Purgatory

For other uses, see Purgatory (disambiguation).

For other teachings concerning purification of souls in the afterlife, see Purgatory and world religions.

Illustration for Dante's Purgatorio (18), by Gustave Doré.

Purgatory, or "the final purification of the elect", is a process by which, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, souls are purified after death. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "all who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven." In more technical language, the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church describes purgatory as "a term used only in W[estern] Catholic theology for the state (or place) of punishment and purification where the souls of those who have died in a state of grace undergo such punishment as is still due to forgiven sins and, perhaps, expiate their unforgiven venial sins, before being admitted to the Beatific Vision."

Belief in purgatory developed out of the ancient practice of prayer for the dead, and the notion that not all souls are condemned to Hell or worthy of Heaven at the moment of death. Important theologians, including St. Augustine and Gregory the Great, contributed to the understanding of the soul’s purification after death, prior to the General Resurrection. Curiosity in the West concerning this interim state helped give rise to later theology, and by the twelfth century Purgatory had emerged as a fully developed concept, achieving formal doctrinal definition at the Councils of Lyon (1245, 1274), Florence (1439), and Trent (1545-63).

The doctrine contributed greatly to Christian spirituality, ritual, piety, and imagination, giving rise to various devotions and literary works. Historically, descriptions of purgatory have emphasised the natural and supernatural bonding between the living and the dead – the belief that the souls in Purgatory were part of the church of the redeemed, and prayer for the dead, became a principal expression of the ties binding the Christian community together. The teaching became "a powerful symbol of all that the holiness of God requires of man and also of His mercy and His love for men."

Non-Catholic Christians have differing interpretations of the concept. Eastern Orthodox, while upholding the ancient Christian practice of prayer for the dead, generally reject the Roman Catholic understanding, as well as the penitential system to which it is tied, as unwarranted innovations. Protestant reformers of the 16th century came to reject the doctrine, especially because of its relationship with the granting of indulgences. In modern times, few Protestants have defended it.

Overview

Purgatory is a "place or condition" in the Latin Rite, which is the dominant particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church, to which about 98% of Roman Catholics belong.

Heaven and Hell

Immediately after death, a person undergoes judgment in which the soul's eternal destiny is specified. Souls which are entirely free from sin are eternally united with God in what is called Heaven, often envisioned seen as a paradise of eternal joy. Other persons, who have "sinned gravely" enter Hell, a state of eternal separation from God often envisioned as fiery place of punishment.

Flowchart of Purgatory and its role in the Roman Catholic concept of the afterlife

Purgatory's role

Roman Catholicism, however, accepts the possibility of a third option. Roman Catholic doctrine envisions the possibility that a soul might not be so filled with mortal sins as to immediately descend into Hell, but at the same time, might not be sufficiently free from sin to immediate ascend into Heaven. Such souls, ultimately destined to be united with God in Heaven, first entering into Purgatory-- a state of purification. In Purgatory, souls "achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."

Sin

Roman Catholics make a distinction between two different types of sin. Mortal sin is a "grave violation of God's law" that "destroys" a person's love for God. Unless redeemed by repentance, a mortal sin causes "exclusion from Christ's kingdom" resulting in "the eternal death of hell".

In contrast, a venial sin (meaning "forgivable" sin) is a lesser sin, which "does not break the covenant with God". A venial sin, although still "constituting a moral disorder", does not deprive the sinner of the "eternal happiness" of Heaven.

According to Roman Catholicism, the pardon and purification of sin can occur during life-- for example, in the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Penance. However, if this purification is not achieved in life, venial sins can still be purified after death. The specific name given to this purification of sin after death is "Purgatory".

Pain and Fire

File:Lonelysoul.jpg

Since ancient times, Christians have described purgatorial fires.

Purgatory has long been associated with the image of painful punishment and fire. Historically, Purgatory was viewed as a place of painful, tormenting fire, not unlike that found in descriptions of Hell. St. Augustine described the fires as more painful than anything a man can suffer in this life. Pope Gregory I similarly mentioned "purgatorial flames," adding "that the pain be more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life". St. Bonaventure also stated that this punishment by fire is more severe than any punishment which comes to men in this life.

