Epiphany

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Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.

Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.

Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee.

The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.

When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,

Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him.

And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.

But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet:

And thou Bethlehem the land of Judea art not the least among the princes of Judea: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod, privately calling the wise men learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them;

And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.

Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the East, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was.

And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country.

(Matthew 2: 1-12)

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The Light of the World

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Christmas Trees

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Some of the Christmas Trees at the Retreat ~ 2009

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Christmas at the Retreat

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Vampires and Vampiroids

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The only blood suckers I have dealt with were people who had a demonic compulsion to drink blood. I have had to deal with lost souls that died violent deaths, but they couldn't possibly drink blood. Are you dealing with sorcerers & shamans soul traveling to harass people? - Tim Temple (Order of St Patrick)

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There exists two possibilities which exist for the phenomenon written about since time immemorial. One is a predatory demonic wraith which masquerades as a dead person exhibiting supernatural abilities that include metamorphosis. The other possibility is a person afflicted by demonic possession close to death who seemingly expires while in truth is held in a twilight state. This person does not belong to God's true dead and is awaiting release from the condition which will free their tormented soul so that it can find the peace of death.
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Dear Bishop Manchester, Do "good" vampires that do not kill humans but drink blood from bloodbanks or only hunt animals, like those in the "Twilight" films or the series "True Blood" exist in real life? Blessed regards, Anders Bøthun Kristiansen, Norway.

The fictional vampires portrayed in the films you describe do not exist. However, there are people who emulate such portrayals who drink blood and claim to drain energy. They are known as vampiroids, but are not real vampires. Some actually believe themselves to be vampires. They are not. How could they be when the definition of a vampire, upon examination, is revealed to be a manifestation which issues forth from its tomb in the night to quaff the blood of the living? Vampiroids, therefore, cannot be supernatural beings with an awful existence beyond the grave. People who either believe themselves to be vampires, or want to become vampires and affect what they construe to be vampiristic lifestyles, even when this is taken to extremes, are invariably vampiroids. There are various categories of vampiroid, ranging from harmless poseurs to dangerous psychopaths. The former may be benign, but the latter are more than capable of murder. Thus the vampiroid is not a supernatural being, but a human who embraces what he or she assumes to be a lifestyle commensurate with vampirism as largely depicted in fictional films and literature. Whereas the true vampire partakes of the dark natures and possesses the terrible qualities of both apparition and demon, assuming the form of a dead body to suck the blood of the living. Vampiroids identify with the imagery of the vampire and become totally seduced by its mythology, having almost no regard for what is fact and what is fantasy. The more extreme examples of vampiroidism, known as ultra-vampiroids, have no problem with the fact that in reality vampires are biocidal and destroy all life-forms. Hence, within the supra-individual level of the psyche, they respond utterly to the vampire archetype.

Despite the very high percentage of relatively harmless poseurs in most vampiroid clubs, there can nevertheless occasionally be found a small number of extreme types. These can vary in levels of psychotic behaviour from proto-vampiroids to ultra-vampiroids.

By no means are all vampiroids enmeshed in diabolism and murder. In fact, the majority are definitely not. However, the clubs produce literature that feeds certain beliefs and obsessions. These undoubtedly compromise the dynamics of any benign vampiroid philosophy, such as it can be deduced from those within these groups. The crude and splenetic expression of their views points to an irrational pathological prejudice rather than a coherent philosophy. Some of this prejudice is similar to malefic occultism with an anti-Christian bias. Personality problems obviously plays a part in the opinions expressed by many, but vampiroidism per se is no freak display of Gothic Romanticism at its most decadent. It is, in fact, anti-Gothic and anti-Romantic. At its cutting edge its raw materials are concepts usually allied to destructive beliefs and an acute ethnocentric identification with the archetype in forms that are mostly allegorical.

Anti-social behaviour is nonetheless evinced in acts of blood-letting and mutilation, blood-drinking and, occasionally, profanity towards sacred things, especially Christian images. Tribalism and morbidity play an enormous role, despite the fact that most vampiroids are frequently found to be introverted loners. It is the epiphenomenon of the vampire cult and spans a quite wide spectrum, but the fundamental ingredients of blood, death, fear and evil remain constant. However, even mimetic-vampiroids frequently evince narcissistic personality disorders as well as schizotypal disorders. These relatively harmless representatives of the subculture display imitative “vampire” behaviour indicative of theatrical posturing. Ultra-vampiroids, thankfully very much fewer in number than their mimetic counterparts at the other end of the spectrum, often belong to extremist sects who espouse diabolism and vary in their degree of fanaticism.

