Author Topic: 7 Ages of The Church History | Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser (Read 1559 times)

Hewkonian · « **on:** August 25, 2024, 02:02:10 PM »

PART I

Source: https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/g021_Judg-7.htm

The Judgment of Nations - VII

Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser:
An Age of Tribulation & Heresy

Margaret C. Galitzin

As readers of this series know, we are looking at Scriptures and approved prophecies that present a certain time line that proposes we are in the Latter Times, which will be followed by a time of conversion and peace. Only after that will come the End Times and the Final Judgment.

The three points, which are confirmed by the prophecies of Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauzer, are essentially these:

God will send a severe chastisement to punish the sins of the Revolution against the Church and Catholic Civilization;
There will be a restoration led by a great Leader and a holy Pope, who will usher in a long period of peace when all mankind will give glory to God through Our Lady, a time we call the Reign of Mary;
Only after this period will come the final decadence, which will be the dissolution of the Reign of Mary and the Final Judgment.

Model Priest & Prophet

Ven. Fr. Bartholomew Holzhauser

Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser is an important, although not well-known, prophet for our times. He was born in 1613, the son of a shoemaker near Augsburg in Germany. Gifted with intelligence and zeal, he was ordained in 1639 in the Diocese of Salzburg where he founded the Bartholomites (United Brethren), a religious Institute to correct the already lax customs and lukewarm faith of the secular clergy of those times.

Due to revolutionary influence already in the Hierarchy, the Order did not endure. But what has surfaced and found renewed interest in recent years are the remarkable prophecies of this holy man, who was described by reliable theogians as a man without guile, incapable of fabrications. Those same theologians declared his prophecies contain nothing contrary to Scripture and ecclesiastical tradition. (1)

He correctly identified the Protestant Revolution as the end of one Era and the start of the first Revolution. Further he predicted with the French Revolution and other revolutions of the 19^th century that sought to topple the monarchies and implant the Masonic principles of Equality, Liberty, Fraternity.

“During this period," he correctly foretold, "many men will abuse 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.'" (2)

He also showed the error of the Enlightenment and false science that would soon dominate society: “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.” (3)

The seven candlesticks in the Apocalypse signify the Seven Ages of the Church History

But it is his great work, the Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, that concerns us here. "I was like a child, whose hand was led, while I wrote," he later commented about the time when he was writing. The sublime work – which theologians of the time declared far beyond the natural talents of the German priest – was only printed in 1784, 134 years after his death. (4)

He interpreted the book of the Apocalypse as follows: The seven stars and the seven candlesticks seen by St. John signify seven periods of the History of the Church, from her foundation to her consummation at the Final Judgment. To these periods correspond the seven churches of Asia Minor, the seven days of Creation, the seven ages after Christ and the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.

A central feature of this apocalyptic commentary concern the Strong Ruler and the Holy Pope who would arise at the end of the revolutionary Fifth Period to usher in the Sixth Period, a time of peace when all nations will be united in the Catholic Faith.

The Fifth Age

Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser names the Seven Ages of the Church in this way: The First Church Age is the Apostolic Age which begins with Our Lord Jesus Christ and lasts until the first persecutions. The Second is the Era of Persecution with the martyrs, which lasted from Nero to Constantine the Great; the Third Age is the Era of Illumination from Constantine to Charlemagne.

The Fourth Era, the Period of Peace, is the glorious Middle Ages, when the Church and society gave rich fruit beginning with Charlemagne up to the heresy of Luther.

And so we reach the Fifth Age, which concerns us. It is the Time of Tribulation, which he identifies as beginning with Protestantism. We are in this Era now, although it would seem its end is rapidly approaching.

A Time of Tribulation that will see
the triumph of Our Lord

“This,” says Holzhauser, “is a state of trouble, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. We may with just reason call it a state of purification, in which the Lord Jesus Christ has sifted His wheat, and will sift it again by wars, ѕєdιтισns, famines, epidemics and other scourges, by the tribulation and the poverty which He will suffer to weigh on the Latin Church, by means of heretics and bad Christians, who will take from her the greater part of her bishoprics and countless monasteries, especially the wealthier ones.

"She is oppressed even by Catholic Princes, and despoiled by means of taxes, imposts, and other extortions. ... The Church is become poor and miserable, because she hath been calumniated by heretics, because her ministers are despised by bad Christians, who render her neither honor nor respect. By all these means God will sift His wheat; He will cast the chaff away to be burnt and will gather the wheat into His barns.

