Purgatory


(BISHOP GRAHAM)

PURGATORY

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BY THE

RIGHT REV. BISHOP GRAHAM

imm

TWENTY-NINTH THOUSAND

DO 28

-LONDON
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY

72 VICTORIA STREET, S.W.l



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A Book of the Mass. By B. F. C. Costelloe.
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Mass for the Dead.

God’s Will the End of Life. By Cardinal Newman.

The Stations of the Cross. By the same.

Meditations on the Cross and Passion. By St.

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An Hour before my Crucifix.

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PURGATORY
BY THE RIGHT REV. BISHOP GRAHAM

The doctrine of Purgatory and the practice of praying for
the faithful departed are very offensive to the great
majority of non-Catholics, and are strongly, not to say
violently, denounced both by militant anti-Catholic
controversialists and earnest Evangelical Protestants.
The former we can hardly hope to convince, for one
necessary disposition, that, namely, of willingness to
believe, is absent from them. The latter, whose mind
we may suppose more open to accept the truth, there
may be more likelihood of persuading. Perhaps they
may find that their objections and repugnance to
Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead arise as much from
ignorance of the Catholic teaching on the subject as from
hereditary prejudice and an erroneous theology. Many
non-Catholics have been astounded at learning for the
first time the genuine Catholic doctrine on such points.
They came to see that what they had previously held
for Rome's teaching was nothing but a grotesque and
distorted caricature.

The Protestant Attitude

As representing the general Protestant view, we may
select the established Churches of England (Episcopal),
and Scotland (Presbyterian). They officially condemn
and repudiate both the doctrine and the practice of Rome
in regard to Purgatory. Logically, the denial of the one
involves the denial of the other. If there be no Purga-
tory, obviously there can be no prayers for the dead ;
only to souls in some intermediate state could such
suffrages be beneficial. The Church of England in her
XXIInd Article declares “ The Romish Doctrine con-
cerning Purgatory ... is a fond thing vainly invented.



2 Purgatory

and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather
repugnant to the Word of God.” The Church of Scot-
land, again, in her “ Confession of Faith ” (the doctrinal
standard of all Presbyterians, drawn up by the West-
minster Assembly of Divines, and approved in 1647),
dealing in chap, xxxii. with “ the state of men after
death,” asserts the existence of Heaven and Hell, and
concludes : “ Besides these two places for souls separated
from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.”
Now from these statements we can see plainly enough

the main ground of the Protestant objection, viz., that
not only is Purgatory not to be found in Scripture, but
it is even condemned therein. Heaven we know

;
Hell

we know
;
but where do we read of Purgatory ? Thus

they argue. And where do we find prayer for the dead,
either taught or approved, in the Bible ? Besides
(they add), the doctrine is a slur upon the “ finished work
of the Redeemer.” He saves us in this world, so that
when we depart hence, we go straight to heaven. We
know nothing of half-way houses or stopping-places, or
places of " refreshment ” on the way. All our sins are
washed out in the Blood of Christ. “ The souls of the
righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are
received into the highest heavens ” (Conf. of Faith,
xxxii.). He gives to us eternal life

;
hence no further

prayers for us are required. On the other hand, if you
are not saved when you die, no prayers can be of any
avail.

Furthermore, they contend, not only is the Catholic
doctrine not Scriptural, but it is not even very primitive.
The early Christians had quite different ideas about
their dead from what Roman Catholics have. In short,
Rome has really corrupted the pure Word of God in
Scripture, and superadded a human tradition. And
some will even go so far as to say that, if the truth were
known, it would be found Rome has invented the whole
thing for the purpose of aggrandizing her priests : who
does not know that these men simply use Purgatory as
a device for getting money out of people for masses



Purgatory 3

for the souls of their friends languishing therein ? They
teach for certain that the souls have entered Purgatory ;
they are careful to add that it is utterly uncertain how
long it will be before they leave it.

Such, we consider, is a fair statement of the usual
Protestant position on the point. In the course of this

inquiry it will be found that none of these objections has

the least weight, and that the Catholic and Roman
Church teaches now what has ever been the belief of
Christians on the matter—the faith delivered to the
Saints by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Taken for Granted

We may as well say at the outset that we begin by
assuming certain principles as universally admitted.
These principles we shall state, but shall not stop to
prove, (i) For example, we suppose that all readers
of this pamphlet admit that the soul exists in perfect
consciousness after the death of the body, that there
is no break in the continuity of its existence, no
destruction of the man's individuality. I am taking for
granted that as Christians they believe that death is
merely the liberation of the soul from the body, and that,
freed from its earthly tenement, the soul continues to
exist alone with its memory, its understanding, its will,
as before. (2) I take for granted that this truth excludes
any idea of sleep or unconsciousness, still more of any
annihilation on the part of the disembodied soul. There
is no such condition as that : it is a pagan conception.
Rather are we led to suppose that the soul's faculties
of knowing, and remembering, and understanding,
and willing are quickened and purified by entering
upon a purely spiritual state. (3) Consequently the
expression “ Prayers for the Dead " is not altogether
happy, but is rather misleading. The holy souls are
not dead, but living. It should be “ Prayers for the
departed." No soul once created ever dies, in the sense
of being extinguished like a candle. The only death



4 Purgatory

that is possible is eternal separation from God its Creator,
by loss of sanctifying grace, which is the life of the soul.
The theory that souls are not necessarily, and of their
own nature, immortal, is a heresy borrowed from
heathenism, and is popularly propagated in these days
by the sect called Christadelphians. It is in no sense
Christian, and one is surprised to meet it and see it
advocated in books written by Anglicans. But, indeed,
in the existing state of doctrinal confusion and con-
tradiction outside Catholicism, one should be surprised
at nothing. (4) Lastly as regards the name

“ Purga-
tory/' of course it must stink in the nostrils of most
non-Catholics, suggesting as it does weird pictures of
a fiery furnace in which the bodies of men and women are
tumbling over one another, scorched by flames and
writhing in agony. Needless to say such scenes are
merely intended to teach in a pictorial and striking
manner the fact of suffering in the intermediate state,
and suffering by fire. Purgatory is a word formed from
the Latin, and signifies a place of purification and
cleansing, and has been found a convenient term to
denote the place and state of certain disembodied souls.
But the word itself is of little importance, and ought not
to annoy or repel anyone. The important thing is the
doctrinal truth conveyed by the word. To Catholics
the expression is dear and precious, because they know
what it means. To Protestants it is hateful, simply
because they do not know what it means, or rather
because they think it means something which Catholics
know very well is both grossly false and fantastically
absurd.

