The Maccabee - Locating Purgatory

'Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?'

- Jeremiah 23:29

The Location of Purgatory

Use of the word "Purgatory" (in Latin purgatorium) as a noun appeared perhaps only between 1160 and 1180, giving rise to the idea of Purgatory as a place (what Jacques Le Goff called the "birth" of Purgatory),

- Purgatory, Wikipedia

Most scholars believe that, at the beginning of Christianity, Purgatory was imagined as a completely spiritual realm with no physical location. The early Church Fathers saw Purgatory as a process of purification which most souls underwent before going on to Heaven. The exact doctrine, as promulgated by the earliest Christian theologians, saw Purgatory as a 'condition or process of purification or temporary punishment' rather than a physical location, which is meant for the souls of deceased to be purified in preparation for their eventual salvation and entrance into Heaven.

In 1999 Pope John Paul II declared that the term Purgatory does not indicate a place, but "a condition of existence".

- Purgatory, Wikipedia

However, the theory of Purgatory as being a process, rather than a place, simply reflects the complex intellectual theology of Christian experts rather than the beliefs of common folk as they have actually been throughout the centuries. It seems far more likely that Purgatory has its deeper roots in the Jewish world of the dead, called the Sheol, and the Greco-Roman world of the dead, known as Hades, places sanctified by Jesus Christ when 'He descended into Hell.' In both places, it was believed to be specifically located underground in what was generically called the Underworld, a dark world of ghosts (souls), a place most everyone went to after death, before moving on to Paradise, called the "Heart of Abraham' by the Jews, alternatively designated as 'Elysium' by the Greeks and the Romans. In other words, the road to Heaven was considered to be down and through rather than above and upwards. One source notes aptly:

The envisioning of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory as places in the physical universe was never a Church doctrine. Nonetheless, in antiquity and medieval times, Heaven and Hell were widely regarded as places existing within the physical universe: Heaven "above", in the sky; Hell "below", in or beneath the earth. Similarly, Purgatory has at times been thought of as a physical location.

- Purgatory, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thus, it should seem more than obvious that Purgatory has always been thought of as having a general location, namely below the earth and buried 'six feet under', to put it bluntly. Saint Frances de Sales hit it on the nail when he claimed Purgatory to be below the earth. Nonetheless, there has been numerous different speculations as to where the world of Purgatory is actually located. Some of them can be described as follows:

Precise Location of Purgatory

I. Under the earth

II. In the air

III. By the graves of the dead

IV. Near Church altars

V. Amid past places and occurrences of sin

The general consensus of today is that Purgatory was considered by the early Church Fathers as a condition or process that had no exact material location. Even so, by the Middle Ages, discussion of the precise location of Purgatory once again became a topic of interest. One scholar in particular claims the following:

Medievalist Jacques Le Goff defines the "birth of purgatory", i.e. the conception of purgatory as a physical place, rather than merely as a state, as occurring between 1170 and 1200.

- History of Purgatory, WIkipedia

According to the French historian Jacques Le Goff, the conception of purgatory as a physical place dates to the 12th century, the heyday of medieval otherworld-journey narratives and of pilgrims’ tales.

- Purgatory, Encyclopedia Britannica

Indeed, throughout the Middles Ages, 'The idea of purgatory as a physical place became widespread on a popular level.' The contention that Purgatory truly did have a location 'was defended also by some theologians.' However, most scholars today tend to assume that 'the conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is largely the achievement of medieval Christian piety and imagination.' Located below are just a few examples of Purgatory as a place rather than just a process, condition, or metaphysical state of being.

In Search of Purgatory

- 'The legend of St Patrick's Purgatory' (Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii) which was originally written by Hugh of Saltry, also known as Henry of Sawtry, claimed that the entrance to Purgatory was located on a remote island in Ireland.

- Another Purgatory legend contended that the 'entrance to Purgatory' was located in 'a cave on the volcanic Mount Etna in Sicily

- In his work called 'Purgatorio', Dante described Purgatory as 'a seven-story mountain situated' on the exact opposite end of the world from the actual city of Jerusalem,

- In 1220, Caesarius of Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk and preacher, theorized 'that purgatory could be in several places at once.'

- Some prominent scholars claim that Peter the Lombard, who died in 1160, 'to have contributed significantly to the birth of purgatory in the sense of a physical place.'