"This fifth state of the Church is the state of tribulation, the state of apostasy, full of miseries of every kind. Few will be spared by the sword, by famine and by pestilence. We shall see kingdom rise against kingdom; empires will be divided in themselves, and brought to desolation; principalities and monarchies will be overturned, and almost the whole world will sink into poverty. The greatest desolation will reign over the earth.

"All this has in part been already accomplished (1656 AD); a part remains yet to be accomplished. These things will come to pass by the very just judgment of God, because of the accuмulated mass of our iniquities, whereof our fathers and ourselves have filled up the measure, at the moment when the mercy of Almighty God awaited our doing penance." (5)

Ven. Holzhauser likes this fifth period of tribulation to the fifth day of Creation, on which the earth brought forth birds, fishes and beasts of the field, Why? Because the men of this period will "give themselves up to license, sink to the level of the brute and wallow in lust.

"In this lamentable state of the Church divine and human laws are without force, and made of light account. The doctrines and precepts of the Church are despised; ecclesiastical discipline is not observed by the priests, nor political order maintained by the people. Every one, like the beasts of the field, believes what he pleases, and does what he wills.“ (6)

Infiltration inside the Church

It is interesting to see that Ven. Holzhauser predicts an infiltration of the enemy into the Holy Church, something he could have never imagined could happen in the 1600s, but which did, actually, take place during the 19^th century and did triumph in the 20^th century at Vatican Council II.

Evil times: Francis joyfully receives a hammer and sickle crucifix from Communist President Morales

These times – our times – would be "evil times," he predicted, "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 ... all are seeking excuses.

"God will permit this 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 waste Rome. They will burn the churches and destroy everything." (7)

What will happen at the end of this Age of Affliction? God will make a Judgment of Nations, a great chastisement, where a good portion of the people will die.

But this great chastisement will not signify the End of the World; rather it will signal the end of the Fifth Era and the beginning of better time. For from this age of misery and perturbation – in which Ven Holzhauser had placed himself and his generation in the 17^th century – will come the complete and glorious triumph of Christ's Church on earth.

We will look at this Sixth Age in the next article.

Hewkonian · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2024, 02:03:55 PM »

PART 11

The Judgment of Nations - VIII

Ven. Holzhauser: An Unexpected Intervention
Surpassing All Human Imagination

Margaret C. Galitzin

A compelling argument favoring the prophecies of Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser is his description of the Age of Affliction, (see last article) which he identifies as beginning with the Protestant Revolution and continuing until the Great Chastisement. As he notes: "A part we have seen, but more is to come." (1)

Symbol of the Republic in the
Place de la Republique

During this long Revolution, Ven. Holzhauser foretells heresy inside the Church and the complete corruption of society. There will be the upset of monarchies and establishment of republics that, in turn, will be shaken by chaos and revolutions. At the end of this Age of Affliction, all will be desolate with war, the bishops and priests lax and unfaithful, heresy rife inside the Church, monarchies destroyed and subjects oppressed by corrupted republics, riches extirpated and miserablism everywhere.

All this, as we have witnessed, has come to pass. We are seeing now the auto-destruction of the Church as a consequence of Vatican II, and the ruin of society as a consequence of the Communist and Cultural Revolutions.

Age of Consolation

But, at the very moment when all seems lost, God will intervene in an unexpected way. Ven. Holzhauser states: “When everything has been ruined by war; when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics, then the Hand of Almighty God will work a marvelous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding." (2)

This remarkable change will augur the start of "the Sixth Period of the Church – the Status Consolationis [Age of Consolation], which will begin with the Holy Pope and Powerful Emperor and terminate with the birth of Antichrist (Apoc. 3:7-10).

"This will be an age of solace, wherein God will console His Church after the many mortifications and afflictions she had endured in the Fifth Period, for all nations will be brought to the unity of the True Catholic Faith." (3)

A great leader sent by God

This era will be ushered in a by a layman, a great Monarch or Leader: “There will be a great and holy Pope, and a powerful Leader, who will come to earth as the envoy of God to put an end to disorder. ...

A Great Monarch will end the Revolution & usher in the Age of Consolation

"He will root up every Republic. He will submit all things to his authority and will show great zeal for the true Church of Christ. All heresies will be banished into Hell. The empire of the Mohamedans will be overthrown to its foundation, and his dominion will extend from East to West.