The Catholic Teaching

Now, as clearness and exactness of definition are
absolutely essential for the proper understanding of
this, as of every other religious question, let us first see
precisely what the Church teaches as matter of faith
about Purgatory. Her principal de fide decrees on the
subject—decrees, i.e., declaring that the doctrine set



Purgatory 5

forth has been revealed by God, and is therefore binding
on the conscience under pain of heresy—-are those of
the Council of Trent (sess. 25)

“ that there is a Purgatory,

and that the souls there detained are assisted by the
suffrages of the faithful, but especially b}^ the most
acceptable sacrifice of the altar/' and the Council of
Florence which had previously (A.D. 1439) defined, “ if
men have died penitent in the love of God, and before
they have made satisfaction by fruits worthy of penance
for sins of omission and of commission, their souls are
purified after death by the pains of Purgatory

;
and to

the relief of these pains avail the suffrages of the faithful,

sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, and other offices of
piety." The Penny Catechism of Christian Doctrine
puts the whole teaching simply thus (under Article ix.
of the Creed) : “ Purgatory is a place where souls suffer
for a time after death on account of their sins." It will
be noticed at once how guarded and exact is the Church's
doctrine on the subject. All we are compelled to believe
as part of the faith is (1) that there is a Purgatory, (2)
souls suffer there after death for their sins, and, (3) we
can help to relieve them. And this, be it remembered,
is the professed belief not only of the Catholic Church,

East and West, but also of the Greek and Oriental
schismatic Churches, bodies now unhappily separated
from Rome, but at the time of the Council of Florence
forming part of her communion.

Nevertheless, in addition to these simple dogmatic
statements, and more or less naturally and necessarily
flowing from them, there are other points of belief held
in general by Catholics concerning the||purgatorial
state, though not categorically defined as articles of
faith. (1) For example, it is perfectly certain that the
holy souls are saved

;
they are in a state of grace, of

friendship with God, otherwise they could never have
entered Purgatory at all. And not only so, but they
are aware of it

;
they knew it at the moment of the

particular judgement, which each one received at death
;

and this, we may believe, is one of the greatest consola-



6 Purgatory

tions amid their sufferings. (2) Not only are they in a
state of grace, but they are confirmed in grace

;
there is

no possibility of their ever losing it. They cannot sin in
the least degree

;
there is no source or cause of sin

present to them. (3) As to the nature of the punish-
ments of Purgatory, it is certain at all events that the
holy souls suffer the pain of loss. This consists in their
being debarred for a time through their own fault from
enjoying the vision of God in Heaven—God who is the
supreme object of their love, and whom they ardently
desire to see. This suffering is undoubtedly keener
than any other. Cardinal Newman, in his beautiful
poem The Dream of Gerontius, pathetically describes
the agony of the soul as torn in two directions—on the
one side, eagerly longing to fly to God, its last end,
and yet kept back by the consciousness of its imper-
fections, which it feels render it as yet unworthy to
enter Heaven.

“And these two pains, so counter and so keen

—

The longing for Him when thou seest Him not

;

The shame of self at thought of seeing Him

—

Will be thy veriest, sharpest Purgatory.”

(4) Further, it is the common teaching that the holy
souls undergo some pain of sense, some positive suffering
through the application of fire, and it is most generally
believed that it is a real material fire, though such has
never been defined as a dogma of faith. The Greeks
have never shared this belief, holding for the most part
that the sufferings are purely spiritual and subjective ;
and it is but right to add that the Church has not con-
demned this view.

(5) As to the intensity of these punishments, nothing
is known or taught for certain. There is the severe
opinion held by St. Thomas, that the least pain of
Purgatory is greater than the greatest pain of this life ;
and there is the milder view favoured by St. Bona-
venture, that the greatest pain of Purgatory is greater

than the greatest pain of this life. But whichever way



Purgatory 7

the truth lies—and probably we can never know for
certain, as we are dealing with an order of things alto-
gether different from our own, and pure spirits are not
under ordinary conditions of suffering—this much
at least is undisputed, that the sufferings of the imprison-

ed souls are very bitter and severe, and that they will
differ in different persons according to the debt of
punishment to be paid. Yet we may be sure that the
sufferers never complain, or think their lot too hard, or
wish for an end to it, but are wholly reconciled to the
will of God and recognize His justice in their punish-
ment, and even rejoice in their tribulation, like the
martyrs in the midst of the flames, assured that these
will ultimately conduct them to the Beatific Vision.

(6) Where Purgatory is we know not ; neither can any
man tell the length of time during which a soul may be
detained there. Only this we know, that it will be
proportioned to the measure of sin or the punishment
due. That it is possible, however, for a soul to suffer
for a long period of time, as we count time, is proved from
the fact that the Church sanctions the practice of
offering masses for a soul for many years, and even
generations

;
but, of course, for all souls Purgatory will

cease at the Day of Judgement, as our Lord teaches
us in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthews'
Gospel.

(7) It will be seen, then (to sum up), that only those
souls go to Purgatory that have either “ departed this
life in venial sin, or that have not fully paid the debt of
temporal punishment due to those sins of which the
guilt has been forgiven." Temporal punishment is
defined as " punishment that will have an end either
in this world or in the world to come," and so is dis-
tinguished from eternal punishment, which is Hell. The
only way the Holy Souls can discharge their debt is by
suffering on their own part, or by being assisted by their
friends in the ways aforementioned. Strictly speaking,
these souls can do naught but suffer

;
and even their

sufferings are not meritorious or satisfactory, in the



8 Purgatory

theological sense of the words. They can merit or satisfy
no more

;
the time for that ended at death. They can

do nothing to help themselves
;
and so they look to us

to assist them in discharging their debt, even to the
last farthing.

Mistakes and Perversions

From all that has been said, it will be seen at a glance
how simple and how guarded the Catholic doctrine is,
and how many fantastic and fallacious ideas about it
are at once brushed away. For example, (a) we can only
laugh at the gross notions some ignorant people seem
to have about the bodies of any persons being in Purga-
tory, or about the priest extorting mass after mass
out of his poor dupes on the plea of getting their friend’s
body out of the dark prison leg by leg and arm by arm.
Of course there are no bodies, but only souls, in Purga-
tory.

(
b

)
Again, some seem to imagine Catholics

believe that all must go to Purgatory after death.
This is truly a quaint mistake. There are three states
or places after the separation of the soul from the body
at death, and into one or other of these the soul of every
man must go— Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. Into which
he will enter depends entirely upon the state of his
soul. Some may go straight to Heaven or straight to
Hell

; others may go to Purgatory ; but which go into
which, the Church never claims to determine. Certainly,
she will tell you without doubt or hesitation what precise
conditions are required for entrance into each particular
place. A man in mortal sin goes at once to Hell. A
man in venial sin, or with some punishment still due
to sin, goes to Purgatory. A man without either goes
straight to Heaven. But whether these conditions,
or what conditions, are found in any single individual
at death, she does not pretend infallibly to judge.
Not even the priest who dealt with the soul as confessor
in its last moments could tell for certain. That is
hidden from man and known to God alone.



