The following testimonies and revelations are
told by just a few of the several Saints possessing this knowledge that reveal
these horrific facts. They are expounded upon in detail by the Prophesies
and revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden in conversation with Our
Lord, Jesus, Mother Mary and various other Saints during her revelations.
Although St. Bridget lived in the 13th century,
those revelations concerning bad priests continue to hold true even up to this
21st century, and, particularly include today’s many false
priests (those not properly ordained).
All enhancements are mine (Bill Metallo,
President, Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette).
Get ready to be shocked!
In the Saint Leonard of Port Maurice
sermon “The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved” he tells the
following:
Is there any state in the world more favorable
to innocence in which salvation seems easier and of which people have a higher
idea than that of priest, the lieutenants of God? At
first glance, who would not think that most of them are not only good but even
perfect? Yet I am horror-struck when I hear Saint Jerome declaring
that although the world is full of priests, “barely one in a hundred
is living in a manner in conformity with state.”
When I hear a servant of God attesting that he
has learned by revelation that the number of priests who fall into Hell
each day is so great that it seemed impossible to him that there be
any left on earth.
When I hear Saint Chrysostom exclaiming with
tears in his eyes, “Look higher still, and see the prelates of the Holy Church,
pastors who have the charge of souls. Is the number of those who are
saved among them greater than the number who are damned?”
Prophesies and Revelations of St. Bridget of
Sweden
Book 4
Chapter 133
The Mother spoke: “The enemies of my Son were so eager
for his blood that they even inflicted wounds on him when he was dead.
Get yourself ready, for my Son is coming with his great host to speak to
you!” Then He himself came and said: “Earlier, I
likened myself to Moses when he was leading the people, when the water stood
like a wall to right and left. I am indeed like Moses, figuratively speaking.
I led the Christian people, that is, I opened heaven up for them and showed
them the way to walk, freeing them from their oppressor, the devil, as though
from pharaoh.”
They walked, as it were, between the two walls
of the sea to right and left. One of these walls no longer was not
meant to proceed; the other of them was not meant to recede; yet both were to
stand firmly. These two walls were the two covenants. The
first was the old law, the one not meant to proceed. The second was
the new law, the one that was not to recede. Between these two,
firmly standing walls, I went to the cross as though through the Red Sea, for
my whole body was made red with my blood, and red was the once white wood, red
the lance. I redeemed my captive people in order to win their love.
Now, however, Israel, that is, the priests,
neglect me, and they select another god to love. In their passion
for the world, as I said before they love the golden calf. It
becomes desirable to them because of their lust and burns in them because of
their passions, standing strong on its feet with its head and throat of
gluttony. Besides that, they treat me like an idol and lock me in so
that I cannot go. They offer incense to me, yet do not please me by
it, because they are not doing it for my sake but for
themselves. They bend their knee of voluntary obedience to me only
as it suits their desires, in order that I may buy them some temporal
gain. They call out to me, but my ears do not hear them, because it
is not from devotion, and they do not really mean it.
Hear me, my heavenly host and all my
angels! I chose priests in preference to all the angels and other
righteous people. To them along I gave the power of handling my
body. If I had liked, I could have chosen an angel for such an
office. Instead, I had so much love for my priests that I granted
them this great honor, and I appointed them to stand before me in as it were in
seven ranks. They should be as patient as sheep, as steadfast as a
solidly based wall, as courageous as soldiers, as wise as serpents, as modest
as a virgin, as pure as an angel, as burning with longing as a bride for the
marriage bed of her groom.
Now, however, they have turned from me in the
worst way. They are as wild as predatory wolves that yield to none
in their hunger and covetousness, that give honor to none, that have not
shame. Second, they are as unsteady as a stone in a
weak wall. They lack confidence in their base, that is, in God, in
His ability to give them what they need and in His desire to sustain
them. Third, like thieves walking in the dark, they find
themselves in the darkness of vice. They do not have the daring of
soldiers to fight for the glory of God or to undertake a manly
task. Fourth, they stand about like asses with their
heads to the ground, so stupid and foolish, always thinking about earthly and
present conditions and never about what is to come. Fifth,
they are as immodest as whores and approach Me dressed like whores keeping
their bodies for lustful indulgence. Sixth, they are
hideously stained with tar; everyone who comes close to them gets
dirty. Seventh, they are as disgusting as
vomit. It would be milder and better for me to approach vomit than
to spend my pleasure with them. They are so disgusting that the
whole heavenly host is disgusted with them. What would be more
repulsive than a naked man bringing his mouth down to his lower limbs and
eating his own excrement and drinking his own urine? That is how repulsive they
are in my sight.
