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WHO ARE THE HOLY SOULS?
The Holy Souls in Purgatory (also called the Faithful Departed or poor Souls) are members of the Church who await the purification of their souls before joining the saints in heaven for all eternity. Specifically, they are called the Church Suffering (the saints in heaven are the Church Triumphant, and the saints on earth are the Church Militant ).
What Do Catholics Really Believe About Purgatory?
The doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church teaches that there is Purgatory and that there are Souls of the faithful departed suffering there for the expiation of their forgiven sins which have not been atoned for.
However, it is incomprehensible how some Catholics, even those who are otherwise devout, shamefully neglect the Souls in Purgatory. Certain it is that their ideas on the subject are very hazy.
Days and weeks and months pass without their having Mass said for the Holy Souls! Seldom too, do they hear hear Mass for them, seldom do they pray for them.
What is the cause of this awful callousness? Ignorance, gross and inexplicable ignorance.
Purgatory is probably one of the most misunderstood Catholic doctrines today, and many do not believe that it really exists. In this article I'm briefly going to cover what purgatory is, the biblical foundation for purgatory, and the history of the teaching on purgatory in the Catholic Church.
WHAT IS PURGATORY?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), purgatory is a “final purification” (CCC 1031) which is afforded to “all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” so that they might “achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (CCC 1030).
This is why the souls in purgatory are called "Holy Souls" . . . they have died in God's grace and they will attain heaven and the beatific vision of God after their purification is complete.
"THEY ARE CONFIRMED IN GRACE"
Essentially this means that purgatory is a sort of temporary purifying punishment which is typically thought of as a cleansing fire (see 1 Cor. 3:15). This begs the question, is purgatory a sort of physical, fiery place full of souls? Not necessarily. I would think of purgatory as more of a state of being. A state of being post mortal death but before the final judgment of Christ at the Second Coming.
WHAT DOES THE CHURCH TEACH ABOUT PURGATORY?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the Church formulated her doctrine of faith on purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent” (CCC 1031). If you know your Church history, then you know that those councils weren’t until the 15th and 16th centuries. So what was believed and taught before those councils?
Early Church Fathers, including St. Augustine, Origen, and St. Clement were all advocates of prayer for the dead and a purging away of sin post death. There was also a practice in the early Church of praying for the dead during liturgical worship and during the Eucharistic prayer. So, praying for the souls of the departed was a part of the faith and belief of the Church from the beginning.
Over the years, these ideas were unpacked and more clearly defined by St. Thomas Aquinas, who expounded on purgatory in greater depth thereby guiding the Church into infallible magisterial doctrine on purgatory.
WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF PURGATORY?
Many who wish to find mention of purgatory in the Bible point to the previously referenced 1 Cor. 3:15 and 2 Macc. 12:45. 2 Maccabees is an early reference to praying for the dead, and 1 Cor. is the foundational verse advocating a cleansing fire that occurs after death.
1 Cor. 3:15: "If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire."
2 Macc. 12:45: "But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin."
MTTW 5 1:8 " Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God".
Side Note: Rev. 21:27 argues that nothing unclean will enter the presence of God; and many, if not most, of Christians die in an unclean state of varying degrees.
WHY IS PURGATORY NECESSARY?
Many Christians die with attachments to sin that must be gotten rid of before they can be united with God in a perfect union of love through all eternity. Purgatory is removing this attachment to sin so that people can love God alone, and of course this can be painful. Just as in your mortal life giving up things to which we have unhealthy attachments causes pain, so too will purgatory cause pain. But it is a purification for our good, not a torment for our punishment.
Therefore, a temporary period of purging is necessary in order to enjoy the presence and beauty of God that we were made for, whether we willingly undertake that purging while here on earth, through docility to the daily crosses given to us by God, or whether after death in purgatory.
WHAT DO THE HOLY SOULS SUFFER FOR?
The existence of Purgatory is so certain that no Catholic has ever entertained a doubt of it. It was taught from the earliest days of the Church and was accepted with undoubting faith wherever the Gospel was preached. The doctrine is revealed in Holy Scripture, and has been handed down by Tradition, taught by the infallible Church and believed by the millions of faithful for all times.
Only those souls that are completely free of sin can enter heaven. It stands to reason, then, that the soul with unforgiven sins or the souls of those who have not yet atoned for their sins during their lifetime, yet tried to live as God would have us live, cannot enter Heaven and do not deserve Hell.
Purgatory, then, is a place of temporal punishment for those who die in God's grace, but are not entirely free from venial sins or have not entirely paid the satisfaction due to their sins. The existence of purgatory is universally taught by all the Fathers of Church. The words of Our Lord , "Thou shalt not come out from it until thou hast paid the last penny" are very clear (Matt. 5 :25) Later, when speaking of the sins againt the Holy Spirit, Jesus says such a sin "will not be forgiven either in this world or in the next," implying that there are some sins that cannot be atoned for in this world (Matt. 12:32).
Saint Paul shows his belief in purgatory when, in his second letter to Timothy he prays for the deceased Onesiphorus. "May the Lord grant him to mercy on that day. (2 Tim. 1 :18). Even in the Old Testament there was a belief in the existance of purgatory, for there we find Judas Machabeus sending 12,000 drachmas to Jerusalem to have sacrifiices offered for the sins of the dead. That chapter ends with the advice: "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (2 Mach. 12 :46).
In purgatory, souls suffer for a while in satisfaction for their sins before they can enter heaven. The principal suffering of these souls consists in the pain of experiencing, on the one hand, an intense longing for God and, on the other, a realisation that they are hindered from possessing Him by reason of their past sins. Unlike the souls in hell, they are certain of one day seeing God. They can be helped, moreover, by the prayers of the faithful on earth, and especially by the offering of Mass.
In the "Decree on Purgatory," we read, "The Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit and in accordance with Sacred Scripture and the ancient Tradition of the Fathers, has taught in the holy Councils and most recently in this ecumenical Council that there is a purgatory, and that the souls detained there are helped by the acts of intercession ... of the faithful and especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar" (Council of Trent,1563).
Padre Pio had a very special relationship with the Holy Souls..indeed such was the relationship that they were his frequent visitors..and led him to say: "I see so many souls from Purgatory that they don't frighten me any more. More souls of the dead than the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers."
When Padre Pio was asked how long a particular soul would stay in Purgatory he replied "At least one hundred years. We must pray for the Souls in Purgatory. It is unbelievable, what they can do for our spiritual good, out of gratitude they have towards those on earth who remember to pray for them."
St Margaret Mary of Alacquo had visits with these Holy Souls.
She asked them, questions as to what they suffer in Purgatory
"... Holy Souls in Purgatory, is there anything you regret when you think of your life on earth?"
I deeply regret wasted time. I did not consider it so precious, so fleeting, so irretrievable. For this reason my life was worth only half of what it might have been.
Previous time !..... Today l know how to appreciate you. You were purchased with the blood of Christ; you were given me for the sole purpose of loving God, sanctifying myself and edifying my neighbor. But alas! I have abused you by committing sin; l have craved vanity, pleasures and trifles; I have been dreaming dreams which now cause me bitter reproaches and remorse. Precious time....Wasted time....How heavily you weigh upon me now! How it grieves me to have lost you through my own fault!
Irretrievable time! On Earth I relied n my last years to do penance; but the thread of my life was served at a moment when I expected it least!
O precious time! You were given me to acquire treasures and graces without number, but now you are lost for me forever.
Fleeting time....Time which passes so quickly on earth, but which drags so slowly in this prison of fire, in this place of excruciating torments! Formerly, years seemed like days to me, my whole life vanished like a dream.
Hours now seem like years, days like centuries, l must now suffer, weep and wait until the last minute of wasted time is redeemed.
Oh how long shall my exile last!
You, who still live on earth, do not waste the gift of time which has cost Jesus such a high price and for which you too will have to suffer in purgatory if you imitate our carelessness.
You, who are privileged to live during a time which is preeminently devoted to the sacred Heart, during these last centuries when He has revealed to the world His love in its fullness;
Intercede for us that we may obtain the merits of at least one of these days, in which His grace is so freely and abundantly offered you.
Pray for us all.
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen🙏🏼
St Margaret Mary of Alacquo ask:
Holy Souls is there anything you regret when you think of your life on earth?
I deeply regret my extravagance in the use of earthly possessions. My fortune, my health, my talent, my position in the world, the influence I had, my relatives, my servants, in a word everything could have been of Spiritual benefit to me if only I had used it for the greater honour of the divine Heart.
If only l had known how to use it for the greater honour of the divine Heart. How many graces could l have drawn upon myself! This l neglected to do, and at the hour of my death, all my possessions have come to naught.
Oh, were l but rich today in these my former possessions! Would that I could use these to hasten, even for one moment, the hour of my deliverance; to increase, even by one degree, the glory which God has in store for me; to awaken, if only in one soul now living in the world, the devotion to the divine Heart of Jesus.
My friends, whose fortunes are still at your disposal, use them for the support of your neighbor by generously giving alms to the poor. Use them for the greater honour of God as pious offerings designated for the propagation of the devotion to His Sacred Heart throughout the world.
*Pray for us always*
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen🙏🏼
I deeply regret my neglect of so many splendid graces! They have been offered to me in such abundance... Some of them I refused, others I have accepted with coldness; unfortunately, I have misused most of them. I have preferred earthly possessions to the eternal. How I have deceived myself.
I deeply regret the evil which I have done. In the world, evil seemed so easy, so pleasant. In the midst of pleasures I silenced the voice of conscience. Today, my faults weigh me down, their bitterness torments me, their memory persecutes and tortures me. Mortal sins forgiven but not atoned for, venial sins, small imperfections. Too late to detest you in Purgatory. Just punishment must now take its cause.
I deeply regret the scandal which I have given! If only I would have prevented, in the hour of health, the disastrous consequence of the scandal which I was the cause. If only I could detain from this place of darkness the many souls that followed my bad example and listened to my pernicious teachings! But no! Through my fault the evil goes on and perhaps will spread over a period of years and centuries. And now I have to give account of all the sins for which I am to blame.
I deeply regret my neglect of mortification. How easy they would have been on earth, but how difficult they are now in Purgatory. Here the smallest suffering is more poignant than the most cruel torment on earth. In the world, it meant only patience and resignation in the hardships and adversities of my life; it meant only giving from my surplus to the poor and devoting myself to works of atonement, it meant only gaining indulgences and performing works of piety. Nothing could have been easier and my Purgatory would have been shortened considerably.
I deeply regret the little amount of charity I have shown towards the Poor Souls during my life on earth. I could have been of such great service to them, since a Catholic can bring so much light and peace to these Poor suffering prisoners. I could have helped them by my prayers, mortifications, alms good works, holy communions and Holy Masses either by having them said for the Poor Souls or by attending them.
The Holy Souls in Purgatory also suffer the Seven Capital Sins which are not atoned for:
Pride,
Covetousness
Lust
Anger
Gluttony
Envy
Sloth
They are called capital sins because they lead to other avenues through which other sins are committed.
THE LENGTH OF THEIR SUFFERING
↪ The length of time souls are detained in Purgatory depends on:
📨 The number of their faults;
📨 On the malice and deliberation with which these have been committed;
📨 On the penance done, or not done, the satisfaction made, or not made for sins during life;
📨 Much, too, depend on the suffrages offered for them after death by friends and relatives still alive.
What can be safely said is that the time souls spend in Purgatory, as a rule, is very much longer than people commonly imagine.
WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
To learn more about purgatory, check out our purgatory books.
One of our most popular books about purgatory is Hungry Souls - Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory. This book recounts real stories of real encounters with souls suffering in purgatory as well as images taken from the Vatican's "Museum of Purgatory" which is a museum of authentic and verified relics of encounters with the Holy Souls.
Purgatory Explained by the lives and legends of the Saints by Fr F. X. Schouppe. S.J
Read me or rue it. By Fr Paul O Sullivan O. P
WAYS TO RELIEF AND RELEASE THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.
The devotion to the memory of the dead is one of the most beautiful expressions of the Catholic spirit."
—Pope St. John XXIII
The Catholic Church dedicates the entire month of November to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. During this entire month we pray for the souls of the faithful departed, especially those whom we have known and loved. November 2nd is All Souls Day, also known as the Day of the Dead.
It is our Christian duty to pray for them and the greatest prayer to be offered for them is the Holy Mass. Plenary indulgence for the remission of all punishment due to sin is obtained by our prayers for the Holy Souls from 1 to 8 of November.
Visit a cemetery or pray mentally for the dead.
On All Souls day visit a church or chapel with devotion and there recite the our father and the creed.
For partial indulgence, recite lauds or vespers (ie official morning and evening prayers of the church) or invoke devoutly:
"Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
There will be 3 Masses in all the Catholic church all over the world. It is allowed for anyone to attend and receive Holy Communion at these masses.
The souls in purgatory died in the mercy of God, this is why they are called holy; however, because they still had attachment to sin at the time of their death, they must undergo a spiritual purification of their souls before they are able to fully love God with their whole heart, mind, and soul for all eternity.
The holy souls are "saved souls"—they will enjoy the reward of heaven.
Those in purgatory cannot pray for themselves, this is why they are also called "poor" souls. They can no longer merit anything for themselves (their opportunity for increasing in merit was during their earthly lives) and they must rely entirely on others to pray and make sacrifices on their behalf. As they are nevertheless part of the Communion of Saints, they depend upon us to help ease their suffering and quickly advance them through their purification so that they can join the saints in heaven.
Prayers for the faithful departed pleases God, who makes use of our prayers to help purify these souls that He loves. It is an act of charity that we can give for those we have known and loved, for our ancestors who gave us life, for those who were our benefactors, for those whose memory is lost, and for those who have no one else to pray for them.
Here are some ideas for praying for these suffering (and often neglected) souls, especially during the month of November dedicated to their memory:
WAYS TO RELEASE OR RELIEF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
THE HOLY MASS
The practice of offering the holy Mass for the repose of the soul of the deceased originates in the early church. The catechism teaches, “From the beginning the church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God” (CCC No. 1032).
God Himself has placed in our hands the keys of Purgatory so that we may help to alleviate their pains and hasten their arrival in Paradise, where they will love and praise God for all eternity. What a consoling thought it is that we are able to help, even after their death, those whom we have loved in this life, thus proving our sincere love and gratitude to them. There are many ways in which we can assist them.
Praying for the repose of the souls of the deceased is rooted in the Old Testament. Judas Maccabees offered prayers and sacrifices for the Jewish soldiers who had died wearing pagan amulets, which were forbidden by the Torah. II Maccabees reads, “Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out” (12:43). Continuing, “(Judas Maccabees) took up a collection among all his soldiers, … which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus, he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from sin” (12:46).
By piously hearing Holy Mass you afford the Souls in Purgatory the greatest possible relief.
Through Holy Mass you are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which would otherwise have befallen you. You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass.
Saint Gertrude the Great once reported that for each and every Mass that we hear with devotion during our lives, Christ sends a saint to comfort us in death. I was deeply moved the first time I read this.
When the Eucharist is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels who adore the divine victim immolated on the altar. ~ St. John Chrysostom
The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass. ~ St. Augustine
If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy. ~ Saint Jean Vianney
The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas
Once, St. Teresa was overwhelmed with God’s Goodness and asked Our Lord “How can I thank you?” Our Lord replied, “ATTEND ONE MASS.”
“My Son so loves those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that, if it were necessary He would die for them as many times as they’ve heard Masses.” Our Lady to Blessed Alan.
When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary – a joy, a fragrance, a well-being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt. ~ Saint Jean Vianney
There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us. ~ Saint Jean Vianney
When we have been to Holy Communion, the balm of love envelops the soul as the flower envelops the bee. ~ Saint Jean Vianney
It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass. ~ St. Pio of Pietrelcina
That last quote from Saint Pio is profound. The entire cosmos is sustained by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass…
With such great graces associated with hearing Holy Mass (even if we do not have perfect devotion in our hearts every time) in the words of St. Leonard, "Holy Mass is the golden key of paradise; and while the eternal Father gives us this key, which of all His other benefits can he refuse?" Mass is a gateway of God's grace, let's not forget that and go as often as we can!
The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.
Thomas Aquinas
The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer.
Pope Paul VI
There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us.
John Vianney
Every Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know...It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
Pio of Pietrelcina
Who is Jesus to me? Jesus is the Word made Flesh. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus is the Victim offered for our sins on the cross. Jesus is the sacrifice offered at holy Mass for the sins of the world and for mine. Jesus is the Word - to be spoken. Jesus is the Truth - to be told. Jesus is the Way - to be walked. Jesus is the Light - to be lit. Jesus is the Life - to be lived. Jesus is the Love - to be loved.
Mother Teresa
The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.
Pope John Paul II
He who devoutly hears holy Mass will receive a great vigor to enable him to resist mortal sin, and there shall be pardoned to him all venial sins which he may have committed up to that hour.
Saint Augustine
From this moment on, live the Eucharist fully; be persons for whom the Holy Mass, Communion, and Eucharistic adoration are the center and summit of their whole life.
Pope John Paul II
How happy is that guardian angel who accompanies a soul to Holy Mass!
John Vianney
When the Mass is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled with countless angels, who adore the Divine Victim immolated on the altar.
Saint John Chrysostom
I begin each day with holy Mass, receiving Jesus hidden under the appearance of a simple piece of bread. Then I go out into the streets and I find the same Jesus hidden in the dying destitute, the AIDS patients, the lepers, the abandoned children, the hungry, and the homeless. It's the same Jesus.
Mother Teresa
The best way to economize time is to 'lose' half an hour each day attending Holy Mass.
Frederic Ozanam
A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.
Anselm of Canterbury
When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary - a joy, a fragrance, a well-being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt.
John Vianney
The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.
Saint Augustine
What graces, gifts and virtues the Holy Mass calls down.
Leonard of Port Maurice
Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament.
Saint Augustine
My eyes, I have filled with Jesus upon Whom I have fixed them at the Elevation of the Host at Holy Mass and I do not wish to replace Him with any other image
Saint Colette
Adoration outside Holy Mass prolongs and intensifies what has taken place in the liturgical celebration and makes a true and profound reception of Christ possible. I . . . warmly recommend, to Pastors and to all the faithful, the practice of Eucharistic adoration
Pope Benedict XVI
In the Church the transformative power of the Eucharist is experienced through the dignified celebration of Holy Mass, and people are empowered for mission because of that.
George Weigel
I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as of this moment the world would be in the abyss.
Leonard of Port Maurice
Each morning at Holy Mass, the Bread of Life will help the body as well as the soul, if we have faith. If we but touch the hem of His garment...and how much more have we than that! We can find Him, at every moment, on the altar. Be with Him there. Better than all books! Thank the Trinity over and over again for this Gift. Rest in His presence, and my guardian angel will adore Him for me. Silence.
Edel Quinn
When we have been to Holy Communion, the balm of love envelops the soul as the flower envelops the bee.
John Vianney
Mass badly celebrated is an enormous evil. Ah! it is not a matter of indifference how it is said! . . . I have had a great vision on the mystery of Holy Mass and I have seen that whatever good has existed since creation is owing to it.
Anne Catherine Emmerich
When I immersed myself in prayer and united myself with all the Masses that were being celebrated all over the world at that time, I implored God, for the sake of all these Holy Masses, to have mercy on the world and especially on poor sinners who were dying at that moment. At the same instant, I received an interior answer from God that a thousand souls had received grace through the prayerful mediation I had offered to God. We do not know the number of souls that is ours to save through our prayers and sacrifices; therefore, let us always pray for sinners.
Mary Faustina Kowalska
HOLY COMMUNION
Another way in which we can help the Holy Souls very much is by fervently offering up our Holy Communion for them. In doing this we offer to the Heavenly Father all the merits of Christ’s Passion and Death in satisfaction for the temporal punishment still due to them.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Next to the Mass, the Way of the Cross is most
Beneficial for the Souls in Purgatory.
It was revealed to a chosen soul that when one offers up the stations of the cross for the holy souls in Purgatory he obtains the release of 10,000 souls!
The following 14 promises regarding the Way of the Cross were given to Bro. Estanislao (1903-1927), a member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools at Bugedo. According to the Master of Novices, Bro. Estanislao was a privileged soul who received messages from Heaven. His spiritual director asked him to write the promises made by Our Lord to those who have devotion to the Way of the Cross. These promises and the Brother’s virtues have been favourably recognized by confessors and theologians.
1. I'll grant every thing that's asked of Me with Faith, when making The Way of The Cross.
2. I promise Eternal Life to those who pray from time to time, The Way of the Cross.
3. I'll follow them everywhere in life and I'll help them, especially at the hour of death.
4. Even if they have more sins than blades of grass in the fields, and grains of sand in the sea, all of them will be erased by The Way of The Cross. (Note: This promise doesn't eliminate the obligation to confess all mortal sins, and this, before we can receive Holy Communion.)