Purgatory 9

The Proof

This, then, being the Catholic teaching on the subject
of Purgatory, the question naturally arises, How do you
prove it to be true ? has it been revealed by God ? is it a
doctrine taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles ?
We shall proceed to show that the doctrine of Purgatory
is not only true, and a Christian truth, but is a necessary
truth as well. There is, and cannot but be, a Purga-
tory

;
and we shall draw our proofs from the threefold

authority of Reason, Scripture, and Tradition. To
begin with

(A) Reason

Our own reasoning about God's justice, about sin,
and about punishment for sin convinces us that there
must be some such place. Take a man, for example,
who at death is fit for neither Heaven nor Hell, a man,
let us suppose, who dies, not certainty as the enemy of
God, not in mortal sin, with no grievous, deliberate,
unrepented crime upon his soul

;
yet not perfectly

free from those smaller sins into which the best of
people will sometimes fall. He cannot as yet enter
Heaven

;
that is certain, for nothing defiled shall enter

there (Rev. xxi. 27). Yet he is assuredly not bad enough
for the torments of Hell, for I am supposing he is free
from deadly sin. What is the only proper place for
that man's soul ? Purgatory, wherein he will be
purified and cleansed. He is not yet fitted, and feels
he is not fitted, to endure the Beatific Vision

;
he would

not wish for it. But at this point we may expect to
hear the voice of the objector.

1.
“ If he is a Catholic, all his sins, great and small,

will have been forgiven, either by confession, or by an
act of perfect contrition where confession was not
possible." I answer, If so, then undoubtedly there
wrill be no venial sin left to be forgiven. But this is not
my case. All Catholics do not die so. I am supposing,
and it is not hard to suppose, the case of a man who has



10 Purgatory

had no time or chance to make either a confession or an
act of contrition, as, for example, in sudden death

;

what of such an one ? He must certainly obtain re-
mission of his sins “ in the world to come,” the inter-
mediate state, to which our Lord alludes (in St. Matt,
xii. 32) as a place of forgiveness.

2. But our departed brother was a Protestant, per-
haps

;
does that make any difference ? “ He was saved

by faith
;
he made his peace with the Lord

;
the Blood

of Christ cleansed him from all sin.” These are com-
fortable words, albeit vague. But what exactly do
they involve when analyzed ? That perfect sorrow
will cancel the guilt and stain of sin in a Protestant
as well as in a Catholic, of course we all admit

;
but

suppose the Protestant dies not sorry for some venial
sin, what then ? suppose he still has affection for it ?
suppose (and this will apply equally to a Catholic in
regard to his confession and contrition), suppose he had
committed some lesser sin and had forgotten it, or was
never sorry for it, or was careless or neglectful or in-
different about it ? Will Almighty God forgive us
unless we are genuinely sorry ? Assuredly not

;
we are

taught the very contrary. “ A broken and a contrite
heart, indeed, He will not despise ”

;
but the Blood of

Christ cleanseth the soul of no man who is not contrite.
3. Those, therefore, who will not admit an inter-

mediate state are driven to take refuge in the supposition
(for it is nothing more) that the man's sins are washed
away in some mysterious manner at the moment of
death

;
that before he draws his last breath, or with his

last breath, his sins and faults are cancelled and utterly
done away, and he steps straight into the Heavenly
Jerusalem. But let us calmly examine the psycho-
logical and theological accuracy of such a theory.
Here is a man, let us say, with a small sin upon his soul
unrepented of—sufficient to bar his entrance into
Heaven, but not sufficient to commit him to Hell

;

how can the mere act of dying wipe out that sin ?
The act of dying is a physical, material fact

;
it simply



Purgatory ii

means the soul leaving the body
;
that and nothing more.

Death can only touch the body of man : it cannot change
his spiritual condition. I mean that the condition
of a man’s soul as regards its sin and its grace, is no more
changed by going out of the body than your body,
gentle reader, is changed by going out of the house. The
gasping out of one’s breath, the extinction of the spark
of life, the flight of the soul from its temple of flesh—
where has God taught us that this is invested with the
power of instantaneously blotting out the guilt and
stain of sin, and of transforming the sinner suddenly
into a saint, ready to enter at once upon the Beatific
Vision ? The idea is fictitious and irrational. “ This
theory,” says the late Dr. Luckock, “ invests a mere
physical process with the sanctifying influence which
can only be exercised through the operation of the will.”
Moral perfection and spiritual cleansing cannot so be
accomplished. It is by the voluntary co-operation
of the person with the grace of God that such a result
is reached, not certainly by any unseen, mysterious, and
almost magical agency, as in the mere act of dying.
“ To state,” says Rev. A. Chambers, though he uses
the illustration to prove a different contention, “ to
state that a repentant murderer, the moment after
execution, will have a character devoid of fault and a
spirit replete with grace is as contrary to sense as saying
that the Israelites, as soon as they had crossed the Red
Sea, reached the Land of Promise. There is no more
reason for thinking that the work of perfecting can be
brought about suddenly by the disrupting hand of death
than there is for supposing that the cracking of the shell
will make the newly hatched chick a full-grown fowl.”
Imagine, then, the case of a man, Catholic or non-
Catholic, dying burdened with the guilt of venial sin,
we hold that there can be but one destination, at least
immediately, for him. Neither Heaven nor Hell is

.

“ his own place,” but Purgatory, where the guilt will
be removed by the perfect act of charity which, accord-
ing to St. Thomas, the soul makes on its release from



12 Purgatory

the body. Justice demands that not until the guilt
and stain and punishment of sin have been completely
wiped out can the soul be admitted to the ineffable
Presence of God, who is, “ of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and cannot look on iniquity ” (Hab. i. 13, A.V.).

4. And here we come upon another argument sug-
gested by reason for the existence of Purgatory, namely,
the varying degrees of punishment that different souls
deserve before they can enter Heaven. It is a certain
fact that punishment is due to every sin, great or small.
The guilt is remitted by the Sacrament of Penance,
and the eternal punishment as well, should the sin
have been mortal. But over and above, there often
remains a debt of temporal or temporary punishment
which must be undergone, some time and in some place,
before the soul is entitled to enter upon the full fruition
of God's Presence.
Now Protestants, as a rule, do not admit the exist-

ence of this penalty or chastisement
;
they know nothing,

and have heard nothing and learned nothing about it,
and, along with Indulgences it is probably the last
point of Catholic doctrine that the majority of inquirers

and converts come to believe or understand. Yet
it is plainly taught in Holy Scripture, and, when grasped,
it at once appeals to us as harmonizing with and flowing
from the true teaching about sin, and God's justice in
punishing it. We need only refer to the case of our first
parents (Gen. iii. 16-19), °f Moses (Num. xx. 11-12),
of the Israelite murmurers (Num. “xiv. 26), of David
2 Kings—-[2 Sam. A.V.]—xii. 13-18), and to other ex-
amples of the same kind related in the Bible, to find
clear proof of the Catholic doctrine that though the
guilt and stain of sin have been blotted out, there often
remains something still to be suffered in the way of
temporal punishment. I have used the word “ often

