January 20, 2013. 4:00 p.m. Paris time. Agen, France.
Morse unrolled the first of the scrolls on the organist’s bench. The scroll contained handwriting in black India ink.
La Première Confession de Michel de Nostradamus:
L’Abandon
Moi, Michel de Nostradame, avoue solennellement avoir abandonné ma femme Henriette et mes deux petits enfants et avoir causé leur mort. Malgré le fait que le seul talent de ma vie a été la guérison fortuite de la maladie du charbon par mes propres remèdes à base de plantes, j’ai négligé ma femme et mes enfants, choisissant au contraire de parcourir la campagne de la France, allant de maison en maison en demandant s’il y avait des habitants qui avaient besoin d’être guéris. Pendant ce temps, ma femme, qui était plus belle que les déesses d’Olympe, avec mes deux enfants, innocents et sans défense, ont contracté la maladie du charbon en mon absence. Chaque jour ils ont prié les saints que je revienne pour les guérir, et chaque jour leurs prières.étaient inexaucées. Dans l’intervalle, je voyageais cavalièrement comme un gitan, en cherchant la gloire et la fortune et l’assouvissement de mon amour-propre. Et ce grand péché de l’Abandon, je l’avoue.
Veuillez agréer l’expression de mes salutations distinguées,
Michel de Nostradame
Morse made a translation on his notepad:
The First Confession of Michel de Nostradame: Abandonment
I, Michel de Nostradame, do solemnly confess that I abandoned my wife Henriette and my two small children, causing their deaths. Despite the fact that my only documented skill in life has been the fortuitous curing of le charbon with my home-made herbal remedies, I neglected my wife and children, deciding instead to tromp all over the French countryside, going from house to house, inquiring as to whether any of the inhabitants needed curing. In the meantime, my wife, who was more beautiful than the goddesses of Olympus, along with my two helpless innocent children, contracted le charbon in my absence. Each day, they prayed to the saints that I would come home and cure them, and each day, their prayers were unanswered. Meanwhile, I cavalierly traveled about like a gypsy, seeking fame and fortune and a gratification of my own ego. And for this great sin of Abandonment, I confess.
Sincerely,
Michel de Nostradame
Morse took out the first letter written by Nostradamus that they had found in the vault. The handwriting did not match.
“Well, we know one thing for certain,” said Morse. “Whoever wrote the first letter we found in the vault did not write this letter. I wonder what is going on here. This letter from the organ seems very sarcastic and angry. From what I know of Nostradamus from books, he was a very proud man, very convinced of his own abilities, and very blind to his own short-comings. I frankly cannot see him writing anything like this. On the other hand, he must have known about this letter, because his letter from the vault pointed us here. It is puzzling.”
Morse unrolled the second scroll on the piano bench. Glued with wax into the middle of the scroll were twelve smaller pieces of parchment, which appeared to have been ripped from a book. Closer inspection revealed that the pages were ripped from a King James Bible. Across the twelve pages of Corinthians were twelve handwritten quatrains, one per page, scrawled in India ink. Morse wrote the French words down in his notebook, along with his English translations:
1.
Suprême au pape lui-même, c’est le huitième,
Ceux qui protestent sont traités comme traîtres et assassiné.
Bouffi d’orgueil, il s’est marié avec la crème,
Des belles femmes: une morte, une survécu, deux divorcées, deux capitées
Supreme to the pope himself, he is the eighth,
Those who protest are murdered and treated as traitors.
Fat with pride, he married the cream of the crop,
Beautiful women: one died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded
2.
Le Monstre de Valachie est le diable.
Il empale ses victimes avec un bâton trenchant.
Sa cruauté et son caractère impitoyables sont abominables.
Il écorche tout vif des hommes implorants.
The Monster of Wallachia is the devil.
He impales his victims with a sharp stick.
His cruelty and ruthlessness are abominable.
He skins alive pleading men.
3.
Un loup déguisé en prêtre, il achètera la papauté.
Son avidité est insatiable, rien ne lui suffit.
Il engendra six enfants illégitimes avec ses prostiuées.
Même le meurtre de ses propres enfants ne satisfait pas son appétit.
A wolf in priest’s clothing, he shall buy the papacy.
His greed is insatiable, nothing is enough for him.
He will father six illegitimate children with his whores.
Even the murder of his own children does not satisfy his appetite.
4.
Après Pius, le prochain pape connaît la guerre, pas la paix.
Il est méchant et boit sans cesse.
Il attrapera la maladie de ses prostituées.
Et il vendra des billets au salut après la messe.
After Pius, the next pope knows war, not peace.
He is wicked and drinks all the time.
