The Occult Renaissance Church of Rome
Page 73
5 Roberto de Mattei, (transl. Francesca Romana), Corrispondenza Romana, December 3, 2015, http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com
6 Cf. De Caro, op.cit.
7 Judith Hook, Siena: A City and Its History (1979), p. 137.
Chapter XVIII
An Occult Miscellany
I
A Commentary on a Kabbalistic image printed in the Syriac New Testament
The cover of this book reprints an illustration from the Liber sacrosancti evangelii de Iesu Christo Domino of 1555, which marked the first time in the West that the Peshitta (“simple”) edition of the New Testament in Syriac (a variant of Aramaic), was published, and which caused a sensation in Europe and Britain. 1 Our cover reprints the woodcut which precedes the Gospel of John in this Syriac New Testament. This illustration was added to the text by two of the Church of Rome’s Kabbalists. It is the most elaborate of the volume’s six illustrations. It portrays the evangelist at the foot of a crucifix made to resemble a Sefiroth, emanating symbolic Kabbalistic representations of each of Jesus Christ’s wounds. It is one of the most unabashed symbols of the Church of Rome’s Kabbalistic orientation outside of the secret archives of the Vatican itself.
The volume containing the illustration was funded by the future Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I, as part of what was known at the time as the Catholic school of “Orientalism.” The Syriac New Testament was dedicated to “Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy.” Ostensibly published for Syriac-speaking Christians who had long sought a New Testament in their own language, with the inclusion of the Kabbalistic illustration, the book was an opportunity for visually propagating a Renaissance revelation: the identification of Jesus Christ with Kabbalistic arcana.
This was similar to the propaganda by which Reuchlin’s Kabbalism had been puffed in Christendom: as a progressive development in the language arts. With the publication of the Syriac New Testament, the Kabbalah/Christ symbolism printed within it was given wide dissemination by virtue of its inclusion in what became a treasured volume in the library of the leading Orientalists of the age. In both Reuchlin’s case and here, with this Syriac text, moral objections by true Catholics to the introduction of Kabbalistic gnosis were characterized as the reactionary ignorance of backward ultraconservatives who were obstructing Renaissance learning and progress.
Teseo Ambrogio (1469-1540), Canon of the Lateran Church, and “Egidio da Viterbo” (Cardinal Giles of Viterbo), “were the main scholars in the construction of Orientalism, within which the first printed Syriac New Testament was produced…This editio princeps of the first printed Syriac New Testament was the product of…cooperation between a Syriac scribe sent by the Patriarch of Antioch, Moses of Mardin, and two (Catholic) scholars, (Rev. Fr.) Guillaume Postel (1510-1581), and Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter (1506-1557), working under the patronage of Ferdinand I…The Gospel of John…is illustrated with the Sefirotic tree (a sefirot being a divine incarnation of God in the Kabbalah), which is a Tree of Life with ten attributes…” 2
“…the northern scholars who had been involved in the production in Vienna of the 1555 editio princeps of the Syriac New Testament…are most helpfully characterized as Christian Kabbalists.” 3
Widmanstetter, with help from Postel,4 published the superb editio princeps of the Syriac New Testament in Vienna in 1555. The edition features a symbolic Kabbalistic illustration, a woodcut of the Apostle John receiving the inspiration for his Gospel, which links both a crucifix and a sefirotic tree, “thus neatly symbolizing the confluence of Christian gospel and Jewish mysticism.” 5
“The Kabbalistic symbolism in the illustration, making the Crucifixion and the wounds of Christ analogous to the Ten Sefiroth of the Kabbalah is ascribed to Postel, who claimed it as his own work in De Magia orientali: ‘Postel writes mentioning the editio princeps and the Sefirotic Tree as his work.’
“The symbolism includes the chalice of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, ‘marking the point of contact between upper and lower worlds. The world is clearly represented by the orb and the Zodiac band and set in front of it is the Menorah. The Evangelist’s symbol, the eagle, is present wearing a Hapsburg shield on its breast.” 6
“At the top, the illustration carries the words, Quis expansis in cruce manibus, traxisti omnia ad te Secula (‘Thou who spreading out thy hands upon the Cross, drew all the ages to thyself’). This expression is Patristic, rather than Biblical. A version of it was used by Irenaeus, Athanasius and Cyril of Jerusalem, emphasizing Christ’s arm, hand or extremities in relation to raising the Kingdom of God and delivering His people.” 7
Postel’s colleague, Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter (1506-1557), was a protégé of Johannes Reuchlin. He studied law at Tübingen, Basel and Heidelberg universities. In 1530 he was mentored by “Samuel Abrabanel (or Abarbanel), the head of the Neapolitan Jewish colony, and deepened his knowledge of Talmud…” He was invited to Rome by Cardinal Giles of Viterbo in 1532. In 1533 he became secretary to Pope Clement VII and then in 1534, the Kabbalist Widmanstetter became secretary to Pope Paul III, and from 1535-1537 secretary to Cardinal Nikolaus of Schönberg. Afterward he was “secret counselor of the Germans (Geheimrat der Deutschen) in the Holy See, and in 1541 emissary of Duke Ludwig X of Bayern-Landshut to the Reichstag of Regensburg. Under King Ferdinand I, he was appointed Chancellor of lower Austria in 1553, and later Superintendent of the University of Vienna. He was ordained a Catholic priest months before he died on March 28, 1557. His tomb is in Regensburg cathedral.” 8
In the illustration linking Jesus to the Kabbalistic tree, Postel and Widmanstetter, were faithfully executing the Kabbalistic vision of their patron, the late Cardinal Giles of Viterbo who associated the ten sefiroth with the “Tenth Age”—the pontificate of Pope Leo X. Viterbo believed that as a Medici, Pope Leo was of Etruscan origin and thereby destined for a cosmic role by hereditary right. Like Ficino and Pico and the overwhelming majority of the Catholic occult-conspirators we have tracked, Giles of Viterbo dedicated his occultism in total fealty to the popes, as heralds of what the Cardinal termed the Catholic-sefirotic, “Tenth Age” of Kabbalistic glory. In Viterbo’s occult schema, Pope Leo X is hailed as the first pope of the Tenth Age, when, “All secrets will be revealed: those of the divine world through the Kabbalah, and those of the created world by voyages of discovery. Mankind will be brought into a new intellectual and religious unity under the Papacy.” 9
Widmanstetter stated in the Syriac book’s dedication to Ferdinand (who in 1558 would succeed Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor), that more scholars than ever were qualified to read Syriac, Hebrew and Chaldean. Widmanstadt made no direct reference to the illustration itself. Thus by misdirection, a blasphemous image associating Jesus Christ and rabbinic magic, successfully infiltrated a valuable Catholic volume of the New Testament, aimed at a highly literate and elite readership.
II
Pa-pa Francis and his parrot familiar
News agencies reported in January, 2014: “Among the newest recipients of Pope Francis’ good will is the parrot of Francesco Lombardi, a male stripper-turned-pornographic film actor (stage name: ‘Ghyblj’). Pope Francis gladly blessed and held a green parrot named Amore that was offered to him by his owner, Lombardi. In the pope-mobile during his general audience, Francis initially drove by the parrot, but then doubled back and took the bird on his finger.
The parrot Amore (‘Love’), was passed to the Pope. The crowd watched as he (Pope Francis) leaned from the popemobile in St. Peter’s Square to hold the bird on his finger and bless it. Later, Lombardi told the media that Amore said ‘Pa-pa’ during the encounter, mocking the people’s chant.” 10
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), which premiered in 1791, featured rituals of the Freemasons. “The Magic Flute…is a Singspeil—a spoken play comprising substantial music scenes set in a vaudeville Egypt, typically outfitted with hieroglyphic stage sets and partly based on pseudo-Egyptian (Rite of Memphis and Mizraim) Masonic ri
tuals. Furthermore, one of its crucial themes is the contrast between discursive language and some more powerful means of communication…”
In The Magic Flute, a central character is “Papageno—his name is Italian for parrot…(he) is dressed in a costume of feathers—can’t stop talking, boasting, telling lies… a priest threatens him with the direst punishment by thunder and lightning if he says one word—but of course he can’t be quiet for even a minute. When at last the merciful theocrats forgive him his blabbering, and even provide a little wife (Papagena) for him, the parrot-pair bursts in full crow: Pa-pa…” 11
Papageno possesses a set of magic bells. He is half-man, half parrot and works as a bird catcher.
