PURGATORY
Is a place in which the just who depart out of this life are supposed to expiate certain offences which do not merit eternal damnation. Broughton has endeavoured to prove that this notion has been held by Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, as well as by Christians; and that, in the days of the Maccabees, the Jews believed that sin might be expiated by sacrifice after the death of the sinner. The arguments advanced by the Papists for purgatory are these:
1. Every sin, how slight soever, though no more than an idle word, as it is an offence to God, deserves punishment from him, and will be punished by him hereafter, if not cancelled by repentance here.
2. Such small sins do not deserve eternal punishment.
3. Few depart this life so pure as to be totally exempt from spots of this nature, and from every kind of debt due to God’s justice.
4. Therefore few will escape without suffering something from his justice for such debts as they have carried with them out of this world, according to that rule of divine justice by which he treats every soul hereafter according to its own works, and according to the state in which he finds it in death. From these propositions, which the Papist considers as so many self-evident truths, he infers that there must be some third place of punishment; for since the infinite goodness of God can admit nothing into heaven which is not clean and pure from all sin both great and small, and his infinite justice can permit none to receive the reward of bliss who as yet are not out of debt, but have something in justice to suffer, there must of necessity, be some place or state, where souls departing this life, pardoned as to the external guilt or pain, yet obnoxious to some temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some venial faults, are purged and purified before their admittance into heaven.
And this is what he is taught concerning purgatory, which, though he know not where it is, of what nature the pains are, or how long each soul is detained there, yet he believes that those who are in this place are relieved by the prayers of their fellow-members here on earth, as also by alms and masses offered up to God for their souls. And as for such as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or give alms or procure masses for their relief, they are not neglected by the memoration of all the faithful departed in every mass, and in every one of the canonical hours of the divine office. Besides the above arguments, the following passages are alleged as proofs: 2Ma 12:43-45. Mat 12:31-32. 1Co 3:15. 1Pe 3:19. But it may be observed,
1. That the books of Maccabees have no evidence of inspiration, therefore quotations from them are not to be regarded.
2. If they were, the texts referred to would rather prove that there is no such place as purgatory, since Judas did not expect the souls departed to reap any benefit from his sin- offering till the resurrection. The texts quoted from the Scriptures have no reference to this doctrine, as may be seen by consulting the context, and any just commentator thereon.
3. Scripture, in general, speaks of departed souls going immediately at death to a fixed state of happiness or misery, and gives us no idea of purgatory, Isa 57:2. Rev 14:13. Luk 16:22; 2Co 5:8.
4. It is derogatory from the doctrine of Christ’s satisfaction. If Christ died for us, and redeemed us from sin and hell, as the Scripture speaks, then the idea of farther meritorious suffering detracts from the perfection of Christ’s work, and places merit still in the creature; a doctrine exactly opposite to Scripture.
See Doddridge’s Lec. lec. 270; Limborch’s Theol. 50: 6, ch. 10 $ 10, 22; Earl’s Sermon, in the Sermons against Popery, vol.ii. No. 1; Burnett on the Art 22; Fleury’s Catechism, vol. 2: p. 250.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Purgatory
(Latin: purgare, to cleanse)
In ecclesiastical language, the state or the abode of temporary punishment for those souls, who having died in the state of grace, are not entirely free from venial sins or have not yet fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions. It is not a state of positive growth in goodness and in merit, but of purification effected by suffering. The Catholic doctrine, defined at the Council of Florence and repeated at the Council of Trent, is: (1) that there is a Purgatory; (2) that the souls suffering there can be helped by the prayers of the faithful, especially by the Sacrifice of the Altar. Although Holy Scripture does not expressly mention Purgatory, it presupposes it, and refers to it clearly enough, e.g., 2 Machabees 12; Matthew 5 and 12; 1 Corinthians 3; Philemon 2; 1 Peter 3. Purgatory is firmly established by tradition and confirmed by the constant belief of the Church in suffrages for the dead. The chief punishment consists in being deprived of the beatific vision (pna damni). Besides this there is the additional punishment (pna sensus), which, according to the common belief of the Western Church, consists in real fire. They are certain of their salvation, and are confirmed in good, hence can no longer sin. Since they love God perfectly, they bear their sufferings with resignation. This love of God and resignation to His holy Will, according to many theologians, considerably lessens and mitigates the severest sufferings of Purgatory. In the early Church some heretics denied the existence of Purgatory. In the Middle Ages the Cathari, Waldenses, and Hussites rejected it, and in the 16th century Luther and Calvin and their followers did the same. Protestants, therefore, generally reject it. The Greeks have a vague and indefinite notion of it. Belief in Purgatory fosters piety. It deters man from venial sin, begets a spirit of penance, gives him occasion to practise charity to the dead, and awakens salutary thoughts of the life to come.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Purgatory
The subject is treated under these heads: I. Catholic Doctrine II. Errors III. Proofs IV. Duration and Nature V. Succouring the Dead VI. Indulgences VII. Invocation of Souls VIII. Utility of Prayer for the Departed
I. CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
Purgatory (Lat., “purgare”, to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.
The faith of the Church concerning purgatory is clearly expressed in the Decree of Union drawn up by the Council of Florence (Mansi, t. XXXI, col. 1031), and in the decree of the Council of Trent which (Sess. XXV) defined:
“Whereas the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has from the Sacred Scriptures and the ancient tradition of the Fathers taught in Councils and very recently in this Ecumenical synod (Sess. VI, cap. XXX; Sess. XXII cap.ii, iii) that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar; the Holy Synod enjoins on the Bishops that they diligently endeavor to have the sound doctrine of the Fathers in Councils regarding purgatory everywhere taught and preached, held and believed by the faithful” (Denzinger, “Enchiridon”, 983).
Further than this the definitions of the Church do not go, but the tradition of the Fathers and the Schoolmen must be consulted to explain the teachings of the councils, and to make clear the belief and the practices of the faithful.
Temporal Punishment
That temporal punishment is due to sin, even after the sin itself has been pardoned by God, is clearly the teaching of Scripture. God indeed brought man out of his first disobedience and gave him power to govern all things (Wisdom 10:2), but still condemned him “to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow” until he returned unto dust. God forgave the incredulity of Moses and Aaron, but in punishment kept them from the “land of promise” (Numbers 20:12). The Lord took away the sin of David, but the life of the child was forfeited because David had made God’s enemies blaspheme His Holy Name (2 Samuel 12:13-14). In the New Testament as well as in the Old, almsgiving and fasting, and in general penitential acts are the real fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 17:3; 3:3). The whole penitential system of the Church testifies that the voluntary assumption of penitential works has always been part of true repentance and the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, can. xi) reminds the faithful that God does not always remit the whole punishment due to sin together with the guilt. God requires satisfaction, and will punish sin, and this doctrine involves as its necessary consequence a belief that the sinner failing to do penance in this life may be punished in another world, and so not be cast off eternally from God.
Venial Sins
All sins are not equal before God, nor dare anyone assert that the daily faults of human frailty will be punished with the same severity that is meted out to serious violation of God’s law. On the other hand whosoever comes into God’s presence must be perfectly pure for in the strictest sense His “eyes are too pure, to behold evil” (Habakkuk 1:13). For unrepented venial faults for the payment of temporal punishment due to sin at time of death, the Church has always taught the doctrine of purgatory.
So deep was this belief ingrained in our common humanity that it was accepted by the Jews, and in at least a shadowy way by the pagans, long before the coming of Christianity. (“Aeneid,” VI, 735 sq.; Sophocles, “Antigone,” 450 sq.).
