The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets

Section II: On Chapter 9 — Of the Fifth and Sixth Angel

§ 1. On the Fifth Angel Who Sounded the Trumpet. Chapter 9, Verses 1–12

VERSE 1. And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet; and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven upon the earth, and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. The star which fell from heaven at the sound of the trumpet of the fifth angel was the emperor Valens, a zealous and powerful supporter of the heresy of Arius. This error began to take such proportions under this prince that the Apostle rightly attributes the sounding of the fifth trumpet principally to the precise period of his reign, because of the considerable damage which he caused to the Church. Indeed, this prince did more harm by supporting and propagating this heresy than Arius had done by preaching it and by sounding his first trumpet.

Seduced by the flatteries of his wife, who had been caught in the snares of Arianism, and by the treacherous eloquence of Eudoxius, bishop of Constantinople and the most guilty of all the Arians, this emperor became one of the most ardent supporters of that sect. He had himself baptised by that same bishop, and bound himself by oath to remain always faithful to that impious doctrine. In fact, he protected it with such zeal that he became a true persecutor of orthodox Christians. He spared against them neither exile nor torture. He banished them from their churches and prohibited all their assemblies. He was a fierce enemy of the monks of Egypt, whom he dragged from their solitude in order to make them serve in the army.

We shall add only that the most treacherous of his crimes was that, at the instigation of the impious Eudoxius, he sent Arian priests to the Goths, who, on the contrary, were asking to embrace the true faith of Jesus Christ. He acted in the same manner toward the Vandals, who afterward became such formidable enemies of Catholics that, for the space of one hundred and fifty years, they flooded Thrace, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Italy, Burgundy, and other countries still, with frightful calamities through their continual incursions. This lasted until, under the emperor Justinian, in the year 527, Belisarius and Narses defeated and annihilated these barbarians.

VERSE 1. And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet. This angel is placed in the fifth rank according to the order of the narration and revelation of Saint John, who goes back over the consequences and terrible injuries that resulted from the error of Arius. It is known, in fact, that it was the impious Eudoxius, a presumptuous and treacherous man, who sounded the trumpet and persuaded the emperor Valens to embrace this error.

And I saw a star that had fallen from heaven upon the earth. Here the emperor Valens is meant, compared to a star because of the distinguished qualities which would have made him shine among princes, had he not tarnished them in the darkness of Arianism. He is also compared to a star because of the insignia of imperial dignity, which ought always to make emperors shine and elevate them above the princes and peoples subject to them by a deeper knowledge of the true faith and by the superiority of their virtues.

And I saw a star — the emperor Valens — that had fallen from heaven, that is, from the militant Church of Christ, upon the earth. The Apostle speaks in the past tense, saying that this emperor had fallen, because of his obstinacy and his oath, which he did in fact fulfil, since he died an Arian. It is also said that he fell from heaven upon the earth because he was abandoned, despised, rejected by God, and even deprived of ecclesiastical burial after dying miserably.

And the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. This key designates the imperial power which had been given to him from on high, and God permitted him to use it impiously to spread the heresy of Arius everywhere.

VERSE 2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and the smoke of the pit arose as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. And he opened the bottomless pit — that is, he opened everywhere the ways to this error, gave it the greatest liberty, and supported it with all his efforts, taking away churches and bishoprics from Catholics almost throughout the earth, in order to consecrate them to the worship of error. The pit here signifies, by metaphor, the heresy of Arius itself; and the abyss designates hell. For just as the waters which spread over the earth come out of the abyss of the seas, so also all heresies which spread throughout the world come from hell.

II. These words express the horrible evils which this abominable heresy produced, both in the Catholic Church and in the Roman Empire. First, with regard to the Church, this is seen in these words: And the smoke of the pit arose as the smoke of a great furnace. By smoke, Saint John shows us the exaltation, promotion, and extension of the heresy of Arius. For smoke rises into the air, darkens the light, and spreads over the earth by expanding through space.

Now such is the character of heresies: after having found supporters like Lucifer, who is their first author, they rise above everything and climb up into the highest regions of intelligence; they darken the sun, or the light of truth; they devour it like a gnawing cancer; and they spread over the earth by corrupting men, and even by causing the extermination of those who try to oppose them. The heresy of Arius is compared here to the smoke of a great furnace because of its immense power and long duration, which surpassed those of all the others, since it lasted until the reign of Justinian I, in the year 527, and since it had for supporters and followers the most powerful and distinguished emperors, kings, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and others, as is seen in ecclesiastical history.

And the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. These words indicate a particular property of this heresy: the denigration of the Name of Christ and of His Church. For the sun represents Christ, who was, as it were, darkened in His outward glory, since the Arians denied that He is the Son of God, true God Himself, and consubstantial with the Father. By this blasphemy, they thus took away His divine glory among men. The air signifies the Catholic Church, which is illuminated by Christ, just as the visible sun spreads its light in the air.

Now, under the reign of Valens and his powerful successors, the Church was truly darkened by Arianism, because of the great number of those who embraced it. In the time of the emperor Zeno, there was not even the smallest reigning monarch who was Catholic. Finally, it is said that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit because the heresy of Arius would never have acquired such dominion without the protection granted to it by Valens.

III. VERSE 3. And from the smoke of the pit there came out locusts upon the earth. In these words Saint John describes the horrible calamities which this heresy spread over the Roman Empire and over other kingdoms as well. These evils are divided into two parts. The first is contained in these words: And it was given to them to torment them for five months. The other part is found in this passage: And their power was to hurt men for five months.

To understand these things, one must remember that Valens dragged the Goths and the Vandals into the error of Arius, although they had asked to be instructed in the true faith, and that he even forced them, by a treaty of alliance, to become part of his sect, sending them Arian priests for that purpose. But shortly afterward, by a just permission of God, this impious plot fell back upon the head of Valens himself.

For the Goths, who were divided among themselves into several factions, united again; and full of confidence in their own strength, they maltreated the Thracians and cruelly devastated their country. Valens, who was then at Antioch, was no sooner informed of this than he recognised in these acts the disastrous effect of the error he had committed; for by this circumstance he lost a powerful ally in that nation, which was so warlike and so useful to himself and to his empire. As for his own troops, he had made so little account of them that, instead of paying them and seeking to attach them to himself, he even required them to pay him tribute, so true it is that God blinds those who turn away from Him.

After devastating Thrace, the Goths marched on Constantinople. Valens sent Trajan against them, who was immediately defeated, put to flight, and forced to retreat. Meanwhile, the emperor wished to try the fortune of arms himself; but he too was defeated and routed near Adrianople, and he perished miserably, burned in a hut, in the year 378. From that time onward the Goths, the Vandals, and the other barbarians prevailed everywhere until the reign of Justinian in the year 527.

For around the year of Jesus Christ 403, in the faction of Stilicho, who had previously oppressed Abagasius, king of the Goths, holding him enclosed in the passes of the Ticino with an army of 200,000 men, the Vandals, Sueves, Alans, Burgundians, and all the barbarian hordes invaded Gaul. It was then that Alaric, king of the Goths, claiming the throne of Gaul which Honorius had given him, became enraged and came to lay siege to Rome in the year 409.

That city had to ransom itself with money; and despite this, it was besieged a second time by the same Alaric, who captured it and stripped it of its riches for three consecutive years, subjecting it thus to trials, in a certain sense, harder than if he had destroyed it. One may see in Lechmanius and in Baronius how much the Western Empire had to suffer from the incursions of Attila, the Huns, and the other barbarians under the reign of Valentinian III, in the year of Jesus Christ 451.

Later Rome was again sacked by Genseric, leader of the Vandals. Odoacer, in his turn, devastated Italy with a powerful army of Heruli and made himself master of it for fourteen years. That unhappy country then passed for many years under the yoke of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, a barbarian prince given over to avarice, who defeated Odoacer before Verona in the year 475.

Under the emperor Zeno, the Vandals passed into Africa, and their king Huneric delivered 4,966 bishops and priests to the Moors to be deported into the deserts, while the Ostrogoths, on their side, occupied Italy, Gaul, Burgundy, and Spain. Thus these barbarian hordes ran from kingdom to kingdom, carrying ruin and desolation everywhere, until finally, around the year of Jesus Christ 510, Clovis, king of the Franks, having embraced the Catholic faith, defeated and killed Alaric, king of the Visigoths, who had reigned for twenty-two years in Gaul.

Finally, in the year 527, Justinian the Great having ascended the throne of the empire, caused the Vandals to be driven from Africa by Belisarius and Narses, retook Carthage, annihilated the Parthians who were ravaging Syria, killed Totila, who had seized Rome and reduced it to ashes, and drove all the Goths out of Italy. It was in this way that, after the course of one hundred and fifty years, these fierce nations were exterminated, disappearing with Arianism, which the emperor Valens had revived; and from that time onward the Catholic faith began again to flourish and prosper.

Nevertheless, the venom of Arius did not completely disappear for all that. For Narses allowed the jealousy which he nourished in his heart against Justin the Younger, governor of Italy, to break out with a kind of rage. He recalled into that country the Lombards, of Scandinavian origin, who were then in Pannonia and infected with Arianism, and used this powerful and faithful ally to drive out the Goths.

The Lombards, having set themselves in motion with the Huns their allies, under the leadership of Alboin their king, in the year 570, first occupied Cisalpine Gaul, then invaded Italy, and established the seat of their power at Pavia. Saint Gregory, in his first homily on the Gospel, and after him Paul the Deacon, relate that before this invasion, terrible signs were seen at night in the heavens, where fiery armies drawn up in battle could be distinguished with the eye, and where human blood was even seen flowing, which was afterward in fact horribly shed.

The same Saint Gregory certainly considers the invasion of the Lombards into Italy as one of the cruellest persecutions of the Church. For all the kings, with the sole exception of Agilulf — who, having renounced Arianism in order to enter the Catholic faith with his whole nation, afterward reigned for forty years — all the kings, we say, showed themselves to be the most fervent defenders of the impiety of Arius.

This terrible scourge lasted no less than one hundred and fifty years, until the reign of Pepin, who ascended the throne of Gaul in the year 751 and, after taking Ravenna at the request of Pope Stephen, restrained Aistulf, who was then exercising his ravages in Italy and in the Roman states. Afterward his son Charlemagne, at the prayer of the sovereign Pontiff Adrian I, cast down from the throne the successor and son of Aistulf, seized his crown, and thus put an end to the tyranny of the Lombards.

Finally, around the year 774, by the help of God, this most pious and most powerful emperor relegated to the abysses of hell the sect of Arius, together with all its tyranny and cruelty; and the Catholic faith began again to spread far and wide, on land and on sea, through the conversion of the Slavs in Pannonia, the Huns, the Sueves, the Goths, the Ostrogoths, and, in Germany, the Saxons, the Danes, and almost all the Germans, especially of the northern region.

IV. VERSE 3. And from the smoke of the pit there came out locusts upon the earth. By the locusts are understood the barbarians of the North, especially and principally the Goths and the Vandals infected with Arianism. The Apostle represents them metaphorically under the form of locusts: 1. To make us understand the multitude that was to spread everywhere among peoples and nations, like locusts. For the martyr Methodius, Jordanes the Goth, and Paul the Deacon report that it was from the North that there came the Massagetae, the Huns, the Amazons, the Cimbri, the Parthians, the Lombards, the Heruli, the Sueves, the Bulgarians, the Danes, the Dacians, the Germans, the Slavs, the Burgundians, the Livonians, the Serbs, the Normans, the Celts, and others.

