ST. TERESA had great charity
towards the souls in Purgatory, and assisted them as much as lay in her power
by her prayers and good works. In recompense, God frequently, showed her the
souls she had delivered ; she saw them at the moment of their release from
suffering and of their entrance into Heaven. Now, they generally came forth the
bosom of the earth. “I received tidings” she writes, “of the death of a
Religious who had formerly been Provincial of that province, and afterwards of
another. I was acquainted with him, and he had rendered me great service. This
intelligence caused me great uneasiness. Although this man was commendable for
many virtues, I was apprehensive for the salvation of his soul, because he had been
Superior for the space of twenty years, and I always fear much for those who
are charged with the care of souls. Much grieved, I went to an oratory ; there
I conjured our Divine Lord to apply to this Religious the little good I had done
during my life, and to supply the rest by His infinite merits, in order that
this soul might be freed from Purgatory.
“Whilst I besought this grace
with all the fervor of which I was capable, I saw on my right side this soul
come forth from the depths of the earth and ascend into Heaven in transports of
joy. Although this priest was advance in years, he appeared to me with the features
of man who had not yet attained the age of thirty, and with a countenance resplendent
with light.
This vision, though very
short, left me inundated with joy, and without a shadow of doubt as to the
truth of what I had seen. As I was separated by a great distance from the place
where this servant of God had ended his days, it was some time before I learned
the particulars of his edifying death; all those who were witnesses of it could
not behold without admiration how he preserved consciousness to the last
moment, the tears he shed, and the sentiments of humility with which he
surrendered his soul to God.
A Religious of my community, a
great servant of God, had been dead not quite two days. We were saying the Office
for the Dead for her in choir, a sister was reading the lesson, and I was
standing to say the vesicles. When half of tile lesson had been said, I saw the
soul of this Religious come forth from the depths of the earth, like the one of
which I have just spoken, and go to Heaven.
In this same monastery there
died, at the age of eighteen or twenty years, another Religious, a true model of fervour, regularity, and virtue.
Her life had been but a tissue of maladies and sufferings patiently endured. I
had no doubt, after having seen her live thus, that she had more than
sufficient merits to exempt her from Purgatory. Never the less, whilst I was at
office, before she was interred, and about a quarter of an hour after her
death, I saw her soul likewise issue from the earth and rise to Heaven.” Behold
what St. Teresa writes.
A like instance is recorded in
the Life of St. Louis Bertrand, of the Order of St. Dominic. This Life, written
by Father Antist, a Religious of
the same Order, and who lived with the saint, is inserted in the Ada Sanctorum
on the loth of October. In the year 1557, whilst St. Louis Bertrand resided at
the convent of Valentia, the pest broke out in that city. The terrible plague
spread rapidly, threatening to exterminate the inhabitants, and each one
trembled for his life. A Religious of the community, wishing to prepare himself
fervently for death, made a general confession of his whole life to the saint;
and on leaving him said,
“Father, if it should now
please God to call me, I shall return and make known to you my condition in the
other life” He died a short time afterwards, and the following night he
appeared to the saint. He told him that he was detained in Purgatory on account
of a few slight faults which remained to be expiated, and begged the saint to recommend
him to the community. St. Louis communicated the request immediately to the
Prior, who hastened to recommend the soul of the departed to the prayers and Holy
Sacrifices of the brethren assembled in chapter.
Six days later, a man of the
town, who knew nothing of what had passed at the convent, came to make his
confession to Father Louis, and told him “that the soul of Father Clement had
appeared to him. He saw, he said, the earth open, and the soul of the deceased
Father come forth all glorious; it resembled, he added, a resplendent star,
which rose through the air towards Heaven. We read in the Life of St. Magdalen
de Pazzi, written by her confessor, Father Campari, of the Company of Jesus,
that this servant of God was made witness of the deliverance of a soul under
the following circumstances: One of her sisters in religion had died some time
previous, when the saint being one day in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, saw
issue from the earth the soul of that sister, still captive in the dungeons of
Purgatory. She was enveloped in a mantle of flames, under which a robe of
dazzling whiteness protected her from the fierce heat of the fire ; and she remained
an entire hour at the foot of the altar, adoring in inexpressible annihilation
the hidden God of the Eucharist.
This hour of adoration, which
Magdalen saw her perform, was the last of her penance; that hour passed, she
arose and took her flight to Heaven.
