The Poem of the Man God, Maria Valtorta

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Hi Padraig,

Could you please share more details about your vision or mystical experience?

And did you meet/see St. Joseph and Our Lady at the same time or on different occasions?

Thanks!

 

The book has a curiously child like simple feed. It is enjoyable and prayerful to read. It reminds me of the time at the start of the spiritual life when things were kind of fizzing over. A kind of ferment of inner excitement. A spiritual ferment. Take off. A kind of honeymoon.

Then later on things tend to bed in. The hum drum of the daily. The lights go out and we can be plunged in darkness.

This does not mean that we love less, on the contrary we love more just that the fireworks have maybe gone out. Visions and such like are fine but I think they are kind of the cake. The actual bread is the hum drum everyday. I enjoy reading about these visions though.

 

I was in Clonard Monastery after Mass. To the right of the altar is a large shrine to St Joseph with a beautiful large stature of the saint life sized. During the mass I had noticed light below and surrounding the statue which seemed to joyfully ascend. I took it that this was souls in purgatory being released due to the intercession of the saint. Out of curiousity after mass I stood in front of the statue it appeared to come alive.

 

If anybody wants to download all of Maria Valtorta's books in a single compilation: Poem of the Man God (all volumes), her biography, all notebooks (1943–1950), and Book of Azariah, here's the link:

https://archive.org/details/the-poem-notebooks-azariah-all-2023

You can download the format you prefer (pdf, etc.). This is a large file!

 

I am currently working through the podcasts on each chapter of Poem of Man God by Zacchie Sea.
She is in South Korea. She dramatises each chapter, different voices for different characters. She is extraordinary. I'm at chapter 65 and loving it. It certainly a 100 percent more correct than The Chosen.
I had reservations about it because of things I had heard and read but now I'm loving it so far

 

I have the whole set I am willing to part with if someone is interested. In am in Indiana.

 

I’d be interested.

 

I was at an excellent conference today on Maria Valtorta run by Robert Nugent at Knock Shrine. It was mainly based on the scientific evidence of her writings. For example, she named the stars and planets and their positions when Jesus was crucified. Now, many years later and with the help of NASA and other agencies, scientists have determined that the constellation was exactly as she had said. There have been numerous investigations into the scientific side of her work and nothing she said has been found to be wrong. It was a really informative day.

 

https://aleteia.org/2025/03/06/holy-see-maria-valtortas-works-literary-not-supernatural/

 

I had hoped to attend but I just got back from Medjugorje on Thursday and had my grandson's First Communion on Friday so I was too exhausted. It sounds like it was very interesting.

 

You are one busy Grandma! But Geralyn and I are in similar shoes concerning family: always in touch with children and... the first week in June we'll be down in Texas visiting our son, Christopher, and his wonderful wife, Michelle. She'll appreciate Ger's motherly help for the week as Michelle is expecting their 5th in October.

 

I started reading Volume 2 recently (we don't have vol 1 for some reason) and I'm enjoying it very much. I don't take it as scripture, more like an aid to meditation and a supplement to scripture in that lots of details are filled in around the familiar scripture passages. It's very interesting and, as Padraig said, it can help to stir up the embers of faith when things are beginning to feel a bit stale.

 

Well, if it's not supernatural, how can you trust the meditations?

 

One of the Italian priest speakers explained that while the Vatican studied and investigated her writings they never investigated the scientific side of them. The scientists so far have been unable to prove her wrong in anything scientific she said. For example, the planet alignment in my first post #28. A book to explain the science was also on sale " The Life of Jesus in History."

 

As for the scientific part of her writings maybe its correct, who knows. As for the supernatural origin of her writings the Church has determined they are not of supernatural origin.

 

Agreed that the scientific part of mystical revelations do need to be taken into consideration, GREATLY. At Medjugorje, the seers submitted to numerous scientific studies which helps determine their credibility. However, mystical revelation also needs to be theologically sound and in accord with the Church's teaching. Exegetical errors where found in her writings. So, the scientific part can hold grounds only if there are no errors on the part of the Church's teachings and beliefs. However, errors where found in those.

 

Could you give an example of any of the errors Marc? I used to read her writings over 30 years ago but stopped when I heard she was not church approved. I ended up at the conference this weekend unexpectedly and was very surprised and impressed by the new scientific revelations on her.

 

Without doing further thorough investigating on all the errors the Church found, here are a few things.. According to the her writings they are allegedly inspired by the Holy Spirit. (Divinely inspired)
"Canon of Scripture: The DDF clarified that the Church relies solely on the canonical Gospels and does not accept apocryphal or similar texts (like Valtorta's) as having normative, divinely inspired status."
The exegetical errors I believe are those on how Jesus presents himself in her writings and the Blessed Virgin Mary how she presents herself.

 

Years ago, I remember seeing someone reading Marias Valtorta's book in an adoration chapel. I noticed how the title gives primary importance to "Man" instead of "God" in chronological order of the title of her book. Even though Jesus is 100 percent God and 100 percent man the Word of God was first God in all eternity and became man in created time. Thats the chronological order. The title has the chronological order backwards. Moreover, Jesus told St. Faustina, "In my essence, I am God." His Divinity perpetuates his humanity. Thats the order chronologically.

 

Google synopsis...

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) upheld the Vatican’s condemnation of Maria Valtorta’s The Poem of the Man-God. While the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was abolished in 1966, Ratzinger reiterated that the Index retained its moral force, meaning the faithful were still advised to avoid the text.
The history of the work, the Vatican's official stance, and the Cardinal's involvement include the following:

• The Author and The Book: The Poem of the Man-God is a multi-volume, 4,000-page work written by Italian mystic Maria Valtorta. She claimed the detailed, narrative visions of Christ's life were divinely dictated to her by Jesus.
• The 1959 Condemnation: In December 1959, the Holy Office (under Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani) placed the volumes on the Index of Forbidden Books. Pope John XXIII signed the decree, and the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano ran a front-page article characterizing the work as a "badly fictionalized life of Jesus".
• Ratzinger's Letters (1985 & 1993): As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger addressed the circulation of Valtorta's books. In letters to bishops (such as the 1985 letter to Cardinal Giuseppe Siri), he reaffirmed the Vatican's position. He clarified that the visions and dictations in the books should not be viewed as supernatural revelations, but rather as the personal literary inventions of the author.
• Current Status: The Catholic Church continues to categorize the work as private, human literature rather than supernatural revelation. Officials maintain that the text contains historical and exegetical errors and advise Catholics to focus on the canonical, divinely inspired Gospels.