A “Must Read” Divine Revelation of the Life History of Mary and Jesus: An Abridged Version of Mary of Agreda's ''City of God''

By Joseph N. Sama

The precious life history of Mary and her divine Son, Jesus, is full of striking
revelations. It reveals how angels were created as lights (angelic lights), why
and how the angelic battle was fought in heaven, and links both Jesus and Mary
to the fall of proud Lucifer, who refused the authority of Christ and his Mother.
Also revealed and described in detail are:
the Immaculate Conception and birth of Mary,
the powers given her over the universe before the Annunciation,
the mysterious birth of Jesus,
the flight to Egypt and what happened there,
the Holy Family before Saint Josephs death, how Lucifers powers
were clipped each time he failed in his attacks on Mary,
the unbreakable ties between Jesus and Mary, and Marys latent role
in our salvation,
Jesus bitter suffering and death, his Resurrection and his Ascension
into heaven,
Marys life after the Ascension of Jesus, how Mary protected and
guided the apostles and the Church and how she oversaw the writing
of the Gospels and Apostles Creed,
the holy transition (death) of Mary, her Resurrection and
Assumption into heaven after three days, and her subsequent
role as dispenser of all Gods graces even to those who ignore and
blaspheme Her, and how, no one gets to the Father except through
Christ and no one gets to Christ except through Mary, who brought
Jesus to us and now brings us to Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 31, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462841899

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Copyright © 2009 by Joseph N. Sama.

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

FOREWORD

TESTIMONIES

APPROBATIONS

HOW I DISCOVERED CITY OF GOD

FORTY IMPORTANT TIT BITS

REVEALED IN CITY OF GOD

VOLUME ONE

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

INTRODUCTION

THE CREATION OF ANGELS AND THE FALL OF LUCIFER AND HIS FOLLOWERS

LUCIFER’S SWORN VENGEANCE

ON MANKIND

THE CREATION AND FALL OF

ADAM AND EVE

THE APPROACH OF THE DEATH OF MARY’S MOTHER ANNOUNCED

VOLUME TWO

THE INCARNATION

THE NINE DAYS PRECEDING THE ANNUNCIATION

VOLUME THREE

THE TRANSFIXION

THE LORD AGAIN WITHDRAWS HIMSELF FROM THE QUEEN

THE ARREST AND TORTURE OF JESUS

JESUS IS DELIVERED TO PILATE AND IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH

THE CRUCIFIXION AND BURIAL OF JESUS

THE REGROUPING OF THE APOSTLES AND THE RESURRECTION

CHRIST’S APPARITIONS TO THE MARYS AND THE APOSTLES

VOLUME FOUR

THE CORONATION

THE BLESSED MOTHER RETURNS TO EARTH AFTER THE ASCENSION

THE 21ST CHAPTER OF THE APOCALYPSE RE-EXPLAINED IN

JOHN’S WORDS

THE PENTECOST AND ST. PETER’S FIRST HOLY MASS

THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE CONVERSION OF

SAINT PAUL

THE PARTITION OF THE TERRITORY AMONG THE APOSTLES AND THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL

HOW THE MOST HIGH DEFENDS OUR SOULS AGAINST THE DEMONS

OUR LADY’S JOURNEY TO EPHESSUS, HER BLESSEDTRANSITION, ASSUMPTION AND CORONATION IN HEAVEN

THE WRITING OF THE GOSPELS AND THE CELEBRATION OF FEAST DAYS

THE LAST THREE YEARS OF THE BLESSED MOTHER ON EARTH

THE OLD AND THE NEW

HEAVEN AND EARTH

DEDICATION

I dedicate this publication to my family (my wife Veronica and our six kids—Brother Cassian Mary (OP), Edwin, Jane, Patience, Emmanuel, and Mary), in recognition of all the very wonderful and also very trying times that the Lord has put us through. I thank our children for bearing with us, for their understanding, and for sticking together with us for survival when times were really hard. May our good Lord and Our Blessed Mother guide them and us through all our spiritual and material endeavors on this earth and finally lead all of us safely to our eternal Home.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I acknowledge with many thanks, Rev Father McDonnell (SDB), who was Chaplain of the university of Swaziland, where I was teaching and when I first drafted this summary, for the time he took, in spite of his rather heavy engagements, to painstakingly read through the draft of this summary along with the eight books (four volumes) that constitute City of God and for the foreword he wrote. I thank him immensely also for the encouragement he gave me when I presented this project and discussed it with him and for supporting the recognition of the real need for this important revealed history of the life of Our Blessed Mother Mary and that of Her Divine Son, Jesus, to be widely publicized.

I also acknowledge with profound thanks, Mr. Robert G Schwarz, (O.P.), who also painstakingly read over and edited the final version of this book after he and Jim Hermes had encouraged me by testifying to the importance of its contents and of the urgent need to widely publicize it. I also thank both of them for their friendship, which I greatly treasure, and for the steps they took to make copies of the book easily available to those who want it, especially those in and around St Peter’s Parish, Forest Lake, Minnesota.

FOREWORD

This excellent synopsis by Dr Joseph Sama, of the four lengthy volumes of City of God gives us a very comprehensive overview of the outstanding features of the revelations made to Sister Mary of Agreda. Questions concerning the veracity of the contents and attitude of the Church to such personal revelations are often raised. The answers, however, matter little if, in reading these pages, an increased devotion to and a greater appreciation of the unique role of Mary in Christian salvation are generated. It is immediately obvious to the reader that the story follows very closely the Scripture narrative. The additions which flesh out the narrative are a fascinating elaboration of the character of Mary. She most certainly comes alive in the minute descriptions of what must have been the daily routine of her life.

In this summary, Dr Sama has completed a work of genuine devotion. His effort will inspire many to a renewed and refreshed approach to Mary. This rediscovery of centuries old revelation might well be the Marian answer that is needed to change the attitude to Mary held by many of our fellow Christians here in Africa. There is no doubt that this interesting personal experience of this holy nun will provide many new insights for those who already have a close relationship with Mary; it will also provide those who wish to join this attractive school of spirituality with a very firm foundation upon which to build a new path to her Son, the real and only source of our ultimate salvation.

Rev. Father Larry McDonnell (SDB)

UNISWA Catholic Chaplain

TESTIMONIES

The best way to properly present City of God is to reproduce (as done below) the very completely agreeable testimonies and approbations that are given at the beginning of each volume.

What the Universities of Europe, the Religious Orders and the Learned Men Say of City of God

‘Forty years after the first appearance of Ciudad de Dios, the great universities of Europe were called upon to give their opinion about this great work. All the faculties except Jansenistic members of the Sorbonne at Paris, published highest recommendations. At the same time the learned men and teachers of each religious order that maintained institutions of learning in Europe, were asked to contribute their opinions. The following religious orders complied: The Augustinians, Benedictines, Carmelites, Dominicans, Jesuits, Cistercians, Basilians, Trinitarians, Mercedarians, Minims, Hieronymites, Premonstratensians, Reformed Augustinian, Theatines, Minors of the regular Clergy, all unanimously endorsing the favorable decision previously published by the University of Salamanca. To the approbations of almost all the universities and Religious Orders, were then added the high eulogiums of other learned men, great divines, bishops and princes of the Church and of the Popes and the Roman Congregations. As a sample of what these witnesses said concerning the wonderful Ciudad de Dios, we here select the official approbations of the University of Louvain, one of the great Universities of Europe.’

After pointing out that God’s power of giving private revelations to whom He chooses, must not be circumscribed, and after referring to some general rules in regard to private revelation, the document proceeds to say: Now, while abiding by the decision of the Church concerning the revelations, which are given to us under The City of God, we, having read the whole work, say and are of the opinion that the faithful can read it without danger to their faith and without damage to the purity and morals; for there is not found anything within it, which could lead to relaxation or to indiscreet rigor; but on the contrary we come to the conclusion that it will be most useful for enlivening and augmenting the piety of the faithful, the veneration of the holy virgin, and the respect for the sacred mysteries.

