Purgatory or Limbo?

[MarysGirls]

Hey! Is there a difference between Purgatory and Limbo? If so, what is it?
Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Della]

Yes, there’s a big difference. Firstly, purgatory is a doctrine of the Faith and limbo only is a theological speculation.

Purgatory is reserved for those who die forgiven of all mortal sins but who have to pay for the temporal consequences of their sins.

Limbo, if it exists, is for the unbaptized child below the age of reason, not anyone capable of understanding the Faith.

That is the very basic differences. Check out the Catechism for fuller, better explanation (or wait for someone else who has the time to look them up and post them here ).

 

[Pug]

I’d like to add a little to what Della said. There is another key difference. Purgatory ends. Once the Second Coming happens, when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead, it ends, and everyone who is still there goes to heaven. Limbo, if it exists, is not like that. Limbo would remain forever, and once you are in the Limbus Infantium, you appear to stay there.

There was a Limbus Patrum, but that Limbo emptied out in the time of Christ’s death and resurrection. Those were the people waiting for Christ to open the gates of heaven, which he has done. He went there to free the just who had gone before him. There is a line in the Apostle’s Creed, he descended into hell…

Limbo is a state of simple/natural happiness. Purgatory is not typically described as a place of happiness. It is a state of purgation or expiation, and has been compared with a purifying fire.

This is just a brief few words about it.

 

[VociMike]

<personal_opinion>Purgatory is God’s final mercy to those of us who can’t or won’t quite get our acts together here on earth. Limbo (of the Infants) is a horrid and legalistic concept that I can’t imagine God would have any part of. </personal_opinion>

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Hey! Is there a difference between Purgatory and Limbo? If so, what is it?
Thanks in advance!!!

Purgatory is a temporary place or state of purification for those who dies in a state of Grace but are not pure enough for entry into Heaven.
Limbo of the Fathers is the place where those justified under the old waited for Christ to open the gates of Heaven, It may have been in a sense a “purgatory”
Limbo of the Infants is one possibility of the place of unbaptized infants, who may not be able to enter The Kingdom and are not condemned to the Hell of the Damned, in a manner it’s saying that we do not know what happens to un-Baptized infants who die with only Original Sin on their souls.

 

[MarysGirls]

Thanks for all of your replies!!! So, is the existence of Limbo of the Infants taught by the Church, or is that just speculation? I would look it up in the Catechism, but I don’t have the time.

 

[Pug]

Thanks for all of your replies!!! So, is the existence of Limbo of the Infants taught by the Church, or is that just speculation? I would look it up in the Catechism, but I don’t have the time.

It is not a doctrine/dogma of the Church. You don’t have to believe in that Limbo. It is not proposed by the Church as an item of faith. I think many older people were told about it as a possibility in their catechism classes as children, though. You can find it mentioned in the old Baltimore Catechism.

You cannot find the Limbus Infantium in the CCC (the current catechism). You can find the Limbus Patrum described, however, under the line of the Creed that I mentioned. Read paragraphs 632 through 635. Read about what the CCC does say about unbaptized infants in paragraph 1261:

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,"64 allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

 

[MarysGirls]

It is not a doctrine/dogma of the Church. You don’t have to believe in that Limbo. It is not proposed by the Church as an item of faith. I think many older people were told about it as a possibility in their catechism classes as children, though. You can find it mentioned in the old Baltimore Catechism.

You cannot find the Limbus Infantium in the CCC (the current catechism). You can find the Limbus Patrum described, however, under the line of the Creed that I mentioned. Read paragraphs 632 through 635. Read about what the CCC does say about unbaptized infants in paragraph 1261:

Thanks Pug. That was really helpful!

 

[thistle]

Thanks for all of your replies!!! So, is the existence of Limbo of the Infants taught by the Church, or is that just speculation? I would look it up in the Catechism, but I don’t have the time.

It has never been a Church teaching. It has always only been a theological hypothesis.

 

[Pug]

Thanks Pug. That was really helpful!