"

advisedly : for we do not contend that the debt of
punishment, though it is due, must always be exacted
from the penitent. It is quite possible that he should
have such intense sorrow for sin, such perfect love of



Purgatory 13

God, such a firm purpose of amendment, as may move
his Heavenly Father to cancel the debt of chastisement
outright. Who can measure the efficacy of the tears of
St. Peter or the contrition of St. Mary Magdalene or
St. Margaret of Cortona ? “ Wherefore I say to thee :
many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved
much'’ (St. Luke vii. 47). Hence if a person died in
perfect dispositions—dispositions perfect enough, I
mean, to gain a Plenary Indulgence, which amounts to
a remission of all the temporal punishment due—he
would without doubt pass immediately to his Heavenly
reward. But often this does not and cannot happen

;

and so we content ourselves with asserting (what is
enough for the case in hand) that where a person is not
possessed of such perfect charity and contrition as to
exclude all affection for sin and justify him fully before
God—in such an event there is a punishment or penalty
to be undergone, either here or in Purgatory. Supposing
then, a man guilty of sin had not in fact discharged
his debt of punishment in this life, either by penance
or good works or indulgences— and in these days
Christians, taken generally, do not hunger after penance
and mortifications as they once did— what alternative
faces him but to discharge his debt in Purgatory ?
The inexorable justice of God demands it. “ Amen,
I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till
thou repay the last farthing " (St. Matt. v. 26).

5. But the justice of God makes a further demand.
It demands that punishments shall be meted out to
sinners in proportion to the measure of their sin : that
some be beaten with few stripes and others with many.
No one assuredly will hold that a man who has lived
a grossly sinful life and is converted on his deathbed,
and, even so, is snatched from Hell, so to speak, by the
skin of his teeth, is entitled to pass as speedily and
directly to the enjoyment of eternal bliss as the man
whose hair has whitened in the service of God and in
the steadfast practice of every virtue. God will “ render
to every man according to his works " (St. Matt. xvi.



M Purgatory
27). It would be violating every true conception of
Divine Justice to suppose that the notorious and in-
veterate sinner, who is barely dragged into a state of
grace, should of a sudden find himself, on leaving this
world, as exempt from all punishment as the man who
has sweetly expired in the most perfect love of God,
and who has perhaps attained this degree of perfection
by heroic penance or martyrdom. That the latter
should enter at once into the Beatific Vision we
can well understand

;
it is, indeed, a Catholic doctrine

that martyrs do so. But that the former should im-
mediately share the same felicity could never occur
to any mind that calmly and judicially weighs the
merits of the case. “ We dare not, it is true " (to
quote the Anglican, Dr. Luckock, The Intermediate
State

, p. 64),
“ limit the power of Omnipotence to

‘ fulfil a long time in a short time/ and to efface at
once the results of a whole life

;
but general observation

shows that stains which have been gradually contracted
are for the most part gradually removed

;
and reason

suggests that man's cleansing after death will bear at
least some relationship to his cleansing in this life."
But perhaps it will be objected that I have chosen an

extreme comparison. It is true
;

I have done so pur-
posely, for the sake of greater clearness

;
and any

scheme of theology that claims to be true must pro-
vide for all cases, even extreme. But put the matter
more moderately, if you will. It is undoubtedly the fact
that some commit many sins, others commit few.
Some serve God faithfully for sixty or seventy years

;

others are cut off two or three years after turning to
Him

;
while others again continue to outrage His Divine

Majesty up to the very last, and are hardly converted
when they are called to their account. Now, I ask,
are these all to begin their After-life at exactly the
same level ? Are the former to be in no more favour-
able case than the latter ? It cannot be. Do we not
know that some expiate their sins, here and now, by
punishments, whether inflicted by God or by themselves,



Purgatory 15

much more than others ? And are we to say that a
prodigal who has years of accumulated sin cancelled by
one confession—-a confession, possibly, made through
imperfect contrition, the fear of Hell—satisfies God's
demands by the perfunctory performance of a trifling
penance, as fully as saints like St. Paul of the Cross,
or like St. Alphonsus and St. Aloysius. who never lost
their innocence and whose whole lives nevertheless
were, as one may say, one terrific mortification ? To
ask the question is to answer it. The simple truth
is that at death some have ascended almost to the
very top of the ladder

;
others have but planted their

feet on the lowest rung. It is (to vary the simile)
as if the first had all but finished their course, whilst
the latter had only started. These, therefore, must
wait and sufier the penalty justly due to their many
sins by undergoing the purifying fire and by being
delayed in reaching the supreme object of their love,
and by experiencing keen pangs of remorse at the
sight of their brethren hovering, as it were, at the very
portals of Pleaven and within a little being admitted
to the joy of their Lord.

The act of dying, as we have seen, can of itself work no
spiritual transformation

;
it cannot bend or crush with

mechanical precision all souls into one uniform groove.
We start our after-life exactly where we left off here.
That all who die in the love of God will ultimately
see Him face to face is indeed a truth most blessed
and consoling

;
but before that consummation, some

may have long to wait and suffer. By God's mercy
they have been saved

;
in His justice they must still be

punished. A father may forgive his child, yet he may
chastise him

;
and only by contradicting every analogy

in the world of experience and of reason, only by
whittling away the attributes of justice and fair-dealing
in the Divine character, and by eliminating from Holy
Scripture its teaching as to the retribution that follows

sin—only thus could we picture the dying saint and
the trembling, terror-stricken deathbed penitent being



1

6

Purgatory

ushered side by side with equal step into an equal place
in the life beyond.

