50 A.D. to 100 A.D.
From the Catacombs and oldest liturgical prayers
(Source: The Poor Souls in
Purgatory, A Homiletic Treatise with some specimen
sermons by Rev. P.W. Keppler D.D.)
- In
the oldest liturgical prayers or "Sacramentaries" and
in the earliest "Liturgies" (including
that of the Testamentum Domini N.I. Ch., and the
Apostolic Constitutions), the dead are remembered, not
only to honor their memory and to comfort
the mourning survivors, but in order to obtain
for them forgiveness of their sins, remission of
punishments, and their liberation from Purgatory.
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100 A.D.
to 200 A.D.
Tertullian: lived
from 160 A.D. to about 230 A.D.
Mini-bio: North
African; ecclesiastical writer, Christian apologist,
son of a centurion and trained as a lawyer in Rome.
One of the earliest of
the Fathers whom we find speaking of Purgatory is Tertullian,
who was born a little after the middle of the second
century. When speaking of certain apostolical traditions,
he says:
We make yearly offerings
(or sacrifices) for the dead, and for the feasts
of the martyrs
Describing the duty of a faithful
widow to her deceased husband, he says:
She prays for us soul, and
begs repose for him and his company in the first
resurrection, and offers (sacrifice) on the anniversary
days of his death. For if she does not these things,
she has, as much as lies in her, divorced him.
From this we see that it was
a public custom in the days of Tertullian to offer
up prayer and sacrifice for the dead, and to impetrate
eternal rest for them.
In other passages he
tell us that prayer for the dead, and the making
of oblations
— gifts for the Eucharist from which the elements
for consecration were taken on the anniversary of their
demise — were, according to him, a generally
recognized custom of the Church.
St. Clement
of Alexandria: lived from 150 A.D. to
about 215 A.D.
Mini-bio: Greek;
theologian, head of the Catechetical School at Alexandria,
Egypt
By punishment after death,
men must expiate the least sin before they can enter
Heaven.
Origen of Alexandria: lived
from 185 A.D. to about 254 A.D.
Mini-bio: Alexandrian;
philosopher, theologian, writer
Origen, in many parts of
his works, teaches that all souls are purified by
fire before they enter Heaven, unless they are so
pure as not to need it.
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200 A.D.
to 300 A.D.
St. Cyprian
of Carthage who lived from 200 A.D. to
258 A.D.
Mini-bio: North
African; bishop; biblical scholar, martyr
"It is one thing to hope
for forgiveness, and another to enter into eternal
glory; one thing to be cast into prison and not to
go out from thence until the last farthing is paid,
and another immediately to receive the reward of faith
and virtue; one thing to be tortured for sins by long-lasting
pains and purged by fire, and another to have already
expiated sin [here below] by martyrdom."
"It is one thing to be
cast into prison not to be released until the last
farthing is paid, and another thing through the ardor
of faith immediately to attain to the reward."
Lactantius who
lived from 240 A.D. to 323 A.D.
Mini-bio: North
African; apologist, professor of rhetoric at Nicomedia, tutor to Constantine's son, poet
"But also, when God will
judge the just, it is likewise in fire that he will
try them. At that time, they whose sins are uppermost,
either because of their gravity or their number, will
be drawn together by the fire and will be burned. Those,
however, who have been imbued with full justice and
maturity of virtue, will not feel that fire; for they
have something of God in them which will repel and
turn back the strength of the flame."
Arnobius who
lived from 284 A.D. to 305 A.D.
Mini-bio: African;
rhetorician, apologist
"In these, the supreme
God is prayed to, peace and pardon are begged of him
for kings, magistrates, friends, and enemies, both
the living and those who are delivered from the body."
Author's note: Peace
and pardon were not asked for the saints, who do not
need them, nor the damned, to whom it cannot reach.
Therefore this peace and pardon were invoked on those
who were [in the process of being purified.]
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300 A.D.
to 400 A.D.
St. Ephrem [Syrus
| of Syria] who lived from 306 A.D.
to 373 A.D.
