THE THREE DAYS OF DARKNESS
What the ancient prophecies
really allow us to affirm
Table of contents
- Anna-Maria Taïgi : the most solid historical nucleus
- Very developed details were already circulating in 1870
- Francisco Palau : three days over the entire world from 1871
- Elisabeth Canori-Mora : darkness, demons and restoration of the Church
- Palma d’Oria : three days and demonic unleashing
- Berguille de Fontet : a precise attestation of 1873
- The religious of Blois : the terrible night and the blessed candle
- Marie-Julie Jahenny : the most developed practical corpus of the nineteenth century
- Marie Martel : three days and one hour
- Elena Aiello : the most systematic message
- Alois Irlmaier : a remarkable German parallel
- What the prophecies therefore say about the course of the three days
- What one would have to do
- What would happen during the darkness
- And afterwards
- The strongest concordances
- What Sacred Scripture really says
- The attributions that must at present be set aside from the conclusive dossier
- Catholic value of these revelations
- Conclusion
The prophecy of the “three days of darkness” is often presented in two equally unsatisfactory ways : either as a scenario perfectly established down to its least details, or as a recent pious legend born of modern compilations.
The historical inquiry leads to a much more precise conclusion.
It is certain that the tradition is ancient. It was already widely spread and printed in the nineteenth century. Anna-Maria Taïgi occupies a fundamental place in it ; from the 1870s one also finds the three days in Francisco Palau, Berguille de Fontet, Palma d’Oria and in the milieu of Marie-Julie Jahenny. Adrien Péladan was already able in 1881 to compare several of these traditions in Dernier mot des prophéties. The material existence of this work, published in 1881 and containing among other things Taïgi, Berguille and the darkness, is certain. (1)
But not all affirmations possess the same documentary value. One must therefore distinguish what is anciently attested, what is transmitted only secondarily and what remains unverified.
- Anna-Maria Taïgi : the most solid historical nucleus
The blessed Anna-Maria Taïgi, 1769-1837, is the most important witness of this tradition.
She did not herself leave a treatise systematically describing the three days. The transmission passes notably through Mgr Raffaele Natali, who had known her intimately.
Fr. Calixte de la Providence reports in the third edition, Paris, 1872, of his Vie de la vénérable Anna-Maria Taïgi that Mgr Natali, questioned by numerous persons, assured that the darkness would last three days. A reproduction of this edition situates this affirmation on p. 238 and the note concerning the conformity of the edition to the apostolic process on p. 239. This pagination is strongly attested, but it will still have to be collated on our own copy of the facsimile before being regarded here as definitively established. (2)
Edward Healy Thompson confirmed this tradition independently in The Life of the Venerable Anna Maria Taigi, the Roman Matron, London, Burns and Oates, 1873.
The historically very strongly attested nucleus is therefore :
three days of extraordinary darkness ;
blessed candles giving light ;
a great chastisement associated with this obscurity.
A much more developed version was already printed in 1872 by Victor de Stenay : pestilential darkness, mortality among the enemies of the Church, blessed candles, appearance of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and numerous conversions. This publication of 1872 is important because it demonstrates the antiquity of the developed version. It does not however demonstrate that each of these details is a word directly attested of Taïgi. (3)
This distinction must be maintained.
It is therefore imprudent to place automatically under the name of Taïgi the long modern prophecy comprising all the prescriptions known today.
- Very developed details were already circulating in 1870
A particularly important discovery of our inquiry is a Spanish Carmelite correspondence of 10 June 1870.
It transmits a prophecy attributed to a woman who died in Rome in the reputation of sanctity and who had announced Pius IX. The identification with Taïgi is probable, but the letter itself does not allow it to be established absolutely.
It already speaks of three days of darkness and associates with them :
a pestilential air ;
the danger of going out ;
the danger of putting one’s head out of the window ;
a candle blessed at Candlemas.
This is historically capital.
These details therefore cannot be rejected simply as inventions of the Internet or of the twentieth century. They were already circulating in religious milieux in 1870.