(B) Scripture

But now let us advance another step in our proofs
of Purgatory. The Protestant at this point will
naturally object. “ Grant the existence of Purgatory
is reasonable

;
admit, if you will, that it even appears

necessary
;
yet it is not in the Bible

;
it is not only not

supported, but is even contradicted by Holy Scripture,
which knows only two places after death—Heaven
and Hell/' Our reply is that this doctrine is Scriptural,
and that it is Christ's teaching and that of His inspired
Apostles. But before adducing the passages in proof
there are one or two points to bear in mind regarding
the strength and value of the Scriptural proof of
Purgatory.

i. In the first place, the Catholic Church does not
rest the proofs of her doctrines exclusively on Holy Scrip-
ture. She does not claim to find texts explicitly con-
veying her every dogma. We might cite as examples
of this, Infant Baptism, the number of the Sacraments,
Indulgences, and the Immaculate Conception. It
is true she never could admit or teach a doctrine which
was opposed b}^ Holy Scripture, because that would
amount to contradicting the Holy Ghost. She is
content so long as a doctrine is not contrary to any-
thing revealed in Scripture. The way is then clear
for her to prove it on another ground, namely Tradition.
Not all that Jesus Christ taught is fully and plainly
expressed in the New Testament. Certainly, it is
there implicitly : it is often hinted at or implied

;
or it

follows logically from some other doctrine clearly
enunciated. But whatever of our Lord's teaching is
veiled or hidden in the written word, is certainly con-
tained in Tradition, that unwritten Word of God which,
was taught by Jesus Christ, deposited with His Apostles,
and handed down, and unfolded by them and their



Purgatory 17

successors, with the assistance of the Holy Ghost,
who came that He might “ teach them all things and
bring all things to their remembrance ” (St. John
xiv. 26, xvi. 13). The result is that when you come
to the reading of Holy Scriptures with the Catholic
doctrine already in your mind, you can find it there
plainly enough

;
you discover and recognize it in

passages which before were simply unintelligible.
Supposing, then, that neither the name Purgatory
nor the existence of such a place were taught in so many
words in the Bible, that would be no argument against
its truth. Yet, of course, the case for Purgatory is far
stronger than that.

2. In the next place, we must remark that it need
be no surprise if we find less in Holy Scripture about
Purgatory than about either Heaven or Hell. We
must not demand more testimony from such a witness
about the intermediate state than can reasonably be
expected. The Scriptures for the most part are intend-
ed to teach us, by precept and example, how to live
on earth, how to know and love and serve God here
below

;
for upon this assuredly depends our hereafter.

And again the Scriptures are designed to reveal, though
in a lesser degree, the rewards and punishments that
are| reserved for us at the Judgement Day

;
to show

the ultimate destiny both of the man who has lived
a good life and of him who has lived a bad one

;
to

depict, in short, Heaven and Hell. Hence, from the
very nature of the case, we should expect to hear less
about that middle state which intervenes between death
and the general judgement. A man’s final destiny,
as has been said, is already fixed at death ; consequently
upon due preparation for that event attention is most
naturally concentrated by Holy Scripture. We should
not be astonished, therefore, if information less full
is vouchsafed us about that state which, in its purifying
and cleansing operation, merely puts the finishing
touch upon a work of sanctification already substan-
tially accomplished.



i8 Purgatory

3. From this it follows of course that the quotation
by Protestants of texts promising Heaven as a reward
is beside the point. “ In My Father's house there are
many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you
. . I will take you to myself, that where I am, you
also may be "—these words of our Lord, and the desire
of St. Paul “to be dissolved and to be with Christ

"

(Phil. i. 23),
“ to be absent rather from the body and

to be present with the Lord " (2 Cor. v. 8) and the
expression of St. John, “ Blessed are the dead who
die in the Lord " (Apoc. xiv. 13), import nothing against
the Catholic doctrine. Neither Jesus Christ nor His
Apostles necessarily imply that the entrance into Heaven
after death, though assured, will be immediate. Our
Divine Lord Himself did not immediately after death
pass into Heaven. With equal plausibility Catholics
might argue from our Lord's declaration (St. Matt. xxv.

34), that only at the Last Day, when all nations
are gathered together for the general judgement, and
not till then, can any one possess the kingdom prepared
for him—-a conclusion which is certainly false. Scrip-
ture broken up and taken piecemeal can be quoted to
prove almost anything. It requires to be examined
as a whole and interpreted by an infallible authority.
Let us, then, produce our Scripture proofs.

(a) To begin with the Old Testament, there is the
classical text in 2 Mach. xii. 43-46.

“
It is therefore a

holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead,
that they may be loosed from sins." Protestants,
I know, call this book “ apocryphal " and deny that it
is inspired

;
their reforming forefathers deliberately

cast it out of the sacred volume of which it had formed
an integral part, no less than the Four Gospels, ever
since the Canon was settled in the 4th century. “ Find-
ing " (as has been acutely remarked) “ that they could
not by any evasion weaken the force of the text, they
impiously threw overboard the Books of Machabees,
like a man who assassinates a hostile witness." But
even so, they must at least admit that as historical



Purgatory *9

records these books are genuine and trustworthy
;

and, as such, the passage quoted shows that both author
and Jewish people at that time (the centuries immedi-
ately preceding the birth of Christ) believed that prayers

and sacrifices were advantageous to the faithful de-
parted. Such a belief, of course, involves a Purgatory.
It is, moreover, a fact not denied that the Jews now,
as then, believe in the existence of some middle state,
and offer prayers to God for the souls there detained
both in public and in private worship. An examination
of the Liturgy or of an authorized prayer-book of the
Jewish Church to-day will convince the reader that
the children of Israel have never forgotten or neglected
the sacred duty of praying for their deceased brethren.
Now note what follows from this. Our Lord by His
silence approved of the doctrine and the practice

;

never once did He reprove or condemn it. He was
present habitually at the solemn liturgical services
of Synagogue and Temple and joined in them

;
doubt-

less in private He made use of the ordinary Jewish
prayers and devotions

;
yet never once did He object

to this feature in them. It was His rule, as we know,
to denounce corruptions of faith and morals intro-
duced by Scribes, Pharisees, and priests, and to lay
bare the human traditions with which they had overlaid
the Word of the Lord. But among them He does
not reckon the pious custom of praying for the dead :
and from this we are entitled to conclude that the
custom is a lawful one, and the doctrine which it pre-
supposes true.

(b) In St. Matt. xii. 32 our Saviour says of a certain
sin that it should be forgiven “ neither in this world,
nor in the world to come/' From this, surely, it is
fair enough to infer (with St. Augustine and other emin-
ent commentators) that there are some sins which may
be forgiven in the world to come. But that could not
happen either in Heaven or in Hell.

(c) St. Paul in a famous passage (1 Cor. iii. 11-15)
declares that “ fire shall try every man's work of what



20 Purgatory

sort it is,” and that the man “ himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire.” Where is this fire ? Not certainly
on earth and not in Heaven

;
and as certainly not in

Hell, for that fire torments but does not save. Hence
the apostle must refer only to the temporary purifying
flames of Purgatory. And this interpretation is not
a modern or popish invention

;
it is the unanimous

voice of the Fathers of Christendom, as any one may
prove for himself by consulting the relative passages in
the writings of Origen, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St.
Augustine, and others of like authority.