- Francis de Sales, a Christian Saint, insisted that Purgatory was located beneath the Earth

- In the Divine Comedy, Dante had his Purgatory as a mountain with seven levels, with each level corresponding to one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

- In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI discussed Saint Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510), stating 'that in her time the purification of souls (Purgatory) was pictured as a location in space. Nonetheless, she 'saw Purgatory as a purifying inner fire, such as she experienced in her profound sorrow.'

- After His crucifixion, Jesus Christ is assumed to have 'descended into Hell,' and then, with His angels, is presumed to have attacked the stronghold of the Greco-Roman god Hades, along with the Devil. According to some, His presence in Hell sanctified the area, thus creating Purgatory.

Given everything, it must be concluded that, if there truly are spiritual realms of existence, then Purgatory is one of them, a definite 'place' in the metaphysical world, a land of the dead filled with the ghosts of those who have passed away, who are patiently awaiting entrance into Heaven.

May the LORD God bless you in the name of St. Judas Maccabaeus.

The Maccabee - A History of Purgatory

'Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?'

- Jeremiah 23:29

A History of Purgatory

The history of Purgatory is long and detailed. Contrary to the opinions of some misinformed scholars, many of them Protestants, Purgatory is a doctrine that is far older than Christianity. Indeed, it can rightly be said that the concept of Purgatory is more than 2,000 years old and finds it roots in Judaism, especially as described in the two Books of the Maccabees. Two sources note the following:

Roman Catholic belief in purgatory is based, among other reasons, on the previous Jewish practice of prayer for the dead, a practice that presupposes that the dead are thereby assisted between death and their entry into their final abode.

- Purgatory, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Offerings for the dead were known to ancient Jewish practice, and it has been speculated that Christianity may have taken its similar practice from its Jewish heritage.

- History of Purgatory, Wikipedia

The Catholic Church also tends to believe that Purgatory is a doctrine that was taught by Jesus Christ directly to his Apostles who handed it down to the earliest Church Fathers who continued on in this originally Jewish tradition. The theory of Purgatory, in other words, 'the idea of a kind of purgatory… is quite plainly found' throughout numerous different non-Christian cultures and religions and was 'an idea that is representative of a view widely dispersed in antiquity.' One source summarizes:

The Catholic tradition of purgatory has a history that dates back, before Jesus, to the worldwide practice of praying for and caring for the dead, and the practice of prayer for the dead with a view to their afterlife purification, found in Judaism, from which Christianity grew. The same practice appears in other traditions, such as the medieval Chinese Buddhist practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead, who are said to suffer numerous trials. Among other reasons, Catholic belief in purgatory is based on the practice of prayer for the dead.

- History of Purgatory, Wikipedia

When it comes to the earliest stages of the Christian religion, it can said that 'the notion of an interim state of souls after death developed only gradually, partly because it was of little interest as long as Christians looked for an imminent end of the world.' After that time period however:

Specific examples of belief in purification after death and of the communion of the living with the dead through prayer are found in many of the Church Fathers.

- History of Purgatory, Wikipedia

Thus, even though Purgatory cannot be found discussed in the New Testament, this is simply because it was either assumed, or left unspoken, by St. Paul and others who were more interested in the Resurrection and how that affected the living, rather than the dead. Even so, Purgatory was expounded upon by the earliest of Church Fathers. Here are just a few examples of the Church Fathers mentioning the notion of Purgatory:

The Early Church Fathers and Purgatory

- The Church Father Irenaeus (130-202 AD) mentioned a place 'where the souls of the dead remained until the universal judgment', a theory which 'contains the concept of... purgatory.'

- Both St. Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) and his pupil, Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD), believed in a 'purification after death; this view drew upon the notion that fire is a divine instrument from the Old Testament, and understood this in the context of New Testament teachings such as baptism by fire, from the Gospels, and a purificatory trial after death, from St. Paul.' Origen argued against the idea of 'soul sleep' until final judgement on Judgment Day. Instead he beleived that 'the souls of the elect immediately entered paradise unless not yet purified, in which case they passed into a state of punishment, a penal fire, which is to be conceived as a place of purification.' Many believe that, 'Clement of Alexandria, and his pupil Origen of Alexandria, derived their view from a combination of biblical teachings' who took numerous 'vague concepts of purifying and punishing fire' that predated Christianity.

- Another Church Father Tertullian (160-225 AD) also discused a 'purification after death. In Tertullian's understanding of the afterlife, the souls of martyrs entered directly into eternal blessedness, whereas the rest entered a generic realm of the dead.' In this particular theological doctrine 'the idea of a kind of purgatory… is quite plainly found.'

