Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/540

 VISIT

478

VISIT

prophetic visions. (3) Intellectual visions perceive the object without a sensible image. Intellectual vision.s in the natural order may apparently be admitted. Even when we hold with the Scholastics that every idea is derived from some image, it does not follow that the image cannot at a given time abandon the idea to itself. The intellectual vision is of the supernatural order when the object known exceeds the natural range of the understanding, e. g. the essence of the soul, certain existence of the state of grace in the subject or another, the intimate nature of God and the Trinity; when it is prolonged for a considerable time (St. Teresa says, that it may last for more than a year). The intervention of God will be recognized especially by its effects, persistent hght. Divine love, peace of soul, inclination towards the things of God, the constant fruits of sanctity.

The intellectual vision takes place in the pure understanding, and not in the reasoning faculty. If the object perceived hes within the sphere of reason, intellectual vision of the supernatural order takes place, according to the Scholastics by means of species acquired by the intellect but apphed by God himself or illuminated especially by God. If it is not within the range of reason it takes place by the miraculous infusion into the mind of new species. It is an open question whether in intellectual visions of a superior order the understanding does not perceive Divine things without the aid of species. In this kind of operation the object or fact is perceived as truth and reality, and this with an assurance and certainty far exceeding that which accompanies the most manifest corporeal vision. According to St. Teresa "We see nothing, either interiorly or exteriorly . . . But without seeing anything the soul conceives the object and feels whence it is more clearly than if it saw it, save that nothing in particular is shown to it. It is like feeling someone near one in a dark place" (first letter to Father Rodrigo Alvarez). This is the sense of the presence, to use the expression of modern wTiters. And again: "I have rarely beheld the devil under any form, but he has often appeared to me without one, as is the case in intellectual visions, when as I have said, the soul clearly perceives someone present, although it does not perceive it under any form" (Life, xxxi). The vision is sometimes distinct, sometimes indistinct. The former attests the presence of the object without defining any element. "On the feast of the glorious St. Peter", WTites St. Teresa, "being at prayer, I saw, or rather (for I saw nothing, either with the eyes of the body nor with those of the soul) I felt my Savioiu- near me and I saw that it was He who spoke to me" (Life, xxvii).

At a certain degree of height or depth, the vision becomes indescribable, inexpressible in human lan- guage. St. Paul, rapt to the third heaven, was instructed in mysteries which it is not in the power of the soul to relate (II Cor., xii, 4). There is no occa- sion, however, to accuse the mystics of agnosticism. Their agnosticism, if we may so speak, is merely verbal. The inexpressible is not the incomprehen- sible. Since Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagitica mystics have been in the habit of designating the profundity of Divine realities by negative terms. The avowal of the powerlessness of human speech does not prevent them from saying, as did St. Ignatius, for example, that what they have seen of the Trinity would be sufficient to establish their faith, even though the Gospels were to disappear. It is impossible to estalslish a parallel between the degree of spirituahty of the vision and the degree of the mystic state or the sanctity of the subject. Imaginative or even corporeal visions may continue in the most advanced state of union, as seems to have been the case with St. Teresa. However, intellectual visions of the super- natural order, as of tiie mystery of the Trinity, point indisputably to a very high degree of mystical union.

Visions of Demons. — Since the day when, in the terrestrial paradise, the enemy of the human race took the form of a serpent in order to tempt our first parents, the Devil has often shown himself to men in a sensible form. The struggles of St. Anthony in the desert against the visible attacks of the enemy are well known (St. Athanasius, "Vita S. Antonii", P. G., XXIV sq.), as also in modern times are the Devil's visible attacks on the Cure of Ars, Blessed Jean- Baptiste-Marie Vianney (Alfred Monnin, Life). As St. Paul says (II Cor.,xi, 14), Satan often transforms himself into an angel of light in order to seduce souls. Sulpicius Severus has preserved the account of an attempt of this kind made against St. Martin. One day the saint beheld in his cell, surrounded by a dazzUng hght, a young man clad in a royal garment, his head encircled by a diadem. St. Martin was silent in surprise. "Recognize", said the apparition, "him whom thou seest. I am Christ about to descend upon earth but I wished first to show myself to you". St. Martin made no reply. "Martin", continued the apparition, "why dost thou hesitate to beheve when thou seest? I am Christ". Then said Martin: "The Lord Jesus did not say that he would return in purple and with a crown. I will not recognize my Saviour unless I see Him as He suffered, with the stigmata and the cross. " Then the diabolic phantom vanished leaving behind an intolerable odour (De Vita Martini, P. L., XX, 174). Newman has given an interpretation of this vision for his own period (Martin and Maximus, 20(3). The best way of judging of the origin of these manifestations is that given by St. Ignatius, viz., to examine the series of incidents; to question one's self concerning the begin- ning, the middle, and the end, will lead to a good result (Exerc. Spirit.: Reg. pro plen. discret. spir. 5 a).

Evocation of the Dead and Spiritism. — It is written (I Kings, xxviii) that Saul, when defeated by the Phihstines, went to the witch of Endor and asked her to bring before him the shade of Samuel, and the shade rose out of the earth and revealed to Saul that God was angry with him because he had spared Ama- lec. Numerous pagan cults practised evocation of the dead; magicians practised it in the Middle Ages, and in modern times mediums or spiritists have taken upon themselves the task of communicating with the souls of the dead or with disembodied spirits (see Spiritism). The Cathohc Church has on various occasions condemned the practice of magnetism and spiritism, inasmuch as this practice evokes the spirits of the dead and may call evil spirits into action. But it has never thereby declared that each operation puts us into real relation with the spirits of the dead or an evil spirit. The chief condemnations are those of the Holy Office, 4 Aug., 1S56; 21 April, 1S41; 30 March, 1898. [See also Acta Concil. Baltim., II (Col. Lac, III, 406).]

St. Thomas. Sum. Theol, I, Q. xcv, a. 6; Q. Ivi, a. 3; Q. xlii, a. 2; II-II, Q. clxxiv, a. 1; Q. clxxv, a. 3; III. Q. xii. a. 3; Bona, De discret. spir., c. 16-19; Alvarez de Paz, De grad. contempt. , V; RiBET. La mystique divine (Paris. 1S79), pt. II. i; Les visions: Mar£cheaux, La Halite des apparitions di-moniaques: La rfaliti des apparitions angHiques (Paris, 1899, 1901); Matiqnon, L'hiKalinn dm miirls (Paris, 19021; Lapposi, Ipnotismo < spiTlti^m^' lH"ltir, 190IH; MvKRs, (^,1-RNEY, AND PoDMORE,

Plianlnsinfnfih, /,,,;„.;( I."n.|. .i. ' ; MwK^. H uman Personalityand its .SuriM.,/ ,'l lio.hlu Dralh il,..iul,,n. I'.IO;!); FLOnRNOT, EspriU et midiums ^UiUvvn. 1911), Holbe, Les mesarenlures du merveil- leux. Materialisations d'esprits in Etudes (Paris, 5 Feb., 20 April, 1901) ; DE Grandmaison, Les merveities de la tMosophie in Etudes (Paris, 6 Mar., 1905).

Ldcian Roure.

Visit ad Limina (sc. A postolomm) means, techni- cally, the oliligation incumbent on certain members of the hierarchy of visiting, at stated times, the "thresh- olds of the .Vpostles", Sts. Peter and Paul, and of pre- senting themselves before the pope to give an account of the state of their dioce.ses. The object of the visit is not merely to make a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles, but, above all, to show the proper rever-