44. Purgatory
The Church has expressly acknowledged the existence of purgatory as a truth that is revealed in Sacred Scripture and defined by the Magisterium.1 Moreover, she has always lived in accordance with this truth, teaching the need and efficacy of suffrages for the faithful departed.
10. Existence of Purgatory
Before entering heaven, every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated, every imperfection of the soul corrected. Purification must be complete. The Church calls purgatory the final purification of the souls of those who, having died in grace, have not fully paid the punishment for their pardoned mortal sins or their venial sins. This purification is completely different from the punishment of the damned. The term purgatory does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence. The separated souls, being spirits, do not properly occupy a place. In common language, however, purgatory is understood as a place for these souls.
The existence of purgatory has been clearly affirmed by the solemn Magisterium. Pope Innocent IV teaches that, in purgatory, “sins are truly purified by that temporal fire—not grievous or capital sins that have not first been remitted by penance, but small and slight sins that remain a burden after death.”2 The Profession of Faith of Michael Paleologus, presented to the Second Council of Lyons (1274), mentions “purgatorial … punishments” for those who have not satisfied the punishment of their sins.3 The constitution Benedictus Deus reminds us that souls can enter heaven only “after they have been purified after death.”4 Clement VI, in his letter Super Quibusdam (1351), affirms that “Purgatory … is the destination of the souls of those who die in grace, but have not yet done satisfaction for their sins by a complete penance.”5 Similarly, the bull Laetentur Coeli of the Council of Florence (1439) points out again the necessity of purification after death.6 In his bull Exsurge Domine (1520), Leo X condemns Luther’s denial of purgatory.7 Canon 30 of the Council of Trent’s decree De Iustificatione (1574) states that the repented sinner who has not yet paid the debt of temporal punishment must go to purgatory “before the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven can be opened” for him.8
The Magisterium’s affirmation that purgatory exists rests on Sacred Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. There is no need for the Scriptures to use the word purgatory; it is enough that the idea of purgatory be sufficiently and clearly described in the Scriptures and in Sacred Tradition.
The Old Testament praises Judas Maccabee for having offered suffrages for the dead (cf. 2 Mac 12:39ff.). It is obvious that such persons had died without mortal sin, but are still suffering for their sins. Their situation is neither beatitude nor damnation, since the suffrages would be useless for souls in any of these states.
The New Testament is more explicit. Authors usually cite passages such as Matthew 12:31–32, Luke 12:47–48, 1 Peter 1:7, and 2 Timothy 1:16. The most explicit text is 1 Corinthians 3:10–15, where two “fires” are mentioned: one “fire” to examine the good or evil of men’s deeds, and the other to purify some before they are saved.9 The first “fire” clearly refers to the particular judgment, the latter to purgatory.
Sacred Tradition offers countless witnesses to the need of purification for some after death.10
Even more eloquent is the testimony of the funeral liturgy—particularly of the Eucharistic sacrifice11 that is offered for the deceased—and of the Christians’ frequent prayers for the faithful departed.
The weight of these testimonies—both of the Fathers and of the very life of the Church ever since the beginning—made Calvin complain that “this custom of praying for the dead was introduced in the Church thirteen hundred years ago. All of the ancients were led into error.”12 No comment is needed: The infallible Church has upheld the truth.
St. Thomas tackles the matter from different angles. First, forgiven mortal sins have been pardoned as regards the guilt, but not necessarily as regards the totality of the temporal punishment. Justice demands a proportionate punishment to repair the order that is damaged by sin. Thus, it is reasonable that those who have not fully paid the debt due to sin be purified after death by undergoing a punishment.13 Second, the soul cannot be elevated to the beatific vision if it is not totally purified. Since such purification is not always accomplished in this life, it is logical that it should take place after death and before entering heaven.14 St. Thomas is quite explicit: “Those who deny purgatory speak against the justice of God.… Such a statement is erroneous and contrary to Faith.”15
11. The Nature of Purgatory
The Church has not said that purgatory is a place; she has pointed out that purgatory is a state, a process of purification.16 She has said that purgatorial punishments do exist, but has not specified the nature or the characteristics of such torments.
