'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

New Zealand Tablet, 8 August 1912, Page 3

'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

(A Weekly Instruction specially written for the N.Z. . Tablet by 'Ghimel.')

LIFE AFTER DEATH-PURGATORY (II)

Proof from Tradition of its Existence. The previous article showed that Sacred Scripture contains a number of indications to the effect that there is a third state after death, a place of purgation ; the present article will prove that from the earliest times Catholics believed in a place of purification after death and in the help afforded to the dead by prayer. It will also be seen that the definition of the Council of Trent, so often said to be the source of many superstitious ideas about Purgatory, does nothing more than express the faith of the early Church. Note once again that prayer for the dead/ on which the testimonies to be quoted so much insist, necessarily supposes that those for whom it is offered are helped by it and are therefore in a state of purification. Tertullian (2nd century) : We make on one day every year oblations for the dead, as for their birthdays’ (fDe Corona Militis. ch. 3). ‘ The faithful widow prays for the soul of her husband, and begs for him in the meantime repose and participation in the first resurrection, and makes oblations for him on the anniversary of his death {Be Monogomia , ch. 10). Saint Cyprian (2nd and 3rd century) forbade these customary prayers for one who had disobeyed certain laws of the Church; ‘ there should be no oblation for him, nor sacrifice be celebrated on his falling asleep’ (Letter 66). Clement of Alexandria (2nd century) wondered what became of the man who, reconciled to God on his death-bed, had no time to fulfil the penance due to his transgression, and this was his conclusion : ‘ The believer through discipline divests himself of his passions and passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, passes to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance for the faults ho may have committed after Baptism. He is tortured then still more, not yet attaining what he sees others have acquired. , . and though these punishments cease in the course of the expiation and purification of each one,’ etc. ( Patrologia G. ix. 332). St. Ambrose (4th century) in his funeral oration over the Emperor Theodosius, thus prays for the soul of his dear friend: ‘ Give perfect rest, O Lord, to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which Thou hast prepared for Thy saints may his soul return thither whence it descended. . . I loved him, therefore will I follow him to the land of the living nor will I leave him till by my prayers and lamentations he shall be admitted unto the holy mount of the Lord, to which his deserts call him.’ St. Augustine (4th century) is particularly clear. After pointing out that the Church never prays for evil spirits or lost souls, for God will not pardon them, he adds: ‘For either the prayer of the Church or of some pious persons is heard on behalf of certain of the departed, but it is on behalf of those w T hose lives, after they had been regenerated in Christ, were not so bad whilst they were in the body as to be accounted not worthy of such a mercy, nor so good as to be found not to need such mercy. So also, after the resurrection of the dead has taken place, there will not be wanting those to whom, after the pains which the spirits of the dead endure, will be granted the mercy that they be not cast into everlasting fire’ {Be Civitate Bei xxi. c. 24). And in the surpassingly beautiful chapters in his Boole of Confessions, where he describes the death of his mother, St. Monica, we read: ‘“Lay,” she saith (the dying woman), “this body anywhere; let not the care for that any way disquiet you: this only I request,’ that you would remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be . . . For neither in those prayers which we poured forth unto Thee, when the sacrifice of our ransom was offered for her, when now the corpse was by the grave’s side, as the manner there is, previous

to its being laid therein, did I weep even during those prayers' (Book ix., 27, 32). -\'-St". Cyril of Jerusalem (4th century): Then we pray for the Holy Fathers and Bishops that are dead, and in short for all those who have departed this life in our communion; believing that the souls' of those for whom prayers are offered receive very great relief, while this holy and tremendous Victim lies upon the altar (Gatechet. v. 9). * St. Ephraem (4th century) in his Testament writes: ' I now wish, brethren, to forewarn and exhort you that after my departure you make a commemoration of me, according to custom in your prayers . . . for the dead are benefited in oblations of commemoration by the living saints.' Such. are a few samples of the teaching of early Church writers To these we may add the important fact that all the old Liturgies contain prayers and mementoes for the dead, and this practice of remembering the departed by name in the Holy Sacrifice was always held to have come down from the Apostles. ' Thus at the close of the fourth century not only (1) were prayers for the dead found in all the Liturgies, but the Fathers asserted that such practice was from the Apostles themselves; (2) those who were helped by the prayers of the faithful and by the celebration of the Holy Mysteries were in a place of purgation; (3) from which when purified they "were admitted unto the Holy Mount of the Lord " ' (Oath. Encycl. xii. 577). And if further proof were required to show that the practice of praying for the deadwith its implied belief in Purgatory—comes from the Apostles, a visit to the Catacombs would suffice. These subterranean galleries are filled with the tombs of the faithful, some of these being the first converts to Christianity, and on these tombs are inscribed ' words of hope, words of petition for peace and for rest.' Add to that the wellknown fact that the faithful assembled on the anniversaries to pray for those who had fallen asleep, and the chain of evidence is complete.