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 PURGATORY

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PURGATORY

the doctrine as found in the very Fathers who are quoted as holding contrary opinions (Bellarmine "De Purg.", hb. I, cap. xiii; Billot, "Qusest. de Novissimis", Rome, 1903, p. 97; Chr. Pesch, "Prael. Dogmat.", 2nd ed., Freiburg, 1902).

IV. DuR.\TioN AND Natore. — 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 everj- 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 x^•i) declares that the punishment of purga- torj' is temporary and will cease, at least with the Last Judgment. "But temporary punishments are Buffered 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 Litur- gies 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 hap- piness. This is the Catholic position proclaimed by Leo X in the Bull "E.xurge Domine" which con- demned the errors of Luther (BuUarium, ed.Taurin., V, 751).

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." Ub. II, cap. iv); but this opinion finds no general credit among the theologians of the medieval period, nor is it possible in the hght 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 (Ub. IV, dist. XX, p. 1, a. 1, q. iv): " Est evacuatio timoris propter confirmationem Uberi 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 essehber- andas 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) "Nee probatum est uUis aut rationibus aut scripturis ipsas esse extra statum mcrendi aut augendse caritatis" (There is no proof from reason or Scripture that they [the souls in purgator>') cannot merit or increase in charity). For them "the night has come in which no man can labour", and Christian tradition has always con- sidered 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 purga- tory might merit (IV, dist. xxi, q. i, a. 3). Bellar- mine bcheves 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 avaU 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 purga- torial fire, and the Greeks were assured that the Ro- man Church had never issued any dogmatic decree on this subject. In the ^^'est the belief in the exist- ence of real fire is common. Augustine in Ps. xxxvii, n. 3, speaks of the pain which purgatorial fire causes as more severe than anytliing a man can suffer in this life, "gravior erit ignis quam quidquid potest homo pati in hac vita" (P. L., XXXVI, 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 will 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 temporah pcena, 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 warn- ing 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 of piety or of devotion" (Sess. XXV, "De Purgatorio").

V. ScccotJRixG THE Dead. — Scrfpture and the Fathers command prayers and oblations for the de- parted, and the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV, "De Purgatorio") in virtue of this tradition not only asserts the existence of purgatorj', 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 li\'ing 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 re- ceived Catholic Tradition even in the days of Ter- tuUian and Cyprian, and that the souls of the dead were aided particularly "while the sacred victim lay upon the altar" is the ex-pression of Cyril of Jeru- salem quoted above. Augustine (Serm. clxxii, 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, "tliis is the prac- tice of the universal Church handed down by the Fathers". Whether our works of satisfaction per- formed 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 atone- ment, is not a settled question. Suarez thinks that the acceptance is one of justice, and alleges the com- mon practice of the Church which joins together the living and the dead without any discrimination (De pcenit., disp. xlviii, § 6, n. 4).

VI. Indulgenxes. — 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 (1)' indulgences may be applied to the souls detained in purgatory; and (2)