It is common doctrine among theologians that there is a distinction between two basic forms of punishment. These are called pain of loss and pain of sense by analogy with those of hell.
St. Thomas categorically affirms that the pain of loss is a delay in the vision of God.17 Others speak about the punishment of postponement of glory, which is just the same. The basic nature of this pain seems to consist in a certain delay in entering heaven. We should stress that the expression “pain of loss” is used here in an analogical and improper sense, very different from hell’s pain of loss—the complete and definitive separation from God, as we will see later on.
The souls in purgatory are not farther from God than we are on earth. Unlike us, they are completely sure of beholding God in the future. What constitutes their punishment is the delay in seeing him.
Therefore, in purgatory, there is joy and pain at the same time. There is pain because the souls that are retained there long for the vision of God and are prevented from reaching it. Their desire to be with the Lord is no longer weakened by material occupations and realities. The souls of purgatory are not interested in created goods any more, but only in the Lord of all creation, the only good that is capable of satisfying them. Besides, their desire to possess God is extremely intense, because they know that they are destined to eternal happiness. But they cannot enjoy God until they totally expiate their faults and the punishment of their sins. They also know perfectly that the blame is exclusively theirs. They could have entered heaven earlier if, while still on earth, they had avoided venial sin, striven to do the will of God, and accepted with joy the trials and sufferings of life, which are a preparation for heaven.
The more saintly a soul is, the greater its suffering, since it longs more intensely for the beatific vision. But that greater severity of pain is offset by a more perfect abandonment to the divine will and a fuller surrender to the execution of the divine justice.
However, there is also joy in purgatory, because the souls that are retained there know that they are destined for eternal happiness in paradise. They are consoled by the angels. They are helped by the suffrages of the Church and the prayers of the Virgin and the saints. Purgatory is not a mollified hell, but the antechamber of heaven.
The pain of sense, on the other hand, is referred to in several documents of the Magisterium as fire. This expression suggests a purifying form of suffering, different from the pain of loss. Thus, the letter Super Quibusdam of Clement VI speaks about the souls of purgatory as being tormented temporarily with fire.18 The First Council of Lyons mentions a “temporal fire” that purifies the souls of purgatory.19 It seems that the Magisterium did not want to mediate in the dispute that had arisen between the Greek and Latin Fathers about the nature of this fire. The former claimed that it is not easy to understand how a material fire can harm a spiritual soul.
We can say, however, that purgatory’s pain of sense “will be more severe than anything man can suffer here in this life.”20 It seems more probable that it is a real fire as the Latin Fathers and most theologians think. “This fire works on the soul not by its own power, but as an instrument of divine Justice, just as baptismal water produces grace in our souls by virtue of God’s power.… This fire’s way of operating is mysterious.”21 According to St. Thomas, “the corporeal fire is enabled as the instrument of … divine Justice thus to detain a spirit; and thus it has a penal effect on it, by hindering it from fulfilling its own will, that is by hindering it from acting where it will and as it will.”22 The soul suffers this punishment for having taken creatures as its end instead of directing everything to the glory of God.
12. Properties of the Pains of Purgatory
The purpose of the punishments in purgatory is to cleanse the soul so that it can reach the total purity that is required to enjoy the beatific vision.
The pains of purgatory represent, therefore, the payment of the debt of temporal punishments that is due to both venial and already forgiven mortal sins. Properly speaking, this atonement does not have any satisfactory value, which would require a free and spontaneous offering of the punishment. Neither does it have meritorious value, since the time for merit will have ended with death. Theologians usually describe these pains as satispassion: The souls gladly accept the purifying punishment, but do not seek the pain; they just passively endure it. We can say that they want to be freed from it as soon as possible.23
Regarding the intensity of the pains, we should keep in mind that the souls in purgatory ardently want to see God. The suffering caused by the delay is proportional to the strength of the desire. The pains are therefore unequal. Not all souls in purgatory suffer in the same degree, neither in duration nor in severity of the pains. “Severity of punishment corresponds properly speaking to the amount of guilt: whereas the length corresponds to the firmness with which sin has taken root in its subject. Hence it may happen that one may be delayed longer who is tormented less, and vice versa.”24 And thus, a soul that is stained with grave sins in moments of weakness, after suffering with great intensity, may leave purgatory ahead of another soul that, without having seriously offended God, lived in tepidity, despising the calls of grace to a life of greater self-surrender, and not giving importance to venial sins.
