cmom:
This woman is praised for her heroic life, not her writings.
Not true! Please do some research before saying such misleading things.
My goodness, we wouldn’t have the “Passion of the Christ” movie without the writings Catherine Emmerich. We would not know where the house of Mary was without her writings.
Her insights into scripture and Catholic theology are as great as any saint I know of. The claim (of some people) that the poet Clemens Brentano fabricated much of the visions of Emmerich is absolutely absurd. No poet can fabricate the incredibly deep spiritual insight that is found in her works. If Clemens did fabricate them, them he deserves to be called a mystic for having such profound heavenly insight. But Clemens is not the only one that knew Emmerich. Many others have written about her and what she said including her confessor which all back up the accuracy of Brentano.
That may be the case for her canonization but it is her incredible visions and writings that have made her so famous. Her writings have been extolled and recommend by many theologians, bishops, priests and even popes (my memory escapes me, but I do remember reading that one pope after her death requested that an Italian translation of the Dolorous Passion of Christ be made for the faithful in Rome).
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “Her treatment of that difficult subject, the twofold nature of Christ, is admirable. His humanity stands out clear and distinct, but through it shines always a gleam of the Divine. The rapid and silent spread of her works through Germany, France, Italy, and elsewhere speaks well for their merit. Strangely enough they produced no controversy. Dom Guéranger (Superior General of the Benedictines) extols their merits in the highest terms. … she saved many souls and recalled to the Christian world that the supernatural is around about it to a degree sometimes forgotten. A rumor that the body was stolen caused her grave to be opened six weeks after her death. The body was found fresh, without any sign of corruption. In 1892 the process of her beatification was introduced by the Bishop of Münster.
Leo Cardinal Scheffczk, who was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in February 2001, and who has been involved in the Emmerich beatification case, compared this servant of God to St. Teresa of Avila while he spoke at the 1990 episcopal Emmerich symposium in Munster. Referring to her stigmata, Scheffczyk remarked that her life can be seen as a “path of union with the suffering of Christ and her person as a paradigm of mystical suffering worthy of being entered into the ranks of a Teresa of Avila.”
In his address, this now prince of the Church examined the signs that speak for the authenticity and supernatural origin and character of Emmerich’s stigmata, childhood life of penance, and visions. These are “not to be explained by a natural religious inclination” in Emmerich, and they can "without the working of a special grace scarcely be explained… Her mystical grace was of the highest order… Emmerich was marked with the highest mystical grace, represented as the ‘mystical betrothal’ and the ‘spiritual wedding.’ The knowledge and spiritual instructions which she communicated in conversations and speeches with her contemporaries and which she could not have gathered through reading or self-study, are also an indirect proof for the authenticity of her elevated mystical state?’
The recorded visions of Emmerich were praised and recommended by, among others, St. John Neumann, St. Sophie Madeleine Barat (canonized 1925), St. Mary Euphrasia (canonized 1940), and Leon Dupont, the famous “holy man of Tours.”