The strong and the weak, the wise and the Ignorant, and in fine, all the world will gather richest fruits from the reading of these books: for they contain what is most sublime in theology and in a style so simple, easy and perspicuous that, in order to enter deeply into an understanding of the holy mysteries, no more is necessary than to read them with sound judgment.

Combined with this simplicity are found many doctrines and valid proofs, free from contradictions and not easily found in order writings. This History explains more than a thousand difficulties in Holy Scripture, in a manner equally natural and wonderful. At every step are encountered exquisite interpretations, until now unknown, and which had been hidden beneath the mere letter, but are laid open in these writings and brought to light. In short, the whole work is a beautiful web of scripture passages which, though spun from its different books, are directly and specially woven into a whole for the purpose intended by the Venerable Mother.

In addition thereto the instructions given by the holy Virgin at the end of each chapter contain the purest morality, instruct, entertain, and at the same time sweetly inculcate the love of virtue and abhorrence of vice, painting them in the most vivid and natural colors. They do not only convince the intellect, but they contain such a special unction, that they enkindle a sacred ardor in the soul. In meditating upon them, one certainly will experience a delight not met with in ordinary writings; and the more they are read the more the delight experience. Finally, the whole work contains something so unwonted and attractive that, once begun, the reading of it can scarcely be relinquished.

The novelty and variety found in this writings delight and recreate the reader beyond all that is pleasant in the world, at the same time instructing him and inspiring him with new fervor. All can easily persuade themselves that, if the interior life of Christ our Lord and of the most holy Virgin were not just as described in these books, it could certainly have been like it; and that it would have been well worthy of Them, if it was as it is there depicted. All that is there said is befitting the majesty and humility of Christ, in correspondence with the holiness of the Virgin and dignity of the Mother; since there is nothing in the whole work which was not worthy of both one and the other.

Notwithstanding all this, we should not at all wonder if the book met with men who are disposed to be critical; for what book is there which can hope to escape the opposition of people of our times? God has not even provided that the Sacred Scriptures should be free from such attack among the greater part of the learned of this world. The whole philosophy of the pagans causes them to join the number of those who are opposed to the Cross of Christ crucified; and among that number are also the libertines of our day.

Of course there are certain points in this work which might give rise to apparent difficulties, and some of them occurred and do occur, to us. But, in accordance with what we have said of the excellence and usefulness of the work, we have come to the conclusion that these few passages must not hinder us from giving the commendation already given; besides, we must confess that we might possibly be ourselves mistaken in making these objections.

This seems to us the most reasonable course, since in this book there is something more than human. Anything so excellent and sublime cannot be ascribed to an over-excited imagination, since the whole work is consistent throughout. Nor can it be believed to be the work of a perverted mind, for, with a constant equanimity, it treats the most deeply hidden and abstruse matters without involving itself in any contradictions, though often also it descends to innumerable minute and particular circumstances.

There are contained in this work such noble, such devout circumstantial and pertinent discourses, as cannot be the result of mere discursive thought. Nor can it be attributed to the demon; for, from beginning to the end, it suggests and breathes nothing but humility, patience, and endurance of hardships.

Therefore, just as ‘Ciudad’ must without a doubt be attributed to the venerable Mother of Agreda, who is claimed as its author, so she cannot have composed it without particular help from on high. Our conclusive opinion is that The City of God, for the good of the public, and for the advantages to be derived there from, should be brought forth to the light. This is our judgment, which we submit entirely to the decision of the Holy See, to whom alone belongs the right of finally judging such writings.

Louvain, 20th of July 1715

(Signed) Hermann Damen, Professor and Regent of the Theological Faculty, Don of Saint Peter, President of College of Arras, Censor of Books, etc. Anton Parmentier, Professor and Regent of the Theological Faculty, President of the College of Theologians, etc.

