Hello All! 
I am a convert and only came into the Church this past Easter.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question!!
Do you believe that some people spend their
PURGATORY
on Earth?
I personally feel that it is a VERY likely possibility.
I DON"T remember this being discussed when I was in RCIA.
THANKS in advance for your insight into this fascinating subject.
When the belief was under development, some thought that people would return to the place of their own sins, to purge themseloves or be purged or whatever.
But the earliest ideas were that people were sequestered in ‘pockets’ or hidden places awaiting judgment and it was a time of suffering for those who were not quite wicked enough to merit eternal damnation but not quite nice enough to merit heaven as they were. That was the theory, beginning apparently with Saint Augustine.
Then there was the notion of trial by fire. Some people thought that everyone went through this fire, which burns away the dross and leaves the precious. It was like a test everyone, even saints, had to pass through, but for bad people it was much more painful and enduring. At the time some suggested even the Mother of God went through this test, of course she passed with flying colors
.
Later the idea of galleries full of sinners and big pits with many people in them was the vogue. These people were recognizable to those who saw them in their dreams, and they could talk, explaining what was happening to them and why.
There were a lot of visions and dreams of suffering people appearing to monastics explaining what they were going through and pleading for prayers and alms which would relieve them, which gave a big boost both to the idea of Purgatory and to the idea of giving alms for the benefit of loved ones. They weren’t afraid to name names and point out the sins either, kings like Charlemagne were popular subjects.
By the time Dante wrote his very interesting books (I love them) he was following a well worn tradition of placing noblemen, merchants, clergy, mercenaries and even Popes in Purgatory for one reason or another.
When the final product was rolled out the idea the people would suffer at the places of sin was not included, but I don’t think it was specifically excluded either. Certainly some important and devout Christians did think that purgation
as a process did occur on earth after death, and some felt that penances or sufferings in life had the same effect.
I was reading a book by Jacques LeGoff (a French medievalist scholar) on this subject very recently. I was so fascinated by the subject I might check it out again.