But the conclusion must remain exactly proportionate to the document : their existence in 1870 is established ; their direct provenance from Taïgi is not yet definitively so.
- Francisco Palau : three days over the entire world from 1871
Francisco Palau y Quer constitutes another extremely important documentary piece.
On 16 February 1871, his journal El Ermitaño, no. 119, published an article whose title is materially attested :
“Tres días de tinieblas sobre el orbe entero”.
Translation : “Three days of darkness over the entire world.” (4)
The historical interest is considerable : we are in 1871, well before the prophetic compilations of the twentieth century.
Palau situates the three days in a vast confrontation between the Church and the revolutionary powers. Other articles of the same period deal notably with the darkness, the Cross, the restoration and the triumph of the Church. (4)
But Palau must be read correctly : it is not demonstrated that he claims to have personally received a supernatural revelation independent of the three days. He knew earlier prophecies.
His value is therefore principally documentary : he proves that the tradition was already sufficiently constituted in 1871 to be the object of an article specifically devoted to the “three days of darkness over the entire world”.
- Elisabeth Canori-Mora : darkness, demons and restoration of the Church
Elisabeth Canori-Mora, 1774-1825, is extremely important, but for a different reason.
Her great vision of 29 June 1820 presents a remarkable succession :
crisis of the Church ;
protection of the little faithful flock ;
obscurity ;
upheavals and massacres ;
unleashing of the infernal powers ;
divine intervention ;
return of the light ;
defeat of the demons ;
gathering of the faithful ;
new Pontiff ;
restoration of the Church.
She therefore particularly illuminates what would follow the chastisement.
On the other hand, in the controlled vision, Canori-Mora does not explicitly fix the duration of the obscurity at three days.
She must therefore not be artificially transformed into an independent witness of this duration.
- Palma d’Oria : three days and demonic unleashing
Palma-Maria Matarelli, called Palma d’Oria, was still living when Péladan wrote in 1881 :
“There will be […] three days of darkness ; not a single demon will remain in hell…”
Péladan explains that these demons will come out to excite the persecutors or discourage the just. He also associates Palma with the blessed candles. (5)
Her transmitted testimony therefore comprises :
three days ;
darkness ;
demonic unleashing ;
blessed candles ;
then, in the tradition attributed to her, appearance of a great Cross and triumph of the Church.
The antiquity of the attribution is certain.
But this does not mean that the supernatural origin of Palma’s phenomena is certain : her case aroused grave ecclesiastical reservations.
One must distinguish the historical authenticity of an attribution and the supernatural authenticity of the revelation.
- Berguille de Fontet : a precise attestation of 1873
Péladan gives an extremely precise piece of information :
“On 23 August 1873, Berguille, the Seer of Fontet, spoke, in ecstasy, of the three days of darkness”.
He adds that “terrible events” will follow them. (5)
We therefore know with strong certainty what this source affirms :
date : 23 August 1873 ;
duration : three days ;
sequel : terrible events.
On the other hand, it does not say here that Berguille would have prescribed candles, forbidden the opening of windows or spoken of pestilential air.
Nothing must be added to her.
- The religious of Blois : the terrible night and the blessed candle
Another ancient tradition concerns a religious of Blois.
Péladan reproduces in 1881 a letter given as addressed on 22 October 1870 to Carmelites of Brittany.
It announces a terrible night during which no one in France would sleep. The precise cause of this terror is not determined : rain, wind or thunder are envisaged.
But one prescription is explicit :
to provide oneself with a blessed candle and light it.
The next morning would come “the good news”. (5)
This prophecy does not however say, in the controlled passage, that the night will last three days.
It therefore constitutes an ancient witness of the motif “darkness or terrible night + blessed candle + deliverance”, and not an autonomous proof of the three days.
- Marie-Julie Jahenny : the most developed practical corpus of the nineteenth century
Marie-Julie Jahenny, of La Fraudais, occupies a considerable place in the tradition.
A document transmitted as a letter of Abbé Barillé to Abbé Coquet, dated 23 May 1876, attributes to her profound darkness lasting :
“three days and two nights”.