APPROBATIONS

‘The first Pope officially to take notice of Ciudad de Dios was Pope Innocent XI, who, on July 3, 1686, in response to a series of virulent attacks and machinations of some members of the Sorbonne, known to be Jansenists, issued a breve permitting the publication and reading of Ciudad de Dios. Similar decrees were afterward issued by Popes Alexander VIII, Clement IX and Benedict XIII. These decrees were followed by two decrees of the Congregation of Rites, approved by Benedict XIV and Clement XIV, in which the Authenticity of Ciudad de Dios as extant and written by the Venerable Servant of God, Mary of Jesus, is officially established. The great Pope Benedict XIII, when he was archbishop of Benevent, used these revelations as material for a series of sermons on the Blessed Virgin. On Sept. 26, 1713, the Bishop of Ceneda, Italy objecting the publication of City of God was peremptorily ordered by the Holy Office to withdraw his objections as interfering with the decree of Pope Innocent XI for the universal Church.

(There are other approbations from at least five other Bishops including H.J. Alerding, Bishop of Fort Wayne, who authorized the publication, of the English translation of Ciudad de Dios in 1912.’)

HOW I DISCOVERED CITY OF GOD

When we were in Swaziland (1994 to1998), my wife, Veronica, paid a visit to Boston in June 1996. While there she decided to look for and buy a book titled Secrets of the Rosary which she had in Cameroon but had forgotten it there when we left Cameroon for Swaziland. When she went to the bookshop, instead of Secrets of the Rosary she kept asking for the "Mysteries of the Rosary. There happened to be another book which she was totally unaware of, titled The Divine Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary", a book compiled, edited and published by J.M.J. Book Company, Necedah, Wis. 54646, UA. (4th edition, 1979). The main contents of that book are "taken verbatim from the four volumes of City of God written by Sister Mary of Agreda. The Divine Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary" was brought to my wife, it was not what she expected but it interested her and she bought it and brought it to Swaziland. When I read through it, it was so inspiring that I hastened to order the original book (City of God) from which the verbatim extracts of certain chapters were made in order to produce "The Divine Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary". I placed an order costing approximately 100 US Dollars and we anxiously waited for it until it came a couple of months later. We found it a treasure worth by far more than the monetary and waiting costs.

FORTY IMPORTANT TIT BITS

REVEALED IN CITY OF GOD

The facts contained in the following tit bits are what inspired and provoked me to produce this summary of City Of God. I felt driven to make it available to and easier for many Christians to read the history in one form or the other.

Tit Bits from Volume One: The Immaculate Conception

1)    Most handsome Lucifer was turned into an ugly Dragon before expelled from heaven, because he rejected ever submitting himself to the authority of Christ (the Incarnate Word) and that of His Mother, Mary. Lucifer also vowed never ever to serve or revere the Man-God nor His Mother, because according to him, they either were human or had the human element in them, which made them inferior to his angelic nature.

2)    If Adam and Eve had not sinned, Christ would have come to the world in human flesh, glorious and like He appeared during the Transfiguration. It would not have been necessary for Him to redeem us before raising us to the level of angels.

3)    Our blessed Mother, Mary, started soliciting for mankind while in her mother’s womb, soon after her Immaculate Conception.

4)    Our Mother, Mary was bodily taken up to heaven several times during her life on earth, beginning from the day she was born, when she was taken up to heaven by angels and named Mary in the presence of the angels. The naming was known to the angels but concealed from her.

5)    Hell, Purgatory and Limbo are side by side in the center of the earth.

6)    After His baptism by John the Baptist, Christ in turn baptized John and later baptized His Mother, Mary.

7)    In the Book of Revelation Saint John, is said to have concealed many secrets about the Blessed Virgin in enigmatic language. For example, we are told that he refers to and describes Her as the New Jerusalem and the Bride of the Lamb and that many of the passages in the Revelation have multiple meanings concealed in them.

8)    Through God’s inspiration, St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, took and faithfully observed the vow of chastity as from the age of twelve till his death.