When we use the terms duration or temporal in connection with the pains of purgatory, we should not forget that, for the separated souls, time or duration is not the same as what we experience here on earth. These terms are applied to them by analogy.
But it is worth recalling that purgatory is not a sad “place”; it is rather the opposite, in spite of the pains. Although the souls in purgatory suffer incomparably more pain than one can experience on earth, their joys and consolations are beyond description. They are certain of salvation, totally identified with God’s will, happy to be purified, constantly comforted as they approach the end of their punishment, and they enjoy the special spiritual help of the Blessed Virgin and the angels.
Furthermore, the pains of purgatory can be reduced through the suffrages that we offer. We have already mentioned, as a proof of the Church’s doctrine on purgatory, the existence—since time immemorial—of the liturgy for the dead. The Church has insistently praised and defended it. Actually, a great part of the Magisterium documents that are cited here were issued, in the course of the centuries, as a defense of suffrages for the dead. We can mention the Second Council of Lyons, the Council of Florence, the Council of Trent, and the apostolic constitution Indulgentiarum Doctrina of Pope Paul VI.25
Sacred Tradition has always upheld this teaching, as the Fathers and the life of the Church attest. The latter offers many testimonies in the liturgy, funeral inscriptions, and monuments. This doctrine has always been taught together with the dogma of the communion of saints.26
Prayers for the dead have always been considered as a pious duty and as a work of mercy.27 It is a requirement of charity, since we have to wish the good of others. It is an obligation of piety toward members of the same natural or supernatural family. And it is also an obligation of justice, since some souls may be detained in purgatory partly through our fault because of our sins of commission or omission.
Among the different ways of helping the souls of purgatory, the most important is the sacrifice of the Mass. On All Soul’s Day, all the priests of the Church offer Mass for the souls in purgatory. On many other occasions, the Mass may be applied for that intention as well. The application of indulgences for the dead is a common practice, as well as giving alms in their memory, or offering up sacrifices and penance on their behalf.
It is also good to remember that, by virtue of the communion of saints, the souls in purgatory can help us greatly with their intercession. The Church does not invoke them in the liturgy, but the custom of invoking them privately is widespread in the Church. This Christian practice has never been forbidden. On the contrary, some prayers asking for their help have even been enriched with indulgences.
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 1030–1032.
2. DS 838.
3. DS 856.
4. DS 1000.
5. DS 1066–1067.
6. Cf. DS 1304.
7. Cf. DS 1487.
8. DS 1580.
9. Cf. St Augustine, Enarr. In. Ps., 37.3; St. Thomas Aquinas, Super Ep. I ad Cor., 3.2.
10. Cf. Tertullian, De Corona, 3.8; St. Basil, Hom. in. Ps., 7.2; St. John Chrysostom, In Philip. Hom., 3. 4; St. Ambrose, Epist., 39.4; St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermo. 104.2; St. Isidore of Seville, De Eccles. Off., 1.18.11 and many others.
11. Cf. DS 856.
12. John Calvin, Inst. Christ., 1.3.5.10.
13. Cf. ST, Suppl. app. 2, a. 1.
14. Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 4.91.
15. ST, Suppl. app. 2, a. 1.
16. Cf. CCC, 1031.
17. Cf. ST, Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 1.
18. Cf. DS 1048.
19. DS 838.
20. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 37., 3; cf. ST, Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 1.
