!? The 'Prophecy of Orval'
(1544)
STATUS: ELABORATE HOAX
In the early 1840s the
'Prophecy of Orval' appeared in print and suddenly became quite
popular in the 1870s and spread rapidly.
The prologue of the early
printed version relates an elaborate history for this alleged
prophecy: that it was first printed in Luxembourg in a book dated
1544 entitled Prévisions d'un Solitaire, which
then was claimed to have been found and subsequently saved by
the monks of the abbey of Orval in Belgium during their escape from
the siege of Luxembourg at the time of French Revolution, which then
“explains” how it was found again in 1793 and circulated once
more.
It astounded people in the
1870s as it seemed to foretell the troublesome events of the period,
and, also supported Henry V as the Great Monarch destined to restore
the throne and bring a great age of peace.
Today, people are still
fooled by the 'Prophecy of Orval' of 1544 and continue to promote
theories that it was possibly an early work of Nostradamus before he
became famous for his well-known prophecies printed in 1555.
'The Prophecy of Orval'
was strategically “linked” to another book allegedly printed in
1542 by an author named “Philippe-Dieudonné-Noël Olivarius,
doctor in medicine, surgeon and astrologer”, which was also claimed
to have been found in the monastery of Orval .When the 1542 book
written by “Philippe-Diedonné' was printed, Nostradamus was not
using the name 'Nostradamus', 'Philippe' was suggested to have been a
pen name for him, as well as 'Dieudonné-Noel”, which literally
means the 'gift of God at Christmas', hinting to Nostradamus' birth
date of December 14 near Christmastime, and it was also alleged he
had spent time at Orval.
People also suggest it
was attributed to his “nephew” named “Filippo Nostradamus”.
Of note, there is no proof this nephew existed either, the book may
be one of the spurious copies that appeared after Nostradamus
actually published his famous verses in 1555 and was falsely
attributed to relatives he never had, a trick of the book trade to
sell bogus prophecies and make a tidy profit using the surname of
Nostradamus.
Therefore, the 'Prophecy of
Orval' dated to 1544 and allegedly composed by a 'solitary', or
clergy-hermit, was made to appear as if was composed by Nostradamus,
or his spurious nephew, and even contains astrology terms mimicking
those found in his famous book of prophecies.
IN ALL, the 1544 'PROPHECY
OF ORVAL' WAS A COMPLETE FORGERY.
When the prophecies began
to circulate widely and caused an public stir, the only extant copy
could be traced by to 1839 / 40, which was noted to be rather
suspicious for a text supposedly dating from 1544.
Then, in 1848, the Bishop
of Verdun published a public letter denouncing the whole thing as a
fraud, that it was perpetrated by a priest in his own diocese who
confessed under the pressure of a juridical examination. The priest
was “Abbé Henri Dujardin”, who first published them under the
title 'L'Oracle', in 1840. The bishop's letter was printed in
several newspapers, including a notable printing in the 'Journal de
Bruxelles', March 19, 1849 according to the the author, Herbert Thurston S.J.
Thurston declares in his book “The War & the Prophets”, (Burns and
Oates, Ltd, London. 1915, pp.) that after writing to the bishop
about the affair, he then heard from the mouth of the guilty
priest himself that the book printed in “Luxembourg 1544”
never existed except in his own imagination, the the prophecies about
Napoleon I was completely fabricated by him, while the rest was taken
at random from ancient and other little-known, obscure sources of
prophesies.
Thurston writes:
“It is abundantly
evident that such a letter (i.e the letter of condemnation by the
Bishop of Verdun)
could not have been
written and published in the newspapers, if the confession of guilt
spoken of therein had not been authentic. The Abbé H. Dujardin, the
priest thus incriminated, was living at the time and made no protest.
He was well known to have identified himself with the prophecy in
print, and though the Bishop does not actually mention his name, he
indicates him clearly by initials as " M. D. . . . Curé de B. .
. ." But in spite of all this, as has been already noticed, the
prophecy was not only revived in 1870, finding thousands of
enthusiastic defenders, but it has also retained its credit with some
strangely constituted intelligences down to our own day.” ('War &
the Prophets': Notes on Certain Popular Predictions Current in this
Latter Age, pp. 18-19)
I've also found this confirmed on a few French sites, that the
'Prophecy of Orval' was indeed a forgery by an 'Abbé Henri
Dujardin', which was actually the pseudonym of Abbot James of the
diocese of Verdun, editor of the “Propagateur de la Foi”, and
that the hoax set of prophecies was indeed first published in 1839.
Therefore, as the prophecy
of Orval is a hoax, it is not included in the Timeline.
