PURGATORY, according to Roman Catholic faith, a state of suffering after death in which the souls of those who die in venial sin, and of those who still owe some debt of temporal punishment for mortal sin, are rendered fit to enter heaven. It is believed that such souls continue to be members of the Church of Christ; that they are helped by the suffrages of the living—that is, by prayers, alms and other good works, and more especially by the sacrifice of the Mass; and that, although delayed until "the last farthing is paid," their salvation is assured. Catholics support this doctrine chiefly by reference to the Jewish belief in the efficacy of prayer for the dead (2 Macc. xii. 42 seq.), the tradition of the early Christians, and the authority of the Church.
The state of Purgatory is usually thought of as having some position in space, and as being distinct from heaven and hell; but any theory as to its exact latitude and longitude, such as underlies Dante's description, must be regarded as imaginative. Most theo logians since Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura have taught that the souls in purgatory are tormented by material fire, but the Greeks have never accepted this opinion. It must be inferred from the whole practice of indulgences as at present authorized that the pains of purgatory are measurable by years and days; but here also everything is indefinite. The Council of Trent, while it commands all bishops to teach "the sound doctrine of purgatory handed down by the venerable fathers and sacred councils," bids them exclude from popular addresses all the "more difficult and subtle questions relating to the subject which do not tend to edification." The Eastern Church affirms belief in an intermediate state after death, but the belief is otherwise as vague as the expressions of the pre-Nicene fathers on the subject. The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox Church (Q. 376) states:— "Such souls as have departed with faith but without having had time to bring forth fruits meet for repentance may be aided towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection by prayers offered in their behalf, especially such as are offered in union with the oblation of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, and by works of mercy done in faith for their memory."
The efficacy of prayers for the dead, and indirectly the doctrine of purgatory, were denied by early Gnostic sects, by Aetius in the 4th century, and by the Waldenses, Cathari, Albigenses and Lollards in the middle ages. Protestants, with the exception of a small minority in the Anglican communion, unanimously reject the doctrine of purgatory, and affirm that "the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory." Rejection of an intermediate state after death follows the Protestant idea of justification by faith as logically as the doctrine of purgatory results from the Catholic idea of justi fication by works.
An analogy to purgatory can be traced in most religions. Zoro aster conducts souls through twelve stages before they are sufficiently purified to enter heaven; and the Stoics conceived of a middle place of enlightenment which they called BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The principal authoritative statements of the Catholic Church on the doctrine of purgatory were made at the Council of Florence (Decret. unionis), and at that of Trent (Sess. vi. can. 3o ; Sess. xxii., c. 2, can. 3 ; Sess. xxv.). See H. J. D. Denziger's Enchiridion; J. Bautz, Das Fegfeuer (Mainz, 1883) ; and L. Redner, Das Fegfeuer (Regensburg, 1856). A very elaborate treatise from the Catholic standpoint is that of Cardinal Bellarmine, De purgatorio. The subject is discussed, moreover, in all major works on dogmatic theology. There is a representative Catholic statement in the Catholic Encyclopaedia, and a Protestant presentation by Rud. Hoffmann in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopiidie, 3rd ed. vol. v. pp. 788-792.