21. R. Garrigou-Lagrange, Life Everlasting, 248–249.
22. Cf. ST, Suppl. q. 70, a. 3; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 4. 90.
23. Cf. ST, Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 1.
24. Ibid., Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 6.
25. Cf. DS 856, 1304, 1753.
26. Cf. LG, 49–50.
27. Cf. CCC, 958.
10. Existence of Purgatory
Before entering heaven, every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated, every imperfection of the soul corrected. Purification must be complete. The Church calls purgatory the final purification of the souls of those who, having died in grace, have not fully paid the punishment for their pardoned mortal sins or their venial sins. This purification is completely different from the punishment of the damned. The term purgatory does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence. The separated souls, being spirits, do not properly occupy a place. In common language, however, purgatory is understood as a place for these souls.
The existence of purgatory has been clearly affirmed by the solemn Magisterium. Pope Innocent IV teaches that, in purgatory, “sins are truly purified by that temporal fire—not grievous or capital sins that have not first been remitted by penance, but small and slight sins that remain a burden after death.”2 The Profession of Faith of Michael Paleologus, presented to the Second Council of Lyons (1274), mentions “purgatorial … punishments” for those who have not satisfied the punishment of their sins.3 The constitution Benedictus Deus reminds us that souls can enter heaven only “after they have been purified after death.”4 Clement VI, in his letter Super Quibusdam (1351), affirms that “Purgatory … is the destination of the souls of those who die in grace, but have not yet done satisfaction for their sins by a complete penance.”5 Similarly, the bull Laetentur Coeli of the Council of Florence (1439) points out again the necessity of purification after death.6 In his bull Exsurge Domine (1520), Leo X condemns Luther’s denial of purgatory.7 Canon 30 of the Council of Trent’s decree De Iustificatione (1574) states that the repented sinner who has not yet paid the debt of temporal punishment must go to purgatory “before the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven can be opened” for him.8
The Magisterium’s affirmation that purgatory exists rests on Sacred Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. There is no need for the Scriptures to use the word purgatory; it is enough that the idea of purgatory be sufficiently and clearly described in the Scriptures and in Sacred Tradition.
The Old Testament praises Judas Maccabee for having offered suffrages for the dead (cf. 2 Mac 12:39ff.). It is obvious that such persons had died without mortal sin, but are still suffering for their sins. Their situation is neither beatitude nor damnation, since the suffrages would be useless for souls in any of these states.
The New Testament is more explicit. Authors usually cite passages such as Matthew 12:31–32, Luke 12:47–48, 1 Peter 1:7, and 2 Timothy 1:16. The most explicit text is 1 Corinthians 3:10–15, where two “fires” are mentioned: one “fire” to examine the good or evil of men’s deeds, and the other to purify some before they are saved.9 The first “fire” clearly refers to the particular judgment, the latter to purgatory.
Sacred Tradition offers countless witnesses to the need of purification for some after death.10
Even more eloquent is the testimony of the funeral liturgy—particularly of the Eucharistic sacrifice11 that is offered for the deceased—and of the Christians’ frequent prayers for the faithful departed.
The weight of these testimonies—both of the Fathers and of the very life of the Church ever since the beginning—made Calvin complain that “this custom of praying for the dead was introduced in the Church thirteen hundred years ago. All of the ancients were led into error.”12 No comment is needed: The infallible Church has upheld the truth.
St. Thomas tackles the matter from different angles. First, forgiven mortal sins have been pardoned as regards the guilt, but not necessarily as regards the totality of the temporal punishment. Justice demands a proportionate punishment to repair the order that is damaged by sin. Thus, it is reasonable that those who have not fully paid the debt due to sin be purified after death by undergoing a punishment.13 Second, the soul cannot be elevated to the beatific vision if it is not totally purified. Since such purification is not always accomplished in this life, it is logical that it should take place after death and before entering heaven.14 St. Thomas is quite explicit: “Those who deny purgatory speak against the justice of God.… Such a statement is erroneous and contrary to Faith.”15
11. The Nature of Purgatory
The Church has not said that purgatory is a place; she has pointed out that purgatory is a state, a process of purification.16 She has said that purgatorial punishments do exist, but has not specified the nature or the characteristics of such torments.
