LEGENDARY AND POETICAL.
_Dies Iræ_
Authorship of the _Dies Iræ_
Dante's _"Purgatorio"_
Hamlet and the Ghost _Shakespeare._
Calderon's "Purgatory of St. Patrick"
The Brig o' Dread _Scott._
Shelley and the Purgatory of St. Patrick
On a Great Funeral _Aubrey de Vere._
_Morte d'Arthur_ _Tennyson._
Guido and his Brother _Collin de Plancy._
Berthold in Purgatory _Collin de Plancy._
Legend of St. Nicholas _Collin de Planey._
Dream of Gerontius _Newman. St. Gregory_
Releases the Soul of Trajan _Mrs. Jameson._
St. Gregory and the Monk Legend of Geoffroid d'lden
The Queen of Purgatory _Faber_.
The Dead Priest before the Altar _Rev. A. J. Ryan_.
Memorials of the Dead _R. R. Madden_.
A Child's "_Requiescat in Pace_" _Eliza Allen Starr_.
The Solitary Soul _Ave Maria_.
Story of the Faithful Soul _Adelaide Procter_.
Genérade, the Friend of St. Augustine _De Plancy_
St. Thomas Aquinas and Friar Romanus _De Plancy_.
The Key that Never Turns _Eleanor C. Donnelly_.
A Burial _Thomas Davis_.
Hymn for the Dead _Newman_.
The Two Students _De Plancy_.
The Penance of Don Diego Riaz _McGee_.
The Day of All Souls _Eliza Allen Starr_.
Message of the November Wind _Eleanor C. Donnelly_.
Legend of the Time of Charlemagne
The Dead Mass
The Eve of St. John _Sir Walter Scott_.
Request of a Soul in Purgatory
All Souls' _Marion Muir_.
The Dead _Octave Cremasie_
A REQUIEM _Sir Walter Scott_.
Penance of Robert the Devil _De Plancy_.
All Souls' Eve
Commemoration of All Souls _Harriet M. Skidmore_.
The Memory of the Dead _Faber_.
The Holy Souls.
Author of "Christian Schools and Scholars."
The Palmer's Rosary _Eliza Allen Starr_.
A Lyke Wake Dirge.
All Souls' Day _Lyra Liturgica_.
The Suffering Souls. _E. M. V. Bulger._
"The Voices of the Dead." _M. R. in "The Lamp."_
The Convent Cemetery. _Rev. A. J. Ryan._
One Hour after Death. _Eliza Allen Starr._
A Prayer for the Dead. _T. D. McGee._
The _De Profundis Bell._ _Harriet M. Skidmore._
November. _Anna T. Sadlier._
For the Souls in Purgatory.
All Souls' Eve.
Our Neighbor. _Eliza Allen Starr._
Old Bells.
O Holy Church. _Harriet M. Skidmore._
An Incident of the Battle of Bannockburn. _Sir Walter Scott._
Pray for the Martyred Dead.
In Winter. _Eliza Allen Starr._
_Oremus._ _Mary E. Mannix._
Funeral Hymn. _A. T. Sadlier._
_Chant Funèbre._ _Nisard._
_Requiescat in Pace._ _Harriet M. Skidmore._
The Feast of All Souls in the Country. _Anna T. Sadlier._
_Requiem Æternum_ _T. D. McGee._
APPENDIX.
Association of Masses and Stations of the Cross.
Extracts from _The Catholic Review_ of New York.
A Duty of November. _The Texas Monitor._
Purgatorial Association. _Catholic Columbian._
The Holy Face and the Suffering Souls.
When will they Learn its Secret? _Baptist Examiner._
PART I.
DOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.
"But now, brethren, if I come to you, speaking with tongues: what shall
I profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation, or in
knowledge, or in prophecy, or in doctrine?"
--ST. PAUL, I. COR. PURGATORY:
DOCTRINAL AND DEVOTIONAL.
DOCTRINE OF SUAREZ ON PURGATORY.
THE PLACE.
It is a certain truth of faith that after this life there is a place of
Purgatory. Though the name of Purgatory may not be found in Holy
Scripture, that does not matter, if we can show that the thing meant by
the name can be found there; for often the Church, either because of
new heresies, or that the doctrine of the faith may be set forth more
clearly and shortly, gives new and simple names, in which the mysteries
of the faith are summed up. This is evident in the cases of the Holy
Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Holy Eucharist.
The doctrine of Purgatory is proved by:--the Old Testament, the New
Testament, the Councils of the Church, especially those of Florence and
of Trent, the Fathers and Tradition, and by theological reasons.
WHERE PURGATORY IS.
Nothing is said in Holy Scripture about this place, nor is there any
definition of the Church concerning it. The subject, therefore, comes
within the range of theological discussion. Theologians, however,
suppose Purgatory to be a certain corporeal place, in which souls are
kept till they pay fully the debt which they owe. It is true that they
do not in themselves need a corporeal place, since they are spirits;
but yet, as they are in this world, they must, of necessity, be in some
corporeal place--at any rate, with regard to substantial presence. Thus
we see that God, in His providence, has made definite places for the
Angels, according to the difference of their states. Gehenna is
prepared for the devil and his angels, whereas the empyreal Heaven is
made for the good angels. In this way, it is certain that the souls,
paying their debt, are kept in a corporeal place. This place is not
heaven, for nothing that is defiled enters there; nor is it hell, for
in hell there is no redemption, and from that place no souls can be
saved.
PAIN OF LOSS AND SENSE.
The pain of loss is the want of the vision of God and of the whole of
our everlasting beatitude. The pain of sense is the suffering of
punishment specially inflicted over and above the loss of the beatitude
of Heaven.
We must assert that the souls in Purgatory suffer the pain of loss,
tempered by hope, and not like the souls in hell, which have no hope.
In the pain of sense we can distinguish two things. There is the sorrow
which follows closely the want or delay of the vision of God, and has
that for its object. There is also another pain, as it were outward,
and this is proportioned to the sensible pain which is caused in us by
fire, or any like action, contrary to nature and hurtful to it. That in
Purgatory this sorrow does follow the loss of God is most certain; for
that loss, or delay, is truly a great evil, and is most keenly felt to
be such by those souls that with all their strength love God and long
to see Him. Therefore, it is impossible for them not to feel the
greatest sorrow about that delay.
* * * * *
We must assert that, besides the pain of loss and the sorrow annexed to
it, there is in Purgatory a proper and peculiar pain of sense. This is
the more common judgment of the scholastics; and seems to be received
by the common judgment and approbation of the Church. Indeed, the
equity of the avenging justice of God requires this. The sinner,
through inordinate delight in creatures and affection for them,
deserves a punishment contrary to that delight; and if in this life he
has not made full satisfaction, he must be punished and freed by some
such pain as this, which we call the pain of sense. Theologians in
common teach this, and distinguish a proper pain of sense from the
sorrow caused by the want of the vision of God. Thus they distinguish
spiritual pains, such as sorrow for the delay of the vision, and
remorse of conscience, from corporeal pains, which come from the fire,
or any other instrument of God. These corporeal pains we comprehend
under the pain of sense.
* * * * *
Whether, besides the fire, other corporeal things, such as water and
snow, are used as instruments for punishing the souls is uncertain.
Bede says that souls in Purgatory were seen to pass from very great
heat to very great cold, and then from cold to heat. St. Anselm
mentions these punishments disjunctively. He says, "or any other kind
of punishments." We cannot, therefore, speak of this with certainty.
THE PAIN OF LOSS.
In this matter we may look at the pain of loss as well as the pain of
sense. It is certain that the pain of loss is very sharp, because of
the greatness of the good for which they wait. True, it is only for a
time; yet it is rightly reckoned, as St. Thomas taught, a greater evil
than any loss in this life. He and other theologians with him mean that
the sorrow also which springs from the apprehension of this evil is
greater than any pain or sorrow here. Hence, they conclude that the
pain of loss in every way exceeds all pains of this life; for they
think, as I have already noted, that this sorrow pertains to the pain
of loss, and therefore they join this pain with privation, that the
punishment may be greater in every way.... The vision of God and the
beatitude of heaven are such that the possession of them, even for a
day, could exceed all goods of this life taken together and possessed
for a long time.... Therefore, even a short delay of such a good is a
very heavy sorrow, far exceeding all the pains of this life. The Holy
Souls well understand and weigh the greatness of this evil; and very
piercing is the pain they feel, because they know that they are
suffering through their own negligence and by their own fault.... There
are, however, certain things which would seem to have power to lessen
their pain:
1. They are certain of future glory. This hope must bring them much
joy; as St. Paul says, "rejoicing in hope." (Roms. xii. 12.)
2. There is the rightness of their will, by which they are conformed to
the justice of God. Hence, it follows that, in a certain sense, their
pain is voluntary, and thus not so severe.
3. By the love of God they not only bear their punishment, but rejoice
in it, because they see that it is the means of satisfying God and
being brought to Heaven.
4. If they choose, they can turn their thoughts from the pain of delay,
and give them very attentively to the good of hope. This would bring
them consolation.
THE PAIN OF SENSE.
It is the common judgment of theologians, with St. Augustine, St.
Thomas, and St. Bonaventure, that this pain is bitterer than all pain
of this life.... Theologians, in common with St. Thomas and St.
Bonaventure, teach that the pain of Purgatory is not in any way
inflicted by devils. These souls are just and holy. They cannot sin any
more; and, to the last, they have overcome the assaults of the devils.
It would not, therefore, be fitting that such souls should be given
into their power to be tormented by them. Again, when the devils tempt
wayfarers, they do it because they hope to lead them into sin, however
perfect they may be; but they could have no such hope about the souls
in Purgatory, and so would not be likely to tempt them. Besides, they
know that their temptations or harassings would have an effect not
intended by them, and would bring the souls from Purgatory to Heaven
more quickly.
* * * * *
It is the common law that souls in Purgatory, during the whole time
that they are there, cannot come out from the prison, even if they
wish; The constant closing of the prison-doors is a part of the
severity of their punishment. So teach St. John Chrysostom, St.
Athanasius, and St. Augustine.... The reason for this is the law of the
justice of God. The souls of the lost are kept in prison by force and
against their will. The souls in Purgatory stay there willingly, for
they understand the just will of God and submit to it. This law,
however, can be sometimes dispensed with; and so St. Augustine holds it
to be probable that there are often true apparitions of the Holy Souls
by the permission of God.... It is true that, as a rule, these are
apparitions of souls, who, by a special decree of God, are suffering
their Purgatory somewhere in this world.... One thing, however, we must
note in these cases. When such a permission is given, the pain of the
soul is not interrupted. This is not only seen from the visions
themselves, but is what reason requires.
* * * * *
Here occurs the question whether the Holy Souls pray for us and can
gain anything for us by merit of congruity, or, at least, impetrate it
for us, as others prefer to say. Some have said that they do not thus
pray for us, because it is not fitting to their state, in that they are
debtors and, as it were, kept in prison for their debts; and also
because they do not see God, and so do not know what is done here. They
might know such things by special revelations, but revelations of this
kind are not due to their state. But surely their penal state does not
necessarily hinder the Holy Souls from praying for, and impetrating for
us. They are holy and dear to God; and they love us with charity,
remembering us, and knowing, at least in a general way, the dangers in
which we live; they understand also how greatly we need the help of
God: why, then, should they not be able to pray for us, even though in
another way they are paying to God their debt of punishment? For we
also in this life are debtors to God, and yet we pray for others....
Besides, we may well believe that the Holy Angels make revelations to
the souls in Purgatory about their relatives or friends still living on
this earth. They will do this for the consolation of the Holy Souls, or
that they may know what to ask for us in particular cases, or that they
may know of our prayers for them.
ST. CATHARINE OF GENOA ON PURGATORY.
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
discoursed concerning it:
"As far as I can see, the souls in Purgatory can have no choice but 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 inspirations 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.
* * * * *
"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.
* * * * *
"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 towards 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.
* * * * *
"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.
* * * * *
"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.
"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 this
loaf would satisfy him, and that until he reached it his hunger could
not be appeased, he would suffer intolerable pain, 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.
