FROM THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH
THE PAINS OF PURGATORY
From the revelations of the saints we understand that there are different degrees of pain and suffering in Purgatory. We could have no better guide than that of Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi. Among all the saints canonised by the Church, she is the one who, after Saint Frances of Rome, has left us the most detailed and the most exact description of Purgatory.
One evening, as she was walking in the garden of the Convent, she was suddenly taken away in spirit and she was heard to say: "Yes, I will walk around it; I will walk around it! " With these words she consented to her Guardian Angel's request to visit Purgatory. Once the ecstasy was over, she wrote her account about it.

Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi witnessed the intensity of the suffering in Purgatory and visited the different places where the souls are imprisoned. There was an abyss filled with tormented Priests and religious, another place which was not so severe held the souls of children and those who were guilty through ignorance. She saw souls being pricked by the points of very sharp needles and almost torn to shreds..these were the souls of those who had tried to please others during their lives and so had been hypocrites. Further on were observed the souls of the impatient and disobedient..they were being crushed under enormous weights. To her horror she witnessed a group of souls having molten lead poured into their mouths while at the same time having their bodies immersed in a pool of ice. These souls, who were burning and freezing at the same time, belonged to those who were liars. The avaricious were being liquefied with lead whilst the souls of the ambitious suffered excruciating pain in darkness. The hard-hearted and ungrateful to God were immersed in a lake of of molten lead as punishment for allowing the source of Grace to remain sterile through their ingratitude. Finally she visited the prison of those who during their lives held no great vices but they suffered also, but to a lesser degree than the others, all the castigation of all those lesser vices which they had.

After two extremely painful hours Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi returned to herself, physically weak and in a state of moral prostration.....requiring several days to recover.
The body of Saint Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi remains incorrupt after several hundred years.
“The Church, to which Jesus Christ promised the presence of the Holy Ghost and which therefore cannot be in error or mislead us, clearly teaches us the existence of Purgatory.  It is then certain that there exists a place where the souls of the just complete the expiation of their sins before they are admitted to the joys of heaven.--From Writings of Saint John Vianney Curé d'Ars.
How right are they who say that the memory of the dead fades with the notes of the passing bell.  Suffer, poor souls; in vain do you weep in the fire lit by God's justice.  No one is listening to you, no one will bring you succor.
Yet how quickly we could empty purgatory if we but really wished to.
For Forgotten Souls in Purgatory
My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine agony in the Garden, in Thy scourging and crowning with thorns, in the way to Calvary, in Thy crucifixion and death, have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those most forsaken:  do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to thy most sweet embrace in paradise.
Our Father....,  Hail Mary...., and Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and the Perpetual light shine upon them.
(An indulgence of 5600 days.)

Prayer to avoid purgatory
Most merciful Jesus, for Thy dolorous Passion and for the love thou dost bear me, I pray Thee to forgive me the punishments I have merited with my sins. Grant me, therefore, spirit of penance, prudence of conscience, flight from every deliberate venial sin, the dispositions necessary to gain indulgences. I promise to give suffrage as much as I can to the souls in purgatory, and, as soon as my soul is freed from the bonds of my body, do Thou O infinite Goodness, admit it to the Eternal Vision and joy in Heaven.
Mary and the Souls in Purgatory (I): What is Purgatory?
November 1st - All Saints Day - OUR LADY OF THE PALM (1755, Cadiz, Spain)
The Holy Church of God, considered in its totality, is composed of three parts: the Church militant, the Church triumphant, and the Church suffering, or purgatory. This triple Church constitutes the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and the souls in purgatory are no less her members than the faithful on earth and the elect in heaven.  In the Gospel, the Church is ordinarily called the Kingdom of God; purgatory, just like heaven and the Church on earth, is a province of that vast Kingdom. The three sister-Churches have between them an incessant exchange, a continual communication, called Communion of Saints. These relationships have no other object than to lead souls to glory, the final term toward which all the elect tend.

The word purgatory means sometimes a place, sometimes a state half-way between hell and heaven. It is, properly speaking, the situation of the souls who, at the time of death, find themselves in a state of grace, but haven't completely expiated their faults or attained the degree of purity necessary to enjoy the vision of God.  Purgatory is therefore a temporary state, which ends in the beatific life.  The Church teaches two things about purgatory, truths that are clearly defined as dogmas of faith: first, that there is a purgatory; secondly, that the souls in purgatory can be helped by the petitions of the faithful, especially by the holy sacrifice of the Mass. --  Rev. Fr. François-Xavier Schouppe, s.j. The Dogma of Purgatory
Illustrated by Facts and Private Revelations
INDULGENCES see here from the Vatican:  FOR THE DEAD
The aim pursued by ecclesiastical authority in granting indulgences is not only that of helping the faithful to expiate the punishment due sin but also that of urging them to perform works of piety, penitence and charity—particularly those which lead to growth in faith and which favor the common good.(39)
And if the faithful offer indulgences in suffrage for the dead, they cultivate charity in an excellent
way and while raising their minds to heaven, they bring a wiser order into the things of this world.
The Magisterium of the Church has defended and illustrated this doctrine in various documents.  Unfortunately, the practice of indulgences has at times been improperly used either through “untimely and superfluous indulgences by which the power of the keys was humiliated and penitential satisfaction weakened, or through the collection of illicit profits by which indulgences were blasphemously defamed. But the Church, in deploring and correcting these improper uses teaches and establishes that the use of indulgences must be preserved because it is supremely salutary for the Christian people and authoritatively approved by the sacred councils; and it condemns with anathema those who maintain the uselessness of indulgences or deny the power of the Church to grant them.
 The Church also in our days then invites all its sons to ponder and meditate well
on how the use of indulgences benefits their lives and indeed all Christian society.
    To recall briefly the most important considerations, this salutary practice teaches us in the first place how it is sad and bitter to have abandoned...the Lord God. Indeed the faithful when they acquire indulgences understand that by their own powers they could not remedy the harm they have done to themselves and to the entire community by their sin, and they are therefore stirred to a salutary humility.
   Furthermore, the use of indulgences shows us how closely we are united to each other in Christ, and how the supernatural life of each can benefit others so that these also may be more easily and more closely united with the Father. Therefore the use of indulgences effectively influences charity in us and demonstrates that charity in an outstanding manner when we offer indulgences as assistance to our brothers who rest in Christ.

Mary and the Souls in Purgatory (III): The Rust of Sin November 3 - OUR LADY OF RENNES (France, 1451)
    I don't believe there can be found a comparable contentment to that of a soul in purgatory, if you except the saints that are in heaven. Each day this contentment increases through God's action in those souls, and this action keeps augmenting at the same time as all that impedes this divine action burns away. This impediment is the rust of sin. Fire slowly consumes this rust and thus the soul exposes itself more and more to the divine influx.
    Just like an object shrouded by something cannot respond to the radiance of the sun - not because the sun is insufficient since it keeps on shining but because of the impediment caused by what is wrapping the object. If the obstacle that acts as a screen is burnt away, the object will expose itself to the action of the sun; it will experience this action in proportion to the diminution of the obstacle. Thus the rust of sin is what shrouds the soul.
In purgatory this rust is consumed by fire. The more it is consumed, the more the soul exposes itself to the true sun which is God. Its joy increases as the rust disappears and the soul is exposed to the divine ray of sun. Thus the one increases and the other diminishes until the time is accomplished. Suffering isn't what diminishes, only the time to spend in that pain becomes shorter.
The souls that are in purgatory find themselves without the guilt of sin. Consequently, there is no obstacle between God and them besides this suffering that hinders them and consists in that their beatific instinct hasn't reached its full perfection.
Saint Catherine of Genoa  Treatise on Purgatory
Luke 12  versus 54-59 MT 116:2-3 and 5:25-26:  septuagent (Greek translation of the old testament writings)
He said again to the crowds, “When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does.  And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is.  Hypocrites!  You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky.  How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?
“ Why not judge for yourselves what is right?  For example; when you go to court with your opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you thrown into prison.  I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny."
420 A long time after his death, Saint Severin, Archbishop of Cologne {420 St. Severinus Bishop of BORDEAUX; distinguished himself by his zeal against Arianism;
Burdígalæ sancti Severíni, Epíscopi Coloniénsis et Confessóris.
    At Bordeaux, St. Severin, bishop of Cologne and confessor.  Feast Day Oct 23},
appeared to a friend and told him that he had been in purgatory for having postponed until evening a prayer that he should have said in the morning.
How many years in purgatory await those Christians who find it easy to postpone their prayers on the excuse that they have a lot of work to do! If we sincerely desired the joy of possessing Go we would avoid the little faults as well as the great ones, since separation from God is such a fearful torture for these poor souls.
Saints' Prayers for Souls in Purgatory  700 St. Drithelm died, experienced vision heaven, hell, purgatory
LINK knocknovena.com Purgatory
Catechism 1030-32 Saint Catherine of Genoa wrote extensively on purgatory
1510 St. Catherine (Caterinetta) of Genoa, Widow; He who purifies himself from his faults in the present life, satisfies with a penny a debt of a thousand ducats; and he who waits until the other life to discharge his debts, consents to pay a thousand ducats for that which he might before have paid with a penny.
Saint Catherine, Treatise on purgatory. (RM)
Maccabees 1
Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi.  Among all the saints canonised by the Church, she is the one who, after Saint Frances of Rome, has left us the most detailed and the most exact description of Purgatory
Saint Theresa of Calcutta
Padre Pio Eucharistic
Prayers

Psalm 129 (De Profundis, Psalmus CXXIX)
1072 Saint Peter Damian {(born 1007, Ravenna—died Feb. 22, 1072, Faenze; feast day February 21) Italian cardinal and Doctor of the Church.} tells that his sister remained in purgatory several years for having once listened to a dirty song with a certain amount of pleasure.
1250 St. Aleydis or Adelaide, Virgin born at Shaerbeck, Brussels; Cistercian convent at 7 named Camera Sanctae Mariae, remained there for the rest of her life offered sufferings for souls in purgatory
  visions of their being set free through her intercession
1280 St. Albert the Great Patron of Scientists a Church great intellect  very learned in biblical studies and theology
1280 Remember that Albert the Great {St Albert the Great--1207-1280 Feast day Nov 15}, whose virtue shone with such extraordinary brilliance, said about that.  One day he told one of his friends that God had sent him to purgatory for having felt just a little conceited about his learning.
And what is even more astonishing is that some of the saints, even canonized ones, have been through purgatory.
1302 St. Gertrude Virgin Nov 16 Patroness of the West Indies 
Our Lord wishes people to pray for the souls in purgatory. He once showed Gertrude a table of gold on which were many costly pearls. The pearls were prayers for the holy souls. At the same time the saint had a vision of souls freed from suffering and ascending in the form of bright sparks to heaven.
In one favorite passage, Our Lord tells Gertrude that he longs for someone to ask Him to release souls from purgatory, just as a king who imprisons a friend for justice's sake hopes that someone will beg for mercy for his friend. Jesus ends with: I accept with highest pleasure what is offered to Me for the poor souls, for I long inexpressibly to have near Me those for whom I paid so great a price. By the prayers of thy loving soul, I am induced to free a prisoner from purgatory as often as thou dost move thy tongue to utter a word of prayer.
1305 Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Patron of Holy Souls in Purgatory,
and, with St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church hundreds of miracles.
Born, 1245
1433 St. Lydwine heroically accepted plight as will of God offered her sufferings for humanity's sins Jesus Christ confided in her She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and the stigmata.  Patron of sickness & skaters
1440 St. Frances of Rome great mystic; remarckable charity to poor, zeal for souls; gift of miracles, ecstasy, bodily
        vision of her guardian angel, revelations concerning purgatory and hell
1440 St. Frances of Rome  Huge article here  Saint_of_the_DayMarch09.html#1440_St._Frances_of_Rome
1510 St. Catherine (Caterinetta) of Genoa, {September 14 feast day} Widow; blood from her stigmata gave off exceptional heat; He who purifies himself from his faults in the present life, satisfies with a penny a debt of a thousand ducats; and he who waits until the other life to discharge his debts, consents to pay a thousand ducats for that which he might before have paid with a penny. Saint Catherine, Treatise on purgatory. (RM)
We should not wish for anything but what comes to us from moment to moment, Saint Catherine told her spiritual children, exercising ourselves none the less for good. For he who would not thus exercise himself, and await what God sends, would tempt God. When we have done what good we can, let us accept all that happens to us by Our Lord's ordinance, and let us unite ourselves to it by our will. Who tastes what it is to rest in union with God will seem to himself to have won to Paradise even in this life.
 http://www.cfpeople.org/Apologetics/page51a013.html#fn1
1563 THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
Session XXV - which is the ninth and last under the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IV, begun on the third and closed on the fourth day of December, 1563 affirmed this purgatory state insisted that prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.
Decree Concerning Purgatory
Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, following the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils and very recently in this ecumenical council that there is a purgatory, and that the souls there detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful and chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy council commands the bishops that they strive diligently to the end that the sound doctrine of purgatory, transmitted by the Fathers and sacred councils, be believed and maintained by the faithful of Christ, and be everywhere taught and preached.

