''The Poem of the Man-God'' (Italian title: ''Il Poema dell'Uomo-Dio'') is a multi-volume book of about five thousand pages on the life of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
written by
Maria Valtorta. The current editions of the book bear the title ''The Gospel as Revealed to Me''.
The book was first published in Italian in 1956 and has since been translated into 10 languages and is available worldwide. It is based on the over 15,000 handwritten pages produced by Maria Valtorta between 1943 and 1947. During these years she reported
visions of Jesus and Mary
Since the Crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary, a number of people have claimed to have had visions of Jesus Christ and personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding his mother, Mary, who is often known as the Virgin Mary. ...
and claimed personal conversations with and dictations from Jesus.
[Freze, Michael, ''Voices, Visions, and Apparitions'', (Sep 1993) OSV Press p. 251] Her notebooks (published separately) include close to 700 detailed episodes in the
life of Jesus Life of Jesus may refer to:
* Life of Jesus in the New Testament
* Historical Jesus
* Chronology of Jesus
* Life of Christ in art
Books
* ''Life of Jesus'' (Hegel)
* ''Life of Jesus'' (Strauss)
*
Filmed
* '' La Vie de Jésus'' (English: ''T ...
, as an extension of the gospels.
Valtorta's handwritten episodes (which had no chronological order) were typed into separate pages by her priest and reassembled as a book.
[Rookey O.S.M., Peter M., ''Shepherd of Souls: The Virtuous Life of Saint Anthony Pucci'', (Jun 2003) CMJ Marian Press pp. 1-3] The first copy of the book was presented to Pope
Pius XII
Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia.
It may refer to:
People Popes
* Pope Pius (disambiguation)
* Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect
Given name
* Pius B ...
, and the three
Servite priests who attended the 1948 papal audience stated that he gave his verbal approval to "publish this work as is; he who reads will understand."
[ However, the ]Holy Office
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible f ...
forbade publication and, when in spite of that prohibition, publication followed, placed the book on the ''Index of Forbidden Books
The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...
''.[Lindsey, David Michael, ''The Woman and the Dragon, The: Apparitions of Mary'', (Jan 31, 2001) Pelican pp. 324-326]
In 1992, at the request of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi
Dionigi Tettamanzi (14 March 1934 – 5 August 2017) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who was named a cardinal in 1998. He was Archbishop of Genoa from 1995 to 2004 and Archbishop of Milan from 2004 to 2011.
Early years
Tet ...
asked the publisher to ensure that "in any future reprint of the volumes, each should, right from its first page, clearly state that the 'visions' and 'dictations' referred to in it cannot be held to be of supernatural origin but must be considered simply as literary forms used by the author to narrate in her own way the life of Jesus". The publisher maintained that this was an implicit declaration that the work was free of doctrinal or moral error.[L'opera di Maria Valtorta e la Chiesa (The work of Maria Valtorta and the Church)]
Writing
Maria Valtorta was bedridden in Viareggio
Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca.
It is known as a seaside resort as ...
, Italy, for most of her life due to complications from being struck in the back at random while walking on a street. Valtorta was a member of the Third Order Servites of Mary, affiliated to the order to which her spiritual director, Fr. Romuald Migliorini OSM belonged.
On the morning of Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
1943 she reported having a vision in which Jesus appeared and spoke to her. While Valtorta did not begin writing ''The Poem of the Man-God'' until 1944, pre-''Poem'' writings included various topics such as Mariology, Darwinism, and suffering. She reported having many more visions and conversations with Jesus and the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...
and said that Jesus had asked her to record her visions in writing. She continued to write her visions in her notebooks until 1947.
The ''Poem of the Man-God'' is not a sequential transcription of Valtorta's notebooks, because her reported visions (which were dated in her notebooks) were not in the same order as the flow of time in the narrative she wrote. For instance, she reported having a vision of The Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
on March 9, 1945, while another on the Beatitudes
The Beatitudes are sayings attributed to Jesus, and in particular eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and four in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, followed by four woes which mirr ...
during the Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...
was written more than two months later on May 24, 1945. The book as transcribed by her priest however, follows the life of Jesus in chronological form, with footnotes referring to the dates on which she wrote each episode.