II. ERRORS
Epiphanius (haer., lxxv, P.G., XLII, col. 513) complains that Acrius (fourth cent.) taught that prayers for the dead were of no avail. In the Middle Ages, the doctrine of purgatory was rejected by the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Hussites. St. Bernard (Serm. lxvi in Cantic., P. L. CLXXXIII, col. 1098) states that the so-called “Apostolici” denied purgatory and the utility of prayers for the departed. Much discussion has arisen over the position the Greeks on the question of purgatory. It would seem that the great difference of opinion not concerning the existence of purgatory but concerning the nature of purgatorial fire; still St. Thomas proves the existence of purgatory in his dissertation against the errors of the Greeks, and the Council of Florence also thought necessary to affirm the belief of the Church on the subject (Bellarmine, “De Purgatorio,” lib. I, cap. i). The modern Orthodox Church denies purgatory, but is rather inconsistent in its way of putting forth its belief.
At the beginning of the Reformation there was some hesitation especially on Luther’s part (Leipzig Disputation) as to whether the doctrine should be retained, but as the breach widened, the denial of purgatory by the Reformers became universal, and Calvin termed the Catholic position “exitiale commentum quod crucem Christi evacuat . . . quod fidem nostram labefacit et evertit” (Institutiones, lib. III, cap. v, 6). Modern Protestants, while they avoid the name purgatory, frequently teach the doctrine of “the middle state,” and Martensen (“Christian Dogmatics,” Edinburgh, 1890, p. 457) writes: “As no soul leaves this present existence in a fully complete and prepared state, we must suppose that there is an intermediate state, a realm of progressive development, (?) in which souls are prepared for the final judgment” (Farrar, “Mercy and Judgment,” London, 1881, cap. iii).
III. PROOFS
The Catholic doctrine of purgatory supposes the fact that some die with smaller faults for which there was no true repentance, and also the fact that the temporal penalty due to sin is it times not wholly paid in this life. The proofs for the Catholic position, both in Scripture and in Tradition, are bound up also with the practice of praying for the dead. For why pray for the dead, if there be no belief in the power of prayer to afford solace to those who as yet are excluded from the sight of God? So true is this position that prayers for the dead and the existence of a place of purgation are mentioned in conjunction in the oldest passages of the Fathers, who allege reasons for succouring departed souls. Those who have opposed the doctrine of purgatory have confessed that prayers for the dead would be an unanswerable argument if the modern doctrine of a “particular judgment” had been received in the early ages. But one has only to read the testimonies hereinafter alleged to feel sure that the Fathers speak, in the same breath, of oblations for the dead and a place of purgation; and one has only to consult the evidence found in the catacombs to feel equally sure that the Christian faith there expressed embraced clearly a belief in judgment immediately after death. Wilpert (“Roma Sotteranea,” I, 441) thus concludes chapt. xxi, “Che tale esaudimento”, etc., Intercession has been made for the soul of the dear one departed and God has heard the prayer, and the soul has passed into a place of light and refreshment.” “Surely,” Wilpert adds, “such intercession would have no place were there question not of the particular, but of the final judgment.
Some stress too has been laid upon the objection that the ancient Christians had no clear conception of purgatory, and that they thought that the souls departed remained in uncertainty of salvation to the last day; and consequently they prayed that those who had gone before might in the final judgment escape even the everlasting torments of hell. The earliest Christian traditions are clear as to the particular judgment, and clearer still concerning a sharp distinction between purgatory and hell. The passages alledged as referring to relief from hell cannot offset the evidence given below (Bellarmine, “De Purgatorio,” lib. II, cap. v). Concerning the famous case of Trajan, which vexed the Doctors of the Middle Ages, see Bellarmine, loc. cit., cap. Viii.
Old Testament
The tradition of the Jews is put forth with precision and clearness in II Maccabees. Judas, the commander of the forces of Israel,
making a gathering . . . sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead). And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Maccabees 12:43-46)
At the time of the Maccabees the leaders of the people of God had no hesitation in asserting the efficacy of prayers offered for the dead, in order that those who had departed this life might find pardon for their sins and the hope of eternal resurrection.
New Testament
There are several passages in the New Testament that point to a process of purification after death. Thus, Jesus Christ declares (Matthew 12:32): “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.” According to St. Isidore of Seville (Deord. creatur., c. xiv, n. 6) these words prove that in the next life “some sins will be forgiven and purged away by a certain purifying fire.” St. Augustine also argues “that some sinners are not forgiven either in this world or in the next would not be truly said unless there were other [sinners] who, though not forgiven in this world, are forgiven in the world to come” (De Civ. Dei, XXI, xxiv). The same interpretation is given by Gregory the Great (Dial., IV, xxxix); St. Bede (commentary on this text); St. Bernard (Sermo lxvi in Cantic., n. 11) and other eminent theological writers.
A further argument is supplied by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15:
“For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble: Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”
While this passage presents considerable difficulty, it is regarded by many of the Fathers and theologians as evidence for the existence of an intermediate state in which the dross of lighter transgressions will be burnt away, and the soul thus purified will be saved. This, according to Bellarmine (De Purg., I, 5), is the interpretation commonly given by the Fathers and theologians; and he cites to this effect: St. Ambrose (commentary on the text, and Sermo xx in Ps. cxvii), St. Jerome, (Comm. in Amos, c. iv), St. Augustine (Comm. in Ps. xxxvii), St. Gregory (Dial., IV, xxxix), and Origen (Hom. vi in Exod.). See also St. Thomas, “Contra Gentes,”, IV, 91. For a discussion of the exegetical problem, see Atzberger, “Die christliche Eschatologie”, p. 275.
Tradition
This doctrine that many who have died are still in a place of purification and that prayers avail to help the dead is part of the very earliest Christian tradition. Tertullian “De corona militis” mentions prayers for the dead as an Apostolic ordinance, and in “De Monogamia” (cap. x, P. L., II, col. 912) he advises a widow “to pray for the soul of her husband, begging repose for him and participation in the first resurrection”; he commands her also “to make oblations for him on the anniversary of his demise,” and charges her with infidelity if she neglect to succour his soul. This settled custom of the Church is clear from St. Cyprian, who (P. L. IV, col. 399) forbade the customary prayers for one who had violated the ecclesiastical law. “Our predecessors prudently advised that no brother, departing this life, should nominate any churchman as his executor; and should he do it, that no oblation should be made for him, nor sacrifice offered for his repose.” Long before Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria had puzzled over the question of the state or condition of the man who, reconciled to God on his death-bed, had no time for the fulfilment of penance due his transgression. His answer is: “the believer through discipline divests himself of his passions and passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, passes to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance for the faults he may have committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more, not yet attaining what he sees others have acquired. The greatest torments are assigned to the believer, for God’s righteousness is good, and His goodness righteous, and though these punishments cease in the course of the expiation and purification of each one, “yet” etc. (P. G. IX, col. 332).
In Origen the doctrine of purgatory is very clear. If a man depart this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. “For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3); but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works.” (P. G., XIII, col. 445, 448).