All these nations spread over the earth like locusts, in the times fixed and permitted by God, and ravaged everything that presented itself before them, so that they may rightly be considered scourges which God had reserved for Himself to chastise the whole world, and Christendom in particular, according to the word of the prophet Jeremiah 1:14: "From the north shall an evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land." And again, Jeremiah 4:6–7: "I will bring an evil from the north, and great destruction. The lion is come up from his den, and the robber of nations is risen; he is gone forth out of his place, to make thy land desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an inhabitant."

2. As locusts leap from place to place, and, seeking their food, ruin and devour fields, meadows, harvests, and flowers, so these barbarous nations passed from Spain into Thrace, into Africa, and from there into Italy, then into Gaul, and so on, ravaging and devastating everything. 3. Just as locusts are very nimble, and escape by a single leap from the hand that wishes to seize them, so these nations established themselves now in one place, now in another. And from the smoke of the pit there came out locusts upon the earth, because, through the support which the heresy of Arius found in the emperor Valens, all these nations were infected by it.

And these locusts spread, by a just judgment of God, over the land of the empire, against Valens himself, and then over other lands and kingdoms, as has been said. And power was given to them as the power of scorpions of the earth. The power which these peoples held from God and from nature is compared to that of scorpions: 1. Because of their weapon. For the scorpion, in its anterior part, has the shape of a bow, and carries at its tail something like an arrow, which is a venomous dart by which it gives death to man. Now it is in this way that these nations had as their weapon a kind of crossbow, by means of which they launched sharp and slender darts, for the most part poisoned, and thus caused serious and even mortal wounds.

2. Because of speed. For the scorpion is very agile with its tail in wounding man; and thus these nations were very skilful and very practised in the handling of their weapons, with which they rained their deadly arrows upon their enemies. This is why it was very difficult to wage war against them, and victory over them was rarely obtained. 3. This resemblance with the scorpion is also found in the perfidy of the Arians, which was truly like a subtle and dangerous venom, by means of which they successively infected all nations and almost the whole world, occupying one kingdom after another, and establishing Arian kings everywhere.

4. The scorpion is a dangerous, cunning, and skilful animal, which hides in the cracks of stones, and in the corners of walls and houses, in order to surprise men unexpectedly and to wound to death whoever has not been able to forestall them. Now such was the character of these barbarous and fierce nations: very cunning in the art of war, very ingenious in the invention of engines, and at the same time prudent, knowing perfectly how to lay ambushes for their enemies in order to surprise them unexpectedly and seize their countries and cities. It was in this way that they covered the world with ruins and devastations.

VERSE 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth. These words show us the restriction of the Arian power according to the will of God, for the preservation of His Church and the advantage of His elect. For divine justice permits, in its impenetrable counsels, most of the evils and calamities of this world in such a way that complete extermination cannot result from them. God knows how to moderate and direct the evils which He makes us undergo, so that they may serve as chastisements inflicted on sinners and the impious, and as trials for the elect. God also knows how to draw sublime and admirable goods out of evil.

And it was commanded them — that is, the barbarity and power of these nations were moderated and contained by the decrees of God — that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, that is, that in their massacres they should spare the Christian people, metaphorically represented by the grass of the earth. And every green thing. This passage applies to the French nation, which was in fact spared by the Goths and Vandals, and reserved as a young vine for the Catholic faith, which it embraced with its king Clovis.

Clovis finally yielded to the continual solicitations of Saint Clotilde, his wife, in the year 500 of the Christian era. It was after a brilliant victory won by the help of heaven over the Germans that he became Catholic and delivered Italy from the Arian Alaric, king of the Visigoths, whom he killed. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any tree. That is, they were not to hurt the prelates and priests, nearly all of whom escaped death, although they had much to suffer, especially in Africa, from Huneric, king of the Vandals.

But only those men who have not the sign of God on their foreheads. These words refer to the rest of the pagans who had not yet received the character of Baptism. It is known, in fact, that a great number of them were killed in Africa by the Vandals, and also in the other regions which the barbarians invaded. However, since the Arians gloried in the name of Christians, they spared Catholics from death, although they afflicted them with many calamities and made them undergo exile and other adversities, as is seen in ecclesiastical history.

VERSE 5. And it was given to them that they should not kill them. This passage again refers to the Christians of whom mention was made above. Holy Scripture sometimes passes, in the same passage, from certain persons to others, as though the latter were the same as the first. Psalm 77:38: "When he slew them, then they sought him," where it is clearly seen that the persons who had been struck to death by the Lord were not those who sought Him.

Now it is in the same manner that Saint John speaks here of the inhabitants of Africa, some of whom were Christians and others pagans. Passing thus from one group to the other, he says in the same text: And it was given to them — that is, God permitted these nations — not to kill the Christians, but to torment them. This in fact happened when bishops, doctors, and other Catholics were sent into exile, and when some were even mistreated and persecuted in various ways without losing their lives.

For, as we have said, Huneric, king of the Vandals, raised up a strong persecution against the orthodox in Africa, and in one stroke delivered 4,966 bishops and priests to the Moors, to have them transported into the deserts. His successor did the same thing, and even worse. For he had the tongues of orthodox bishops torn out; yet, by a miracle of God, this did not prevent them from speaking and preaching.

Moreover, one sees in history with what cruelty they ravaged France and persecuted its inhabitants. It is known from the same source how much damage the Vandals and Huns caused in Gaul. One recalls that Alaric, king of the Goths, laid siege to Rome, then lifted the siege, and that the following year he returned before that city, captured it, and afflicted it by three years of pillage, without, however, delivering its inhabitants to the edge of the sword. Is not history full of the cruelties of Attila, king of the Huns, called the scourge of God; of Genseric, king of the Vandals; of Totila and Odoacer?

And do we not know how much these barbarians and others still tormented Christians in a thousand different ways — sometimes by reducing them to captivity, sometimes by despoiling them, sometimes by inflicting horrible torments upon them, in the successive incursions which they made almost throughout the whole world? This is why the text expressly adds: And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them, because of various crimes committed by the Christians themselves in several places, and in Gaul in particular, and because of the relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline.

For five months. These words designate the duration of the power and empire of these Arian nations. On this occasion, it must be remarked that in Scripture days count for years. Now, since the months are of twenty-eight, thirty, or thirty-one days, if one takes one month of twenty-eight days, two months of thirty days, and two other months of thirty-one days, one has five months, which make one hundred and fifty days — that is, one hundred and fifty years. This is precisely the duration of the reign of the Goths, from the year of Jesus Christ 377 until the year 527, as was said above.

And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. 1. In these words one finds another characteristic property of these nations. For they were like a wound in the Catholic Church; they infected many of the faithful and caused them spiritual death by spreading the poison of Arianism in the countries they occupied. For this reason the wounds of these enemies of the Church may perfectly be compared to the sting of the scorpion.

For: a. just as this animal, when it wishes to harm, first opens with its sting the skin of its victim; b. then pours its venom into the wound; c. and causes a dangerous injury; d. and death itself follows if the proper remedies are not applied in time; so these nations introduced themselves by force of arms into kingdoms, in order to have the opportunity to harm them and establish their power there.

2. They spread through the body of the Church, which is established throughout the earth, the venom of the error with which they poisoned various peoples. 3. They made a deep and dangerous wound by trampling underfoot the Church and all holy and sacred things. 4. Finally, they caused spiritual death to a great number of Catholics, who abandoned the true faith at the sight of such scandal. The just who persevered in their fidelity were afflicted and tormented in the presence of so many calamities which they could not remedy. Hence the Apostle immediately adds:

VERSE 6. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it; and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. V. It is in fact proper to saints and pious souls to be much more afflicted than if they themselves had to endure death, when they see the general loss of souls, the seduction of the innocent, the defection of the faithful, the contempt of holy things, the ruin of churches, the exile of the just, and the blasphemies of the wicked. For they cannot remedy these evils or prevent the prevarication over which they groan in their hearts.

It is then that they weep before the Lord, desiring to die rather than see the evils of their people. We have an example of this in Scripture, where Judas says in 1 Maccabees 3:59: "It is better for us to die in battle, than to see the evils of our nation and of the sanctuary."

In those days men shall seek death, etc. These words signify the affliction and desolation of that time of Arianism. And because these misfortunes were immense, especially for the prelates of the Church, the Apostle adds: And they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. One sees, in fact, from what precedes, how great this affliction and desolation was. It lasted the considerable space of one hundred and fifty years. It successively invaded almost all kingdoms.

And it is known that the Church and her prelates never have so much to suffer as when emperors, kings, and princes are her adversaries. For then the very columns of the Church collapse, as God particularly permitted in the time of Zeno, when the Catholic religion did not count a single reigning prince among the faithful. It is said that men shall seek death, and shall not find it to mark the difference between their state and that of the martyrs.

For in the time of the first persecutions, the faithful joyfully sought and found a glorious death amid torments; whereas in this persecution, God permitted His elect to be horribly and long tormented without obtaining the glory of martyrdom — which was the hardest thing to bear for just men.

VERSE 7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold. In this text the Apostle continues to develop and explain the preceding words. Since he had said that the Goths and Vandals were locusts, he now indicates the conditions and properties of these nations under the name of locusts. 1. And the shapes of the locusts — that is, of the Goths and Vandals — were like unto horses prepared unto battle, to announce that they would be warlike, fierce, and courageous.

For just as horses about to fight, hearing bugles and trumpets, toss their manes, foam, paw the earth with their feet, are almost untamable, show themselves magnanimous, manifest their ardour by neighing, trample everything under their feet, and finally run toward victory through every obstacle, so these peoples of the North awaited and desired battle with impatience, and signalled, as it were, by the same gestures, their ardour, courage, and fearlessness. This is why the Apostle says that they were like horses prepared for battle; for horses are ready to run into combat whenever it pleases their rider to mount them and lead them there.

Now such were these peoples, rightly called the scourge of God, waiting only for the signal of the divine will to go into the world and chastise Christians. That is why it is said: "Every evil shall come from the north." It is therefore with as much eloquence as truth that Saint John represents these peoples as like horses prepared for battle.

2. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold. These words denote the false brilliance of skill, cunning, foresight, and human prudence — qualities by which these barbarous nations were to surpass other peoples and even Christians, according to this word of Jesus Christ in Luke 16:8: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." They wore as it were crowns like gold, not because they were crowns such as kings wear, but because wisdom is often compared to a crown. For wisdom ought to form kings and crown them. And these crowns were as it were crowns like gold — that is, they were not absolutely of gold, but resembled gold — in order to express the difference between worldly wisdom and true heavenly wisdom, which alone is truly like gold.

3. And their faces were as the faces of men. This passage indicates that these nations were to be Christian. For it must be known that in this chapter there is question of two different classes of men: a. men who are not marked on the forehead, namely, pagans and Gentiles, as was said above; b. and men simply so called, namely, Catholics and true Christians, of whom we have spoken while discussing the afflictions which the Vandals made them undergo.

