In Roman Catholicism, the Three Days of Darkness is an eschatological concept believed by some Catholics to be a true prophecy of future events. [1] The prophecy foretells three days and nights of "an intense darkness" [2] over the whole earth, against which the only light will come from blessed beeswax candles, and during which "all the enemies of the Church ... will perish." [2]
The prophecy parallels one of the Ten Plagues against Egypt in the Book of Exodus (Ex. 10:21–29). [3] The Apocalypse of John also mentions a plague of unnatural darkness as an effect of the fifth vial (Revelation 16:10: "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness"). Unnatural darkness is also associated with the sixth seal of Revelation (Revelation 6:12: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood").
However, the specifics of the "Three Days of Darkness" prophecy, such as the miraculous beeswax candles, are derived from private revelation.[ clarification needed ]
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769–1837) is the best-known seer associated with the Three Days of Darkness prophecy. She reportedly described the event as follows. (On the other hand, it has been doubted whether the following prophecy is correctly attributed to Anna Maria Taigi at all. [1] )
Marie-Julie Jahenny (1850–1941), known as the "Breton Stigmatist," expanded upon the story of the Three Days of Darkness. According to Jahenny, it would occur on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday; all of Hell would be let loose to strike at those outside their homes and those without a lit blessed candle of pure wax. These candles would miraculously stay aflame the entire period, but not light at all in the houses of the godless. [4]
In the late 1940s, the name of Saint Padre Pio (1887–1968) was attached to a letter endorsing the Three Days of Darkness; but the letter was in fact written by the "Council of Heroldsbach," a religious cult in Germany later outlawed by the Vatican. [5] Since 1950 the "Pio" forgery has been repeatedly denounced by both the Capuchin order [6] and the Archdiocese of Bamberg. [5] [7]
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Some sedevacantists hope that a true Pope will be miraculously designated by an apparition of Saint Peter and Saint Paul;[ citation needed ] this tangential belief assumes that the pontiffs in those times of the Church will be, in fact "antipopes".
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The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.
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Bo is the fifteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the book of Exodus. The parashah constitutes Exodus 10:1–13:16. The parashah tells of the last three plagues on Egypt and the first Passover.
The events of Revelation are the events that occur in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. An outline follows below, chapter by chapter.
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Anna Maria Taigi was an Italian Catholic professed member from the Secular Trinitarians. Taigi reportedly experienced a series of ecstasies during her life and heard the voices of God and Jesus Christ on several occasions.
Padre Pio's name was connected with this prophecy in the late 1940s by the Council of Heroldsbach [...] The Council composed a letter about the three days of darkness and forged Padre Pio's name to it. The letter was declared to be a forgery in 1930 by Padre Pio's superior in San Giovanni Rotondo. In 1951, the Vatican's Holy Office, without mentioning Padre Pio by name, stated that the alleged appearances of the Blessed Virgin in Heroldsbach were not supernatural and warned that "priests who in the future take part in this outlawed cult are automatically suspended from the exercise of their priestly ministry." On March 31, 1994, the Auxiliary Bishop of Bamberg, Germany, informed Fr. Schug by letter that "Padre Pio had nothing whatsoever to do with Heroldsbach. There is not the slightest connection."
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