March 5, 2023

Dear Parishioners,

In case you think that visionaries prophesy only doom and gloom, think again! Here is some good news — and it’s close to home.

The great stigmatist and visionary Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774 - 1824) was granted visions of past, present, and future events from time’s beginning until to end of the world. Remarkably, she had some wonderful visions about how St. Louis would become a place of blessing in the future. With our city under the watchful care and protection of Louis IX King of France, Emmerich saw how the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Most Holy Eucharist were present and active in our Archdiocese. She had two visions in which she foresaw the future glory of our city:

In one vision, she saw a beautiful shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Louis, which she described as a place of great grace and healing. She saw how people from all over the world would one day come to this special shrine to pray and receive spiritual blessings. In another vision, she saw how St. Louis would become a center for Eucharistic adoration and devotion, and how the faithful would be drawn to St. Louis to receive the graces of the Eucharist. Why wait for the future? Ought we strive now to make St. Louis, our parish church of St. Martin of Tours, our families, and our hearts special places where Our Lady and Our Eucharistic Lord are honored and loved by our thoughts, words and actions? Yes—by your prayers and mine, to the Virgin and to Our Eucharistic Lord—we can ask them to bring our foretold future into the present.

In the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary,