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| René Laurentin, Investigator of Celestial Visions, Dies at 99 | René Laurentin, Investigator of Celestial Visions, Dies at 99 |
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| The Rev. René Laurentin, a prominent Roman Catholic theologian who devoted his career to investigating reports of supernatural religious visions, died on Sunday in Evry, a suburb of Paris. He was 99. | The Rev. René Laurentin, a prominent Roman Catholic theologian who devoted his career to investigating reports of supernatural religious visions, died on Sunday in Evry, a suburb of Paris. He was 99. |
| His death was announced by the Catholic Church in France. | His death was announced by the Catholic Church in France. |
| Often compared to the French philosophers Henri-Louis Bergson and Jacques Maritain, Father Laurentin was one of the world’s foremost students of Mariology, the theological exploration of the Virgin Mary; an expert on historic religious apparitions; and an investigator of celestial sightings reported everywhere from a hill in the Balkans to a Texas backyard. | Often compared to the French philosophers Henri-Louis Bergson and Jacques Maritain, Father Laurentin was one of the world’s foremost students of Mariology, the theological exploration of the Virgin Mary; an expert on historic religious apparitions; and an investigator of celestial sightings reported everywhere from a hill in the Balkans to a Texas backyard. |
| The author of more than 150 books, he wrote six volumes on Our Lady of Lourdes alone, perhaps the world’s best known account of a Virgin Mary apparition. | The author of more than 150 books, he wrote six volumes on Our Lady of Lourdes alone, perhaps the world’s best known account of a Virgin Mary apparition. |
| In that episode, in the French town of Lourdes in the mid-19th century, a miller’s daughter, Bernadette Soubirous, reported that a woman who later identified herself as the Virgin Mary had appeared to her. After a church investigation, the girl’s account, detailing multiple encounters with the apparition, was deemed authentic and Lourdes became a shrine. Bernadette was canonized in 1933. Father Laurentin concurred in the vision’s authenticity. | In that episode, in the French town of Lourdes in the mid-19th century, a miller’s daughter, Bernadette Soubirous, reported that a woman who later identified herself as the Virgin Mary had appeared to her. After a church investigation, the girl’s account, detailing multiple encounters with the apparition, was deemed authentic and Lourdes became a shrine. Bernadette was canonized in 1933. Father Laurentin concurred in the vision’s authenticity. |
| He was more credulous than a number of his fellow clerics about another episode, when six children in Medjugorje, a tiny village in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, reported in 1981 that the Virgin Mary had delivered tidings to the public and, eventually, secret messages to them. | He was more credulous than a number of his fellow clerics about another episode, when six children in Medjugorje, a tiny village in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, reported in 1981 that the Virgin Mary had delivered tidings to the public and, eventually, secret messages to them. |
| Pope Francis said this year that he believed that the children’s visions were worthy of further study, but he expressed skepticism that Mary had been returning daily since then at an appointed time. | Pope Francis said this year that he believed that the children’s visions were worthy of further study, but he expressed skepticism that Mary had been returning daily since then at an appointed time. |
| “I prefer the Madonna as Mother, our Mother,” the pope was quoted as saying, “and not a woman who’s the head of a telegraphic office.” | “I prefer the Madonna as Mother, our Mother,” the pope was quoted as saying, “and not a woman who’s the head of a telegraphic office.” |
| Father Laurentin explored claims by an Argentine woman that the Virgin Mary had since 1983 shared hundreds of messages and a luminous rosary with her, and that Jesus himself had brought her 68 prophetic visions. (The local bishop suggested last year that the sightings could have indeed been supernatural.) | Father Laurentin explored claims by an Argentine woman that the Virgin Mary had since 1983 shared hundreds of messages and a luminous rosary with her, and that Jesus himself had brought her 68 prophetic visions. (The local bishop suggested last year that the sightings could have indeed been supernatural.) |
| If an apparition is not immediately sanctioned by the church, local bishops typically apply one of two formulas: either “the supernatural is not proved” or “the nonsupernatural character is proved.” | If an apparition is not immediately sanctioned by the church, local bishops typically apply one of two formulas: either “the supernatural is not proved” or “the nonsupernatural character is proved.” |
| Father Laurentin said that reaching the conclusion that “ ‘the supernatural character is not established’ — in other words, the miraculous aspect is not proved” — can be misleading. | Father Laurentin said that reaching the conclusion that “ ‘the supernatural character is not established’ — in other words, the miraculous aspect is not proved” — can be misleading. |
| In Medjugorje, he said, “the bishops chose not the second formula, which excluded the supernatural, but the first, which had an element of doubt.” That doubt did not rule out a supernatural dimension, he said; rather, it indicated only that the supernatural was not yet possible to prove. | In Medjugorje, he said, “the bishops chose not the second formula, which excluded the supernatural, but the first, which had an element of doubt.” That doubt did not rule out a supernatural dimension, he said; rather, it indicated only that the supernatural was not yet possible to prove. |
| Father Laurentin was careful to acknowledge that claims of apparitions can flow from illuminism — a belief that one has attained a degree of enlightenment denied to most people — or madness. | Father Laurentin was careful to acknowledge that claims of apparitions can flow from illuminism — a belief that one has attained a degree of enlightenment denied to most people — or madness. |
| He offered guidelines for discerning an apparition: that the messages “conform to faith and good morals”; that the seer be “credible, disinterested, balanced”; that the message not deviate from church teachings or the instructions of prelates; and that conversions or healings result from the experience. | He offered guidelines for discerning an apparition: that the messages “conform to faith and good morals”; that the seer be “credible, disinterested, balanced”; that the message not deviate from church teachings or the instructions of prelates; and that conversions or healings result from the experience. |
| As he explained in The Journal of Messengers and Apparitions, the church’s decision implies neither certainty nor an obligation to believe. | As he explained in The Journal of Messengers and Apparitions, the church’s decision implies neither certainty nor an obligation to believe. |
| “Even where the church recognizes an apparition (including Lourdes and Fatima, the most solemnly recognized), she does not employ her infallibility or even her authority, since it is not a question of a dogma, necessary for salvation and taught in the name of Christ, but of a discernment, only probable and conjectural,” he said in a 2003 interview. “She does not say ‘You have to believe’ but ‘There are some good reasons to believe. It is beneficial to believe.’ ” | “Even where the church recognizes an apparition (including Lourdes and Fatima, the most solemnly recognized), she does not employ her infallibility or even her authority, since it is not a question of a dogma, necessary for salvation and taught in the name of Christ, but of a discernment, only probable and conjectural,” he said in a 2003 interview. “She does not say ‘You have to believe’ but ‘There are some good reasons to believe. It is beneficial to believe.’ ” |
| René Laurentin was born in Tours, France, in the Loire Valley, on Oct. 19, 1917 (the same year that three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, said they saw a vision of Mary). His father, Maurice Laurentin, was an architect; his mother was the former Marie Jactel. | |
| René entered the Carmelite Seminary of the Catholic University of Paris at 17 and earned two degrees in philosophy from the Sorbonne. Drafted into the French Army during World War II, he was captured in Belgium in 1940 and spent five years as a German prisoner of war. After he was ordained in 1946, he earned doctorates from the Sorbonne and the Institute Catholique. | René entered the Carmelite Seminary of the Catholic University of Paris at 17 and earned two degrees in philosophy from the Sorbonne. Drafted into the French Army during World War II, he was captured in Belgium in 1940 and spent five years as a German prisoner of war. After he was ordained in 1946, he earned doctorates from the Sorbonne and the Institute Catholique. |
| Father Laurentin taught at the Catholic University of Angers in France, the Universities of Florence and Milan in Italy, and the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton in Ohio. | Father Laurentin taught at the Catholic University of Angers in France, the Universities of Florence and Milan in Italy, and the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton in Ohio. |
| He was also a correspondent for Le Figaro, the French daily newspaper, and a consultant to the reformist Second Vatican Council, where he sought to strengthen a provision exonerating Jews for collective guilt for the crucifixion. | He was also a correspondent for Le Figaro, the French daily newspaper, and a consultant to the reformist Second Vatican Council, where he sought to strengthen a provision exonerating Jews for collective guilt for the crucifixion. |
| In 2009, Father Laurentin was named a Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI. | In 2009, Father Laurentin was named a Prelate of His Holiness by Pope Benedict XVI. |
| The rector of Lourdes, Abbé André Cabes, praised him in a statement for having “the solidity of the theologian, the seriousness of the historian, the agility of the journalist.” | The rector of Lourdes, Abbé André Cabes, praised him in a statement for having “the solidity of the theologian, the seriousness of the historian, the agility of the journalist.” |
| Recalling Father Laurentin’s role as a consultant to the Second Vatican Council, the first such assembly to deal with church doctrine in a century, Vatican Radio called him “certainly one of the last living witnesses of this great period of effervescence.” | Recalling Father Laurentin’s role as a consultant to the Second Vatican Council, the first such assembly to deal with church doctrine in a century, Vatican Radio called him “certainly one of the last living witnesses of this great period of effervescence.” |
| Father Laurentin would remind critics that they did not have to accept his personal verdict on supernatural visions as doctrine. | Father Laurentin would remind critics that they did not have to accept his personal verdict on supernatural visions as doctrine. |
| “That was already the position of Bernadette,” he said, “who did not involve herself in discussions with the opponents who wanted to dispute with her, but, if they insisted, answered simply, ‘I am charged to tell you. I am not charged to make you believe.’ ” | “That was already the position of Bernadette,” he said, “who did not involve herself in discussions with the opponents who wanted to dispute with her, but, if they insisted, answered simply, ‘I am charged to tell you. I am not charged to make you believe.’ ” |
| It was his view that reports of apparitions had increased in the 19th and 20th centuries, and he attributed this to “the troubled situation in which our world finds itself.” But he said that no matter what form the visions take, the messages they deliver rarely vary. | It was his view that reports of apparitions had increased in the 19th and 20th centuries, and he attributed this to “the troubled situation in which our world finds itself.” But he said that no matter what form the visions take, the messages they deliver rarely vary. |
| “What strikes me in Our Lady’s messages is that they are an echo of the Gospel,” Father Laurentin said in 2003. “The messages from Medjugorje do not say anything new; they just repeat to our deaf ears what we have forgotten, what we do not want, or are not able to hear any more: to pray, to have a strong faith in God, to fast, to read the Gospel.” | “What strikes me in Our Lady’s messages is that they are an echo of the Gospel,” Father Laurentin said in 2003. “The messages from Medjugorje do not say anything new; they just repeat to our deaf ears what we have forgotten, what we do not want, or are not able to hear any more: to pray, to have a strong faith in God, to fast, to read the Gospel.” |