The opera’s libretto was written by Emanuel Schikaneder with assistance from Mozart. The two were Masonic lodge brothers. 12
“Immediately after the solemn gathering of Sarastro and his priests, Papageno and Tamino are visited by two priests, who ask them what has led them to this place. Tamino gives a straight answer: he is in search of teachings of wisdom, Weisheislehre.’
“The priest then asks Papageno: Do you also want to struggle for the love of wisdom?
“Papageno replies: “Struggling is not my thing. Basically, I really do not need any wisdom at all…’
“Papageno is Hermes Mercurius…” 13
“When he was twelve years of age, Mozart composed Bastien and Bastienne, a small work still performed occasionally; its first performance was in the gardens of Dr. Anton Mesmer, a member of the Egyptian Rite of Masonry whose ‘animal magnetism’ is today known as ‘mesmerism.” 14
“The reigning pontiff, Nicholas V…dreamed of rebuilding the whole city (of Rome) on Renaissance principles…part of the dream was partly realized and the Cortile del Papagallo (Parrot’s Court) became the centerpiece of a new palazzo.” 15
“We can now behold the massive substructure of the Sistine Chapel, which mounts high into the air besides St. Peter’s. A plain portal inserted in the buttresses of the building gives access to the Cortile della Toree Borgia (Court of the Borgia Tower). A few steps more and we reach the Cortile del Papagallo (Parrot’s Court)…Later, all the papal palaces in Italy, and even that in Avignon, possessed a Sala dei Papagalli (Parrot’s Hall).” 16
The “Courtyard of the Parrot” is located in the oldest part of the Vatican Palace proper, between the Sala Ducale and the apartment of Alexander VI.
The familiar of the pirate is a parrot.
Rather than using a broomstick, Mary Poppins flies through the air by means of a parrot-handled umbrella.
“Black Magic…has always one definite characteristic. It is the tendency to use people for some, even the best of aims, without their knowledge and understanding…by producing in them faith and infatuation…“
P.L. Travers
1 The first edition had a print-run of one thousand copies, of which three hundred were given to Moses of Mardin to take to the Patriarch of Antioch. A second edition was produced by Michael Zimmermann (“Cymbermannus”), in 1562, after obtaining an imperial license to use the prized Syriac type.
2 Cf. Max Engammare, Renaissance Quarterly (Winter, 2008), p. 1315.
3 Robert J. Wilkinson, The Kabbalistic Scholars of the Antwerp Polyglot (2007).
4 Catholic priest Guillaume Postel contributed to the rise of Rosicrucianism, having exerted a significant influence on several circles linked to the Rosicrucian movement: “The meaning of the mysterious name of the (Rosicrucian) Brotherhood seems to have a relationship to Postel and his selfdesignated name Rorispergius…both ros and rosa are significant for Postel. By his name Rorispergius, Postel claimed to be the one chosen to scatter God’s dew (ros)…Postel constantly uses the word ros in the context of resurrection and rebirth, or a general resurrection of mankind into a new spiritual man (which) was the very foundation of the general reformation or rebirth which the Rosicrucian documents proclaim…In 1623 Gabriel Naude, in his Instruction a la France sur verite de la Roze-Croix…devotes ten pages in his rather short book to Postel…indicative that Postel had been associated in the minds of his contemporaries with the strange new movement, the Rosicrucians, and that this association continued into the seventeenth century and later…Variations of Postel’s symbol(ism) can be seen in numerous Rosicrucian documents…The documents and drawings associated with Rosicrucianism have their counterparts in texts of Postel…the language which Postel uses to describe…the ‘chemical marriage of the sun and the moon….Frances Yates numbers him among the Illuminati in The Rosicrucian Enlightenment.” Cf. Marion L. Kuntz, Guillaume Postel: Prophet of the Restitution of All Things (1981), pp. 106 and 174-177.
5 Robert J. Wilkinson, The Kabbalistic Scholars, pp. 77-78.
6 Robert J. Wilkinson, Orientalism, Aramaic and Kabbalah in the Catholic Reformation, pp. 184-185.
7 Cf. Wilkinson, Orientalism, op.cit., p. 183.
8 Cf. Ulisse Cecini, “Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter,” in Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, vol. 7 (2015), pp. 235 and 242.
9 Wilkinson, Orientalism. op. cit., p. 39.
10 Associated Press, January 29, 2014; and Time magazine, January 31, 2014.
11 Daniel Albright, Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature and Other Arts (University of Chicago, 2000), p. 42.
