The Tiburtine Sybil & Imperial Prophecy

In the old days of Christendom, one could mention the Tiburtine Sybil and the prophecies regarding the Roman emperors and many people, certainly educated people, would know immediately what was being talked about. Today that is certainly not the case and so some background information must be provided as, aside from experts in this particular field or, perhaps, art history aficionados, no average person will know what this is all about. First of all, we have the figure of the Sybil. The sybils were women who acted as oracles, usually associated with a particular holy site in pagan times. The custom originated in ancient Greece but soon spread to Italy, Asia Minor and other areas. The Oracle of Delphi is probably the most well known example of a sybil. These women were often sought out for prophecy and divine guidance as it were by powerful people. In the time of the Roman Empire one of the most prominent was the Tiburtine Sybil, known as such because she resided at the town of Tibur, an old Etruscan town, which is today the Italian city of Tivoli. Many stories grew out of this particular sybil later on among Christians concerning the Roman emperors.

Emperor Augustus & the Tiburtine Sybil

One thing to clarify at the outset was that the sybils were, obviously, not Christian religious figures but were associated with paganism. However, once upon a time, this did not cause Christians to discount stories about their prophecies. They knew from their Bible stories that the pagan priests of Pharaoh were able to perform seemingly miraculous deeds or that the witch of Endor had been able to summon up the spirit of Samuel for King Saul, for example. It was taken for granted that people who were not worshippers of the Christian God could still possess amazing gifts and that God could use such people for His own purposes. Later examples of such things might include the Native American shamans who, according to various stories, made prophecies about the coming of the Spanish or had visions of the Blessed Virgin to prepare them to receive the Gospel when Christian missionaries later arrived. There was also, it must be said, an effort by the Christians of the “Ages of Faith” to look back at classical history and to incorporate it into their new, Christian, world view. The story of Pope St Gregory the Great, momentarily resurrecting the Roman Emperor Trajan in order to baptize him, is an example of this. Virtually everyone discounts this story now but it reflects the wish of people to see so great a man, such a revered emperor, saved from eternal damnation for not having been a Christian.

Emperor Augustus & the Tiburtine Sybil

The first recorded instance of the Tiburtine Sybil crossing paths with a Roman emperor came in the time of Augustus Caesar. The story goes that Emperor Augustus approached the Tiburtine Sybil, Albunea, at the Temple of Vesta to ask if he should be worshipped as a god. This meeting was once a very common thing to see depicted in art. An Archbishop, Jacobus de Voragine, later recorded this story, stating that it had been handed down to him by Pope Innocent III, that Augustus met the Sybil and that the Sybil revealed to him one who would come after him, greater than he, and showed him a vision of the birth of Christ, referring to the Blessed Virgin as “the Altar of Heaven” where a church was later built and dedicated as such. According to Virgil, the Cumaean Sibyl also made such a prophecy about the birth of Christ and stories such as these, which became widespread, explain why the sybils were included in Renaissance works of art, such as by Michelangelo, alongside Old Testament prophets in foretelling the coming of the Christian era. These would also coincide with other stories, once popular, about the early Roman emperors taking a “hands off” approach to Christ. Stories circulated, for example, that Emperor Tiberius, who did not exactly have a reputation for kindness, ordered that Christians not be persecuted or accused and even talked of including Jesus Christ in the pantheon of Roman gods.

If such stories were true, the prophecies of the Tiburtine Sybil to Emperor Augustus might help explain why such an attitude was taken or why someone like St Paul would prefer to put his fate in the hands of the Emperor Nero rather than his own Jewish countrymen of the Sanhedrin. There were actually a great many such accounts of miraculous events and Christian prophecies concerning the pagan Roman emperors before the more famous events after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and the baptism of Emperor Constantine the Great. There was the story of Pope St Clement I being a cousin of the Emperor Diocletian (in all likelihood he was a freedman who had been in his employ), Emperor Antoninus Pius condemning any illegal attacks on the Christian community, the dramatic story of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the “Thundering Legion” or his son Emperor Commodus having a Christian mistress which is often pointed to as a reason for this fairly irascible Caesar refraining from persecuting Christians. She is also credited with influencing Emperor Commodus to release Pope St Calixtus I from prison. A revelation, passed down the imperial line, originating in a pagan source that they would not question, would be a possible explanation for such behavior.

