PROTECTOR OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY

Day 174: November 02

Our Lady of Mount Carmel: the protector of the Souls in Purgatory



Our Lady of Mount Carmel is also venerated as a particular protector of the holy souls of Purgatory, in fact on an iconographic level she is often depicted as drawing purified souls from the flames of expiation in Purgatory and also for this reason she is invoked as "Our Lady of Suffrage."

Our Lady in one of the revelations to St. Bridget stated: "I am the Mother of all souls who are in Purgatory and I continually intervene with my prayers to mitigate the pains they deserve for the sins committed during their lives."

Mary's promise to Pope John XXII is well known. In an apparition she ordered him to make known to all those who had worn the sacred scapular of Carmel ... they would be freed from Purgatory on the Saturday after their death, a day that the church dedicates to the Blessed Virgin. The Pontiff declared this in the "Sabatina Bull" and it was later confirmed by Alexander V, Clement VII, Pius V, Gregory XIII and Paul V. St Pius X, while always advising the use of the traditional scapular, granted the faithful - with a decree of December 16, 1910 - to be able to replace the scapular with the blessed medal bearing the images of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pius XII expressed himself in 1950 as follows: The most pious Mother will not fail to intervene with her prayer to God, so that her children, who atone for their sins in Purgatory, may reach the heavenly homeland as soon as possible according to the so-called "Sabbath privilege" handed down by tradition."

The Second Vatican Council, with the Constitution Lumen Gentium, affirms that Mary's maternal protection does not cease with our death, but continues "until her children are led to the blessed homeland" (LG 62). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches verbatim in no. 1030: "Those who die in the grace and friendship of God, but are imperfectly purified, although they are certain of their eternal salvation, are nevertheless subjected, after death, to a purification, in order to obtain the holiness necessary to enter into the joy of heaven."

Here, then, in precise terms, is the Church's doctrine on this question. Belief in Purgatory has gradually been formed in the Church's conscience, starting from two principles. On the one hand, everything that exalts the demands of divine Justice and makes mention of the purifying fire in Sacred Scripture and Tradition. Jesus in the New Testament refers more than once to Purgatory. The clearest reference is the need to settle all accounts with our enemy, before falling into the hands of the Judge, who will throw us into a prison and will not let us out until we have paid off the debt "to the last penny" (Mt 5:25-26). This "prison" is clear, it cannot be Hell, from which one cannot get out eternally, but it is Purgatory as the Holy Fathers interpreted it. St Paul continues Jesus' teaching by saying that those who do imperfect works will be saved, but by passing through fire. "But if the work is burned up, there will be harm: one can be saved, but as through fire..." (1 Cor. 3:15).

On the other hand, the liturgical custom of prayers and suffrages for the dead. The Bible speaks to us from the very first pages of the Jews' use of praying for the dead. This usage necessarily expresses the existence of departed souls in a situation that is neither Hell nor Heaven, because neither the damned nor the blessed need our prayers. Sacred Scripture speaks to us even more expressly of the sacrifices for the dead which the Jews celebrated in the Temple. At Aaron's death, sacrifices were offered for thirty continuous days (Deut. 34:8; Num. 20:30). Judas Maccabeus, after the bloody battles, collected sums of money to send to Jerusalem to have sacrifices offered for the souls of soldiers who had fallen in war. The prophet Malachi also speaks to us of the Lord who purifies the souls of the sons of Levi with fire (cf. Mal 3:3).

But it was not until disputes with the Greeks that the Roman Church defined the existence of Purgatory at the Council of Florence in 1439, and in the Profession of Faith of Pope Pius IV. It seems, moreover, that the conception of Purgatory, as it had been up to that moment, that of the Roman Church, corresponded to specifically Latin ideas of redemption, in which the juridical notions of debt, satisfaction and reparation, sometimes crushed the notions of purification, perfection and sanctification to which the Greeks normally adhere. In the thought of the Roman Church, the mystery of Purgatory is correlative to that of heaven. That is, if heaven was not what it was, there would undoubtedly be no Purgatory. But if we admit that the Beatitude of Heaven is eternal Life in the very bosom of God, in a profound communion with Him, then it is absolutely necessary to admit the necessity of a purification of all the residue of selfishness that we carry within us. Selfishness cannot absolutely enter into God, that is, one can only be of God when one has first torn oneself from oneself. Whether we like it or not, man adheres to himself, he is tied to himself, he prefers himself.