Modernly, the Roman Catholic church have tended to view purgatorial fire as more metaphorical fire rather than a literal one, or as more of a "cleansing fire" rather than "painful fire". The Catechism of the Catholic Church discussion of Purgatory speaks of a "cleansing fire" and a "purifying fire", but does not make any explicit mention of a "painful" fire. On the subject of the punishment of sin, the modern Catechism says that such punishment "must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin."

The existence or absence of punishing fire is one source of contention between the Western Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (see below).

Prayer for the dead and Indulgences

Main articles: Prayer for the dead and Indulgences

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the fate of those in Purgatory can be affected by the actions of the living. According to this belief, the living are encouraged to engage in prayer and sacrifice for the dead, in the hope that such prayers will be have a positive impact on those in Purgatory. Acts of sacrifice such charitable donations, fasting, and other penitential act are similarly believed to aid those in Purgatory.

A related concept is the practice of indulgences. An indulgence is a remission of the punishment which would normally accompany sins that have been forgiven. Indulgences are issues by the Pope or those members of the clergy designated by the Pope to issue indulges. Indulgences may be obtained for oneself, or on behalf of specific deceased individuals.

Traditionally, prayers for the dead and indulgences were sometimes envisioned as decreasing the "duration" of time the dead would spend in Purgatory. For example, prior to the 1960s, some indulgences were measured in term of days, weeks, months, or years-- leading to the misconception that indulgences remit a specific period of time equal to the length of the soul's stay in Purgatory. Technically, however, the stated length of time actually indicated that the indulgence was equal to the amount of remission the individual would have earned by performing a canonical penance for that period of time. For example, the amount of punishment remitted by a “forty day” indulgence would be equal to the amount of punishment remitted by the individual performing forty days of penance. Modernly, Roman Catholic theologians whether a physical concept such "duration" can rationally be applied to souls in Purgatory.

The practice of granting indulgences was a source of controversy which results in the Protestant Reformation. The 16th century Roman Catholic Church had a practice of indulgences in exchange for monetary donations-- an policy which was seen by Martin Luther as the purchase and sale of salvation. In his 95 Theses, Luther specifically objected to a "marketing slogan" of sorts which was used by the Church to encourage the purchase of indulgences: "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs".

Place

As with heaven and hell, purgatory is often spoken of as a place to which one goes or where one is. But as Pope John Paul II declared when stating that "the term ('purgatory') does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence", Church teaching does not endorse the idea of a place within physical space for purgatory frequently found in works of literature such as Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia and legends such as that of St. Patrick's Purgatory.

Purgatory in the authoritative teachings of the contemporary Roman Catholic Church

Like nearly all religions, Roman Catholic Church does not regard any and all writings or teachings produced by its members to be authoritative. Instead, only a small fraction of the beliefs, teachings, and doctrines proposed by Catholics are ever considered to authoritative. For example, Dante's work The Divine Comedy, although a highly influential catholic work, is not considered to be an authoritative factual exposition of the Roman Catholic afterlife.

Purgatory in The Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1997, is the official exposition of the teachings of the modern Roman Catholic Church The section on Purgatory reads:

THE FINAL PURIFICATION, OR PURGATORY

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.(Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1304; Council of Trent (1563): DS 1820; (1547): 1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS 1000.) The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the [15th century] Councils of Florence and [the 16th century] Trent . The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:(Cf. 1 Cor 3:15, 1 Pet 1:7)

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.(St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4, 39: PL 77, 396; cf. ⇒ Mt 12:31.)

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." (2 Macc 12:46.) From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.(Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS 856.) The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.(St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 41, 5: PG 61, 361; cf. ⇒ Job 1:5.)

The section on Indulgences also mentions Purgatory:

THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN

To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain

Purgatory in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 2005, is a more concise version of the Catechism which presents information in the form of a dialog. The work discusses Purgatory thusly:

What is purgatory?

Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.

How can we help the souls being purified in purgatory?

Because of the communion of saints, the faithful who are still pilgrims on earth are able to help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage for them, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.

Purgatory and other rites, denominations, and religions

Main article: Purgatory and world religions

Purgatory is strongly associated with the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, but other rites, denominations, and religious do have views on the concept of Purgatory.

