... When he has
quitted his body, and the difference between virtue and vice is known,
he cannot be admitted to approach the Divinity till the purging fire
shall have expiated the stains with which his soul was infected. The
same fire, in others, will cancel the corruption of matter and the
propensity to evil." [1]
[Footnote 1: Orat. de Defunctis. T. ii., p. 1066, 1067, 1068.]
ST. CYRIL of Jerusalem: "Then" (in the Liturgy of the Church) "we pray
for the holy Fathers and Bishops that are dead; and, in short, for all
those who are departed this life in our communion; believing that the
souls of those, for whom the prayers, are offered, receive very great
relief while this holy and tremendous victim lies upon the altar." [1]
[Footnote 1: Catech. Mystag., V. N., ix., x., p. 328.]
ST. EPIPHANIUS writes: "There is nothing more opportune, nothing more
to be admired, than the rite which directs the names of the dead to be
mentioned. They are aided by the prayer that is offered for them,
though it may not cancel all their faults. We mention both the just and
sinners, in order that for the latter we may obtain mercy." [1]
[Footnote 1: Haer. IV. Lib. LXXV., T. i., p. 911.]
ST. AUGUSTINE speaks as follows: "The prayers of the Church, or of good
persons, are heard in favor of those Christians who departed this life
not so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be
entitled to immediate happiness.
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