None of us can say that at the hour of death, he is in a state of perfect charity. It is probable that no creature except the Virgin Mary, evidently, can produce perfectly erased acts here on earth, without forgetting that the sins committed are, in fact, only points of emergence of that habitual state of sin which is the very fabric of our fallen being from the beginning. Therefore, this purification necessarily takes place with a suffering that is the opposite, the opposite of the pleasure caused by sin, the opposite also of selfish withdrawal.

When the soul is in the presence of divine holiness, it can conceive only horror of its own selfishness. A suffering of love therefore follows. When one is placed in the presence of Love, one can only desire to love. Purgatory is rightly this suffering of love, intensified by the divine Light that uncovers the soul to itself and makes it aware of its own state of sin. The soul condemns itself as a sinner.

Now can we speak of a more or less long "time" of Purgatory? Some authors think so, as do some mystical souls, because they say: "the soul has sinned in time" and must make reparation "in time", but there is no text of Scripture that allows us to affirm it with certainty. When we speak of the sufferings of Purgatory, it would be better to speak of the intensity of sufferings of love.

In this, the Church affirms the value of suffrages and prayers offered for the dead. This is an application of the dogma of the Communion of Saints by virtue of which we are members of each other and can satisfy each other. The Church can therefore open the treasury of the merits accumulated by the saints, in the first place of whom the Virgin Mary is evidently placed.

The Apparition of Mary Queen of Carmel, which had, according to a tradition, the superior of the Carmelites, Simon Stock, in 1251, is at the origin of the scapular devotion, one of the most general practices of Marian devotion throughout the Catholic world, also for the promise linked to the use of the habit that preserves from hell and promised the passage from purgatory to heaven on the first Saturday after death.

The Marian apparitions of Lourdes and Fatima seem to offer further confirmation of this devotion. The scapular of Mount Carmel was also a distinctive sign of Catholics in Protestant, Napoleonic and social-communist persecutions. The scapular is a very important part of the Carmelite habit and the use of the same, even in a reduced format, signifies affiliation to the Carmelite order, in order to enjoy the benefits and have the spiritual advantages. St Bernardine called Our Lady "Plenipotentiary" of Purgatory, because she has in her hands all the graces and powers to free whoever she wants from Purgatory.

The Virgin herself revealed to Blessed Alano: "I am the Mother of the souls in Purgatory, and every hour by my prayers the pains of my devotees are lightened." Especially the recitation of the holy rosary is of a very special effectiveness. St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori teaches us: "If we want to help the souls in Purgatory, let us pray the rosary for them, which brings them great relief." St Pio of Pietrelcina, giving the rosary to some of his spiritual children, said: "Let us empty a corner of Purgatory."

One morning a Capuchin confrere asked Fr Pio for a souvenir during Mass for his deceased father. Padre Pio, on the other hand, wanted to apply the Mass in suffrage for the soul of that priest. Immediately after Mass, Fr Pio called his confrere and told him. "This morning your dad entered Heaven." The confrere was stunned and happy, however he could not help but exclaim: But Padre Pio, my father died thirty years ago!" Padre Pio replied to him in a grave voice: "Eh, my son, before God everything is paid for!"

In conclusion, if we wish to help the holy souls in Purgatory, let us pray to Our Lady for them and recite the Holy Rosary well, which brings them great spiritual relief.


PLENARY INDULGENCE

(from November 1st to November 8th) for the deceased

We can acquire a plenary indulgence for the benefit of the souls in Purgatory in these first days of November. 

- From noon on November 1st until all day long on November 2nd visiting a church and reciting the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.

- From 1 to 8 November to the faithful who devoutly visit the cemetery and even if only mentally pray for the faithful departed.

= In both cases, these three conditions must also be met:

* Sacramental Confession: This condition can be fulfilled several days before or after. With a confession we can acquire several plenary indulgences, provided that the exclusion of any affection for sin, even venial, remains in us.

* Eucharistic Communion

* Prayer: for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff by reciting the Our Father and Hail Mary


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Glory to the Blessed Trinity in you, O Mary! Glory to you, O Mary, in the Blessed Trinity, for your humility, for your obedience to the law, counsels and inspirations, for your purity, for your virginity, for your divine motherhood, for your modesty, your poverty and your constancy."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, New Jersey, 1997, p. 389)

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