Purgatory facts for kids
According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, Purgatory is the "final purification of the elect": "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."
“In Purgatory there are different levels; the lowest is close to hell and the highest gradually draws near to Heaven. It is not All Souls Day, but, Christmas, that the greatest number of souls leave Purgatory.
There are in Purgatory, souls who pray ardently to God, but for whom no relative or friend prays on earth. God makes them benefit from the prayers of other people.
It happens that God permits them to manifest themselves in different way, close to their relatives on earth, in order to remind men of the existence of Purgatory and to solicit their prayers to come close to God who is just, but good.
Purgatory in art and culture
Perhaps the best-known instance of purgatory in the arts is Dante's Purgatorio, the second book of his Divine Comedy. Likewise, the Ghost in William Shakespeare's Hamlet may also presuppose a belief in purgatory,
Related pages
Images for kids
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Image of a fiery purgatory by Ludovico Carracci
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Image of a non-fiery purgatory (Gustave Doré: illustration for Dante's Purgatorio, Canto 24).
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The island of St Patrick's Purgatory
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Dante gazes at purgatory (shown as a mountain) in this 16th-century painting.
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The Dormition of the Theotokos (a thirteenth-century icon)
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Our Lady of Mount Carmel and purgatory, Beniaján, Spain
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Our Lady of Mount Carmel and purgatory, North End, Boston
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Our Lady, St Monica and souls in purgatory, Rattenberg, Tyrol
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Our Lady of Passau in St Felix Church, Kientzheim, Alsace
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Purgatory, 1419 drawing by unknown artist from Strasbourg
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Painting by Michel Serre in the Saint Cannat Church, Marseilles
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Altar predella in the town church of Bad Wimpfen, Baden-Württemberg
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Request for prayer for the souls in purgatory
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Stained-glass window in Puerto Rico Cathedral
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Purgatory by Venezuelan painter Cristóbal Rojas (1890)
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Ceiling of St Ulrich Church in Pillersee, Tyrol, Austria
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Our Lady Interceding for the Souls in Purgatory, by Andrea Vaccaro
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Miniature by Stefan Lochner showing souls in purgatory
See also
In Spanish: Purgatorio para niños