He will get disease from his whores
Then he will sell tickets to salvation after mass.
5.
Le prochain pape est aussi perdu.
L’argent destiné aux pauvres va aux corridas et aux banquets.
Il coupe les mains et les pieds aux intrus.
Leurs enfants sont esclaves, leurs maisons brûlées.
The next pope is also lost.
Money for the poor goes to bull-fights and banquets.
He cuts off the hands and feet of trespassers.
Their children are slaves, their houses are burned.
6.
Sur la porte il clouera sa protestation,
Quatre-vingt- quinze plaintes contre le château.
Ils exigeront son excommunication.
Il refuse de désavouer ses mots.
On the door he will nail his protest,
95 complaints on the castle.
They will demand his excommunication.
He will refuse to recant his words.
7.
Après encore un, le prochain pape ordonne que 8.000 soient tués.
Il croit aussi que la papauté est à vendre.
Refusant de croire en Dieu Lui-même, il est athée.
L’argent de l’Eglise, il se gêne pas de le prendre.
After another one, the next pope orders 8,000 killed
He also believes the papacy is for sale
Disbelieving in God Himself, he is an atheist
The money of the Church he feels free to take.
8.
Le prochain pape garde 45.000 prostituées.
Il est coupable de l’inceste avec sa fille et ses soeurs.
Son gendre est empoisonné.
Le meurtre et le mal noircissent son coeur.
The next pope keeps 45,000 prostitutes.
He has incest with his daughter and his sisters.
His son-in-law is poisoned.
Murder and evil blacken his heart.
9.
Pendant un temps d’obscurité, une lumière.
Le savant de Cracovie cherche les cieux.
Sa théorie est tout à fait contraire,
Le soleil, pas la terre, est au milieu.
In an age of darkness, a light.
The scientist from Krakow searches the heavens.
His theory is quite contrary,
The sun, not the earth, is in the middle.
10.
Le prochain pape n’est pas beaucoup meilleur.
Il va adopter un innocent, et après lui fera subir la sodomie.
Comme une maladie répugnante sur une belle fleur,
Son désir dégoûtant est une anomalie.
The next Pope is no better.
He will adopt an innocent, and then subject him to sodomy.
Like filthy disease on a beautiful flower,
His disgusting lust is abnormal.
11.
Après encore un, le prochain pape s’amuse à torturer.
Il aime la vierge de fer et le chevalet.
La douleur incroyable que ses victimes doivent endurer.
Leurs cris de douleur vous font trembler.
After another one, the next pope takes joy in torturing.
He loves the iron-maiden and the rack.
Incredible pain his victims must endure.
Their cries of anguish make you tremble.
12.
A Novgorod 50.000 seront tués.
Il battra sa belle-fille enceinte, en causant une fausse couche.
Puis, en colère, son fils sera empalé.
Après le viol, il prend du poison par la bouche.
In Novgorod, 50,000 will be slain.
He will beat his pregnant daughter-in-law, causing her miscarriage.
Then, in anger, his son will be impaled.
After rape, he takes poison in his mouth.
“Dad, I think this is from that Bible Nostradamus was talking about,” said Zach.
His father agreed. “These appear to be twelve of the missing 58 quatrains! These quatrains are specific, and appear to relate to real people and real events in history. Take this first one:
1.
Supreme to the pope himself, he is the eighth,
Those who protest are murdered and treated as traitors.
Fat with pride, he married the cream of the crop,
Beautiful women: one died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded
That obviously is a reference to Henry VIII, who declared himself to be supreme to the Pope. Anyone who protested, for example Sir Thomas More, was murdered and treated as a traitor. And he most certainly had six wives—one who died, one who survived, two who were divorced, and two who were beheaded.”
Morse scanned the next quatrain. “The ‘Monster of Wallachia’ who impales people is obviously Vlad the Impaler, the ruler of what is now modern-day Romania, whose cruel punishments are legendary. In fact, his name Vlad Dracul, is where we get the character Dracula.”
The next seven quatrains appeared to have something to do with popes. Morse typed in “lives of early popes” into a search engine in his computer and came up with several hits. “The next quatrain talks about a man who bribed his way into the papacy and was the father of illegitimate children. I cannot speak to the reliability of this website, but it says here that Pope Alexander VI, also called the ‘anti-pope,’ held the papacy from 1492 to 1503. It was well known, according to this website, that he bribed his way into the papacy. It also says that he was quite a fornicator and fathered six illegitimate children. It also says Pope Leo X later referred to him as a ‘the most savage wolf the world has ever seen.’ So that certainly fits the wolf reference. I am not sure about murdering his own children, but the rest fits.” Morse wrote “Henry VIII” next to the number “1,” “Vlad the Impaler” next to the number “2,” and “Pope Alexander VI” next to the number “3” on his notepad.