It is common doctrine among theologians that there is a distinction between two basic forms of punishment. These are called pain of loss and pain of sense by analogy with those of hell.
St. Thomas categorically affirms that the pain of loss is a delay in the vision of God.17 Others speak about the punishment of postponement of glory, which is just the same. The basic nature of this pain seems to consist in a certain delay in entering heaven. We should stress that the expression “pain of loss” is used here in an analogical and improper sense, very different from hell’s pain of loss—the complete and definitive separation from God, as we will see later on.
The souls in purgatory are not farther from God than we are on earth. Unlike us, they are completely sure of beholding God in the future. What constitutes their punishment is the delay in seeing him.
Therefore, in purgatory, there is joy and pain at the same time. There is pain because the souls that are retained there long for the vision of God and are prevented from reaching it. Their desire to be with the Lord is no longer weakened by material occupations and realities. The souls of purgatory are not interested in created goods any more, but only in the Lord of all creation, the only good that is capable of satisfying them. Besides, their desire to possess God is extremely intense, because they know that they are destined to eternal happiness. But they cannot enjoy God until they totally expiate their faults and the punishment of their sins. They also know perfectly that the blame is exclusively theirs. They could have entered heaven earlier if, while still on earth, they had avoided venial sin, striven to do the will of God, and accepted with joy the trials and sufferings of life, which are a preparation for heaven.
The more saintly a soul is, the greater its suffering, since it longs more intensely for the beatific vision. But that greater severity of pain is offset by a more perfect abandonment to the divine will and a fuller surrender to the execution of the divine justice.
However, there is also joy in purgatory, because the souls that are retained there know that they are destined for eternal happiness in paradise. They are consoled by the angels. They are helped by the suffrages of the Church and the prayers of the Virgin and the saints. Purgatory is not a mollified hell, but the antechamber of heaven.
The pain of sense, on the other hand, is referred to in several documents of the Magisterium as fire. This expression suggests a purifying form of suffering, different from the pain of loss. Thus, the letter Super Quibusdam of Clement VI speaks about the souls of purgatory as being tormented temporarily with fire.18 The First Council of Lyons mentions a “temporal fire” that purifies the souls of purgatory.19 It seems that the Magisterium did not want to mediate in the dispute that had arisen between the Greek and Latin Fathers about the nature of this fire. The former claimed that it is not easy to understand how a material fire can harm a spiritual soul.
We can say, however, that purgatory’s pain of sense “will be more severe than anything man can suffer here in this life.”20 It seems more probable that it is a real fire as the Latin Fathers and most theologians think. “This fire works on the soul not by its own power, but as an instrument of divine Justice, just as baptismal water produces grace in our souls by virtue of God’s power.… This fire’s way of operating is mysterious.”21 According to St. Thomas, “the corporeal fire is enabled as the instrument of … divine Justice thus to detain a spirit; and thus it has a penal effect on it, by hindering it from fulfilling its own will, that is by hindering it from acting where it will and as it will.”22 The soul suffers this punishment for having taken creatures as its end instead of directing everything to the glory of God.
12. Properties of the Pains of Purgatory
The purpose of the punishments in purgatory is to cleanse the soul so that it can reach the total purity that is required to enjoy the beatific vision.
The pains of purgatory represent, therefore, the payment of the debt of temporal punishments that is due to both venial and already forgiven mortal sins. Properly speaking, this atonement does not have any satisfactory value, which would require a free and spontaneous offering of the punishment. Neither does it have meritorious value, since the time for merit will have ended with death. Theologians usually describe these pains as satispassion: The souls gladly accept the purifying punishment, but do not seek the pain; they just passively endure it. We can say that they want to be freed from it as soon as possible.23
Regarding the intensity of the pains, we should keep in mind that the souls in purgatory ardently want to see God. The suffering caused by the delay is proportional to the strength of the desire. The pains are therefore unequal. Not all souls in purgatory suffer in the same degree, neither in duration nor in severity of the pains. “Severity of punishment corresponds properly speaking to the amount of guilt: whereas the length corresponds to the firmness with which sin has taken root in its subject. Hence it may happen that one may be delayed longer who is tormented less, and vice versa.”24 And thus, a soul that is stained with grave sins in moments of weakness, after suffering with great intensity, may leave purgatory ahead of another soul that, without having seriously offended God, lived in tepidity, despising the calls of grace to a life of greater self-surrender, and not giving importance to venial sins.