(d) Further, that St. Paul himself actually practised
the custom of praying for the dead seems morally
certain from his own words in 2 Tim. i. 16-18 taken to-
gether with 2 Tim. iv. 19. “ The Lord grant unto
him to find mercy of the Lord in that day ” is the prayer
he offers for Onesiphorus, his former fellow-labourer
at Ephesus. That this man was no longer among
the living when the Apostle uttered this supplication
on his behalf appears clear enough from the fact that
the Apostle sends no salutation to him in his letter to St.
Timothy, but only to his household

;
for him he only

prays that he “ may find mercy ” with Christ at the
Day of Judgement. And such is the opinion, not
only of Catholic commentators, but also of Protestants
like Huther and De Wette.

(e) Other passages might be cited from Holy Scrip-
ture conveying more or less directly the doctrine of
Purgatory, such as, St. Matt. xvi. 27, St. Matt. v. 25, 26,
and Apoc. xxi. 27 ; but we shall content ourselves
with adducing only two more that strike us as much to
the purpose. I ask, now, if there be no third place in
the world beyond, how can we possibly explain that
much-debated passage in St. Peter’s First Epistle
(iii. 18-20) about the spirits in prison, and the promise
to the good thief upon the Cross, “ To-day thou shalt
be with Me in Paradise ” (St. Luke xxiii. 43) ? On the
Catholic interpretation, the sense is perfectly clear.

After expiring on the Cross, our Blessed Lord’s soul.



Purgatory 21

accompanied by that of the penitent thief, descended
to Limbo, that place where the souls of the just who
died before Christ were detained. The “ Paradise

”

to which He went assuredly was not Heaven, for He
Himself declared to St. Mary Magdalene after His
Resurrection “ I am not yet ascended to My Father ”

(St. John xx. 17). Nor yet was it Hell, the place of
the damned. The words of the Psalmist (Psa. xv.,
A.V. Psa. xvi.), “ Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell/'
quoted by St. Peter (Acts ii. 31) as applying to our
Lord, cannot refer to the place of everlasting torment, for
the soul of our Divine Redeemer was certainly never in
such a place. Lienee it must have been Limbo, Hades,
the prison, Paradise, call it what you will. And the
reason why the souls of the just of the Old Law, such
as Abraham and Moses and the Prophets, were there
detained was simply because they could not go up to
Heaven till Christ opened it for them. This He did
only when He ascended forty days after His resurrection.
Before that event, He declared, “ no man had ascended
into Heaven ” (St. John iii. 13). But at His ascension
He opened the gates of Heaven, which had been shut
ever since the expulsion of Adam and Eve (Gen. iii. 24),
and took with Him a great company of redeemed and
purified souls. To Catholics, then, acknowledging
a middle place, the visit of our Saviour with the good
thief to the spirits in prison presents no difficulty.
But on the Protestant theory that no such place exists,
or ever existed, what satisfactory interpretation can
be given to these passages ? I venture to say, none.
No place whatever is to be found for the millions of
souls that departed this life, before the coming of the
Redeemer, with the guilt of venial sin, or with some
debt of temporal punishment not yet discharged.
And precisely for this reason I have known a Protestant
teacher reject and refuse to utter these words in the
Creed,

“ He descended into Hell," well knowing that
the expression postulated a middle state which he did
not believe in. Would that all Protestants were as



22 Purgatory

logical in perceiving the flagrant Popery of the Apostles'
Creed !

(C) Tradition

It now only remains to bring forward our third great
set of proofs for Purgatory and prayers for the departed,
the testimony, namely, of Tradition. That Protestants
in general set little or no store by tradition is too well
known, and hence some might consider it useless and
superfluous to set such evidence before them. Never-
theless, though they may not acknowledge its value
as proving Purgatory to be a doctrine of Christ and His
Apostles, they will at least be forced to admit—those
of them, I mean, who make an impartial review of the
evidence—that it completely destroys the popular
contention that it is a late invention of cunning priests,
designed to squeeze money out of sorrowing Christians
to purchase masses for the souls of their dear departed.
If we can show (to quote the words of Monsignor Gaume)
that “ it is a fact, as certain as the existence of the sun,
that since the time of the Apostles the Church has never
ceased to offer prayers and sacrifices for her departed
children," surely it will be allowed that a good case
has been made out for the apostolic origin of the doctrine
we are expounding, and if it is of apostolic authority,
it follows of necessity that it has the authority of our

Divine Lord.
We shall best present the testimony of Tradition by

dividing it into three parts
:
(i) The Catacombs, (2) The

Early Fathers, (3) The Primitive Liturgies.

1. The Catacombs*

may be comprehensively described as underground
cemeteries, excavated by the early Christians, under
stress of persecution, for the entombment of their dead
and for the celebration of the sacred Mysteries of our

* See also The Church and the Catacombs, by B. F. C. Costelloe,
C.T.S. 2d.



Purgatory 23

religion. The inscriptions on the walls, referring to
their dead, date, according to archaeologists, from the
1st to the 5th century of our era. They cover a period,
therefore, that non-Catholics speak of as pure and
uncorrupted by the malign influence of Rome. “It
is the record" to use the words of the Anglican Dean
Luckock, [After Death

, p. 85),
“ of an age to which we

may turn with confidence for guidance in difficulty,
for on no period of the Church's history has the true
spirit of her founder left so clear an impress. We
accept, therefore, whatever indication it may give of
primitive usage or doctrine with feelings of satisfac-
tion, assured that we should find nothing but the calm,
deliberate belief of the generations for which it
speaks."

What then, do these inscriptions teach us ? They
reveal, with the utmost clearness, the belief of the
primitive Christians in the doctrine of an Intermediate
State and in the efficacy of prayers for the departed.
Take a few examples out of multitudes. “ Peace to
thy soul, O Zosima, and peace to Fortunata my sweetest
daughter," “ Hilaris, may you live happily with your
friends

;
may you be refreshed in the peace of God,"

“ Kalemeros, may God refresh thy spirit, together
with that of thy sister Hilara," “ Bolosa, may God
refresh you." “ Heraclea, Roma, may thy soul [go]
into refreshment," “ Timothea, mayest thou have
eternal light in Christ," “ O Lord, let not the spirit of
Venus be overshadowed,"

“
Beloved one, may thy

spirit be in peace," “ Peace with thee, Lais. May
thy spirit rest in good," “ Remember, O Lord Jesus,
our child," “ May thy spirit rest well in God. Pray
for thy sister," “ Mayest thou live in peace and pray
for us," “ Mayest thou live in the Lord and pray for
us." The last three are remarkable in that they con-
tain, not only prayers for the departed but also invoca-
tion of saints. It would be easy to fill several pages with
inscriptions of this kind, taken from the museums and
catacombs of the city of Rome, and the interested reader



24 Purgatory

can find a hundred more for himself in such standard
works as Northcote and Brownlow's Roma Sotterranea