Narrative style
Valtorta frequently described a scene, giving details of the background, trees, mountains and weather conditions on the day in first century Judea that she claims an event took place. For instance, her prelude to the Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...
written on May 22, 1945, depicts the road on which Jesus is walking, states that it was a clear day on which Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of th ...
could be seen by Jesus but Lake Merom could not be seen. In some episodes she writes about the colors of the clothing she believed had been worn by Jesus or the Apostles.
Valtorta's accounts include detailed conversations. In the Sermon on the Mount episode written on May 22, 1945, Jesus is met on the road by Saint Philip the Apostle
Philip the Apostle ( el, Φίλιππος; Aramaic: ܦܝܠܝܦܘܣ; cop, ⲫⲓⲗⲓⲡⲡⲟⲥ, ''Philippos'') was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle ...
and they converse. The scene then describes how the other Apostles come down the mountain to greet Jesus and how the Sermon on the Mount begins. While the Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
refers to the Beatitudes
The Beatitudes are sayings attributed to Jesus, and in particular eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and four in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, followed by four woes which mirr ...
in a few paragraphs (Matthew 5:3-12), the text for the single Beatitude "poor in the spirit" spoken by Jesus in her vision is one and a half pages long in Valtorta's account. The full text of the Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...
that she wrote in her notebook and attributed to Jesus takes three episodes from May 24 to 27, 1945, and is over 30 pages long. The fact that her text of the Beatitudes still has the same eight- or nine-fold structure as the Beatitudes in the Gospel, but is far more detailed, is characteristic of her writings and her imagination.
Her supposed visions describe parables, miracles and episodes in the life of Jesus not present in any of the synoptic Gospel
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose con ...
s. On February 16, 1944, she wrote her account of the Trial of Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
by Caiphas
Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famously pr ...
. In the synoptic Gospels, Luke places the trial after daybreak, while Matthew and Mark refer to it as taking place at night. Valtorta's version has two trials, one at night and the other after daybreak. The second trial is prompted by Gamaliel
Gamaliel the Elder (; also spelled Gamliel; he, רַבַּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הַזָּקֵן ''Rabban Gamlīʾēl hazZāqēn''; grc-koi, Γαμαλιὴλ ὁ Πρεσβύτερος ''Gamaliēl ho Presbýteros''), or Rabban Gamaliel I, ...
's insistence that the time and place of the night trial is against Jewish judicial procedures, and his demand for a new trial after daybreak. Another example is the episode she wrote on February 28, 1946. It reports that in preparation for his Passion, Jesus visited the town of Kerioth
Kerioth ( he, קְרִיּוֹת, ''Qǝrīyyōṯ'') is the name of two cities mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The spelling Kirioth appears in the King James Version of Amos 2:2. The name means "cities," and is the plural of the Biblical Hebrew ק ...
to say farewell and performed a miracle, curing a woman described as "Anne of Kerioth" on her deathbed. In this episode, Jesus instructs Anne to forever tend to and comfort Mary of Simon – who Valtorta argued was the mother of Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...
and who would supposedly be heartbroken upon the betrayal by her son and the deaths of Jesus and Judas in the near future.
Astronomical analysis
The narrative of ''The Poem of the Man-God'' includes a number of observations of the positions of the heavenly bodies. For instance, in episode written on December 11, 1945, Valtorta wrote of a night Jesus spent at Gadara
Gadara ( el, Γάδαρα ''Gádara''), in some texts Gedaris, was an ancient Hellenistic city, for a long time member of the Decapolis city league, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see.
Its ruins are today located at Umm ...
: "the sky is glistening with countless stars... with its springtime constellations and the magnificent stars of Orion: of Rigil and Betelgeuse, of Aldebaran, of Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia and the Pleiades united like sisters. And Sapphirine Venus covered with diamonds, and Mars of pale ruby and the topaz of Jupiter..."
