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DkAULV lIpLOVKI) BllETHllKN: — TTie approach (»f the month of November, -with its "AH Souls' Day," is for us an appropriate occasion for addressing you on the consolinj,' and salutary doctrine of Purgatory iind on the duties of piety an.l charity towards the faithful departed, that spring from it. The Church, in consecrating this month to special devotion for those who have (lied in Christ, seems to have form bd an alliance with nature in oxder the better to attune our mitids t« solemn tholights of death ami to touch and move our hearts with the sacred memories of those who have gone before us. November is the grave- yard of the year. The withered, fjvl'en leaves; the naked trees; the hush and silence of the woods ; the dark, short, nielanchoiy days; the moaning winds, that seem Hke the dirge of nature over its d^putwd glories and its present sad desolations — all these chanu-teristics of our November strong- ly impress the mind with thoughts of decay and death. They remind us that, in the language of Hcripture, "AH flesh i« grass and aH the glory thereof as the flower of grass; the t^'rass is, withered and the flower is fallen."— Is. xl , G. They tell us that, in the words of the Psalmist, "In the morning man shall grow up ^like niass, in the morning he shall flourish and pass away; in the evening he shaH fall, grow dry and wither."— Psalms Ixxxix;, (}. The Hojy Church talies up these voices and warnings of nature, and,. blending them with h e r own, t e achoa her chiklren that, at this season of the ■/■■ ' Ifff m iflt J « ■I •'4 ■'< ■ J- '•H •U 1 ■ ■•' ■ I-if . ■ ■ ' ■ ..J 1 ? ' 1 m .-■;.../. \ AH roil. u. i.i/rrKU. } I'ur, they HlumUl ocitupy tlu'iiiHi'lven with Hiilutuiy thoiixlitH I'OiK'L'inihJK titiath and tlie^TIoad; that, niiutlful ol" the (M'rtaiiitv of thoir own death ono chiy, thuy Hhoiild not for^'«(t thoHc who have Kont- hoftmi thoni, hut rthouM, hy praycvs and ahiis- deedH, and oHpociaHy hy the ohhition of the holy saeriticunishinent, acxiording to the hiWH of divine justice; hut that there are less\'rievous sins which are, from their nature, venial, and do not ilestroy gra.-v and charity; and it is to such the Scripture refers when it dedares that the just man falls «even times. Hence, the just can truly use the words of the Lord's' prayers " Forgive us our trespasses." St. John declares that if we say we have no sin, we deceive our.solves, and the truth is not in us. (tst Epis. St. .fohn, 1st chap.) Our/ Laid even assures us thUt " for every idle word we speak, we shall render an account oiv the day of judgment." (Alatthew, chftp. 12.) Would it not he monstrous, for instance, to assei-t that the telling of a jocose lie were equal in gravity tp the horrible crime of piar- ricide, or the shamfifijl ai n of adultery, and that it doii c rvos a 51 r.VHTOtlAl. I.DTTI'.ll. .■n like imuishmcnt'/ Hciiro, 8t. Au<,Mi8tino HavH tliivt, "for tlioHi! y hciirt diHOiis. , , fitlu'i-H by iipophxy; moiuo iiiv foutui «l.'U(l in tlu-ir ImiIm otlujiH iir«> killed l>y uccidoi't (ui traiiiH or MtciinilKuit.H uihl thuH Itjivi not tim«' to ropcnt of viMiiur Hirin, and die HtuitV,! with their guilt. It is coita'in thiit the luinihcr of kouIh wh,. thus dio ill vmiial Kin. or who hii,v<' not diMchar^ed the tvm l>oriiI |timishiii(!iitdihi iiiortiil sin for«^iv««u, xh very j^ieiit. N.. Hill hIiiiII ;;o un|»uniMh(Ml; uiilfss it he punished hy the siiiiu ; hiiUHell", hy perninite, it inunt he punished hy (htd, Avh > i.. otTended. Divine i.nercy loosed from their sinH by pious prayers nnd HulTraj^eH. I am aware tlmt non-CatliolidH contend thai this Second Hooit of Maoha- lioes in not canonical Scripture, but the v^ry same authority from which we hojd the whoh) Canon of Scripture, namely, the authority of the '"'atholie Church, holdn this also to be canonical and inHpirnl Scripture. Hut, admitting, for argu- ment's sake, that it is not canonical,' it must he admitted, at all events, to be perfiujtly trui and reliable history. It, therefore, proves that, amongst the Jews— the i)oople of Ood —in those days the belief prevailed that soVno of the departed (load could be relieved and loosed