The Apostolic practice of praying for the dead which passed into the liturgy of the Church, is as clear in the fourth century as it is in the twentieth. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechet. Mystog., V, 9, P.G., XXXIII, col. 1116) describing the liturgy, writes: “Then we pray for the Holy Fathers and Bishops that are dead; and in short for all those who have departed this life in our communion; believing that the souls of those for whom prayers are offered receive very great relief, while this holy and tremendous victim lies upon the altar.” St. Gregory of Nyssa (P. G., XLVI, col. 524, 525) states that man’s weaknesses are purged in this life by prayer and wisdom, or are expiated in the next by a cleansing fire. “When he has quitted his body and the difference between virtue and vice is known he cannot approach God till the purging fire shall have cleansed the stains with which his soul was infested. That same fire in others will cancel the corruption of matter, and the propensity to evil.” About the same time the Apostolic Constitution gives us the formularies used in succouring the dead. “Let us pray for our brethren who sleep in Christ, that God who in his love for men has received the soul of the depart one, may forgive him every fault, and in mercy and clemency receive him into the bosom of Abraham, with those who in this life have pleased God” (P. G. I, col. 1144). Nor can we pass over the use of the diptychs where the names of the dead were inscribed; and this remembrance by name in the Sacred Mysteries–(a practice that was from the Apostles) was considered by Chrysostom as the best way of relieving the dead (In I Ad Cor., Hom. xli, n. 4, G., LXI, col. 361, 362).
The teaching of the Fathers, and the formularies used in the Liturgy of the Church, found expression in the early Christian monuments, particularly those contained in the catacombs. On the tombs of the faithful were inscribed words of hope, words of petition for peace and for rest; and as the anniversaries came round the faithful gathered at the graves of the departed to make intercession for those who had gone before. At the bottom this is nothing else than the faith expressed by the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV, “De Purgatorio”), and to this faith the inscriptions in the catacombs are surely witnesses.
In the fourth century in the West, Ambrose insists in his commentary on St. Paul (1 Corinthians 3) on the existence of purgatory, and in his masterly funeral oration (De obitu Theodosii), thus prays for the soul of the departed emperor: “Give, O Lord, rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest Thou hast prepared for Thy saints. . . . I loved him, therefore will I follow him to the land of the living; I will not leave him till by my prayers and lamentations he shall be admitted unto the holy mount of the Lord, to which his deserts call him” (P. L., XVI, col. 1397). St. Augustine is clearer even than his master. He describes two conditions of men; “some there are who have departed this life, not so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be entitled to immediate happiness” etc., and in the resurrection he says there will be some who “have gone through these pains, to which the spirits of the dead are liable” (De Civ. Dei, XXI, 24). Thus at the close of the fourth century not only
were prayers for the dead found in all the Liturgies, but the Fathers asserted that such practice was from the Apostles themselves;
those who were helped by the prayers of the faithful and by the celebration of the Holy Mysteries were in a place of purgation;
from which when purified they “were admitted unto the Holy Mount of the Lord”.
So clear is this patristic Tradition that those who do not believe in purgatory have been unable to bring any serious difficulties from the writings of the Fathers. The passages cited to the contrary either do not touch the question at all, or are so lacking in clearness that they cannot offset the perfectly open expression of the doctrine as found in the very Fathers who are quoted as holding contrary opinions (Bellarmine “De Purg.”, lib. I, cap. xiii).
IV. DURATION AND NATURE
Duration
The very reasons assigned for the existence of purgatory make for its passing character. We pray, we offer sacrifice for souls therein detained that “God in mercy may forgive every fault and receive them into the bosom of Abraham” (Const. Apost., P. G., I col. 1144); and Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. XXI, cap.xiii and xvi) declares that the punishment of purgatory is temporary and will cease, at least with the Last Judgment. “But temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment.”
Nature of Punishment
It is clear from the Liturgies and the Fathers above cited that the souls for whose peace sacrifice was offered were shut out for the time being from the sight of God. They were “not so good as to be entitled to eternal happiness”. Still, for them “death is the termination not of nature but of sin” (Ambrose, “De obitu Theodos.”); and this inability to sin makes them secure of final happiness. This is the Catholic position proclaimed by Leo X in the Bull “Exurge Domine” which condemned the errors of Luther.
Are the souls detained in purgatory conscious that their happiness is but deferred for a time, or may they still be in doubt concerning their ultimate salvation? The ancient Liturgies and the inscriptions of the catacombs speak of a “sleep of peace”, which would be impossible if there was any doubt of ultimate salvation. Some of the Doctors of the Middle Ages thought uncertainty of salvation one of the severe punishments of purgatory. (Bellarmine, “De Purgat.” lib. II, cap. iv); but this opinion finds no general credit among the theologians of the medieval period, nor is it possible in the light of the belief in the particular judgment. St. Bonaventure gives as the reason for this elimination of fear and of uncertainty the intimate conviction that they can no longer sin (lib. IV, dist. xx, p.1, a.1 q. iv): “Est evacuatio timoris propter confirniationem liberi arbitrii, qua deinceps scit se peccare non posse” (Fear is cast out because of the strengthening of the will by which the soul knows it can no longer sin), and St. Thomas (dist. xxi, q. i, a.1) says: “nisi scirent se esse liberandas suffragia non peterent” (unless they knew that they are to be delivered, they would not ask for prayers).
Merit
In the Bull “Exurge Domine” Leo X condemns the proposition (n. 38) “Nec probatum est ullis aut rationibus aut scripturis ipsas esse extra statum merendi aut augendae caritatis” (There is no proof from reason or Scripture that they [the souls in purgatory] cannot merit or increase in charity). For them “the night has come in which no man can labour”, and Christian tradition has always considered that only in this life can man work unto the profit of his own soul. The Doctors of the Middle Ages while agreeing that this life is the time for merit and increase of grace, still some with St. Thomas seemed to question whether or not there might be some non-essential reward which the souls in purgatory might merit (IV, dist. xxi, q. i, a. 3). Bellarmine believes that in this matter St. Thomas changed his opinion and refers to a statement of St. Thomas (“De Malo”, q. vii, a. 11). Whatever may be the mind of the Angelic Doctor, theologians agree that no merit is possible in purgatory, and if objection be urged that the souls there merit by their prayers, Bellarmine says that such prayers avail with God because of merit already acquired “Solum impetrant ex meritis praeteritis quomodo nunc sancti orando) pro nobis impetrant licet non merendo” (They avail only in virtue of past merits as those who are now saints intercede for us not by merit but by prayer). (loc. cit. II, cap. iii).
Purgatorial Fire
At the Council of Florence, Bessarion argued against the existence of real purgatorial fire, and the Greeks were assured that the Roman Church had never issued any dogmatic decree on this subject. In the West the belief in the existence of real fire is common. Augustine in Ps. 37 n. 3, speaks of the pain which purgatorial fire causes as more severe than anything a man can suffer in this life, “gravior erit ignis quam quidquid potest homo pati in hac vita” (P. L., col. 397). Gregory the Great speaks of those who after this life “will expiate their faults by purgatorial flames,” and he adds “that the pain be more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life” (Ps. 3 poenit., n. 1). Following in the footsteps of Gregory, St. Thomas teaches (IV, dist. xxi, q. i, a.1) that besides the separation of the soul from the sight of God, there is the other punishment from fire. “Una poena damni, in quantum scilicet retardantur a divina visione; alia sensus secundum quod ab igne punientur”, and St. Bonaventure not only agrees with St. Thomas but adds (IV, dist. xx, p.1, a.1, q. ii) that this punishment by fire is more severe than any punishment which comes to men in this life; “Gravior est omni temporali poena. quam modo sustinet anima carni conjuncta”. How this fire affects the souls of the departed the Doctors do not know, and in such matters it is well to heed the warning of the Council of Trent when it commands the bishops “to exclude from their preaching difficult and subtle questions which tend not to edification’, and from the discussion of which there is no increase either in piety or devotion” (Sess. XXV, “De Purgatorio”).
