FIFTEENTH DAY
HE WHO GIVES SUFFRAGES TO THE SOULS IN
PURGATORY DOES A THING MOST ACCEPTABLE TO MARY THE MOTHER OF MERCY.
Mary is called the Mother of mercy; and in this beautiful title,
deservedly given her by the Church, she takes great delight, giving continual
proofs of her tender compassion towards those who invoke her devoutly. Now,
she is in a special way the Mother of mercy towards the souls in purgatory; she
herself confessed this to St. Bridget in one of her revelations, in which she
called herself the common mother of all, being kind and loving towards all the
souls in purgatory also; saying, “I am the mother of all the souls in
purgatory, because all their pains become continually mitigated in some degree
by means of my prayers.” If, then, the Mother of God is the mother of these
blessed souls, it is plain that she loves them tenderly, and. feels the utmost
satisfaction when they are affectionately succoured by devout and faithful
persons. Can it be that, in order to give pleasure to so dear a mother as this,
who is our advocate, we will not set ourselves to give efficacious suffrages to
these souls that are such beloved daughters, of Mary?
Ejaculation
Reach forth, O loving Virgin, reach To suffering souls a pitying hand,
And draw them from the gulf of pain, To heaven's restful strand.
De profundis
Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. Let
thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou, O Lord, wilt
mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it. For with thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul
hath relied on his word: My soul hath hoped in the Lord. From the morning watch
even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with the Lord there is
mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities.
St. Dominic the Patriarch will be protector of
this day, as one very devout to Mary, from whom he received the Rosary, and was
so compassionate a benefactor to the souls in purgatory, that of three disciplines
which he took, even to blood, every night, he offered one in suffrage for the
same. — (Bened. XIII. Trig. i. Serm. 12.)
Example
In order to comprehend aright how beneficial to
the souls in purgatory is the recital of the Rosary prescribed by us, that
which Mary herself said, when she appeared to St. Dominic, upon the testimony
of the blessed Alanus, will suffice; to wit, that one of the principal
advantages of the Rosary was the liberation of souls from purgatory. To this I
shall subjoin the following example: A famous courtesan, Catherine by name, was
converted in Roma by the prayers of St. Dominic, who, by that light which God
kindled in her soul, discovered the vanity of the pleasures and goods of this
world, and applied herself in good earnest to the acquisition of eternal goods.
She took especial delight in the devotion of the Rosary, reciting it devoutly
more than once in the day, and applying it wholly, or in part, as a suffrage
for the souls in purgatory. Now, the Lord, to show how great relief to these
souls such a devotion was, made known to the aforesaid Saint in writing, that
while Catherine one day was reciting a third part of the Rosary for the dead,
meditating the while on the mysteries of the Passion, there gushed from the
limbs of a most beautiful infant, who represented our Lord Jesus Christ, fifty-
five fountains, just the number of Aves and Pater Nosters which compose a third
part of the Rosary; which sent forth in great abundance most clear waters, which
all fell into purgatory, and refreshed the tormented souls so much, that they
seemed to have no longer any sense of pain; and at this, voices, all of joy,
mounted up, thanking and blessing Catherine, their pious benefactress.
O, how much to be praised are those
families who join every evening in reciting together the Rosary, as a suffrage
for the souls in purgatory!
(Campad. Pise. sacr. 21.)
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