This is an account of the events leading up to the Crucifixion of Christ by
a 19th century German stigmatic and visionary, Anne Catherine Emmerich.
This once-obscure book recently achieved a much higher profile because it
was used as an inspiration for the screenplay of Mel Gibson's controversial
movie, The Passion of the Christ.
A riveting 'you are there' account of this pivotal event, the story is told
with great attention to small details, many not mentioned in the Gospels.
This is not a novelization; it is a recounting of Emmerich's
ecstatic visions, which were accompanied by painful and mysterious
physical torments.
Emmerich was practically illiterate and this book was dictated by her,
which makes the fact that the narrative is so internally coherent all the more
compelling.
Some readers will note passages which by contemporary standards might be
considered anti-Semitic, particularly in the way that the Jewish population
is presented as having collective responsibility for the death of Christ.
Of course, without apologizing for this in the slightest,
it is to be noted that religious and secular institutions of the time sanctioned
anti-Semitism in one form or another, so this view was not atypical.
On the whole, however, the account considers each of the numerous actors
in the drama, Christian, Jewish, or Roman, as individuals with particular
motivations, strengths and weaknesses.
Emmerich was beatified on Sunday, October 3rd, 2004 by Pope John Paul II,
the final step before sainthood.
Her feast day is the anniversary of her death on February 9th, 1824.
![Michelangelo: Study for the Colonna Pieta (1538) [Public domain image]](img/pieta.jpg)