In those days men shall seek death. That is, because these barbarous nations were baptised and gloried in the name of Christian, although in reality they were not Christian, since they were infected with the error of Arius. It is therefore with reason that, in order to distinguish them perfectly both from pagans and from Catholics, the author of the Apocalypse tells us that their faces were as the faces of men.

VERSE 8. 4. And their hair as the hair of women. This is because these nations allowed their hair to grow, as one still sometimes sees in our own day. Long hair indicates strength; and although it is no longer in use, it was nevertheless very useful to the warriors of that time, to protect them from cold and dampness in bivouacs and similar conditions. Scripture says that Samson's strength consisted in his hair, which he did not have cut, like the Nazarites among the Jews. Thus it appears likely that these nations of whom Saint John speaks had the custom of letting their hair grow from childhood without ever cutting it. This is why it is said that their hair was as the hair of women.

5. And their teeth as the teeth of lions. These words indicate the ferocity, fury, and strength which distinguished these nations from all others. For just as the lion is considered the strongest and most terrible of animals, having its principal strength in its head and in its teeth, with which it seizes, tears, and devours everything it encounters, so also these nations were to be the fiercest, the cruellest, and the most powerful, to tear and devour others.

VERSE 9. 6. And they had breastplates as breastplates of iron. Warriors wear the breastplate to ward off the arrows and blows of the enemy. This word breastplate derives from leather; formerly warriors protected their chest with the hardest and strongest leather, that of camels or other animals, as is now done with iron breastplates. This is why it is said in the text: They had breastplates as breastplates of iron. That is, these nations marched against the enemy with the greatest precaution, strongly armed and well equipped, not exposing themselves rashly to arrows and spears. Their breastplates were made of leather so hard and strong that they can perfectly be compared to iron. At the same time, they were so supple and so well fitted that they resisted arrows as if they had been iron.

7. And the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots of many horses running to battle. It is said here that these nations had wings in order to express their swiftness in their warlike expeditions. They seemed to fly from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region with their armies, whose rapid movement produced a frightening noise, ravaging everything in their path, as was said above. Isaiah 7:18: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest in the torrents of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all shrubs."

a. By flies and bees, the prophet designates warlike nations. b. By wings are also understood the wings of the armies of these nations which, being arranged in good order of battle, flew to combat and attacked the enemy with such courage, animosity, energy, and shouting that the earth was shaken. One sees the same thing in Scripture, 1 Maccabees 9:13: "And the earth was moved with the noise of the armies." And because these nations had acquired a great reputation for courage and military valour, no less than for skill in the art of making war, they easily won victory over an enemy already intimidated and demoralised. This is why the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots of many horses running to battle.

For when a great multitude of combatants run to battle with the numerous war machines which ordinarily accompany them, they make such a horrible noise that they inspire terror and fright; and the sound of trumpets and bugles only adds to this horrible tumult. The horses themselves, excited and animated, run, leap, neigh, and toss their manes, showing in this way their joy and courage. Thus these warlike and barbarous nations made war and ran upon the enemy.

VERSE 10. 8. And their tails were like to scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. By these tails one understands metaphorically the disastrous consequences of the incursions of these barbarians, which were a universal ruin and devastation of all the kingdoms through which they passed at various periods. These words also indicate the considerable damage which these peoples caused to the Church. And there were stings in their tails. These stings also signify the various errors which these nations left after them, in the same way that certain venomous animals leave their sting behind in the wound they have made.

9. And their power was to hurt men five months. In this passage we are shown the second part of the evils which resulted from this heresy for the Church in general, and for the Roman Empire in particular. We see there first the length of time during which the Lombards made Italy bear their iron yoke. These Lombards were a wicked nation, the den and centre of all the other barbarous nations who, after the Huns, their allies, had left Pannonia, followed their king Alboin to invade Cisalpine Gaul and then Italy, and to exercise their ravages there for one hundred and fifty years, as has been explained above.

From this one must conclude that the first five months spoken of in the text designate the time of the occupation of Italy and other countries by the Goths and Vandals; and the other five months indicate the duration of the Lombard yoke, under which the Church and the Roman Empire had so much to groan. It is historically true that their reign was longer and lasted from one hundred and ninety to two hundred years. But the text is nevertheless right to say that they harmed men only for one hundred and fifty years, since one of their kings, Agilulf, having become Catholic with the whole nation, ceased to be hostile throughout his reign, which lasted forty years.

Now by subtracting this number from the preceding one, one obtains, according to the text, the duration of the time during which they harmed men. And their power was to hurt men five months. If no mention is made of the rest of their reign, it is because it would have been superfluous; and the Holy Spirit inspires and writes nothing useless.

VERSE 11. 10. And they had over them a king, the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon, and in Latin the Exterminator. By this angel-king, the Holy Spirit designates a being of a distinguished and superior nature. This is the angel of the principalities who, at the head of his evil angels, comes to support the wicked in their impious war and to push them to afflict, fight, and destroy the Church of Jesus Christ, if that were possible. The text indicates only one, the principal one of these angels, who represents all the others. This is to make us understand that all the impious, the heretics, and their supporters and promoters have in common one and the same goal: to wage without ceasing a war of ruin and extermination against Jesus Christ and His Church.

To explain this passage better, we must not pass over in silence that, according to Saint Denis and the general opinion of the holy Doctors, the fallen angels preserved their natural qualities intact; and consequently, they continued to possess among themselves the distinction of orders, according to the distinction of their natures. Moreover, the Doctors commonly admit that a certain number of angels showed themselves rebellious against God in each of the orders or of the nine choirs, so that their distinguishing names were retained among the demons.

Now the first of these orders in the infernal hierarchy is that of the principalities, whose evil angels have the right and power of pre-eminence in different kingdoms, and in general and particular wars. From this it happens that, in opposition to the holy angels who are sent by God to excite kingdoms and nations to good, the evil angels of the same order are accredited by Lucifer to push them toward evil and tyranny against Christians, and to overturn the militant Church by war. Everything evil that they can do in the kingdom of God by His permission, they carry out through the satellites whom they dominate, and who are the impious, the heretics, and bad Christians.

For although all kingdoms and all men have good and evil angels who inspire them, the good angels have predominance over the bad, or the bad over the good, according to the condition of those kingdoms, according to the choice of human will, and also according as God permits. And it is of the evil angel who presided over the wars of the Goths and Vandals that the text adds: They had over them as king the angel of the abyss.

In a state, the king is the one who has predominance over all the others. All his subjects obey him, listen to his voice, and even follow him to war. Now all heretics constitute a true kingdom whose prince has always been and will always be Lucifer, who, through his various chiefs subordinate to him, leads the sectarians and the impious to the war of this world against Christ and His Church, whatever class and period they may belong to. And it is from God alone that he holds his power, or at least the permission to harm men in great states as in small ones.

They had over them as king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon, and in Latin the Exterminator. Here the question is why this name of the angel of the abyss is expressed in three languages. To answer this, it must be known that Saint John wrote the Apocalypse for the universal Church. Now these three languages are the principal ones, and they contain or represent all the others. Moreover, these three languages represent, by the principal nations and the principal periods of those languages, the whole Catholic Church from her origin until her consummation.

1. The Church took her origin and began to flourish among the Jews or Hebrews most distinguished by their holiness, who converted to the faith of Jesus Christ, and whose number was indeed very small in proportion to the whole nation. Now it was from these same Hebrews who had become Christians that the first heretics arose. Excited by Satan, they undertook to make war upon the Church of Christ. It is known from the Acts of the Apostles that their principal grievances were circumcision and the yoke of the Law of Moses, which they claimed to impose upon the Gentiles.

2. Then came the Greek Church formed from the pagans. This Church shone especially by the number, learning, and virtue of its holy Doctors. But a great number of these Greeks, seduced by the angel of the abyss, declared fierce war against the Church of Jesus Christ by teaching the most dangerous dogmas and by introducing schisms against the sovereign Pontiffs, legitimate successors of Saint Peter. The most wicked of them was Arius, who, as has been said, being supported by the emperor Valens, corrupted the Goths and the Vandals. But, by a just judgment of God, this impious power was finally broken; and this Greek Church, with all its empire, soiled with a thousand errors, fell under the power of the Turks and became tributary to them, as it continues in part to be.

3. The Latin Church and the Western Empire succeeded the Greek Church and the Empire of the East, through the conversion of all the nations which formed part of it, especially in the time of Charlemagne. This Church will preserve her empire in the West until the coming of the son of perdition. At the time when the Church became Latin, she had existed for eight hundred years. She then found herself in her fourth age, enjoying perfect peace and tranquillity. She was free from all heresy for two hundred years, until Berengarius the Sacramentarian rose up against her in Gaul.

This heresiarch denied, as we have already said, transubstantiation and the real presence of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. Satan, or the angel of the abyss, cannot suffer the Church to be at peace. This is why, after Berengarius, he tried several times to continue the war against the Church by means of impious men, as is seen in ecclesiastical history. But all his efforts were paralysed and caused little or no damage to the Church, which always succeeded in repressing heretics by the piety of her princes, by the vigilance of her Pontiffs, and above all by the protection of God.

By examining the various heresies, one sees that they prepared the way for that of Luther — that monster, that infernal dragon, to whom Germany gave birth in the year 1517, and whose evident goal was the complete ruin of the Latin Church. This heresiarch recalled from hell all the preceding heresies and vomited them from his impure mouth against this Church, as will be seen later. One sees clearly, therefore, from what we have just said, why Saint John, writing for the universal Church, gives the name of this angel of the abyss in three languages.

It is in order to make us understand that it is always the same demon: formerly the king, chief, and teacher of the Goths and Vandals, who presided over the sect of Arius through the Lombards. And it is this same demon who will be the chief, king, teacher, and seducer of all heretics who will come afterward, and especially of those of our own days who deny the visible head of the Church.

VERSE 12. One woe is past, and behold there come yet two woes more hereafter.

§ 2. On the Sixth Angel Who Sounded the Trumpet. Chapter 9, Verses 13–19

I. VERSE 13. And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet. When, therefore, the reign of the Lombards and the Goths had been destroyed, and the heresy of Arius had been relegated to hell, the Church of Christ enjoyed perfect rest, and had no heresy to deplore from the year 800 of the Christian era until the appearance of the deacon Berengarius in Gaul, in the year 1048, who dared to deny the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. In the year 1117, Durandus of Wandoch, together with another sectarian in Aragon, taught that marriage is only disguised concubinage; but both were burned, and by this means an end was put to that nascent heresy.

Thus all the heresies that appeared were suppressed at their origin, so that the Latin Church and the Western Empire had no considerable misfortune to deplore until 1517, when Martin Luther appeared in Germany, whom one may consider as the prince of heresiarchs. The holy prophet does not describe all the lesser evils that would happen in the Church. He confines himself to the principal ones, leaving aside those intermediate and less important heresiarchs who were only, as we have said, the forerunners of the great calamity that we are about to describe.

For this reason, in the fifth age, and under the figure of the sixth angel sounding the trumpet, he applies himself to depicting the greatest and most terrible of heresiarchs, with all his characteristics and with all the consequences of his errors. It is enough to examine the context, the nature, and the character of this heresiarch and of his errors, to be convinced that it is indeed Martin Luther whom Saint John designates literally by the sixth angel who sounded the trumpet.

First, because Lucifer, the king of darkness, found in Luther a useful instrument for the execution of his plans, he chose him as leader in the war of extermination which he was about to declare against the Latin Church. Lucifer gave this monk, to direct him, a teacher of consummate malice and cunning, whom Saint John rightly calls the angel of the abyss and the teacher of all heresiarchs, as we have seen above, and whose name in Latin means Exterminator. Now it is known that Luther often gloried in this name himself, which indeed suits him.

Second, Martin Luther must consequently be considered the worst and most dangerous of all heresiarchs, since he vomited against the Latin Church errors so perverse and so numerous that there is not a single point of faith or morals which this heretic, or his adherents, left untouched. There followed such confusion of ideas, and minds were so divided among themselves, that one may consider this evil as going on to infinity. At least, one will not find a province, a city, a hamlet, a family — what am I saying? not even two men of the same house — who think alike and agree on all the points of their belief.

The fundamental principle of this calamity has its source in private interpretation and individual examination of Holy Scripture. And from this principle flowed an infinity of different sects, whose principal and earliest leaders were Thomas Münzer, John Oecolampadius, Andrew Carlostadt, Zwingli, John Calvin, George David, Christopher Schapler, Philip Melanchthon, Martin Bucer, John of Westphalia, Balthasar Parimontanus, John of Leiden, John Spangenberg, Michael Servetus, John Brenz, Theodore Beza, Luc Sterenberg, who were deists or trinitarians; Louis Alemann, who was an atheist; and so on. See the catalogue of Lindau, bishop of Roermond, concerning Martin Luther and the origin and homeland of all the heresiarchs of that time.

Third, we have learned only too well, to our misfortune, the particular character of this heresy: it excites war and sedition, as Luther himself took pleasure in publishing in his speeches and writings, and according to that favourite expression of Zwingli: "The Gospel demands blood." This seditious and bloody doctrine of Luther, proclaimed loudly and spread publicly by pamphlets and preachings against God and monarchs, in fact provoked a terrible shedding of blood.

Excited by Luther's voice, and pushed into revolt by Münzer, Carlostadt, Bucer, and still others, a mass of misguided men, known under the name of peasants, invaded the monasteries and churches of Swabia, Alsace, Thuringia, and Franconia, to pillage and destroy them. In Franconia alone, as many as three hundred cloisters and one hundred and eighty feudal castles were sacked. These rebels spared neither persons nor property, and they gave themselves over to such excesses in the massacre of nobles that there resulted an open war, which the nobles undertook against the peasants, and in which more than 130,000 of these madmen fell.

How many victims had to pay with their blood for Zwingli's furies in the civil war which so cruelly afflicted Switzerland! Then came the wars of France and Belgium, which lasted from the year 1595; then the Schmalkaldic War in 1547; the war of Livonia; the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, or the civil war excited by Calvin, who might have been taken for a dictator; and finally the war of the Protestants properly so called, or the Thirty Years' War, which began in 1618 and lasted almost without interruption until the deplorable peace treaty so fatal to the Catholic religion in 1650.

How many thousands, and even millions, of victims fell in Europe by sword, by fire, and by plague? How many thousands of Catholics lost their lives in England, especially in the time of Elizabeth, by capital punishment and by other torments? The spirit of this heresy was so bloody that it did not even spare its own kings and princes. We find a horrible example of this given very recently by the Scots, who betrayed and delivered up their legitimate sovereign Charles Stuart, and by the English, who had him beheaded by public sentence without even hearing him.

Fourth, the heresy of Luther caused the Church and the Roman Empire three great and horrible evils, which may be compared to three plagues. The first was the confusion and darkening of the truths of faith, arising from mutually opposed errors whose variety is as astonishing as their number. The legitimate meaning of Scripture was almost entirely corrupted by Luther and his impious followers. Versions of the Bible were published in such great number, and so little in agreement with one another, that one no longer knew what one ought to believe or reject.

The second evil was like a great fire kindled in the minds of men, who reached such a degree of irritation that they were seen rising up against one another: states against states, kingdoms against kingdoms. So many horrible and cruel massacres, succeeding one another almost without interruption and for so long a time, cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of men. Such was the terrible consequence of that liberty — or rather that license — which was preached to the people in order to persuade them that neither men nor even angels had any right to impose laws on them, except insofar as they wished to accept them.

Celibacy was called tyranny. The power and jurisdiction of the sovereign Pontiff, of the bishops, and of the prelates of the Church were delivered over to contempt, and all ecclesiastical precepts were violated. Temporal princes were attributed the right to seize the goods of the principalities and dignities of the Church, leaving to priests only the right to be supported. Inferiors revolted against their superiors and shook off the yoke of the Lord. Ecclesiastics themselves stripped off their habit in order to marry. Princes and nobles began to hate the sovereign Pontiff, the bishops, and the priests; they despoiled bishoprics, prebends, benefices, monasteries, and so forth. And when the emperor wished to prevent them, they took up arms and revolted against him.

Let him who desires to know this infamous tragedy better read the history of the events that followed one another from 1525 to 1650. But we have not yet seen the end of these evils in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and Germany will not be at peace for a long time. Whoever examines attentively and without passion the cause of these misfortunes will be forced to attribute it entirely to this dreadful heresy.

The third evil it produced was the corruption of all morals and of all discipline, both ecclesiastical and civil; for it is known that there is not a single point of morals, nor of anything that concerns good conduct, which Luther did not poison with his pestilential breath. From this one may conclude that this heresiarch did not make only a spiritual or moral war, but that, politically speaking, he attacked and overturned almost the whole Roman Empire.

Fifth, the language of Luther and of his followers was presumptuous, proud, and audacious to such a degree that it spared nothing, however holy it might be, nor any truth, even the most ancient and best established. His mouth, like the mouth of a lion, tore and devoured everything. He vomited, so to speak, sarcasm, contempt, and calumny against the authority of the sovereign Pontiff, and against the learning and virtue of the holy Fathers, sparing in his fury neither men, nor angels, nor even the Most Holy Trinity. To be convinced of this, one need only read his writings, and especially the public speeches he delivered in the assemblies of Worms, and in particular the one De Destructione, a book against the king of England.

Sixth, this heresy invaded, in a short time, not only all Germany, with the exception of Bavaria and Tyrol, but almost all the peoples of the North. It spread into France, Belgium, Hungary, and Poland. England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, and almost all the imperial cities separated from the Latin Church. Like a devastating torrent, it dragged after itself the princes of the Empire, and acquired such an increase of strength and extension that in a short time it spread, and continues to spread, on land and sea, because its doctrine flatters the power and avarice of princes and the depraved taste of a carnal generation.

Satan, being able to do nothing by himself against the world, made use of Luther by divine permission; and Luther succeeded only too well in carrying out his infernal plans, because all flesh had corrupted its ways, and no one was any longer content to live according to his condition. The people sought license; princes and nobles coveted honours and riches; and the clergy, being disgusted with celibacy, gave themselves over to pleasures. Should one then be astonished that all these states accepted with such eagerness the flattering but perverse doctrine of Luther? It is to this perverted generation that Saint Paul addresses these words so full of truth, 2 Timothy 4:3: "There shall be a time, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables."

Luther's assertions were so extravagant that every sensible man must be seized with astonishment at seeing such great monarchs enamoured of them. But alas, these princes multiplied for themselves, according to their desires, such teachers as flattered their pride and their covetousness, as they continue still to do.

Seventh, finally, this heresy of Luther distilled a still more deadly poison in pseudopoliticism and atheism, whose principal propagators were Machiavelli, Bodin, and others. Indeed, their works are held in veneration among princes, among nobles, and among many illustrious men who nevertheless glory in being Catholics. This new poison, disguised under appearances flattering to the senses, infects and envenoms in the minds everything that the first errors, which are its elements, had left intact. Its pestilential essence has slipped into the counsels of princes, states, and republics, which it inspires, governs, and directs. By it men speak, think, tolerate, permit, and act wholly contrary to truth and justice.

This is the tail and the final consequence of this dragon and of his deadly doctrine. For Machiavelli and Bodin, and especially the followers of Calvin, gathered this essence of poison from the plants of the field of error, and made of it a mixture with the infernal spirit, in order to produce upon souls the effect which Luther himself had not been able to obtain. Indeed, it was by infusing this essence into minds and hearts that Lucifer succeeded in preventing the true reform and the conversion of the world to the Catholic faith.

By this means he made impossible the restitution of the goods of the Church; he taught men to dissemble the faith; and he saturated a great part of the nobility with false and abominable principles. By this he rendered useless all the efforts that were made, both by discussion and even by force of arms, to heal Europe and Germany in particular. So true it is that the wisdom — or rather the cunning — of this world easily prevails over men. Luke 16:8: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light."

We saw only too clearly fulfilled in Germany this oracle of Jesus Christ, Matthew 12:43: "When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation." We see indeed all modern heresies resolving into one alone and ending in pseudopoliticism and atheism.

Each man forms for himself, according to his pleasure, a conscience and a religion which he bases outwardly on his political principles. What else is the religion of pseudopoliticians and atheists but pure hypocrisy? For they say in their heart: "What does religion matter to me? God does not exist; He is a word. There is no other life than the present." And thus they mock the greatest truths.

It is of this impious race that the holy king David speaks when he says, Psalm 13:1: "The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no, not one." "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes. Shall not all they know that work iniquity, who devour my people as they eat bread?"

II. VERSE 13. And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet. This sixth angel was therefore Martin Luther, the prince of heresiarchs, and one of those who are described under the seven trumpets. He made his trumpet resound by declaiming against indulgences and by disseminating his horrible errors, through his speeches, writings, and followers, throughout almost all Europe. Against this heresiarch the Ecumenical Council of Trent assembled, under the emperors Charles V and Ferdinand, and under the sovereign Pontiffs Paul III, Marcellus II, Paul IV, Pius IV, and Pius V.

Luther was unanimously condemned as a heretic; his books had already been condemned at Rome on the seventh day before the Kalends of July, in the year 1520, and he himself had already been excommunicated by Leo X, the same pope who granted and caused indulgences to be published in Germany. The care of this publication had been entrusted to the elector of Mainz, who, according to custom, charged the Dominicans with it. This is what stirred up the jealousy, avarice, and pride of Luther and his followers to the point of apostasy.

And I heard a voice coming out from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. VERSE 14. A voice saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates. By the altar, Saint John here designates the universal Church — or the prelates, bishops, doctors, and priests united with their head, the sovereign Pontiff. They are rightly called the altar, because it is in them and through them that the prayers and good works of Christianity are offered each day to God the Father, through Jesus Christ; and it is from this altar that the incense of repentance and sorrow rises up to heaven.

This is why this altar is called golden, because only the Church is continually illuminated by the eternal wisdom which gold represents. It is also said that this altar is before God, because the Catholic Church is always present to the eyes of the Lord, who guards and protects her in a wholly particular manner, and prevents her from falling into any error whatever, or from being conquered by any enemy. If her members make themselves guilty of some fault, He chastises and corrects them as a good Father, according to His promise contained in 2 Chronicles 7:15, concerning the temple of Solomon, which was the figure of the Catholic Church: "My eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this place. For I have chosen and sanctified this place, that my name may be there for ever, and my eyes and my heart may remain there perpetually."

Thus, a thing that is before God signifies, according to Scripture, the Lord's guardianship, solicitude, care, and paternal love toward it. Such is the Church of Jesus Christ, which He acquired for Himself by His precious blood. We have an example of this solicitude and vigilance in the natural history of animals: who has not had occasion to admire in female birds their watchful eye and their protective wings over their young? This altar of which Saint John speaks in his text had four horns, to signify still more clearly the Church extending into the four parts of the world: East, West, North, and South.

And since the universal Church is the assembly of all the faithful of the world gathered under one head, who is our Holy Father the Pope; and since, each time she assembles in council, all the prelates and all the doctors of the world are convoked; for this reason we find these words full of meaning and truth in the Apocalypse: And I heard a voice coming out from the four horns of the golden altar. This voice was that of the holy Council of Trent, which came out from the four horns of the altar. It was one, because this council was general, and because it condemned with one unanimous voice and delivered to Satan the impious Luther with all his errors.

A voice saying to the sixth angel — to Martin Luther — who had the trumpet, and to whom God had permitted to preach, propagate, and disseminate, by himself and by his followers, the most numerous, varied, and clamorous errors which his unbridled passions, unconquerable pride, and incomparable audacity could produce. Loose the four angels. This is a manner of speaking used to provoke someone to combat and to declare war on him, when all other means of pacification have been exhausted in order to settle an urgent and necessary matter. This is how Jesus Christ acted when He saw that the devil had entered into the heart of Judas, who was to betray Him and deliver Him to the Jews. He said to him, John 13:27: "That which thou dost, do quickly."

And it is in the same way that we ourselves act when we see that there is no other means of escaping an enemy than by just defence. We prepare resolutely for combat and attack with fearlessness the enemy who insults us. This imperative expression, Loose, is therefore nothing else, in the meaning of the text, than a provocation to spiritual war against the fury of Satan and of all hell, which was making use of this heresiarch to try to exterminate the Latin Church. We have said that this expression Loose is imperative, effectively ordering the sovereign Pontiff and the Council of Trent to pronounce a sentence of excommunication and condemnation against the impious Luther and his followers.

And this was the occasion which most inflamed his fury and stirred him up to the most shameful diatribes against the sovereign Pontiffs, against the holy councils, indulgences, celibacy, dignities, power, authority, and ecclesiastical goods. One may be convinced of this from his writings and speeches. Furthermore, this infernal enemy stirred up the princes of the Empire, the people, and even ecclesiastics against the pope, the bishops, and the prelates, always seeking, by every means, to exterminate the Church. This at least is clearly seen from the efforts that were attempted, and that are still attempted in our own day.

Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates. By the great river Euphrates one understands the Roman Empire, which is called a great river: 1. Because of the multitude of peoples composing it. For Europe, which belongs entirely to this empire, is very populous, according to these words of the Apocalypse itself, 17:15: "The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and nations, and tongues." 2. Because, just as the Euphrates was one of the four great rivers of the earthly Paradise, according to Genesis 2:14: "The fourth river is Euphrates," so also the Roman Empire was one of the four principal empires of the world, and even the greatest, the most powerful, and the most lasting, as is seen in Roman history and in the prophecies of Daniel 2.

How great was the power of this empire, which was like iron, and which, like iron, broke and subdued all the kings of the earth and made them tributary to itself, although at present this empire is very restricted and so divided that one sees only confusion in it, as the same prophet had foretold. 3. Just as the Euphrates is very great near its source, but afterward divides into various rivers and streams, so the Roman Empire was at first immense; then it diminished with time and divided into various kingdoms and republics which separated from it, either by rebellions, or by defections from the Catholic faith, or finally by some other circumstance, so that now there remains of it only a small portion, full of troubles, as we have said.

The number four is often used to express the totality of a thing. Thus we see in Saint Matthew 24:31: "He shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds" — that is, all the elect. Now it is in the same way that one must understand, by the four angels of whom Saint John here makes mention, the universality of the wicked whom Luther summoned to make war on the Church of God. And these wicked persons are divided into two categories.

The first consists of the ecclesiastics whom this heresiarch recruited from among his own and from an infinity of other religious and secular orders, such as Carlostadt, Münzer, Oecolampadius, Zwingli, Calvin, and a great number of others. The second category is formed of the princes of the Empire and the so-called doctors of the Reformation, whom Luther loosed like fierce beasts and launched against emperors and kings, to overthrow churches and monasteries, and to seize ecclesiastical goods and bishoprics. He did all this especially in hatred of the sovereign Pontiff, bishops, and priests, and through aversion for the Church and the Catholic faith, which the holy Fathers, the Doctors, and all the saints who have always been her ornament had preserved pure and spotless through all ages and all the difficulties of the times.

The most perverse among these impious and aggressive princes were the Elector of Saxony, who abolished the bishoprics and all the monasteries of his states; the electors of Brandenburg, Heidelberg, and Brunswick; the Landgrave of Hesse; the kings of Sweden, Denmark, and England; and an infinity of other princes, dukes, marquises, counts palatine, barons, and nobles. The whole North, and even almost the whole Roman Empire in the East, West, and North, were loosed against the Latin Church at the sound of the trumpet of this sixth angel, because none of them could endure the sound doctrine of the holy Council of Trent.

Loose the four angels who are bound by the power of the Empire. For these impious men were held back by the force and under the yoke of the power of God, which the Roman Empire represented; and they sought to break their chains while howling like chained dogs. Indeed, at that time, the princes of the Empire, the kings, and a great number of ecclesiastics resembled a furious dog and a stallion neighing, because of their unbridled passions and their thirst for riches and honours. But God, in His power, held them bound until the measure of the iniquities of the Roman Empire was full, and divine vengeance permitted these impious men to be loosed by Luther, in order to chastise this empire and its Latin Church.

Thus the text rightly says: Loose the four angels, to indicate divine permission, without which our enemies remain chained and incapable of doing harm. For a long time Germany, and even the Roman Empire, had nourished within themselves this principle of evil; and these dreadful disasters would have happened sooner if God had not delayed them in order to wait for sinners to do penance.

For all states and all conditions had corrupted their ways. Subjects no longer wished to obey. Ecclesiastics violated discipline, and, considering celibacy unbearable, cried out loudly for marriage. Princes and nobles, having become insatiable, coveted other honours, other riches, and other dignities. The sight of riches in prebends, bishoprics, and prelatures excited their avarice; and in their jealousy they conceived the deepest hatred against those who possessed them. To make themselves masters of these goods, they joined calumny to the scandals of which the clergy unfortunately gave so many examples. All men forgot God upon the earth and wallowed up to the neck in the mire of pleasures, honours, and riches.

Thus everything was disposed and prepared for a general ruin which God, in His mercy, restrained for a time, until He finally caused His anger to break forth. Such, until now, has been the fate of the Roman Empire and of the Latin Church, which began in the year 800 of the Christian era, the period when this empire passed to the Germans, and which continues to last until this day. We see, therefore, in their history, that from their origin until the year 1517 — that is, for the space of seven centuries — they were exempt from all heresy and all ruin, except only those of Berengarius and of a few other heretics of little importance whom we have mentioned.

For the hand of God held Satan bound; and all these heresiarchs, whom one may regard as the forerunners of the evil, as we have already said, never succeeded in exercising the furies of hell against the Church until the day of heavenly vengeance had come.

III. VERSE 15. And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, for to kill the third part of men. In these words follow the effects of the divine permission by which Luther obtained the great power of darkness to commit, with the greatest success, the horrible evils with which he so cruelly afflicted the Latin Church. For one must not attribute to him only the evil he did by himself to the men of his time; rather, one must consider him as the great guilty one and the first cause of all the disasters that his errors produced and will still produce later.

The first of these evils was the excitement which he stirred up in an almost infinite number of ecclesiastics of every rank and condition, teaching them by his doctrine to shake off the yoke of Church discipline, in order afterward to run through Europe like horses without a bridle, manifesting their carnal desires by horrible neighings and perverting millions of men by their scandals. The second of these evils was to excite, by speeches and writings, the princes of the Empire to the longest and most disastrous war that ever was or ever will be.

And the four angels were loosed. That is, permission was given to the universality of the impious and wicked, who were ready and as though enlisted under the banners of Lucifer, to whom they had sold themselves to do evil, as Ahab once did, 3 Kings 21, when he said to Elijah: "Hast thou found me thy enemy?" Elijah answered him: "Because thou hast sold thyself to do evil in the sight of the Lord."

We see such a prince in the person of Frederick V, who, together with his allies, caused the blood of Christians to be shed in such great abundance. Such also were Henry VIII, king of England; Elizabeth his daughter; and recently also Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, who, at the head of the Protestants, devoured almost all Germany to the marrow of its bones, after making it undergo the bloodiest outrages that can humiliate a nation. Only too well known is the horrible shedding of blood which this prince provoked, as well as his rapines, vexations, homicides, sacrileges, and other infamies. Now the first source of these incalculable evils, past and future, was the doctrine of Luther.

And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, etc. The Apostle designates by this the various epochs of the wars of Protestantism, whose moments are fixed to the hour, the day, the month, and the year, according as it pleases the divine will to permit the leaders of war to arrange and determine the execution of their plans. For to kill the third part of men. Here the Apostle indicates a determined number in order to speak in an indeterminate manner; and by this third part of men one understands the greater part of Christians who were and will truly be killed by these wars. By men, one understands indistinctly both good and bad, Catholics and the impious, whom these wars were to reach and must still reach.

By the hour, the day, the month, and the year, the principal epochs of the wars of Protestantism are specially designated. Thus the hour clearly indicates the Peasants' War, which lasted only a short time, and in which nevertheless 130,000 men were killed by the Swedish League and by Anthony of Lorraine. The hour also designates the civil wars in Switzerland, France, and Belgium, which were short but cruel. The day indicates the Schmalkaldic War, which was longer than that of the peasants, but which was nevertheless shortened by the emperor Charles V, celebrated for his brilliant victories over the most formidable enemies.

The month announces the violent war called the Thirty Years' War, which lasted from the year 1619 until 1649. These thirty years are indeed designated by the thirty days of the month; for it is known that among the prophets, one day counts for a year. Finally, by the year, the Apostle makes us understand all the wars and seditions that will take place in Europe until the extinction of this very cruel heresy.

VERSE 16. And the number of the army of horsemen was two hundred million. By this army, Saint John designates in general all the forces and all the troops which Europe, in a determined circumstance, has put on a war footing, and which it will continue to put forth through the four angels, because of this impious and bloody heresy. The number of these troops will surpass everything that one could believe or suppose concerning the resources of Europe. And yet it seems that this region ought already to be exhausted, if one considers all the bloody battles of which it has already been the theatre for one hundred and twenty-five years. For almost all kingdoms, principalities, and republics were drenched in blood as a consequence of these errors, as is seen from what precedes.

Now, if one adds together the numbers of all these troops, one will obtain an incredible number, which Saint John himself indicates by a prodigious figure in these terms: And the number of the army of horsemen was two hundred million. We say a prodigious figure, and the reader will agree with us if he considers the still more astonishing number of infantry which this very numerous cavalry supposes according to the art of war. Thus the prophet does not express himself otherwise in order to say nothing superfluous, just as he announces only one army, although there have been and will be a very great number of armies.

His purpose is to make us understand that all these armies, however numerous and varied they may be, nevertheless form only one army, morally speaking, since all must tend toward the same end and serve the same cause, which is to fight for or against the principles of Luther. All these troops are an instrument in the hands of God to chastise this carnal age by the massacre of the third part of men. For I heard the number of them. By these words, the prophet wishes to make us understand that it is not by chance, nor without design, that he cites this determined number indicating another indeterminate number; rather, he himself affirms that this number of two hundred million was indicated to him, and that he thus heard it in spirit.

IV. VERSE 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision. The prophet now passes from the description of physical evils to the description of the spiritual or moral evils of this heresy. First, he describes the manner in which he saw the nature and properties of this spiritual army. He says that the horses appeared to him in this way in the vision. Now this manner of seeing is purely intellectual, and perfectly suits its object, which is spiritual war; just as the other manner of hearing, which supposes a physical participation of the hearing, suited the first detail of material evils.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision. By the horses are understood the bad priests and the impious who, having shaken off the yoke of all discipline and having abandoned the bridle of their passions, renounced the Catholic faith and began to run like wild horses after Luther. The number of those who manifested their unbridled passions by a kind of neighing after the pleasures of the flesh was considerable, like that of a great army of cavalry.

First, just as a stallion set at liberty raises its mane, lashes its tail, foams, runs, neighs after its female, and becomes so untamable that it allows itself to be taken by no one, so these impious and sacrilegious men, who had not known how to preserve themselves as eunuchs through the fear of God, believing themselves loosed by Luther's doctrine from the bridle of ecclesiastical discipline, celibacy, and morality, began to raise the mane of their pride, to cast their foam against the Church of God, to pervert men, and to run after every pleasure of the flesh. They allowed themselves to be guided by no one, in order to satisfy their passions more freely, not thinking that they thus exposed themselves to being bound, after their death, in the eternal prison of hell.

One must also understand literally, by these horses, the preachers, or ministers of the Reformation, who have lived, still live, and will live to preserve and propagate Luther's subversive work. These are the teachers of whom Saint Paul speaks in 2 Timothy 4:3, and their number forms a great army. Second, stallions at liberty trample everything under their feet, even the most precious things they meet, because they are deprived of reason.

It is thus that Calvin, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Carlostadt, and an infinity of others, with Luther at their head — that is, the angel who loosed them — trampled everything under their feet. Like escaped horses, they ran through the garden of the Church which was in Europe, not sparing even the flowers of this garden, that is, the virgins who had vowed their life and blood to Jesus Christ in order to preserve their virginity. They dared to attack them by their impure solicitations, saying that they ought to abandon their state in order to marry.

They did not spare either the majestic and ancient trees of the holy Fathers, trees so fertile by their doctrine on the sacraments; nor the plantations, works, and embellishments of general and provincial councils; not even the gardeners in the continual succession of sovereign Pontiffs, from Saint Peter to the present pope, who remained firm and unshaken like eternal monuments of truth, despite these injuries. They attacked and sought to devastate all the plants of the Church, which are as numerous as the miracles and virtues she has produced through the ages.

One finds a true, though unflattering, figure of this agreement of the impious in agricultural life: it is when a farm-master wants to put an iron ring in the snout of a pig to prevent it from doing harm; all the others run up at its cries and threaten the one who performs the operation. And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them had breastplates of fire, and of hyacinth, and of brimstone. By these words, the prophet indicates and describes the riders of these horses, who are none other than demons.

It is known, indeed, that Luther himself admitted in his writings that he had frequent relations with a demon who pushed him and spurred him, so to speak, to evil. It is the same with all his disciples and followers, and especially with those who deny the visible head of the Church in the present times. They all have demons who serve as leaders and direct them. For: a) he who rides a horse dominates it; b) he holds it tightly by the bridle and directs it where he pleases; c) he pricks it with his spur to excite it to run and to impress upon it all the movements he desires: sometimes he makes it advance, sometimes retreat, and sometimes caracole.

Now this is how the demons acted upon all the disciples and followers of Luther, under whatever form they appeared; and this is how they will act upon those who will appear later. For they always dominate them and direct them toward evil; and these, like tamed and supple horses, obey without shame the impulses of their riders, trampling underfoot morality, discipline, and the articles of faith.

If these horses are sluggish and without fire, their riders use the spur — that is, they inspire them with a false zeal and a kind of fury mixed with pride, arrogance, and envy, in order better to launch them into the course and to disseminate impiety more rapidly, under the false pretext and appearance of good and truth. It was at least under these appearances that they presented themselves to the imperial cities, and introduced themselves among princes, presenting to them the riches of the Church and saying to them, like the demon in the temptation of Jesus Christ: "We will give you all these things, if you fall down and adore us."

It was again in the same way that these horses ran their course in order to make their neighings resound in the ears of ecclesiastics, whatever their state might be, with this false and licentious interpretation of the passage of Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 7:9: "It is better to marry than to burn." By their rapid course, they propagated throughout Europe in a moment their lies so flattering to the passions of men.

But these horses submitted to their riders not only by their obedience and docility for attack, but also for flight. Heretics flee with aversion from everything contrary to demons. This is why they rejected with horror the sign of the cross, holy water, sacramental ceremonies, relics of the saints, and especially the real presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. Above all, they rejected the holy name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so terrible to demons, in consequence of that ancient enmity by which the divine prophecy is daily realised, Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."

Now modern heretics manifest, by all their acts and gestures, this old and ancient rancour against the Woman whom angels and archangels venerate, whom kings, princes, and all generations have always praised and will always praise, according to Saint Luke 1:48: "Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." Next, just as the demons showed themselves, from the beginning, rebellious against God their Creator, and through jealousy pushed our first parents into disobedience, so these emissary horses shook off the yoke of obedience toward the Holy Roman Church and excited the states of the Empire to revolt against their legitimate masters and against the sovereign Pontiff, true successor of Saint Peter and head of the universal Church.

Moreover, what is more odious and terrible to demons than the holy sacrifice of the Mass? Now the modern heretics, true precursors of Antichrist, made every effort to destroy it, and in fact rejected the continual sacrifice, as Antichrist will do, according to the prophecy of Daniel 12:11: "And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away," etc. The demons sigh only for the blood of Christians, and seek only homicides, discords, wars, seditions, and so forth; and they excite to these things the wicked whom they hold under their domination. Now is this not the true portrait of these emissary horses whom the trumpet of the sixth angel continually animates to slaughter and devastation, as we have seen above?

It follows clearly, therefore, from all that precedes, that the riders of these horses are the demons who dominate them and push them to evil. And one sees from the details that follow in the text, concerning the weapons and uniform of these riders, that the prophet designated these demons literally. For he adds: They that sat on them had breastplates of fire, and of hyacinth, and of brimstone. That is, they were remarkable by their breastplates of fire, smoke, and brimstone. Now these three things are found in hell; and the demons who dwell there and who come out from it to make war on Jesus Christ upon earth appear to shine, according to the text, in these breastplates, in order better to make us understand who these riders are.

For just as a king wears a breastplate of gold, an officer a breastplate of silver, and a soldier a breastplate of iron, each according to his rank and grade, so the demons wore a breastplate of fire, smoke, and brimstone. These words also indicate, literally, various kinds of breastplates which these demons wore on horseback in order to be more terrible in their attack against the Church of Jesus Christ. There are three kinds:

1. The zeal of implacable hatred and the black envy which Satan inspired, through his false doctors, in princes and great men against the Roman Church, against the sovereign Pontiff, against the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, prelates, religious orders, and in general against all the clergy. Daily experience shows us the incredible hatred and jealousy with which heretics are inflamed against the Church of Christ. This is a breastplate with which Satan knew perfectly how to arm his soldiers for battle. For a heart filled with hatred and aversion does not easily allow itself to be convinced and persuaded by sound doctrine, good counsel, or remonstrance. For this reason it is said in the text: They that sat on them had breastplates of fire. For just as fire burns and consumes, so the false zeal of hatred and envy consumes the hearts of heretics, and will burn them eternally.

2. The second kind of these breastplates is the confusion and attractive novelty of the doctrine of this heresy concerning faith and morals. For this reason it was not easy to combat it. Scarcely had one error been refuted when an infinite number of others, still more astonishing, arose. This was a new and very skilful stratagem which Satan employed in his war against the Latin Church; and with the help of this strong breastplate, he parried all blows and marched fearlessly and boldly against his enemy. This second breastplate had the colour of hyacinth, or of smoke; for hyacinth resembles darkened air, and this colour perfectly represents the confusion of Luther's errors.

Indeed: a) smoke is produced by fire; b) it darkens the air; c) it troubles the sight; d) it is confused and like a chaos: one cannot compress it, and if one disperses it on one side, it spreads on another; e) finally, it makes tears come from the eyes. Now such is modern heresy perfectly. a) It offers the picture of the most numerous and varied errors; and the resulting confusion comes from the fire of jealousy and envy of heretics against Christians, for they take pleasure in teaching and practising, in hatred of the sovereign Pontiff and of the Roman Church, everything contrary to them.

b) This heresy darkened by its errors all Europe, whose faith had been pure and bright like the air on a beautiful summer day. c) It troubled and spoiled the sight — that is, the understanding and sound reason of men — to such a point that it was no longer possible to distinguish what was true doctrine and the path leading to eternal life. d) It is like a chaos of all the preceding errors which one has not succeeded in dissipating; and the more one wishes to make its clouds and vapours disappear, the more they rise up on all sides. e) It caused abundant tears to be shed, even tears of blood, particularly in Germany, and it will cause many more to be shed.

Now why did the prophet compare this evil to hyacinth and not to smoke? The reason is that, although the errors of this doctrine were in reality nothing other than smoke, they nevertheless appeared plausible outwardly and had an appearance of solidity. These emissary horses presented them under these false colours in order to make them accepted by carnal men, whose desires they flattered, at least for the present life. This is how demons are accustomed to present evil under colours and with reasons good in appearance, in order to succeed better in deceiving men. One sees, therefore, that it is with good reason that the prophet used these breastplates of hyacinth to depict these enemies of Christ and His Church.

3. The third kind of these breastplates was the relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline and Christian morals, replaced by an entirely carnal life and licentious liberty. Thus Satan, by this heresy, opened the door to all vices and all pleasures, persuading men, through his ministers, that the path to heaven is very easy and covered with roses, and that God does not punish sin as rigorously as Catholics teach. He took care above all to preach the greatest liberty of the flesh, contrary to celibacy, religious orders, virgins, and priests.

Satan was like a fisherman who, by means of this heresy, spread a great net over the great waters of Europe and made an immense catch of fish, which he roasted in the eternal flames. And the stench of the smoke that came out of this fire of lust infected all Europe. It is with this third armour that Satan armed his riders, to whom he gave breastplates of brimstone. For brimstone metaphorically signifies the stench and infection of shameful sins. Such, then, were these three kinds of spiritual breastplates with which the demons were covered and armed in order to undertake this terrible war which Satan had declared against the Latin Church.

