'St. Odile Prophecy'
(allegedly 8th Century)
HOAX
DATING from 1916.
The “Prophecies of Saint Odile and the End of the
War” first appeared in France at the height of World War I.
Although the apocalyptic tract is purportedly derived from the
visions of the 8th-century saint, St. Odile, there is no evidence of
the text’s existence prior to its widespread publication in 1916. Very suspect for a prophecy that's supposed to be about 1,200 years old = obvious hoax.
Complete with descriptions of mountains covered with blood, the rise
of the Anti-Christ, and Germany as the “most belligerent nation on
Earth” the hoax went viral, spreading through French newspapers,
church publications, and various handwritten copies. Understandably
unappreciative of their depiction, the German government banned the
text, but the "legend" of St. Odile’s prophecies became embedded in
the French imagination. There was a resurgence of interest in the prophecies during WW II
when the long-dry holy spring dedicated to St. Odile began to flow
again.
Along with countless others, it is known that American author
Gertrude Stein, who continued to live in France throughout its
occupation during WW II. was fooled by them, directly referencing
them in her 1943 satirical novel Mrs. Reynolds.
Due to St. Odile’s wartime popularity, the Church made her the
patron saint of the Alsace-Lorraine region, the long-disputed region
of France along the German border, in 1946, which no doubt
inadvertently made the bogus prophecies more popular. However, as
there is no evidence of their existence before 1916, they were
obviously a hoax and are not included in the timeline here.