To make this vampiroidic spectrum more comprehensible certain specialist terms need to be understood:

Aetiology: the study of the causes of illnesses and diseases, including vampiroidism.

Anomie: an acute sense of meaningless and loss of identity usually precipitated by personal upheavals.

Archetype: a symbol or myth whose affective power lies in the resonance it has within the supra-individual level of the psyche. Vampiroids respond to the vampire ethos.

Biocidal: tending to the destruction of all life-forms, human or non-human. The vampire is biocidal.

Diachronic: analysing phenomena, including vampiroidism, in a way which represents their chronological development and historical particularity.

Epiphenomenon: the side product of a more fundamental reality.

Ethnocentrism: placing one’s own kind at the centre of all value judgements.

Faustian: expressing the myth of Faust who was driven to make a pact with the devil in order to transcend ordinary human experience. Vampiroids are exceptionally Faustian.

Fissiparous: tending constantly to divide up into smaller groups. Most vampiroid clubs have shown this tendency which has resulted in a proliferation of mainly small groups, rather than a monolithic force.

Immanentisation: making something into an intrinsic part of historical time. Vampiroidism is largely an international phenomenon of the last dozen or so years. They feel that now is their time.

Mimetic-Vampiroidism: purely imitative vampire behaviour, usually based on fantasy exploitation films etc.

Para-Vampiroidism: a form of vampiroidism that adopts the external trappings of the cult while rejecting its ethnocentric pathology as evinced in diabolism and blood-drinking.

Philo-Vampiroidism: predisposed to become a fellow-traveller or supporter of the vampiroid subculture.

Proto-Vampiroidism: a form of paligenetic ultra-vampiroidism that lacks any subtlety whatsoever.

Ultra-Vampiroidism: a form incompatible with mimetic and para-vampiroidism that is highly dangerous.

Little can be learned by studying the propaganda of vampiroid literature because, like its diabolical counterpart, it misrepresents the facts and offers false promises. Claims made by such groups are frequently absurd, but it is on such absurdities that they rely to attract members to their cult. Some might initially feel a sense of “belonging” and “purpose” when they enter these groups, but it does not last, just as the groups themselves do not last but break-up and proliferate with the exception of a tiny handful.

Vampiroid Syndrome and Ultra-Vampiroidism are each afforded a chapter in my vampirological guide ~ The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook. There is also a chapter in The Highgate Vampire titled "Vampires, Vampiroids and Satanists" that makes a clear distinction between “an accursed body which cannot rest in the kindly earth” and those who “want to emulate the undead … [as] more and more misguided individuals … live vampiric lifestyles ~ some with the ambition of ultimately becoming undead when their earthly existence expires.”

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+Montague Summers

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The Right Reverend Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague Summers (1880-1948) was a fascinating character without whom demonological research would be very much the poorer. Throughout his life he was described by acquaintances as kind, courteous, generous and outrageously witty; but those who knew him well sensed an underlying discomfort and mystery. In appearance he was plump, round cheeked and generally smiling. His dress resembled that of an eighteenth century cleric, with a few added flourishes such as a silver-topped cane depicting Leda being ravished by Zeus in the form of a swan. He wore sweeping black capes crowned by a curious hairstyle of his own devising which led many to assume he wore a wig. His voice was high pitched, comical and often in complete contrast to the macabre tales he was in the habit of recounting. Throughout his life he astonished people with his knowledge of esoteric and unsettling occult lore. Many people later described him as the most extraordinary person they had ever known. I, like wise, began in the Church of England and converted to Roman Catholicism before entering holy orders in an autocephalous Catholic Church ~ as, of course, did Summers. We were both ordained within the context of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and, as Catholic Bishops, led self-governing and independent jurisdictions which held authority in Great Britain. Summers entered the Old Catholic priesthood in 1913 and, towards the end of his life, was elevated to the episcopate by Hugh George de Willmott Newman, Archbishop of Glastonbury ~ an office and currently held by myself. Summers was episcopally consecrated for the Order of Corporate Reunion.

Despite his cherubic demeanour and affability some people found Montague Summers sinister, a view he delighted in encouraging. Although in everyday life he was kind and considerate, when engaged in academic debate Summers was furiously intolerant. There were also rumours that in his youth Summers had dabbled in the occult. If true, the only effect seems to have been to turn him completely against such meddling. Summers may have been fascinated, even obsessed by witches, vampires and the like but the tone of his writings is consistently hostile towards them. 

Montague Summers grew up in a wealthy family living in Clifton, near Bristol. Religion always played a large part in his life. He was raised as an evangelical Anglican, but his love of ceremonial and sacraments drew him to Anglo-Catholicism. After graduating in Theology at Oxford he took the first steps towards holy orders at Lichfield Theological College and entered his apprenticeship as a curate in the diocese of Bitton near Bristol. A year or so later he converted to Roman Catholicism. He had been made a deacon within the Church of England in 1908, and was diaconated again within the Roman Catholic Church, but it was not until he embraced the Old Catholic Church that he was ordained into the priesthood. He celebrated Mass publicly when travelling abroad, but at home in England he only performed this sacrament in private. This was probably due to the fact that he was ordained into the priesthood outside the regular procedures of the Church. Old Catholic holy orders, albeit valid, are irregular in the eyes of Rome.

None of his close friends doubted the sincerity of his religious faith. Dame Sybil Thorndike wrote of him:

“I think that because of his profound belief in the tenets of orthodox Catholic Christianity he was able to be in a way almost frivolous in his approach to certain macabre heterodoxies. His humour, his ‘wicked humour’ as some people called it, was most refreshing, so different from the tiresome sentimentalism of so many convinced believers.”

For a living, Summers was able to draw on a modest legacy from his father, supplemented by spells of teaching at various schools, including Hertford Grammar, the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Holborn, and Brockley School in south London where he was senior English and Classics Master. He described teaching as:

“One of the most difficult and depressing of trades, and so in some measure it must have been even well-nigh three hundred years ago when boys were not nearly so stupid as they are today.”

In practice though, he was both entertaining and effective as a teacher once he had overcome initial problems with discipline, and was popular with both pupils and colleagues despite making it plain his real interests lay elsewhere.

From 1926, when he was in his mid-forties, Summers' writings and editing earned him the freedom to pursue full time his many enthusiasms and love of travel, particularly in Italy. The bulk of his activity then was related to English Restoration drama of the seventeenth century. Beginning in 1914 with the Shakespeare Head Press, Summers had edited a large number of Restoration plays for various publishers, accompanied by lengthy critical introductions that were highly praised in their own right, and did much to rescue that period of literature from oblivion.

Not content with editing and introducing these plays, Summers helped in 1919 to found the Phoenix Society whose aim was to present them on stage in London. The venture was an immediate success and Summers threw himself wholeheartedly and popularly into all aspects of the productions, which were staged at various theatres. This brought him a measure of fame in London society and invitations to the most select salons, which he dazzled with his wit and erudition. By 1926 he was recognized as the greatest living authority on Restoration drama. Some ten years later he crystallized his knowledge in The Restoration Theatre and The Playhouse of Pepys which examined almost every possible aspect of the London stage between 1660 and 1710. Summers' involvement with the theatre presents a curious parallel with his near contemporary Bram Stoker, who for most of his working life was business manager to Sir Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre in London. There is even a suggestion of some jealousy in the grudging praise Summers gives Bram Stoker's Dracula, leading to his conclusion that the novel's success owed more to Stoker’s choice of subject than any authorial skill. One cannot fail to suspect that Summers felt he might have written the definitive vampire novel himself, only better. Notwithstanding this conjecture, Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece remains a work of sheer genius. It was left to myself to tie up the lose ends left flapping about at Dracula’s conclusion in a sequel titled Carmel. The thought must have surely occurred to Summers, but it was to be Summers’ own successor who executed the deed.

Summers’ fame as an expert on the occult began in 1926 with the publication of his History of Demonology and Witchcraft followed by other studies of witches, vampires and werewolves; notably The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929). As an editor he also introduced to the public, along with many other works, a reprint of The Discovery of Witches by the infamous Matthew Hopkins and the first English translation of the classic fifteenth century treatise on witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum. In later life he also wrote influential studies of the Gothic novel, another lifelong enthusiasm; notably The Gothic Quest: a History of the Gothic Novel (1938), and A Gothic Bibliography (1940). Much of Summers’ life remains in obscurity, many of his personal papers have been lost; yet he left an autobiography, The Galanty Show, that was published over thirty years after his death.

In his introduction to Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto Summers articulated the appeal of Gothic novels, and perhaps also the appeal of all the dark mysteries that fascinated him:

“There is in the Romantic revival a certain disquietude and a certain aspiration. It is this disquietude with earth and aspiration for heaven which inform the greatest Romance of all, Mysticism, the Romance of the Saints. The Classical writer set down fixed rules and precisely determined his boundaries. The Romantic spirit reaches out beyond these with an indefinite but very real longing to new and dimly guessed spheres of beauty. The Romantic writer fell in love with the Middle Ages, the vague years of long ago, the days of chivalry and strange adventure. He imagined and elaborated a mediaevalism for himself, he created a fresh world, a world which never was and never could have been, a domain which fancy built and fancy ruled. And in this land there will be mystery, because where there is mystery beauty may always lie hid. There will be wonder, because wonder always lurks where there is the unknown. And it is this longing for beauty intermingling with wonder and mystery that will express itself, perhaps exquisitely and passionately in the twilight moods of the romantic poets, perhaps a little crudely and even a little vulgarly in tales of horror and blood.”

Bishop Montague Summers died of a heart attack in 1948 and his mantle awaited the arrival of another. When Sandy Roberston launched The Summers Project in 1986 to raise money for a tombstone to be laid on Summers’ unmarked grave in Richmond Cemetery, known only as plot 10818, I was grateful it was to me he turned for support. The simple stone, bearing the legend “Tell me strange things,” was erected on 26 November 1988. Summers invariably opened his conversation with those words when people visited him. He yearned to hear strange things. In 1991 an updated and enlarged hardcover edition of my best selling The Highgate Vampire was dedicated to the memory of Montague Summers. This fitting tribute to that former vampirologist still remains in print and soon to be made into a major cinema film. Two years after his death, Summers’ longstanding friend, Hector Stuart-Forbes, joined him in the then unmarked plot at Richmond.

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Garabandal

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Hello Bishop Manchester. I would like to ask, what is your opinion of the events that took place at Garabandal. I believe the alleged events took place between 1961 & 1965. I am kind of on the fence on whether to believe it or not. Conchita Gonzalez, Maria Dolores Mazon, Jacinta Gonzalez and Maria Cruz Gonzalez do seem to be witnessing something special. But, some of their behavior does seem a little suspicious at times. For example, them running backward and falling back and levitating just inches off the ground. The Catholic church, to my knowledge, has never approved or disapproved of the events that allegedly took place at Garabandal. - Ruben

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Garabandal is a small village in northern Spain, in the Santander province, near the Picos de Europa mountains, a rugged and beautiful setting. Its full name is San Sebastian of Garabandal. It is located six hundred metres above sea level, some fifty-seven miles from the capital of the province. To get there one must climb steep, poor roads. No more than three hundred people live in Garabandal. The town is impressively quiet. There is no doctor in the town and no resident priest at the parish church. The priest from Cosio, the next town down the road, used to celebrate Mass there on Sunday.

On the evening of 18 June 1961, four girls were playing on the outskirts of the town - Conchita Gonzalez, Maria Dolores (Mari-loli) Mazon, Jacinta Gonzalez and Maria Cruz Gonzalez (not related despite having the same name.) Maria Cruz was eleven, the others twelve, and all were from poor families. Suddenly they heard a loud noise, like thunder, and saw before them the bright figure of the Archangel Michael.

On the following days the Archangel appeared to them again in the same place. He announced that on July 2nd they would see Our Lady. This was the beginning of the Garabandal events.

News spread quickly. On July 2nd, many priests were among the numerous visitors who joined the villagers to witness the great event. At about 6.00pm, the children were headed for the spot where they had been seeing the angel when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared with an angel on each side.

They recognised one of the angels as the one who had been appearing to them (later identified as St Michael the Archangel) and the other looked identical. Above the Virgin was a large eye that the children thought to be the eye of God. They spoke openly and familiarly with their Heavenly Mother and said the rosary in her presence. Over the next year-and-a-half she would appear many times.

To confirm the supernatural character of the events, St Michael told Conchita that on a certain date, the invisible Communion he had been giving her would become visible on her tongue. So, in the early morning hours of 19 July 1962, she left her house in ecstasy, turned a corner, and fell to her knees in an adjacent street. As the crowd pressed around her, she put out her tongue and those just inches away affirmed that it was bare and the mouth empty. Then, faster than the eye could see, a brilliant white Host appeared on her tongue.

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Regarding the claim to private revelation at Garabandal, I find no moral or doctrinal errors in any of the messages or claims associated with Garabandal. False private revelations almost always have moral or doctrinal errors in their messages.

There are no clearly false statements about the future. There appear to be no errors of eschatological theology, not even subtle ones. The predictions of a Warning, a Miracle, and a Chastisement are in no way contrary to the teachings of the Church on the Mercy and Justice of God, nor are they contrary to the teachings of Sacred Scripture about the future. In fact, the ideas of a Warning, a Miracle, and a Chastisement agree with my understanding of what the Bible itself predicts for the future.

False private revelations almost always make erroneous claims about the future of the Church and the world. No such false claims are found in the messages of Garabandal.

There are none of the usual characteristics of false private revelation. The material is not sensational. It does not present distorted doctrine. It does not exalt the persons receiving the private revelation. In fact, the visionaries of Garabandal have remained humble and have lived very quiet lives. Furthermore, the messages and apparitions do not give excessive attention to evil or to sin. They do not contain long rambling uninformative diatribes, nor vague and confused predictions. There are no empty exhortations to holiness, nor are various unusual new titles given to the Virgin Mary. The vocabulary and language are simple and humble, not sensational and worldly.

As often happens, even with true claims of private revelation, some persons have drawn incorrect conclusions about the meaning of the messages at Garabandal.

It is not true that the Miracle will happen within twelve months of the Warning. This false conclusion is based on a comment one of the visionaries made that was misunderstood. In fact, the Miracle will occur more than twelve months and less than eighteen months after the Warning.

Some have claimed to know the month in which the Miracle will occur. They have reached an incorrect conclusion. Their reasons for narrowing the date to one month is based on misunderstandings and false assumptions.

The idea that the Chastisement (or punishment) can be completely averted by conversion and prayer is incorrect.

The objection is made that the visionary Conchita said that there would only be three more Popes after John the 23rd. This objection is based on a misunderstanding of what she said. She did not say that there would be only three more Popes ever, but that after the reigns of three more Popes were completed, then the events predicted at Garabandal (which begin with the Warning) will occur. Therefore, the Warning will occur during the reign of the fourth Pope after Pope John 23, which is the current Pope Benedict 16. (The succession of relevant popes is: John 23, Paul 6, John Paul 1, John Paul 2, Benedict 16).

Some persons have incorrectly concluded that the Chastisement will occur only a brief time after the Miracle. The Chastisement in the messages of Garabandal refers to supernatural events that are brought about by God to correct and punish the world. Although many sufferings have and will occur in the world, before and after the Warning and the Miracle, the Chastisement itself is the supernatural events that occur many years after the Miracle.

The claim is made that a prediction that the Pope and also Fr (now Saint) Padre Pio would see the Miracle. Some say that Padre Pio did see the Miracle, in a vision of the future event. The Pope who would see the Miracle is most likely the Pope of that time when the Miracle occurs.

The objection against Garabandal, that the messages do not describe the future as conditional, is based on an erroneous understanding of the future. In truth, God knows the whole future with absolute certainty, for He knows all our future free will decisions, prayers and sacrifices, and our future sins. The future seems conditional from our point of view, because we know that if we abandon sin, and increase prayer and sacrifice, that we will be blessed in the future, but if we continue to sin, we will be punished. This idea that the future is conditional is only true from our limited point of view within Time.

The Virgin Mary can present knowledge of the future in messages and apparitions, knowledge that comes to her from God and is absolute and unconditional. At times, she speaks from our point of view, as Scripture also often does, telling us correctly that the future depends upon our free choices. But she can and sometimes does reveal future events that are based on God's absolute knowledge of future events, and such events cannot fail to occur.

The local bishops have issued various rulings on the validity of these apparitions. However, the approval or disapproval of a local bishop, concerning a claim to private revelation, is fallible. In fact, even the Holy See does not and cannot rule infallibly on claims of private revelation. Nor has the Holy See ruled against Garabandal using the fallible temporal authority of the Church.

As a clear example of bishops making mistakes about apparitions, consider he false claim of private revelation to Ida Peerdeman of Amsterdam. A number of bishops in succession gave their disapproval. But another bishop, more recently gave approval (even though this claim of private revelation is clearly false). One can see from this example that bishops can be mistaken when evaluating private revelation.

Furthermore, the position of one local bishop is not binding on all of the faithful worldwide. Many priests and devout Catholics believe in the apparitions and messages at Garabandal. Many dioceses and parishes permit pilgrimages to Garabandal.

Some object to the events at Garabandal because it is said that the visionaries were in a state of ecstasy, and that they took odd postures when in ecstasy, and that they manifested supernatural abilities: being able to run quickly without tiring, running uphill or backwards, etc. My response to this objection is that the Saints throughout the history of the Church have, from time to time, manifested abilities requiring the assistance of Heaven. Such events do not disqualify a claimed private revelation, even if the events are unusual.

Despite the opposition of a number of Catholics and of the local bishop, the apparitions and messages of Garabandal do not contain any of the characteristics of false private revelation.

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