Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: Pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory

"The prayer most pleasing to God is that made for others and particularly for the poor souls.

Pray for them, if you want your prayers to bring high interest."

"The poor souls suffer inexpressibly."

"Many stay a long time in purgatory who, although not great sinners, have lived tepidly."

~ Anne Catherine Emmerich ~

"The life of Anna Katharina Emmerick is marked by her profound closeness to Christ. She loved to pray before the famous Coesfeld Cross, and she walked the path of the long Way of the Cross frequently. So great was her personal participation in the sufferings of our Lord that it is not an exaggeration to say that she lived, suffered and died with Christ. An external sign of this, which is at the same time, however, more than just a sign, are the wounds of Christ which she bore."

"...Anna Katharina Emmerick understood her suffering as a service to salvation. Dr. Wesener, her doctor, recounts her petition in his diary: “I have always requested for myself as a special gift from God that I suffer for those who are on the wrong path due to error or weakness, and that, if possible, I make reparation for them.”

~ Pope John Paul II; excerpts from Homily ~

The Story of St. Lutgarda and the Cistercian Abbot and Pope Innocent

In the Life of St. Lutgarda, written by her contemporary, Thomas de Cantempré, mention is made of a Religious who was otherwise fervent, but who for an excess of zeal was condemned to forty years of Purgatory.

This was an Abbot of the Cistercian Order, named Simon, who held St. Lutgarda in great veneration. The saint, on her part, willingly followed his advice, and in consequence a sort of spiritual friendship formed between them. But the Abbot was not as mild toward his subordinates as he was towards the saint.

Severe with himself, he was also severe in his administration, and carried his exactions in matters of discipline even to harshness, forgetting the lesson of the Divine Master, who teaches us to be meek and humble of heart.

Having died, and whilst St. Lutgarde was fervently praying and imposing penances upon herself for the repose of his soul, he appeared to her, and declared that he was condemned to forty years of Purgatory. Fortunately he had in Lutgarda a generous and powerful friend. She redoubled her prayers and austerities, and having received from God the assurance that the departed soul should soon be delivered, the charitable saint replied, "I will not cease to weep; I will not cease to importune your Mercy until I see him freed from his pains."

Since I am mentioning St. Lutgarda, ought I to speak of the celebrated apparition of Pope Innocent. I acknowledge the perusal of this incident shocked me, and I would fain pass it over in silence.

I was reluctant to think that a Pope, and such a Pope, had been condemned to so long and terrible a Purgatory. We know that Innocent, who presided at the celebrated Council of Latern in 1215, was one of the greatest Pontiffs who ever filled the chair of St. Peter. His piety and zeal led him to accomplish great things for the Church of God and holy discipline.

How, then, admit that such a man was judged with so great severity at the Supreme Tribunal? How reconcile this revelation of St. Lutgarda with Divine Mercy? I wished, therefore, to treat it as an illusion, and sought for reasons in support of this idea. But I found, on the contrary, that the reality of this apparition is admitted by the gravest authors, and that it is not rejected by any single one. Moreover, the biographer, Thomas de Cantimpré, is very explicit, and at the same time very reserved. "Remark, reader," he writes at the end of his narrative, "that it was from the mouth of the pious Lutgarda herself that I heard of the faults revealed by the defunct, and which I omit here through respect for so great a Pope."

Aside from this, considering the event in itself, can we find any good reason, for calling it into question? Do we not know that God makes no exception of persons--that the Popes appear before His tribunal like the humblest of the faithful--that all the great and the lowly are equal before Him, and that each one
receives according to his works?

Do we not know that those who govern others have a great responsibility, and will have to render a severe account? "A most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule." It is the Holy Ghost that declares it. (Wisdom vi.6)

Now, Innocent reigned for eighteen years, and during most turbulent times; and, add the Bollandists, is it not written that the judgments of God are inscrutbale, and often very different from the judgments of men? Judica tua abyssus multa. (Psalm xxxv.7)

The reality of this apparition cannot, then, be reasonably called into question. I see no reason for omitting it, since God does not reveal mysteries of this nature for any other purpose than that they should be made known for the edification of His Church.

Pope Innocent died July 16, 1216. The same day he appeared to St. Lutgarda in her monastery at Aywieres, in Brabant. Surprised to see a spectre enveloped in flames, she asked who he was and what he wanted.

"I am Pope Innocent," he replied. "Is it possible that you, our common Father, should be in such a state?" "It is but too true. I am expiating three faults which might have caused my eternal perdition. Thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I have obtained pardon for them, but I have to make atonement. Alas! It is terrible; and it will last for centuries if you do not come to my assistance. In the name of Mary, who has obtained for me the favor of appealing to you, help me."

With these words he disappeared. Lutgarda announced the Pope's death to her sisters, and together they betook themselves to prayer and penitential works in behalf of the august and venerated Pontiff, whose demise was communicated to them some weeks later from another source.

Taken from: Purgatory Explained Authored by: Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J.
Published by: www.TanBooks.com

Sermon on Purgatory by St. John Vianney

How many are there, perhaps, who during the course of eight or ten years have received from their parents or their friends the work of having Masses said and alms given and have allowed the whole thing to slide! How many are there who, for fear of finding that certain good works should be done, have not wanted to go to the trouble of looking at the will that their parents or their friends have made in their favor? Alas, these poor souls are still detained in the flames because no one has desired to fulfill their last wishes! Poor fathers and mothers, you are being sacrificed for the happiness of your children and your heirs! You perhaps have neglected your own salvation to augment their fortune. You are being cheated of the good works which you left behind in your wills! ... Poor parents! How blind you were to forget yourselves! ... You will tell me, perhaps: "Our parents lived good lives; they were very good people." Ah! They needed little to go into these flames!

See what Albert the Great, a man whose virtues shone in such an extraordinary way, said on this matter. He revealed one day to one of his friends that God had taken him into Purgatory for having entertained a slightly self-satisfied thought about his own knowledge. The most astonishing thing was that there were actually saints there, even ones who were beatified, who were passing through Purgatory.

Saint Severinus, Archbishop of Cologne, appeared to one of his friends a long time after his death and told him that he had been in Purgatory for having deferred to the evening the prayers he should have said in the morning.

Oh! What years of Purgatory will there be for those Christians who have no difficulty at all in deferring their prayers to another time on the excuse of having to do some pressing work! If we really desired the happiness of possessing God, we should avoid the little faults as well as the big ones, since separation from God is so frightful a torment to all these poor souls!

One evening Padre Pio

One evening Padre Pio was in a room, on the ground floor of the convent, turned guesthouse. He was alone and had just laid down on the cot when, suddenly, a man appeared to him wound in a black mantle. Padre Pio was amazed and arose to ask the man who he was and what he wanted. The stranger answered that he was a soul in Purgatory. “I am Pietro Di Mauro” he said “I died in a fire, on September 18, 1908, in this convent. In fact this convent, after the expropriation of the ecclesiastical goods, had been turned into a hospice for elderly. I died in the flames, while I was sleeping on my straw mattress, right in this room. I have come from Purgatory: God has granted me to come here and ask you to say Mass for me tomorrow morning. Thanks to one Mass I will be able to enter into Paradise”. Father Pio told the man that he would say Mass for him..., “but…“padre Pio said: “I, wanted to accompany him to the door of the convent. I surely realised I had talked to a dead person, in fact when we went out in the church square, the man that was at my side, suddenly disappeared”. I have to admit that I re-entered in the convent rather frightened. Padre Paolino of Casacalenda, Superior of the convent, noticed my nervousness, after explaining to him what happened, I asked “permission to celebrate Holy Mass for the deceased soul,” A few days later, Father Paolino, wanting to verify the information, went to the office of the registry of the commune of St. Giovanni Rotondo. He required and got the permission to consult the register of the deceased in the year 1908. The story of Father Pio Father was true. In the register of deaths of the month of September, Father Paolino found the name, last name and cause of death: “On September 18, 1908 in the fire of the hospice, Pietro Di Mauro died.”

Padre Pio told this story to Padre Anastasio...

Padre Pio told this story to Padre Anastasio. “One evening, while I was alone in choir to pray, I heard the rustle of a suit and I saw a young monk that stirred next to the High altar. It seemed that the young monk was dusting the candelabra and straightening the flower vases. I thought he was Padre Leone rearranging the altar, and, since it was supper time, I went to him and I told him: “Padre Leone, go to dine, this is not the time to dust and to straighten the altar”. But a voice, that was not Father Leone’s answered me”: “I am not Padre Leone”, “and who are you? “, I asked him. “I am a brother of yours that made the novitiate here. I was ordered to clean the altar during the year of the novitiate. Unfortunately many times I didn't reverence Jesus while passing in front of the altar, thus causing the Holy Sacrament that was preserved in the tabernacle to be disrespected. For this serious carelessness, I am still in Purgatory. Now, God, with his endless goodness, sent me here so that you may quicken the time I will enjoy Paradise. Take care of me.” I believed to be generous to that suffering soul, so I exclaimed: “you will be in Paradise tomorrow morning, when I will celebrate Holy Mass”. That soul cried: “Cruel!” Then he wept and disappeared. That complaint produced in me a wound to the heart that I have felt and I will feel my whole life. In fact I would have been able to immediately send that soul to Heaven but I condemned him to remain another night in the flames of Purgatory.”

SAINT ODILO OF CLUNY

Born: 962 at Auvergne, France
Died: 1 January 1049 at Souvigny, France
Canonized: 1063 by Pope Alexander II
Memorial: 1 January; 19 January in Cluny (formerly 2 January); 6 February in Switzerland

The Church has always encouraged prayers that the deceased may be received into heaven, but only in the second millennium of Western Christianity was a special liturgical day set up in the interest of the Poor Souls.

Around 1030, Abbot Odilo set aside November 2 as a day for the special commemoration in his own monastic community for the souls in purgatory. He started this as an observance for the monks of Cluny and all the other communities in the Cluniac family, requiring them, on the day following All Saints, to pray for deceased monks. He strongly exhorted all the monasteries under his jurisdiction to devote this date each year to Masses, acts of self-denial, and almsgiving on behalf of the souls in purgatory.

 

The practice soon grew into the custom of saying three Masses for the souls in purgatory. Eventually Rome officially extended to the whole Western Church in 1748. After the First World War it developed into a universal observance, with one Mass being said for a particular person or group, on for all the dead, and one for the pope's intentions.

In art Saint Odilo is portrayed as a Benedictine abbot with a skull and crossbones at his feet. Because he instituted the Feast of All Souls, at times he may be shown (1) saying Mass with purgatory open at his side; or (2) with angels releasing souls from purgatorial fire. He is invoked on behalf of souls in purgatory.

St. Odilo's life provides a good illustration of the vast contributions that religious orders have made and can make to the Church and to the whole world.

"Jesus and Mary, I love you, save souls."

BLESSED STANISLAUS OF JESUS AND MARY PAPCZYŃSKI

Born: John Papka on 18 May 1631 in Podegrodzie, Poland near Stary Sacz
Died: 17 September 1701 in Góra Kalwaria, Poland in the opinion of sanctity
Beatified: 16 September 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI via His Eminence Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone at the Marian Shrine in Lichen

On Blessed Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński:

A "tireless apostle of Christ" who "burned with a strong passion for the salvation of souls."

— His Eminence Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone

"Pray, brothers, for the souls in Purgatory suffer unbearably."
— Blessed Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński

A particular place within his heart and teachings reached brothers and sisters suffering in Purgatory — the poorest of the poor — for who nothing remains but to count on Divine Mercy, and who of themselves can do nothing to improve their lot. Father Papczyński received a charism of an extraordinary love for these persons.
His natural sensitivity of heart and faith strengthened the mystical experiences given by God as a grace of discerning and understanding the suffering in Purgatory.

It could be said that the Heavenly Father Himself pleaded for help for His sons and daughters. Much like in case of the “vision of the Order of the Immaculate Conception”, Fr. Stanislaus had been inwardly prompted to support the faithful departed.

Father Stanislaus’s three mystical experiences of the sufferings in Purgatory have been well documented.

1.First, in 1675 when he was in the Ukraine as the army chaplain during the war against the Turks -- he received a vision of deceased soldiers asking for his intercession before the Lord. Upon his return to the Korabiew Forest he called his companions to pray, make acts of contrition, and perform works of mercy for the intention of the deceased, especially victims of war.

2.The next incident took place at the Karski’s courtyard, after he had already initiated the communal life in the Korabiew community. Fr. Papczyński had a vision of Purgatory during the meal that followed the Holy Mass. In the presence of many people, he fell into ecstasy (eyewitnesses corroborated this during the Informative Process), after which, deeply shaken, he immediately returned to the monastery. He said to his confreres, surprised by his unexpected return: “I beg you, brothers, pray for the souls in Purgatory, because they suffer unbearable tortures.” After this he remained for several days in his cell, fervently praying and fasting for the deceased.

3.Finally, the third experience of the mystery of Purgatory was granted Fr. Papczyński at the shrine of Our Lady in Studzianna, in 1676, where he made a pilgrimage with the goal of begging for the personal grace of good health. While he stayed there at the monastery of the St. Philip’s Fathers his health worsened. There was fear that he might die. Precisely then -- being in ecstasy -- he was transported to Purgatory. He saw there the Mother of God praying for him, that he would receive a healing in order that he could further assist the dead. At the end of the vision, he quickly recovered strength and in the Studzianna Church he delivered a long sermon to the faithful on the need to assist the departed brothers and sisters. Finally, on February 11 of that same year, he accepted as one of the goals of his Order, that assistance be provided “with utmost diligence, piety, and zeal” for the Poor Souls in Purgatory, especially soldiers and victims of epidemics.

Father Papczyński’s frequent appeals and personal witness intensified concern among his brethren for the faithful departed and gave it an entirely new scope. The Marian Order occupied, at this time, a very developed spirituality in regard to the last things, which above all expressed the idea of ars bene moriendi [art of dying gracefully], as an absolutely indispensable condition of obtaining eternal life. For this reason, Christians, and especially consecrated religious had the responsibility, to not only concern themselves with their own salvation, but also to assist dying and the deceased brethren.

