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Purgatory occupies an important place in our holy religion: it forms one of the principal parts of the work of Jesus Christ, and plays an essential role in the economy of the salvation of man.

Let us call to mind that the Holy Church of God, considered as a whole, is composed of three parts: The Church Militant, the Church Triumphant, and the Church Suffering, or Purgatory. This triple Church constitutes the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and the souls in Purgatory are no less His members than are the faithful upon earth and the elect in Heaven. In the Gospel, the Church is ordinarily called the Kingdom of Heaven; now Purgatory, just as the heavenly and terrestrial Church, is a province of this vast kingdom.

The three sister Churches have incessant relations with each other, a continual communication which we call the Communion of Saints. These relations have no other object than to conduct souls to eternal glory, the final term to which all the elect tend. The three Churches mutually