Purgatory and the Eastern Catholic Churches

Main article: Purgatory and world religions § Purgatory in the Eastern Catholic Churches

The Roman Catholic Church is made up of 23 distinct Churches. The Latin Church is by far the most populous and influential-- its members make up approximately 98% of Roman Catholic Church. The remaining 22 churches are known collectively as the Eastern Catholic Churches. Historically, most of the Eastern Catholic Churches were, at some point in history, separate entities that later united with the Latin Church.

The Eastern Catholic Churches are full and equal members of the Roman Catholic Church, are under the leadership of the Pope, and officially accept all the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church (including those involving Purgatory). However, there are also differences between the the Eastern Catholic Churchs and the Latin Church in numerous matters of ceremony, tradition, and terminology. For example, while the priests in the Latin Church take vows of celibacy, married men are eligible to join the priesthood in most Eastern Catholic Churches.

One of the differences between the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches concerns the views about Purgatory. Many of Eastern Catholic Churches do not, in general, use the word "Purgatory", but they do agree that there is a "final purification" for souls destined for Heaven, and that prayers can help the dead who are in that state of "final purification". In general, neither the members of the Latin Church nor the members of the Easter Catholic Churches regard these differences as major points of active dispute, but instead see the differences more as minor nuances and differences of tradition. For example, a treaty which formalized the admission of Eastern Catholic Churches into the Roman Catholic Church explicitly states, "We shall not debate about purgatory," implying that both sides could "agree to disagree" on the precise details of the final purification".

Eastern Orthodox views of Purgatory

Main article: Purgatory and world religions § Eastern Orthodox views of Purgatory

Eastern Orthodox Christians generally reject the Roman Catholic understanding of Purgatory. According to Eastern Orthodox beliefs, after death, a soul is either sent to heaven or hell, following the Temporary Judgment occurring immediately after death. Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the process of purification after death as involving suffering or fire, although it is nevertheless describes it as a "direful condition". Eastern Orthodox Christians do, however, practice prayer for the dead, and they accept that those prayers can affect the state of the deceased souls.

Protestant views of Purgatory

Main article: Purgatory and world religions § Protestant views of Purgatory

In general, Protestant churches do not accept the doctrine of Purgatory. One of Protestantism's central tenets is Sola scriptura, a Latin phrase which translates to "Scripture alone". Protestants believe that the Bible alone is the basis for valid Christian Doctrine and, since the Protestant Bible contains no overt, explicit discussion of Purgatory, Protestants reject it as an "unbiblical" belief.

Another tenet of Protestantism is Sola fide-- "By faith alone". While Catholicism regards both good works and faith as being essential to salvation, Protestants believe faith alone is sufficient to achieve salvation and that good works are merely evidence of that faith. Salvation is generally seen as discrete event which takes place during one's lifetime. Instead of distinguishing between mortal and venial sins, Protestants believe that one's faith or state of "salvation" dictates one's place in the afterlife. Those who have been "saved" by God are destined for heaven, while those have not been saved will be excluded from Heaven. Accordingly, they reject the notion of any "third state" or "third place" such as Purgatory.

History

Purgatory developed out of the ancient practice of prayer for the dead, and the notion that not all souls are condemned to Hell or worthy of Heaven at the moment of death. Curiosity in the West concerning the intermediate state of the soul helped give rise to later theology. St. Augustine, Gregory the Great, and others contributed to the understanding of the soul’s purification after death, prior to the General Resurrection. By the twelfth century, Purgatory had emerged as a fully developed concept.

Christian Antiquity

A procession in the Catacombs of St. Callistus, Rome. The catacombs contain inscriptions that are often prayers for the dead.

In Christianity, prayer for the dead, perhaps originating in ancient Jewish practice (of which the episode in 2 Maccabees 12:39–46 is a possible example), is attested since at least the second century, evidenced in part by the tomb inscription of Abercius, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (d. c. 200), which begs the prayers of the living. Likewise, some of the inscriptions in the catacombs are in the form of prayers for those buried there.

St. Augustine affirmed prayer for the dead who die in the Communion of the Church.