When we use the terms duration or temporal in connection with the pains of purgatory, we should not forget that, for the separated souls, time or duration is not the same as what we experience here on earth. These terms are applied to them by analogy.
But it is worth recalling that purgatory is not a sad “place”; it is rather the opposite, in spite of the pains. Although the souls in purgatory suffer incomparably more pain than one can experience on earth, their joys and consolations are beyond description. They are certain of salvation, totally identified with God’s will, happy to be purified, constantly comforted as they approach the end of their punishment, and they enjoy the special spiritual help of the Blessed Virgin and the angels.
Furthermore, the pains of purgatory can be reduced through the suffrages that we offer. We have already mentioned, as a proof of the Church’s doctrine on purgatory, the existence—since time immemorial—of the liturgy for the dead. The Church has insistently praised and defended it. Actually, a great part of the Magisterium documents that are cited here were issued, in the course of the centuries, as a defense of suffrages for the dead. We can mention the Second Council of Lyons, the Council of Florence, the Council of Trent, and the apostolic constitution Indulgentiarum Doctrina of Pope Paul VI.25
Sacred Tradition has always upheld this teaching, as the Fathers and the life of the Church attest. The latter offers many testimonies in the liturgy, funeral inscriptions, and monuments. This doctrine has always been taught together with the dogma of the communion of saints.26
Prayers for the dead have always been considered as a pious duty and as a work of mercy.27 It is a requirement of charity, since we have to wish the good of others. It is an obligation of piety toward members of the same natural or supernatural family. And it is also an obligation of justice, since some souls may be detained in purgatory partly through our fault because of our sins of commission or omission.
Among the different ways of helping the souls of purgatory, the most important is the sacrifice of the Mass. On All Soul’s Day, all the priests of the Church offer Mass for the souls in purgatory. On many other occasions, the Mass may be applied for that intention as well. The application of indulgences for the dead is a common practice, as well as giving alms in their memory, or offering up sacrifices and penance on their behalf.
It is also good to remember that, by virtue of the communion of saints, the souls in purgatory can help us greatly with their intercession. The Church does not invoke them in the liturgy, but the custom of invoking them privately is widespread in the Church. This Christian practice has never been forbidden. On the contrary, some prayers asking for their help have even been enriched with indulgences.
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 1030–1032.
2. DS 838.
3. DS 856.
4. DS 1000.
5. DS 1066–1067.
6. Cf. DS 1304.
7. Cf. DS 1487.
8. DS 1580.
9. Cf. St Augustine, Enarr. In. Ps., 37.3; St. Thomas Aquinas, Super Ep. I ad Cor., 3.2.
10. Cf. Tertullian, De Corona, 3.8; St. Basil, Hom. in. Ps., 7.2; St. John Chrysostom, In Philip. Hom., 3. 4; St. Ambrose, Epist., 39.4; St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermo. 104.2; St. Isidore of Seville, De Eccles. Off., 1.18.11 and many others.
11. Cf. DS 856.
12. John Calvin, Inst. Christ., 1.3.5.10.
13. Cf. ST, Suppl. app. 2, a. 1.
14. Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 4.91.
15. ST, Suppl. app. 2, a. 1.
16. Cf. CCC, 1031.
17. Cf. ST, Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 1.
18. Cf. DS 1048.
19. DS 838.
20. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 37., 3; cf. ST, Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 1.
21. R. Garrigou-Lagrange, Life Everlasting, 248–249.
22. Cf. ST, Suppl. q. 70, a. 3; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 4. 90.
23. Cf. ST, Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 1.
24. Ibid., Suppl. app. 1, q. 2, a. 6.
25. Cf. DS 856, 1304, 1753.
26. Cf. LG, 49–50.
27. Cf. CCC, 958.