinity at Tuy. But there was a concerted effort, which can be proven and shown to be true, to totally use Fatima as a vehicle to steer the faithful to ecumenism. This was explained at length in The Phantom Church in Rome. The first thing I’d like to mention as far as that demonstration is the fact that in one of the messages related to us by Father Goncalves, Our Lady told Lucia that when Lucia was praying to Our Lady, Our Lady told Lucia that the Pope would consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but it would be late. And that’s what was reported for many, the sentence structure seemed off. I know tthat sounds funny, but even when I was not all that into researching things, it just seemed strange that it would be put that way.

Pius XI fails to consecrate Russia

And then some more recent Novus Ordo writers came out and said, no, no, it translates as “too late.”  Now I’m not sufficiently familiar with the Portuguese language to say with any certainty whether that’s valid or not, but it makes a lot more sense to me than late. And it’s borne out by the fact that at the time Our Lady appeared to the children, the Russian Revolution hadn’t even broken out yet, not until November of 1917. Now, if you look at this from that point of view, and the fact that Pius XI is specifically mentioned in one of the secrets, I think it’s quite clear that what Our Lady was asking Pius XI to do was consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart before things got out of hand and communism was established in that country. So why didn’t he do it? Perhaps his advisors were ill-informed, he was preoccupied with other matters, or his prayers on the subject indicated otherwise. There’s just no way of knowing why it wasn’t done when Our Lady asked for it to be done.

But I think the consequences are pretty clear. The consequences show us that communism prevailed. Russia did spread her errors, and that’s what Our Lady predicted if the consecration was not made. She told the children on July 13, 1917: “IF My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, which will be converted, and a time of peace will be given to the world.” There again, everything makes sense today if you end this message of Our Lady with the word “triumph.” for Our Lady would triumph when Christ comes to cast the false prophet and Antichrist into Hell, and perhaps she will manifest herself in some way at this time.

But the last two sentences on July 13 appear to contradict everything that is said prior to that.  Why would she say a certain period of peace would be granted despite the fact that the consecration wasn’t done and Russia spread her errors?  It makes sense that if it wasn’t done the way she asked it to be done, there wouldn’t be a peace because the very fact that Russia spread her errors and World War II commenced was punishment for Pius XI not consecrating Russia to her as she requested and not enough of the faithful saying the Rosary and making their First Saturdays. Maybe the peace she was referring to was a false peace? I would doubt that, but there was a certain period of peace between the end of World War II and the death of Pope Pius XII. Not very long, but then the enemy’s plans were already well underway.

Questions about the secrets

In the article The Fatima Controversy on this site, we read: “Many events reported in Frere Michel’s work, (The Whole Truth About Fatima), when linked to other events, seem to point to the fact that Pope Pius XII had serious doubts about Fatima following 1952. These doubts seem to have surfaced, several appear to agree, during the poisoning of Pope Pius XII as related by his own physician in August 1952. These deep reservations seem to have been more or less confirmed over a two-year period (1952-54); perhaps discoveries made about the true state of affairs in the Holy Office once Montini was no longer pro-secretary of state?). In 1952, after issuing the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on July 7, Pope Pius XII reportedly commissioned the Austrian Jesuit Schweigl to present 31 questions regarding the conversion of Russia to Sr. Lucia, who possibly by that time was deceased. Was Pius XII perhaps suspicious that Russia was not the true focus of the apparition? Was it possible he even suspected she was no longer alive? Schweigl later revealed his previously undisclosed mission to the Vatican 2 council fathers (according to Frere Michel). He also told them that “…in 1952, the Archbishop of Coimbra demanded that the replies given by Sister Lucia not be published without authorization of the Holy Office.” And that authorization was never given.

In late August of 1952, shortly after sending Schweigl to speak to Sr. Lucia, while Montini was still acting as Pope Pius XII’s pro-secretary of state in the Vatican, Frere Michel reports that Pope Pius XII fell gravely ill, according to his physician Galeazzi-Lisi. According to Frere Michel and one account online, Galeazzi-Lisi attributed the illness to “chromic acid poisoning” caused by the pope’s toothpaste.  This report came from John-Peter Pham, an American priest who served in the Vatican diplomatic service. What Galeazzi-Lisi failed to mention is that he had referred Pius XII to the dentist who prescribed the chromic acid treatments. The pope’s gastritis returned the following year and on the advice of Galeazzi-Lisi, the pope received unorthodox treatments for the condition, according to Pham. Pius XII received these same treatments again in January of 1954 when he became gravely ill with gastritis and a diaphragmatic hernia.

