I had an email from a Portuguese blogger, with the interesting site, Senza Pagare. He has a post about 50 of Luther’s ideas which are against the Catholic Faith.
Also, recently in Rome, he told me about a vision of a Blessed of whom I had previously never heard, Maria Serafina of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, beatifed in 2011. I found more about her at dom Mark’s blog, Vultus Christi. She saw angels. As a matter of fact, one angel showed her the punishment of Martin Luther. I found this at the blog Beggars All. I haven’t seen a hard source for this yet. Perhaps you readers have one.
In 1883, Sister Maria Serafina Micheli (1849-1911) was beatified in Faicchio in the province of Benevento in the diocese of Cerreto Sannita 28 May 2011, the foundress of the Sisters of the Angels, was going to Eisleben, Saxony, the birthplace of Luther.
The fourth centenary of the birth of the great heretic (10 November 1483) was celebrated on that day. Luther divided Europe and the Church. [The] streets were crowded, balconies included. Among the many personalities were expected at any time, with the arrival of Emperor Wilhelm I, who presided over the solemn celebrations.
The future Blessed, noting the great hoopla was not interested in knowing the reason for this unusual animation, his only desire was to find a church and pray to be able to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. After walking for a while, she finally found one, but the doors were closed.
She knelt on the steps for Serenity Prayer. As it was in the evening, she had not noticed that it was not a Catholic church, but Protestant. While praying, the angel appeared, who said to him. “Arise, because it is a Protestant church”
Then he added: “But I want you to see where Martin Luther was condemned and the pain he suffered as a punishment for his pride.”
After these words, she saw a terrible abyss of fire, where they were cruelly tortured countless souls.
In the bottom of this hole there was a man, Martin Luther, which differed from the other: it was surrounded by demons that forced him to kneel, and all armed with hammers, they tried in vain , to shove a big nail in the head.
Whatever else one might say about that vision, that’s a pretty hard head!
I don’t want anyone to wind up in Hell. Period.
Perhaps, dear reader, you will take the opportunity to examine your conscience, especially in regard to your obedience to the Church’s teachings and laws, and then…
GO TO CONFESSION!
Moderation queue is ON.
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Scary stuff. I have several staunch Protestant friends (some Lutheran, some non-denominational, a Presbyterian) and some are very close if not identical to us on morals (speaking in American political terms that is) and others are not. One of my Lutheran friends in particular has been posting a lot of Luther Memes the last few days. These friends all seem to be earnestly seeking after Christ, and I would say most would profess to Christ’s divinity, though I would argue one at least is too caught up in subtle Gnostic beliefs. However, you can see how the errors of this one man have led them to various erroneous beliefs and how that puts them in serious jeopardy. As I have said some of these friends are earnestly seeking God, and would find little to disagree on most moral doctrine (save for contraception). It certainly does cause to you to pause and examine what sins of omission you are causing that might be blocking these friends to enter into full communion. Just a thought on this regarding the election. If an apparently negative outcome does come to fruition, our Lord may use it as an opportunity to really unite our separated brothers and sisters. We may find Baptists, Methodists, orthodox Lutherans, and others that are also fighting to keep their consciences and convictions. What an opportunity it would be to show them the importance of the deposit of faith, the papal office, confession and all other means of graces they have been lacking.
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For those of us whose Portuguese is not what it might be, it is convenient to follow João Silveira’s acknowledgement line, “Dave Armstrong in Patheos”, here:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2015/09/50-heterodox-beliefs-of-luther-in-1520.html
“I haven’t seen a hard source for this yet.” Beggars All links two sources, the second of which links the first. It gives “She was convinced that Martin Luther was punished in hell especially for the first deadly sin of pride” as translation for “Elle était convaincue que Martin Luther a été puni en enfer surtout pour le premier péché mortel, l’orgueil.”
Joseph Hontheim’s 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia article, “Hell”, notes, “Hell (infernus) in theological usage is a place of punishment after death. Theologians distinguish four meanings of the term hell”, the fourth of which is “purgatory”. The scope of French ‘enfer’ seems to include this as well. St. Thomas writes, “It is, however, possible that they [= angels] take them to the place of punishment: also that even the demons, who rejoice in the punishment of man, accompany them and stand by while they are being cleansed, both that they may be sated with their pains, and that when these leave their bodies, they may find something of their own in them” though “the elect are cleansed after this life by the Divine justice alone, and neither by the ministry of the demons whom they have vanquished, nor by the ministry of the angels who would not inflict such tortures on their fellow-citizens.” (Summa Theologiae Supplement (Appendix I) Q2, Art 3 (1920 trans. at New Advent).
Is it possible that what the Blessed Maria Serafina of the Sacred Heart of Jesus saw was Luther in Purgatory (with the demons more active than St. Thomas thought)?
There is a bit of German humor in the image of Luther. Stupnagel (“blunt nail”) is a slang term for a fool or a slow learner.
Venerator, I understand your compassion for Luther that Blessed Maria Serafina saw tormented by demons in Hell and the small hope that possibly he was not in Hell but in the lowest levels of Purgatory where, according to St Thomas, sometimes demons are allowed by God to add to the soul’s sufferings in that terrible place.
Nevertheless I must remember you that Luther was excommunicated in January 1523 by the Church. Our Holy Mother the Church teaches that the excommunicated people go straight to Hell when they die if they have not repented of their sinful life and recanted their heresies and their blasphemes.
Hell exists and there are people here. We even must fear ending there all along our earthly pilgrimage.
St Padre Pio once heard a penitent who confessed that he didn’t believe in Hell. He said him: “Certainly you will believe in Hell when you will be there”.
albizzi,
Thank you! I agree with and laud your earnestly reminding of the gravity of failure of contrition and repentance, “all along our earthly pilgrimage”. I am reminded of what Fr. Z said recently in another context, “When it comes to complete detachment from sin, even venial, few of us live in that state all the time.
“Nevertheless, there are times when we have been moved to sorrow for sin after examination of conscience, perhaps after an encounter with God as mystery in liturgical worship or in the presence of human suffering, that we come to a present horror and shame of sin that moves us to reject sin entirely.”
One may hope and pray that that has been, and will be, the case for others, if only in articulo mortis, even in the most unfavorable circumstances, and all secrecy for all others still in this earthly life.
I am often reminded of the prayer attributed to St. Thomas More, which I know best in this form: “Almighty God, have mercy on N and N and on all that bear me evil will, and would me harm, and their faults and mine together, by such easy, tender, merciful means as Thine infinite wisdom best can divine, vouchsafe to amend and redress, and make us saved souls in heaven together where we may ever live and love together with thee and they blessed saints, O glorious Trinity, for the bitter passion of our sweet saviour Christ, amen.”