purgatory
Sign in to savethumb|upright=0.9|right|Image of a fiery purgatory by Ludovico Carracci. Top: Christ directing, with Mary and interceding saints. Middle: Angel showing a soul the intercessors. Bottom: souls being purged with various attitudes.
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Purgatory is a place or state of purification believed in Catholic and some other Christian traditions where souls are cleansed of sin after death before entering heaven. It matters to believers because it represents an opportunity for spiritual purification and the possibility of divine mercy for those who die imperfectly prepared, and the image shows how souls are supported by Christ, Mary, and saints during this process.
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Article
31 sectionsContents
- History of the belief
- Christianity
- Catholicism
- The Purgatory of Catholic doctrine
- Role in relation to the church
- Role in relation to sin
- St Catherine of Genoa
- Duration
- Eastern Catholics
- Popular notions of Purgatory
- As a place
- Fire
- Depictions
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Protestantism
- Lutheranism
- Anglicanism
- Methodism
- Reformed
- Walls' argument
- Latter-day Saint Movement
- Analogous concepts in other religions
- Judaism
- Mandaeism
- Islam
- Hinduism
- Zoroastrianism
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|upright=0.9|right|Image of a fiery purgatory by Ludovico Carracci. Top: Christ directing, with Mary and interceding saints. Middle: Angel showing a soul the intercessors. Bottom: souls being purged with various attitudes.
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a belief in Catholic theology. It is a passing intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul before entering Heaven. A common analogy is dross being removed from gold in a furnace.