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Article: End-times visions.(fear of apocalypse in year 1000)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- August 16, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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During the final fretful moments of the year 999, according to one ancient chronicle, a throng of worshipers huddled in the flickering candlelight of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, weeping and trembling as they awaited the turn of the millennium. Many were certain it would unleash the holy terror of Christ's Second Coming and the end of the world. So convinced were some Christians that the apocalypse was upon them that they gave away all their possessions and fled to the magnificent Vatican sanctuary clothed in sackcloth and ashes. As Pope Sylvester II calmly intoned the familiar Latin phrases of the midnight mass on that dreaded millennium eve, fearful believers prostrated ...