from their sins, and the penalties of their sins, by prayer and saerilioes; and this could not be the ease if, besides the Heaven of the saved, and the hell of the damned, there did not exist an intermediate place of expiation for some souls ere they could reach their immortal and final destiny in Heivven. Our Lord, who came to teach the truth and to point out the errors and corruptions that hnd crept into Jewish belief and practice^ would have conden^ned this doctrine were it not true, but, so far from doing so, he conlirms it. It is of this prison, according to the Holy Fathers, our Lord speaks when he sjiys (Luke xii., 5, 9) : " Thou sholt not depart thence till thou hast paid the last farthing." In the parable of Dives and Lazarus, our Lord tells us that the latter, after his death, was carried to the bosom of Abraham. Now, what place was this? It could not have been Heaven, for no one could enter tteaveft before the death of Christ; nor could it have been hell, for then the prayer of IHves to Lazarus would have been without meaning or purpose. It must, therefore, have been that middle place in which the souls of the just of the old law we^ detained until after the death and /resurrection of ■Clmst. ■ (xvi , 22.). '■-■:: ■ - :.':.;. .-\' '■'•■•'■■ ■'/.,:":■■" Again, in First KpistM of Peter (iii., 19), we read: "Christ :.f: '^ tm X A m I?; I ll- - I'AflTOnAT< LETTER. iHed for our sins^ being put to death in tli^ fle^li, but enliven- ed in the spirit, in which, also, coming, he preached to thoso ^ spirits that were in. prison." .Now, what was this prison ? It was not surely the hell rtf the damned, but that hell or jirison of which the Apostles' Creed speaks, in which were detained the souls of God's servants who died before tihnst, and to whom the Saviour <;ame to announce the glad tidings of their liberation and of their eternal salvation. It is of -IhoHe spirits the scripture speak -J when it says of Christ that, ascending on high. He led captivity captive (Chap. 4, v. 8), that is, he freed from the captivity of their prison the patria/chs, prophets, and..just of the old law, and led them in triuinphant entry -into heaven on the day of the ascension. " ' Our blessed Lord and teacher tells us in Mathew, (ehap. xii, 3^). *'That he that shall speak agiainst the Holy ris6ners of hope may be helped, relieved and freed from th^r purgatorial prison by our prayers, almsdeeds and- other gdod works, but chiefly by the holy sacrifice of the mass No doctrine of our holy re- hgion has more undeniable proofs of its antiquity than this al the duty of praying for the dead in Christ, and the benefits they derive from this holy practice. No proof of the existence of a middle state could be more convincing than this of the _unfailmg tradition and practice of the Church. Of what use without the existence of a middle state, could be prayers for the dead ? They could be of no use to the just in heaven, for as 8t. Augustme says, " he who prays for a martyr does in- jury to the martyr;" of none to the damned, for out of hell there is no redemption. Tertullian, who lived In the age next to that of the apostles, speak- ing of a pious wi^ow. says: "She prays for the soul of her husband, and begs refreshment for him." St. Cyprian, in / m 10 I'A8T0nAL LETTER. the following age, is, in several pages of his writings, a wit ness to this belief and practice of the (.'hurch in his day. As far -back as the fourth century, St. Cyril testifies that it was the custom to pray for those who had depart^ this life, be- lieving it to be a great assistance tp those sou's for whom prayers are offered while the holy and tremendous Hacrifice is going on." St. Chrvsostom, who nourished within three hundred years of the age of the apostles, writes as follows: " It was not without good reason ordained by the apositleft that mention should be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, because they knew well that these would receivt" great benefit from it." All the other great (christian writers and teachers of ari- . tiquity, down to St. Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, prove that the doctrine and practice of the Church in this important regard were the same then as now, and, therefore, that they are of apostolic authority, ajid warrant, according to the maxim of St. Augustine, •♦ that which "the universal Church holds, which has been always retained, and not insti- tuted by councils, is justly believed to have been not otherwise transmitted than by apostolic authority." (de Bapt. contra, don.) St. Augustine, who flourished in the fifth century, is most explicit on this subject. In one' of his sermons (s rm. clxxii,) he says : " Funeral pomp and a gorgeous mausoleum, without being of the least service to the dead, may, indeed, offer some kind of consolation to the living. But that which cannot be doiibted is that the prayers of the Church, the holy sacrifice, alms, bring them relief, and obtain for them a more merciful treatment than they deser^pd.^ The whole ihuich* imtructed by the traditions of the Fathers, takes care that at the part of the sacrifice in which the dead are mentioned, a prayer and an oblation are made for all those who have de- parted this life in the communion of the body of Jesus Christ." A most touching incident is related by this same great saint, which gives us a glimpse into the life and practice of the Church in his d^y. When his saintly mother Monica was •«:./ .1 I'ASrOIlAL LETTKIl. 11 (lying she said to him: " Lay this hody tinyWhore ; he noi; concerned ahout that ; only 1 hog of you that whcresoovor you he, yon raake remembrance of in e at the Lord's altar," and the saint goes on to tell how he fulfilled this re(|uest, and ho^<'; after her death, tliH " iloly Sacrifice of our Hansom" wasoffered for her, and how fervently he, continued to pray for her soul, • The constant and uidjroken tradition of praying for the dead, prevailing at nil times and in all countries, is,, wo lepeat, one of the htrongest, even if less dirt ct than other proofs, of the truth of th« «loctrine of the ( hurch as to the existence of a place of purgation and probation in the next life, 'riii.s practice of jiraying for- the dead pr+^supioses also the doctrine of the communion of saintr.. ' I'he < hurch Catholic in a living organism— it is the body of Christ. It exists in Iltaven in a triumphant stHte, on earth in a militant state, and in Purgatory in a suffering state. " As in (me body," says St. Paul in the Kpistlo to the Uomans, *• there are iriany meuibers, but all the members have not the same office, so we beinS: Aiany, an; one body in- Christ, and eaeh'one members one of another," The com- munion of saints is a great fact attested by tho revealed word oi'God, and embodied as an article ol laith in the Apostles' Creed. 'J'he Church is a vast society of the children of Christ, embracing the saints in Heaven, the suffering souls in Purgatory, and its members still detained in the flesh.. There is a bond of union, of sympathy, and of charity, bind- ing all these children of the ('hurch in one gi-eat family of God Death cannot separate these souls, nor raise up an impassible barrier dividing them, for Christ, who is our peace, hath brol-en down all the walls of partition which sin aad death had interimsed between God's children, and hath made both one ; that is, hath embraced and united the saints in Heaven, his children on earith, and his suffering prfeoners in Purgatory, into one body, which is PTis Church. And, as in the human body, all the memlvers are interdependent and I 1 \ ' 'i ( ^ lir 1 It * ; 'fe^'. t- ^ 12 PASTORAIi l.ETTRIl. rainister to each other's wants, and feel for each other's sul"- f^rings, and contril)utt) to the well-hem^» of the whole body, fio, in the Church of God, which is the body of Christ, the various merabers thereof do, by the divine appointment, and according to their position and the measure of their capacity, minister to each other's Bpirituar needs, interchange kindly and merciful offices, are bound togetlicr by thodil\' presence, hat he has not severed their immortal souls from . communion with us, nor from the graces aud mercies of Christ. "The souls of the faithful departed, "says St. Augus- tine,'" "are not separated from the Church, which is the Kingdom of Christ, for otherwise there would not he a coin memoration