V. SUCCOURING THE DEAD
Scripture and the Fathers command prayers and oblations for the departed, and the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV, “De Purgatorio”) in virtue of this tradition not only asserts the existence of purgatory, but adds “that the souls therein detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful and principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar.” That those on earth are still in communion with the souls in purgatory is the earliest Christian teaching, and that the living aid the dead by their prayers and works of satisfaction is clear from the tradition above alleged. That the Holy Sacrifice was offered for the departed was received Catholic Tradition even in the days of Tertullian and Cyprian, and that the souls of the dead, were aided particularly “while the sacred victim lay upon the altar” is the expression of Cyril of Jerusalem quoted above. Augustine (Serm.. clxii, n. 2) says that the “prayers and alms of the faithful, the Holy Sacrifice of the altar aid the faithful departed and move the Lord to deal with them in mercy and kindness, and,” he adds, “this is the practice of the universal Church handed down by the Fathers.” Whether our works of satisfaction performed on behalf of the dead avail purely out of God’s benevolence and mercy, or whether God obliges himself in justice to accept our vicarious atonement, is not a settled question. Suarez thinks that the acceptance is one of justice, and alleges the common practice of the Church which joins together the living and the dead without any discrimination (De poenit., disp. xlviii, 6, n. 4).
VI. INDULGENCES
The Council of Trent (Sess. XXV) defined that indulgences are “most salutary for Christian people” and that their “use is to be retained in the Church”. It is the common teaching of Catholic theologians that indulgences may be applied to the souls detained in purgatory; and that indulgences are available for them “by way of suffrage” (per modum suffragii).
(1) Augustine (De Civ. Dei, XX, ix) declares that the souls of the faithful departed are not separated from the Church, which is the kingdom of Christ, and for this reason the prayers and works of the living are helpful to the dead. “If therefore”, argues Bellarmine (De indulgentiis, xiv) “we can offer our prayers and our satisfactions in behalf of those detained in purgatory, because we are members of the great body of Christ, why may not the Vicar of Christ apply to the same souls the superabundant satisfaction of Christ and his saints–of which he is the dispenser?” This is the doctrine of St. Thomas (IV, Sent., dist. xlv, q. ii, a. 3, q. 2) who asserts that indulgences avail principally for the person who performs the work for which the indulgence is given, if they but secondarily may avail even for the dead, if the form in which the indulgence is granted be so worded as to be capable of such interpretation, and he adds “nor is there any reason why the Church may not dispose of its treasure of merits in favour of the dead, as it surely dispenses it in favour of the living”.
(2) St. Bonaventure (IV, Sent., dist. xx, p. 2, q. v) agrees with St. Thomas, but adds that such “relaxation cannot be after the manner of absolution as in the case of the living but only as suffrage (Haec non tenet modum judicii, sed potius suffragii). This opinion of St. Bonaventure, that the Church through its Supreme Pastor does not absolve juridically the souls in purgatory from the punishment due their sins, is the teaching of the Doctors. They point out (Gratian, 24 q. ii, 2, can.1) that in case of those who have departed this life judgment is reserved to God; they allege the authority of Gelasius (Ep. ad Fausturn; Ep. ad. Episcopos Dardaniae) in support of their contention (Gratian ibid.), and they also insist that the Roman Pontiffs, when they grant indulgences that are applicable to the dead, add the restriction “per modum suffragii et deprecationis”. This phrase is found in the Bull of Sixtus IV “Romani Pontificis provida diligentia”, 27 Nov. 1447.
The phrase “per modum suffragi et deprecationis” has been variously interpreted by theologians (Bellarmine, “De indulgentiis”, p.137). Bellarmine himself says: “The true opinion is that indulgences avail as suffrage, because they avail not after the fashion of a juridical absolution ‘quia non prosunt per modum juridicae absolutionis’.” But according to the same author the suffrages of the faithful avail at times “per modum meriti congrui” (by way of merit), at times “per modum impetrationis” (by way of supplication) at times “per modum satisfactionis” (by way of satisfaction); but when there is question of applying an indulgence to one in purgatory it is only “per modum suffragii satisfactorii” and for this reason “the pope does not absolve the soul in purgatory from the punishment due his sin, but offers to God from the treasure of the Church whatever may be necessary for the cancelling of this punishment”.
If the question be further asked whether such satisfaction is accepted by God out of mercy and benevolence, or “ex justitia”, theologians are not in accord–some holding one opinion, others the other. Bellarmine after canvassing both sides (pp. 137, 138) does not dare to set aside “either opinion, but is inclined to think that the former is more reasonable while he pronounces the latter in harmony with piety (“admodum pia”).
Condition
That an indulgence may avail for those in purgatory several conditions are required: The indulgence must be granted by the pope. There must be a sufficient reason for granting, the indulgence, and this reason must be something pertaining to the glory of God and the utility of the Church, not merely the utility accruing to the souls in purgatory. The pious work enjoined must be as in the case of indulgences for the living.
If the state of grace be not among the required works, in all probability the person performing the work may gain the indulgence for the dead, even though he himself be not in friendship with God (Bellarmine, loc. cit., p. 139). Suarez (De Poenit., disp. Iiii, s. 4, n. 5 and 6) puts this categorically when he says: “Status gratiae solum requiritur ad tollendum obicem indulgentiae” (the state of grace is required only to remove some hindrance to the indulgence), and in the case of the holy souls there can be no hindrance. This teaching is bound up with the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, and the monuments of the catacombs represent the saints and martyrs as interceding with God for the dead. The prayers too of the early liturgies speak of Mary and of the saints interceding for those who have passed from this life. Augustine believes that burial in a basilica dedicated to a holy martyr is of value to the dead, for those who recall the memory of him who has suffered will recommend to the martyr’s prayers the soul of him who has departed this life (Bellarmine, lib. II, xv). In the same place Bellarmine accuses Dominicus A Soto of rashness, because he denied this doctrine.
VII. INVOCATION OF SOULS
Do the souls in purgatory pray for us? May we call upon them in our needs? There is no decision of the Church on this subject, nor have the theologians pronounced with definiteness concerning the invocation of the souls in purgatory and their intercession for the living. In the ancient liturgies there are no prayers of the Church directed to those who are still in purgatory. On the tombs of the early Christians nothing is more common than a prayer or a supplication asking the departed to intercede with God for surviving friends, but these inscriptions seem always to suppose that the departed one is already with God. St. Thomas (II-II:83:11) denies that the souls in purgatory pray for the living, and states they are not in a position to pray for us, rather we must make intercession for them. Despite the authority of St. Thomas, many renowned theologians hold that the souls in purgatory really pray for us, and that we may invoke their aid. Bellarmine (De Purgatorio, lib. II, xv,) says the reason alleged by St. Thomas is not at all convincing, and holds that in virtue of their greater love of God and their union with Him their prayers may have great intercessory power, for they are really superior to us in love of God, and in intimacy of union with Him. Suarez (De poenit., disp. xlvii, s. 2, n. 9) goes farther and asserts “that the souls in purgatory are holy, are dear to God, love us with a true love and are mindful of our wants; that they know in a general way our necessities and our dangers, and how great is our need of Divine help and divine grace”.
