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Nun Who Inspired Movie Saw Huge Battle Between Jesus And Devils At Gethsemane
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In her book called The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich asserted that what Jesus suffered at Gethsemane, in the famous instance the night before His Crucifixion, was far greater than what’s described in Scripture — that beyond mere anticipation of His own death, the Lord was forced to enter into fierce spiritual combat with the devil.
According to Emmerich, whose revelations reportedly play a significant role in a new Mel Gibson movie about Christ’s Passion, the scene in the Garden — widely known as the Agony — involved “frightful figures borne on clouds” and temptation by Satan himself.
“Jesus went a few steps to the left, down a hill, and concealed himself beneath a rock, in a grotto about six-feet deep, while the apostles remained in a kind of hollow above,” wrote the seer, a stigmatic who claimed to see Jesus’ entire Passion in excruciating detail. “The place called Gethsemane was a large garden, surrounded by a hedge and containing only some fruit trees and flowers, while outside stood a few deserted unclosed buildings.
When Jesus left His disciples, I saw a number of frightful figures surrounding Him in an ever-narrowing circle.
His sorrow and anguish of soul continued to increase, and He was trembling all over when He entered the grotto to pray, like a way-worn traveler hurriedly seeking shelter from a sudden storm, but the awful visions pursued Him even there, and became more and more distinct.
“Alas! This small cavern appeared to contain the awful picture of all the sins which had been or were to be committed from the fall of Adam to the end of the world, and of the punishment which they deserved,” the mystic added.
It was a sight, said Emmerich, that caused the Lord to fall on His face — overwhelmed by an unspeakable sorrow that many thought was not fully suffered until the next day, until His Crucifixion — when in fact, if Emmerich’s visions bear merit, the Gethesmane scene was more than just anxiety at the thought of what would soon happen; it was a spiritual Crucifixion. It was an aspect of His suffering to which we have hitherto not been privy, save for this alleged revelation.
According to the holy nun (whom the Vatican declared “venerable” in 2001), Satan let loose his full fury against Jesus and displayed the horrid visions before the Lord’s eyes at the same time that he taunted Him about suffering for an “unworthy” race and failing at His mission.
If true, it would have been the second major appearance of the devil to Jesus that we know of (after the far better known confrontation in the desert). “Takest thou even this sin upon thyself?” Emmerich heard the devil ask as the images of mankind’s sins were shown.
It was at that point, claimed this mystic, that “a long ray of light, like a luminous path in the air, descended from Heaven; it was a procession of angels who came to Jesus and strengthened and reinvigorated Him.
The remainder of the grotto was filled with frightful visions of our crime; Jesus took them all upon Himself.” And all the while, demons tempted Jesus with thoughts of despair and failure — in Emmerich’s view.
At a spiritual level, it was misery to match what He would shortly endure physically.
Every crime that man had ever committed and ever would was portrayed to Him. And made to seem hopeless.
At first the Lord appeared calm as He knelt down and prayed, claimed the mystic — “but after a time His soul became terrified at the sight of the innumerable crimes of men,” as well as their ingratitude towards God, and it was at this point, claimed the nun, that the Lord exclaimed, “Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass from me!”
That’s what the German mystic — who died in 1824 — imagined as the way Christ prepared for His Crucifixion. They are scenes that Emmerich envisioned while in a semi-comatose state — sometimes while suffering the stigmata.
The Gibson movie, which has created controversy because it promises to be the most vivid, graphic portrayal of the Agony ever filmed, is said to draw heavily from such scenes and stars Jim Caviezel, whose conversion came through Medjugorje.
Among the horrid scenes to which Jesus was subjected was the sight of men dragged away by the devil — men who had been redeemed by His Blood and sanctified by the unction of His sacrament.
As described by Emmerich, it was a bitter anguish, and so violent was the struggle between His human will and His repugnance to suffering for such ungrateful men that His pores burst forth.
Or so Sister Emmerich tells us.
“Amid all these apparitions, Satan held a conspicuous place, under various forms, which represented different kinds of sins,” she maintained. “Sometimes he appeared under the form of a gigantic black figure, sometimes under those of a tiger, a fox, a wolf, a dragon, or a serpent.”
None of them actually resembled a real creature, said the mystic; there were aspects of the creatures in the forms. It was just a diabolical onslaught. Hell was unleashed.
There was an “odious reptile” of gigantic size — and possessed of “unbounded strength.” The creatures cursed, struck, wounded, and tore at the Savior.