The more difficult and subtle questions, however, and those that do not make for edification and from which there is for the most part no increase in piety, are to be excluded from popular instructions to uneducated people.
Likewise, things that are uncertain or that have the appearance of falsehood they shall not permit to be made known publicly and discussed. But those things that tend to a certain kind of curiosity or superstition, or that savor of filthy lucre, they shall prohibit as scandals and stumbling-blocks to the faithful. The bishops shall see to it that the suffrages of the living, that is, the sacrifice of the mass, prayers, alms and other works of piety which they have been acc
ustomed to perform for the faithful departed, be piously and devoutly discharged in accordance with the laws of the Church, and that whatever is due on their behalf from testamentary bequests or other ways, be discharged by the priests and ministers of the Church and others who are bound to render this service not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately.
1645 Saint John Masias Marvelous Dominican Gatekeeper of Lima, Peru
 truly a "child of God."
saint of simplicity charity levitated; Many miracles were attributed; saved souls in Purgatory
The Pains of Purgatory
St Mary Magdalene Dei Pazzi

raccolta_contents
Raccolta For The Departed Faithful
Heroic Act Of Charity
1938 Sister Faustina Divine Mercy of my soul paragraph 20 She helps souls in Purgatory get out  IF they have been dedicated to her

700 St. Drithelm died, experienced vision heaven hell purgatory
A wealthy man of Northumbria, England, who supposedly died, experienced a powerful vision of heaven, hell, and purgatory, and then was found to be alive. He divided his possessions among his wife and children and made benefices for the poor before becoming a monk at Melrose Abbey. He lived as a hermit there with great austerities. St. Bede gives an account of his life
.
1305 Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Patron of Holy Souls in Purgatory, and, with St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church hundreds of miracles. Born, 1245

Italian Augustinian monk with visions of Purgatory, miracle-worker, resurrected over 100 children, Patron of Holy Souls in Purgatory, and, with St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. The two arms incorrupt.
His middle-aged parents, were childless until a prayerful visit to a shrine of the original Saint Nicholas at Bari, Italy. In gratitude, they named their son Nicholas.

Augustinian Friar at age 18, and a student with Blessed Angelus de Scarpetti. Monk at Recanati and Macerata. Ordained at age 25. Canon of Saint Saviour's. Had visions of angels reciting "to Tolentino"; he took this as a sign to move to that city in 1274, where he lived the rest of his life.

 Worked as a peacemaker in Tolentino, a city torn by civil war. Preached every day, wonder-worker and healer, and visited prisoners. He always told those he helped, "Say nothing of this." Received visions, including images of Purgatory, which friends ascribed to his lengthy fasts. Had a great devotion to the recently dead, praying for the souls in Purgatory as he traveled around his parish, and often late into the night.

The "Seven Tolentine Masses" come after an apparition of Virgin Mary who told him to offer them for the Souls of Purgatory. In the first Mass he had a vision of thousands of people in Purgatory suffering horrible torments. In the the seventh Mass he had the same vision but the thousands of people were in Heaven, very joyful singing the glories of God

Once, when severely ill, he had a vision of Mary, Augustine and Monica. They told him to eat a certain type of roll that had been dipped in water. Cured, he began healing others by administering bread over which he recited Marian prayers. The rolls became known as Saint Nicholas Bread, and are still distributed at his shrine.

Holy Mass and Purgatory
Reported to have resurrected over one hundred dead children, including several who had drowned together.
Legend says that the devil once beat Nicholas with a stick; the stick was displayed for years in the his church.
A vegetarian, Nicholas was once served a roasted fowl; he made the sign of the cross over it, and it flew out a window.
Nine passengers on ship going down at sea once asked Nicholas' aid; he appeared in the sky, wearing the black Augustinian habit, radiating golden light, holding a lily in his left hand; with his right hand he quelled the storm.
An apparition of the saint once saved the burning palace of the Doge of Venice by throwing a piece of blessed bread on the flames.

Three hundred and one miracles were recognized during the process.
His tomb has become renowned by many more, despite the fact that his relics have been lost, save for the two arms from which blood still exudes when the Church is menaced by a great danger. This occurred, for example, when the island of Cyprus was taken over by infidels in 1570.
Like Saint Joseph, virginal father of Jesus, has been declared a Patron of the Universal Church.
1440 St. Frances of Rome great mystic;  remarkable charity to poor, zeal for souls; gift of miracles. ecstasy, bodily vision of her guardian angel, revelations concerning purgatory and hell
(Bussa di Leoni.)

One of the greatest mystics of the fifteenth century; born at Rome, of a noble family, in 1384; died there, 9 March, 1440.

Her youthful desire was to enter religion, but at her father's wish she married, at the age of twelve, Lorenzo de' Ponziani. Among her children we know of Battista, who carried on the family name, Evangelista, a child of great gifts (d. 1411), and Agnes (d. 1413). Frances was remarkable for her charity to the poor, and her zeal for souls. She won away many Roman ladies from a life of frivolity, and united them in an association of oblates attached to the White Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria Nuova; later they became the Benedictine Oblate Congregation of Tor di Specchi (25 March, 1433) which was approved by Eugene IV (4 July, 1433). Its members led the life of religious, but without the strict cloister or formal vows, and gave themselves up to prayer and good works. With her husband's consent Frances practiced continency, and advanced in a life of contemplation. Her visions often assumed the form of drama enacted for her by heavenly personages. She had the gift of miracles and ecstasy, we well as the bodily vision of her guardian angel, had revelations concerning purgatory and hell, and foretold the ending of the Western Schism. She could read the secrets of consciences and detect plots of diabolical origin. She was remarkable for her humility and detachment, her obedience and patience, exemplified on the occasion ofher husband's banishment, the captivity of Battista, her sons' death, and the loss of all her property.

On the death of her husband (1436) she retired among her oblates at Tor di Specchi, seeking admission for charity's sake, and was made superior. On the occasion of a visit to her son, she fell ill and died on the day she had foretold. Her canonization was preceded by three processes (1440, 1443, 1451) and Paul V declared her a saint on 9 May, 1608, assigning 9 March as her feast day. Long before that, however, the faithful were wont to venerate her body in the church of Santa Maria Nuova in the Roman Forum, now known as the church of Santa Francesca Romana
.
1433 St. Lydwine heroically accepted plight as will of God offered her sufferings for humanity's sins Jesus Christ confided in her She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and the stigmata.  Patron of sickness & skaters
St. Lydwine is the patroness of sickness Lydwine of Schiedam was born at Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children of a working man. After an injury in her youth, she became bedridden and suffered the rest of her life from various illnesses and diseases. She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and the stigmata. Thomas a Kempis wrote a biography of her. She was canonized Pope Leo XIII in 1890. Lydwine suffered a fall while ice skating in 1396, when a friend collided with her and caused her to break a rib on the right side. From this injury, she never recovered. An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused Lydwine extreme suffering. Eventually, she was to suffer a series of mysterious illnesses which in retrospect seemed to be from the hands of God. Lydwine heroically accepted her plight as the will of God and offered up her sufferings for the sins of humanity. Some of the illnesses which affected Lydwine were headaches, vomiting, fever, thirst, bedsores, toothaches, spasms of the muscles, blindness, neuritis and the stigmata.