"All nations will come and will worship the Lord in the one true Catholic Faith. Many righteous men will flourish, and many learned men will arise. Men will love justice and righteousness, and peace will dwell on the whole earth. For the Omnipotent will bind Satan for many years, until the advent of the one who is to come – the son of perdition [the Antichrist]." (4)

Of great interest is Ven. Holzhauser's prediction of a new Council, which we surmise will have the task of undoing the destruction worked by Vatican II and unmaking the false saints named by the conciliar Popes, who will have to be officially condemned by the Holy Pope to come:

"No one will be able to pervert the word of God since during the Sixth Period. There will be an Ecuмenical Council that will be the greatest of all Councils. By the grace of God, by the power of the great Monarch, by the authority of the holy Pontiff and by union of all the most devout princes, Atheism and every heresy will be banished from the earth. The Council will define the true sense of Holy Scripture and this will be beloved and accepted by everyone.” (5)

A mighty Monarch & an enlightened Pope

In another prophecy in his Commentary on Chapter X of the Apocalypse, Ven. Holzhauser points again to "the mighty Monarch and an enlightened Pope."

The holy Pope will call the greatest of Church Councils

The mighty Angel who comes down from Heaven (Apoc 10: 1-7) with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth is "the lofty description of that mighty Monarch sent by God. He is a mighty Angel, for no one can resist him, the envoy of God. He will come down from Heaven ...

"The rainbow about his head denotes that he will bring peace to the whole earth. The solar luster of his brow signifies the splendor of his glory, his honor, his holiness, his talents, so that all princes will follow his example. The fiery pillars symbolize the vast extent of his power and fire of his religious zeal ...

"The spread of the Church over all countries will take place by the instrumentality of this strong Monarch, and before the destruction of the world, Christianity will be preached to all the nations of the earth, as foretold in Mt 24:4, Is 2:2, Mich 4:2." (6)

This godly and powerful Leader will be assisted by a holy and divinely enlightened Pope. Ven. Holzhauser says: "And another Angel came out of the Temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat upon the cloud, 'Thrust in thy sickle and reap, because the hour is come to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe' (Apoc 14:15)

"This Angel of the Lord," he explains, "is that great and holy Pope who, moved by God, will cry out of the sanctuary of the Church to that mighty Monarch to root out the tares of wickedness, for the harvest is over-ripe; the measure of sins and abominations is overflowing.

The Angel who will reap the earth
will be an enlightened & holy Pope

"Instructed by a divine revelation, the holy Pope will, by communicating the same, stir up the hearts of princes to a common war, and God will touch the hearts of the warriors so that, animated with one spirit, they will all adhere to the mighty Monarch." (7)

In another of his visions, Ven. Holzhauser saw two mighty thrones that overshadowed the whole earth, where on sat the mighty Monarch and the Holy Pope, the supreme representatives of the spiritual and temporal powers. (8)

As in the Middle Ages, the balance of powers will be restored, with the Pontiff ruling supreme over the spiritual sphere, and the Monarch over the temporal sphere. It will be the restoration of Christian Civilization.

This Sixth Period, or the Age of Solace, coincides perfectly with that long period of peace which Scriptures announce will come after a great Chastisement from Heaven, when Muslims will be defeated and Jєωs will be converted.

Ven. Holzhauser affirms that the Jєωs will indeed be converted at the start of this period, after the great Chastisement: “The Sixth Epoch of the World, which commences with the emancipation of the people of Israel and the restoration of the Temple and of the city of Jerusalem, will endure until the [Second] Coming of Jesus Christ…

Thus is this Age to come the complete and glorious triumph of Christ in His Church and in society. It is the restoration of Christian Civilization predicted by St. Louis de Montfort as the Reign of Mary, a time of flourishing of the Church such as never has been known in History. In True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis stated that, to establish this period, “the Almighty God and His Holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs.” (9)

Age of Desolation

Only at the end of this long period of peace will come the Seventh Epoch, the Age of Desolation, which will be the fall of the Reign of Mary and the coming of the Antichrist. This terrible apostasy will lead to the Last Judgment and the end of the World.

The Second Coming & Last Judgment will take place only after a long period of peace

Ven. Holzhauser writes that in this age the apostasy from the Faith will be general, and then will time come unto its end. To this period corresponds the seventh day of Creation, when God concluded His work and celebrated the Sabbath. So will God close the work of spiritual Creation with His Second Coming and the Final Judgment.

What will cause the fall of the Reign of Mary? Ven. Holzhauser points to a lack of vigilance and general lukewarmness, the same vices that brought an end to Fourth Age, the Middle Ages:

"The evils of this age will be lukewarmness in Faith – coldness of love – perturbation of public order - folly on the part of pastors and rulers, who will be like unto autumn trees without fruit – wandering stars and rainless clouds." (10)

Ven. Holzhauser placed the battle of Enoch and Elias, and their subsequent deaths and resurrection in this last period. After his triumph, the Antichrist will attempt a mock ascension from Mount Olivet but will be precipitated to the earth and swallowed up alive into Hell.