Emperor Constans

However, other than foretelling Emperor Augustus of the birth of Christ, the most famous prophecy of this sort from the Tiburtine Sybil concerning an apocalyptic vision about a certain Emperor Constans. This prophecy foretold of a Greek king who would rise to become “king of the Romans and the Greeks” or, in other words, the Roman Emperor of East and West alike again, who would be very tall, very handsome, very wealthy, will destroy the enemies of Christianity, end all pagan worship, convert the Jews and defeat the massive, mysterious powers of Gog and Magog, after which he will retire to the Holy City of Jerusalem, abdicate his throne and hand the empire over to God. At that point, the Sybil describes what we would recognize as the rise of the Anti-Christ, coming from the tribe of Dan, who will win the people over by miraculous acts, who will destroy the Roman Empire and only then reveal himself as the agent of evil from the Temple of Jerusalem. This, of course, is very similar to other prophecies concerning “the Final Emperor” or the “Great Catholic Monarch” who will lead a last revival of Christian power before the end of the world.

An interesting point in the prophecy of the Tiburtine Sybil is that this monarch is named as Emperor Constans and that the prophecy was made, as near as we can tell, around the year 380 AD, a few decades after Rome had already had the reign of the historic Emperor Constans, the son of the Christian Emperor Constantine the Great, who came to the throne in 337 and ruled until he was assassinated in 350. If we were to be skeptical and presume that the Sibyl was trying to tailor her message for the audience, or that the story was invented later to appeal to Christian sensibilities, naming this future Christian hero after Emperor Constans would not make much sense. He was not known for being a terribly nice man or a terribly good emperor, though he too was part of a prophecy of his own concerning his grandmother, the Christian Empress St Helena. The prophecy said he would die in the arms of his grandmother and when he was assassinated it was after being cornered in a military post named Fort Helena.

Emperor Tiberius

So, what is the point of all this? I will be the first to admit it is largely just an act of indulgence on my part since I am interested in this sort of stuff. As with anything of this nature, some people will be inclined to believe and others will be inclined to disbelieve it and there really isn’t anything that anyone can say to prove either side right or wrong. I will say, at the very least, the existence of these stories and that they were passed on for so long reveals something to us about the people and the faith of Christendom. Sources of revelation were not rejected for being pagan, the people of the time recognizing that God can use anyone to participate in His plan. It shows also the centrality of the Roman Empire and the Roman emperors in the hearts of minds of Christian people and how central that Roman imperial tradition was to Christendom itself. The Christians of the late Roman Empire, even with all that was going on around them, did not cease to believe that their ‘realm’ on earth was something special, that Christianity had sprang up in that empire was no accident and that the Roman Empire was something that others would strive to bring back, that they hoped ultimately would come back, with all Christian, European peoples united under one divinely ordained Caesar.

St Pio and the Queen

Throughout most of her life, Queen Marie Jose of Italy could probably best be described as a dutiful Catholic rather than a devout one. She was sincere, she was faithful and she was raised with a great respect for the Catholic Church. It certainly helped shape her morality and her sense of compassion for the less fortunate. However, by her own admission, she was never zealous about her Christianity, not of a disposition to believe mystical or miraculous  things. She was the very open, tolerant, non-judgmental type of person and not the kind who dwelled excessively on sin, dogmas, angels or demons. Queen Marie Jose tended to view religion in an earth-bound way; be good and do good and you should be okay. Yet, she had a very significant spiritual encounter with a saint, famous in his own time, who embodied almost everything about Catholicism that the Queen did not. That man was Padre Pio, known today as St Pio of Pietrelcina. This was a man who was famously short-tempered, not one to suffer fools gladly, a man who could see into the souls of others, who bore the stigmata, the very wounds of Christ, and who had many miracles attributed to him even in his own lifetime. It was also not unknown for him to make the occasional prophecy.