made of them at the Altar of God In the commn- niou of the hudy of Christ." The souls in Purgatory are in the Kingdom of Uiribt's infinite mercy and compassion, us ' well as of H»8 justice. Pray for them as Marhha prayed iw her dead brother, an«l obfained his return to Jifo. Bring them in faith and hopefulness before the mercy seat of our Lord, even as the widow of Nairn carried her dead son to Him, and he will have compassion on them, and will say : " 1 say to you arise." And the dead will hear the voice of Christ relea.sin-,' them from prison and from pain, and they will arise to the <;Qmpany of the just, to the citizenship of Heaven, to the home of God, where, in the words of holy writ, "they shall hv before the throne of Gbd and serve him day and night in his temple ; and He that sitteth 'on the throne shall dwell over them, and they shall not hunger nor thirat any more, neither shall the sun f.ili on them, nor any lieat, for the" lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall rule'them,^ind. shall leud them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God' shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Apoc. viic, 15, 6, 7, 10. i p Among the suffering souls there may be some whom wo are especially bound to aid. There may be some who have shared the joys of our past life, und some who have shared •■!» PASTORAL Letter. !. 15 i our sorrows. There may be some whom we have injured by our example, harshness or indulgence, and to whom, perhaps wo have even been th-^ immediate cau«*e or occasion of the sins' for which they are suflfering. There are some, mayhap, whose (loath occurred under such circumstances that wo have reason to fear that their sufferings are peculiarly terrible, and that their absence from God will endure long. Possibly, too, these suffenng -souls have during life been very near and dear to us. They may be our relatives, our brothers or sisters, our chil- dren, our fathers or our mothers. God loves them and desires their, speedy admission to heavenly happiness; yet He makes this depend on the amount of love we may manifest for them. He will not admit them to eternal glory, until our fervent prayers open to them the heavenly gates. That our works of charity, wherfeby w* relieve the poor on earth, performed for Christ, and raised in value by His merits, cancel many sins isattested in Holy S^riptur^ ; fq|y •* alms deliveretli from death, and the same is Ibat which purgeth away sins and inaketh to find mercy and life everlasting." (Tobias xii., 9.) If then 80 great a reward is promised to those who relieve the suffering on earth, will not the reward be proportionally greater, if by our good works we relieve from much more in- tense suffenng the souls in Purgatory ? 1st. In conclusion, then, we most strongly recommend to our Catholic people a special devotion for the relief of the souls in Purgatory. Let their prayers and good works, and especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass be frequently offered to God for this purpose. . -^ 2nd. For this end we exhort our people to recite the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, with their families, for the re- pose of the souls of the faithful departed. We may well imagine that those souls appeal to us constantly for the help that we can so readily afford to them. We may imagine them addressing us in the words of holy Job (xix. 21.) "Have pity on me, have^pity on me, you at least my friends, because the hand of the Lord'hath touched me." > 'AH| t .r^ Bfi . ... ; 1 ■ . $ iHli 1 «: '^^ms " H m '■■^ ■; ,im^l mm. m ■'■:-Sl I ¥ •« 10 PASTORAL. liKTTEU, ^ \ Jlrd. Wo (lesiio that tlio Church hell ho tollwl iifHi'Vou ', o'clock each ovtmin« during the month, to romind. the faithful of the sacred duty jof praying lor the departed. "Ly This pastoral shall he read in all the ChureheH lin.l t.'Ha^pefe of our diocese, and in the religious coniinunities, tlu' Siuiday after its rweption,. Given at St. Peter's I'alace, London, Ont., on the 2(;tli Ootoher. 1H8/). . ^Z ' JOHN WALSFf, '®. , ,..- li^\ofder of His Umlship, , ^Jiinhoi) of London. . ^, LAUREXCR DINPHY, ^ «^^„ Secreturv. ' /» - / ■ •>■'■ \ '/ ^; % -7 O" >i f.