Norwich bulletin., 1919-11-03
AN UNUSUAL ALL SOULS DAY
 SERVICE AT ST. PATRick'S

The congregations assembled in St.
 Patrick's church at the three masses
 Sunday were impressed by the real
 ization of the solemnity of the Feast
 of All Souls November 2nd, because
 of the unusual privilege granted by
 Pope Benedict of offering a requiem mass on a Sunday. The altar hang
 ings were of black relieved by white
 as at regular funeral mass, and the
 vestments were of black and white.
 Directed by Organist Frank L. Far ren, the choir sang the Gregorian mu-
 sic of the requiem mass. Mrs. Farrell singing De Profundis and the other solost as at funeral. The recession al was the Chopin Funeral March. The epistle and gospel read were these of the regulsg Sunday, the 31st after Pentecost; but today (Monday) when there will be All Souls masses at 5.3a, and 8 o'clock, the last a solemn high mass for all the souls in Purgatory, the epistle read will be Cor. XIV. 51-57, Saint Paul's significant promise beginning, "We shall all in deed rise again. but we shall not all i,o changed" and the gospel. John Y. 25-29. Jesus said to the multitudes of ! the Jews: Truly. truly. say to you, . that the hour cometh and now is. when the dead shall hear the voice me SDIt Ol AiOQ, ana In6y WHO flelT I sht;il live" etc.
 Al the high mass Sunday, the preach ! CT, Rev. Myles P. Calvin. spoke of the ] practice of the Roman Catholic church 1 t'f devoting November in particular ;n l prayers and good works for the pa2- suffering souls in Purgatory From ] what we learn in Holy Scripture and what the church teaches, it seems most logical that there must be q state of ! purgation, We know of God as All i perfect inffaitely holy, infinitely pure; i that nothing tainted by even the i slightest sin can enter His presence 1! Yet there must be many souls which l ave this life, not as the souls of Ftfrfe who have openly deied a71 l disheved their Maker. nevertheless 1 soifed ny what we call venial sins, l Surely, such souls, which are in es- l sntials friends of God. cannot be l condemned to hell; they are not yet ! pure enough for Heaven. Consequent i ly. there must be for them a. delay, a 1 real suffering. because of the pain oi l loss they feel in not at once attain | ing the Eternal Presence. Some the ! ologians hold that these souls in the nrohation state suffer as keenly as | do the souls in hell. although theirs is 1 the hope of one day seeing God. while l LII QuAOTLQikOlS HOulS lN 1 eternal punishment by exclusion from l Gods presence of course lack such | hope.
 | Helpless themselves, nevertheless the
 souls in purgatory may be helped by l their friends on earth; by the offerins l o fthe mass which is the sacrifice ot 1 the Son of God to His Heavenly Fath- CT in atonement for the sins of men !! by alns-giving to the poor and suf- l fering for the benefit of these holy souls, and by prayer The motives I of this-for Gods glory in winning Him the souls He created. through friend 1 ship for ones relatives and friends un- able to help themselves, and with the
 thought that, freed from suffering and once in Gods presence such released 1 souls must repay with gratitude every effort in their behalf. were strongly presented by Father Calvin. Incident ally, he spoke of the human fault o1 | forgetting the dead, so quickly Tn many Il cases, his rebuke in line with the re.
 proach of Victor Hugo, "The dead
 endure not leave them in the tomb
 They fall to dust less quickly in its
 gloom Than in our hearts. alas!"