!? Caesarius of
Heisterbach (c. 1180 – c. 1240)
STATUS: APPARENT
MISATTRIBUTION
Caesarius of Heisterbach
was the prior of the Cistercian monastery, Heisterbach Abbey, which
was located in the Siebengebirge, near the small town of
Oberdollendorf, Germany. He is best known as the compiler of a book
of hagiography, the Dialogus miraculorum (ca. 1219-1223), a
collection of 746 miracle stories arranged according to twelve
distinctions. The stories are told in the form of dialogues between
a monk and a novice. The work was often referred to by preachers
seeking material for sermons in the Late Middle Ages. It was
extremely popular and was widely distributed.
There is a prophecy
circulating on the internet that has been attributed to Caesarius and
is recently becoming popular on English sites of Catholic Prophecy.
However, I have not
been able to find anything in early medieval sources attributed to
him with his 'world crisis' apocalyptic prophecy, nor is it mentioned
in current medieval text research.
The “source” for this prophecy seems to have come only recently
from German book by Michael Hesemann and Henry Schneider, "Die
kommende Weltkrise: Wie überlebt man den dritten Weltkrieg?"
(Reichel Verlag, January 1999), and, an earlier text or source is
not surfacing in my search efforts. This alone is dubious, for a
famous medieval author from the 1200s not to have an apocalyptic
prophecy text circulate long before now?
Also, Caesarius himself in
his book shows that he was not comfortable writing down what he heard
of end times events, for he notes through the voices of the 'novice'
and the 'monk' conversing with each other in his 'Dialogus
Miraculorum' that scholars could be easily mistaken on how to read
the events leading up to the Antichrist, which shows he would not
have been comfortable making such a prophecy or commentary:
Novice: “Many visions
are daily recounted concerning the end of the world. I know not
whether credit should be given to them.”
Monk: “Because many have
been deceived about the Antichrist and the end of the world. I
have been reluctant to write down what I have heard. (...)”
(Source: From “Caesarius,
The Dialogue On Miracles (Vol. 2), trans. Henry von Essen Scott and
C. C. Swinton Bland, Harcourt, Brace an Co, NY, 1929, pp. 343-344.)
Furthermore, it is obvious
that the prophecy attributed to Caesarius is a chopped up, shorter
version of the 'Vatiguerro Prophecy' published in the “Mirabilis
Liber”, the first text of which can be traced
back to Johannes de Bassigniaco. The prophecy dates to c.
1345-1382. He was also called 'John Bassigny' by Jean de Bois. .
It is the same practically
word for word as the 'Vatiguerro Prophecy', but the first four
paragraphs of the 'Vatiguerro' prophecy have been removed, i.e..
those related the destruction of Paris, the corruption of the Church,
that Rome would be attacked and the Holy See left vacant for a few
years during the wars and France left without a Regent, i.e. no king.
I can only conclude that
someone only recently must have taken the 'Vatiguerro Prophecy' of
Johannes de Bassigniaco and re-attributed it to Caesarius to make it
appear more credible as coming from an earlier respected medieval
scholar rather than the more dubious “Mirabilis Liber” which
received a few condemnations – the 'Mirabilis Liber' with its many
pseudo-prophecies was put on the Index of Forbidden books in Portugal
for instance! While re-attributing the text, the copiers not only
changed the name of the author but also removed anything relating it
to France, the Great Monarch prophecies, and the punishment of Rome.
Since the text said to be
by Caesarius is a misattribution and basically a repeat prophecy, it
is not included in the Timeline.
However, you can read more about the 'Vatiguerro Prophecy', click here. Even if it came from a
dubious source, it still is credible in that in it is in agreement
with the prophecies of Marie-Julie Jahenny and many other Great
Monarch prophecies.
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Aug. 10, 2020
