The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-09-12
catholic Observer. London. Ont.l

A recent cablegram from Madrid states that
certain professor Joseph Bronta of that city, has
made in all seriousness statement the purpose OF
which is to prove mathematically that there can
not be any souls i'll purgatory needing our prayers
1t is almost needless to say that in making his
calculations the professor shows utter ignorance
of Catholic doctrine on the subjects of purgatorr
prayers for the dead and indulgences The glst of
his statement is found in the following extract
from the dispatch referred to, which is dated Aug
According to the Catholic Church, members of
that institution only are sent to purgatory. There
are 100000 of Catholics, among whom 1925
deaths occur daily. Onehalf of that number are
condemned to Hades account of their sins. OF
the other half, sixty-three angelic enough to go
to heaven direct, while 5000 are booked for Pur-
gatory. But here the Holy Church interferes. Pope
Pio Mono granted a complete indulgence whcrby
good Catholic may rescue 535 souls out OF pur-
gatory. Therefore if only ten Christians acquire
this indulgence daily, this would be equivalent to
releasing all the souls condemned to purgatory day
by day, with $50 to spare
He then declares that thousands of people gain
this indulgence every day, besides numerous other
indulgences by which the pains of from ten to one
hundrd years of purgatory RENTED. Thus,
cordng to the professor, the inference gained must
be sufficient in number to release 100000 souls from
purgatory for every 5000 who go there, and "if
poor soul arrives at the gates to do penance, the
guardian angel stationed there gives 1t a splendid
surprise by sending it to heaven by the most direct
route explaining that some friend or stranger, at
any rate some good Catholic freed it beforehand
by powerful prayer"
Our surprise is that the Madrid correspondent
of the press should think it worth his while to send
over the cable such farrago of nonsense which he
ought to know, is not justified by any teachings of
the Catholic Church
/. In the first place, the Catholic Church does
not declare, the professor indicates, that only
those belonging to the Church (exteriorly) go to
purgatory.
2. The total number of Catholics in the world
is about 250.000 900, not 15O,OOO,OO0
3. We can have no accurate data regarding the
number of souls who go directly to heaven to
purgatory hell daily. On this point, however,
admit that within certain limits of uncertainty
it would be allowable to make a reasonable hypo-
thesis for the purpose of arriving at truth if the
professors other data were reasonable or true,
which they are not.
f. Pope Plus TX never issued an indulgence
with the assurance that it would release 535 souls
daily from purgatory. No Pope ever could or did
give such assurance. This statement, which is
the foundation for all Professor Brontas cacula-
tions. being proved false, all his theory tumbes to
the ground.
5. There is no indulgence issued with the alb
solute assurance of the liberation of soul from
purgatory though it must be said that the merits
of Christ and of His saints are sufficient to deliver
thousands of souls daily. To what extent these
merits, especially those of Christ which are of in
definite value, are actually applied for the remis-
sion of sins, and of the punishment due to SIM we