The same transmission prescribes candles of “true wax” and associates the phenomenon with the unleashing of the demons.
This date of 1876 is important : the tradition is contemporary with Marie-Julie, and not a recent invention.
However, the autograph manuscript of this letter has not yet been materially controlled in our inquiry.
One must therefore distinguish :
antiquity of the tradition : very strongly established ;
exact verbatim of the original manuscript : still to be controlled.
The transmitted corpus of Marie-Julie adds :
physical darkness ;
demons ;
storms ;
lightning ;
tremblings ;
great mortality ;
blessed candles ;
prayer ;
Crucifix ;
blessed image of the Blessed Virgin ;
necessity of remaining sheltered in certain ecstasies.
An important particularity must be preserved : “three days and two nights” does not necessarily mean exactly 72 hours.
- Marie Martel : three days and one hour
The tradition of Tilly attributes to Marie Martel another duration :
“three days and one hour”.
It associates with this period :
blessed candles or candles ;
remaining at home ;
not going out ;
praying.
This variant is historically precious.
It must above all not be corrected into “three days” simply in order to obtain a perfect concordance.
The reference commonly given is J.-F. Villepelée, Marie Martel, vol. II, p. 121. This reference must still be materially verified on the original edition before being declared certain.
- Elena Aiello : the most systematic message
The case of Elena Aiello is particularly important.
Our inquiry has made it possible to correct an error of dating often repeated : the great detailed message concerning the three days is transmitted as dating from Good Friday 1959, not from 4 April 1958.
The documentary chain identified passes through Mgr Francesco Spadafora, who had known Elena for many years, then through a 42-page typescript of the revelations, communicated in 1977 to Roberto de Mattei, who published extracts of it in 1978.
The Italian text says :
“Tutto questo durerà tre giorni e tre notti”.
Translation :
“All this will last three days and three nights.”
The message describes :
darkness covering the whole earth ;
practically null visibility ;
tremblings and thunder ;
demonic phenomena ;
immense mortality ;
blessed wax candles ;
the necessity of remaining in the houses ;
the danger of opening the window out of curiosity ;
the recitation of the Rosary ;
prayer for the conversion of sinners.
The message also specifies that it would not be the Last Judgment, but a “little judgment”.
It is therefore at present one of the most complete descriptions that we possess.
Another attribution speaks of 70 hours. It is much less well documented.
Not verified ; I cannot confirm it with certainty.
One must therefore at present privilege the text of three days and three nights in the Spadafora-de Mattei chain.
- Alois Irlmaier : a remarkable German parallel
Alois Irlmaier belongs to a different category : he is neither a saint nor a mystic benefiting from an ecclesiastical recognition comparable to the preceding ones.
But his tradition merits examination because it presents astonishing concordances.
There are attributed to him :
a great war ;
72 hours of obscurity ;
danger in the exterior air ;
necessity of remaining at home ;
doors and windows closed ;
prayer ;
and, in certain transmissions, light of a candle.
The difficulty is documentary : certain statements were published by Conrad Adlmaier, while others come from later recollections of persons affirming that they heard Irlmaier.
One must therefore distinguish the different strata.
The concordance with the Catholic tradition of the nineteenth century is real in the transmitted texts ; its historical independence is not yet demonstrated.
- What the prophecies therefore say about the course of the three days
When we compare only the traditions sufficiently ancient or documented, a general picture appears.
Before the darkness
Several traditions place them in a period of :
crisis of the Church ;
revolution ;
war ;
persecution ;
social disorder ;
apparent powerlessness of human solutions.
No certain future date is established.
The beginning
Certain traditions describe it as sudden.
Others give no precise information.
The geographical extent
Palau speaks explicitly of the “entire world”. (4)
Elena Aiello also speaks of the whole earth.
Other testimonies do not allow one to determine whether the phenomenon would be worldwide or regional.
The duration
The sources are not perfectly uniform :
Taïgi according to Natali : three days ;
Palau : three days ;
Berguille : three days ;
Palma : three days ;
Marie-Julie : three days and two nights in an ancient transmission ;
Marie Martel : three days and one hour ;
Elena Aiello : three days and three nights ;
Irlmaier : 72 hours in the transmitted tradition.