Blessed Lidwina of Schiedam V (AC) (also known as Lydwina, Lydwid, Lidwyna) Born in Schiedam, the Netherlands, in 1380; cultus approved in 1890. Lidwina, one of nine children of a laborer, developed a devotion to the Blessed Virgin in her childhood. When her mother would send her on any errand, Lidwina would visit the church to greet her Lady with a Hail Mary. At the age of 12, she pledged her virginity to Christ.
She was injured in 1396 while ice skating and became a life-long invalid. She was cruelly wed to agonizing bodily pains, ulcers, the Black Plague and other maladies, without counting the familial and spiritual complications. Lidwina bore the pain patiently as reparation for the sins of others.
For 30 years she received no explanation of incredible sufferings except through Jesus Christ who confided in her and promised the consolation of a heavenly life. Upon the advice of her confessor, Jan Pot, Lidwina meditated night and day on our Lord's passion, which she divided into seven parts, to correspond to the seven canonical hours of prayer. Through this practice Lidwina soon found all her bitterness and affliction converted into sweetness and consolation, and her soul so much changed, that she prayed to God to increase her pains and patience. Beginning in 1407, Lidwina began to experience supernatural gifts--ecstasies and visions in which she participated in the Passion of Christ, saw purgatory and heaven and visited with saints.
Though her family was poor, Lidwina gave away the major portion of the alms given to her by others. Upon the death of her parents, she bequeathed to the poor all the goods that they left to her.
The last 19 years of her life she partook of no food except the Holy Eucharist, slept little if at all during the last seven years of her life, and became almost completely blind and was unable to move any part of her body except her head and left arm.
Her extraordinary sufferings attracted widespread attention. When a new parish priest accused her of hypocrisy, the people of the town threatened to drive him away. An ecclesiastical commission appointed to investigate declared her experiences to be valid.
She died on Easter Tuesday in 1433. Thomas a Kempis, author of Imitation of Christ and an eyewitness of some of her miracles, wrote her biography. The chapel in which her body lay in a marble tomb was renamed for her the following year, and her father's house was converted into a monastery of Gray Sisters of the third order of St. Francis.

Calvinists demolished the chapel and changed the monastery into a hospital for orphans.
Her relics were translated to Brussels, and enshrined in the collegiate church of St. Gudula. Isabella obtained a portion of her relics and enshrined them in the church of the Carmelite convent which she founded.
Lidwina was never formally beatified; however, a Mass was sung in her chapel at Schiedham on her festival, with a panegyric on the holy virgin. Her vita was compiled by John Gerlac, her cousin, and John Walter, her confessor: and by John Brugman, provincial of the Franciscans, who were all personally acquainted with her (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
Lidwina is portrayed in art as a cripple holding a crucifix and receiving a branch of roses from an angel. Sometimes she may be shown (1) receiving a lily from the angel; (2) with a cross and rosary; (3) as a girl falling on ice while skating; or (4) working on embroidery (Roeder). She is the patron of skaters.
Saints' Prayers for Souls in Purgatory
ROME, APRIL 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: The Church is often called the communion of saints, the militant Church, the purgative Church and the Church triumphant. We living here on earth are urged to pray for the souls in purgatory to help them purify themselves from their sins in order to enjoy the beatific vision. My question is: Do also the saints in heaven pray for the souls in purgatory as we ourselves do? -- S.B., San Gwann, Malta
A: The question is more theological than liturgical and very speculative theology at that, but is also very intriguing. The crux of the question revolves around the way that the saints in heaven can know the realities that occur on earth and in purgatory.
In general most theologians hold that once a person enters into the realm of the beatific vision, they do not have universal access to our thoughts or to earthly reality.
Any knowledge they gain is received directly from God, and God most certainly makes them aware of requests for their intercession in a way that we can only imagine but never fully grasp while remaining here below.
Therefore I believe we can confidently affirm that the saints intercede for the souls in purgatory in those cases when someone on earth requests that saint's intercession for a particular soul.
The Church itself invokes the saints in this way, albeit in a universal manner, during the rite of final commendation at the graveside at the prayer of the faithful:
"V. Saints of God come to his/her aid! Come to meet him/her angels of the Lord!"
"R. Receive his/her soul and present him/her to God the Most High."
If the Church proposes a prayer to implore that the saints come to the aid of the dead, then it clearly believes this aid is possible.
From a theological standpoint it is very difficult to be able to affirm that saints intercede, on their own initiative, so to speak, for the souls in purgatory without some form of earthly intercession.
It does not mean it does not happen; it is just that we have no way of knowing.
It is also possible that in a general way the saint's participation in the heavenly liturgy continually glorifying God is also of benefit to the souls in purgatory, but once more we are ignorant of the precise manner in which this might come about.
As the poet Thomas Grey said: "Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise."
If we were sure that the saints of heaven were independently praying for the souls in purgatory, perhaps many would defer the act of spiritual charity of praying for the deceased to the saint's powerful intercession.

The blessing of ignorance obliges us to continue exercising this intercession on our own,
 in the hope that others will do likewise for us when we are gone.
FROM THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH

The existence of Purgatory is defined as a dogma of the Church by both the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent. Thus it is obligatory for all Catholics who wish to remain in communion with the Church to accept and believe in the existence of Purgatory. uls Those detained in Purgatory are able to be assisted by the faithful on earth especially by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - see Council of Trent Session XXV.

1510 Catherine (Caterinetta) of Genoa, Widow; blood from her stigmata gave off exceptional heat; “He who purifies himself from his faults in the present life, satisfies with a penny a debt of a thousand ducats; and he who waits until the other life to discharge his debts, consents to pay a thousand ducats for that which he might before have paid with a penny.” Saint Catherine, Treatise on purgatory. (RM)
Born in Genoa, Italy, 1447; died there, September 14, 1510; beatified in 1737 and equipollently canonized by Pope Benedict XIV a few years later (others say she was canonized in 1737); feast day formerly on March 22.

    He who purifies himself from his faults in the present life, satisfies with a penny a debt of a thousand ducats; and he who waits until the other life to discharge his debts, consents to pay a thousand ducats for that which he might before have paid with a penny. Saint Catherine, Treatise on purgatory.

The biography of Saint Catherine of Genoa, who combined mysticism with practicality, was written by Baron Friedrich von Hügel. She was the fifth and youngest child of James Fieschi and his wife Francesca di Negro, members of the noble Guelph family of Fieschi, which had produced two popes (Innocent IV and Adrian V). After her birth, her father later became viceroy of Naples for King René of Anjou.

From the age of 13 Catherine sought to became a cloistered religious. Her sister was already a canoness regular and her confessor was the chaplain of that convent. When she asked to be received, they decided that she was too young. Then her father died and, for dynastic reasons, her widowed mother insisted that the 16-year-old marry the Genoese Ghibelline patrician, Guiliano Adorno. Her husband was unfaithful, violent, and a spendthrift. The first five years of their marriage, Catherine suffered in silence. In some ways it seems odd that he did not find her attractive, because Catherine was a beautiful woman of great intelligence, and deeply religious. But they were of completely different temperaments: she was intense and humorless; he had a zest for life.

Then she determined to win her husband's affection by adopting worldly airs. As it turns out, this only made her unhappy because she lost the only consolation that had previously sustained her-- her religious life. Ten years into her marriage, Catherine was a very unhappy woman; her husband had reduced them to poverty by his extravagance. On the eve of his feast in 1473, Catherine prayed, Saint Benedict, pray to God that He make me stay three months sick in bed. Two days later she was kneeling for a blessing before the chaplain at her sister's convent. She had visited her sister and revealed the secrets of her heart. Her sister advised her to go to confession.
In following her sister's advice, Catherine experienced a sort of ecstasy. She was overwhelmed by her sins and, at the very same time, by the infinite love of God for her. This experience was the foundation for an enduring awareness of the presence of God and a fixed attitude of soul. She was drawn back to the path of devotion of her childhood. Within a few days she had a vision of our Lord carrying His cross, which caused her to cry out, O Love, if it be necessary I am ready to confess my sins in public! On the Solemnity of the Annunciation she received the Eucharist, the first time with fervor for ten years.