5. Those who pray The Way of The Cross often, will have a special glory in Heaven.
6. I'll deliver them from Purgatory, indeed if they go there at all, the first Tuesday or Friday after their death.
7. I'll bless them at each Way of The Cross, and My blessing will follow them everywhere on earth and, after their death, in Heaven for all Eternity.
8. At the hour of death I won't permit the devil to tempt them; I'll lift all power fro him in order that they'll repose tranquilly in My Arms.
9. If they pray with true love, I will make each one of them a living ciborium in which it will please Me to pour My grace.
10. I'll fix My Eyes on those who pray The Way of The Cross often; My hands will always be open to protect them.
11. As I am nailed to the Cross, so also will I always be with those who honor Me in making the Way of The Cross frequently.
12. They'll never be able to separate themselves fro Me, for I'll give them the grace never again to commit a Mortal sin.
13. At the hour of death I'll console them with My Presence and we'll go together to Heaven. Death will be sweet to all those who have honored Me during their lives by praying The Way of The Cross.
14. My soul will be a protective shield for them, and will always help them whenever they have recourse to it.
A Religious of the same convent, who had died a short time previously, appeared to her, complaining sorrowfully, " My dear sister," she said, " why do you no longer make the Stations of the Cross for the souls in Purgatory? You were formerly accustomed to relieve us every day by that holy exercise; why do you deprive us of that assistance ? "
Whilst the soul was still speaking our Lord Himself appeared to His servant, and reproached her with her negligence. " Know, my daughter," He added, " that the Stations of the Cross are very profitable to the souls in Purgatory, and constitute a suffrage of the greatest value. This is why I have permitted this soul, for her own sake and for the sake of others, to implore this of you. Know also that it was on account of your exactitude in practising this devotion that you have been favoured by frequent communication with the dead. It is for this reason also that those grateful souls never cease to pray for you, and to plead your cause at the tribunal of my Justice. Make known this treasure to your sisters, and tell them to draw from it abundantly for themselves and for the dead."
~ Excerpt from Purgatory: Illustrated by the Lives and Legends of the Saints
by Fr. Francis Xavier Shouppe, S.J. ~
THE HOLY ROSARY
This excellent prayer, the source of so many graces for the living, is also singularly efficacious in relieving the dead.
"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families...that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."
Sister Lucia dos Santos
Promises of Our Lady to all who recite the Rosary
1. Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
Signal Graces are those special and unique Graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation for which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four].
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God's Grace to us. Our Lady is simply highlighting that She will watch especially over us who pray the Rosary. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62) [a great more detail is available on this topic in True Devotion to Mary, chapter four, by St. Louis de Montfort]
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.
This promise, along with the next, is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially a prayer with the excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42) St. Louis de Montfort states "Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)..." [True Devotion to Mary #167]
4. It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part, that being to live in virtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42)
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, She always assists those who call on Her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorare prayer, "... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ..."
6. Whosoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.
This promise highlights the magnitude of Graces that the Rosary brings to whomever prays it. One will draw down God's Mercy rather than His Justice and will have a final chance to repent (see promise #7). One will not be conquered by misfortune means that Our Lady will obtain for the person sufficient Graces to handle said misfortune (i.e. carry the Crosses allowed by God) without falling into despair. As Sacred Scripture tells us, "For my yoke is sweet and my burden light." (Matthew 11:30)
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
This promise highlights the benefits of obtaining the most possible Graces at the hour of death via the Sacraments of Confession, Eucharist, and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Being properly disposed while receiving these Sacraments near death ensures one's salvation (although perhaps with a detour through Purgatory) since a final repentance is possible.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the Light of God and the plenitude of His Graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the Merits of the Saints in Paradise.
Our Lady highlights the great quantity of Graces obtain through praying the Rosary, which assist us during life and at the moment of death. The merits of the Saints are the gift of God's rewards to those persons who responded to His Grace that they obtained during life, and so Our Lady indicates that She will provide a share of that to us at death. With this promise and #7 above, Our Lady is providing the means for the person to have a very holy death.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
Should one require Purgatorial cleansing after death, Our Lady will make a special effort to obtain our release from Purgatory through Her intercession as Advocate.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of Glory in Heaven.
This promise is a logical consequence of promises #3 and #4 since anyone who truly lives a holier life on earth will obtain a higher place in Heaven. The closer one is to God while living on earth, the close that person is to Him also in Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states "Spiritual progress tends toward ever more union with Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2014)
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by recitation of the Rosary.
This promise emphasizes Our Lady's role as our Advocate and Mediatrix of all Graces. Of course, all requests are subject to God's Most Perfect Will. God will always grant our request if it is beneficial for our soul, and Our Lady will only intercede for us when our request is good for our salvation. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
If one promotes the praying of the Rosary, Our Lady emphasizes Her Maternal care for us by obtaining many Graces (i.e. spiritual necessities) and also material necessities (neither excess nor luxury), all subject to the Will of God of course.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.
Since Our Lady is our Advocate, She brings us additional assistance during our life and at our death from all the saints in Heaven (the Communion of Saints). See paragraphs 954 through 959 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my Sons, and brothers of my Only Son Jesus Christ.
Since the Rosary is a most excellent prayer focused on Jesus and His Life and activities in salvation history, it brings us closer to Our Lord and Our Lady. Doctrinally, Our Lady is our Mother and Jesus is our Eldest Brother, besides being our God. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Predestination in this context means that, by the sign which is present to a person from the action of devoutly praying the Rosary, God has pre-ordained your salvation. Absolute certainty of salvation can only be truly known if God reveals it to a person because, although we are given sufficient Grace during life, our salvation depends upon our response to said Grace. (See Summa Theologica, Question 23 for a detailed theological explanation). Said another way, if God has guaranteed a person's salvation but has not revealed it to Him, God would want that person to pray the Rosary because of all the benefits and Graces obtained. Therefore the person gets a hint by devotion to the Rosary. This is not to say that praying the Rosary guarantees salvation - by no means. In looking at promises #3 and #4 above, praying the Rosary helps one to live a holy life, which is itself a great sign that a soul is on the road to salvation. (See also paragraphs 381, 488, 600, 2782 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) In fact, St. Louis de Montfort says even more strongly that "an infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God's true friends is that the hardened sinner and heretic show nothing but contempt and indifference to Our Lady..." [True Devotion to Mary, #30]
The Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory by St. Gertrude the Great is a famous prayer for the souls of purgatory. According to tradition, Our Lord told St. Gertrude in a vision that reciting the following prayer with love and devotion will release 1,000 souls from purgatory:
It is subsequently revealed that if said during the time of consecration during Holy Mass, the limit of 1,000 Holy Souls released from Purgatory would be lifted and countless additional Souls would be released as well.
"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."
INDULGENCES
In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, an indulgence (Latin: indulgentia, from *dulgeō, "persist") is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". It may reduce the "temporal punishment for sin" after death (as opposed to the eternal punishment merited by mortal sin), in the state or process of purification called Purgatory.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and all of the saints".
The recipient of an indulgence must perform an action to receive it. This is most often the saying (once, or many times) of a specified prayer, but may also include the visiting of a particular place, or the performance of specific good works.
Indulgences were introduced to allow for the remission of the severe penances of the early Church and granted at the intercession of Christians awaiting martyrdom or at least imprisoned for the faith. They draw on the treasury of merit accumulated by Christ's superabundantly meritorious sacrifice on the cross and the virtues and penances of the saints. They are granted for specific good works and prayers in proportion to the devotion with which those good works are performed or prayers recited.
By the late Middle Ages, the abuse of indulgences, mainly through commercialization, had become a serious problem which the Church recognized but was unable to restrain effectively. Indulgences were, from the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, a target of attacks by Martin Luther and all other Protestant theologians. Eventually the Catholic Counter-Reformation curbed the excesses, but indulgences continue to play a role in modern Catholic religious life.
Reforms in the 20th century largely abolished the quantification of indulgences, which had been expressed in terms of days or years. These days or years were meant to represent the equivalent of time spent in penance, although it was widely taken to mean time spent in Purgatory. The reforms also greatly reduced the number of indulgences granted for visiting particular churches and other locations.
CATHOLIC TEACHING ON INDULGENCE:
"When a person sins, he acquires certain liabilities: the liability of guilt and the liability of punishment." A mortal sin (one that is grave, or serious, in nature and is committed knowingly and freely) is equivalent to refusing friendship with God and communion with the only source of eternal life. The loss of eternal life with God, and the eternal death of hell that is the effect of this rejection, is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. The Sacrament of Penance removes the guilt and the liability of eternal punishment related to mortal sin. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."
The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. An example of this can be seen in 2 Samuel 12 when after David repents of his sin, the prophet Nathan tells him that he is forgiven but, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel:...Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife."
In addition to this eternal punishment due to mortal sin, every sin, including venial sin, is a turning away from God through what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls an unhealthy attachment to creatures, an attachment that must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called purgatory. "The process of sanctification and interior renewal requires not only forgiveness from the guilt (culpa) of sin, but also purification from the harmful effects or wounds of sin." This purification process gives rise to "temporal punishment", because, not involving a total rejection of God, it is not eternal and can be expiated.
The temporal punishment that follows sin is thus undergone either during life on earth or in purgatory. In this life, as well as by patient acceptance of sufferings and trials, the necessary cleansing from attachment to creatures may, at least in part, be achieved by turning to God in prayer and penance and by works of mercy and charity. Indulgences (from the Latin verb indulgere meaning to forgive, to be lenient toward) are a help towards achieving this purification.
"While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the 'old man' and to put on the 'new man."
The temporal punishment that follows sin is thus undergone either during life on earth or in purgatory. In this life, as well as by patient acceptance of sufferings and trials, the necessary cleansing from attachment to creatures may, at least in part, be achieved by turning to God in prayer and penance and by works of mercy and charity. Indulgences (from the Latin verb indulgere meaning to forgive, to be lenient toward) are a help towards achieving this purification.
An indulgence does not forgive the guilt of sin, nor does it provide release from the eternal punishment associated with unforgiven mortal sins. The Catholic Church teaches that indulgences relieve only the temporal punishment resulting from the effect of sin (the effect of rejecting God the source of good), and that a person is still required to have his grave sins absolved, ordinarily through the sacrament of Confession, to receive salvation. Similarly, an indulgence is not a permit to commit sin, a pardon of future sin, nor a guarantee of salvation for oneself or for another. Ordinarily, forgiveness of mortal sins is obtained through Confession (also known as the sacrament of penance or reconciliation).
Pursuant to the Church's understanding of the power of binding or loosing granted by Christ, it administers to those under its jurisdiction the benefits of these merits in consideration of prayer or other pious works undertaken by the faithful. In opening for individual Christians its treasury, "the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity".
DISPOSITIONS NECESSARY TO GAIN AN INDULGENCE
An indulgence is not the purchase of a pardon which secures the buyer's salvation or releases the soul of another from Purgatory. Sin is only pardoned (i.e., its effects entirely obliterated) when complete reparation in the form of sacramental confession is made and prescribed conditions are followed. After a firm amendment is made internally not to sin again, and the serious execution of one's assigned penance, the release one from penalty in the spiritual sense consequentially follows.
A complete and whole-hearted detachment from all sin of any kind, even venial sin,
Making a valid sacramental confession,
Receiving Holy Communion in the state of grace
Praying for the intentions of the Pope.
The minimum condition for gaining a partial indulgence is to be contrite in heart; on this condition, a Catholic who performs the work or recites the prayer in question is granted, through the Church, remission of temporal punishment equal to that obtained by the person's own action.
An indulgence may be plenary (remits all temporal "punishment" required to cleanse the soul from attachment to anything but God) or partial (remits only part of the temporal "punishment", i.e. cleansing, due to sin).
To gain a plenary indulgence, upon performing the charitable work or praying the aspiration or prayer for which the indulgence is granted, one must fulfill the prescribed conditions of:
A complete and whole-hearted detachment from all sin of any kind, even venial sin,
Making a valid sacramental confession,
Receiving Holy Communion in the state of grace
Praying for the intentions of the Pope.
The minimum condition for gaining a partial indulgence is to be contrite in heart; on this condition, a Catholic who performs the work or recites the prayer in question is granted, through the Church, remission of temporal punishment equal to that obtained by the person's own action.
Since those who have died in the state of grace (with all mortal sins forgiven) are members of the communion of saints, the living (members of the Churches Militant) can assist those whose purification from their sins was not yet completed at the time of death through prayer but also by obtaining indulgences in their behalf. Since the Church has no jurisdiction over the dead, indulgences can be gained for them only per modum suffragii, i.e. by an act of intercession. This is sometimes termed impetration, which Aquinas explains "...is not founded on God's justice, but on His goodness".
Actions for which indulgences are granted
Partial indulgences
There are four general grants of indulgence, which are meant to encourage the faithful to infuse a Christian spirit into the actions of their daily lives and to strive for perfection of charity. These indulgences are partial, and their worth therefore depends on the fervour with which the person performs the recommended actions:
Raising the mind to God with humble trust while performing one's duties and bearing life's difficulties, and adding, at least mentally, some pious invocation.
Devoting oneself or one's goods compassionately in a spirit of faith to the service of one's brothers and sisters in need.
Freely abstaining in a spirit of penance from something licit and pleasant.
Freely giving open witness to one's faith before others in particular circumstances of everyday life.
Plenary indulgences
Among the particular grants, which, on closer inspection, will be seen to be included in one or more of the four general grants, especially the first, the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum draws special attention to four activities for which a plenary indulgence can be gained on any day, though only once a day:
Piously reading or listening to Sacred Scripture for at least half an hour.
Adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist for at least half an hour.
The pious exercise of the Stations of the Cross.
Recitation of the Rosary or the Akathist in a church or oratory, or in a family, a religious community, an association of the faithful and, in general, when several people come together for an honourable purpose.
A plenary indulgence may also be gained on some occasions, which are not everyday occurrences. They include but are not limited to:
Receiving, even by radio or television, the blessing given by the Pope Urbi et Orbi (to the city of Rome and to the world) or that which a bishop is authorized to give three times a year to the faithful of his diocese.
Taking part devoutly in the celebration of a day devoted on a world level to a particular religious purpose.
Under this heading come the annual celebrations such as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and occasional celebrations such as World Youth Day.
Taking part for at least three full days in a spiritual retreat.
Taking part in some functions during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Special indulgences are also granted on occasions of particular spiritual significance such as a jubilee year or the centenary or similar anniversary of an event such as the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes.
This is a digest of the works and prayers listed in the Enchiridion of Indulgences.
In all but the plenary indulgence of In Articulo Mortis, at the moment of death, a plenary indulgence mentioned below MUST be accompanied by the three prerequisites of a plenary indulgence.
Sacramental Confession,
Communion, and
Prayer for the intention of the Holy Father, all to be performed within days of each other if not at the same time.
Thus the formula for obtaining a plenary indulgence are the three constants mentioned above plus any one of the variable works mentioned below as being worthy of a plenary indulgence.
Direct, we beg you, O Lord.(Prayer from Roman Ritual) Partial indulgence.
Acts of the Theological Virtues and of Contrition. A partial indulgence is granted to those who devoutly recite, according to any legitimate formula, the acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition.
ADORATION OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who visit the Most Blessed Sacrament for at least one half hour (together with the three prerequisites (constants) of a plenary indulgence. A partial indulgence is granted to those who visit and adore the Most Blessed Sacrament without the three constants or for any period less than one half hour.
Hidden God (Adoro te devote) -- hymn, partial indulgence.
We have come (Adsumus) -- prayer, partial indulgence.
To you, O blessed Joseph (Ad te, beate Ioseph) --- prayer, partial indulgence.
We Give You Thanks ---- prayer from Roman Breviary, partial indulgence
Angel Of God --- prayer, partial indulgence.
The Angel Of The Lord --- prayer, partial indulgence.
Soul of Christ (Anima Christi) --- prayer, partial indulgence.
Visit to the Patriarchal Basilicas in Rome. A PLENARY INDULGENCE to those who devoutly visit one of the Patriarchal Basilicas in Rome and recite one Our Father and the Creed,
On the titular feast of the Basilica;
On any Holy Day of Obligation;
Once a year on any other day of one's choice. (Remember the three constants are also required to obtain ANY plenary indulgence.)
PAPAL BLESSING. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who "piously and devoutly" receive, even by radio, the Blessing of the Pope when imparted to Rome and the world (Urbi et Orbi). (3 constants.)
Visit to a Cemetery. Only applicable to the souls in Purgatory when one devoutly visits and prays for the departed. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is bestowed for this work each day between November 1 and November 8.
Visit to a "Catacomb" (early Christian cemetery.) Partial indulgence.
Act of spiritual Communion according to any pious formula -- partial indulgence.
Recitation of the Apostles Creed or the Nicene-Constantinopolian Creed -- partial indulgence.
ADORATION OF THE CROSS. A PLENARY INDULGENCE to those who in solemn liturgical action of Good Friday devoutly assist in at the adoration of the Cross and kiss it.
Office of the dead. A partial indulgence to those who devoutly recite Lauds or Vespers of the Office of the Dead.
"Out of the Depths" (De profundis). Psalm 129. Partial indulgence to those who recite.
Christian Doctrine. Partial indulgence to those who take part in teaching or learning christian doctrine.
"Lord God Almighty." (Roman Breviary.) Partial indulgence.
"Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus." "Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before your face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul pray and beseech you to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity your five wounds, pondering over them within me, calling to mind the words which David, your prophet, said of you, my good Jesus: "They have pierced my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones." PLENARY INDULGENCE when recited on a Friday in Lent and Passiontide, when recited after Communion before an image of Christ crucified. On any other day the indulgence is partial.
Eucharistic Congress. PLENARY INDULGENCE to those who devoutly participate in the customary solemn eucharistic rite at the close of a Eucharistic Congress.
"Hear Us" (Roman Ritual) -- partial indulgence.
RETREAT. (Exercitia spiritualia). PLENARY INDULGENCE to those who spend at least three (3) whole days in the spiritual excercises of a retreat.
"Most sweet Jesus --Act of Reparation" PLENARY INDULGENCE when this prayer is publicly recited on the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Otherwise the indulgence is partial.
"Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer -- Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King." PLENARY INDULGENCE when this prayer is publicly recited on the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ King. Otherwise the indulgence is partial.
The Moment of Death (In articulo mortis). PLENARY INDULGENCE. EXCEPTION TO THE THREE CONSTANTS. (Verbatim recitation of the grant follows:) "To the faithful in danger of death, who cannot be assisted by a priest to bring them the sacraments and impart the Apostolic Blessing with its plenary indulgence (see can. 468, Sec.2 of Code of Canon Law), Holy Mother Church nevertheless grants a plenary indulgence to be acquired at the point of death, provided they are properly disposed and have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime. The use of a crucifix or a cross to gain this indulgence is praiseworthy." The condition: 'provided they have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime' supplies in such cases for the three usual conditions required for the gaining of a plenary indulgence." The plenary indulgence at the point of death can be acquired by the faithful, even if they have already obtained another plenary indulgence on the same day."
Litanies. Partial indulgence to those who recite the following litanies: the litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus; The litany of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; The litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ; The litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary; The litany of St. Joseph; and the litany of All Saints.
"The Magnificat". Partial indulgence.
"Mary, Mother of Grace." (Roman Ritual) Partial indulgence.
"The Memorare." (Remember, O Most gracious Virgin Mary.) Partial Indulgence.
"The Miserere" (Have mercy of me.) Psalm 50. Partial indulgence.
Novena Devotions. Partial indulgence to those who participate in a public novena before the feast of Christmas or Pentecost, or the Immaculate Conception.
Use of Articles of Devotion. (Verbatim follows:) "The faithful, who devoutly use an article of devotion (crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular or medal) properly blessed by any priest, obtain a partial indulgence. "But if the article of devotion has been blessed by the Sovereign Pontiff or by any Bishop, the faithful, using it, can also gain a PLENARY INDULGENCE on the feast of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, provided they also make a profession of faith according to any legitimate formula."
Little Offices. The following Little Offices are each enriched with a partial indulgence: the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph.
Prayer for Sacerdotal or Religious Vocations. Partial indulgence is granted to those who recite a prayer approved by ecclesiastical Authority for the above intention.
Mental Prayer. Partial indulgence to those who spend some time in pious mental prayer.
"Let us pray for our Sovereign Pontiff" (Roman Breviary) Partial Indulgence.
"O Sacred Banquet" (Roman Breviary) Partial indulgence.
Assistance as Sacred Preaching. PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who attend a Mission, hear some of the sermons and are present for the solemn close of the Mission. A partial indulgence is granted to those who assist with devotion and attention at the sacred preaching of the Word of God.
FIRST COMMUNION. PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who receive Communion for the first time or to those who ASSIST at the sacred ceremonies of a First Communion.