According to William E. Barrett’s biography of Paul 6, Shepherd of Mankind, shortly after the death of the former Archbishop of Milan in August of 1954, Pius XII told Montini he would be appointed to the empty see. The official announcement of his appointment was not made, however, until November of 1954.

Barrett also confirms the pope had suffered quietly from his stomach condition for some time before it worsened in January of 1954. During the time span of Pope Pius XII’s illness, August of 1952 to December of 1954, the pope had learned many disturbing things about Montini. It was shortly before his illness worsened that Pope Pius XII discovered Montini’s true role as a U.S. agent, working first with the OSS and later the CIA. Ill or not, the pope took action. Following the additional discovery that Montini was actively cooperating with the Communists, had failed to inform him of a schism in China, and that some of the information he had leaked to the Soviets resulted in the assassination of bishops and priests sent secretly into Russia, he informed Montini of his dismissal as pro-secretary of State. And perhaps, following his dismissal, and Pius XII’s eventual recovery from the poisoning he suffered, he began to discover certain connections regarding Fatima and Montini’s activities that also alarmed him.

Fatima as a political vehicle

Frere Michel asks in his work: “Why did the Holy Office, in 1956-1957, suddenly demand the manuscript of the third Secret when it was no longer offered to it, and had refused the manuscript in 1944? Bishop da Silva had permission to read the Secret, but …he stubbornly refused to open it. They knew that after him, it would fall to the Patriarch of Lisbon to open it and divulge it to the world in 1960, or upon the death of Sister Lucy prior to 1960. Perhaps they feared that the seer would grant the future Bishop of Leiria, Msgr. Venancio, permission to read it. In short, one could be certain that if the Secret remained in Portugal, it would certainly be revealed to the world in 1960.” Frere Michel then goes on to speculate that forces suspicious of the Fatima Secret did not wish it to be left in the hands of the Portuguese hierarchy who might certainly release it, whether it was providential to do so or not. And he concludes that the Holy Office wished to reserve that decision to itself.

“To provide an excuse, they requested a photocopy of all writings of Sister Lucy. Yet, it was clear that only one thing really mattered: transferring the original text of the Secret from Leiria to Rome, to snatch it from the hands of its future recipient, Cardinal Cerejeira” (Ibid.). The delivery of the photocopies of Sr. Lucy’s writings and the Third Secret to the Vatican is seen by Frere Michel to be a sort of hostile takeover, to prevent Cerejeira from releasing the secret. But the corruption of the Fatima Secrets and their message may well have begun under the very cleric primarily responsible for promoting the American Proposition heresy of John Courtney Murray, Felix Morlion. Morlion was great friends not only with Murray, but with Roncalli, Maritain and Montini. Morlion’s propaganda program, the Apostolate of Public Opinion, was set up in Lisbon with the help and blessing of Cerejeira. It was the perfect vehicle for moving Americans to support the Cold War and the anti-communist campaign carefully engineered to promote democracy. It is no wonder that the CIA funded Fatima prayer campaigns. It is interesting to note that Montini was the first to promote the false version of the Fatima prayer, “lead all souls to heaven.” The true and original prayer was “assist the poor souls in Purgatory especially the most abandoned,” and it was given a 100 days indulgence.

Pope Pius IX and La Salette

Fatima would not be the first secret to be co-opted by enemy forces. Many modern-day prophecies have been shamelessly falsified or corrupted in some way. There are parts of the 1846 La Salette secret that were completely manipulated by Melanie Calvat’s confessor and are so misconstrued that it really did not reflect what Our Lady told Melanie and Maximin. That being said, I also think that some of the real truths of what was said in the La Salette secret shine through quite clearly. I say this because there was a separate secret that the children were asked to write out and hand to Pope Pius IX. Given what the pope said after reading that, I don’t think that there can be much doubt that Pius IX believed what Our Lady told Melanie to be true and obeyed her requests. This is recorded in one volume that I have here on the Secret and the apparition of La Salette, (Mary Fabyan Windeatt, The Children of La Salette, 1951).  After reading it, Pope Pius IX was asked what it said, and he just quoted from Holy Scripture: that if we don’t do penance, we shall all perish. So, I think it’s pretty clear. He certainly didn’t discount it; he understood and took to heart what was said. Had Pope Pius XI followed the example of his predecessor I might not be writing this today.