Mini-bio:
Syrian; deacon, hymnist, poet
"Instead
of shedding useless tears over the grave, let them
flow at prayers in church, for in these there is
help and comfort for the dead as well as for the
living." And ... "If the Jewish priests
were able by their sacrifices to help those fallen
in battle [2 Maccabees 12:38-45 ] , how
much more will the priests of the Son of God by their
Holy Sacrifice and prayers efface the sins of the
departed!"
St. Cyril of Jerusalem who
lived from 315 A.D. to 386 A.D.
Mini-bio: Palestinian;
bishop, scholar, Doctor of the Church
In his Instruction to Catechumens on the Liturgy (one
of his writings)
"We remember those that
are deceased; first the patriarches, apostles, and
martyrs, that God would receive our supplications through
their prayers and intercession.
Then we pray for our fathers and bishops, and in general
for all among us who are departed this life, believing
that this will be the greatest relief to them, for
whom is offered up on the holy and tremendous victim
which lies on the altar."
St. Epiphanius of
Salamis who lived from 315 A.D. to 403 A.D.
Mini-bio:
Palestinian; bishop, abbot, scholar
St. Epiphanius of Salamis related that when a bad Arian
priest, denied prayers for the dead, this heresy was
condemned by the whole Church, and its author numbered
amongst the heretics.
Speaking on this subject,
the saintly bishop said:
"As to the rite by which
the names of our are pronounced, what can be more useful
than it: what more opportune, or truly more worthy
of admiration."
Further on he says:
"But the prayers that
are offered up for the dead are useful to them...I
say that the Church, which has received that rite handed
down to it from our ancestors, of necessity performs
it."
St. Basil the Great who
lived from 329 A.D. to 379 A.D.
Mini-bio: Cappadocian;
bishop, theologian, monk
"I consider that the
active athletes of God, who have fought bravely with
invisible enemies during all their life, when arrived
at the end of life, shall be examined by the prince
of the world, so that if they may be found to have
retained either wounds after the contest, or any stains
or relics of sin, they should be detained; but if they
may be found without wounds and slains, as victorious
and free, they would be translated by Christ to rest.
Therefore, David prays for
the present and the future life."
St. Basil speaks of sin:
"that the purgatorial
fire may entirely feed on and devour it."
Lest there may be a doubt
as to his meaning, he adds:
"It does not threaten
utter ruin altogether, but it means cleansing (innuit
purgationem) according to the opinion of the Apostle
[, Paul:]
'But he himself shall be
saved yet as so through fire'"
1 Corinthians 3:15
Author's Note: Here
is Purgatory, which is nothing else than a place in
which sin is devoured, not for the utter ruin of the
sinner, but for the cleansing of sin. Thus, he who
dies with certain sins in his conscience shall be saved
by fire.
St. Ambrose who
lived from 339 A.D. - 397 A.D.
Mini-bio: German;
bishop, Doctor of the Church
With the approval and
applause of the faithful, he often commended to God
the souls of the emperors, Theodosius and Valentinian
and others. In his funeral oration on Theodosius,
that great and mighty emperor, he prays in these
words:
"Grant, O Lord,
to Thy servant Emperor Theodosius that rest which
Thou hast prepared for thy saints. May his soul
soar up to whence it came, where it can no more
feel the sting of death, and where it will learn
that death is not the end of life, but of sin.
I loved him, and therefore I will follow him into
the land of the living; I will not leave him, until
by my prayers and lamentations he will be admitted
unto the holy mount of the Lord."
He speaks of most solemn obsequies
and sacrifices for the dead, on the third, seventh
and thirtieth days after their departure.
In his epistle to Faustinus,
who indulged in immoderate grief a the death of his
sister he writes:
I do not think your sister
ought to excite your tears, by your prayers; nor
that her soul is to be dishonored by weeping, but
rather recommended to God by sacrifices.
St. John l who
lived from 347 A.D. - 407 A.D.