First Mass of a Newly Ordained Priest. PLENARY INDULGENCE granted to the priest and to the faithful who devoutly assist at the same Mass.
"Prayer for Unity of the Church." Partial indulgence.
Monthly Recollection. Partial indulgence to those who take part in a monthly retreat.
"Eternal Rest." A partial indulgence only to the souls in purgatory. "Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace."
"May it Please you, O Lord." Partial indulgence. "May it please you, O Lord, to reward with eternal life all those who do good to us for your Name's sake. Amen."
RECITATION OF THE MARIAN ROSARY. (The following is verbatim.) "A PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted, if the Rosary is recited IN A CHURCH OR PUBLIC ORATORY OR IN A FAMILY GROUP, A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY OR PIOUS ASSOCIATION; a partial indulgence is granted in other circumstances. "Now the Rosary is a certain formula of prayer, which is made up of fifteen decades of 'Hail Marys' with an 'Our Father' before each decade, and in which the recitation of each decade is accompanied by pious meditation on a particular mystery of our Redemption. "The name 'Rosary,' however, is commonly used in reference to only a third of the fifteen decades. "The gaining of the plenary indulgence is regulated by the following norms: "
The recitation of a third part only of the Rosary suffices; but the five decades must be recited continuously.
The vocal recitation MUST be accompanied by pious meditation on the mysteries. "
In public recitation the mysteries must be announced in the manner customary in the place; for private recitation, however, it suffices if the vocal recitation is accompanied by meditation on the mysteries. "
For those belonging to the Oriental rites, amongst whom this devotion is not practiced, the Patriarchs can determine some other prayers in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary (for those of the Byzantine rite, for example, the Hymn 'Akathistos' or the Office 'Paraclisis'); to the prayers thus determined are accorded the same indulgences as for the Rosary."
Jubilees of Sacerdotal Ordination. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to a priest on the 25th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of his ordination when he renews before God his resolve to faithfully fulfill the duties of his vocation. If the priest celebrates a jubilee Mass, the faithful who assist at it can acquire a Plenary Indulgence.
READING OF SACRED SCRIPTURE. While a partial indulgence is granted to those who read from Sacred Scripture with the veneration which the divine word is due, a PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who read for at least one half an hour.
"Hail Holy Queen." (Roman Breviary.) Partial indulgence.
"Holy Mary, help the helpless." (Roman Breviary.) Partial indulgence.
"Holy Apostles Peter and Paul." (Roman Missal.) Partial indulgence.
Veneration of the Saints. Partial indulgence granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honor the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.
Sign of the Cross. Partial indulgence.
A Visit to the Stational Churches of Rome. A partial indulgence is granted to those who on the day indicated in the Roman Missal devoutly visit the stational church in Rome named for that day' but if they also assist at the sacred functions celebrated in the morning or evening, a PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted.
"We fly to your Patronage." Partial indulgence.
Diocesan Synod. PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who during the time of a diocesan Synod, devoutly visit the church in which it is being held and there recite one Our Father and the Creed.
"Down in Adoration Falling" (Tantum ergo) (Roman Breviary) PLENARY INDULGENCE when recited on Holy Thursday and the feast of Corpus Christi. Otherwise a partial indulgence is granted for recitation.
The Te Deum. PLENARY INDULGENCE when recited publicly on the last day of the year. Otherwise a partial indulgence is granted to those who recite the Te Deum in thanksgiving.
"Come, Holy Spirit, Creator Blest." PLENARY INDULGENCE if recited on the first of January or on the feast of the Pentecost. Otherwise, a partial indulgence is granted to those who recite it.
"Come, Holy Spirit" Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. (Roman Missal) Partial indulgence.
EXERCISE OF THE WAY OF THE CROSS. PLENARY INDULGENCE. A Plenary indulgence is granted to those who piously make the Way of the Cross. The gaining of the indulgence is regulated by the following rules:
Must be done before stations of the cross legitimately erected.
14 stations are required. Although it is customary for the icons to represent pictures or images, 14 simple crosses will suffice.
The common practice consists of fourteen pious readings to which some vocal prayers are added.. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.
A movement from one station to the next is required. But if the stations are made publicly and it is not possible for everyone taking part to go from station to station, it suffices if at least the one conducting the exercise goes from station to station, the others remaining in their places.
Those who are "impeded" can gain the same indulgence if they spend at least one half and hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For those belonging to the Oriental rites, amongst whom this pious exercise is not practiced, the respective Patriarchs can determine some other pious exercise in memory of the Passion and Death for the gaining of this indulgence.
"Visit, we beg you, O Lord." (Roman Breviary) Partial Indulgence.
Visit to the Parochial Church. PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who devoutly visit the parochial church either on its titular feast or on the 2nd of August when the indulgence of the "Portiuncula" occurs. In visiting the church IT IS REQUIRED that one Our Father and the Creed be recited. Both indulgences can be acquired either on the day designated above or on some other day designated by the Ordinary (bishop) for the benefit of the faithful. The same indulgences apply to the Cathedral church and, where there is one, to a Co-Cathedral church, even if they are not parochial churches; they apply to quasi-parochial churches also.
Visit to a Church or an Altar on the day of its consecration. PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who visit a church or an altar on the day itself of its consecration, and there recite on Our Father and the Creed.
Visit to a Church or Oratory on All Souls Day. PLENARY INDULGENCE. A plenary indulgence, applicable ONLY to the souls in purgatory, may be obtained by those who, on All Souls Day, piously visit a church, public oratory, or -for those entitled to use it, a semi public oratory. It may be acquired either on the day designated as All Souls Day or, with the consent of the bishop, on the preceding or following Sunday or the feast of All Saints. On visiting the church or oratory it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited.
Visit to a Church or Oratory of Religious on the Feast of the Holy Founder. A PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted to those who piously visit a church or oratory of a religious order on the feastday of its canonized founder, and there recite one Our Father and the Creed.
Pastoral Visitation. Partial indulgence to those who visit a church during the time that a pastoral visitation is being held. But a PLENARY INDULGENCE, to be gained only once during the visitation, is granted if during the time of the visitation they assist at a sacred function at which the Visitator presides.
Renewal of Baptismal Promises. A partial indulgence is granted to those who renew their baptismal promises according to any formula in use; but a PLENARY INDULGENCE is granted if this is done in celebration of the Paschal Vigil or on the anniversary of one's baptism.
PRAYERS
Our prayers for the Holy Souls are very efficacious because they proceed from our true disinterested charity and because we are asking not for temporal but for spiritual favours. After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the prayers which help them the most are the Holy Rosary and the Way of the Cross.
OFFERING UP SACRIFICES FOR THEIR RELIEF
Let us offer many little sacrifices for the Holy Souls during the day. These should be as hidden as possible and offered to God with love. One example is that we could abstain from eating or drinking something which we like. In addition to exterior mortifications we can also offer for the Holy Souls the interior mortifications of the overcoming of our sinful inclinations and subduing our evil passions. Let us also cheerfully embrace all the crosses which God sends to us each day and offer these in satisfaction for the Souls in Purgatory.
ALMSGIVING
We are able to assist the Holy Souls in Purgatory by almsgiving, which can be compared to a shower of rain falling into Purgatory and mitigating its devouring flames or even extinguishing them altogether.
(This leaflet is dedicated to St Michael the Archangel. He is the one who leads souls to Purgatory and then on to their eternal home after their purification. Everyone should honour him in a special way and the best way of doing this is by spreading devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.)”
- This is the content of a leaflet by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, House of Contemplation, Blessed Virgin of Mt Carmel, Lanherne, St Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall TR8 4ER
Pray the Novena to the Holy Souls.
Have Masses said for your departed loved ones, especially on the anniversary of his or her death.
If you visit a church or oratory on All Souls Day and there recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle's Creed, you can earn a plenary (full) indulgence applicable only to the souls in purgatory (under the usual conditions)
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the intention of the Holy Souls.
Sprinkle holy water on the ground: St. John Macias, a great friend of those in purgatory, would often sprinkle holy water on the ground for the spiritual benefit of the suffering souls in Purgatory.
Light a blessed candle for the Holy Souls.
Avoid a common unmeritorious action or accustomed habit/habits such as:
Vulgar words
Pornography
Masturbation
Fornication
Abortion
Adultery
Stealing
Cheating
Lying
Gambling
Lateness and so on
for the love of the Holy Souls and to help you advance on the road to sanctity and holiness.
When passing by a cemetery, pray the short Eternal Rest prayer. This prayer carries a partial indulgence applicable to the poor souls:
"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let the perpetual light shine upon them. And may the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."
Practice the tradition of praying the Eternal Rest prayer (above) before and after your meals as an easy way to remember to pray for the holy souls every day. You can also pray the prayer between the decades of your daily rosary.
Visit a cemetery: Pray over the graves of your departed loved ones, or visit a random graveyard and pray for those who may have no one to pray for them. Simply doing this gains a partial indulgence for those in purgatory.* While you're there, sprinkle holy water on the graves. If you make this visit during the first eight days of the month dedicated to the Holy Souls (November 1-8) you can gain a plenary indulgence applicable to the souls in purgatory.
Ask for the intercession of saints who were known to be great friends of the Holy Souls during their lifetime to join you in prayer for the faithful departed: St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Gertrude the Great, St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Padre Pio, St. Philip Neri, St. John Macías, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Joseph, Our Lady, and others.
Special prayers: Throughout your day, offer up short and spontaneous prayers (ejaculatory prayers) for the holy souls. Consider buying purgatory books with more prayers and special devotions for the Holy Souls.
Repent of your offenses against God and go to confession: Confessing your own sins makes your prayers for souls of others more effective.
Spread devotion to the Holy Souls: Make others aware of the great need these suffering souls have for our prayers.
THE SABBATINE PRIVILEGE
This is the early liberation from Purgatory on the first Saturday after death, through Our Lady’s intercession, for those who wear Her Brown Scapular, faithfully fulfilling the requisite obligations.
“THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SOULS
Devotion to the Holy Souls is so pleasing to God and so beneficial to our own souls. The least pain of Purgatory is far worse than the greatest suffering we can imagine upon this earth. This is why a moment in Purgatory can even seem to be hundreds of years. The Holy Souls cannot help themselves nor alleviate their sorrows in the slightest way. However great their sufferings may be, they can no longer merit, nor can they obtain new graces.
At death the time of working and meriting has ended once and for all and the soul remains in that state in which it has departed from this life. The punishments of Purgatory have one purpose alone and that is to satisfy God’s justice and to cleanse the souls from all stain of sin. Let us listen to the pleadings of our suffering brothers and sisters (who could also be our friends and relatives) and let us help them by all the means in our power.
If we fail in this, our hard-heartedness will most certainly be displeasing to Our Lord, for those who have no mercy on the suffering souls in Purgatory will also be wanting in mercy when they in their turn perhaps have to spend time in the purifying flames of Purgatory. ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’
THE LONGING OF THE HOLY SOULS TO BE WITH GOD
The Holy Souls long to be with God and to enjoy the Beatific Vision. Their sufferings are indescribable in human terms, but what causes their greatest agony is the absence of God, Who is now the sole object of their desires.
On earth we cannot really understand Who God is, but the Holy Souls begin to know Him, His goodness, His mercy and His love. After this clearer view and their thirst for union, they yearn for God unceasingly. Whilst on earth so many people do not realise that this life is just a journey and do not even give God or eternity a thought, but if once opened to the Beatific Vision, even for a brief moment, the eyes of the soul can never again close without inexpressable pain. To shut out that most beautiful sight is agony.
IT IS VERY PROFITABLE TO HAVE DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SOULS
God often grants more graces through their intercession than through the prayers of the Saints. St Catherine of Bologna, whenever she wished to obtain any grace, had recourse to the Souls in Purgatory and her prayers were immediately heard. She even declared that by asking the intercession of these souls, she obtained many favours which she had not obtained through the intercession of the Saints.
Then if we want to be even more certain of obtaining what we request, we should pray for and at the same time ask the intercession of the Holy Souls who have loved Our Lady the most whilst upon earth. These are the ones She most wishes to release and we will surely see that our prayer is heard.
GOD WANTS US TO HELP THE HOLY SOULS
God is so pleased with those who help the Holy Souls, because He longs for them to be with Him for all eternity. By helping to deliver a soul from Purgatory, we give God as much pleasure as if we had released He Himself from a dark prison. Did He not say: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me.’
WE SHOULD STILL PRAY FOR THEM EVEN MANY YEARS AFTER THEIR DEATH
What suffering for the Holy Souls to see that they have been forgotten by those whom they loved during life and for whom, perhaps, they made sacrifices. We think far too little about our deceased friends and their memory often perishes soon after their death. But we should remember, and this has been confirmed by St Pio of Pietrelcina, that since with God there is an eternal present, the prayers we say for them now (even many years after their death) will have been taken into account by God at the moment of their death. That is why we should never cease in our prayers for them.
CHARITY COVERS OVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS
Those who help the poor souls in any way, perform not one, but all of the seven works of mercy at the same time, in a more perfect manner and deserving greater reward than if these acts of charity had been performed for a soul living on earth. In showing mercy to the holy souls, we have the great hope that God will also be merciful to us in our hour of need.
THE GRATITUDE OF THE HOLY SOULS
The Holy Souls, in their turn, will not be ungrateful to their benefactors who will most assuredly be remembered in their own prayers to God. It is their Guardian Angel who will make known to them how we have assisted them and will urge them to show their gratitude by praying for us. God so wants to relieve the Holy Souls of their sufferings and is pleased to answer the prayers which they offer for their benefactors.
SAINTS AND THEOLOGIANS ON PURGATORY
(taken from his book, Life Everlasting)
Suffering in Purgatory and Suffering on Earth
Suffering in Purgatory is greater than all suffering on Earth. Such is the doctrine of tradition, supported by theological reasoning. Tradition is expressed by St. Augustine: "That fire will be more painful than anything man can suffer in the present life." St. Isidore speaks in the same sense. According to these testimonies and others similar to them, the least pain in Purgatory surpasses the greatest sufferings of the present life.
St. Bonaventure speaks somewhat differently: "In the next life, by reason of the state of the souls there retained, the purifying purgatorial suffering will be, in its kind, more severe than the greatest trials on Earth." We must understand him thus: For one and the same sin, the smallest suffering in Purgatory is greater than any corresponding suffering on Earth. But it does not follow that the least pain in Purgatory surpasses the greatest terrestrial suffering. On this point St. Bonaventure is followed by St. Robert Bellarmine. According to this last author, the privation of God is without doubt a very great suffering, but it is sweetened and consoled by the assured hope of once possessing Him. From this hope there arises an incredible joy, which grows in measure as the soul approaches the end of its exile.
Many theologians, notably Suarez, rightly remark that the sufferings in Purgatory, especially the delay of the beatific vision, are of a higher order than our terrestrial sufferings, and in this sense we may say that the smallest suffering in Purgatory is more severe than the greatest suffering on Earth. The joy they have in the hope of deliverance cannot diminish the suffering they feel from deprivation of the beatific vision. We see this truth in Jesus crucified: supreme beatitude, love of God and of souls, far from diminishing His pains, augmented them. St. Catherine of Genoa speaks thus: "Souls in Purgatory unite great joy with great suffering. One does not diminish the other." She continues: "No peace is comparable to that of the souls in Purgatory, except that of the saints in Heaven. On the other hand, the souls in Purgatory endure torments which no tongue can describe and no intelligence comprehend, without special revelation." This saint, we recall, experienced on Earth the pains of Purgatory.
This testimony of tradition is illustrated by the character of great saints. While they are more severe than ordinary preachers, they also have much greater love of God and souls. They show forth, not only the justice of God, but also His boundless love. A good Christian illustrates the same truth. A Christian mother, for instance, is severe in order to correct her children, but the element that predominates is sweetness and maternal goodness. Today, on the contrary, it often happens that many parents lack both severity and love. Those persons who do not undergo Purgatory on Earth will have it later on. Nor must we make too sharp a distinction between sanctification and salvation. If we neglect sanctification, we may miss salvation itself.
Privation of the beatific vision is painful in the same degree as the desire of that vision is vivid. Two reasons, one negative, the other positive, show the vividness of this desire.
Negatively, its desire for God is no longer retarded by the weight of the body, by the distractions and occupations of this terrestrial life. Created goods cannot distract it from the suffering it has in the privation of God.
Positively, its desire of God is very intense, because the hour has arrived when it would be in the enjoyment of God if it had not placed thereunto an obstacle by the faults which it must expiate.
The souls in Purgatory grasp much more clearly than we do, by reason of their infused ideas, the measureless value of the immediate vision of God, of His inamissible [incapable of being lost] possession. Further, they have intuition of themselves. Sure of their own salvation, they know with absolute certainty that they are predestined to see God, face to face. Without this delay for expiation, the moment of separation from the body would coincide with that of entrance into Heaven.
In the radical order of spiritual life, then, the separated soul ought already to enjoy the beatific vision. Hence it has a hunger for God which it cannot experience here on Earth. It has failed to prepare for its rendezvous with God. Since it failed to search for Him, He now hides Himself.
Analogies may be helpful. We are awaiting, with great anxiety, a friend with whom to discuss an important matter at a determined hour. If our friend is delayed, inquietude supervenes. The longer the delay, the more does inquietude grow. In the physical order, if our meal is retarded, say six hours or more, hunger grows ever more painful. If we have not eaten for three days, hunger becomes very severe.
Thus, in the spiritual domain, the separated soul has an insatiable hunger for God. It understands much better than it did on Earth that its will has a depth without measure, that only God seen face to face can fill this will and draw it irresistibly. This immense void renders it more avid to see the sovereign good.
This desire surpasses by far the natural desire, conditional and inefficacious, to see God. The desire of which we speak now is a supernatural desire, which proceeds from infused hope and infused charity. It is an efficacious desire, which will be infallibly fulfilled, but later. For the moment God refuses to fulfill this desire. The soul, having sought itself instead of God, cannot now find Him.
Joy follows perfect activity. The greatest joy, then, follows the act of seeing God. The absence of this vision, when its hour has arrived, causes the greatest pain. Souls in Purgatory feel most vividly their impotence and poverty. A parallel on Earth appears in the saints. Like St. Paul, saints desire to die and to be with Christ.
We often hear it said that in the souls in Purgatory there is an ebb and flood. Strongly drawn toward God, they are held back by the "remains of sin," which they have to expiate. They cannot rush to the goal which they so ardently desire. Love of God does not diminish their pain, but increases it. And this love is no longer meritorious. How eloquent is their title: the suffering Church!
• In 1945, a Friar, Brother Modestino, asked Padre Pio to give a comparison between fire on Earth and the flames of Purgatory. Padre Pio replied: “They compare like fresh water and boiling water.”
• “The souls in Purgatory pray for us, and their prayers are even more effective than ours, because they are accompanied by their suffering. So, let’s pray for them, and let’s pray them to pray for us.”
• “Most of those who are saved, have to pass through Purgatory before arriving at the fullness of beatitude.”
• “The souls in Purgatory repay the prayers that we say for them.”
• “When we pray for the souls in Purgatory we will always get something back.”
• “The souls in Purgatory pray for us.”
Padre Pio and the Poor Souls in Purgatory
In the life of St. Padre Pio, we read of many souls from Purgatory appearing to him to beg his prayers. In 1922, Bishop Alberto Costa asked Padre Pio if he had ever seen a soul in Purgatory. “I have seen so many of them that they don’t scare me anymore.”
A friar testified of the following incident: “We were all in the dining room when Padre Pio got suddenly up and walked at steady pace to the door of the convent. He opened it and started having a conversation.” The two friars that went with him didn’t see anybody and started thinking that something might be wrong with Padre Pio. On the way back to the dining area Padre Pio explained.
“Don’t worry. I was talking to some souls on their way from Purgatory to Paradise. They came to thank me that I remembered them today in the Mass.”
Over the decades of Padre Pio’s life millions of souls climbed Mt. Gargano to the Capuchin Friary of Our Lady of Grace to see him and to request his intercession with God. However, according to his own testimony the majority of these souls were not of the living but of the dead. Padre Pio said: “More souls of the dead from Purgatory, than of the living, climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers.”
Padre Pio reported to Padre Anastasio di Roio: “One night I was alone in the choir, and I saw a friar cleaning the altar late at night. I asked him to go to bed since it was so late. He said: ‘ I’m a friar like you. I did here my novitiate and when assigned to take care of the Altar, and I passed many times in front of the Tabernacle without making the proper reverence. For this sin I am in Purgatory, and the Lord sent me to you. You decide how much longer I have to suffer in those flames.’ I told him: until I said the Mass for him in the morning. He said: “You are cruel!” and disappeared. I still have a wound in my heart. I could have sent him immediately to Paradise, instead he had to stay one more night in the flames of Purgatory.”
