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The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine EmmerichTHE PASSION.‘If thou knowest not how to meditate on high and heavenly things, rest on the Passion of Christ, and willingly dwellin his sacred wounds. For, if thou fly devoutly to the wounds and precious stigmas of Jesus, thou shalt feel great comfortin tribulation.’ Imit. of Christ, book ii. chap. 1.INTRODUCTION.96ON the evening of the 18th of February, 1823, a friend of Sister Emmerich went up to the bed,where she was lying apparently asleep; and being much struck by the beautiful and mournfulexpression of her countenance, felt himself inwardly inspired to raise his heart fervently to God,and offer the Passion of Christ to the Eternal Father, in union with the sufferings of all those whohave carried their cross after him. While making this short prayer, he chanced to fix his eyes for amoment upon the stigmatised hands of Sister Emmerich. She immediately hid them under thecounterpane, starting as if some one had given her a blow. He felt surprised at this, and asked her,‘What has happened to you?’ ‘Many things,’ she answered, in an expressive tone. Whilst he wasconsidering what her meaning could be, she appeared to be asleep. At the end of about a quarterof an hour, she suddenly started up with all the eagerness of a person having a violent struggle withanother, stretched out both her arms, clenching her hand, as if to repel an enemy standing on theleft side of her bed, and exclaimed in an indignant voice: ‘What do you mean by this contract ofMagdalum?’ Then she continued to speak with the warmth of a person who is being questionedduring a quarrel—‘Yes, it is that accursed spirit—the liar from the beginning—Satan, who isreproaching him about the Magdalum contract, and other things of the same nature, and says thathe spent all that money upon himself.’ When asked, ‘Who has spent money? Who is being spokento in that way?’ she replied, ‘Jesus, my adorable Spouse, on Mount Olivet.’ Then she again turnedto the left, with menacing gestures, and exclaimed, ‘What meanest thou, O father of lies, with thyMagdalum contract? Did he not deliver twenty-seven poor prisoners at Thirza, with the moneyderived from the sale of Magdalum? I saw him, and thou darest to say that he has brought confusioninto the whole estate, driven out its inhabitants, and squandered the money for which it was sold?But thy time is come, accursed spirit! thou wilt be chained, and his heel will crush thy head.’Here she was interrupted by the entrance of another person; her friends thought that she was indelirium, and pitied her. The following morning she owned that the previous night she had imaginedherself to be following our Saviour to the Garden of Olives, after the institution of the BlessedEucharist, but that just at that moment some one having looked at the stigmas on her hands with adegree of veneration, she felt so horrified at this being done in the presence of our Lord, that shehastily hid them, with a feeling of pain. She then related her vision of what took place in the Gardenof Olives, and as she continued her narrations the following days, the friend who was listening toher was enabled to connect the different scenes of the Passion together. But as, during Lent, shewas also celebrating the combats of our Lord with Satan in the desert, she had to endure in her ownperson many sufferings and temptations. Hence there were a few pauses in the history of the Passion,which were, however, easily filled up by means of some later communications.54
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Anne Catherine Emmerich97She usually spoke in common German, but when in a state of ecstasy, her language became muchpurer, and her narrations partook at once of child-like simplicity and dignified inspiration. Herfriend wrote down all that she had said, directly he returned to his own apartments; for it was seldomthat he could so much as even take notes in her presence. The Giver of all good gifts bestowedupon him memory, zeal, and strength to bear much trouble and fatigue, so that he has been enabledto bring this work to a conclusion. His conscience tells him that be has done his best, and he humblybegs the reader, if satisfied with the result of his labours, to bestow upon him the alms of anoccasional prayer.CHAPTER I.Jesus in the Garden of Olives.WHEN Jesus left the supper-room with the eleven Apostles, after the institution of the AdorableSacrament of the Altar, his soul was deeply oppressed and his sorrow on the increase. He led theeleven, by an unfrequented path, to the Valley of Josaphat. As they left the house, I saw the moon,which was not yet quite at the full, rising in front of the mountain.Our Divine Lord, as he wandered with his Apostles about the valley, told them that here he shouldone day return to judge the world, but not in a state of poverty and humiliation, as he then was, andthat men would tremble with fear, and cry: ‘Mountains, fall upon us!’ His disciples did not understandhim, and thought, by no means for the first time that night, that weakness and exhaustion hadaffected his brain. He said to them again: ‘All you shall be scandalised in me this night. For it iswritten: I WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BEDISPERSED. But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.’98The Apostles were still in some degree animated by the spirit of enthusiasm and devotion withwhich their reception of the Blessed Sacrament and the solemn and affecting words of Jesus hadinspired them. They eagerly crowded round him, and expressed their love in a thousand differentways, earnestly protesting that they would never abandon him. But as Jesus continued to talk inthe same strain, Peter exclaimed: ‘Although all shall be scandalised in thee, I will never bescandalised!’ and our Lord answered him: ‘Amen, I say to thee, that in this night, before the cockcrow, thou wilt deny me thrice.’ But Peter still insisted, saying: ‘Yea, though I should die with thee,I will not deny thee.’ And the others all said the same. They walked onward and stopped, by turns,for the sadness of our Divine Lord continued to increase. The Apostles tried to comfort him byhuman arguments, assuring him that what he foresaw would not come to pass. They tired themselvesin these vain efforts, began to doubt, and were assailed by temptation.They crossed the brook Cedron, not by the bridge where, a few hours later, Jesus was taken prisoner,but by another, for they had left the direct road. Gethsemani, whither they were going, was about55
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