Purgatory Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints

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Part Two - Purgatory, The Mystery of God's Mercy

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." -2 Machabees 12:46


Chapter 9. Assistance given the Holy Souls - Suffrages - Meritorious, Impetratory, and Satisfactory Works - God's Mercy - Saint  Gertrude - Judas Machabeus

If God consoles the souls with so much goodness, His mercy shines forth still more clearly in the power which He gives to His Church to shorten the duration of their sufferings. Desiring to execute with clemency the severe sentence of His Justice, He accords abatement and mitigation of the pain; but He does so in an indirect manner through the intervention of the living. To us He gives all power to succor our afflicted brethren by way of suffrage, that is to say, by means of impetration and satisfaction.

The word suffrage in ecclesiastical language is a synonym of prayer, yet, when the Council of Trent declares that the souls in Purgatory are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, the sense of the word is more comprehensive; it includes in general all that we can offer to God in behalf of the departed. Now, we can thus offer to God, not only our prayers, but all our good works, in so far as they are impetratory or satisfactory.

To understand these terms, let us recall to mind that each of our good works, performed in the state of grace, ordinarily possesses a triple value in the sight of God.

1. The work is meritorious, that is to say, it increases our merit; it gives us right to a new degree of glory in Heaven.

2. It is impetratory (impetrate, obtain), that is to say that, like a prayer, it has the virtue of obtaining some grace from God.

3. It is satisfactory, that is to say that as having, as it were, a pecuniary value, it can satisfy Divine Justice and pay our debts of temporal punishment before God.

The merit is inalienable, and remains the property of the person who performs the action. On the contrary, the impetratory and satisfactory value can benefit others, in virtue of the communion of saints. This understood, let us put this practical question - What are suffrages by which, according to the doctrine of the Church, we may aid the souls in Purgatory?

To this question we answer: They consist of prayers, alms, fasts, and penances of any kind, indulgences, and above all the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. All the works performed in the state of grace Jesus Christ allows us to offer to the Divine Majesty for the relief of our brethren in Purgatory, and God applies them to those souls according to His justice and Mercy. By this admirable arrangement, whilst protecting the rights of His justice, our Heavenly Father multiplies the effects of His Mercy, which is thus exercised at the same time in favor of the Church Suffering and of the Church Militant. The merciful assistance which He allows us to give to our suffering brethren is of excellent profit to ourselves. It is a work not only advantageous to the departed, but also holy and salutary for the living. Sancta et salubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare.

We read in the Revelations of Saint Gertrude that a humble Religious of her community, having crowned an exemplary life with a very pious death, God deigned to show the saint the state of the deceased in the other life. Gertrude saw her soul adorned with ineffable beauty, and dear to Jesus, who regarded her with love. Nevertheless, on account of some slight negligence not yet atoned for, she could not enter Heaven, but was obliged to descend into the dismal abode of suffering. Scarcely had she disappeared into its depths,
when the saint saw her come forth and rise towards Heaven, transported thither by the suffrages of the Church. Ecclesiae precibus sursum ferri. (Le gains Div. Pietatis, lib. 5., c. 5).

Even in the Old Law prayers and sacrifices were offered for the dead. Holy Scripture relates as praiseworthy the pious action of Judas Machabeus after his victory over Gorgias, general of King Antiochus. The soldiers had committed a fault by taking from among the spoils some objects offered to the idols, which by law they were forbidden to do. Then Judas, chief of the army of Israel, ordered prayers and sacrifices for the remission of their sin, and for the repose of their souls. Let us see how this fact is related in Scripture. (2 Machabees 12:39).

"After the Sabbath, Judas went with his company to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen in the sepulchres of their fathers.

"And they found under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews; so that all plainly saw that for this cause they were slain.

"Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden.

"And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought Him that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, for so much as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sin of those that were slain.

"And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection.

"(For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them).

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."