Many, many people all over the world are familiar with St Pio of Pietrelcina. Even a great many who are not Catholics have at least heard of the man named Padre Pio. In all the discussions of his saintliness, however, his words of wisdom, his patience and obedience, even when treated harshly by disbelieving superiors in the Church, what is seldom mentioned is the fact that St Pio was a staunch Italian royalist and that he made some predictions concerning the Italian monarchy and the House of Savoy, each to Queen Marie Jose. The first occasion came when Princess Marie Jose of Piedmont visited Padre Pio in 1938, just out of curiosity. She had most likely heard of the future saint through her mother-in-law Queen Elena (a devoutly Catholic lady whose cause for canonization is also being considered). When Princess Marie Jose arrived, she was struck by the aroma of violets in the air even though there were no flowers around. In typical fashion, when Padre Pio was told that the Princess of Piedmont had arrived, he said he would see her but only after he finished hearing those who had come to confession. With Padre Pio, the Lord’s work came first and other visitors, princess or no princess, would have to wait.

When they two finally met, the future saint and the future Queen of Italy had a very long talk. Among other things, Padre Pio reassured the princess about her father, King Albert I of the Belgians, who had died not long before. The Princess confessed the fears she had about Mussolini and his Fascist government but what was most significant was what Padre Pio told her about what was to come. He predicted that there would soon be a terrible war (and as we know, World War II broke out in Europe only a short time later) and that “everything will end soon”. Later, Queen Marie Jose realized that what St Pio had been referring to was the end of the Italian monarchy and the end of the reign of the House of Savoy after a thousand years in power. Looking back, it seemed an obvious reference and yet, in 1938, it was quite a prediction to make. The Italian monarchy was one of a relative few to have survived the First World War and, indeed, after that conflict, on paper at least, the King of Italy was arguably the most powerful monarch in Europe. By 1938 the Kingdom of Italy had pacified rebels in Libya, conquered an old enemy in Ethiopia and helped the nationalists win the Spanish Civil War. Everything seemed to be going great and no one, at that time, would have predicted such a gloomy future.

That story and that famous meeting has aroused relatively little controversy. Another, however, involving the last Queen of Italy and a prophecy of St Pio is a little bit more divisive. I must stress that some people will undoubtedly dispute this, but here is the story: Queen Marie Jose began a correspondence with St Pio during her time in exile in Switzerland. In their exchange of letters, St Pio wrote that “the monarchy will return to Italy” and that one of her relatives would be King. Nothing controversial there, though certainly hopeful and encouraging. The controversy came next, with St Pio saying that the next King would not be of the senior Savoy-Carignano line that the Queen’s own son was from but that this line of the Royal Family would be “dried up like dry leaves on a tree”. Rather, he predicted, it would be a different branch of the House of Savoy that would see the Italian monarchy restored. This story, immediately upon being made known, was taken to mean that the Savoy family line of the Duke of Aosta would be the one to preside over the restoration of the Kingdom of Italy. And there was just one more, perhaps miraculous, event that Savoy-Aosta royalists could point to.

During the celebrations for the canonization of St Pio, the friars of his monastery invited Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, rather than any officials of the Italian republican government, to attend. Down in the crypt they reveal for all to see a bas-relief showing St Pio preaching with a crowd of people facing him. More than a few people noticed immediately that one of the figures looked exactly like Prince Aimone at the age of about fifteen, wearing the Collar of the Annunciation and carrying the cross symbol of the House of Savoy. What is seemingly miraculous about this is that, at the time the bas-relief was made, when St Pio died, Prince Aimone was barely a year old. Yet, the resemblance of the image to the Prince that stood there was uncanny. Observers could only speculate that St Pio had influenced the artists at their work. Was this perhaps a sign from the saint, pointing out the man who would restore the Italian kingdom? We can only hope, and work and pray. Perhaps a pray for the intercession of St Pio of Pietrelcina would not go amiss?