Windeatt related in her work that Melanie asked how to spell ‘infallibility’ and ‘Antichrist,’ also the word ‘defiled.’ Having asked those particular questions, and then later Pope Pius IX convening the Vatican Council in 1869, I think it’s pretty telling that obviously there was some other secret that was to be relayed only to the pope, and that whatever that secret was, he took it most seriously.  The council legislated that the pope has supreme power and authority over everyone, even all the bishops, all the priests, each one of us personally. And as Melanie Calvet herself would later say, as did St. Catherine of Siena and Pope Pius XI, “The pope is Christ on earth.” This is something people don’t understand and absolutely refuse to comprehend. But if they had, many of the dangers we face today could have been avoided or mitigated.

Conclusion

The subject of Millenarianism had been a hot topic for decades. The popular belief at the time that Pope Pius XII made his decision about the topic was that following Antichrist’s reign, the Church would enjoy a spiritual revival of sorts and a holy pope, even a Great Monarch would reign, (although this belief about the Monarch was born of legends that long preceded any Catholic prophecies so-called). Clearly that cannot happen now, and once a decision is finally made on a disputed topic, it may no longer be discussed or debated. This Pope Pius XII taught in Humani generis below.

“Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters does not of itself demand consent, since in writing such Letters the Popes do not exercise the supreme power of their Teaching Authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary teaching authority, of which it is true to say: ‘He who heareth you, heareth Me’… Generally, what is expounded and inculcated in Encyclical Letters already for other reasons appertains to Catholic doctrine. But if the Supreme Pontiffs in their official documents purposely pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that that matter, according to the mind and will of the Pontiffs, cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion among theologians.

“This deposit of faith our Divine Redeemer has given for authentic interpretation not to each of the faithful, not even to theologians, but only to the Teaching Authority of the Church. But if the Church does exercise this function of teaching, as she OFTEN has through the centuries, either in the ordinary or in the extraordinary way, it is clear how false is a procedure which would attempt to explain what is clear by means of what is obscure. Indeed, the very opposite procedure must be used. Hence Our Predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, teaching that the most noble office of theology is to show how a doctrine defined by the Church is contained in the sources of revelation, added these words, and with very good reason: “in that sense in which it has been defined by the Church.”

The question must be asked, now that the Church in Rome is occupied by the enemy, how could Russia ever convert? Is such a conversion to the Novus Ordo under the guise of a Catholic revival in the offing? If Leo 14 dies soon from his cancer will the next pope be a Traditionalist and make everything all better again? Will it be staged to coincide with the expected Jewish Millenium? Nothing would surprise us at this point, nor should it. Everything possible will be attempted to deceive the elect. Whatever lies ahead, may God grant us the strength to stand firm in the faith, and persevere until the very end.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Little Flower, let fall a shower of roses

by T. Stanfill Benns | Oct 3, 2026 | New Blog

All doubt removed that Paul 6, Man of Sin, was the dreaded Antichrist

by T. Stanfill Benns | Sep 29, 2026 | New Blog

+St. Michael the Archangel+

A recent post on Novus Ordo Watch has revealed that Giovanni Baptiste Montini’s (Paul 6’s) erstwhile friend, the French progressive Jean Guitton, announced in 1992 that just before the closing of the false Vatican 2 Council, Paul 6 stated the following: “I am about to sound the seven trumpets of the Apocalypse.’” As will be seen below, this announcement involves the release of Satan from the abyss and the woes that accompany the reign of Antichrist. And who would be better qualified to make such a statement than the Man of Sin himself? A brief summary of the chilling judgments announced by the angels with the seven trumpets will serve as an introduction to the comments below by different Scripture scholars on the meaning of each trumpet blast.