- Further elaborations concerning Purgatory include those written by 'St. Cyprian (258 AD), St. John Chrysostom (347-407 AD), and St. Augustine (354-430 AD), among others.'

Thus it can be clearly seen that the doctrine of Purgatory was discussed extensively by several different people between the years 130-430 A.D. This puts to rest the notion that the idea of Purgatory was 'invented' by the Church sometime during the Middle Ages more than one thousand years after Christianity began. By the early 5th century, St. Augustine discussed Purgatory extensively and even claimed that the pain of 'purgatorial fire' was 'more severe than anything a man can suffer in this life.' Later on, in the late 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great wrote about Purgatory which specifically shows a 'development in the understanding of the afterlife distinctive of the direction that Latin Christendom would take.' Pope Gregory wrote the following Biblical argument concerning Purgatory:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

- Dialogues, Pope Gregory the Great

In addition to those cited above, 'numerous other famous Christians have mentioned Purgatory in their writings.' This included Bede who had a supernatural 'vision of a beautiful Heaven and a lurid Hell with adjacent temporary abodes.' The same thing happened to St. Boniface. In the 7th century, the Irish abbot St. Fursa also had a vision concerning the afterlife where he was pursued by demons intent on punishing him for his sins. This made him conclude that 'just as the body burns through unlawful desire, so the soul will burn, as the lawful, due penalty for every sin.' Others who have discussed Purgatory include Haymo, Rabanus Maurus (780 - 856 AD), and Walafrid Strabo (808 - 849 AD).

The Catholic Church proceeded to establish All Souls' Day at the end of the 10th century which 'helped focus popular imagination on the fate of the departed, and fostered a sense of solidarity between the living and the dead.' Later 12th century developments in 'the elaboration of the theology of penance helped create a notion of purgatory as a place to complete penances unfinished in this life.' Around 1128, Ermelindo Portela Silva interpreted the words of Diego Gelmírez, then Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, to mean that there indeed was a Purgatory where those who are too sinful for Heaven go to after they die. Most historians acknowledge that the word Purgatory finally came into existence with the Latin term 'Purgatorium.' Medievalist Jacques Le Goff believes this occurred sometime betwenn 1170 and 1200. Around this same time, 'the conception of purgatory as a physical place, rather than merely as a state' also began to take hold upon Christian believers. One source notes the following:

Le Goff also considered Peter the Lombard (d. 1160), in expounding on the teachings of St. Augustine and Gregory the Great, to have contributed significantly to the birth of purgatory in the sense of a physical place.

- History of Purgatory, Wikipedia

Of course, it must be understood 'that the notion of purification after death, without the medieval notion of a physical place, [still] existed in antiquity.' It just became easier for Christianity and its followers to think of Purgatory as a place with a location, usually believed to be underground, below the earth, similar to a grave or the roots of a tree. Because of this, the 12th century became known for its many stories concerning the actual location of Purgatory. Keep in mind that this was in spite of the fact that 'the idea of purgatory as a process of cleansing thus dated back to early Christianity.' The actual tales included descriptions 'about St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cavelike entrance to purgatory on a remote island in Ireland.' The most prominent of these was called 'The legend of St Patrick's Purgatory' (Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii) which was originally written by Hugh of Saltry, also known as Henry of Sawtry. Other stories similar to this included the Visio Tnugdali.

Another Purgatory legend spoke of an 'entrance to Purgatory in places such as a cave on the volcanic Mount Etna in Sicily.' This was a distinct era when 'the idea of purgatory as a physical place became widespread on a popular level, and was defended also by some theologians.' All these tales about the location of Purgatory were 'part of a huge, repetitive contemporary genre of literature of which the most familiar today is Dante's.' In his work called 'Purgatorio', Dante imagined Purgatory as the 'second kingdom' of the afterlife which was located upon 'a seven-story mountain situated' at the exact opposite end of the world from the actual city of Jerusalem, just like like the North and South poles.

Here is a detailed historical summary of Purgatory from the years 780 to 2011:

A Brief Timeline of Purgatory

780-856: Rabanus Maurus expounds upon Purgatory.

808-849: Walafrid Strabo writes extensively about Purgatory.

1160-1180: The word Purgatory, or in Latin Purgatorium, first appears as a noun.

1170-1200: The conception of purgatory as a physical place occurs, what Jacques Le Goff terms 'the birth of Purgatory.'

