Tag: Purgatory

Beginning with the feasts of All Saints and Holy Souls on the 1st and 2nd of November respectively, Catholics are encouraged to visit a cemetery and offer a Rosary for the dead.

Thank goodness we as Catholics have the whole month of November to think about death, says Philippa Martyr.

Dear Fr Flader, I have always wondered whether there is time as we know it in purgatory. Has the church said anything about this?

The Holy Souls, on the other hand, need us to take them and their cause very seriously. They’re not mucking around, and so neither should we, writes Dr Philippa Martyr.

This brush with faith focuses on a painting highlighting why the Catholic Church sets aside November as the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

At the beginning of November, our parish priests traditionally remind us that it is a time to pray for the faithful who have died.

It’s that time of year again. You know—when you go to the cemetery and clean up the gravesites belonging to your family and place some flowers there. You have Masses said for them in your parish and you take your kids along to show them why it’s important to pray for the family dead.

No one is actually dead. When a person’s body stops working, they go on living, Philippa says reflecting on a near-death experience.

I have heard a number of times, and I accept, that it is quite likely that when they die, most souls will go to purgatory on their way to heaven. Can you tell me what we can we do to avoid purgatory altogether, or at least reduce the time we spend there?

With the COVID-19 pandemic still underway and with restrictions on gatherings still in place in some countries, the Vatican has again extended the period...

Remembering the living dead I love November, and not just because my students have gone off to do their exams. November has always had special...

Typically, only a partial indulgence is granted after the first week of November