• First Trumpet: hail and fire, mingled with blood cast on the earth
• Second Trumpet: great fiery mountain cast into the sea
• Third Trumpet: star ‘Wormwood’ falls from heaven
• Fourth Trumpet: darkening of sun, moon, and stars
• Fifth Trumpet: bottomless pit opened, plague of locusts (first woe)
• Sixth Trumpet: four avenging angels loosed (second woe)
• Seventh Trumpet: seven angels pour out seven vials of wrath, triggering in seven last plagues (third woe)

The above account is taken from Apocalypse Ch. 8 (vs. 1-2,6-13); Chapter 9 and Chapter 11 (14-19).

Rev.  George Leo Haydock, 1858 commentary on Holy Scripture

Haydock relates under Apoc. Ch. 8 That some commentators believe the vision of the trumpets is just a general allusion to the persecutions and punishments God permits to happen to His Church. Others, he says, “…are all predictions which shall not happen till a little time before the end of the world and Antichrist’s time, after which will follow the day of general judgment, the punishment of the wicked, and the reward of the just… It is a very common opinion that all these disasters shall happen in a great measure literally about Antichrist’s time, a very short time before the end of the world.”

Haydock generally classifies the woes of the seven trumpets as occurring in ages past. But as other commentators have observed, this does not mean they do not also occur at the time of Antichrist, as Haydock seems to agree above. The fourth trumpet foretells greater punishments and miseries in succeeding ages of the Church, and the eagle mentioned in Apoc. 8:13 foretells, he said, the swiftness with which these succeeding miseries shall come. In Apoc., Ch. 9, (fifth trumpet), he identifies Luther as the angel with the key to the bottomless pit, (vs. 11) which I disagree with, for reasons to be stated below. The sixth trumpet announces the release of the four angels bound in the great River Euphrates, mentioned again in Apoc. 16. This Haydock ascribes to the loosing of the devil himself when the bottomless pit is opened, “…from whence a smoke has risen, which has darkened the heavens and the stars, and locusts are coming out with stings, and numerous races of sectaries and heretics, who have renewed all the ancient heresies and invented many monstrous opinions of their own. These have filled our cities, villages, camps, houses, nay, our pulpits too, and lead the poor deluded people with them to the pit of perdition.”

As to the seventh trumpet sounding in Apoc. 11: 14-19 he wrote: “The saints and blessed spirits in heaven are represented praising God with loud voices at the approaching of the kingdom of God. Some understand at the end and consummation of the wicked world after the destruction of Antichrist, when the blessed shall reign in heaven, but others expound this of the triumph of the Christian faith and church, when the providence of God, putting an end to the persecutions against the Christian religion [in the early days of the Church], becomes the kingdom of our Lord…” The opening of the temple of God, (vs. 19), he interprets, according to Rev. Alleman, as the cross that appeared in the air to Constantine. But this could also mean the cross that appears in the sky at the approaching end of the world.

Bishop Andrew of Caesara, 7^th Century (Catholic University of America Press, 2011)

First trumpet — (Hail and fire, mingled with blood): “…Not one-third is to be punished in the future out of all the people, but the majority — “for the road is wide that leads to destruction” — but that these things mean rather the plagues prior to the final consummation of the world, and hail from heaven means those afflictions that will come according to the just judgment of God, the fire mingled with blood <indicating> the destruction by fire and the daily murders taking place at the hands of barbarians. From these, as we see, not less than one-third of all the creatures living on earth will be killed in a perceptible manner, destroying by wars not only people, but also [91] all the things that the earth brings forth. And the blessed Joel (2:30) strengthens our own opinion regarding the things set forth, saying that “blood and fire and vapor of smoke” are to come “before the great day… [of the Lord].”

Second trumpet — (Great fiery mountain cast into the sea): “For those being punished are more than the saved, as was said… The abyss of the divine judgments, which on the one hand punishes quickly, but on the other hand is greatly patient for their return and repentance. We believe that the great mountain means the devil, as some of the teachers thought, burning by the fire of his anger against us, to be kept for the Gehenna, and in the time of his allowance with his cooperation one-third of the islands in the sea, and of the ships and of the things that swim in the sea are destroyed, just as he had done to Job during the former time.”

Third Trumpet — (Star ‘Wormwood’ falls from heaven): “Some say that Wormwood implies the bitter grief shown happening to the sinners being punished in Gehenna, those who because of their great number naturally are called the waters. We think that the grievous pains are what are signified through these things, according to the time being described. Either the star means these things which come upon men from the heavens, or the devil is signified by this, concerning whom Isaiah says: “How did he fall from heaven, the morning star rising at dawn?” For he, upset, agitated, and bitter, makes people drunk through pleasure and thus connives to bring chastising punishment on them here… on account of the long-suffering of God, and causes <people> not to believe in the future reward, bringing spiritual death down upon those who do not endure.”

