Hello everyone,
I have recently been wondering about a prophecy which makes a reappearance in the media regularly i.e. the "Prophecy of the Popes" attributed to the 11th centruy Irish saint Malachy. It consists of several dozen cryptic Latin phrases supposedly describing all the future popes.
One of the last lines of the prophecy "de labore solis" is translated as "of the solar eclipse" and associated with Pope John Paul II because of solar eclipses which took place both on the day of his birth as well as his funeral. I have always found this translation odd as it literally means "of the labour of the Sun" and I have been unable to find a single source unrelated to this specific prophecy which translates the phrase as "of the solar eclipse" (however, I may be wrong on this one as my knowledge of Latin is very rudimentary). Recently however, I ran into a 19th century translation of this prophecy by an Irish priest M. J. O'Brien which interpreted the verse as referring to a solar eclipse citing an earlier scholar. The interpretation was based on a supposed reference to the apocalyptic prophecy in Matthew 24:29.
I must say that I find the coincidence quite remarkable to say the least - the chances of being born and having a funeral on the day of a solar eclipse are extremely slim. What makes the situation even more unusual is the correspondence of these astronomic events to a much older text or at least is 19th century (mis)interpretation.
One possible rationalist explanation for this correspondence is the self-fulfilling character of this prophesy - after all it has been very well-known in the Catholic Church for centuries. So if the cardinals knew that the future Pope John Paul II was born on the day of an eclipse this could have motivated them to choose him. After all, if there are about 100-200 cardinals then the chances that a solar eclipse coincided with an important event in the life of at least one of them (e.g. birth, becoming a priest etc.) are quit considerable. However, this explanation is pure speculation on my part.
What is your opinion on this?
I have recently been wondering about a prophecy which makes a reappearance in the media regularly i.e. the "Prophecy of the Popes" attributed to the 11th centruy Irish saint Malachy. It consists of several dozen cryptic Latin phrases supposedly describing all the future popes.
One of the last lines of the prophecy "de labore solis" is translated as "of the solar eclipse" and associated with Pope John Paul II because of solar eclipses which took place both on the day of his birth as well as his funeral. I have always found this translation odd as it literally means "of the labour of the Sun" and I have been unable to find a single source unrelated to this specific prophecy which translates the phrase as "of the solar eclipse" (however, I may be wrong on this one as my knowledge of Latin is very rudimentary). Recently however, I ran into a 19th century translation of this prophecy by an Irish priest M. J. O'Brien which interpreted the verse as referring to a solar eclipse citing an earlier scholar. The interpretation was based on a supposed reference to the apocalyptic prophecy in Matthew 24:29.
I must say that I find the coincidence quite remarkable to say the least - the chances of being born and having a funeral on the day of a solar eclipse are extremely slim. What makes the situation even more unusual is the correspondence of these astronomic events to a much older text or at least is 19th century (mis)interpretation.
One possible rationalist explanation for this correspondence is the self-fulfilling character of this prophesy - after all it has been very well-known in the Catholic Church for centuries. So if the cardinals knew that the future Pope John Paul II was born on the day of an eclipse this could have motivated them to choose him. After all, if there are about 100-200 cardinals then the chances that a solar eclipse coincided with an important event in the life of at least one of them (e.g. birth, becoming a priest etc.) are quit considerable. However, this explanation is pure speculation on my part.
What is your opinion on this?
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/sJyXfUo
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