St. Severin, Archbishop of
Cologne, edified his church by an example of all virtues. His apostolic life,
his great labours for the extension of
God s kingdom in souls, have merited for him the honours of canonisation.
Nevertheless, after his death he appeared to one of the canons of his cathedral
to ask for prayers. This worthy priest not being able to understand that a holy
prelate, such as he had known Severin to be, could stand in need of prayers in the
other life, the deceased Bishop replied,
It is true God gave me grace to serve Him with all my heart and to labour in His vineyard, but I often offended Him by the haste with which I
recited the Holy Office. The occupations of each day so absorbed my attention,
that when the hour of prayer came, I acquitted myself of that great duty
without recollection, and sometimes at another hour than that appointed by the
Church. At this moment I am expiating those infidelities, and God permits me to
come and ask your prayers." The biography adds that Severin was six months
in Purgatory for that one fault.
Venerable Sister Frances of
Pampeluna, whom we have before mentioned, one day saw in Purgatory a poor
priest whose fingers were eaten away by frightful ulcers. He was thus punished
for having at the altar made the sign of the cross with too much levity, and
without the necessary gravity. She said that in general priests remain in Purgatory
longer than laymen, and that the intensity of their torments is in proportion
to their dignity. God revealed to her the fate of several deceased priests. One
of them had to undergo forty years of suffering for having by his neglect
allowed a person to die without the Sacraments ; another remained there for forty-five
years for having performed the sublime functions of his ministry with a certain
levity. A Bishop, whose liberality had caused him to be named almoner, was
detained there for five years for having sought that dignity ; another, not so
charitable, was condemned for forty years for the same reason. God wills that
we should serve Him with our whole heart, and that we should avoid, in so far
as the frailty of human nature will permit, even the slightest imperfections ; but
the care to please Him and the fear of displeasing Him must be accompanied by a
humble confidence in His mercy.
Jesus Christ has admonished us
to hear those whom He has appointed in His place to be our spiritual guides as
we should Himself, and to follow the advice of our superior or confessor with
perfect confidence. Thus an excessive fear is an offence against His Mercy.
On November 12, 1643, Father
Philip Streit, of the Society of Jesus, a Religious of great sanctity, died at
the Noviciate of Briinn in
Bohemia. Every day he made his examination of conscience with the greatest
care, and acquired by this means great
purity of soul. Some hours after his death, he appeared all radiant to one of
the Fathers of his Order, Venerable Martin Strzeda. One single fault, he said, prevents
me from going to Heaven, and detains me eight hours in Purgatory ; it is that
of not having sufficiently confided in the words of my Superior, who, in the
last moments of my life, strove to calm some little trouble of conscience. I
ought to have regarded his words as the voice of God Himself.