Fourth Trumpet — (Darkening of sun, moon, and stars): “We think that these things also fit the sayings by Joel about the sun and the moon, which things were already drawn out according to the decision of the Master concerning the end. We say that by the one third of the luminaries and stars and the one third of the day and night is shown an interval <of time>, so that we might know that, even then, God does not bring unmitigated suffering, but, allowing those who have been wounded to suffer the one-third interval of time, <he> imperceptibly encourages the greater portion which remains <to repent>. For who will be able to bear the cup of the divine wrath unmixed?”

Fifth Trumpet — (Bottomless pit opened, plague of locusts, first woe): “By divine allowance he <the angel> leads up the evil demons who had been condemned in the abyss, those whom Christ bound when he became man, so that they might do their uncompleted tormenting work before the end. The smoke is the gloom which precedes the evil deeds out of their encounters; those will receive authority given to them to torment people. The darkness of the sun and air means the spiritual blindness of the people who cut off their light, or the ill-tempered attitude <shown> by them because darkness is considered light to those in pain. And the mental locusts, who sting people like scorpions, show the death which is the harm of the soul hiding at the end of evil deeds, to which <death> those are subjected who had not been sealed with the divine seal on their foreheads and <who do not> shine roundabout with the enlightenment of the life-giving Cross through the Holy Spirit, so that according to the saying of the Master, they “shine their light before men for the glory of the divine name.”

Sixth Trumpet — (Four avenging angels loosed, second woe): “I myself think… these four angels are the most cunning demons who were bound upon the coming of Christ who, by the divine command coming out of the heavenly altar, which was an image of the ancient tabernacle, were released by the divine angel so as to rouse the nations, not only against Christians, but also against one another, so that those tested might be revealed as the faithful ones and shown to be worthy of greater rewards and of the heavenly mansions… If they are bound at the Euphrates, it is nothing strange. For they have been sentenced by God…, bound to be eternally tormented after the completion of their war against human beings. And perhaps by the mention of the Euphrates it is shown that Antichrist will come out of those parts. And it is not necessary to doubt the great number of demons, for all the saints say that they fill the air.”

Seventh Trumpet — (Seven angels pour out seven vials of wrath, triggering the seven last plagues, third woe): “After being long-suffering, finally He inaugurates the judgment against the unbelieving nations, which are angry at this as if it were a recent and strange teaching… By the opening of heaven and the vision of the Ark is meant the revelation of the “good things prepared” for the saints, just as all things are “concealed” in Christ, “in whom all the fullness of divinity dwelt bodily,” according to the Apostle. At that time they will be revealed, when the awesome voices and lightning and thunder, the punishments of Gehenna, will come upon the lawless and impious, like hail raining upon them in the transposition of the present things during the earthquake.”

St. Bede, An Explanation of the Apocalypse, (b. 672, d. 735)

Chapter 9

1. star. He declares with what fuel the flame of heretics, of which he had spoken briefly, was kindled. The old enemy forsooth, whom the Lord saw “like lightning fall from heaven,” opened the heart of his own by blasphemous doctrine, and taught them to speak impiety against the Most High.

2. smoke. The madness of heresy rages to announce beforehand the great furnace, namely, the last persecution; and it labours to obscure not the weak alone, who like the air touch, as it were, the confines of earth and heaven, but the light also of the lofty, though unable to extinguish it For even the elect, if it be possible, will be led into error

3. loosed. In the same manner as prophecy, which points out to us things to come, he himself in spirit sees them come to pass. And he has four angels, because the persecution will rage in the four parts of the world. For these are they whom he saw above, standing at the four corners of the earth, and restrained from injuring the earth and the sea for the sealing of the servants of God.

4. prepared. The malignant spirits, who at every moment of the hours and times hunger for the death of man, are then permitted for the trial of the Church to rage more freely, and are to be destroyed in their time? But what, thinkest thou, will they do, when they are loosed, who now injure so much while they are bound?

