THE following example shows
not only the long duration of the punishment inflicted for certain faults, but
also the difficulty of inclining Divine Justice in favour of those who have
committed faults of this nature.
The history of the Order of
the Visitation mentions, among the first Religious of that Institute, Sister
Marie Denise, called in the world Mdlle. Marie Martignat. She was most charitably
devoted to the souls in Purgatory, and felt herself particularly drawn to
recommend to God in a special manner those who had held high positions in the world,
for she knew by experience the dangers to which their positions exposed them. A
certain prince, whose name is not given, but who it is believed belonged to the
House of France, was killed in a duel, and God permitted him to appear to
Sister Denise to ask of her the assistance of which he stood so greatly in need
He told her that he was not damned, although his crime merited damnation. Thanks
to an act of perfect contrition which he had made at the moment of death, he
had been saved; but, in punishment for his guilty life and death, he was
condemned to the most rigorous chastisement in Purgatory until the Day of
Judgment.
The charitable sister, deeply
touched by the state of this soul, generous offered herself as a victim for
him. But it is impossible to say what she had to suffer for many years in
consequence of that heroic act. The poor prince left her no repose, and made her
partake of his torments. She completed her sacrifice by death; but before
expiring she confided to her Superior that, in return for so much expiation,
she had obtained for her protege the remission of but a few hours of pain. When
the Superior expressed her astonishment at this result, which seemed to her
entirely disproportionate with what the sister had suffered, Sister Denise
replied, “Ah! My dear Mother, the hours of Purgatory are not computed like
those of earth; years of grief, Weariness, poverty, or sickness
in this world are nothing compared to one hour of the suffering of Purgatory.
It is already much that Divine Mercy permits us to exercise any influence
whatever over His Justice. I am less moved by the lamentable state in which I
have seen this soul languish, than by the extraordinary return of grace which has
consummated the work of his salvation. The act in which the prince died merited
Hell ; a million others might have found their eternal perdition in the same
act in which he found his salvation. He recovered consciousness but for one
instant, just time sufficient to co-operate with that precious movement of grace
which disposed him to make an act of perfect contrition. That blessed moment
seems to me to be an excess of the goodness, clemency, and infinite love of
God.” Thus spoke Sister Denise; she admired at once the severity of God s
Justice, and His infinite Mercy. Both one and the other shone forth in this
example in the most striking manner. Continuing the subject of the long
duration of Purgatory, we will here relate an instance of more recent occurrence.
Father Philip Schoofs, of the
Company of Jesus, who died in Louvain in 1878, related the following fact,
which happened in Antwerp during the first years of his ministry in that city.
He had just preached a mission, and had returned to the College of Notre Dame, and
then situated in the Rue I’Empereur, when he was told some one asked for him in
the parlour. Descending immediately, he found there two young men in the flower
of their age, with a pale and sickly child of about ten years. “Father,” said
they, here is a poor child that we have adopted, and who deserves our
protection because he is good and pious. We feed and educate him and, for more
than a year that he has formed part of our family, he has been happy and
enjoyed good health. It is only for the last few weeks that he has commenced to
grow thin and pine away, as you now see him. “What is the cause of this change?
“Asked the Father. “ It is fright,” they replied;” the child is awaked every
night by apparitions. A man, he assures us, presents himself before him, and he
sees him as distinctly as he sees us in full daylight. This is the cause of his
continual fear and uneasiness. We come, Father, to ask of you some remedy. “My
friends,” replied Father Schoofs,” with God there is a remedy for all things.
Begin, both of you, by making a good confession and Communion, beg God to deliver
you from all evil, and fear nothing. As for you, my child, say your prayers
well, and then sleep so soundly that no ghost can awake you.” He then dismissed
them, telling them to return in case anything more should happen. Two weeks passed, and they again
returned. “Father,” said they, “we have followed your orders, and yet the
apparitions continue as before. The child always sees the same man appear. ”From
this evening,” said Father Schoofs,” watch at the door of the child s room,
provided with paper and ink with which to write the answers. When he warns you
of the presence of that man, ask in the name of God who he is, the time of his
death, where he lived, and why he returns.
The following day they returned,
carrying the paper on which was written the answers which they had received. We
saw, they said, the man that appears to the child.
They described him as an old
man, of whom they could but see the bust, and he wore a costume of the olden
times. He told them his name, and the house in which he had dwelt in Antwerp.
He had died in 1636, had followed the profession of banker in that same house,
which in his time comprised the two houses which to-day may be seen situated to
the right and left of it. Let us remark here that certain documents which prove
the accuracy of these indications have since been discovered in the archives of
the city of Antwerp. He added that he was in Purgatory, and that few prayers
had been said for him. He then begged the persons of the house to offer Holy
Communion for him, and finally asked that a pilgrimage might be made for him to
Notre Dame des Fievres, and another to Notre Dame de la Chapelle in Brussels. You
will do well to comply with all these requests, said Father Schoofs, “and if the
spirit returns, before speaking to him, require him to say the Pater^ Ave, and
Credo? They accomplished the good works indicated with all possible piety, and many
conversions were effected. When all was finished, the young men returned.
Father, he prayed, they said to Father Schoofs, but in a tone of indescribable
faith and piety. We never heard any one pray thus. What reverence in
the Our Father! What love in the Hail Mary! What fervour in the I Believe!
Now we know what it is to pray.
Then he thanked us for our prayers; he was greatly relieved, and would have
been entirely delivered had not an assistant in our shop made a sacrilegious
Communion. We have, they continued, reported these words to the person. She
turned pale, acknowledged her guilt, then running to her confessor, hastened to
repair her crime. Since that day, adds Father Schoofs, that house has never
been troubled. The family that inhabit it have prospered rapidly, and to-day
they are rich. The two brothers continue to conduct themselves in an exemplary manner,
and their sister became a Religious in a convent, of which she is at the
present time Superior.
Everything leads us to believe
that the prosperity of that family was the result of the succour given to the departed
soul. After two centuries of punishment there remained to the latter but a
small part of the expiation, and the performance of some good works which he
asked. When these were accomplished, he was delivered, and wished to show his
gratitude by obtaining the blessings of God upon his benefactors.