One evening Padre Pio was in a room, on the ground floor of the convent, turned guesthouse. He was alone and had just laid down on the cot when, suddenly, a man appeared to him wound in a black mantle. Padre Pio was amazed and arose to ask the man who he was and what he wanted. The stranger answered that he was a soul in Purgatory. “I am Pietro Di Mauro” he said “I died in a fire, on September 18, 1908, in this convent. In fact this convent, after the expropriation of the ecclesiastical goods, had been turned into a hospice for elderly. I died in the flames, while I was sleeping on my straw mattress, right in this room. I have come from Purgatory: God has granted me to come here and ask you to say Mass for me tomorrow morning. Thanks to one Mass I will be able to enter into Paradise”. Padre Pio told the man that he would say Mass for him..., “But” Padre Pio said: “I wanted to accompany him to the door of the convent. I suddenly realized I had talked to a dead person, in fact when we went out in the church square, the man that was at my side, suddenly disappeared”.
Gerardo De Caro had long conversations with Padre Pio in 1943. In his written notes he testifies: “Padre Pio had an exact knowledge of the state of a soul after death, including the duration of the pain until reached total purification.”
Catherine, who was one of five children, was brought up piously .Her confessor relates that her penances were remarkable from the time she was eight. When she was thirteen she declared to her confessor her wish to enter the convent -- her elder sister had already taken the veil.
He pointed out to her that she was still very young and that the life of a religious was hard, but she met his objections with a "prudence and zeal" which seemed to him "not human but supernatural and divine ".
So he visited the convent of her predilection, to which he was confessor, and urged the mothers to accept her as a novice. But they were resolute against transgressing their custom by receiving so young a girl. Catherine's disappointment gave her great pain.
She grew up to be very lovely: "taller than most women, her head well proportioned, her face rather long but singularly beautiful and well-shaped, her complexion fair and in the flower of her youth rubicund, her nose long rather than short, her eyes dark and her forehead high and broad; every part of her body was well formed."
About the time she failed to enter the convent, or a little later, her father died, and his power and possessions passed to her eldest brother Giacomo. Wishing to calm the differences between the factions into which the principal families of Genoa were divided--differences which had long entailed cruel, distracting and wearing strife--Giacomo Fiesca formed the project of marrying his young sister, Catherine, to Giuliano Adorni, son of the head of a powerful Ghibelline family.
He obtained his mother's support for his plan, and found Giuliano willing to accept the beautiful, noble and rich bride proposed to him. As for Catherine herself, she would not refuse this cross laid on her at the command of her mother and eldest brother. On the 13th of January, 1463, at the age of sixteen, she was married to Giuliano Adorni.
He is described as a man who wasted his substance on disorderly living. Catherine, living with him in his fine house, at first entirely refused to adopt his worldly ways, and lived "like a hermit", never going out except to hear Mass.
But when she had thus spent five years, she yielded to the remonstrances of her family, and for the next five years practiced a certain involvement with the world, partaking of the pleasures customary among the women of her class, but never falling into sin. Increasingly she was irked and wearied by her husband's lack of spiritual sympathy with her, and by the distractions which kept her from God.
TREATISE ON PURGATORY
The divine fire which St. Catherine experienced in herself, made her comprehend the state of souls in Purgatory, and that they are contented there although in torment.
CHAPTER 1
The state of souls in Purgatory.—They are exempt from all self-love.
This holy soul, while still in the flesh, was placed in the Purgatory of the burning love of God, in whose flames she was purified from every stain, so that when she passed from this life she might be ready to enter the presence of God, her most sweet love. By means of that flame of love she comprehended in her own soul the condition of the souls of the faithful in Purgatory, where they are purified from the rust and stain of sins, from which they have not been cleansed in this world. And, as in the Purgatory of that divine flame, she was united with the divine love and satisfied with all that was accomplished in her, she was enabled to comprehend the state of the souls in Purgatory, and thus discovered concerning it:
“As far as I can see, the souls in Purgatory can have no choice but to be there; this God has most justly ordained by His divine decree. They cannot turn towards themselves and say: ‘I have committed such and such sins for which I deserve to remain here;’ nor can they say: ‘Would that I had refrained from them, for then I should at this moment be in paradise;’ nor again: ‘This soul will be released before me;’ or ‘I shall be released before her.’ They retain no memory of either good or evil respecting themselves, or others, which would increase their pain. They are so contented with the divine dispositions in their regard; and with doing all that is pleasing to God in that way which He chooses, that they cannot think of themselves, though they may strive to do so. They see nothing but the operation of the divine goodness which is so manifestly bringing them to God that they can reflect neither on their own profit, nor on their hurt. Could they do so, they would not be in pure charity. They see not that they suffer their pains in consequence of their sins, nor can they for a moment entertain that thought, for should they do so it would be an active imperfection, and that cannot exist in a state where there is no longer the possibility of sin.
“At the moment of leaving this life they see why they are sent to Purgatory, but never again, otherwise they would still retain something private, which has no place there. Being established in charity, they can never deviate therefrom by any defect, and have no will or desire, save the pure will of pure love, and can swerve from it in nothing. They can neither commit sin, nor merit by refraining from it.”
CHAPTER 2
The joy of souls in Purgatory.—The saint illustrates their ever increasing vision of God.—The difficulty of speaking about their state.
“There is no peace to be compared with that of the souls in Purgatory, save that of the saints in paradise, and this peace is ever augmented by the inflowing of God into these souls, which increases in proportion as the impediments to it are removed. The rust of sin is the impediment, and this the fire continually consumes, so that the soul in this state is continually opening itself to admit the divine communication. As a covered surface can never reflect the sun, not through any defect in that orb, but simply from the resistance offered by the covering, so, if the covering be gradually removed, the surface will by little and little be opened to the sun and will more and more reflect His light.
“So it is with the rust of sin, which is the covering of the soul. In Purgatory the flames incessantly consume it, and as it disappears, the soul reflects more and more perfectly the true sun who is God. Its contentment increases as this rust wears away, and the soul is laid bare to the divine ray, and thus one increases and the other decreases, until the time is accomplished. The pain never diminishes, although the time does, but as to the will, so united is it to God by pure charity, and so satisfied to be under His divine appointment, that these souls can never say their pains are pains.
“On the other hand, it is true that they suffer torments which no tongue can describe nor any intelligence comprehend, unless it be revealed by such a special grace as that which God has vouchsafed to me, but which I am unable to explain. And this vision which God revealed to me has never departed from my memory. I will describe it as far as I am able, and they whose intellects our Lord will deign to open will understand me.
CHAPTER 3
Separation from God is the greatest pain of Purgatory.—In this, Purgatory differs from Hell.
“The source of all suffering is either Original or Actual Sin. God created the soul pure, simple, free from every stain, and with a certain beatific instinct toward Himself. It is drawn aside from Him by Original Sin, and when Actual Sin is afterwards added, this withdraws it still farther, and, ever as it removes from Him, its sinfulness increases, because its communication with God grows less and less.
“And because there is no good except by participation with God, who, to the irrational creatures imparts Himself as He wills and in accordance with His divine decree, and never withdraws from them, but to the rational soul He imparts Himself more or less, according as He finds her more or less freed from the hindrances of sin, it follows that, when He finds a soul that is returning to the purity and simplicity in which she was created, He increased in her the beatific instinct, and kindles in her a fire of charity so powerful and vehement, that it is insupportable to the soul to find any obstacle between her and her end; and the clearer vision she has of these obstacles the greater is her pain.
“Since the souls in Purgatory are freed from the guilt of sin, there is no barrier between them and God save only the pains they suffer, which delay the satisfaction of their desire. And when they see how serious is even the slightest hindrance, which the necessity of justice causes to check them, a vehement flame kindles within them, which is like that of Hell. They feel no guilt however, and it is guilt which is the cause of the malignant will of the condemned in Hell, to whom God does not communicate His goodness, and thus they remain in despair and with a will forever opposed to the good will of God.
TREATISE ON PURGATORY (Part Two)
The divine fire which St. Catherine experienced in herself, made her comprehend the state of souls in Purgatory, and that they are contented there although in torment.
CHAPTER 4
The difference between the state of the souls in Hell and that of those in Purgatory.—Reflections of the saint upon those who neglect their salvation.
“It is evident that the revolt of man’s will, from that of God, constitutes sin, and while that revolt continues, man’s guilt remains. Those, therefore, that are in Hell, having passed from this life with perverse wills, their guilt is not remitted, nor can it be, since they are no longer capable of change. When this life is ended, the soul remains forever confirmed either in good or evil according as she has here determined. As it is written: Where I shall find thee, that is, at the hour of death, with the will either fixed on sin or repenting of it, there I will judge thee. From this judgment there is no appeal, for after death the freedom of the will can never return, but the will is confirmed in that state in which it is found at death. The souls in Hell, having been found at that hour with the will to sin, have the guilt and the punishment always with them, and although this punishment is not so great as they deserve, yet it is eternal. Those in Purgatory, on the other hand, suffer the penalty only, for their guilt was cancelled at death, when they were found hating their sins and penitent for having offended the divine goodness. And this penalty has an end, for the term of it is ever approaching. O misery beyond all misery, and the greater because in his blindness, man regards it not!
“The punishment of the damned is not, it is true, infinite in degree, for the all lovely goodness of God shines even into Hell. He who dies in mortal sin merits infinite woe for an infinite duration; but the mercy of God has only made the time infinite, and mitigated the intensity of the pain. In justice He might have inflicted much greater punishment than He has done.
“Oh, what peril attaches to sin willfully committed! For it is so difficult for man to bring himself to penance, and without penitence guilt remains and will ever remain, so long as man retains unchanged the will to sin, or is intent upon committing it.
CHAPTER 5
Of the peace and joy which are found in Purgatory
“The souls in Purgatory are entirely conformed to the will of God; therefore, they correspond with His goodness, are contented with all that He ordains, and are entirely purified from the guilt of their sins. They are pure from sins, because they have in this life abhorred them and confessed them with true contrition, and for this reason God remits their guilt, so that only the stains of sin remain, and these must be devoured by the fire. Thus freed from guilt and united to the will of God, they see Him clearly according to that degree of light which He allows them, and comprehend how great a good is the fruition of God, for which all souls were created. Moreover, these souls are in such close conformity to God, and are drawn so powerfully toward Him by reason of the natural attraction between Him and the soul, that no illustration or comparison could make this impetuosity understood in the way in which my spirit conceives it by its interior sense. Nevertheless I will use one which occurs to me.
CHAPTER 6
A comparison to express with how great violence of love the souls in Purgatory desire to enjoy God.
“Let us suppose that in the whole world there were but one loaf to appease the hunger of every creature, and that the bare sight of it would satisfy them. Now man, when in health, has by nature the instinct for food, but if we can suppose him to abstain from it and neither die, nor yet lose health and strength, his hunger would clearly become increasingly urgent. In this case, if he knew that nothing but the loaf would satisfy him, and that until he reached it his hunger could not be appeased, he would suffer intolerable pains, which would increase as his distance from the loaf diminished; but if he were sure that he would never see it, his Hell would be as complete as that of the damned souls, who, hungering after God, have no hope of ever seeing the bread of life. But the souls in Purgatory have an assured hope of seeing Him and of being entirely satisfied; and therefore they endure all hunger and suffer all pain until that moment when they enter into eternal possession of this bread, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour, and our Love.
The life of St St Catherine of Genoa Part 2
Her conversion is dated from the eve of St. Bernard, 1474, when she visited the church of St. Bernard, in Genoa, and prayed, so intolerable had life in the world become to her, that she might have an illness which would keep her three months in bed. Her prayer was not granted but her longing to leave the world persisted. Two days later she visited her sister Limbania in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and at Limbania's instance returned there on the morrow to make her confession to the nuns' confessor. Suddenly, as she was kneeling down at the confessional, "her heart was wounded by a dart of God's immense love, and she had a clear vision of her own wretchedness and faults and the most high goodness of God. She fell to the ground, all but swooning", and from her heart rose the unuttered cry, "No more of the world for me! No more sin!" The confessor was at this moment called away, and when he came back she could speak again, and asked and obtained his leave to postpone her confession.
Then she hurried home, to shut herself up in the most secluded room in the house, and for several days she stayed there absorbed by consciousness of her own wretchedness and of God's mercy in warning her. She had a vision of Our Lord, weighed down by His Cross and covered with blood, and she cried aloud, "O Lord, I will never sin again; if need be, I will make public confession of my sins." After a time, she was inspired with a desire for Holy Communion which she fulfilled on the feast of the Annunciation.
She now entered on a life of prayer and penance. She obtained from her husband a promise, which he kept, to live with her as a brother. She made strict rules for herself--to avert her eyes from sights of the world, to speak no useless words, to eat only what was necessary for life, to sleep as little as possible and on a bed in which she put briers and thistles, to wear a rough hair shirt. Every day she spent six hours in prayer. She rigorously mortified her affections and will.
Soon, guided by the Ladies of Mercy, she was devoting herself to the care of the sick poor. In her plain dress she would go through the streets and byways of Genoa, looking for poor people who were ill, and when she found them she tended them and washed and mended their filthy rags. Often she visited the hospital of St. Lazarus, which harbored incurables so diseased as to be horrible to the sight and smell, many of them embittered. In Catherine they aroused not disgust but charity; she met their insults with unfailing gentleness.
Her earliest biography gives details of her religious practices. From the time of her conversion she hungered insatiably for the Holy Eucharist, and the priests admitted her to the privilege, very rare in that period, of daily communion. For twenty-three years, beginning in the third year after her conversion, she fasted completely throughout Lent and Advent, except that at long intervals she drank a glass of water mixed with salt and vinegar to remind herself of the drink offered to Our Lord on the cross, and during these fasts she enjoyed exceptional health and vigor. For twenty-five years after her conversion she had no spiritual director except Our Lord Himself. Then, when she had fallen into the illness which afflicted the last ten years of her life, she felt the need for human help, and a priest named Cattaneo Marabotto, who had a position of authority in the hospital in which she was then working, became her confessor.
Some years after her conversion her husband was received into the Third Order of St. Francis, and afterwards he helped her in her works of mercy.
TREATISE ON PURGATORY (Part Three)
The divine fire which St. Catherine experienced in herself, made her comprehend the state of souls in Purgatory, and that they are contented there although in torment.
CHAPTER 7
Of the marvelous wisdom of God in the creation of Purgatory and of Hell.
“As the purified spirit finds no repose but in God, for whom it was created, so the soul in sin can rest nowhere but in Hell, which by, reason of its sins, has become its end. Therefore, at that instant in which the soul separates from the body, it goes to its prescribed place, needing no other guide than the nature of the sin itself, if the soul has parted from the body in mortal sin.
And if the soul were hindered from obeying that decree (proceeding from the justice of God), it would find itself in a yet deeper Hell, for it would be outside of the divine order, in which mercy always finds place and prevents the full infliction of all the pains the soul has merited. Finding, therefore, no spot more fitting, nor any in which her pains would be so slight, she casts herself into her appointed place.
“The same thing is true of Purgatory: the soul, leaving the body, and not finding in herself that purity in which she was created, and seeing also the hindrances which prevent her union with God, conscious also that Purgatory only can remove them, casts herself quickly and willingly therein. And if she did not find the means ordained for her purification, she would instantly create for herself a Hell worse than Purgatory, seeing that by reason of this impediment she is hindered from approaching her end, which is God; and this is so great an ill that in comparison with it the soul esteems Purgatory as nothing. True it is, as I have said, like Hell; and yet, in comparison with the loss of God it is as nothing.
CHAPTER 8
Of the necessity of Purgatory, and of its terrific character
“I will say furthermore: I see that as far as God is concerned, paradise has no gates, but he who will may enter. For God is all mercy, and His open arms are ever extended to receive us into His glory. But I see that the divine essence is so pure—purer than the imagination can conceive—that the soul, finding in itself the slightest imperfection, would rather cast itself into a thousand Hells than appear, so stained, in the presence of the divine majesty. Knowing, then, that Purgatory was intended for her cleaning, she throws herself therein, and finds there that great mercy, the removal of her stains.
“The great importance of Purgatory, neither mind can conceive nor tongue describe. I see only that its pains are as great as those of Hell; and yet I see that a soul, stained with the slightest fault, receiving this mercy, counts its pains as naught in comparison with this hindrance to her love. And I know that the greatest misery of the souls in Purgatory is to behold in themselves aught that displeases God, and to discover that, in spite of His goodness, they had consented to it. And this is because, being in the state of grace, they see the reality and the importance of the impediments which hinder their approach to God.
CHAPTER 9
How God and the soul reciprocally regard each other in Purgatory.—The saint confesses that she has no words to express these things.
“All these things that I have said, in comparison with those which have been represented to my mind (as far as I have been able to comprehend them in this life), are of such magnitude that every idea, every word, every feeling, every imagination, all the justice and all the truth that can be said of them, seem false and worthless, and I remain confounded at the impossibility of finding words to describe them.
“I behold such a great conformity between God and the soul, that when He finds her pure as when His divine majesty first created her He gives her an attractive force of ardent love which would annihilate her if she were not immortal. He so transforms her into Himself that, forgetting all, she no longer sees aught beside Him; and He continues to draw her toward Him, inflames her with love, and never leaves her until He has brought her to that state from whence she first came forth, that is, to the perfect purity in which she was created.
“When the soul beholds within herself the amorous flame by which she is drawn toward her sweet Master and her God, the burning heat of love overpowers her and she melts. Then, in that divine light she sees how God, by His great care and constant providence, never ceases to attract her to her last perfection, and that He does so through pure love alone. She sees, too, that she herself, clogged by sin, cannot follow that attraction toward God, that is, that reconciling glance which He casts upon her that He may draw her to Himself.
Moreover, a comprehension of that great misery, which it is to be hindered from gazing upon the light of God, is added to the instinctive desire of the soul to be wholly free to yield herself to that unifying flame. I repeat, it is the view of all these things which causes the pain of the suffering souls in Purgatory, not that they esteem their pains as great (cruel though they be), but they count as far worse, that opposition, which they find in themselves, to the will of that God, whom they behold burning for them with so ardent and so pure a love.
“This love, with its unifying regard, is ever drawing these souls, as if it had no other thing to do; and when the soul beholds this, if she could find a yet more painful Purgatory in which she could be more quickly cleansed, she would plunge at once therein, impelled by the burning, mutual love between herself and God.
THE LIFE OF ST. CATHERINE OF GENOA : Part 3
The time came when the directors of the great hospital in Genoa asked Catherine to superintend the care of the sick in this institution. She accepted, and hired near the hospital a poor house in which she and her husband lived out the rest of their days. Her prayers were still long and regular and her raptures frequent, but she so arranged that neither her devotions nor her ecstasies interfered with her care of the sick. Although she was humbly submissive even to the hospital servants, the directors saw the value of her work and appointed her rector of the hospital with unlimited powers. In 1497, she nursed her husband through his last illness. In his will he extolled her virtues and left her all his possessions.
Mrs. Charlotte Balfour underlined in her copy of the saint’s works an indicative extract from her teaching. “We should not wish for anything but what comes to us from moment to moment,” Saint Catherine told her spiritual children, “exercising ourselves none the less for good. For he who would not thus exercise himself, and await what God sends, would tempt God. When we have done what good we can, let us accept all that happens to us by Our Lord’s ordinance, and let us unite ourselves to it by our will. Who tastes what it is to rest in union with God will seem to himself to have won to Paradise even in this life.”
She was still only fifty-three years old when she fell ill, worn out by her life of ecstasies, her burning love for God, labor for her fellow creatures and her privations; during her last ten years on earth she suffered much. She died on the 15th of September, 1510, at the age of sixty-three. The public cult rendered to her was declared legitimate on the 6th of April, 1675. The process for her canonization was instituted by the directors of the hospital in Genoa where she had worked. Her heroic virtue and the authenticity of many miracles attributed to her having been proved, the bull for her canonization was issued by Pope Clement XII, on the 30th of April, 1737.
Saint Catherine’s authorship of the Treatise on Purgatory has never been disputed. But Baron von Hugel in his monumental work the “Mystical Element in Religion as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and her Friends” concludes convincingly, after a meticulous examination of the “Dialogue of the Blessed and Seraphic Saint Catherine of Genoa,” that its author was Battista Vernazza: “The entire Dialogue then is the work of Battista Vernazza.” Thus this work is not, as has been thought, the saint’s spiritual autobiography, nor indeed does it ever claim to be other than what it is, her spiritual biography. It is the life of her soul, dramatized by a younger woman who had known her and her intimates, who had a singular devotion to her, and who was peculiarly qualified to understand her experience.
(to be continued)
TREATISE ON PURGATORY (Part Four)
The divine fire which St. Catherine experienced in herself, made her comprehend the state of souls in Purgatory, and that they are contented there although in torment.
