Apocalypse / Revelation
The Apocalypse of John as the prophecy of the New Testament and the entire future of the Church on earth, containing as many mysteries as words. Lacordaire notes its overall clarity regarding the fall of pagan Rome and the Church's final triumph, but obscurity in its details until the last days.
Pope Clement VIII, Jerome's Prefaces, On Worship
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II. JEROME TO PAULINUS.
— Jerome praises the Apocalypse as having as many mysteries as words; manifold meanings lie hidden in every word. He exhorts Paulinus to live among these things and meditate on them.
"The Apocalypse of John has as many mysteries as it has words. I have said too little: every praise falls short of the merit of the book."
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ON THE WORSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE SCRIPTURES.
— Lacordaire describes the Apocalypse as the prophecy of the New Testament: John saw idolatrous Rome fall, Christian monarchies form, and a final persecution from which the Church triumphs through Christ's second coming.
"Saint John, in that famous vision, saw idolatrous Rome fall, the Christian monarchies form from the debris of the Roman Empire, a power opposed to the reign of Christ establish itself in the world"