Equally numerous confraternities, comprising lay people, promoted various forms of support for the deceased. The Marians, as hermits, had a daily obligation to recite the Office of the dead, prescribed for them by Bishop Jacek Swiecicki during his canonical visitation, which initiated the legal establishing of the Order, but only the personal charism of Father Founder made it a constitutional element of Marian spirituality.

Let’s not be afraid to say that Fr. Papczyński’s fervent compassion for the deceased was of a divine origin. The charism of our Founder not only augmented the holiness of the Church in purification (deceased brethren), but also had a fundamental influence upon the community of his spiritual sons. We see that the Church’s decision — given through Bishop Swiecicki — did not show itself sufficient, to set the spiritual assistance for the souls in Purgatory as the community’s charism. This was made possible thanks to Fr. Founder’s spirituality and his zealous apostolate on behalf of the “cause of noble love” — as he himself called it — in his Order and in the Church, by promoting it among the laity joined in Marian spirituality through the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception.

In accordance with the explicit directive of the Holy See, the renewed Congregation of Marian Fathers must continue the work of its Founder. The life of Fr. Stanislaus, friend of the suffering in Purgatory, and his first Marian companions, show, that the mandate of the Church has to meet itself in the interior flame within itself of the gift of God granted to the Marian community in the person of its Founder, so that this charismatic mission find its fruitful fulfillment.

Promoter of the call of the laity to holiness

Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński also perceived helping others in attaining salvation and getting involved in the work of the Church as his particular mission. He shows this praise of pastors, who dedicate themselves to the spiritual formation of the faithful:

“O how admirable are Christ’s helpers, who only because of His love, sincerely and carefully place before the children,[…] all that is necessary for salvation, for leading a life in a Christian manner,[…] No work of mercy is greater and more fruitful”

(The Mystical Temple of God).

He wished to belong to such helpers of Christ. For this reason, while staying as chaplain with the Karski family, he wrote a book entitled Templum Dei mysticum [The Mystical Temple of God], which may be daringly called a handbook for striving for holiness, meant also for the laity. The book was to serve one’s growth in the understanding of self and God, discovering the sure road to salvation, and the Christian model of perfection (cf. The Mystical Temple of God). In the opinion of historians, Fr. Papczyński’s treatise was – if not the first – then certainly one of very first Polish works promoting the vocation of laity to holiness. This work was so important in its time that it underwent several reprints.

In The Mystical Temple of God Fr. Papczyński expressed his firm conviction that lay people, and not only religious and priests, are called for holiness, and he also wanted to remind his contemporaries of this basic truth. He wrote:

“Man created by God and consecrated to Him through the sacrament of baptism, is His Mystical Temple. […] Therefore, let everyone give greater attention to the magnificence of his primordial state and acknowledge in himself the image of the Holy Trinity worthy of honor and at the same time striving to this, so as to possess the honor of the divine likeness by the nobility of conduct and the exercise of virtues […] that in the meantime, when it becomes manifest, who he is, he showed himself like to the One who wondrously formed him in His likeness in the first Adam, and yet more wondrously reformed in the second.”

The life of every person, if he offers all his thoughts and deeds to God on the altar of his heart and follows the Gospels teachings, will become a gradual path in the imitation of Christ, so as to participate in His glory.

“You, the Christians, “are the Temple of the living God”

(2 Corinthians 6:15). What a glory is yours! What a dignity!”

This universal vision of the call to holiness should be connected to the delight of the Founder of the Marian Community in the mystery of the Immaculate Conception – the grace of a new creation, which is meant for every person redeemed by Christ; as well as Mary’s personal holiness, whom he called the first Shrine built in the center of the Church and inhabited by God (Inspectio cordis). Fr. Papczyński desired that all people would attain full blessedness, because of this he proposed a road to holiness for all believers, while also imploring salvation of the deceased. In this way he became the promoter of the call to holiness for the laity – an idea definitely seized in our times by the Second Vatican Council.

It is worth mentioning here that Fr. Papczyński’s longtime field of apostolic activity gathered many lay people into various confraternities. Pursuing the history of Fr. Stanislaus’s engagement in this type of pastoral work, it is not hard to see that it permeated the whole priestly vocation of the Founder of the Marian Community.

As a Piarist, during 1663-1667, Fr. Papczyński was the promoter of the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Grace at the Piarist Church in Warsaw, which according to some he himself founded, and according to the opinion of others he greatly popularized. In 1671, that is the moment of his “transition” in his religious vocation, for half a year he cared for the archconfraternity of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. allied to St. Jacob’s Church in the Kazimierz a borough of Krakow.

As Founder of the Marian Order, he obtained from the Holy See in 1681 — that is prior to the pontifical approval of his institute — a document, which was understood (at least the papal breve was so interpreted by Bishop Stefan Wierzbowski, and after him by our Founder and consecutive generations of the Marians), as permission to establish confraternities of the faithful allied to the Marian churches, which Fr. Stanislaus himself defined as the confraternity of the Immaculate Conception assisting the faithful departed. In promoting the idea of the confraternity he followed the accepted practice of his times: aside from seeing it as a form of personal sanctification for the laity, he perceived it as, maybe, a unique opportunity for the lay faithful to spiritually influence others and thus to include them in to the apostolate of the Church.

 'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory.  Amen.'

SAINT GERTRUDE THE GREAT

Born: 6 January 1256 at Eisleben, Thuringia (part of modern Germany)
Died: On a Wednesday of Easter season, 17 November 1302 at the convent of Saint Mary’s of Helfta, Saxony (part of modern Germany) of natural causes.
Canonized: Never formerly canonized. Received equipotent canonization, and a was universal feast day declared in 1677 by Pope Clement XII.
Memorial: 16 November; 17 November in Germany

Benedictine and mystic writer; when she was but five years of age she entered the alumnate of Helfta. The monastery was at that time governed by the saintly and enlightened Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn, under whose rule it prospered exceedingly, both in monastic observance and in that intellectual activity which St. Lioba and her Anglo-Saxon nuns had transmitted to their foundations in Germany. All that could aid to sanctity, or favour contemplation and learning, was to be found in this hallowed spot. Here, too, as to the centre of all activity and impetus of its life, the work of works-the Opus Dei, as St. Benedict terms the Divine Office - was solemnly carried out. Such was Helfta when its portals opened to receive the child destined to be its brightest glory. Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde, mistress of the alumnate and sister of the Abbess Gertrude. From the first she had the gift of winning the hearts, and her biographer gives many details of her exceptional charms, which matured with advancing years.
 

Thus early had been formed between Gertrude and Mechtilde the bond of an intimacy which deepened and strengthened with time, and gave the latter saint a prepondering influence over the former.

Partly in the alumnate, partly in the community, Gertrude had devoted herself to study with the greatest ardour. In her twenty-sixth year there was granted her the first of that series of visions of which the wonderful sequence ended only with life. She now gauged in its fullest extent the void of which she had been keenly sensible for some time past, and with this awakening came the realization of the utter emptiness of all transitory things. With characteristic ardour she cultivated the highest spirituality, and, to quote her biographer, "from being a grammarian became a theologian", abandoning profane studies for the Scriptures, patristic writings, and treatises on theology. To these she brought the same earnestness which had characterized her former studies, and with indefatigable zeal copied, translated, and wrote for the spiritual benefit of others. Although Gertrude vehemently condemns herself for past negligence (Legatus, II, ii), still to understand her words correctly we must remember that they express the indignant self-condemnation of a soul called to the highest sanctity. Doubtless her inordinate love of study had proved a hindrance alike to contemplation and interior recollection, yet it had none the less surely safeguarded her from more serious and grievous failings. Her struggle lay in the conquest of a sensitive and impetuous nature. In St. Gertrude's life there are no abrupt phases, no sudden conversion from sin to holiness. She passed from alumnate to the community. Outwardly her life was that of the simple Benedictine nun, of which she stands forth preeminently as the type. Her boundless charity embraced rich and poor, learned and simple, the monarch on his throne and the peasant in the field; it was manifested in tender sympathy towards the souls in purgatory, in a great yearning for the perfection of souls consecrated to God. Her humility was so profound that she wondered how the earth could support so sinful a creature as herself. Her raptures were frequent and so absorbed her faculties as to render her insensible to what passed around her. She therefore begged, for the sake of others, that there might be no outward manifestations of the spiritual wonders with which her life was filled. She had the gift of miracles as well as that of prophecy.

When the call came for her spirit to leave the worn and pain-stricken body, Gertrude was in her forty-fifth or forty-sixth year, and in turn assisted at the death-bed and mourned for the loss of the holy Sister Mechtilde (1281), her illustrious Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn (1291), and her chosen guide and confidante, St. Mechtilde (1298). When the community was transferred in 1346 to the monastery of New Helfta, the present Trud-Kloster, within the walls of Eisleben, they still retained possession of their old home, where doubtless the bodies of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde still buried, though their place of sepulture remains unknown. There is, at least, no record of their translation. Old Helfta is now crown-property, while New Helfta has lately passed into the hands of the local municipality. It was not till 1677 that the name of Gertrude was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology and her feast was extended to the universal church, which now keeps it on 15 November, although it was at first fixed on 17 November, the day of her death, on which it is still celebrated by her own order. In compliance with a petition from the King of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in New Mexico a town was built in her honour and bears her name. Some writers of recent times have considered that St. Gertrude was a Cistercian, but a careful and impartial examination of the evidence at present available does not justify this conclusion. It is well known that the Cistercian Reform left its mark on many houses not affiliated to the order, and the fact that Helfta was founded during the "golden age" of Cîteaux (1134-1342) is sufficient to account for this impression.

