Prophecies of the Popes: The Vaticinia of Abbot Joachim and the Prophecy of St Malachy

About this book

The Vaticinia: thirty mysterious pictures of popes with bears, a fox, dragons, stars and omens, each with a dark prophecy. “Go up, bald one…” The book was attributed to the Calabrian abbot Joachim of Fiore, and the Venetian editor Pasqualino Regiselmo added his own commentary full of hidden numbers, the Kabbalah, a Wheel of the popes and a Turkish oracle about the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The Prophecy of St Malachy: 112 short Latin mottoes, one for each pope from 1143, ending with “Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep in many tribulations; when these are over, the city of seven hills will be destroyed”. First printed by Arnold Wion in 1595. Here with the explanations of Alfonso Chacón and, beside every later motto, the pope to whom interpreters later applied it, down to Benedict XVI, “Gloria olivae”.

Translated into modern English by BlusaBooks, directly from the Latin of the Venice edition of 1589 (Getty Research Institute copy) and of Wion’s «Lignum vitae», 1595 (Bavarian State Library copy), both in the public domain. Every sentence, not a summary. The Italian half of the 1589 edition is a translation of the Latin and was compared with it; where it adds something, this is given.

What is inside

• all 30 prophecies, each as an opening: the 1589 engraving on the left, the prophecy, its marginal notes and Regiselmo’s commentary on the right
• the title page, the dedication and Regiselmo’s preface: eight manuscripts, seven printed books and the “numeral letters” of a 300-year-old manuscript
• the Life of Abbot Joachim of Fiore, with the letter of Pope Honorius III
• the Wheel of the popes and the Turkish Oracle, with their explanations
• the Prophecy of St Malachy: Wion’s note, all 112 mottoes in Latin with translation, Chacón’s explanations, the original pages of 1595
• colour illustrations: Abbot Joachim at night, a conclave, St Malachy
• a foreword on how both prophecies came to be; notes on the same page; commentary in plain words at the end

Who it is for

Readers of prophecy, the history of the papacy and the occult, lovers of old engravings and mysterious books, anyone who has heard of “Peter the Roman” and wants to read the real text. A thoughtful gift for a lover of dark academia and old books.

A historical source: the book gives the old texts and what historians know about them; it does not predict the future.