Antoine de Larminat (1895-1963) was a catholic
parish priest in the diocese of Soissons, near-by Paris; he wrote between 1942
and 1963 on typed book notes a long comment on Apocalypse, more than
1200 pages. He submitted his work to the censure of the Church, through the
official channels: his bishop Mgr Douillard, and sold or distributed a few
copies to friends or parishioners who seemed to share his views
[1]
.
The work was focused on Jews conversion as a sign of the end of the times. His
approach was quite ambiguous insofar as he had inherited anti-Semitic catholic
currents of the 19th century
[2]
on the one hand and on the other hand he attached a leading role to the Jewish people: The Jews had kept the key
of history. His stance is very interesting if you consider he wrote his texts
after the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel.
A short biography:
His family was coming from
Beaurieux (Aisne)
[3]
, he was a
volunteer in 1914 and taken prisoner in Verdun (second lieutenant, 1916). After
the war he followed the call of Church and joined a Trappist monastery (diocese
of Seez) for eight years. Unfortunately, he ate heartily and had no taste for
diet, so he left the monastery and became parish priest in Guise and Corbeny
(Aisne, 1932). From 1944 to 1948 he was back to the Trappist monastery of
Lérins and again in some parishes of Aisne (Fontaine-les-Vervins, Escaufourt,
nord).
In a short
interview in 1959 (8p.), he affirmed he had received a mission from the Holy
Spirit in1942, a mission of exegesis: to give the true sense of the prophecies,
especially Daniel, regarding the end of the times and the Revelation. He
started at that time to write: Commentaire
scripturaire de l’Apocalypse (350p.) ; Clef de l’Apocalypse (115p.) Commentaire
de l’Apocalypse à l’aide des prophéties modernes (609
p.) ; Evénements qui marqueront la
fin du temps des nations (30p) ; Essai
succinct d’application du sens littéral aux prophéties eschatologiques de la
Sainte Ecriture (99p., written after 1956, he refers to the Arabian wars) ; Le plan de Dieu révélé par les
prophéties de l’A et du N T sur l’avenir du peuple juif à la fin des
temps ; Les cieux nouveaux et la terre nouvelle (162p., 1961, CNTN) ; he wrote Quand aura lieu la Parousie (75p),
between 1961 and 1963, the latter was not listed. According to Larminat, the Pope himself had to
order the examination of his comments by the best censors (nevertheless he had
respected the hierarchy with his bishop).
A traditional exegesis of the 19th century
Following Joseph de Maistre, it
was a common place since the beginning of the19th century, that prophecies of the Scripture pointed out this period; a good lot of learned clerics tried then to prove
it wit the help of historical arguments. Both the concordance of prophecies and
the accumulation of testimonies borne by a thousand-year-old tradition of
exegesis clearly showed the sense. They called “science catholique” that
blending of historic methodology and spiritual authority and one can find in
Amos the justification
[4]
: “Shall there be evil in a city, and the
Lord hath not done it? ...Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth
his secret into his servants the prophets”. Larminat followed the same direction and explained his
stance in a short general introduction
[5]
.
All the classical
authors of the French anti-Semitic literature fin de siècle were present in his bibliography: Emmanuel Chabauty
(1827-1914) who built the theory of the revival of the world created for
eternity
[6]
;
Auguste Rohling (1839-1931) or canon Magnier (1829-1906) of Soissons. Chabauty brought together
Paul’s affirmation in I Corinthians :
« Behold, I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed …for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed”
[7]
and Peter’s one :
« Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a
new earth”
[8]
.
He concluded: the world had been created for eternity. Restored here below and
not transfigured in heavens. Revival should possibly become the official
position of the Church in the future as you can see when you consider the long
list of Fathers (mostly Greeks) following that way.
Such kind
of exegesis looks partly like Christian Esotericism of the 19th century at first sight. They have in common a gnosis, a knowledge setting free
as part of a hidden tradition inside the apostolic transmission. She uses
complex systems of correspondences within the regeneration of the whole nature.
The argument was based on the discovery of new disciplines, both physical and
historical ones.
Abbé de Larminat’s argument
Regarding
the legitimacy of private
prophecies and the general sense of apparitions in the 19th century
one can find nothing new in Larminat’s texts, neither in Chabauty’s revival of
the world. But he propounded a new literal reading of
the Scriptures
[9]
of John’s Apocalypse changing the order of
chapters. The expression “New heavens and new earth” and “the thousand years
reign” had to be rolled in one (
in chap. 20 and not 21). John’s separation was a convenience of exposition, no
more. It was an important matter; the first consequence was to send back into
human history the accomplishment of God’s kingdom. A good part of mankind could
be alive at the given time of Christ’s Second Advent
[10]
. So the
author considered the historical events as signs and we have to take in account
the meaning of the date when he wrote his texts: the final collapse of the Nazi
extermination and the birth of the state of Israel in a hostile milieu. The
classical themes of the “Grand Monarque” and the “Pape angélique”
[11]
we found everywhere in his first texts, linked to Christ’s Second Advent, disappeared in the last one (CNTN).
The
connection between Paul’s assertion in 1Corinthians about man removed alive from earth to
heaven and the resurrection of the dead on the one hand and the new earth and the new heaven on the other
hand, brought very strong
arguments to that exegesis which tried to be a literal one. The close of the
war reinforced the very idea that the Jewish people was really indestructible,
according to the divine promise
[12]
. The return en masse of Jewish immigrants in
Palestine was a proof. Therefore Larminat had focused its narrations of the end
of times about the battle of Armaged’don
[13]
;
after the attack of Jerusalem by all nations (meaning the non Jews), Christ
could come back but “he will not only content with the victory of Jewish
people, defeating his assailants, he will remove his Church to heaven and
convert en masse the Jews, pouring
upon them a Spirit of grace…” then Jerusalem will become the centre of a
worldwide theocratic power. They will rebuild the Temple and restore bloody
sacrifices. God will allow it to show openly the Jewish root on which the
Catholic Church had been grafted.
