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And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
-Matthew 27:50-53
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This passage is only touched on by a few people in the Church, Msgr. Charles Pope being one of the most recent. This event is also mentioned by St. Thomas Aquinas, Hilary of Poitier, John Chrysostom, Remigius, and Origen, However, the most detailed recounting of this chilling moment can be seen in the visions of Catherine Anne Emmerich, which we shall now examine.
When Christ was approaching His death, at the sixth hour, a darkness covered the world, and the very stars were visible. And then, at the ninth hour, the moment our Lord died, it became apparent that the moon had eclipsed and turned to blood. The darkness of these hours had almost paralyzed the city of Jerusalem. And from here, we can relate to the visions of Catherine Anne Emmerich for what transpired next.
In her account (read it HERE), the sunlight returned, and the people were a little reassured that things were going back to normal. But then, earthquakes rattled the entire metropolis. Walls and houses were falling apart. And then, it happened:
[P]anic was still farther increased by the sudden appearance of dead persons, confronting the trembling miscreants who were flying to hide themselves, and addressing them in the most severe and reproachful language.
The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Catherine Anne Emmerich, CHAPTER XLVI
Emmerich heard the recently-deceased voice of Jesus, and He ordered several of the souls in Limbo to return to the bodies in which they once dwelt to testify about what just happened. Jerusalem was very scared because all of the light had gone. It was intended that the sight of the walking dead would fill the people with “a salutary terror” that would lead to their repentance for what they had just done.
Dead persons were walking about, and many walls and buildings had been shaken by the earthquake, and parts of them fallen down. The superstition of Pilate rendered him even more accessible to fear; he was perfectly paralyzed and speechless with terror; his palace was shaken to the very foundation, and the earth quaked beneath his feet. He ran wildly from room to room, and the dead constantly stood before him, reproaching him with the unjust sentence he had passed upon Jesus. He thought that they were the gods of the Galilean, and took refuge in an inner room, where he offered incense, and made vows to his idols to invoke their assistance in his distress. Herod was equally alarmed; but he shut himself up in his palace, out of the sight of every one.
This was a scene of absolute commotion and hysteria. A deep chasm had opened up at Calvary. Buildings around the Temple had collapsed. The two columns which were placed at the entrance of their Holy of Holies had fallen down, one to the north, and the other to the south, and this is what had rent the veil, exposing the Holy of Holies to public view. The ground was heaved up. Columns were thrown down. A large stone had fallen off the wall near the sanctuary entrance. Walls were caved in. The Temple resembled a disturbed ant hill. To think that so much had been reduced to rubble and ruin, only to then have the dead—both physical “zombies” as well as specters—walking around solemnly and berating the people for condemning the Messiah. The “excess of terror” was so much, that the people of Jerusalem could not even bring themselves to talk, as they were speechless from fright.
More than a hundred persons who had died at different epochs re-entered the bodies they had occupied when on earth, made their appearance in different parts of Jerusalem, and filled the inhabitants with inexpressible consternation. Those souls which had been released by Jesus from Limbo uncovered their faces and wandered to and fro in the streets, and although their bodies were the same as those which they had animated when on earth, yet these bodies did not appear to touch the ground as they walked. They entered the houses of their descendants, proclaimed the innocence of Jesus, and reproved those who had taken part in his death most severely. I saw them passing through the principal streets; they were generally in couples, and appeared to me to glide through the air without moving their feet. The countenances of some were pale; others of a yellow tint; their beards were long, and their voices sounded strange and sepulchral. Their grave-clothes were such as it was customary in use at the period of their decease. When they reached the place where sentence of death was proclaimed on Jesus before the procession started for Calvary, they paused for a moment, and exclaimed in a loud voice: ‘Glory be to Jesus for ever and ever, and destruction to his enemies!’
Few people that day ate the Paschal lamb after everything they had seen. Yet, for all the chaos, the conduct of the men at the Temple was incredibly self-controlled, given the circumstances. Once the darkness had abated, the priests had resumed their sacrifice of the Paschal lamb. These priests had great discipline, and the strictest order and decorum were always enforced in that building. The regulations were followed very closely by all who entered to make their sacrifices—even in that dread hour. The crowd there was very large, and the ceremonies were so solemn, that the assistants were completely engrossed in the ritual.