In 1994 the Christian fundamentalist Lonnie VanZandt analyzed these events to estimate a date for the event described. Using a computer simulation, VanZandt noted that the only possibilities for the observation Valtorta described during the month of March would be AD31 and AD33, and after considering other elements in the narrative concluded that March AD33 was the only possibility. According to VanZandt the estimation of the joint observability of these three stars and the position of the moon during that time would have been almost impossible without a computer system.[Lonnie Lee VanZandt, VanZandt, Lonnie Lee]
. "Astronomical dating of the Poem of the Man-God", ''Lonnie Lee VanZandt (1937 - 1995) Reminisces by Friends and Colleagues'', Purdue University, September 9, 1995]
Publication
Maria Valtorta was at first reluctant to have her notebooks published but, on the advice of her priest, in 1947 she agreed to their publication. The handwritten pages were typed and bound by Father Romuald Migliorini OSM and fellow Servite Father Corrado Berti OSM.
Shortly after April 1947, Father Berti presented the first copy of the work to Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
, who on February 26, 1948, received Fathers Migliorini and Berti, along with their prior, Father Andrea Checchin, in special audience, as reported on the next day's ''L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not a ...
'', the Vatican newspaper.
According to Rookey, at the meeting Pius reportedly told the three priests; "Publish this work as it is. There is no need to give an opinion about its origin, whether it be extraordinary or not. Who reads it, will understand. One hears of many visions and revelations. I will not say they are all authentic; but there are some of which it could be said that they are."[ In his 8 December 1978 account of the events concerning Maria Valtorta's writings, Berti summarized the Pope's words as "Publish this work as it is."]
Bishop Roman Danylak Roman Danylak (December 29, 1930 – October 7, 2012) was a Canadian Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ukrainian Catholic bishop.
Life
Roman Danylak was born in Toronto, Canada on December 29, 1930. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood i ...
says that Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
Edouard Gagnon, writing on October 31, 1987, to the Maria Valtorta Research Center, spoke of "the kind of official Imprimatur
An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...
granted before witnesses by the Holy Father in 1948", while writer David Michael Lindsey reports Cardinal Gagnon as saying: "This judgment by the Holy Father in 1948 was an official Imprimatur of the type given before witnesses."[
The permission of the author's ordinary or of the ordinary of the place of publication or of printing was required for publishing such books and had to be given in writing. According to Bishop Danylak, the publishers of the first edition purporting to present private visions and revelations, had not submitted the work to prior ecclesiastical approval.] Apparently assuming that he had a verbal papal approval, Father Berti presented the work for publication to the Vatican Printing Office. A year later, in 1949, the Holy Office
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible f ...
summoned Father Berti and ordered him to surrender all copies and promise not to publish the work. Father Berti handed over his typed copies, but returned the original handwritten text to Maria Valtorta.[
In 1950, Maria Valtorta signed a contract with the publisher Michele Pisani, who between 1956 and 1959 printed the work in four volumes,][ the first of which was titled ''The Poem of Jesus'' and the others ''The Poem of the Man-God''.
]
On the Index of Prohibited Books
By a decree of January 5, 1960, published on instructions of Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
, the Holy Office condemned the published work and included it in the ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...
''. The decree was published also on ''L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not a ...
'' of January 6, 1960, accompanied by a front-page, unsigned article under the heading "A Badly Fictionalized Life of Jesus". The book was placed on the Index because of its claim to supernatural guidance.
The Vatican newspaper republished the content of the decree on December 1, 1961, together with an explanatory note, as mentioned by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in his letter 144/58 of January 31, 1985, in which he entrusted to Cardinal Giuseppe Siri
Giuseppe Siri (20 May 1906 – 2 May 1989) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. He was a protege of Pope Pius XII. He was considered ...
, Archbishop of Genoa, the decision whether to inform a priest of his archdiocese that the Valtorta work had indeed been placed on the ''Index'', which keeps its moral force, and that "a decision against distributing and recommending a work, which has not been condemned lightly, may be reversed, but only after profound changes that neutralize the harm which such a publication could bring forth among the ordinary faithful".
In 1992 Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi
Dionigi Tettamanzi (14 March 1934 – 5 August 2017) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who was named a cardinal in 1998. He was Archbishop of Genoa from 1995 to 2004 and Archbishop of Milan from 2004 to 2011.