* * * * *
"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 cleansing, 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 the pains as nought 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.
* * * * *
"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 passible,
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."
* * * * *
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 the hope of 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 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."
EXTRACTS FROM THE FATHERS. [1]
[Footnote 1: These extracts are purposely different from those quoted
by the learned author of "Purgatory Surveyed," in that portion of his
treatise herein comprised.]
ST. CYPRIAN [1] writes: "Our predecessors prudently advised that no
brother, departing this life should nominate any churchman his
executor; and should he do it, that no oblation should be made for him,
nor sacrifice offered for his repose; of which we have had a late
example, when no oblation was made, nor prayer, in his name, offered in
the Church." [2]
[Footnote 1: Ep., xlvi., p. 114.]
[Footnote 2: Cardinal Wiseman commenting upon this passage, says: "It
was considered, therefore, a severe punishment, that prayers and
sacrifices should not be offered up for those who had violated any of
the ecclesiastical laws."--_Lectures on the Catholic Church._
Lecture xi., p. 59.]
ORIGEN, who wrote in the same century as Cyprian, and some two hundred
years after Christ, speaks as follows, in language the most distinct,
upon our doctrine of Purgatory: "When we depart this life, if we take
with us virtues or vices, shall we receive reward for our virtues, and
shall those trespasses be forgiven to us which we knowingly committed;
or shall we be punished for our faults, and not receive the reward of
our virtues? Neither is true: because we shall suffer for our sins and
receive the reward of our virtues. For if on the foundation of Christ
you shall have built not only gold and silver and precious stones, but
also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall
be separated from the body? Would you enter into Heaven with your wood,
and hay, and stubble, to defile the Kingdom of God; or on account of
those encumbrances remain without, and receive no reward for your gold
and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains, then,
that you be committed to the fire, which shall consume the light
materials; for our God, to those who can comprehend heavenly things, is
called a _consuming fire_. But this fire consumes not the
creature, but what the creature has himself built--wood, and hay, and
stubble. It is manifest that, in the first place, the fire destroys the
wood of our transgressions, and then returns to us the reward of our
good works." [1]
[Footnote 1: Homil. xvi al. xii. in Jerem. T. iii. p. 231,232.]
ST. BASIL, or a contemporary author, thus writes, commenting on the
words of Isaiah: "Through the wrath of the Lord is the land burned; the
things which are earthly are made the food of a punishing fire; to the
end, that the soul may receive favor and be benefited." He continues:
"And the people shall be as the fuel of the fire." (_Ibid_.) This
is not a threat of extermination; but it denotes expurgation, [1]
according to the expression of the Apostles: "If any man's works burn,
he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by
fire." (1 Cor. iii. 15.) [2]
[Footnote 1: Cardinal Wiseman in commenting upon this passage, says:
"Now, mark well the word purgation here used. For it proves that our
very term of Purgatory is not modern in the Church."--_Lectures on
the Catholic Church_. Lecture xi., p. 60.]
[Footnote 2: Com. in C., ix. Isai. T. I., p. 554.]
The following is from ST. EPHREM, of Edessa: "My brethren, come to me,
and prepare me for my departure, for my strength is wholly gone. Go
along with me in psalms and in your prayers; and please constantly to
make oblations for me. When the thirtieth day [1] shall be completed,
then remember me: for the dead are helped by the offerings of the
living. If also the sons of Mathathias, who celebrated their feasts in
figures only, could cleanse those from guilt by their offerings who
fell in battle, how much more shall the priests of Christ aid the dead
by their oblations and prayers?" [2]
[Footnote 1: "The very day," says Cardinal Wiseman, "observed by the
Catholic Church with peculiar solemnity, in praying and observing Mass
for the dead". Archbishop Corrigan, of New York, in announcing to the
clergy of his diocese the death of His Eminence the late Cardinal
McCloskey, speaks as follows: "The reverend rectors are also requested
to have solemn services for the soul of our late beloved chief pastor,
on the _seventh_ and _thirtieth_ day."]
[Footnote 2: In Testament. T. ii., p. 334. p. 371, Edit. Oxen.]
Thus speaks ST. GREGORY of Nyssa: "In the present life, God allows man
to remain subject to what himself has chosen; that, having tasted of
the evil which he desired, and learned by experience how bad an
exchange has been made, he might feel an ardent wish to lay down the
load of those vices and inclinations, which are contrary to reason; and
thus, in this life, being renovated by prayers and the pursuit of
wisdom, or, in the next, being expiated by the purging fire, he might
recover the state of happiness which he had lost.... When he has
quitted his body, and the difference between virtue and vice is known,
he cannot be admitted to approach the Divinity till the purging fire
shall have expiated the stains with which his soul was infected. The
same fire, in others, will cancel the corruption of matter and the
propensity to evil." [1]
[Footnote 1: Orat. de Defunctis. T. ii., p. 1066, 1067, 1068.]
ST. CYRIL of Jerusalem: "Then" (in the Liturgy of the Church) "we pray
for the holy Fathers and Bishops that are dead; and, in short, for all
those who are departed this life in our communion; believing that the
souls of those, for whom the prayers, are offered, receive very great
relief while this holy and tremendous victim lies upon the altar." [1]
[Footnote 1: Catech. Mystag., V. N., ix., x., p. 328.]
ST. EPIPHANIUS writes: "There is nothing more opportune, nothing more
to be admired, than the rite which directs the names of the dead to be
mentioned. They are aided by the prayer that is offered for them,
though it may not cancel all their faults. We mention both the just and
sinners, in order that for the latter we may obtain mercy." [1]
[Footnote 1: Haer. IV. Lib. LXXV., T. i., p. 911.]
ST. AUGUSTINE speaks as follows: "The prayers of the Church, or of good
persons, are heard in favor of those Christians who departed this life
not so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be
entitled to immediate happiness. So also, at the resurrection of the
dead, there will some be found, to whom mercy will be imparted, having
gone through these pains, to which the spirits of the dead are liable.
Otherwise it would not have been said of some with truth, that their
sin shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to
come (Matt. xii., 32) unless some sins were remitted in the next
world." [1]
[Footnote 1: De Civit. Dei., Lib. XX, c. xxiv., p. 492.]
In another passage he comments on the words of St. Paul: "If they had
built _gold_ and _silver_ and _precious stones,_ they would be secure
from both fires; not only from that in which the wicked shall be
punished for ever, but likewise from that fire which will purify
those who shall be saved by fire. But because it is said _he shall be
saved,_ that fire is thought lightly of; though the suffering will be
more grievous than anything man can undergo in this life."
Let us hear ST. JEROME: [1] "As we believe the torments of the devil,
and of those wicked men who said in their hearts _there is no
God,_ to be eternal, so, in regard to those sinners who have not
denied their faith, and whose works will be proved and purged by fire,
we conclude that the sentence of the Judge will be tempered by mercy."
[Footnote 1: Comment. in c. xv., Isai., T. ii., p. 492.]
St. Jerome thus speaks in his letter to Paula, concerning the death and
burial of her mother, Eustochium: "From henceforward there were no
wailings nor lamentations as are usual amongst men of this world, but
the swarms of those present resounded with psalms in various tongues.
And being removed by the hands of the bishops, and by those placing
their shoulders under the bier, while other pontiffs were carrying
lamps and wax tapers, and others led the choirs of psalmodists, she was
laid in the middle of the church of the cave of the Saviour.... Psalms
resounded in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Syriac tongues, not only
during the three days intervening until she was laid under the church
and near the cave of the Lord, but through the entire week."
ST. AMBROSE has many passages throughout his works, as Dr. Wiseman
remarks. Thus he quotes St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians
(iii., 5): "'If any man's works burn he shall suffer loss; but he shall
be saved, yet so as by fire.' He will be saved, the Apostle said,
because his substance shall remain, while his bad doctrine shall
perish. Therefore, he said, yet so as by fife, in order that his
salvation be not understood to be without pain. He shows that he shall
be saved indeed, but he shall undergo the pain of fire, and be thus
purified, not like the unbelieving and wicked man who shall be punished
in everlasting fire." [1]
[Footnote 1: Comment. in I Ep. ad Cor., T. ii.; in App, p. 122.]
The following is from his funeral oration on the Emperor Theodosius:
"Lately we deplored together his death, and now, while Prince Honorius
is present before our altars, we celebrate the fortieth day. Some
observe the third and the thirtieth, others the seventh and the
fortieth. Give, O Lord, rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which
Thou hast prepared for Thy Saints. May his soul thither tend, whence it
came, where it cannot feel the sting of death, where it will learn that
death is the termination, not of nature, but of sin. I loved him,
therefore will I follow him to the land of the living; I will not leave
him, till, by my prayers and lamentation, he shall be admitted to the
holy mount of the Lord to which his deserts call him." [1]
[Footnote 1: De obitu. Theodosii. Ibid., pp. 1197-8; 1207-8.]
He thus concludes his letter to ST. FAUSTINUS on the death of his
sister: "Therefore I consider her not so much to be deplored as to be
followed by our prayers, nor do I think that her soul should be
saddened with tears, but rather commended to the Lord in oblations. For
our flesh cannot be perpetual or lasting; it must necessarily fall in
order that it may rise again--it must be dissolved in order that it may
rest, and that there may be some end of sin." [1]
[Footnote 1: St. Ambr., p. 39, ad Faustini, t. 2, p 944, ed. Ben.]
In his funeral oration upon his brother Satyrus, he cries out: "To Thee
now, O omnipotent God, I commend this innocent soul,--to Thee I offer
my victim. Accept graciously and serenely the gift of the brother--the
sacrifice of the priest."
[Footnote 1: De excessu frateris satyri, No. 80, p. 1135.]
In his discourse on the deceased Emperor Valentinian the Younger,
murdered in 392: "Give the holy mysteries to the dead. Let us, with
pious earnestness, beg repose for his soul. Lift up your hands with me,
O people, that at least by this duty we may make some return for his
benefits." [1] Joining him with the Emperor Gratian, his brother, dead
some years before, he says: "Both blessed, if my prayers can be of any
force! No duty shall pass over you in silence. No prayer of mine shall
ever be closed without remembering you. No night shall pass you over
without some vows of my supplications. You shall have a share in all my
sacrifices. If I forget you let my own right hand be forgotten." [2]
[Footnote 1: St. Ambr. de obitu Valent, No. 56, t. 2, p 1189, ed.
Bened.]
[Footnote 2: Ibid., No. 78, p. 1194.]
"It was not in vain," says ST. CHRYSOSTOM, "that the apostles ordained
a commemoration of the deceased in the holy and tremendous mysteries.
They were sensible of the benefit and advantage which accrues to them
from this practice. For, when the congregation stands with open arms as
well as the priests, and the tremendous sacrifice is before them, how
should our prayers for them not appease God? But this is said of such
as have departed in faith." [1]
[Footnote 1: Hom. 3 in Phil., t. n., p. 217 ed. Montfauc.]
ST. AUGUSTINE again says: "Nor is it to be denied that the souls of the
departed are relieved by the piety of their living friends, when the
sacrifice of the Mediator is offered for them, or alms are given in the
Church. But these things are profitable to those who, while they lived,
deserved that they might avail them. There is a life so good as not to
require them, and there is another so wicked that after death it can
receive no benefit from them. When, therefore, the sacrifices of the
altar or alms are offered for all Christians, for the very good they
are thanksgivings, they are propitiations for those who are not very
bad. For the very wicked, they are some kind of comfort to the living."
In another of his works he says that prayer for the dead in the holy
mysteries was observed by the whole church. He expounds the thirty-
seventh Psalm as having reference to Purgatory. The words: "Rebuke me
not in thy fury, neither chastise me in thy wrath," he explains as
follows: "That you purify me in this life, and render me such that I
may not stand in need of that purging fire."
ARNOBIUS speaks of the public liturgies: "In which peace and pardon are
begged of God for kings, magistrates, friends and enemies, both the
living and those who are delivered from the body."
To these few extracts, which space permits, might be added innumerable
others from St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, St. Paulinus,
St. Eusebius, Lactantius, Tertullian, St. Caesarius of Arles, St.