When they clothe themselves in priestly
vestments, which can be compared to the clothing of the soul, for those
vestments denote how the soul should be, then they clothe themselves as genuine
traitors. When a man who has given his pledge to the enemy of his
lord has to fight together with his lord against that enemy, he blunts his
weapons so as not to injure him. In the same way, when these men
clothe themselves in priestly vestments, which are the clothing of the soul,
figuratively speaking, with which they should protect themselves against the
devil, they keep everything blunted so as not to injure the devil and so that
he need not fear them.
One might ask: How does that happen? Well,
when they clothe themselves with the weapons of continence, they blunt them
through lust and thus do not vex the devil. When they clothe
themselves with the weapons of charity, the weapons do no harm, because they
have been blunted through malice. The weapons, that is the vestments
in which they clothe themselves, are not for their Lord’s protection but are
only for show, just like traitors who act in one way but put on a different
appearance.
O my friends, thus do these accursed,
dissembling priests approach me like traitors. Yet I come to them
all the same, I who am your God and the God of every creature in heaven and on
earth, and I lie there before them on the altar, true God and true
man. As soon as they have pronounced those words ‘This is my body,’
I come to them like a bridegroom to share the delight of my divine nature with
them, but I encounter the devil in them. So when they put me to
their mouths, I take my divine and human natures an go away, and the devil, who
had fled in terror at the presence of the Lord, returns then with pleasure.
Hear again, my friends, what dignity I
conferred upon priests, beyond that of the angels and other men. I
gave them five privileges. First, the power of binding
and loosing in heaven and on earth. Second, I gave
them the ability to turn my worst enemy into a friend, a devil into an angel of
mine. Third, I gave them the power of preaching my
words. Fourth, the power of consecrating and offering
my body something that none of the angels can do. Fifth,
the privilege of handling my body something that none of you would dare to do, if I were lying before you.
I make five accusations against them
now. First, that they open hell and close heaven to
those trying to enter. Second, that they make an enemy
out of a friend and deal two wounds to the person coming to them with only one,
who sees the shameful life of priests and thinks to himself: ‘If he can do it,
even more so can I.’ Third, they make nothing of my
words and assert their own lies while denying my truth. Fourth, they sell me with their lips,
though they should be sanctifying me. Fifth, they
crucify my body more painfully than the Jews did.
Chapter 134
Mary said: “Remember my Son’s passion! He is
coming now.” And there appeared St. John the Baptist who
said to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “God’s anger at the
world has not been so great for a thousand years.” When the Son came, he said
to the bride: “To me it is but an hour from the beginning, and how much time is
that to you? All this time is to me but as a single hour. Regarding priests, I
told you before that I chose them from among all angel and men, yet now they
are more vexing to me than any others.” Then there appeared demons
carrying a soul in their hands. They said to the Judge: “Behold
the warrior!” The Judge answered: “Though
corporal beings cannot hear things of the spirit nor can the corporal eye see
spiritual beings, et for the sake of this woman standing here, the eyes of
whose understanding I am opening, tell us by what right do you own this soul?”
They answered: “We possess him by nine rights or,
rather, transgressions. First, he was beneath us in
three ways, equal to us in three ways, above us in three ways. Our first
right to him lies in the fact that he was good on the outside but bad
within. The second is that he was at times full
of covetousness and gluttony but at other times fasted only for the good of the
body or because of illness. Third, at times he was
severe in word and deed, but at other times his wicked severity was suppressed
for the sake of some advantage to himself. We do not have these defect,
for we are on the outside just what we are within, and we are always wickedly
severe and always equally covetous of evil.
He was our peer in three ways, inasmuch as we
fell through the three sins of pride, covetousness, and envy, and he has these
three himself. He was above and surpassed us in wickedness in three
ways, as being a priest who handled your body. The first was
that he did not guard his mouth with which he was to proclaim your
words. Instead, like a barking dog, he barked out your
words. When he proclaimed your words, we felt the same kind of fear
as someone hearing some terrible sound, and we fled from him in terror at
once. However, he stayed on without any fear or shame. Second,
he did not guard his hands with which he handled your most pure body, but
stained them in every kind of pleasure. Whenever he handled your
body, which was the same body as that in the Virgin’s womb and on the cross,
after the words of consecration had been spoken, then we felt the same kind of
fear as a man whose whole body is convulsed with fear, though our motive was
not divine charity but fear at your power and your great might. He,
however, stood there unafraid and did not tremble to touch you. However,
since it was not fitting that the Lord of majesty should enter into so shameful
a vessel, you would take your divine and human natures and leave him, and he
would remain along, and we, who fled in fear each and every time, would return
to him in a fury.
In all these ways he excelled us in evil, and
this is why we rightfully own him. Therefore, since you are the just
Judge, render judgment for us concerning him.” The Judge
answered: “I hear your demands, but you, wretched soul, while this
woman is present, tell us what intention you had at the end of your life, while
you still had the use of reason and bodily strength.”
The soul answered: “My intention was to sin unceasingly and
never desist. However, because I knew that I would not live forever, I
decided to sin up until the very last moment and that was my intention when I
was separated from my body.” Then the Judge said: “Your
conscience is your judge. Therefore, say in conscience what sentence you
deserve!” The soul answered: “My sentence is the
most bitter, wretched suffering to endure without end and with no mercy.” Then
the devils went off with the soul after hearing his sentence.
Then the Lord said to the bride: “My bride, see how priests treat me! I chose them from among all the
angels and other men, and honored them above them all. However, they
provoke me more than all the Jews and Gentiles and more than all the demons.”
Christ shows how much kindness He has shown to
priests. Yet they, as ungrateful as an adulterous bride, scorn Christ and
love three other lovers, namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil. He
demonstrates this with the example of a priest who had recently died and was
eternally damned.
Chapter 135
“I am like a bridegroom who leads his bride
lovingly into his home. Thus did I join priests to myself with my own
body, so that they might be in me and I in them. However, they respond to
me like an adulteress to her bridegroom: “Your words displease me. Your
wealth is meaningless. Your desire is like poison. There are three
others I prefer to love and follow.” Her gentle husband
answered: ‘My bride, listen to me, wait a little longer, for your
words should be my words, your will my will, your wealth my wealth, your desire
my desire!’ However, she was not at all willing to listen but went off to those
other three. When she had gone far enough off so that the bridegroom
could no longer be seen, the first of them, that is, the
world said: ‘Here the road divides and I can no longer accompany her, so I want
to have all her wealth.’ The second, that is, the
body, said: ‘I am mortal and will become food for worms. She, however, is
immortal, so I will leave her here.’ The third, that is the
devil, said: ‘I am immortal and endure forever. Because she did
not want to stay with her man, she will follow me forever.’
This is how these accursed priests treat
me. They should be my limbs and be as outstanding among others as a
finger on the hand, but they are worse than the devil. So, they will
sink down lower in hell than all the devils, unless they reform
themselves. I call to them like a bridegroom. I do all I can for
them, but the more I call, the farther off they go. My words
displease them; my wealth is a burden; they detest my sweet words like
poison. I run after them, warning them like a kind
father. I sow them the forbearance of a gentle lord. I
coax them with gifts like a good bridegroom. However, the more I
call, the more they turn away from me. They love their three friends
more than me, the world and the body, and the third, the devil, who will take them in and never let them go. Woe
to them, that they ever became priests and the limbs of my body.
The priest who died recently possessed three
qualities. First, he had pride, for he dressed like a
bishop. Second, he was celebrated for his
wisdom. Third, he inclined his will to whatever he
wanted and whatever was pleasing to his body. He practiced fasting
for the sake of bodily health, and did whatever pleased his body, not what was
according to my will. But what good has it done him
now? As a reward for his pride, he stands before me like a man
broken in two, stinking, covered with wounds and broken
skin. Because of his celebrity, he stands forgotten before me, and
he will be forgotten by men. As a reward for his self-will, worms
will take over his body, and demons will torture his soul without end.
Look at what the wretches love and how they
act! Where are his friends, where are his possessions, his honor and
glory? In return for them all, he will now have everlasting shame.
They purchase something small, worldly honor, and they lose something great,
eternal joy. Alas for such as these, woe to them that they were ever
born! They sink deeper into hell than anyone else.”
If few of those who are first in the Church of
God are saved, what will happen to you? Take all states, both sexes,
every condition: husbands, wives, widows, young women, young men, soldiers,
craftsman, rich and poor, noble and plebian, What are we to say about all these
people who are living so badly?
The following narrative from Saint
Vincent Ferrer will show you what you may think about
it. He relates that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and
retreated into a desert place to do penance, and the he died the
same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he
appeared to his bishop and said to him, “Know, Monsignor, that at
the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand
people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to
heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell
into Hell.”
Pray the Rosary and wear the Brown Scapular.