Did Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser Predict ISIS and the Synod?

Over at Creative Minority Report, Pat Archbold has posted a lengthy excerpt from the prophecies of Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauzer, who seems to have used his God-given gift to predict our present moment in history:

“The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on earth. Nations will fight against nations and will be desolated by internecine dissensions…”

“During this period the Wisdom of God guides the Church in. several ways: 1) by chastising the Church so that riches may not corrupt her completely; 2) by interposing the Council of Trent like a light in the. darkness, so that the Christians who see the light may know what to. believe, 3) by setting St. Ignatius and his Society in opposition to Luther. and other heretics; 4) by carrying to remote lands the Faith which has been banned in most of Europe…”

The bit about Luther sounds more than a little ironic now, what with events going on in Rome and the manifest fall from grace of the Jesuits, but this prophecy was covering a 500-year span of history. Now, sadly, our Jesuit pope, rather than standing in opposition to Luther, celebrates him:

Today ecumenical dialogue can no longer be separated from reality and from the life of our Churches. In 2017, Lutheran and Catholic Christians will jointly commemorate the Fifth Centenary of the Reformation. On this occasion, for the first time, Lutherans and Catholics will have the opportunity to share one ecumenical commemoration throughout the world, not in the form of a triumphalistic celebration, but as the profession of our common faith in the Triune God. Therefore, at the heart of this event, common prayer and the intimate request for forgiveness for mutual faults will be addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ, together with the joy of making a shared ecumenical journey. This refers in a meaningful way to the document produced by the Lutheran-Catholic Commission for Unity published last year and entitled “From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017”.

Back to Holzhauser:

“Are we not to fear during this period that the Mohamedans will come again working out their sinister schemes against the Latin church…”

The rise of the Islamic State and the current hijra of Islamic refugees pouring like a wave across Europe and even into the United States, some of whom are known militants, seems to fit here, wouldn’t you agree? Holzhauser again:

“During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude the Apostle spoke when he said, ‘These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do… They feast together without restraint, feeding themselves, grumbling murmurers, walking according to their lusts; their mouth speaketh proud things, they admire people for the sake of gain; they bring about division, sensual men, having not the spirit.’”

“During this unhappy period, there will be laxity in divine and human precepts. Discipline will suffer. The Holy Canons will be completely disregarded, and the Clergy will not respect the laws of the Church. Everyone will be carried away and led to believe and to do what he fancies, according to the manner of the flesh…

“They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and. nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of the law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments. As a result, no principle at. all, however holy, authentic, ancient, and certain it may be, will remain free of censure, criticism, false interpretation, modification, and delimitation by man…” 7

“These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities.. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. Bishops, prelates, and priests say that they are doing their. duty, that they are vigilant, and that they live as befits their state in life. In like manner, therefore, they all seek excuses. But God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything.…”

Is this sounding at all familiar? In his recent interview with Polonia Christiana (which I plan to write about later today) Bishop Jan Paul Lenga (Retired, from Karaganda, Kazakhstan) said this:

“I think there is no spirit of the Gospel nowadays. Therefore, there is no great message in what the high-ranking hierarchs say. There is no great power in it. It is only a bunch of beautifully spoken words, but there is no truth in it.”

[…]

“If it [the Synod] accepts the statement of those who want to distribute the Holy Communion to the divorced, it would be a heresy in the Church. And if it does not accept, there can be a schism in the Church. German, Belgian, and Dutch schism.”

In the same interview, we get this, from Bishop Schneider:

“When one had observed carefully what happened in the last Synod, 2014, we could observe that in a Church meeting of Catholic bishops – even in Rome – there were pronounced words and affirmations which contradict the Divine truths. For example, some of the members of the synod said that we have to evaluate – positively – homosexual relationships or partnerships.”

[…]

“We are living already in the time of schism. Because when there are priests and bishops who evidently contradict the truths of God, and by their pronouncements, by their actions, they are against…they in some way separate themselves from the truth of the Church. And when I am separating myself from the truth of the Church, I am in a kind of schism.”

And this, from Cardinal Burke:

“What happened during the October 2014 session of the Synod of Bishops was that proposals were made to change the discipline of the Church with regard to marriage. Specifically, the discipline with regard to the exclusion from the sacraments of persons who are living in an irregular union. And…it was claimed that the Church could change the discipline while still upholding the doctrine that marriage is indissoluble. But this is not true. … That is heresy to teach that homosexual relations are not…disordered, or to teach that they have positive elements.”

[…]

“I don’t know what the…those German bishops who made that statement [‘We Are Not Just a Subsidiary of Rome’] are trying to say but if they’re saying that they’re independent from the Universal Church, then they’re no longer Catholic. That can’t be.”

We don’t shy away from connecting the dots on these things here, and while we can’t say for certain that we are living in prophesied times, it doesn’t take much effort at all to see that it’s very likely. In fact, it appears that Cardinal Burke himself made an implicit connection between our present moment and the prophecy of Our Lady of Akita from October 13, 1973, when he said (in the same interview cited above):

“If this [defense of Christ’s teaching on marriage] means that cardinals will be opposed to cardinals, then we simply have to accept the fact that…that that’s the situation which we find ourselves.”

Cardinal Burke did not specifically reference the prophecy. But remember Our Lady’s words:

“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”

We’re here, folks. It’s speeding up. Buckle your seatbelts and grab your rosaries.