CHAPTER 10
How God makes use of Purgatory to complete the purification of the soul.—That she acquires therein a purity so great that if she were yet to remain after her purification she would cease to suffer.
“From that furnace of divine love I see rays of fire dart like burning lamps towards the soul; and so violent and powerful are they that both soul and body would be utterly destroyed, if that were possible. These rays perform a double office; they purify and they annihilate.
“Consider gold: the oftener it is melted, the more pure does it become; continue to melt it and every imperfection is destroyed. This is the effect of fire on all materials. The soul, however, cannot be annihilated in God, but in herself she can, and the longer her purification lasts, the more perfectly does she die to herself, until at length she remains purified in God.
“When gold has been completely freed from dross, no fire, however great, has any further action on it, for nothing but its imperfections can be consumed. So it is with the divine fire in the soul. God retains her in these flames until every stain is burned away, and she is brought to the highest perfection of which she is capable, each soul in her own degree. And when this is accomplished, she rests wholly in God. Nothing of herself remains, and God is her entire being. When He has thus led her to Himself and purified her, she is no longer passable, for nothing remains to be consumed. If when thus refined she should again approach the fire she would feel no pain, for to her it has become the fire of divine love, which is life eternal and which nothing mars.
CHAPTER 11
The desire of souls in Purgatory to be purified from every stain of sin.—The wisdom of God in veiling from them their defects.
“At her creation the soul received all the means of attaining perfection of which her nature was capable, in order that she might conform to the will of God and keep herself from contracting any stain; but being directly contaminated by Original Sin she loses her gifts and graces and even her life. Nor can she be regenerated save by the help of God, for even after baptism her inclination to evil remains, which, if she does not resist it, disposes and leads her to mortal sin, through which she dies anew.
“God again restores her by a further special grace; yet, she is still so sullied and so bent on herself, that to restore her to her primitive innocence, all those divine operations which I have described are needful, and without them she could never be restored. When the soul has reentered the path which leads to her first estate, she is inflamed with so burning a desire to be transformed into God, that in it she finds her Purgatory. Not, indeed, that she regards her Purgatory as being such, but this desire, so fiery and so powerfully repressed, becomes her Purgatory.
“This final act of love accomplishes its work alone, finding the soul with so many hidden imperfections, that the mere sight of them, were it presented to her, would drive her to despair. This last operation, however, consumes them all, and when they are destroyed God makes them known to the soul to make her understand the divine action by which her purity was restored.
CHAPTER 12
How joy and suffering are united in Purgatory
“That which man judges to be perfect, in the sight of God is defect. For all the works of man, which appear faultless when he considers them feels, remembers, wills and understands them, are, if he does not refer them to God, corrupt and sinful. For, to the perfection of our works it is necessary that they be wrought in us but not of us. In the works of God it is He that is the prime mover, and not man.
“These works, which God effects in the soul by Himself alone, which are the last operations of pure and simple love in which we have no merit, so pierce and inflame the soul that the body which envelops her seems to be hiding a fire, or like one in a furnace, who can find no rest but death. It is true that the divine love which overwhelms the soul gives, as I think, a peace greater than can be expressed; yet this peace does not in the least diminish her pains, nay, it is love delayed which occasions them, and they are greater in proportion to the perfection of the love of which God has made her capable.
“Thus have these souls in Purgatory great pleasure and great pain; nor does the one impede the other.
THE LIFE OF ST. CATHERINE OF GENOA : Part 4
Baron von Hugel believed that Saint Catherine first became acquainted with the Genoese notary, Ettore Vernazza, during the epidemic in Genoa in 1493, that is nineteen years after her conversion, when she was forty-six years old and he in his early twenties. She wrote of “a great compassion he had conceived when still very young, at the time the pestilence raged in Genoa, when he used to go about to help the poor”. Von Hugel describes him, after profound study of his life and works, as “a man of fine and keen, deep and world-embracing mind and heart, of an overflowing, ceaseless activity, and of a will of steel”. He was “the most intimate, certainly the most perceptive of Catherine’s disciples” and with Cattaneo Marabotto wrote the earliest life of her. In 1496 he married Bartolomea Ricci, and they had three daughters of whom the eldest, Tommasa, had Saint Catherine for godmother.
Little Tommasa was a sensitive, loving, bright child with a turn for writing, as she shewed in a few simple lines of verse which she wrote to her “most holy protectress” and “adored mother” when she was only ten. Was she addressing her godmother, or her mother in the flesh who died not long afterwards? Her father, after his wife’s death, sent her and her little sister Catetta to board in that convent of Augustinian canonesses in which Saint Catherine had not been allowed to take the veil. Perhaps the nuns had been taught by the saint that very young girls may have a true vocation to religion, for Tommasa was only thirteen when, on the 24th of June, 1510, she received in their house the habit of an Augustinian Canoness of the Lateran and changed her name to Battista. She spent all the rest of her ninety years on earth in that convent in Genoa.
Twelve weeks after her reception Saint Catherine died, and Baron von Hugel tentatively identifies Battista with an unnamed nun to whom, and to six other friends and disciples of the saint, Battista’s father among them, “intimations and communications of her passage and instant complete union with God” were vouchsafed at the moment of her death.
Battista’s literary remains include many letters, poetry--both spiritual canticles and sonnets, and several volumes of spiritual dissertations in which are “all but endless parallels and illustrations” to the teachings of Saint Catherine. She wrote also three sets of “Colloquies,” and in one of them relates certain of her own spiritual experiences. In all her writings, but especially in these narrations, Baron von Hugel notes the influence of Catherine’s doctrine and spiritual practices.
(to be continued)
TREATISE ON PURGATORY (Part Five)
The divine fire which St. Catherine experienced in herself, made her comprehend the state of souls in Purgatory, and that they are contented there although in torment.
CHAPTER 13
The souls in Purgatory are not in a state to merit.—How they regard the suffrages offered for them in this world.
“If by repentance, the souls in Purgatory could purify themselves, a moment would suffice to cancel their whole debt, so overwhelming would be the force of the contrition produced by the clear vision they have of the magnitude of every obstacle which hinders them from God, their love and their final end.
“And, know for certain that not one farthing of their debt is remitted to these souls. This is the decree of divine justice; it is thus that God wills. But, on the other hand, these souls have no longer any will apart from that of God, and can neither see nor desire aught but by His appointment.
“And if pious offerings be made for them, by persons in this world, they cannot now note them with satisfaction, unless, indeed, in reference to the will of God and the balance of His justice, leaving to Him the ordering of the whole, who repays Himself as best pleases His infinite goodness. Could they regard these alms apart from the divine will concerning them, this would be a return to self, which would shut from their view the will of God, and that would be to them like Hell. Therefore they are unmoved by whatever God gives them, whether it be pleasure or pain, nor can they ever again revert to self.”
CHAPTER 14
Of the submission of the souls in Purgatory to the will of God
“So hidden and transformed in God are they, that they rest content with all His holy will. And if a soul, retaining the slightest stain, were to draw near to God in the beatific vision, it would be to her a more grievous injury, and inflict more suffering, than Purgatory itself. Nor could God Himself, who is pure goodness and supreme justice, and the sight of God, not yet entirely satisfied (so long as the least possible purification remained to be accomplished) would be intolerable to her, and she would cast herself into the deepest Hell rather than stand before Him and be still impure.”
CHAPTER 15
Reproaches of the soul in Purgatory to persons in this world
"And thus this blessed Soul, illuminated by the divine ray, said: “Would that I could utter so strong a cry that it would strike all men with terror, and say to them: O wretched beings! Why are you so blinded by this world that you make, as you will find at the hour of death, no provision for the great necessity that will then come upon you?
“You shelter yourselves beneath your hope in the mercy of God, which you unceasingly exalt, not seeing that it is your resistance to His great goodness which will be your condemnation. His goodness should constrain you to do His will, not encourage you to persevere in your own. Since His justice is unfailing it must needs be in some way fully satisfied.
“Have not the boldness to say: ‘I will go to confession and gain a plenary indulgence and thus I shall be saved.’ Remember that the full confession and entire contrition which are requisite to gain a plenary indulgence are not easily attained. Did you know how hardly they are come by, you would tremble with fear and be more sure of losing than of gaining them.
THE LIFE OF ST. CATHERINE OF GENOA : Part 5
The Dialogue reproduces the incidents of the saint’s spiritual life as these are recorded in her earliest biography, and its doctrine is that embodied in the Treatise on Purgatory and in her recorded sayings, from which even its language is in large part derived. That its matter has passed through another mind, Battista’s, gives it an added interest: there is the curious, vivid dramatization; there is, in some passages, a poignant and individual quality; and there is an insight which proves that Battista herself was also a mystic, one who had spent all her days in the spiritual companionship of Saint Catherine. We are shewn not only the saint but also her reflection in the mirror which was Battista’s mind.
“A person”, says Von Hugel, speaking of Battista at the time when she wrote the Dialogue“living now thirty-eight years after Catherine’s death, in an environment of a kind to preserve her memory green.... Battista, the goddaughter of the heroine of the work, and the eldest, devoted daughter of the chief contributor to the already extant biography; a contemplative with a deep interest in, and much practical experience of, the kind of spirituality to be portrayed and the sort of literature required; a nun during thirty-eight years in the very convent where Catherine’s sister, one of its foundresses, had lived and died, and where Catherine herself had desired to live and where her conversion had taken place.”
The Dialogue, long generally accepted as Catherine’s own account of her spiritual life, has been allowed by the highest authorities to embody, with her Treatise on Purgatory, the saint’s doctrine. These two treatises and the earliest biography, translated into several languages, spread that doctrine and devotion to her throughout the Catholic world in the centuries between her death and her canonization. The bull which canonized her alludes to the Dialogue as an exposition of her doctrine: “In her admirable Dialogue she depicts the dangers to which a soul bound by the flesh is exposed.”
The Viscount Theodore Marie de Bussierne includes the Dialogue with the Treatise on Purgatory in his translation into French of the saint’s works, published in 1860. It was from this translation that Mrs. Charlotte Balfour translated the first half of the Dialogue into English. She meant to make an English version of all the saint’s works but had worked only on the Dialogue at the time of her death.
Her work has been carefully collated with the Italian original and revised where necessary, the edition used being that included in the beautiful “Life and Works” of Saint Catherine which was printed in Rome in 1737, the year of her canonization, by Giovanni Battista de Caporali, and dedicated to Princess Vittoria Altoviti de’ Corsini, the Pope’s niece. As here printed, the whole Dialogue may be regarded as translated from Battista Venazza’s original work. Mrs. Balfour would certainly have wished to acknowledge her debt to Monsieur de Bussierne’s French version. The latter part of the Dialogue and the whole Treatise on Purgatory have been directly translated from the 1737 Italian edition of the saint’s works.
Saint Catherine’s earliest biography concludes with the following words: “It remains for us to pray the Lord, of His great goodness and by the intercession of this glorious Seraphim, to give us His love abundantly, that we may not cease to grow in virtue, and may at last win to eternal beatitude with God who lives and reigns for ever and ever.”
THE END
TREATISE ON PURGATORY (Part Six)
The divine fire which St. Catherine experienced in herself, made her comprehend the state of souls in Purgatory, and that they are contented there although in torment.
CHAPTER 16
Showing that the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory do not prevent their peace and joy.
“I see that the souls in Purgatory behold a double operation. The first is that of the mercy of God; for while they suffer their torments willingly, they perceive that God has been very good to them, considering what they have deserved and how great are their offenses in His eyes. For if His goodness did not temper justice with mercy (satisfying it with the precious blood of Jesus Christ), one sin alone would deserve a thousand Hells. They suffer their pains so willingly that they would not lighten them in the least, knowing how justly they have been deserved. They resist the will of God no more than if they had already entered upon eternal life.
“The other operation is that satisfaction they experience in beholding how loving and merciful have been the divine decrees in all that regards them. In one instant God impresses these two things upon their minds, and as they are in grace they comprehend them as they are, yet each according to her capacity. They experience thence a great and never-failing satisfaction which constantly increases as they approach to God. They see all things, not in themselves, nor by themselves, but as they are in God, on whom they are more intent than on their sufferings. For the least vision they can have of God overbalances all woes and all joys that can be conceived. Yet their joy in God does by no means abate their pain.
CHAPTER 17
Which concludes with an application of all that has been said concerning the souls in Purgatory to what the saint experiences in her own soul.
“This process of purification, to which I see the souls in Purgatory subjected, I feel within myself, and have experienced it for the last two years. Every day I see and feel it more clearly. My soul seems to live in this body as in a Purgatory which resembles the true Purgatory, with only the difference that my soul is subjected to only so much suffering as the body can endure without dying, but which will continually and gradually increase until death.
“I feel my spirit alienated from all things (even spiritual ones) that might afford it nourishment, or give it consolation. I have no relish for either temporal or spiritual goods through the will, the understanding, or the memory, nor can I say that I take greater satisfaction in this thing than in that.
“I have been so besieged interiorly, that all things which refreshed my spiritual or my bodily life have been gradually taken from me, and as they departed, I learned that they were all sources of consolation and support. Yet, as soon as they were discovered by the spirit they became tasteless and hateful; they vanish and I care not to prevent it. This is because the spirit instinctively endeavors to rid itself of every hindrance to its perfection, and so resolutely that it would rather go to Hell than fail in its purpose. It persists, therefore, in casting off all things by which the inner man might nourish himself, and so jealously guards him, that no slightest imperfection can creep in without being instantly detected and expelled.
“As for the outward man, for the reason that the spirit has no correspondence with it, it is so oppressed that nothing on earth can give it comfort according to its human inclinations. No consolation remains to it but God, who, with great love and mercy accomplishes this work for the satisfaction of His justice. I perceive all this, and it gives me a great peace and satisfaction; but this satisfaction does by no means diminish my oppression or my pain. Nor could there possibly befall me a pain so great, that it could move me to swerve from the divine ordination, or leave my prison, or wish to leave it until God is satisfied, nor could I experience any woe so great as would be an escape from His divine decree, so merciful and so full of justice do I find it.
“I see these things clearly, but words fail me to describe them as I wish. What I have described is going on within my spirit, and therefore I have said it. The prison which detains me is the world; my chains, the body; the soul, illuminated by grace, comprehends how great a misery it is to be hindered from her final end, and she suffers greatly because she is very tender. She receives from God, by His grace, a certain dignity which assimilates her to Him, nay, which makes her one with Him by the participation of His goodness. And as it is impossible for God to suffer any pain, it is so also with those happy souls who are drawing nearer to Him. The more closely they approach Him the more fully do they share in His perfections.
“Any delay, then, causes the soul intolerable pain. The pain and the delay prevent the full action both of what is hers by nature, and of that which has been revealed to her by grace; and, not able as yet to possess and still essentially capable of possessing, her pain is great in proportion to her desire of God. The more perfectly she knows Him, the more ardent is her desire, and the more sinless is she. The impediments that bar her from Him become all the more terrible to her, because she is so wholly bent on Him, and when not one of these is left she knows Him as He is.
“As a man who suffers death, rather than offend God, does not become insensible to the pains of death, but is so illuminated by God that his zeal for the divine honor is greater than his love for life, so the soul, knowing the will of God, esteems it more than all outward or inward torments, however terrible; and this for the reason that God, for whom and by whom the work is done, is infinitely more desirable than all else that can be known or understood. And inasmuch as God keeps the soul absorbed in Himself and in His majesty, even though it be only in a slight degree, yet she can attach no importance to anything beside. She loses in Him all that is her own, and can neither see nor speak, nor yet be conscious of any injury or pain she suffers, but as I have said before it is all understood in one moment as she passes from this life. And finally, to conclude all, understand well, that in the almighty and merciful God, all that is in man is wholly transformed, and that Purgatory purifies him.”
THE END
ST. LEONARD OF PORT MAURICE
From his book The Hidden Treasure of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
A Mass Could Clear-Out Purgatory!
Let me remind you, that it was not by mere accident I told you before, that a single Mass, as far as itself is concerned, and in the sense of its intrinsic value, is sufficient to clear Purgatory of all the souls that are being purified there, nay, and to send them straight to Paradise; since the Divine Sacrifice is not only beneficial to the souls of the defunct, as propitiatory and satisfactory of their penance, but it also avails them as supplicatory, or, in other words, it obtains for them remission of the Purgatorial pains. Hence, the usage of the Church, which not only offers the Holy Mass for the souls in Purgatory, but prays in the Holy Sacrifice for their liberation; and in order that you may be excited to commiserate those holy souls, excluded for a while from the Beatific Vision, let me warn you, that the fire in which they are plunged is as devouring a fire, and nowise less dreadfully intense than that of Hell.
The Pains of Purgatory
This assertion is made on the authority of St. Gregory the Great, who, in his Dialogues, informs us, that “the flames of Purgatory are, as it were, the instrument of divine justice, operating with such terrible power as to render the agony of the souls detained there intolerable. These pains,” continues the Saint: “far exceed all the tribulations, nay, and martyrdoms that can be witnessed, felt, or imagined in this life;” but far more excruciating to them is the pain of loss, or in other words, the temporary exclusion from the beatific vision of God, which, according to the Angelic Doctor (St. Thomas), tortures them with an indescribable agony; a fierce and burning thirst to behold the Supreme Good that is denied to their yearnings.
So What About You?
Here now enter into your own heart, and weigh well what I am going to say. If it so happened, that you beheld your own father or mother drowning in a pool of water, and if you could save them by merely stretching out your hand, would you not consider yourself bound by the law of charity and of justice to stretch out your hand for their rescue? And how do you act? Aided by the light of Faith, you behold many and many a poor soul immersed in the sea of Purgatorial fires, nay, you behold, it may be, the souls of your nearest and dearest kinsfolk so circumstanced, and yet, will you be so heartless as not to bear the trifling inconvenience of assisting devoutly at one Mass for their release, or the alleviation of their agonies? What sort of a heart have you? Surely you cannot doubt, that even a single Mass can bring exceeding great comfort to those poor souls?
Think of This!
If (which God forbid) you have any doubt on this subject, let the words of St. Jerome, who deserves your firmest belief, bring conviction to your soul, and awaken in it a holy compassion. Ponder well what this holy Doctor of the Church tells you: “The souls in Purgatory, for whose comfort the priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, suffer no torment while Mass is being celebrated.” Nay more, he adds, that “at every Mass many souls are liberated from Purgatory, and ascend to Heaven.”
The Example of St. Peter Damian
Bear in mind also, that this charity or holy compassion for the poor souls in Purgatory will redound to your own good; and, although I might adduce many proofs in confirmation of this truth, I will confine myself to one well authenticated in the Life of St. Peter Damian. This holy servant of God, when a mere youngster, after losing his parents, was taken into the house of his brother, who treated him very cruelly, compelling him to go barefoot, ragged, and subjecting him to every sort of the most squalid poverty.
It so happened, that one day he found a trifling coin, I know not of what value. I leave you to imagine whether he rejoiced or not. As for himself, it seemed to him that he had lit upon a treasure. But how was he to spend it? His pitiable condition, so poor, and so cheerless, suggested to him many ways of employing the money which he had found; but after pondering the matter over and over again in his mind, he resolved to give the coin to a priest, as an alms for celebrating Mass for the holy souls in Purgatory. Well, will you believe it?! From that day forward his fortune was changed for the better, for he was adopted by another brother of amiable disposition, who took him into his house, treated him as his own child, clothed him comfortably and sent him to school, whence he afterwards came forth that great man and saint, an ornament to the red of Cardinals, and one of the most illustrious pillars of the Church―St. Peter Damian.
Grateful Poor Souls!
Now, you see how in one single Mass, which this holy personage caused to be celebrated at some trifling inconvenience, all this happiness had its origin. Oh, most Holy Mass, that at one and the same time benefits the living and dead! Oh, most Holy Sacrifice, so replete with blessings for time and for eternity! For you must bear in mind, that the souls in Purgatory are so grateful to their benefactors, that on being admitted into Heaven, they become their advocates, never ceasing in their holy petitions till they see them in possession of glory.
The Example of a Sinner
A singular proof of what I have here laid down is narrated in the history of a woman—a native of Rome—who for many years led a scandalous life, indulging her passions, and corrupting youth. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the infamy of her career, this unfortunate sinner very frequently caused Mass to be celebrated for the souls in Purgatory; and this, indeed, was the only good she ever did. Now, as we may piously believe, it was these souls who interceded so effectually for their benefactress, that she one day was seized with heartfelt sorrow for her sins--sorrow so vehement that she abandoned wickedness, flung herself at the feet of a zealous priest, made a good general confession, and died soon afterwards with such dispositions as left no doubt of her eternal salvation. This grace of conversion and happy death, so truly marvelous, was attributed by many to the virtue of the Masses which she caused to be celebrated for the holy souls in Purgatory. Let us, therefore, cast off tepidity, and be on our guard, lest “publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before us” (Matthew 21:31).