After the death of Antichrist, the German seer affirms, the time will be short. The agonies of the dying world will come to an end with the blast of the Archangel's trumpet.

Conclusion

Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser
(1613-1658)

According to Ven Holzhauser, then, today we are living through the end of the Fifth Age of the world, which is the Latter Times. It is not yet the End Times, which be the Seventh Age of the world.

The Fifth Age that will end in a great Chastisement will give way to the Sixth Age, which will be the greatest and most glorious triumph of the Church in all its History. It will be a long period, the thousand years foretold in Scriptures when due glory will be given to Christ on earth as well as in Heaven.

At the end of this period will come the Great Apostasy, the Seventh Age, which will see the rise of the Antichrist, the greatest persecution of all Church History and the End Times, that is, the end of the world as we know it, to be replaced by “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pet. 3:13).

It seems of interest for the English speaking world to know the fate of England in the predictions of Ven. Holzhauser, who had a burning desire to see the conversion of that country that was once the Dowry of Mary.

Therefore, in the next article, I will look at the destiny of England in the Latter Times.

Hewkonian · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2024, 02:05:24 PM »

PART III

The Judgment of Nations - IX

Ven. Holzhauser: The Destiny of England
in the Reign of Mary

Margaret C. Galitzin

"After desolation has reached its peak in England, peace will be restored and England will return to the Catholic Faith with greater fervor than ever before."

Our Lady of Walsingham, a special patroness of England

This is the famous prophecy of the German Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser (1613-1658) about England, the country he loved and longed to evangelize. He never would do so, as he died young. But his thoughts and words returned often to her longed-for conversion.

In a series of visions collected into a manuscript in 1646, he wrote that he saw that England would fall into extreme misery, that a King would be slain, but afterwards the Kingdom of England would return to the Roman Catholic Faith, and the English people would achieve more for the Church than during their first conversion to Christianity.

‘If the King refuses, he will be smitten’

In the Fourth Vision in that manuscript, Ven. Holzhauser speaks of the apostate British Isles. He describes the scene: As he stood by the Danube in 1635, offering prayers for the whole earth, his gaze turned to Britain:

“My heart poured itself out in many lamentations before God, saying, ‘How long will the adversary hold in bondage this Kingdom, which swims with the blood of martyrs, spilled by that accursed woman Jezebel [Queen Elizabeth I], as she wished to reign in the Church of God?’ And I heard at the same time that the lawful sacrifice would be intermitted for 120 years.“

He saw the multitudes of people thronged together, the land inwardly shaken by armies, as if by an earthquake. The multitude became divided, and he beheld the King (Charles I) standing in the midst. He continued:

Charles I gives his farewell address
before execution, below.
execusion

“And then it was told to me, ‘All rests with the King, and King was, as it were, sold.’

“And towards the west the Heavens were opened, and the land trembled as with an earthquake, and the nations were shaken, and terror came over the whole Kingdom; and it was told me: ‘On the King depended the salvation of the people!’

“And it seemed to me as if he refused; and I heard: ‘If the King refuses, then he will be smitten.’ And the Heavens again opened towards the West; and a large fiery ball came down, flew obliquely, and smote the King.” (1)

He was speaking of the Stuart King Charles I of England and Scotland. The King was staunchly Anglican, anti-Puritan and somewhat open to the Catholics (his French wife Henrietta Maria was Roman Catholic. Instead of embracing the Catholic Faith, he raised anger and division on all sides with secret agreements and concessions, which resulted in the English cινιℓ ωαr (1642-1651) between the Puritan Parliamentarians and the King’s Royalists.

After a long row of defeats of the King’s forces, Charles I in disguise fled to Scotland in 1647. But the Scots, reneging on an earlier agreement with the King, came to new terms with the victorious English Parliament and handed over Charles I to its commissioners.

This was the beginning of the end for Charles I, who would soon be put on trial for treason as “the grand author of our troubles” and cause of bƖσσdshɛd. On January 20, 1649, he was charged with high treason before a specially constituted high court in Westminster Hall and found guilty.

On January 30, 1649, the Stuart King was publicly beheaded on a scaffold outside the banqueting House on Whitehall, declaring himself a staunch Anglican to the end.

This important prophecy of Ven. Holzhauser was thus fulfilled in his lifetime. The King, making appeasements and concessions to multiple parties, divided the people and could not find solid support in any quarter. He refused to take the side of the Catholics; in short, he refused Heaven's inviation.

