Episode 529: City of God - The Fear and Love of God

Mystical City of God is a book written in the 17th century by the Franciscan nun Venerable Mary of Jesus of Ágreda.

According to María de Ágreda, the book was to a considerable extent dictated to her by the Blessed Virgin Mary and regarded the life of the Virgin Mary and the divine plan for creation and the salvation of souls. The work alternates between descriptions of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary's life, and the spiritual guidance she provides to the author, by whom her words were reproduced for the spiritual benefit and growth of the reader. The book describes at length the various virtues, and how the reader should live in order to see them reflected in their own life, with the Virgin Mary as their model for sanctity. The work has the Imprimatur of several Popes and Bishops and appeals primarily to those who believe in private revelation and the sanctity of Mary. Non-Catholics generally do not accept the teaching of the Catholic Church and are consequently skeptical of works of this nature.

Various misinterpretations of her writings led to the extent that Mystical City of God was temporarily placed on the Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum in August 1681. By the order of Blessed Innocent XI, however, the decree of condemnation was removed three months later, after it was shown that a faulty French translation was at the basis for the censure. The book was subsequently criticized by Jansenists and Gallicans in the 18th century, while the Church continued to defend its orthodoxy.

In 1673, María de Ágreda was declared venerable soon after her death, but the process of her beatification has yet to be completed. Beatification and canonization do not authenticate revelations, however.