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RE-UNION OF CHRISTENDOM.

(A Series of Lectures delivered in St Joseph's Church, Temuka by the Very Bey Father Lb Menant deb Chesnaib, S.M.)

Leotcbb XV.— On Ptjboatoby.

" It if a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for tbt dead that they may be loosed from their sins " (II Macchab. xii, 46).

The word '• purgatory," from the Greek pur, which signifies "fire." and the Latin purgo, to cleanse, to purify, »o expiate, impliei the idea of Cleansing and purifying by fire, Purgatory, therefore, is, according to its etymology, a place or state of purification and expiation by fire. Acsotding to the Catholic teaching, it is a place or state of temporary expiation, where souls, leaving this world with sanctifying grace and in friendship with God, yet with the guilt of small sins or without having sufficiently satisfied the divine justice for the sins of their former life whose guilt and eternal punishment had been forgiven, finish their expiation, and get perfectly cleansed and purified in order to become fit to enter heaven and appear before the dirine Majesty. Voltaire, Diderot, D'AUmbert, and the sceptics of the last century say that purgatory was a fiction, a pious fraud of the monks. The first attack against purgatory was made in the fifth century by Arms, who denied the efficacy of prayers for the dead, and was refuted by St Augustine (St Augustine, 1, 2 ; De Haeres., c, liii), which evidently shows that until then never did any Christian entertain any doubt about the existence of purgatory or the efficacy of prayers for the dead, This fact alom is a strong presumptive argument in favour of the Catholic doctrine on this point. The next attack was not made until the twelfth century, by Peter de Brnis, an apostate monk, who renewed ihe error of Aerius, and w«a refuted by Peter of Oluny (Peter Cluniac Bpißt. ad Bpisc. Arelatens). In the same and two following centuries the Albigenses, the Waldensas and the Hussites violently denounced the dogma of pnrgatory. Luther, al first, firmly believed in it. In his disputation at Leipsic in 1619, be publicly declared his conviction : " I firmly believe and I am not afraid to confess that I know that there is a purgatory ; lam easily persuaded that the Scriptures mention it ; I have no donbt about this matter, and I do not wish to favour heretics or the Bohemians." " Ego credo fortiter, imo ausim dicere, sdo purgatorium etse facile persuadeor in Seripturit de co fieri mentionem ; nolo mihi fieri suspieionem, quasi faveam haereticis aut Bohemis." He further added • 11 All that I know about pnrgatory is that the souls detained in it are assisted by our prayers and good works " " Ego nil de pnrgatorio novi, nisi animas sibi patientes nostris operibus aut orationibusjuvandas " (Disput. Lipsiaca. anno 1519 pubhce habita). Prom this public declaration it cannot be controverted : (1) That Luther most firmly believed in the existence of purgatory. "Ego credo fortiter, imo ausim dicere, sdo purgatorium esse." (2) He was persaaded that purgatory was mentioned in the Scriptures. " Facile persuadeor in Scripturis de co fieri mentionem." (3) He considered the contrary opinion as heretical. " Noli mihi fieri snspicwnem quasi faveam liaereticis aut Bohemis," (4) He believed that the souls of purgatory could be helped by the prayers and good works of the faithful. 11 Ego nil de purgatorio novi, nisi animas ibi pati, nostris operibus aut orationibus iuvandas" Can anything be more clear, explicit or straightforward be desired. What are we to think of a man, who, a little after, at the Diet of Smalcald, declared quite the contrary, and affirmed boldly " that purgatory was only a mask of the devil." 11 Purgatorium mera diaboli larva est " (Ex Art. Convent. Smalcald). Is it not appartDt that when Luther, at the Conference of Smalcald, called purgatory " a mask of the demon," " mera diaboli larva," be said so not through conviction but to suit his new and favourable fiction of justification by faith alone ; for if we are justified by faith only, there is no need of purification of any kind either in this world or tbe next. I leave you to decide if a man who through expediency thus contradicts himself is worthy of credit ? if he be an honourable man? And what are we to thmk of the thousands and thousands who still Biick ti his opinion ? With regard to purgatory two things only have been defined by the Church, namely, (1) that thers is a purgatory, and (2) that the souls in purgatory may be assisted by the suffrages of tb« living " Purgatorium esse, animasqve ibi detentas fidelium svffragiis potissimum veri acceptabUi altaris sacrificiojuvari " (Oonc. Tndeat. Stss. xxv). The Church has never defined wbat is the quality, intensify, duration of tbe pains of purgatory. She has not defined where purgatory is situated, what amount of suffrages is sufficient to deliver a soul out of purgatory. The only way to get an approximate idea of those things is by the writings of the Fathers and eminent theologians, and the value of their opinion rests exclusively on tbe proofs they give to substantiate or defend tt. Let us now fairly and impartially examine whether purgatory exists or whether it is a fiction, a pioua fraud of the monks, as Voltaire pretended, or, again, a mask, a snare of the devil, as Luther would have it, or a gross BUpereition, as most separated Ohurches do still hold, or as modern rationalists think : Is it a pagan custom adopted by the

