Loudun, 1660: Mother Gabriel de Colombière (Schouppe: "Mother of the Incarnation") appears 6 Nov at 3–4 a.m., her face like a burning coal; the Superior's arm is burned brushing her mantle; she does part of her Purgatory "among us" and is freed on 8 Dec
How it happened
- Apparitions — Form not describedThe soul is seen
- Touch and physical tracesHeat, touch, a weight; burns and prints left on objects
What the soul wanted
- Asks for prayer or other helpRosary, Stations, Office, Communion, fasting, obedience, pilgrimage, indulgences
- Thanks, or announces releaseThe soul returns to give thanks or to say it is free
Evidence
- A lasting physical traceA burn or print that remained
- A contemporary inquiry or documentA canonical inquiry, a signed letter, an official report
Further reading
Read it in the books
| Book | Pages |
|---|---|
| SchouppePurgatory Illustrated by the Lives and Legends of the Saints — Fr F. X. Schouppe SJ, 1893 | pp. 143–144 |
| Ursuline of SligoStories about Purgatory and What They Reveal — An Ursuline of Sligo, 1904 (TAN 2005) | pp. 109–111 |
Page numbers refer to the edition named in the source list.
The Church’s teaching on this
- Chapter: The Place of Purgatory
- Chapter: The Witnesses’ Map of Purgatory
- Question: Is Purgatory a place?
- Question: Do the souls appear to the living? What about “ghosts”?
- Chapter: The Fathers and Tradition
- Chapter: The Saints and Mystics
- Question: When the souls appear, what do they ask for?
- Chapter: Gaining Indulgences for the Holy Souls
What the witnesses report on this
- Theme C: Where the souls expiate — a place, the earth, the house, the “ghost”Purgatory as a place, souls serving their Purgatory on earth, haunted houses.
- Theme D: How the souls appear and communicateIn flames, as light, as voices, burn marks — and what they ask for.
- Theme H: Days and hoursAll Souls, Christmas, Easter, Our Lady's feasts, Saturdays, the moment of the Mass.
- Theme I: ConsolationsJoy and pain together; Our Lady, the angels and St Michael among the souls.
About the witness
Early-modern saints and religiousc. 1500–1800 · T4 — visions and the collections that retell them
Told differently elsewhere
- One version
- "Mother of the Incarnation" (Schouppe 143–144)
- Another
- Mother Gabriel de Colombière (Ursuline of Sligo 109–111, the fuller original)
- What differs
- the name
Related, from the same witness family
- EMO-01Teresa of Avila: the souls she freed rise "from the bosom of the earth"; a provincial with the face of a man under thirty; a young …
- EMO-02Teresa of Avila: Bernardino de Mendoza, saved for his gift of a convent, is freed at the first Mass in the new house; she sees him …
- EMO-03Teresa of Avila: the demon tries to stop her Office of the Dead on All Souls' eve and flees holy water; souls leave Purgatory
- EMO-06Teresa of Avila: a Carmelite two days, another four hours; a Jesuit freed at the next day's Mass; a Jesuit brother rising with Christ
- EMO-07Louis Bertrand: St Louis Bertrand (Valencia, 1557): a plague-dead religious returns as promised; a layman sees the earth open and …
- EMO-09Louis Bertrand: souls come to thank or beg, especially on All Souls' (Gemminger); O'Sullivan, Read Me or Rue It tells only that his own father is freed only after …
- EMO-10Magdalen de Pazzi: St Magdalen de Pazzi's two-hour ecstatic walk through the "prisons" of Purgatory, sorted by sin (overheard by her …
- EMO-11Magdalen de Pazzi: a dead sister rises from the earth and spends her last hour of penance adoring at the altar, a white robe under her …