2/11 – All Souls Day…
Click here to read Catholic teaching on Purgatory…
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How to gain indulgences for Souls in Purgatory
A brief outline on how to obtain a plenary indulgence for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Plenary indulgences for the Poor Souls:
Six General rules for obtaining a plenary indulgence:
State of grace at least when performing the indulgenced act
Complete detachment from sin, even venial sin
Confession (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Communion (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Prayers for the Supreme Pontiff (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Indulgenced act: a special good work with special conditions of place and time
Indulgenced acts to be performed for obtaining a plenary indulgence:
From November 1 to 8: visit of a cemetery with mental prayer for the poor souls.
On November 2: visit of a church or an oratory with one Our Father and one Creed being recited.
A partial indulgence can be obtained any time by visiting a cemetery and praying for the Poor Souls.
The following prayer is especially recommended:
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. Source
Now…
Share your comments, stories, favourite prayers, novenas, hymns etc
Comments (25)
I have always been fascinated by stories about the holy souls. I found some amazing stories on Gloria TV, especially the ones from Padre Pio. I copied the introduction:
“I know when you pray for me, and it is the same with all of the other souls here in Purgatory. Very few of us here get any prayers; the majority of us are totally abandoned, with no thought or prayers offered for us from those on earth” (Message from a soul in Purgatory)
Over the years of studying the lives of the mystics of the Church I have amassed a large number of eye witness accounts from various books and manuscripts of the appearances of the souls in Purgatory to a number of persons– a good number of these accounts are not widely known, so I thought it would make a very interesting study to compile a number of shorter accounts from a variety of sources for those interested in this subject.”
https://gloria.tv/article/QvY4iVJymF7i6Zhq3AV2dizNN
May they rest in peace!
I have always considered prayer for the dead to be one of the primary duties of a Catholic. I have a book at home, a kind of perpetual diary, into which I write the dates of the passing of family and friends. I try to look at it every day and pray for those who have gone before us. Recently I transferred the whole thing to my cell. phone, using a specific calendar for the dead in the calendar app. Thus I receive alerts about upcoming anniversaries.
But the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Rosary are the best medicine for the Holy Souls.
Let me just add that surely one of the most sublime acts of charity possible is to order a Mass for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Let all of us do so in this month of November.
Daily Carmelite Prayers for the Holy Souls, for throughout the year, but especially In November, can be found here:- https://gloria.tv/photo/cUmeHMZgTPdh3zMsLJ2bEbG2U
I found this novena for the Holy Souls which some bloggers might want to use
https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/novena/Purgatory.htm
I find it very comforting – and sobering – to walk through a cemetery praying a Rosary, or, in this case, the Eternal Rest prayer. Frequently I also sprinkle Holy Water on some tombstones while I’m there. Yesterday I found this answer to a query about whether such a practice is helpful to the holy souls in Purgatory:
“In his book Explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Fr. Martin Cochem says this about the pious custom you asked about:
“The suffering souls also experience a great alleviation when the graves are incensed and sprinkled with holy water. The holy water does indeed only materially moisten the earth, but in its beneficent virtue it refreshes the souls in Purgatory, just as the waters of Baptism falling on the head of the infant have power to cleanse his soul.
“Therefore see that you frequently sprinkle the last resting-places of your friends with holy water, but thereby you will allay the heat of the flames that torture them.” (NY Benzinger Bros, 1896, p. 277)
RCA Victor,
That’s very beautiful – I have never heard that about sprinkling holy water on the tombstones before. I will do that next time I visit a grave of a relative.
The custom of sprinkling graves with Holy Water is common in both Austria and Germany (at least in Bavaria). Gravestones themselves often have a container built into them for this purpose, and the porch of the chapel attached to the cemetery will often contain a large recipient from which the faithful can decant, as it were.
A very pious custom. Only sorry that we do not have it in Scotland.
Might I just add that modern Catholics tend to underestimate the power of Holy Water.
On the advice of a holy old priest to whom I used to go for spiritual direction, I keep a Holy Water stoup by my bed and bless myself with it before going to sleep.
Said priest used to say the Novus Ordo, but when it came to blessing Holy Water, he insisted upon using the formula of the pre-Vatican II Roman Ritual, complete with exorcisms and the addition of salt. It is sufficient only to compare the two prayers to understand why!
I found this video about Martin Luther and it is extremely interesting because he didn’t deny the doctrine of indulgences and even the office of pope in his 95 theses. It’s really interesting, and I kept wondering how many Protestants know these facts about him. It’s only around 10 minutes long and very well worth watching.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd66KXIbAjc&w=1131&h=636%5D
Lily,
That’s a very useful video indeed. I didn’t know most of that, it’s really interesting. Now I know why they say he was a tortured soul – he knew in his heart that he could not “reform” the Church. I once heard that he had a great love for Our Lady, so maybe he is one of the souls in Purgatory we should be praying for.
Michaela
By all accounts, Martin Luther died an impenitent excommunicate with the apostasy of millions of souls from the true religion on his conscience. The Church is absolutely clear on what happens to those who thus separate themselves from her and encourage others to do likewise. Given this clear teaching of the Church, Purgatory has never been a destination I associate with Luther. I think also that if his reputed love for Our Lady had been genuine, she would never have allowed him to fall prey to such heretical blindness.
Athanasius,
Luther has a lot to answer for as far as the sorry state of Western culture is concerned. I am only sorry that so many Catholics have been taken in by the recent revisionist rubbish.
Prognosticum
Yes, it’s bound to happen when the Pope himself is the lead revisionist! Tragic, but true. I don’t think Catholics, in their wildest dreams, would ever have imagined that a Successor of St. Peter would one day be an apologist for the great heretic Martin Luther. Absolutely incredible diabolic disorientation.
Athanasius,
It is a Church which thinks that she can be all things to all men. But in the process, she just becomes insipid. I am reminded of Our Lord’s warning in the Gospel According to St. Matthew, 5:13: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.’
This Church is inviting men to tread upon her. You need a long spoon to sup with the Devil.
This video is a favourite of mine to reflect on the Holy Souls
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8v6F-bKu280
John,
That is absolutely beautiful! So much deep nourishment for the soul in that short video. I didn’t know that about St Michael taking the souls out of Purgatory or Our Lady going there on her Feasts and taking souls to Heaven. How beautiful is that!
Thank you so much for posting that video. I’m going to use it often.
If anyone is interested in reading the full text of the manuscript,worth reading but fairly lengthy.
http://www.purgatory.ca/treasury-manuscript.php#Top
I couldn’t find my favourite hymns for the Holy Souls but I think this is lovely
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7iyY1n__qI&w=818&h=460%5D
Michaela,
“lovely”? I’d say “haunting” 😀 !
I’ve tried to find one of my own favourites – They are waiting for our petitions” but doesn’t seem to be on YouTube. Here are the verses I remember singing, taken from a version with several more verses that I’d never heard:
They are waiting for our petitions silent and calm
Their lips no prayer can utter, no suppliant psalm.
we have made the all too weary with long delay
For the souls in their still agony, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.
For the soul thou holdest dearest let prayers arise
The voice of love is mighty and will pierce the skies.
Waste not in selfish weeping one precious day
But speeding thy love to heaven, good christian pray.
Requiescant in pace, requiescant in Pace.
NOTE: although this thread is entitled “All Souls Day”, we’ll leave it open for the month of November. Which reminds me…
I’ve been very lax about closing threads at the end of every month – I’ll need to make time soon to go through the posts to see how many I’ve yet to close, so apologies for that. Hope to catch up soon (well, before Christmas, anyway!)
In the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Saturday is dedicated to all the saints and the deceased, but we have *5* All Souls Saturdays specifically for the deceased – the Saturday before Meatfare Sunday (Septugesima on the TL calendar), the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Saturdays of the Great Fast (Lent), and the Saturday before Pentecost. On Bright Monday and Tuesday (right after Pascha) we visit the graves of the deceased and tell them “Christ is Risen!” Green Monday (the Monday after Pentecost) the priest blesses the graves of the deceased. (Obviously, he does it at the funeral too.)
Z nami Boh! God is with us!
Margaret 🇺🇸
On All Souls Day, Pope Francis visited a US war cemetery (in Italy) to pray for the dead.
He then spoke at a mass and seemed to concentrate on rebuking God for the occurrence of wars – often repeating “No more Lord”, “Enough, Lord” etc.
This, against a backdrop of the ongoing stubborn refusal of himself and his predecessors to bow to the requests of Our Lady of Fatima, the proper completion of which promises a period of peace on earth.
So instead of “Enough, Lord” he ought to be thinking “Get on with it, Francis”. Given what was requested and promised by Our Lady at Fatima, then the Popes since then undoubtedly have some culpability for conflicts which have occurred since then.
Surely that this does not seem to occur to Francis shows that either he does not believe in the Story of Fatima or the Catholic Faith more generally?
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/11/02/on-all-souls-day-pope-francis-visits-american-military-cemetery-to-pray-for-the-fallen/
Gabriel Syme,
Your conclusion, sadly, is spot on – to all appearances (and by that I mean many of his words and actions) Pope Francis does not appear to hold to the entirety of divine and Catholic Faith. And if he thinks there’s nothing wrong with encouraging adultery, he’s highly unlikely to worry about a trio of unlettered children in a remote village in Portugal, passing on messages from Our Lady, especially if a major part of that message makes extra work for him. A faith-filled pope would see the Consecration of Russia as a huge opportunity to demonstrate the truth of the Faith to the world. We await that faith-filled pontiff.
PRAYER OF POPE PIUS THE IX TO RELEASE 5 SOULS FROM PURGATORY
Pope Pius the IX declared that by reciting this prayer 5 times on Friday, we release 5 souls from Purgatory and we release 33 souls by reciting it on Good Friday!
This prayer should be recited before a Crucifix, with a contrite heart and praying a few moments for the Pope.
I adore You, O Glorious Cross, which was adorned with the Heart and Body of my Saviour Jesus Christ, stained and covered with blood. I adore you, O Holy Cross, out of love for Him, Jesus, who is my Saviour and my God.
THANK YOU, Chloe, for posting these prayers. I have the same prayers in a little booklet called Give Me Your Heart. I got it at St. Ignatius Retreat House a long time ago.
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