There is therefore a remarkable convergence around three days, but no perfect mathematical uniformity.
- What one would have to do
One must distinguish here certain Catholic doctrine and recommendations of private revelations.
The certain doctrine remains : to live in the state of grace, to pray, to do penance, to receive the sacraments worthily when they are accessible, to use piously the sacramentals of the Church and to confide oneself to Providence.
The private revelations add several convergent recommendations.
The blessed candles
This is probably the most anciently and widely attested material prescription.
They appear notably in the Taïgi tradition, in the religious of Blois, Palma, Marie-Julie, Elena Aiello and in the Carmelite correspondence of 1870.
The exact nature of the candle varies however :
blessed candle ;
candle of true wax ;
blessed wax candle ;
candle blessed at Candlemas.
It would therefore be premature to affirm that a single material specification would be universally prescribed by all the prophecies.
Remaining at home
This prescription appears in several developed traditions.
Closing doors and windows
It is attested very early in the tradition circulating in 1870 and reappears subsequently.
Not looking outside
This recommendation is particularly strong in Elena Aiello and Irlmaier and appears already under an analogous form in the Carmelite transmission of 1870.
Praying
This is obviously the most constant behaviour.
Marie Martel : pray.
Marie-Julie : prayer before the Crucifix and the Blessed Virgin.
Elena Aiello : Rosary and prayer for conversion.
Palau : prayer and penance in the family.
It would however be incorrect to affirm that all the sources prescribe exactly the same prayers.
- What would happen during the darkness
The traditions do not all give the same phenomena.
One meets :
extremely profound obscurity ;
impossibility of seeing ;
storms ;
thunder ;
earthquakes ;
dangerous or pestilential air ;
demonic unleashing ;
frightening apparitions ;
great mortality.
The demons appear particularly in Canori-Mora, Palma, Marie-Julie and Elena Aiello.
But it would be incorrect to attribute each of these phenomena to each prophet.
- And afterwards
This is one of the most interesting aspects of the prophetic ensemble.
Several witnesses by no means present the three days as the end of the world.
Canori-Mora sees after the chastisement :
defeat of the infernal powers ;
return of the light ;
gathering of the faithful ;
new Pontiff ;
restoration of the Church.
Palma announces in the transmitted tradition a great Cross and the triumph of the Church.
Marie-Julie places the darkness in an ensemble of chastisements leading finally to a religious restoration.
Palau treats at the same period of the “triumph of the Church” and of the “restoration” in El Ermitaño. (4)
Thus, an important part of this prophetic tradition describes not the final destruction of the world, but a great historical purification preceding a Christian renewal.
- The strongest concordances
After having eliminated the insufficiently documented attributions, six motifs stand out particularly :
- An extraordinary obscurity of about three days.
- A great chastisement associated with a religious or social crisis.
- The blessed candles as light or protection in several ancient traditions.
- The necessity of remaining sheltered in the most developed traditions.
- Prayer and penance.
- In several witnesses, a religious restoration after the chastisement.
These concordances are historically real.
But their interpretation requires an essential reservation : several traditions may have known one another mutually.
Two identical prophecies therefore do not necessarily constitute two independent supernatural testimonies.
- What Sacred Scripture really says
Scripture contains a particularly remarkable precedent.
Exodus 10,21-23 describes the darkness of Egypt.
They last exactly three days.
The Egyptians cannot see one another nor move about, while the children of Israel have light in their dwellings.
Wisdom 17 develops the terror of these darknesses.
The Gospels also report three hours of darkness during the Passion : Matthew 27,45 ; Mark 15,33 ; Luke 23,44.
Isaiah 13, Amos 8, Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Apocalypse 16 likewise associate darkness or the darkening of the stars with the divine judgment.
But one must be exact :
Sacred Scripture does not explicitly prophesy a future worldwide chastisement of three days preceding the restoration of the Church.
It furnishes precedents and analogies, not the demonstration of this private revelation.