Church f a pioni illation invented toooasole the tiring, who are loth and reluctant to believe that they are separated altogether from their departed relation! and friends, sad can have no communication with them? la it, in fine, a fond illuaion without any solid proof to justify it t Let us see. Although it is historically certain that ancient nations, believed in a plaoe of temporary punishment after death, it does not logically follow that Christians borrowed their belief in a middle state from the pagans. The Jews had in horror and abomination all pagan customs, yet they firmly believed in a place of expiation in the next life because this belief had been handed down to them by an immemorial custom or tradition resting on primitive divine revelation. The dogma of purgatory was revealed by God from the beginning of the world. It was anterior to paganism, which only disfigured and transformed it by adding to it ridiculous fictions. The universal agreement of all nations about tbis dogma cannot be satisfactorily explained without a primitive divine revelation, which, in process of time became confused, and was shrouded iv fictitious fables, tbioogh whicb, however, the fundamental original revelation m >y ba clsarly discerned by an observant eye. That we all love our departed relations and friends, and cannot easily be persuaded that we cannot hold any communication with them, is, also, a universal belief. The tears we shed over our dead friends, the pompons funeral, the praysra we offer for them, etc., are bnt the expression of that intimate, universal, irresistible Bentiment ; the question is : Who gave us that sentiment ? Is it not God, the Author of our nature 1 As this sentiment existed at all times and in all places, its origin must be Divine, and from it we may infer that the bond of union between the living and the dead is not a fiction but a reality. This beautiful thought is borrowed from St Augustine in his book •• On the care of the dead,"— •« S. Aug. Liler De Oura pro Mortnis." This bond is an article of faith, and is contained in the Apostles' Oreed, and formulated in these words :— " I believe the Communion of Saints." The soulb in purgatory are holy, having died with sanctifying grace ; they are in friendship with God, although not pure enongh to appear before His Divine Majesty, and are included in the Communion of Saints ; whence, we are to conclude that it was not the love for our deceased friends which made us invent purgatory, but it is the dogma of the Communion of Saints which intensified this universal sentiment, given us by God from the beginning, as we shall directly prove. It is historically certain that the belief in purgatory and in prayers for the dead is universal, both aB to time and place. Let us give a few proofs. The Stoio philosophers believed in a state of expiation after death, which they called •• Brnpyrosin," or purification by fire. Plato, in his book on the soul, admits of the purifying fire of the next life, proportionate to the guilt of each, " Ratione delictorum diverta ignis flamma comburendi conjiciuntur." The doctrine of tranßmigation of souls of Zoroaßter is a kind of pnrgatory or purification before souls can be admitted to final bliss. The Ismaelites believe in prayera for the dead, which they call " ElKatma." The Mabomedani frequently vißit the tombs of their dead relations and friends, and offer prayers for them, as may b» seen in th« Arabic version of the •' Alkoran,"— •' Mahwnetani dcfunctorum corpora adeunt ac pro ipsorum salute orant " (Maraccius in Alkorano Arabico Lib. 111. 0. xxx). The Romans, as appears from the VI Book of the Aeneid of Virgil bad the came tradition (Aeneid V. 441). Homsr, in his 111 Book of tha Illiad declares it was likewise the belief of the Greeks in his time (Homer, Illiad iii). Who has not heard of the love of the patriarchs of old for their dead ? The Jews offered a sacrifice for the dead four times a year. On that day, the High Priest, from a platform, read, out of a scroll of papyrus or parchment, the names of the dead, and invited the people to unite with him whilst be would be offering a sacrifice for the rrpose of their souls. Modern Jews have kept no the tradition of their ancestors and still pray for their dead. We read, in the Old Testament, that after a great battle Judas Macchabeus had an expiatory sacrifice offered for his fallen companions ; whence the inspired penman concludes that : "Itis a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sin " (11. Macchab. XII.xlvi)." Bnt where were those dead for whom it was a holy and wholesome thought to pray ? Not in hoaven ;if they bad been there, they would not have been in need to be prayed for. Not in hell • had they been in hell, prayers for them would have been useless ; therefore, they were in a place of temporary expiation, and this purifying place is what the Catho ie Church calls purgatory. All writers on sacred Hermeneutics consider this passage of the 11. Book of the Macchabees as perfectly authentic. (Sse Natal. Alex. Hist. Vdt. Test. VI. a Dissertat. art. VIII. D. Calmet. Praefat. in 11. Lir. Macchab) It is found in all the ancient manuscripts and printed copies, and the Church has received the 11. Books of the Mcchabeeß among; the Canonical Scriptures. St Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, speaks of the custom, which existed among the Jews, to offer purifying sacrifices for the dead, and he makes use of this custom to confirm the dogma of the existence of a future life (I. Cor. V., xtviv). Again, we may ask : what are those dead for whom we may profitably offer sacrifices? It cannot be the saint 8 nor the damned; it must, consequently, be the souls in purgatory