9)    The Blessed Virgin Mary took and faithfully observed the vow of chastity from the age of three till her death.

10)    Mary and Joseph were brought together in matrimony in obedience to the Almighty. At first they were embarrassed, because it appeared as if they were being obliged by God to break the very vows He had accepted them to take. It was after their marriage and when they had confessed to each other about their vows and their intension to keep them that they discovered God’s divine design. They therefore happily kept their vows very faithfully while also obeying God to be husband and wife.

11)    The principal purpose of Mary’s visitation to her cousin, Elizabeth, was to bring Christ, then in her womb, to sanctify John the Baptist then in Elizabeth’s womb, in order to free him from the bondage of original sin. John was therefore one of the first fruits of Redemption.

Tit Bits from Volume Two: The Incarnation

12)    During the marriage feast at Cana where Jesus wrought his first public miracle, changing water into wine, while Jesus was instructing the bridegroom, his Mother, Mary, was instructing the bride on the perfection and holiness of the state of Matrimony and the obligations involved. That couple, having been sanctified by God himself, is said to have succeeded in their marriage life.

13)    As participants in the mystery of the Incarnation, the blessed Virgin was conceived without sin (the Immaculate Conception); Saint Joseph, her spouse was sanctified in his mother’s womb at seven months and the leaven of sin destroyed in him; and John the Baptist was sanctified in his mother’s womb at six months by Christ himself when He was one month in Mary’s womb.

14)    Within the nine days preceding the Incarnation, God prepared the blessed Virgin by giving Her complete knowledge, charge and command over the universe because She as the Mother whom Christ our Lord and Savior had to obey as a Son was bound to be obeyed by every other creature, animate and inanimate. They should obey Her to whom He subjected Himself and they should be commanded by Her. The blessed Virgin therefore is inferior to God but was made superior to all creatures and could then, as She does now, command them all.

15)    The blessed Virgin had first to be made Queen before being made Mother of the Prince because She that was to bear a prince, must necessarily first be a Queen and be acknowledged by her vassals. Therefore, the following events took place before the Incarnation:

i)    Three days before the Annunciation, holy Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven and adorned as Queen and bride of the Lord. On that occasion, on her garments were inscribed "Mary, Mother of God; Mary, Virgin and Mother", but these inscriptions were made unintelligible to Her although they were to the angels.

ii)    Two days before the Annunciation, She was again taken, up body and soul, into heaven and the Lord presented Her to the angels as "My Spouse and Queen of all creatures" and She then once more pleaded as She had always pleaded, to the Lord to send the Only-begotten to reopen the gates of the Kingdom to mankind. God promised to grant her plea but did not tell Her how.

iii)    A day before the Annunciation She was again taken up to heaven and enthroned on a throne next to that reserved for the incarnate Word; She was then shown everything including the Divinity and all past and future creation. She was also given dominion over all creation, but her dignity as Mother of God was still hidden from Her until the Annunciation.

16)    The debt of gratitude owed to God by all creatures, including the angels, remained unpaid until Holy Mary did so, on behalf of all creatures. She therefore had to be given, the necessary knowledge and understanding so that with it She might be able to give befitting thanks for these blessings.

17)    The ancient custom whereby men should worship angels, like Abraham had done, ended with Archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation because the Incarnation raised human nature to the dignity of God himself and made mankind companions and brethren to angels. (The above favors done to Mary by God beginning from when She was conceived, clearly explain the wording of the Magnificat, notably the great things God had done to Mary.)

18)    Christ was not born like other mortals, for he did not divide, but penetrated the virginal chamber as the rays of the sun penetrate the crystal shrine, lighting it up in prismatic beauty, His birth left his Mother untouched in Her virginal integrity and purity and She gave birth with neither pain nor labor, and in a kneeling position, with Her eyes raised to heaven and Her hands joined and folded. She had taken this kneeling position before going into a trance that preceded that glorious event.