Mini-bio: Syrian;
archbishop, Doctor of the Church
In one homily, when St. l was
inculcating what people should do in favor of the dead
he said:
"Help him not by tears,
but by prayers, supplications, alms and oblations.
For these have not been rashly devised; nor is it in
vain that in the divine mysteries we remember the dead
appearing in their behalf praying the Lamb, who has
taken away the sins of the world, that thence comfort
may reach them. Nor is it in vain that he, who stands
at the altar while the revered mysteries are performed,
cries aloud:
"Let us pray for all
those who have slept in Christ, let us not fail to
succor the departed; for the common expiation of
the world is offered."
He adds:
"These things are done
by the ordination of the Spirit."
Here, in eloquent language,
we are taught our duty to the dead — we are to
pray, to give alms and to offer sacrifices for them;
and this duty is laid upon us not by the invention
or self interest of man but by the spirit of God.
St. Jerome who
lived from 347 A.D. - 419 A.D.
Mini-bio: Dalmatian;
priest, hermit, abbot, biblical scholar and translator,
Doctor of the Church
In a letter to Pammachius
(Epistle 66) says:
"Other husbands decorate the graves of their wives
with violets, roses, lilies, and purple-colored flowers.
By such tokens of love they relieve the grief of their
hearts. Our Pammachius bedews the sacred ashes and
the venerable remains with the balsam of alms; for
he knows what is written:
'As fire is extinguished
by water, so is sin effaced by almsdeeds.' "
St. Augustine
of Hippo who lived from 354 A.D. -
430 A.D.
Mini-bio: North
African; bishop, theologian, Doctor of the Church
St. Augustine speaks
repeatedly in his writings of the doctrine of Purgatory
and intercession for the dead. Forty passages in
his books treat of this matter. Dogmatically the
most precise statement is found in the Enchiridion
(c. 109; al.c.30), which reads as follows:
During the time which intervene between the death of
man and his resurrection, the soul finds itself in
certain hidden places, according to each soul's merits
during its life in the flesh, either enjoying rest
or suffering tribulations. Neither can it be
denied that the souls of the dead are granted
refreshment and relief through the piety of their beloved
ones on earth, whenever the sacrifice
of the Mediator is offered, or alms are distributed
for them. But it will benefit only those who have lived
so that it can benefit them afterwards. For
there is a certain manner of living which is neither
so good, that after death such would no longer be needed,
nor so bad, that it could no longer be of any use.
When the sacrifice of the altar or alms are offered
for all the departed that had been baptized, they are
thank-offerings for the very good, atonements for those
not very bad; for the very bad, even though they do
not help the dead, they afford consolation to the living."
Famous
and admired even by Protestants is Augustine's touching
profession of faith contained in the last request
of his dying mother,
St. Monica, and in his prayer for her, especially this
beautiful passage:
"When the day
drew near on which she was to pass away, she was
not concerned about pompous funeral, nor that her
body should be deposited with spices; she did not
desire a grand monument, nor wish for a grave in
here native land. None of all these things did
she charge us with: one thing alone did she request
and desire from her Son, Augustine:
That she be remembered
at the altar, upon which, as she knew, the holy
sacrifice was offered, which blots out the handwriting
of the decree that stood against us (Colossians 2:1)
To the sacrament of
Redemption Thy servant hath joined her soul by
the bond of faith; no one shall tear it and deprive
her of They protection."
St. Paulinus
of Nola who lived from 354 A.D. - 431 A.D.
Mini-bio: Gallic;
husband and father, bishop, poet
St. Paulinus, Bishop
of Nola, the coeval of Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome,
by whom he was very much esteemed, wrote an epistle
to one Delphinus, to whose prayers he recommended
his brothers souls. In it he says:
"Cause that by thy prayers
pardon may be granted to thee, and that a drop of rest
flowing from the smallest finger of thy sanctity may
sprinkle his soul."
He everywhere shows
the like piety toward the dead. In his epistle to
Pammachius, the same to whom St. Jerome wrote, he
congratulates him on having discharged his duty to
the body and soul of his wife - to her body by tears
and to her soul by alms.