See also The Perfume of Violets at The Cross of Laeken

Royal Prophecy

Could the Prince of the Asturias be the restorer of Christendom? It sounds incredible but the idea has been put forward by some, based on a compilation of historical prophecies which draw enough parallels to modern times to tantalize the imagination. Some of these prophets have been monarchs, some saints and some, well, (let’s get this over with) one is Nostradamus, who I’ve never had much use for with so many of his “predictions” being so vague as to present a multitude of possible interpretations. However, to get him out of the way he will be addressed first. Nostradamus, IV 5, *seems* to predict a reunification of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and clearly predicts that France and Spain will be united together after which will be a period of terrible struggle and warfare. The Orthodox prophet, St Methodius of Olympia, in a similar vein, predicts that ‘the west’ and Rome will be overrun by Islam but will be rescued by another power (which many presume to be Russia) after which time the Catholic Church will merge with the Orthodox. There will be a horrific war in which a King Philippe VI, with divine assistance, will drive the Muslims out of Europe, retake Constantinople and reign from there in a revived Roman (or more Byzantine) Empire.

The Russian St Seraphim of Sarov (whose canonization was pressed for by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra) also prophesied that the throne of France would be restored and that the Hapsburgs would be restored to Austria (though in the lifetime of the saint the Hapsburgs had yet to be removed) after a terrible war. St Bridget of Sweden also prophesied about a great western monarch who will rise up to deliver the Christian world. So, how is it that the Prince of the Asturias is singled out as this potential monarch who will lead a war against Islam in Europe and be crowned Emperor in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople? The prophecy of St Bridget spoke of the great king being of Spanish origin and the prophecy of St Methodius speaks of him ‘leaning against two pillars’ which is taken by some to be a reference to the pillars of Hercules. He also speaks of him having a white beard which I find particularly amusing considering that the only two Catholic royals named Philip today (Felipe of Spain and Philippe of Belgium) recently started wearing beards. Hmmm… Some have also pointed to the reputation of Prince Felipe of conservative religious devotion (which is not something you hear often about the prince, but it has been said) though of course this would be Catholic devotion and might not easily lend itself to someone expected to embrace Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

However, similar prophecies have also long existed in the Roman half of the Church as well. St Augustine of Hippo predicted the rise of a great Catholic monarch toward the end of the “sixth age” of the world. St Remigius, who baptized the first Christian King of the Franks (Clovis I) also predicted that the royal house of France would one day produce a great monarch who would restore the Roman Empire before the end of the world. As I am sure everyone knows the current Spanish Royal Family is the House of Bourbon, imported from France and descended from King Louis XIV. A number of other Catholic saints also made similar prophecies, involving the restoration of the Kingdom of France, a great struggle, religious reunification (though in western versions the Orthodox join with the Catholics rather than the other way around of course) and a revival of the Christian Roman Empire with a period of peace and plenty to follow.

Adherents of the theory that Prince Felipe will be the prophesied “King Philippe VI” also point to the prophecy of Brother John of the Cleft Rock (XIV Century) that the great monarch, with the aid of St Michael the Archangel, will drive the Muslims out of Europe (most of these prophecies assume a Europe dominated by Islam) who will then rule from Constantinople. The XVII Century figure David Poreaus claimed that, “The Great Monarch will be of French descent, large forehead, large dark eyes, light brown wavy hair, and an eagle nose. He will crush the enemies of the Pope and will conquer the East”. To back up the idea that “King Philippe VI” should be looked for now there are also a number of sources. St Augustine, again, placed this as happening in the “sixth age” which, according to some interpretations, is what we are living in now. Also, Emperor Leo VI of the East Roman (or Byzantine) Empire predicted that Byzantium would be liberated and restored to her former glory in twenty years less than six centuries, which, if we date from 1453 (the fall of Constantinople) would be about the year 2033. It is not 2012 but still not a very distant future. Some also figure into this the (more widely held) belief that the XX Century was the period foretold by many prophets as the time when the Devil would have free reign to do his worst. Figuring that into the equation would put this war for the restoration of Christendom at around 2034 to 2037.