In the end, he was “sold” by the Scots, and suffered execution at the block. Shortly afterwards, the Mass was forbidden by the Penal Law to be said in the Kingdom and were only repealed more than a century later with the Catholic Relief Act of 1791.

The fulfillment of this prophecy gives credence to his others regarding England, particularly the famous prediction regarding a future return of the country back to the Catholic Faith.

The rest of the vision

After this time of turmoil, Ven. Holzhauser saw a time in the future of peace for England, with the whole land illuminated: “And lo! I saw a ship sailing on the sea, and arrive in port, and righteous and holy men, who were in the ship, landed and they began to preach the Gospel in those countries. They prospered in their undertaking; and that land returned to peace and the sanctification.” (2)

The sun of Faith will rise again
on the English side of the Dover

His German biographer noted that, after this vision, Holzhauser’s thoughts were continuously turned toward the conversion of England: “No resolution was so fixedly implanted in him as to go to England and there, utterly regardless of any risk he might run for his life, make a beginning towards a restoration of the Catholic Faith. He awaited only the Elector’s permission to prosecute this voyage.” (3)

He never received that permission. Induced by close friends to delay his missionary effort to the Isle until after this priestly Institute was more firmly consolidated, he dedicated himself to its needs. It was growing and prospering when he died in Bingen on May 20, 1658, at age 44.

As we have seen, Ven. Holzhauser predicted for the Church a long period of peace and triumph which is to precede the Antichrist and the Last Times. In these Latter Times, the Revolution would be smashed by a great Monarch-Leader and the unity of the Faith achieved under a Holy Pope.

This would be the time, then, of England’s happy conversion. In the time of peace, she would once again be illuminated by the Faith and win by her deeds great glory for God, greater even than in times past.

Other prophecies of England

Anna Maria Taigi also predicted a time of peace after the three Days of Darkness of the Great Chastisement, as described in another article. In these happy days, she predicted, Religion shall extend its empire through the world under “one Shepherd.” England will be converted, as well as Russia and China, and all the faithful will be filled with joy at this overwhelming triumph of the Church. (4)

On his deathbed, Edward the Confessor saw the fall of England & a triumph in the faraway future

As far back as the 11^th century there have been predictions of a great fall and a greater return to the Faith for England. On his deathbed, the 11^th century Saxon King St. Edward the Confessor was visited in a vision by two holy monks of Normandy whom had known in his youth. They denounced the grievous corruptions of the Church and the State, and warned him that God had laid a curse upon the Realm.

The King begged in vain for this sentence to be averted, and finally asked how long the curse should last. They answered with these mysterious words: “In that day when a green tree shall be cut away from the midst of its trunk, when it shall be carried away for the space of three furlongs from its root, when without the help of man it shall join itself again to its trunk and shall again put forth leaves and bear fruit in its season then first shall be the time when the woes of England shall come to an end.”

The severance of the green tree from its trunk signifies the separation of the English Church from the root of the Catholic Church, the Roman See. This tree was to be separated from its life-giving root the distance of “three furlongs.”

These three furlongs could well signify the three centuries before England would again be reunited to the Catholic Church, which can be interpreted as the reestablishment of the Catholic Hierarchy in England by Pope Pius IX in 1850.

St. Paul of the Cross, the Passionist founder, prayed 50 years for England’s conversion

The British Kingdom has yet to reach the season where its woes come to an end with the Protestant sect wiped out. The flowers of virtue and fruits of sanctity it will bring forth seem reserved to the future, perhaps even near future of peace and unity that will fall upon the world in a marvelous way after the Great Chastisement. This period is what St. Louis de Montfort calls the Reign of Mary.

The Cure of Ars also spoke once about England in a prophetic tone. On May 14, 1854, Bishop Ullathorne called on Fr. John Vianney and asked him to pray for England. The Bishop of Birmingham relates that the man of God said with an accent of extraordinary conviction: "Monseigneur, I believe that the Church in England will be restored to its splendor."

This was also predicted by St. Dominic Savio, who related his vision of the conversion of England to Dom Bosco and exhorted him to tell the Pope what he had seen and heard. Dom Bosco did as he asked, as you can read here.

Although there are many others, I will end this article with St. Paul of the Cross, who famously devoted himself to 50 years of prayer for the return of “Mary’s Dower.”

The founder of the Passionist Order told his spiritual sons: “ England is always before my eyes, and if ever again it becomes Catholic, the benefit to the Church will be immeasurable.” (5)

Author Topic: 7 Ages of The Church History | Ven. Bartholomew Holzhauser (Read 1559 times)

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