Other editions of book The Miracles of Antichrist

It was at the time when Augustus was emperor in Rome and Herod was king in Jerusalem. It happened once upon a time that a very great and holy night sank down over the earth. It was the darkest night ever seen by man; it seemed as if the whole earth had passed under a vault. It was impossible to distinguish water from land, or to find the way on the most familiar paths. And it could not be otherwise, for not a ray of light came from the sky. All the stars stayed in their houses, and the fair moon kept her face turned away. And just as intense as the darkness was the silence and the calm. The rivers stood still in their course; the wind did not stir, and even the leaves of the aspen ceased to tremble. Any one walking by the sea would have found that the waves no longer broke on the shore, and the sand of the desert did not crunch under the wanderer's foot. Everything was as if turned to stone and without motion, in order not to disturb the holy night. The grass did not dare to grow, the dew could not fall, and the flowers feared to exhale their perfume. During that night the beasts of prey did not hunt, the serpents did not sting, the dogs did not bay. And what was even more wonderful, none of the inanimate things would have disturbed the holiness of the night by lending themselves to an evil deed. No false key could open a lock, and no knife could shed blood. In Rome, on that very night, a little group of people came down from the emperor's palace on the Palatine and made their way over the Forum to the Capitol. During the day just completed his councillors had asked the emperor if they might not raise a temple to him on Rome's holy mountain. But Augustus had not immediately given his consent. He did not know if it would be pleasing to the gods for him to possess a temple next to theirs, and he had answered that he wished first to discover by a nocturnal sacrifice to his genius what their wishes were. Followed by a few faithful retainers, he was now on his way to perform that sacrifice. Augustus was carried in his litter, for he was old, and the long stairs to the Capitol fatigued him. He held the cage of doves which was his offering. Neither priests, nor soldiers, nor councillors accompanied him; only his nearest friends. Torch-bearers walked in front of him, as if to force a way through the darkness of the night, and behind him followed slaves, carrying the tripod, the charcoal, the knives, the holy fire, and everything needed for the sacrifice. On the way the emperor chatted gayly with his retainers, and none of them noticed the infinite silence and calm of the night. It was only on reaching the open place on the top of the Capitol, which had been thought of for the new temple, that it was revealed to them that something unusual was occurring. It could not be a night like any other, for on the edge of the cliff they saw the strangest being. They thought at first that it was an old twisted olive trunk; then they thought that an ancient statue from the temple of Jupiter had wandered out on the cliff. At last they saw that it could only be the old sibyl. They had never seen anything so old, so weather-beaten, and so gigantic. If the emperor had not been there, they would have all fled home to their beds. "It is she," they whispered to each other, "who counts as many years as there are grains of sand on her native shores. Why has she come out of her cave to-night? What does she foretell to the emperor and to the country, she who writes her prophecies on the leaves of trees, and knows that the wind carries the words of the oracle to him who needs them?" They were so terrified that all would have fallen on their knees with their foreheads to the ground had the sibyl made the slightest movement. But she sat as still as if she had been without life. Crouched on the very edge of the cliff, and shading her eyes with her hand, she stared out into the night.

Lagerlof was the first woman and the first Swedish author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1909. She was considered one of Sweden's most beloved authors; the Swedish Academy declared that their recognition of her was "for reason of the noble idealism, the wealth of imagination, the soulful quality of style, which characterize her works."

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Selma Lagerlof was the first woman and the first Swedish author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909. She was considered one of Sweden's most beloved authors; the Swedish Academy declared that their recognition of her was "for reason of the noble idealism, the wealth of imagination, the soulful quality of style, which characterize her works."

The Miracles of Antichrist relies heavily on the legends and folk tales of Sicily. The descriptions, rich in the warm colors of the South, convey Lagerlöf's understanding of the hot blooded Sicilians with the same insight and sympathy which she evokes while describing the introspective Swedes. Lagerlöf borrows from an ancient Sicilian legend which says, "When Antichrist comes he shall seem as Christ. There shall be great want, and Antichrist shall go from land to land and give bread to the poor. And he shall find many followers." Masterfully, she intertwines a tale of modern Sicily in an era when revolutionary socialism is sweeping the island and making heavy inroads upon the influence of the church. Selma Ottiliana Lovisa Lagerlööf (1858-1940) was born in Sweden. She had been writing poetry ever since she was a child, but she did not publish anything until 1890, when a Swedish newspaper gave her the first prize in a literary competition and published excerpts from her first novel, Gösta Berlings Saga (published in 1891 and very successful). During her travels to Italy she wrote The Miracles of Antichrist in 1897. After several minor works she published Jerusalem (translated in English as The Holy City) but it was with The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, a book for children, that she became recognized worldwide. In 1909.she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was so popular that her books were translated into 34 languages.

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Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was a Swedish author and the first woman writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Known internationally for her children's story The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906-07) she was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings. " She began her first novel, The Story of Gosta Berling (1891) while working as a teacher in Landskrona. Her first break as a writer came when she submitted the first chapters to a literary contest, and won a publishing contract for the whole book. Lagerlöf's other important works include Jerusalem (1901-1902), The Emperor of Portugalia (1914), The Ring of the Löwenskölds (1925), The Treasure, and Invisible Links.

Year after year the Franciscans defended the Capitol by penitences, and works of charity, and the promulgation of God's word. They protected it century after century, but as time went on, men became more and more feeble and lacking in force. The monks said among themselves: "Soon the kingdoms of the earth can stand no longer. A redeemer of the world is needed as in the time of Augustus." They tore their hair and scourged themselves, for they knew that he who was to be born again must be the Antichrist, and that it would be a regeneration of force and violence. As a sick man is tormented by his pain, so were they hunted by the thought of Antichrist. And they saw him before them. He was as rich as Christ had been poor, as wicked as Christ had been good, as honored as Christ had been humiliated. He bore powerful weapons and marched at the head of bloody evil-doers. He overturned the churches, murdered the priests, and armed people for strife, so that brother fought against brother, and each feared his neighbor, and there was no peace. And for every person of power and might who made his way over the sea of time, they cried out from the watchtower on the Capitol: "Antichrist, Antichrist!"