Ven. Elizabeth Mora Sees the
Latter Times Tribulations

One of the seers of the tribulations of the “latter times” of the Church is Blessed Elizabeth Canori Mora (1774-1825). In his work The Latter Times, Fr. Benjamín M. Sánchez shows that she also saw a terrible crisis in the Church and society, which God would punish with a tremendous chastisement of world proportions, what Scriptures calls a “Judgment of Nations.”

When the earth has been cleansed of evil, there will be a time of peace when the Church will triumph, a period that Prof. Plinio, echoing St. Louis de Montfort, calls The Reign of Mary.

Brief biography

At age 22 Isabel Canori, born to a distinguished family in Rome, married Christobal Mora, a lawyer of good family but very bad character and irregular habits who caused her great suffering. Deserting his family and squandering its fortune, he left his wife and two daughters in destitution.

One famous prophecy, presented in the documentation for her beatification, were her words on her deathbed: “Do you see how irascible and incredulous he is? Well, there will come a time when he will become a religious and a priest.” (1)

Five years after her death a repentant Christobal entered a Friary of the Franciscan Order, where he embarked on an exemplary life of penance. He eventually became a priest, just as his wife had predicted.

At age 28, Isabel Mora had her first mystical experience after miraculously recovering from a mysterious sickness. Shortly after she entered the Trinitarian Order as a tertiary. The Venerable Servant of God received the gifts of recollection, bilocation and prophecy and worked many miracles. (2)

Her visions included a series where Our Lord and Our Lady showed her the future troubles of the Church and the tremendous battles that the Church Militant would have to fight when the powers of darkness would dominate. She also saw a great triumph of the Church and its future restoration.

On instructions from her confessor, Ven. Elizabeth Canori Mora wrote in her own hand these revelations, which fill hundreds of notebook pages, all carefully preserved in the archives of the Trinitarian Fathers at San Carlino, Rome.

These writings were meticulously examined by an ecclesiastical commission when Pope Pius IX authorized Elizabeth Mora’s cause for canonization to proceed. The official judgment, issued November 5, 1900, stated that in her writings there was “nothing against faith and good customs, and no doctrinal innovation or deviation was found.”

Pertinent visions of Ven. Elizabeth Mora

On January 16, 1815, Angels showed Ven. Elizabeth many ecclesiastics “who, under the guise of doing good, persecute Jesus Crucified and His Holy Church … Like furious wolves they scheme to unthrone the head of the Church.”

Then she was allowed to see the terrible indignation these wolves aroused in God. “In supreme terror I saw blazing lightning bolts of Divine Justice fall about me. I saw buildings collapsing in ruins. Cities, entire regions and the whole world were in chaos. The only thing to be heard was countless weak voices imploring mercy. The number of dead was incalculable.”

What terrified her the most was God’s indignation. She saw Him alone on high, “extremely angry with those who were persecuting Him. In His omnipotent hands were bolts of lightning, His Face was resplendent with indignation, and His gaze alone was enough to incinerate the whole world. Neither Saints nor Angels surrounded Him, only His holy indignation which fell everywhere.”

The vision lasted only an instant. According to Ven. Elizabeth, “had it continued for another moment I surely would have died.”

End of Mercy, beginning of Justice

On Christmas 1816, Blessed Elizabeth saw Our Lady, who appeared extremely sad and sorrowful. When she asked her why, Our Lady answered: “Behold, my daughter, contemplate such great impiety.”

Blessed Elizabeth then saw apostates “brazenly trying to rip the Divine Infant from her arms. In face of this outrage, the Mother of God ceased to ask mercy for the world, but instead called for justice from the Eternal Father. Clothed in His inexorable Justice and filled with indignation, He turned His gaze toward the world.

“At that moment all nature entered into convulsions ... This will be something so deplorable and atrocious that it will reduce the world to the very depths of desolation.” (4)

The world in revolution & chaos

On the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, June 29, 1820, she saw St. Peter descending from Heaven robed in papal vestments and surrounded by a legion of Angels. With his crosier he traced a great cross over the face of the Earth, separating it into four quadrants. In each of these, he then brought forth a verdant tree sprouting with life, also in the shape of a cross and resplendent with light. All the good laity and religious fled for refuge from the terrible chastisement under these trees.