12 M. F. M. Van Den Berk, The Magic Flute: Die Zauberflote. an Alchemical Allegory (Brill, 2004) cf. chapter one: “On the Trail of Hermes,” and pp. 156-167.
13 Van Den Berk, ibid.
14 Cf. Jacques Chailley, The Magic Flute, Masonic Opera: An Interpretation of the Libretto and the Music.
15 George L. Hersey, High Renaissance Art in St. Peter’s and the Vatican (University of Chicago, 1993), p. 98.
16 Ernesto Begni, The Vatican: Its History, Its Treasures (New York, 1914) pp. 25-26.
Papageno the bird-catcher, in The Magic Flute.
Appendix
The Influence of Neoplatonic Thought on Freemasonry: Pico della Mirandola and his Oratio de Hominis Dignitate
Fabio Venzi 1
…we shall attempt to find references, within the thought and work of Pico, through which, to demonstrate, the link with the Masonic project of the “construction of man.” Among the numerous definitions of Freemasonry in circulation, I must confess that few seem to me to be comprehensive. In my opinion, Freemasonry is not an “orthodoxy”; instead, it has the characteristics of an “orthopraxy,” a code, to personal and social conduct, based on ethical-moral principles, substantially separated by a real theoretical essence.
In the light of such a statement, where can we find the connection with the thought of Pico? The answer is to be found by analyzing Pico’s concept of “Dignity.” If Freemasonry is a code of conduct, the dignity of man is a journey, a route, which may lead to the transcendent, to God, or rather, to the Great Architect of the Universe. So, Freemasonry is a code of conduct, but has a transcendent aspect to it, due to its desire for identification, to become nearer to an absolute, irrepresentable. This absolute irrepresentable, is the Great Architect of the Universe
In the Neoplatonic thought, the human soul, is directed, both toward God and toward the body, that is, both toward the intelligible, and toward the corporeal world. These ideas are embodied in Ficino’s scheme of a universal hierarchy in which the human soul occupies a privileged, central, place: God, the Angelic Mind, the Rational Soul, Quality and Body.
The same ideas, are taken up, and further developed by Pico, in his famous Oratio of the Dignity of Man. Pico stresses, especially, man’s freedom to choose his way of life. Consequently, man no longer occupies any fixed place in the universal hierarchy, not even the privileged central place, but he is entirely detached from that hierarchy, and constitutes a world in himself:
“I have given thee, Adam, no fixed seat, no form of thy very own, no gift peculiarly thine…In conformity with thy free judgment in whose hands I have placed thee, thou art confined by no bonds, and thou wilt fix the limits of thy nature for thyself….
Neither heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor immortal have We made thee. Thou…art the moulder and maker of thyself… Thou canst grow downward into the lower natures which are brutes. Thou canst again grow upward from the mind’s reason into the higher natures which are divine.”
Pico’s originality of thought stems from his hermeneutic approach, which is not to be found in any other thinker of his time. In fact, his interdisciplinarity is a unique case in the history of Renaissance philosophy, with his attempts to find “agreement” between Platonism and Aristotelianism, and the religious syncretism present in his own Christian Cabalism.
Pico goes even further, and emphasizes that all religious and philosophical traditions have a share in a common, universal truth. Pagan, Jewish and Christian theologians and also all philosophers who supposedly contradict each other, Plato and Aristotle, Avicenna, and Averroes, Thomas and Scotus, and many others, have had a good many insights into truth. When Pico included propositions from all these authors among his Nine Hundred Theses, it was his underlying intention to illustrate this universality of truth, which justified his endeavor to incorporate and defend doctrines from so many different sources. This syncretism of Pico provided the foundation for a broad conception of religious and philosophical tolerance.
…(In) The Oration…as the great Eugenio Garin recalls: “there are only a few pages, but they mark an era, ancient and still contemporary. They ask for peace between doctrines, a concordance of beliefs; they tell of the continuity and convergence of man’s efforts, to pursue the light; they realize the significance of man in the world, and of his vocation. Man’s importance is in his responsibility; in his freedom. Man is the only being in reality that chooses his own destiny; only he affects history and frees himself from the conditions of nature; he dominates nature…The conscious image of man typical of the modern world comes from there: man is involved in the act which constitutes him, and has the ability to set himself free. In this concept there is the condemnation of every oppression, slavery and conditioning.”