When there is question of invoking the prayers of those in purgatory, Bellarmine (loc. cit.) says it is superfluous, ordinarily speaking, for they are ignorant of our circumstances and condition. This is at variance with the opinion of Suarez, who admits knowledge at least in a general way, also with the opinions of many modern theologians who point to the practice now common with almost all the faithful of addressing their prayers and petitions for help to those who are still in a place of purgation. Scavini (Theol. Moral., XI, n. l74) sees no reason why the souls detained in purgatory may not pray for us, even as we pray for one another. He asserts that this practice has become common at Rome, and that it has the great name of St. Alphonsus in its favour. St. Alphonsus in his work the “Great Means of Salvation”, chap. I, III, 2, after quoting Sylvius, Gotti, Lessius, and Medina as favourable to his opinion, concludes: “so the souls in purgatory, being beloved by God and confirmed in grace, have absolutely no impediment to prevent them from praying for us. Still the Church does not invoke them or implore their intercession, because ordinarily they have no cognizance of our prayers. But we may piously believe that God makes our prayers known to them”. He alleges also the authority of St. Catharine of Bologna who “whenever she desired any favour had recourse to the souls in purgatory, and was immediately heard”.
VIII. UTILITY OF PRAYER FOR THE DEPARTED
It is the traditional faith of Catholics that the souls in purgatory are not separated from the Church, and that the love which is the bond of union between the Church’s members should embrace those who have departed this life in God’s grace. Hence, since our prayers and our sacrifices can help those who are still waiting in purgatory, the saints have not hesitated to warn us that we have a real duty toward those who are still in purgatorial expiation. Holy Church through the Congregation of Indulgences, 18 December 1885, has bestowed a special blessing on the so-called “heroic act” in virtue of which “a member of the Church militant offers to God for the souls in purgatory all the satisfactory works which he will perform during his lifetime, and also all the suffrages which may accrue to him after his death” (Heroic Act, vol. VII, 292). The practice of devotion to the dead is also consoling to humanity and eminently worthy of a religion which seconds all the purest feelings of the human heart. “Sweet”, says Cardinal Wiseman (lecture XI), “is the consolation of the dying man, who, conscious of imperfection, believes that there are others to make intercession for him, when his own time for merit has expired; soothing to the afflicted survivors the thought that they possess powerful means of relieving their friend. In the first moments of grief, this sentiment will often overpower religious prejudice, cast down the unbeliever on his knees beside the remains of his friend and snatch from him an unconscious prayer for rest; it is an impulse of nature which for the moment, aided by the analogies of revealed truth, seizes at once upon this consoling belief. But it is only a flitting and melancholy light, while the Catholic feeling, cheering though with solemn dimness, resembles the unfailing lamp, which the piety of the ancients is said to have hung before the sepulchres of their dead.”
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EDWARD J. HANNA Transcribed by William G. Bilton, Ph.D. In memory of Father George P. O’Neill Former pastor of St. John the Baptist Church, Buffalo, N.Y.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Purgatory
(Lat.purgatorium, from purgo, I cleanse) is the name given in ecclesiastical language to the place of durance which the Church of Rome and the Eastern Church teach holds the departed souls until fitted for the divine presence. According to the teachings of these churches, the Protestant is wrong in declaring that Christ brings a full and perfect pardon for all the sins of man. Before man can be received into heaven, his soul must be purged by fire from all carnal impurities. Christ only affords a way whereby eternal punishment may be escaped, and though contrition (q.v.) secures forgiveness of sins, the ordinary experiences of peniennce, attrition, must be supplemented by penance. In other words, it is necessary, according to Romish theology, to complete salvation and purification, that the soul should suffer a part of the penalty of its sins; and if these are not voluntarily borne in penances in this life, they will be inflicted in purgatory in the life to come, except when special suffering, inflicted by Divine Providence, serves the same purifying purpose. The doctrine of purgatory does not, therefore, involve the idea of the future redemption of the impenitent. The souls who go to purgatory are only such as die in the state of grace, united to Jesus Christ. It is their imperfect works for which they are condemned to that place of suffering, and which must all be there consumed, and their stains purged away from them before they can go to heaven. The Council of Trent decides thus: If any one say that after the grace of justification received the fault is so pardoned to every penitent sinner, and the guilt of temporal punishment is so blotted out that there remains no guilt of temporal punishment to be done away in this world, or that which is to come in purgatory, before the passage can be opened into heaven, let him be accursed.
Elsewhere it is said, There is a purgatory, and the souls detained there are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the sacrifices of the acceptable altar a statement obviously vague and indefinite. It leaves the most important inquiry undetermined viz. whether the souls in purgatory are in a state of happiness or misery: they are detained, but nothing more as defide is stated. By referring, however, to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, drawn up by order of the fathers there assembled, we get a clearer and more explicit definition: There is a purgatorial fire, where the souls of the righteous are purified by a temporary punishment [ad definitum termpus csruciatce expiantur’], that entrance may be given them into their eternal home, where nothing that is defiled can have a place. And of the truth of this doctrine, which holy councils declare to be confirmed by the testimony of Scripture and of apostolic tradition, the pastor will have to declare more diligently and frequently, because we are fallen on times in which men will not endure sound doctrine (Conc. Trident. sess. 6 can. 30; sess. 25: 1; Catech. Trident. c. 6 qu. 3). Thus a definite meaning is given to the vague teaching of the council: there is a purgatorial fire, and the souls of the faithful are punished for a defined period till their sins are expiated. The almost universal belief prevailing among Roman Catholicsthough they do not consider torment by fire as being de fide, but only the most probable opinion is that purgatory is a place of suffering or punishment for imperfect Christians. Thus Dr. Vilmer, though he says that in the Council of Trent all is contained that is necessary to be believed on this subject, yet afterwards defines purgatory as a place of temporary punishment, which is not asserted by, and goes beyond, the decree of the council (End of Controversy, p. 173, 174). Bellarmine says, Purgatory is a certain place in which, as in a prison, the souls are purged after this life which were not fully purged in this life to wit, so that they may be able to enter into heaven, where no unclean thing can enter; and elsewhere, that the fathers unanimously [sic] teach that the pains of purgatory are most severe or terrible (De Purgactorio, ii, 14).
The arguments advanced for purgatory are these:
1. Every sin, how slight soever, though no more than an idle word, as it is an offence to God, deserves punishment from him, and will be punished by him hereafter, if not cancelled by repentance here.
2. Such small sins do not deserve eternal punishment.
3. Few depart this life so pure as to be totally exempt from spots of this nature, and from every kind of debt due to God’s juistice.
4. Therefore, few will escape without suffering something from his justice for such debts as they have carried with them out of this world, according to the rule of divine justice, by which he treats every soul hereafter according to his works, and according to the state in which he finds it in death. From these positions, which the advocates of the doctrine of purgatory consider as so many self-evident truths, they infer that there must be some third place of punishment; for since the infinite holiness of God can admit nothing into heaven that is not clean and pure from all sin, both great and small, and his infinite justice can permit none to receive the reward of bliss who as yet are not out of debt, but have something in justice to suffer, there must, of necessity, be some place or state where souls departing this life, pardoned as to the eternal guilt of sin, yet obnoxious to some temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some mortal sins (peccata amortalia), or some venial faults (peccata venalia), are purged and purified before their admittance into heaven. Those in purgatory are relieved by the prayers of their fellow-members here on earth, also by alms and masses offered up to God fot their souls. Such as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or give alms to procure masses for their relief, are remembered by the Church. which makes a general commemoration of all the faithful departed in every mass and in every one of the canonical hours of the divine office. Besides the above arguments, the following Bible passages are alleged by them in support of these views: 2Ma 12:43-45 (on which they relyon the supposition of its being inspired); Mat 5:25 (the prison therein referred to being interpreted by them to mean purgatory); 12:32; 1Co 3:11-15; 1Co 15:29; Rev 21:27; as well as on certain less decisive indications contained in the language of some of the Psalms, as 37 (in the A.V. 38), 1; 45:12 12; Isa 4:4; Isa 22:14; Mal 3:3. Respecting all these passages as containing the doctrine of a purgatory, arguments are drawn not alone from the words themselves, but from the interpretation of them by the fathers.