She wrote: “O woe! Woe to those unobservant religious who despise their Holy Rules. Alas! They will all perish in the terrible chastisement ... as will all who deliver themselves to debauchery and follow the false maxims of the deplorable philosophy of those times!”

Then St. Peter returned to Heaven, and she saw the firmament become a dark blue color, which caused terror just to see it. A caliginous wind blew impetuously everywhere. A vehement howling filled the air, like the frightening roar of a fierce lion. Its horrible echo resounded over the whole Earth.

“Terror and fear overtook all men and animals. The entire world was in convulsion and everywhere people mercilessly slaughtered one another. In the time of this bloody fight, the vengeful hand of God will weigh upon these unfortunate souls. In His omnipotence He will chastise the proud for their temerity and shameless insolence. God will use the powers of darkness to exterminate these sectarian, iniquitous and criminal men who plotted to eradicate the Catholic Church, our Holy Mother, to her deepest roots and throw her to the ground. ...

“God will laugh at them in their malice, and with a wave of His omnipotent right hand He will punish the wicked. The powers of darkness will be allowed to leave Hell, and these great legions of devils will invade the whole world. They will wreak great destruction, thus executing the orders of Divine Justice, to which these evil spirits are also subject. They will be able to do neither more nor less than what God permits to men and their goods, families, unfortunate towns, cities, houses and palace or any other thing that exists on Earth. ...

“God will allow wicked men to be cruelly chastised by fierce demons because they voluntarily submitted to the power of the devil and conspired with him to cause damage to the Holy Catholic Church.” (5)

The Servant of God saw all those monsters in horrible forms spurt forth from infernal caverns and infest the Earth to do harm and damage everywhere. They devastated all the places where God had been outraged, desecrated, treated sacrilegiously and where idolatry was practice. Not a trace of them was left.

Victory & restoration

This same vision of chastisement ended with a promise of victory and triumph for the Church, which would be recognized universally by all the people. This offers a great hope for us, who live in these times of convulsion and revolution everywhere.

After those frightening scenes, Ven. Elizabeth saw St. Peter return on a majestic papal throne. He was accompanied by St. Paul who went through the world shackling the devils and bringing them before St. Peter, who cast them back into the dark caverns from whence they had come. She wrote: “Then a beautiful splendor came over the earth, to announce the reconciliation of God with mankind.”

The small flock of faithful Catholics who had taken refuge under the trees will be led before the throne of St. Peter, who will himself “choose a new Pope. The whole Church will be reordered according to the true dictates of the Holy Gospel. The religious orders will be reestablished; Christians homes will be imbued with religion.

“So great will be the fervor and zeal for the glory of God that everything will be ordered in function of love of God and neighbor. The triumph, glory and honor of the Catholic Church will thus be established. She will be acclaimed by all, venerated by all, and esteemed by all. All will resolve to follow Her, recognizing the Vicar of Christ as the Supreme Pontiff.”

The Church & society reformed

A year later, in 1821, Our Lord reaffirmed this triumph: “I will reform My people and My Church. I will send zealous priests to preach My Faith. I will form a new apostolate and send the Holy Spirit to renew the world. I will reform the religious orders by means of new holy and learned reformers. All will have the spirit of My predilect son Ignatius of Loyola. I will provide My Church with a new shepherd, learned, holy and full of My Spirit. With holy zeal he will reform My flock.” (7)

She was told many other things about this restoration, that whole nations would convert, recognizing the Catholic Church as the only true Religion.

When Leo XII was elected Pope, Elizabeth thought that the new era of the Church might begin then. But Our Lord showed her that not only the helmsman but the crew of the ship of the Church would have to be renewed. The reformation of the Church and restoration of all things would not take place, He said, until the whole world and of all the people were suffering revolutions and a profound disorder. (8)

Continued