Tit Bits From Volume Three: The Transfixion

19)    Jesus, when He was said to be missing and later found in the temple after three days, proved from Scriptures to the amazement of the teachers of the law in the temple that the Messiah was already on earth. He had stayed back from his parents to do this because the teachers of the law were then holding a conference in which they were about to mislead the world by concluding from the same Scriptures that the Messiah was still to come.

20)    Jesus and his Mother Mary went to visit John the Baptist in his prison cell and were present with him when he was beheaded. They were carried there by angels to console him at his death. John’s chains are said to have fallen off at the arrival of Jesus and Mary, who then healed all his wounds. Jesus is said to have held John’s body while his Mother Mary held John’s head at the moment it was severed. Jesus, his Mother and the angels were not visible to the executioners.

21)    Lucifer and his demons were never sure with certainty that Jesus was the Christ and therefore, that Mary was Christ’s Mother, until it was too late. They became sure of these facts only during Christ’s Passion and specifically at the moment He touched the Cross. Until then Lucifer and his demons were still scouting around the world looking for, waiting for and hoping to destroy Jesus and His Mother if and when they come into the world.

22)    During the last supper when Jesus instituted Holy Communion, his Mother was the first to receive the transformed body of Our Lord, and the Communion mystically went to and remained in her heart until Saint Peter celebrated the first Holy Mass and consecrated his first Holy Communion. Then, the Blessed Virgin received It and It replaced that of the last supper in Her heart, which was only then digested. She kept on preserving the body of Christ in her heart that way, until She died. This was necessary for there was no temple yet in the new Church where the consecrated body of the Lord could be stored until the next consecration. It had to be stored in his Mother until temples were built. Thus, Christ fulfilled his promise that He will be with the Church until the end of time.

23)    Our Lord, Jesus Christ spent the night of his captivity tied up in a very uncomfortable posture and tortured for most of the night, in a filthy underground prison meant for condemned criminals.

24)    As co-redemptrice of mankind, Holy Mary at Her own request, underwent the same tortures and Passion that Christ went through. We are told that She felt the same pains of scourging and nailing, prayed and sweated blood at the same moments as Christ, imitated Christ in most things, and would have died several times over had not the Almighty sustained Her.

25)    Just before Christ’s Resurrection, the souls of the saints liberated by Him from limbo arrived with Him at the tomb where his body lay. They witnessed the disfigured and lacerated body of Jesus, then holy angels repaired It to Its original state, his soul re-entered It, brought It back to life, then It rose and together with the angels and all the saints It left the still closed tomb empty.

26)    The saints liberated from Limbo stayed on earth with Christ and his Mother for all the forty days after his Resurrection, then they ascended into heaven with Jesus when He opened the gates of heaven during his Ascension. The bodies of some of the saints liberated from Limbo, including those of Saint Joachim, his spouse Anne, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Baptist, Adam and Eve, were commanded to resurrect on the occasion of Christ’ s Resurrection; so, these saints went to heaven with their bodies and souls.

27)    Holy Mary bodily ascended into heaven along with Jesus during His Ascension, and for three days She was both in heaven and on earth. Only Apostle John was aware of this mystery, which he described in a concealed manner in the Apocalypse.

Tit Bits From Volume Four: The Coronation

29)    As Mother of the Church and Queen of the apostles, after Christ’s Ascension, it is Holy Mary who commissioned each of the Evangelists to write the Gospel and while doing so, to omit as much as possible, any references to her greatness and to her divine role in the Church and in the redemption of mankind until when authorized at the appointed time by the Almighty.

30)    Apart from her face, hands and feet, and with the exception of her mother and her Son, no body ever saw or touched the body of Our Blessed Mother, Mary.

31)    Unknown to his disciples, Jesus ascended into heaven accompanied by his Mother, Mary. Of all mortals the Evangelist saint John alone had cognizance of this mystery; for in a vision he had seen the great Queen of heaven ascend with her divine Son and had also seen Her descend in Her glory with graces, for the enrichment of the Church, This very beloved and favored Apostle desired to reveal to the other disciples, this and other mysteries made known to him about the Queen, but the humble Queen deterred him. He later described these in the Apocalypse in very enigmatic language, especially in the twelfth and twenty first chapters, referring to her as the Lamb’s Bride and as the New Jerusalem.