The second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla present prayer as obtaining that a dead person "be translated to a state of happiness". And the third-century Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity gives expression to the belief that sins can be purged by suffering in an afterlife, and that the process can be accelerated by prayer. Celebration of the Eucharist for the dead was also practiced, and is attested to since at least the third century. When St Augustine's mother Monica was dying she told her two sons: "Lay this body anywhere, and do not let the care of it be a trouble to you at all. Only this I ask: that you will remember me at the Lord's altar, wherever you are."

Many of the Church Fathers express belief in purification after death and of the communion of the living with the dead through prayer. The patristic authors often understood those undergoing purification to be awaiting the Last Judgment before receiving the final blessedness of the Resurrection of the Dead, and they also often described this purification as a journey which entailed hardships but also powerful glimpses of joy. Certain statements are of particular interest due to their antiquity. Irenaeus's (c. 130-202) description of the souls of the dead (awaiting the universal judgment) to be experiencing a process of purification contains the concept of purgatory. Both St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) and his pupil, Origen (c. 185-254), developed a view of purification after death; this view drew upon the notion that fire is a divine instrument from the Old Testament, and understood this in the context of New Testament teachings such as baptism by fire, from the Gospels, and a purificatory trial after death, from St. Paul. For both Clement and Origen, the fire was neither a material thing nor a metaphor, but a "spiritual fire". An early Latin author, Tertullian (c. 160-225), also articulated a view of purification after death. In Tertullian's understanding of the afterlife, the souls of martyrs entered directly into eternal blessedness, whereas the rest entered a generic realm of the dead. There the wicked suffered a foretaste of their eternal punishments, whilst the good experienced various stages and places of bliss, an idea that was "universally diffused" in antiquity.

Later examples, which contain further elaborations, abound. Of these the most significant is St. Augustine (354-430), whose remarks concerning a purifying fire after death and the efficacy of prayer for those undergoing this purification were highly influential in later theology.

Early Middle Ages

A dove alights on Gregory the Great's shoulder as he writes his homilies (an ancient tradition). The pope taught that "certain lesser faults" could be pardoned in the afterlife.

Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues, written in the late sixth century, taught:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

For Gregory, God was further illuminating the nature of the afterlife, sending visions and the like, whereby, more fully than before, the outlines of the fate of the soul immediately beyond the grave were becoming visible, like the half-light that precedes the dawn. In the seventh century, the Irish abbot St. Fursa described his foretaste of the afterlife, where, though protected by angels, he was pursued by demons who said, "It is not fitting that he should enjoy the blessed life unscathed..., for every transgression that is not purged on earth must be avenged in heaven," and on his return he was engulfed in a billowing fire that threatened to burn him, "for it stretches out each one according to their merits... For just as the body burns through unlawful desire, so the soul will burn, as the lawful, due penalty for every sin." The event was included by The Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History, a highly popular and influential work. St. Boniface also described a vision of Purgatory.

Theologians of the Carolingian period, especially Alcuin, Rabanus, Haymo, and Walafrid Strabo, contributed to the development of the doctrine. By the end of the tenth century, the widespread observance of All Souls' Day in the West, established in part through the influence of St. Odilo of Cluny, had "helped to concentrate the imagination on the fate of departed souls and fostered a sense of solidarity between the living and the dead." The great success of Cluniac monasticism helped foster a sense of spiritual fervor throughout Latin Christendom.

High Middle Ages

Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, whose writings contain the classic description of purgatory.

Amid the general elaboration of theology in the twelfth century, the studies by the masters of Paris and elsewhere concerning the theology of penance helped to fashion a notion of purgatory as a place where canonical penances unfinished in this life could be completed. It was in this century that the afterlife purification acquired the name "purgatorium", from Latin purgare (to cleanse). In the next century, a writing of Thomas Aquinas contains the classic formulation of the doctrine, stating that the dead in purgatory are at peace because they are sure of salvation, and that they benefit from the prayers of the living because they are still part of the Communion of Saints, from which only hell or limbo can separate one.

In the High Middle Ages, purgatory also began to loom large in lay awareness, providing the rational for the immense elaboration of the cult of the intercession of the dead. Many accounts of visions circulated among the laity and found their way into devotional collections. The best known examples include the Gast of Gy, the revelations of St. Brigit of Sweden, and those associated with St. Patrick’s Purgatory – a popular subject of legend, written about by Henry of Sawtrey in his twelfth-century Tractatus de Purgatorio S. Patricii (and others). These accounts were designed to move the Christian to pious action on his own behalf while still in health, to complete his penances, and to be generous in charity. These were the good deeds which would accompany everyman, to plead for him, "For after death amends may no man make, For then mercy and pity doth him forsake."