Many of the writings of St. Gertrude have unfortunately perished. Those now extant are:

◦The "Legatus Divinae Pietatis",
◦The "Exercises of St. Gertrude";
◦The "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of St. Mechtilde.
 

The works of St. Gertrude were all written in Latin, which she used with facility and grace. The "Legatus Divinae Pietatis" (Herald of Divine Love) comprises five books containing the life of St. Gertrude, and recording many of the favours granted her by God. Book II alone is the work of the saint, the rest being compiled by members of the Helfta community. They were written for her Sisters in religion, and we feel she has here a free hand unhampered by the deep humility which made it so repugnant for her to disclose favours personal to herself. The "Exercises", which are seven in number, embrace the work of the reception of baptismal grace to the preparation for death. Her glowing language deeply impregnated with the liturgy and scriptures exalts the soul imperceptibly to the heights of contemplation. When the "Legatus Divinae Pietatis" is compared with the "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of St. Mechtilde, it is evident that Gertrude is the chief, if not the only, author of the latter book. Her writings are also coloured by the glowing richness of that Teutonic genius which found its most congenial expression in symbolism and allegory. The spirit of St. Gertrude, which is marked by freedom, breadth, and vigor, is based on the Rule of St. Benedict. Her mysticism is that of all the great contemplative workers of the Benedictine Order from St. Gregory to Blosius. Hers, in a word, is that ancient Benedictine spirituality which Father Faber has so well depicted (All for Jesus, viii).

The characteristic of St. Gertrude's piety is her devotion to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of that immense charity which urged the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take on Himself our sins, and, dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and a sacrifice to the Eternal Father (Congregation of Rites, 3 April, 1825). Faithful to the mission entrusted to them, the superiors of Helfta appointed renowned theologians, chosen from the Dominican and Franciscan friars, to examine the works of the saint. These approved and commented them throughout. In the sixteenth century Lanspergius and Blosius propagated her writings. The former, who with his confrere Loher spared no pains in editing her works, also wrote a preface to them. The writings were warmly received especially in Spain, and among the long list of holy and learned authorities who used and recommended her works may be mentioned:

•St. Teresa, who chose her as her model and guide,
•Yepez,
•the illustrious Francisco Suárez,
•the Discalced Carmelite Friars of France,
•St. Francis de Sales,
•M. Oliver,
•Fr. Faber,
•Dom Guéranger

The Church has inserted the name of Gertrude in the Roman Martyrology with this eulogy: "On the 17th of November, in Germany (the Feast) of St. Gertrude Virgin, of the Order of St. Benedict, who was illustrious for the gift of revelations."

'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory.  Amen.'

SAINT JOHN MASSIAS, {MACIAS}

Born: 2 March 1585 at Ribera del Fresno, Estramadura, Spain
Died: 17 September 1645 in Lima, Peru of natural causes
Beatified: 1837 by Pope Pius VII
Canonized: 1975 by Pope Paul VI
Memorial: 18 September

Saint John Massias, known as the "Helper of the Poor Souls", offered three rosaries every night for the souls in Purgatory, praying for them on his knees despite bodily fatigue. Saint John also sprinkled holy water on the ground several times a day for their relief. He also offered hundreds of short ejaculations ("sudden short exclamations, especially brief pious utterances or prayers") as he went around his regular work, applying the merit of these little prayers to the Holy Souls. Not a day passed that St. John didn't unite himself with the priest at the altar begging the Heavenly Father to grant all the souls eternal rest through the merits of Christ's death on Calvary.

The Holy Souls often appeared to him begging his powerful intercession, "Give us prayers", they cried with one voice. "Oh brother John, you are the friend of the poor and sick! Be our friend too! Help make us worthy to be with God and His Blessed ones."

- St. John Massias by Mary Fabyan Windeatt, page 89, 1972, Tan Books, Rockford IL,

SAINT PADRE PIO OF PIETRELCINA

Born: 25 May 1887 at Pietrelcina, Benevento, Italy as Francesco Forgione
Died: 23 September 1968 of natural causes
Canonized: 16 June 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy
Memorial: 23 September

 

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, a worthy follower of Saint Francis of Assisi was born on May 25, 1887 at Pietrelcina in the Archdiocese of Benevento, the son of Grazio Forgione and Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio. He was baptized the next day and given the name Francesco. At the age of twelve he received the Sacrament of Confirmation and made his First Holy Communion.

On 6 January 1903, at the age of sixteen, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars at Morcone, where on 22 January he took the Franciscan habit and the name Brother Pio. At the end of his novitiate year he took simple vows, and on 27 January 1907 made his solemn profession.

After he was ordained priest on 10 August 1910 at Benevento, he stayed at home with his family until 1916 for health reasons. In September of that year he was sent to the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo and remained there until his death.
  

