many confused by the statements of St Augustine in his inidian proclaimed that St Augustine did not firmly profess Purgatory in fact I previously held this opinion myself yet upon further study it is clear that St Augustine is absolutely certain about the existence of purgatory yet wavered about its nature that is whether it has corporeal fire or not first in city of God book 21 13 He States the following quote for our part we recog ize that even in this life some punishments are purgatorial not indeed to those whose life is none the better rather the
worse for them but to those who are constrained by them to amend their life all of their punishments whether temporal or Eternal inflicted as they are on every one by Divine Providence are sent either on account of past sins or of sins presently allowed in the life or to exercise and reveal a man's Graces they may be inflicted by the instrumentality of bad men and angels as well as good for even if anyone suffers some hurt through another's wickedness or mistake the man indeed sins whose ignorance or Injustice does the harm but God who by
his just though hidden judgments permits it to be done Sins not but temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only by others after death by others both now and then but all of them before the last and strictest judgment but of those who suffer temporary punishments after death all are not doomed to those Everlasting pains which are to follow that judgment judement for to some as we have already said what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next that is they are not punished with the Eternal punishment of the world
to come end quote very clearly venial sins incur some sort of temporal debt that needs to be punished in purgatory after death before we go for the judge later in chapter 16 he explicitly makes the connection that this is not for damnable sins and that those without Grace do not enter the purgatorial fire rather he clearly states that this purgatorial fire is order towards the final judgment quote whoever therefore desires to escape Eternal punishment let him not only be baptized but also justified in Christ and so let him in truth pass from the devil to
Christ and let him not fancy that there are any purgatorial pains except before that final and Dreadful judgment end quote then a few chapters later he States quote for some of the Dead indeed the prayer of the church or of Pious individuals is heard but it is for those who having been regenerated in Christ do not spend their lives so wickedly that they can be judged Unworthy of such compassion nor so well that they can be considered to have no need of it as also after the resurrection there will be some of the Dead to
whom after they have endured the pains proper to the spirits of the Dead Mercy shall be accorded and a quiddle from the punishment of Eternal Fire end qu further in on Genesis against the manans he States one who cultivates this field interiorly and gains his bread albe with toil can suffer this toil up to the end of his life but after this life he need not suffer one who did not cultivate his field and allowed it to be overcome with thorns as in this life the curse of his Earth and all his works and after
this life he will have either the fire of purgation or Eternal punishment thus no one escapes the sentence but we shall act so that we feel its punishment only in his life end quote further in his commentary on Psalm 37 he States quote by pleading do not Chase in your anger psalmist asks Purify Me in this life and make me such as I will not need that chastening fire this prayer he makes with an eye to those who will be saved but only as Through Fire and why because here on Earth they have built on
a foundation of wood or hay or straw they ought to have built on gold or silver or precious stones and then they would have been safe from both kinds of Fire not only the Eternal fire which will torture the impious forever but even that which will chasen those who are to be saved through it scripture says of the shotti Builder he himself will be saved indeed though it be through fire perhaps some people may trivialize this fire because scripture says he will be saved yet even though it will be for some the means of Salvation
that fire will nevertheless be harder to Bear than anything we can endure in this life end quote this is explicitly connected by St Augustine to his notion of praying for the dead and offering masses for the dead such as in sermon 172 quote it is not to be doubted though that the dead can be helped by the prayers of holy church and the Eucharistic sacrifice and alms distributed for the Repose of their Spirits so that God May deal with them more mercifully than their sins have deserved the whole church I mean observes this tradition received
from the fathers that prayer should be offered for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ whenever their names are mentioned the sacrifice in the usual place and that it should be announced that the sacrifice is offered for them when however Works of Mercy are performed for their sakes who can doubt that this benefits those For Whom the prayers are not sent up to God in vain end quot those passages where St Augustine seems to quot doubt Purgatory is really his doubt about the particular nature of its punishments this
is actually a doubt that the church herself shares since while she affirms the fires of Hell to be material fires she's not judged on the nature of purgatory's fires this is evident from that same work whereare in Incan chapter 1:0 where he speaks of pain after death and remissions of sin after death as well both clearly in reference to Purgatory which becomes especially evident when you realize that the statement is immediately before chapter 111 which concerns the final judgment and is said to be during the time moreover which intervenes between a man's death and the
final Resurrection in chapter 109 he writes quote nor can it be denied that The Souls of the Dead are benefited by the piety of their living friends who offer the sacrifice the mediator or give alms in the church on their behalf but these services are of Advantage only to those who during their lives have earned such Merit that Services of this kind can help them for there is a manner of life which is neither so good as not to require these Services after death nor so bad that such services are of no avail after death
there is on the other hand a kind of life so good as not to require them and again one so bad that when life is over they render no help therefore it is in this light that all the Merit or demerit is acquired which can either relieve or aggravate a man's suffering after this life no one then need hope that after he is dead he shall obtain merit with God which he has neglected to secure here and accordingly it is plain that the services which the church celebrates for the dead are in no way opposed
to the Apostles words for all must appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to what he has done whether it be good or bad for the Merit which renders such Service as they speak of profitable to a man is earned while he lives in the body it is not to everyone that these services are profitable and why are they not profitable for all except because of the different kinds of lives that men lead in the body when then sacrifices either of the altar or of
alms are offered on behalf of all the baptized dead they are thank offerings for the very good they are propitiatory offerings for the not very bad and in the case of the very bad even though they do not assist the dead they are a species of consolation to the living and where they are profitable their benefit consists either in obtaining a full remission of sins or at least in making the condemnation more tolerable end quot yet the Protestants vainly respond to our notion by the coalescence of venial sins in the works of St Augustine in
this they interpret certain passages about a number of venial sins dragging us down to Hell as St Augustine teaching that the difference between Mortal venial sins is not in kind but simply in quantity yet it is important to note these passages are almost all found in his homes and other pastoral words clearly St Augustine is being poetic about the dangers of a multitude of venal sins and disposing us towards mortal sin similar imagery is also found in Catholic authors
