I’ll copy from the commentary of Haydock’s (1859) in reference Genesis Chapter 7, which describes the prefigurement of the Catholic Church in Noe’s ark, back then and near the Day of Judgment:
"In all the histories of past ages, there is nothing so terrible as this event. (The Flood) What became of all those myriads of human beings who perished on this occasion? We know not. Some have charitably supposed, that, although the far greater part perished everlastingly, a few who had been incredulous while Noe preached, opened their eyes at last, when it was too late to save their bodies, and by sincere repentance rescued their souls from the flames, and were consigned to do penance, for a time, in the other world. These heard the preaching of Jesus Christ, or believed in His redemption, while they were yet living, and so deserved to partake of His mercies, and joyfully beheld His sacred person when he came to visit them in the prison of Purgatory. 1 Peter 3: 19 He came and preached to those spirits that were in prison: which had been sometime incredulous when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is eight souls, were saved from drowning by water. Whereunto baptism, being of the like form, now saves you also, and etc. See F.S. Bellarmine, and etc. In these last words of Saint Peter, we may also notice that the ark was a figure of baptism, which is so necessary, that without its reception, or desire of it at least, no man can be saved. It is also a figure of the cross, and of the one true Church as the Fathers remark, with Saint Augustine de C.D. xv. i. M. and etc, Saint Gregory hom. 12 in Ezech. and etc.–This is so striking, that it deserves to be seriously considered. It was only one, though God could have ordered many smaller vessels to be made ready, perhaps with less inconvenience to Noe, that we might reflect, out of the Church the obstinate will surely perish. S. Jerome. ep. ad Dam.: In this ark all that were truly holy, and some imperfect, like Cham, were contained, clean beasts and unclean dwelt together, that we need not wonder if some Catholics will be a disgrace to their name. The ark had different partitions, to remind us of the various orders of Clergy and Laity within the Church, with one chief governor, the Pope, like Noe in the ark. It was strong, visible and etc and pitched all over with the durable cement bitumen, and riding triumphant amid the storms, the envy of all who were out of it, till at last it settled upon a rock. So the Church is built on a rock, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail: she is not les obvious to the sincere seeker, than a city built upon the top of the highest mountain, and etc. We might take a retrospective view of the chief occurrences and personages of the former world; we should observe the same order of things from the beginning,–the conflict of virtue and vice, the preservation of the true faith and worship of God among a few chosen few souls, who preferred to be persecuted by worldlings, rather than to offend God. They contended earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints, to Adam and Eve, once innocent, and afterwards penitent. We behold original sin, and the promised remedy for mankind; while the rebel angels are abandoned, without redress. There was kept up a communion of saints: sacrifice to the one God was performed generally by the heads of families, who were priests in the law of nature. Even Cain, though a bad man, through hypocrisy, chose to offer sacrifice before he had quite broken off from the society of the faithful, and resolved to become the father of all excommunicated persons, and of all seducers. C iv. 16. He was admonished by God that he had free will, and might merit a reward by a different conduct. His sentence, as well as that pronounced upon Adam, and upon all mankind, before the flood, reminds us of the particular and general judgment; as the translation of Henoch sets before us the happy state of the blessed, and the immortality, of which it was an earnest. See Douay Bible, where the chief mysteries of faith are pointed out as the creed of the Antediluvians. Even the Blessed Trinity was insinuated, or shewn to them, at a distance, in various texts: the unity and indissolubility of marriage were clearly expressed; the true Church continued in Noe, while the chain of schismatics and heretics was broken, and Cain’s progeny destroyed …