Bernard, Venerable Bede, St. Thomas Aquinas, and so on down to our own
immediate time. Their testimony is most clear not only as regards the
custom of praying for the dead, but the actual doctrine of Purgatory,
as it is now understood in the Church. They are, in fact, in many cases
most explicit upon this point, obviously referring to a middle state of
suffering and expiation, and thus refuting by anticipation the
objections of those who claim that the primitive Christians prayed
indeed for the dead, but knew nothing of Purgatory: a contradiction, it
would seem, as prayer for the dead, to be available, supposes a place
or state of probation. But, even where the mention made by the Fathers
of prayer for the dead does not refer expressly to a place of
purgation, it is no more a proof that they did not hold this doctrine
than that those modern Catholic authors disbelieve in it, who suppose
this middle state of suffering to be admitted by their readers. Or
even, which rarely happens, if they be silent altogether upon the
subject, it no more infers their ignorance of such a belief than the
same silence to be noted in theological and religious works of our own
day. It proves no more than that they are at the time engaged in
treating of some other subject. The following, which may serve as a
conclusion to these extracts, is the solemn decision of the Council of
Trent in regard to this doctrine: "The Church, inspired by the Holy
Ghost, has always taught, according to the Holy Scriptures and
apostolic tradition, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls
there detained receive comfort from the prayers and good works of the
faithful, particularly through the sacrifice of the Mass, which is so
acceptable to God."
In the thirteenth Canon of the sixth session, it decrees that, "if any
one should say that a repentant sinner, after having received the grace
of justification, the punishment of eternal pains being remitted, has
no temporary punishment to be suffered either in this life or in the
next in Purgatory, before he can enter into the Kingdom of God, let him
be anathema."
In the third Canon of the twenty-fourth session, it defines "that the
sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory both for the living and the dead
for sins, punishments and satisfactions."
VERSES FROM THE IMITATION.
THOMAS A KEMPIS.
Trust not in thy friends and neighbors, and put not oft thy soul's
welfare till the future; for men will forget thee sooner than thou
thinkest.
It is better to provide now in time and send some good before thee than
to trust to the assistance of others after death.
If thou art not solicitous for thyself now, who will be solicitous for
thee hereafter.
Did'st thou also well ponder in thy heart the future pains of hell or
Purgatory, methinks thou would'st bear willingly labor and sorrow and
fear no kind of austerity.
Who will remember thee when thou art dead? and who will pray for thee?
Now thy labor is profitable, thy tears are acceptable, thy groans are
heard, thy sorrow is satisfying and purifieth the soul.
The patient man hath a great and wholesome purgatory.
Better is it to purge away our sins, and cut off our vices now, than to
keep them for purgation hereafter.
If thou shalt say thou are not able to suffer much, how then wilt thou
endure the fire of Purgatory. Of two evils, one ought always to choose
the less.
When a Priest celebrateth, he honoreth God, he rejoiceth the Angels, he
edifieth the Church, he helpeth the living, he obtaineth rest for the
departed, and maketh himself partaker of all good things.
I offer to Thee also all the pious desires of devout persons; the
necessities of my parents, friends, brothers, sisters, and all those
that are dear to me; ... and all who have desired and besought me to
offer up prayers and Masses for themselves and all theirs, whether they
are still living in the flesh or are already dead to this world.
ST. AUGUSTINE AND HIS MOTHER, ST. MONICA.
[In the beautiful account given by the great St. Augustine of the last
illness and death of his holy mother, St. Monica, we find some touching
proofs of the pious belief of mother and son in the existence of a
middle state for souls in the after life. The holy doctor had been
relating that memorable conversation on heavenly things which took
place between his mother and himself on that moonlight night at the
window in the inn at Ostia, immortalized by Ary Schaeffer in his
beautiful picture.]
To this what answer I made her I do not well remember. But scarce five
days, or not many more, had passed after this before she fell into a
fever: and one day, being very sick, she swooned away, and was for a
little while insensible. We ran in, but she soon came to herself again,
and looking upon me and my brother (Navigius), that were standing by
her, said to us like one inquiring: "Where have I been?" then,
beholding us struck with grief, she said: "Here you shall bury your
mother." I held my peace and refrained weeping; but my brother said
something by which he signified his wish, as of a thing more happy,
that she might not die abroad but in her own country; which she
hearing, with a concern in her countenance, and checking him with her
eyes that he should have such notions, then looking upon me, said: "Do
you hear what he says?" then to us both: "Lay this body anywhere; be
not concerned about that; only this I beg of you, that wheresoever you
be, you make remembrance of me at the Lord's altar." And when she had
expressed to us this, her mind, with such words as she could, she said
no more, but lay struggling with her disease that grew stronger upon
her.
* * * * *
And now behold the body is carried out to be buried, and I both go and
return without tears. Neither in those prayers, which we poured forth
to Thee when the sacrifice of our ransom was offered to Thee for her,
the body being set down by the grave before the interment of it, as
custom is there, neither in those prayers, I say, did I shed any tears.
* * * * *
And now, my heart being healed of that wound in which a carnal
affection might have some share, I pour out to Thee, our God, in behalf
of that servant of Thine, a far different sort of tears, flowing from a
spirit frighted with the consideration of the perils of every soul that
dies in Adam. For, although she, being revived in Christ, even before
her being set loose from the flesh and lived in such manner, as that
Thy name is much praised in her faith and manners; yet I dare not say
that from the time Thou didst regenerate her by baptism, no word came
out of her mouth against Thy command.... I, therefore, O my Praise and
my Life, the God of my heart, setting for a while aside her good deeds,
for which with joy I give Thee thanks, entreat Thee at present for the
sins of my mother. Hear me, I beseech Thee, through that Cure of our
wounds that hung upon the tree, and that, sitting now at Thy right
hand, maketh intercession to Thee for us. I know that she did
mercifully, and from her heart forgive to her debtors their trespasses:
do Thou likewise forgive her her debts, if she hath also contracted
some in those many years she lived after the saving water.... And I
believe Thou hast already done what I ask, but these free offerings of
my mouth approve, O Lord.
For she, when the day of her dissolution was at hand, had no thought
for the sumptuous covering of her body, or the embalming of it, nor had
she any desire of a fine monument, nor was solicitous about her
sepulchre in her own country: none of these things did she recommend to
us; but only desired that we should make a remembrance of her at Thy
altar, at which she had constantly attended without one day's
intermission, from whence she knew was dispensed that Holy Victim by
which was cancelled that handwriting that was against us (Coloss. II.),
by which that enemy was triumphed over who reckoneth up our sins and
seeketh what he may lay to our charge, but findeth nothing in Him
through whom we conquer. Who shall refund to Him that innocent blood He
shed for us? Who shall repay Him the price with which He bought us,
that so he may take us away from Him? To the sacrament of which price
of our redemption Thy handmaid bound fast her soul by the bond of
faith....
Let her, therefore, rest in peace, together with her husband, before
whom and after whom she was known to no man; whom she dutifully served,
bringing forth fruit to Thee, in much patience, that she might also
gain him to Thee. And do Thou inspire, O Lord, my God, do Thou inspire
Thy servants, my brethren, Thy children, my masters, whom I serve with
my voice, and my heart, and my writings, that as many as shall read
this shall remember, at Thy altar, Thy handmaid Monica with Patricius,
formerly her husband. Let them remember, with a pious affection, these
who were my parents in this transitory life, my brethren under Thee,
our Father, in our Catholic Mother, and my fellow-citizens in the
eternal Jerusalem, for which the pilgrimage of Thy people here below
continually sigheth from their setting out till their return. That so
what my mother made her last request to me may be more plentifully
performed for her by the prayers of many, procured by these, my
confessions, and my prayers. [1]
[Footnote 1: Conf. B. IX. Chs. XI.-XIII.]
ST. GERTRUDE AND THE HOLY SOULS.
[In the "Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude" we find many instances
of the efficacy of prayers for the dead and how pleasing to God is
devotion to the souls in Purgatory. From these we select the
following.]
Our Blessed Lord once said to the Saint: "If a soul is delivered by
prayer from Purgatory I accept it as if I had myself been delivered
from captivity, and I will assuredly reward it according to the
abundance of my mercy." The religious also beheld many souls meeting
before her to testify their gratitude for their deliverance from
Purgatory, through the prayers which had been offered for her, and
which she had not needed.
* * * * *
As St. Gertrude prayed fervently before matins on the blessed night of
the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to her full of majesty and
glory. Then she cast herself at His feet, to adore Him devoutly and
humbly, saying: "O glorious Spouse, joy of the angels, Thou who hast
shown me the favor of choosing me to be Thy spouse, who am the least of
Thy creatures! I ardently desire Thy glory, and my only friends are
those who love Thee; therefore I beseech Thee to pardon the souls of
Thy special friends [1] by the virtue of Thy most glorious
Resurrection. And to obtain this grace from Thy goodness, I offer Thee,
in union with Thy Passion, all the sufferings which my continual
infirmities have caused me." Then Our Lord, having favored her with
many caresses, showed her a great multitude of souls who were freed
from their pains, saying: "Behold, I have given them to you as a
recompense for your rare affection; and through all eternity they will
acknowledge that they have been delivered by your prayers, and you will
be honored and glorified for it." She replied: "How many are they?" He
answered: "This knowledge belongs to God alone."
As she feared that these souls, though freed from their pains, were not
yet admitted to glory, she offered to endure whatever God might please,
either in body or soul, to obtain their entrance into that beatitude;
and Our Lord, won by her fervor, granted her request immediately.
[Footnote 1: "This seems to refer," says the author of the Saint's
life, "to the souls in Purgatory."]
Some time after, as the Saint suffered most acute pain in her side, she
made an inclination before a crucifix; and Our Lord freed her from the
pain, and granted the merit of it to these souls, recommending them to
make her a return by their prayers.
* * * * *
On Wednesday, at the elevation of the Host, she besought Our Lord for
the souls of the faithful in Purgatory, that He would free them from
their pains by virtue of His, admirable Ascension; and she beheld Our
Lord descending into Purgatory with a golden rod in His hand, which had
as many hooks as there had been prayers for their souls; by these He
appeared to draw them into a place of repose. She understood by this,
that whenever any one prays generally, from a motive of charity, for
the souls in Purgatory, the greater part of those who, during their
lives, have exercised themselves in works of charity, are released.
* * * * *
On another occasion, as she remarked that she had offered all her
merits for the dead, she said to Our Lord: "I hope, O Lord, that Thou
wilt frequently cast the eyes of Thy mercy on my indigence." He
replied: "What can I do more for one who has thus deprived herself of
all things through charity, than to cover her immediately with
charity?" She answered: "Whatever Thou mayest do, I shall always appear
before Thee destitute of all merit, for I have renounced all I have
gained or may gain." He replied: "Do you not know that a mother would
allow a child who was well clothed to sit at her feet, but she would
take one who was barely clad into her arms, and cover her with her own
garment?" He added: "And now, what advantages have you, who are seated
on the shore of an ocean, over those who sit by a little rivulet?" That
is to say, those who keep their good works for themselves, have the
rivulet; but those who renounce them in love and humility, possess God,
who is an inexhaustible ocean of beatitude.
* * * * *
On one occasion, while Mass was being celebrated for a poor woman who
had died lately, St. Gertrude recited five _Pater Nosters_, in
honor of Our Lord's five wounds, for the repose of her soul; and, moved
by divine inspiration, she offered all her good works for the increase
of the beatitude of this person. When she had made this offering, she
immediately beheld the soul in heaven, in the place destined for her;
and the throne prepared for her was elevated as far above the place
where she had been, as the highest throne of the seraphim is above that
of the lowest angel. The Saint then asked Our Lord how this soul had
been worthy to obtain such advantage from her prayers, and He replied:
"She has merited this grace in three ways: first, because she always
had a sincere will and perfect desire of serving Me in religion, if it
had been possible; secondly, because she especially loved all religious
and all good people; thirdly, because she was always ready to honor Me
by performing any service she could for them." He added: "You may
judge, by the sublime rank to which she is elevated, how agreeable
these practices are to Me."
