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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

might these three purgatories be alternative names for the Limbo of the fathers (purgatory of justice?), Limbo of the unbaptized infants (purgatory of mercy?) and the 'normal' purgatory (purgatory of grace?).

Best,
Harm

dr Harm Goris
senior lecturer in systematic theology
School of Catholic Theology (Utrecht campus)
Tilburg University
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Van: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] namens Paul Chandler [[log in to unmask]]
Verzonden: woensdag 4 januari 2017 8:34
Aan: [log in to unmask]
Onderwerp: Re: [M-R] 'levels' of purgatory

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Meg, I don't think these levels of purgatory are part of the "official" teaching on the subject. I just checked the relevant section in Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (1952), a handy guide for such things, and there is nothing of the kind there. The Supplement to Thomas Aquinas' Summa says only that the intensity and duration of the purgation are proportional to the faults (Summa theol., III, Supplementum, q. 70, art. 3 <http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5070.htm>).

I think this idea is more likely to come from the visions of purgatory so common among mystics, especially women, in the medieval period. If memory serves St Francesca Romana (d. 1444) also saw a three-level purgatory, but I'm not sure if she was before or after the anonymous author you mention.

The latest serious work on the idea of purgatory is Diana Walsh Pasulka, Heaven Can Wait: Purgatory in Catholic Devotional and Popular Culture, Oxford: OUP, 2015; and of course there is Jacques Le Goff's The Birth of Purgatory, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. Eileen Gardiner (ed.), Medieval Visions of Heaven and Hell: A Sourcebook New York: Garland Pub, 1993, might also be helpful. -- Paul

On 4 January 2017 at 11:15, Cormack, Margaret Jean <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

In Medieval Writings on Female Spirituality ed. with an introduction and notes by Elizabeth Spearing. Penguin Books. 2002 p. 223 an anonymous visionary mentions 3 types of purgatory, the purgatory of justice, purgatory of mercy, purgatory of grace. Has anyone heard of these levels of purgatory in a more learned theological context?

Thanks and Happy New Year,

Meg

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Paul Chandler, O.Carm.
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