{{italic title The ''Mirabilis liber'' (''Mirabilis liber qui prophetias revelationesque, necnon res mirandas, preteritas, presentes et futuras, aperte demonstrat...'') is an anonymous and formerly very popular compilation of predictions by various Christian saints and diviners first printed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 1522 (though purportedly published in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1524, probably because it was the date of an important and long-anticipated planetary alignment) and reprinted several times thereafter. It is not to be confused with the almost contemporary ''Liber mirabilis''. Its unwitting contributors include: * Bishop Bemechobus (misprint for Pseudo-Methodius – Syrian, 7th century) * The

Tiburtine Sibyl The Tiburtine Sibyl or Albunea was a Roman sibyl, whose seat was the ancient Etruscan town of Tibur (modern Tivoli). The mythic meeting of Cæsar Augustus with the Sibyl, of whom he inquired whether he should be worshiped as a god, was ofte ...

(Syrian, 9th century) * ‘ St Augustine of Hippo’ (actually by the 10th-century monk

Adso of Montier-en-Der Adso of Montier-en-Der ( la, Adso Dervensis) (910/920 – 992) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Montier-en-Der in France, and died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Biographical information on Adso comes mainly from one single source and has ...

) * ‘St Severus’ (in fact a 15th-century composition) * Johann Lichtenberger (an anthology of various named sources, first printed in 1488) * A set of papal prophecies (14th century) *

Telesphorus of Cosenza Telesphorus of Cosenza (or ''Theophorus'', ''Theolophorus'') was a name assumed by one of the pseudo-prophets during the time of the Western Schism. As an pseudonymous author of a Latin work ''Liber de magnis tribulationibus'', the name was attached ...

(14th century) * Another anthology including

St Brigid Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiogra ...

of Sweden, St

Hildegard of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...

, the Cretan Sibyl, the Hermit Reynard, St Cyril and the celebrated Abbot

Joachim of Fiore Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore (c. 1135 – 30 March 1202), was an Italian Christian theologian, Catholic abbot, and the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore. According to th ...

* Joannes de Vatiguerro (16th century) *

himself (12th century) * ‘St Vincent’ (actually a 16th-century compilation based on St

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

and others) * St. Catald of Taranto (actually a 16th-century text) * Jerome of Ferrara (

Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction o ...

– late 15th century) * Fra Bonaventura (16th century) * Johannes de Rupescissa (Jean de la Roquetaillade – 15th century) * St

Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303 – 23 July 1373) born as Birgitta Birgersdotter, also Birgitta of Vadstena, or Saint Birgitta ( sv, heliga Birgitta), was a mystic and a saint, and she was also the founder of the Bridgettines nuns and monks after ...

(14th century) plus, in French, an anonymous anthology including a collection of late 13th-century prophecies elsewhere attributed to ‘ Merlin’. As the above indicates, the book—whose only known complete translation (by Edouard Bricon) was published in French in 1831—had two parts, the first in Latin and the second, shorter, in French. It contained prophecies of fire, plague, famine, floods, earthquakes, droughts, comets, brutal occupations and bloody oppressions. The Church would collapse, the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

be forced to flee Rome. Such predictions made it extremely popular at the time of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, when crowds besieged the French

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

to see it. Indeed, many nineteenth-century catalogues suggested that it had predicted the Revolution itself. But above all the book predicted a supposedly imminent Arab invasion of Europe, the advent of the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...

and the subsequent End of the World. The ''Mirabilis liber'' seems to have served as a major source for the prophecies of

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book '' Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection ...

, and was placed on the Lisbon version of the Church's

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 forbidde ...

in 1581.

Sources

* Araujo, Fabio R., ''Selected Prophecies and Prophets'', 2007 * Britnell, J. and Stubbs, D., ''The Mirabilis liber, its Compilation and Influence'' in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Volume 49, 1986 * Lemesurier, P., ''Nostradamus – The Illustrated Prophecies'' (O Books, 2003) * Lemesurier, P., ''The Unknown Nostradamus'' (O Books, 2003)

External links

Full text

1522 books Christian apocalyptic writings Works published anonymously Anthologies 16th-century books in Latin