Could this minuscule museum's scorched artifacts prove the fiery sufferings of souls in Purgatory?
Something to contemplate during November, the month when the Church prays for the poor souls in Purgatory
Museo delle Anime del Purgatorio (Museum of the Souls of Purgatory)—which is named Piccolo Museo del Purgatorio in the title over the entrance door in the above photo from Dana Gioia—is very very small and very strange.
Gioia writes:
Hello from Rome. Here I am at the smallest and most Catholic museum in Rome (and surely the oddest).
The museum collection is contained in a single room of the vestry in a single display case in the Chiesa del Sacro Cuore del Suffragio, Church of the Sacred Heart of Suffrage.
Why suffrage? I never heard the word suffrage used before in a Catholic context. When I looked up the word’s etymology, I found suffrāgium, the root word in medieval Latin, means not only “vote” but also “support” and “intercessory prayer.” So in this context, suffrage is prayer to intercede for the aid of a soul in purgatory.
And if you practiced some amateur etymology and intuited the word suffrage has something to do with suffering, well, sorry, you’re wrong.
However, another name for the souls in Purgatory is the Church Suffering. They are called poor souls because they are in pain and will be until the time of their purification is done—and that’s why they need our suffrage.
They are also called holy souls because they died as faithful believers without mortal sin on their souls. Because they left this earth in friendship with God, they have the happiness of knowing that when the time of purgation is over, they are destined to be with God forever.
Most Catholics believe that the principal suffering in purgatory is the pain of loss, the longing the souls experience because they are temporarily deprived of the Beatific Vision. But what especially intrigues me about this museum is that the artifacts on display are scorched, with burn marks supposedly left behind by souls in purgatory who are asking for prayers, and if authentic, these marks indicate that the suffering is not just the pain of separation from God but it’s the pain of fire.
Fittingly, the museum is hosted by the parish entrusted to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, an order founded in 1854 to say Masses and prayers for the release of the Poor Souls.
The museum displays about ten documents and photos, including:
+ The imprint of three fingers left in 1871 on the prayer book of Maria Zaganti by deceased Palmira Rastelli;
+ The photograph of an imprint impressed by deceased Mrs Leleux on the sleeve of her son Giuseppe during her appearance in 1789 in Wodecq, Belgium;
+ The imprint left by a finger of Sister Maria di San Luigi Gonzaga, who appeared to Sister Maria del Sacro Cuore in 1894;
+ The imprint on a book of Marguerite Demmerlé, in the Parish of Ellinghen, left by her mother-in-law in 1815, 30 years after her death.
(The above details are from the Wikipedia page Museo delle anime del Purgatorio.)
You can read a reverent report about the events that led to the museum's creation and about the origins of the artifacts on display in these articles "The Museum of the Poor Souls in Purgatory,” and “"The Museum of the Poor Souls in Purgatory II." Photos of the artifacts that illustrate these posts are copyright-protected, so I can’t include them in this post, but you should follow the links to see for yourself.
Following are some excerpts from those two interesting pages.
Catholic doctrine teaches us that Purgatory is a place of suffering, where souls atone for their sins.
The artifacts in the Museum attest to these truths. Each glassed display holds a different item – Scriptures, prayer books, a tabletop, an article of clothing – that bears the singed marks of the hands of souls in Purgatory.
These souls were permitted by God to return to earth to ask family members or friends for prayers or Masses and leave behind some evidence of their suffering. Thus, they give testimony for Catholics of all epochs that Purgatory exists, a physical place of fire and suffering.
Origin of the Museum
In the 19th century, under the influence of the Enlightenment, ‘modern’ minds were already doubting these truths of the Catholic Faith. One good defense of the Faith came from a French priest, Fr. Victor Jouët of the Order of the Sacred Heart . . ..
In 1897, the Order in Rome had a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. On September 15, the chapel caught fire. When it subsided, the clear image of a suffering face, portraying a soul in Purgatory, was noticed on one charred wall. This impressed Fr. Victor Jouët deeply, and he became interested in finding other concrete evidence of manifestations of the souls in Purgatory to those living on earth.
With the support of Pope St. Pius X, Fr. Victor Jouët traveled throughout Belgium, France, Germany and Italy, collecting these relics – proofs of the existence of Purgatory – to house in the Gothic Church that the Order was building to replace their chapel in Rome. . . .
A place of fire and expiation
What is clear from these examples is there is a fire in Purgatory, as in Hell. But in Purgatory, the soul suffers with perfect resignation, knowing that it is heading to Heaven. Anna Katharina Emmerick (d.1824) had frequent contacts with poor souls. Describing one of her visits to Purgatory, she said:
“It is touching to see the Poor Souls so quiet and sad. Yet their faces reveal that they have joy in their hearts, because of their recollection of God's loving mercy. On a glorious throne, I saw the Blessed Virgin, more beautiful than I had ever beheld her. She said: ‘I entreat you to instruct people to pray for the Suffering Souls in Purgatory, for they certainly will pray much for us out of gratitude. Prayer for these holy souls is very pleasing to God because it enables them to see Him sooner.’”