Early years
Tet ...
, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, directed the publisher of the work to state clearly at the beginning of each volume that the "visions" and "revelations" referred to in it "cannot be held to be of supernatural origin but must be considered simply as literary forms used by the author to narrate in her own way the life of Jesus". His directive, communicated by letter 324/92 of January 6, 1992, was made at the request of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. His letter also recalled the notes about the matter that appeared on ''L'Osservatore Romano'' of January 6, 1960, and June 15, 1966.
In 1993 Cardinal Ratzinger wrote to Bishop Raymond James Boland
Raymond James Boland (February 8, 1932 – February 27, 2014) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama from 1988 to 1993 and the fifth Bishop of the Diocese ...
of Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, that his Congregation had made that request to the Italian Bishops Conference to ask the publisher to have a disclaimer printed in the volumes that "clearly indicated from the very first page that the 'visions' and 'dictations' referred to in it are simply the literary forms used by the author to narrate in her own way the life of Jesus. They cannot be considered supernatural in origin."[
]
Support
A 2009 Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
report further detailed the intricate connection between the Medjugorje apparitions and the writings of Maria Valtorta. The purported Medjugorje
Medjugorje ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Međugorje, Међугорје, ) is a town located in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, about southwest of Mostar and east of the border with Croatia. The town is part of the Čitluk municipality ...
visionaries Marija Pavlovic and Vicka Ivankovic have stated that Maria Valtorta's records of her conversations with Jesus are truthful.[''Words from heaven: Messages of Our Lady from Medjugorje: a documented record of the messages and their meanings'' Saint James Publishing, 1990: page 145] According to a statement Ivankovic made on January 27, 1988, in 1981 the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
told her at Medjugorje: "If a person wants to know Jesus he should read Maria Valtorta. That book is the truth".[ However Fr. Philip Pavich OFM, an American Croatian Franciscan priest stationed in Medjugorje, sent a circular letter to the Medjugorje fans, questioning the purported visions of Maria Valtorta and the subsequent book.][
Archbishop George Hamilton Pearce SM wrote: "I find it tremendously inspiring. It is impossible for me to imagine that anyone could read this tremendous work with an open mind and not be convinced that its author can be no one but the Holy Spirit of God."
]
Criticism
According to Father Mitch Pacwa
Mitchell Pacwa (born July 27, 1949) is an American Jesuit priest. He is president and founder of Ignatius Productions and is now the senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
Education
Pacwa completed high school at Archbish ...
SJ, "the long speeches of Jesus and Mary starkly contrast with the evangelists, who portray Jesus as 'humble, reserved; His discourses are lean, incisive.' In addition, Pacwa writes that the poem has "'many historical, geographical and other blunders.' For instance, Jesus uses screwdrivers
A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...
(Vol. 1, pp. 195, 223), centuries before screws existed."
Note that, though the screw system of raising water was invented in 235 BC, modern screws did not appear until about AD 1400
Kendall F. Haven, ''100 Greatest Science Inventions of All Time''
(Libraries Unlimited 2006 ), pp. 6–7.)
References
Sources
* Fr. Peter Mary Rookey, O.S.M., Rookey O.S.M., Peter M., ''Shepherd of Souls: The Virtuous Life of Saint Anthony Pucci'', (Jun 2003) CMJ Marian Press
Bibliography
* Maria Valtorta, ''The Poem of the Man-God'' .
* Maria Valtorta, ''The Book of Azariah
The ''Book of Azariah'' is a book by the Italian author and Roman Catholic mystic Maria Valtorta. It was written in 1946 and 1947 in Viareggio, Italy, where Valtorta was bedridden for several decades. The text is based on a series of "dictations" ...
'' .
Sources and external links
Official website
Pacwa, S.J., Mitch. "Is 'The Poem of the Man-God' simply a bad novel?"
* ttp://www.advancedchristianity.com/Pages/MPC/Docs/VanZandt.htm Astronomical Dating of ''The Poem of the Man-God''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poem of the Man-God, The
Visions of Jesus and Mary
1956 non-fiction books
Books about Jesus
Channelled texts
Controversies in Christian literature