Condemned Book?!?!?!?!

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OscarsMama

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A few days ago I was pretty excited to buy a new book (I read a lot) called “The Life of Mary: As seen by the Mystics.” It is ‘compiled by Raphael Brown.’ I got it in my parish book store and it is published by TAN books (which I thought was okay).

It says on the title page that it is based on the revelations of St. Elizabeth of Schoenau, St. Bridget of Sweden, Ven. Mary of Agreda, and Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich.

But then I read in a thread that Ven. Mary of Agreda and Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich are CONDEMNED by the Chuch?!!??! :eek::eek::eek:

My questions are this:
  1. Should I read the book? I bought it becuase it is about Mary and I am very curious about her life.
  2. If the Church condemned Ven. Mary of Agreda and Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich, why was I able to buy this book in my parish book store?
Thank you!!!
 
Here’s some information that might help you.

ewtn.com/expert/answers/emmerich.htm

It appears that the writings of Mary of Agreda were placed on the Index but subsequently removed. I can’t find anything about the writings of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich ever being on the index but there have been ongoing questions about their authenticity.
 
Corki said:
Here’s some information that might help you.

ewtn.com/expert/answers/emmerich.htm

It appears that the writings of Mary of Agreda were placed on the Index but subsequently removed. I can’t find anything about the writings of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich ever being on the index but there have been ongoing questions about their authenticity.
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Why??? I am reading the book the Life of The Blessed Virgin Mary and honestly it seems very inspired by divine influence. What kind of questions are out there about her writings?
 
I know there have been books/writings by canonized Saints that were on the old “Index”, but were subsequently removed. I think it was, basically, a “don’t read this until we’ve had a chance to check it out first” type situation, to keep people from relying upon “unapproved” revelations.
 
gatewood1988 said:
Why??? I am reading the book the Life of The Blessed Virgin Mary and honestly it seems very inspired by divine influence. What kind of questions are out there about her writings?
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Did you read the link? It appears that some of the writings published under her name may have been fabricated and falsely attributed to her.

The fact that a book has questions does not reflect on the authenticity of the visions or on the holiness of the person.
 
Corki said:
Did you read the link? It appears that some of the writings published under her name may have been fabricated and falsely attributed to her.

The fact that a book has questions does not reflect on the authenticity of the visions or on the holiness of the person.
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I hope that isn’t the case with this writing, it has brought me closer to Mary in the long run
 
I think a similar thing happened with the writings of Faustyna Kowalska, largely, I think, due to poor translations and transcriptions of her original hand-written Polish texts, they were not immediately accepted.
 
JaMc said:
I know there have been books/writings by canonized Saints that were on the old “Index”, but were subsequently removed. I think it was, basically, a “don’t read this until we’ve had a chance to check it out first” type situation, to keep people from relying upon “unapproved” revelations.
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Where do I find the “index”???
 
Just FYI, it’s now Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. She was beatified by John Paul II back in 2004.

Yes, there is no Index of Forbidden Books any longer. And not every book that was ever on the list should necessarily be considered “condemned” for all time. Some of it is just a product of the situations of the day.
 
you bought a book that seems to be a compilation from several sources edited by one person. Unless there is an imprimatur for the book itself you have no guarantee the editor took his material from approved sources, or that he quoted those sources accurately and completely. What does your pastor say? He should be the first person you consult with questions like this.
 
I wouldn’t think that TAN wouldn’t publish it without making sure of it having the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur (which mine does) and the only note it says about publishing is by Burnes and Oates in 1954. I have pointed it out to my spiritual director and they say it’s fine.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Just FYI, it’s now Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. She was beatified by John Paul II back in 2004.

Yes, there is no Index of Forbidden Books any longer. And not every book that was ever on the list should necessarily be considered “condemned” for all time. Some of it is just a product of the situations of the day.
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Although the actual index of forbidden books is no more, all the books that were on it are still deemed to be condemned and will continue to be so unless the Church specifically says they are not.
It not the case that no more index means no more condemnation of the books that were on the list.
 
thistle said:
Although the actual index of forbidden books is no more, all the books that were on it are still deemed to be condemned and will continue to be so unless the Church specifically says they are not.
It not the case that no more index means no more condemnation of the books that were on the list.
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Well, if there is no more list how are people supposed to know which books are condemned??? How do people know which books are okay?
 
OscarsMama said:
Well, if there is no more list how are people supposed to know which books are condemned??? How do people know which books are okay?
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If this is true, then I would suppose the books that were on it when it was abolished are still to be avoided, but no new books are being added to it. Of course, since it has been abandoned, books subsequently determined to be appropriate are not being removed, either…
 
thistle said:
Although the actual index of forbidden books is no more, all the books that were on it are still deemed to be condemned and will continue to be so unless the Church specifically says they are not.
It not the case that no more index means no more condemnation of the books that were on the list.
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So Catholics are bound in perpetuity to avoid the books that just happened to find themselves on the most recent edition of the Index before it was done away with? I’m sorry, but I would disagree with that. Is there some statement from the Church saying as much?
 
gatewood1988 said:
I wouldn’t think that TAN wouldn’t publish it without making sure of it having the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur (which mine does) and the only note it says about publishing is by Burnes and Oates in 1954. I have pointed it out to my spiritual director and they say it’s fine.
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I wouldn’t assume that anything published by TAN would have an Imprimatur. They publish some books quite critical of the Ordinary Form of the Mass - sort of “rad-trad” type books. I can’t think those get an Imprimatur.
 
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