Beatification of a Mystic!

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from the Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2004, with the headline, “Beatification of a Mystic. Vatican City—It isn’t often that a potential saint has a resume that could include ‘Hollywood screenplay,’ but on Sunday, the 19^th century mystic nun who inspired some of the more controversial scenes of Mel Gibson’s hit movie The Passion of the Christ was beatified by Pope John Paul II. Beatification is the last formal level before a person is elevated to sainthood. In addition to Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German nun known for her purported visions of Jesus’ crucifixion, the pope beatified the last reigning emperor of Austria, two French priests, and an Italian nun. Emmerich shared the ‘bitter suffering’ of Jesus Christ and dedicated her life to ‘complete, loving devotion of Him,’ the pope said in a regal ceremony in St. Peter’s Square before an estimated 25 thousand worshipers and tourists. The frail, bedridden nun was said to have borne stigmata, bloody wounds on the hands, feet, and forehead like those suffered by Christ, and when reveling in visionary ecstasy, recounted scenes of Jesus’ torturous last hours. She died in 1824, but not before German poet Clemens Brentano, sitting at her bedside, recorded her accounts. He later published them in a book, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which became something of a bestseller in its day, and then enjoyed new popularity more recently among traditionalist Catholics like Gibson. Gibson was said to have drawn on some of Emmerich’s gory descriptions, which do not appear in the Bible, to portray Jesus’ suffering. Attempting to ease the controversy, the Vatican has said Emmerich’s virtuous life was the basis for her beatification, not the visions as recorded in Brentano’s book. Sunday’s crowd in St. Peter’s Square included a number of fans. Sarah Doylend, a 23-year old graduate of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, has seen The Passion of the Christ three times, and loved it. She said she thought the beatification of Emmerich would help validate the nun’s life, but didn’t mean every one of her visions had to be accepted. “This lends credence to what she did,” said Doylend, who came to Rome to teach English. “She led a holy life, and that’s why she’s being beatified.” “It’s definitely inspirational,” said Doylan’s friend, Lauren Carpentier of Huntington Beach. Both said they attended the ceremony to witness the beatification of all five potential saints as part of their holy duty to attempt to live virtuous lives and, one day, be with them in heaven.”

Tom: Dave, this is from the LA Times, so this isn’t somebody who’s just squaring off against Mel and his movie and so on. A couple things that are interesting, for those that don’t understand the process within Roman Catholicism of the canonization of saints, it’s a process. This beatification is the last step, although they did have a regal ceremony related to it—it’s the next to last step before actual canonization, and in order to be beatified, or become blessed, this would be “Blessed Anne Catherine,” and…you needed a miracle.

At the beatification, one of the qualifications for beatification was that all that she wrote somehow was not contrary to Roman Catholic teachings, and that it would be edifying to most Catholics—that would be a criteria. The other one would be there needs to be a miracle performed of somebody praying to her and then this correlation or connection between the miracle and the prayers to Anne Catherine Emmerich.

The other thing in the canonization process, there have to be two miracles and these have to be substantiated, that God somehow intervened in somebody’s life, can’t just be a, you know, wild guess that something took place that was special.

Dave: But, Tom, a number of things struck me in this article. This 23-year old fan says that, “Well, you don’t have to believe every one of her visions.” Well, now, on what basis then would you believe any of them? They are all—at least the one that’s put into The Passion of the Christ—are all unbiblical. They’re contrary to what the Bible teaches. So you’ve got visions of Christ suffering that this nun supposedly had in her ecstasy, in her trances; they’re not biblical, we don’t have to accept all of them—by what criteria do you decide which ones you will accept and which ones you won’t? Since the Bible condemns them all, and the Bible condemns Mel Gibson’s use of them in this film, which is one of the things that astonishes me that so many Christians leaders say, “Oh, it is biblical.”

Tom: Biblically accurate.

Dave: Yeah, when in fact…

Tom: With the exception of artistic license, that’s another phrase we heard a lot.

Dave: Well, artistic license, there is a bit more than that. Then, of course, Tom, the Bible is written, as we’ve mentioned many times, is written to the saints, the saints at Ephesus. The saints are living people, and every Christian is a saint. The Bible clearly says, “We are called to be saints,” that means sanctified, set apart for God’s use to live for Him and to live holy lives. There is no such idea in the Bible somebody gets to be a saint later on when some pope nominates them, and then the congress of cardinals passes it or whatever, you know? And they go through various stages, and then you can begin to pray to them. Tom, it is so unbiblical, but of course it helps the Catholic church keep in business, because this is their stable of horses to ride into heaven—people you can pray to, and you can admire and so forth. Takes the attention away from Jesus Christ, further denies that He paid the full penalty…this lady had the stigmata and…Well, it’s like Padre Pio who asked permission of his superior to suffer for the sins of the world, and he manifested the stigmata and that’s what this idea is, so Emmerich was also, you know, bearing some of the sins, she was suffering for the sins—absolutely contrary! It is a denial of what the Bible teaches: that Christ once suffered for sins, the just One for us the unjust, that He might bring us to God. And these are sinners supposedly bearing the stigmata and helping to pay for the sins of the world. It’s an abomination, Tom. I’m just astonished.