Question:

Is there any truth to the rumor that Nostradamus predicted an alien invasion in the summer of 1999?

Answer:

Much of the information about Nostradamus is anecdotal, but there are certain facts known to be true. Nostradamus was a French physician of Jewish descent who was born in Provence on December 14, 1503. Though born within the sphere of the Catholic Church, his grandfathers instructed him in classic languages, Hebrew, and astrology.

In 1522, he was sent to the University of Montpelier to begin his study of medicine. After spending 3 years at this institution, he graduated with a bachelor's degree. An outbreak of the Plague earned him a reputation as a "healer of the afflicted ones." His courage combined with his unorthodox and successful treatments led to his initial recognition. Using his own formulas, he was able to cure may patients regarded as incurable.

Later he obtained his doctoral degree. His first marriage ended in tragedy with the death of his young wife and children due to a return of the Plague. He remarried and lived until 1566.

In 1550, Nostradamus published his first almanac of predictions for the coming year. The predictions proved so popular that he began publishing them yearly. Then he decided to expand this endeavor to include predictions for the world. He spent two years writing what he called the Centuries, which were a complete set of prophecies from his time to the end of the world in the year 3797.

Nostradamus wrote in 4 line verses which were called quatrains. A century of quatrains contained 100 verses. He deliberately wrote in an obscure style so as not to be labeled a magician.

Quatrain 72 in Century X has received considerable publicity as a doomsday prediction for this coming July 1999. Much attention has been given to it.

Here is Century X, Quatrain 72 in the original French:

Here is Century X, Quatrain 72 translated to English according to author Henry C. Roberts:

According to Henry C. Roberts in his book The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, a tremendous revolution is predicted to occur in July of 1999. Nostradamus ominously refers to the text that in 1999 when "from the skies shall come an invasion. . . and Mars shall reign at will."

The author points out Nostradamus' mystic knowledge of the great secret of the book of Revelations by solving the identity of the "Beast of the Apocalypse" and the time of his arrival which John of Patmos (Rev. XIII:18) records, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666." By simple reversal of the numbers and turning 999 upside down we obtain 666.

Roy d'Angolmois is an anagram, according to the book, for Roi de Mongulois, king of the Mongolians. The threat of war, according to the author, will come from the east, such as Eastern Russia, Tibet, China or Mongolia.

While the author has interpreted this quatrain as an invasion from the East, readers will ask, what about the reference to the skies?

However, in conflict with the above, Roberts point out that Nostradamus dated all events from the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325. This is on page 342. If this is true, then computing any actual calendar year requires the reader to add 325 years to the date stated in the quatrain. In doing this with the above quatrain, we find that the year 1999 + 325 = 2324. Perhaps the correct year for this doomsday prediction is not this July 1999, but rather the year 2324!