considerable frequency right down to the last phenomenon on 31st October. Then peace came to Heroldsbach. Did it really? We shall see.
The figures in the visions were not always the same. Sometimes the Blessed Virgin, with or without the infant Jesus, sometimes prominent angels, sometimes the Trinity and sometimes even father Joseph were sighted. At Christmas 1949 the story of Christ's birth is supposed to have unfolded before the children's eyes like a film.
What have the representatives of the Holy Ghost made out of Heroldsbach? A modern Inquisition.
30.10.1949. The faithful received a warning not to go to the scene of the vision from the Episcopal administration at Bamberg.
10.1.1950. An announcement from the pulpit said that the Episcopal examination had produced nothing to justify the assumption of visions of supernatural origin. Processions and pilgrimages were forbidden. 2. 3. 1950. By Episcopal decree all ecclesiastics were forbidden to participate or collaborate in religious events if they were connected with visions.
6.3.1950. Archbishop Dr. Kolb summoned the village priest Gailer and forbade him to visit the scene of the vision in the future.
2.10.1950. The Archbishop received a letter from the Holy Office dated 28th September. It said: Furthermore the Holy Office approved the steps your Excellency (Archbishop of Bamberg) has taken in this matter, and praises the clergy and the members of Catholic Action, who have conscientiously observed the Archbishop's instructions. The remainder of the faithful who have opposed the decision of the ecclesiastical authorities up to the present, are exhorted to comply with them ... We also ordain that praying on the hill is tantamount to recognizing the authenticity of the visions and therefore must cease ...
12.10.1950. The ecclesiastical authorities requested that devotions on the hill, which had been taking place for some time without priests being present, should cease.
4.8.1951. Gailer, the grey-haired parish priest, who had looked after the parish of Heroldsbach for thirty-eight years and was loved by his parishioners, was transferred with immediate effect because he supported the authenticity of the visions. Eight years later he returned to his parish as a corpse.
15.8.1951. A new decree by the Holy Office was published.
On Wednesday 18th July, 1951, Their Eminences, the Right Reverend Cardinals, who are entrusted with the highest guardianship in matters of faith and morals, have decided as follows after examination of the records and documents at a plenary session of the Highest Congregation of the Holy Office: It is established that the visions under consideration are not supernatural. Therefore the cult connected with them is forbidden in the above- mentioned place and else- where. Priests who take part in this forbidden cult in future, will be immediately suspended from carrying out their priestly duties. On the following Thursday, the 19th of the same month and year. His Holiness of divine providence, Pope Pius XII, approved, ratified and ordered the publication of the decree of Your Eminences presented to him at the customary audience granted to His Eminence, the Assessor of the Santum Officium.
Given at Rome, at the Palace of the Holy Office, on 25th July 1951.
22.8.1951. After examining them like an inquisitor the acting priest Dr. Schmitt excluded the visionary children from receiving the Holy Sacraments and ordered them not only to stay away from the hill, but also to assert in future that they had never seen the Blessed Virgin. Out of fear of the Curia the children stayed away from the hill for five months, but in spite of that they did not receive the Sacraments.
15.5.1955. The judgment in a case brought by the Episcopal administration ordered the compulsory clearance of the hill (statue of Mary, small altars etc.).
4 - 6.2.1957. A case was held in the county court of Forchheim in which Paul Schneider, a retired government servant, was the defendant. In 1954 he had published a treatise on the subject of Heroldsbach. [16] The Episcopal administration again appeared as plaintiff in this action. Among the witnesses were some of the visionary children, who were seventeen and eighteen years old by then -
1957. They confirmed the visions they had seen in the years 1949-1952.
I should mention that on 8th December, 1949 Heroldsbach was the scene of a solar miracle that was observed by 10, 000 people. The parish priest Gailer stated in evidence: The sun came towards us, making a loud crackling noise. I saw a crown of roses five inches wide inside it. Antonia Saam saw the Blessed Virgin and child inside the sun. There were five of us priests up on the hill. I shall testify to this as long as I live.
Dr. J.B. Walz, Professor of Theology, gave this description [17]: It grew lighter and lighter and more dazzling. The sun seemed to become more blinding and bigger and to be coming nearer us. I felt blinded. I had the overwhelming impression of something quite abnormal and also felt that something awful was going to happen at any minute. I was terrified ... Then the sun began to turn very quickly on its own axis and the rotations were so clearly visible that it seemed as if a motor was turning the sun's disc at a regular speed. During this process it took on the most wonderful colours.
I can give the Holy Office a helping hand with dozens of cases of visions which are less documented than the one at Heroldsbach and were observed by fewer spectators, but have long been recognized as
'genuine'.
It obviously depends on the type of report made by the competent ecclesiastical authorities, and such reports are not free of errors, in spite of the charisma of the people composing them. What did the authorities in Bamberg say when they wrote to Rome? Were the visionary children insubordinate because they did not always describe the same vision? Because they had the whole of the Holy Family parading above the treetops? Or were there messages which did not synchronize with the holy doctrine at the end of the secret record? As secrets are traditionally better kept in the Sanctum Officium than in the worldly ministries and chanceries, even without a 'top secret' stamp, we shall never know.
Rome is right. Although in other cases a tiny back door is always left open so that the verdict can be revised for the good of the Church, the door was slammed tight in the case of Heroldsbach after Pope Pius XII was sanctified. Cuius regio, ejus religio! (A man must profess the religion of the prince in whose state he lives!) A well tried Roman maxim ...
After studying hundreds of official records of visions it becomes quite clear that the Catholic Church claims the exclusive right to recognize or reject these phenomena, regardless of the fact that the visions have been and still are seen by people of all races and religions. But according to its decree neither the Blessed Virgin, nor the Lord Jesus Christ, nor the archangels are free to appear to anyone they want.
Even the visionaries themselves are not allowed to judge of the authenticity of what they have observed. (It is rather like when the Church joins in the discussion about birth control. It is not concerned personally!)
The Catholic Church derives its claim to be the sole authority which can recognize the 'authenticity' of the phenomena, from its teaching mission. For example, if the Blessed Virgin gives a message in a vision that does not correspond to the official doctrine the vision is classified and rejected as 'not authentic', and hushed up or forbidden, as if it had never taken place.
But if someone who does not believe in the only true faith has a vision, the poor haunted character can only submit to psychiatric treatment... or he must become a Catholic as quickly as possible.
Rudolf Kramer-Badoni, writer and Catholic asks: 'Should the Church behave like a club and issue statutes that must be accepted by every member when he joins?'
The arrogance of the ecclesiastical authorities is painful to behold. Thou art not allowed to have seen anything that is not ordained and approved - thou art not allowed to have heard messages whose content is not officially blessed. And then there is the perpetual enlightenment of the charismatic gentlemen by the Holy Ghost, the unassailable chief witness for everything! Here is another quotation from Kramer-Badoni's book Die Last, katholisch zu sein (the Burden of Being a Catholic): Has the Church the right to call on the Holy Ghost as witness for every legal decision? How then does traditional rubbish continue to accumulate that must constantly be cleared away (to make room for fresh nonsense)?
It would be a terrible omission in a summary of historical and present-day visions if two world-famous ladies, Katherine of Siena and the Maid of Orleans, were left out.
The visions of these maidens occupy a special position over and above the relevant religious phenomena, because both ladies had a profound effect on politics that was directly connected with their visions. The maxim of the Jesuit Father Hermann Busenbaum (1600-1668) from his book Medulla theologiae moralis (Of moral theology) was already valid:
