Description

Oil Dedicated to Blessed Catherine Emmerich

The Oil Dedicated to Blessed Catherine Emmerich the 18th century mystic and stigmatist.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich was a Roman Catholic Augustinian nun, mystic, Marian visionary, ecstatic and stigmatist.

She was born in Flamschen, Germany, and died at age 49 in Dülmen. There she had been a nun, and later become bedridden. Emmerich experienced visions on the life and passion of Jesus Christ.

Emmerich is bedridden

During her bedridden years, a number of well-known figures were inspired to visit her. The poet Clemens Brentano interviewed her at length and wrote two books based on his notes of her visions.

Emmerich was born into a family of poor farmers and had nine brothers and sisters.

She applied for admission to various convents. She was rejected because she could not afford a dowry. Eventually, the Poor Clares in Münster agreed to accept her, provided she would learn to play the organ. She went to the organist Söntgen in Coesfeld to study music. The poverty of the Söntgen family prompted her to work there and to sacrifice her small savings in an effort to help them. Later, one of the Söntgen daughters entered the convent with her.

In 1802, at the age of 28, Emmerich and her friend Klara Söntgen finally managed to join the Augustinian nuns at the convent of Agnetenberg in Dülmen. The following year, Emmerich took her religious vows. In the convent, she became known for her strict observance of the order’s rule. From the beginning to 1811, she was often quite ill and had to endure great pain. At times, her zeal and strict adherence to rules disturbed some of the more tepid sisters.

When Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, suppressed the convent in 1812, she found refuge in a widow’s house.

Stigmata

In early 1813, marks of the stigmata were reported on Emmerich’s body. The parish priest called in two doctors to examine her. When word of the phenomenon spread three months later, he notified the vicar general. With the news causing considerable talk in the town, the ecclesiastical authorities conducted a lengthy investigation. Many doctors wished to examine the case. During this time, the poet and romanticist Clemens Brentano first visited.

At the end of 1818, the periodic bleeding of Emmerich’s hands and feet had stopped and the wounds had closed. Many in the community viewed the stigmata as real. Others considered Emmerich an impostor conspiring with her associates to perpetrate a fraud. In August 1819, the civil authorities intervened and moved Emmerich to a different house. She was kept under observation for three weeks. The members of the commission could find no evidence of fraud and were divided in their opinions.

Visions and inspirations

Emmerich said that as a child she had visions in which she talked with Jesus. Also, she saw the souls in Purgatory, and witnessed the core of the Holy Trinity. Each sphere of omnipresent God is extended toward infinity beyond God’s core placed in heaven.

From 1819 until Emmerich’s death in 1824, Brentano filled many notebooks with accounts of her visions involving scenes from the New Testament and the life of the Virgin Mary.

About ten years after Emmerich had recounted her visions, Brentano completed editing his records for publication. In 1833, he published his first volume, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to the Meditations of Anne Catherine Emmerich. Brentano then prepared The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Visions of Anna Catherine Emmerich for publication, but he died in 1842. The book was published posthumously in 1852 in Munich.

Death and burial

Emmerich began to grow ever weaker during the summer of 1823. She died on 9 February 1824 in Dülmen and was buried in the graveyard outside the town, with a large number of people attending her funeral. Her grave was reopened twice in the weeks following the funeral, due to a rumor that her body had been stolen, but the coffin and the body were found to be intact. In February 1975, Emmerich’s remains were moved to the Holy Cross Church in Dülmen, where they rest today.

Blessed Catherine Emmerich healing oil/Tradition of oils

The tradition of anointing with sacred oil is very old indeed. It is used in sacraments and also as a devotional practice. The sick person applies the oil and blesses themselves. As they do so, they are asked to pray to whomever the oil is dedicated to. The Irish blessings oils do not have miraculous power. It is God who has the power to heal. Applying the oil while praying are important ways for us to express our faith in God’s power. Moreover, by doing so we place our trust in God.

The Irish Blessings oils are dedicated to the Holy Spirit, Our Lady and the saints. The oils come through prayer. They are placed on their designated altars for a period of prayer before being sent out. The oils are of therapeutic grade.