32)    On the day of Pentecost, while the disciples and the just were filled and blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, those who committed crimes against our Lord during his Passion were accordingly chastised for the evil roles they played. For example, those who were furious against Him and desiring his crucifixion fell to the ground and remained with their faces down for three hours. The high priest’s servant, who struck our Lord for the type of response He gave the high priest, suddenly died and was flung into hell body and soul.

33)    Saint Stephen the first martyr was informed and prepared for his martyrdom by the holy Queen who also appeared to him in the clouds at the time he was martyred and it was the reflection of the light from Her that shone on saint Stephen’s face as reported in the Acts.

34)    At the request of the blessed Virgin the Lord inspired saint Peter as Vicar of Christ and head of the Church, to assemble the Apostles and disciples to pray and fast for ten days in order to compose a Creed for the Church. Like on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on them at the end of their fast and the blessed Virgin requested the apostles each to define a mystery or article of faith as the Holy Spirit inspires him, starting with the Vicar of Christ. Saint Peter therefore led the way spelling out the articles of faith as are found in the Apostles’ Creed, contributed as inspired, by all the Apostles. Saint Peter started with I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, followed by saint Andrew who added And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. Then saint James the Greater who added who was conceived through the operation of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, etc,.

35)    In order to assign the Apostles to their Apostolic territories, like in the case of the Creed, the Apostles prayed and fasted for ten days, the Holy Spirit descended on them and St. Peter, was instructed to partition the world among the Apostles for purposes of evangelization. So, St. Peter, as Head of the Church, assigned to each Apostle his apostolic territory for establishing and spreading the Church.

36)    The Mother of the Church had known that Saul, later called Paul, was to be an Apostle of Christ, a preacher to the gentiles, and a man distinguished and wonderful in the Church; for all these things her Son informed Her. She therefore always prayed for the welfare of the Church and for the conversion of Saul. She intensified her prayers when Saul waged outright war against the Church. She prayed and pleaded so much to her Son that He was obliged to hasten the conversion of Saint Paul and thus saving the infant Church from the fury of Satan.

37)    Saint James, the first Apostle to be martyred was informed and prepared for martyrdom by the great Queen. Just like in the case of Saint Stephen, She appeared to Saint James just before he was martyred. She was sent from Ephesus by the Lord to console St. James. She therefore appeared to St. James at the moment of his martyrdom, in beautiful splendor in the sky and surrounded by a multitude of angels. She personally conveyed the soul of James to her Son in heaven.

38)    The Lord ordered Mother Mary as the Mistress of the Church invested with all the divine power, to chastise King Herod for persecuting the Church and for accepting divine honor from his subjects, who proclaimed him as victor and God. The holy Mistress therefore sent an angel of the Lord who struck Herod and he was eaten up by worms.

39)    "The proud rebellion of Lucifer against the supreme will and orders of the omnipotent God, was specifically directed against Christ our Lord and his Mother, Mary, to whose superiority and excellence the apostate angels did not wish to subject themselves. The first rebellion, and war waged with Saint Michael in heaven, before the creation of man, was in protest against the authority of Christ and his would-be Mother. At that time, they could not war with the incarnate Word and with his Virgin Mother in person, but only against the mysterious sign or representative of that mysterious Woman, which they saw placed in the heavens [when they disobeyed God after their creation and during their trial period} as a prophetic symbol of all the mysteries of the Incarnation to be enacted in her womb. This battle with the demons was renewed after Christ’s ascension, so that Jesus and Mary should personally triumph over the demons. For this, the Lord had threatened them in heaven after their fall and again in paradise after the fall of Adam and Eve. Lucifer was threatened with the enmity between the woman and the serpent, in order that She might crush his head. All these were fulfilled to the letter in Jesus and in Mary for Lucifer had received permission to tempt them after his fall from heaven.

