John Henry Newman points out, “in one sense, all Christians die with their work unfinished.” Purgatory is where the finishing touches are added.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives this succinct statement of the doctrine of Purgatory: “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (CCC 1030).īesides natural concern for loved ones, self-interest should move us to heed the prospect of Purgatory for ourselves. This year we might even say a prayer for Dante, the 700th anniversary of whose death we marked a few weeks ago. This is when the Church encourages us to pray especially for our departed ones-spouses, children, family members, friends, and many others-who we believe and hope are most likely now in Purgatory. It falls on November 2, just after the feast of All Saints, and is called All Souls Day. While the calendar of the Church contains no feast of Purgatory as such, we have its equivalent instead. For this is not a place of punishment but a place where, as a consequence of the divine generosity, repentant sinners are made ready to enter Paradise. In the poem, as in the teaching of the Church, Purgatory can only properly be understood as an expression of God’s boundless mercy. Peter-who bade me err / Rather in opening than shutting out. In its ninth canto, Dante places these words in the mouth of the angelic guardian of Purgatory’s gate who, displaying his keys, tells his listeners:
Coming just after Hell and just before Heaven, the second of the three books that make up Dante’s Divine Comedy is the Purgatorio-Purgatory.
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