Vatican Radio Interview with Andrea Ambrosi

[unofficial translation]

27 September 2004

Next Sunday, October 3^rd, in St. Peter’s Square, John Paul II shall proclaim 5 new blessed: among them is the last Emperor of Austria , Charles, and the German Augustinian mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich. Today we talk about this nun who lived between 1774 and 1824 in the German region of Westphalia. Andrea Ambrosi, a lawyer and the postulant of the beatification cause, gives us a biographical sketch of this figure. The interview is by Giovanni Peduto.

A.      Catherine Emmerich came from a very poor family where, as it often happens when there is poverty, there was also a strong religiosity, which she assimilated to the point that very soon in her life she expressed the desire to enter the monastic life. Thus, after overcoming the opposition of her father, she managed to fulfill this dream. In 1802 she entered the order of the regular Augustinian Canonesses [an order of religious women]. Initially, life in the monastery was quite hard, first of all because the other nuns missed no opportunity of reminding her of her low social origin, but also because of her health, which very soon started to decline. Ever since her childhood she suffered from a form of rickets that in the convent became much stronger, to the point that she had to remain in bed for years. From the end of 1812, when she already enjoyed a number of supernatural gifts, the extraordinary phenomenon of stigmata started to become apparent. At the beginning she did everything to keep them hidden, but then this fact became known and people did everything to see her, but not only because of the external fact of the stigmata, but also because of her great goodness and for the gift she possessed of penetrating into the most tormented and torn souls, bringing peace.

Q.      Let us examine better this charism of hers: the fact that she lived the Passion of the Lord through the stigmata.

A.     She lived in perfect harmony with the mystery of the life, the passion and the death of Jesus. Her stigmata are the clearest sign of her existential union with Jesus. Her readiness to suffer had no other foundation than her love towards the Crucified and her concern for her neighbor. Never, during the harsh sufferings which she had to undergo, did she ever lose this ideal disposition of the heart that made her feel her misery, but enabled her to live it with joy, fully aware that this was the Lord’s will.

Q.  Let us come to the history of the beatification procedure. For what reason is this woman beatified so many years after her death?

A.  Actually, some time after her death, in 1824, in the diocese of Muenster, the fame of her holiness was so widespread that among all the people, but also among the population there was a strong desire to support the cause of her beatification. In the meantime, however, there have been certain difficulties, because as we know very well the 19^th century in Germany was a very difficult century for both historical and religious reasons, but also because of her writings, since these writings were so full of sentences and episodes that were unclear, actually at the edge of a not very orthodox Catholicism, that more than once the Holy Office intervened to stop the cause of beatification to ask always new opinions from various theologians. Later on, it was discovered that the revelations, attributed to Catherine Emmerich, had actually been manipulated by the famous German poet Clemens Brentano, and after that the cause could proceed more quickly. The cause has followed the guidelines of the 1917 code of Canon Law, which prescribed many discussions, many exams and various procedural phases in order to be able to reach a conclusion at the end.                        

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 ADL Distressed by Beatification of Nun Whose Visions Fomented Anti-Semitism

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 Contact:  Myrna Shinbaum 212-885-7747

New York, NY, September 27, 2004 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed "deep distress" at the beatification of a 19^th century nun whose visions fomented anti-Semitism and inspired Mel Gibson in the creation of his film, "The Passion of the Christ."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, ADL Director of Interfaith Affairs, issued the following statement:

It is with deep distress that we note the beatification of the Sr. Anne Catherine Emmerich on October 3.  As we have previously expressed in letters to leaders of the Catholic Church, hatred and anti-Semitism were fomented in her name, and attributed to her in the book which records her visions, "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Recently, the release of Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ," reasserted the anti-Semitism that derives from the work attributed to Sr. Emmerich.  Serving as his muse, her visions guided Mr. Gibson in adding elements that do not derive from the Gospel narratives and break with the Second Vatican Council's teachings.  Among these elements include: the association of Jewish characters with the demonic, the destruction of the Second Temple, the benign portrait of Pilate, and the negative characterization of Jewish guards and leaders.  

In our letter to Church leaders, sent in early June, we acknowledged that beatification is entirely within the realm of the Church and we understand that Sr. Emmerich has been proposed in recognition of her virtuous life and how she strengthened others in faith despite her own ill-health. Yet, it cannot be contested that in addition to the aid she offered many of her co-religionists, hatred and anti-Semitism were fomented in her name. 

The papacy of John Paul II has been marked by the most far-reaching and welcome changes in Church attitudes towards Jews and Judaism. We are grateful for all of the efforts this Pontiff has made to implement and advance the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, and its Councilor Declaration, Nostra Aetate.  

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Pope Beatifies Five, Including German Nun Who Inspired Gibson Film
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

Oct 4, 2004 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Advancing the sainthood causes of five Europeans, Pope John Paul II beatified the last Hapsburg emperor and the nun whose visions inspired Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ."

The pope said Blessed Charles I of Austria, who died in exile in 1922, was "a friend of peace, in whose eyes war was something terrible." The emperor's commitment to Christian values should be a model for European politicians today, he added.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the pope said, showed heroic patience and firm faith in dealing with years of ill health. The pope did not mention the German mystic's controversial book of visions on Christ's final days, for which she is best known.

The pope, seated on an altar platform decorated with flowers, listened as biographies of the newly beatified were read aloud at the start of the Oct. 3 Mass in St. Peter's Square. Some 20,000 people, including several hundred European royalty, applauded when tapestry portraits of the five "blesseds" were unveiled on the face of St. Peter's Basilica.

The pope presided over the Liturgy of the Word, but the eucharistic liturgy was celebrated by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.

The 84-year-old pontiff sounded short of breath as he read only the introductory lines and the last few sentences of his sermon. Aides read most of the text.

The pope praised Blessed Emmerich's identification with the suffering of Christ, noting that she bore the stigmata, the wounds of the crucifixion. The daughter of a German peasant couple, she worked as a seamstress and servant before entering an Augustinian convent in 1802, where she was bedridden for years. She soon became known for her visions of the supernatural and "conversations" with Jesus.

Gibson said he was inspired to make his movie after reading Sister Emmerich's book of visions, "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." A few of the details in the book made it into his film -- as when Mary and Mary Magdalene use towels furnished by Pontius Pilate's wife to wipe up the blood of the scourged Christ.

Jewish leaders have said the negative portrayal of Jews in her writings was picked up and popularized by the Gibson film. Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement Sept. 27 that while Jewish leaders understand that Blessed Emmerich was being recognized by the church for her virtuous life and deep faith "it cannot be contested that in addition to the aid she offered many of her co-religionists, hatred and anti-Semitism were fomented in her name."

The written biography in the beatification Mass booklet said Blessed Emmerich's words have reached innumerable people and represent "an outstanding proclamation of the Gospel." But her mystic writings received only a passing reference during the Mass, and the pope did not mention them at all in his sermon.

Before the liturgy, Vatican experts said the writings had been discarded as evidence during the sainthood review process because it was uncertain whether she actually wrote the book. "We simply cannot say for certain that she ever wrote this," Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel told Catholic News Service Oct. 1. Father Gumpel helped study the issue for the Vatican's sainthood congregation. Sister Emmerich was practically illiterate, and her visions were transcribed and elaborated by a popular romantic poet, Clemens Brentano, who published them after Sister Emmerich's death at age 49 in 1824.

Father Gumpel said it is today impossible to distinguish what came from Blessed Emmerich and what was added by the poet Brentano. Therefore, the writings were disregarded by the Vatican, he said.

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