The Janice of God demands eh*t theie sh.iui«) be n pu^^iory. G<d could not condemn to everlasting pui.ißhtue t those who die guilty of little ains only, or who have not perfectly satit.fi id Hia retributive and vindictive justice for their past tra. Bgressiona ; forgiven as to the guilt and eternal punishment in the sacrnmentof penance ; there mutt, therefore, be a middle plnce between heaven and bell, where Bach souls may be cleansed and purified before their final admission into heavenly bliss, and tl is place iB purgatory, which was firmly believed by all Christian antiquity, and is still believed by all Christians all over the world, except by most of tbe Reformed Cb arches. " When a Christian dies," says 8t Denis the Aeropagite, " the Venerable Pontiff cays the prayer for the dead, that through the Divine clemency, he may be received into heavenly light and the land of the living, all tbe sins which, through human frailty he had committed, being forgiven him." " Accedens venerandut Antitteg preoem taoram luper mortuum peragit ; precatur divinam clementiam, ut cuncta dimittat per infirmitatemhumanam admissapeecata defttnoto, eumque in luce statuat et regione vivorum " (Dion. De Bccles. Hier. 0. vii). In the Apostolical constitutions, we read : •' We pray for onr brethren who are resting in the Lord, that He may forgive them every sin, and, through His kindness and benevolence, place them in the region of the living." " Overalls pro fratribus nostris, gui in Christo requieverunt vt Deus gui animam defuncti tutcepit, remittat ci omne peccatum, et propitius ac benevolus ci factus, collocet cum in regione vivorum" (Apost. Const. L. viii , 0. xli). "We held," says St Olement, " that fire purges and sanctifies sinful souls." " Nos dicimus ignem sanctificare animas peccatrices " (Clement Strom L. vii., C. vi). Which eiDful souls are purged and Banctifi dby fire, according to St Clement ? Not those which die in mortal sin, and are lost for ev«r, bat those wbich, for email transgressions, are being cleansed in pnrgatory. Tertullian informs us that in hia time, through an immemorial custom, a collection was made from door to door, and the proceeds Bent to the Bishop, to have it distrboted among bis priests and have Masses saii for the repose of the faithful departed (Tert. De Oor. Mil). " Oblationes pro defunctis annud die facimus," and " Hennas, in the 11. Vision of the I. Book of his pastor, confirms what we eaid. We have also tbe testimony of Origen, 8t Oyprun, Lactaotiuo, St Cyril of Jerusalem, etc"(Bt Cypr, Ep. LII. ad Anton, Lactant Ibstitut 1., vii., 0. xxi., Origen, Horn. XVI. in. Jerem. 8. Oyr. Hier. Cat. v. Mystagon 9). " The evidence of the early Christian Fathers in favour of pnrgatory and prayers for tbe dead is simply unanswerable ; this is why the innovators of the Sixteenth Century rejected the authority of tbe Fathers and tradition, because it man festly condemned their false doctrines, which were contrary to the belief and practice of all ages, past and gone, from the days of the apostles. Let me aek you candidly, if their innovations were net rather a deformation than a reformation of tbe Christian religion. Ido not wish to offend any one in so speaking, but truth, though at times bitter aod painful, mast be told, because unless people see clearly that they have be^n deceived and led astray by false views and gross misrepreEeatations of the true doctrine of Jesns Chrißt, they will remain us they aie, and the mischief done by the reformers will be continued. If you saw a traveller taking a wroDg road, you would consider it an act of ku dness to warn him of hid mistake, because if he went od, the more he would advance, the more he would recede from tbe pltcj of bis destination ; in like manner, is it not a true act of charity and kindness to warn, in a friendly manner, those who, innocently, have embraced a false religion, wbich they thought to bt the right one ? Does not our Blessed Lord tell us that be who will convert a sinner from the error of his way shall sive hia soul, and shine like a star throughout the endless eternity T " Qui convertifecerit peccatorem ab err ore vlae suae salvabit animam ejus " (Jae. v, 20). " Qui ad justitiam erudiunt multos fulgebunt quasi stellae in perpetuas eaternitates " (Dan. xii, 3). Bt Augustin, summing up tbe tradition of the early Christian ages, has written a whole book on the care of the dead, the existence of purgatory, and prayers for the eouls of the faithful departed . He declares that the custom of praying for the dead, as sanctioned by the Churob, is spread everywhere, that it is an immemorial, constant, and nniveraai practice, wbich can be traced back to the very times of the Apostles (St Aug., Liber., De Cura pro Mortuis). Ttiis dognvi, betidee, is so consoling and so much in harmony with the aspirations of our reason, that it is hard to conceive bow any one should have any difficulty to admit it. In order to understand the doctrine of the Catholic Church about pnrgatory, we must remember that which we have already so often repeated, namely— that in forgiving tbe guilt and etercal punishment due to grievous sinß committed after baptism, there generally remains a temporal punishment which must be paid either in this world by the penitent himself, or in purgatory. God baa to ordained it, lest by too great an indulgence sinners might be emboldened in doing wrong, and that by tbe temporal punishment they have to perform, in order to repair the past, they might not only satisfy Hia divine justice, but be more prudent and careful for the future to avoid every wilful ein, and also tbe daDgerous occasions which might lead them into sin, and be stimulated to acquire more merits for heaven. Tbe pains of tbe souls in purgatory are twofold : (1), The pain and loss ; and (2), The pain of ienM. 1. The pain ol

