Many of us are familiar with the concepts of heaven and hell, but how about purgatory? What is it, really? Is this some space in-between, like a waiting room for sinful souls who haven’t earned a direct ticket to heaven? And if so, how does one end up there? Plus, is it even mentioned in the Bible?
What is purgatory?
Purgatory is the place where the souls of the dead wait to get into heaven. These are the souls of those who accept God, but who haven’t been free of sin. As such, it’s regarded as a place of temporary punishment and purification.
The souls of people “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” will end up in purgatory, according to the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church.’
The text further defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” and also notes that “this final purification of the elect …is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.”
Roots
For about a millennium, Christians were not quite sure what would happen to their souls when they died. Sure, saints would go to heaven and irredeemable sinners would go to hell. As for everyone else? They’d face a “last judgment.”
Enter purgatory
It was not until the 12th century that the medieval Latin Church came up with the concept of purgatory. This meant people would die and go to purgatory to pay for their sins until they were pure enough to enter heaven.
In writing
The first written record can be found in the book ‘Sentences,’ written by French theologist and bishop Peter Abelard around 1150.
Is it in the Bible?
There is no reference to purgatory in the Bible, but those who believe in it and preach it argue that nor are words such as “trinity” and “incarnation,” but that the concepts are nonetheless understood.
While a direct reference to purgatory is not made, it can be argued that some passages can be interpreted as referring to purgatory. One example includes 2 Maccabees 12:43–45, which makes reference to prayers for the dead.
Prayers for the dead
The theory is that prayers for the dead only make sense if those souls needed to be saved, which reinforces the idea of a place like purgatory.
The Church Fathers
The Fathers of the Church are often mentioned when the roots of purgatory are challenged. For instance, in Augustine of Hippo’s book ‘The City of God,’ published in 426 CE, the following passage can be found: “But of those who suffer temporary punishments after death, all are not doomed to those everlasting pains which are to follow that judgment; for to some, as we have already said, what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next, that is, they are not punished with the eternal punishment of the world to come.”
Early Church
There are other references to prayers for the dead in works such as the ‘Acts of Paul and Thecla,’ ‘Epitaph of Abercius,’ and ‘The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity,’ among others. All these texts date back to the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.
Orthodox Jews
The concept of purgatory precedes Christianity. Orthodox Jews also believe in a final purification. The Mourner’s Kaddish is a prayer for the purification of the soul of a loved one, which is said for the duration of 11 months after the person’s death.
Protestant churches
The concept of purgatory is reserved for Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Protestant denominations do not follow the doctrine.
Wealth-making concept
Critics of the Catholic Church have argued that the concept of purgatory has helped the Church amass great wealth. One way they have done this is through memorial masses for the dead. Who would want their deceased loved one to be in purgatory indefinitely, right?
Speeding up the sin cleansing process
If one ends up in purgatory, how does the whole purification process work, after all? Well, there are a few ways to speed up the process and get the soul into heaven. One of them is through indulgences.
Indulgences
In the early days, indulgences were physical documents sold by clergy members to people who wished to absolve
Other ways to get a ticket to heaven
There are, however, other ways to reduce the time spent in purgatory. In the absence of bought indulgences, suffering, sacrifice, and good works can help the remission of punishment.
themselves of their sins. So, essentially, one could buy a ticket out of purgatory and get priority entrance to heaven.
How to get an indulgence?
Pilgrimages to holy sites, attending mass, confession, and acts of piety, such as praying the rosary, reading the scriptures, and Eucharistic adoration, can help.
And so would contracting the services of a sin-eater
Sin-eaters would (literally) eat the sins of a dead person. If one was on their deathbed, carried unconfessed sins, and passed away, then a sin-eater was the only chance the person had to avoid purgatory. The process involved placing a piece of bread on the person’s chest to absorb all their sins, and then eat it.
Life (or death) in purgatory
Purgatory isn’t just a place of suffering. God forgives the souls in purgatory. “The role of suffering is to undo the damage we’ve done,” remarks Robert Corzine, vice president for Programs and Development at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
Flames
Despite the depictions of fire in works of art about the concept of purgatory, the suffering in purgatory is not actual physical pain. “The fire by which we’re purified is an interior burning for the love of God,” explains author Susan Tassone.
Fire
“Immediately after their death, the souls in purgatory saw God in all his glory. They saw his love, his goodness, and the plans he had for us. And they yearn for that. They burn for it, with a yearning that surpasses the heat of any earthly fire,” Tassone adds.
‘The Divine Comedy’
Dante’s classic work ‘The Divine Comedy’ makes reference to purgatory as a place where souls suffer willingly (unlike hell). They show no self-pity and rejoice in their suffering. As Father Dwight Longenecker puts it, “Anything worthwhile requires pain to make progress, but it’s pain with a reward at the end.”
Souls will know their fate
Souls in purgatory will know when they will achieve salvation and head to heaven.
Praying souls
Believers ought to be praying for the souls of the dead as they go to purgatory, but what many don’t know is that the opposite is also said to be true. The souls of those in purgatory also pray for the salvation of the living. “Those souls become like our second guardian angels, taking us under their wing,” says Tassone.
Our prayers really matter
Once a person passes away and the soul leaves the body, it becomes helpless, so only the living can help speed up their stay in purgatory.
Our prayers really matter
“We need to be greedy for graces for the souls in purgatory,” points out Tassone. “That’s why they need our prayers—the rosary, adoration, the Way of the Cross and, most of all, the mass. The masses we have offered for the souls in purgatory are the best thing we can do for our beloved dead. That’s because the mass is the highest form of worship, the highest form of prayer,” she adds.
They are not alone
Souls in purgatory do not suffer alone. They have the company of the souls of other believers. They are all united in Christ.
Purgatory makes saints
Only saints who are free from sin gain instant entry into heaven, but the process of purification in purgatory can turn the souls of those who have sinned into saints.
Sources: (Time) (Catholic Answers) (Catholic Exchange) (Our Sunday Visitor) (Britannica)