According to Dictionary.com, purgatory is “a condition or place during which the souls of those dying…are purified…from sins.” Essentially, purgatory is an element of the Catholic doctrine of religion where a “final purification” occurs with a view to “achieve the holiness crucial to enter…heaven,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1030-31).
The famous theologian Augustine – considered a founding father of Christianity – advocated praying for the dead. He felt prayer removed the ultimate traces of sin after a human passed away. According to Catholic Online, St. Augustine lead a lifetime of drinking and sexual immorality. Could Augustine’s inner guilt from his personal experiences with sin lead him to embrace the concept of purgatory? Perhaps so.
In his book, Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Love, Augustine says,
It is a matter that could be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall go through a form of purgatorial fire, and in proportion as they’ve loved with roughly devotion the products that perish, be less or more quickly delivered from it. This cannot, nevertheless, be the case of any of those of whom it is claimed, that they shall not inherit the dominion of God, unless after suitable repentance their sins be forgiven them (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love, Chapter 69).
