Purgatory

Purgatory became the official Roman Catholic solution for post-death spiritual cleansing at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. Although it was originally described as a process rather than a location-and fire was not mentioned – it has subsequently become known as a particular place involving fire. Theologians discussed the possible site of Purgatory, envisioning it as a volcano linking Earth to Heaven (with Hell below). Those who made the climb, rising through Purgatory, would suffer cleansing flames, the duration of which was carefully calculated based on each person’s remaining sins at death. This time of fire was to be celebrated as it meant the person was not going to Hell and would eventually join God. For instance, St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510 CE) wrote:

I do not believe it would be possible to find any joy comparable to that of a soul in purgatory, except the joy of the blessed in paradise – a joy which goes on increasing day by day, as God more and more flows in upon the soul, which He does abundantly in proportion as every hindrance to His entrance is consumed away. The hindrance is the rust of sin; the fire consumes the rust, and thus the soul goes on laying itself open to the Divine inflowing.¹

In this piece, I have tried to capture the climb to the volcano and the entrance therein. You, the viewer, are the only person in that world. Neither angel nor demon assist nor hinder you. It is your voluntary mission. The top of the volcano is swathed in clouds; there was a debate as to whether one went to heaven immediately after cleansing or waited for the second coming. The half circle above the clouds is the boundary between Purgatory and Heaven. The statement “where most will pause” refers to some ‘saints’ not needing cleansing as well as to other faiths not accepting the existence of Purgatory.

There were two 13th Century concerns in drafting Purgatory that I spent time considering. The first, a worry that Purgatory would empty Hell. The second, a desire to ensure that late-comers to the faith didn’t get off easier than good Roman Catholic Church members of long-standing. I pondered this in relation to a loving god. And so did St. Catherine of Genoa:

The souls in purgatory, as far as I can understand the matter, cannot but choose to be there; and this by God’s ordinance, who has justly decreed it so. They cannot reflect within themselves and say, “I have done such and such sins, for which I deserve to be here”; nor can they say, “Would that I had not done them, that now I might go to paradise”; nor yet say, “That soul is going out before me”; nor, “I shall go out before him.” They can remember nothing of themselves or others, whether good or evil, which might increase the pain they ordinarily endure; they are so completely satisfied with what God has ordained for them, that He should be doing all that pleases Him, and in the way that pleases Him, that they are incapable of thinking of themselves even in the midst of their greatest sufferings. They behold only the goodness of God, whose mercy is so great in bringing men to Himself, that they cannot see any thing that may affect them, whether good or bad; if they could, they would not be in pure charity. They do not know that their sufferings are for the sake of their sins, nor can they keep in view the sins themselves; for in doing so there would be an act of imperfection, which could have no place where there can be no longer any possibility of actually sinning.^{2 3}

_{1 St. Catherine of Genoa, The Treatise on Purgatory: Translated from the Original Italian (London: Burns and Lambert, 1958), 3.
2 St. Catherine, The Treatise on Purgatory, 2.
3 I also strongly recommended: Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986). Originally published as La Naissance du Purgatoire, Editions Gallimard, 1981.}