Hard-Hearted Miser?
If, unhappily, you were one of those hard-hearted misers, who not only lack common charity, neglecting to pray for their deceased friends, never assisting at a single Mass offered for the souls in Purgatory, and what is still worse, trampling on every dictate of justice, by refusing to pay the pious legacies, bequeathed by their predecessors for Masses; or if you were one of those priests who accumulate large sums given for Masses, which they neglect to celebrate―Oh, with what earnestness I would say to your face: “Begone, for you are worse than the worst devils; aye, infinitely worse, since the demons torment none but reprobate souls, whereas you torment the souls of the elect. No, there is no confession that can avail you; no absolution for you that is valid; nay, no confessor that can absolve you, if you do not repent sincerely of so tremendous a crime, and if you do not satisfy, to the last farthing, the obligations that you have contracted with the departed!”
"But I Can't Afford It!"
But you will say to me: “Father, I cannot—I have not the means!” What! You cannot, because you have not the means! But you have means to make fashionable display—means to gratify luxurious and voluptuous tastes—means to lavish on rich feastings, in country-houses, balls, merry-makings, sometimes in the public-house, and sometimes in the horrid dens of vice! But to satisfy your obligations to the living, and what is more, to the poor deceased, you have not the means, you cannot! For shame! But I now understand you rightly, and let me tell you that although there is no one on Earth to take you to task for this robbery of the dead, you shall, one day, have to square the account with God, at the bar of His judgment. Go on frustrating the intentions of the deceased, appropriating to yourselves their pious bequests, the monies they bequeathed for Masses, but remember that the oracle of the prophet has registered against you a terrible menace of misfortunes, sickness, worldly reverses, appalling calamities, and irreparable ruin of your substance, life, and honor.
Beware the Wrath of God
Yes, so hath God declared, and He will be true to His word. “They ate the sacrifices of the dead—thus they provoked him to anger.” (Psalm 105:28). Yes, yes! Ruin, disgrace, and woes without remedy shall overtake those who do not satisfy their obligations to the dead! With good reason, therefore, did the fourth Council of Carthage pronounce all those, guilty of this crime, excommunicated, branding them as murderers of their neighbors; and let me add, that the Council of Valence declared that they should be expelled from the Church like infidels. And yet, this is by no means the severest punishment that God inflicts on those whose hearts cherish no love for their deceased brethren! Ah, no! The full measure of their punishment is reserved for the other world, for St. James declares, that they shall be judged by God with all the rigor of His justice—without a single particle of mercy, because they showed no mercy to the poor departed. “Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy!” (James 2:13).
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap!
Nay, more, God will permit that their successors shall pay them in the same coin; that is, their last wishes shall not be fulfilled, neither shall the Masses, for which they have provided in their wills, be celebrated; or if celebrated, God will not accept them for their souls’ sake, but will turn them to the relief and release of deserving souls, who, during their mortal term, had pitying and prayerful hearts for their deceased brethren.
It is related in the Chronicles of our [Franciscan] Order, that one of our friars appeared, after death, to a companion, and showed him the marks of the bitter punishment he had to endure in Purgatory, particularly because he had been negligent in celebrating Masses for his deceased Brothers. He likewise declared, that all that had been done for him up to that moment was of no avail to him, and that the very Masses which had been offered for his repose afforded no benefit to him, because God, in punishment of his negligence, had applied them to other souls, who, while on Earth, acted compassionately to their brethren in Purgatory.
Fr. Frederick William Faber was born in England, 1814; ordained for the Church of England, 1839; received into Catholic Church, 1845; joined Cardinal Newman’s Oratory, 1848; died, 1863.
There have always been two views of Purgatory prevailing in the Church, not contradictory the one of the other, but rather expressive of the mind and devotion of those who have embraced them.
The first view is embodied in the terrifying sermons of the Italian Quaresimali, and in those wayside pictures which so often provoke the fastidiousness of the English traveler. It loves to represent Purgatory as a Hell which is not eternal. Violence, confusion, wailing, horror, preside over its descriptions. It dwells, and truly, on the terribleness of the pain of sense which the soul is mysteriously permitted to endure. The fire is the same fire as that of Hell, created for the single and express purpose of giving torture. Our earthly fire is as painted fire compared to it.
Besides this, there is a special and indefinable horror to the unbodied soul in becoming the prey of this material agony. The sense of imprisonment, close and intolerable, and the intense palpable darkness, are additional features in the horror of the scene, which prepare us for that sensible neighborhood to Hell, which many Saints have spoken of as belonging to Purgatory. Angels are represented as active executioners of God’s awful justice. Some have even held that the demons are permitted to touch and harass the spouses of Christ in those ardent fires. Then to this terribleness of the pain of sense, is added the dreadfulness of the pain of loss.
The beauty of God remains in itself the same immensely desirable object it ever was. But the soul is changed. All that in life and in the world of sense dulled its desires after God is gone from it, so that it seeks Him with an impetuosity which no imagination can at all conceive. The very burning excess of its love becomes the measure of its intolerable pain. What love can do even on earth we learn from the example of Father John Baptist Sanchez, who said he was sure he should die of misery, if any morning he rose he should know that he was certain not to die that day. To those horrors we might add many more which depict Purgatory simply as a Hell which is not eternal.
The second view of Purgatory does not deny any one of the features of the preceding view, but it almost puts them out of sight by the other considerations which it brings more prominently forward. It goes into Purgatory with its eyes fascinated and its spirit sweetly tranquilized, by the face of Jesus, its sight of the Sacred Humanity at the particular Judgment which it has undergone. That vision abides with it still, and beautifies the uneven terrors of its prison as if with perpetual silvery showers of moonlight which seem to fall from Our Savior’s loving eyes. In the sea of fire it holds fast by that image. The moment that in His sight it perceives its own unfitness for Heaven, it wings its voluntary flight to Purgatory, like a dove to her proper nest in the shadows of the forest. There need be no Angels to convey it thither. It is its own free worship of the purity of God.
In that moment the soul loves God most tenderly, and in return is most tenderly loved by Him. The soul is in punishment, true; but it is in unbroken union with God. It has no remembrance,‖says St. Catherine of Genoa most positively, no remembrance at all of its past sins or of earth.‖ Its sweet prison, its holy sepulcher, is in the adorable will of its heavenly Father, and there it abides the term of its purification with the most perfect contentment and the most unutterable love.
As it is not teased by any vision of self or sin, so neither is it harassed by an atom of fear, or by a single doubt of its own imperturbable security. It is impeccable; and there was a time on earth when that gift alone seemed as if it would contain all Heaven in itself. It cannot commit the slightest imperfection. It cannot have the least movement of impatience. It can do nothing whatever which will in the least displease God. It loves God above everything, and it loves Him with a pure and disinterested love. It is constantly consoled by Angels, and cannot but rejoice in the confirmed assurance of its own salvation. Nay; its very bitterest agonies are accompanied by a profound unshaken peace, such as the language of this world has no words to tell.
No sooner has a soul, with the guilt of no mortal sin upon it, but owing to God a debt of temporal punishment, issued from the world, and been judged, than it perceives itself to be confirmed in grace and charity (according to St. Catherine). It is incapable either of sinning or of meriting anymore; and it is destined by an eternal and immutable decree to enter one day as a queen into the kingdom of the blessed, to see, to love, and to enjoy God, the perpetual fountain of all felicity.
In that instant all the sins of its past are represented to the soul, whether mortal or venial, even though they have been remitted in lifetime by Contrition and the Sacrament of Penance. But after this transitory and instantaneous view of them, the soul remembers nothing more about them. The Saints’ words are: The cause of Purgatory, which these souls have in themselves, they see once for all, in passing out of this life, and never afterwards
The reason of this exhibition of sins is, she teaches us, to enable the soul in that moment, by an act, no longer indeed meritorious, but nevertheless a real act of the will, to detest all its sins afresh, and especially those venial sins for which it had not contrition in lifetime, either through the weakness of an imperfect heart, or through the accident of a sudden death, that so it may be strictly true, that no sin whatever is pardoned unless the sinner makes an act of detestation of it.
After this momentary view of sins and formal detestation of them, the soul perceives in itself their evil consequences and malignant legacies, and these form what the Saint calls the impediment of seeing God. The rust of sin, she says, is the impediment, and the fire keeps consuming the rust; and as a thing which is covered cannot correspond to the re-verberation of the sun’s rays, so, if the covering be consumed, the thing is at length laid open to the sun.
As soon as the soul perceives itself to be acceptable to God, and constituted heir of paradise, but unable, because of this impediment, to take immediate possession of its inheritance, it conceives an intense desire to be rid of this hindrance, this double obligation of guilt and punishment. But knowing that Purgatory alone can consume these two obligations, and that it is for that very end God condemns the soul to fire, it desires itself to endure the punishment. The soul separated from the body (these are the Saint’s words), not finding in itself this impediment which cannot be taken away except by Purgatory, at once throws itself into it with right good will.
Nay, if it did not find this ordinance of Purgatory aptly contrived for the removal of this hindrance, there would instantaneously be generated in it a Hell far worse than Purgatory, inasmuch as it would see that because of this impediment it could not unite itself to God Who is its end. Wherefore, if the soul could find another Purgatory fiercer than this, in which it could the sooner get rid of this impediment, it would speedily plunge itself therein, through the impetuosity of the love it bears to God.
But this is not all. The Saint goes on to teach that if the soul, laboring under this impediment, were free to choose between ascending at once, as it is, to paradise, and descending to suffer in Purgatory, it would choose to suffer, although the sufferings be almost as dreadful as those of Hell. These are her words:
“Of how much importance Purgatory is no tongue can tell, no mind conceive. So much I see, that its pain is almost as if it were that of Hell; and yet I see also that the soul which perceives in itself the slightest flaw or mote of imperfection, would rather throw itself into a thousand Hells, than find itself in the presence of the divine Majesty with that defect upon it; and, therefore, seeing Purgatory to be ordained for the very taking away of these flaws, forthwith it plunges into it, and it seems by its bearing, as I see, to conceive that it finds there an invention of no little mercy, simply in the being able to get rid of this impediment.”
“When the righteous soul has thus arrived in Purgatory, losing sight of everything else, it sees before it only two objects—the extremity of suffering, and the extremity of joys. A most tremendous pain is caused by knowing that God loves it with an infinite love, that He is the Chief Good, that He regards the soul as His daughter, and that He has predestined it to enjoy Him forever in company with the Blessed: and hence the soul loves Him with a pure and most perfect charity. At the same time it perceives that it cannot see Him or enjoy Him yet, though it so intensely yearns to do so; and this afflicts it so much the more, as it is quite uncertain when the term of its penal exile, away from its Lord and paradise, will be fulfilled.
This is the pain of loss in Purgatory, of which the Saint says that "it is a pain so extreme, that no tongue can tell it, no understanding grasp the least portion of it. Though God in His favor showed me a little spark thereof, yet can I not in any way express it with my tongue.”
Now let us examine the other object, the extremity of joy. As it loves God with the purest affection, and knows its sufferings to be the will of God in order to procure its purification, it conforms itself perfectly to the divine decree. While in Purgatory, it sees nothing but that this pleases God; it takes in no idea but that of His will; it apprehends nothing so clearly as the suitableness of this purification, in order to present it all fair and lovely to so great a majesty.
Thus, the Saint says: “If a soul, having still something left to be cleansed away, were presented to the Vision of God, it would be worse than that of ten purgatories; for it would be quite unable to endure that excessive goodness and that exquisite justice.
"Hence it is that the suffering soul is entirely resigned to the will of its Creator. It loves its very pains, and rejoices in them because they are a holy ordinance of God. Thus in the midst of the ardent heats it enjoys a contentment so complete that it exceeds the grasp of human intelligence to comprehend it. I do not believe that it is possible to find a contentment to compare with that of the souls in Purgatory, unless it be the contentment of the Saints in paradise. This contentment increases daily through the influx of God into those souls, and this influx increases in proportion as the impediment is consumed and worn away. Indeed, so far as the will is concerned, we can hardly say that the pains are pains at all, so contentedly do the souls rest in the ordinance of God, to whose will pure love unites them.”
In another place, St. Catherine says that this inexplicable jubilee of the soul, while it is undergoing Purgatory springs from the strength and purity of its love of God. “This love gives to the soul such a contentment as cannot be expressed. But this contentment does not take away one iota from the pain; nay, it is the retarding of love from the possession of its object which causes the pain; and the pain is greater according to the greater perfection of love of which God has made the soul capable. Thus the souls in Purgatory have at once the greatest contentment and the greatest suffering; and the one in no way hinders the other.”
As to prayers, alms, and Masses, she asserts that the souls experience great consolation from them; but that in these, as in other matters, their principal solicitude is that everything should be weighed in the most equitable scales of the Divine Will, leaving God to take His own course in everything, and to pay Himself and His justice in the way His own infinite goodness chooses to select.
SAINTS & THEOLOGIANS ON PURGATORY ~
FR. FREDERICK FABER
From his article entitled Purgatory (Part 2)
When she looked at herself with the light of supernatural illumination, she saw that God had set her up in the Church as an express and living image of Purgatory. She says: “This form of purification, which I behold in the souls in Purgatory, I perceive in my own soul now. I see that my soul dwells in its body as in a Purgatory altogether comformable to the true Purgatory, only in such measure as my body can bear without dying. Nevertheless, it is always increasing by little and little, until it reaches the point when it will really die.”
Her death was indeed most wonderful, and has always been considered as a martyrdom of Divine Love. So truly from the first has her position been appreciated, as the great doctor of Purgatory, that in the old life of her, the vita antica, examined by theologians in 1670, and approved in the Roman process of her canonization, and which was composed by Marabotto, her confessor, and Vernaza, her spiritual son, it is said: “Verily it seems that God set up this His creature as a mirror and an example of the pains of the other life, which souls suffer in Purgatory. It is just as if He had placed her upon a high wall, dividing this life from the life to come; so that, seeing what is suffered in that life beyond, she might manifest to us, even in this life, what we are to expect when we have passed the boundary.” This is a mere epitome of her wonderful and exquisitely beautiful treatise, which has given St. Catherine a rank among the theologians of the Church.
I suppose there is none of us who expects to be lost. We know and feel, with more or less of alarm, the greatness of the risk we are running; but to expect to be lost would be the sin of despair. Hell is only practical to us as a motive of greater diligence, greater strictness, greater circumspectness, greater fear. It is not so with Purgatory. I suppose we all expect, or think ourselves sure, to go there. If we do not think much of the matter at all, then we may have some vague notion of going straight to Heaven as soon as we are judged. But if we seriously reflect upon it, upon our own lives, upon God’s sanctity, upon what we read in books of devotion and the lives of the Saints, I can hardly conceive any one of us expecting to escape Purgatory, and not rather feeling that it must be almost a stretch of the divine mercy which will get us even there. It would more likely be vain presumption than heroic hope, if we thought otherwise. Now, if we really expect that our road to Heaven will be through the punishment of Purgatory, for surely its purification is penal, it very much concerns us to know what is common to both the views of Purgatory, which it appears prevail in the Church.
First, both these views agree that the pains are extremely severe, as well because of the office which God intends them to fulfil, as because of the disembodied soul being the subject of them. Both agree, also, in the length of the suffering. This requires to be dwelt upon, as it is hard to convince people of it, and a great deal comes of the conviction, both to ourselves and others. This duration may be understood in two ways: first, as of actual length of time, and, secondly, as of seeming length from the excess of pain. With regard to the first, if we look into the revelations of Sister Francesca of Pampeluna, we shall find, among some hundreds of cases, that by far the great majority suffered thirty, forty, or sixty years.
This disclosure may teach us greater watchfulness over ourselves, and more unwearied perseverance in praying for the departed. The old foundations for perpetual Masses embody the same sentiment. We are apt to leave off too soon, imagining with a foolish and unenlightened fondness that our friends are freed from Purgatory much sooner than they really are. If Sister Francesca beheld the souls of many fervent Carmelites, some of whom had wrought miracles in lifetime still in Purgatory ten, twenty, thirty, sixty years after their death, and still not near their deliverance, as many told her, what must become of us and ours? Then as to seeming length from the extremity of pain, there are many instances on record in the Chronicles of the Franciscans, the life of St. Francis Jerome, and elsewhere, of souls appearing an hour or two after death, and thinking they had been many years in Purgatory. Such may be the Purgatory of those who are caught up to meet the Lord at the Last Day.
Both views agree again in holding that what we in the world call very trivial faults are most severely visited in Purgatory. St. Peter Damian gives us many instances of this, and others are collected and quoted by Bellarmine. Slight feelings of self-complacency, trifling inattentions in the recital of the Divine Office, and the like, occur frequently among them. Sister Francesca mentions the case of a girl of fourteen in Purgatory, because she was not quite conformed to the will of God in dying so young: and one soul said to her: “Ah men little think in the world how dearly they are going to pay here for faults they hardly note there.”‖ She even saw souls that were immensely punished only for having been scrupulous in this life; either, I suppose, because there is mostly self-will in scruples, or because they did not lay them down when obedience commanded. Wrong notions about small faults may thus lead us to neglect the dead, or leave off our prayers too soon, as well as lose a lesson for ourselves.
Then, again, both views agree as to the helplessness of the Holy Souls. They lie like the paralytic at the pool. It would seem as if even the coming of the angel were not an effectual blessing to them, unless there be some one of us to help them. Some have even thought they cannot pray. Anyhow, they have no means of making themselves heard by us on whose charity they depend. Some writers have said that Our Blessed Lord will not help them without our co-operation; and that Our Blessed Lady cannot help them, except in indirect ways, because she is no longer able to make satisfaction; though I never like to hear anything our dearest mother cannot do; and I regard such statements with suspicion. Whatever may come of these opinions, they at least illustrate the strong way in which theologians apprehend the helplessness of the Holy Souls. Then another feature in their helplessness is the forgetfulness of the living, or the cruel flattery of relations who will always have it that those near or dear to them die the deaths of Saints. They would surely have a scruple, if they knew of how many Masses and prayers they rob the souls, by the selfish exaggeration of their goodness. I call it selfish, for it is nothing more than a miserable device to console themselves in their sorrow. The very state of the Holy Souls is one of the most unbounded helplessness. They cannot do penance; they cannot merit; they cannot satisfy; they cannot gain indulgences; they have no Sacraments; they are not under the jurisdiction of God’s Vicar, overflowing with the plentitude of means of grace and manifold benedictions. They are a portion of the Church without either priesthood or altar at their own command.
Those are the points common to both views of Purgatory; and how manifold are the lessons we learn from them, on our own behalf as well as on behalf of the Holy Souls. For ourselves, what light does all this throw on slovenliness, lukewarmness, and love of ease? What does it make us think of performing our devotions out of a mere spirit of formality, or a trick of habit? What diligence in our examens, confessions, Communions, and prayers! It seems as if the grace of all graces for which we should ever be importuning our dear Lord, would be to hate sin with something of the hatred wherewith He hated it in the garden of Gethsemane. Oh, is not the purity of God something awful, unspeakable, adorable? He, who is Himself a simple act, has gone on acting, multiplying acts since creation, yet he has incurred no stain! He is ever mingling with a most unutterable condescension with what is beneath Him—yet no stain! He loves His creatures with a love immeasurably more intense than the wildest passion of earth— yet no stain! He is omnipotent, yet it is beyond the limits of His power to receive a stain. He is so pure that the very vision of Him causes eternal purity and blessedness. Mary’s purity is but a fair thin shadow of it, and yet we, even we, are to dwell in His arms forever, we are to dwell amid the everlasting burnings of that uncreated purity! Yet, let us look at our lives; let us trace our hearts faithfully through but one day, and see of what mixed intentions, human respects, self-love, and pusillanimous temper our actions, nay, even our devotions, are made up of; and does not Purgatory, heated seven-fold and endured to the day of doom, seem but a gentle novitiate for the Vision of the All-holy?
SAINTS & THEOLOGIANS ON PURGATORY ~
FR. FREDERICK FABER
From his article entitled Purgatory (Part 3)
some persons turn in anger from the thought of Purgatory, as if it were not to be endured, that after trying all our lives long to serve God, we should accomplish the tremendous feat of a good death, only to pass from the agonies of the death-bed into fire, long, keen, searching, triumphant, incomparable fire. Alas, my dear friends, your anger will not help you nor alter facts! But have you thought sufficiently about God? Have you tried to realize His holiness and purity in assiduous meditation? Is there a real divorce between you and the world which you know is God’s enemy? Do you take God’s side? Are you devoted to His interests? Do you long for His glory? Have you put sin alongside of our dear Saviors’ Passion, and measured the one by the other?