A certain religious died who had always been accustomed to pray very
fervently for the souls of the faithful departed; but she had failed in
the perfection of obedience, preferring her own will to that of her
superior in her fasts and vigils. After her decease she appeared
adorned with rich ornaments, but so weighed down by a heavy burden,
which she was obliged to carry, that she could not approach to God,
though many persons were endeavoring to lead her to Him.
As Gertrude marvelled at this vision, she was taught that the persons
who endeavored to conduct the soul to God were those whom she had
released by her prayers; but this heavy burden indicated the faults she
had committed against obedience. Then Our Lord said: "Behold how those
grateful souls endeavor to free her from the requirements of My
justice, and show these ornaments; nevertheless, she must suffer for
her faults of disobedience and self-will." ...
Then the Saint beheld her ornament, which appeared like a vessel of
boiling water containing a hard stone, which must be completely
dissolved therein before she could obtain relief from this torment; but
in these sufferings she was much consoled and assisted by those souls,
and by the prayers of the faithful. After this Our Lord showed St.
Gertrude the path by which the souls ascend to heaven. It resembled a
straight plank, a little inclined; so that those who ascended did so
with difficulty. They were assisted and supported by hands on either
side, which indicated the prayers offered for them.
* * * * *
One day St. Gertrude asked Our Lord how many souls were delivered from
Purgatory by her prayers and those of her sisters. "The number,"
replied Our Lord, "is proportioned to the zeal and fervor of those who
pray for them." He added: "My love urges me to release a great number
of souls for the prayers of each religious, and at each verse of the
psalms which they recite, I release many."
* * * * *
When Mass was offered for the deceased Brother Hermann, his soul
appeared to St. Gertrude all radiant with light, and transported with
joy. Then Gertrude said to Our Lord: "Is this soul now entirely freed
from its sufferings?" Our Lord answered: "He is already free from much
suffering, and no human being can form an idea of his glory; but he is
not yet so perfectly purified as to be worthy to enjoy My presence,
though he is approaching nearer and nearer to this purity by the
prayers which are offered for him, and is more and more consoled and
relieved."
ST. JOSEPH'S INTERCESSION FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.
_(From "Le Propagateur de la Devotion a Saint Joseph.")_
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES says: "We do not often enough remember our dead,
our faithful departed." Thus the Church, like a good mother, recalls to
us the thought of the dead when we have forgotten them, and therefore
she consecrates the month of November to the memory of the dead. This
pious and salutary practice of praying for an entire month for the dead
takes its rise from the earliest ages of the Church. The custom of
mourning _thirty days_ for the dead existed amongst the Jews. The
practice of saying thirty Masses on thirty consecutive days was
established by St. Gregory, and Innocent XI. enriched it with
indulgences. "God has made known to me," says the venerable sister
Marie Denise de Martignat, "that a devotion to the death of St. Joseph
obtains many graces for those who are agonizing, and that, as St.
Joseph did not at once pass into heaven--because Jesus Christ had not
opened its gates--but descended into Limbo, it is a most useful
devotion for the agonizing, and for the souls in Purgatory, to offer to
God the resignation of St. Joseph when he was dying and about to leave
Jesus and Mary in this world, and to honor the holy patience of this
great Saint waiting calmly in Limbo until Easter-day, when Jesus
Christ, risen and glorious, released him." And if St. Joseph consoles
the souls in Purgatory, none will be so dear to him as those who were
devout to him in life, and zealous in spreading a devotion to him.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES ON PURGATORY [1]
[Footnote 1: Consoling Thoughts of St Francis de Sales. Arranged by
Rev. Father Huguet. Pp. 336-7.]
The opinion of St. Francis de Sales was that from the thought of
Purgatory we should draw more consolation than pain. The greater number
of those, he said, who fear Purgatory so much, do so in consideration
of their own interests and of the love they bear themselves rather than
the interests of God; and this happens because those who treat of this
place from the pulpit usually speak of its pains and are silent in
regard to the happiness and peace which are found in it....
When any of his friends or acquaintances died, he never grew weary of
speaking fondly of them and recommending them to the prayers of others.
His usual expression was: "We do not sufficiently remember our dead,
our faithful departed;" and the proof of it is that we do not speak
enough of them. We turn away from that discourse as from a sad subject.
We leave the dead to bury their dead. Their memory perishes from us
with the sound of their funeral-bell. We forget that the friendship
which ends even with death, is never true, Holy Scripture assuring us
that true love is stronger than death.
He was accustomed to say that in this single work of mercy the thirteen
others are assembled.
Is it not, he said, in some manner, to visit the sick, to obtain by our
prayers the relief of the poor suffering souls in Purgatory?
Is it not to give drink to those who thirst after the vision of God,
and who are enveloped in burning flames, to share with them the dew of
our prayers?
Is it not to feed the hungry, to aid in their deliverance by the means
which faith suggests?
Is it not truly to ransom prisoners?
Is it not truly to clothe the naked, to procure for them a garment of
light, a raiment of glory?
Is it not an admirable degree of hospitality, to procure their
admission into the heavenly Jerusalem, and to make them fellow-citizens
with the Saints and domestics of God?
Is it not a greater service to place souls in heaven than to bury
bodies in the earth?
As to spirituals, is it not a work whose merit may be compared to that
of counselling the weak, correcting the wayward, instructing the
ignorant, forgiving offenses, enduring injuries? And what consolation,
however great, that can be given to the afflicted of this world, is
comparable with that which is brought by our prayers to those poor
souls which have such bitter need of them?
CARDINAL GIBBONS ON PURGATORY.
The Catholic Church teaches that, besides a place of eternal torments
for the wicked and of everlasting rest for the righteous, there exists
in the next life a middle state of temporary punishment, allotted for
those who have died in venial sin, or who have not satisfied the
justice of God for sins already forgiven. She also teaches us that,
although the souls consigned to this intermediate state, commonly
called Purgatory, cannot help themselves, they may be aided by the
suffrages of the faithful on earth. The existence of Purgatory
naturally implies the correlative dogma--the utility of praying for the
dead; for the souls consigned to this middle state have not reached the
term of their journey. They are still exiles from heaven, and are fit
subjects for divine clemency.
Is it not strange that this cherished doctrine should be called in
question by the levelling innovators of the sixteenth century, when we
consider that it is clearly taught in the Old Testament; that it is, at
least, insinuated in the New Testament; that it is unanimously
proclaimed by the Fathers of the Church; that it is embodied in all the
ancient liturgies of the Oriental and Western Church; and that it is
alike consonant with our reason and eminently consoling to the human
heart?
* * * * *
You now perceive that this devotion is not an invention of modern
times, but a doctrine universally enforced in the best and purest ages
of the Church.
You see that praying for the dead was not a devotion cautiously
recommended by some obscure or visionary writer, but an act of religion
preached and inculcated by all the great Doctors and Fathers of the
Church, who are the recognized expounders of the Christian religion.
You see them, too, inculcating this doctrine not as a cold and abstract
principle, but as an imperative act of daily piety, and embodying it in
their ordinary exercises of devotion.
They prayed for the dead in their morning and evening devotions. They
prayed for them in their daily office, and in the sacrifice of the
Mass. They asked the prayers of the congregation for the souls of the
deceased, in the public services of Sunday. And on the monuments which
were erected to the dead, some of which are preserved even to this day,
epitaphs were inscribed, earnestly invoking for their souls the prayers
of the living. How gratifying it is to our Catholic hearts, that a
devotion so soothing to afflicted spirits is, at the same time, so
firmly grounded on the tradition of ages.
That the practice of praying for the dead has descended from apostolic
times is also evident from the _Liturgus_ of the Church. A Liturgy
is the established form of public worship, containing the authorized
prayers of the Church. The Missal, or Mass-book, for instance, which
you see on our altars, contains a portion of the Liturgy of the
Catholic Church. The principal Liturgies are: The Liturgy of St. James
the Apostle, who founded the Church of Jerusalem; the Liturgy of St.
Mark the Evangelist, founder of the Church of Alexandria, and the
Liturgy of St. Peter, who established the Church in Rome. These
Liturgies are called after the Apostles who compiled them. There are,
besides, the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, which are
chiefly based on that of St. James.
Now, all these Liturgies, without an exception, have prayers for the
dead, and their providential preservation serves as another triumphant
vindication of the venerable antiquity of this Catholic doctrine.
The Eastern and the Western churches were happily united until the
fourth and fifth centuries, when the heresiarchs Arius, Nestorius and
Eutyches withdrew millions of souls from the centre of unity. The
followers of these sects were called, after their founders, Arians,
Nestorians, and Eutychians, and from that day to the present the two
latter bodies have formed distinct communions, being separated from the
Catholic Church in the East, just as the Protestant churches are
separated from her in the West.
The Greek Schismatic Church, of which the present Russo-Greek Church is
the offspring, severed her connection with the See of Rome in the ninth
century.
But in leaving the Catholic Church, these Eastern sects retained the
old Liturgies, which they use to this day....
During my sojourn in Rome, at the Ecumenical Council, I devoted a great
deal of my leisure time to the examination of the various Liturgies of
the Schismatic churches of the East. I found in all of them formulas of
prayers for the dead almost identical with that of the Roman Missal:
"Remember, O Lord, Thy servants who are gone before us with the sign of
faith, and sleep in peace. To these, O Lord, and to all who rest in
Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and
peace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Not content with studying their books, I called upon the Oriental
Patriarchs and Bishops in communion with the See of Rome, who belong to
the Armenian, the Chaldean, the Coptic, the Maronite, and Syriac rites.
They all assured me that the Schismatic Christians of the East among
whom they live have, without exception, prayers and sacrifices for the
dead.
Now, I ask, when could those Eastern sects have commenced to adopt the
Catholic practice of praying for the dead? They could not have received
it from us since the ninth century, because the Greek Church separated
from us then, and has had no communion with us since that time, except
at intervals, up to the twelfth century. Nor could they have adopted
the practice since the fourth or fifth century, inasmuch as the Arians,
Nestorians, and Eutychians have had no religious communication with us
since that period. Therefore, in common with us, they received this
doctrine from the Apostles.... I have already spoken of the devotion of
the ancient Jewish Church to the souls of the departed. But perhaps you
are not aware that the Jews retain to this day, in their Liturgy, the
pious practice of praying for the dead. Yet such in reality is the
case.
Amid all their wanderings and vicissitudes of life, though dismembered
and dispersed, like sheep without a shepherd, over the surface of the
globe, the children of Israel have never forgotten or neglected the
sacred duty of praying for their deceased brethren.
Unwilling to make this assertion without the strongest evidence, I
procured from a Jewish convert an authorized Prayer-book of the Hebrew
Church, from which I extract the following formula of prayers which are
prescribed for funerals: "Departed brother! mayest thou find open the
gates of heaven, and see the city of peace and the dwellings of safety,
and meet the ministering angels hastening joyfully towards thee! And
may the High Priest stand to receive thee, and go thou to the end, rest
in peace, and rise again _into_ life! May the repose established
in the celestial abode... be the lot, dwelling, and the resting place
of the soul of our deceased brother (whom the spirit of the Lord may
guide into Paradise), who departed from this world, according to the
will of God, the Lord of heaven and earth. May the Supreme King of
Kings, through His infinite mercy, hide him under the shadow of His
wings. May He raise him at the end of his days, and cause him to drink
of the stream of His delights!"
I am happy to say that the more advanced and enlightened members of the
Episcopalian Church are steadily returning to the faith of their
forefathers, regarding prayers for the dead. An acquaintance of mine,
once a distinguished clergyman of the Episcopal communion, but now a
convert, informed me that hundreds of Protestant clergymen in this
country, and particularly in England, have a firm belief in the
efficacy of prayers for the dead, but for well-known reasons they are
reserved in the expression of their faith. He easily convinced me of
the truth of his assertion, particularly as far as the Church of
England is concerned, by sending me six different works published in
London, all bearing on the subject of Purgatory. These books are
printed under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church; they all
contain prayers for the dead, and prove, from Catholic grounds, the
existence of a middle state after death, and the duty of praying for
our deceased brethren. [1]
[Footnote 1: See "Path of Holiness," Rivington's, London: "Treasury of
Devotion," Ibid; "Catechism of Theology," Masten, London.]