Chapter 11

15. seventh. The six former trumpets, corresponding with the periods of the present age, announced the various conflicts of the wars of the Church. But the seventh, heralds in the eternal sabbath, and shews alone the victory and the dominion of the true King.
16. worshipped. Behold, he says, the third woe will come at the voice of the seventh angel. And when he had sounded, he only spoke of the Church as praising God and giving thanks, from which we understand that the retribution of the faithful will be nothing else than the woe of the evil ones.
17. who art. “Thou hast reigned from the age, although the ungodly are rebellious against Thee. But now that Thou art Judge, their fury will be repressed, and will cease.” For, “The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry.”
18. dead. It agrees with the order, as we read in the Gospel, that first, indeed, all nations should be gathered together before the Judge, then that those on the right hand should be disposed in many mansions in the Kingdom of the Father, but that the ungodly should be driven out beyond the limits of the kingdom, to be burned in the accursed flames.

Rev. E Sylvester Berry, The Apocalypse of St. John,1921

Hail and fire — The faithful’s rejection of Christ’s merits, bringing down the punishments of God

Burning mountain or volcano — Some great nation bringing war and bloodshed upon a large portion of humanity (America?) and great persecutions against the Church.

The great star Wormwood — “A striking image of unfaithful bishops and priests who fall from the firmament of the Church where Christ has placed them to enlighten and direct the world. By false teachings and example, they poison the very sources of doctrine which alone, should flow pure as water from the mountain torrent.”

The Eagle — a powerful nation which shall be an instrument of God’s judgments upon the world. (Again, America?)

Angel opening the bottomless pit — “Society is tottering to its very foundations. The reign of Antichrist must be relatively near and will mark the culmination of evil. Instead of the keys of heaven, this apostate priest received the key of the bottomless pit. He did in very truth open the pit by turning loose against the Church all the fury of hell. By tongue and pen he instilled into the hearts of individuals and nations a diabolic hatred of the Church which still manifests itself in calumny, misrepresentation, and opposition to the Church. The dense smoke arising from the pit obscures the heavens… Catholic doctrine is obscured and lost to many peoples.” The locusts issuing from the pit “burns and poisons the soul with false doctrines… The king of these symbolic locusts is called the Destroyer, Exterminans. He is Lucifer, the angel of the abyss, the leader of the rebel angels. His minions on earth are the leaders of heresy, schism, and persecution.”

Four Angels of the Euphrates — “The captive angels are demons who will arouse new enemies and increased enmities against the Church. In a figurative sense they represent the new enemies thus aroused against the Church whether they be nations, individuals, or secret societies hostile to her. Four, the number of universality indicates how widespread will be their influence… Great numbers will be done to death in the religious wars and revolutions stirred up by these angels from the Euphrates. The prophecy may also mean that large numbers will be led into new errors and schisms.” In a previous blog, we note that some believe that with the drying up of the Euphrates River, the place where these Angels were held captive has been revealed. Several YouTube videos have speculated about this.

Second and third woes — “The reign of Antichrist is the second woe announced by the eagle. The third woe following close upon the second shall end with the destruction of Rome, the new Babylon, and the defeat of the false prophet. The seventh angel proclaims the triumph of Christ and his kingdom which shall endure until the end of time. The Church, the kingdom of Christ shall be established upon the ruins of the empire of Antichrist… Toward the end of the world a final revolt against the Church shall be punished by a deluge of fire. Shortly thereafter shall come the resurrection of the body and the general judgment in which God will reward his prophets and saints and all who fear his name, be they great or small.”

Dom Bernard Orchard, A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, 1953

The hail mixed with blood is characterized by Orchard as possibly a volcanic eruption or meteor. He interprets Wormwood as “a perversion of justice, or the fruits of idolatry or divine chastisements.” He equates the angel with the keys to the abyss as Destruction, the Destroying Spirit, the keys of death and Hades. He says the seventh trumpet will denote “the consummation of the mystery of God, the joyous news that He has given to His servants the prophets to proclaim the accomplishments of the whole of the divine plan.”

Rev. Herman Bernard Kramer, The Book of Destiny, 1958

We quote Rev. Kramer here with a caution, since it appears he believes, as many LibTrads today are taught by their pseudo-clergy to believe, that there will be a glorious restoration and spiritual revival of the Church following the death of Antichrist (although they never identify him). An explanation of why Kramer’s speculations will be given below and a link provided to gain a necessary understanding of why Catholics are forbidden to believe in this fairy tale. Nevertheless, many of his other observations are quite apropos, and we have quoted him on this site many times in the past. Below is his explanation of the seven trumpets.

