Visitations from Purgatory When, according to God's will, spiritual beings such as angels appear, they must take on an appearance that is perceivable to our sense of sight. In a similar way, the souls of the deceased have been permitted to appear to mankind.
Regarding the time which purgatory lasts, the accepted opinion of R. Akiba is twelve months; according to R. Johanan b.
The only punishment mentioned was fire. One important part of the standard view of Purgatory in Dante's day was that, after death, it was no longer possible to have freedom of choice. This meant that the souls in Purgatory were not expected to become morally better: it was too late for that.
O LORD God almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul amongst them all which is most destitute of spiritual aid; and vouchsafe to bring it to Thy glory, there to praise and bless Thee forever. Amen.
At the shores of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil meet Cato, a pagan who was placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain (his symbolic significance has been much debated).
"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, those in my own home, and within my family. Amen."
The souls in purgatory are called “holy” because they can sin no more and are guaranteed to enter heaven eventually; they are called “poor” because they cannot help themselves in their current state and can do nothing to lessen its pain or duration.
purgatory, the condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which, according to medieval Christian and Roman Catholic belief, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.
The upper part of the mountain consists of seven terraces, each of which corresponds to one of the seven capital sins. Atop the mountain Dante locates, Eden, the Earthly Paradise, the place where the pilgrim is reunited with Beatrice, the woman who inspired the poem.
The idea of purgatory has roots that date back into antiquity. A sort of proto-purgatory called the "celestial Hades" appears in the writings of Plato and Heraclides Ponticus and in many other pagan writers. This concept is distinguished from the Hades of the underworld described in the works of Homer and Hesiod.
A Spanish theologian from the late Middle Ages once argued that the average Christian spends 1000 to 2000 years in purgatory (according to Stephen Greenblatt's Hamlet in Purgatory). But there's no official take on the average sentence.
Christians who know and love each other on earth will know and love each other in heaven.
Limbo is the nether region where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, unbaptized babies go after death. It's a pleasant enough place, though devoid of the bliss of God's presence.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is a place where sins are punished and a soul is purified before it can go to Heaven. This is called Purgatory .
We should be praying for their souls out of love for them. But even if we have no dead relatives that we know of, the souls in purgatory are still our spiritual brothers and sisters. We are related by baptism into Christ, and this familial relationship should spur us to act on their behalf.
In Purgatory, the souls of the monsters are fated to prey on each other for eternity. It appears that when a monster soul dies in Purgatory, they are dead for good. There are estimated to be 30-40 million souls in Purgatory.
Do Christians think praying can help a dead person get into heaven? Not exactly. All Christians believe that only God can determine whether a person belongs in heaven or in hell. Entreaties on behalf of the deceased can't sway God from what's right, but post-mortem praying does have other uses.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.
All Souls' Day, in Roman Catholicism, a day for commemoration of all the faithful departed, those baptized Christians who are believed to be in purgatory because they died with the guilt of lesser sins on their souls. It is observed on November 2.
Prayer for Peaceful Death
Giver of peace, I intercede for this dear one, asking that You would grant him a peaceful death. Give him comfort in his soul that You will raise him up in the last days. Ease his fears of death and ease any pain he might have. Ease his concerns for those he is leaving behind.
Hadraniel (or Hadrianiel among other variant spellings), whose name means "majesty [or greatness] of God", is an angel in Jewish Angelology assigned as gatekeeper at the second gate in heaven.
Dante's nine spheres of Heaven are the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, and the Primum Mobile. These are associated by Dante with the nine levels of the angelic hierarchy. Dante also relies on traditional associations, such as the one between Venus and romantic love.
As the warden or guardian of the mountain of Purgatory, Cato performs a role somewhat similar to that of Charon in Hell.