- The attributions that must at present be set aside from the conclusive dossier
Several names are frequently added to modern lists without sufficient documentation.
Padre Pio : the pretended letters of 1950 concerning the three days are not at present authenticated by a sufficiently established primary source.
Sister Lucy of Fatima : no controlled primary source of Fatima allows this prophecy to be attributed to her.
Saint Gaspare del Bufalo : very widespread attribution, but first source not found.
Saint Hildegard : no controlled passage of her works gives hitherto the precise prophecy of the three days.
Holzhauser : same problem.
Curé of Ars : a nineteenth-century publication ranks him among the witnesses, but the corresponding authentic word has not yet been found.
Fr. Nectou and Fr. Lamy : prophecies of crises or of restoration, but three days not established by a controlled primary source.
For each of these cases :
Not verified ; I cannot confirm it with certainty.
- Catholic value of these revelations
Even when a private revelation is recognised as worthy of credence, it does not belong to the deposit of public Revelation confided to the Church.
The three days of darkness are therefore not an article of faith.
A Catholic is not for all that authorised to despise without examination the private revelations seriously attested. He must apply a prudence proportionate to their authority, to their documentation and to the judgment of the Church.
In our dossier, one must still distinguish three things :
the historical antiquity of the tradition ;
the authenticity of the attribution to a determined seer ;
the supernatural origin of this revelation.
The first may be certain while the third is not.
- Conclusion
We can at present hold as historically certain that the tradition of the three days of darkness is not a recent invention.
It is already largely constituted in the nineteenth century. Taïgi constitutes its most important nucleus ; Palau publishes explicitly in 1871 “Three days of darkness over the entire world” ; Berguille speaks of it in 1873 according to Péladan ; Palma is publicly associated with it during her lifetime ; Marie-Julie possesses a detailed tradition from the 1870s. (4)
It is likewise certain that certain details today regarded as late were already circulating very anciently : blessed candles, exterior danger, windows and pestilential air appear in the transmissions of the nineteenth century.
It is strongly attested that several traditions converge around an obscurity of about three days, around blessed candles, around prayer and, in the developed versions, around the necessity of remaining indoors.
It is likewise remarkable that several prophecies place after this purification not the end of the world, but a restoration of the Church.
On the other hand, it is not demonstrated that all the seers received these pieces of information independently of one another ; it is not demonstrated that each detail of the modern compilations comes from Taïgi ; and it is not demonstrated that the future event, if it is realised, must correspond exactly to a synthesis constructed by reuniting all the revelations.
The most solid position is therefore this one :
The prophecy of the three days of darkness constitutes an ancient and historically serious Catholic prophetic tradition. Its nucleus is much better documented than is sometimes believed. The convergences concerning about three days of darkness, the blessed candles, prayer, domestic protection and a purification preceding a religious renewal merit a prudent attention. But historical criticism obliges one to distinguish each source, to conserve the divergences and never to transform a private revelation into a certainty of faith.
List of sources
- Adrien Péladan, Dernier mot des prophéties ou l’avenir prochain dévoilé par plusieurs prophéties, 1881. Accessible via Google Books : https://books.google.com/books/about/Dernier_mot_des_proph%C3%A9ties_ou_l_avenir.html?id=bKU3B5Tj310C
- Reproduction of the third edition (Paris, 1872) of the Vie de la vénérable Anna-Maria Taïgi by Fr. Calixte de la Providence, pages 238-239. Accessible via : https://profezie3m.altervista.org/ptm_profx_taigi.htm
- Publication of 1872 by Victor de Stenay. Mentioned in : https://www.elizabeth-voyance.com/blog/sorties/dossier-complet-3-jours-de-tenebres-et-canalisation.html
- Francisco Palau y Quer, El Ermitaño, no. 119, 16 February 1871, article “Tres días de tinieblas sobre el orbe entero”. Accessible via : https://diario7-archivos.blogspot.com/2025/06/francisco-palau-5.html
- Adrien Péladan, Dernier mot des prophéties, 1881. Accessible via Scribd : https://fr.scribd.com/document/810232661/ProphetiesT3