The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-11-29
The nuraiinn of pnrratorr.

| From the Contemporary Review.l
1--WE are apt" says Faber, Ito leave
| off praying for the departed too soon,
imagining, with a foolish and unen-
| lightened fondnesS that our friends
are freed from purgatory much sooner
than they really are. And Pope AL
| aXander VII. was obliged to interfere
to condemn some holders of founda-
tons for perpetual masses who pre-
tended that after masses had been
offered for ten years they might be
discontinued, in the full belief that
the objects of the foundation must
surely by that time have been accom-
plished. L0uvet makes i calculation
of the time which = Christian of more
han average excellence may expect t.
have to spend in puTgatory. And first,
how many venial sins may it be sup
posed that Christians commit in a
day? The church-which never eX-
aggerates makes the priest at mass
every day pray pro lDnuinerabilibus
o1fensionibus ct negligentiis; but, as
L wish, says L0uvet, to make the most
moderate estimate. let US say that
Christians commit ten venial sins
day. If we reflect on our voluntary
distractions in prayer, our irreVer-
ences. our failures in respect of chart
ty, our losses Of temper, our little
backbitings, our omissions and negli-
genceS, we shall see that for ordinary
souls the number ten is far under the
mark. Well, say only ten per day,
that is $3.50 per annum. and in fifty
years of life we have 182,5Q00 veDial
sins. Now, how many OF these
will before death have been
T@f n1 NV 40
what penance do most Of US
performl But, to take things at the
best, | shall suppose that three-quar-
tiers of them have been eXpiated by
self-imposed satisfactory works. 1t is
most improbable proportion in the
case Of any who are not saints, but
accept it in order to clear my calcula
ton from ali suspicion Of eXaggera-
ton; and it results that a Christian OF
far more than average excellence will.
at the time of death, have 40.62o sins
unat0ned for. Take round numbers
and say $4,000. Well, to what stay in
purgatory does this figure correspond?
We can only reason by analogy from
what the revelations of saints have
tau.ht US in some particular cases.
St. Francesca RO mana tells us that a
lBOItdl Slu, AOb eApldtGu, DIIHSS Will
it for temporal punishment seven
years Of purgatory. st. Mag
daIine, of Pizzi. tells US that
one of her sisters was con-
demned to sixteen days of purgatory
for three small faults which in this
world would scarcely count as imper
feCtions. That would be five days per
sin. But as l wish to avoid Ill posi-
bility of exaggeration, let us take an
average of one d"y per sin, and the
$1,000 sins will entail a stay in purga-
tory Of 1900 days, that is to say, l23
years three months and fifteen days,
so that we arrive at the terrifying re-
suit that on the very lowest calcula-
ton a holy soul who has never COM
mitted d moral sin, nor even venial
sin of the graver sort, who has COM
mitted but ten venial sins day, and
has satisfied Gods justice by pcoGDcH
for three-quarters of these, still &c
mains indebted for 1913 years three
months and fifteen days of purgatory.
If it be so with righteous souls, what
will it be with poor sinners like you
and II"