St. John Vianney on the Holy Souls in Purgatory

                                    "Angel helping souls in Purgatory," Notre Dame de Benva, France


The Church traditionally devotes the month of November to prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the holy souls in Purgatory.  Here is St. John Vianney on Purgatory and the practice of praying for souls in purgatory:

"I come to tell you that they suffer in Purgatory, that they weep, and that they demand with urgent cries the help of your prayers and your good works. I seem to hear them crying from the depths of those fires which devour them: "Tell our loved ones, tell our children, tell all our relatives how great the evils are which they are making us suffer. We throw ourselves at their feet to implore the help of their prayers. Ah! Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames!"

"We must say many prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, for one must be so pure to enter heaven." 

St. John Vianney, pray for us.

A burning hand from Purgatory

                                             "Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin," Loretto, Pennsylvania


The Church traditionally devotes November to prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the holy souls in Purgatory.  If you consider this merely a sentimental custom, or if you doubt that the holy souls suffer greatly, or that they derive great benefits from our prayers, then this thoroughly documented account from the early days of the United States will surprise you. (h/t Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit)

Servant of God Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin, pray for us.

St. Catherine of Genoa on Purgatory (part 2)

                                           "Dante and Virgil entering Purgatory," Luca Signorelli

St. Catherine of Genoa (1447 AD -1510 AD), like St. Frances of Rome and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, was granted a vision of Purgatory, from which the following is extracted:

"I believe no happiness can be found worthy to be compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise; and day by day this happiness grows as God flows into these souls, more and more as the hindrance to His entrance is consumed.  Sin's rust is the hindrance, and the fire burns the rust away so that more and more the soul opens itself up to the divine inflowing. . . But, on the other hand, they endure a pain so extreme that no tongue can be found to tell it, nor could the mind understand its least pang if God by special grace did not show so much."

St. Catherine of Genoa, pray for us.

"Whether the pains of Purgatory surpass all the temporal pains of this life?"

                               "St. Lawrence liberating souls from Purgatory" by Lorenzo di Niccolo

The Church devotes November to prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the holy souls in Purgatory.  Why does the Church do this?  Is it merely a sentimental custom?  Let's consider what the powerful theological mind of St. Thomas Aquinas has to say about the quaestio posed above:

"In Purgatory there will be a twofold pain; one will be the pain of loss, namely the delay of the divine vision, and the pain of sense, namely punishment by corporeal fire.  With regard to both the least pain of Purgatory surpasses the greatest pain of this life."

Courtesy of New Advent, read St. Thomas Aquinas's full answer here.

St. Catherine of Genoa on Purgatory

                        "Guardian Angel Succouring Soul in Purgatory" by Cecco del Caravaggio

The Church devotes November to prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the holy souls in Purgatory.  St. Catherine of Genoa (1447 AD - 1510 AD) enjoyed a most extraordinary condition of interior ecstasy for almost fifty years, during which she received wonderful revelations, including many concerning Purgatory.  These were compiled in St. Catherine's "Treatise on Purgatory," from which the following extract is taken:

"Of the peace and the joy there are in Purgatory.

The souls in Purgatory have wills accordant in all things with the will of God, who therefore sheds on them His goodness, and they, as far as their will goes, are happy and cleansed of all their sin. As for guilt, these cleansed souls are as they were when God created them, for God forgives their guilt immediately who have passed from this life ill content with their sins, having confessed all they have committed and having the will to commit no more. Only the rust of sin is left them and from this they cleanse themselves by pain in the fire. Thus cleansed of all guilt and united in will to God, they see Him clearly in the degree in which He makes Himself known to them, and see too how much it imports to enjoy Him and that souls have been created for this end. Moreover, they are brought to so uniting a conformity with God, and are drawn to Him in such wise, His natural instinct towards souls working in them, that neither arguments nor figures nor examples can make the thing clear as the mind knows it to be in effect and as by inner feeling it is understood to be."

St. Catherine of Genoa, pray for us.

Vision of Purgatory

                                                           Virgin with Souls in Purgatory (18th century)

The Church devotes November to prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the the suffering souls in Purgatory.  The following description of a vision of Purgatory is taken from the diary of St. Faustina (1905 AD - 1938 AD):

" ...I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him.  In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls.  They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid.  The flames, which were burning them, did not touch me at all.  My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant.  I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was.  They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God.  I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory.  The souls call Her “The Star of the Sea”.  She brings them refreshment.  I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave.  We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice which said] ‘My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.  Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.’” (Diary, 20)

Here is a short prayer that may be said on behalf of the souls in Purgatory: 

Grant Poor Souls eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light

shine upon them. May they rest in peace.  Amen

St. Alphonsus Liguori, on the Holy Souls in Purgatory

                                                "An Angel Frees Souls in Purgatory," by Lodovico Carracci


The Church traditionally devotes November to praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory,  as well as offering up penances and daily sacrifices for their deliverance from Purgatory.

The following reflection concerning the Holy Souls in Purgatory is taken from St. Alphonsus Liguori's "The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ:"


"The Holy Souls in Purgatory feel no pain more acutely than that of their yearning to possess God, from Whom they remain still at a distance.  And this sort of pain will afflict those especially who in their lifetime had but little desire of Paradise.   Cardinal Bellarmine [De Purg. I. 2, c. 7.] also says, that there is a certain place in Purgatory called, 'prison of honor,' where certain souls are not tormented with any pain of sense, but merely with the pain of privation of the sight of God; examples of this are related by St.Gregory, Venerable Bede, St. Vincent Ferrer, and St. Bridget; and this punishment is not for the commission of sin, but for coldness in desiring Heaven."

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.