While praying before a cross, he received the stigmata on 20 September 1918, the first priest ever to be so blessed. As word spread, especially after American soldiers brought home stories of Padre Pio following WWII, the priest himself became a point of pilgrimage for both the pious and the curious. He would hear confessions by the hour, reportedly able to read the consciences of those who held back. Reportedly able to bi-locate, levitate, and heal by touch. Founded the House for the Relief of Suffering in 1956, a hospital that serves 60,000 a year. In the 1920's he started a series of prayer groups that continue today with over 400,000 members worldwide.

He was always immersed in supernatural realities. Not only was he himself a man of hope and total trust in God, but by word and example he communicated these virtues to all who approached him.

Padre Pio, as we shall see shortly, had a very particular relationship with the Holy Souls; indeed they were his frequent visitors - so much so that at one time he said:

"I see so many souls from Purgatory that they don't frighten me any more."

And on another occasion when questioned further on the matter, he replied:

"More souls of the dead than of the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers."

Padre Pio was one who offered his pains, prayers and sufferings for the release of those in a state of purification, and those souls never ceased to thank him for this.

We must be truly grateful to Padre Pio for lifting the veil which separates this world from the next for a few instants and thereby helping us to understand and remember their REAL presence within the Church.

On November 29, 1910, writing to Padre Benedetto, his spiritual director, Padre Pio explains that the attacks of the devil are implacable, and that he wishes to be set free from this trial. But he asks permission to offer himself as a victim for sinners and for the souls in Purgatory.

"Now, my dear father; I want to ask your permission for something. For some time I have felt the need to offer myself to the Lord as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory. The desire has been growing continually in my heart, so that it has now become what I would call a strong passion. I have, in fact, made this offering to the Lord several times, beseeching Him to pour upon me the punishment prepared for sinners and for the souls in Purgatory, even increasing them a hundredfold for me, as long as He converts and saves sinners and quickly admits to Paradise the souls in Purgatory. But I should now like to make this offering to the Lord in obedience to you. It seems to me that Jesus really wants this. I am sure that you will have no difficulty in granting me this permission."

In a letter of 1 December 1910, he answered:

"Make the offering of which you speak and it will be. most acceptable to the Lord. Extend your own arms also on your cross, and by offering to the Father the sacrifice of yourself in union with the most loving Saviour, suffer, groan and pray for the wicked ones of the earth and for the poor souls in the next life who are so deserving of our compassion in their patient and unspeakable sufferings."

Once he had been given permission to become a victim, and once he had willingly offered himself, the apparitions of the deceased souls to Padre Pio became innumerable. From his own words we can see that these apparitions were very frequent indeed, so that after a while he wasn't even upset by them.

During his early years in San Giovanni Rotondo, he was in charge of the young students for the priesthood. He often spoke to them of the pains and sufferings of the souls in Purgatory and of our duty to help them with our prayers, mortifications, and other meritorious works. To encourage prayers and good works for the Holy Souls, Padre Pio would often relate to the seminarians his own personal experiences with deceased souls, telling them that these souls came to him to seek his prayers.

Indeed, as we know, nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all, for souls of the dead were frequent visitors to him during the fifty-two years he spent at San Giovanni Rotondo.

Need we say more? If we wish to follow Padre Pia's example, I'm sure he would say to you, our internet visitor:

"Do as I have done. Pray, pray always for the souls of the dear departed."

In conclusion, let us remember that we can form God's stairway for the Poor Souls in Purgatory through our prayers and pious actions offered for their intentions.

Can the Holy Souls (the Church Suffering) help us on earth,(the Church Militant)?

If you ask St. Padre Pio or his spiritual director they would say most definitely, they can and do. Pope Pius IX confirms this as well, when talking to a newly appointed bishop who did not feel up to the job, saying:

"Your diocese is very small in comparison with the universal Church which I carry on my shoulders. Your cares will be light in comparison to mine. I, too, suffered from a grave defect of memory, but I promised to say a fervent prayer daily for the Holy Souls who in return have obtained for me an excellent memory. Do likewise, dear father, and you will soon have cause to rejoice."

In the years following his death, his reputation for sanctity and miracles grew steadily, and became established in the Church, all over the world and among all kinds of people.

SAINT CATHERINE OF GENOA

Born: In Genoa, Italy in 1447
Died: 15 September 1510 at Genoa, Italy
Beatified: 1675 by Pope Clement X
Canonized: 1737 by Pope Clement XII
Memorial: 15 September

The Heavenly Father gave Saint Catherine some of the most extraordinary operations in her soul. This condition started when she was about twenty-six years old and lasted until her death. In this state, she received wonderful revelations of which at times she spoke to those around her. Many of her extraordinary experiences and revelations where about Purgatory with many of them being written down in one of her two most celebrated works, "Treatise on Purgatory". Some extracts from the book follow:

"There is no place to be compared with than of the souls in Purgatory, { save | except } that of the Saints in Paradise, and this peace is ever augmented by the flowing of God into these souls, which increases in proportion as the impediments to it are removed. The rust of sin is the impediment, and this the fire continually consumes, so that the soul in this state is continually opening itself to admit the divine communication"

- Treatise on Purgatory (Chapter 2, page 301)
 

"It is true that the Divine love which overwhelms the soul gives, as I think, a peace greater than that which can be expressed, yet this peace does not in the least diminish her pains, nay, it is love delayed which occasions them, and they are greater in proportion to the perfection of the love of which God has made her capable."

