PROPHECIES CONCERNING ANTICHRIST.
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—(Apocalypse i. 20.) Now it might well be said that the dragon's tail cast a third part of these stars unto the earth, for full one-third of the primitive bishops were levelled in the grave by the sword of martyrdom, urged on by the devil, and unsheathed by the Roman emperors. The vision continues: "And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with an iron red: and her Son was taken up to God and to His throne."[1]
- ↑ Cornelius à Lapide, in his commentary on the Apocalypse, writing upon this verse, gives a summary of the different interpretations suggested by various eminent Catholic interpreters. He himself holds that the proper and genuine sense of this passage is that the "Man-child" whom "the woman brought forth" represents the children whom the Church bore to Jesus Christ, and who witnessed their faith by suffering martyrdom: "Fortes et electi Dei rapientur per mortem, vel per martyrium in cœlum, ut Deo fruantur itaque evadant os et manus Draconis." But then it is clear that the expression used of this man-child, that "he shall rule all nations with a rod of iron," is by no means applicable to the whole body of the martyrs in its direct sense, for in this it belongs exclusively to Christ, and only by participation can it be applied to the saints—"participativè tamen competit etiam aliis sanctis." And so St. Ambrose says: "The one man-child is He, whom the Blessed Virgin bore, and that which the Church bringeth forth, for Christ is one body, and as it were one person, with all His mem-