Emmerich saw Jesus stagger.
“Thus exposed to the fury of these hellish bands, some of which appeared to me wholly composed of blind men, Jesus was as much wounded and bruised as if their blows had been real,” described the seer, who said that if she were to speak for an entire year, she still would not be able to adequately convey the horror.
She saw irreverent Christians; she saw what would be sacrilegious priests. She saw wicked soldiers profaning the sacred vessels — as if to foreshadow the persecutions of the early centuries (or the later French Revolution).
She saw theologians teaching heresy. She saw servants of the devil making use of the Holy Eucharist in hellish rituals.
This preview — this foretaste of mankind’s sins — is what she believed Christ was subjected to before He endured the nails in His hands and feet and the crown of thorns — which Venerable Emmerich also suffered stigmatically.
Where was Mary? Where was His mother?
“I saw the Blessed Virgin also overwhelmed with sorrow and anguish of soul, in the house of Mary, the mother of Mark,” claimed Sister Emmerich.
“She was with Magdalen and Mary in the garden belonging to the house, and almost prostrate from grief, with her whole body bowed down as she knelt. She fainted several times, for she beheld in spirit different portions of the agony of Jesus.”
Could it be true? Did a 19th-century nun actually view accurate renditions of the Passion? Were these details too voluminous to be contained in biblical accounts?
As with any revelation, we take from it what is good, with the recognition that all prophecy, and all such revelation, is imperfect [1 Corinthians 13:9]. There is imagining. There are subjective views. And these often insert themselves into mysticism. Additionally, there have been claims that a poet who helped take down the revelations may have embellished and added details.
We know only that this is transcendental prose taking one right to the New Testament scenes in a way we have not seen before. We also know that by decree of April 24, 2001, Anne Catherine Emmerich was awarded the degree of “heroic virtue” (Decretum super virtutibus), and thus the title “Venerable” — the first step to potential canonization. Indeed, her cause is now in Rome.
And her book is now sure to be a popular read as Gibson completes a movie that has already garnered publicity everywhere from the Fox News Network to The New York Times.
Devils, yes, but Jesus overcame them. He defeated them. They didn’t win at Gethsemane; and they certainly didn’t win at Calvary.
After His trial in the Garden, according to Emmerich, came heavenly visions — all the angels and bands of future saints who joined their labor to His Passion!
“The apostles, disciples, virgins, and holy women, the martyrs, confessors, hermits, popes, and bishops, and large bands of religious of both sexes — in one word, the entire army of the blessed — appeared before Him,” wrote the remarkable mystic.
The Virgin Mary was present and experienced all that Jesus did this was granted to her by the Holy Trinity. Mary did not want her story known at this time but will come later in The City of God by Agreda. The Holy Trinity kept Mary alive during this time and Satan was not sure of who he was until the passion on Good Friday.
Absolutely!
Blessed Agreda came before Emmerich, Agreda was 1602 to 66.
I think our trials are now ready to begin
As I re-watch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ I am again reminded of what Our Lord suffered for all of us . Gibson’s finding of Catherine Emmerich account was not a coincidence . Oh the suffering, the interior pain the Mother of God experienced is beyond imagining.
During this Holy Week I hope , though the vivid reminders which Venerable Emmerich and Mel Gibson and Cora Evan’s The Refugee from Heaven have given us, to be more ready to give my life anew for my Lord and. Savior Jesus Christ. Praised be Jesus, now and forever !
Thank you Michael for giving of yourself for the betterment of your fellow pilgrims. God Bless you abundantly.
She was beatified in 2004. You should asterisk this info. at the end of this excerpt from her book.
Richard Lietz
Catherine Emmerich has been beatified and her cause for sainthood continues to move forward.
Our Lord told her that the visions he allowed her to have of His life were more complete than those granted to any other visionary, mystic or saint up to that time (d.1824). There have been many confirmations of this fact through numerous sources, not least of which was the discovery of the Blessed Mothers house in Ephesus. The discovery was made by archeologists who used descriptions of the locale and the size and appearance of the structure. The house where she lived with St. John is now a approved place of pilgrimage tens of thousands of people every year. Our Lord gave us the gift of Blessed Anna Katrina in a period of history when we have become insensitive to His sufferings for our redemption. We are a society that is captivated by images, and through Blessed Anne Catherine , Mel Gibson produced the "Passion of the Christ". Which follows faithfully what Blessed Emmerich saw in visions granted to her. I believe the film is the greatest film ever made.