First trumpet — (Hail and fire, mingled with blood): “The [hail] storm represents bloodshed… In Ezekiel, hail is an instrument of judgment. It is not real hail, but hostile, pillaging, plundering armies, …laying the crops to the ground… Famine always followed in the footsteps of the invading, marauding armies… In Ezekiel, hail came as a punishment for heresy, for the false doctrines of the false prophets.”

Second trumpet — (Great fiery mountain cast into the sea): “Blood again is the outcome of this scourge. It is produced in the sea… Fire is the element that converts the third part of the sea into blood. In other parts of the Apocalypse… here too… it evidently represents hatred or religious fanaticism. The huge mass of the burning mountain tumbled into the sea throws it into such convulsions as to sink two-thirds of the ships… In the writings of the early Fathers, the ship has been a symbol of the Church… Ships in this verse are churches and places of worship.”

Third Trumpet — (Star ‘Wormwood’ falls from heaven): “This star… Wormwood [transforms the water into] a deadly poison, and though not fatal to all people in the area upon which the star falls, it brings death to many… This metaphor… Wormwood… intimates something contradictory of God’s order or ordinance. The “star,” according to 1: 20 is a bishop or a priest. A “great” star would be an eminent bishop… [This bishop] does not fall into heresy or unbelief, but schism… In the language of the prophets … God threatens wormwood as food to the pseudo-prophets who usurped the right and authority to teach, claiming to have received visons and revelations when they knew they were deceivers and had no mission to speak for God…Wormwood is threatened by God as food for disobedience…They were self-appointed prophets who received no call or vision from God.”

Fourth Trumpet — (Darkening of sun, moon, and stars): “The lights of heaven bedimmed [mean] the beauty and productivity of earth may be changed… The standard of living may be lowererd, civilization and culture must give way… The vigorous health of people must be reduced…Barbarism must reign supreme in the world again. The scourge bedimming the lights of afflicts the spiritual order heaven… The prophets called any misfortune that dimmed the luster of the theocracy a day of darkness…The darkening of the lights of heaven would then logically mean some calamity befalling the Church and bedimming her glory, weakening her authority and ushering a rapid decline in her influence to direct the destinies of the world.”

Fifth Trumpet — (Bottomless pit opened, plague of locusts, first woe): “In the significance of the key given to the fallen star, we have the antithesis of what was promised Peter. The star is an apostate bishop or priest. The key to the shaft of the abyss is an emblem of rebellion, as the keys promised Peter are an emblem of submission to Christ. It leagues the star with the rebellious angels. The key of the pit is then also an emblem of error, as Peter’s keys are an emblem of truth. As God revealed the truth to Peter, enabling him to make a clear declaration of it before Christ and the apostles, so the king of the bottomless abyss infused his errors into the mind of this fallen star, inspiring him to teach and spread error and immorality over the world.

Sixth Trumpet — (Four avenging angels loosed, second woe): The four angels… are evil spirits, otherwise they would not be bound. They come from the region of the Euphrates, whence come the enemies of God’s people. Since the order comes indirectly from God, it is consoling to know that they can do only what God permits. The number four forbodes a woe on the whole world that will rouse hatreds and wars, and deluge the world with blood. The second woe culminates in the reign of Antichrist. The release of these four evil spirits may precede a resurgence of Mohammedanism, and may lead its religionists to unite with communists in a holy war against all nations who will not join them or submit to their domination. The four evil spirits have waited a long time for the hour in which they might begin their depredation. The hour is mentioned first in the day and month.

Seventh Trumpet — (Seven angels pour out seven vials of wrath, triggering the seven last plagues, third woe): Here is where Kramer goes off the rails. He interprets “there shall be no more delay” in verses 5-6 as: “…The speedy beginning of divine intervention in human affairs to put an end to the kind of things that are wrecking the world. Evils have grown so rapidly and to such enormities as to bring to despair the most optimistic. The time has come in which this shall be stopped. The world is not to be destroyed, but to be saved. And salvation shall be brought by the Church. The Church in men’s outlook seems doomed. The oath of the angel does not mean that evil shall be overcome at once, but that the end is in sight. It will be a continuous development and a successive growth into the accomplishment of the mystery of God when the seventh angel will begin to blow the trumpet. And this comprises the culmination of evil under the beast and his destruction. So his appearance and reign is at hand. St. Peter predicted a time when scoffers would laugh at the promise of the Parousia made by the apostles because the delay had been long and all creation followed its natural course” (2 Peter 3:3 ).

