Little Question Six of Question One
Whether the prophecies of holy women should be received as true and preached
It is asked whether the prophecies and revelations of women who prophesy and are sometimes rapt, women truly devoted to Christ—such as Bridget, Catherine of Siena, and others like them—ought to be held as indubitably true and preached as things issued by the Holy Spirit.
To this it is answered simply that they ought neither to be held as indubitably true nor to be accepted or preached as things issued by the Holy Spirit.
One reason is that these and similar things can occur from human industry when it has been aroused and strengthened by the light of faith.
Another is that nothing prevents those women from sometimes having been deluded, because perhaps without fault they presumed to do those things which did not pertain to them. For according to the Apostle, women are not permitted to teach or preach.
Another is that an excessively fatigued phantasy can sometimes deceive them.
Another is that, if their books are carefully considered, there occur in their statements and modes of speaking some things less savory, less reasonable, or discordant with truth.
Another is that their prophecies and teachings seem superfluous, since whatever concerning such matters is necessary for salvation is possessed authentically from the Sacred Scriptures and the holy doctors.
Another is that it is certain that someone may be very holy and yet all his teaching may be from the human spirit.
Another is that it is not certain that those women were sent by God to teach or preach. For if God had wished to make use of their office in teaching and prophesying, he certainly would have made use of holier women in this work, such as Saint Elizabeth and others like her. It is certain that these women attempted nothing of this kind, but applied themselves solely to the perfection of the virtues, involving themselves in nothing irrelevant to their states.
It could nevertheless be that, in order to supply for the negligence of those ordained and to their greater confusion, God sometimes stirred up, and continues to stir up, certain little women as teachers and prophets, as is also apparent among seers of both sexes in the Hebrew people. Thus, on account of the novelty and rarity, the teachings of women may be read by those who have neglected to read the divine books and the divine Scriptures, and who desire to have their ears tickled by novelties of teachings and to turn toward the fables of poets.
Likewise, because of the negligence of the judges of Israel, God stirred up the spirit of the younger boy Daniel, lest the innocent blood of Susanna be shed, Daniel 12.
These things are from Henry of Hesse, On Genesis.