- Treatise on Purgatory (Chapter 12, page 318)

"So hidden and transformed in God are they, that they rest content with all His holy will. And if a soul, retaining the slightest stain, were to draw near to God in the beatific vision, it would be to hear a mere grievous injury, and inflict more suffering, than Purgatory itself."

- Treatise on Purgatory (Chapter 14, page 321)

SAINT NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO

Born: 1245 at Sant' Angelo, March of Ancona, diocese of Fermo
Died: 10 September 1305 at Tolentino, Italy following a long illness
Canonized: 5 June (Pentecost) 1446 by Pope Eugene IV; over 300 miracles recognized
Memorial: 10 September

Saint Nicholas had a powerful intercession for those who had died. Two of many episodes which show his intercessory power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory follow:

On a certain Saturday night while he lay in bed, St. Nicholas heard the voice of someone, a deceased friar who St. Nicholas had known. The friar revealed that he was in Purgatory and begged Nicholas to offer Mass for him and many other suffering souls so that they might be set free from their sorrows. Nicholas offered the Mass for them, with permission, all that week. At the end of that week his friend Friar Pellegrino appeared to him once again with gratitude for the great favor he had done and the assurance that a great number of the persons he had seen were now enjoying the presence of God.
 

On another day, St. Nicholas was in Church lighting a lamp before the Blessed Sacrament. A loud voice suddenly called to him. Nicholas was startled. Thinking it was the devil who wished to tempt him as he so often did, instead, it was his own blood brother, Gentile, who had died two weeks previously and now was informing him that a great miracle had occurred: The greatest of all miracles. The salvation of his soul. "Do not doubt, Nicholas, I am your brother, Gentile. Your prayers and your acts of penance have saved my soul from certain damnation."

BLESSED MARY OF PROVIDENCE



BLESSED MARY OF PROVIDENCE

Born: 25 March 1825 at Lille, France
Died: 7 February 1871 at Paris, France of Cancer
Beatified: 26 May 1957 by Pope Pius XII in Rome, Italy
Canonization: pending
Memorial: 7 February

The first whispering of grace of her special vocation for the Holy Souls in Purgatory happened at an early age. Two of many episodes that illustrate this are below:

Long ago a ray of this sublime understanding was given to a little girl playing in the summer fields and chasing butterflies. Awestruck and wondering, she paused, and after a long halt called to her companions. Childlike, she tried to explain in metaphors that strange enlightenment:

'If one of our friends was imprisoned in a house of fire,' she said, 'how we should rush to her help. Then think how we should try to deliver the souls in Purgatory.'

Thoughtfully the little group listened. That child, as Mother Mary of Providence, was granted in after years a very real participation in the mysterious sufferings of Purgatory and the way she spoke of them made older people pause and listen.

The second episode happened on the feast of All Saints, 1853, that Eugenie Smet received a stronger reinforcement of her special vocation to the holy souls.

As she was praying with her head bowed down before our Blessed Lord in the Sacrament of His Love, the idea of an association of prayers and good works in behalf of the dead was rising distinctly before her eyes. But then came the doubt - was it God who was inspiring here with thought or was it the result of her own fancy? In unhesitating faith she determined to ask Our Blessed Lord, by some unmistakable sign, to give a token of His Will. If you want me to begin this work my Lord, make at least one of my friends, think of something and let her speak to me about it as soon as I come out of Church.

She slowly descended the long flight of steps of the Church to the village square, anxiously thinking over the prayer she had made. Her heart sank within her when she reached the bottom of the stairs and no one had spoken to her. But just at that moment a young girl at her own age, a great dear friend to hers, came forward and said,

"Dear Eugenie, I am so glad to have met you. During Benediction I had an inspiration. I thought of offering to join you in doing everything we can during November for the Souls in Purgatory. Have you indeed had that thought?"

The rest is history. On January 19 1856 she founded the Society of Helpers of the Holy Souls in Paris, France.

The day following the ceremony of beatification, on May 26, 1957, Pope Pius XII summarized, in a speech, the essence of the message left by Sister Mary of Providence:

"Whoever acts thus in a manner devoid of all personal interest and selfishness, and consecrates himself to the universal work of redemption, will know, like Mary of Providence, the suffering and the travail, but also the invincible security of those who are established on the strength of God Himself and await with humble confidence the hour of endless triumph:

In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion (Psalm 70: 1)."

The Father loves His dear ones in Purgatory.