We are living exciting times in England, with the historic move by the Holy Father to allow the Anglicans come back into the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The publication of the wise and paternal Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, providing for personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, reminded us of a prophecy by St. Dominic Savio about the conversion of England. In a vision, he saw a man wearing papal robes, whom he took to be the blessed Pope Pius IX. Perhaps it was Pope Benedict. Let us pray for our Anglo-Catholic brethren, asking Jesus and Mary to help them not to hesitate and to overcome all the obstacles which could delay their homecoming.
Excerpt from: Heralds of the Gospel Magazine No:41 [Mar-Apr 2007]
St. Dominic Savio, a young disciple of St. John Bosco, died in 1857, before reaching age 15. Dominic once told Dom Bosco of a vision he received regarding England, which marked him deeply. Following is the actual account of the vision as told by St. John Bosco in his famous book, The Life of St. Dominic Savio.
He [Dominic Savio] often spoke about the Roman Pontiff, giving ample proof of his desire to see him before dying, and affirming on repeated occasions that he had something very important to tell him. As he repeated this many times, I asked him what it was that was so important that he had to tell the Pope.
“If I could speak with the Pope, I would tell him, that in the midst of the great trials that await him, he should not cease to work with special solicitude for England. God is preparing a great triumph for Catholicism in
that kingdom.
“But for what reason do you say this?”
“I am going to tell you, but please do not tell anyone else, because I am afraid that the others will laugh at me. However, if you go to Rome, tell it to Pius IX. Listen carefully: One morning as I was making my thanksgiving after Communion, a very strong distraction took hold of me. I thought I saw a great plain full of people enveloped in thick fog. They were walking about like people who had lost their way and did not know which way to turn. Someone near me said: ‘This is England’. I was just going to ask some questions, when I saw Pope Pius IX just like I have seen him in pictures. He was robed magnificently and carried in his hand a torch alive with flames. As he walked slowly toward that immense gathering of people, the leaping flames from the torch dispelled the fog, and the people stood in the splendour of the noonday sun. ‘That torch’, said the one beside me, ‘is the Catholic Faith, which is going to light up England.’”
In 1857, [the year St. Dominic Savio died], as I visited Rome, I wanted to tell the Holy Pontiff about this, and he gladly and kindly listened to what I had to say: “This”, the Pope said, “only serves to reinforce my resolution to tirelessly work for the good of England, which is already the object of all my solicitude. If nothing else, what you have told me will at the very least provide me with the counsel of a pious soul.”
There are many other similar facts which I will not transcribe here, being content to write them down, and leaving it to others to publish them when they see fit, for the greater glory of God.
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