From these examples, we see that God permitted certain Suffering Souls to return to earth to ask for prayers and Masses to be said for their souls so that they might receive relief in their sufferings and end their time of expiation sooner. Surely this should stimulate us to help the Poor Souls in Purgatory, especially in these days of crisis in the Church when they are so forgotten.
And we need to be especially motivated during this month of November, which is dedicated to praying for the Poor Souls.
How One Man Learned from Mary How to Deliver Souls from Purgatory
This museum reminds me of a story I heard from a man I know about how he learned from Our Lady that he was being called to pray continually for the poor souls.
Lately, people have been asking me to write for them. These are not professional requests. Just people with a story they want to tell. I'm pretty swamped, but I tried to help with this request. It came from a man I've been acquainted with since about 2006, when I got involved with the traditional Latin Mass community around here in the South San Francisco Bay. I'll call him Joseph Anon. He's a piano tuner.
His story is like a ghost story. But it's not a story of ghost, really, but it is about a dead person, a soul in purgatory, who spoke from beyond the grave. Hearing about it from the man who experienced it gave me chills.
It's not a fiction. It's something that actually happened to someone I actually know.
Sept 28, 1997: He Was Converted in an Instant
Joseph prefaced this particular story with other stories of how he had led a drunken immoral life, starting from before he was even a teenager and continuing on past his college years partying all night as a member of a rock band, and then onto his years as a bartender in a beachfront bar in Southern California, with his pick of willing pretty women, acting heedlessly—as he said—like a kid at a candy store, never having known anything about God or Jesus or His Mother or anything about Catholic Church or its teachings. After a while, the realities of his immoral lifestyle caught up with him in a devastating way, and he almost drank himself to death in grief and remorse after a girlfriend got pregnant twice, and both times their children were aborted, even though both times he wanted to keep their baby (he loves kids) and his career-oriented girlfriend rejected his offer of marriage.
Out of the depths of the wreckage his lifestyle had brought him to, Joseph was brought to belief in God in a dramatic manner, sort of like how St. Paul was converted on the road to Damascus—by the direct intervention of Jesus. Then, gradually over time, he was drawn to the Catholic Church.
What is amazing, if you believe his account, is that he was miraculously taught most of the doctrine and practices of the Faith by Jesus and Mary(!). They never appeared to him. He only heard them speak to him. And they infused knowledge into him without words on more than one occasion. More about his conversion another time.
Joseph recently became motivated to tell the story of these things that happened twenty-five years ago, to tell of the miracles of grace he received from Jesus and Mary and about other miracles that he has experienced through the intercession of St. Philomena—who many skeptics think is fictitious and to whom many saints have been devoted.
Joseph wants to share his stories now because he knows that many Catholics aren’t being taught the things he learned directly. At the time these events happened, Jesus told him to teach others what he had learned, but he shied away for a long long time—feeling he is not worthy to teach others. “I’m a dummy,” he says. Over and over he says, “Why did You do all this for me, Lord? Me? Why so much grace? When You know all my sins?"
The encounter between Joseph and a soul in purgatory I'm about to describe happened one night when he was alone in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara, CA, which took place two years after his conversion from total ignorance about the things of God.
Above: The altar at Our Lady of Peace Church, Santa Clara, CA. Since 1976, Eucharistic adoration has been held there 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, unless Holy Mass is being celebrated.
JA: "So I called Sister Mary Jean who was in charge of 24 Hour Adoration at Our Lady of Peace. And I said, 'Well, Sister, the Lord told me I'm supposed to go into Adoration, not one night, not two nights, but three nights a week.'
"'Oh,' she said, 'Okay, Joseph, I want you here Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays at two o'clock.'
"And I said, 'Okay, no problem,’ even though the Lord told me He wanted me there at three AM. Then Sister Mary Jean called me back, and said, 'No, I want you here at three.'
"Anyway, I started going there at three. While I was in the church, night after night, I heard, from the Tabernacle, 'Pray for the holy souls. Pray for the holy souls.' Night after night. 'Pray for the holy souls.' I said, 'Well, yeah, I pray for the holy souls.’ But I didn't know what He was talking about really until this next thing happened.
Wed. April 28, 1999, 3:30 AM
"This gets really weird. This one night changed my life. Really changed my life. So I'm in Adoration at Our Lady of Peace.
"At that hour, there were usually two Filipinas, older ladies who were sisters. (Well, I call them older but come to think of it they were the same age as I am now—in their late seventies. I was in my fifties then.) They didn't show up that night. So I had the church to myself.
"It's three, no, three-thirty in the morning. It was a hot night. It felt like summer And they don't have air conditioning there.
"So I did my stations, I did my rosary. I'm at the Gospel side, a little to the left of the tabernacle. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a big monstrance above the Tabernacle. And I'm praying there, thanking the Lord.
"And I then said, 'It's getting cold here. This is weird.' It's getting icy, and it's coming from the back. It's creeping up on me. I'm praying there at the communion rail, and it's freezing. And I'm going, "I'm scared now." Because it is so hot the windows are open. And I am so cold I'm shivering.
