November 2
Saints of the Day...and Events

Feast of All Souls Day:

In Christianity, the tree feasts of the After-Death:
        1- Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, on Oct.31... the Vigil of the Solemnity of All Saints and the feast of Death and Hell
        2- All Saints, on Nov.1... the Solemnity of All Saints in Heaven
        3- All Souls, on Nov.2... the special feast to pray for those in Purgatory

    2 November is the feast in commemoration of the faithful departed in purgatory. It actually may be a Solemnity (technically somewhere between a Feast and Solemnity).
     The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. "If we had no care for the dead," Augustine noted, "we would not be in the habit of praying for them." Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased kept such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members.
    Abbot Odilo of Cluny instituted it in the monasteries of his congregation in 998, other religious orders took up the observance, and it was adopted by various dioceses and gradually by the whole Church.
    The Office of the Dead must be recited by the clergy on this day and Pope Benedict XV granted to all priests the privilege of saying three Masses of requiem: one for the souls in purgatory, one for the intention of the Holy Father, one for the priest's.
    If the feast should fall on Sunday it is kept on 3 November.

All Souls Day   Goffine's Devout Instructions
Purgatory Art Gallery

Purgatory:  

    The word "Purgatory", from Latin, "purgare", means to make clean, to purify.

    Purgatory is a beautiful and very practical doctrine taught by the Catholic Church, and believed also by millions of Chinese and Africans... and millions of old religion cultures in Europe, America, Australia, and India.

    The Catholic Church teaches that Purgatory is the place or state for the purification of those just souls who depart in venial sin or who are still subject to temporal punishment for sin... defined as a dogma in the Council of Florence (Mansi, t. XXXI, col. 1031), and in the decree of the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV).

    If in your church there is not the believe in "Purgatory", your church can not pray for your loved ones deceased,  because if they are saved, there is no need to pray for them, and if they are condemned to Hell, the prayers do nothing... even in the funerals you can't pray for your loved ones... it is a church "without power", it is not the Church of Christ where there is "power" to pray for the dead and it is a holy and pious thing to do says the Bible. (2Macc.12:46).

    At the Reformation the celebration of All Souls' Day was abolished in the Church of England, though it has been renewed in certain churches in connection with the "Catholic revival." Among continental Protestants its tradition has been more tenaciously maintained. Even Luther's influence was not sufficient to abolish its celebration in Saxony during his lifetime; and, though its Ecclesiastical sanction lapsed before long even in the Lutheran Church, its memory survives strongly in popular custom. Just as it is the custom of French people, of all ranks and creeds, to decorate the graves of their dead on the jour des morts, so in Germany the people stream to the grave-yards once a year with offerings of flowers.

    Doctrine of the Bible:

    1- Some sins, like the one against the Holy Spirit, can not be forgiven neither on earth nor after death, but some sins can be forgiven and the person purified, either in this age or in the age to come (Matt.12:32)... this is the basis of the doctrine of Purgatory,  "And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come."

    2- The "Baptism on behalf of the death" of 1Cor.15:29 is similar to the "Baptism of the Crucifixion" of Mr.10:38-38... here, in 1Cor., it is an expiation sacrifice to help the death... you can't offer an expiation sacrifice for someone who is in Heaven or in Hell... is got to be a Purgatory!.

    3- "It is a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins" (2Macc.12:46).

    4- A further argument is supplied by St. Paul in 1Cor.3:11-15: "For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble: Every man's work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."
    "The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon [upon Christ], he shall receive a reward; if any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss [by the fire of purgatory], but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." (1st Corinthians 3:13-15).

    While this passage presents considerable difficulty, it is regarded by many of the Fathers and theologians as evidence for the existence of an intermediate state in which the dross of lighter transgressions will be burnt away, and the soul thus purified will be saved. This, according to Bellarmine (De Purg., I, 5), is the interpretation commonly given by the Fathers and theologians; and he cites to this effect:

• St. Ambrose (commentary on the text, and Sermo xx in Ps. cxvii),
• St. Jerome, (Comm. in Amos, c. iv),
• St. Augustine (Comm. in Ps. xxxvii),
• St. Gregory (Dial., IV, xxxix), and
• Origen (Hom. vi in Exod.).

    The word "Purgatory":

    The word "Purgatory" is not in the Bible, as the word "Holy Trinity" is not in the Bible, nor the words Lutherans, Calvinists, Pentecostals, Mormons... but all of them are important biblical doctrines.

    Other Religions:

    In China and in most African Tribes, some of their big feasts are dedicated to pray "to" the ancestors that can help us, or to pray "for" the ancestors who we can help... and, of course, that's the same traditions as the biblical doctrines of either Heaven or Purgatory, though they never knew the Bible.

    Many old religion cultures in Europe, America, Australia, and India, had also the same traditions.

    Pains of Purgatory:

    St. Augustine speaks of the pain which purgatorial fire causes as more severe than anything a man can suffer in this life in Ps. 37 n. 3 (P. L., col. 397).... but, of course, there is the "security" of Heaven!... a cause of permanent hope in Purgatory... Paintings of a Soul in Purgatory

    The only comfort of the people in Purgatory is the security to go Heaven by the Blood of Jesus... sooner or later... but to Heaven!, praised be Jesus!. See Paintings of Jesus and Purgatory

    St. Gregory the Great speaks of those who after this life "will expiate their faults by purgatorial flames," and he adds "'that the pain be more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life" (Ps. 3 poenit., n. 1).

    Following in the footsteps of Gregory, St. Thomas teaches (IV, dist. xxi, q. i, a.1) that besides the separation of the soul from the sight of God, there is the other punishment from fire.

    How this fire affects the souls of the departed the Doctors do not know, and in such matters it is well to heed the warning of the Council of Trent when it commands the bishops "to exclude from their preaching difficult and subtle questions which tend not to edification', and from the discussion of which there is no increase either in piety or devotion" (Sess. XXV, "De Purgatorio").

    Help to the Souls in Purgatory:

    The Catholic faith teaches with the Bible that "It is a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins" (2Macc.12:46).   

    The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest celebration in Heaven, and the best offering for the souls of Purgatory... their glorious hope to be helped out of Purgatory as soon as possible. See Paintings of the Holy Mass and Purgatory

    Virgin Mary told St. Simon Stock in London that he who dies with the Scapular will go from Purgatory to Heaven the Saturday after his or her death.... a delicacy of a Mother!. The Rosary is an excellent prayer to help the souls of Purgatory. There is the security of Heaven in Purgatory!

Purgatory Art Gallery    Purgatory   Purgatory-2

Events on November 2 - Saints of November 2: