Vaticinia Nostradami
Encyclopedia
The Vaticinia Michaelis Nostradami de Futuri Christi Vicarii ad Cesarem Filium D. I. A. Interprete (The Prophecies of Michel Nostradamus on the Future Vicars of Christ
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

 to Cesar his son, as expounded by Lord Abbot Joachim), or Vaticinia Nostradami (The Prophecies of Nostradamus) for short, is a collection of eighty watercolor images compiled as an illustrated codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...

. A version of the well-known Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus
Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus
A series of manuscript prophecies concerning the Papacy, under the title of Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus, a Latin text which assembles portraits of popes and prophecies related to them, circulated from the late thirteenth-early fourteenth century, with prophecies concerning popes from Pope...

 of the 13th-14th century, it was discovered in 1982 by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 journalists Enza Massa and Roberto Pinotti in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma
The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma , in Rome, is one of two national libraries of Italy, along with Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze in Florence....

 (Central National Library) in Rome, Italy. The document can be found in the library under the title Fondo Vittorio Emanuele 307.

Alleged Nostradamian connections

A postscript by Carthusian
Carthusian
The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...

 librarians states that the book had been presented by one Brother Beroaldus to cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who would later become Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...

 (1623-1644). A further covering note suggests that the images were by the French seer Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...

 (1503-1566), and had been sent to Rome by his son César de Nostredame as a gift. There is, however, absolutely no contemporary evidence that Nostradamus himself was either a painter or the author of the work, whose contents in fact date from several centuries before his time—nor, indeed, that he had ever heard of it, given that it did not finally appear in print until after his death. The postscript is in fact dated '1629', and the covering note (not in Nostradamus's hand) from which the Nostradamian title derives cannot, on the basis of its contents, date from earlier than 1689 - though an internal note does refer to a source dated 1343.

Nevertheless, the highly speculative Italian writer Ottavio Cesare Ramotti, together with the History Channel's The Lost Book of Nostradamus (October 2007), have still made much of the book's supposedly 'Nostradamian' origin.

There is a letter by Cèsar de Nostredame (Michel's first son), written to the French scientist Fabri de Peiresc
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc was a French astronomer, antiquary and savant who maintained a wide correspondence with scientists and was a successful organizer of scientific inquiry...

, in which mention is made of several miniatures painted by Cèsar, and of a booklet that was destined as a gift to King Louis XIII in 1629, but there is no evidence whatsoever of any connection between these and the Vaticinia.

Style

The images contain symbolic objects, letters, animals, crossings of banners, bugles, crosses, candles, three writing styles, etc., some of which seem to some to form figures similar to Roman numerals, or veiled references to personal names. As suggested by the various added inscriptions, they are supposed to have been inspired by the celebrated papal prophecies of Abbot Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore , was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore . He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist...

, a 12th-century Cistercian monk from Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

.

Source

The origin of the work is clearly the fourteenth century Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus
Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus
A series of manuscript prophecies concerning the Papacy, under the title of Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus, a Latin text which assembles portraits of popes and prophecies related to them, circulated from the late thirteenth-early fourteenth century, with prophecies concerning popes from Pope...

, in which most of the images (including Image 23 opposite) are to be found. By way of example, its Image 12 corresponds to the latter's Image 9, Image 18 to 15, Image 23 to 20, Image 24 to 21 and Image 29 to 26 (note, too, the similarity of sequence). A work similar to this is Marston MS 225, which can be found in the manuscript and rare-book library of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, in New Haven, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, USA. This manuscript comes from the German areas of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 and Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, probably from within the courts of emperor Frederick III
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...

 and Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...

. It has been proposed that this document may have had an impact on the various sovereigns of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

.

See also

  • Joachim da Fiore
  • Saint Malachy
    Saint Malachy
    Saint Malachy was the Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and a vision of the identity of the last 112 Popes...

     (Archbishop of Armagh) and his Prophecy of the Popes
    Prophecy of the Popes
    The Prophecy of the Popes, attributed to Saint Malachy, is a list of 112 short phrases in Latin. They purport to describe each of the Roman Catholic popes , beginning with Pope Celestine II and concluding with the successor of current pope Benedict XVI, a pope described in the prophecy as "Peter...

  • Michel Nostradamus
    Nostradamus
    Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...

    , the famous 16th century French seer.
  • Prophesy
  • Roman Catholic Church
    Roman Catholic Church
    The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

  • Tu Bei Tu
  • Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus
    Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus
    A series of manuscript prophecies concerning the Papacy, under the title of Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus, a Latin text which assembles portraits of popes and prophecies related to them, circulated from the late thirteenth-early fourteenth century, with prophecies concerning popes from Pope...


External links



(Very rare video of all the images in Vaticinia Codex, without any comment)
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