The direct testimonies cited by Roman Catholic writ ers from the fathers to the belief of their respective ages as to the existence of a purgatory are very numerous. We may instance among the Greeks, Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 7:12; Origen, Honr. 16:c. 5, 6, in Jeremiam; 6: Hom. in Exodus 14 : Hom. in Levit.; 28: Hom. in Numbers; Eusebius, De Vita Constantinii, 4:71; Athanasius, Quaest. 34: ad Antioch.; Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Mystcag. v, 9; Basil, Hom. in Psa 5:7; Gregory of Nazianzum, 41, Orclt. de Lacude Athanasii; Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. de Bapt.; as also Epiphanius, Ephraem, Theodoret, and others. Among the Latins, Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Lactantius, Hilary, Ambrose, and, above all, Augustine (from whom many passages are cited), Paulinus of Nola, and Gregory the Great, in whom the doctrine is found in all the fillness of its modern detail. The epitaphs of the catacombs, too, occasionally supply Romish controversialists with some testimonies to the belief of a purgatory, and of the value of the intercessory prayers of the living in obtaining not merely repose, but relief from suffering for the deceased; and the liturgies of the various rites are still more decisive and circumstantial. Beyond these two points, Romish faith, as defilned by the Council of Trent, does not go.
The council expressly prohibits the popular discussion of the more difficult and subtle questions, and everything that tends to curiosity or superstition, or savors of filthy lucre. Of the further questions as to the nature of purgatory, there is one of great historical importance, inasmuch as it constitutes one of the grounds of difference between the Greek and Latin churches. As to the existence of purgatory, both these churches are agreed, and they are further agreed that it is a place of suffering; but, while the Latins commonly hold that this suffering is by fire, the Greeks do not determine the manner of the suffering, but are content to regard it as through tribulation. The decree of union in the Council of Florence (1439) left this point free for discussion. Equally free are the questions as to the situation of purgatory; as to the duration of the purgatorial suffering; as to the probable number of its inmates; as to whether they have, while there detained, a certainty of their ultimate salvation; and whether a particular judgment takes place on each individual case immediately after death. Throughout the Eastern liturgies there is no express mention of the purgatorial suffering of souls in the intermediate state. In the apostolical constitutions and in the liturgy of St. Chrysostom, the Church prays for those who rest in faith ( , lib. 8 c. 13). In other liturgies, as of St. James, St. Mark, and St. Basil, there is prayer for the rest and forgiveness of the departed ( : St. Mark). Even in the Roman canon there is only a prayer for those resting in Christ, and a common inscription in the catacombs over the departed is In pace. Such statements are not, indeed, necessarily inconsistent with the departed Christian being in a state of suffering; for even then he would rest from the sorrows and trials of life, and have the assured hope of eternal life. Still, where there is no direct allusion (as in the Mozarabic and Gallican missals) to the suffering of the departed, we cannot fairly and reasonably suppose that a state of suffering is implied when the faithful departed are said to be at rest. Such an expression must be taken in its ordinary meaning as denoting a more or less perfect happiness. (The theory of the early Church, which may be called the Judgmentday Purgatory, we treat of below.) See Bellarmine, De Purgatorio; Suaresius, De Purgatorio; and on the Greek portion of the subject. Leo Allatius, De Utrusque Ecclesies in Dogmat de Purgatorio Perpetua Consensione.
The mediaeval doctrine and practice regarding purgatory were among the leading grounds of the protest of the Waldenses and other sects of that age. The Reformers as a body rejected the doctrine.
In the modern Romish Church the doctrine of purgatory has led to others more directly injurious and corrupting. By the terror which it inspires it gives the priesthood power to impose penances; it leads to indulgences (q.v.) and prayers for the dead, for it is held that the sufferings in purgatory may be greatly mitigated and shortened by the prayers, the services, the masses, the charities, and other works of supererogation of their friends upon the earth. The extent to which this doctrine has been employed in increasing the income of the Church receives a significant illustration in one singular fact. There exists a purgatorial insurance company which, for a certain premium paid annually, insures the payor a given number of masses for his soul in the event of his death, and the certificates of this insurance company may be seen hung up on the walls in hundreds of rooms in the tenement-houses of our great cities, especially of New York.
Protestantism, in rejecting the doctrine of purgatory, takes the ground that it is inadmissible to depend upon any authority outside of the Bible and not in harmony therewith. It not only, however, refuses to admit the authority of tradition or the testimonies of the fathers, but, at the same time, alleges that most, if not all, of the passages quoted from the fathers as in favor of purgatory are in themselves insufficient to prove that they held any such doctrine as that now taught by the Roman Catholic Church, some of them properly relating only to the subject of prayer for the dead (q.v.), and others to the doctrine of Limbo (q.v.). That the doctrine of purgatory is the fair development of that which maintains that prayer ought to be made for the dead, Protestants generally acknowledge, but refuse to admit that the fathers carried out their views to any such consequence. For Origen says, We, after the labors and strivings of this present life, hope to be in the highest heavens, not in purgatory. So Chrysostom, Those that truly follow virtue, after they are changed from this life, are truly freed from their fightings, and loosed from their bonds. For death, to such as live honestly, is a change from worse things to better, from this transitory to an eternal and immortal life that hath no end. Macarius, speaking of the faithful, says, When they go out of their bodies, the choirs of angels receive their souls into their proper places, to the pure world, and so lead them to the Lord. Hence Athanasius says, To the righteous it is not death, but only a change, for they are changed from this world to an eternal rest. And as a man comes out of prison, so do the saints go from this troublesome life to the good things prepared for them. Certainly, these fathers were no purgatorians, since they unanimously affirmed that the souls of the saints go directly from earth to heaven, never touching upon purgatory.
To these we may add Gennadius, who assures us that, after the ascension of the Lord to heaven, the souls of all the saints are with Christ, and, going out of the body, go to Christ, expecting the resurrection of their body. Prosper tells us: According to the language of the Scriptures, the whole life of man upon earth is a temptation or trial. Temptation is to be avoided until the fight is ended; and the fight is to be ended when, after this life, secure victory succeeds the fight; so that when all the soldiers of Christ, being helped by God, have to the end of this present life unwearily resisted their enemies, their wearisome travail being ended, they may reign happily in their country. Evidently they do not, according to Prosper, go from one fight here to another in purgatory, but immediately from the Church militant on earth to the Church triumphant in heaven. But whatever the views of some Church fathers on the subject, as a doctrine it was unknown in the Christian Church for the first 600 years, and it does not appear to have been made an article of faith until the 10th century, when the clergy, says Mosheim, finding these superstitious terrors admirably adapted to increase their authority and promote their interest, used every method to augment them; and by the most pathetic discourses, accompanied with monstrous fables and fictitious miracles, they labored to establish the doctrine of purgatory, and also to make it appear that they had a mighty influence in that formidable region (Eccl. Hist. cent. 10 pt. ii, ch. iii, 1). Purgatory as a burning-away of sins, said Dollinger at the Bonn Conference of Old Catholics in 1875, was an idea unknown in the East as well as the West till Gregory the Great introduced it. What was thought was that after death those who were not ready for heaven were kept for some time in a state of preparation, and that the prayers of the living were an advantage for them. SEE INVOCATION OF SAINTS.
