Wigglesworth and Du Plessis

This is a follow up to my earlier blog on 'Catholic Charismatics'.

Smith Wigglesworth 1859-1947

In 1936 Smith Wigglesworth, an English Pentecostal leader, visited South Africa as a guest of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Johannesburg. David Du Plessis was its general secretary at the time. Later he explained how one morning, Wigglesworth walked, unannounced, into his office. He pushed him against the wall and declared: "You have been in Jerusalem long enough....I will send you to the uttermost parts of the earth....You will bring the message of Pentecost to all churches.....You will travel more than most evangelists do.... God is going to revive the churches in the last days and through them turn the world upside down....even the Pentecostal movement will become a mere joke compared with the revival which God will bring through the churches." After a pause Wigglesworth continued, "Then the Lord said to me that I am warning you that he is going to use you in this movement....All he requires of you is that you be humble and faithful. You will live to see this word fulfilled." Then he concluded by saying that this prophecy would not be fulfilled until after his death. In the event Wigglesworth died in 1947.

David Du Plessis 1905-1987

Du Plessis became increasingly influential in the Pentecostal churches and attended international meetings on their behalf. At one such gathering in St Andrews, Scotland, in 1951 Du Plessis met Professor Bernard Leeming, a Jesuit priest from Oxford, who asked for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. This marked the start of Du Plessis's ministry to Roman Catholics. Fr Leeming knew Pope John xxiii and arranged for Du Plessis to visit Rome. There he was introduced to Dr Thomas Strandsky, the Secretary for the Congregation for the Promotion of Christian Unity. His boss was Cardinal Bea. He asked Du Plessis, "What do the Pentecostalists want to say to Rome?" Du Plessis replied: "Make the Bible available to every Catholic in the world in his own language. The Holy Spirit will make that book come alive and that will change lives and renew the Church." Bea was duly impressed and said "That is what the Holy Father wants to know." The Second Vatican Council started soon afterwards and Du Plessis was in attendance when the 'Constitution On Divine Revelation' urged Catholics to engage in regular Scripture reading. The advent of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church, a few years after the conclusion of the Council, saw the Holy Spirit and His charisms poured out on Catholics in abundance, firstly in the U.S.A. and later around the world.