FAITH does not teach us the
precise duration of the pains of Purgatory. We know in general that they are
measured by Divine Justice, and that for each one they are proportioned to the
number and gravity of the faults which he has not yet expiated. God may,
however, without prejudice~to~ His Justice, abridge these sufferings by augmenting
.their intensity ; the Church Militant also may obtain their remission by the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and other suffrages... offered for the departed. According
to the common opinion of the doctors, the expiatory pains are of long duration.
“There is no doubt, says Bellarmine, that the pains of Purgatory are not limited to
ten or twenty years, and that they last in some cases entire centuries. But allowing
it to be true that their duration did not exceed ten or twenty years, can we
account it as nothing to have to endure for ten or twenty years the most
excruciating sufferings without the least alleviation? If a man was assured that
he should suffer some violent pain in his feet, or his head, or teeth for the
space of twenty years, and that without ever sleeping or taking the least
repose, would he not a thousand times rather die than live in such a state ?
And if the choice were given to him between a life thus miserable and the loss
of all his tem poral goods, would he hesitate to make the sacrifice of his fortune
to be delivered from such a torment? Shall we then find any difficulty in embracing
labour and penance to free ourselves from the sufferings of Purgatory ? Shall
we fear to practise the most painful exercises : vigils, fasts, almsgiving,
long prayers, and especially contrition, accompanied with sighs and tears ?
These words comprise the whole
doctrine of the saints and theologians. Father Mumford, of the Company of
Jesus, in his “Treatise on Charity towards the Departed” bases the long duration
of Purgatory on a calculation of probability, which we shall give in substance.
He goes out on the principle that, according to the words of the Holy Ghost,
The just man falls seven times a day, that is to say, that even those who apply
themselves most perfectly to the service of God, not with standing their good-will,
commit a great number of faults in the infinitely pure eyes of God. We have but
to enter into our own conscience, and there analyse before God our thoughts,
our words, and works, to be convinced of this sad effect of human misery. Oh !
how easy it is to lack respect in prayer, to prefer our ease to the accomplishment
of duty, to sin by vanity, by impatience, by sensuality, by uncharitable
thoughts and words, by want of conformity to the will of God ! The day is long
; is it very difficult for even a virtuous person to commit, I do not say
seven, but twenty or thirty of this kind of faults and imperfections ?
Let us take a moderate
estimate, and suppose that you commit about ten faults a day ; at the end of
365 days you will have a sum of 3650 faults. Let us diminish, and, to facilitate
the calculation, place it at 3000 per year. At the end of ten years this will amount
to 30,000, and at the end of twenty years to 60,000. Suppose that of these
60,000 faults you have expiated one half by penance and good works, there will
still remain 30,000 to be atoned for. Let us continue our hypothesis : You die
after these twenty years of virtuous life, and appear before God with a debt of
30,000 faults, which you must discharge in Purgatory. How much time will you
need to accomplish this expiation ? Suppose, on an average, each fault requires
one hour of Purgatory. This measure is very moderate, if we judge by the
revelations of the saints ; but at any rate this will give you a Purgatory of
30,000 hours. Now, do you know how many years these 30,000 hours represent?
Three years, three months, and
fifteen days. Thus a good Christian who watches over himself, who applies
himself to penance and good works, finds himself liable to three years, three
months, and fifteen days of Purgatory. The preceding calculation is based on an
estimate which is lenient in the extreme. Now, if you extend the duration of
the pain, and, instead of an hour, you take a day for the expiation of a fault,
if, instead of having nothing but venial sins, you bring before God a debt
resulting from mortal sins, more or less numerous, which you formerly
committed, if you assign, on the average, as St. Frances of Rome says, seven
years for the expiation of one mortal sin, remitted as to the guilt, who does
not see that we arrive at an appalling duration, and that the expiation may
easily be prolonged for many years, and even for centuries ? Years and centuries
in torments ! Oh ! if we only thought of it, with what care should we not avoid
the least faults ! with what fervour should we not practise penance to make
satisfaction in this world !