[14]
As the Diaspora had been a result of crucifixion, people and states nowadays renouncing their faiths were faced with the same position (see Pius XI):
“ Our Lord will take the Jewish people back and restore their old religion for
the glory of Catholicism…the Jewish root will be laying bare.” It was an open secret that the Jewish
people was the central point of the revival and their final conversion a sign
of a worldwide event.
[15]
While
Levitic priesthood should be restored, the Christian one should disappear; in
the presence of Christ himself
there is no place for Eucharistic
[16]
. “All the
nations” referred to a real country, the geographical Palestine at the time of
Abram.
[17]
When will the battle of Armaged’don occur and what happens afterward?
Since 1920,
immigration into Palestine has increased quickly by way of proof the really strong establishment of the Jews in the country and “the recent
war
[18]
…
(showed) an invincible firmness to gain possession of the Promised Land
[19]
”.
The neighbours' hostility explained the delay to prophecies but almost the
special position of the Jewish people as witness of the covenant, so we can’t
consider them only as a nation”. The conversions had to be firstly individual
but they are on the increase now. At the second stage Enoch and Eli’jah who
never died will be coming and convert the people en masse. They will divide the territory between tribes of Israel,
establish boarders and order the rebuilding of the Temple. The righteous alive
in the Church
[20]
will take
part in the populating, according to Paul, but they will not be in the majority
amongst the Jews at home and in a furious rage to fight the last battle for
Christ. Larminat doesn’t refer to Oriental Christians living in Palestine or to
Muslims. The last judgement will be following and the resurrection of the dead
as Ezekiel announced it
[21]
. One can
find a symbol of the progressive character of Israel’s redemption in the flesh,
bones and breath coming slowly together: “Son of man, these bones are the whole
house of Israel” (Ez, 37,11).
After its
transfiguration the terrestrial city would be identified with the celestial
Jerusalem of the Revelation; its
linear measures and breadth squared with those of a modern city. Rome then
would lose its place as the spiritual centre of
the world.
How to live in Jerusalem waiting for Doomsday?
As the term
“Generation” shows in a lot of prophecies, the man will multiply sexually but
without mortal sin, and continue his way to perfection, more or less quickly. When the world is drawing to an end, man
will not need any Temple, the whole City would become a Temple visited by the
pilgrims of the whole world. The cult of Jews would be simplified.
Larminat
calls then historical and natural sciences for help, he analyses physiological
modifications of animals becoming vegetarians
[22]
and considered the life-expectancy of trees as pointing out the landscape of
the coming new Garden of Eden. By the way, the amazing change of Palestinian
landscape in Jewish colonies was a foreshadowing of all geographical
transformations of the world to come. For instance the climatic and water
condition between “Hid’dekel” and Euphra’tes was changing as you can read in
prophecies
[23]
;
a French engineer of Ordnance survey confirmed.
All
prophecies clearly related the material fate of the world; mankind was going
back to the Garden of Eden. That’s why most part of mankind could be saved and
why the snake cannot reach the woman of the Genesis higher than her heel
[24]
. The only
remainder “will have their part in the lake which burneth with fire”
[25]
.
Conclusion
If esoteric currents of the Renaissance focused their
attention upon the problem of an Adam-Kadmon and a pre-adamic world, a created
world for eternity supposes modern arguments and bears the stamp of occultist
and individualist arguments of the 19th century. At the same time
Larminat put in practice a literal reading as a good lot of clerks wanted to
do, through the 19th century, and this in order to oppose a
“Catholic science” to hated modernity.
Jean-Pierre Laurant
[1]
The
answer is unknown. The texts had never been published.
[2]
Anti Judaic seems to be a better expression, see Emile Poulat...
[3]
A
neighbouring friend of the family, Yves de Thézy, gave me Larminat's files, my
grateful thanks to him.
[4]
Amr., 3,6-7.
[5]
17 pages undated with a bibliography ( 8.p.) at the end of La clef de l’Apocalypse…
[6]
Etudes scripturales, patristiques, théologiques, sur l’avenir de
l’Eglise catholique selon le plan de Dieu, Paris, Oudin , 1890.
[7]
I Co,
XV, 51-52
[8]
2
P, III, 13
[9]
The « old theology » in the
19th century defended that position against the new historical criticism.
[10]
He compared the total number of
humanity to the destruction described in the Revelation and
concluded it was impossible that most part of the saved could be non Christians. So the time of the end
was not to come at once.
[11]
They meant the restauration of the king in France. The notions were present
since the Middle Ages.
[12]
« But with thee, will I estabish my covenant »,Gn, 6, 18
[13]
Ap,
16,16
[14]
CNTN, chap.6, p.4. Larminat refers
then to Daniel, to justify the secret
character of the event.
[15]
« The huge event » Joseph de Maistre had spoken of.
[16]
The bloody sacrifice was no more Christ’s sacrifice prefiguration but a reminder.
[17]
The author worried about the fate of Sodom.
[18]
1948 after the birth of Israel or 1956 after the Suez crisis.
[19]
Essai
succinct, chap.4, p23. He was amazed at the passion to emigrate
since 1935 but he can’t see the connection with persecutions of Nazism.
[20]
The Catholic Church indeed, he
considered the others as schismatic.
[21]
Ez,
37,1-14
[22]
The snake made an exception, he lived of dust, a symbol of its condemnation.
[23]
Ap, 16,12
[24]
Gn 3, 15 : « and thou shalt
bruise his heel »
[25]
Ap, 21, 8