Thus began her mystical ascent under very severe mortifications that included fasting throughout Lent and Advent almost exclusively on the Eucharist.
She became a stigmatic. A group of religious people gathered around Catherine, who guided them to a spirit- filled life.
Eventually her husband was converted, became a Franciscan tertiary, and they agreed to live together in continence. Catherine and Giuliano devoted themselves to the care of the sick in the municipal hospital of Genoa, Pammatone, where they were joined by Catherine's cousin Tommasina Fieschi. In 1473, they moved from their palazzo to a small house in a poorer neighborhood than was necessary. In 1479, they went to live in the hospital and Catherine became its director in 1490. The heroism of Catherine's charity revealed itself in a special way during the plagues of 1493 and 1501. The first one killed nearly 75 percent of the inhabitants. Catherine herself contracted the disease. Although she recovered, she was forced to resign due to ill health three years later.

After Giuliano's death the following year (1497), Catherine's spiritual life became even more intense. In 1499, Catherine met don Cattaneo Marabotto, who became her spiritual director. Her religious practices were idiosyncratic; for instance, she went to communion daily when it was unusual to do so. For years she made extraordinarily long fasts without abating her charitable activities. Catherine is an outstanding example of the religious contemplative who combines the spiritual life with competence in practical affairs. Yet she was always fearful of the contagion of the world's slow stain that had separated her from God in the early years of her marriage.

Her last three years of life were a combination of numerous mystical experiences and ill health that remained undiagnosed by even John-Baptist Boerio, the principal doctor to King Henry VII. In addition to her body remaining undecomposed and one of her arms elongating in a peculiar manner shortly before her death, the blood from her stigmata gave off exceptional heat.

A contemporary painting of Catherine, now at the Pammatone Hospital in Genoa, possibly painted by the female artist Tomasina Fieschi, shows Catherine in middle age. It reveals a slight woman with a long, patrician nose; pronounced, cleft chin; easy smile of broad but thin lips (and, surprisingly, deep laugh lines); high cheekbones; and large dark eyes punctuated by thin, graceful eyebrows.

Dialogue between the soul and the body and Treatise on purgatory are outstanding works in the field of mysticism, which were inspired by her and contain the essence of her, but were actually composed by others under her name. She is the patron of Genoa and of Italian hospitals (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Harrison, Schamoni, Schouppe, Walsh).
Of interest may be The Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa.
1645 Saint John Masias Marvelous Dominican Gatekeeper of Lima, Peru truly a "child of God." saint of simplicity charity levitated Many miracles were attributed saved souls in Purgatory
(1585-1645) Some saints have been brilliant leaders who steered their way through complicated courses.  Others have been renowned rather for their childlike simplicity.  St. John Masias of Lima, Peru, a friend and fellow Dominican of St. Martin de Porres, was like Martin, truly a "child of God."
John, a native of Rivera, Plasencia, Spain, is said to have been descended from a noble family that had become impoverished.  Whatever his lineage, he was orphaned at an early age, and raised by an uncle, who made him tend sheep to support himself and his brothers and sisters.  With no opportunity for schooling, Juan grew up illiterate.  The solitude of shepherding, however, gave him, as it has given to other saints, ample opportunity for recollection and prayer.  Sometimes as he recited the rosary, he sensed the presence of Our Lady and St. John the Evangelist.
When he was 21, he felt inspired by St. John the Evangelist to migrate to South America--a popular choice of many Spaniards in those days when Spain was colonizing Latin America.  The merchant who took him across the Atlantic abandoned him at Cartagena, Colombia, because he could neither read nor write.  Making his way gradually to Lima, John entered the employ of a landholder who assigned him to work with his cattle and sheep.  "On retreat" again among the animals, Masias resumed his old devotional schedule.
Around 1621, Juan decided to apply for entry into the Dominicans as a lay brother.  Giving away what remained of his savings, he was clothed in the Dominican habit at the Lima convent of St. Mary Magdalen.  During his Dominican career Brother John held only one post, that of porter of the convent, but it was in this role that he earned heaven.
The monastic life suited John to a "T".  He embraced penitential practices so harsh that his prior ordered him to tone them down.  Though he had lost the sheepfold as a favored place of private prayer, he found a hidden corner in the monastery garden that he called his Gethsemane.
But John became noted particularly for his works of charity.  Every day the poor, the sick and the abandoned would come to the door to receive bread from him. (The convent still preserves the basket he used to hold the loaves.) If his beloved poor were too shy to come begging at the convent, he would search them out in their own homes.

Collecting the food to give was his preliminary duty.
To save himself time in begging door to door, he trained the priory's donkey to go about town alone with baskets on its back.  When the people saw it coming, they would put food and clothing into its baskets for Brother Juan to distribute.  Nor did John content himself with silent almsgiving.  His contact with the needy gave him an opportunity to advise them and encourage them to love God and live good lives.  There is no doubt that Blessed Juan copied this style of apostolate from his good friend, fellow-Dominican lay brother and fellow townsman, the holy mulatto St. Martin de Porres.  Many miracles were attributed to Brother John.
Historians have often criticized the Spaniards who colonized Peru and other parts of Latin America for greed and harshness.  But we must not forget the bright side, the holy side of their colonial efforts.
Thus, Lima itself could boast of two saints early canonized: St. Rose of Lima and Archbishop St. Toribio de Mogrovejo.  More recent popes have added to that calendar two more, saints of simplicity and charity: St. Martin de Porres (canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII) and St. John Masias (canonized in 1975 by Pope Paul VI).  Of such is the kingdom of heaven.
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Catechism 1030-32 The Profession of Faith     p.291
III.  THE FINAL PURIFICATION, OR PURGATORY
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different 954, 1472 from the punishment of the damned.604 605
The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:
As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. 606
1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement 958 for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."607 From the beginning the Church has honored the 1371 memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus 1479 purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. 608
The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them. 609
604 Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1304; Council of Trent (1563): DS 1820; (1547): 1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedietus Deus (1336): DS 1000. 605 Cf.  1 Cor 3:15; 1 Pet 1:7. 606 St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4, 39: PL 77, 396; d. Mt 12:31. 607 2 Macc 12:46. 608 Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS 856.  609 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 41, 5: PG 61, 361; cf. Job 1:5.
Eucharistic Prayers