40)    The second and final battle between the holy angels and the evil angels was fought in the sky after the last attack on Holy Mary by Lucifer and all his demons. It was fought as a fulfillment of the threat to Lucifer, contained in the image of the Woman in the sky, which was seen during the first battle in heaven. The two battles were therefore described and enveloped in the same enigmatic words by John in the Apocalypse. Lucifer was again defeated and thrown down to earth and from then he had no powers to wage war on the Blessed Queen and on the Church over which She was Mistress, until after She died.

PLEASE READ THE RATHER CONVINCING DETAILS ABOUT THE ABOVE IN THIS SUMMARIZED VERSION OR EVEN BETTER, FROM THE FULL VERSION—THE FOUR VOLUMES OF CITY OF GOD, WHICH YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO ACQUIRE AND READ.

VOLUME ONE

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

How Mary Of Agreda Came About Writing

The Life History Of Our Blessed Mother

INTRODUCTION

Mary of Agreda was born on April 2, 1602, in the small town of Agreda in Spain. She became a Franciscan Nun in the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda in 1617. She is known to have been, favored with the miracle of bi-location. While always in her convent at Agreda, she was for a number of years the first messenger of the true faith sent by God to the Indians in Arizona and New Mexico, U.S. Much against her will, she was chosen abbess in 1625 and re-elected every three years until she died in 1665. She was requested by the lord to head the convent but allowed the free will to accept or refuse this assignment of the Lord. She resisted, but, as she says, "the Lord, however, repeated continually that it was His will and He consoled me, admonishing me through His holy angels to obey. I fled in this affliction to our Queen and Lady as to my only refuge in all troubles, . . . She deign to answer me in these sweetest words ‘My daughter, console thyself and do not be disturbed in thy heart on account of this labor; prepare thyself for it and I will be thy Mother and Superior, whom thou shalt obey; and same I will be to thy subjects… . Obey Me and I shall favor thee and will continue to be attentive to thy affliction’." So Sister Mary was obliged to obey.

As to the writing of the life history of the Blessed Virgin, Sister Mary writes: " . . . On one of those festivals of the Most Holy Mary, the Host High informed me that He had in reserve many hidden sacraments and blessings, which He had conferred upon his heavenly Mother in the days of her pilgrimage and that it was His intention to manifest them to me in order that I might write them according to Her guidance. This will of the Most High, though I resisted it, was continually presented to my mind for a space of ten years until I attempted the first writing of this divine history."

" . . . the Lord has directly, in His own person, commanded and manifested to me His Will many times… . He said to me one day on the festival of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mary in the temple, ‘My spouse, many mysteries pertaining to my Mother and the Saints have been made manifest to the Church militant; but many are still hidden, especially the interior secrets of their lives, and these I wish now to make known; and I desire that you put them in writing according as thou art directed by the Most Pure Mary. I will reveal and explain them to thee; for until now, I have according to the hidden designs of My Wisdom, kept them reserved, because the time for revealing them was not befitting or opportune to my providence. Now, however, it is and it is my will that thou write, obey, soul’." On the same note, the Lord continued: " . . . 1 have not revealed these mysteries in the primitive church, because they are so great that the faithful would have been lost in the contemplation and admiration of them at a time when it was more necessary to establish firmly the law of grace and of the Gospel… . human ignorance might have suffered recoil and doubt at their magnitude, when faith in the Incarnation and Redemption and the precepts of the new law of the Gospel were yet in their beginnings. On this same account, the person of the Incarnate Word said to his disciples at the last supper (as in John 6,12): ‘Many things have I to say to you, but you are not yet disposed to receive them’.

These words He addressed to the world, for it was not yet capable of giving full obedience to the law of grace and full assent to the faith of the Son, much less was it prepared to be introduced into the mysteries of His Mother. But now, mankind has greater need for these manifestations, and this necessity urges Me to disregard