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Part Two - Purgatory, The Mystery of God's Mercy

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." -2 Machabees 12:46


Chapter 10. Assistance given to the Holy Souls - Holy Mass - Saint Augustine and Saint Monica

In the New Law we have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the divers sacrifices of the Mosaic Law were but feeble figures. The Son of God instituted it, not only as a worthy homage given by the creature to the Divine Majesty, but also as a propitiation for the living and the dead; that is to say, as an efficacious means of appeasing the Justice of God, provoked by our sins.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated for the departed, even from the time of the foundation of the Church. "We celebrate the anniversary of the triumph of the martyrs," writes Tertullian in the third century, "and, according to the tradition of our fathers, we offer the Holy Sacrifice for the departed on the anniversary of their death." (De Corona, c. 5)

"It cannot be doubted," writes Saint Augustine, "that the prayers of the Church, the Holy Sacrifice, and alms distributed for the departed, relieve those holy souls, and move God to treat them with more clemency than their sins deserve. It is the universal practice of the Church, a practice which she observes as having received it from her forefathers - that is to say, the holy Apostles." (Serm. 34, De Verbis Apost.)

Saint Monica, the worthy mother of Saint Augustine, when about to expire, asked but one thing of her son, that he would remember her at the altar of God; and the holy Doctor, when relating that touching circumstance in the Book of his Confessions, entreats all his readers to unite with him in recommending her to God during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. (Liv. 9., c. 5)

Wishing to return to Africa, Saint Monica went with Saint Augustine to Ostia, in order to embark; but she fell sick, and soon felt that her end was approaching. "It is here," said she to her son, "that you will give burial to your mother. The one thing I ask of you is that you will be mindful of me at the altar of the Lord." Ut ad altare Domini memineritis mei.

Saint Augustine continues: "May I be pardoned for the tears I then shed, for that death should not be mourned which was but the entrance to true life. Yet, considering with the eyes of faith the miseries of our fallen nature, I might shed before You, O Lord, other tears than those of the flesh, tears which flow at the thought of the peril to which every soul is exposed that has sinned in Adam.

"It is certain that my mother lived in such manner as to give glory to Your Name, by the activity of her faith and the purity of her morals; yet dare I affirm that no word contrary to Thy law has ever escaped her lips? Alas! what will become of the holiest life if Thou dost examine it in all the rigors of Thy justice? For this reason, O God of my heart, I leave aside the good works which my mother has performed to ask of Thee only the pardon of her sins. Hear me, by the wounds of Him who died for us upon the Cross, and who, now seated at Thy right hand, is our Mediator.

"I know that my mother always showed mercy, that she pardoned from her heart all offenses, and forgave all the debts owing to her. Cancel then her debts, if during the course of her long life there are any owing to Thee. Pardon her, O Lord, pardon her, and enter not into judgment against her; for Thy words are true; Thou hast promised mercy to the merciful.

"This mercy, I believe, Thou hast already shown to her, O my God; but accept the homage of my prayer. Remember that on her passage to the other life Thy servant desired for her body neither pompous funeral nor precious perfumes, she asked not a magnificent tomb, nor that she should be carried to that which she had caused to be constructed at Tagaste, her native place; but only that we should remember her at Thy altar, whose mysteries she prized.

"Thou knowest. Lord, all the days of her life she took part in those Divine Mysteries which contain the Holy Victim whose blood has effaced the sentence of our condemnation. Let her repose then in peace with my father, her husband, with the spouse to whom she was faithful during all the days of her union, and in the sorrows of her widowhood with him whose humble servant she made herself, to win him for Thee by her meekness and patience. And Thou, O my God, inspire Thy servants, who are my brethren, inspire all those who read these lines to remember at Thy altar Monica, Thy servant, and Patricius, who was her spouse; that all who still live in the false light of this world may piously remember my parents, that the last prayer of my dying mother may be heard beyond her expectations."

This beautiful passage of Saint Augustine shows us the opinion of this great Doctor on the subject of suffrages for the departed, and it makes us see clearly that the greatest of all suffrages is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

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Part Two - Purgatory, The Mystery of God's Mercy

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." -2 Machabees 12:46


Chapter 11. Assistance rendered to the Souls - Holy Mass - Jubilee of Leo XIH - Solemn Commemoration of the Dead on the Last Sunday in September

We have witnessed the holy enthusiasm with which the Church celebrated the Sacerdotal Jubilee of her venerated head, Pope Leo XIII. The faithful from all parts of the world went to Rome, either in person or in heart, to offer their homage and gifts at the feet of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. The entire Church Militant rejoiced in the midst of her long trials.

The Church Triumphant in Heaven shared in this rejoicing by the canonization and beatification of a large number of her glorious members. Was it not fitting that the Church Suffering should also participate therein?