Of course, by that time, Prince Felipe would be 66, a little beyond the realm of what we consider middle age, so if he is going to save Christendom and restore the Roman Empire, he had better get cracking! St Remy foretold that the great and pious king, from the Frankish line, would occupy Jerusalem as well as restoring the Roman Empire. St Isidore of Seville also predicted that in the last days a very pious king would rule over ‘greater Spain’ and that he will reign through a woman whose name begins with the letter “Y” and ends with the letter “L” which some have taken to be Ysabel or Queen Isabella II by whose line the current Spanish Royal Family came to the throne. However, his prophecy also holds problems for the adherents of Felipe as he says the king will come from the east, will reign from his youth (which the Prince is pretty well beyond) and that he will purify Spain. Obviously there would have to be some major and immediate changes in the laws and popular will of Spain for the prince to even be in the position to do that.

Such is one reason why with every passing year the handful who put their faith in Prince Felipe as the one foretold by these prophets becomes fewer and fewer. Most prophecies also included a royal son and heir which Felipe is conspicuously lacking (and like most of Europe Spain has come to consider male-preference succession terribly unfair these days) and so, in the end, most such talk is laughed off. I have heard plenty of such predictions even more far out than that (such as the Prince of Wales being the anti-Christ or Prince Harry being the Great Monarch because some Irish prophets said he would have red hair). Many of these prophecies (from Catholic sources) also involve the rise of an especially blessed and pious pope who will spread Christianity throughout the world and, especially lately, such prophecies concerning the popes have proven to be rather inaccurate. So, as with any such thing, it will be up to each individual to decide how much weight these prophecies hold and when or to who they may apply. I admit, for myself, it seems too fantastic to believe. There is the great change in public opinion that would have to take place and even if the French public decided to restore their monarchy I would, sadly, find it even harder to believe that the feuding monarchist camps could come together in support of one candidate. Nonetheless, it is something to think about and there are elements of many of these prophecies that have already come true and while I might not take them to the bank, I admit that they do have a way of sticking with you.

This is not the first time, of course, that these prophecies have tantalized the mind. Previously we mentioned the legend concerning the last Eastern Roman Emperor, Constantine XI, that he would return to lead his people to glory in a time of crisis. This was on the minds of many when King George I of the Hellenes named his son and heir Constantine. When he became king in 1913 some Greeks hailed him as “Constantine XII”. His leadership in the many conflicts in the Balkans at that time caused some to hope that it would be King Constantine who would restore Constantinople to Greek rule and fulfill the prophecy, however, these hopes were dashed by the failure of the 1922 Greek invasion of Turkey. The King was obliged to abdicate a short time later. In the west, Prince Harry appears again, as a story circulated that the Dauphin, King Louis XVII of France, escaped the revolutionaries and was hidden away by the Oldenburg family and that the current British royals descend from him. Some prophecies (in the Catholic tradition) give the name of the Great Monarch as Henry or Charles and so, again, some have pointed to Prince Henry as the one who will lead the Christian-monarchist restoration. Again, and we love Prince Harry, he would seemingly have to go through quite a personal and religious conversion for that to happen.

Not to be left out, some (using non-religious sources like {ugh} Nostradamus) have speculated that Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark will be the one while others, I am not kidding, have asserted it will be former French President Jacques Chirac (wish I was making that one up). Nor are such predictions limited to the Christian world. In recent years there has been at least some serious talk given to the revival of the Davidic monarchy of ancient Israel. There is a group in Israel today studying and planning for the rebuilding of the Temple, the reinstatement of sacrificial worship and in general a revival of the ancient United Kingdom of Israel. I am sure I do not have to tell most here that the restoration of the Temple also has an extremely significant place in Christian prophecy -involving the end of the world. Also, I cannot help but mention that, in the Far East, certain Buddhists of Tibet and Mongolia have long had a similar prophecy about the appearance of the “White King” of Shambhala who will lead a massive holy war against the enemies of dharma, restoring divine balance and putting the world back in order according to Buddhist beliefs. A number of people have been speculated as possibly being this expected savior including lamas and even Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and the mascot of this blog the Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg.