V. And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions. In these words and those which follow, the prophet passes to the description of the nature and properties of these horses. One will undoubtedly conceive of them as monstrous and horrible if one represents them with the belly, feet, and body of a horse, the head of a lion, an infernal mouth, and a tail formed of serpents. Nevertheless, this is what we are going to verify in detail.

First, it is said in the text that the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and this is justly said. For just as the head of the lion is very strong, and devours and tears with its teeth everything that presents itself to it, so these horses, animated by the sound of the trumpet of the sixth angel, dared to attack and devour with their cursed teeth almost all the articles of faith, however holy, authentic, and ancient they might be. They spared nothing that belongs to good morals; nor sacred things, nor sacramental ceremonies, nor the worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints.

As an enraged lion casts fiery looks, lets the foam of its rage fall from its mouth, makes the valleys resound with its dreadful roarings, and spreads everywhere it passes the terror of slaughter and the fright of death, so these horses of impiety, animated by the fire of hatred, inflamed by the fury of envy, and burning with thirst for vengeance against the sovereign Pontiff and against all the prelates of the Church, tore and devoured with their lion's teeth all holy things and even the sacraments.

Second, the prophet adds: And from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone. We have said that fire designates the ardour of jealousy, the zeal of hatred, and the black envy with which these horses were inflamed by the demons who rode them, and who launched them throughout Europe to make war against the sovereign Pontiff and the Latin Church. It is with this fire that they burned all the precepts of morality and all the dogmas of the Catholic faith. We have also said that they filled this same Europe with smoke and brimstone by the confusion of their doctrine, by the falsity of their morality, and by the stench of their licentious life.

Now, according to the text, these three horrors proceeded from their mouths — that is, they preached and disseminated them by their speeches and writings. For what else could they preach except that with which their hearts were filled? And with what could they be filled, if not with the evil which the demons inspired in them? Thus these emissary horses spread through their mouths what the demons who rode them carried as breastplates. Indeed, it is proper to demons to will the evil which Satan causes to be committed in the world by his ministers, who are the impious and the wicked.

And the mouth of the impious is like hell, from which proceed, and from which will proceed for all eternity, the fire, smoke, and brimstone which will devour these wicked ones for ever and ever. It is of these same impious men that David so well wrote, Psalm 5:10: "There is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain; their throat is an open sepulchre; they dealt deceitfully with their tongues. Judge them, O Lord," etc. And Psalm 13: "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known."

Third, the fire, smoke, and brimstone of the breastplates worn by the riders are called plagues: a) To signify the deadly influence they exercised in Europe upon the Latin Church by God's permission. For the measure of men's sins was full; all flesh had corrupted its ways; and all Europe had prostituted itself far from God its Lord, to pride, avarice, lust, all the pleasures of the flesh, and the happiness of the present life. It is as a consequence of this overflowing of sin that this heresy brought forth and produced a generation of men perfectly resembling itself, who became children of sorrow for the misfortune of the whole world.

b) These breastplates are called plagues because God cannot inflict a greater punishment upon a people or nation than by permitting it to abandon the true faith in order to fall into heresy. Therefore God, in His goodness and mercy, takes care to announce these terrible chastisements often one hundred or even two hundred years in advance, in order to stir up peoples to penance. And if they persevere in their vices and errors, He finally causes His wrath to break forth by a complete ruin. For, according to the expression of the Apostle, Hebrews 10:31: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

And this is why the holy king-prophet warns us, Psalm 2:10: "And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth. Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling. Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way, when his wrath shall be kindled in a short time." Fourth, there follows the great devastation caused by these three plagues.

VERSE 18. And by these three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. By the third part of men, one understands here a considerable part of Christianity, which abandoned the true faith and perished by a spiritual death: either by the fire of jealousy, or by the venom of hatred against the sovereign Pontiff and against the Church and her ministers, whom these emissary horses rendered odious; or by the confusion of their doctrine and the diversity of their errors; or finally by the attractions of a voluptuous life and of a liberty of conscience without limit and without bridle.

Thus the prophet here indicates literally that the third part of men lost spiritual life because of this heresy, in the same way that he had said above, also literally, that the third part of men was physically killed. Now this spiritual death of a third of Christianity can easily be demonstrated by the number of kingdoms, provinces, or cities which were and still are infected, either totally or in part, by this abominable heresy. For if one compares the multitude of heretics in the world with the number of Catholics who have remained faithful, one will easily understand the greatness of the evil and the considerable ruin caused by this heresy, which must be deplored with tears of blood.

VERSE 19. Fifth, for the power of these horses is in their mouth and in their tails. These words indicate the cause of the evils which this heresy will continue to produce through the consequences of its principles, as already indicated by the conjunction for, which is placed at the beginning. a) The power of these horses is in their mouth, which they used to vomit calumny and falsehood against the sovereign Pontiff, against the prelates, and in general against the whole Church. They strove to render them odious, especially to princes and the nobility, seeking to persuade everyone that it was no longer fitting for ecclesiastics to possess dignities, principalities, and riches, because of the abuse they made of them.

By their artful speeches, and by the appearance of gravity and reason which they affected to give themselves, they deceived an innumerable multitude of persons of both sexes, of every state and every condition. It is by such means that they drew so many people to their sect, daring to boast that they were inspired and sent by God to shake off the yoke of the servitude of the devil. Such was their language against the Catholic Church. They also opened their mouth to blaspheme and to preach that the use of meat at meals is permitted every day, and that one is no longer bound by any precept of the Church.

Moreover, they taught and published throughout all Europe that one must not obey the Pope, and that celibacy must be abolished, and so forth. And because their doctrine, so disastrous for the Church, was generally accepted by kings, princes, nobles, imperial cities, and a great part of the people, the prophet rightly says that the power of these horses is in their mouth.

b) He also says that their power is in their tails. It must be observed that he indicates these tails in the plural, to say that there will be several and of various kinds. The first of these tails is hypocrisy and flattery, which they used as animals use their tails to flatter men; and these heretics used them to cover the turpitude and dissipate the stench of their doctrine and of their vices. The second tail was the princes, imperial cities, republics, and governments which they dragged after them into error and perdition, persuading them that they could, with a safe conscience, take or retain the goods of the Church, dignities, principalities, prebends, and bishoprics.

These ran after such teachers, who knew so well how to flatter their passions, as children run after nuts. Should one then be astonished if, supported by such powers, these horses, neighing and shaking their manes, dared and still dare to cast their foam with so much impudence against the Latin Church? This second tail also served them to hide their turpitude and to dissipate the stench of their heresy, in that the simple among the people, seeing the great and the learned, the rich and the lords, princes and governments themselves, accept and protect such a doctrine, could scarcely do anything but lose their heads over it.

The third tail is pseudopoliticism and indifferentism, recently introduced into the world by Machiavelli, Bodin, and other philosophers, as well as atheism, which may be considered the final consequence of so many false and contradictory principles of this doctrine, and consequently also as the tail of these horses. For the tail adheres to the body, as the consequences of a principle result from the body of the doctrine. They are its final reason, as the tail is the last member of the animal. Just as the final solution of the great problem of the Catholic faith is God, so, by opposition, the final consequence of Luther's doctrine is the denial of God.

And this is why so many princes and rulers, finally persuading themselves of the contradictions and infinite variations of modern sects, and otherwise preserving the first leaven of hatred which Protestantism inspired in too great a number of them, even among Catholics, ended by believing in no other truth than religion and reason of state. They contented themselves with preserving exterior and apparent ceremonies in order to succeed better in keeping their peoples in submission; and they said with the impious in their hearts: "There is no God."

Sixth, the prophet next describes the nature and properties of these tails. He deliberately uses the conjunction because, in order to make the Latin Church clearly understand the cause of so many ruins and desolations. Because their tails are like to serpents, and have heads: and with them they hurt. a) The tails of these horses are compared to serpents because of the flatteries they use. For just as the serpent seduced our first parents in the earthly Paradise by flattery and made them eat the forbidden fruit, so the disciples of Luther seduced and continue to seduce peoples, flattering them in their desires and persuading them to eat forbidden meats and to give themselves without fear to pleasures and license.

For this purpose they employ lies as flattering as they are specious, even using, when needed, texts of Scripture whose meaning they falsify, saying for example, Matthew 15:11: "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man," and 1 Corinthians 7:9: "It is better to marry than to burn." b) Moreover, serpents do not let themselves be caught easily; for if someone wishes to seize one, he runs great risk of being bitten and receiving a wound that is often mortal. Now such are the tails, or consequences, of the present heresy.

For who could boast of having grasped the cunning of heretics? Who will be able to uproot the false philosophy, false politics, and atheism that have slipped like poison even into the members of Catholics themselves? Glory to him who will be able to bring down from their chair those doctors of darkness who preach error and falsehood like vipers threatening death by their horrible hissings! Happy, finally, is he who will be able to seize and dominate, with God's help, the princes, kings, republics, imperial cities, and all the powers on which this error rests.

History teaches us that Ferdinand II, an emperor as pious as he was powerful, tried to do this, as did Ferdinand III; but alas, the result of their efforts was a horrible wound which they received in trying to seize these so formidable serpents. c) The nature of the serpent obliges it to crawl on the earth; and this is precisely what these heretics do, whose face, like that of the serpent, is continually inclined toward earthly things, seeking only honours, riches, and pleasures. d) According to Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made." So it is also with the present generation, which is the most cunning of all those that have existed until now.

It is certain that the Protestants employed against the Church the most refined cunning. One need only read, to be convinced of this, the acts of the chancery of Anhalt, as well as the decrees of their councils; there one will see everything that cunning inspired them to do against Catholics and against the Roman Empire, and one will understand that the prophet does not compare them wrongly to the most cunning serpents.

e) If God, in His curse, established an enmity between the serpent and the woman, between the race of one and the race of the other, Genesis 3, one can then understand what enmity God permitted to exist between this new race of serpents and the Woman par excellence, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God made man, who will be blessed among all women. f) It is said that these tails have heads, to make us understand that the supporters and followers of this heresy would be kings, princes, and a great number of distinguished and powerful persons, who are in fact like the head, or chiefs, of peoples.

Moreover, it is not without reason that the prophet designates several heads, to signify that the dogmas of Protestantism, having no other basis than the principle of private judgment, would necessarily result in a multitude of diverse sects, since all authority capable of restraining false liberty of conscience was to be rejected. Is this not in fact what experience has unfortunately proved only too well, through so many scandalous controversies concerning the presence of Christ in all places, the communication of divine idioms, the number of the sacraments, the faith of children in the administration of Baptism, the use and ceremonies of the Mass in German, and so forth?

It was enough for a consistory or provincial council to admit and proclaim some rule on this subject, for other councils and consistories to reject it and even to turn it into mockery. Is this not evident proof that neither the one nor the other were supported by the infallible assistance and promise of the Holy Spirit, which would have prevented them from failing and dividing? These heads also signify human wisdom, intelligence, and prudence, by which this generation surpasses Catholics by far. For, according to Saint Luke 16:8: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light."