Could our dear brethren in Purgatory be forgotten? Should not those souls so dear to the heart of Jesus also experience the happy effects of that glorious feast?

Leo XIII understood this. Always guided by the Holy Spirit, when acting as Supreme Pastor, the Pope, by an Encyclical Letter dated April 1, 1888, decreed that, throughout the entire Christian world, there should be a solemn Commemoration of the Dead on the last Sunday of the month of September. Calling to mind with what admirable love the Church Militant has manifested her joy, and how the Church Triumphant rejoiced with her, "To crown, in a certain sense," says our Holy Father, "this general exultation, we desire to fulfill, as perfectly as possible, the duty of our apostolic charity by extending the fullness of infinite spiritual treasures to those beloved sons of the Church who, having died the death of the just, have quitted this life of combat with the sign of faith, and have become offshoots of the mystic vine, although they are not permitted to enter into eternal peace until they shall have paid the last farthing of the debt which they owe to the avenging justice of God.

"We are moved thereto both by the pious desires of Catholics, to whom we know our resolution will be particularly dear, and by the agonizing intensity of the pains suffered by the departed souls; but we are especially inspired by the custom of the Church, who, in the midst of the most joyful solemnities of the year, forgets not the holy and salutary commemoration of the dead that they may be loosed from their sins.

"For this reason, since it is certain from Catholic doctrine that the souls detained in Purgatory are relieved by the suffrages of the faithful, and especially by the august Sacrifice of the Altar, we think we can give no more useful nor more desirable pledge of our love than by everywhere multiplying, for the mitigation of their pains, the pure oblation of the Holy Sacrifice of our Divine Mediator.

"We therefore appoint, with all necessary dispensations and derogations, the last Sunday of the month of September next as a day of ample expiation; on which day there shall be celebrated by us, and likewise by our brethren the Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, and by all other Prelates exercising jurisdiction in a diocese, each in his own patriarchal church, metropolitan or cathedral, a special Mass for the dead, with all possible solemnity, and according to the rite indicated by the missal for the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed. We approve that the same be done in the parochial and collegiate churches, secular as well as regular, provided the Office proper for the Mass of the day everywhere where such obligation exists be not omitted.

"As regards the faithful, we earnestly exhort them, after having received the Sacrament of Penance, to devoutly nourish themselves with the bread of angels by way of suffrage for the souls in Purgatory.

"By our apostolic authority, to those of the faithful who do so we grant a plenary indulgence, to be applied to the souls departed, and the favor of the privileged altar to all those who, as we have said above, shall celebrate Mass.

"Thus the holy souls who expiate the remains of their faults by those sharp pains will receive special and efficacious relief, thanks to the Saving Host which the Universal Church, united to her visible Head, and animated with the same spirit of charity, will offer to God, that He may admit them into the abode of consolation, of light, and of eternal peace.

"Meanwhile, venerable brethren, we grant you affectionately in the Ford, as a pledge of these heavenly gifts, the apostolic benediction to you, to all the clergy, and to all the people confided to your care.

"Given at Rome, under the seal of the Fisherman, on the solemnity of Easter, in the year 1888, the eleventh of our Pontificate."

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Part Two - Purgatory, The Mystery of God's Mercy

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." -2 Machabees 12:46


Chapter 12. Means of Assisting the Souls in Purgatory - Holy Mass - The Religious of Citeaux delivered by the Sacred Host - Blessed Henry Suso

No, of all that we can do in favor of the souls in Purgatory, there is nothing more precious than the immolation of our Divine Saviour upon the altar. Besides being the express doctrine of the Church, manifested in her Councils, many miraculous facts, properly authenticated, leave no room for doubt in regard to this point. We have already spoken of the Religious who was delivered from Purgatory by the prayers of Saint Bernard and his community. This Religious, whose regularity was not all that could be desired, had appeared after his death to ask the assistance of Saint Bernard. The holy Abbot, with all his fervent disciples, hastened to offer prayers, fasts, and Masses for the poor departed brother. The latter was speedily delivered, and appeared, full of gratitude, to an aged Religious of the community who had specially interested himself in his behalf. Questioned as to the suffrage which had been most profitable to him, instead of replying, he took the old man by the hand, and, conducting him to the church where Mass was being celebrated, "Behold," said he, pointing to the altar, "the great redeeming power which has broken my chains; behold the price of my ransom: it is the Saving Host, which takes away the sins of the world." (L'Abbe Postel, Le Purgatoire, chap. 5; cf. Rossign., Merv., 47)

