The historian Bzovius, in his
History of Poland, under the date 1598, relates a miraculous event which
happened to the Venerable Stanislaus Chocosca, one of the luminaries of the
Order of St. Dominic in Poland. One day, whilst this Religious, full of charity
for the departed, recited the rosary, he saw appear near him a soul all
enveloped in flames. As she besought him to have pity on her, and to alleviate
the intolerable sufferings which the fire of Divine Justice caused her to
endure, the holy man asked her if this fire was more painful
than that of earth? “Ah ! “she cried, “
all the fires of earth compared to that of Purgatory are like a refreshing
breeze (fgnes alii levis aura locumtenent si cum ardore meo comparentur}.
Stanislaus could scarcely believe it. I wish “he said, to have a proof.
If God will permit, for your
relief, and for the good of my soul, I consent to suffer a part of your pains. Alas! you could not do this. Know
that no human being could endure such torment and live. However, God will
permit you to feel it in a light degree. Stretch forth your hand. Chocosca
extended his hand, and the departed let fall a drop of sweat, or at least of a
liquid which resembled it.
At the same instant the Religious
uttered a piercing cry and fell fainting to the ground, so frightfully intense
was the pain. His brethren ran to the spot and hastened to give him the assistance
which his condition required. When restored to consciousness, he related the
terrible event which had occurred, and of which they had a visible proof.
Ah ! my dear Fathers, he
continued, if we knew the severity of the
Divine chastisements, we should never commit sin, nor should we cease to do
penance in this life, in order to avoid expiation in the next.Stanislaus was confined to his
bed from that moment.
He lived one year longer in the
most cruel suffering caused by his terrible wound ; then, for the last time,
exhorting his brethren to remember the rigours of Divine Justice, he peacefully
slept in the Lord. The historian adds that this example reanimated fervour in
all the monasteries of that province.
We read of a similar fact in
the Life of Bl. Catherine de Racconigi.
One day, when suffering so intensely as to
need the assistance of her sisters in religion, she thought of the souls in
Purgatory, and, to temper the heat of their flames, she offered to God the burning heat of her fever.
At that moment, being rapt in ecstasy, she was conducted in spirit into the
place of expiation, where she saw the flames and braziers in which the souls
are purified in great torture.
Whilst contemplating, full of
compassion, this piteous spectacle, she heard a voice which said to her, Catherine,
in order that you may procure most efficaciously the deliverance of these
souls, you shall participate, in some manner, in their torments. At
that same moment a spark detached itself from the fire and settled upon her
left cheek. The sisters present saw the spark distinctly, and saw also with horror
that the face of the sick person was frightfully swollen. She lived several
days in this state, and, as Bl. Catherine told her sisters, the suffering
caused by that simple spark far surpassed all that she had previously endured
in the most painful maladies. Until that time Catherine had always devoted
herself with charity to the relief of the souls in Purgatory, but from thenceforward
she redoubled her fervour and austerities to hasten their deliverance, because she
knew by experience the great need in which they stood of her assistance.
