MED-76Private revelationAccount·Vincent Ferrer·T4 (as retold) — visions and the collections that retell them
St Vincent Ferrer's sister, in flames at his Mass, asks about thirty Masses; centuries are reduced to thirty days (Schouppe; Petrisko); O'Sullivan, Read Me or Rue It says only that his prayers and Masses spared her an interminable time
How it happened
- Apparitions — In flames, chains or mourningThe soul is seen
What the soul wanted
- Asks for MassesOften a stated number
- Thanks, or announces releaseThe soul returns to give thanks or to say it is free
Evidence
- It stopped once help was givenThe visits ceased after the suffrage asked
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. 114–115 |
| PetriskoInside Purgatory — Thomas W. Petrisko, 2000 | p. 34 |
| O'Sullivan, Read Me or Rue ItRead Me or Rue It — Fr Paul O'Sullivan OP, 1936 | p. 8 |
Page numbers refer to the edition named in the source list.
The Church’s teaching on this
- Question: When the souls appear, what do they ask for?
- Question: What should I do for the dead?
- Chapter: Time and Intensity
- Chapter: How We Help the Holy Souls
- Chapter: The Three States of the Church and the Communion of Saints
- Question: Do the souls in Purgatory know we pray for them?
- Question: Can the souls in Purgatory pray for us?
- Question: Can my refusal to forgive keep a soul in Purgatory?
What the witnesses report on this
- Theme E: What the souls know, and do, for the livingWho prays for them, whether they pray for us, warnings, help and gratitude.
- Theme F: The most efficacious prayers and worksThe Mass first; then prayer, alms, works of mercy, indulgences — and the traps.
- Theme G: Durations and intensityFrom a quarter of an hour to “until Judgment Day” — and why no figure is a fact.
About the witness
Patristic and medieval stockto c. 1500 · T4 (as retold) — visions and the collections that retell them
Told differently elsewhere
- One version
- "reduced to thirty days" (Schouppe 115; Petrisko's quotation)
- Another
- Petrisko's headline: "on the thirteenth day" (Petrisko 34)
- What differs
- a headline discrepancy in the source catalogue
Related, from the same witness family
- MED-04Gregory the Great: The monk Justus freed on the thirtieth Mass (Gregory), root of the Gregorian Masses
- MED-05Bede (Drithelm): Drithelm dies, is led through a valley of fire and ice, and returns (Bede)
- MED-09Peter Damian: St Severinus of Cologne to a canon: six months for a hastily said Office; Ursuline of Sligo adds that he stands waist-deep in a …
- MED-10Queen Guda: King Sancho of León to Queen Guda on a Saturday, in mourning and red-hot chains; after her fasts, Masses, alms and …
- MED-15St Bernard: St Malachy's sister appears in stages (outside the church, on the threshold, in the aisle, by the altar) as his …
- MED-16St Bernard: A tepid monk of Clairvaux seen in the abyss; once delivered, he points to the altar, "the Saving Host" (St Bernard)
- MED-20Christine the Admirable: St Christine the Admirable dies, is shown Purgatory and Hell, returns to suffer for the souls; forty-two years of …
- MED-22St Antoninus: A sick religious chooses three days of Purgatory over a year of illness; after one hour (Ursuline of Sligo: one day) he thinks it …