1206: A peasant named Thurkhill in England claims 'that Saint Julian took him on a tour of Purgatory.'

1220: Caesarius of Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk makes the claim that 'purgatory could be in several places at once.'

1254: The First Council of Lyon declared that 'souls...can be cleansed after death and can be helped by the suffrages of the Church...[in] a place of purgation...calling it purgatory according to the traditions and authority of the Holy Fathers.'

1438-1445: The Council of Florence issues a formal declaration concerning Purgatory.

1530: Martin Luther stops believing in Purgatory.

1545-63: The Council of Trent declares belief in Purgatory to be an official Christian doctrine.

1585: The Roman Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church agree at the Union of Brest that 'We shall not debate about Purgatory, but we entrust ourselves to the teaching of the Holy Church.'

1603: Shakespeare publishes 'Hamlet' which features a ghost of Hamlet's dead father from Purgatory.

1865: John Henry Newman publishes 'The Dream of Gerontius' which discusses Purgatory in depth.

1999: Pope John Paul II states that 'the term Purgatory does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence.'

2005: The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes 'Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.'

2011: Pope Benedict XVI discusses Saint Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510), and her visions of Purgatory stating 'that in her time the purification of souls (Purgatory) was pictured as a location in space.'

May the LORD God bless you in the name of St. Judas Maccabeus.

Maccabee Metaphysics - The Holy Spirit, Purgatory, and the Holy Ghost

'Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?'

- Jeremiah 23:29

The doctrine of Purgatory, still an essential aspect of Roman Catholic Christianity as well as Orthodox Judaism, continues to be one of the most common sense Judeo-Christian traditions ever known. For almost two thousand years, the Catholic Church has believed that, just as Hell is meant for the very wicked and evil, Heaven is for the Saints and Martyrs of the world, individuals so righteous and perfect they most certainly merit immediate admittance into Paradise. Likewise, the Church has also taught that, because the vast majority of people are a complex mixture of goodness and evil, most Christian (and Jewish) believers will be going to Purgatory when they die, to a dark ghost world traditionally located below the earth, before they are allowed to move onward to the Kingdom of Heaven. This teaching is in accordance with what the Bible states about the LORD God. It reads as follows:

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments unto a thousand generations.

- Deuteronomy 7:9

The best way to understand Purgatory is to use the analogy of a tree. For just as a tree has numerous branches, some of which reach high up in the sky (Heaven), it also has roots that reach deep down into the earth (Purgatory). Science has shown that both roots and branches are necessary for the life of the tree. The branches (Heaven) are necessary to absorb the life-giving light of the sun, just as the roots (Purgatory) are essential for the collection of water. Without the branches (Heaven) the tree would be unable to sustain itself and grow, while without roots (Purgatory), the wind would be able to blow the tree over, causing it to perish.

The souls of the deceased may be likened to drops of water who fall down like rain (death) which are first taken up by the roots (Purgatory) and then finally make their way upwards to the branches (Heaven) which hang high above the earth. A tree (Afterlife) requires both roots (Purgatory) and branches (Heaven) in order to thrive and prosper.

Considering the fairly recent loss of Christian faith among the intellectual elites of both Europe and North America, it should be obvious that the tree of traditional Christianity has become somewhat sickly and may, in fact, be in real danger of perhaps dying. Indeed, the direst threat to the Christian religion happens to be coming, not from Jews or Muslims, but from sceptics, scoffers, and other apostates who are increasing in numbers and show an ever-increasing hostility to all things religious, especially Christianity. Many of them come from Protestant ancestry whose forefathers rejected Purgatory centuries ago. Is there a connection between the Protestant denial of Purgatory and the growing threats to Christian faith throughout the world? Yes there is, as two different sources clearly indicate:

The transformative event...which made it possible to repudiate tradition...in early-modern English and European culture-an event successfully obliterated from modern memory by early, deliberate acts of forgetting and by the decision of Renaissance politicians and gentry to rewrite history-was the abolition of Purgatory.

- Hamlet and the Ghost of Purgatory: Forgetting the Dead, by Anthony Low, Culture Wars Magazine

Modernism seem[s] inversely parasitic on religion, and Christians object to it because it seems to deny the continuing vitality of their religion. Christianity still thrives, but at the margins, where it has been put by political leaders and cultural arbiters....In this essay I shall argue that crucial, irreversible steps in that direction were taken by the Chantries Act and Royal Injunctions of 1547 and by the Church of England’s declaration, in the Edwardian Prayerbook of 1549, that Purgatory did not exist and consequently that Christians should not mourn or pray for their dead.