Surely, if you had, Purgatory would but seem to you the last, unexpected, and inexpressibly tender invention of an obstinate love, which was mercifully determined to save you in spite of yourself. It would be a perpetual wonder to you, a joyous wonder, fresh every morning, a wonder that would be meat and drink to your soul, that you, being what you know yourself to be, what God knows you to be, should be saved eternally. Remember what the suffering soul said so simply, yet with such force, to Sister Francesca: "Ah! Those on that side of the grave little reckon how dearly they will pay on this side for the lives they live!”
To be angry because you are told you will go to Purgatory! Silly, silly people! Most likely it is a great false flattery, and that you will never be good enough to go there at all. Why, positively, you do not recognize your own good fortune, when you are told of it. And none but the humble go there. I remember Maria Crocifissa was told that although many of the Saints while on earth loved God more than some do even in Heaven, yet that the greatest Saint on earth was not so humble as are the souls in Purgatory. I do not think I ever read anything in the lives of the Saints which struck me so much as that. You see it is not well to be angry; for those only are lucky enough to get into Purgatory who sincerely believe themselves to be worthy of Hell.
But we not only learn lessons for our own good, but for the good of the Holy Souls. We see that our charitable attention towards them must be far more vigorous and persevering than they have been; for men go to Purgatory for very little matters, and remain there an unexpectedly long time. But their most touching appeal to us lies in their helplessness; and our dear Lord, with His usual loving arrangement, has made the extent of our power to help them more than commensurate with their ability to help themselves.
Some theologians have said that prayer for the Holy Souls is not infallibly answered. I confess their arguments on this head do not convince me; but, conceding the point, how wonderful still is the power which we can exercise in favor of the departed! St. Thomas has at least taught us that prayer for the dead is more readily accepted with God than prayer for the living. We can offer and apply for them all the satisfactions of Our Blessed Lord. We can do vicarious penance for them. We can give to them all the satisfactions of our ordinary actions, and of our sufferings. We can make over to them, by way of suffrage, the indulgences we gain, provided the Church has made them applicable to the dead. We can limit and direct to them, or any one of them, the intention of the Adorable Sacrifice. The Church, which has no jurisdiction over them, can yet make indulgences applicable or inapplicable to them by way of suffrage; and by means of liturgy, commemoration, incense, holy water, and the like, can reach efficaciously to them, and most of all by her device of privileged altars. The Communion of Saints furnishes the veins and channels by which all these things reach them in Christ. Heaven itself condescends to act upon them through earth. Their Queen helps them by setting us to work for them, and the Angels and the Saints bestow their gifts through us, whom they persuade to be their almoners; nay, we are often their almoners without knowing that we are so.
Our Blessed Lord vouchsafes to look to us, as if He would say: Here are my weapons, work for me! Just as a father will let his child do a portion of his work, in spite of the risk he runs in having it spoiled. To possess such powers, and not to use them, would be the height of irreverence towards God, as well as of want of charity to men. There is nothing so irreverent, because nothing so unfilial, as to shrink from God’s gifts simply because of their exuberance. Men have a feeling of safety in not meddling with the supernatural; but the truth is, we cannot stand aloof on one side and be safe. Naturalism is the unsafe thing. If we do not enter the system, and humbly take our place in it, it will draw us in, only to tear us to pieces when it has done so. The dread of the supernatural is the unsafest of feelings. The jealousy of it is a prophecy of eternal loss.
It is not saying too much to call devotion to the Holy Souls a kind of center in which all Catholic devotions meet, and which satisfies more than any other single devotion our duties in that way; because it is a devotion all of love, and of dis-interested love. If we cast an eye over the chief Catholic devotion, we shall see the truth of this. Take the devotion of St. Ignatius to the glory of God. This, if we may dare to use such an expression of Him, was the special and favorite devotion of Jesus. Now, Purgatory is simply a field white for the harvest of God’s glory. Not a prayer can be said for the Holy Souls, but God is at once glorified, both by the faith and the charity of the mere prayer.
Again, what devotion is justly more dear to Christians than the devotion to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus? It is rather a family of various and beautiful devotions, than a devotion by itself. Yet see how they are all, as it were, fulfilled, affectionately fulfilled, in devotion to the Holy Souls. The quicker the souls are liberated from Purgatory, the more is the bountiful harvest of His Blessed Passion multiplied and accelerated. An early harvest is a blessing, as well as a plentiful one; for all delay of a soul’s ingress into the praise of Heaven is an eternal and irremediable loss of honor and glory to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus.
How strangely things sound in the language of the sanctuary! Yet so it is. Can the Sacred Humanity be honored more than by the adorable sacrifice of the Mass? But here is our chief action upon Purgatory. Faith in His Sacraments as used for the dead is a pleasing homage to Jesus; and the same may be said of faith in indulgences and privileged altars and the like. The powers of the Church will flow from His Sacred Humanity, and are a perpetual praise and thank-offering to it. So, again, this devotion honors Him by imitating His zeal for souls. For this zeal is a badge of His people, and an inheritance for Him.
Devotion to our dearest Mother is equally comprehended in this devotion to the Holy Souls, whether we look at her as the Mother of Jesus, and so sharing the honors of His Sacred Humanity, or as Mother of Mercy, and so especially worshipped by works of mercy, or, lastly, whether we regard her, as in a particular sense, the queen of Purgatory, and so having all manner of dear interests to be promoted in the welfare and deliverance of those suffering souls.
Next to this we may rank devotion to the holy Angels, and this also is satisfied in devotion to the Holy Souls. For it keeps filling the vacant thrones in the angelic choirs, those unsightly gaps which the fall of Lucifer and one-third of the heavenly host occasioned. It multiplies the companions of the blessed spirits. They may be supposed also to look with an especial interest on that part of the Church which lies in Purgatory, because it is already crowned with their own dear gift and ornament of final perseverance, and yet, it has not entered at once into its inheritance as they did. Many of them also have a tender personal interest in Purgatory. Thousands, perhaps millions of them, are guardians to those souls, and their office is not yet over. Thousands have clients there who were specially devoted to them in life.
Neither is devotion to the Saints without its interests in this devotion for the dead. It fills them with the delights of charity, as it swells their numbers, and beautifies their ranks and orders. Numberless patron saints are personally in multitudes of souls. The affectionate relation between their clients and themselves not only subsists, but a deeper tenderness has entered into it, because of the fearful suffering, and a livelier interest because of the accomplished victory. They see in the Holy Souls their handiwork, the fruit of their patronage, the beautiful and finished crown of their affectionate intercession.
But there is another peculiarity in this devotion for the dead. It does not rest in words and feelings, nor does it merely —lead to action indirectly and at last. It is action itself, and thus it is a substantial devotion. It speaks and a deed is done; it loves and a pain is lessened; it sacrifices, and a soul is delivered. Nothing can be more solid. We might also dare to compare it, in its pure measure, to the efficacious voice of God, which works what it says, and effects what it utters and wills, and a creation comes.
The royal devotion of the Church is the works of mercy; and see how they are all satisfied in this devotion for the dead It feeds the hungry souls with Jesus, the Bread of Angels. It gives them to drink in their incomparable thirst, His Precious Blood. It clothes the naked with a robe of glory. It visits the sick with mighty powers to heal, and at the last consoles them by the visit. It frees the captives with a heavenly and eternal freedom, from a bondage far more dreadful than death. It takes in the strangers and Heaven is the hospice into which it receives them.
It buries the dead in the Bosom of Jesus in everlasting rest. When the last doom shall come, and our dearest Lord shall ask those seven questions of His judicial process, those interrogatories of the works of mercy, how happy will that man be, and it may be the poorest beggar amongst us who never gave any alms because he has had to live on alms himself, who shall hear his own defense sweetly and eloquently taken up by crowds of blessed souls, to whom he has done all these things while they waited in their prison-house of hope.
Another point of view, from which we may look at this devotion for the dead, is as a specially complete and beautiful exercise of the three theological virtues, of faith, hope, and charity, which are the supernatural fountains of our whole spiritual life.
Neither is this devotion a less heroic exercise of the theological virtue of hope, the virtue so sadly wanting in the spiritual life of these times. For, look what a mighty edifice this devotion raises: lofty, intricate, and of magnificent pro-portions, into which somehow or other all creation is drawn, from the little headache we offer up to the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, and which has to do even with God Himself.
Yet upon what does all this rest, except on a simple, childlike trust in God’s Fidelity, which is the supernatural motive of hope? We hope for the souls we help, and unbounded are the benedictions which we hope for in this regard. We hope to find mercy ourselves, because of our mercy; and this hope quickens our efforts without detracting from the merit of our charity. If we give away our own satisfaction, and the indulgences we gain, to the souls in Purgatory, instead of keeping them for ourselves, what is this but a heroic exercise of hope?
We throw ourselves upon God. We hardly face the thought that we ourselves are thus sentencing ourselves, it may be, to abide years and years longer in that unconquerable fire. We shut our eyes, we quell the rising thought, we give our alms, and throw ourselves on God. We shall not be defrauded of our hope. Who ever trusted Him, and His trust failed? No! No! All is right when it is left to God.
As to the charity of this devotion it dares to imitate even the charity of God Himself. What is there in Heaven or on earth which it does not embrace, and with such facility, with so much gracefulness, as if there were scarcely an effort in it, or as if self was charmed away, and might not mingle to distract it? It is an exercise of the love of God; for it is loving those whom He loves, and loving them because He loves them and to augment His glory, and multiply His praise. There are a hundred loves of God in this one love, as we should see if we reflected on those Holy Souls, and realized all that was implied in the final entry of a soul into everlasting bliss.
It is love towards the Sacred Humanity, because it magnifies the copious redemption of Jesus. It honors His merits, satisfactions, ordinances and mysteries. It peoples His Heaven, and it glorifies His Blood. It is filled with Jesus, with His spirit, with His work, with His power, with His victories. No less is it an exercise of love to our dearest Lady, as I have shown before; and to the Angels and Saints.
How abundant is its charity to the souls themselves; who can exaggerate, whether to give them the good measure of all the Church tells us to do, and some spontaneous alms besides; or the full measure of all our satisfactions during lifetime, and which are not by justice due elsewhere, as St. Gertrude gave them; or the measure shaken together, which adds that which shall be done for us when we are dead, like Father Munroy’s heroic act of self-renunciation; or the measure running over, which heaps upon all the rest special works of love, such as promoting this devotion by conversions, sermons, and books, and by getting Masses, Communions, penances, indulgences, from others for them.
All men living on the earth, even unconverted sinners, are included in it, because it swells the Church Triumphant, and so multiplies intercessors for us who are still warring upon earth. To ourselves also it is an exercise of charity, for it gains us friends in Heaven; it earns mercy for us when we ourselves shall be in Purgatory, tranquil victims, yet, oh, in what distress! And it augments our merits in the sight of God, and so, if only we persevere, our eternal recompense hereafter. Now, if this tenderness for the dead is such an exercise of these three theological virtues, and if again even heroic sanctity consists principally in their exercises, what store ought we not to set upon this touching and beautiful devotion!
But a further excellence in this devotion is to be found in its effects upon the spiritual life. It would seem as if it were a devotion specially intended for interior souls. But the fact is, that it is so full of doctrine, and embodies so much that is supernatural that we need not be surprised at the influence it exercises over the spiritual life. In the first place, it is a hidden work from first to last. We do not see the results, so that there is little food for vain-glory; neither is it a devotion the exercise of which appears in any way before the eyes of others.
It implies, moreover, an utter ignoring of self, by making away with our own satisfactions and indulgences, and keeping up a tender interest in an object which does not directly concern ourselves. It is not only for the glory of God, but it is for His greater glory, and for His sole glory. It leads us to think purely of souls, which is very difficult to do in this material world, and to think of them, too, simply as spouses of Jesus. We thus gain a habit of mind which is fatal to the spirit of the world and to the tyranny of human respect, while it goes far to counteract the poison of self-love.
The incessant thought of the Holy Souls keeps before us a continual image of suffering; and not merely passive suffering, but a joyful conformity to the will of God under it. Yet this is the very genius of the Gospel, the very atmosphere of holiness.
Furthermore, it communicates to us, as it were, by sympathy the feelings of those Holy Souls, and so increases our trembling, yet trustful, devotion to the adorable purity of God; and as, except in the case of indulgences applied to the dead, it requires a state of grace to make satisfaction for the sins of others, it is a special act of the lay priesthood of the members of Christ.
The spirit of the devotion is one of pensiveness; and this is an antidote to frivolity and hardness, and tells wonderfully upon the affectionate character which belongs to high sanctity. We can tell what will come after patient years of thus keeping constantly before our eyes a model of eagerness, unspeakable, patient eagerness, to be with our dearest Lord? It is almost omnipotent, almost omnipresent; because it is not so much he who lives as Christ who liveth in him!
What is it we are touching and handling every day of our lives, all so full of supernatural vigor, of secret unction, of divine force, and yet we consider it not, but waste intentions and trifle time away in the midst of this stupendous supernatural system of grace, as unreflecting almost as a stone embedded in the earth and borne round unconsciously in its impetuous revolutions, day by day.
QUTES OF SAINTS AND DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH
“Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth prepared no consolation for there own souls, who had the power to wash away their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them in the extent of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly giving alms to the poor on their behalf. Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit, when the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial Victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned as worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf” (Homilies on Philippians 3:9-10 [A.D. 402]}.
St. John Chrysostom also recommends to every Christian family that they have a box at some convenient place in their home and that they put into it pennies, which will be used to have masses said for the Poor Souls.
St. Augustine - “But by the prayers of the Holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death”.
“Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment” (The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]}.
We must say many prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, for one must be so pure to enter heaven. – Saint John Vianney
You are My Mother, the Mother of Mercy, and the consolation of the souls in Purgatory. - Saint Bridget to our Lady
The fire of Purgatory is the same as the fire of Hell; the difference between them is that the fire of Purgatory is not everlasting. – Saint John Vianney
"By assisting them we shall not only give great pleasure to God, but will acquire also great merit for ourselves. And, in return for our suffrages, these blessed souls will not neglect to obtain for us many graces from God, but particularly the grace of eternal life. I hold for certain that a soul delivered from Purgatory by the suffrages of a Christian, when she enters paradise, will not fail to say to God: "Lord, do not suffer to be lost that person who has liberated me from the prison of Purgatory, and has brought me to the enjoyment of Thy glory sooner than I have deserved.
Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment.” - St. Augustine of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church, The City of God
For every one will be salted with fire. - Mark 9:49
Yet how quickly we could empty purgatory if we but really wished to."– Saint John Vianney
That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire. - St. Augustine of Hippo,
The clients of this most merciful Mother are very fortunate. She helps them both in this life and in the next, consoling them and sponsoring their cause in Purgatory. For the simple reason that the Souls in Purgatory need help so desperately, since they cannot help themselves, our Mother of Mercy does so much more to relieve them. She exercises over these Poor Souls, who are the spouses of Christ, particular dominion, with power to relieve them and even deliver them from their pains. See how important it is then to have devotion to this good Lady, because she never forgets her servants as long as they suffer in these flames. If she helps all the Poor Souls, she is especially indulgent and consoling to her own clients. - Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church, The Glories of Mary
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them - -John Chrysostom
I am the Mother of all the Poor Souls, for my prayers serve to mitigate their sufferings every single hour that they remain there (purgatory). - -Our Blessed Lady to Saint Bridget
But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire. – 1 Corinthians 3:15
Consider then...the magnitude of these sufferings which the souls in Purgatory endure; and the means which we have of mitigating them: our prayers, our good works, and, above all, the holy sacrifice of the Mass. – Saint John Vianney
I do not think that part from the felicity of Heaven, there can be a joy comparable to that experienced by the souls in Purgatory. An incessant communication from God renders their joy more vivid from day to day: and this communication becomes more and more intimate, to the extent that it consumes the obstacles still existing in the soul….On the other hand, they endure pain so intense, that no tongue is able to describe it. Nor is any mind capable of comprehending the smallest spark of that consuming fire, unless God should show it to him by a special grace. - Saint Catherine of Siena
I come to tell you that they suffer in Purgatory, that they weep, and that they demand with urgent cries the help of your prayers and your good works. I seem to hear them crying from the depths of those fires which devour them: "Tell our loved ones, tell our children, tell all our relatives how great the evils are which they are making us suffer. We throw ourselves at their feet to implore the help of their prayers. Ah! Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames! – Saint John Vianney
The practice of recommending to God the souls in Purgatory, that He may mitigate the great pains which they suffer, and that He may soon bring them to His glory, is most pleasing to the Lord and most profitable to us. For these blessed souls are His eternal spouses, and most grateful are they to those who obtain their deliverance from prison, or even a mitigation of their torments. When, therefore, they arrive in Heaven, they will be sure to remember all who have prayed for them.'- St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
What years of Purgatory will there be for those Christians who have no difficulty at all in deferring their prayers to another time on the excuse of having to do some pressing work! If we really desired the happiness of possessing God, we should avoid the little faults as well as the big ones, since separation from God is so frightful a torment to all these poor souls! – Saint John Vianney
The more one longs for a thing, the more painful does deprivation of it become. And because after this life, the desire for God, the Supreme Good, is intense in the souls of the just (because this impetus toward him is not hampered by the weight of the body, and that time of enjoyment of the Perfect Good would have come) had there been no obstacle; the soul suffers enormously from the delay. - Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Doctor.
GREAT STORIES AND ENCOUNTER OF SAINTS WITH THE HOLY SOULS.
SAINT NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO
Augustinian Friar Patron of the Souls in Purgatory
Nicholas Gurrutti was born in the village of Sant’ Angelo in Pontano, Italy, in 1245. His parents, middle aged and childless, made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Nicholas of Bari, their special patron. Shortly thereafter a son was born to them whom they named Nicholas out of gratitude.
At an early age Nicholas was greatly moved by the preaching of an Augustinian, Fr. Reginaldo, prior of the monastery in Sant’ Angelo, and requested admission to the community. He was accepted and made his novitiate in 1261. Nicholas directed all his efforts to being a good religious and priest. Those who knew him saw him as a simple religious, full of charity for his brothers and for God’s people. He devoted himself to prayer and works of penance with such intensity that at times it was necessary for his superiors to impose limitations on him. At one point he had so weakened his body through fasting that he was encouraged to eat a piece of bread signed with the cross and soaked in water to regain his strength.
He was ordained a priest in 1271 and lived in several monasteries of the Order in the ministry of preaching. In 1275 he was sent to Tolentino and remained there for the rest of his life. Nicholas worked to fight the decline of morality and religion which came with the development of city life in the late 13th century. He ministered to the sick and poor and sought out those who became estranged from the Church.
His reputation as a saintly man and a worker of miracles led many people to the monastery of Tolentino. Many of the cures obtained through his prayers were received while he himself was ill.
Nicholas died in Tolentino on September 10, 1305. He was declared a saint and “Protector of the Universal Church” in 1446. In 1884 Nicholas was proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII “Patron of the Souls in Purgatory”.
Nicholas is buried in the basilica in Tolentino which bears his name. His feast is celebrated on September 10th.
The Story of St Lidwina and the Sins of Lust not Expiated
St Lidwina saw in Purgatory a soul that suffered also for mortal sins not sufficiently expiated on earth. The incident is thus related in the Life of the saint.
A man who had been for a long time a slave of the demon of impurity, finally had the happiness of being converted. He confessed his sins with great contrition, but, prevented by death, he had not time to atone by just penance for his numerous sins. Lidwina, who knew him well, prayed much for him.
Twelve years after his death she continued to pray, when, in one of herecstasies, being taken into Purgatory by her angel-guardian, she heard a mournful voice issuing from a deep pit.
"It is the soul of that man" said the angel, "for whom you have prayed with much fervour and constancy." She was astonished to see him so deep in Purgatory twelve years after his death. The angel, seeing her so greatly affected, asked if she was willing to suffer something for his deliverance. "With all my heart," replied the charitable maiden.
From that moment she suffered new pains and frightful torments, which appeared to surpass the strength of human endurance. Nevertheless, she bore them with courage, sustained by a charity stronger than death,until it pleased God to send her relief.
She then breathed as one restored to a new life, and, at the same time, she saw that soul for which she had suffered so much come forth from the abyss as white as snow and take its flight to Heaven.
Taken from: Purgatory Explained Authored by: Father F.X. Shouppe, S.J.
St. Lutgarda and the Preacher John de Lierre
Let us add here a consoling fact, which we find in the life of St. Lutgarda. A celebrated preacher, named John de Lierre, was a man of great piety and well known to our saint. He had made a contract with her, by which they mutually promised that the one who should die first, with the permission of God, should appear to the other.
John was the first to depart this life. Having undertaken a journey to Rome for the arrangement of certain affairs in the interest of the Religious, he met his death among the Alps. Faithful to his promise, he appeared to Lutgarda in the celebrated cloister of Aywieres.
On seeing him, the saint had not the slightest idea that he was dead, and invited him, according to the Rule, to enter the parlor that she might converse with him. "I am no more of this world," he replied, "and I am come here only in fulfillment of my promise."