"And wow! Now I hear a voice to the left of the tabernacle. 'Pray for me.'
"I said, 'Pray for who?' And I said, 'In Jesus' name, I have to know.'
"The man's voice said, 'I'm Jonathan.'
"I said, 'Oh no, this is a kid I prayed for a year ago. He was in intensive care. And he died. So obviously he's been in purgatory for a long time.' I'm freaked, I'm freaked out.
"And then the sweetest voice you could ever hear came from my left side, as if she was standing next to me. She said, 'Do not fear, my son.’ As soon as I heard that sweet voice, I knew it was Our Lady, Mother Mary. Her presence humbles you, she’s so . . . I closed my eyes, leaned my head down and bowed towards the direction of the voice, and I said, ‘Yes, Mother.’
"'It is Jonathan,’ she said. "And he is in purgatory. I want you to do something for me.'
"I said, "Yes.' Now, I'm calmed down.
"Afterwards I came to understand that Mary then began teaching me the requirements for a plenary indulgence. About which I had no idea. I didn't know anything. I had no idea what an indulgence is. Never mind what plenary means.
"So she told me, 'I want you to offer up your last Communion, your last Confession, prayers for the pope's intentions. And any good work you did today. And he shall be delivered.'
"And I didn't know what delivered means either. But I said, ‘Yes, Mother, I'm doing it now.' So I looked right at the tabernacle. I said, 'Lord Jesus, I offer up everything she said, my communion, confession, prayers for the pope's intentions and then any good work I've done today.
"And, and as soon as I said that, I'm going . . ..<laughs> Up to heaven. It's like I shot up into heaven. And everything turned white. But only for a second. It wasn't any longer than that. Like . . . I just go up and it's all white, and angels are singing.
"What does angels singing sound like? Undescribable. Maybe . . . Think of how those two choirs sounded the other night in the Mission Santa Clara singing the Mission Mass music together, at that Solemn High Mass, and multiply that over and over and over again . . ..
"Then I'm back—in front of the tabernacle at the communion rail. And I went, 'All this stuff's too much for me.'
So then I heard Jonathan's voice way up and he said, 'I want to thank you. I am now in heaven. I will pray for you.'
"And he said 'Call upon me anytime you want. And I'll pray for you.’"
So that is how Joseph learned devotion to the holy souls and how to obtain a plenary indulgence to help them out of purgatory, plus this bonus: he learned directly from a soul he helped liberate from Purgatory that after souls are liberated by your prayers, they'll start to pray for you.
“As we enter Heaven we will see them, so many of them coming towards us and thanking us,” Archbishop Fulton Sheen has said, “We will ask, who they are, and they will say a poor soul you prayed for in Purgatory.”
Still doing what the Lord told him to do, "Pray for the holy souls. Pray for the holy souls."
Joseph added that every month he sends a donation to a priest who celebrates only traditional Latin Masses to have five Masses a month said for the Holy Souls—because the Mass is the most effective way to help them, and because he believes the graces from the traditional Latin Mass are more effective. He told me that he was told by Our Lady that the New Mass (of 1969) is valid, but that the TLM allows more opportunities for contemplation.
Joseph also practices devoutly praying for specific souls in other ways. For one, he routinely serves evening funeral Masses at a local parish where the traditional Latin Mass is not celebrated, and he prays for the souls of those whose funerals he serves. He does this because he said the new funerals are conducted as "celebrations of life," where everybody acts like the person is already in heaven, and so no one is praying anymore for the dead person to be released from purgatory, the way they used to do at Requiem Masses.
Joseph also takes home printed prayer cards with the deceased person's name after the funeral Mass, and he stores the cards in a shoe box. There are too many to be able to pray for them every day, so twice a year he opens the box, and he prays by name for each of individual whose prayer card is in the box.
And he added this, "I wake up sometimes knowing I have to pray for a certain person. I just think the name. It’s very urgent! I’m not sure if the person is in purgatory or the person needs prayers for another reason, being in danger of dying, maybe. So I pray every prayer I can think of for an hour or more. I’ve got a stack of indulgenced prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory that I use."
Whenever I hear this reading from the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 3, in a Requiem Mass, I am greatly consoled.
Douay-Rheims Book of Wisdom, Chapter 3 verses 1 through 9:
1- But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
6 As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. 7 The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. 8 They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. 9 They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect.
Even though the souls are tried “as gold in the furnace,” even during that time of trial, “their hope is full of immortality.”
To be “tried” in this context means to be tested, to be purified—as gold is purified by fire. And Scripture also tells us, God is like a refiner’s fire. My thought is that the pain is a burning away of our impurities in the crucible of God’s love.
We can be purified on this earth by the voluntary and involuntary sufferings we humbly endure and offer up to God. But if we are not sinless saints ready to join God right away when we die, God gives us another chance to be cleansed so we can spend eternity with Him: by His grace, our souls will be purified by His refining fire.
And after the painful time of being tried, we too shall shine.