(Ed note: The full text of St. Peter on this topic shows that he was not speaking at all of the Parousia, but rather the Second Coming, with the earth destroyed by fire, (3 Peter 3: 10-12). He then speaks of “new heavens and a new earth,” (vs. 13), the new Jerusalem come down from heaven to earth as spoken of in Apocalypse 21:1. How is this the Parousia? Other commentators do not even reference it.)

The paragraph above on the seventh trumpet is a direct contradiction of the Holy Office’s condemnation of Millenarianism (DZ 2296), confirmed by Pius XII. The full import of this condemnation is explained HERE. Kramer has no excuse for teaching as he does, (unlike Berry, who wrote in 1921, and also expected an earthly triumph of the Church), as this condemnation was issued in 1944. It is interesting that Novus Ordo Watch refers their readers specifically to this work, but then we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this teaching falls right in line with Israel’s expectation of a 1,000-year age of prosperity and the Protestant Dispensationalist’s teaching on 1,000 years of peace.  Mormons also expect this era of peace.  So how are LibTrads any different than Protestants?

Conclusion

As can be seen from the quotes of all the commentators above, they generally agree that the trumpets refer to the time of Antichrist, the Destroyer — Paul 6, as the apostate bishop of Milan — and the appearance of a false church and religion. The entire scenario breathes nothing but heresy, betrayal, death, war, destruction, loss of souls, and the man who says he initiated all this is not Antichrist? When the Angel blows the seventh trumpet, then this is the announcement, essentially, that the Final Judgment is near. How then can one expect a millennium, or ignore the blatant fact that Paul 6 was indeed the Destroyer, and even styled himself as such with the announcement that he was sounding these trumpets? It is ludicrous to believe, as the Novus Ordo Watch article quotes Guitton as relating, that the trumpets were somehow meant to presage the triumph of the Church (seventh trumpet). And what of the other six and their dire implications? The Church, as we know from Pope Pius XII’s Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, cannot recover from the blow dealt by Antichrist, for her jurisdictional structure has been fatally wounded.

Oddly enough, Rev. Kramer even mentions this in his commentary on Apoc., Ch. 10 (the seven thunders): “There will be special decisions made by the Church, and these will complete the work of her magisterial office before the culmination of evil is due to arrive. The decisions may be the read by which the wicked are separated from the good and expelled from the Church.” These decisions were made at the Vatican Council, and in Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis.

“The Church as it was constituted by Christ (Pope, bishops, priests) “was established forever as a hierarchico-monarchical society… to remain unchanged until the end of time… Nowhere in revelation is there any evidence of any intentions to permit exceptions to — or changes in — this constitution in future history by the use of epikeia or on any other basis.” (The History, Nature, and Use of Epikeia in Moral Theology, 1948, Rev. Lawrence Joseph Reilly, A.B., S.T.L.; p. 330-31. A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the School of Sacred Theology of the Catholic University of America). The Church’s time on earth ended with the reign of Pope Pius XII and Roncalli’s usurpation of the papacy. Roncalli was Wormwood, the Patriarch of Venice and a cardinal, and Paul 6, Montini, was the fallen star, the Archbishop of Milan, with the key to the Abyss. The Novus Ordo Watch article notes that they worked in concert, with Roncalli’s invitation to Guitton — an old friend from Paris — to attend the council.

Novus Ordo Watch ends its article with the words: “Enough already.” Enough, perhaps, when such undeniable proof confirms what has been said by this author and others for the past 36 years, that “St.” Paul 6 is undeniably the Antichrist? Enough, when one understands that there will be no period of peace following the death of Antichrist, although a brief period for penance may be given prior to the Last Judgment? Enough, but continue to leave all these Novus Ordo and LibTrad followers in ignorance regarding their participation in a false religion? Yes, enough of fraud and deceit, the very hallmark of Antichrist, perpetuated by LibTrad pseudo-clergy and the Novus Ordo usurpers. We have had MORE than enough.