Gregory the Great added the idea of a tormenting fire. This the schoolmen gradually converted into doctrine which they associated with papal indulgence, till it came to apply to the dead generally, which, of course, made all seek indulgence. It went on to have degrees: some could receive indulgence for a few of their sins, others for all, and so on; so that eventually the pope, having already the keeping of heaven and the dominion on earth, obtained also sovereignty under the earth. Certain it is, and beyond reasonable dispute, that the doctrine of purgatory, in all its representations and forms, is a variation from scriptural authority: divine revelation affords it no countenance. The doctrine of an intermediate state (q.v.), from which the merits of Jesus Christ cannot deliver man, is not only grounded on no warranty of Scripture, but is so far positively repugnant to the Word of God as it is contrary to the absolute and unreserved offers of mercy, peace, and happiness contained in the Gospel, and as it derogates from the fuilness and perfection of the one expiatory sacrifice made by the death of Christ for the sins of mankind. For the Scriptures say, The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy are now perished; neither have they any more a portion, forever, in anything that is done under the sun (Ecc 9:5-6); whereas this Romish doctrine of an intermediate state for purgation teaches, quite to the contrary, that when they are dead they have a part or portion in the prayers of the faithful and the sacrifices of the altar. Again, the Scripture makes mention but of a twofold receptacle of souls after death the one of happiness, the other of misery (1Sa 25:29; Mat 7:13-14; Mat 8:11; Luk 16:22-23); whereas this doctrine brings in a third, called purgatory, between heaven and hell, half happiness and half misery. Again, Scripture says, The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth [or purgeth] us from all sin (1Jn 1:7); but this doctrine would persuade us there are some sins which are to be purged away by the prayers and good works of others. To name no more, the Gospel represents Lazarus as at once conveyed to a state of comfort and joy (Luk 16:22-23); Christ promised to the penitent thief upon the cross, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luk 23:43); Paul exults in the prospect of a crown of righlteousness after death (2Ti 4:8); and he represents to depart and to be with Christ (Php 1:23), and to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2Co 5:8), as states which were immediately to follow each other. On the contrary, this Romish doctrine about purgatory bids him not to be so hasty, for he might depart and yet not be with Christ; he might pass from death, and yet not to life; he might and must be absent from the body a good while before he can be present with the Lord; he might go from earth, yet not to heaven, but to purgatory, a place St. Paul never dreamed of.
The Bible passages quoted by Romanists as in direct support of the doctrine of purgatory, Protestants simnply set aside as a ridiculous attempt at malpractice in exegesis. First it is answered that the books of Maccabees have no evidence of inspiration, and that the second of these books, whence the support is purported to come, is far from being one of the best books of the Apocrypha (q.v.); besides, that the passage referred to would rather prove that there is no such place as purgatory, since Judas did not expect the souls departed to reap any benefit from the sin-offering till the resurrection. The texts quoted from the Scriptures have no reference to the doctrine, as may be seen by consulting the context, and any just commentator upon it; they relate to nothing more than prayer for the dead. The text Mat 12:32 is explained as relating to the final judgment; and 1Co 3:11; 1Co 3:15, as relating to a trial of works, and not of persons; while 1Co 15:29 is regarded as having nothing more to do with the subject than any verse taken at random from any part of the Bible. (An excellent examination of all these passages was made in the Episcopalian, Feb. 16, 1867.) What is called the historical or critical view of the genesis of this doctrine is well given by Neander (Dogmengeschichte, vol. 1). This learned Church historian conceives that its source is to be sought for in the ancient Persian doctrine of a purifying conflagration which was to precede the victory of Ormuzd, and consume everything that was impure. From the Persians it passed with modifications to the Jews, and from them found its way into the ethical speculations of the more cultivated Christians. It harmonized admirably with the wide- spread philosophical notion borrowed by the Gnostic Christians from Neo- Platonism, that matter is inherently evil. If, then, the body was to rise, it must be purged of evil, and the instrument of purificationfire was at hand for the purpose. Moreover, the high and pure conception of the character of God revealed in the New Testament, necessitating a corresponding moral excellence on the part of his worshippers without holiness shall no man see the Lord must have greatly assisted in the establishment of the doctrine; for how could men, only lately gross heathens, possessing yet but the rudiments of the new faith, and with most of their heathen habits still clinging about them, be pronounced holy or fit for the presence of God? Their faith in Christ was sufficient to save them, but the work of sanctification was incomplete when they died, and must go on. Probably it was a strong Christian feeling of this sort that determined the reception of the doctrine of purgatory into the creed of the Roman Church, rather than any Gnostic philosophizings, though the Neo- Platonic divines of Alexandria are the first to mention it.
It remains for us to speak of the theory in the Christian Church regarding the preparation for final admission into the divine presence. Blunt is pleased to call it the Judgment-day Purgatory. In its support are pleaded the words of the apostle Paul literally understood, that the fire shall try every man’s work, and that even he who has built wood, hay, straw, stubble, on the true foundation shall be saved, vet so as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). In proof of this doctrine is also quoted the frequent use of the word fire in connection with Christ’s coming or the Day of Judgment (see Psa 1:3; Isa 4:4; Dan 7:9; Zecharaih 12:9; Mal 3:2-3; Mal 4:1). Many of the Church fathers are cited in support of the belief that Christians must pass through the fire on the Day of Judgment, though all will not be injured by it the highest saints passing through unhurt, and others suffering a punishment proportioned to their sins, till the wood, hay, straw, and stubble built on the true foundation be consumed. Among the fathers of the Western Church, St. Hilary thus speaks of the severity of the Judgment-day purgation by fire, through which all, even the Virgin Mary, must pass (Luc. 2, 35; Tract. in Psalms 118, lib. iii, 12); and St. Ambrose says: We must all pass through the fire, whether it be John the Evangelist, whom the Lord so loved that he said to Peter, If I will that he remain, what is that to thee; follow thou me.’ Of his death some have doubted, of his passing through the fire we cannot doubt; for he is in paradise, and not separated from Christ (Jerome, in Psalms 118 i, serm. 20: 12, et rid. 15). St. Jerome likewise compares the ten revolted tribes of Israel to heretics, and the other two to the Church, and to sinners [members] of the Church, who confess the true faith, but on account of the defilement of vice [vitiorum sordes] have need of the purging fires (Jerome, Comment. in Amos, lib. iii, c. 7). Again he says, As we believe that the torments of the devil, and of all infidel [neqatorum] and wicked men who have said in their hearts There is no God,’ are eternal, so of sinners, although Christians [the common reading is sic peccatorum atque impiorum et tamen Christianorum. In vetulstiori Ambrosiano MS. sic peccatorum et tamen Christianorum,’ verius opinor ad Hieronymi mentem (Note, Migne ed.)], whose works are to be tried and purged by fire [in iqne], we believe that the sentence of the Judge will be lenient [moderatam] and tempered with mercy. Let me not be among those, says St. Augustine, to whom thou wilt hereafter say, Go into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure, so that thou mayest cleanse me in this life, and make me such that I may after that stand in no need of the cleansing fire for those who are to be saved so as by fire. Why? Why, but because they build upon the foundation wood, stubble, and hay. Now, they should build on it gold, silver, and precious stones, and should have nothing to fear from either fire; not only that which is to consume the ungodly forever, but also that which is to purge those who are to escape through [per] the fire. For it is said, he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. And because it is said he shall be saved. that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we shall be saved by fire, yet will that fire be more grievous than anything that man can sutffer in this life whatsoever (Augustine on the Psalms [Oxf. transl.], 2, 71). Again, But if he shall have built on the foundation wood, hay, stubble, that is, have built worldly attachments on the foundation of his faith; yet if Christ be in the foundation, so that he have the first place in the heart, and nothing absolutely is preferred to him, even such are borne, even such are tolerated. The furnace shall come; it shall burn the wood, the hay, the stubble: but himself, he saith, shall be saved, yet so as by fire.’ This shall the furnace do; some it shall sever to the left, others it shall in a manner melt out to the right (ibid. v, 105). To illustrate the doctrine of the Eastern Clurch, a passage may first be quoted from Clement of Alexandria: We say that fire sanctifies not flesh, but sinful souls, speaking of that fire which is not all-devouring, such as is used by artisans ( ), but of that which is discriminative (), pervading the soul which passes through the fire (Clem. Alex. Stromata, lib. v, c. 6). Origen often speaks of the Judgment-day fire: thus he says that though Peter and Paul must pass through the fire, they shall hear the words, When thou passest through the fire, the flame shall not harm thee (Orig. Homii. 3, in Psalms 36; vid. Homil. 6 in Exodus). St. Basil, in his Commentary on Isaiah (4:4), says that baptism may be understood in three senses in the one, of regeneration by the Holy Spirit; in another, of the punishment of sin in the present life; and in a third, of the trial of judgment by fire. They who have committed deadly sins after they have received the knowledge of the truth, need the judgment which is by fire ( ) (Basil. Opera, t. i, ad loc. Gaume). In his work on the Holy Spirit, illustrating the passage He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, he calls the trial of juldgment a baptism of fire; as the apostle says, the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is (ibid. iii, p. 40). Gregory of Nazianzum, speaking of the Novatians, says: Perchance in the future world they shall be baptized with fire, the last baptism more severe and long continued, which devours as grass the stubble, and consumes every vestige of wickedness (‘/ ) (Greg. Naz. Opera, t. ii, c. 358, Miigne). Also in one of his poems he speaks of standing in fear of the fiery river of judgment ( ) (ibid. t. iii, c. 1423). Gregory of Nyssa says, speaking of infants who die unbaptizeld: How shall we judge of those who thus died? Shall that soul behold its Judge, and shall it be placed with others before his tribunal? Shall its past life be judged, and will it receive a deserved recompense, purified by fire accordinlg to the teaching () of the Gospel, or refreshed by the dew of benediction? (Greg. Nyss. t. 3, c. 161). So he teaches, in another oration, that we must either be purified in this present life by prayer and the love of wisdom (), or after our departure hence in the furnace of the purging fire (ibid. t. iii, c. 498). See Willet, Synopsis Papismi; Bull, On the Trinity; Haag, list. des Dogmes; Elliott, Delineation of Romanism, ch. xii; Cramp, Text-book of Popery; Knapp, Theoloqgy, p. 52; Neander, Hist. of Dogmas, p. 618 sq.; Doddridge, Lectures, lect. 270; Barnett, On the XXXIX Articles, art. 22; Edgar, Variations of Popery, ch. xiv; Faber. Difficulties of Romanismi, p. 157-192, 448-471, 2d ed.; and especially Hale, Doctrine of Purgatory and the Practice of Prayer for the Dead Examined (Lond. 1843); Alger, Hist. of the Doctrine of a Future Life; Hagenbach, Hist. o’ Doctrines, ii, 126 sq., 130 sq., 326 sq.; Tracts for the Times, No. 79 and No. 90; Wetstein, De Vanitate Purgatorii; Allen, Defence of Purgatory; Marshall, Doctrine of Purgatory, Patriarchal, Papistical, and Rational; Valverde, Iqnis Purgatorius Assertus; Bellarmine, De Controversiis Fidei; Usher, Answer to a Jesuit’s Challenge; Hall, Doctrine of Purgatory; Kitto, Journ. of Sacred Literature, i, 289 sq.; vol. xx Wesleyan Mag. 1843, p. 832 sq. SEE HADES; SEE INTERMEDIATE STATE
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Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Purgatory
a place in which, according to the church of Rome, the just, who depart out of this life, are supposed to expiate certain offences which do not merit eternal damnation. Broughton has endeavoured to prove that this notion has been held by Pagans, Jews, and Mohammedans, as well as by Christians; and that in the days of the Maccabees, the Jews believed that sin might be expiated by sacrifice after the death of the sinner. The arguments advanced for purgatory by the papists are these: Every sin, how slight soever, though no more than an idle word, as it is an offence to God, deserves punishment from him, and will be punished by him hereafter, if not cancelled by repentance here.
2. Such small sins do not deserve eternal punishment.
3. Few depart this life so pure as to be totally exempt from spots of this nature, and from every kind of debt due to God’s justice.
4. Therefore, few will escape without suffering something from his justice for such debts as they have carried with them out of this world, according to the rule of divine justice, by which he treats every soul hereafter according to his works, and according to the state in which he finds it in death. From these positions, which the papist considers as so many self- evident truths, he infers that there must be some third place of punishment; for since the infinite holiness of God can admit nothing into heaven that is not clean and pure from all sin, both great and small, and his infinite justice can permit none to receive the reward of bliss, who as yet are not out of debt, but have something in justice to suffer, there must, of necessity, be some place or state, where souls departing this life, pardoned as to the eternal guilt of sin, yet obnoxious to some temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some venial faults, are purged and purified before their admittance into heaven. And this is what he is taught concerning purgatory; though he know not where it is, of what nature the pains are, or how long each soul is detained there, yet he believes that those who are in this place are relieved by the prayers of their fellow members here on earth, as also by alms and masses offered up to God for their souls. And as for such as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or give alms to procure masses for their relief, they are not neglected by the church, which makes a general commemoration of all the faithful departed, in every mass, and in every one of the canonical hours of the divine office. Beside the above arguments, the following passages are alleged as proofs: 2Ma 12:43-45; Mat 12:31-32; 1Co 3:15; 1Pe 3:19. But it may be observed,
1. That the books of Maccabees have no evidence of inspiration, therefore quotations from them are not to be regarded.
2. If they were, the texts referred to would rather prove that there is no such place as purgatory, since Judas did not expect the souls departed to reap any benefit from the sin-offering till the resurrection. The texts quoted from the Scriptures have no reference to the doctrine, as may be seen by consulting the context, and any just commentator upon it.
3. The Scriptures, in general, speak of departed souls going immediately, at death, to a fixed state of happiness or misery, and give us no idea of purgatory, Isa 57:2; Rev 14:13; Luk 16:22; 2Co 5:8.
4. It is derogatory from the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ. If Christ died for us, and redeemed us from sin and hell, as the Scripture speaks, then the idea of farther meritorious suffering detracts from the perfection of his sacrifice, and places merit still in the creature; a doctrine exactly opposite to the Scriptures.