Is this not what we have experienced especially at the beginning of this fifth age, seeing Protestants surpass Catholics by far in the art of dissimulation, of combining secret plans and laying traps; in the talent of acquiring riches and expanding commerce; of succeeding in negotiations; of perfecting systems of attack and defence for fortresses and places of war; in civil laws and regulations of external police; in the luxury of a brilliant education for youth; and so forth? Therefore, when the prophet tells us that they will have heads, he wishes to warn us of the considerable damage which this perverse generation will cause to the Church and to the Roman Empire.

And he completes the description of this heresy by saying: Their tails are like serpents... they have heads, and with them they hurt. That is, they will harm the Church and the Roman Empire especially with these three kinds of tails of which we have spoken above; and all the power and vigour of this heresy, when it is about to end, will consist in these three tails. Therefore, the one who succeeds in cutting off these tails will put an end to the existence of this heresy.

May God grant that there soon come that powerful monarch who must overthrow the republics, breach the imperial and maritime cities which are nothing other than nests of vipers, stifle the cries and hissings of these preachers and serpents, and, after having humbled heretics and schismatics, cause every error to cease! The prophet has written of no heresy with as much force and clarity, nor with comparisons so vivid, as the modern one, in order to make the Latin Church better know the evils that will result from it.

By making this monster pass before our eyes, the Apostle warns each one of us, in particular, to remain faithfully attached to the Roman Catholic faith, and to walk with sobriety, chastity, piety, and holiness in the presence of this horrible beast, lest our ministry be turned to mockery and degraded. Moreover, the prophet warns us to avoid lust, the pleasures of the table, pride, impurity, avarice, and ostentation, lest the weak among us take scandal from them. We must, on the contrary, strive to shine by our life and doctrine like a light in the darkness.

Let us observe the discipline of the Lord, lest His anger break forth, and lest He permit everything that we still possess in Europe to be devoured by this hideous beast.

§ 4. Summary of the Evils Caused by Bad Catholics Themselves. Chapter 9, Verses 20–21

I. VERSE 20. And the rest of the men who were not slain by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not adore devils, etc. This text contains an admirable summary of the considerable evils which we, Catholics, have caused to the Church by our perverse works. For although we have remained in the true faith, we have almost allied ourselves with the beast, in order to fight against our holy Mother the Church. And the rest of the men — that is, the remnants of the Catholics — who were not slain by these plagues, who did not abandon the true faith.

And the rest of the men. This construction does not at first appear complete, because there is no verb and predicate. But one must know that this verb and predicate do nevertheless exist, and are found in the words of the preceding text: And they have heads with which they hurt. In Latin, the connection is clearer because of the pronoun illis, which applies to all three genders, unlike the French pronoun, which is feminine. The rest of the men are therefore also the subject of the verb to hurt, which is found in the preceding verse; and the predicate is found in the word with which — that is, with these heads with which the rest of the men hurt.

By this connection of phrases, the prophet shows us in an admirable manner the connection, or at least the close approximation, which almost united the remnants of the Catholics with the Protestants. Consequently, the prophet wishes to make us understand that we too, bad Catholics, would bring our share of wood to that horrible fire which was to set Europe ablaze. And the evils of which we will make ourselves guilty against the Church are divided into two kinds.

The first is that so-called wisdom and serpent-like cunning which presides in the counsels of the powers of the age, and inspires them to oppress the Church by depriving her of her immunities; by making use of all kinds of false and specious titles to encroach upon the spiritual power; by burdening the revenues and even the persons of ecclesiastics, corporations, seminaries, and so forth, with taxes; and by taking from them their rights, revenues, tithes, and so on. And if the Church, on her side, threatens them with excommunication, or even pronounces sentences of this kind, they laugh, mock at them, and persevere in their sin.

Is this not the worst sign that the whole of Europe is on the slope of its ruin and prevarication? Indeed, is there a worse sign in a child than when he mocks the rod with which his mother threatens him? Now it is especially in this that bad Catholics draw near to heretics, since they do in an occult and hidden manner what the latter did openly and with such noise. Today they seize what their fathers founded with pious intention; but they do not become richer for that. On the contrary, they continue to be in need and in financial embarrassment, because the blessing of God is not upon them.

To all these robbers are addressed these words of the Wise Man, Proverbs 11:24: "Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer; others take away what is not their own, and are always in want." May these latter be persuaded to cease as soon as possible this usurpation of ecclesiastical power, these exactions, these taxes, this oppression of the clergy; and may they at last begin to fear the sword of the Church, which is terrible, since it draws the curse of God upon their families and upon their children's children.

We have a terrible example of this in Charles Stuart, king of England, whose predecessors claimed to be heads of the Church. That unfortunate man had to be beheaded and to lose his crown because of the curses which Henry VIII and Elizabeth had drawn upon that unhappy dynasty. It is thus that God punishes the crimes of men to the third and fourth generation.

The second kind of evils which Catholics caused to the Church their mother are the great sins of princes, clergy, and people, for the expiation of which no penance has been done, according to the expression of the prophet himself. For he adds: VERSE 21. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

It is already because of our enormous sins that God permitted this fatal heresy in Germany and in a large part of Europe; and it is because we continue to sin that He permits it to last so long. For to what other cause can one attribute such a sad result from the efforts of the emperor Ferdinand II for the reform of the faith and the restitution of the goods of the Church, if not to our sins? This prince had in his hands all the means to succeed. His work had begun well, and he had even already strengthened it by brilliant victories. And yet, because of the sins of Catholics, what resulted from all this, if not a peace treaty which compromised their situation still more?

It is therefore because of the vices to which we continue to abandon ourselves, and for which we do not wish to do penance after having recognised and confessed them, that God, in His anger, prevented this reform of the faith and this restitution of the goods of the Church which we had begun in an insufficient manner, since we did not add to it the reform of our morals. In this the Lord acts like a father gravely offended by the unworthy conduct of his son, whom he disinherits by tearing up the testament which he had made in his favour.

That they should not adore devils, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. These words specify seven enormous sins which are the cause why God has no pity on Europe, and why He does not raise up the Church oppressed under the yoke of heretics.

The first sin is the hidden idolatry of the superstitious, with which Europe, and especially Germany, abounded before the last war, and which is already beginning to reappear. Those who give themselves to these superstitions maintain secret commerce with demons whom they adore in these abominations, as the Gentiles formerly adored them in idols; and it is in this way that they forget God their Creator. Now this is an enormous sin, which the text expresses in these terms: That they should not adore devils.

The second sin is avarice, which is abominable before the Lord. The prophet depicts it metaphorically under the figure of idolatry, saying: Idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood. Just as the pagans made most of their idols from gold, silver, brass, and so forth, so the men of this age attach value and love only to these futile objects, and make of them the idol of their heart plunged in avarice. In these objects designated by the prophet, all the others are contained; and the reasons why he calls avarice an idolatry are the following:

a) Because it is proper to the prophets to designate such things by enigmas and metaphors. b) The Apostle Saint Paul also calls avarice an idolatry, because the one is as great a crime as the other. Ephesians 5:5: "Know ye this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person — which is a serving of idols — hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." c) Just as idolatry causes apostasy, so those who wish to become rich, according to Saint Paul, fall into the snares of the devil.

1 Timothy 6:9–10: "They that will become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of Satan, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition. For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith." Now is this not what we saw in Europe, and especially in Germany, where several princes and other illustrious persons abandoned the faith because of their covetousness for the goods of the Church? The avaricious are idolaters who adore coins as idols, placing all their confidence in riches, and committing fornication with them by forgetting God and despising divine and human laws.

d) Just as nothing is more vain, more vile, and more imperfect than idols, so even the smallest gnat ought seemingly to be held in far greater esteem than gold, silver, wood, brass, and stone, for which, nevertheless, men abandon God their Creator and the Being par excellence. Thus the prophet expresses his astonishment at this folly by these words: Idols of gold and silver, etc., which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.

The third sin is envy, hatred, anger; quarrels, unjust lawsuits, the desire to dominate, and covetousness; and also unjust wars, from which innumerable murders result. Does not Europe in general abound in homicides of this kind? How many unjust wars there have been — among which we shall mention only that of Mantua, that of France against the Roman Empire in support of the Protestants when Ferdinand II wished to introduce the reform of the faith and restore the goods of the Church; and finally, was not the war against the king of Spain undertaken through deep jealousy?

Men wish to be Catholic, but they do not wish to live as Catholics. They will even, when needed, support the enemies of the faith by arms, by bad counsel, and by money, with no motive capable of legitimising such alliances except self-interest. How many other unjust wars have been undertaken! How many homicides have been committed in so many revolutions! O sinners that we are, when shall we finally recognise our crimes? This is why the prophet adds: And they did not repent of their murders.

The fourth sin is particular homicide. How many assassinations, indeed, have we not to deplore? How many pregnant women destroy their fruit? How many mothers — O horror of nature! — are cruel enough to shed their own blood, the blood of the innocent? How many poisonings, hidden or known, in society and in families! This is what the text expressly indicates: They did not repent... of their sorceries.

The fifth sin is that of the flesh, expressed in these terms: And they did not repent... of their fornication. Here the prophet indicates the species for the genus; but his word includes all sins of lust in general, with which the world is so defiled that one may well apply to it those words which Scripture addresses to the men who lived before the flood: "All flesh had corrupted its way." Ah! Here, it is not words, but tears, that we need.

The sixth sin is the injustice that reigns everywhere, which the prophet indicates by these words: And they did not repent... of their thefts. Here again he cites the species for the genus, as there are many examples among the prophets. By thefts, then, he understands injustice in general, in which are enclosed all kinds of robbery, of whatever nature they may be. Now, who does not have cause to complain of injustices done to him in this kind — or at least who has not been threatened by them? But are there many among these robbers of another's goods who finally recognise their wrongs and repair their injustices? Do they not, on the contrary, seek to increase their fortune still more by every means, just or unjust — it matters little to them — inspired as they are by their insatiable avarice?

The seventh sin of this age, which must be considered as the completion of our perdition, is final impenitence, expressed so clearly by the prophet: And the rest of the men... did not repent of the works of their hands. And further down: They did not repent of their murders, etc. Such is the final sentence pronounced by Saint John, the archchancellor of the dread counsels of God.

O priests and laypeople of all Europe, and especially of Germany, let us finally open our eyes to see the terrible danger that threatens us! God has cast a glance of anger upon the Church His daughter; and for more than one hundred years, war, plague, famine, dissensions, heresies, schisms, revolutions, and diseases of every kind have afflicted and overwhelmed us. And we do not do penance for all this.

We persevere in the criminal pursuit of the pleasures of the flesh. We are still panting with thirst for perishable goods, and swollen with the pride of life. The eyes of our souls are obscured by our passions and cannot see the abyss into which we are rushing.

Ah, let us finally awaken from our sleep of death! For the love of Jesus Christ, who loved us even to the sacrifice of Calvary; for the love of our souls; and for the love of those who will come after us, let us all together make an effort of salvation, lest the Lord finally allow us to fall into the depths of the abyss over which we are suspended; and lest the horrible beast devour this beautiful Europe, with no one left who can save us. Amen.