Here is another incident, related by the historian Ferdinand of Castile, and quoted by Father Rossignoli. There was at Cologne, among the students in the higher classes of the university, two Dominican Religious of distinguished talent, one of whom was Blessed Henry Suso. The same studies, the same kind of life, and above all the same relish for sanctity, had caused them to contract an intimate friendship, and they mutually imparted the favors which they received from Heaven.

When they had finished their studies, seeing that they were about to be separated, to return each one to his own convent, they agreed and promised one another that the first of the two who should die should be assisted by the other for a whole year by the celebration of two Masses each week - on Monday a Mass of Requiem, as was customary, and on Friday that of the Passion, in so far as the Rubrics would permit. They engaged to do this, gave each other the kiss of peace, and left Cologne.

For several years they both continued to serve God with the most edifying fervor. The brother whose name is not mentioned was the first to be called away, and Suso received the tidings with the most perfect sentiments of resignation to the Divine will. As to the contract they had made, time had caused him to forget it. He prayed much for his friend, imposing new penances upon himself, and many other good works, but he did not think of offering the Masses which he had promised.

One morning, whilst meditating in retirement in the chapel, he suddenly saw appear before him the soul of his departed friend, who, regarding him with tenderness, reproached him with having been unfaithful to his word, given and accepted, and which he had a perfect right to rely upon with confidence. Blessed Suso, surprised, excused his forgetfulness by enumerating the prayers and mortifications which he had offered, and still continued to offer, for his friend, whose salvation was as dear to him as his own. "Is it possible, my dear brother," he added, "that so many prayers and good works which I have offered to God do not suffice for you?" "Oh! no, dear brother," replied the suffering soul, "that is not sufficient. It is the Blood of Jesus Christ that is needed to extinguish the flames by which I am consumed; it is the August Sacrifice which will deliver me from these frightful torments, I implore you to keep your word, and refuse me not that which injustice you owe me."

Blessed Suso hastened to respond to the appeal of the suffering soul; and, to repair his fault, he celebrated, and caused to be celebrated, more Masses than he had promised. On the following day several priests, at the request of Suso, united with him in offering the Holy Sacrifice for the deceased, and continued this act of charity for several days. After some time the friend of Suso again appeared to him, but now in a very different condition; his countenance was joyful, and surrounded with beautiful light. "Oh! thanks, my faithful friend," said he; "behold, by the Blood of my Saviour I am delivered from my sufferings. I am now going to Heaven to contemplate Him whom we so often adored together under the Eucharistic veil." Suso prostrated himself to thank the God of all mercy, and understood more than ever the inestimable value of the August Sacrifice of the Altar. (Rossignoli, Merv., 34, and Ferdinand de Castile).

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Part Two - Purgatory, The Mystery of God's Mercy

"It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." -2 Machabees 12:46


Chapter 13. Relief of the Souls - Holy Mass - Saint Elizabeth and Queen Constance - Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and Pellegrino d'Osimo

We read in the Life of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal that after the death of her daughter Constance she learned the pitiful state of the deceased in Purgatory and the price which God exacted for her ransom. The young princess had been married but a short time previous to the King of Castile, when she was snatched away by sudden death from the affection of her family and her subjects. Elizabeth had just received these tidings, and set out with the King, her husband, for the city of Santarem, when a hermit, coming forth from his solitude, ran after the royal cortege, crying that he wished to speak to the Queen. The guards repulsed him, but the saint, seeing that he persisted, gave orders that the servant of God should be brought to her.

As soon as he came into her presence, he related that more than once whilst he was praying in his hermitage Queen Constance had appeared to him, urgently entreating him to make known to her mother that she was languishing in the depths of Purgatory, that she was condemned to long and terrible suffering, but that she would be delivered if for the space of a year the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated for her every day. The courtiers who heard this communication ridiculed him aloud, and treated the hermit as a visionary, an impostor, or a fool.