;

but enough has been produced to impress on any one
the general character of these epitaphs. They implore
for the departed soul peace and light and refreshment
and rest in God and in Christ. It may be objected
that many of the expressions are nothing more than
“ pious acclamations/' But the same might be said
of the Requiescat in pace (“ May he rest in peace ”),
and yet Catholics using these words undoubtedly in-
tend a direct prayer for the souls of the departed. We
claim that these ancient mural inscriptions show, with
a clearness unmistakeable to all who are not wilfully
blind, that our first fathers in the faith had an intense
belief in the truth which Wisdom had made known,
that “ the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and
the torment of death shall not touch them . . . but
they are in peace ” (Wisdom iii. i, 3) ; that though
many might be in Heaven, as the martyrs, still there
were others who needed light in their darkness, rest
in their trouble, refreshment from the heat of the Pur-
gatorial fire, and peace, to end their sufferings. “ In
a word ” (to quote a comprehensive sentence of Provost
Northcote), “ they proceed upon the assumption that
there is an incessant interchange of kindly offices between
this world and the next, between the living and the dead

;

they represent all the faithful as living members of
one Body, the Body of Christ

;
as forming one great

family, knit together in the closest bonds of love
;

and this love finding its chief work and happiness in
prayer, prayer of survivors for those who have gone
before, prayer of the blessed for those who are left
behind." Whence could have originated this doctrine
and this practice ? Our answer is, it has its origin
iji the Deposit of the Faith, taught by Jesus Christ
and transmitted by the Apostles

;
and it is the only

answer that can be given.



Purgatory 25

2. The Early Fathers.

Turning now to our second class of witnesses for
Christian tradition, we meet the constant and unani-
mous teaching of the earliest Fathers and Doctors of
the Church—-that is to say, for the first four or five
centuries. Protestants themselves do not call in ques-
tion the existence of a full-grown belief in Purgatory
in the centuries that followed. “For more than thir-
teen hundred years,” said Calvin, “ the practice of
praying for the dead has existed.” To relate all, or even
any considerable part of these primitive testimonies,
would of course be impossible within the limits of these
pages : we must select but a few that may stand as
specimens of all. They will be sufficient to substan-
tiate the Catholic claim that the immediate successors
of the Apostles, handing down Apostolic doctrine,
teach, unrebuked and unquestioned, the practice of
praying for the departed, and rather take for granted
than attempt to prove, the existence of the intermediate
state between Heaven and Hell. Tertullian, for ex-
ample, in the 2nd century, speaks frequently of it, and
says that the usage was founded on tradition. “ The
faithful wife,” he says, “ will pray for the soul of her
deceased husband, particularly on the anniversary of
his falling asleep.” St. Cyprian (3rd century) speaks
of the custom of celebrating the sacrifice for the repose
of souls as being already practised by the bishops
who preceded him. Eusebius, the historian (4th
century), describes how at the funeral of Constantine
the Great, the priests and people, with tears and much
lamentation, offered up prayers and sacrifice for the
repose of his soul. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (same
century), explaining to the faithful the custom of
praying for the dead, says, “ We pray for our parents
and our bishops, and in general for the souls of all
our departed ones in the firm hope that they receive
great consolation from the prayers that are offered
for them in the holy and awful sacrifice.” St. Ephrem



26 Purgatory

(same century) begged his brethren to assist his soul
after death with their prayers. St. Ambrose (same
century) prayed God for the deceased Emperor Theo-
dosius : “ Give perfect rest to thy servant Theodosius,
that rest which Thou hast prepared for thy saints/'
St. John Chrysostom, our final witness for the 4th
century, decidedly declares that it was “ ordained by
the Apostles that mention should be made of the dead
in the tremendous mysteries, because they knew well
that they would receive great benefit from it." In the
5th century St. Augustine composed a treatise on our
duties to the dead, in which prayers for their repose
continually occur. “ That," he says, “ which cannot
be doubted is that the prayers of the Church, the holy
sacrifice, alms, bring relief to them, and obtain a more
merciful treatment for them than they deserved."
And who does not remember the touching request made
to him by his holy mother St. Monica when at the point
of death : “ Lay this body anywhere : let not the care
of it in anyway disturb you. This only I request of
you, that, wherever you be, you would remember me
at the altar of the Lord " ? That her son faithfully
fulfilled her dying request, and interceded for her with
God, often in the most impassioned language, is known
to all who are familiar with the life of the illustrious
Doctor.

These few examples must suffice meantime
;
they

may be multiplied to any extent by the reader who
consults works dealing with this part of the subject.
But we may safely assert that no one reading the Early
Fathers, with a mind unwarped by prejudice, can help
seeing that they not only taught the doctrine, but
themselves practised the custom of offering prayers
for the faithful departed, and that, both in their private
devotion and in the solemn services of the Church.
If you say “I do not care what the Fathers taught
and did, but only for what Christ and His Apostles
taught and did," I answer, I am helping you to find out
that very thing

;
for these teachers I am quoting are



Purgatory 27

merely handing down what they were taught by Jesus
Christ and His Apostles. They began to flourish
immediately after the death of the last of the apostles

;

they were in the full stream of apostolic tradition
;

the Gospel was as yet, according to Protestants, un-
tainted by Roman corruptions. It is inconceivable,
then, that these holy and learned men should have
inculcated and encouraged such belief had they not
received it from their predecessors in the faith. They
could not have invented a practice, involving the mo-
mentous addition of a third place after death, and
foisted it on Christian communities without resist-
ance and reproof. Neither gradually nor suddenly
could such a doctrine have crept in without being
detected as at variance with the teaching of the Apostles.
Popes and Bishops, whether individually or acting
in Councils, zealous custodians of the faith delivered

to the saints, kept sleepless guard over the apostolic
teaching and constitutions, and from their watch-
tower could at once have signalled the entrance of
false or spurious or unauthorized doctrines. Yet no
voice was ever raised against the constantly reiterated
doctrine of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead. We
can only conclude, then, with St. Isidore, a Doctor of
the 7th century, who declares, “ Because the oblation
of the Sacrifice and prayer for the repose of the faithful
departed, are made in the Church throughout the
world, we believe that this custom has come from
the apostles/'

3. The Primitive Liturgies

Once more, the faith of the Church finds expression
in its forms of prayer, according to the saying lex
credendi, lex orandi. The Church could never, in the
solemn celebration of her sacred Mysteries, authorize
prayers involving false or unscriptural doctrine. Now,
it is as certain as anything in history can be, that
prayers for the faithful departed formed an integral



28 Purgatory

part of her Liturgy during the first five centuries. A
Liturgy may be described as “ the established formulary
of public worship, containing the authorized prayers

of the Church/' The principal Liturgies are found
to range themselves in several great families or classes.
There are, for example, the Liturgy of St. James
(Jerusalem), the Liturgy of St. Mark (Alexandria), the
Liturgy of St. Peter (Rome), the Liturgy of St. Basil
and of St. John Chrysostom (Constantinople), to mention
but a few of the more widely spread in various regions.
They range in date, according to varying estimates,
from the 2nd to the 5th century. Now, no one pretends
to deny that every one of the Liturgies, without ex-
ception, contains direct intercession for the departed.

