Best ways to pray for the souls in Purgatory?

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Hi everyone,
I want to start regularly praying for the souls in Purgatory. I would like to know about any prayers and devotions that focus on prraying for the souls in Purgatory. What are the best ways to pray for them? Are there any novenas for this prayer intention? I would like to find a good novena or prayer that involves praying the Rosary for souls in Purgatory as I pray the Rosary multiple times every day. The Rosary is probably my favorite prayer, and I literally could not function without it. I would like to find a Rosary novena that helps relieve the souls in Purgatory.
Thank you for any suggestions on the best ways to pray for those in Purgatory.
God bless you all. Amen.
 
You can say, “Jesus, have mercy on the Souls in Purgatory and the Souls On Earth”.
  • I was taught to say this at the conclusion of every prayer right after we made the final sign of the cross. I was taught this so young that I can remember my mother having to explain to me at age 5 or 6 what Purgatory was and who the “Souls on Earth” were (she said they were “you and me and everyone else on earth”).
You can say the Rosary, the Divine Mercy, or any other prayer you like, for the Holy Souls.

You can say the Prayer of St. Gertrude for the Holy Souls.
  • One parish I pray at always says this prayer at the very end of the Divine Mercy chaplet, so I started doing that as well.
You can say the Litany of the Holy Souls (there are several versions of this online, some longer, some shorter) for them.
You can offer up annoyances throughout your day for them. Just say, “Dear Lord, I offer up the fact that I am stuck in traffic/ my coworker annoyed me/ my coffee is cold/ etc for the Poor Souls in Purgatory.”

You can go to Mass yourself and offer your Communion for the Holy Souls.

You can have Masses said for the Holy Souls.

You can earn Indulgences (refer to the Manual of Indulgences for how) and give them to the Holy Souls.
  • Current Manual of Indulgences is here. You can give any indulgence you get, all year, to the Holy Souls or to a particular Soul, just ask Jesus. If you pick a soul who is already in Heaven or Hell, Jesus will just give it to another soul in need, so it won’t be wasted.
    Also note that you can get special indulgences just for the Holy Souls in November, the month dedicated to praying for souls in Purgatory. I personally like the indulgence you can get by praying in a cemetery, since I live in a historic area with a lot of old cemeteries, many of them attached to churches so you step right out of the church and you can pray right there before you go home.
Here are Fr. Heilman’s instructions for getting a Plenary Indulgence once per day for a Holy Soul. He also has this optional stuff (not needed for the indulgence) where you add the grateful Holy Soul and a saint that you choose to your Holy Alliance and you also say a Divine Mercy for a living person, so you pray for both dead and living people every day. I’ve been doing this for about the past 7 months and it has been a good way of organizing my indulgence practice and praying for particular people.

I hope this gives people some good ideas how to pray for the Holy Souls. I pray for them every day myself and I’m sure they can use as many prayers as they can get.
 
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I like this one:
‘O gentle Heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on them. Be not severe in Your judgments, but let some drops of Your Precious Blood fall upon the devouring flames. And, Merciful Saviour, send Your angels to conduct them to a place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.’
 
Susan Tassone is a good resource, but it annoys me that she has basically put together a compendium of the stuff that we all used to learn as children at our Catholic mama’s knee and now runs around marketing herself as a Purgatory expert.

Still, if it gets someone to pray for the Holy Souls, I will offer up my annoyance.

I prefer Fr. Heilman’s instructions on how to earn indulgences for the dead souls And also pray for a living soul each day, as St. John Vianney and others emphasized the need to pray for the living not just the dead.

I’ll post some links later, I am in the car.
 
I’ve now enhanced my post above with links. I was rushing out to Mass when I posted the first time, so now I’m home I added links to some of the prayers and stuff. I hope it helps.
God bless you too!
 
Thank you very much. I learn more and more everyday. The Catholic faith is so beautiful, like an abyss of treasure that never runs out.
 
Some more resources on ways to pray for the Holy Souls:

20 Ways to Pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
  • Note that when you give a donation to the poor, you can offer that up for the Holy Souls. So the poor people get a benefit and the Holy Souls get a benefit too.
A Scriptural Rosary for the Souls in Purgatory
  • There are lots of Rosaries for the Holy Souls, Rosaries for the Poor Souls etc. online and on Youtube. Some of them have 6 decades rather than 5. I like this Scriptural Rosary which has 5 decades and pictures.
 
There’s some good advice on here…personally I pray especially for the souls of each deceased member of my family…my wifes family…relatives and friends…and name each one… and also for all other souls in purgatory…and ask that God will continue to send his holy angels to be with them and minister to them so they will know the love and joy that awaits them when they are united with God in heaven …you can make up your own personal prayer…as well as the good suggestions from poster here
 
I offer daily Mass and pray the St. Gertrude prayer every day. Besides the things people have recommended, you can pray at cemeteries, pray over the obits in the newspaper or online, and devoutly observe All Souls day, perhaps preceding it with a novena. Finally, you can ask Padre Pio’s intercession and he is another big “purgatory saint.”
 
I do hear and understand what you are saying.
However, not all of us are part of the “we all used to learn as children”.
I found her putting it all together for those of us who “swam the Tiber” as adults very helpful.

But I can understand completely why you feel the way you do. 🙂 It’s wonderful that you offer up your annoyance 🙂 I have never thought of that before.
 
I would likely be more accepting of her if she was a priest, deacon, nun etc. It is an admitted bias I have. I don’t get much out of Catholic laypeople teaching. I understand better when it’s a Scott Hahn reaching out to Protestants, or a married couple teaching on marriage and the family. But like I said, if she gets people to pray then it’s all good and I shoult shut up and sit down.
 
I like this one. There are also some candle prayers.

O merciful God,
take pity on those souls
who have no particular friends and intercessors
to recommend them to Thee, who,
either through the negligence of those who are alive,
or through length of time are forgotten
by their friends and by all.
Spare them, O Lord,
and remember Thine own mercy,
when others forget to appeal to it.
Let not the souls which Thou hast created
be parted from thee, their Creator.

May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

BTW, our Lady will appreciate your efforts!
 
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