As to Elizabeth, she turned towards the King and asked him what he thought of it. "I believe," replied the Prince, "that it is wise to do that which has been pointed out to you in so extraordinary a manner. After all, to have Masses celebrated for our dear deceased relatives is nothing more than a paternal and Christian duty." A holy priest, Ferdinand Mendez, was appointed to say the Masses.

At the end of the year Constance appeared to Saint Elizabeth, clad in a brilliant white robe. "Today, dear mother," said she, "I am delivered from the pains of Purgatory, and am about to enter Heaven." Filled with consolation and joy, the saint went to the church to return thanks to God. There she found the priest Mendez, who assured her that on the previous day he had finished the celebration of the three hundred and sixty-five Masses with which he had been charged. The Queen then understood that God had kept the promise which He had made to the pious hermit, and she testified her gratitude by distributing abundant alms to the poor.

But thou hast saved us from them that afflict us, and thou hast put them to shame that hate us. (Psalm 43). Such were the words addressed to the illustrious Saint Nicholas of Tolentino by the souls that he had delivered in offering for them the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. One of the greatest virtues of that admirable servant of God, says Father Rossignoli, was his charity, his devotion to the Church Suffering. (Merv., 21; Vie de Saint Nic. de Tolentino, Sept. 10). For her he frequently fasted on bread and water, inflicted cruel disciplines upon himself, and wore about his loins a chain of sharp-pointed iron. When the sanctuary was thrown open to him, and his superiors wished to confer the priesthood upon him, he hesitated a long time before that sublime dignity, and nothing could make him decide to receive holy orders but the thought that by daily celebrating the Holy Sacrifice he could most efficaciously assist the suffering souls in Purgatory. On their part, the souls whom he relieved by so many suffrages appeared to him several times to thank him or to recommend themselves to his charity.

He lived near Pisa, entirely occupied with his spiritual exercises, when one Saturday during the night he saw in a dream a soul in pain, who besought him to celebrate Holy Mass on the following morning for h[im] and several other souls that suffered most terribly in Purgatory. Nicholas recognized the voice, but could not distinctly call to mind the person who spoke to him. "I am," said the apparition, "your deceased friend Pellegrino d'Osimo. By the Divine Mercy I have escaped eternal chastisement by repentance; not so the temporal punishment due to my sins. I come in the name of many souls as unfortunate as myself to entreat you to offer Holy Mass for us tomorrow; from it we expect our deliverance, or at least great alleviation." The saint replied, with his usual kindness, "May Our Lord deign to relieve you by the merits of His precious Blood! But this Mass for the dead I cannot say tomorrow; I must sing the Conventual Mass in choir." "Ah! at least come with me," cried the departed soul, amid sighs and tears; "I conjure you, for the love of God, come and behold our sufferings, and you will no longer refuse; you are too good to leave us in such frightful agonies."

Then it seemed to him that he was transported into Purgatory. He saw an immense plain, where a vast multitude of souls, of all ages and conditions, were a prey to divers tortures most horrible to behold. By gestures and by words they implored most piteously his assistance. "Behold," said Pellegrino, "the state of those who sent me to you. Since you are agreeable in the sight of God, we have confidence that He will refuse nothing to the oblation of the Sacrifice offered by you, and that His Divine Mercy will deliver us."

At this pitiful sight the saint could not repress his tears. He immediately betook himself to prayer, to console them in their sorrow, and the following morning went to the Prior, relating to him the vision he had had, and the request made by Pellegrino concerning the Mass for that day. The Father Prior, sharing his emotion, dispensed him for that day, and for the rest of the week, from saying the conventual Mass, that he might offer the Holy Sacrifice for the departed, and devote himself entirely to the relief of the suffering souls. Delighted with this permission, Nicholas went to the church and celebrated Holy Mass with extraordinary fervor. During the entire week he continued to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice for the same intention, besides offering day and night prayers, disciplines, and all sorts of good works.

At the end of the week Pellegrino again appeared, but no longer in a state of suffering; he was clad in a white garment and surrounded with a celestial light, in which he pointed out a large number of happy souls. They all thanked him, calling him their liberator; then rising towards Heaven, they chanted these words of the Psalmist, Salvasti nos de affligentibus nos, et odientes nos confudisti - "Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us, and thou hast put them to shame that hate us." (Psalm 43). The enemies here spoken of are sins, and the demons who are their instigators.