It is the nature of mystical revelation that it is very individualistic. The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. What a person sees/experiences is very specific to themselves, and is influenced by their life experiences and understanding of things.
This is why it is so important to apply objective standards to such experiences. We use those taught by the Apostles, and they are not different than understanding the revelation in scripture.
2 Peter 1:20-21
20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
A revelation from God is not a matter of one’s own interpretation, and does not come by human will, but when the HS moves a person to see as God sees. Such revelations are compared to the scripture, and to the Apostolic Teaching to test their authenticity. The Church has extensively examined many of these revelations, and in the case of Catherine, everything. When the Church declares that nothing in them contradicts the public revelation, then they are approved for the faithful. It is the Church that is charged with the responsibility to test everything, and hold fast to that which is true. Once the Church has done this, we can be confident that nothing in the private revelation contradicts the public revelation that we have already received.
What i gather from what you are saying is that there is much more to what the church knows about the nature and conditions of purgatory. For example in CHAPTER XVI it says the following:
“This Soul shews again how the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory are no hindrance at all to their peace and their joy.
I see the souls suffer the pains of Purgatory having before their eyes two works of God.
First, they see themselves suffering pain willingly, and as they consider their own deserts and acknowledge how they have grieved God, it seems to them that He has shewn them great mercy, for if His goodness had not tempered justice with mercy, making satisfaction with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, one sin would deserve a thousand perpetual hells. And therefore the souls suffer pain willingly, and would not lighten it by one pang, knowing that they most fully deserve it and that it has been well ordained, and they no more complain of God, as far as their will goes, than if they were in eternal life.
The second work they see is the happiness they feel as they contemplate God’s ordinance and the love and mercy with which He works on the soul.
In one instant God imprints these two sights on their minds, and because they are in grace they are aware of these sights and understand them as they are, in the measure of their capacity. Thus a great happiness is granted them which never fails; rather it grows as they draw nearer God. These souls see these sights neither in nor of themselves but in God, on whom they are far more intent than on the pains they suffer, and of whom they make far greater account, beyond all comparison, than of their pains. For every glimpse which can be had of God exceeds any pain or joy a man can feel. Albeit, however, it exceeds the pain and joy of these souls, it lessens them by not a tittle.”
A couple of things that are now known about purgatory are:
1- they see themselves suffering pain willingly
2- there is happiness there.
It seems to me that much could be learned about the nature and conditions of purgatory from this alone.
How does the promises of the Brown Scapular impact this?
