Intercessory prayer from purgatory

[NaomiL]

So this one has been jiggling around in my head for a while… it’s stumped most people (including priests) I’ve asked so I was just wondering what you people think.

I’m only about 9 months a revert to the Church and some time early on (at a retreat) someone was talking to me about purgatory and said that the souls in purgatory couldn’t pray for themselves - we had to pray for them. This I understand. Then lots of times when we would pray a rosary people would ask various saints and angels to pray with us and sometimes would also ask the holy souls in purgatory to pray with us also. I took this on board but decided to reserve judgement until I got it cleared as orthodox (most practices or beliefs expressed by Catholics I met early on in my return were totally fine but some were iffy so I thought I’d check it out). However, no-one’s been able to clear it up for me.

The implication of course being that if souls in purgatory CAN pray (intercessory prayer) for us then the two miracles needed for the recognition of a universal saint could have been prayed-for while the person was in purgatory (and therefore not a saint in heaven).
Obviously I know that the other criteria to meet saint-hood - an extremely holy life etc is researched very thoroughly so I don’t really have a problem with the process - it’s just the intercessory prayer I was wondering about.

Can souls in purgatory pray for us?

 

[revert_jen]

The implication of course being that if souls in purgatory CAN pray (intercessory prayer) for us then the two miracles needed for the recognition of a universal saint could have been prayed-for while the person was in purgatory (and therefore not a saint in heaven).
Obviously I know that the other criteria to meet saint-hood - an extremely holy life etc is researched very thoroughly so I don’t really have a problem with the process - it’s just the intercessory prayer I was wondering about.

Can souls in purgatory pray for us?

I would be interested to hear the answer, too. My understanding has been that the souls in Purgatory can intercede for us to exactly the same extent as another person on earth can pray for us–except the soul in Purgatory is less likely to be distracted and forget. My understanding has also been that the one person a soul in Purgatory cannot pray for is him- or herself.

However, I do not have any official documents to back this up, and I’m not even sure where I got it from.

I look forward to hearing from the experts.

–Jen

 

[MarcoPolo]

The issue is not settled officially. It would seem the development in the Church has tended toward the idea that the souls in some capacity can pray for others. From the Catholic Encyclopedia*Do the souls in purgatory pray for us? May we call upon them in our needs? There is no decision of the Church on this subject, nor have the theologians pronounced with definiteness concerning the invocation of the souls in purgatory and their intercession for the living. In the ancient liturgies there are no prayers of the Church directed to those who are still in purgatory. On the tombs of the early Christians nothing is more common than a prayer or a supplication asking the departed to intercede with God for surviving friends, but these inscriptions seem always to suppose that the departed one is already with God. St. Thomas (II-II.83.11) denies that the souls in purgatory pray for the living, and states they are not in a position to pray for us, rather we must make intercession for them. Despite the authority of St. Thomas, many renowned theologians hold that the souls in purgatory really pray for us, and that we may invoke their aid. Bellarmine (De Purgatorio, lib. II, xv,) says the reason alleged by St. Thomas is not at all convincing, and holds that in virtue of their greater love of God and their union with Him their prayers may have great intercessory power, for they are really superior to us in love of God, and in intimacy of union with Him. Francisco Suárez (De poenit., disp. xlvii, s. 2, n. 9) goes farther and asserts “that the souls in purgatory are holy, are dear to God, love us with a true love and are mindful of our wants; that they know in a general way our necessities and our dangers, and how great is our need of divine help and divine grace”.

When there is question of invoking the prayers of those in purgatory, Bellarmine (loc. cit.) says it is superfluous, ordinarily speaking, for they are ignorant of our circumstances and condition. This is at variance with the opinion of Francisco Suárez, who admits knowledge at least in a general way, also with the opinions of many modern theologians who point to the practice now common with almost all the faithful of addressing their prayers and petitions for help to those who are still in a place of purgation. Scavini (Theol. Moral., XI, n. 174) sees no reason why the souls detained in purgatory may not pray for us, even as we pray for one another. He asserts that this practice has become common at Rome, and that it has the great name of St. Alphonsus in its favour. St. Alphonsus in his work the “Great Means of Salvation”, chap. I, III, 2, after quoting Sylvius, Gotti, Lessius, and Medina as favourable to his opinion, concludes: “so the souls in purgatory, being beloved by God and confirmed in grace, have absolutely no impediment to prevent them from praying for us. Still the Church does not invoke them or implore their intercession, because ordinarily they have no cognizance of our prayers. But we may piously believe that God makes our prayers known to them”. He alleges also the authority of St. Catharine of Bologna who “whenever she desired any favour had recourse to the souls in purgatory, and was immediately heard”.*