In that of St. James, for instance, the priest prays, “ Re-
member, O Lord God, the spirits of all flesh of whom
we have made mention, and of whom we have not
made mention, who are of the true faith

;
from righteous

Abel unto this day : do Thou Thyself give them rest
there, in the land of the living." These words again
are from St. Mark's Liturgy : “ Give rest, O Sovereign
Lord, our God, to the souls of all those who are in the
tabernacle of the saints in Thy Kingdom." St. Cyril's
has this : “ Be merciful, O Lord. Grant rest to our
fathers and brothers who have fallen asleep, and whose
souls Thou hast received." Similar expressions are
to be found in them all. And not onfy the Liturgies
used by the Roman Catholic Church throughout
the world, but, what is more significant still, those
of the earliest heretics who broke off from her contain
the same petitions and intercessions. From the fourth
and fifth centuries, when the Arians and Nestorians
fell away, to the ninth, which witnessed the Greek
schism, various Christian communities lapsed into
heresy and schism, severing their union with the Apost-
olic See. Yet they took with them the ancient Liturgies,
and never ceased the holy practice of offering sacrifice
for their dead. A very cursory perusal of the Armenian,
the Chaldean, the Coptic, the Maronite, the Syriac,



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Purgatory 29

or other Oriental rite, will satisfy any inquirer on the
point. He will find in all a formula almost
identical with that repeated every day in the Roman
Missal : “ Remember, O Lord, Thy servants who are
gone before us with the sign of the faith and sleep in
peace. To these, O Lord, and to all who rest in Christ,
grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light
and peace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Now, who can fail to perceive the evidential value

of such a fact ? We shall give it in the admirable
words of Cardinal Gibbons ( Faith of our Fathers) :
“ When could these Eastern sects have commenced
to adopt the Catholic practice of praying for the dead ?
They could not have received it from us since the 9th
century, because the Greek Church separated from us
then, and has had no communion with us since then,
except at intervals, up to the 12th century. Nor
could they have adopted the practice since the 4th or
5th century, inasmuch as the Arians, Nestorians, and
Eutychians have had no religious communication with
us since that period. Therefore, in common with us,
they received this doctrine from the Apostles. If
men living in different countries drink wine having the
same flavour and taste and colour, the inference is that
the wine is made from the same species of grape. So
must we conclude that this refreshing doctrine of inter-
cession for the dead has its root in the Apostolic tree of
knowledge planted by the Saviour.” It remains,
therefore, that Protestants, in rejecting this salutary

practice, are following after novelties, and have cut
themselves adrift from the whole of Christendom,
East and West, from Apostolic times down to the present
hour.

Conclusion

Much might be added now on the devotional and
practical sides of this subject, but that must be learned
elsewhere. In a last word, however, we cannot help
saying how much Catholics rejoice to see the holy custom



30 Purgatory

of interceding for departed Christians being once more
resumed by non-Catholics, whether Anglicans or Non-
conformists. And the reason is not far to seek. For
one thing (a) Protestants no longer believe, as they
used to do, in the eternity of Hell

;
and as a Hell that

is not eternal is no Hell at all, but simply a Purgatory,
the Catholic doctrine perforce is finding wide accept-
ance. Believing in the “ larger hope/' in salvation
for all, in a second chance after death, and trading
upon the supposed impossibility of a never-ending
punishment, our separated brethren see every reason
for continuing to pray for departed sinners

;
and what

is this but an approximation to the Catholic
doctrine ? As Hell gradually vanishes. Purgatory
takes its place. They are beginning to say there is
something in the old Catholic doctrine after all.

(b) But besides this, it is a natural instinct in the
human heart to pray for departed friends. It is con-
trary to human nature and to reason suddenly to stop
praying for a soul for which you have prayed all your
life, simply because it has been separated from the
body

;
what has distance got to do with it ? And we

may confidently say that, if it had not been for the
cold, hard, loveless religion of Calvinism, crushing

out all that is most sweet and charitable from the
Christian's heart, the practice would never have been
dropped in our unhappy kingdom. And so it is to-day
that, among those who are shaking themselves free
from its tyranny, the love of the heart is asserting itself
over the dogmatism of sect, and many Protestants
freely pursue their loved ones beyond the grave with
supplications for their repose. Not to do so appears
to them heartless and illogical. And they experience
a comfort and a joy, as Catholics do, in the holy custom.
They feel the black gulf is bridged across, and that they
are still knit together in the bonds of a common love
and sympathy. The sting of death and the sharpness
of its sorrow is mitigated by the constant remembrance
of them, by the thought that they are still bound to



Purgatory 3i

them by the golden chain of prayer, and can pray for
them and help them, and even speak to them, as of old.
Death is robbed of much of its terror and the separation
of friends becomes endurable. With this beautiful
belief, the Christian standing at the open grave is no
longer mute and puzzled, but finds vent for his grief
in earnest petitions to God on behalf of his loved one.
Funeral services are no longer a mere empty pageant,
with lengthy prayers designed to glorify the departed
and sympathize with the living. Tombstone inscrip-
tions and anniversaries are no more a meaningless
formality. But these and other pious customs become
clothed with deep and real significance, and are used
as a practical means of assisting the souls of the dead
to arrive at their heavenly home. What more touching
and beautiful sight, indeed, can anywhere be witnessed
than that which may be seen in Catholic lands as often
as the Day of All Souls (November 2nd) comes round ?

—

the entire population of village or city is seen making
its way to the “ campo santo ” (the cemetery), in
hundreds and in thousands, to visit their dead, carrying
with them wreaths and crosses and flowers, kindling
lamps that symbolize the light of faith, and breathing
prayers for the welfare of the souls that have gone
before. There, at least, one sees and realizes the mean-
ing of that article of the Creed, “ the Communion of
Saints/' Let us whisper a fervent prayer that such
once more may be the faith and devotion of every
inhabitant of Britain as in days gone by, and that all,
bound together as one family in submission to the
See of Rome, may find themselves assisting at the
offering of the Holy Mass for the living and the dead,
and with one heart and one voice send up to Almighty
God the hallowed prayer

—

Requiem eternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua luceat eis !

Requiescant in pace !
Amen !



32 Purgatory

Postscript.

—

The writer acknowledges his indebted-
ness for some ideas, and even phraseology, both to
non-Catholic authors, such as Luckock, Chambers,
and others (works cited), and to the usual theological
and controversial books by Catholics.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY,
72 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S.W. 1.

E.

—

May, 1922.

MZ* I*



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Explanations of Catholic Doctrine

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THE WAY OF TRUTH
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CON
In Search of Truth.
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The Church and the Bible.
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and of the Pope.
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