People of the New Testament, Book IV: Early Friends and Minor Disciples of Jesus, and Those Who Opposed Him

People of the New Testament (IV) is the sixth volume of the long-awaited “New Light on the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich” series. The first two parts cover the visionary’s accounts of early friends and minor disciples of Jesus (most unknown to history), among them: Ananias, Jonadab, Parmenas, Joel, Jonah, Jonathan, Manasseh, Simon of Cyrene, Simon Zabulon, Zadoch. There follow summaries of the temporal sequence of the calling of the disciples, and of their geographical and familial origins. The third part covers Jesus’s historically unknown journey to Cyprus. The fourth details the likewise unknown journey of Jesus to the East some months before his crucifixion (in the company of the three shepherd youths Eremenzear, Eliud, and Silas) to visit the two of the Three Kings still living. There follows a section on later disciples, including Lentulus, Marcion, and Abdias, historian of the apostolic journeys. The final part offers a summary of the opponents of Jesus, including much on the little-known sect of the Herodians, as well as compilations on Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate, Herodias and Salome, Philip the Tetrarch, Caiaphas and Annas, and Claudia Proculus, wife of Pontius Pilate.

Anne Catherine Emmerich was born on September 8, 1774, at Flamske, Germany. From early childhood she was blessed with the gift of spiritual sight and lived almost constantly in inner vision of scenes of the Old and New Testaments. Later, her visions became concerned primarily with the life of Jesus Christ, although they encompassed also the lives of many saints and other personages (some unknown to history) as well as far-reaching insights into many other mysteries. In 2004 she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

This series supplements an earlier Angelico publication: The Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, Books I–III. In 2009 the original notes of Anne Catherine’s visions (in 38 notebooks) became for the first time available for reference, and the present series incorporates much new material translated therefrom. With regard to both individuals and themes, every reference thus far located in the notes and in prior translations have been woven together, so the reader can find in one place almost all of what Anne Catherine had to say on each topic.

As regards the series as a whole, virtually every individual in the biblical visions (approximately 250 in total) is referenced in the five People of the New Testament volumes. The Life of the Virgin Mary is dedicated to Mary (and her Essene ancestry), and Scenes from the Lives of the Saints treats of fifty-nine saints. The present volume forms a set with Mysteries of the Old Testament and two further volumes cover a multitude of separate themes: Inner Life and Worlds of Soul & Spirit and Spiritual Works and Journeys. The final volume is The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich.