PURGATORY
580
PURIM
to his opinion, concludes: "so the souls in purgatory,
being beloved by God and confirmed in grace, have
absolutely no impediment to prevent them from
praj'ing for us. Still the Church does not invoke
them or implore their intercession, because ordinarily
they have no cognizance of our prayers. But we
may piously believe that God makes our prayers
known to them". He alleges also the authority
of St. Catharine of Bologna who "whenever she
desired any favour had recourse to the souls in purga-
tory, and was immediately heard".
VIII. Utility of Prayer for the Departed. — It is the traditional faith of CathoUcs that the souls in purgatory are not separated from the Church, and that the love which is the bond of union between the Church's members should embrace those who have departed this life in God's grace. Hence, since our prayers and our sacrifices can help those who are still waiting in purgatory, the saints have not hesi- tated to warn us that we have a real duty toward those who are still in purgatorial expiation. Holy Church through the Congregation of Indulgences, 18 Dec, 18S5, has bestowed a special blessing on the so-called "heroic act" in virtue of which "a member of the Church mihtant offers to God for the souls in purgatory all the satisfactory works which he will perform during his lifetime, and also all the suffrages which may accrue to him after his death" (Heroic Act, vol. VII, 292). The practice of devotion to the dead is also consoling to humanity and eminently worthy of a reUgion which seconds all the purest feehngs of the human heart. "Sweet", says Cardinal Wiseman (lecture XI), "is the consolation of the d.y- ing man, who, conscious of imperfection, beheves that there are others to make intercession for him when his own time for merit has expired; soothing to the afflicted survivors the thought that they possess powerful means of relieving their friend. In the first moments of grief, this sentiment will often over- power religious prejudice, cast down the unbeliever on his knees beside the remains of his friend and snatch from him an unconscious prayer for rest; it is an impulse of nature which for the moment, aided by the analogies of revealed truth, seizes at once upon this consoling belief. But it is only a flitting and melancholy light, while the Catholic feeling, cheering, though with solemn dimness, re- sembles the unfaiUng lamp, which the piety of the ancients is said to have hung before the sepulchres of their dead."
Besides the works cited in the article, consult Scheeben- Atzberger, Dogmatik, IV (Freiburg, 1903), good bibliography; WisEM.iN, Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church (London, 1836), lect. XI; Loch. Dos Dogma der griechischen Kirche von Purgatorium (Ratisbon, 1842); Redner, Das Fegfeuer (Ratisbon, 1856) ; Casacci.v, /( Purgatorio (Biella, 1863): JtTNQMANM, De A^ouissimis (Ratisbon, 1871); Anderdon. Purgatory Surveyed (London, 1874); Coleridge, The Prisoners of the King (London, 1878) ; Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology (London, 1878); Bautz, Das Fegfeuer (Mainz, 1883); Canty. Purgatory, Dogmatic and Scholastic (Dublin, 1886) ; Sadlier, Purgatory: Doctrinal, Historical, Practical (New York, 1880); Atzbergeb, Die christliche Eschatologie (Freiburg. 1890) ; Tappe- HORN. Das Fegfeuer (Dillingen, 1891) ; Schmid, Das Fegfeuer nach katholischer Lehre (Brixen. 1904); Newman, The Dream of Gerontius; see also bibliography under Dead. Praters for the; Ebchatologt.
Edward J. Hanna.
Purgatory, St. Patrick's, Lough Derg, Ireland. This celebrated sanctuary in Donegal, in the Diocese of Clogher, dates from the days of St. Patrick, but it is also known as the Lough Derg pilgrimage, BO named from Lough Derg, a sheet of water cov- ering 2200 acres, about thirteen miles in circum- ference, and 4.50 feet above sea level, on which are eUn'en islands, the principal of which are Saints Island and Station Island. The sanctuary lands on Saints Island were known in the Middle Ages ;us Termon Dabheoc (from the sixth-cent ur\' St. Dablieoc who presided over the retreat), and were subsequently
called Termon Magrath from the family of Magrath,
who were coarbs or stewards of the place from 1290.
St. Patrick's connexion with the purgatory which
bears his name is not only a constant tradition, but
is supported by historical c\'idence, and admitted
by the BoUandists. In 1130, or 1134, the Canons
Regular of St. Augustine were given charge of Lough
Derg — it being constituted a dependent priory on
the .\bbey of Sts. Peter and Paul, Armagh. Its fame
became European after the knight Owen's visit in
1150, although it had been previously described in
1120 by David, the Irish rector of Wiirzburg. Nu-
merous accounts of foreign pilgrimages to St. Patrick's
Purgatory are chronicled during the thirteenth,
fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, including the
vision related in the "Legenda Aurea", printed in
1482.
In 1470, Thomas, Abbot of Armagh, got the priory in commendam, and in 1479 the communitj' had almost died out, the revenues being farmed by Neill Magrath. Pope Alexander VI ordered the cave to be closed on Saints Island, and the papal decree was executed on St. Patrick's Day, 1497. A few years later, in 1502, the station was transferred to Station Island, where the Purgafor)- had originally existed. The cave was visited by a French knight in 1516, and by the papal nuncio, Chiericati, in 1517. Chiericati "gives an interesting account of his visit, and relates that there were three Austin Canons in the priory. Though formally suppressed by the English Govern- ment in 1632, the lay owner permitted the Austin Canons to resume their old priory, and in 1660 we find Rev. Dr. O'Clery as prior, whose successor was Father .Art MaccuUen (1672-1710). The Franciscan Friars were given charge of the Purgatory in 1710, but did not acquire a permanent residence on the Island till 1763, at which date they built a friary and an oratory dedicated to St. Marj' of the Angels. In 1780 St. Patrick's Church was built, and was sub- sequentlj' remodelled. From 1785 the prior}- has been governed by secular priests appointed by the Bishop of Clogher. In 1813 St. Mary's Church was rebuilt, but it was replaced by the present Gothic edifice in 1870, and a substantial hospice was opened in 1882. The number of pilgrims from 1871 to 1911 has been about 3000 annually, and the station season lasts from June to 15 August. The station or pil- grimage lasts three d.ays, and the penitential exercises, though not so severe as in the days of faith, are austere in a high degree, and are productive of lasting spiritual blessings.
Messinoham, Florilegium Insula Sanctorum (Paris. 1624): Ware, Antiquities of Ireland (London. 1654): 0'Brull,\gh,\n, The Pilgrimage of Lough Derg (Belfast. 1726) ; O'Connor, SI. Patrick's Purgatory (new ed., Dublin, 1895); Healy, Life and Writings of St. Patrick (Dublin. 1905).
W. H. Gr.^ttan-Flood.
Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Feast of the. See Candlemas.
Purificator. See Alt.\r, sub-title Altar Linens;
Chalice.
Purim (Phurim). — The origin of the name is dis- puted: some derive it from the Persian pure (part lot), or pur (full); others from the Aramaic purah (root parar, to break into pieces). The feast was instituted to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from the machinations of Xerxes's minister, Haman, who had obtained from the king an edict for their extermination, date of the massacre, 13 Adar, being appointed by lot (Esth., ix, 26). Through the intercession of Esther, Jewess and queen of the realm, the edict was recalled, and on 13 Adar the Jews, certain of royal protection, defended themselves and killed a large number of their enemies (ix, 16). In .^usa (then the Persian capital) Jewish vengeance reigned for two days, in other parts of the re.alm for one day (ix, 17, 18). Hence the Purim was celebrated