Pray for Mel Gibson, and for all of us who are enemies of the fallen one.
I believe this account. What I would say, though, is that no demonic representations of monsters, fearsome creatures of the natural or supernatural orders could begin to convey the horrors of such behaviour by human beings as the satanic, sexual and murderous predations on children with which must have been all but overwhelmed, and we would if they were represented to us as explicitly and savagely, have driven us insane, in short order.
Jesus would surely also have felt, too, the extremities of anguish and despair of the slaves in the Americas, in the more modern world, apparently treated far more demonically than in the ancient world, in which they tended to be considered more as ‘prisoners of war’, losers, but just the unlucky losers in their wars.
In Jesus’ ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane, he would have been made to feel he shared in the guilt of the perpetrators. This apparently, is to some extent experienced by those same children who are themselves sexually abused – quite apart from the destruction of the self-esteem of those who who are abused by fierce but ordinary physical and psychological violence.
In case, you decide to publish it, here is an edited version. The syntax, in particular, needed editing.
I believe this account by St Catherine Emmerich. What I would say, though, is that no demonic representations of monsters, fearsome creatures of the natural or supernatural orders could begin to convey the horrors of such behaviour by human beings as the satanic, sexual and murderous predations on children with which Jesus must have been all but overwhelmed, and we would be, if they were represented to us as explicitly and savagely, have been driven insane, in short order.
Jesus would surely also have felt, too, the extremities of anguish and despair of the British, American, Spanish and Portuguese slaves and their broken-up families in the Americas ; in the more modern world, apparently treated far more demonically than in the ancient world, in which they tended to be considered more as ‘prisoners of war’, losers, but just the unlucky losers in their wars.
In Jesus’ ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane, he would have been made to feel he shared in the guilt of the perpetrators. This apparently, is to some extent experienced by those same children who are themselves sexually abused – quite apart from the destruction of the self-esteem of those who who are abused by fierce but ordinary physical and psychological violence.
How the police manage to cope with some of the things they have to see and deal with doesn’t bear thinking about. Sometimes no doubt with great difficulty. I’ve read of their being psychologically traumatised by road-accident scenes, without the further anguish of a dimension of hideous moral depravity, although the latter, too, evidently falls within their professional duties..
Faith is not seeing and yet believing.Praised be the Holy Trinity !
It was also mentioned in one of the books either the Dolorous Passion of Christ or the Mystical City of God that the Agony of Jesus took place in the very same spot that Adam & Eve received their sentence for the the sin they committed
I have read all of the books of the Ven Emmerich’s, and one WILL find such depth of "knowing" Jesus The Christ and Mother Mary, all of the family and band of disciples, so MUCH more than reading scripture, the water-downed version. One can truly ‘FEEL" be there, and finally see the history ‘alive’
It is OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!
On a scale of 1-10 I’d give all the books, a 50, really!
Everyone do yourself a real service, read all of them, then get your family and friends to do the same…
Thank you for having this up on the site, as need to see, read, and be ‘Again" in our faith.
Thank you for the insight into the inner turmoil in Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Evil One, Satan will never win against Jesus the Son of God because he and all his demons has already been defeated and will again be defeated in the Battle of Armageddon by God together with all the heavenly beings that will do battle against them at the end of the world.
Yes. Our Holy Mother Mary, as recorded in "The Mystical City of God", endured the entire passion of her Divine Son in her interior so as to aid the act of salvation and redemption, and in solidarity with Jesus. She wished to imitate Him in all ways. She is our true, loving, and self sacrificing mother. God bless both Mother Mary of Agreda and Anne Catherine Emmerich for their revelations to the world. I pray that their works be better known. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us! Sweet Jesus Christ crucified, have mercy on us!
I truly believe Mary suffered deeply during our Lord’s passion. She was a mother, His mother, and as such her pain and anguish must have been deep.
It reminds me of what Jesus endured was that we become reduced to animals when we sin, no longer filled with grace to be in the image and likeness of God. This time of the Divine Mercy Novena given to St. Faustina makes me think that this is Jesus’s prayer for us to bring those souls back to him that Satan was trying to take away from him that night of spiritual anguish. We are the prayer warriors now and are called to be His mercy for those He calls by name on each day of the novena, those who are still His so we have the strength and endurance to continue the fight in these times and those who neglect what He did for them on the cross. There is still time to bring them home. Reading this makes the Novena even more compelling.
Every Christian should read her works especially Priests.