Losh. — It is the temporary privation of the sight of God and of tbe c>mpauy of the holy pngeis and saints. No sooner has a soul departed this life than it beholds God, This sight of God produces in the soul bo deep and vivid an impression of the surpassing beauty, lovelinesp, charms and perfection of the Divine Majesty, that thenceforth it is utterly incapable of thinking or loving aught else except the Divine transcendental beauty and loveliness of tbe Almighty ; it thirsts, its pants for God, it yearns after Him, like a hart after a fountain of limpid waters. It cries out unceasingly : God ! God I God 1 I long to be with God I This temporary separation from, and privation of the sight of God, iB for the unfortunate soul a cause of most intense grief. But it knows it cannot possibly go to God and be admitted into His presence until it be perfectly cleansed and purified, spotless and immaculate ; and the thought that it is throngh carelessness and negligence, whilst on earth, tbat it is, for a while, deprived of the Beatific Vision, of the joys of Paradise, and of the most agTeeable and charming company of tha Blessed Virgin, and the holy angels and sainti, greatly increases its grief and anguish ; yet it is perfectly resigned to the Divine will, and would not wißb to appear in the presence of the infinite, uncreated beauty, and tbe glorious assembly of all the brilliant court of heaven without every stain or defilement, even the smallest, being removed from it. It is bard for us here below to fully realise the intensity of this pain of lobs, because our ideas of the Divine beauty, of the glory of the inhabitants of heaven and of tba delights of that lovely abode are so dense and imperfect ; it is not so with tbe bpulb in pnrgatory, which fully comprehend that to lose God even for a moment is a loss which no earthly thing could compensate. However, they are greatly consoled by the certainty they have that this privation is to be only a temporary one, aod that they may be helped and assisted by tbe prayers and good works of the faithful on eartb, especially by tbe oblation of the adorable sacrifice of the Mass, as has been defined by tbe Council of Trent, we have quoted above. The opinion of Luther tbat all the 6ouls in purgatory are not certain of their salvation baa been condemned by Leo X. (Bulla in 1520, edita Prop. Luthcri xxxviii. Animae in purgatorio non stint seenrae de earum salute, saltern omnes ) The Bame Pontiff has condemned another proposition of Martin Lutber, who said " That the soula in pnrgatory had a horror of their pains, and continually sinned in trying to obtain final rest — {Animae in purgatoiio peccant tine inter missione, quamdiu qaerunt requiem, et horrent paenas—(Ptopoß. xsxix, Lutberi damnata a Leone x, 1520). It is, therefore, the Catholic belief that tbe souls in purgatory are perfectly resigned to their state, never give way to impatience or murmuring, and adore tbe just decree of the Divine Majesty, although they are most anxious that we should intercede for them, and most grateful to us for any alleviation we obtain for them from Almighty God by our bumble supplications and the good w rks we offer to Jesus for their intention. According to St Thomis (1 Pars., Tit. v., C. v.), Venerable Bede (Beda Sermo xviii , De Sane), Snares (Tract. Da Purgat. Sect, iii), the pain of loss far surpasses anything we can endure in this world. Bellarmiae (Ballarminus C. xiv.), Sc Bonaven'are (St Bonaveut. In iv, Dist, xx, art. i, Question. 2,) and a few others do not believe that the pain of loss surpasses anything we may suffer in this world. The opinion of the angelic doctor iB the mest probable and the one generally followed ; yet these who hold the other opinion could not be condemned because the Cburch has d* fined nothing about this point. (To be Continued.)

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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIII, Issue 35, 27 December 1895, Page 21

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RE-UNION OF CHRISTENDOM. New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIII, Issue 35, 27 December 1895, Page 21

RE-UNION OF CHRISTENDOM. New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIII, Issue 35, 27 December 1895, Page 21