At these words Lutgarda fell on her knees and remained for some time quite confounded. Then, raising her eyes to her blessed friend, "Why," said she, "are you clothed in such splendor? What does this triple robe signify with which I see you adorned?"
"The white garment," he replied, "signifies virginal purity, which I have always preserved; the red tunic implies the labors and sufferings which have prematurely exhausted my strength; and the blue mantle, which covers all, denotes the perfection of the spiritual life."
Having said these words, he suddenly left Lutgarda, who remained divided between regret for having lost so good a Father, and the joy she experienced on account of his happiness.
From: Purgatory Explained By: Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J.
In the Life of St. Lutgarda, written by her contemporary, Thomas de Cantempré, mention is made of a Religious who was otherwise fervent, but who for an excess of zeal was condemned to forty years of Purgatory.
This was an Abbot of the Cistercian Order, named Simon, who held St. Lutgarda in great veneration. The saint, on her part, willingly followed his advice, and in consequence a sort of spiritual friendship formed between them. But the Abbot was not as mild toward his subordinates as he was towards the saint.
Severe with himself, he was also severe in his administration, and carried his exactions in matters of discipline even to harshness, forgetting the lesson of the Divine Master, who teaches us to be meek and humble of heart.
Having died, and whilst St. Lutgarde was fervently praying and imposing penances upon herself for the repose of his soul, he appeared to her, and declared that he was condemned to forty years of Purgatory. Fortunately he had in Lutgarda a generous and powerful friend. She redoubled her prayers and austerities, and having received from God the assurance that the departed soul should soon be delivered, the charitable saint replied, "I will not cease to weep; I will not cease to importune your Mercy until I see
him freed from his pains."
Since I am mentioning St. Lutgarda, ought I to speak of the celebrated apparition of Pope Innocent. I acknowledge the perusal of this incident shocked me, and I would fain pass it over in silence.
I was reluctant to think that a Pope, and such a Pope, had been condemned to so long and terrible a Purgatory. We know that Innocent, who presided at the celebrated Council of Latern in 1215, was one of the greatest Pontiffs who ever filled the chair of St. Peter. His piety and zeal led him to accomplish great things for the Church of God and holy discipline.
How, then, admit that such a man was judged with so great severity at the Supreme Tribunal? How reconcile this revelation of St. Lutgarda with Divine Mercy? I wished, therefore, to treat it as an illusion, and sought for reasons in support of this idea. But I found, on the contrary, that the reality of this apparition is admitted by the gravest authors, and that it is not rejected by any single one. Moreover, the biographer, Thomas de Cantimpré, is very explicit, and at the same time very reserved. "Remark, reader," he writes at the end of his narrative, "that it was from the mouth of the pious Lutgarda herself that I heard of the faults revealed by the defunct, and which I omit here through respect for so great a Pope."
Aside from this, considering the event in itself, can we find any good reason, for calling it into question? Do we not know that God makes no exception of persons--that the Popes appear before His tribunal like the humblest of the faithful--that all the great and the lowly are equal before Him, and that each one
receives according to his works?
Do we not know that those who govern others have a great responsibility, and will have to render a severe account? "A most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule." It is the Holy Ghost that declares it. (Wisdom vi.6)
Now, Innocent reigned for eighteen years, and during most turbulent times; and, add the Bollandists, is it not written that the judgments of God are inscrutbale, and often very different from the judgments of men? Judica tua abyssus multa. (Psalm xxxv.7)
The reality of this apparition cannot, then, be reasonably called into question. I see no reason for omitting it, since God does not reveal mysteries of this nature for any other purpose than that they should be made known for the edification of His Church.
Pope Innocent died July 16, 1216. The same day he appeared to St. Lutgarda in her monastery at Aywieres, in Brabant. Surprised to see a spectre enveloped in flames, she asked who he was and what he wanted.
"I am Pope Innocent," he replied. "Is it possible that you, our common Father, should be in such a state?" "It is but too true. I am expiating three faults which might have caused my eternal perdition. Thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I have obtained pardon for them, but I have to make atonement. Alas!
It is terrible; and it will last for centuries if you do not come to my assistance. In the name of Mary, who has obtained for me the favor of appealing to you, help me."
With these words he disappeared. Lutgarda announced the Pope's death to her sisters, and together they betook themselves to prayer and penitential works in behalf of the august and venerated Pontiff, whose demise was communicated to them some weeks later from another source.
Taken from: Purgatory Explained Authored by: Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J.
Published by: www.TanBooks.com
St. Bernard highly praises St. Malachy for his devotion towards the souls in Purgatory. When he was a deacon, he loved to assist at the funerals of the poor, accompanying their remains to the cemetery with as much zeal as he ordinarily saw those unfortunate creatures neglected after their death. He had a sister, filled with the spirit of the world who thought her brother degraded himself and his family by associating with the poor. She understood neither Christian Charity nor the excellence of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He told his sister that she had forgotten the teaching of Jesus and that she would one day repent of her thoughtless words.
His sister died while still young and went to render an account to the Sovereign Judge of the worldly life she had led. St. Malachy offered the Holy Sacrifice for her and prayed much for her. In time, having many others to pray for, he neglected his poor sister. She appeared to her brother during his sleep. He saw her standing in the middle of the area before the church, sad, clad in mourning, and entreating his compassion, complaining that for the last thirty days he had neglected her. He awoke suddenly and remembered in reality it was thirty days since he had celebrated Mass for his sister. On the following day he began anew to offer the Holy Sacrifice for her. Then she appeared to him at the door of the church, kneeling upon the threshold, and lamenting that she was not allowed to enter. He continued his suffrages. Some days later he saw her enter the church and advance as far as the middle of the aisle, without being able to approach the altar. He saw it was necessary to persevere, so he continued to offer the Holy Sacrifice for the repose of her soul. Finally, after a few days he saw her near the altar, clad in magnificent attire, radiant with joy, and free from suffering.
“By this we see,” adds St. Bernard, “how great is the efficacy of the Holy Sacrifice to remit sins, to combat the powers of darkness, and to open the gates of Heaven to those souls which have quitted this earth.”
The Story of St. Peter Claver & Two Women
St. Peter Claver, of the Company of Jesus, Apostle of the Negroes of Carthagena, knew of the Purgatory of two souls, who had led poor and humble lives upon earth; their sufferings were reduced to a few hours. We find the following account of it in the Life of this great servant of God.
He had persuaded a virtuous negress, named Angela, to take into her house another negress named Ursula, who had lost the use of her limbs and was covered with sores.
One day when he went to visit them, as he did from time to time, to hear their confessions and to carry them some little provisions, the charitable host told him with grief that Ursula was at the point of death."No, no," replied the Father, consoling her, "she has yet four days to live, and she will not die until Saturday."
When Saturday came, he said Mass for her intention, and went out to prepare her for death. After spending sometime in prayer, he said to the hostess with an air of confidence, "Be consoled, God loves Ursula; she will die to-day, but she will be only three hours in Purgatory. Let her remember me when she shall be with God, that she may pray for me, and for the one who until now had been a mother to her." She died at noon, and the fulfilment of one part of the prophecy gave great reason for belief in the accomplishment of the other.
Another day, having gone to hear the confession of a poor sick person whom he was accustomed to visit, he learned that she was dead. The parents were extremely afflicted, and he himself, who had not believed her to be so near her end, was inconsolable at the thought of not having been able to assist her in her last moments.
He knelt down to pray by the corpse, then suddenly rising, with a serene countenance he said, "Such a death is more worthy of our envy than our tears; this soul is condemned to Purgatory, but only for twenty-four hours. Let us endeavour to shorten this time by the fervour of our prayers."
Enough has been said on the duration of the pains. We see that they may be prolonged to an appalling degree; even the shortest, if we consider their severity, are long. Let us endeavour to shorten them for others and to mitigate them for ourselves, or better still to prevent them altogether.
Taken from: Purgatory Explained by: Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J.
Bl. Ana of the Angels--a lover of the Holy Souls
Bl. Ana of the Angels, was a Dominican cloistered nun of Peru. Like any Dominican nun worth her salt she lived to a good old age, dying at 90 years of age! Following is a brief account of her life:
Ana de Monteagudo y Ponce de Leon was born in the Peru in the city of Arequipa in 1602. At the age of fourteen Ana was withdrawn from school for a marriage arranged by her father but she resisted vehemently. Persecution by her father and family only served to intensify her decision to become a Dominican nun. St. Catherine of Siena appeared to her and showed her a white habit, saying: "Ana, my child, I have prepared this habit for you. Leave all to God. Nothing will be wanting to you."
Ana's fears vanished and she fled to the monastery of St. Catherine by night. Next morning her irate father rushed to the monastery and heaped verbal abuse on his daughter, humiliating her in front of the nuns and telling her he would never pay the dowry needed for her profession. She was disinherited and abandoned by her father. Eventually, her brother who was a priest, provided the dowry. Once professed in the monastery, Ana's nobility, courage, modesty, prayerfulness, and humility won the heart of the community. She was elected successively novice-mistress, sacristan, and prioress. At a hint of the bishop, she undertook a reform of the community whose worldliness and laxity had begun to cause gossip in the city. However the rigor of her reform aroused lively resentment and even threats of resistance and bodily harm. Heaven blessed the courage of Ana with remarkable charisma. She became universally admired among the people for prophecy, bilocation, supernatural discernment, visions, and miracles. Peruvians and foreigners sought her prayers and counsel.
King Phillip IV of Spain, a Dominican tertiary, appeared to Ana after his death in 1665 asking her intercession and revealed to her later that he entered heaven three days after his death thanks to her prayers. Ana's spiritual life was molded largely on that of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Patron of Holy Souls. One day she beheld in a vision the Mother of God seated on a golden throne with St. Nicholas and a legion of angels beside her. St. Nicholas conducted her to Purgatory where she saw with horror a great throng of souls crowded together in the purifying flames. The saint said to her: "On earth I helped the Poor Souls; I now consign that noble office to you." The compassionate nun offered to take upon herself the sufferings of the most abandoned souls in Purgatory and God accepted the offer. Although she was by this time 80 years of age, she accepted the unusual apostolate and suffered ten years of moral and physical torments. She was a beautiful model of the purest chastity and of the communion of saints. Ana's decade of atonement, during which she lost her sight completely, was sweetened by periods of divine consolation. Angels came to relieve her suffering and souls from Purgatory appeared at her bedside to thank her for her prayers.
St. Bernard appeared with the Sacred Host for her communion and adoration. St. Nicholas showed her the thousands of souls which had entered heaven thanks to her charity.
Ana died on January 10, 1686 at the age of ninety and when her body was later exhumed it was found incorrupt and fragrant. Many miracles of healing occurred during and after her burial. Pope Paul VI declared her venerable in 1975 and Pope John Paul II beatified her in February of 1985.
The Cause of Suffering, Doctrines of Suarez & St. Catherine of Genoa
Why must souls thus suffer before being admitted to see the face of God? What is the matter, what is the subject of these expiations? What has the fire of Purgatory to purify, to consume in them? It is, say the doctors, the stains left by their sins.
The souls in Purgatory retain not the slightest stain of guilt; the venial guilt which they had at the moment of their death has disappeared in the order of pure charity, with which they are inflammed in the other life, but they still bear the debt of suffering which they had not discharged before death.
This debt proceeds from all the faults committed duing their life, especially from mortal sins remitted as to the guilt, but which they have neglected to expiate by worthy fruits of exterior penance.
Such is the common teaching of theologians, which Suarez sums up in his "Treatise on the Sacrament of Penance”. "We conclude then," he says, "that all venial sins with which a just man dies are remitted as to the guilt, at the moment when the soul is separated from the body, by virtue of an act of love of God, and the perfect contrition which it then excites over all its past faults. In fact, the soul at this moment knows its condition perfectly, and the sins of which it has been guilty before God; at the same time, it is mistress of its faculties, to be able to act.
On the other hand, on the part of God, the most efficacious helps are given to her, that she may act according to the measure of sanctifying grace which she possesses. It follows, then, that in this perfect disposition, the soul acts without the least hesitation. It turns directly towards its God, and finds itself freed from all its venial sins by an act of sovereign loathing of sin. This universal and efficacious act suffices for the remission of their guilt.
All stain of guilt has then disappeared; but the pain remains to be endured, in all its rigor and long duration, at least for those souls that are not assisted by the living. They cannot obtain the least relief for themselves, because the time of merit has passed; they can no longer merit, they can but suffer, and in that way pay to the terrible justice of God all that they owe, even to the last farthing. (Matt 5:26)
These debts of pain are the remains of sin, and a kind of stain, which intercepts the vision of God, and places an obstacle to the union of the soul with its last end. Since the souls in Purgatory are freed from the guilt of sin, writes St. Catherine of Genoa, there is no other barrier between them and their union with God save the remains of sin, from which they must be purified.
This hindrance which they feel within them causes them to suffer the torments of the damned, of which I have spoken elsewhere, and retards the moment when the instinct by which they are drawn towards God as to their Sovereign Beatitude will attain its full perfection. They see clearly how serious before God is even the slightest obstacle raised by the remains of sin, and that it is by necessity of justice that He delays the full gratification of their desire of everlasting bliss.
This sight enkindles within them a burning flame, like that of Hell, yet without the guilt of sin.
Taken from: Purgatory Explained Authored by: Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J.
ST. GERTRUDE AND THE POOR SOULS
St. Gertrude entertained a deep compassion for the souls in Purgatory. At Holy Communion she besought our loving Savior with tender, fervent petitions, to be merciful to these dear sufferers. Once Gertrude prayed with particular fervor for the faithful departed. On asking Our Lord how many souls His mercy would deliver, she received this reply: “My love urges Me to release the poor souls. If a beneficent king leaves his guilty friend in prison for justice’s sake, he awaits with longing for one of his nobles to plead for the prisoner and to offer something for his release. Then the king joyfully sets him free. Similarly, I accept with highest pleasure what is offered to Me for the poor souls, for I long inexpressibly to have near Me those for whom I paid so great a price. By the prayers of thy loving soul, I am induced to free a prisoner from purgatory as often as thou dost move thy tongue to utter a word of prayer!”
Our Savior also instructed Gertrude for whom she should pray most. On the day when the community commemorated in common the death of their parents, our saint saw the happy souls ascend from dense darkness like sparks from a flaming forge. She inquired if all these were relatives. Our Lord replied: “I am thy nearest relative, thy father and thy mother. Therefore, My special friends are thy nearest relatives, and these are among those whom I have liberated.”
(taken from St. Gertrude the Great by Tan Books and Publishers)
An Account of Purgatory -St Magdalen de Pazzi-
The following is an account of that of St. Magdalen de Pazzi, a Florentine Carmelite, as it is related in her Life by Father Cepare.
Some time before her death in 1607, the servant of God, Magdalen de Pazzi, being one evening with several other Religious in the garden of the convent, was ravished in ecstasy, and saw Purgatory open before her. At the same time, a voice invited her to visit all the prisons of Divine Justice, and to see how truly worthy of compassion are the souls detained there.
At this moment she was heard to say, "Yes, I will go." She consented to undertake this painful journey. In fact, she walked for two hours round the garden, which was very large, pausing from time to time. Each time she interrupted her walk, she contemplated attentively the sufferings which were shown to her. She was then seen to wring her hands in compassion, her face became pale, her body bent under the weight of suffering, in presence of the terrible spectacle with which she was confronted.
She began to cry aloud in lamentation, "Mercy, my God, mercy! Descend, O Precious Blood, and deliver these souls from their prison. Poor Souls! you suffer so cruelly, and yet you are content and cheerful. The dungeons of the martyrs in comparison with these were gardens of delight. Nevertheless there are others still deeper. How happy should I esteem myself were I not obliged to go down into them."
She did descend, however, for she was forced to continue her way. But when she had taken a few steps, she stopped terror-stricken, and, sighing deeply, she cried, "What! Religious also in this dismal abode! Good God! how they are tormented! Ah, Lord!" She does not explain the nature of their sufferings; but the horror which she manifested in contemplating them caused her to sigh at each step. She passed then into less gloomy places. They were the dungeons of simple souls, and of children in whom ignorance and lack of reason extenuated many faults. Their torments appeared to her much more endurable than those of the others. Nothing but ice and fire were there. She noticed that these souls had their guardian angels with them, who fortified them greatly by their presence; but she saw also demons whose dreadful forms increased their sufferings.
Advancing a few paces, she saw souls still more unfortunate, and she was heard to cry out, "Oh! how horrible is this place; it is full of hideous demons and incredible torments! Who, O my God, are the victims of these cruel tortures? Alas! they are being pierced by sharp swords, they are being cut into pieces." She was answered that they were the souls whose conduct had been tainted with hypocrisy.
Advancing a little, she saw a great multitude of souls which were bruised, as it were, and crushed under a press; and she understood that they were those souls which had been addicted to impatience and disobedience during life. While contemplating them, her looks, her sighs, her whole attitude was compassion and terror.
A moment later her agitation increased, and she uttered a dreadful cry. It was the dungeon of lies which now lay open before her. After having attentively considered it, she cried aloud, "Liars are confined in a place in the vicinity of Hell, and their sufferings are exceedingly great. Molten lead is poured into their mouths; I see them burn, and at the same time tremble with cold."
She then went to the prison of those souls which had sinned through weakness, and she was heard to exclaim, "Alas! I had thought to find you among those who have sinned through ignorance, but I am mistaken; you burn with an intenser fire."
Farther on, she perceived souls which had been too much attached to the goods of this world, and had sinned by avarice.
"What blindness," said she, "thus eagerly to seek a perishable fortune! Those whom formerly riches could not sufficiently satiate, are here gorged with torments. They are smelted like metal in the furnace."
From thence she passed into the place where those souls were imprisoned which had formerly been stained with impurity. She saw them in so filthy and pestilential a dungeon that the sight produced nausea. She turned away quickly from that loathsome spectacle. Seeing the ambitious and the proud, she said, "Behold those who wished to shine before men; now they are condemned to live in this frightful obscurity."
Then she was shown those souls which had been guilty of ingratitude towards God. They were prey to unutterable torments, and, as it were, drowned in a lake of molten lead, for having by their ingratitude dried up the source of piety.
Finally, in a last dungeon, she was shown souls that had not been given to any particular vice, but which, through the lack of proper vigilance over themselves, had committed all kinds of trivial faults. She remarked that these souls had share in the chastisements of all vices, in a moderate degree, because those faults committed only from time to time rendered them less guilty than those committed through habit.
After this last station the saint left the garden, begging God never again to make her witness of so heartrending a spectacle: she felt that she had not strength to endure it. Her ecstasy still continued, and, conversing with Jesus, she said to Him, "Tell me, Lord, what was your design in discovering to me those terrible prisons, of which I knew so little, and comprehended still less? Ah! I now see; you wished to give me the knowledge of your infinite sanctity, and to make me detest more and more the least stain of sin, which is so abominable in your eyes."
Taken from: Purgatory Explained
Compiled by: Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J.
HOW CAN WE AVOID PURGATORY
Abstain from mortal sin.
Avoid deliberate and grave venial sins. It is an awful thing to offend God deliberately.
Deliberations intensifies enormously the malice of sin and offends God much more than faults of weakness or sins committed when we are off guard.
Lastly we must use our best endeavors to break off bad habits.
Habits like deliberations add serious malice to sin.
Penance: This is a means of satisfying for our sins in this life
"Do penance or you shall all likewise perish".
Do penance, or you will burn long years in Purgatory.
Suffering: It consists in making a virtue of necessity, by bearing patiently what we cannot avoid.
Frequent Confession, Communion and Mass: This wipes our sins and helps us to receive the infinite mercy and love of God in sanctity.
By assisting at Mass, we can apply all these graces to our souls.
Resignation to Death: great saints say that when a sick person becomes aware that he is dying and offers to God his death with perfect resignation, it is very likely that he will go straight to heaven. Death is the awful punishment of sin. The idea of Pope Pius X was the same when he granted a plenary indulgence at the hour of death to those who say at least after Holy Communion the following prayer;
"Eternal Father from this day forward I accept with a joyful and resigned heart the death it will please You to send me with all its pains and sufferings.
Extreme Unction: This is a sacrament which according to St Thomas and St Albert was instituted especially to obtain for us the grace of a holy and happy death and to prepare us for immediate entrance into Heaven.
Indulgences: Gain as many as you can while you still can.
Avoid a common unmeritorious action or accustomed habit/habits such as:
Vulgar words
Pornography
Masturbation
Adultery
Stealing
Cheating
Lying
Gambling
Lateness and so on
for the love of the Holy Souls and to help you advance on the road to sanctity and holiness.
Help the Souls in Purgatory.
Those who help Holy Souls may well hope to avoid Purgatory.
Read more about Purgatory
Join the Purgatorian Society and help to spread the devotion to the Holy Souls.
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