itself ordinarily so remitted as to leave no trace behind. There will in most cases remain some partial disorder, some darkness in the intellect, some undue, perhaps some unobserved, disposition of the will, some wavering or languor in good, which incline to venial sins, thus depriving the soul of its former freshness and beauty. III. And the shadow of the guilty act falls still more darkly on the blind and inferior powers, wherein the inclination remains, notwithstanding the renewal of the will. Such is the condition of the souls in purgatory, who, having departed in charity and absolved from all mortal sins, yet by reason of debts of punishment not yet satisfied, or of vestiges of venial imperfections or disorderly inclinations, are detained from the vision of God. Now by what means are these impediments to be wholly removed? For the first and third a punishment inflicted on the senses might suffice. The unlawful pleasure having been tasted by their means, it seems fitting that on them should fall the penalty, which might also consist in acts so painfully contrary to the evil inclinations which they have contracted as by degrees wholly to cancel it. But to remove the second impediment some deep inward and spiritual act of the soul itself is required to disperse all darkness of the intellect and shake off all inertness of the will, thus setting it free to find its union with the Supreme Truth and Justice which is impeded by these ligaments that fetter the free exercise of charity which would carry it straight to God. Besides the exercise of the intellect and will nothing more seems needful to the perfect deliverance of the soul but the presence of some benign and merciful agency to assist and console it under the twofold process of purification. In the Purgatorio we find these three means prescribed : I. There is a special sensible suffering, which, while it discharges the debt of punishment entailed by the sinful act on the inferior powers, cancels, by vigorous acts of a contrary tendency, the evil inclination left by that act. II. A special meditation and a special prayer, which, by enlightening the intellect and inflaming the will, excite the soul to acts of charity opposed to the former acts of sin, and thus enable it gradually to free itself from every bond and to cast off every burthen. III. The loving guardianship of an angel, who aids and impels the penitent souls in this their labour of love. A question here suggests itself, which has already been asked and answered by S. Thomas,-How, when the body no longer weighs down the spirit, which is now confirmed in grace, disorderly inclinations can be supposed to exist in the inferior powers which lie perfectly dormant, or in the will which is incapable of the slightest movement towards evil? The difficulty (says our author) will vanish on a more profound investigation of the laws of psychology. For every act of the human soul, although performed by means of the senses, leaves in the soul itself a disposition or actual tendency (resto di attualita) which, unless we suppose the soul to be annihilated or wholly changed by death, must cleave to it after its separation from the body. Philosophers and theologians speak of the tendency of the disembodied spirit to unite itself once more to its body, and this general tendency implies a particular tendency to the acts formerly performed by means of the body, which, if these acts have been contrary to order, will, although disavowed by the personal will now confirmed in holiness, constitute a disorder which perfect love cannot endure to behold in itself. Again, it may be asked how, in a state where no fresh store of merits can be acquired, such tendencies can be destroyed, or progress be made in charity and perfection? Be it observed, then, that venial faults, like so many slight cords, impede the exercise of charity in its more exquisite and fervent acts. These bonds are gradually unloosed by the exercises of purgatory, whereby the soul, without the acquisition of any new merit, is enabled to exercise the acts which had been hitherto impeded by some fault of nature, or some want of correspondence with grace. P. Perez just touches upon another mysterious question, the acquisition in the other life by the sensitive principle in the soul of a new corporeal term (besides the term of unlimited space), which may aid it to rise and to free itself, after a manner analagous to that in which the earthly body once enslaved and weighed it down ;-amends being thus made to the soul of the just for its temporary separation from the body by some mysterious gift from that Man-God with whom the Father has given us all things. Dante's conception of the new aerial body wherewith he invests the departed soul seems to our author to be in accordance with the sentiments of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church on this mysterious subject :— *Licet ex corruptione corporis sit aliqua causa venialium, non tamen venialia sunt sicut in subjecto in corpore, sed in animâ ; unde non sunt dispositiones materiæ sed formæ. (De Malo, q. vii. art. 11, ad. 15.) Quamvis veniale ex pronitate fomitis contingat, tamen culpa in mente consequitur; et ideo etiam destructo fomite, adhuc manere potest. (V. dist. art. 3, ad. 5.) And again : Tosto che Luogo li la circoscrive, La virtù formativa raggia intorno Cosi e quanto nelle membra vive.*—Purg. xxv. 85. A sofferer tormenti e caldi e geli Simili corpi la Virtu dispone, Che, come fa, non vuol che a noi si sveli.