- Hamlet and the Ghost of Purgatory: Forgetting the Dead, by Anthony Low, Culture Wars Magazine

Tragically, many forms of Protestant Christianity continues to deny the existence of Purgatory. This is in total disregard for the ancient evidence that the religious doctrine of Purgatory was existent before the advent of Christianity and has its roots in pre-Christian Judaism, Purgatory was not the invention of the Catholic Church, but was merely the continuation of pre-existing Jewish theology. One source notes the following:

The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.

- The Book of Common Prayer, Article 22, Church of England

One should also remember that, at first, Martin Luther freekt accepted the doctrine of Purgatory only to change his mind later on, mainly due to political reasons. In addition, the great Christian thinker C.S. Lewis is on record stating that he too believed in Purgatory, even though he was an English Protestant by birth and upbringing. Thus, it seems quite a shame that the vast majority of Protestant Christians have remained in denial in Purgatory for nearly the past 500 years. In truth, it was not meant to be this way as one source noters aptly:

Theo Brown suggests that when the Anglican Church promulgated its repudiation of "The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory" in the first Book of Common Prayer (1549), the bishops did not intend to dispose of Purgatory altogether, but only to correct well-known abuses.

- Hamlet and the Ghost of Purgatory: Forgetting the Dead, by Anthony Low, Culture Wars Magazine

Given the current violence, immorality, and aitheism of today's society, it seems more than obvious that the Holy Spirit of the modern era is not good at all, but evil, and may well be a vampire, a demon, or some other form of evil spirit in disguise. For the this reason, it is time for the world, and for the English language, to return to the tradition of referring to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost, which emphasize its links to the age-old realm of Purgatory.

After the English Reformers dispensed with Purgatory, however, it was no longer clear to anyone where ghosts came from. Educated people were inclined to doubt their existence, or to think that they were demons in disguise. There was, nevertheless, a great popular outburst of superstitious ghost lore among the common people beginning at mid-century. Theo Brown amply documents this outbreak and associates it with the sudden abolition of Purgatory.

- Hamlet and the Ghost of Purgatory: Forgetting the Dead, by Anthony Low, Culture Wars Magazine

Protestant Today ---> Protestant Tomorrow

Heaven or Hell ---> Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell

The Holy Spirit ---> The Holy Ghost

Throughout the world, belief in ghosts, namely the immaterial spirits of the dead, has been been a standard aspect of numerous different cultures, including those who were not distinctly Judeo-Christian. For the Catholic Church, both before and after the Protestant Reformation, the constant occurence of ghost sightings by the common people signified a sure sign in the continued existence of Purgatory. Put simply, ghosts were believed to come from Purgatory, the Underworld of Christianity. Two different sources state the following:

Before the Reformation, it was common belief among everyone from theologians to peasants that if ghosts appeared to the living they came from Purgatory, not from Heaven or Hell.

- Hamlet and the Ghost of Purgatory: Forgetting the Dead, by Anthony Low, Culture Wars Magazine

Purgatory would become the prison in which ghosts were normally incarcerated, though they might be allowed to escape now and then to briefly haunt those of the living whose zeal in their behalf was insufficient.

- Birth of Purgatory, by Jacques Le Goff

It is to be hoped that the continued Protestant denial in Purgatory will soon come to an end. This act could well cause a resurgence in the Christian faith throughout the world, as more agnostics and other waverers finally accept the common sense Christian doctrine of Purgatory, which means salvation for the many, rather than the few. It's time for Protestantism to admit they made a grave mistake and are now back to share in the eternity which is the Catholic Christian faith.

The abrupt and, to a large degree, forcible dismantling of Purgatory at mid-century, together with its deep psychic resonances among the common people, its elaborate cultural associations, and its extensive institutional supports, had drastic consequences for society and for the individuals who formed and were formed by society. Before the Reformation, few countries had a deeper investment (financial, cultural, and spiritual) in Purgatory and in commemoration of the dead than England. After the Reformation, few countries turned their backs more abruptly on Purgatory and, with it, on their own dead.

- Hamlet and the Ghost of Purgatory: Forgetting the Dead, by Anthony Low, Culture Wars Magazine

May the LORD God bless you in the name of St. Judas Maccabaeus.