Purgatory: illustrated by the lives and legends of the saints/Part 1
Part First.
PURGATORY, THE MYSTERY OF JUSTICE.
CHAPTER I.
Purgatory in the Divine Plan.
Purgatory occupies an important place in our holy religion: it forms one of the principal parts of the work of Jesus Christ, and plays an essential role in the economy of the salvation of man.
Let us call to mind that the Holy Church of God, considered as a whole, is composed of three parts: The Church Militant, the Church Triumphant, and the Church Suffering, or Purgatory. This triple Church constitutes the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and the souls in Purgatory are no less His members than are the faithful upon earth and the elect in Heaven. In the Gospel, the Church is ordinarily called the Kingdom of Heaven; now Purgatory, just as the heavenly and terrestrial Church, is a province of this vast kingdom.
The three sister Churches have incessant relations with each other, a continual communication which we call the Communion of Saints. These relations have no other object than to conduct souls to eternal glory, the final term to which all the elect tend. The three Churches mutually assist in peopling Heaven, which is the permanent city, the glorious Jerusalem.
What then is the work which we, members of the Church Militant, have to do for the souls in Purgatory? We have to alleviate their sufferings. God has placed in our hands the key of this mysterious prison: it is prayer for the dead, devotion to the souls in Purgatory.
CHAPTER II.
Prayer for the Dead — Fear and Confidence.
Prayer for the departed, sacrifices, and suffrages for the dead form a part of Christian worship, and devotion towards the souls in Purgatory is a devotion which the Holy Ghost infuses with charity into the hearts of the faithful. It is a holy and wholesome thought, says Holy Scripture, to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. [1]
In order to be perfect, devotion to the souls in Purgatory must be animated both by a spirit of fear and a spirit of confidence. On the one hand, the Sanctity of God and His Justice inspires us with a salutary fear; on the other, His infinite Mercy gives us boundless confidence.
God is Sanctity itself, much more so than the sun is light, and no shadow of sin can endure before His face. Thine eyes are pure, says the prophet, and thou canst not look on iniquity. [2] When iniquity manifests itself in creatures, the Sanctity of God exacts expiation, and when this expiation is made in all the rigour of justice, it is terrible. It is for this reason that the Scripture says again, Holy and terrible is His name; [3] as though it would say, His Justice is terrible because His Sanctity is infinite.
The Justice of God is terrible, and it punishes with extreme rigour even the most trivial faults. The reason is, that these faults, light in our eyes, are in nowise so before God. The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended, the slightest transgression assumes enormous proportions, and demands enormous atonement. This explains the terrible severity of the pains of the other life, and should penetrate us with a holy fear.
This fear of Purgatory is a salutary fear; its effect is, not only to animate us with a charitable compassion towards the poor suffering souls, but also with a vigilant zeal for our own spiritual welfare. Think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will endeavour to avoid the least faults; think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will practise penance, that you may satisfy Divine Justice in this world rather than in the next.
Let us, however, guard against excessive fear, and not lose confidence. Let us not forget the Mercy of God, which is not less infinite than His Justice. Thy mercy, Lord, is great above the Heavens, says the prophet; [4] and elsewhere, The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient, and plenteous in mercy. [5] This ineffable mercy should calm the most lively apprehensions, and fill us with a holy confidence, according to the words, In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in externum — " In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me never be put to confusion." [6]
If we are animated with this double sentiment, if our confidence in God's Mercy is equal to the fear with which His Justice inspires us, we shall have the true spirit of devotion to the souls in Purgatory.
This double sentiment springs naturally from the dogma of Purgatory rightly understood — a dogma which contains the double mystery of Justice and Mercy; of Justice which punishes, of Mercy which pardons. It is from this double point of view that we are about to consider Purgatory and illustrate its doctrine.
CHAPTER III.
The Word Purgatory — Catholic Doctrine — Council of Trent — Controverted Questions.
The word Purgatory is sometimes taken to mean a place, sometimes as an intermediate state between Hell and Heaven. It is, properly speaking, the condition of souls which, at the moment of death, are in the state of grace, but which have not completely expiated their faults, nor attained the degree of purity necessary to enjoy the vision of God.
Purgatory is, then, a transitory state which terminates in a life of everlasting happiness. It is not a trial by which merit may be gained or lost, but a state of atonement and expiation. The soul has arrived at the term of its earthly career; that life was a time of trial, a time of merit for the soul, a time of mercy on the part of God. This time once expired, nothing but justice is to be expected from God, whilst the soul can neither gain nor lose merit. She remains in the state in which death found her; and since it found her in the state of sanctifying grace, she is certain of never forfeiting that happy state, and of arriving at the eternal possession of God. Nevertheless, since she is burdened with certain debts of temporal punishment, she must satisfy Divine Justice by enduring this punishment in all its rigour.
Such is the signification of the word Purgatory, and the condition of the souls which are there. On this subject the Church proposes two truths clearly defined as dogmas of faith: first, that there is a Purgatory; second, that the souls which are in Purgatory may be assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, especially by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Besides these two dogmatic points, there are several doctrinal questions which the Church has not decided, and which are more or less clearly solved by the Doctors. These questions relate (i) to the location of Purgatory; (2) to the nature of the sufferings; (3) to the number and condition of the souls which are in Purgatory; (4) to the certainty which they have of their beatitude; (5) to the duration of their sufferings; (6) to the intervention of the living in their behalf, and the application of the suffrages of the Church.
CHAPTER IV.
Location of Purgatory — Doctrine of Theologians — Catechism of the Council of Trent — St. Thomas.
Although faith tells us nothing definite regarding the location of Purgatory, the most common opinion, that which most accords with the language of Scripture, and which is the most generally received among theologians, places it in the bowels of the earth, not far from the Hell of the reprobates. Theologians are almost unanimous, says Bellarmin,[7] in teaching that Purgatory, at least the ordinary place of expiation, is situated in the interior of the earth, that the souls in Purgatory and the reprobate are in the same subterranean space in the deep abyss which the Scripture calls Hell.
When we say in the Apostles' Creed that after His death Jesus Christ descended into Hell, the name Hell, says the Catechism of the Council of Trent, signifies those hidden places where the souls are detained which have not yet reached eternal beatitude. But these prisons are of different kinds. One is a dark and gloomy dungeon, where the damned are continually tormented by evil spirits, and by a fire which is never extinguished. This place, which is Hell properly so called, is also named Gehenna and abyss.
There is another Hell, which contains the fire of Purgatory. There the souls of the just suffer for a certain time, that they may become entirely purified before being admitted into their heavenly fatherland, where nothing defiled can ever enter.
A third Hell was that into which the souls of the saints who died before the coming of Jesus Christ were received, and in which they enjoyed peaceful repose, exempt from pain, consoled and sustained by the hope of their redemption. They were those holy souls which awaited Jesus Christ in Abraham's bosom, and which were delivered when Christ descended into Hell. Our Saviour suddenly diffused among them a brilliant light, which filled them with infinite joy, and gave them sovereign beatitude, which is the vision of God. Then was fulfilled the promise of Jesus to the good thief: This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.
"A very probable opinion," says St. Thomas,[8] "and one which, moreover, corresponds with the words of the saints in particular revelation, is that Purgatory has a double place for expiation. The first will be destined for the generality of souls, and is situated below, near to Hell; the second will be for particular cases, and it is from thence that so many apparitions occur."
The holy Doctor admits, then, like so many others who share his opinions, that sometimes Divine Justice assigns a special place of purification to certain souls, and even permits them to appear either to instruct the living or to procure for the departed the suffrages of which they stand in need; sometimes also for other motives worthy of the wisdom and mercy of God.
Such is the general view concerning the location of Purgatory. Since we are not writing a controversial treatise, we add neither proofs nor refutations; these can be seen in authors such as Suarez and Bellarmin. We will content ourselves by remarking that the opinion concerning a subterranean Hell has nothing to fear from modern science. [9] A science purely natural is incompetent in questions which belong, as does this one, to the supernatural order. Moreover, we know that spirits may be in a place occupied by bodies, as though these bodies did not exist. Whatever, then, the interior of the earth may be, whether it be entirely of fire, as geologists commonly say, or whether it be in any other state, there is nothing to prevent its serving as a sojourn of spirits, even of spirits clothed with a risen body. The Apostle St. Paul teaches us that the air is filled with a multitude of evil spirits: We have to combat says he, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. [10]
On the other hand, we know that the good angels who protect us are no less numerous in the world. Now, if angels and other spirits can inhabit our atmosphere, whilst the physical world is not in the least degree changed, why cannot the souls of the dead dwell in the bosom of the earth?
CHAPTER V.
Location of Purgatory — Revelations of the Saints — St. Teresa — St. Louis Bertrand — St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi.
St. Teresa had great charity towards the souls in Purgatory, and assisted them as much as lay in her power by her prayers and good works. In recompense, God frequently showed her the souls she had delivered; she saw them at the moment of their release from suffering and of their entrance into Heaven. Now, they generally came forth from the bosom of the earth. "I received tidings " she writes, " of the death of a Religious who had formerly been Provincial of that province, and afterwards of another. I was acquainted with him, and he had rendered me great service. This intelligence caused me great uneasiness. Although this man was commendable for many virtues, I was apprehensive for the salvation of his soul, because he had been Superior for the space of twenty years, and I always fear much for those who are charged with the care of souls. Much grieved, I went to an oratory; there I conjured our Divine Lord to apply to this Religious the little good I had done during my life, and to supply the rest by His infinite merits, in order that this soul might be freed from Purgatory.
"Whilst I besought this grace with all the fervour of which I was capable, I saw on my right side this soul come forth from the depths of the earth and ascend into Heaven in transports of joy. Although this priest was advanced in years, he appeared to me with the features of a man who had not yet attained the age of thirty, and with a countenance resplendent with light.
" This vision, though very short, left me inundated with joy, and without a shadow of doubt as to the truth of what I had seen. As I was separated by a great distance from the place where this servant of God had ended his days, it was some time before I learned the particulars of his edifying death; all those who were witnesses of it could not behold without admiration how he preserved consciousness to the last moment, the tears he shed, and the sentiments of humility with which he surrendered his soul to God.
" A Religious of my community, a great servant of God, had been dead not quite two days. We were saying the Office for the Dead for her in choir, a sister was reading the lesson, and I was standing to say the versicle. When half of the lesson had been said, I saw the soul of this Religious come forth from the depths of the earth, like the one of which I have just spoken, and go to Heaven.
" In this same monastery there died, at the age of eighteen or twenty years, another Religious, a true model of fervour, regularity, and virtue. Her life had been but a tissue of maladies and sufferings patiently endured. I had no doubt, after having seen her live thus, that she had more than sufficient merits to exempt her from Purgatory. Nevertheless, whilst I was at office, before she was interred, and about a quarter of an hour after her death, I saw her soul likewise issue from the earth and rise to Heaven." Behold what St. Teresa writes.
A like instance is recorded in the Life of St. Louis Bertrand, of the Order of St. Dominic. This Life, written by Father Antist, a Religious of the same Order, and who lived with the saint, is inserted in the Acta Sanctorum on the 10th of October. In the year 1557, whilst St. Louis Bertrand resided at the convent of Valentia, the pest broke out in that city. The terrible plague spread rapidly, threatening to exterminate the inhabitants, and each one trembled for his life. A Religious of the community, wishing to prepare himself fervently for death, made a general confession of his whole life to the saint; and on leaving him said, "Father, if it should now please God to call me, I shall return and make known to you my condition in the other life." He died a short time afterwards, and the following night he appeared to the saint. He told him that he was detained in Purgatory on account of a few slight faults which remained to be expiated, and begged the saint to recommend him to the community. St. Louis communicated the request immediately to the Prior, who hastened to recommend the soul of the departed to the prayers and Holy Sacrifices of the brethren assembled in chapter.
Six days later, a man of the town, who knew nothing of what had passed at the convent, came to make his confession to Father Louis, and told him "that the soul of Father Clement had appeared to him. He saw, he said, the earth open, and the soul of the deceased Father come forth all glorious; it resembled, he added, a resplendent star, which rose through the air towards Heaven."
We read in the Life of St. Magdalen de Pazzi,[11] written by her confessor, Father Cepari, of the Company of Jesus, that this servant of God was made witness of the deliverance of a soul under the following circumstances: — One of her sisters in religion had died some time previous, when the saint being one day in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, saw issue from the earth the soul of that sister, still captive in the dungeons of Purgatory. She was enveloped in a mantle of flames, under which a robe of dazzling whiteness protected her from the fierce heat of the fire; and she remained an entire hour at the foot of the altar, adoring in inexpressible annihilation the hidden God of the Eucharist.
This hour of adoration, which Magdalen saw her perform, was the last of her penance; that hour passed, she arose and took her flight to Heaven.
CHAPTER VI.
Location of Purgatory — St. Frances of Rome — St. Magdalen de Pazzi.
It has pleased God to show in spirit the gloomy abodes of Purgatory to some privileged souls, who were to reveal the sorrowful mysteries thereof for the edification of the faithful. Of this number was the illustrious St. Frances,[12] foundress of the Oblates, who died in Rome in 1440. God favoured her with great lights concerning the state of souls in the other life. She saw Hell and its horrible torments; she saw also the interior of Purgatory, and the mysterious order — I had almost said hierarchy of expiations — which reigns in this portion of the Church of Jesus Christ.
In obedience to her superiors, who thought themselves bound to impose this obligation upon her, she made known all that God had manifested to her; and her visions, written at the request of the venerable Canon Matteotti, her spiritual director, have all the authenticity that can be desired in such matters. Now, the servant of God declared that, after having endured with unspeakable horror the vision of Hell, she came out of that abyss, and was conducted by her celestial guide into the regions of Purgatory. There reigned neither horror nor disorder, nor despair nor eternal darkness; there divine hope diffused its light, and she was told that this place of purification was called also sojourn of hope. She saw there souls which suffered cruelly, but angels visited and assisted them in their sufferings.
Purgatory, she said, is divided into three distinct parts, which are as the three large provinces of that kingdom of suffering. They are situated the one beneath the other, and occupied by souls of different orders. These souls are buried more deeply in proportion as they are more defiled and farther removed from the time of their deliverance.
The lowest region is filled with a fierce fire, but which is not dark like that of Hell; it is a vast burning sea, throwing forth immense flames. Innumerable souls are plunged into its depths: they are those who have rendered themselves guilty of mortal sin, which they have duly confessed, but not sufficiently expiated during life. The servant of God then learned that, for all forgiven mortal sin, there remains to be undergone a suffering of seven years. This term cannot evidently be taken to mean a definite measure, since mortal sins differ in enormity, but as an average penalty. Although the souls are enveloped in the same flames, their sufferings are not the same; they differ according to the number and nature of their former sins.
In this lower Purgatory the saint beheld laics and persons consecrated to God. The laics were those who, after a life of sin, had had the happiness of being sincerely converted; the persons consecrated to God were those who had not lived according to the sanctity of their state. At that same moment she saw descend the soul of a priest whom she knew, but whose name she does not reveal. She remarked that he had his face covered with a veil which concealed a stain. Although he had led an edifying life, this priest had not always observed strict temperance, and had sought too eagerly the satisfactions of the table.
The saint was then conducted into the intermediate Purgatory, destined for souls which had deserved less rigorous chastisement. It had three distinct compartments; one resembled an immense dungeon of ice, the cold of which was indescribably intense; the second, on the contrary, was like a huge caldron of boiling oil and pitch; the third had the appearance of a pond of liquid metal resembling molten gold or silver.
The upper Purgatory, which the saint does not describe, is the temporary abode of souls which suffer little, except the pain of loss, and approach the happy moment of their deliverance.
Such, in substance, is the vision of St. Frances relative to Purgatory.
The following is an account of that of St. Magdalen de Pazzi, a Florentine Carmelite, as it is related in her Life by Father Cepare. It gives more of a picture of Purgatory, whilst the preceding vision but traces its outlines.
Some time before her death, which took place in 1607, the servant of God, Magdalen de Pazzi, being one evening with several other Religious in the garden of the convent, was ravished in ecstasy, and saw Purgatory open before her. At the same time, as she made known later, a voice invited her to visit all the prisons of Divine Justice, and to see how truly worthy of compassion are the souls detained there.
At this moment she was heard to say, " Yes, I will go.' She consented to undertake this painful journey. In fact, she walked for two hours round the garden, which was very large, pausing from time to time. Each time she interrupted her walk, she contemplated attentively the sufferings which were shown to her. She was then seen to wring her hands in compassion, her face became pale, her body bent under the weight of suffering, in presence of the terrible spectacle with which she was confronted.
She began to cry aloud in lamentation, " Mercy, my God, mercy! Descend, O Precious Blood, and deliver these souls from their prison. Poor souls! you suffer so cruelly, and yet you are content and cheerful. The dungeons of the martyrs in comparison with these were gardens of delight. Nevertheless there are others still deeper. How happy should I esteem myself were I not obliged to go down into them."
She did descend, however, for she was forced to continue her way. But when she had taken a few steps, she stopped terror-stricken, and, sighing deeply, she cried, " What! Religious also in this dismal abode! Good God! how they are tormented! Ah, Lord! " She does not explain the nature of their sufferings; but the horror which she manifested in contemplating them caused her to sigh at each step. She passed from thence into less gloomy places. They were the dungeons of simple souls, and of children in whom ignorance and lack of reason extenuated many faults. Their torments appeared to her much more endurable than those of the others. Nothing but ice and fire were there. She noticed that these souls had their angel-guardians with them, who fortified them greatly by their presence; but she saw also demons whose dreadful forms increased their sufferings.
Advancing a few paces, she saw souls still more unfortunate, and she was heard to cry out, " Oh! how horrible is this place; it is full of hideous demons and incredible torments! Who, O my God, are the victims of these cruel tortures? Alas! they are being pierced with sharp swords, they are being cut into pieces." She was answered that they were the souls whose conduct had been tainted with hypocrisy.
Advancing a little, she saw a great multitude of souls which were bruised, as it were, and crushed under a press; and she understood that they were those souls which had been addicted to impatience and disobedience during life. Whilst contemplating them, her looks, her sighs, her whole attitude betokened compassion and terror.
A moment later her agitation increased, and she uttered a dreadful cry. It was the dungeon of lies which now lay open before her. After having attentively considered it, she cried aloud, " Liars are confined in a place in the vicinity of Hell, and their sufferings are exceedingly great. Molten lead is poured into their mouths; I see them burn, and at the same time tremble with cold."
She then went to the prison of those souls which had sinned through weakness, and she was heard to exclaim, " Alas! I had thought to find you among those who have sinned through ignorance, but I am mistaken; you burn with an intenser fire."
Farther on, she perceived souls which had been too much attached to the goods of this world, and had sinned by avarice.
" What blindness," said she, " thus eagerly to seek a perishable fortune! Those whom formerly riches could not sufficiently satiate, are here gorged with torments. They are smelted like metal in the furnace."
From thence she passed into the place where those souls were imprisoned which had formerly been stained with impurity. She saw them in so filthy and pestilential a dungeon that the sight produced nausea. She turned away quickly from that loathsome spectacle. Seeing the ambitious and the proud, she said, " Behold those who wished to shine before men; now they are condemned to live in this frightful obscurity."
Then she was shown those souls which had been guilty of ingratitude towards God. They were a prey to unutterable torments, and, as it were, drowned in a lake of molten lead, for having by their ingratitude dried up the source of piety.
Finally, in a last dungeon, she was shown souls that had not been given to any particular vice, but which, through lack of proper vigilance over themselves, had committed all kinds of trivial faults. She remarked that these souls had share in the chastisements of all vices, in a moderate degree, because those faults committed only from time to time rendered them less guilty than those committed through habit. After this last station the saint left the garden, begging God never again to make her witness of so heartrending a spectacle: she felt that she had not strength to endure it. Her ecstasy still continued, and, conversing with Jesus, she
said to Him, " Tell me, Lord, what was your design in discovering to me those terrible prisons, of which I knew so CHAPTER VII.
Location of Purgatory — St. Lidwina of Schiedam.
Let us narrate a third vision relating to the interior of Purgatory, that of St. Lidwina of Schiedam,[13] who died April 11, 1433, and whose history, written by a contemporary priest, has the most perfect authenticity. This admirable virgin, a true prodigy of Christian patience, was a prey to all the pains of the most cruel maladies for the period of thirty-eight years. Her sufferings rendering sleep impossible to her, she passed long nights in prayer, and then, frequently rapt in spirit, she was conducted by her angel-guardian into the mysterious regions of Purgatory. There she saw dwellings, prisons, divers dungeons, one more dismal than the other; she met, too, souls that she knew, and she was shown their various punishments.
It may be asked, " What was the nature of those ecstatic journeys? " and it is difficult to explain; but we may conclude from certain other circumstances that there was more reality in them than we might be led to believe. The holy invalid made similar journeys and pilgrimages upon earth, to the holy places in Palestine, to the churches of Rome, and to monasteries in the vicinity. She had an exact knowledge of the places which she had thus traversed. A Religious of the monastery of St. Elizabeth, conversing one day with her, and speaking of the cells, of the chapter-room, of the refectory, &c, of his community, she gave him as exact and detailed a description of his house as though she had passed her life there. The Religious having expressed his surprise, " Know, Father," said she, " that I have been through your monastery; I have visited the cells, I have seen the angel-guardians of all those who occupy them." One of the journeys which our saint made to Purgatory occurred as follows: —
An unfortunate sinner, entangled in the corruptions of the world, was finally converted. Thanks to the prayers and urgent exhortations of Lidwina, he made a sincere confession of all his sins and received absolution, but had little time to practise penance, for shortly after he died of the plague.
The saint offered up many prayers and sufferings for his soul; and some time afterwards, having been taken by her angel-guardian into Purgatory, she desired to know if he was still there, and in what condition. " He is there," said her angel, "and he suffers much. Would you be willing to endure some pain in order to diminish his?" 11 Certainly," she replied, " I am ready to suffer anything to assist him." Instantly her angel conducted her into a place of frightful torture. "Is this, then, Hell, my brother?" asked the holy maiden, seized with horror. " No, sister," answered the angel, "but this part of Purgatory is bordering upon Hell." Looking around on all sides, she saw what resembled an immense prison, surrounded with walls of a prodigious height, the blackness of which, together with the monstrous stones, inspired her with horror. Approaching this dismal enclosure, she heard a confused noise of lamenting voices, cries of fury, chains, instruments of torture, violent blows which the executioners discharged upon their victims. This noise was such that all the tumult of the world, in tempest or battle, could bear no comparison to it. "What, then, is that horrible place?" asked St. Lidwina of her good angel. " Do you wish me to show it to you?" " No, I beseech you," said she, recoiling with terror; " the noise which I hear is so frightful that I can no longer bear it; how, then, could I endure the sight of those horrors? "
Continuing her mysterious route, she saw an angel seated sadly on the curb of a well. " Who is that angel? " she asked of her guide. " It is," he replied, "the angel-guardian of the sinner in whose lot you are interested. His soul is in this well, where it has a special Purgatory." At these words, Lidwina cast an inquiring glance at her angel; she desired to see that soul which was dear to her, and endeavour to release it from that frightful pit. Her angel, who understood her, having taken off the cover of the well, a cloud of flames, together with the most plaintive cries, came forth.
" Do you recognise that voice? " said the angel to her. " Alas! yes," answered the servant of God. " Do you desire to see that soul? " he continued. On her replying in the affirmative, he called him by his name; and immediately our virgin saw appear at the mouth of the pit a spirit all on fire, resembling incandescent metal, which said to her in a voice scarcely audible, " O Lidwina, servant of God, who will give me to contemplate the face of the Most High?"
The sight of this soul, a prey to the most terrible torment of fire, gave our saint such a shock that the cincture which she wore around her body was rent in twain; and, no longer able to endure the sight, she awoke suddenly from her ecstasy.
The persons present, perceiving her fear, asked her its cause. " Alas!" she replied, " how frightful are the prisons of Purgatory! It was to assist the souls that I consented to descend thither. Without this motive, if the whole world were given to me, I would not undergo the terror which that horrible spectacle inspired."
Some days later, the same angel whom she had seen so dejected appeared to her with a joyful countenance; he told her that the soul of his protege' had left the pit and passed into the ordinary Purgatory. This partial alleviation did not suffice the charity of Lidwina; she continued to pray for the poor patient, and to apply to him the merits of her sufferings, until she saw the gates of Heaven opened to him.
CHAPTER VIII.
Location of Purgatory — St. Gregory the Great — The Deacon Paschasius and the Priest of Centumcella — Blessed Stephen, a Franciscan, and the Religious in his Stall — Theophilus Renaud and the Sick Woman of Dole.
According to St. Thomas and other doctors, as we have previously seen, Divine Justice, in particular cases, assigns a special place upon earth for certain souls. This opinion we find confirmed by several facts, among which we quote the two mentioned by St. Gregory the Great in his " Dialogues." [14] Whilst I was young and still a layman, I heard told to the seniors, who were well-informed men, how the Deacon Paschasius appeared to Germain, Bishop of Capua. Paschasius, Deacon of the Apostolic See, whose books on the Holy Ghost are still extant, was a man of eminent sanctity, devoted to works of charity, zealous for the relief of the poor, and most forgetful of self. A dispute having arisen concerning a pontifical election, Paschasius separated himself from the Bishops, and joined the party disapproved by the Episcopacy. Soon after this he died, with a reputation for sanctity which God confirmed by a miracle: an instantaneous cure was effected on the day of the funeral by the simple touch of his dalmatic. Long after this, Germain, Bishop of Capua, was sent by the physicians to the baths of St. Angelo. What was his astonishment to find the same Deacon Paschasius employed in the most menial offices at the baths! " I here expiate," said the apparition, "the wrong I did by adhering to the wrong party. I beseech of you, pray to the Lord for me: you will know that you have been heard when you shall no longer see me in these places."
Germain began to pray for the deceased, and after a few days, returning to the baths, sought in vain for Paschasius, who had disappeared. " He had but to undergo a temporary punishment," says St. Gregory, " because he had sinned through ignorance, and not through malice."
The same Pope speaks of a priest of Centumcellse, now Civita Vecchia, who also went to the warm baths. A man presented himself to serve him in the most menial offices, and for several days waited upon him with the most extreme kindness, and even eagerness. The good priest, thinking that he ought to reward so much attention, came the next day with two loaves of blessed bread, and, after having received the usual assistance of his kind servant, offered him the loaves. The servant, with a sad countenance, replied, "Why, Father, do you offer me this bread? I cannot eat it. I, whom you see, was formerly the master of this place, and, after my death, I was sent back to the condition in which you see me for the expiation of my faults. If you wish to do me good, ah! offer up for me the Bread of the Eucharist."
At these words he suddenly disappeared, and he, whom the priest had thought to be a man, showed by vanishing that he was but a spirit.
For a whole week the good priest devoted himself to works of penance, and each day offered up the Sacred Host in favour of the departed one: then, having returned to the same baths, he no longer found his faithful servant, and concluded that he had been delivered.
It seems that Divine Justice sometimes condemns souls to undergo their punishment in the same place where they have committed their sins. We read in the chronicles of the Friars Minors,[15] that Blessed Stephen, Religious of that Order, had a singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, so that he passed a part of the night in adoration before it. On one occasion, being alone in the chapel, the darkness broken only by the faint glimmer of the little lamp, he suddenly perceived a Religious in one of the stalls. Stephen approached him, and asked if he had permission to leave his cell at such an hour. " I am a deceased Religious," he replied. " Here, by a decree of God's Justice, must I undergo my Purgatory, because here I sinned by tepidity and negligence at the Divine Office. The Lord permits me to make known my state to you, that you may assist me by your prayers."
Touched with these words, B. Stephen immediately knelt down to recite the De Profundis and other prayers; and he noticed that whilst he prayed, the features of the deceased bore an expression of joy. Several times, during the following nights, he saw the apparition in the same manner, but more happy each time as it approached the term of its deliverance. Finally, after the last prayer of B. Stephen, it arose all radiant from the stall, expressed its gratitude to its liberator, and disappeared in the brightness of glory. The following incident is so marvellous, that we should hesitate to reproduce it, says Canon Postel, had it not been narrated by Father Theophilus Renaud, theologian and controversialist, who relates it as an event which happened in his time, and almost under his very eyes.
The Abbe Louvet adds, that the Vicar-General of the Archbishop of Besancon, after having examined all the details, recognised its truth. In the year 1629, at Dole, in Franche-Compte, Hugette Roy, a woman of the middle station in life, was confined to bed by inflammation of the lungs, which endangered her life. The physician considering it necessary to bleed her, in his awkwardness cut an artery in the left arm, which speedily reduced her to the last extremity. The following day, at dawn, she saw enter into her chamber a young girl clad in white, of most modest deportment, who asked her if she was willing to accept her services and to be nursed by her. The sick person, delighted with the offer, answered that nothing could give her greater pleasure; and instantly the stranger lighted the fire, approached Hugette, and placed her gently on the bed, and then continued to watch by her and serve her like the most devoted infirmarian. But, oh wonder! contact with the hands of the unknown one was so beneficial that the dying person found herself greatly relieved, and soon felt entirely cured. Then she would absolutely know who the amiable stranger was, and called her that she might question her; but she withdrew, saying that she would return in the evening. In the meantime astonishment and curiosity were extreme when the tidings of this sudden cure spread abroad, and nothing was spoken of in Dole but this mysterious event.
When the unknown visitor returned in the evening, she said to Hugette, without trying to disguise herself, " Know, my dear niece, that I am your aunt, Leonarde Collin, who died seventeen years ago, leaving you an inheritance from her little property. Thanks to the Divine bounty, I am saved, and it was the Blessed Virgin, to whom I had great devotion, who obtained for me this happiness. Without her I was lost. When death suddenly struck me, I was in the state of mortal sin, but the merciful Virgin Mary obtained for me perfect contrition, and thus saved me from eternal damnation. Since that time I am in Purgatory, and our Lord permits me to finish my expiation by serving you during fourteen days. At the end of that time I shall be delivered from my pains if, on your part, you have the charity to make three pilgrimages for me to three holy sanctuaries of the Blessed Virgin.'"
Hugette, astonished, knew not what to think of this language. Not being able to believe the reality of the apparition, and fearing some snare of the evil spirit, she consulted her confessor, Father Antony Roland, a Jesuit, who advised her to threaten the unknown person with the exorcisms of the Church. This menace did not disturb her; she replied tranquilly, that she feared not the prayers of the Church. " They have no power," she added, " but against the demons and the damned: none whatever against predestined souls, who are in the grace of God as I am." Hugette was not yet convinced. "How," said she to the young girl, "can you be my Aunt Leonarde? She was old and worn, disagreeable and whimsical, whilst you are young, gentle, and obliging?" "Ah, my dear niece," replied the apparition, " my real body is in the tomb, where it will remain until the resurrection; this one which you see is one miraculously formed from the air to allow me to speak to you, to serve you, and obtain your suffrages. As regards my irritable disposition, seventeen years of terrible suffering have taught me patience and meekness. Know, also, that in Purgatory we are confirmed in grace, marked with the seal of the elect, and therefore exempt from all vice."
After such explanation, incredulity was impossible. Hugette, at once astounded and grateful, received with joy the services rendered during the fourteen days designated. She alone could see and hear the deceased, who came at certain hours and then disappeared. As soon as her strength permitted, she devoutly made the pilgrimages which were asked of her.
At the end of fourteen days the apparition ceased. Leonarde appeared for the last time to announce her deliverance; she was then in a state of incomparable glory, brilliant as a star, and her countenance bore an expression of the most perfect beatitude. In her turn, she testified her gratitude to her niece, promised to pray for her and her whole family, and advised her ever to remember, amid the sufferings of this life, the end of our existence, which is the salvation of our soul.
CHAPTER IX.
The Pains of Purgatory, their Nature, their Rigour — Doctrine of Theologians — Bellarmine — St. Francis of Sales — Fear and Confidence.
There is in Purgatory, as in Hell, a double pain — the pain of loss and the pain of sense.
The pain of loss consists in being deprived for a time of the sight of God, who is the Supreme Good, the beatific end for which our souls are made, as our eyes are for the light. It is a moral thirst which torments the soul. The pain of sense, or sensible suffering, is the same as that which we experience in our flesh. Its nature is not defined by faith, but it is the common opinion of the Doctors that it consists in fire and other species of suffering. The fire of Purgatory, say the Fathers, is that of Hell, of which the rich glutton speaks, Quia crucior in hac flamma, " I suffer," he says, "cruelly in these flames." (See Note 2.)
As regards the severity of these pains, since they are inflicted by Infinite Justice, they are proportioned to the nature, gravity, and number of sins committed. Each one receives according to his works, each one must acquit himself of the debts with which he sees himself charged before God. Now these debts differ greatly in quality. Some, which have accumulated during a long life, have reached the ten thousand talents of the Gospel, that is to say, millions and tens of millions; whilst others are reduced to a few farthings, the trifling remainder of that which has not been expiated on earth. It follows from this that the souls undergo various kinds of sufferings, that there are innumerable degrees of expiation in Purgatory, and that some are incomparably more severe than others. However, speaking in general, the doctors agree in saying that the pains are most excruciating. The same fire, says St. Gregory, torments the damned and purifies the elect. [16] " Almost all theologians," says Bellarmine, " teach that the reprobate and the souls in Purgatory suffer the action of the same fire." [17]
It must be held as certain, writes the same Bellarmine, [18] that there is no proportion between the sufferings of this life and those of Purgatory. St. Augustine declares precisely the same in his commentary on Psalm xxxvii.: Lord he says, chastise me not in Thy wrath, and reject me not with those to whom Thou hast said, Go into eternal fire; but chastise me not in Thine anger: purify me rather in such manner in this life that I need not to be purified by fire in the next. Yes, I fear that fire which has been enkindled for those who will be saved, it is true, but yet so as by fire. [19] ' They will be saved, no doubt, after the trial of fire, but that trial will be terrible, that torment will be more intolerable than all the most excruciating sufferings in this world. Behold what St. Augustine says, and what St. Gregory, Venerable Bede, St. Anselm, and St. Bernard have said after him. St. Thomas goes even further; he maintains that the least pain of Purgatory surpasses all the sufferings of this life, whatsoever they may be. Pain, says B. Peter Lefevre, is deeper and more acute when it directly attacks the soul and the mind than when it reaches them only through the medium of the body. The mortal body, and the senses themselves, absorb and intercept a part of the physical, and even of moral pain [20] . The author of the " Imitation " explains this doctrine by a practical and striking sentence. Speaking in general of the sufferings of the other life: There, he says, one hour of torment will be more terrible than a hundred years of rigorous penance do fie here. [21]
To prove this doctrine, it is affirmed that all the souls in Purgatory suffer the pain of loss. Now this pain surpasses the keenest suffering. But to speak of the pain of sense alone, we know what a terrible thing fire is, how feeble so ever the flame which we enkindle in our houses, and what pain is caused by the slightest burn; how much more terrible must be that fire which is fed neither with wood nor oil, and which can never be extinguished! Enkindled by the breath of God to be the instrument of His Justice, it seizes upon souls and torments them with incomparable activity. That which we have already said, and what we have still to say, is well qualified to inspire us with that salutary fear recommended to us by Jesus Christ. But, lest certain readers, forgetful of the Christian confidence which must temper our fears, should give themselves up to excessive fear, let us modify the preceding doctrine by that of another Doctor of the Church, St. Francis of Sales, who presents the sufferings of Purgatory soothed by the consolations which accompany them.
"We may," says this holy and amiable director of souls, " draw from the thought of Purgatory more consolation than apprehension. The greater part of those who dread Purgatory so much think more of their own interests than of the interests of God's glory; this proceeds from the fact that they think only of the sufferings without considering the peace and happiness which are there enjoyed by the holy souls. It is true that the torments are so great that the most acute sufferings of this life bear no comparison to them; but the interior satisfaction which is there enjoyed is such that no prosperity nor contentment upon earth can equal it.
The souls are in a continual union with God. They are perfectly resigned to His will, or rather their will is so transformed into that of God that they cannot will but what God wills; so that if Paradise were to be opened to them, they would precipitate themselves into Hell rather than appear before God with the stains with which they see themselves disfigured. They purify themselves willingly and lovingly, because such is the Divine good pleasure.
They wish to be there in the state wherein God pleases, and as long as it shall please Him. They cannot sin, nor can they experience the least movement of impatience, nor commit the slightest imperfection. They love God more than they love themselves, and more than all things else; they love Him with a perfect, pure, and disinterested love. They are consoled by angels. They are assured of their eternal salvation, and filled with a hope that can never be disappointed in its expectations. Their bitterest anguish is soothed by a certain profound peace. It is a species of Hell as regards the suffering; it is a Paradise as regards the delight infused into their hearts by charity — Charity, stronger than death and more powerful than Hell; Charity, w r hose lamps are all fire and flame (Cantic. viii.). " Happy state! " continues the holy Bishop, " more desirable than appalling, since its flames are flames of love and charity."[22]
Such are the teachings of the doctors, from which it follows that if the pains of Purgatory are rigorous, they are not without consolation. When imposing His cross upon us in this life, God pours upon it the unction of His grace, and in purifying the souls in Purgatory like gold in the crucible, He tempers their flames by ineffable consolations. We must not lose sight of this consoling element, this bright side of the often gloomy picture which we are going to examine.
CHAPTER X.
Pains of Purgatory — The Pain of Loss — St. Catherine of Genoa — St. Teresa — Father Nieremberg.
After having heard the theologians and doctors of the Church, let us listen to doctors of another kind; they are saints who speak of the sufferings of the other life, and who relate what God has made known to them by supernatural communication. St. Catherine of Genoa in her treatise on Purgatory [23] says, " The souls endure a torment so extreme that no tongue can describe it, nor could the understanding conceive the least notion of it, if God did not make it known by a particular grace." " No tongue," she adds, " can express, no mind form any idea of what Purgatory is. As to the suffering, it is equal to that of Hell."
St. Teresa, in the " Castle of the Soul," [24] speaking of the pain of loss, expresses herself thus: — " The pain of loss, or the privation of the sight of God, exceeds all the most excruciating sufferings we can imagine, because the souls urged on towards God as to the centre of their aspiration, are continually repulsed by His Justice. Picture to yourself a shipwrecked mariner who, after having long battled with the waves, comes at last within reach of the shore, only to find himself constantly thrust back by an invisible hand. What torturing agonies! Yet those of the souls in Purgatory are a thousand times greater."
Father Nieremberg, of the Company of Jesus, who died in the odour of sanctity at Madrid in 1658, relates a fact that occurred at Treves, and which was recognised, says Father Rossignoli, [25] by the Vicar-General of the diocese as possessing all the characteristics of truth.
On the Feast of All Saints, a young girl of rare piety saw appear before her a lady of her acquaintance who had died some time previous. The apparition was clad in white, with a veil of the same colour on her head, and holding in her hand a long rosary, a token of the tender devotion she had always professed towards the Queen of Heaven. She implored the charity of her pious friend, saying that she had made a vow to have three masses celebrated at the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and that, not having been able to accomplish her vow, this debt added to her sufferings. She then begged her to pay it in her place. The young person willingly granted the alms asked of her, and when the three masses had been celebrated, the deceased again appeared, expressing her joy and gratitude. She ever continued to appear each month of November, and almost always in the church. Her friend saw her there in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, overwhelmed with an awe of which nothing can give an idea; not yet being able to see God face to face, she seemed to wish to indemnify herself by contemplating Him at least under the Eucharistic species. During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at the moment of the elevation, her face became so radiant that she might have been taken for a seraph descended from Heaven. The young girl, filled with admiration, declared that she had never seen anything so beautiful. (See Note 3.)
Meanwhile time passed, and, notwithstanding the masses and prayers offered for her, that holy soul remained in her exile, far from the Eternal Tabernacles. On December 3, Feast of St. Francis Xavier, her protectress going to receive Communion at the Church of the Jesuits, the apparition accompanied her to the Holy Table, and then remained at her side during the whole time of thanksgiving, as though to participate in the happiness of Holy Communion and enjoy the presence of Jesus Christ.
On December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, she again returned, but so brilliant that her friend could not look at her. She visibly approached the term of her expiation. Finally, on December 10, during Holy Mass, she appeared in a still more wonderful state. After making a profound genuflexion before the altar, she thanked the pious girl for her prayers, and rose to Heaven in company with her guardian angel.
Some time previous, this holy soul had made known that she suffered nothing more than the pain of loss, or the privation of God; but she added that that privation causes her intolerable torture. This revelation justifies the words of St. Chrysostom in his 47th Homily: " Imagine" he says, " all the torments of the world, you will not find one equal to the privation of the beatific vision of God."
In fact, the torture of the pain of loss, of which we now treat, is, according to all the saints and all the doctors, much more acute than the pain of sense. It is true that, in the present life, we cannot understand this, because we have too little knowledge of the Sovereign Good for which we are created: but, in the other life, that ineffable Good seems to souls what bread is to a man famished with hunger, or fresh water to one dying with thirst, like health to a sick person tortured by long suffering; it excites the most ardent desires, which torment without being able to satisfy them.
CHAPTER XI.
The Pain of Sense — Torment of Fire and Torment of Cold — Venerable Bede and Drithelm.
If the pain of loss makes but a feeble impression upon us, it is far different with the pain of sense: the torment of fire, the torture of a sharp and intense cold, affrights our sensibility. This is why Divine Mercy, wishing to excite a holy fear in our souls, speaks but little of the pain of loss, but we are continually shown the fire, the cold, and other torments, which constitute the pain of sense. This is what we see in the Gospel, and in particular revelations, by which God is pleased to manifest to His servants from time to time the mysteries of the other life. Let us mention one of these revelations. In the first place, let us see what the pious and learned Cardinal Bellarmine quotes from the Venerable Bede. England has been witness in our own days, writes Bede, to a singular prodigy, which may be compared to the miracles of the first ages of the Church. To excite the living to fear the death of the soul, God permitted that a man, after having slept the sleep of death, should return to life and reveal what he had seen in the other world. The frightful, unheard-of details which he relates, and his life of extraordinary penance, which corresponded with his words, produced a lively impression throughout the country. I will now resume the principal circumstances of this history.
There was in Northumberland a man named Drithelm, who, with his family, led a most Christian life. He fell sick, and his malady increasing day by day, he was soon reduced to extremity, and died, to the great desolation and grief of his wife and children. The latter passed the night in tears by the remains, but the following day, before his interment, they saw him suddenly return to life, arise, and place himself in a sitting posture. At this sight they were seized with such fear that they all took to flight, with the exception of the wife, who, trembling, remained alone with her risen husband. He reassured her immediately: "Fear not," he said; "it is God who restores to me my life; He wishes to show in my person a man raised from the dead. I have yet long to live upon earth, but my new life will be very different from the one I led heretofore." Then he arose full of health, went straight to the chapel or church of the place, and there remained long in prayer. He returned home only to take leave of those who had been dear to him upon earth, to whom he declared that he would live only to prepare himself for death, and advised them to do likewise. Then, having divided his property into three parts, he gave one to his children, another to his wife, and reserved the third part to give in alms. When he had distributed all to the poor, and had reduced himself to extreme indigence, he went and knocked at the door of a monastery, and begged the Abbot to receive him as a penitent Religious, who would be a servant to all the others.
The Abbot gave him a retired cell, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Three exercises divided his time — prayer, the hardest labour, and extraordinary penances. The most rigorous fasts he accounted as nothing. In winter he was seen to plunge himself into frozen water, and remain there for hours and hours in prayer, whilst he recited the whole Psalter of David.
The mortified life of Drithelm, his downcast eyes, even his features, indicated a soul struck with fear of the judgments of God. He kept a perpetual silence, but on being pressed to relate, for the edification of others, what God had manifested to him after his death, he thus described his vision: —
" On leaving my body, I was received by a benevolent person, who took me under his guidance. His face was brilliant, and he appeared surrounded with light. He arrived at a large deep valley of immense extent, all fire on one side, all ice and snow on the other; on the one hand braziers and caldrons of flame, on the other the most intense cold and the blast of a glacial wind.
"This mysterious valley was filled with innumerable souls, which, tossed as by a furious tempest, threw themselves from one side to the other. When they could no longer endure the violence of the fire, they sought relief amidst the ice and snow; but finding only a new torture, they cast themselves again into the midst of the flames.
" I contemplated in a stupor these continual vicissitudes of horrible torments, and as far as my sight could extend, I saw nothing but a multitude of souls which suffered without ever having repose. Their very aspect inspired me with fear. I thought at first that I saw Hell; but my guide, who walked before me, turned to me and said, ' No; this is not, as you think, the Hell of the reprobate. Do you know,' he continued, ' what place this is? ' ' No,' I answered. ' Know,' he resumed, ' that this valley, where you see so much fire and so much ice, is the place where the souls of those are punished who, during life, have neglected to confess their sins, and who have deferred their conversion to the end. Thanks to a special mercy of God, they have had the happiness of sincerely repenting before death, of confessing and detesting their sins. This is why they are not damned, and on the great day of judgment will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Several of them will obtain their deliverance before that time, by the merits of prayers, alms, and fasts, offered in their favour by the living, and especially in virtue of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for their relief.' "
Such was the recital of Drithelm. When asked why he so rudely treated his body, why he plunged himself into frozen water, he replied that he had seen other torments, and cold of another kind.
If his brethren expressed astonishment that he could endure these extraordinary austerities, " I have seen," said he, " penances still more astonishing." To the day when it pleased God to call him to Himself, he ceased not to afflict his body, and although broken down with age, he would accept no alleviation.
This event produced a deep sensation in England; a great number of sinners, touched by the words of Drithelm, and struck by the austerity of his life, became sincerely converted.
This fact, adds Bellarmine, appears to me of incontestable truth, since, besides being conformable to the words of Holy Scripture, Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat, [26] Venerable Bede relates it as a recent and well-known event. More than this, it was followed by the conversion of a great number of sinners, the sign of the work of God, who is accustomed to work prodigies in order to produce fruit in souls.
CHAPTER XII.
Pains of Purgatory — Bellarmine and St. Christine the Admirable.
The learned and pious Cardinal then proceeds to relate the history of St. Christine the Admirable, [27] who lived in Belgium at the close of the twelfth century, and whose body is preserved to-day in St. Trond, in the church of the Redemptorist Fathers. The Life of this illustrious virgin was, he says, written by Thomas de Cantimpre, a Religious of the Order of St. Dominic, an author worthy of credit and contemporary with the saint. Cardinal James de Vitry, in the preface to the Life of Maria d'Ognies, speaks of a great number of holy women and illustrious virgins; but the one whom he admires above all others is St. Christine.
This servant of God, having passed the first years of her life in humility and patience, died at the age of thirty-two. When she was about to be buried, and the body was already in the church resting in an open coffin, according to the custom of the time, she arose full of vigour, stupefying with amazement the whole city of St. Trond, which had witnessed this wonder. The astonishment increased when they learned from her own mouth what had happened to her after her death. Let us hear her own account of it.
"As soon," said she, "as my soul was separated from my body, it was received by angels, who conducted it to a very gloomy place, entirely filled with souls. The torments which they there endured appeared to me so excessive, that it is impossible for me to give any idea of their rigour. I saw among them many of my acquaintances, and, deeply touched by their sad condition, I asked what place it was, for I believed it to be Hell. My guide answered me that it was Purgatory, where sinners were punished who, before death, had repented of their faults, but had not made worthy satisfaction to God. From thence I was conducted into Hell, and there also I recognised among the reprobates some whom I had formerly known.
"The angels then transported me into Heaven, even to the throne of the Divine Majesty. The Lord regarded me with a favourable eye, and I experienced an extreme joy, because I thought to obtain the grace of dwelling eternally with Him. But my Heavenly Father, seeing what passed in my heart, said to me these words: ' Assuredly, my dear daughter, you will one day be with Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me henceforth from this time, or to return again to earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much compassion, you shall suffer for them upon earth; you shall endure great torments, without, however dying from their effects. And not only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.
" At these words, seeing the great advantages offered me for souls, I replied, without hesitation, that I would return to life, and I arose at that same instant. It is for this sole object, the relief of the departed and the conversion of sinners, that I have returned to this world. Therefore be not astonished at the penances that I shall practise, nor at the life that you will see me lead from henceforward. It will be so extraordinary that nothing like to it has ever been seen."
All this was related by the saint herself; let us now see what the biographer adds in the different chapters of her Life. " Christine immediately commenced the work for which she had been sent by God. Renouncing all the comforts of life, and reduced to extreme destitution, she lived without house or fire, more miserable than the birds of the air, which have a nest to shelter them. Not content with these privations, she eagerly sought all that could cause her suffering. She threw herself into burning furnaces, and there suffering so great torture that she could no longer bear it, she uttered the most frightful cries. She remained for a long time in the fire, and yet, on coming forth, no sign of burning was found upon her body. In winter, when the Meuse was frozen, she plunged herself into it, staying in that cold river not only hours and days, but for entire weeks, all the while praying to God and imploring His mercy. Sometimes, whilst praying in the icy waters, she allowed herself to be carried by the current down to a mill, the wheel of which whirled her round in a manner frightful to behold, yet without breaking or dislocating one of her bones. On other occasions, followed by dogs, which bit and tore her flesh, she ran, enticing them into the thickets and among the thorns, until she was covered with blood; nevertheless, on her return, no wound or scar was to be seen."
Such are the works of admirable penance described by the author of the Life of St. Christine. This writer was a Bishop, a suffragan of the Archbishop of Cambray; " and we have," says Beilarmine, " reason for believing his testimony, since he has for guarantee another grave author, James de Vitry, Bishop and Cardinal, and because he relates what happened in his own time, and even in the province where he lived. Besides, the sufferings of this admirable virgin were not hidden. Every one could see that she was in the midst of the flames without being consumed, and covered with wounds, every trace of which disappeared a few moments afterwards. But more than this was the marvellous life she led for forty-two years after she was raised from the dead, God clearly showing that the wonders wrought in her were by virtue from on high. The striking conversions which she effected, and the evident miracles which occurred after her death, manifestly proved the finger of God, and the truth of that which, after her resurrection, she had revealed concerning the other life."
Thus, argues Bellarmine, "God willed to silence those libertines who make open profession of believing in nothing, and who have the audacity to ask in scorn, ' Who has returned from the other world? Who has ever seen the torments of Hell or Purgatory? ' Behold two witnesses. They assure us that they have seen them, and that they are dreadful. What follows, then, if not that the incredulous are inexcusable, and that those who believe and nevertheless neglect to do penance are still more to be condemned? "
CHAPTER XIII.
Pains of Purgatory — Brother Antony Pereyra — The Venerable Angela Tholomei.
To the two preceding facts we shall add a third, taken from the Annals of the Company of Jesus. We speak of a prodigy which was wrought in the person of Antony Pereyra, Brother Coadjutor of that Company, who died in the odour of sanctity at the College of Evora, in Portugal, August 1, 1645. Forty-six years previous, in 1599, five years after his entrance into the noviciate, this brother was attacked by a mortal malady in the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores. A few moments after he had received the last sacraments, in presence of the whole community, who assisted him in his agony, he appeared to breathe forth his soul, and soon became as cold as a corpse. The appearance, though almost imperceptible, of a slight beating of the heart, alone prevented them from interring him immediately. He was therefore left for three entire days upon his bed, and his body already gave evident signs of decomposition, when suddenly, on the fourth day, he opened his eyes, breathed, and spoke.
He was then obliged by obedience to relate to his superior, Father Louis Pinheyro, all that had passed within him since the last terrible moments of his agony. We here give an abridged account of it, as written by his own hand.
" I saw first," he says, " from my deathbed my Father, St. Ignatius, accompanied by several of our Fathers from Heaven, who came to visit his sick children, seeking those whom he thought worthy to be offered by him and his companions to our Lord. When he drew near to me I believed for a moment that he would take me, and my heart thrilled with joy; but soon he pointed out to me that of which I must correct myself before obtaining so great a happiness."
Then, nevertheless, by a mysterious disposition of Divine Providence, the soul of Brother Pereyra separated itself momentarily from his body, and immediately a hideous troup of demons rushing towards him filled him with terror. At the same moment his guardian-angel and St. Antony of Padua, his countryman and patron, descended from Heaven, put to flight his enemies, and invited him to accompany them to take a glimpse of, and taste for a moment, the joys and sufferings of eternity. "They led me then by turns," he adds, "towards a place of delights, where they showed me a crown of incomparable glory, but which I had not as yet merited; then to the brink of an abyss, where I saw the reprobate souls fall into the eternal fire, crushed like the grains of wheat cast upon a millstone that turns without intermission. The infernal gulf was like one of those limekilns, where, at times, the flames are, as it were, stifled by the mass of materials thrown into them, but which feeds the fire that it may burst forth with more terrible violence." Led from thence to the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, Antony Pereyra heard himself condemned to the fire of Purgatory; and nothing, he assures us, can give an idea of what is suffered there, nor of the state of agony to which the souls are reduced by the desire and the delay of the enjoyment of God and of His sacred presence.
When, by the command of God, his soul had been reunited with his body, the renewed tortures of his malady for six entire months, with the additional torture of fire and iron, caused the flesh (already incurably tainted with the corruption of his first death) to fall in pieces; yet not this, nor the frightful penances to which he unceasingly delivered himself, so far as obedience permitted, during the forty-six years of his new life, could appease his thirst for suffering and expiation. "All this," he said, "is nothing in comparison with what the justice and infinite mercy of God has caused me not only to witness, but also to endure."
In fine, as an authentic seal upon so many marvels, Brother Pereyra discovered to his superior in detail the secret designs of Providence regarding the future restoration of the kingdom of Portugal, more than half a century before it happened. But we may add without fear, that the highest guarantee of all these prodigies was the astonishing degree of sanctity to which Brother Pereyra ceased not to elevate himself from day to day.
Let us relate a similar instance which confirms in every point that which we have just read. We find it in the Life of the venerable servant of God, Angela Tholomei, a Dominican nun. [28] She was raised from the dead by her own brother, and gave a testimony of the rigour of God's judgments exactly conformable to the precedent.
Blessed John Baptist Tholomei, [29] whose rare virtues and the gift of miracles has placed him on our altars, had a sister, Angela Tholomei, the heroism of whose virtue has also been recognised by the Church. She fell dangerously sick, and her holy brother by earnest prayer besought her cure. Our Lord replied, as He did formerly to the sister of Lazarus, that He would not cure Angela, but that He would do more; He would raise her from the dead, for the glory of God and the good of souls. She died, recommending herself to the prayers of her holy brother.
Whilst she was being carried to the tomb. Blessed John Baptist, in obedience, no doubt, to an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, approached the coffin, and, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, commanded his sister to come forth. Immediately she awoke as from a profound slumber, and returned to life.
That holy soul seemed struck with terror, and related such things concerning the severity of God's judgments as make us shudder. She commenced, at the same time, to lead a life which proved the truth of her words. Her penance was frightful. Not content with the ordinary practices of the saints, such as fasting, watching, hair-shirts, and bloody disciplines, she went so far as to cast herself into flames, and to roll herself therein until her flesh was entirely burnt. Her macerated body became an object of pity and of horror. She was censured and accused of destroying, by her excess, the idea of true Christian penance. She continued, nevertheless, and contented herself with replying, " If you knew the rigours of the judgments of God, you would not speak thus. What are my trifling penances compared with the torments reserved in the other life for those infidelities which we so easily permit ourselves in this world? What are they? What are they? Would that I could do a hundred times more!" (See Note 4.)
There is no question here, as we see, of the tortures to which great sinners converted before death are subjected, but of the chastisements which God inflicts upon a fervent Religious for the slightest faults.
CHAPTER XIV.
Pains of Purgatory — Apparition of Foligno — The Dominican Religious of Zamora.
The same rigour reveals itself in a more recent apparition, where a Religious who died after an exemplary life makes known her sufferings in a manner calculated to inspire all souls with terror. The event took place on November 16, 1859, at Foligno, near Assisi, in Italy. It made a great noise in the country, and besides the visible mark which was seen, an inquiry made in due form by competent authority establishes it as an incontestable fact.
There was at the convent of Franciscan Tertiaries in Foligno, a sister named Teresa Gesta, who had been for many years mistress of novices, and who at the same time had charge of the sacristy of the community. She was born at Bastia, in Corsica, in 1797, and entered the monastery in the year 1826.
Sister Teresa was a model of fervour and charity. We need not be astonished, said her director, if God glorifies her by some prodigy after her death.
She died suddenly, November 4, 1859, of a stroke of apoplexy.
Twelve days later, on November 16, a sister named Anna Felicia, who succeeded her in office, went to the sacristy and was about to enter, when she heard moans which appeared to come from the interior of the room. Somewhat afraid, she hastened to open the door; there was no one. Again she heard moans, and so distinctly that, notwithstanding her ordinary courage, she felt herself overpowered by fear. " Jesus! Mary! " she cried, " what can that be? " She had not finished speaking when she heard a plaintive voice, accompanied with a painful sigh, " Oh! my God, how I suffer! Oh I Dio, che peno tanto I " The sister, stupefied, immediately recognised the voice of poor Sister Teresa. Then the room was filled with a thick smoke, and the spirit of Sister Teresa appeared, moving towards the door, and gliding along by the wall. Having reached the door, she cried aloud, " Behold a proof of the mercy of God" Saying these words, she struck the upper panel of the door, and there left the print of her right hand, burnt in the wood as with a red-hot iron. She then disappeared.
Sister Anna Felicia was left half dead with fright. She burst forth into loud cries for help. One of her companions ran, then a second, and finally the whole community. They pressed around her, astonished to find a strong odour of burnt wood. Sister Anna Felicia told what had occurred, and showed them the terrible impression on the door. They instantly recognised the hand of Sister Teresa, which had been remarkably small. Terrified, they took to flight and ran to the choir, where they passed the night in prayer and penance for the departed, and the following morning all received Holy Communion for the repose of her sou). The news spread outside the convent walls, and many communities in the city united their prayers with those of the Franciscans. On the third day, November 18, Sister Anna Felicia, on going in the evening to her cell, heard herself called by her name, and recognised perfectly the voice of Sister Teresa. At the same instant a globe of brilliant light appeared before her, illuminating her cell with the brightness of daylight. She then heard Sister Teresa pronounce these words in a joyful and triumphant voice: "I died on a Friday, the day of the Passion, and behold, on a Friday, 1 enter into eternal glory I Be strong to bear the cross, be courageous to suffer, love poverty." Then adding, affectionately, "Adieu, adieu, adieu!" she became transfigured, and like a light, white, and dazzling cloud, rose towards Heaven and disappeared.
During the investigation which was held immediately, November 23, in the presence of a large number of witnesses, the tomb of Sister Teresa was opened, and the impression upon the door was found to correspond exactly with the hand of the deceased. "The door, with the burnt print of the hand," adds Mgr. Segur, " is preserved with great veneration in the convent. The Mother Abbess, witness of the fact, was pleased to show it to me herself."
Wishing to assure myself of the perfect exactitude of these details related by Mgr. Segur, I wrote to the Bishop of Foligno. He replied by giving me a circumstantial account, perfectly according with the above, and accompanied by a facsimile of the miraculous mark. This narrative explains the cause of the terrible expiation to which Sister Teresa was subjected. After saying, " Ah! how much I suffer! Oh! Dio, che peno tanto! " she added that it was for having, in the exercise of her office of Sacristan, transgressed in some points the strict poverty prescribed by the Rule. (See Note 5.)
Thus we see Divine Justice punishes most severely the slightest faults. It may here be asked why the apparition, when making the mysterious mark on the door, called it a proof of the mercy of God. It is because, in giving us a warning of this kind, God shows us a great mercy. He urges us, in the most efficacious manner, to assist the poor suffering souls, and to be vigilant in our own regard.
Whilst speaking of this subject, we may relate a similar instance which happened in Spain, and which caused great rumours in that country. Ferdinand of Castile thus relates it in his " History of Saint Dominic." [30] A Dominican Religious led a holy life in his convent at Zamora, a city of the kingdom of L£on. He was united in the bonds of a pious friendship with a Franciscan brother like himself, a man of great virtue. One day, when conversing together on the subject of eternity, they mutually promised that, if it pleased God, the first who died should appear to the other to give him some salutary advice. The Friar Minor died first; and one day, whilst his friend, the son of St. Dominic, was preparing the refectory, he appeared to him. After saluting him with respect and affection, he told him that he was among the elect, but that before he could be admitted to the enjoyment of eternal happiness, there remained much to be suffered for an infinity of small faults of which he had not sufficiently repented during his life. "Nothing on earth," he added, "can give an idea of the torments which I endure, and of which God permits me to give you a visible proof." Saying these words, he placed his right hand upon the table of the refectory, and the mark remained impressed upon the charred wood as though it had been applied with a red-hot iron.
Such was the lesson which the fervent deceased Franciscan gave to his living friend. It was of profit not only to him, but to all those who came to see the burnt mark, so profoundly significant; for this table became an object of piety which people came from all parts to look upon. "It is still to be seen at Zamora" says Father Rossignoli, [31] "at the time at which I write; [32] to protect it the spot has been covered with a sheet of copper." It was preserved until the end of the last century. Since then it has been destroyed, during the revolutions, like so many other religious memorials.
CHAPTER XV.
Pains of Purgatory — The Brother of St. Magdalen de Pazzi — Stanislaus Chocosca — Blessed Catherine de Racconigi.
St. Magdalen de Pazzi, in her celebrated vision, where the different prisons of Purgatory were shown to her, saw the soul of her brother, who had died after having led a most fervent Christian life. Nevertheless, this soul was detained in suffering for certain faults, which it had not sufficiently expiated upon earth. These, says the saint, are the most intolerable sufferings, and yet they are endured with joy. Ah! why are they not understood by those who lack the courage to bear their cross here below? Struck with this frightful spectacle which she had just contemplated, she ran to her Prioress, and casting herself upon her knees, she cried out, " O my dear Mother, how terrible are the pangs of Purgatory! Never could I have believed it, had not God manifested it to me. . . . And, nevertheless, I cannot call them cruel; rather are they advantageous, since they lead to the ineffable bliss of Paradise." To impress this more and more upon our minds, it has pleased God to give certain holy persons a small share in the pains of expiation, like a drop of the bitter cup which the poor souls have to drink, a spark of the fire which consumes them.
The historian Bzovius, in his History of Poland, under the date 1598, relates a miraculous event which happened to the Venerable Stanislaus Chocosca, one of the luminaries of the Order of St. Dominic in Poland. 1 One day, whilst this Religious, full of charity for the departed, recited the rosary, he saw appear near him a soul all enveloped in flames. As she besought him to have pity on her, and to alleviate the intolerable sufferings which the fire of Divine Justice caused her to endure, the holy man asked her if this fire was more painful than that of earth? " Ah! " she cried, " all the fires of earth compared to that of Purgatory are like a refreshing breeze" (Ignes alii levis aurae locum tenent si cum ardore meo comparentur). Stanislaus could scarcely believe it. " I wish," he said, " to have a proof. If God will permit, for your relief, and for the good of my soul, I consent to suffer a part of your pains." " Alas! you could not do this. Know that no human being could endure such torment and live. However, God will permit you to feel it in a light degree. Stretch forth your hand." Chocosca extended his hand, and the departed let fall a drop of sweat, or at least of a liquid which resembled it. At the same instant the Religious uttered a piercing cry and fell fainting to the ground, so frightfully intense was the pain. His brethren ran to the spot and hastened to give him the assistance which his condition required. When restored to consciousness, he related the terrible event which had occurred, and of which they had a visible proof. " Ah! my dear Fathers," he continued, " if we knew the severity of the Divine chastisements, we should never commit sin, nor should we cease to do penance in this life, in order to avoid expiation in the next."
Stanislaus was confined to his bed from that moment. He lived one year longer in the most cruel suffering caused by his terrible wound; then, for the last time, exhorting his brethren to remember the rigours of Divine Justice, he peacefully slept in the Lord. The historian adds that this example reanimated fervour in all the monasteries of that province.
We read of a similar fact in the Life of B. Catherine de Racconigi.[33] One day, when suffering so intensely as to need the assistance of her sisters in religion, she thought of the souls in Purgatory, and, to temper the heat of their flames, she offered to God the burning heat of her fever. At that moment, being rapt in ecstasy, she was conducted in spirit into the place of expiation, where she saw the flames and braziers in which the souls are purified in great torture. Whilst contemplating, full of compassion, this piteous spectacle, she heard a voice which said to her, "Catherine, in order that you may procure most efficaciously the deliverance of these souls, you shall participate, in some manner, in their torments." At that same moment a spark detached itself from the fire and settled upon her left cheek. The sisters present saw the spark distinctly, and saw also with horror that the face of the sick person was frightfully swollen. She lived several days in this state, and, as B. Catherine told her sisters, the suffering caused by that simple spark far surpassed all that she had previously endured in the most painful maladies. Until that time Catherine had always devoted herself with charity to the relief of the souls in Purgatory, but from thenceforward she redoubled her fervour and austerities to hasten their deliverance, because she knew by experience the great need in which they stood of her assistance.
CHAPTER XVI.
Pains of Purgatory — St. Antoninus and the Religious — Father Rossignoli on a Quarter of an Hour in Purgatory — Brother Angelicus.
That which shows still more the rigour of Purgatory is that the shortest period of time there appears to be of very long duration. Every one knows that days of enjoyment pass quickly and appear short, whilst the time passed in suffering we find very long. Oh, how slowly pass the hours of the night for the poor sick, who spend them in sleeplessness and pain. We may say that the more intense the pain the longer appears the shortest duration of time. This rule furnishes us with a new means of estimating the sufferings of Purgatory.
We find in the Annals of the Friar Minors, under the year 1285, a fact which is also related by St. Antoninus in his Summa.[34] A religious man, suffering for a long time from a painful malady, allowed himself to be overcome by discouragement, and entreated God to permit him to die, that he might be released from his pains. He did not think that the prolongation of his sickness was a mercy of God, who wished to spare him more severe suffering. In answer to his prayer, God charged His angel-guardian to offer him his choice, either to die immediately and submit to the pains of Purgatory for three days, or to bear his sickness for another year and then go directly to Heaven. The sick man, having to choose between three days in Purgatory and one year of suffering upon earth, did not hesitate, but took the three days in Purgatory. After the lapse of an hour, his angel went to visit him in his sufferings. On seeing him, the poor patient complained that he had been left so long in those torments. " And yet," he added, " you promised that I should remain here but three days." " How long," asked the angel, " do you think you have already suffered? " " At least for several years," he replied, " and I had to suffer but three days." "Know," said the angel, "that you have been here only one hour. The intensity of the pain deceives you as to the time; it makes an instant appear a day, and an hour years." " Alas! then," said he with a sigh, " I have been very blind and inconsiderate in the choice I have made. Pray God, my good angel, to pardon me, and permit me to return to earth. I am ready to submit to the most cruel maladies, not only for two years, but as long as it shall please Him. Rather six years of horrible suffering than one single hour in this abyss of unutterable agonies."
The following is taken from a pious author quoted by Father Rossignoli. [35] Two Religious, of eminent virtue, vied with each other in leading a holy life. One of them fell sick, and learned in a vision that he should soon die, that he should be saved, and that he should remain in Purgatory only until the first Mass should be celebrated for the repose of his soul. Full of joy at these tidings, he hastened to impart them to his friend, and entreated him not to delay the celebration of the Mass which was to open Heaven to him.
He died the following morning, and his holy companion lost no time in celebrating the Holy Sacrifice. After Mass, whilst he was making his thanksgiving, and still continuing to pray for his departed friend, the latter appeared to him radiant with glory, but in a tone sweetly plaintive he asked why that one Mass of which he stood in need had been so long delayed. " My blessed brother," replied the Religious, " I delayed so long, you say? I do not understand you." a What! did you not leave me to suffer for more than a year before offering Mass for the repose of my soul? " " Indeed, my dear brother, I commenced Mass immediately after your death; not a quarter of an hour had elapsed." Then, regarding him with emotion, the blessed soul cried out, " How terrible are those expiatory pains, since they have caused me to mistake minutes for a year. Serve God, my dear brother, with an exact fidelity, in order that you may avoid those chastisements. Farewell! I fly to heaven, where you will soon join me."
This severity of Divine Justice in regard to the most fervent souls is explained by the infinite Sanctity of God, who discovers stains in that which appears to us most pure The Annals of the Order of St. Francis [36] speak of a Religious whose eminent sanctity had caused him to be surnamed Angelicus. He died in odour of sanctity at the monastery of the Friars Minors in Paris, and one of his brethren in religion, a doctor in theology, persuaded that, after a life so perfect, he had gone directly to Heaven, and that he stood in no need of prayers, omitted to celebrate for him the three Masses of obligation which, according to the custom of the Institute, were offered for each departed member.
After a few days, whilst he was walking and meditating in a retired spot, the deceased appeared before him enveloped in flames, and said to him, in a mournful voice, " Dear master, I beg of you have pity upon me! " " What! Brother Angelicus, do you need my assistance? " "I am detained in the fires of Purgatory, awaiting the fruit of the Holy Sacrifice which you should have offered three times for me." "Beloved brother, I thought you were already in possession of eternal glory. After a life so fervent and exemplary as yours had been, I could not imagine that there remained any pain to be suffered." "Alas! alas!" replied the departed, " no one can believe with what severity God judges and punishes His creatures. His infinite Sanctity discovers in our best actions defective spots, imperfections which displease Him. He requires us to give an account even to the last farthing. Usque ad novissimum quadranrantem."
CHAPTER XVII.
Pains of Purgatory — Blessed Quinziani — The Emperor Maurice.
In the Life of Blessed Stephana Quinziani,[37] a Dominican nun, mention is made of a sister named Paula, who died at the convent of Mantua, after a long life of eminent virtue. The body was carried to the church and placed uncovered in the choir among the Religious. During the recitation of the Office, Blessed Quinziani knelt near the bier, recommending to God the deceased Religious, who had been very dear to her. Suddenly the latter let fall the crucifix, which had been placed between her hands, extended the left arm, seized the right hand of Blessed Quinziani, and pressed it tightly, as a poor patient in the burning heat of fever would ask the assistance of a friend. She held it for a considerable time, and then, withdrawing her arm, sank back lifeless into the coffin. The Religious, astonished at this prodigy, asked an explanation of the Blessed Sister. She replied that, whilst the deceased pressed her hand, an inarticulate voice had spoken in the depths of her heart, saying, " Help me, dear sister, succour me in the frightful torture which I endure. Oh! if you knew the severity of the Judge who desires all our love, what atonement He demands for the least faults before admitting us to the reward! If you knew how pure we must be to see the face of God! Pray! pray, and do penance for me, who can no longer help myself."
Blessed Quinziani, touched by the prayer of her friend, imposed upon herself all kinds of penances and good works, until she learned, by a new revelation, that Sister Paula was delivered from her sufferings, and had entered into eternal glory.
The natural conclusion which follows from these terrible manifestations of Divine Justice is that we must hasten to make satisfaction for our sins in this life. Surely a criminal condemned to be burned alive would not refuse a lighter pain, if the choice were left to him. Suppose it should be said to him, You can deliver yourself from that terrible punishment on condition that for three days you fast on bread and water; should he refuse it? He who should prefer the torture of fire to that of a light penance, would he not be regarded as one who had lost his reason?
Now, to prefer the fire of Purgatory to Christian penance is an infinitely greater folly. The Emperor Maurice understood this and acted wisely. History relates [38] that this prince, notwithstanding his good qualities, which had endeared him to St. Gregory the Great, towards the close of his reign committed a grave fault, and atoned for it by an exemplary repentance.
Having lost a battle against the Khan or King of the Avari, he refused to pay the ransom of the prisoners, although he was asked but the sixth part of a gold coin, which is less than a dollar of our money. This mean refusal put the barbarous conqueror into such a violent rase, that he ordered the immediate massacre of all the Roman soldiers, to the number of twelve thousand. Then the Emperor acknowledged his fault, and felt it so keenly, that he sent money and candles to the principal churches and monasteries, to beg that God would be pleased to punish him in this life rather than in the next. These prayers were heard. In the year 602, wishing to oblige his troops to pass the winter on the opposite bank of the Danube, a mutiny arose among them; they drove away their general, and proclaimed as Emperor, Phocas, a simple centurion. The imperial city followed the example of the army. Maurice was obliged to fly in the night, after having divested himself of all marks of royalty, which now served but to increase his fears. Nevertheless, he was recognised. He was taken, together with his wife, five of his sons, and three daughters — that is to say, his entire family with the exception of his eldest son, whom he had already caused to be crowned Emperor, and who, thus far, had escaped the tyrant. Maurice and his five sons were unmercifully slaughtered near Chalcedon. The carnage began with the youngest of the princes, who was put to death before the eyes of the unfortunate father, without uttering a word of complaint. Remembering the pains of the other world, he esteemed himself happy to suffer in the present life, and throughout the massacre he spoke no other words than those of the Psalmist, Thou art just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is right (Ps. cxviii.).
CHAPTER XVIII.
Pains of Purgatory — St. Perpetua — St. Gertrude — St. Catherine of Genoa — Brother John de Via.
As we have already said, the pain of sense has different degrees of intensity. It is less terrible for those souls that have no grievous sins to atone for, or who, having already completed the most rigorous part of their expiation, approach the moment of their deliverance. Many of those souls suffer then no more than the pain of loss, and even begin to perceive the first rays of heavenly glory, and to have a foretaste of beatitude.
When St. Perpetua [39] saw her young brother Dinocrates in Purgatory, the child did not seem to be subjected to any cruel torture. The illustrious martyr herself writes the account of this vision in her prison at Carthage, where she was confined for the faith of Christ during the persecution under Septimus Severus in the year 205. Purgatory appeared to her under the figure of an arid desert, where she saw her brother Dinocrates who had died at the age of seven years. The child had an ulcer on his face, and, tormented by thirst, he tried in vain to drink from the waters of a fountain which was before him, but the brim of which was too high for him to reach. The holy martyr understood that her brother was in the place of expiation, and that he besought the assistance of her prayers. She then prayed for him, and three days later, in another vision, she saw the same Dinocrates in the midst of lovely gardens. His face was beautiful, like that of an angel; he was clad in a shining robe; the brink of the fountain was beneath him, and he drank copiously of those refreshing waters from a golden cup. The saint then knew that the soul of her young brother now enjoyed the bliss of Paradise.
We read in the Revelations of St. Gertrude [40] that a young Religious of her convent, for whom she had a special love on account of her great virtues, died in the most beautiful sentiments of piety. Whilst she was fervently recommending this dear soul to God, she was rapt in ecstasy and had a vision. The deceased sister was shown to her standing before the throne of God, surrounded by a brilliant halo and in rich garments. Nevertheless, she appeared sad and troubled; her eyes were cast down, as though she were ashamed to appear before the face of God; it seemed as though she would hide herself and retire. Gertrude, much surprised, asked of the Divine Spouse of Virgins the cause of this sadness and embarrassment on the part of so holy a soul. " Most sweet Jesus," she cried, " why does not your infinite goodness invite your spouse to approach you, and to enter into the joy of her Lord? Why do you leave her aside, sad and timid? " Then our Lord, with a loving smile, made a sign to that holy soul to draw near; but she, more and more troubled, after some hesitation, all trembling, withdrew.
At this sight the saint addressed herself directly to the soul. "What! my daughter," she said to her, "do you retire when our Lord calls you? You, that have desired Jesus during your whole life, withdraw now that He opens His arms to receive you! " " Ah! my dear Mother," replied the soul, "I am not worthy to appear before the Immaculate Lamb. I have still some stains which I contracted upon earth. To approach the Sun of Justice, one must be as pure as a ray of light. I have not yet that degree of purity which He requires of His saints. Know, that if the door of Heaven were to be opened to me, I should not dare to cross the threshold before being entirely purified from all stain. It seems to me that the choir of virgins who follow the Lamb would repulse me with horror." " And yet," continued the Abbess, " I see you surrounded with light and glory! " " What you see," replied the soul, "is but the border of the garment of glory. To wear this celestial robe we must not retain even the shadow of sin."
This vision shows a soul very near to the glory of Heaven; but her enlightenment concerning the infinite Sanctity of God was of a different order from that which has been given to us. This clear knowledge causes her to seek, as a blessing, the expiation which her condition requires to render her worthy of the vision of the thrice holy God. This is precisely the exact teaching of St. Catherine of Genoa. We know that this saint received particular light from God concerning the state of the souls in Purgatory. She wrote a work entitled " A Treatise on Purgatory," which was an authority equal to that of St. Teresa. In chapter viii. she thus expresses herself: — "The Lord is all-merciful. He stands before us, His arms extended in order to receive us into His glory. But I see also that the Divine Essence is of such purity that the soul, unless she be absolutely immaculate, cannot bear the sight. If she finds in herself the least atom of imperfection, rather than dwell with a stain in the presence of the Divine Majesty, she would plunge herself into the depths of Hell. Finding in Purgatory a means to blot out her stains, she casts herself into it. She esteems herself happy that, by the effect of a great mercy, a place is given to her where she can free herself from the obstacles to supreme happiness."
The " History of the Seraphic Order " [41] makes mention of a holy Religious named Brother John de Via, who died piously in a monastery on the Canary Islands. His infirmarian, Brother Ascension, was in his cell praying and recommending to God the soul of the departed, when suddenly he saw before him a Religious of his Order, but who appeared to be transfigured. So radiant was he, that the cell was filled with a beautiful light. The brother, almost beside himself with astonishment, did not recognise him, but ventured to ask who he was and what was the object of his visit. " I am," answered the apparition, " the spirit of Brother John de Via. I thank you for the prayers which you have poured forth to Heaven in my behalf, and I come to ask of you one more act of charity. Know that, thanks to the Divine mercy, I am in the place of salvation, among those predestined for Heaven — the light which surrounds me is a proof of this. Yet I am not worthy to see the face of God on account of an omission which remains to be expiated. During my mortal life I omitted, through my own fault, and that several times, to recite the Office for the Dead, when it was prescribed by the Rule. I beseech you, my dear brother, for the love you bear Jesus Christ, to say those offices in such a manner that my debt may be paid, and I may go to enjoy the vision of my God."
Brother Ascension ran to the Father Guardian, related what had happened, and hastened to say the offices required. Then the soul of Blessed Brother John de Via appeared again, but this time more brilliant than before. He was in possession of eternal happiness.
CHAPTER XIX.
Pains of Purgatory — St. Magdalene de Pazzi and Sister Benedicta — St. Gertrude — Blessed Margaret Mary and Mother de Montoux.
We read in the Life of St. Magdalene de Pazzi that one of her sisters, named Maria-Benedicta, a Religious of eminent virtue, died in her arms. During her agony she saw a multitude of angels, which surrounded her with a joyful air, waiting until she should breathe forth her soul, that they might bear it to the Heavenly Jerusalem; and at the moment she expired, the saint saw them receive the soul under the form of a dove, the head of which was of a golden hue, and disappear with her. Three hours later, watching and praying near the remains, Magdalene knew that the soul of the deceased was neither in Paradise nor Purgatory, but in a particular place where, without suffering any sensible pain, she was deprived of the sight of God.
The following day, whilst Mass was being celebrated for the soul of Maria-Benedicta, at the Sanctus Magdalene was again rapt in ecstasy, and God showed her that blessed soul in the glory to which she had been just admitted. Magdalene ventured to ask our Saviour why He had not allowed this dear soul to enter sooner into His holy presence. She received for answer that in her last sickness Sister Benedicta had shown herself too sensitive to the cares bestowed upon her, which interrupted her habitual union with God and her perfect conformity to His Divine Will.
Let us return to the Revelations of St. Gertrude, to which we have just alluded. There we shall find another instance which shows how, for certain souls at least, the sun of glory is preceded by a dawn which breaks by degrees. A Religious died in the flower of her age in the embrace of the Lord. She had been remarkable for her tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. After her death St. Gertrude saw her, brilliant with a celestial light, kneeling before the Divine Master, whose glorified wounds appeared like lighted torches, from whence issued five flaming rays that pierced the five senses of the deceased. The countenance of the latter, however, was clouded by an expression of deep sadness. " Lord Jesus," cried the saint, " how comes it that whilst you thus illumine your servant, why does she not experience perfect joy?"
"Until now," replied the good Master, "this sister has been worthy to contemplate my glorified humanity only, and to enjoy the sight of my five wounds, in recompense for her tender devotion to the mystery of the Holy Eucharist; but unless numerous suffrages are offered in her favour, she cannot yet be admitted to the beatific vision, on account of some slight defects in the observation of her holy rules."
Let us conclude what we have said concerning the nature of these pains by some details which we find in the Life of Blessed Margaret Mary of the Visitation. They are taken in part from the Memoir of Mother Greffier, who, wisely diffident on the subject of the extraordinary graces granted to Blessed Sister Margaret, recognised the truth only after a thousand trials. Mother Philiberte Emmanuel de Montoux, Superior at Annecy, died February 2, 1683, after a life which had edified the whole Order. Mother Greffier recommended her specially to the prayers of Sister Margaret. After some time the latter told her superior that our Lord had made known to her that this soul was most dear to Him on account of her love and fidelity in His service, and that an ample recompense awaited her in Heaven when she should have accomplished her purification in Purgatory.
The Blessed Sister saw the departed in the place of expiation. Our Lord showed her the sufferings which she endured, and how greatly she was relieved by the suffrages and good works which were daily offered for her throughout the whole Order of the Visitation. During the night from Holy Thursday to Good Friday, whilst Sister Margaret was still praying for her, He showed her the soul of the departed as placed under the chalice which contained the Sacred Host on the altar of repose. There she participated in the merits of His agony in the Garden of Olives. On Easter Sunday, which that year fell on April 18, Sister Margaret saw the soul enjoying the commencement, as it were, of eternal felicity, desiring and hoping soon to be admitted to the vision and possession of God.
Finally, a fortnight after, on May 2, Sunday, Feast of the Good Shepherd, she saw the soul of the departed as rising sweetly into eternal glory, chanting melodiously the canticle of Divine Love.
Let us see how Blessed Margaret herself gives the account of this last apparition in a letter addressed on the same day, May 2, 1623, to Mother de Saumaise at Dijon: — "Jesus for ever! My soul is filled with so great a joy that I can scarcely restrain myself. Permit me, dear Mother, to communicate it to your heart, which is one with mine in that of our Lord. This morning, Sunday of the Good Shepherd, on my awaking, two of my good suffering friends came to bid me adieu. To-day the Supreme Pastor receives them into His eternal fold with a million other souls. Both joined this multitude of blessed souls, and departed singing canticles of joy. One is the good Mother Philiberte Emmanuel de Montoux, the other Sister Jeanne Catherine Gacon. One repeated unceasingly these words: Love triumphs, love rejoices in God; the other, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, and the Religious who live and die in the exact observance of their rules. Both desired that I should say to you on their part that death may separate souls, but can never disunite them. If you knew how my soul was transported with joy! For whilst I was speaking to them, I saw them sink by degrees into glory like a person who plunges into the vast ocean. They ask of you in thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity one Laudate and three times Gloria Patri. As I desired them to remember us, their last words were that ingratitude is unknown in Heaven?
CHAPTER XX.
Diversity of the Pains — King Sancho and Queen Guda — St. Lidwina and the Soul Transpierced — Blessed Margaret Mary and the Bed of Fire.
According to the saints, there is great diversity in the corporal pains of Purgatory. Although fire is the principal instrument of torture, there is also the torment of cold, the torture of the members, and the torture applied to the different senses of the human body. This diversity of suffering seems to correspond to the nature of the sins, each one of which demands its own punishment, according to these words: Quia per quce peccat quis, per hac et torquetur — " By what things a man sinneth, by the same also is he tormented." [42] It is just that it should be so with regard to the chastisement, since the same diversity exists in the distribution of the reward. In Heaven each one receives according to his works, and, as Venerable Bede says, each one receives his crown, his robe of glory. For the martyr this robe is of a rich purple colour, whilst that of the confessor has the brilliancy of a dazzling whiteness.
The historian John Vasquez, in his chronicle of the year 940, relates how Sancho, king of Leon, appeared to Queen Guda, and by the piety of this princess was delivered from Purgatory. Sancho, who had led a truly Christian life, was poisoned by one of his subjects. After his death, Queen Guda passed her time in praying and causing prayers to be offered for the repose of his soul. Not content with having a great number of Masses offered for his release, in order that she might weep and pray near the dear remains, she took the veil in the convent of Castile, where the body of her husband had been deposited. One Saturday, whilst praying at the feet of the Blessed Virgin, and recommending to her the soul of her departed husband, Sancho appeared to her; but in what a condition! Great God! he was clad in garments of mourning and wore a double row of red-hot chains around his waist. Having thanked his pious widow for her suffrages, he conjured her to continue her work of charity. " Ah! if you knew, Guda, what I suffer," said he to her, "you would do still more. By the bowels of Divine Mercy, I conjure you help me, dear Guda; help me, for I am devoured by these flames."
The Queen redoubled her prayers and good works; she distributed alms among the poor, caused Masses to be celebrated in all parts of the country, and gave to the convent a magnificent ornament for use of the altar.
At the end of forty days the King again appeared. He had been relieved of the burning cincture and of all his other sufferings. In place of his robes of mourning, he wore a mantle of dazzling whiteness, like the sacred ornament which Guda had given to the convent. "Behold me, dear Guda," said he, " thanks to your prayers, delivered from all my sufferings. May you be for ever blessed. Persevere in your holy exercises; often meditate upon the severity of the pains of the other life, and upon the joys of Paradise, whither I go to await you." With these words he disappeared, leaving the pious Guda overflowing with consolation.
One day a woman, quite disconsolate, went to tell St. Lidwina that she had lost her brother. " My brother has just died," she said, " and I come to recommend his poor soul to your charity. Offer to God for him some prayers and a part of the sufferings occasioned by your malady." The holy patient promised her to do so, and some time after, in one of her frequent ecstasies, she was conducted by her angel-guardian into the subterranean dungeons, where she saw with extreme compassion the torments of the poor souls plunged in flames. One of them in particular attracted her attention. She saw him transpierced by iron pins. Her angel told her that it was the deceased brother of that woman who had asked her prayers. "If you wish," he added, "to ask any grace in his favour, it will not be refused to you." "I ask, then," she replied, "that he may be delivered from those horrible irons that transpierce him." Immediately she saw them drawn from the poor sufferer, who was then taken from this special prison and placed in the one occupied by those souls that had not incurred any particular torment. The sister of the deceased returning shortly after to St. Lidwina, the latter made known to her the condition of her brother, and advised her to assist him by multiplying her prayers and alms for the repose of his soul. She herself offered to God her supplications and sufferings, until finally he was delivered. [43]
We read in the Life of Blessed Margaret Mary that a soul was tortured in a bed of torments on account of her indolence during life; at the same time she was subjected to a particular torture in her heart, on account of certain wicked sentiments, and in her tongue, in punishment of her uncharitable words. Moreover, she had to endure a frightful pain of an entirely different nature, caused neither by fire nor iron, but by the sight of a condemned soul. Let us see how the Blessed Margaret describes it in her writings.
" I saw in a dream," she says, " one of our sisters who had died some time previous. She told me that she suffered much in Purgatory, but that God had inflicted upon her a suffering which surpassed all other pains, by showing her one of her near relatives precipitated into Hell.
"At these words I awoke, and felt as though ray body was bruised from head to foot, so that it was with difficulty I could move. As we should not believe in dreams, I paid little attention to this one, but the Religious obliged me to do so in spite of myself. From that moment she gave me no rest, and said to me incessantly, "Pray to God for me; offer to Him your sufferings united to those of Jesus Christ, to alleviate mine; and give me all you shall do until the first Friday in May, when you will please communicate for me.' This I did, with permission of sr.y superior.
" Meanwhile the pain which this suffering soul caused me increased to such a degree that I could find neither comfort nor repose. Obedience obliged me to seek a little rest upon my bed; but scarcely had I retired when she seemed to approach me, saying, ' You recline at your ease upon your bed; look at the one upon which I lie, and where I endure intolerable sufferings.' I saw thot bed, and the very thought of it makes me shudder. The top and bottom was of sharp flaming points, which pierced the flesh. She told me then, that this was on account of her sloth and negligence in the observance of the rules. ' My heart is torn,' she continued, ' and causes me the most terrible suffering for my thoughts of disapproval and criticism of my superiors. My tongue is devoured by vermin, and, as it were, torn from my mouth continually, for the words I spoke against charity and my little regard for the rule of silence. Ah! would that all souls consecrated to God could see me in these torments. If I could show them what is prepared for those who live negligently in their vocation, their zeal and fervour would be entirely renewed, and they would avoid those faults which now cause me to suffer so much.'
" At this sight I melted into tears. ' Alas! ' said she, 'one day passed by the whole community in exact observance would heal my parched mouth; another passed in the practice of holy charity would cure my tongue; and a third passed without any murmuring or disapproval of superiors would heal my bruised heart; but no one thinks to relieve me.'
" After I had offered the Communion which she had asked of me, she said that her dreadful torments were much diminished, but she had still to remain a long time in Purgatory, condemned to suffer the pains due to those souls that have been tepid in the service of God. As for myself," adds Blessed Margaret Mary, " I found that I was freed from my sufferings, which I had been told would not diminish until the soul herself should be relieved." [44]
CHAPTER XXI.
Diversity of the Pains — Blasio Raised from the Dead by St. Bernardine — Venerable Prances of Pampeluna and the Pen of Fire — St. Corpreus and King Malachy.
The celebrated Blasio Massei, who was raised from the dead by St. Bernardine of Sienna, saw that there was great diversity in the pains of Purgatory. The account of this miracle is given at length in the Acta Sanctorum (Appendix, May 20).
A short time after the canonisation of St. Bernardine of Sienna, there died at Cascia, in the kingdom of Naples, a child aged eleven years, named Blasio Massei. His parents had inspired him with the same devotion which they themselves had towards this new saint, and the latter was not slow to recompense it. The day after his death, when the body was being carried to the grave, Blasio awoke as from a profound slumber, and said that St. Bemardine had restored him to life, in order to relate the wonders which the saint had shown him in the other world.
We can easily understand the curiosity which this event produced. For a whole month young Blasio did nothing but talk of what he had seen, and answer the questions put to him by visitors. He spoke with the simplicity of a child, but at the same time with an accuracy of expression and a knowledge of the things of the other life far above his years.
At the moment of his death, he said, St. Bernardine appeared to him, and taking him by the hand, said, " Be not afraid, but pay great attention to what I am going to show you, so that you may remember, and afterwards be able to relate it."
Now the saint conducted his young protege' successively into the regions of Hell, Purgatory, Limbo, and finally allowed him to see Heaven.
In Hell, Blasio saw indescribable horrors, and the divers tortures by which the proud, the avaricious, the impure, and other sinners are tormented. Amongst them he recognised several whom he had seen during life, and he even witnessed the arrival of two who had just died, Buccerelli and Frascha. The latter was damned for having kept ill-gotten goods in his possession. The son of Frascha, struck by this revelation as by a thunderbolt, and knowing well the truth of the statement, hastened to make complete restitution; and not content with this act of justice, that he might not expose himself to share one day the sad lot of his father, he distributed the rest of his fortune to the poor and embraced the monastic life.
From thence conducted into Purgatory, Blasio there saw the most dreadful torments, varied according to the sins of which they were the punishment. He recognised a great number of souls, and several begged him to acquaint their parents and relatives with their suffering condition; they even indicated the suffrages and good works of which they stood in need. When interrogated as to the state of a departed soul, he answered without hesitation, and gave the most precise details, " Your father," said he to one of his visitors, "has been in Purgatory since such a day; he charged you to pay such a sum in alms, and you have neglected to do so." "Your brother," he said to another, "asked you to have so many Masses celebrated; you agreed to do so, and you have not fulfilled your engagement; so many Masses remain to be said."
Blasio also spoke of Heaven, the last place into which he had been taken; but he spoke almost like St. Paul, who, having been ravished to the third Heaven, whether with his body or without his body he knew not, there heard mysterious words which no mortal tongue could repeat. What most attracted the attention of the child was the immense multitude of angels that surrounded the throne of God, and the incomparable beauty of the blessed Virgin Mary, elevated above all the choirs of angels.
The life of Venerable Mother Frances of the Blessed Sacrament, a Religious of Pampeluna, [45] presents several facts which show that the pains of Purgatory are suited to the faults to be expiated. This venerable servant of God had the most intimate communication with the souls in Purgatory, so that they came in great numbers and filled her cell, humbly awaiting each one in turn to be assisted by her prayers. Frequently, the more easily to excite her compassion, they appeared with the instruments of their sins, now become the instruments of their torture. One day she saw a Religious surrounded by costly pieces of furniture, such as pictures, arm-chairs, &c, all in flames. She had collected these things in her cell contrary to her vow of religious poverty, and after her death they became her torment.
A notary appeared to. her one day with all the insignia of his profession. Being heaped around him, the flames which issued therefrom caused him the most intense suffering. " I have used this pen, this ink, this paper," said he, "to draw up illegal deeds. I also had a passion for gambling, and these cards which I am forced to hold continually in my hands now constitute my punishment. This flaming purse contains my unlawful gains, and causes me to expiate them."
From all this we should draw great and salutary instruction. Creatures are given to man as a means to serve God; they must be the instruments of virtue and good works. If he abuse them, and make them instruments of sin, it is just they should be turned against him, and become the instruments of his chastisement.
The Life of St. Corpreus, an Irish Bishop, which we find in the Bollandists on March 6, furnishes us with another example of the same kind. One day, whilst this holy prelate was in prayer after the Office, he saw appear before him a horrible spectre, with livid countenance, a collar of fire about his neck, and upon his shoulders a miserable mantle all in tatters. "Who are you?" asked the saint, not in the least disturbed. "I am a soul from the other life." " What has brought you to the sad condition in which I see you?" " My faults have drawn this chastisement upon me. Notwithstanding the misery to which I now see myself reduced, I am Malachy, formerly king of Ireland. In that high position I could have done much good, and it was my duty to do so. I neglected this, and therefore I am punished. " " Did you not do penance for your faults? " "I did not do sufficient penance, and this is due to the culpable weakness of my confessor, whom I bent to my caprices by offering him a gold ring. It is on this account that I now wear a collar of fire about my neck." " I should like to know," continued the Bishop, " why you are covered with these rags? " " It is another chastisement. I did not clothe the naked. I did not assist the poor with the charity, respect, and liberality which became my dignity of king and my title of Christian. This is why you see me clothed like the poor and covered with a garment of confusion." The biography adds that St. Corpreus with his Chapter united in prayer, and at the end of six months obtained a mitigation of the suffering, and somewhat later the entire deliverance of King Malachy.
CHAPTER XXII.
Duration of Purgatory — Opinions of the Doctors — Bellarmine — Calculations of Father Mumford.
Faith does not teach us the precise duration of the pains of Purgatory. We know in general that they are measured by Divine Justice, and that for each one they are proportioned to the number and gravity of the faults which he has not yet expiated. God may, however, without prejudice to His Justice, abridge these sufferings by augmenting their intensity; the Church Militant also may obtain their remission by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and other suffrages offered for the departed.
According to the common opinion of the doctors, the expiatory pains are of long duration. "There is no doubt," says Bellarmine,[46] " that the pains of Purgatory are not limited to ten or twenty years, and that they last in some cases entire centuries. But allowing it to be true that their duration did not exceed ten or twenty years, can we account it as nothing to have to endure for ten or twenty years the most excruciating sufferings without the least alleviation? If a man was assured that he should suffer some violent pain in his feet, or his head, or teeth for the space of twenty years, and that without ever sleeping or taking the least repose, would he not a thousand times rather die than live in such a state? And if the choice were given to him between a life thus miserable and the loss of all his temporal goods, would he hesitate to make the sacrifice of his fortune to be delivered from such a torment? Shall we then find any difficulty in embracing labour and penance to free ourselves from the sufferings of Purgatory? Shall we fear to practise the most painful exercises: vigils, fasts, almsgiving, long prayers, and especially contrition, accompanied with sighs and tears? "
These words comprise the whole doctrine of the saints and theologians.
Father Mumford, of the Company of Jesus, in his "Treatise on Charity towards the Departed," bases the long duration of Purgatory on a calculation of probability, which we shall give in substance. He goes out on the principle that, according to the words of the Holy Ghost, The just man falls seven times a day, [47] that is to say, that even those who apply themselves most perfectly to the service of God, notwithstanding their good-will, commit a great number of faults in the infinitely pure eyes of God. We have but to enter into our own conscience, and there analyse before God our thoughts, our words, and works, to be convinced of this sad effect of human misery. Oh! how easy it is to lack respect in prayer, to prefer our ease to the accomplishment of duty, to sin by vanity, by impatience, by sensuality, by uncharitable thoughts and words, by want of conformity to the will of God! The day is long; is it very difficult for even a virtuous person to commit, I do not say seven, but twenty or thirty of this kind of faults and imperfections?
Let us take a moderate estimate, and suppose that you commit about ten faults a day; at the end of 365 days you will have a sum of 3650 faults. Let us diminish, and, to facilitate the calculation, place it at 3000 per year. At the end often years this will amount to 30,000, and at the end of twenty years to 60,000. Suppose that of these 60,000 faults you have expiated one half by penance and good works, there will still remain 30,000 to be atoned for.
Let us continue our hypothesis: You die after these twenty years of virtuous life, and appear before God with a debt of 30,000 faults, which you must discharge in Purgatory. How much time will you need to accomplish this expiation? Suppose, on an average, each fault requires one hour of Purgatory. This measure is very moderate, if we judge by the revelations of the saints; but at any rate this will give you a Purgatory of 30,000 hours. Now, do you know how many years these 30,000 hours represent? Three years, three months, and fifteen days. Thus a good Christian who watches over himself, who applies himself to penance and good works, finds himself liable to three years, three months, and fifteen days of Purgatory.
The preceding calculation is based on an estimate which is lenient in the extreme. Now, if you extend the duration of the pain, and, instead of an hour, you take a day for the expiation of a fault, if, instead of having nothing but venial sins, you bring before God a debt resulting from mortal sins, more or less numerous, which you formerly committed, if you assign, on the average, as St. Frances of Rome says, seven years for the expiation of one mortal sin, remitted as to the guilt, who does not see that we arrive at an appalling duration, and that the expiation may easily be prolonged for many years, and even for centuries?
Years and centuries in torments! Oh! if we only thought of it, with what care should we not avoid the least faults? with what fervour should we not practise penance to make satisfaction in this world! (See Note 6.)
CHAPTER XXIII.
Duration of Purgatory — The Cistercian Abbot and Pope Innocent III. — John de Lierre.
In the Life of St. Lutgarda, [48] written by her contemporary, Thomas de Cantempre, mention is made of a Religious who was otherwise fervent, but who for an excess of zeal was condemned to forty years of Purgatory. This was an Abbot of the Cistercian Order, named Simon, who held St. Lutgarda in great veneration. The saint, on her part, willingly followed his advice, and in consequence a sort of spiritual friendship was formed between them. But the Abbot was not as mild towards his subordinates as he was towards the saint. Severe with himself, he was also severe in his administration, and carried his exactions in matters of discipline even to harshness, forgetting the lesson of the Divine Master, who teaches us to be meek and humble of heart. Having died, and whilst St. Lutgarda was fervently praying and imposing penances upon herself for the repose of his soul, he appeared to her, and declared that he was condemned to forty years of Purgatory. Fortunately he had in Lutgarda a generous and powerful friend. She redoubled her prayers and austerities, and having received from God the assurance that the departed soul should soon be delivered, the charitable saint replied, " I will not cease to weep; I will not cease to importune your Mercy until I see him freed from his pains."
Since I am mentioning St. Lutgarda, ought I to speak of the celebrated apparition of Pope Innocent III.? I acknowledge the perusal of this incident shocked me, and I would fain pass it over in silence. I was reluctant to think that a Pope, and such a Pope, had been condemned to so long and terrible a Purgatory. We know that Innocent III., who presided at the celebrated Council of Lateran in 1215, was one of the greatest Pontiffs who ever filled the chair of St. Peter. His piety and zeal led him to accomplish great things for the Church of God and holy discipline. How, then, admit that such a man was judged with so great severity at the Supreme Tribunal? How reconcile this revelation of St. Lutgarda with Divine Mercy? I wished, therefore, to treat it as an illusion, and sought for reasons in support of this idea. But I found, on the contrary, that the reality of this apparition is admitted by the gravest authors, and that it is not rejected by any single one. Moreover, the biographer, Thomas de Cantempre, is very explicit, and at the same time very reserved. " Remark, reader," he writes at the end of his narrative, " that it was from the mouth of the pious Lutgarda herself that I heard of the faults revealed by the defunct, and which I omit here through respect for so great a Pope." (See Note 7.)
Aside from this, considering the event in itself, can we find any good reason for calling it into question? Do we not know that God makes no exception of persons — that the Popes appear before His tribunal like the humblest of the faithful — that all the great and the lowly are equal before Him, and that each one receives according to his works? Do we not know that those who govern others have a great responsibility, and will have to render a severe account? Judicium durissimum his qui prcesunt fiet — "A most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule." [49] It is the Holy Ghost that declares it. Now, Innocent III. reigned for eighteen years, and during most turbulent times; and, add the Bollandists, is it not written that the judgments of God are inscrutable, and often very different from the judgments of men? Judicia tua abyssus multa. [50]
The reality of this apparition cannot, then, be reasonably called in question. I see no reason for omitting it, since God does not reveal mysteries of this nature for any other purpose than that they should be made known for the edification of His Church.
Pope Innocent III. died July 16, 1216. The same day he appeared to St. Lutgarda in her monastery at Aywieres, in Brabant. Surprised to see a spectre enveloped in flames, she asked who he was and what he wanted. "I am Pope Innocent," he replied. "Is it possible that you, our common Father, should be in such a state? " " It is but too true. I am expiating three faults which might have caused my eternal perdition. Thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I have obtained pardon for them, but I have to make atonement. Alas! it is terrible; and it will last for centuries if you do not come to my assistance. In the name of Mary, who has obtained for me the favour of appealing to you, help me." With these words he disappeared. Lutgarda announced the Pope's death to her sisters, and together they betook themselves to prayer and penitential works in behalf of the august and venerated Pontiff, whose demise was communicated to them some weeks later from another source.
Let us add here a more consoling fact, which we find in the life of the same saint. A celebrated preacher, named John de Lierre, was a man of great piety and well known to our saint. He had made a contract with her, by which they mutually promised that the one who should die first, with the permission of God, should appear to the other. John was the first to depart this life. Having undertaken a journey to Rome for the arrangement of certain affairs in the interest of the Religious, he met his death among the Alps. Faithful to his promise, he appeared to Lutgarda in the celebrated cloister of Aywieres. On seeing him, the saint had not the slightest idea that he was dead, and invited him, according to the Rule, to enter the parlour that she might converse with him. " I am no more of this world," he replied, "and I come here only in fulfilment of my promise." At these words Lutgarda fell on her knees and remained for some time quite confounded. Then, raising her eyes to her blessed friend, " Why," said she, " are you clothed in such splendour? What does this triple robe signify with which I see you adorned? " " The white garment," he replied, " signifies virginal purity, which I have always preserved; the red tunic implies the labours and sufferings which have prematurely exhausted my strength; and the blue mantle, which covers all, denotes the perfection of the spiritual life." Having said these words, he suddenly left Lutgarda, who remained divided between regret for having lost so good a Father, and the joy she experienced on account of his happiness.
St. Vincent Ferrer, the celebrated wonder-worker of the Order of St. Dominic, who preached with so much eloquence the great truth of the Judgment of God, had a sister who remained unmoved either by the words or example of her saintly brother. She was full of the spirit of the world, intoxicated with its pleasures, and walked with rapid strides towards her eternal ruin. Meanwhile, the saint prayed for her conversion, and his prayer was finally answered. The unfortunate sinner fell mortally sick; and, at the moment of death, entering into herself, she made her confession with sincere repentance.
Some days after her death, whilst her brother was celebrating the Holy Sacrifice, she appeared to him in the midst of flames and a prey to the most intolerable torments. " Alas! my dear brother," said she, " I am condemned to undergo these torments until the day of the last judgment. Nevertheless, you can assist me. The efficacy of the Holy Sacrifice is so great: offer for me about thirty Masses, and I may hope the happiest result." The saint hastened to accede to her request. He celebrated the thirty Masses, and on the thirtieth day his sister again appeared to him surrounded by angels and soaring to Heaven. Thanks to the virtue of the Divine Sacrifice, an expiation of several centuries was reduced to thirty days.
This example shows us at once the duration of the pains which a soul may incur, and the powerful effect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, when God is pleased to apply it to a soul. But this application, like all other suffrages, does not always take place, at least not always in the same plenitude.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Duration of Purgatory — The Duellist — Father Schoofs and the Apparition at Antzverp.
The following example shows not only the long duration of the punishment inflicted for certain faults, but also the difficulty of inclining Divine Justice in favour of those who have committed faults of this nature.
The history of the Order of the Visitation mentions, among the first Religious of that Institute, Sister Marie Denise, called in the world Mdlle. Marie Martignat. She was most charitably devoted to the souls in Purgatory, and felt herself particularly drawn to recommend to God in a special manner those who had held high positions in the world, for she knew by experience the dangers to which their positions exposed them. A certain prince, whose name is not given, but who it is believed belonged to the House of France, was killed in a duel, and God permitted him to appear to Sister Denise to ask of her the assistance of which he stood so greatly in need. He told her that he was not damned, although his crime merited damnation. Thanks to an act of perfect contrition which he had made at the moment of death, he had been saved; but, in punishment for his guilty life and death, he was condemned to the most rigorous chastisement in Purgatory until the Day of Judgment.
The charitable sister, deeply touched by the state of this soul, generously offered herself as a victim for him. But it is impossible to say what she had to suffer for many years in consequence of that heroic act. The poor prince left her no repose, and made her partake of his torments, She completed her sacrifice by death; but before expiring she confided to her Superior that, in return for so much expiation, she had obtained for her protege the remission of but a few hours of pain. When the Superior expressed her astonishment at this result, which seemed to her entirely disproportionate with what the sister had suffered, Sister Denise replied, "Ah! my dear Mother, the hours of Purgatory are not computed like those of earth; years of grief, weariness, poverty, or sickness in this world are nothing compared to one hour of the suffering of Purgatory. It is already much that Divine Mercy permits us to exercise any influence whatever over His Justice. I am less moved by the lamentable state in which I have seen this soul languish, than by the extraordinary return of grace which has consummated the work of his salvation. The act in which the prince died merited Hell; a million others might have found their eternal perdition in the same act in which he found his salvation. He recovered consciousness but for one instant, just time sufficient to co-operate with that precious movement of grace which disposed him to make an act of perfect contrition. That blessed moment seems to me to be an excess of the goodness, clemency, and infinite love of God."
Thus spoke Sister Denise; she admired at once the severity of God's Justice, and His infinite Mercy. Both one and the other shone forth in this example in the most striking manner.
Continuing the subject of the long duration of Purgatory, we will here relate an instance of more recent occurrence.
Father Philip Schoofs, of the Company of Jesus, who died in Louvain in 1878, related the following fact, which happened in Antwerp during the first years of his ministry in that city. He had just preached a mission, and had returned to the College of Notre Dame, then situated in the Rue l'Empereur, when he was told some one asked for him in the parlour. Descending immediately, he found there two young men in the flower of their age, with a pale and sickly child of about ten years. " Father," said they, " here is a poor child that we have adopted, and who deserves our protection because he is good and pious. We feed and educate him, and, for more than a year that he has formed part of our family, he has been happy and enjoyed good health. It is only for the last few weeks that he has commenced to grow thin and pine away, as you now see him." "What is the cause of this change?" asked the Father. " It is fright," they replied; " the child is awaked every night by apparitions. A man, he assures us, presents himself before him, and he sees him as distinctly as he sees us in full daylight. This is the cause of his continual fear and uneasiness. We come, Father, to ask of you some remedy." " My friends," replied Father Schoofs, " with God there is a remedy for all things. Begin, both of you, by making a good confession and Communion, beg God to deliver you from all evil, and fear nothing. As for you, my child, say your prayers well, then sleep so soundly that no ghost can awake you." He then dismissed them, telling them to return in case anything more should happen. Two weeks passed, and they again returned. " Father," said they, "we have followed your orders, and yet the apparitions continue as before. The child always sees the same man appear." " From this evening," said Father Schoofs, " watch at the door of the child's room, provided with paper and ink with which to write the answers. When he warns you of the presence of that man, ask in the name of God who he is, the time of his death, where he lived, and why he returns."
The following day they returned, carrying the paper on which was written the answers which they had received. "We saw," they said, "the man that appears to the child." They described him as an old man, of whom they could but see the bust, and he wore a costume of the olden times. He told them his name, and the house in which he had dwelt in Antwerp. He had died in 1636, had followed the profession of banker in that same house, which in his time comprised the two houses which to-day may be seen situated to the right and left of it. Let us remark here that certain documents which prove the accuracy of these indications have since been discovered in the archives of the city of Antwerp. He added that he was in Purgatory, and that few prayers had been said for him. He then begged the persons of the house to offer Holy Communion for him, and finally asked that a pilgrimage might be made for him to Notre Dame des Fievres, and another to Notre Dame de la Chapelle in Brussels. "You will do well to comply with all these requests," said Father Schoofs, " and if the spirit returns, before speaking to him, require him to say the Pater, Ave, and Credo"
They accomplished the good works indicated with all possible piety, and many conversions were effected. When all was finished, the young men returned. " Father, he prayed," they said to Father Schoofs, "but in a tone of indescribable faith and piety. We never heard any one pray thus. What reverence in the Our Father! What love in the Hail Mary! What fervour in the I Believe! Now we know what it is to pray. Then he thanked us for our prayers; he was greatly relieved, and would have been entirely delivered had not an assistant in our shop made a sacrilegious Communion. We have," they continued, "reported these words to the person. She turned pale, acknowledged her guilt, then running to her confessor, hastened to repair her crime."
" Since that day," adds Father Schoofs, "that house has never been troubled. The family that inhabit it have prospered rapidly, and to-day they are rich. The two brothers continue to conduct themselves in an exemplary manner, and their sister became a Religious in a convent, of which she is at the present time Superior."
Everything leads us to believe that the prosperity of that family was the result of the succour given to the departed soul. After two centuries of punishment there remained to the latter but a small part of the expiation, and the performance of some good works which he asked. When these were accomplished, he was delivered, and wished to show his gratitude by obtaining the blessings of God upon his benefactors.
CHAPTER XXV.
Duration of Purgatory — The Abbey of Latrobe — A Hundred Years of Suffering for Delay in the Reception of the Last Sacraments.
The following incident is related with authentic proof by the journal, The Monde, in the number of April 1860. It took place in America, in the Abbey of the Benedictines, situated in the village of Latrobe. A series of apparitions occurred during the course of the year 1859. The American press took up the matter, and treated those grave questions with its usual levity. In order to put a stop to scandal, the Abbot Wimmer, Superior of the house, addressed the following letter to the newspapers.
"The following is a true statement of the case: — In our Abbey of St. Vincent, near Latrobe, on September 10, 1859. a novice saw an apparition of a Benedictine in full choir dress. This apparition was repeated every day from September 18 until November 19, either at eleven o'clock at noon or at two o'clock in the morning. It was only on the 19th November that the novice interrogated the spirit, in presence of another member of the community, and asked the motive of these apparitions. He replied that he had suffered for seventy-seven years for having neglected to celebrate seven Masses of obligation; that he had already appeared at different times to seven other Benedictines, but that he had not been heard, and that he would be obliged to appear again after eleven years if the novice did not come to his assistance. Finally, the spirit asked that these seven Masses might be celebrated for him; moreover, the novice must remain in retreat for seven days, keep strict silence, and during thirty days recite three times a day the psalm Miserere, his feet bare, and his arms extended in the form of a cross. All the conditions were fulfilled between November 20 and December 25, and on that day, after the celebration of the last Mass, the apparition disappeared.
" During that period the spirit showed itself several times, exhorting the novice in the most urgent manner to pray for the souls in Purgatory; for, said he, they suffer frightfully, and are extremely grateful to those who co-operate in their deliverance. He added, sad to relate, that of the five priests who had died in our Abbey, not one had yet entered Heaven, all were suffering in Purgatory. I do not draw any conclusion, but this is correct."
This account, signed by the hand of the Abbot, is an incontestable historical document.
As regards the conclusion which the venerable prelate leaves us to draw, it is evident.
Seeing that a Religious is condemned to Purgatory for seventy-seven years, let it suffice for us to learn the necessity of reflecting on the duration of future punishment, as well for priests and Religious as for the ordinary faithful living in the midst of the corruption of the world. (See Note 8.)
A too frequent cause of the long continuance of Purgatory is that many deprive themselves of a great means established by Jesus Christ for shortening it, by delaying, when dangerously sick, to receive the last Sacraments. These Sacraments, destined to prepare souls for their last journey, to purify them from the remains of sin, and to spare them the pains of the other life, require, in order to produce their effects, that the sick person receive them with the requisite dispositions. Now, the longer they are deferred, and the faculties of the sick person allowed to become weak, the more defective do those dispositions become. What do I say? Very often it happens, in consequence of this imprudent delay, that the sick person dies deprived of this absolutely necessary help. The result is, that if the deceased is not damned, he is plunged into the deepest abysses of Purgatory, loaded with all the weight of his debts.
Michael Alix [51] speaks of an ecclesiastic who, instead of promptly receiving the Extreme Unction, and therein giving a good example to the faithful, was guilty of negligence in this respect, and was punished by a hundred years of Purgatory. Knowing that he was seriously ill and in danger of death, this poor priest should have made known his condition, and immediately had recourse to the succours which the Mother Church reserves for her children in that supreme hour. He omitted to do so; and, whether through an illusion common among sick people, he would not declare the gravity of his situation, or whether he was under the influence of that fatal prejudice which causes weak Christians to defer the reception of the last Sacraments, he neither asked for nor thought of receiving them. But we know how death comes by stealth; the unfortunate man deferred so long that he died without having had the time to receive either the Viaticum or Extreme Unction. Now, God was pleased to make use of this circumstance to give a great warning to others. The deceased himself came to make known to a brother ecclesiastic that he was condemned to Purgatory for a hundred years. " I am thus punished," he said, "for delaying to receive the grace of the last purification. Had I received the Sacraments as I ought to have done, I should have escaped death through the virtue of Extreme Unction, and I should have had time to do penance."
CHAPTER XXVI.
Duration of Purgatory — Venerable Catherine Paluzzi and Sister Bemardine — Brothers Finetti and Rudolphini — St. Peter Claver and the two Poor Women.
Let us cite some other examples which will serve to convince us still more of the long duration of the sufferings of Purgatory. We shall see therein that Divine Justice is relatively severe towards souls called to perfection, and who have received much grace. Does not Jesus Christ say in the Gospel, Unto whom much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more? [52]
We read in the Life of Venerable Catherine Paluzzi that a holy Religious, who died in her arms, was not admitted to eternal beatitude until after she had passed an entire year in Purgatory. Catherine Paluzzi led a holy life in the diocese of Nepi, in Italy, where she founded a convent of Dominicans. There lived with her a Religious named Bemardine, who was far advanced in the ways of the spiritual life. These two saints emulated each other in fervour, and helped each other to progress more and more in the perfection to which God called them.
The biographer of Venerable Catherine compares them to two live coals that communicate heat to each other; and again, to two harps tuned to harmonise together in one perpetual hymn of love to the greater glory of God.
Bernardine died; a painful malady, which she bore with Christian patience, carried her to the grave. When about to expire, she told Catherine that she would not forget her before God, and, if God so permitted, she would return to converse with her on such spiritual matters as would contribute to her sanctification.
Catherine prayed much for the soul of her friend, and at the same time besought God to allow her to appear to her. An entire year elapsed and the deceased did not return. Finally, on the anniversary of the death of Bernardine, Catherine being in prayer, saw a pit from whence issued volumes of smoke and flames; then she perceived coming out of the pit a form surrounded by dark clouds. By degrees these vapours were dispersed, and the apparition became radiant with an extraordinary brilliancy. In this glorious personage Catherine recognised Bernardine and ran towards her. " Is it you, my dearest sister? " said she. " But whence do you come? What signifies this pit, this fiery smoke? Does your Purgatory end only to - day? " "You are right," replied the soul; "for a year I have been detained in that place of expiation, and to-day, for the first time, shall I enter Heaven. As regards yourself, persevere in your holy exercises: continue to be charitable and merciful, and you will obtain mercy."[53]
The following incident belongs to the history of the Society of Jesus. Two scholastics or young Religious of that Institute, Brothers Finetti and Rudolphini, pursued their studies at the Roman College towards the end of the sixteenth century. Both were models of piety and regularity, both also received a warning from Heaven, which they disclosed, according to the Rule, to their spiritual director. God made known to them their approaching death and the suffering that awaited them in Purgatory. One was to remain there for two years; the other, four. They died, in fact, one after the other. Their brethren in religion immediately offered the most fervent prayers and all kinds of penances for the repose of their souls. They knew that if the Sanctity of God imposes long expiations upon His elect, they may be abridged and entirely remitted by the suffrages of the living. If God is severe towards those who have received much knowledge and grace, on the other hand He is very indulgent towards the poor and the simple, provided they serve Him with sincerity and patience.
St. Peter Claver, of the Company of Jesus, Apostle of the Negroes of Carthagena, knew of the Purgatory of two souls, who had led poor and humble lives upon earth; their sufferings were reduced to a few hours. We find the following account of it in the Life of this great servant of God.[54] He had persuaded a virtuous negress, named Angela, to take into her house another negress named Ursula, who had lost the use of her limbs and was covered with sores. One day when he went to visit them, as he did from time to time, to hear their confessions and to carry them some little provisions, the charitable hostess told him with grief that Ursula was at the point of death. JVo, no, replied the Father, consoling her, she has yet four days to live, and she will not die until Saturday. When Saturday came, he said Mass for her intention, and went out to prepare her for death. After spending some time in prayer, he said to the hostess with an air of confidence, Be consoled, God loves Ursula; she will die to-day, but she will be only three hours in Purgatory. Let her remember me when she shall be with God, that she may pray for me, and for the one who until now had been a mother to her. She died at noon, and the fulfilment of one part of the prophecy gave great reason for belief in the accomplishment of the other.
Another day, having gone to hear the confession of a poor sick person whom he was accustomed to visit, he learned that she was dead. The parents were extremely afflicted, and he himself, who had not believed her to be so near her end, was inconsolable at the thought of not having been able to assist her in her last moments. He knelt down to pray by the corpse, then suddenly rising, with a serene countenance he said, " 'Such a death is more worthy of our envy than of our tears; this soul is condemned to Purgatory, but only for twenty four hours. Let us endeavour to shorten this time by the fervour of our prayers ."
Enough has been said on the duration of the pains. We see that they may be prolonged to an appalling degree; even the shortest, if we consider their severity, are long. Let us endeavour to shorten them for others and to mitigate them for ourselves, or better still to prevent them altogether.
Now we prevent them by removing the causes. What are the causes? What is the matter of expiation in Purgatory?
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Cause of Suffering — Matter of the Expiations of Purgatory — Doctrine of Suarez — St. Catherine of Genoa.
Why must souls thus suffer before being admitted to see the face of God? What is the matter, what is the subject of these expiations? What has the fire of Purgatory to purify, to consume in them? It is, say the doctors, the stains left by their sins.
But what is here understood by stains? According to most theologians, it is not the guilt of sin, but the pain or the debt of pain proceeding from sin. To understand this well, we must remember that sin produces a double effect on the soul, which we call the debt (reatus) of guilt and the debt of pain; it renders the soul not only guilty, but deserving of pain or chastisement. Now, after the guilt is pardoned, it generally happens that the pain remains to be undergone, either entirely or in part, and this must be endured either in the present life or in the life to come.
The souls in Purgatory retain not the slightest stain of guilt; the venial guilt which they had at the moment of their death has disappeared in the order of pure charity, with which they are inflamed in the other life, but they still bear the debt of suffering which they had not discharged before death.
This debt proceeds from all the faults committed during their life, especially from mortal sins remitted as to the guilt, but which they have neglected to expiate by worthy fruits of exterior penance.
Such is the common teaching of theologians, which Suarez sums up in his "Treatise on the Sacrament of Penance." [55] "We conclude, then." he says, "that all venial sins with which a just man dies are remitted as to the guilt, at the moment when the soul is separated from the body, by virtue of an act of love of God, and the perfect contrition which it then excites over all its past faults. In fact, the soul at this moment knows its condition perfectly, and the sins of which it has been guilty before God; at the same time, it is mistress of its faculties, to be able to act. On the other hand, on the part of God, the most efficacious helps are given to her, that she may act according to the measure of sanctifying grace which she possesses. It follows, then, that in this perfect disposition, the soul acts without the least hesitation. It turns directly towards its God, and finds itself freed from all its venial sins by an act of sovereign loathing of sin. This universal and efficacious act suffices for the remission of their guilt.
All stain of guilt has then disappeared; but the pain remains to be endured, in all its rigour and long duration, at least for those souls that are not assisted by the living. They cannot obtain the least relief for themselves, because the time of merit has passed; they can no longer merit, they can but suffer, and in that way pay to the terrible justice of God all that they owe, even to the last farthing. Usque ad novisstmum quadrantem. [56]
These debts of pain are the remains of sin, and a kind of stain, which intercepts the vision of God, and places an obstacle to the union of the soul with its last end. Since the souls in Purgatory are freed from the guilt of sin, writes St. Catherine of Genoa, [57] there is no other barrier between them and their union with God save the remains of sin, from which they must be purified. This hindrance which they feel within them causes them to suffer the torments of the damned, of which I have spoken elsewhere, and retards the moment when the instinct by which they are drawn towards God as to their Sovereign Beatitude will attain its full perfection. They see clearly how serious before God is even the slightest obstacle raised by the remains of sin, and that it is by necessity of justice that He delays the full gratification of their desire of everlasting bliss.
This sight enkindles within them a burning flame, like that of Hell, yet without the guilt of sin.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Matter of Expiation — The Remains of Mortal Sin — Lord Stourton — Sins of Lust not fully Expiated upon Earth — Saint Lidwina.
We have said that the total amount of the debt of suffering for Purgatory comes from all the faults not atoned for upon earth, but especially from mortal sins remitted to their guilt. Now men who pass their whole lives in a habitual state of mortal sin, and who delay their conversion until death, supposing that God grants them that rare grace, will have to undergo the most frightful punishment. The example of Lord Stourton gives them good cause for reflection. Lord Stourton, an English nobleman, was at heart a Catholic, although, to retain his position at court, he regularly attended the Protestant service. He kept a Catholic priest concealed in his house, at the risk of great danger, promising himself to make good use of his ministry by being reconciled with God at the hour of his death. But he met with a sudden accident, and, as often happens in such cases, by a just decree of God, he had not the time to realise his desire of tardy conversion. Nevertheless Divine Mercy, taking into consideration what he had done for the persecuted Catholic Church in England, vouchsafed him the grace of perfect contrition, and consequently secured his salvation. But he had to pay dearly for his culpable negligence.
Years passed by. His widow married again and had children. It was one of her daughters, Lady Arundel, who relates this fact as an eye-witness: —
" One day my mother asked F. Cornelius, a Jesuit of much merit, and who, later, died a martyr,[58] to say Mass for the repose of the soul of John, Lord Stourton, her first husband. He promised to do so; and whilst at the altar, between the Consecration and the Memento for the dead, he paused for a long time as if absorbed in prayer. After Mass, in an exhortation which he addressed to those present, he told them of a vision which he had just had during the Holy Sacrifice. He had seen an immense forest stretched out before him, but entirely on fire, forming one vast cauldron. In the midst of it was the deceased nobleman, uttering lamentable cries, bewailing the guilty life he led in the world and at court. Having made a full confession of his faults, the unfortunate man ended with these words, which Holy Scripture places in the mouth of Job: Have pity on me! Have pity on me, at least you my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me. He then disappeared.
"Whilst relating this, F. Cornelius shed abundance of tears, and we all, members of the family, to the number of twenty-four persons, wept also. Suddenly, whilst the Father was still speaking, we perceived upon the wall against which the altar stood what seemed to be the reflection of burning coals."
Such is the recital of Dorothy, Lady Arundel, which may be read in the "History of England," by Daniel. [59]
St. Lidwina saw in Purgatory a soul that suffered also for mortal sins not sufficiently expiated on earth. The incident is thus related in the Life of the saint. A man who had been for a long time a slave of the demon of impurity, finally had the happiness of being converted. He confessed his sins with great contrition, but, prevented by death, he had not time to atone by just penance for his numerous sins. Lidwina, who knew him well, prayed much for him. Twelve years after his death she still continued to pray, when, in one of her ecstasies, being taken into Purgatory by her angel-guardian, she heard a mournful voice issuing from a deep pit. "It is the soul of that man," said the angel, "for whom you have prayed with so much fervour and constancy." She was astonished to find him so deep in Purgatory twelve years after his death. The angel, seeing her so greatly affected, asked if she was willing to suffer something for his deliverance. "With all my heart," replied the charitable maiden. From that moment she suffered new pains and frightful torments, which appeared to surpass the strength of human endurance. Nevertheless, she bore them with courage, sustained by a charity stronger than death, until it pleased God to send her relief. She then breathed as one restored to a new life, and, at the same time, she saw that soul for which she had suffered so much come forth from the abyss as white as snow and take its flight to Heaven.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Matter of Expiation — Worldliness — St. Bridget — The Young Person— The Soldier — Blessed Mary Villani and the Worldly Lady.
Souls that allow themselves to be dazzled by the vanities of the world, even if they have the good fortune to escape damnation, will have to undergo terrible punishment. Let us open the "Revelations of St. Bridget,"[60] which are held in such esteem by the Church. We read there in Book vi. that the saint saw herself transported in spirit into Purgatory, and that, among others, she saw there a young lady of high birth who had formerly abandoned herself to the luxury and vanities of the world. This unfortunate soul related to her the history of her life, and the sad state in which she then was. " Happily," said she, before death I confessed my sins in such dispositions as to escape Hell, but now I suffer here to expiate the worldly life that my mother did not prevent me from leading! Alas!" she added, with a sigh, "this head, which loved to be adorned, and which sought to draw the attention of others, is now devoured with flames within and without, and these flames are so violent that every moment it seems to me that I must die. These shoulders, these arms, which I loved to see admired, are cruelly bound in chains of red-hot iron. These feet, formerly trained for the dance, are now surrounded with vipers that tear them with their fangs and soil them with their filthy slime; all these members which I have adorned with jewels, flowers, and divers other ornaments, are now a prey to the most horrible torture. O mother, mother! " she cried, "how culpable have you been in my regard! It was you who, by a fatal indulgence, encouraged my taste for display and extravagant expense; it was you that took me to theatres, parties, and balls, and to those worldly assemblies which are the ruin of souls. ... If I have not incurred eternal damnation, it was because a special grace of God's mercy touched my heart with sincere repentance. I made a good confession, and thus I have been delivered from Hell, yet only to see myself precipitated into the most horrible torments of Purgatory." We have remarked already that what is said of the tortured members must not be taken literally, because the soul is separated from the body; but God, supplying the want of corporal organs, makes the soul experience such sensations as have been just described. The biographer of the saint tells us that she related this vision to a cousin of the deceased, who was likewise given to the illusions of worldly vanity. The cousin was so struck that she renounced the luxuries and dangerous amusements of the world, and devoted the remainder of her life to penance in an austere religious order.
The same St. Bridget, during another ecstasy, beheld the judgment of a soldier who had just died. He had lived in the vices too common in his profession, and would have been condemned to Hell had not the Blessed Virgin, whom he had always honoured, preserved him from that misfortune by obtaining for him the grace of a sincere repentance. The saint saw him appear before the judgment-seat of God and condemned to a long Purgatory for the sins of all kinds which he had committed. "The punishment of the eyes," said the Judge, "shall be to contemplate the most frightful objects; that of the tongue, to be pierced with pointed needles and tormented with thirst; that of the touch, to be plunged in an ocean of fire." Then the Holy Virgin interceded, and obtained some mitigation of the rigour of the sentence.
Let us relate still another example of the chastisements reserved for worldlings in Purgatory, when they have not, like the rich glutton of the Gospel, been buried in Hell.
Blessed Mary Villani, a Dominican Religious, [61] had a lively devotion to the holy souls, and it often happened that they appeared to her, either to thank her or to beg the assistance of her prayers and good works. One day, whilst praying for them with great fervour, she was transported in spirit to their prison of expiation. Among the souls that suffered there she saw one more cruelly tormented than the others, in the midst of flames which entirely enveloped her. Touched with compassion, the servant of God interrogated the soul. " I have been here," she replied, " for a very long time, punished for my vanity and my scandalous extravagance. Thus far I have not received the least alleviation. Whilst I was upon earth, being wholly occupied with my toilet, my pleasures, and worldly amusements, I thought very little of my duties as a Christian, and fulfilled them only with great reluctance, and in a slothful manner. My only serious thought was to further the worldly interests of my family. See now how I am punished: they bestow not so much as a passing thought upon me: my parents, my children, those friends with whom I was most intimate — all have forgotten me."
Mary Villani begged this soul to allow her to feel some thing of what she suffered, and immediately it appeared as though a finger of fire touched her forehead, and the pain which she experienced instantly caused her ecstasy to cease, The mark remained, and so deep and painful was it that two months afterwards it was still to be seen, and caused the holy Religious most terrible suffering. She endured this pain in the spirit of penance, for the relief of the soul that had appeared to her, and some time later the same soul came to announce her deliverance.
CHAPTER XXX.
Matter of Expiation — Sins of Youth — St. Catherine of Sweden and the Princess Gida.
It often happens that Christians do not sufficiently reflect on the necessity of doing penance for the sins of their youth: they must one day be atoned for by the most rigorous penance of Purgatory. Such was the case with the Princess Gida, daughter-in-law of St. Bridget, as we read in the "Lives of the Saints," March 24, Life of St. Catherine. [62] St. Bridget was in Rome with her daughter, Catherine, when the latter had an apparition of the soul of her sister-in-law, Gida, of whose death she was ignorant. Being one day in prayer in the ancient basilica of St. Peter, Catherine saw before her a woman dressed in a white robe and black mantle, and who came to ask her prayers for a person who was dead. " It is one of your countrywomen," she added, " who needs your assistance." "Her name?" asked the saint. "It is the Princess Gida of Sweden, the wife of your brother Charles." Catherine then begged the stranger to accompany her to her mother Bridget, to impart to her the sad tidings. " I am charged with a message for you alone," said the stranger, "and I am not allowed to make any other visits, for I must depart immediately. You have no reason to doubt the truth of this fact; in a few days another messenger will arrive from Sweden, bringing the gold crown of Princess Gida. She has bequeathed it to you by testament, in order to secure the assistance of your prayers; but extend to her from this very moment your charitable aid, for she stands in most urgent need of your suffrages." With these words she withdrew.
Catherine would have followed her; but although her costume would have easily distinguished her, she was nowhere to be seen.
Struck and surprised with this strange adventure, she hastened to return to her mother, and related all that had happened. St. Bridget replied with a smile, " It was your sister-in-law Gida herself that appeared to you. Our Lord has been pleased to reveal this to me. The dear departed died in the most consoling sentiments of piety; that is why she attained the favour of appearing to you asking your prayers. She has still to expiate the numerous faults of her youth. Let us both do all in our power to give her relief. The gold crown which she sends you imposes this obligation upon you."
A few weeks later an officer from the court of Prince Charles arrived in Rome, carrying the crown, and believing himself to be the first to convey the tidings of the death of Princess Gida. The beautiful crown was sold, and the money used for Masses and good works for the repose of the soul of the deceased Princess.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Matter of Expiation — Scandal given — Immodest Paintings — Father Zucci and the Novice.
Those who have had the misfortune to give bad example, and to wound or cause the perdition of souls by scandal, must take care to repair all in this world, if they would not be subjected to the most terrible expiation in the other. It was not in vain that Jesus Christ cried out, Woe to the world because of scandals! Woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh! [63]
Hear what Father Rossignoli relates in his Merveilles du Purgatoire. [64] A painter of great skill and otherwise exemplary life had once made a painting not at all comformable to the strict rules of Christian modesty. It was one of those paintings which, under the pretext of being works of art, are found in the best families, and the sight of which causes the loss of so many souls.
True art is an inspiration from Heaven, which elevates the soul to God; profane art, which appeals to the senses only, which presents to the eye nothing but the beauties of flesh and blood, is but an inspiration of the evil spirit; his works, brilliant though they may be, are not works of art, and the name is falsely attributed to them. They are the infamous productions of a corrupt imagination.
The artist of whom we speak had allowed himself to be misled in this point by bad example. Soon, however, renouncing this pernicious style, he confined himself to the production of religious pictures, or at least of those which were perfectly irreproachable. Finally, he was painting a large picture in the convent of the discalced Carmelites, when he was attacked by. a mortal malady, Feeling that he was about to die, he asked the Prior to allow him to be interred in the church of the monastery, and bequeathed to the community his earnings, which amounted to a considerable sum of money, charging them to have Masses said for the repose of his soul. He died in pious sentiments, and a few days passed, when a Religious who had stayed in the choir after Matins saw him appear in the midst of flames and sighing piteously.
" What! " said the Religious, " have you to endure such pain, after leading so good a life and dying so holy a death?" " Alas! " replied he, " it is on account of the immodest picture that I painted some years ago. When I appeared before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, a crowd of accusers came to give evidence against me. They declared that they had been excited to improper thoughts and evil desires by a picture, the work of my hand. In consequence of those bad thoughts some were in Purgatory, others in Hell. The latter cried for vengeance, saying that, having been the cause of their eternal perdition, I deserved, at least, the same punishment. Then the Blessed Virgin and the saints whom I had glorified by my pictures took up my defence. They represented to the Judge that that unfortunate painting had been the work of youth, and of which I had repented; that I had repaired it afterwards by religious objects which had been a source of edification to souls.
" In consideration of these and other reasons, the Sovereign Judge declared that, on account of my repentance and my good works, I should be exempt from damnation; but at the same time, He condemned me to these flames until that picture should be burned, so that it could no longer scandalise any one."
Then the poor sufferer implored the Religious to take measures to have the painting destroyed. " I beg of you," he added, " go in my name to such a person, proprietor of the picture; tell him in what a condition I am for having yielded to his entreaties to paint it, and conjure him to make a sacrifice of it. If he refuses, woe to him! To prove that this is not an illusion, and to punish him for his own fault, tell him that before long he will lose his two children. Should he refuse to obey Him who has created us both, he will pay for it by a premature death."
The Religious delayed not to do what the poor soul asked of him, and went to the owner of the picture. The latter, on hearing these things, seized the painting and cast it into the fire. Nevertheless, according to the words of the deceased, he lost his two children in less than a month. The remainder of his days he passed in penance, for having ordered and kept that immodest picture in his house.
If such are the consequences of an immodest picture, what, then, will be the punishment of the still more disastrous scandals resulting from bad books, bad papers, bad schools, and bad conversations? Voe mundo a scandalis! Voe homini illi per quern scandalum venit! — "Woe to the world because of scandals! Woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh! " [65]
Scandal makes great ravages in souls by the seduction of innocence. Ah! those accursed seducers! They shall render to God a terrible account of the blood of their victims. We read the following in the Life of Father Nicholas Zucchi, [66] written by Fr. Daniel Bartoli, of the Company of Jesus.
The holy and zealous Father Zucchi, who died in Rome, May 21, 1670, had drawn to a life of perfection three young ladies, who consecrated themselves to God in the cloister. One of them, before leaving the world, had been sought in marriage by a young nobleman. After she had entered the noviciate, this gentleman, instead of respecting her holy vocation, continued to address letters to her whom he wished to call his betrothed, urging her to quit, as he said, the dull service of God, to embrace again the joys of life. The Father, meeting him one day in the streets, begged him to give up such conduct. " I assure you," he said, " that before long you will appear before the tribunal of God, and it is high time for you to prepare yourself by sincere penance."
In fact, a fortnight afterwards, this young man died, carried away by a rapid death, that left him little time to put the affairs of his conscience in order, so that there was everything to fear for his salvation.
One evening, whilst the three novices were engaged together in holy conversation, the youngest was called away to the parlour. There she found a man wrapped in a heavy cloak, and with measured steps pacing the room. " Sir," she said, " who are you? and why did you send for me?" The stranger, without answering, drew near and threw aside the mysterious mantle which covered him. The Religious then recognised the unfortunate deceased, and saw with horror that he was entirely surrounded by chains of fire that clasped his neck, wrists, knees, and ankles. " Pray for me!" he cried, and disappeared. This miraculous manifestation showed that God had had mercy upon him at the last moment; that he had not been damned, but that he paid his attempt at seduction by a terrible Purgatory.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Matter of Expiation — The Life of Pleasure — The Pursuit of Comfort — Venerable Frances of Pampeluna and the Man of the World — St. Elizabeth and the Queen, her Mother.
In our days there are Christians who are total strangers to the Cross and the mortification of Jesus Christ. Their effeminate and sensual life is but one chain of pleasures; they fear everything that is a sacrifice; scarcely do they observe the strict laws of fasting and abstinence prescribed by the Church. Since they will not submit to any penance in this world, let them reflect on what will be inflicted upon them in the next. It is certain that in this worldly life they do nothing but accumulate debts. Since they omit to do penance, no part of the debt is paid, and a total is reached that affrights the imagination. The venerable servant of God, Frances of Pampeluna, who was favoured with several visions of Purgatory, saw one day a man of the world, who, although he had otherwise been a tolerably good Christian, passed fifty-nine years in Purgatory on account of seeking his ease and comfort. Another passed thirty-five years there for the same reason; a third, who had too strong, a passion for gambling, was detained there for sixty-four years. Alas! these injudicious Christians have allowed their debts to remain before God, and those which they might so easily have acquitted by works of penance they have had to pay afterwards by years of torture.
If God is severe towards the rich and the pleasure-seekers of the world, He will not be less so towards princes, magistrates, parents, and in general towards all those who have the charge of souls and authority over others.
A severe judgment, says He Himself, shall be for them that bear rule. [67]
Laurence Surius relates [68] how an illustrious queen, after her death, bore witness to this truth. In the Life of St. Elizabeth, Duchess of Thuringia, it is said that the servant of God lost her mother, Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, about the year 1220. In the spirit of a holy Christian daughter, she gave abundant alms, redoubled her prayers and mortifications, exhausted the resources of her charity for the relief of that dear soul. God revealed to her that she had not done too much. One night the deceased appeared to her with a sad and emaciated countenance; she placed herself on her knees next to the bed, and said to her, weeping, "My daughter, you see at your feet your mother overwhelmed with suffering. I come to implore you to multiply your suffrages, that Divine Mercy may deliver me from the frightful torments I endure. Oh! how much are those to be pitied who exercise authority over others? I expiate now the faults that I committed upon the throne. Oh! my daughter, I pray you by the pangs I endured when bringing you into the world, by the cares and anxieties which your education cost me, I conjure you to deliver me from my torments." Elizabeth, deeply touched, arose immediately, took the discipline to blood, and implored God, with tears, to have mercy on her mother, Gertrude, declaring that she would not cease to pray until she had obtained her deliverance. Her prayers were heard.
Let us here remark that, in the preceding example, there is spoken of a queen only; how much more severely will kings, magistrates, and all superiors be treated whose responsibility and influence are much greater!
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Matter of Expiation — Tepidity — St. Bernard and the Religious of Citeaux — Venerable Mother Agnes and Sister de Haut Villars — Father Sarin and the Religious of Loudun.
Good Christians, Priests, and Religious, who wish to serve God with their whole hearts, must avoid the rock of tepidity and negligence. God will be served with fervour; those who are tepid and careless excite His disgust; He even goes so far as to threaten with His malediction those who perform holy actions in a careless manner — that is to say, He will severely punish in Purgatory all negligence in His service.
Among the disciples of St. Bernard, who perfumed the celebrated valley of Clairvaux with the odour of their sanctity, there was one whose negligence sadly contrasted with the fervour of his brethren. Notwithstanding his double character of Priest and of Religious, he allowed himself to sink into a deplorable state of tepidity. The moment of death arrived, and he was summoned before God without having given any token of amendment.
Whilst the Mass of Requiem was being celebrated, a venerable Religious of uncommon virtue learned by an interior light, that though the deceased was not eternally lost, his soul was in a most miserable condition. The following night the soul appeared to him in a sad and wretched condition. "Yesterday," he said, "you learned my deplorable fate; behold now the tortures to which I am condemned in punishment for my culpable tepidity." He then conducted the old man to the edge of a large, deep pit, filled with smoke and flames. "Behold the place," said he, "where the ministers of Divine Justice have orders to torment me; they cease not to plunge me into this abyss, and draw me out only to precipitate me into it again, without giving me one moment's respite."
The next morning the Religious went to St. Bernard to make known to him his vision. The holy Abbot, who had had a similar apparition, received it as a warning from Heaven to his community. He convened a Chapter, and with tearful eyes related the double vision, exhorting his Religious to succour their poor departed brother by their charitable suffrages, and to profit by this sad example to preserve their fervour, and to avoid the least negligence in the service of God. [69]
The following instance is related by M. de Lantages in the Life of Venerable Mother Agnes of Langeac, a Dominican Religious. [70] Whilst this Religious was one day praying in choir, a Religious whom she did not know suddenly appeared before her, miserably clad and with a countenance expressive of the deepest grief. She looked at her with astonishment, asking herself who it might be; when she heard a voice saying distinctly, "It is Sister de Haut Villiars."
Sister de Haut Villars had been a Religious in the monastery at Puy, and had died about ten years previous to this vision. The apparition said not a word, but showed sufficiently by her sad countenance how greatly she stood in need of assistance.
Mother Agnes understood this perfectly, and began from that day to offer most fervent prayers for the relief of this soul. The deceased was not content with the first visit; she continued to appear for the space of three weeks, almost everywhere and at all times, especially after Holy Communion and prayer, manifesting her sufferings by the doleful expression of her countenance.
Agnes, by the advice of her confessor, without speaking of the apparition, asked her Prioress to allow the community to offer extra prayers for the dead, for her intention. Since, notwithstanding these prayers, the apparitions continued, she greatly feared some delusion. God, however, deigned to remove this fear. He clearly made known to His charitable servant, by the voice of her angel0guardian, that it was really a soul from Purgatory, and that she thus suffered for her negligence in the service of God. From the moment these words were uttered, the apparitions ceased, and it is not known how long that unfortunate soul may have had to remain in Purgatory. Let us cite another example, qualified to stimulate the fervour of the faithful. A holy Religious named Mary of the Incarnation, of the convent of the Ursulines, in Loudun, appeared some time after her death to her Superior, a woman of intelligence and merit, who wrote the details of the apparition to Father Surin of the Company of Jesus. "On November 6th," she wrote, "between three and four o'clock in the morning, Mother of the Incarnation stood before me, with an expression of sweetness on her countenance that appeared more like that of humility than of suffering; yet I saw that she suffered much. When I first perceived her near me, I was seized with great fright, but as there was nothing about her that inspired fear, I soon felt reassured. I asked her in what state she was, and if we could render her any service. She replied, ' I satisfy Divine Justice in Purgatory.' I begged her to tell me why she was detained there. Then with a deep sigh she answered, ' It is for being negligent in several common exercises; a certain weakness by which I allowed myself to be led by the example of imperfect Religious; finally, and especially, the habit which I had of retaining in my possession things of which I had no permission to dispose, and of making use of them to suit my needs and natural inclinations. Ah! if Religious knew,' continued the good Mother, ' the wrong they do their souls by not applying themselves to perfection, and how dearly they shall one day expiate the satisfactions which they give themselves contrary to the light of their consciences, their efforts to do violence to themselves during life would be very different. Ah! God's point of view is different from ours, His judgments are different.'
" I asked her again if we could do anything to relieve her sufferings. She replied, ' I desire to see and possess God, but I am content to satisfy His Justice as long as it shall please Him.' I asked her to tell me whether she suffered much. ' My pains,' she replied, ' are incomprehensible to those who do not feel them.' Saying these words, she drew near my face to take leave of me. It seemed as though I was burned by a coal of me, although her face did not touch mine; and my arm, which had barely grazed her mantle, was burned and caused me considerable pain."
A month later she appeared to the same Superior to announce her deliverance.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Matter of Expiation — Negligence in Holy Communion — Louis of Blois — St. Magdalen de Pazzi and the Departed Soul in Adoration.
To tepidity is allied negligence in the preparation for the Eucharistic Banquet. If the Church unceasingly calls her children to the Holy Table, if she desires that they communicate frequently, she always intends that they should do so with that fervour and piety which so great a mystery demands. All voluntary neglect in so holy an action is an offence to the Sanctity of Jesus Christ, an offence which must be repaired by a just expiation. Venerable Louis of Blois, in his Miroir Spirituel, speaks of a great servant of God who learned in a supernatural manner how severely these faults are punished in the other life. He received a visit from a soul in Purgatory imploring his aid in name of the friendship by which they had formerly been united. She endured, she said, horrible torments, for ' the negligence with which she had prepared for Holy Communion during the days of her earthly pilgrimage. She could not be delivered but by a fervent Communion which would compensate for her former tepidity.
Her friend hastened to gratify her desire, received Holy Communion with great purity of conscience, with all the faith and devotion possible; and then she saw the holy soul appear, brilliant with an incomparable splendour, and rise towards heaven.[71]
In the year 1589, in the monastery of St. Mary of the Angels, in Florence, died a Religious who was much esteemed by her sisters in religion, but who soon appeared to St. Magdalen de Pazzi to implore her assistance in the rigorous Purgatory to which she was condemned. The saint was in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, when she perceived the deceased kneeling in the middle of the church in an attitude of profound adoration. She had around her a mantle of flames that seemed to consume her, but a white robe that covered her body protected her in part from the action of the fire. Greatly astonished, Magdalen desired to know what this signified, and she was answered that this soul suffered thus for having had little devotion toward the August Sacrament of the Altar. Notwithstanding the rules and holy customs of her Order, she had communicated but rarely, and then with indifference. It was for this reason Divine Justice had condemned her to come every day to adore the Blessed Sacrament, and to submit to the torture of fire at the feet of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, in reward for her virginal purity, represented by the white robe, her Divine Spouse had greatly mitigated her sufferings.
Such was the revelation which God made to His servant. She was deeply touched, and made every effort to assist the poor soul by all the suffrages in her power. She often related this apparition, and made use of it to exhort her spiritual daughters to zeal for Holy Communion.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Matter of Expiation — Want of Respect in Prayer — Mother Agnes of Jesus and Sr. Angelique — St. Severin of Cologne — Venerable Frances of Pampeluna and the Priests — Father Streit, S.f.
We should treat holy things in a holy manner. All irreverence in religious exercises is extremely displeasing to God. When the Venerable Agnes of Langeac, of whom we have already spoken, was Prioress of her convent, she very much recommended to her Religious respect and fervour in their relations with God, reminding them of these words of Holy Scripture, Accursed be he that doth the work of God with negligence. A sister of the community named Angelique died. The pious Superior was praying near her tomb, when she suddenly saw the deceased sister before her, dressed in the religious habit; she felt at the same time as though a flame of fire touched her face. Sister Angelique thanked her for having stimulated her to fervour, and particularly for having frequently made her repeat during life these words, Accursed be he that doth the work of God with negligence. "Continue, Mother," she added, "to urge the sisters to fervour; let them serve God with the utmost diligence, love Him with their whole heart, and with all the power of their soul. If they could but understand how rigorous are the torments of Purgatory, they would never be guilty of the least neglect."
The foregoing warning regards in a special manner priests, whose relations with God are continual and more sublime. Let them, therefore, remember it always, and never forget it, whether they offer to God the incense of prayer, whether they dispense the Divine Treasures of the Sacraments, or whether at the altar they celebrate the mysteries of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, See what St. Peter Damian relates in his XIVth Letter to Desiderius. [72]
St. Severin, Archbishop of Cologne, [73] edified his church by an example of all virtues. His apostolic life, his great labours for the extension of God's kingdom in souls, have merited for him the honours of canonisation. Nevertheless, after his death he appeared to one of the canons of his cathedral to ask for prayers. This worthy priest not being able to understand that a holy prelate, such as he had known Severin to be, could stand in need of prayers in the other life, the deceased Bishop replied, " It is true God gave me grace to serve Him with all my heart and to labour in His vineyard, but I often offended Him by the haste with which I recited the Holy Office. The occupations of each day so absorbed my attention, that when the hour of prayer came, I acquitted myself of that great duty without recollection, and sometimes at another hour than that appointed by the Church. At this moment I am expiating those infidelities, and God permits me to come and ask your prayers." The biography adds that Severin was six months in Purgatory for that one fault. (See Note 9.)
Venerable Sister Frances of Pampeluna, whom we have before mentioned, one day saw in Purgatory a poor priest whose fingers were eaten away by frightful ulcers. He was thus punished for having at the altar made the sign of the cross with too much levity, and without the necessary gravity. She said that in general priests remain in Purgatory longer than laymen, and that the intensity of their torments is in proportion to their dignity. God revealed to her the fate of several deceased priests. One of them had to undergo forty years of suffering for having by his neglect allowed a person to die without the Sacraments; another remained there for forty-five years for having per formed the sublime functions of his ministry with a certain levity. A Bishop, whose liberality had caused him to be named almoner, was detained there for five years for having sought that dignity; another, not so charitable, was condemned for forty years for the same reason. [74]
God wills that we should serve Him with our whole heart, and that we should avoid, in so far as the frailty of human nature will permit, even the slightest imperfections; but the care to please Him and the fear of displeasing Him must be accompanied by a humble confidence in His mercy.
Jesus Christ has admonished us to hear those whom He has appointed in His place to be our spiritual guides as we should Himself, and to follow the advice of our superior or confessor with perfect confidence. Thus an excessive fear is an offence against His Mercy.
On November 12, 1643, Father Philip Streit, of the Society of Jesus, a Religious of great sanctity, died at the Noviciate of Brunn in Bohemia. Every day he made his examination of conscience with the greatest care, and acquired by this means great purity of soul. Some hours after his death, he appeared all radiant to one of the Fathers of his Order, Venerable Martin Strzeda. " One single fault," he said, " prevents me from going to Heaven, and detains me eight hours in Purgatory; it is that of not having sufficiently confided in the words of my Superior, who, in the last moments of my life, strove to calm some little trouble of conscience. I ought to have regarded his words as the voice of God Himself."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Matter of Expiation and Chastisement — Unmortification of the Senses — Father Francis of Aix — Unmortification of the Tongue — Durand.
Christians who wish to escape the rigours of Purgatory must love the mortification of their Divine Master, and beware of being delicate members under a Head crowned with thorns. On February 10, 1656, in the province of Lyons, Father Francis of Aix, of the Society of Jesus, passed away to a better life. He carried all the virtues of a Religious to a high degree of perfection. Penetrated with a profound veneration towards the Most Blessed Trinity, he had for particular intention in all his prayers and mortifications to honour this August Mystery; to embrace by preference those works for which others showed less inclination, had a particular charm for him. He often visited the Blessed Sacrament, even during the night, and never left the door of his room without going to say a prayer at the foot of the altar. His penances, which were in a manner excessive, gave him the name of the man of suffering. He replied to one who advised him to moderate them, " The day which I should allow to pass without shedding some drops of my blood to offer to my God would be for me the most painful and the severest mortification. Since I cannot hope to suffer martyrdom for the love of Jesus Christ, I will at least have some part in His sufferings."
Another Religious, Brother Coadjutor of the same Order, did not imitate the example of this good Father. He had little love for mortification, but, on the contrary, sought his ease and comfort, and all that could gratify the senses.
This brother, some days after his death, appeared to Father d'Aix, clothed in frightful haircloth, and suffering great torments, in punishment for the faults of sensuality which he had committed during life. He implored the assistance of his prayers, and immediately disappeared.
Another fault against which we must guard, because we so easily fall into it, is the unmortification of the tongue. Oh! how easy it is to err in words! How rare a thing it is to speak for any length of time without offending against meekness, humility, sincerity, or Christian charity! Even pious persons are often subject to this defect; when they have escaped all the other snares of the demon, they allow themselves to be taken, says St. Jerome, in this last trap — slander. Let us listen to what is related by Vincent de Beauvais. (See Note 10.)
When the celebrated Durand, who, in the eleventh century, shed lustre on the Order of St. Dominic, was yet a simple Religious, he showed himself a model of regularity and fervour; yet he had one defect. The vivacity of his disposition led him to talk too much; he was excessively fond of witty expressions, often at the expense of charity. Hugh, his Abbot, brought this under his notice, even predicting that, if he did not correct him self of this fault, he would certainly have to expiate it in Purgatory. Durand did not attach sufficient importance to this advice, and continued to give himself, without much restraint to the disorders of the tongue. After his death, the prediction of the Abbot Hugh was fulfilled. Durand appeared to a Religious, one of his friends, imploring him to assist him by his prayers, because he was frightfully punished for the unmortification of his tongue. In consequence of this apparition, the members of the community unanimously agreed to observe strict silence for eight days, and to practise other good works for the repose of the deceased. These charitable exercises produced their effect; some time after Durand again appeared, but now to announce his deliverance.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Matter of Expiation — Intemperance of the Tongue — The Dominican Father — Sisters Gertrude and Margaret — St. Hugh of Cluny and the Infringer of the Rule of Silence.
We have just seen how immoderation in the use of words is expiated in Purgatory. Father P. Rossignoli speaks of a Dominican Religious who incurred the chastisements of Divine Justice for a like defect. This Religious, a preacher full of zeal, a glory to his Order, appeared after his death to one of his brethren at Cologne. He was clad in magnificent robes, wearing a crown of gold upon his head, but his tongue was fearfully tormented. These ornaments represented the recompense of his zeal for souls and his perfect exactitude in all the points of his Rule. Nevertheless, his tongue was tortured because he had not been sufficiently guarded in his words, and his language was not always becoming the sacred lips of a priest and a Religious.
The following instance is drawn from Cesarius. [75] In a monastery of the Order of Citeaux, says this author, lived two young Religious, named Gertrude and her sister Margaret The former, although otherwise virtuous, did not sufficiently watch over her tongue; she frequently allowed herself to transgress the rule of silence prescribed, sometimes even in choir, before and after the chanting of the Office. Instead of recollecting herself with the reverence due to that holy place, she addressed useless words to her sister, who was placed next to her, so that, besides her violation of the rule of silence and her lack of piety, she was a subject of disedification to her companion. She died whilst still young, and a very short time after her death, Sister Margaret, on going to Office, saw her come and place herself in the same stall she had occupied whilst living.
At this sight the sister was almost about to faint. When she had sufficiently recovered from her astonishment, she went and told the Superior what she had just seen. The Superior told her not to be troubled, but, should the deceased appear again, to ask her, in the name of God, why she came.
She reappeared the next day in the same way, and, according to the order of the Prioress, Margaret said to her, " My dear Sister Gertrude, whence do you come, and what do you want? " "I come," she said, " to satisfy the Justice of God in this place where I have sinned. It was here, in this holy sanctuary, that I offended God by words, both useless and contrary to religious respect, by disedification to all, and by the scandal which I have given to you in particular. Oh, if you knew," she added, " what I suffer! I am devoured by flames, my tongue especially is dreadfully tormented." She then disappeared, after having asked for prayers.
When St. Hugh, [76] who succeeded St. Odilo in 1049, governed the fervent monastery of Cluny, one of his Religious, who had been careless in the observance of the rule of silence, having died, appeared to the holy Abbot to beg the assistance of his prayers. His mouth was filled with frightful ulcers, in punishment, he said, for idle words. Hugh imposed seven days of silence upon his community. They were passed in recollection and prayer. Then the deceased reappeared, freed from his ulcers, his countenance radiant, and testifying his gratitude for the charitable succour he had received from his brethren. If such is the chastisement of idle words, what will be that of words more culpable?
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Matter of Expiation — Failure hi matters of Justice — Father d'Espinoza and the Payments — Blessed Margaret of Cortona and the Assassinated Merchants.
A multitude of revelations show us that God chastises with implacable rigour all sins contrary to Justice and Charity; and in matters of Justice He seems to exact that reparation be made before the penalty is remitted; as in the Church Militant her ministers must exact restitution in order to remit the guilt, according to the axiom, Without restitution no remission.
Father P. Rossignoli [77] speaks of a Religious of his Order, named Augustin d'Espinoza, whose saintly life was but one act of devotion to the souls in Purgatory. A rich man who went to him to confession, having died without having sufficiently regulated his affairs, appeared to him, and asked him first if he knew him.
"Certainly, replied the Father; "I administered the Sacrament of Penance to you a few days before your death." "You must know, then," added the soul, "that I come to you by a special grace of God, to conjure you to appease His Justice, and to do for me that which I can no longer do for myself. Follow me."
The Father first went to see his Superior, to tell him what was asked of him, and to obtain permission to follow the strange visitor. The permission obtained, he went out and followed the apparition, who, without uttering a single word, led him to one of the bridges of the city. There it begged the Father to wait a little, disappeared for a moment, then returned with a bag of money, which it begged the Father to carry, and both returned to the cell of the Religious. Then the deceased gave him a written note, and showed him the money. "All this," said he, "is at your disposal. Have the charity to take it, that you may satisfy my creditors, whose names are written upon this paper, with the amount due to each. Be pleased to take what remains and use it for good works at your own discretion, for the repose of my soul." With these words he disappeared, and the Father hastened to carry out his wishes.
Eight days had scarcely elapsed when Father d'Espinoza received another visit from the same soul. He thanked the Father most heartily. "Thanks to the charitable exactitude," he said, " with which you have paid the debts that I left on earth, thanks also to the Holy Masses which you have celebrated for me, I am delivered from all my sufferings, and am admitted into eternal beatitude." We find an example of the same kind in the Life of Blessed Margaret of Cortona. [78] This illustrious penitent also distinguished herself by her charity towards the departed souls. They appeared to her in great numbers, to implore her assistance and suffrages. One day, among others, she saw before her two travellers, who begged her to assist them in repairing the injustices left to their account. " We are two merchants," they told her, "who have been assassinated on the road by brigands. We could not go to confession or receive absolution; but by the mercy of our Divine Saviour and His Holy Mother, we had the time to make an act of perfect contrition, and we have been saved. But our torments in Purgatory are terrible, because in the exercise of our profession we have committed many acts of injustice. Until these acts are repaired we can have no repose nor alleviation. This is why we beseech you, servant of God, to go and find such and such of our relatives and heirs, to warn them to make restitution as soon as possible of all the money which we have unjustly acquired." They gave the holy penitent the necessary information and disappeared.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Matter of Expiation — Sins against Charity — Blessed Margaret Mary — Two Persons of Rank in the Pains of Purgatory — Several Souls Punished for Discord.
We have already said that Divine Justice is extremely severe in regard to sins against Charity. Charity is, in fact, the virtue which is dearest to the Heart of our Divine Master, and which He recommends to His disciples as that which must distinguish them in the eyes of men. By this, He says, shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another?. [79] It is, then, not astonishing that harshness towards our neighbour, and every other fault against Charity, should be severely punished in the other life.
Of this we have several proofs, taken from the Life of Blessed Margaret Mary. " I learned from Sister Margaret," says Mother Greffier in her Memoirs, "that she one day prayed for two persons of high rank in the world who had just died. She saw them both in Purgatory. The one was condemned for several years to those sufferings, notwithstanding the great number of Masses which were celebrated for her. All those prayers and suffrages were by Divine Justice applied to the souls belonging to some of the families of her subjects, which had been ruined by their injustice and lack of charity. As nothing was left to those poor people to enable them to have prayers offered for them after their death, God compensated these poor people in the manner we have related. The other was in Purgatory for as many days as she had lived years upon earth. Our Lord made known to Sister Margaret that, among the good works which this person had performed, He had taken into special consideration the Charity with which she had borne the faults of her neighbour, and the pains she had taken to overcome the displeasure they had caused her."
On another occasion our Lord showed Blessed Margaret a large number of souls in Purgatory, who, for not having been united with their Superiors during their life, and for having had some misunderstanding with them, had been severely punished and deprived after death of the aid of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, and also of the visits of their angel-guardians. Several of those souls were destined to remain for a long time in horrible flames. Some even among them had no other token of their predestination than that they did not hate God. Others, who had been in religion, and who during life showed little charity towards their sisters, were deprived of their suffrages, and received no assistance whatsoever.
Let us add one more extract from the Memoirs of Mother Greffier. " It happened whilst Sister Margaret was praying for two deceased Religious, that their souls were shown to her in the prisons of Divine Justice, but one suffered incomparably more than the other. The former regretted greatly that by her faults against mutual Charity, and the holy friendship that ought to remain in religious communities, she had in part deprived herself, among other punishments, of the suffrages which were offered for her by the community. She received relief only from the prayers of three or four persons of the same community for whom she had had less affection and inclination during her life. This suffering soul reproached herself also for the too great facility with which she took dispensations from the rules and exercises of the community. Finally, she deplored the care which she had taken upon earth to procure for her body so many comforts and commodities. She made known at the same time to our dear Sister that, in punishment for three faults, she had to undergo three furious assaults of the demon during her last agony, and that each time believing herself lost, she was on the point of falling into despair, but by the Blessed Virgin, towards whom she had borne great devotion during her life, she had been snatched three times from the claws of the enemy."
CHAPTER XL.
Matter of Expiation — Lack of Charity and of Respect towards our Neighbour — St. Louis Bertrand and the Departed Soul asking Pardon — Father Nieremberg — Blessed Margaret Mary and the Benedictine Religious.
True Charity is humble and indulgent towards others, respecting them as though they were their superiors. Her words are always friendly, and full of consideration for others, having nothing of bitterness nor coldness, nothing savouring of contempt, because she is born of a heart that is meek and humble like that of Jesus. She also carefully avoids all that could disturb unity; she takes every means, makes every sacrifice to effect a reconciliation, according to the words of our Divine Master, If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift. [80]
A Religious having wounded Charity in regard to St. Louis Bertrand, received a terrible chastisement after death. He was plunged into the fire of Purgatory, which he had to endure until he had made satisfaction to Divine Justice; nay, more, he could not be admitted into the abode of the elect until he had accomplished an act of exterior reparation, which should serve as an example to the living. The fact is thus related in the Life of the saint: [81] —
When St. Louis Bertrand, of the Order of St. Dominic, resided at the convent of Valencia, there was a young Religious in the community who attached too much importance to profane science. Doubtless letters and erudition have their value, but, as the Holy Ghost declares, they should yield to the fear of God and the science of the saints. Non super timentem Dominum — " There is none above him that feareth the Lord." [82] This science of the saints, which Eternal Wisdom came to teach us, consists in Humility and Charity. The young Religious of whom we speak, while but little advanced in Divine science, allowed himself to reproach Father Bertrand with his little knowledge, and said to him, " One can see, Father, that you are not very learned!" "Brother" replied the saint with meek firmness, "Lucifer was very learned, and yet he was damned?
The brother who had committed this fault did not think of repairing it. Nevertheless, he was not a bad Religious, and some time after, falling dangerously sick, he received the last Sacrament in very good dispositions, and expired peacefully in the Lord. A considerable time elapsed, and meanwhile Louis was nominated Prior. One day, having remained in choir after Matins, the deceased appeared to him enveloped in flames, and prostrating humbly before him, said, "Father, pardon me the offensive words which I formerly addressed to you. God will not permit me to see His face until you shall have pardoned my fault and offered Holy Mass for me." The saint willingly forgave him, and the next morning celebrated Mass for the repose of his soul. The following night, being again in choir, he saw the deceased brother reappear, but radiant with glory and going up to Heaven.
Father Eusebius Nieremberg, Religious of the Company of Jesus, author of the beautiful book, " Difference between Time and Eternity," resided at the College of Madrid, where he died in the odour of sanctity in 1658. This servant of God, who was singularly devout towards the souls in Purgatory, was praying one day in the church of the college for a Father who had recently died. The deceased, who for a long time had been a professor of theology, had proved himself to be as good a Religious as he was a learned theologian. He had been distinguished for his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin; but one vice had crept in among his virtues — he was uncharitable in his words, and frequently spoke of the faults of his neighbour. Now, whilst Father Nieremberg was recommending his soul to God, this Religious appeared, and revealed to him the state of his soul. He was condemned to frightful torments for having frequently spoken against charity. His tongue, the instrument of his fault, was tortured by a devouring fire. The Blessed Virgin, in recompense for the tender devotion which he had cherished towards her, had obtained permission for him to come and ask for prayers; he was, at the same time, to serve as an example to others, that they might learn to be guarded in all their words. Father Nieremberg, having offered many prayers and penances for him, finally obtained his deliverance.
The Religious of whom mention is made in the Life of Blessed Margaret Mary, and for whom that servant of God suffered so terribly for the space of three months, among other faults, was also punished for his sins against Charity. The revelation is thus related: —
Blessed Margaret Mary, we read in her Life, being one day before the Blessed Sacrament, suddenly saw before her a man totally enveloped in fire, the intense heat of which seemed about to consume herself. The wretched state in which she saw this poor soul caused her to shed tears. He was a Benedictine Religious of the monastery of Cluny, to whom she had formerly confessed, and who had done good to her soul by ordering her to receive Holy Communion. In reward for this service, God had permitted him to address himself to her, that he might find some alleviation in his sufferings.
The poor departed asked that all she should do and suffer for the space of three months might be applied to him. This she promised, after having obtained permission. Then he told her that the principal cause of his intense suffering was for having sought his own interests before the glory of God and the good of souls, by attaching too much importance to his reputation. The second was his want of charity towards his brethren. The third, the natural affection for creatures to whom, through weakness, he had yielded, and to which he had given expression in his spiritual intercourse with them, "this being," he added, "very displeasing to God."
It is difficult to say all that the Blessed Sister had to suffer during the three months following. The deceased never left her. On the side where he stood she seemed all on fire, with such excruciating pain, that she could not cease to weep. Her Superior, touched with compassion, ordered her penances and disciplines, because pain and suffering greatly relieved her. The torments which the Sanctity of God inflicted upon her were insupportable. It was a specimen of the suffering endured by the poor souls.
CHAPTER XLI.
Matter of Expiation — Abuse of Grace — St. Magdalen de Pazzi and the Dead Religious — Blessed Margaret Mary and the Three Souls in Purgatory.
There is another disorder in the soul which God punishes severely in Purgatory, to wit, the abuse of grace. By this is understood the neglect to correspond to the aids which God gives us, and to the invitations which He presses upon us to the practice of virtue for the sanctification of our souls. This grace which He offers us is a precious gift, which we may not throw away; it is the seed of salvation and of merit, which it is not permitted to leave unproductive. Now, this fault is committed when we do not respond with generosity to the Divine invitation. I receive from God the means of giving alms; an interior voice invites me to do so. I close my heart, or I give with a miserly hand; this is an abuse of grace. I can hear Mass, assist at the sermon, frequent the Sacraments; an interior voice urges me to go, but I will not give myself the trouble. This, again, is an abuse of grace.
A young Religious must be obedient, humble, mortified, devoted to her duties; God requires this, and gives her the grace in virtue of her vocation. She does not apply herself thereto; she does not labour to overcome herself, in order to cooperate with the assistance which God gives her; this is an abuse of grace.
Now this sin, as we have said, is severely punished in Purgatory. St. Magdalen de Pazzi tells us that one of her sisters in religion had much to suffer after death for not having on three occasions corresponded to grace. It happened that on a certain feast-day she felt inclined to do some little work; it was only some simple piece of embroidery, but it was not at all necessary, and could be conveniently postponed to some other time. The inspiration of grace told her to abstain from it through respect for the solemnity of the day, but she preferred to satisfy the natural inclination which she had for that work, under pretext that it was but a trifle. Another time, noticing that the observance of a certain point of the Rule had been omitted, and that by making it known to her superiors some good would have resulted to the community, she omitted to speak of it. The inspiration of grace told her to perform this act of charity, but human respect withheld her. A third fault was an ill-regulated attachment to her relatives in the world. As spouse of Jesus Christ, all her affections belonged to the Divine Spouse; but she divided her heart by being too much occupied with the members of her family. Although she knew that her conduct in this respect was defective, she did not obey the impulse of grace, nor did she labour strenuously to correct it. This sister, otherwise most edifying, died some time after, and Magdalen prayed for her with her usual fervour. Sixteen days passed, when she appeared to the saint to announce her deliverance. Magdalen expressing her astonishment that the sister had been so long in suffering, it was revealed to her that this soul had to expiate her abuse of grace in the three cases of which we have just spoken, and that these faults would have detained her longer in her torments had not God taken into consideration the more satisfactory part of her conduct. He had abridged her sufferings on account of her faithful observance of the Rule, her purity of intention, and her charity towards her sisters. [83]
Those who in this world have received more grace, and more means of discharging their spiritual debts, will be treated with less consideration than those who have had less opportunity of making satisfaction during life.
Blessed Margaret Mary having learned the death of three persons who had died quite recently, two Religious and one Secular, began immediately to pray for the repose of their souls. It was the first day of the year. Our Lord, touched by her charity, and treating her with an ineffable familiarity, deigned to appear to her; and showing her the three souls in those fiery prisons where they were languishing, said to her, "My daughter, as New Year's gift, I give you the deliverance of one of these three souls, and I leave the choice to you. Which shall I release?" "Who am I, Lord," she replied, "to say who deserves the preference? Deign yourself to make the choice." Then our Lord delivered the Secular, saying that He felt less in seeing Religious suffer, because they had more means of expiating their sins during life.
- ↑ Machab. xii. 46.
- ↑ Habac. i. 13.
- ↑ Ps. cx.
- ↑ Ps. cvii.
- ↑ Ps. cxliv.
- ↑ Ps. lxx,
- ↑ Catech. Rom., chap. vi. § 1.
- ↑ Supplem., part. iii. ques. ult.
- ↑ See Note I.
- ↑ Ephes. vi. 12.
- ↑ May 25.
- ↑ March 9.
- ↑ April 14
- ↑ Dialog, iv. 40
- ↑ Book iv. chap, xxx, ; cf. Rossignoli, Merveilles da Purgaloire.
- ↑ In Ps. xxxvii. 2 De Purgat. , i.
- ↑ cap. 6.
- ↑ De Gemilu Columba, lib. ii. cap. ix.
- ↑ I Cor. iii. 15.
- ↑ Sentim. dn B. Lefevre sur la Purg. Mess, du S. Coeur, Nov. 1873.
- ↑ Imitation, lib. i. chap. xxiv.
- ↑ Espirit de St. Francois de Sales, chap. ix. p. 16.
- ↑ Chap. ii. viii.
- ↑ Part sixth, chap. xi.
- ↑ Merveilles, 69.
- ↑ Job xxiv. 19.
- ↑ July 24.
- ↑ Cf. Rossignoli, Merveilles, 7.
- ↑ July 24 and Novemb. 9. Cf. Marchese, Sagro Diario Dominicano, Napoli, 1672, torn. iii. p. 483, et torn. vi. p. 22.
- ↑ Malvenda, Annal. Ord. Pradic.
- ↑ MerveilkSy 28.
- ↑ Towards the middle of the last century.
- ↑ Diario Dominicano, Septemb. 4; cf. Rossig., Merv., 63.
- ↑ Part iv. § 4.
- ↑ Merv., 17.
- ↑ Chronique des Freres Min., p. 2, 1, 4. c. 8; cf. Rossign.
- ↑ Auctore Franc. Seghizzo; cf. Merv., 42; Marchese, 2 Jan.
- ↑ Berault, Histoire Eccles., annee 602.
- ↑ Cf. Mar., ch. 7.
- ↑ 15 Nov., Revelationes Gertrudiance ac Mechtildiana. Henri Oudin, Poitiers, 1875.
- ↑ Part iv. n. 7; cf. Merv. t 83.
- ↑ Wisdom xi. 17.
- ↑ Vie de Sainte Lidvine.
- ↑ Languet, Vie de la B. Marguerite.
- ↑ La Vie par le F. Joachim; cf. Merv., 26.
- ↑ De Gemitu, lib. ii. c. 9.
- ↑ Prov. xxiv. 16.
- ↑ June 16.
- ↑ Wisdom vi. 6.
- ↑ Ps. xxxv. 7.
- ↑ Hort. Past,, Tract. 6, Cf. Rossignoli, Meweilles, 86.
- ↑ Luke xii. 48.
- ↑ Diario Domcnicane. Cf. Rossign., Merv., part ii. 51.
- ↑ Vie de S. Pierre Claver, par le P. Fleurian.
- ↑ Vol. xix. De Pcenit., Disput. xi. sect 4.
- ↑ Matt. v. 26.
- ↑ Traite du Pttrgatoire, chap. iii.
- ↑ He was betrayed by a servant of the Arundel family, and was executed at Dorchester in 1594.
- ↑ Bk. v.; cf. Rossign., Merv. t 715.
- ↑ Oct. 8.
- ↑ Sa Vie, par Marchi, i. ii. c. 5; Merv., 41.
- ↑ Cf. Merv., 823.
- ↑ Matt, xviii. 7.
- ↑ Merv. 24.
- ↑ Matt, xviii. 7.
- ↑ Cf. Merv., 841.
- ↑ Sap, vi. 6.
- ↑ Merv. , 93.
- ↑ Rossign., Merv., 47.
- ↑ Oct 19.
- ↑ Mem., 44.
- ↑ Cf. Merv., 37.
- ↑ Oct. 23.
- ↑ Vie dc la Vener. Mere Franc. Cf. Merv. , 25.
- ↑ Dial. de Miraculls,
- ↑ April 29,
- ↑ Merv., 92.
- ↑ Acte des Saints, Feb. 22.
- ↑ John xiii. 35.
- ↑ Matt. v. 23.
- ↑ Acta Sanctor., Oct, 10.
- ↑ Eccli. xxv. 13.
- ↑ Cepari, Vie de Sainte Madeleine de Pazzi.