Padre Pio
"More people from purgatory come up to Castel Gondolfo than pilgrims." Padre Pio"
"I see so many souls from Purgatory that they don’t frighten me any more"
“More souls of the dead than the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers”
Padre Pio had a very special relationship with the Holy Souls...indeed such was the relationship that they were his frequent visitors....and led him to make the statements quoted above.During Padre Pio's lifetime many souls would come to him to thank him for his prayers on their behalf. On one such occasion, at evening time after dinner during World War II, shouting was heard by the friars coming from the downstairs entrance hallway. Who could these shouting men be? The friary had been long closed for the day. The men were shouting: Viva Padre Pio ("Long live Padre Pio!"). Brother Gerardo was asked to go and investigate the shouting and eject the intruders but on reaching the hallway he found it in darkness...and empty. He reported the incident to Padre Raffaele, the superior at that time, who in turn asked Padre Pio for an explanation of the extraordinary occurrence. Padre Pio explained that the voices yelling "Viva Padre Pio" were those of deceased soldiers who had come to thank him for his prayers.
Many similar incidences occurred but on each occasion Padre Pio was humble and calm. He knew very well that the important thing is not the extraordinary, but the effects of the extraordinary, which God produces in the soul.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS IN PURGATORY
Padre Pio was visited by many famous people during his long lifetime. One of these visitors was the Honourable de Caro, a member of the Italian Parliament, who relates the following story:
One evening in 1943 Padre Pio and De Caro were alone together in deep conversation. Padre Pio spoke of a number of important points of the spiritual life, one of which concerned the souls in Purgatory. It became clear to De Caro that Padre Pio knew the exact state of the souls in Purgatory after death and even the duration of suffering allocated to them by divine goodness for punishment due to offences to God.
When Padre Pio was asked how long a particular soul would stay in purgatory he replied "At least one hundred years. We must pray for the Souls in Purgatory. It is unbelievable what they can do for our spiritual good, out of gratitude they have towards those on earth who remember to pray for them. "
Padre Pio later explained that prayers for the souls in Purgatory are very efficacious in the eyes of God because they are in a state of suffering - a suffering of love for God to whom they aspire and toward their neighbour for whom they pray.
The following short stories regarding Purgatory further reveal to us the true suffering of the Souls in Purgatory and why it is so important that we pray for them.
PADRE PIO AND THE PRIEST IN PURGATORY
One day while in Church Padre Pio observed a priest, , in front of the altar. The priest was Don Giovanni...deceased. The apparitions in the parish church lasted for about one month. On the last occasion, the deceased priest spoke “I'm leaving now, and I won't come again. How terrible it was and how dearly it costs me to have taken part in the 'procession' after Mass, without first making my thanksgiving."
The deceased Caporaso was an honest and upright man, but without making the necessary thanksgiving after Mass he would go to the bar beside the church as soon as Mass was over and there he would begin the day with his friends with a little daily news. He had been sent to purgatory for not making Thanksgiving after mass.
So for the deceased parish priest, Caporaso, the prayers of Padre Pio were extremely useful, as was his celebration of Mass to free him from Purgatory.
UNCLE ORAZIO AND THE TWO FRIARS
Padre Francesco Napolitano gives us this account:
All the way back in 1928, Padre Pio's father "Uncle Orazio" often used to come to San Giovanni Rotondo to spend a few days with his son. One evening after the supper recreation Uncle Orazio bade good-night to his son and the other friars and went toward his room to have a good night's sleep. The room assigned to him was one on the first floor, with the number 10. When he got there, he was surprised to see, standing in front of his room, two friars who wouldn't let him enter.
In the precise moment he tried to force his way through them, the two friars disappeared. Very shocked and scared at their disappearance, he ran to his son, Padre Pio, to tell him everything. Padre Pio understood immediately. He placed his right arm around his father's shoulder and with appropriate filial words calmed him down and instilled courage in him.
When he felt that his father had recovered somewhat, he said to him: "Dad, those two friars whom you just saw in front of your room are two poor religious who are in Purgatory. They are making their Purgatory in that place where they broke the rule of Saint Francis. But you must try to calm down and go to sleep with serenity, because they will not cometo upset you any more."
Perhaps the reader is now inclined to think that it is a common occurrence for a deceased soul to manifest himself to the living; but this is absolutely not the case. A deceased person cannot manifest himself to the living, simply because without help from higher places hehas no power over his material body. "God can miraculously permit the souls of the faithful departed to manifest themselves to the living for a useful end, and principally in order to manifest some truth or other.”
However, as we already know, the souls of the deceased, through the infinite mercy and goodness of God, can and do appear to the living. We have the words of Padre Pio, the saints, and many other people of exceptional character.

SIXTY YEARS FOR LACK OF DILIGENCE

One evening, while the friars were at supper in the refectory (this occurred around 1921 or 1922), Padre Pio was praying in the choir loft. Suddenly, he heard a scratching noise coming from the church—from the side altars.

He pricked his ears to be sure that he wasn't imagining things. Suddenly another noise—the sound of candles and candelabra falling from the high part of the main altar—filled the silence. Padre Pio's first thought was that it was one of the students going about his business who had caused the candles to fall. To verify this, he leaned over the balcony of the choir loft to have a closer look. How surprised he was to see a young friar, on the epistle side of the altar, motionless.

"What are you doing there?," Padre Pio asked in a commanding manner. He received no reply. So he continued: "This is a nice way to do your chores! Instead of putting things in order, you break the candles and the candle holders!"

However, the silence of the friar was as that of the tomb. He continued to remain absolutely motionless. So Padre Pio said in a loud, com- manding voice: "You! What are you doing there? " Then the little friar replied: "I am brother......from......" But Padre Pio insisted: "What are doing there at this hour?"

The little friar replied: "I am doing my Purgatory here. I was a student in this friary, so I now .have to make amends for the errors I committed while I was here, for my lack of diligence in doing my duty in this church."

Padre Pio said to him: "Well, listen! I will say Mass for you tomorrow, but you mustn't come here any more."

With his heart beating faster than usual, Padre Pio left the choir loft and made his way to the communal fireplace, where he found his confreres. They immediately noticed his agitation and asked him the reason; but he avoided their inquiring looks and questions and said only that he felt cold.

Barely ten minutes passed when Padre Pio asked one of the friars to accompany him to the church. There, on the altar, they found candles and candlesticks overturned. Padre Pio wanted to assure himself that he had heard correctly and that his imagination had not played tricks on him. When he spoke of this occurrence later on, he usually concluded with this observation: "For lack of diligence in doing his duty, that friar was still in Purgatory sixty years after his death! Imagine, then, how much longer and how much more difficult will be for those who commit sins which are more serious”

Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi. Among all the saints canonised by the Church, she is the one who, after Saint Frances of Rome, has left us the most detailed and the most exact description of Purgatory. THE PAINS OF PURGATORY

From the revelations of the saints we understand that there are different degrees of pain and suffering in Purgatory. We could have no better guide than that of Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi. Among all the saints canonised by the Church, she is the one who, after Saint Frances of Rome, has left us the most detailed and the most exact description of Purgatory.

One evening, as she was walking in the garden of the Convent, she was suddenly taken away in spirit and she was heard to say: "Yes, I will walk around it; I will walk around it! " With these words she consented to her Guardian Angel's request to visit Purgatory. Once the ecstasy was over, she wrote her account about it.

Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi witnessed the intensity of the suffering in Purgatory and visited the different places where the souls are imprisoned. There was an abyss filled with tormented Priests and religious, another place which was not so severe held the souls of children and those who were guilty through ignorance. She saw souls being pricked by the points of very sharp needles and almost torn to shreds..these were the souls of those who had tried to please others during their lives and so had been hypocrites. Further on were observed the souls of the impatient and disobedient..they were being crushed under enormous weights. To her horror she witnessed a group of souls having molten lead poured into their mouths while at the same time having their bodies immersed in a pool of ice. These souls, who were burning and freezing at the same time, belonged to those who were liars. The avaricious were being liquefied with lead whilst the souls of the ambitious suffered excruciating pain in darkness. The hard-hearted and ungrateful to God were immersed in a lake of of molten lead as punishment for allowing the source of Grace to remain sterile through their ingratitude. Finally she visited the prison of those who during their lives held no great vices but they suffered also, but to a lesser degree than the others, all the castigation of all those lesser vices which they had.

After two extremely painful hours Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi returned to herself, physically weak and in a state of moral prostration.....requiring several days to recover.

The body of Saint Mary Magdalen Dei Pazzi remains incorrupt after several hundred years

Saint Theresa of Calcutta
Asked God to bring the souls out of Purgatory for every picture taken of her; she disliked photos of her

1938 Saint M. Faustina Kowalska  Died October 5, 1938, She helps souls in Purgatory get out IF they have been dedicated to her.
Sister Faustina born August 25, 1905 was shown by Jesus  Heaven, hell and Purgatory, where she was to suffer one day there.
"God is just in all that he does. When he rewards us for the smallest of our good deeds, he does so far beyond anything that we could desire; a good thought, a good wish--that is to say a wish to do good even if it cannot be carried out--all are rewarded.
"But also when it is time for him to punish us he does so with severity, and we will be thrown into purgatory for even the smallest offense.
We cannot doubt the truth of this, for we see in the lives of the saints that several of them have gone to heaven only after first passing through the flames of purgatory.
On February 22, 1931, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to this simple nun, bringing with Him a wonderful message of Mercy for all mankind. Saint Faustina tells us in her diary under this date:

"In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'"
Some time later, Our Lord again spoke to her:
"The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous; the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These  two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross....Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for  the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him."
1250 St. Aleydis or Adelaide, Virgin born at Shaerbeck, near Brussels entered a Cistercian convent at seven named Camera Sanctae Mariae, and she remained there for the rest of her life;  offered up her sufferings for the souls in purgatory and had visions of their being set free through her intercession
Adelaide of La Cambre, OSB Cist. V (AC) (also known as Aleydis, Alice); cultus confirmed in 1907. Saint Adelaide was a young Cistercian nun of the La Cambre convent who endured many physical afflictions. She became blind, contracted leprosy, and then paralysed. She had to be segregated from her community. Adelaide offered up her sufferings for the souls in purgatory and had visions of their being set free through her intercession. Her life was written by a contemporary (Benedictines, Encyclopedia)
.
Luke 12  versus 57-59
57 "Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
58 If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.
59 I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." 12

Maccabees 1
A man called Dositheus, a powerful horseman and one of Bacenor's men, caught hold of Gorgias, grasped his military cloak and dragged him along by main strength, intending to capture the vile wretch alive, when a Thracian horseman attacked Dositheus and cut off his arm at the shoulder. Then Gorgias fled to Marisa. {6 [35] One of Bacenor's men: certain ancient witnesses to the text have "one of the Toubiani"; cf 2 Macc 12:17.}
36
After Esdris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle.
37
Then, raising a battle cry in his ancestral language, and with songs, he charged Gorgias' men when they were not expecting it and put them to flight.
38
Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there.
39
On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs.
40
But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain.
41
They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden.
42
Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.
{ [42-45] This is the earliest statement of the doctrine that prayers (2 Macc 12:42) and sacrifices (2 Macc 12:43) for the dead are efficacious. The statement is made here, however, only for the purpose of proving that Judas believed in the resurrection of the just (2 Macc 7:9, 14, 23, 36). That is, he believed that expiation could be made for certain sins of otherwise good men-soldiers who had given their lives for God's cause. Thus, they could share in the resurrection. His belief was similar to, but not quite the same as, the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.}
43
He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view;
44
for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.
45
But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.
46
Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.
Psalm 129 (De Profundis, Psalmus CXXIX)
DE PROFUNDIS clamavi ad te, Domine: * Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes, * in vocem deprecationis meae.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: * Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est: * et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus: * speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem, * speret Israel in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia, * et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel * ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.

OUT OF THE depths I have cried unto Thee, * O Lord! Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive * to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark our iniquities: * Lord, who shall endure it?
For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: * and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word: * my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even unto night, * let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy: * and with Him plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel * from all its iniquities.

The Raccolta For The Faithful Departed.
 135. THE OFFICE.
St. Pius V., in his Bull Quod a nobis, July 9, 1568, granted -
i. An indulgence of 100 days to all the faithful, as often as they shall devoutly say of obligation the Office of the Dead on the days prescribed by the rubrics of the Roman Breviary.
ii. Forty days indulgence, to all the faithful, every time they say it out of their own devotion. See another Bull, Superni omnipotentis Dei, April 8, 1571.
136. THE "DE PROFUNDIS" AT THE FIRST HOUR AFTER THE "AVE MARIA."

Pope Clement XII. was the first who, in order to move the piety of Christians to pray for the souls in Purgatory, granted, by a Brief of Aug. 4, 1736, Coelestes Ecclesiae thesauros -
i. The indulgence of 100 days to all the faithful, every time that at the sound of the bell, at the first hour after the evening Ave Maria, they say devoutly on their knees the psalm De profundis, with a Requiem aeternam at the end of it. (The evening Ave Maria in Rome varies with the season; it is commonly taken as 6 o’clock.)
ii. A plenary indulgence to those who perform this pious exercise for a year at the hour appointed, once in the year, on any one day, after Confession and Communion. Those who do not know by heart the De Profundis, may gain these Indulgences by saying in the way already mentioned for the De profundis, one Pater noster and one Ave Maria, with the Requiem aeternam.
Observe also, that the aforesaid Clement XII. declared, Dec. 12, 1736, that these Indulgences might be gained by saying the De profundis, &c., as above, although, according to the custom of a particular church or place, the "signal for the dead,” as it is called, be given by the sound of the bell either before or after one hour after the evening Ave Maria.
Pope Pius VI., by a Rescript of March 18, 1781, granted the above-named Indulgences to all the faithful who should chance to dwell in any place where no bell for the dead is sounded, and who shall say the De profundis or Pater noster, as aforesaid, about the time specified above.

Ps. 129.
De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: * Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes: * in vocem deprecationis meae.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: * Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est: * propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbum ejus: * speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem: * speret Israel in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia: * et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel: * ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.
Requiem aeternam * dona eis, Domine.
Et lux perpetna luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace.
Amen.

End at pleasure with the following:

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam,
R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.


Oremus.
Fidelium Deus omnium conditor et redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum: ut iudulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. R. Amen.

V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
V. Requiescant in pace.
R. Amen.

TRANSLATION.
Ps., 129.
Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive: to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark our iniquities: O lord, who can abide it?
For with Thee there is mercy: and by reason of Thy law I have waited on Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath waited on His word : my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even unto night: let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him is plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel: from all his iniquities.
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.

V. Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

Let us pray.
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful; grant to the souls of Thy servants departed the remission of all their sins, that by our devout supplications they may obtain that pardon which they have always desired. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

V. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
137. FIVE PATER'S AND AVE'S, WITH THE V. TE ERGO, ETC.