+-iii. 31. Clothed, then, in this new aerial vesture, and borne along in a swift bark, which barely skims the surface of the waves that encompass our miserable world, impelled, instead of sail or oar, by the white gleaming wings of a blessed angel, the happy souls chanting the In exitu Israel de Ægypto, approach the shores of purgatory, bearing in the burthen of their song and the light upon their brows the sweet assurance of their eternal bliss, and a reflection of the ray just cast upon them from the countenance of that merciful Judge, which they long to behold once more beaming upon them with unalloyed complacency. The pains of sense endured by the souls in the Purgatorio, though not falling far short in intensity of some of the fearful tortures of the Inferno, differ from them in several remarkable points. In that dread abode which no ray of light or love shall ever enter, where discord and horror reign eternally, the miserable souls, now confirmed in the hatred of all good, stand apart, each in his own individual misery, like blasted ruins scattered here and there. They have no link of brotherhood between them, and the poet's imagination has exhausted itself in picturing for them every kind and degree of horrible and loathsome punishment. Each soul in purgatory, on the other hand, is a type of beauty, awaiting but the removal of some light veil, some slight deformity, to shine for ever in the regions of light and love, and bearing, even under the temporary veil which shrouds it, some similitude to Him who was pleased to receive in His own Human Body the fiercest assaults of pain and sorrow, thus investing human suffering with a dignity and efficacy which might mature His Divine Image in the souls predestined to bear it throughout eternity. * Soon as the place there circumscribeth it, To suffer torments both of cold and heat, -Longfellow's translation. In harmony with each other, and in union with their Divine Head, the blessed souls press on together from one stage of purification to another, till the last cloud melts away which. veils from them the face of God. And in the process of their purification we have no images to horrify or disgust, no loathsome forms, no ghastly and unnatural transformations, such as freeze our blood as we read the Inferno. In the words and actions of these vessels of election (d'animo turba tacita e devota,* xxiii. 21) all is calm, decorous, and dignified. The fire burns and refines, but blasts not nor disfigures its willing, and more than willing, victims. S. Catherine of Genoa tells us that there is no contentment like to that of the saints in heaven except the contentment of the souls in purgatory. And thus it must be with a soul created (as that loving saint says again) with the beatific instinct. As soon as it perceives in the region of truth that beatitude can be attained only by suffering, it acquires what Dante calls il talento (the longing desire) of suffering. It desires suffering with the same intensity as it desires beatitude. Only when it is perfectly pure does this desire cease, because it is already blessed in Him to whom it is perfectly united. This truth is expressed in the verses which describe a conflict as subsisting between the desire of beatitude and the desire of suffering so long as the slightest vestige of the debt remains to be discharged, and ceasing at the moment when it is fully cancelled. Della mondizia, il sol voler fa prova, Che, tutto libero a mutar convento, Prima vuol ben; ma non lascia il talento, Come fu al peccar, pone al tormento.t-Purg. cxxi. 61-66. This deliberate complacency in suffering is the secret of the sweet and modest serenity which shines through all the torments of the second canto. And it is seen even in those who had sinned longest and repented only at the last. * A crowd of spirits silent and devout.-Longfellow. Of purity the will alone gives proof, Which, being wholly free to change its convent First it wills well; but the desire permits not, Which divine justice with the self-same will, There was to sin, upon the torment sets.-Longfellow Noi fummo tutti già per forza morti, E peccatori insino all' ultim' ora; Che del disio di se veder ne accuora. * -C. v. 52-57. Thus does Dante reverently remind them of the steadfast hope which sweetens all their pains : O creatura che ti mondi per tornar bella a Colui che ti fece (3); Spirito... che per salir ti domi (4); ( ben finiti, o già spiriti eletti (5) ; O eletti di Dio, li cui soffriri Egiustizia e pietade fa men duri (6); O anime sicure D'aver, quando che sia, di pace stato (7); O gente sicura ... di veder l'alto lume che il disio vostro solo ha in sua cura (8); ecc.t From the same cause proceeds their eager solicitude not to lose a single drop of suffering. They will not suspend their penance to converse with Dante. One constrains him to bend down with him as he bears his heavy burden; another loves better to weep than to speak; another beseeches him not to hinder his tears; another leaves him behind because time is too precious in this land; another, as he approaches him, is careful not to issue from the fire. The source of this thirst for suffering in the Sacred Heart of Him who so thirsted for it on the cross is thus profoundly and beautifully indicated by the penitents, who are consumed by desire for the unapproachable fruit which ever eludes their touch. E quella voglia all' albero ci mena, Che menò Cristo in croce a dire Eli, Quando ne liberò colla sua vena.‡—Purg. xxiii. 72-75. But what is physical pain without intelligence and love? Scarcely does it deserve the name, for the essential part of suffering is the loving knowledge of the good of which it * Long since we all were slain by violence, Then did a light from heaven admonish us, So that, both penitent and pardoning, forth Who with desire to see Him stirs our hearts.-Longfellow. O creature that dost cleanse thyself to return beautiful to him who made thee (3); Spirit ... who stoopest to ascend (4); O happy dead, O spirits elect already (5); O ye elect of God, whose sufferings Justice and Hope both render less severe (6); O souls secure in the possession, whene'er it may be, of a state of peace (7); O people certain of beholding the high light which your desire has solely in its care (8).-Longfellow. For the same wish doth lead us to the tree |