But then, the sacrifices ceased. It was an unprecedented moment. There was complete silence. A look of terror had covered everyone’s face. A great confusion was stirred up in the Temple, and everyone had rushed to the gates:
[E]very one endeavored to fly as quickly as possible. And well might they fly, well might they fear and tremble; for in the midst of the multitude there suddenly appeared persons who had been dead and buried for many years! These persons looked at them sternly, and reproved them most severely for the crime they had committed that day, in bringing about the death of ‘the just man,’ and calling down his blood upon their heads.
And yet, even during all of that, the priests did their best to preserve order. Those in the inner part of the Temple were prevented from rushing out, and some even continued the Paschal lamb sacrifices in some parts. A lot of effort was made to try to calm everyone down. But on the whole, it was a scene of complete panic.
The High Priest Caiphas, meanwhile, was absolutely filled with a diabolic spirit. His heart hardened, he managed to appear completely calm. His retinue, also, looked perfectly tranquil. They did their best to convince the people that none of these events on this day was any kind of testimony that vindicated Jesus. And with the help of the Roman garrison from the fortress of Antonia, the people at the festival did not kickstart any kind of an insurrection.
And yet, the events at the Temple were nevertheless the most noteworthy—this in spite of Caiphas’ attempts to gloss over and ignore the truth of the moment:
An apparition of the High Priest Zacharias, who was slain between the porch and the altar, was seen in the sanctuary. He uttered fearful menaces, spoke of the death of the second Zacharias,* and of that of St. John Baptist, as also of the violent deaths of the other prophets. The two sons of the High Priest Simon, surnamed the Just (ancestors of the aged Simeon who prophesied when Jesus was presented in the Temple), made their appearance in the part usually occupied by the doctors of the law; they also spoke in terrific terms of the deaths of the prophets, of the sacrifice of the old law which was now about to cease, and they exhorted all present to be converted, and to embrace the doctrines which had been preached by Him whom they had crucified. The prophet Jeremiah likewise appeared; he stood near the altar, and proclaimed, in a menacing tone, that the ancient sacrifice was at an end, and that a new one had commenced. As these apparitions took place in parts where none but priests were allowed to enter, Caiphas and a few others were alone cognizant of them, and they endeavored, as far as possible, either to deny their reality, or to conceal them.
*the father of John the Baptist who was tortured and afterwards put to death by Herod, because he would not betray John into the hands of the tyrant. He was buried by his friends within the precincts of the Temple.
These prodigies were followed by others still more extraordinary. The doors of the sanctuary flew open of themselves, and a voice was heard to utter these words: ‘Let us leave this place;’ and I saw all the angels of the Lord instantly leave the Temple. The thirty-two Pharisees who went to Calvary a short time before our Lord expired were almost all converted at the foot of the Cross. They returned to the Temple in the midst of the confusion, and were perfectly thunderstruck at all which had taken place there. They spoke most sternly, both to Annas and to Caiphas, and left the Temple. Annas had always been the most bitter of the enemies of Jesus, and had headed every proceeding against Him; but the supernatural events which had taken place had so completely unnerved him that he knew not where to hide himself. Caiphas was, in reality, excessively alarmed, and filled with anxiety, but his pride was so great that he concealed his feelings as far as possible, and endeavored to reassure Annas. He succeeded for a time; but the sudden appearance of a person who had been dead many years marred the effect of his words, and Annas became again a prey to the most fearful terror and remorse.
God wanted even these wretched, mistaken people who killed His own Son to have a chance at conversion. The Almighty wanted to give these bitter Jews—who voted for Jesus’ execution in a democratic process—yet another chance to turn their lives around and save their souls. It was only that morning that they had called for His blood upon their heads. It was literally only hours previously that they voted to kill the Messiah. The Savior of the human race. Yet, Heaven decided to act while the iron was still hot, and their souls still malleable. And so, the dead rose from the grave, floated through the air, and gave one final testimony with their resurrected lips.