Pope Pius VII., by a Brief dated Feb,. 7, 1817, the original of which is kept in the Archivium of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Arezzo, whose bishop first prayed for this Indulgence, granted -
i. An indulgence of 300 days, to all the faithful who, being contrite in heart, and devoutly meditating on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall say in suffrage for the faithful departed five Pater noster's and five Ave Maria’s, with the versicle Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti, or, who shall say the ejaculation, "Eternal Father, we pray Thee help the souls of Thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ;" and the Requiem aeternam.
ii. A plenary indulgence and remission of all sins to all who shall have practised this pious exercise every day for a month, on any one day in each month when, being repentant, they shall, after Confession and Communion, pray for our holy Mother the Church, &c., and for the eternal repose of the departed.

138. PRAYERS FOR THE WHOLE WEEK.
"Purgatory opened to the Piety of the Living, or a Brief daily Exercise in aid of the Souls in Purgatory," as the title of a little book of which many editions have been printed in Rome and elsewhere, and which is in the hands of many a devout person.
Pope Leo XII., in order to hold out a greater inducement to the faithful to pray for the faithful departed, granted by a Rescript of the S. Congr. of Indulgences, Nov, 18, 1826 -
An indulgence of 100 days, to all who say with contrite heart and devotion once a day the prayers assigned in the above mentioned exercise to each day in the week, with one Pater, Ave, and the De profundis;  and his holiness expressed at the same time his desire that the little books containing these devotions should be distributed gratis, as indeed has hitherto been the constant practice. Those, however, who use these prayer-books, are therein exhorted to say every day two Ave Maria's additional; one for all those who are associated in the exercise, and the other for all those who of their charity assist in promulgating it.

THE PRAYERS.
For Sunday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul amongst them all who is most destitute of spiritual aid; and vouchsafe to bring it to Thy glory, there to praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.
For Monday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver the souls in purgatory, and that soul especially amongst them all which is nearest to its entrance into Thy glory; that so it may forthwith begin to praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.
For Tuesday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in His bitter crowning with thorns, deliver the souls in purgatory, and in particular that one amongst them all which would be the last to depart out of these pains, that it may not tarry so long a time before it come to praise Thee in Thy glory and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.
For Wednesday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the streets of Jerusalem when He carried the cross upon His sacred shoulders, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul which is richest in merits before Thee; that so, in that throne of glory which awaits it, it may magnify Thee and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.
For Thursday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee by the Precious Body and Blood of Thy Divine Son Jesus, which He gave with His own Hand upon the eve of His Passion to His beloved apostles to be their meat and drink, and which He left to His whole Church to be a perpetual sacrifice and the life-giving food of His own faithful people, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one which was most devoted to this Mystery of infinite love, that it may with the same Thy Divine Son, and with The Holy Spirit, ever praise Thee for Thy love therein in eternal glory. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.
For Friday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son shed upon the wood of the cross, especially from his most sacred Hands and Feet, deliver the souls in purgatory, and in particular that soul for which I am most bound to pray; that no neglect of mine may hinder it from praising Thee in Thy glory and blessing Thee for ever. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.
For Saturday.
O Lord God Almighty, I beseech Thee, by the Precious Blood which gushed forth from the Side of Thy Divine Son Jesus, in the sight of, and to the extreme pain of his most holy Mother, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one amongst them all which was the most devout to her; that it may soon attain unto Thy glory, there to praise Thee in her and her in Thee world without end. Amen.
Pater, Ave and De Profundis.

139. THE HOUR OF PRAYER ON THE THREE LAST DAYS OF HOLY WEEK.
By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences for Italy and the adjacent islands, April 6, 1745, Benedict XIV. granted -
An indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines to all the faithful, on each and all of the three days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Holy Week, provided that on those days they devoutly make an hour's mental or oral prayer for the benefit of the souls in purgatory.

140. HEROIC ACT OF CHARITY,
OR, OFFERING OF ALL WORKS OF SATISFACTION AND SUFFRAGE IN BEHALF OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.
   This heroic act of charity in behalf of the souls in purgatory consists in a voluntary offering made in their favour by any one of the faithful of all works of satisfaction done by him in this life, as well as of all suffrages which shall be offered for him after his death; by this act he deposits them all into the hands of the Blessed Virgin, that she may distribute them in behalf of those holy souls whom it is her good pleasure to deliver from the pains of purgatory, at the same time that he declares that by this offering he only foregoes in their behalf the special and personal fruit of each satisfactory work; so that, being a priest, he is not hindered from applying the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the intentions of those who give him alms.
   This heroic act of charity, called also a vow or oblation, was instituted by F. Gaspar Oliden, a Theatine; for although it was not unknown in former ages, it was he who propagated it, and it was at his prayer that it was enriched with many indulgences first by Pope Benedict XIII. in his decree of August 23, 1728; and then by Pope Pius VI., in a decree of Dec. 12, 1788; these indulgences were finally specified by our Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX, in a decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences of Sept. 30, 1852. They are as follows:
i. An indult of a privileged altar, personally, every day in the year, in all priests who have made this offering.
ii. A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the departed, to all the faithful who have made this offering, whenever they go to Holy Communion, provided they visit a church or public oratory, and pray there for a time according to the mind of His Holiness.
iii. A Plenary indulgence, every Monday, to all who hear Mass in suffrage for the souls in purgatory, provided they visit the church, and pray as above.
iv. All Indulgences granted or to be granted, even though not applicable to the dead, which are gained by the faithful who have made this offering, may be applied to the holy souls in purgatory.
v. Lastly, the same Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius IX., having regard to the young who are not yet communicants, as well as to the poor sick, to those who are afflicted with chronic disorders, to the aged, to farm-labourers, prisoners, and others who are debarred from communicating and unable to hear Mass on Mondays, vouchsafed by another decree of the S. Congr. of Indulgences, of November 20, 1854, to declare that for all the faithful who cannot hear mass on Mondays, the mass heard on Sundays should be available for gaining the Indulgence no. iii; and that in favour of those who are not yet communicants, or who are hindered from communicating, he leaves it at the disposal of their respective ordinaries to authorise confessors to commute the works enjoined.
And note lastly, that although this act of charity is denominated a vow in some printed tracts, in which also is given a formula for making the offering, no inference is to be drawn therefrom that this  offering binds under sin; neither is it necessary to make use of the said formula, since, in order to share in the said indulgences, no more is required than a hearty act of our will.
141. ALL INDULGENCES DURING THE HOLY YEAR OF THE JUBILEE, APPLICABLE IN SUFFRAGE FOR THE SOULS IN PURGATORY.

Pope Benedict XIII,, in the Bull, Salvatoris, April 28, 1725, granted to all the faithful power to apply in suffrage for the souls in purgatory all the indulgences which are suspended throughout the whole Catholic world during the year of the Universal Jubilee, and this even although in the grant of any of these Indulgences there should never have been given the power to apply them for this purpose. Benedict XIV, Clement XIV., and Leo XII., renewed this grant in their respective Bulls, quoted above, on the suspension of Indulgences during the Holy Year.