Gregory, and Innocent XI. enriched it with
indulgences. "God has made known to me," says the venerable sister
Marie Denise de Martignat, "that a devotion to the death of St. Joseph
obtains many graces for those who are agonizing, and that, as St.
Joseph did not at once pass into heaven--because Jesus Christ had not
opened its gates--but descended into Limbo, it is a most useful
devotion for the agonizing, and for the souls in Purgatory, to offer to
God the resignation of St. Joseph when he was dying and about to leave
Jesus and Mary in this world, and to honor the holy patience of this
great Saint waiting calmly in Limbo until Easter-day, when Jesus
Christ, risen and glorious, released him." And if St. Joseph consoles
the souls in Purgatory, none will be so dear to him as those who were
devout to him in life, and zealous in spreading a devotion to him.
ST. FRANCIS DE SALES ON PURGATORY [1]
[Footnote 1: Consoling Thoughts of St Francis de Sales. Arranged by
Rev. Father Huguet. Pp. 336-7.]
The opinion of St. Francis de Sales was that from the thought of
Purgatory we should draw more consolation than pain. The greater number
of those, he said, who fear Purgatory so much, do so in consideration
of their own interests and of the love they bear themselves rather than
the interests of God; and this happens because those who treat of this
place from the pulpit usually speak of its pains and are silent in
regard to the happiness and peace which are found in it.
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