You’re welcome, MarysGirls.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Thanks for all of your replies!!! So, is the existence of Limbo of the Infants taught by the Church, or is that just speculation? I would look it up in the Catechism, but I don’t have the time.

You won’t find it in the Catechism, only that we don’t know what happens to infants who die without Baptism, but can only hope their might be a way known only to God, and to have children Baptized without delay.

It is simply one possible answer to an unanswered question.

 

[Strategery]

Thanks for all of your replies!!! So, is the existence of Limbo of the Infants taught by the Church, or is that just speculation? I would look it up in the Catechism, but I don’t have the time.

Just as a piece of unsolicited advice - if you have the time to post in a forum like this, you have the time to check in the catechism. And you’re chances of getting an authoritative answer are better.

 

[MarysGirls]

Just as a piece of unsolicited advice - if you have the time to post in a forum like this, you have the time to check in the catechism. And you’re chances of getting an authoritative answer are better.

You may be right there. But looking in the Catechism is longer because first I have to find where it talks about it, and then (the hard part) I have to understand it. I really need one of those teen catechisms, because I have always had a hard time understanding the Catechism due to my limited vocabulary. :blush:

 

[VociMike]

You may be right there. But looking in the Catechism is longer because first I have to find where it talks about it, and then (the hard part) I have to understand it. I really need one of those teen catechisms, because I have always had a hard time understanding the Catechism due to my limited vocabulary. :blush:

It’s not as hard as you think. I just did a search of the online Catechism and found zero, none, references to Limbo. That should make the position of the Church on the question pretty clear.

 

[Strategery]

You may be right there. But looking in the Catechism is longer because first I have to find where it talks about it, and then (the hard part) I have to understand it. I really need one of those teen catechisms, because I have always had a hard time understanding the Catechism due to my limited vocabulary. :blush:

My apologies, that was uncharitable on my part.

There’s a good searchable catechism at this link. I’ve found it very helpful. Here’s what comes up for purgatory:

4 matching paragraphs found.
Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 12, SubSection 3

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. 606 The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: 607

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. 608

Part 2, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, SubSection 10, Heading 2

1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain. 84

Part 2, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, SubSection 10, Heading 3

1475 In the communion of saints, “a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.” 87 In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.

Part 2, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 4, SubSection 11

1498 Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.

The word “limbo” doesn’t appear in the catechism at all, to my knowledge. Regarding death of the unbaptised, here’s what the catechism says:

VI. THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. 60 He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. 61 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. 62 The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.

1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

1260 “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.” 63 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” 64 allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

 

[Della]

You may be right there. But looking in the Catechism is longer because first I have to find where it talks about it, and then (the hard part) I have to understand it. I really need one of those teen catechisms, because I have always had a hard time understanding the Catechism due to my limited vocabulary. :blush:

I’ve found the word search function for the online Catechism to be very word specific. Even knowing some of the words in the quote I was looking for it took me a few tries to find the quote relating to the fate of unbaptized children, which is as close to the idea of limbo as the Catechism comes that I know of: children who die without baptism. As you can see, it doesn’t say much because we don’t really know their ultimate fate, and so we commend them to God’s mercy:

1283 With respect to children who have died without Baptism, the liturgy of the Church invites us to trust in God’s mercy and to pray for their salvation.

 

[Pug]

But looking in the Catechism is longer because first I have to find where it talks about it

I agree, it can be difficult to find something in the CCC if you don’t already have a good idea what words might be in the paragraph that talks about your topic, or if you aren’t immediately sure which line of the Creed or Our Father that it would be filed under. The index in the first English edition was less than adequate. If you still have that edition, you ought to update to the next edition, which, among other things, has a better index for finding stuff.

 

[MarysGirls]

My apologies, that was uncharitable on my part.

There’s a good searchable catechism at this link. I’ve found it very helpful. Here’s what comes up for purgatory:

The word “limbo” doesn’t appear in the catechism at all, to my knowledge. Regarding death of the unbaptised, here’s what the catechism says:

Don’t apologize, you had a good point.