To sum up: we see the practice of praying for the dead enforced in the
ancient Hebrew Church, and in the Jewish synagogue of to-day. We see it
proclaimed age after age by all the Fathers of Christendom. We see it
incorporated in every one of the ancient Liturgies of the East and of
the West. We see it zealously taught by the Russian Church of to-day,
and by that immense family of schismatic Christians scattered over the
East. We behold it, in fine, a cherished devotion of two hundred
millions of Catholics, as well as of a respectable portion of the
Episcopal Church.
Would it not, my friend, be the height of rashness and presumption in
you to prefer your private opinion to this immense weight of learning,
sanctity, and authority? Would it not be impiety in you to stand aside
with sealed lips, while the Christian world is sending up an unceasing
_De profundis_ for departed brethren? Would it not be cold and
heartless in you not to pray for your deceased friends, on account of
prejudices which have no grounds in Scripture, tradition, or reason
itself?
* * * * *
Oh! far from us a religion which would decree an eternal divorce
between the living and the dead. How consoling is it to the Catholic,
to think that, in praying thus for his departed friend, his prayers are
not in violation of, but in accordance with, the voice of the Church;
and that as, like Augustine, he watches at the pillow of a dying
mother, so, like Augustine, he can continue the same office of piety
for her soul after she is dead, by praying for her. How cheering the
reflection that the golden link of prayer unites you still to those who
"fall asleep in the Lord," and that you can still speak to them and
pray for them!....
Oh! it is this thought that robs death of its sting and makes the
separation of friends endurable. And if your departed friend needs not
your prayers, they are not lost, but, like the rain absorbed by the
sun, and descending again in fruitful showers on our fields, they will
be gathered by the Sun of Justice, and they will come down in
refreshing showers of grace upon your head. "Cast thy bread upon the
running waters; for, after a long time, thou shalt find it again." [1]
[Footnote 1: Faith of our Fathers, chap. xvi.]
THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY.
ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. [1]
[Footnote 1: Answer to nine objections made.]
The Catholic Church does not believe that God created any to be damned
absolutely, notwithstanding their co-operation with the means of
salvation which were secured to them by the death of Jesus Christ; nor
any to be saved absolutely, unless they co-operate with those means.
Hence she has ever taught the doctrine which is inculcated in
Scripture, that heaven may be obtained by all who shall apply the means
which the Saviour of the World has left in His Church for that end: in
a word, that every man shall be judged according to his works. This
doctrine is consonant with the justice which must belong to the Deity.
She knows God is too pure to admit anything defiled into His heavenly
abode (Apoc. xxi. 27); and yet too just and merciful to punish a slight
transgression with the same severity as is due to an enormous crime.
Now, suppose two men to sin against God at the same time, the one by
the deliberate murder of his father--for the case is possible--and the
other, by a slight, almost inadvertent, falsehood; and suppose,
further, that they are both to appear before God the next moment to
answer for the deeds done in the flesh, I ask whether it is consistent
with the idea we have of divine justice to think that both will be
condemned to the same everlasting punishment? If it be, then there is
no more moral turpitude in parricide than in telling a trivial
falsehood, which injures no one, but still is offensive and displeasing
to God. But if it be not consistent with divine justice, then you must
admit the distinction of guilt, and consequently of punishment. Now,
that God exacts a temporary punishment for sin, after the guilt and
eternal punishment are remitted, appears from the testimony of His
Sacred Word. St. Paul teaches that the death of the body is a
punishment which the sin of our first parent entailed on his progeny;
and yet many who have been regenerated by baptism from that original
guilt, nevertheless die before they have committed any actual sin
whatever. The children of Israel had to leave their bones in the
wilderness, after the forty years' sojournment, as a punishment,
inflicted by the Almighty Himself, for sins which He had expressly
forgiven them. Num. xiv. 20, 22. David was forgiven his sin--and yet he
was punished for it, by the death of his child, whom he loved most
tenderly. He sinned by numbering his people; and although it was
forgiven him, he had still to choose his punishment--either war,
famine, or pestilence. If such be the dispensation of God to His
creatures in this world, why may it not be also after death? Will you
say it is because the body is the medium of suffering in this life?
This is not exactly true--the body, indeed, is the medium, in many
instances, through which the soul is made to suffer. But God inflicted
no corporal chastisement on David by taking his child--it was the
king's soul that was touched, and felt, and suffered. Does not the soul
remain susceptible of suffering after death; and may not God,
conformably with the examples here laid down, extend to it in a future
state the same salutary dispensation, for His own just and merciful
purposes? But you will ask what Scripture I can quote to show that He
really does so. Now, suppose I were to refer you to the same rule, and
demand from you the text by which you feel warranted to profane the
Sabbath, and sanctify the Sunday in its stead--what will you have to
answer in reply? Surely if the authority of the Catholic Church is
sufficient to authorize your _practice_ in the one case, it is
equally so with regard to my belief in the other. But our situations
are very different; because I admit the authority of the Church in both
instances, and I shall prove that her doctrine of Purgatory, so far
from opposing, is grounded on Scripture. Whereas you reject the Church,
you make, as you say, the Scripture the _only rule_ of your faith;
and yet when the Scripture says, "Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath
day," you say I will not sanctify the Sabbath, but I will sanctify the
day after.... This tenet of belief is proved by every text of Scripture
in which it is implied that God will render to every man according to
his works.... If the word Purgatory has anything in it peculiarly
offensive, you will not be the less a Catholic for rejecting it, and
using the Scriptural word _prison_, provided you admit that such a
place exists; in which God after having forgiven the guilt and temporal
punishment of their sins, causes the souls of the imperfect just to
undergo, nevertheless, a temporary chastisement, as David did in this
life, before admitting them into the realms of felicity. Now, if this
be so, is it not rational to believe that the mercy of God will be
moved by the prayers of His faithful servants on earth, who intercede
in behalf of their departed brethren?... In a word, the economy of God
to His creatures even in this life is consistent with the doctrine of
Purgatory.
PURGATORY AND WHAT WE OWE TO THE DEAD.
ARCHBISHOP LYNCH.
The infallible Church, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Pillar and
Ground of Truth and the true teacher of the doctrine of Christ, has, in
the distribution of her feasts and festivals, set apart one day in the
year, the second of November, in favor of the suffering souls in
Purgatory. She calls on all her children to assemble around her sacred
altars, to assist and pray at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the
deliverance from Purgatory of the souls of those who, whilst dying in
peace with Our Lord, still had debts to pay to His infinite justice.
These debts were contracted by the commission of mortal sin, whose
grievous fault, though removed by the Sacrament of Penance, yet left on
the soul a debt which was not sufficiently atoned for, or by the
commission of venial sin not sufficiently repented of. Purgatory is one
of the great consoling doctrines of the Church of Christ. Only the pure
and perfect can enter Heaven; and how few persons leave this earth of
temptation, sin, and trouble in that state of purity and perfection! If
there were not a place of purification, how few could go straight to
Heaven! Nearly the whole human race would be deprived forever of the
beatific vision of God. God has chosen this way of exhibiting His
justice and mercy: His justice, by exacting the last particle of debt;
and His mercy, by saving the poor repentant sinner. God rewards every
one according to his works. Some are imperfect through want of pure
intention, through carelessness, vanity, or other causes, like the hay
and stubble adhering to gold and precious stones which dull their
lustre.
* * * * *
Oh, how few are perfect, and how few do penance in proportion to their
sins! How few, in their dealing with their fellow-men, giving measure
for measure, goods equal to the money paid for them, or services equal
to the pay received! How many fail in charity, in words and actions!
How many prayers said carelessly and without thought, even at the most
solemn times! These will have to be repeated, as it were, in Purgatory.
How many will suffer from their want of charity and mercy to the poor,
and failing to pay their just dues to God's Church for the spiritual
favors they receive from it! "If we give you," says St. Paul,
"spiritual things, you should administer to us temporal things."...
All spiritual writers agree that the pains of Purgatory are intense,
yet the souls are satisfied to suffer till the last debt is paid. They
would not wish to enter Heaven with stains on their souls. God, in His
great mercy, has permitted some souls suffering in Purgatory to appear
to friends on earth to solicit their prayers and Masses, and to pay
their debts. This the Lives of the Saints and Ecclesiastical History at
all times attest. In these days when faith is fading from some minds,
even in the Church, it behooves especially the Bishops to remind the
faithful of their duties and obligations to their departed friends. It
is thought by some that an expensive funeral, with its many carriages,
and a grand monument over the grave, will satisfy all the requirements
of decency and of family love. Alas! if the dead could only speak from
their graves, they would cry out and say, "All these monuments and this
worldly pageantry only crush us. They only satisfy the vanity of the
living, but in no way alleviate our sufferings in Purgatory."...
But the Bishops must, from time to time, remind the people of their
duty towards God's servants suffering in Purgatory. In olden times,
when faith, love, and affection were stronger than now, devotion
towards the souls in Purgatory showed itself in numerous foundations in
favor of the souls in Purgatory. Churches and canonries where Masses
were celebrated every day by canons and monks, benefices for the
education of poor students, hospitals for the care of the sick,
periodical distribution of alms to the poor, to have rosaries and other
prayers said and pilgrimages made for the souls in Purgatory. All these
have been swept away by the ruthless hand of the civil power, wishing
to reform the Church; and even at the present day, when the Christian
soul is about to appear before the judgment-seat, there are legal
impediments in the way of his making by will donations for prayers or
Masses. Therefore, my dear people, whilst you are well make provision
for your own soul. Do not entrust it to the care of others who cannot
love you more than you love yourselves.
* * * * *
This doctrine of Purgatory has always been taught in the Church and
handed down from bishops and priests to their successors in the sacred
ministry, and by the voice of the people. "Stand fast, and hold the
tradition you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle." (II.
Thess. ii. 14.) Now prayers and Masses for the dead are to be found in
every ancient liturgy of the Church. There is no Oriental liturgy
without prayers for those who have departed in peace. The Apostolic
Constitutions--the most ancient and genuine work--speak largely of
prayers for the dead, for the conversion of sinners.
There are religious congregations and pious associations specially
devoted to the relief of the souls in Purgatory. St. Vincent de Paul
ordered the priests of his congregation never to go to meals without
first saying the _De Profundis_ for the souls in Purgatory. The
Church ends all the prayers of the divine office with: "May the souls
of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace." One
may turn away with a sad thought from a tomb on which is not engraved:
"May he rest in peace," or on which a cross--the emblem of our hope in
God and in a happy resurrection--does not figure.
We exhort you, beloved children in Christ, to entertain an earnest
charity towards the souls in Purgatory. You loved them during life; do
not let it be said: "Out of sight, out of mind." Love them in death or,
living, wishing earnestly to go to God. This charity will greatly help
yourselves. If a cup of cold water given to a servant of God shall not
go without its reward, how much more a cup of celestial grace, that
will shorten the time in the flames of Purgatory of a soul that most
ardently longs to see God, who desires it Himself with great love, and
will reward those who shorten the exile of His dear servants. "Those,"
says St. Alphonsus Liguori, "who succor the souls in Purgatory will be
succored in turn by the gratitude of those whom they have relieved, and
who enjoy sooner, by their prayers, the beatific vision of God."
* * * * *
The Council of Trent, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, has made
decrees on the subject which bind the consciences of the faithful. In
the Thirteenth Canon of the Sixth Session it decrees "that if any one
should say that a repentant sinner, after having received the grace of
justification, the punishment of eternal pains being remitted, has no
temporary punishment to be suffered, either in this life or in the
next, in Purgatory, before he can enter into the Kingdom of God, let
him be anathema."
Though King David was assured, after his sincere repentance, that his
sin was forgiven, yet the Prophet told him that he had still to suffer
by the death of his child.
