Imagining the End: Visions of

Collectanea in

sacram Apocalypsin

, it enjoyed subsequent printings in 



, 



 and as late

as 



. Like Joachim (though with a slightly different breakdown of  chapters

and verses), Coelius divides the Apocalypse into seven recapitulative visions

corresponding to the seven ages of  the Church.

66

 Like Serafino, the Hungarian

cleric is a firm believer in a coming earthly millennial period after Antichrist’s

defeat falling into two stages – the first announced in Apocalypse 



: 



–



,

and the second after the defeat of  Gog and Magog.

67

 Concerning ‘that golden

and lovely age’ (

aureum illud et amabile saeculum

, f. 



v) he says in his

Preface:

The seventh time is that of  the Sabbath, that is, of  quiet and general peace, in

which the church will be reborn as if  rising from the dead after the destruction

of  the Great Antichrist, when all Israel will be saved. And even if  it will be

disturbed through Gog and Magog, still that disturbance will be brief, when

the former Golden Age returns. After that time will be no more.

68

The details of  Coelius’s rich exegesis, one of  the most relentlessly recapitu-

lative of  all Apocalypse readings, cannot delay us here. His approach is Joachite

in its willingness to use the images of  the Apocalypse to locate precise moments

in the history of  the Church, including the disastrous defeat of  the Hungarian

forces by the Turks in 



, which he sees predicted as part of  the Seven-

Headed Dragon’s war against the ‘woman’s seed’ (Apocalypse 



: 



).

69

 It is

his hopes for the millennium that are our primary concern. They are among

the most detailed of  the Catholic sixteenth century, comprising many of  the

themes from Joachite millennialism, such as coming orders of  

viri spirituales

and a 

pastor angelicus

,

70

 with the distinctive early modern accents of  world-

wide preaching of  Christianity in the light of  the new geographical discoveries

(see ff. 



v–



v and 



v–



r). Like Annius and Serafino, Coelius looks

forward to the conversion of  the Jews in the new age (see ff. 



v, 



v, 



r).

Although he is cautious about specifying the length of  the coming era of  total

felicity, the Hungarian’s millennial era is not the brief  

refrigerium sanctorum

of  some early medieval hopes.

71

 In one place at least, like Serafino, he held

that Christ’s coming (or more specifically, his baptism) took place four mil-

lennia after the creation of  the world, signifying that there are a good 



---

161

Wrestling with the Millennium

years of  felicity left before the end (f. 



r). Even more than Annius and other

Renaissance commentators, Coelius heralds the dawning millennium in the

language of  the classical 

aetas aurea

. In commenting on Apocalypse 



, he

puts it as follows:

In this matter we hold only this for certain, that the future kingdom of  the

church will be a totally happy one. The briefest time of  it will be counted for

the longest merit when the devout will exult and rejoice with incredible joy

both over Antichrist’s destruction and their own peace, and especially Christ’s

glory … What will then take place will silence all things in beautiful tranquillity.

The days will then be more fortunate in their course; the sun will shine more

pleasantly with its playful rays; heaven will not roar with thunder, nor will the

lightning bolts of  an angry God be launched. In those days dew and rain will

fecundate the earth with more abundant downpour; the stars will smile as they

rise … What more? Then, the Golden Age returns.

72

Virgil meets the Apocalypse through the mediation of  Joachim.

How did later Catholic exegetes regard the millenarianism of  Annius,

Serafino and Coelius? Without trying to survey all the Catholic commentators

on the Apocalypse, a brief  examination of  some of  the most popular com-

mentaries in the period up to 

c.

 



 will help us to respond to this question.

The survey shows that moderate millennialism remained an option up to about



, but that any form of  earthly hope of  a better age before the end of  time

rapidly became unpopular among Catholic exegetes in the seventeenth century.

Gaspar Melo was a Spanish Augustinian who published a massive, 



,



-

page