Building on these pictures of purgatory, Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) depicted in his Purgatorio, in which purgatory is a seven-story mountain, the gradual purification of the image and likeness of God in the human soul.

Medievalist Jacques Le Goff argued that purgatory was "born" in this period. Although he recognized the notion of purification after death in antiquity (specifically that Clement of Alexandria and Origen derived their view of purification from various biblical teachings), and even considered vague concepts of purifying and punishing fire to predate Christianity, Le Goff considered a radical conceptual shift to have taken place in the developed perception of purgatory from a prefatory process to a specific place. In his review of Le Goff’s work, historian Alan E. Bernstein disagreed, stating that, "the insistence that there was no purgatory until it was conceived as a place represented by a noun seems unnecessarily strict."

In the context of discussion with the Greeks, the two thirteenth-century Councils of Lyon considered purgatory. The official teaching of the Church then and later remained limited to two elements: the existence of a state of purification for souls en route to heaven, and the efficaciousness of prayer for the dead.

Certain heretics, such as Cathars and Waldensians, denied purgatory.

Latin-Greek Relations during the Middle Ages

In the 15th century, at the Council of Florence, Eastern and Western clergymen met in an attempt to undo the Great Schism of 1054. Authorities of the Eastern Orthodox Church identified several apparent stumbling blocks to reunification, including Papal primacy, the West's unleavened bread in the Eucharist, two words in the Nicene Creed, and purgatory. The Greeks objected especially to the conception of material fire and to the legalism of the Western approach, for example in the distinction between guilt and punishment.

At the Council, the Catholic Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, Bessarion, argued against the existence of real purgatorial fire. The text of the Council's decree on purgatory contains no reference to fire and, without using the word "purgatorium" (purgatory), speaks only of "pains of cleansing" ("poenae purgatoriae"),

Though this reunification was generally rejected in the East, certain Eastern Communities were later received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reformation

Protestant theologians' developing views on salvation (soteriology) excluded purgatory, in part a result from doctrinal changes concerning justification and sanctification on the part of the reformers.

A young John Calvin. Calvin opposed both purgatory and prayer for the dead.

For Martin Luther, justification meant "the declaring of one to be righteous", where God imputes the merits of Christ upon one who remains without inherent merit. In this process, good works done in faith (i.e. through penance) are an unessential byproduct that contribute nothing to one's own state of righteousness. "Becoming perfect" came to be understood as an instantaneous act of God, so that each one of the elect (saved) experienced instantaneous glorification upon death. As such, there was little reason to pray for the dead, as there was not a process or journey of purification that continues in the afterlife. Luther wrote "We should pray for ourselves and for all other people, even for our enemies, but not for the souls of the dead." (expanded Small Catechism, Question No. 211) Luther stopped believing in purgatory around 1530, and later openly affirmed the doctrine of soul sleep, although subsequent Lutheran confessions do not expressly reject all ideas of purification after death.

Purgatory came to be seen as one of the "unbiblical corruptions" that had entered Church teachings sometime subsequent to the apostolic age. The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, produced during the English Reformation, stated: "The Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory...is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture; but rather repugnant to the word of God" (article 22). John Calvin, central theologian of Reformed Protestantism, considered purgatory a superstition, writing in his Institutes (5.10): "The doctrine of purgatory ancient, but refuted by a more ancient Apostle. Not supported by ancient writers, by Scripture, or solid argument. Introduced by custom and a zeal not duly regulated by the word of God… we must hold by the word of God, which rejects this fiction."

Counter-Reformation and thereafter

The Council of Trent affirmed the doctrine of purgatory against challenges by Protestant Reformers.

An early reply to the Reformers was made by St. John Fisher, who based his defence of the doctrine on the writings of the Church Fathers, and the practice of prayer for the dead from the earliest times.