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400 A.D. to 500 A.D.
St. John l who
lived from c. 470 A.D. - 526 A.D.
Mini-bio: Tuscan,
by birth and the son of Constantius, Pope, 52th successor
to St. Peter
He traces liturgical
prayer for the dead back to the Apostles, nay, to
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and says:
"The Apostles
knew full well that it works much good for the
departed: for whenever all the people stand with
hands raised in prayer, together with the whole
assembly of the priests, and the tremendous Victim
lies on the altar, should we not by our petitions
in their behalf move the heart of God?"
and again:
"You ought to
hasten to his aid, not by tears, but by prayers,
alms, and offerings. For not without reason has
this been introduced, not in vain do we remember
the dead at the sacred mysteries, approach the
altar for them, and implore the Lamb Which is present,
and Which takes away the sins of the world, but
in order that the dead may receive some alleviation
... Therefore we pray with confidence for the whole
world, and remember the dead together with the
martyrs and the confessors and priests. For we
all constitute but one body, although one member
is superior to another, and so it is possible that
by prayer and sacrifice we may obtain full forgiveness
for those whose names we mention."
St. Caesarius of Arles who
lived from 470 A.D. - 543 A.D.
Mini-bio: French,
Bishop, theologian, renowned as a popular preacher,
wrote two monastic rules
St. Caesar, Archbishop of
Arles, who presided over many councils in France, bears
witness to the same doctrine in the sixth century,
that Paulinius, Augustine and Jerome witnessed to in
the fourth and fifth centuries. His mind is very clear
on the point. He gives us not only the substance and
name, but even the very manner of Purgatory. It's pains
shall be severer than the greatest torments that can
be imagined in this life. No one among us knows how
long he many have to endure them, whether for days
or months or even years.
Here are the words of St. Caesar:
"If we neither return thanks
to God in tribulation, nor redeem sins with good
works, we shall stay in the Purgatorial fire until
the above-named small sins be consumed like wood,
hay and stubble ... But some one says:
I don't mind how long
I stay there if at length I shall arrive at eternal
life.
Let no one say this dearest
brethren, because that Purgatory fire shall be severer
than any punishment that can be either thought of,
or seen, or felt in this world. How can anyone know
whether he is about to pass through that fire for
days and months or perhaps even for years?"
So by the sixth century,
the word "Purgatory" was a well-known word; nevertheless
today some of our separated brethren falsely believe
it is an invention of the Church.
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500 A.D. to 600 A.D.
Pope St. Gregory the
Great who
lived from 540 A.D. - 590 A.D.
Mini-bio: Roman;
pope, abbot, liturgist, reformer, statesman, Doctor
of the Church. He helped the poor while spreading
and strengthening the faith. He wrote extensively
on moral and theological subjects.
Pope St. Gregory the Great, whose reign fell in the
seventh century, speaks thus of Purgatory:
"They who had the
perfection of a good will in confession of sin after
death pass by Purgatorial pain to life, if they may
not have a sufficient amount of love to wash away
their sins: and hence St. Paul says:
They are saved as so by fire.
But let the sinner who
has deserved to be saved by fire there. supply by
affliction of the flesh here that detect of ardent
love which he knows he wants."
In another place he says:
But, however, it must be believed that there is a
Purgatorial fire for some light faults before judgment
... but we must believe that this can only happen in
the case of small and very small sins.
St. Isidore of Seville who
lived from 560 A.D. - 636 A.D.
Mini-bio: Spanish;
bishop, scholar, educator, liturgist, philosopher,
Doctor of the Church
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600 A.D. to 800 A.D.
St. Bede the Venerable who
lived from 673 A.D. - 735 A.D.
Mini-bio: English;
priest, monk, scholar, Doctor of the Church
St. John Damascene
(of Damascus) who lived from 676 A.D. - 787 A.D.
Syrian; priest,
monk, theologian, poet, Doctor of the Church
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