The Disappearance of Churches
Yeux closes, ouverts d'antique fantaisie,
L'habit des seuls seront mis à néant:
Le grand Monarque chatiera leur frénésie,
Ravir des temples le trésor par devant.
Eyes closed, opened to ancient whims
The clothes of the celibates will disappear
The great monarch will chastise their frenzy,
To take away the treasure of the temple publicly.
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yeux clos ouverts d'antique fantaisie l'habit des seuls mis à néant le Grand Monarque chatiera leur frénésie ravir des temples le trésor par devant |
eyes closed. This means, eyes closed to true spirituality. but opened to antique whims that is, old (or pagan) rites. the clothes of the single men. Here, it represents the priests of the catholic church who must be celibate to become a priest and the clothes are the cassocks they wore up to a few decades ago. destroyed. These clothes, as well as what they represent, will disappear, the Great Monarch. It is the first time I find that expression in the quatrains related to that personage.There is a slight possibility that Nostradamus used it to make a parallel with Jesus the king who threw the merchants out of the temple, as the present personage who will also chastise the priesthood. chastise their frenzy. As Jesus did long ago, the Great Monarch will condemn the excesses and the magnificence of the church. take away openly the riches of these temples.. He will call for a liquidation of the riches of the Church in order to distribute them to the poor. |
Interpretation
As I repeated many times, most of the quatrains make no sense in their actual order. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to extrapolate from the lines as they appear and try to get the essence of what they want to convey. Therefore, the idea, or the event, is there but not necessarily in its proper order.
He will do away with ceremonial dresses and the cassocks of priests
Who have closed their eyes to the spiritual and followed pagan rites.
This great monarch will criticise the magnificence of churches
And call for a liquidation of their riches and their distribution to the poor.