I also find it interesting that some such prophecies from such divergent groups as ancient pagans, Greek Christians and Tibetan Buddhists overlap. For instance, one prophecy that was melded in with the stories of the Great Monarch or the Marble Emperor has some similarities with the Shambhala prophecy. In this story Alexander the Great took his most fearsome enemies, subdued them, and sealed them in some lost northern mountains behind a mystical gate. At the appropriate time, in some prophecies when the Islamic forces had overrun Europe (again, this is an Eastern Christian prophecy) this gate would be opened and these northern super-warriors would then be the vanguard in the struggle that would destroy the enemies of Christendom and restore the Roman Empire. In any event, make of these predictions what you will, I present them simply as matters of interest with just one last word: when it comes to such prophecies, as they say, sooner or later one of them will one day be proven correct. Are the various lines coming together? Are we building toward something even now? I leave it to the individual to decide.

Will America Be at "The End"?

Being as I'm forced to go off from my 'regularly scheduled posts' I'm throwing a few more varied thoughts out there. Just tonight someone suggested that the United States might not be around at the time of the end of the world (and we're talking of the Christian tradition here) since the U.S. is not mentioned in Biblical prophecy. Now, this person did not think that the U.S. would have been destroyed by the time the end comes (though anything is possible) but rather this person (a Canadian oddly enough) theorized that current politics would build a backlash that would put someone of the Ron Paul stripe into office who would take the USA out of the United Nations and such globalist organizations and thus America would sort of 'sit out' the chaos involving the end of the world.

This was an interesting thought to me, which I had honestly never even thought of, for a couple of reasons. One is that, I had always thought America was in Biblical prophecy thanks to my original Bible teacher -my Dad (though we have pretty different views on the subject now). He has always held that the Biblical passage which refers to the "young lions" is speaking of the United States, and possibly nations like Canada and Australia, since these countries came from Britain and the British symbol (England and Scotland) is the lion. The other is that the U.S. is such a dominant power it would be hard for me to imagine America not being involved in some way. Of course this is dependent on just how close we are to the end as America will certainly not be such a big-shot forever as no power can be.

How close are we? I certainly cannot say -no one really can, but I do tend to think we are close. I think the only two real choices is that we are either very close or very, very far off because I definitely think we are building toward something that is going to happen very soon. People all over the world seem to just feel that, a subconscious cosmic alarm clock going off in the minds of people everywhere. We also have such signs as the birth of the State of Israel, unprecedented wild changes in weather, increasing internationalism and globalization and rising secularism and faith in government elites over traditional views of divinity. So, I think we are either getting close to the end (with no prediction on what "close" exactly means) which is what I tend to believe or we are approaching a middle point when everything falls apart and we start all over again with a civilizational collapse, another dark ages and so on.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this proposal? Will the U.S. be involved and if so in what way? Any thoughts are welcome. Now, lest someone think I have strayed from the focus on monarchy for this blog, the subjects are related. One thing that many religions have in common is a prophecy concerning a great, benevolent monarch who will rise up just as the world seems to be coming apart. There is a very old tradition in certain parts of Buddhism of the hidden king who will emerge to set things right and put the world in order after a near total collapse. Catholic Christians also have the prophecy of the "Great Monarch" to look to (the Church takes no position on this of course) who will rise up and lead a grand restoration of Christendom before or generally around the time of the end of the world; one reason why any talk of "the end" makes me look more closely on the efforts to restore the French monarchy. Are we approaching that point? Why or why not?

I will leave it there for now, fully aware that I am breaking one of my own rules in doing this; asking a question of readers, as I've seen it done before and it can be a quick trip to nowhere if no one replies. Hopefully you won't be shy and will chime in with your thoughts on the subject.