Page:Purgatory00scho.djvu/325

 ance, consists in being released from Purgatory by the Blessed Virgin on the first Saturday after death. To enjoy this privilege, certain conditions are to be fulfilled: — 1st, To observe the chastity of our state. 2nd, To recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. Those who recite the Canonical Office satisfy this condition. Those who are unable to read must, instead of saying the Office, observe the fasts prescribed by the Church, and abstain from flesh-meat on all Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. 3rd, In case of necessity, the obligation of reciting the Office, the abstinence and fasting, may be commuted into other pious works, by those who have the power to grant such dispensations. Such is the privilege of the Sabbaiine or Deliverance, with the conditions necessary to enjoy it. If we remember what has been said of the rigours of Purgatory and its duration, we shall find that this privilege is most precious, and its conditions very easy.

We know that doubts have been raised concerning the authenticity of the Sabbatine Bull, but besides constant tradition and the pious practice of the faithful, the great Pope, Benedict XIV, whose eminent learning and moderation of opinions are well known, has pronounced in its favour. (See Note 15.)

At Otranto, a city in the kingdom of Naples, a lady of high rank experienced great pleasure in assisting at the sermons of a Carmelite Father who was a great promoter of the devotion to Mary. He assured his auditors that all Christians who piously wore the scapular, and fulfilled the prescribed conditions, would see the Divine Mother at their departure from this world, and that this great consoler of the afflicted would come on the Saturday after their death to deliver them from Purgatory, and take them into the abode of the Blessed. Struck with these precious advantages, this lady immediately put on the livery of the Blessed Virgin, firmly resolved to observe