In the Twenty-fourth Session and Third Canon the Holy Council defines
that the Sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory, both for the living and
the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and for other
necessities, according to Apostolic traditions; and the Bishop, when he
ordains, places the patena and chalice, with the bread and wine, in the
hands of the young priest and says to him: "Receive the power to offer
to God the Sacrifice of the Mass, as well for the living as for the
dead, in the name of the Lord. Amen."
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is, therefore, the most powerful means
of relieving the souls in Purgatory; next is the fervent performance of
the Stations of the Cross, to which so many indulgences are attached;
then other indulgenced prayers; for example, the Rosary. Alms to the
poor is another powerful means. "Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy."
There is another means which our ancestors loved--to educate a student
for the priesthood. St. Monica rejoiced, on her death-bed, that she had
a son to remember her every day at the altar. If you have not a son you
can adopt one, or subscribe, according to your means, to the Students'
Fund.
It is the custom in many places--and we wish that it should be
introduced where it is not--to receive the offerings of the people on
All Souls' Day, or the Sunday previous, or subsequent, and the proceeds
to be computed and Masses offered up accordingly.
We attach the indulgences of the Way of the Cross to certain
crucifixes, and thus enable persons who cannot conveniently visit the
Church to make the Stations there, to gain the indulgences of the
Stations by reciting fourteen times the "Our Father" and "Hail Mary,"
with a "Glory be to the Father," etc., for each Station, and five "Our
Fathers" and "Hail Marys" in honor of the five Adorable Wounds, with
one for the intentions of the Pope.
PURGATORY SURVEYED. [1]
[Footnote 1: Published by Burns & Oates, London.]
FATHER BINET, S. J.
[The following passages are taken from a most excellent and valuable
work, "Purgatory Surveyed," edited by the late lamented Dr. Anderdon,
S. J., being by him "disposed, abridged, or enlarged," from a treatise
by Father Binet, a French Jesuit, published at Paris in 1625, at Douay
in 1627, and translated soon after by Father Richard Thimbleby, an
English member of the Society of Jesus. Says Dr. Anderdon in his
preface: "The alterations ventured upon in this reprint, consist
chiefly in the mode of punctuation, which, being probably left to a
French compositor, are anomalous, and often perplexing. Some
expressions, so obsolete as to prevent the sense being clear, and in
the same degree lessening the value of the book to the general reader,
have been exchanged for others in more common use.... Let us earnestly
hope that, at this moment, on the threshold of the month specially
dedicated by the Church to devotion on behalf of the Holy Souls, the
joint work of Fathers Binet and Thimbleby may produce an abundant
harvest of intercession. If, during their own brief time of trial, they
were inspired to put together and to enforce such powerful motives to
stir up the faithful to this devotion, will they not now rejoice in the
re-production of their act of zeal and charity? During the two hundred
and fifty years which have elapsed since the first publication of the
French work, many changes and revolutions have taken place in the
histories of those spots of earth, known as France and England. But the
History of Purgatory is ever the same; "happiness and unhappiness"
combined; both unspeakably great; long detention, perhaps, or perhaps
swift release, according to the degree of faith and charity animating
the Church militant. May we now, and henceforth, realize in act, in
habitual practice, and, all the more, from the considerations given in
the following pages, the immense privilege of holding, to so great a
degree, the keys of Purgatory in our hands."]
Believe it, it is one of the first rudiments, but main principles, of a
Christian, to captivate his understanding, and so regulate all his
dictamens, that they be sure to run parallel with the sentiments of the
Church. And this I take to be the case when the question is started
about Purgatory fire, which I shall ever reckon in the class of those
truths, which cannot be contradicted without manifest temerity; as
being the doctrine generally preached and taught all over Christendom.
You must, then, conceive Purgatory to be a vast, darksome and hideous
chaos, full of fire and flames, in which the souls are kept close
prisoners, until they have fully satisfied for all their misdemeanors,
according to the estimate of Divine justice. For God has made choice of
this element of fire wherewith to punish souls, because it is the most
active, piercing, sensible, [1] and insupportable of all others. But
that which quickens it, indeed, and gives it more life, is this: that
it acts as the instrument of God's justice, who, by His omnipotent
power, heightens and reinforces its activity as He pleases, and so
makes it capable to act upon bodiless spirits. Do not, then, look only
upon this fire, though in good earnest it be dreadful enough of itself;
but consider the Arm that is stretched out, and the Hand that strikes,
and the rigor of God's infinite justice, who, through this element of
fire, vents His wrath, and pours out whole tempests of His most severe
and yet most just vengeance. So that the fire works as much mischief,
[2] as I may say, to the souls, as God commands; and He commands as
much as is due; and as much is due as the sentence bears: a sentence
irrevocably pronounced at the high tribunal of the severe and rigorous
justice of an angry God, and whose anger is so prevalent that the Holy
Scripture styles it "a day of fury." Now, you will easily believe that
this fire is a most horrible punishment in its own nature; but you may
do well to reflect also on that which I have now suggested; that the
fury of Almighty God is, as it were, the fire of this fire, and the
heat of its heat; and that He serves Himself of it as He pleases, by
doubling and redoubling its sharp pointed forces; for this is that
which makes it the more grievous and insupportable to the souls that
are thus miserably confined and imprisoned.
[Footnote 1: _i.e._, apprehended by the senses]
[Footnote 2: _i.e._, Not implying injury, far less injustice; but
simply punishment and suffering]
They were not much out of the way, that styled Purgatory a transitory
kind of hell, because the principal pains of the damned are to be found
there; with this only difference, that in hell they are eternal, and in
Purgatory they are only transitory and fleeting: for, otherwise, it is
probably the very same fire that burns both the Holy Souls and the
damned spirits; and the pain of loss is, in both places, the chief
torment.... Now, does not your hair stand on end? does not your heart
tremble, when you hear that the poor souls in Purgatory are tormented
with the same, or the like flames to those of the damned? Can you
refrain from crying out, with the Prophet Isaias: "Who can dwell with
such devouring fire, and unquenchable burnings?" Heavens! what a
lamentable case is this! Those miserable souls, who of late, when they
were wedded to their bodies, were so nice and dainty, forsooth, that
they durst scarce venture to enjoy the comfortable heat of a fire, but
under the protection of their screens and their fans, for fear of
spoiling their complexions, and if, by chance, a spark had been so rude
as to light upon them, or a little smoke, it was not to be endured:...
--Alas! how will it fare with them, when they shall see themselves tied
to unmerciful firebrands, or imbodied, as it were, with flames of fire,
surrounded with frightful darkness, broiled and consumed without
intermission, and perhaps condemned to the same fire with which the
devils are unspeakably tormented? (Pages 4-7.)
* * * * *
Good God! how the great Saints and Doctors astonish me when they treat
of this fire, and of the pain of sense, as they call it! For they
peremptorily pronounce that the fire that purges those souls, those
both happy and unhappy souls, surpasses all the torments that are to be
found in this miserable life of man, or are possible to be invented,
for so far they go... Thus they discourse: The fire and the pains of
the other world are of another nature from those of this life, because
God elevates them above their nature to be instruments of His severity.
Now, say they, things of an inferior degree can never reach the power
of such things as are of a higher rank. For example, the air, let it be
ever so inflated, unless it be converted into fire, can never be so hot
as fire. Besides, God bridles His rigor in this world; but, in the
next, He lets the reins loose and punishes almost equally to the
desert. And, since those souls have preferred creatures before their
Creator, He seems to be put upon a necessity of punishing them beyond
the ordinary strength of creatures; and hence it is that the fire of
Purgatory burns more, torments and inflicts more, than all the
creatures of this life are able to do. But is it really true that the
least pain in Purgatory exceeds the greatest here upon earth? O God!
the very statement makes me tremble for fear, and my very heart freezes
into ice with astonishment. And yet, who dare oppose St. Augustine, St.
Thomas, St. Anselm, St. Gregory the Great? Is there any hope of
carrying the negative assertion against such a stream of Doctors, who
all maintain the affirmative, and bring so strong reasons for it?...
* * * * *
But for Thy comfort, there are Doctors in the Catholic Church that
cannot agree with so much severity; and, namely, St. Bonaventure, who
is very peremptory in denying it. "For, what way is there," says this
holy Doctor, "to verify so great a paradox, without sounding reason,
and destroying the infinite mercy of God? I am easily persuaded there
are torments in Purgatory far exceeding any in this mortal life; this
is most certain, and it is but reasonable it should be so; but that the
least there should be more terrible than the most terrible in the world
cannot enter into my belief. May it not often fall out that a man comes
to die in a most eminent state of perfection, save only, that in his
last agony, out of mere frailty, he commits a venial sin, or carries
along with him some relic of his former failings, which might have been
easily blotted out with a _Pater Noster_, or washed away with a
little holy water; for I am supposing it to be some very small matter.
Now, what likelihood is there, I will not say, that the infinite mercy
of God, but that the very rigor of His justice, though you conceive it
to be ever so severe, should inflict so horrible a punishment upon this
holy soul, as not to be equalled by the greatest torments in this life;
and all this for some petty fault scarce worth the speaking of? How!
would you have God, for a kind of trifle, to punish a soul full of
grace and virtue, and so severely to punish her as to exceed all the
racks, cauldrons, furnaces, and other hellish inventions, which are
scarce inflicted upon the most execrable criminals in the world?" (Pp.
9-11.)
* * * * *
It is not the fire, nor all the brimstone and tortures they endure,
which murders them alive. No, no; it is the domestical cause of all
these mischiefs that racks their consciences and is their crudest
executioner. This, this is the greatest of their evils; for a soul that
has shaken off the fetters of flesh and blood, and is full of the love
of God, no more disordered with unruly passions, nor blinded with the
night of ignorance, sees clearly the vast injury she has done to
herself to have offended so good a God, and to have deserved to be thus
banished out of His sight and deprived of that Divine fruition. She
sees how easily she might have flown up straight to heaven at her first
parting with her body, and what trifle it was that impeded her. A
moment lost of those inebriating joys, seems to her now worthy to be
redeemed with an eternity of pains. Then, reflecting with herself that
she was created only for God, and cannot be truly satisfied but by
enjoying God, and that, out of Him, all this goodly machine of the
world is no better than a direct hell and an abyss of evils. Alas! what
worms, what martyrdoms, and what nipping pincers are such pinching
thoughts as these. The fire is to her but as smoke in comparison to
this vexing remembrance of her own follies, which betrayed her to this
disgraceful and unavoidable misfortune. There was a king who, in a
humor gave away his crown and his whole estate, for the present
refreshment of a cup of cold water; but, returning a little to himself
and soberly reflecting what he had done, had like to have run stark mad
to see the strange, irreparable folly he had committed. To lose a year,
or two years (to say no more), of the beatifical vision for a glass of
water, for a handful of earth, for the love of a fading beauty, for a
little air of worldly praise, a mere puff of honor--ah! it is the hell
of Purgatory to a soul that truly loves God and frames a right conceit
of things. (Pp. 14, 15.)
* * * * *
Confusion is one of the most intolerable evils that can befall a soul;
and, therefore, St. Paul, speaking of Our blessed Saviour, insists much
upon this, that He had the courage and the love for us all to overcome
the pain of a horrible confusion, which doubtless is an insupportable
evil to a man of intelligence and courage. Tell me, then, if you can,
what a burning shame and what a terrible confusion it must be to those
noble and generous souls, to behold themselves overwhelmed with a
confused chaos of fire, and such a base fire which affords no other
light but a sullen glimmering, choked up with a sulphureous and
stinking smoke; and in the interim to know that the souls of many
country clowns, mere idiots, poor women and simple religious persons,
go straight up to heaven, whilst they lie there burning--they that were
so knowing, so rich and so wise; they that were counsellors to kings,
eminent preachers of God's word, and renowned oracles in the world;
they that were so great divines, so great statesmen, so capable of high
employments. This confusion is much heightened by their further knowing
how easily they might have avoided all this and would not. Sometimes
they would have given whole mountains of gold to be rid of a stone in
the kidneys or a fit of the gout, colic or burning fever, and for a
handful of silver they might have redeemed many years' torments in that
fiery furnace; and, alas! they chose rather to give it to their dogs
and their horses, and sometimes to men more beasts than they and much
more unworthy. Methinks this thought must be more vexing than the fire
itself, though never so grievous.
