I've read that in 1884 Pope Leo XIII had a vision of God giving the Devil permission to oppress the Church for 100 years. The Pope is said to have then composed the prayer to St Michael that used to be said after Low Mass.

Does anyone know of the source for this account, ie what is the actual historical basis for the account?

(Please, I'm not looking for pious comments but actual answers. And I'm not looking for red herrings such as "the Pope must have had such a vision because of the terrible shape that the Church is in today".)

-- Felix Moore (felixmoore@hotmail.com), January 31, 2002

Answers

Jmj

Hello, Felix.

The account is published all over the Internet -- including in articles by reliable priests in orthodox Catholic diocesan newspapers. However, in none of the accounts I have read does anyone give a source (e.g., a papal document, an official biography of the pope, etc.). So I cannot give you a full answer to your question.

However if you would visit this site, you could read a pretty well-stated account, and you could click on "contact" to send an e-mail message to the site's owner, asking for the specific info that you want.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 31, 2002.

Hi, Monique.

I believe this thread will answer your question about the prayer. I see John was kind enough, to put the information up for another poster on this thread. If any more questions please ask, and we would be glad to help.

If you don't like posting on the forum, you get just keep it private, and I will help if I can.

Your brother in Christ.

David S

-- David S (asdzxc8176@aol.com), March 27, 2002.

It seems John Paul will surpass Leo XIII. Not only that, he becomes a second to Pius IX who also had dreams about the Church. Somehow John Paul II is linked to them by the Fatima vision of sister Lucia.

Pope among 3 longest reigning.

I did not include Peter since he still did not use the title of Pope.

The Christian yahwist

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), March 10, 2004.