Purgatory Artwork Detail

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April

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Gracious it’s me again. With yet another question, don’t cha’ just love new Catholics, lol. I was looking at different artwork on Pintrest of Purgatory, very beautiful work, and I noticed that in many, not all, but a high number of these artworks show Souls being taken up while passing down or over to another left behind a scapular. Or Souls having them in hands, or Angels handing them out. In some even the Blessed Mother is handing them out/down. Ok, did I miss something within Purgatory class about that, or what? Are they using them to pray for us, or are they using them for comfort? Or is this just artistic liberty taken to communicate the Graces and Promises attached to the scapular for us now living? Help a newbie out here! Thanks
 
if any poster here has about a half of an our hour or so free time ;
read the link from endtimer
 
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That first painting in your link is Rosary beads. No idea in the second.

The third is also Rosary beads
 
There are two that I seen. Did they show up? I am still new at this forum stuff.
 
They did, thanks. 🙂

The first one is definitely a Carmelite image. So it’s an Our-Lady-of-Mt-Carmel-With-Carmelite-Saints-and-Carmelite-Scapulars. (See how everyone with clothes are wearing brown?) The little bit at the bottom says "Our Lady of Mt Carmel. The female saint on the left is Teresa of Avila; the male saint on the right is John of the Cross. Both were Doctors of the Church. You can imply by the tonsures on the male figures that the souls in Purgatory are also a group of Carmelites.

The original image is by an artist named Chavez, and was in a convent called The Museum of Guadalupe, Formerly the Convent of the Propagation of the Faith of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Zacatas, Mexico.

When you have a religious order, the religious order helps its members get to heaven. It’s a community. So this is a visual representation of how you have the souls of Carmelites who have died, and how the intercession of Mary under the title of Our Lady of Carmel, as well as the intercession of prominent, beatified Carmelites, all working together to free the souls in Purgatory. The souls who are ascending to heaven have the brown scapular (which is the little tags of cloth on a string) which is a small, secular version of the big brown bibs the two saints are wearing as part of their religious habit. And the fact that the souls with the scapulars are ascending is a visual reference to the Brown Scapular Promise.
 
The second painting is by Louis Sotta, and is at the Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Saintes. It’s from the first half of the 19th c. It’s more of a standard intercession pose-- Jesus is in his Infant form, which draws attention to his mother’s presence as the Mother of God. God is the one who is able to bring the souls from Purgatory. The scapular is there, but notice that it’s in the hands of an angel-- it’s not doing the souls in Purgatory any good, because Scapulars are meant for the living.

The interesting thing about this picture is actually cropped out of this image. If you pull back a bit, and look at it in its original context in the Cathedral–


You’ll see that it has the legend “Privileged Altar” written over it in French. A Privileged Altar is an altar where a plenary indulgence can be gained for a soul in Purgatory when a Mass is said there. So that’s the purpose for the painting to be there in the first place-- when you celebrate Mass there for a soul, it helps put your mind on what your prayers are supposed to be working on at that moment in time.

We haven’t used Privileged Altars since Paul VI. This explains it a little more thoroughly.
 
Wow, great info. So I guess my answer is that these images, helps us living faithful, to be mindful of the Graces we can use for those poor souls to reach heaven… Right?
 
Right. So those are double-edged paintings, in a manner of speaking— you’re supposed to simultaneously remember those who have gone before, and support them with your prayers, so that they may enjoy the Beatific Vision all the sooner; but at the same time, you’re supposed to imagine the day when you will be in their same situation, and act accordingly to minimize or bypass that fate of possibly being forgotten and/or neglected after our deaths.
 
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I am so moved for these poor souls. Since learning about this in RCIA I have just prayed so much about gaining true knowledge of how to help. @Tis_Bearself can verify how much I ask and seek out knowledge about this subject of indulgences and purgatory. I must admit, I get discouraged about the actual surity of gaining them but I keep trying to do it right. I pray that Christ will see my love and desire to get them and maybe that in His Mercy he applies them anyway. My Deacon tells me that gaining indulgences is an old practice and that it is a sore subject for most people. I was really sad after he told me that, but I just keep trying g to gain knowledge anyway. It might be disobedience, but I feel pulled to pray for them. I sprinkle Holy Water on the ground twice a day for them, say my intentions every morning, teach my children about gaining indulgences, plus when they get hurt (boys who love to ride bikes and climb trees) to offer up the pain of cuts, scrapes, stub toes, and other boo-boo’s. I don’t think I am over zealous or superstitious, because it is not the actual work but the sacrifice/love/devotion of the work itself.
 
Heehee, I do the holy water thing, too. 😛

This is one anecdote that I always remember—
A woman from Bolzano, Italy, for many years had offered up the Blood of Jesus for deceased priests.

Being overwhelmed by her domestic duties and caring for her sick husband, she had begun to neglect this pious practice.

One afternoon, while she had dozed off, she witnessed her room suddenly becoming crowded with countless priests, until it seemed that not one more would fit into the room.

They were priests of all ages, and of all nationalities.

They seemed to be waiting anxiously.

The woman was surprised and wanted to ask them what they were waiting for, but before she could, a very young priest approached her and he said: “We are waiting for the thirty three offerings of the Blood of Christ, in order to obtain relief from our punishment.”

It was at that point that the woman understood the great effectiveness of this devotion which she had neglected. From that day on she said this chaplet for priests faithfully. The thirty three offerings of the Blood of Jesus is an ancient Italian devotion for priests in purgatory.

By praying this pious devotion, relief is brought to priests who are suffering in purgatory, singular graces can be obtained for those who pray it, as well as conversions. Priests become zealous apostles, illnesses have been healed, perfection of the soul increased.

A priest once told me: “No one is more dead than a dead priest because no one prays for him!”
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April said:
I must admit, I get discouraged about the actual surity of gaining them but I keep trying to do it right. I pray that Christ will see my love and desire to get them and maybe that in His Mercy he applies them anyway
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From what I’ve read, every little bit helps. Even if you say just one Hail Mary, or “Jesus, have mercy on the Souls in Purgatory and the souls on earth”, it helps. Especially in cases where a soul was forgotten and has no one to pray for them.
 
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I have read similar stories about how deceased priests get forgotten.
I do a devotion every Monday for deceased priests that I got out of Elizabeth Kindelmann’s Flame of Love diary. I hope it helps a few priests.
I also looked up all the priests I could remember from my old parishes and put them on my prayer lists (one list for living and one for deceased).
 
Was at the museum the other day ago, and ran across a Scapular-and-Purgatory painting in person. 🙂 So I thought of this thread. I thought it was interesting, because in this painting, in person, the scapular struck me as being very substantial, although the effect doesn’t quite convey in the photo. It might have had something to do with being able to see the painting in person at its full dimensions, rather than just a photo where you can’t grasp the scale.

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