And yet there remains one thought more, which certainly has a great
share in completing their martyrdom; and that is the remembrance of
their children or heirs which they left behind them; who swim in nectar
and live jollily on the goods which they purchased with the sweat of
their brows, and yet are so ungrateful, so brutish, and so barbarous
that they will scarce vouchsafe to say a Pater Noster in a whole month
for their souls who brought them into the world, and who, to place them
in a terrestrial paradise of all worldly delights, made a hard venture
of their own souls and had like to have exchanged a temporal punishment
for an eternal. The leavings and superfluities of their lackeys, a
throw of dice, and yet less than that, might have set them free from
these hellish torments; and these wicked, ungrateful wretches would not
so much as think on it. (Pp. 31-33.)
* * * * *
Before I leave off finishing this picture, or put a period to the
representation of the pains of Purgatory, I cannot but relate a very
remarkable history which will be as a living picture before your eyes.
But be sure you take it not to be of the number of those idle stories
which pass for old wives' tales, or mere imaginations of cracked brains
and simple souls. No; I will tell you nothing but what Venerable Bede,
so grave an author, witnesses to have happened in his time, and to have
been generally believed all over England without contradiction, and to
have been the cause of wonderful effects; and which is so authenticated
that Cardinal Bellarmine, a man of such judgment as the world knows,
having related it himself, concludes thus: "For my part I firmly
believe this history, as very conformable to the Holy Scripture, and
whereof I can have no doubt without wronging truth and wounding my own
conscience, which ought readily to yield assent unto that which is
attested by so many and so credible witnesses and confirmed by such
holy and admirable events."
About the year of our Lord 690, a certain Englishman, in the county of
Northumberland, by name Brithelmus, being dead for a time, was
conducted to the place of Purgatory by a guide, whose countenance and
apparel was full of light; you may imagine it was his good Angel. Here
he was shown two broad valleys of a vast and infinite length, one full
of glowing firebrands and terrible flames, the other as full of hail,
ice, and snow; and in both these were innumerable souls, who, as with a
whirlwind, were tossed up and down out of the intolerable scorching
flames, into the insufferable rigors of cold, and out of these into
those again, without a moment of repose or respite. This he took to be
hell, so frightful were those torments; but his good Angel told him no,
it was Purgatory, where the souls did penance for their sins, and
especially such as had deferred their conversion until the hour of
death; and that many of them were set free before the Day of Judgment
for the good prayers, alms, and fasts of the living, and chiefly by the
holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Now this holy man, being raised again from
death to life by the power of God, first made a faithful relation of
all that he had seen, to the great amazement of the hearers, then
retired him self into the church and spent the whole night in prayer;
and soon after, gave away his whole estate, partly to his wife and
children, partly to the poor, and taking upon him the habit and
profession of a monk, led so austere a life that even if his tongue had
been silent, yet his life and conversation spake aloud what wonders he
had seen in the other world. Sometimes they would see him, old as he
was, in freezing water up to his ears, praying and singing with much
sweetness and incredible fervor; and if they asked him, "Brother, alas!
how can you suffer such sharp and biting cold?" "O my friends," would
he say, "I have seen other manner of cold than this." Thus, when he
even groaned under the voluntary burden of a world of most cruel
mortifications, and was questioned how it was possible for a weak and
broken body like his to undergo such austerities, "Alas! my dear
brethren," would he still say, "I have seen far greater austerities
than these: they are but roses and perfumes in comparison of what I
have seen in the subterraneous lakes of Purgatory." And in these kinds
of austerities he spent the remainder of his life and made a holy end,
and purchased an eternal paradise, for having had but a sight of the
pains of Purgatory. And we, dear Christians, if we believed in good
earnest, or could but once procure to have a true sight or apprehension
of them, should certainly have other thoughts and live in another
fashion than we do. (Pp. 44-46.)
* * * * *
Now, would you clearly see how the souls can at the same instant swim
in a paradise of delights and yet be overwhelmed with the hellish
torments of Purgatory? Cast your eyes upon the holy martyrs of God's
Church, and observe their behavior. They were torn, mangled,
dismembered, flayed alive, racked, broiled, burnt--and tell me, was not
this to live in a kind of hell? And yet, in the very height of their
torments their hearts and souls were ready to leap for joy; you would
have taken them to be already transported into heaven. Hear them but
speak for themselves. "O lovely cross," cried out St. Andrew, "made
beautiful by the precious Body of Christ, how long have I desired thee,
and with what care have I sought thee! and now, that I have found thee,
receive me into thine arms, and lift me up to my dear Redeemer! O
death, [1] how amiable art thou in my eyes, and how sweet is thy
cruelty!" "Your coals," said St. Cecily, "your flaming firebrands, and
all the terrors of death, are to me but as so many fragrant roses and
lilies, sent from heaven." "Shower down upon me," cried St. Stephen,
"whole deluges of stones, whilst I see the heavens open and Jesus
Christ standing at the right side of His Eternal Father, to behold the
fidelity of His champion." "Turn," exclaimed St. Lawrence, "oh! turn,
the other side, thou cruel tyrant, this is already broiled, and cooked
fit for thy palate. Oh, how well am I pleased to suffer this little
Purgatory for the love of my Saviour!" "Make haste, O my soul," cried
St. Agnes, "to cast thyself upon the bed of flames which thy dear
Spouse has prepared for thee!" "Oh," cried St. Felicitas, and the
mother of the Machabees, "Oh, that I had a thousand children, or a
thousand lives, to sacrifice them all to my God. What a pleasure it is
to suffer for so good a cause!" "Welcome tyrants, tigers, lions,"
writes St. Ignatius the Martyr; "let all the torments that the devils
can invent come upon me, so I may enjoy my Saviour. I am the wheat of
Christ; oh, let me be ground with the lions' teeth. Now I begin indeed
to be the disciple of Christ." "Oh, the happy stroke of a sword," might
St. Paul well exclaim, "that no sooner cuts off my head, but it makes a
breach for my soul to enter into heaven. Let it be far from me to glory
in anything, but in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let all evils
band against me, and let my body be never so overloaded with
afflictions, the joy of my heart will be sure to have the mastery, and
my soul will be still replenished with such heavenly consolations that
no words, nor even thoughts, are able to express it."
[Footnote 1: From the author's text, it seems doubtful whether this
sentence is to be attributed to St. Andrew or St. Cecilia.]
You may imagine, then, that the souls, once unfettered from the body,
may, together with their torments, be capable of great comforts and
divine favors, and break forth into resolute, heroical, and even
supercelestial acts.
* * * * *
But there is yet something of a higher nature to be said.... We have
all the reason in the world to believe that God, of His infinite
goodness, inspires these holy souls with a thousand heavenly lights,
and such ravishing thoughts, that they cannot but take themselves to be
extremely happy: so happy that St. Catherine of Genoa professed she had
learnt of Almighty God that, excepting only the blessed Saints in
heaven, there were no joys comparable to those of the souls in
Purgatory. "For," said she, "when they consider that they are in the
hands of God, in a place deputed for them by His holy providence, and
just where God would have them, it is not to be expressed what a
sweetness they find in so loving a thought: and certainly they had
infinitely rather be in Purgatory, to comply with His divine pleasure,
than be in Paradise, with violence to His justice, and a manifest
breach of the ordinary laws of the house of God. I will say more,"
continued she: "it cannot so much as steal into their thoughts to
desire to be anywhere else than where they are. Seeing that God has so
placed them, they are not at all troubled that others get out before
them; and they are so absorbed in this profound meditation, of being at
God's disposal, in the bosom of His sweet providence, that they cannot
so much as dream of being anywhere else. So that, methinks, those kind
expressions of Almighty God, by His prophets, to His chosen people, may
be fitly applied to the unhappy and yet happy condition of these holy
souls. 'Rejoice, my people,' says the loving God; 'for I swear unto you
by Myself, that when you shall pass through flames of fire, they shall
not hurt you: I shall be there with you; I shall take off the edge, and
blunt the points, of those piercing flames. I will raise the bright
Aurora in your darkness; and the darkness of your nights shall outshine
the midday. I will pour out My peace into the midst of your hearts, and
replenish your souls with the bright shining lights of heaven. You
shall be as a paradise of delights, bedewed with a living fountain of
heavenly waters. You shall rejoice in your Creator, and I will raise
you above the height of mountains, and nourish you with manna and the
sweet inheritance of Jacob; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it:
and it cannot fail, but shall be sure to fall out so, because He hath
spoken it'" (Pp. 61, 62).
* * * * *
But let not this discourse cool your charity; lest, seeing the souls
enjoy so much comfort in Purgatory, your compassion for them grow
slack, and so continue not equal to their desert. Remember, then, that
notwithstanding all these comforts here rehearsed, the poor creatures
cease not to be grievously tormented; and consequently have extreme
need of all your favorable assistance and pious endeavors. When Christ
Jesus was in His bitter agony, sweating blood and water, the superior
part of His soul enjoyed God and His glory, and yet His body was so
oppressed with sorrow, that He was ready to die, and was content to be
comforted by an Angel. In like manner, these holy souls have indeed
great joys; but feel withal such bitter torments, that they stand in
great need of our help. So that you will much wrong them, and me, too,
to stand musing so long upon their joys, as not to afford them succor.
(P. 80.)
* * * * *
In the history of the incomparable order of the great St. Dominic, it
is authentically related that one of the first of those holy, religious
men was wont to say, that he found himself not so much concerned to
pray for the souls in Purgatory, because they are certain of their
salvation; and that, upon this account, we ought not, in his judgment,
to be very solicitous for them, but ought rather to bend our whole care
to help sinner, to convert the wicked, and to secure such souls as are
uncertain of their salvation, and probably certain of their damnation,
as leading very evil lives. Here it is, said he, that I willingly
employ my whole endeavors. It is upon these that I bestow my Masses and
prayers, and all that little that is at my disposal; and thus I take it
to be well bestowed. But upon souls that have an assurance of eternal
happiness, and can never more lose God or offend Him, I believe not,
said he, that one ought to be so solicitous. This certainly was but a
poor and weak discourse, to give it no severer a censure; and the
consequence of it was this, that the good man did not only himself
forbear to help these poor souls, but, which was worse, dissuaded
others from doing it; and, under color of a greater charity, withdrew
that succor which, otherwise, good people would liberally have afforded
them. But God took their cause in hand; for, permitting the souls to
appear and show themselves in frightful shapes, and to haunt the good
man by night and day without respite, still filling his fancy with
dreadful imaginations, and his eyes with terrible spectacles, and
withal letting him know who they were, and why, with God's permission,
they so importuned him with their troublesome visits, you may believe
the good Father became so affectionately kind to the souls in
Purgatory, bestowed so many Masses and prayers upon them, preached so
fervently in their behalf, stirred up so many to the same devotion,
that it is a thing incredible to believe, and not to be expressed with
eloquence. Never did you see so many and so clear and convincing
reasons as he alleged, to demonstrate that it is the most eminent piece
of fraternal charity in this life to pray for the souls departed. Love
and fear are the two most excellent orators in the world; they can
teach all rhetoric in a moment, and infuse a most miraculous eloquence.
This good Father, who thought he should have been frightened to death,
was grown so fearful of a second assault, that he bent his whole
understanding to invent the most pressing and convincing arguments to
stir up the world both to pity and to piety, and so persuade souls to
help souls; and it is incredible what good ensued thereupon. (Pp. 82-
84.)
* * * * *
Is there anything within the whole circumference of the universe so
worthy of compassion, and that may so deservedly claim the greatest
share in all your devotions and charities, as to see our fathers, our
mothers, our nearest and dearest relations, to lie broiling in cruel
flames, and to cry to us for help with tears that are able to move
cruelty itself? Whence I conclude there is not upon the earth any
object that deserves more commiseration than this, nor where fraternal
charity can better employ all her forces. (P. 86.)
