Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich - Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations Volume 1 (with Supplemental Reading: A Brief Life of Christ) [Illustrated]

Nihil Obstat:	Em. De Jaegher Can. lib. cens. Brugis, 14 Februarii 1914
Imprimatur:	A. C. De Schrevel Vicar General Brugis, 14 Februarii 1914

This English translation published in 1914 by Descle De Brouwer & Co. of Lille, Paris, and Bruges, in conjunction with The Sentinel Press of New York. Reprinted by Academy Library Guild in 1954, and later by Apostolate of Christian Action, both of Fresno, California. Reprinted in 1979 by TAN Books. Retypeset and republished again in 1986 by TAN Books; full-size edition (same content with enlarged type) published in 2004 by TAN Books.

Typography is the property of TAN Books, and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written permission from the publisher, except that brief selections may be copied for non-profit use without permission.

ISBN: Vol. 1 978-0-89555-787-2
ISBN: Vol. 2 978-0-89555-788-9
ISBN: Vol. 3 978-0-89555-789-6
ISBN: Vol. 4 978-0-89555-790-2
ISBN: Set 978-0-89555-791-9

Cover picture, The Baptism of Christ , by Carl Block (1834-1890), Copyright Frederiksborg Slot-Hope Gallery, Inc., Provo, Utah.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com
2004

But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.

St. John the Evangelist
( John 21:25)

Anne Catherine Emmerich

Anne Catherine Emmerich was born on September 8th, 1774, at Flamske, near Koesfeld, Westphalia, in West Germany, and became a nun of the Augustinian Order on November 13th, 1803, in the Convent of Agnetenberg at Dlmen (also in Westphalia). She died on February 9th, 1824. Although of simple education, she had perfect consciousness of her earliest days and could understand the liturgical Latin from her first time at Mass.

During most of her later years she would vomit up even the simplest food or drink, subsisting for long periods almost entirely on water and the Holy Eucharist. She was told in mystic vision that her gift of seeing past, present and future was greater than that possessed by anyone else in history.

From the year 1812 until her death, she bore the stigmata of Our Lord, including a cross over her heart and wounds from the crown of thorns. Though Anne Catherine Emmerich was an invalid confined to bed during her later years, her funeral was nevertheless attended by a greater concourse of mourners than any other remembered by the oldest inhabitants of Dlmen.

Her mission in life seems to have been to suffer in expiation for the godlessness that darkened the Age of Enlightenment and the era of the Napoleonic wars, a time during which she saw her convent closed and her Order suppressed by Napoleon.

During the last five years of her life the day-by-day transcription of her visions and mystical experiences was recorded by Clemens Brentano, poet, literary leader, friend of Goethe and Grres, who, from the time he met her, abandoned his distinguished career and devoted the rest of his life to this work.

The immense mass of notes preserved in his journals forms one of the most extensive case histories of a mystic ever kept and provides the source for the material found in this book, plus much of what is found in her two-volume definitive biography written by V. Rev. Carl E. Schmger, C.SS.R.

Preface

This book is the first and only English version of the combined Biblical visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. The original was published in 1914 by Descle, de Brouwer (Bruges, Belgium) as The Lowly Life and Bitter Passion of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, together with the Mysteries of the Old Testament.

The text is that of the 4th German edition of the 1881 version of the Very Rev. Carl E. Schmger, C.SS.R., a compilation of the three classic works: The Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, The Bitter Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and The Life of Mary. The translation was made by an American nun, since deceased, who wished to remain anonymous.

The first edition was issued with the approval and warm recommendation of the following members of the American hierarchy: Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishops Gross, Feehan and Elder, and Bishop Toebbe. It also included testimonials from Michael Wittman, Bishop of Ratisbon, Dean Overberg, Sister Emmerichs spiritual director, Count Leopold von Stolberg, J. J. Goerres, Dom Prosper Guranger and several others less well known in our day. To this list might be added the names of Claudel, the Maritains, Huysmans, Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, Leon Bloy to name but a few who have written in glowing terms of the saintly Bride of the Passion who was privileged to bear the wounds of Him whose life she beheld in the prophetic eye of her spirit.

The publishers, in reprinting these volumes, do so in complete and willing conformity to the decrees of Pope Urban VIII respecting private revelations, persons not as yet canonized, and the prudence with which all alleged supernatural phenomena not attested to by the Church must properly be regarded. The final decision in all such matters rests with the See of Rome, to which the publishers humbly submit.

Like other private revelations, Sister Emmerichs accounts of the life of Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, and other biblical personages should be treated with that respect and that degree of faith which they seem to merit when compared with the holy dogmas of our Faith as derived from Scripture and Tradition, as well as when compared with our knowledge of history, geography, and science. These revelations are not, of course, guaranteed free from all error, as are the Sacred Scriptures. The Imprimatur which these books bear simply means they have been judged by ecclesiastical authority to be free of error in matters of faith and morals. Nevertheless, these revelations show a remarkable harmony with what is known about the history, geography, and customs of the ancient world.

The visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich provide a wealth of information not found in the Bible. In these times of disbelief, when the Sacred Scriptures are so often regarded as symbolical narratives with little historical value, the visions of this privileged soul providentially confirm the Christians faith in the rock-solid reality of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of His words, His deeds, and His miracles.

In addition, Sister Emmerichs visions show how our sacred religious heritage goes back in an unbroken line all the way to the time of Adam, to the very beginning of the worlda line which no other religion but the Roman Catholic can claim. These revelations show how the Roman Catholic Church faithfully follows the teachings, and administers the Sacraments, of Jesus Christ Himselfwhich teachings and Sacraments are in turn the perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament religion.

This crucial fact, which has been almost totally forgotten in our day, is nevertheless all-important in proving which is the one true religion established by Almighty God. The unbroken line of the Roman Catholic Church becomes obvious to all who read these accounts of the marvelous events which Anne Catherine Emmerich was privileged to behold. For this reason alone, they are pricelessa gift of Divine Providence to an unbelieving world.