The Council of Trent gave the official response of the Catholic Church to the critics, repeating the teaching already given by the First Council of Lyon. The text of its decree (given above) restates the concepts of purification after death and the efficacy of prayers for the dead, and sternly instructed preachers not to push beyond that and distract, confuse, and mislead the faithful with unnecessary speculations concerning the nature and duration of purgatorial punishments. The legends and speculation that had grown up and still continue to grow up around the concept of purgatory were not treated as Church teaching. The Council decreed: "Those matters … which tend to a certain curiosity or superstition, or that savour of filthy lucre, let them prohibit as scandals and stumbling blocks to the faithful." Recent Catholic discussions of purgatory have respected the reserve of the Council of Trent, interpreting the notion of fire in a metaphorical sense, and the temporal aspect in terms of intensity.

Some Protestants have accepted prayer for the dead, an intermediate state of purification, and even the term "purgatory". William Forbes, the first Scottish Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh, affirmed prayer for the dead and described an intermediate state where the soul is purified by its fervent longing for God.Anglican apologist C. S. Lewis believed in purgatory, if not in what the Reformers called "the Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory", and defended the notion. Other Anglicans, in particular Anglo-Catholics (such as the Guild of All Souls), profess belief in purgatory.

Later ideas about purgatory

Questions already discussed among theologians since the Middle Ages continued to be developed. One is whether the souls in purgatory can pray for the living. When considering whether the saints in heaven pray for us, Saint Thomas Aquinas said that the souls in purgatory cannot. According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542 – 1621) advocated petitioning the souls in purgatory to pray for one, According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, on the contrary, Saint Robert Bellarmine (in De Purgatorio, lib. II, xv), while finding unconvincing the reason given by Saint Thomas Aquinas, said that, ordinarily speaking, it is superfluous to invoke the prayers of those in purgatory, "for they are ignorant of our circumstances and condition." The Catholic Encyclopedia attributes instead to the theologian Francisco Suárez (in De poenit., disp. xlvii, s. 2, n. 9) the opinion "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".

Related beliefs continued to grow, such as the Sabbatine privilege, which appeared in the second half of the fifteenth century, the wondrous powers for releasing souls from purgatory of a prayer of uncertain date attributed to Gertrude the Great. There were accounts too of souls in purgatory passing "their purification in the air, or by their graves, or near altars where the Blessed Sacrament is, or in the rooms of those who pray for them, or amid the scenes of their former vanity and frivolity".

Purgatory themes have also been prominent in various works of literature, such as Shakespeare's Hamlet (1603), Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, and the European ghost-story tradition in general.

See also

• Afterlife
• Anima Sola
• Brig (Bridge) of Dread
• Catherine of Genoa
• Christian eschatology
• Christina the Astonishing
• The Divine Comedy
• Gehenna
• Gertrude the Great
• Hades
• Heaven
• Hell

• Indulgence
• Limbo
• Lyke-Wake Dirge
• Mortal sin
• Penance
• Prayer for the dead
• Purgatorial society
• Sabbatine Privilege
• Soteriology
• St. Patrick's Purgatory
• Venial sin

External links

• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030-1032
• CatholicBridge.com, Purgatory — Ecumenical article by David MacDonald concerning Evangelical and Catholic belief
• Catholic Answers, Purgatory — Catholic apologetic article
• NewAdvent.org, Purgatory — 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article
• bringyou.to/apologetics — Readings from the Church Fathers and other sources on Purgatory, by Phil Porvaznik
• EWTN.com library, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory according to Pope John Paul II — Articles from the newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano, July-August 1999
• JewishEncyclopedia.com, Purgatory — Article by Kaufmann Kohler in the online Jewish Encyclopedia
• New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Purgatory — Article by C. A. Beckwith in the 19th century Protestant encyclopedia (ed. Philip Schaff)
• Purgatory account in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Purgatory article in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
• I Believe in Purgatory... — excerpt from C. S. Lewis's Letters To Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, chapter 20
• Frequently Asked Questions at Holy Souls Online
• Purgatory and praying for the dead on Catholic Apologetic
• "Prisoner of the King: Thoughts on the Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory", H. J. Coleridge, 1889. retrieved 24 May 2007
• Three Purgatory Poems, a scholarly history of Purgatory from Medieval Institute Publications