* * * * *
St. Thomas tells us there is an order to be observed in our works of
charity to our neighbor; that is, we are to see where there is a
greater obligation, a greater necessity, a greater merit, and the like
circumstances. Now, where is there more necessity, or more obligation,
than to run to the fire, and to help those that lie there, and are not
able to get out? Where can you have more merit, than to have a hand in
raising up Saints and servants of God? Where have you more assurance
than where you are sure to lose nothing? Where can you find an object
of more compassion, than where there is the greatest misery in the
world? Where is there seen more of God's glory, than to send new Saints
into heaven to praise God eternally? Lastly, where can you show more
charity, and more of the love of God, than to employ your tears, your
sighs, your goods, your hands, your heart, your life, and all your
devotion, to procure a good that surpasses all other goods; I mean, to
make souls happy for all eternity, by translating them into heavenly
joys, out of insupportable torments? That glorious Apostle of the
Indies, St. Francis Xavier, could run from one end of the world to the
other, to convert a soul, and think it no long journey. The dangers by
sea and land seemed sweet, the tempests pleasing, the labor easy, and
his whole time well employed. Good God! what an advantage have we, that
with so little trouble and few prayers, may send a thousand beautiful
souls into heaven, without the least hazard of losing anything? St.
Francis Xavier could not be certain that the Japanese, for example,
whom he baptized, would persevere in their faith; and, though they
should persevere in it, he could have as little certainty of their
salvation. Now, it is an article of our faith, that the holy souls in
Purgatory are in grace, and shall assuredly one day enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven. (Pp. 91, 92.)
* * * * *
We read in the life of St. Catherine of Bologna, ... that she had not
only a strange tenderness for the souls, but a singular devotion to
them, and was wont to recommend herself to them in all her necessities.
The reason she alleged for it was this: that she had learned of
Almighty God how she had frequently obtained far greater favors by
their intercession than by any other means. And the story adds this:
that it often happened that what she begged of God, at the intercession
of the Saints in heaven, she could never obtain of Him; and yet, as
soon as she addressed herself to the souls in Purgatory she had her
suit instantly granted. Can there be any question but there are souls
in that purging fire who are of a higher pitch of sanctity, and of far
greater merit in the sight of God, than a thousand and a thousand
Saints who are already glorious in the Court of Heaven. (P. 102.)
* * * * *
Cardinal Baronius, a man of credit beyond exception, relates, in his
Ecclesiastical Annals, how a person of rare virtue found himself
dangerously assaulted at the hour of his death; and that, in this
agony, he saw the heavens open and about eight thousand champions, all
covered with white armor, descend, who fell instantly to encourage him
by giving him this assurance: that they were come to fight for him and
to disengage him from that doubtful combat. And when, with infinite
comfort, and tears in his eyes, he besought them to do him the favor to
let him know who they were that had so highly obliged him: "We are,"
said they, "the souls whom you have saved and delivered out of
Purgatory; and now, to requite the favor, we are come down to convey
you instantly to heaven." And with that, he died.
We read another such story of St. Gertrude; how she was troubled at her
death to think what must become of her, since she had given away all
the rich treasure of her satisfactions to redeem other poor souls,
without reserving anything to herself; but that Our Blessed Saviour
gave her the comfort to know that she was not only to have the like
favor of being immediately conducted into heaven out of this world, by
those innumerable souls whom she had sent thither before her by her
fervent prayers, but was there also to receive a hundred-fold of
eternal glory in reward of her charity. By which examples we may learn
that we cannot make better use of our devotion and charity than this
way. (Pp. 104, 105.)
* * * * *
The Church Triumphant, to speak properly, cannot satisfy, because there
is no place for penal works in the Court of Heaven, whence all grief
and pain are eternally banished.
Wherefore, the Saints may well proceed by way of impetration and
prayers; or, at most, represent their former satisfactions, which are
carefully laid up in the treasury of the Church, in lieu of those which
are due from others; but, as for any new satisfaction or payment
derived from any penal act of their own, it is not to be looked for in
those happy mansions of eternal glory.
The Church Militant may do either; as having this advantage over the
Church Triumphant, that she can help the souls in Purgatory by her
prayers and satisfactory works, and by offering up her charitable
suffrages, wherewith to pay the debts of those poor souls who are run
in arrear in point of satisfaction due for their sins. Had they but
fasted, prayed, labored, or suffered a little more in this life, they
had gone directly into heaven; what they unhappily neglected we may
supply for them, and it will be accepted for good payment, as from
their bails and sureties. You know, he that stands surety for another
takes the whole debt upon himself. This is our case; for, the living,
as it were, entering bond for the dead, become responsible for their
debts, and offer up fasts for fasts, tears for tears, in the same
measure and proportion as they were liable to them, and so defray the
debt of their friends at their own charge, and make all clear. (Pp.
117, 118.)
* * * * *
I am in love with that religious practice of Bologna, where, upon
funeral days, they cause hundreds and thousands of Masses to be said
for the soul departed, in lieu of other superfluous and vain
ostentations. They stay not for the anniversary, nor for any other set
day; but instantly do their best to release the poor soul from her
torments, who must needs think the year long, if she must stay for help
till her anniversary day appears. They do not, for all this, despise
the laudable customs of the Church; they bury their friends with honor;
they clothe great numbers of poor people; they give liberal alms; but,
as there is nothing so certain, nothing so efficacious, nothing so
divine, as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, they fix their whole
affection there, and strive all they can to relieve the souls this way;
and are by no means so lavish, as the fashion is, in other idle
expenses and inopportune feastings, which are often more troublesome to
the living than comfortable to the dead.
But you may not only comfort the afflicted souls by procuring Masses
for them, nor yet only by offering up your prayers, fasts, alms-deeds,
and such other works of piety; but you may bestow upon them all the
good you do, and all the evil you suffer, in this world.... If you
offer up unto God all that causes you any grief or affliction, for the
present relief of the poor languishing souls, you cannot believe what
ease and comfort they will find by it. (Pp. 123-125).
* * * * *
The world has generally a great esteem of Monsieur d'Argenton, Philip
Commines; and many worthily admire him for the great wisdom and
sincerity he has labored to express in his whole history. But, for my
part, I commend him for nothing more than for the prudent care he took
here for the welfare of his own soul in the other world. For, having
built a goodly chapel at the Augustinians in Paris, and left them a
good foundation, he tied them to this perpetual obligation, that they
should no sooner rise from table, but they should be sure to pray for
the rest of this precious soul. And he ordered it thus, by his express
will, that one of the religious should first say aloud: "Let us pray
for the soul of Monsieur d'Argenton;" and then all should instantly say
the psalm _De Profundis_. Gerson lost not his labor when he took
such pains to teach little children to repeat often these words: "My
God, my Creator, have pity on Thy poor servant, John Gerson." For these
innocent souls, all the while the good man was dying, and after he was
dead, went up and down the town with a mournful voice, singing the
short lesson he had taught them, and comforting his dear soul with
their innocent prayers.
Now, as I must commend their prudence who thus wisely cast about how to
provide for their own souls, against they come into Purgatory, so I
cannot but more highly magnify their charity, who, less solicitous for
themselves, employ their whole care to save others out of that dreadful
fire. And sure I am, they can lose nothing by the bargain, who dare
thus trust God with their own souls, while they do their uttermost to
help others; nay, though they should follow that unparalleled example
of Father Hernando de Monsoy, of the Society of Jesus, who, not content
to give away all he could from himself to the poor souls, while he
lived, made them his heirs after death; and, by express will,
bequeathed them all the Masses, rosaries, and whatsoever else should be
offered for him by his friends upon earth. (Pp. 131-132.)
* * * * *
It will not be amiss here to resolve you certain pertinent questions.
Whether the suffrages we offer up unto God shall really avail them for
whom we offer them; and whether they alone, or others also, may receive
benefit by them? Whether it be better to pray for a few at once, or for
many, or for all the souls together, and for what souls in particular?
To the first I answer: if your intention be to help any one in
particular who is really in Purgatory, so your work be good, it is
infallibly applied to the person upon whom you bestow it. For, as
divines teach, it is the intention of the offerer which governs all;
and God, of His infinite goodness, accommodates Himself to the
petitioner's request, applying unto each one what has been offered for
its relief. If you have nobody in your thoughts for whom you offer up
your prayers, they are only beneficial to yourself; and what would be
thus lost for want of application, God lays up in the treasury of the
Church, as being a kind of spiritual waif or stray, to which nobody can
lay any just claim. And, since it is the intention which entitles one
to what is offered before all others, what right can others pretend to
it; or with what justice can it be parted or divided amongst others,
who were never thought of?
And hence I take my starting-point to resolve your other question--that
if you regard their best advantage whom you have a mind to favor, you
had better pray for a few than for many together; for, since the merit
of your devotions is but limited, and often in a very small proportion,
the more you divide and subdivide it amongst many, the lesser share
comes to every one in particular. As if you should distribute a crown
or an angel [1] amongst a thousand poor people, you easily see your
alms would be so inconsiderable, they would be little better for it;
whereas, if it were all bestowed upon one or two, it were enough to
make them think themselves rich.
[Footnote 1: A gold coin of that period so called because it was
stamped with the image of an angel.]
Now, to define precisely, whether it be always better done, to help one
or two souls efficaciously, than to yield a little comfort to a great
many, is a question I leave for you to exercise your wits in. I could
fancy it to be your best course to do both; that is, sometimes to
single out some particular soul, and to use all your powers to lift her
up to heaven; sometimes, again, to parcel out your favors upon many;
and, now and then, also to deal out a general alms upon all Purgatory.
And you need not fear exceeding in this way of charity, whatsoever you
bestow; for you may be sure nothing will be lost by it. And St. Thomas
will tell you, for your comfort, that since all the souls in Purgatory
are perfectly united in charity, they rejoice exceedingly when they see
any of their whole number receive such powerful helps as to dispose her
for heaven. They every one take it as done to themselves, whatsoever is
bestowed upon any of their fellows, whom they love as themselves; and,
out of a heavenly kind of courtesy, and singular love, they joy in her
happiness, as if it were their own. So that it may be truly said, that
you never pray for one or more of them, but they are all partakers, and
receive a particular comfort and satisfaction by it. (Pp. 132-134.)
* * * * *
It would go hard with many, were it true that a person who neglected to
make restitution in his life-time, and only charged his heirs to do it
for him in his last will and testament, shall not stir out of Purgatory
till restitution be really made; let there be never so many Masses
said, and never so many satisfactory works offered up for him. And yet
St. Bridget, whose revelations are, for the most part, approved by the
Church, hesitates not to set this down for a truth which God had
revealed unto her. Nor are there wanting grave divines that countenance
this rigorous position, and bring for it many strong reasons and
examples, which they take to be authentical: and the law itself, which
says that if a man do not restore another's goods, there will always
stick upon the soul a kind of blemish, or obligation of justice. And
since the fault lies wholly at his door, he cannot, say they, have the
least reason to complain of the severity of God's justice, but must
accuse his own coldness and extreme neglect of his own welfare. Nay,
even those that are of the contrary persuasion, yet maintain that it is
not only much more secure, but far more meritorious, to satisfy such
obligations while we live, than to trust others with it, let them be
never so near and dear to us.... (Pp. 140, 141.)
* * * * *
... I have just cause to fear that all I can say to you will hardly
suffice to mollify that hard heart of yours; and, therefore, my last
refuge shall be to set others on, though I call them out of the other
world.
And first, let a damned soul read you a lecture, and teach you the
compassion you ought to bear to your afflicted brethren. Remember how
the rich glutton in the Gospel, although he was buried in hell-fire,
took care for his brothers who survived him; and besought Abraham to
send Lazarus back into the world, to preach and convert them, lest they
should be so miserable as to come into that place of torments. A
strange request for a damned soul! and which may shame you, that are so
little concerned for the souls of your brethren, who are in so restless
a condition.
In the next place, I will bring in the soul of your dear father, or
mother, to make her own just complaints against you. Lend her, then, a
dutiful and attentive ear; and let none of her words be lost; for she
deserves to be heard out, while she sets forth the state of her most
lamentable condition. Peace! it is a holy soul, though clothed in
flames, that directs her speech to you after this manner: