Purgatory

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EXAMPLES AND REASONS BEHIND SOULS BEING DETAINED IN PURGATORY
(Taken mainly from Fr. Schouppe's book, Purgatory Explained)

1. LUKEWARMNESS, LEVITY & HASTE IN PRAYER

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 was Prioress of her convent, she very much recommended to her Religious respect and fervor 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. Her Superior, the Venerable Agnes, was praying near her tomb, when she suddenly saw the deceased sister before her; she felt at the same time as though a flame of fire touched her face. Sister Angelique thanked her for having encouraged her to religious fervor, and particularly for often repeating the words, “Accursed be he that doth the work of God with negligence.”

“Continue, Mother," she added, "to urge the sisters to fervor; 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."

See what St. Peter Damian relates concerning St. Severin, Archbishop of Cologne, who had edified his church by an example of all virtues. His apostolic life, his great labors for the extension of God's kingdom in souls, merited for him the honors of canonization. Nevertheless, after his death he appeared to one of the priests of his cathedral to ask for prayers. This worthy priest could not understand why such a holy prelate as Severin, could be 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 labor in His vineyard, but I often offended Him by the haste with which I recited the Holy Office (the Breviary). 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 St. Severin was six months in Purgatory for that one fault. Six months in a fire! Imagine that! Imagine the gravity of sin! We had better revalue our notions of sin, before we needlessly add to our already overloaded pile of debt!

Venerable Sister Frances of Pampeluna, 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 performed the sublime functions of his ministry with a certain levity.

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.

2. VANITY AND WORLDLINESS

"Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing" (Matthew 5:26).

VANITY
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, 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!" She then added: "Alas! This head of mine, which loved to be adorned, and which sought to draw the attention of others, is now devoured with flames inside and out, 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 parts of the body which I have adorned with jewels, flowers, and a variety of 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 theaters, parties, and dances, 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."

WORLDLINESS
Blessed Mary Villani, a Dominican Religious, was transported in spirit to Purgatory. 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, Blessed Mary Villani questioned 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 appearance, 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."

3. LACK OF PENANCE, MORTIFICATION AND SACRIFICE

Fr. Schouppe writes: 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 terrifies the imagination.

The venerable servant of God, Frances of Pampeluna, who was favored 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.

We do well to often reflect upon Our Lord's words: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “And I gave her a time that she might do penance, and she will not repent of her fornication … and they that commit adultery with her shall be in very great tribulation, except they do penance from their deeds” (Apocalypse 2:21-22). “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride” (Job 24:23).

4. LUKEWARMNESS & NEGLIGENCE TOWARDS GOD

Good Christians people, and priests or religious, who wish to serve God with their whole hearts, must avoid ship-wrecking on the rocks of lukewarmness, tepidity and negligence. God wishes be served with great fervor; those who are lukewarm, tepid and careless excite His disgust—as God Himself says in Scripture: “because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth” (Apocalypse 3:16). 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 of Clairvaux, there was one whose negligence sadly contrasted with the fervor of the rest of the monastery. Despite being both a Priest and a Religious, he allowed himself to sink into a deplorable state of lukewarmness. The moment of death arrived, and he was called to his judgment before God without having given any sign of amendment.

Whilst the Mass of Requiem was being celebrated, a venerable Religious 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 lukewarmness." He then conducted the old monk 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 rest."

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.

"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.

"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. Ah! If Religious knew 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 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 fire, although her face did not touch mine; and my arm, which had barely grazed her mantle, was burned and caused me considerable pain."