Zach shook his head in disgust. “Man, that pope’s worse than that Zeus dude.”
“Eww,” said Zoey. “Dad, this is gross. You guys are so disgusting. When are you going to stop talking about you-know-what? Can I go over there and play music on that other big pipe organ?”
“Sure,” said Morse. “If it is OK with Father Gerard, here.”
“Of course it is,” says Father Gerard. “Here, I will teach you how to play some songs. I don’t think I can stand listening to libelous statements about the behavior of popes.” The priest walked across the cathedral to the larger organ on the opposite wall. Within a few minutes, Catholic hymns resounded from the large organ pipes.
“Hey, Dad, look at how the prophecies all rhyme in French. This Nostradamus dude was like a French rapper.”
“In a way, I guess that’s true.”
“Is this right what it says here about all these popes? I never knew any popes were bad.”
“I am not certain. I had heard before that some of the medieval popes were not upstanding citizens, but I confess I had not read any of this before.” said Morse. “Look at the next one here:
After Pius, the next pope knows war, not peace.
He is wicked and drinks all the time.
He will get disease from his whores
Then he will sell tickets to salvation after mass.
The next pope after Alexander VI and after Pope Pius was Pope Julius II. According to this website, the pope donned full armor and rode off to battle with the papal army. In fact, Julius liked soldiers so much that he hired the Swiss troops which still guard the Vatican today. It is believed that Julius II contracted syphilis from one of his many lovers, so the reference to disease matches. And it was Julius II who first came up with the idea of papal indulgences, which can certainly be described as ‘tickets to salvation after mass.’ So Quatrain No. 4 must mean Julius II.” Morse wrote “Julius II” after No. 4 in his notebook.
“What’s this thing about cutting off peoples’ hands and feet?” asked Zach. Morse looked at the website about the lives of the popes. “It says here that the next pope was Leo X, who indeed indulged in papal extravagance, attending banquets and carnivals and bull-fights. He created a private game reserve where he went hunting with his cardinals. And if anyone dared to trespass on the reserve, he had their hands and feet cut off, sold their children into slavery and burnt their houses to the ground. I don’t know if that’s true, but it is a perfect fit.”
“Man, that is whack! How did those dudes get to be pope? Once the guy started cutting people’s hands and feet off, why didn’t they just fire him?” asked Zach.
“I don’t know. Things were obviously very different back then.” Morse continued to work through the quatrains. Quatrain 6 obviously referred to Martin Luther. Quatrain 7 referred to Clement VII, the Atheist Pope. Quatrain 8 referred to Paul III, the Incestuous Pope who poisoned his son-in-law, mother and niece to obtain the family fortune, and then had incest with his sisters and daughter. Quatrain 9 referred to Copernicus, the man who first theorized that the Earth moved around the Sun. Quatrain 10 referred to Julius III, the Pedophile Pope, who adopted a young orphan named Innocenzo, made him a cardinal, and then sodomized him, in addition to several other young boys. Quatrain 11 referred to Paul IV, the Torturer Pope, a former Grand Inquisitor who paid for new torture machines out of his own pocket.
“Finally,” said Morse, “That brings us to Quatrain 12, which is a clear reference to Ivan the Terrible, who massacred 50,000 in Novgorod, Russia, beat his own daughter for wearing flashy clothing, causing her miscarriage, and then, in a rage, impaled his own son. He is also said to have raped a woman named Irina Godounov, which angered his brother Boris Godounov, who probably poisoned him to death.”
Morse studied the list with his son. “It appears to be some kind of cataloguing of evil men throughout the century, although Copernicus and Luther would probably not be categorized as evil. The first eleven I do not find particularly incredible, because all of the events listed occurred prior to Nostradamus’ death. So the first eleven we cannot even credibly call prophecies. But the twelfth quatrain, which refers to Ivan the Terrible, is different. The Massacre of Novgorod occurred in 1570, four years after Nostradamus died. The beating of the daughter occurred in 1581. And Ivan was not killed until 1584, long after Nostradamus died. And this business about poisoning was not really known until the 1960s, when Ivan’s body was removed from his tomb by archaeologists, who found high levels of mercury in his remains, and speculated that he was poisoned. I see no way Nostradamus could have known all of that. So maybe we have a true prophet here after all. Of course, these quatrains on the Bible pages do not appear to be written in Nostradamus’ handwriting. Judging by the curvature of the writing, I would almost hazard a guess that they were written by a woman. We will not really know for sure until we date the documents and have the handwriting and ink analyzed by experts.”
Morse unrolled the third scroll.