The two great commandments are to love God above all things and one’s neighbor as oneself. The highest regard that can be paid to one’s neighbor is to remember him, and all the poor souls in Purgatory after they have passed out of this world beyond the grave. These souls no longer possess the power to perform virtue and root out faults; and with imploring, but tied, hands, they constantly require the Church Militant on earth to pray and sacrifice for them. One must remember their great need at all times, but especially during the month of November, which the Church has set aside to make great strides in succoring the souls so loved by God, and yet detained by His justice.
The season has passed from the heat of summer to the crispness of Autumn with all its bounty. Many reap from the gardens and fields that which God graciously bestowed to them through the labor of their hands. Harvests are celebrated and preserved in various ways all around the world. Fittingly, we retire with full larder and bursting barns in order to now pull from the treasure of graces and indulgences, that are available at every moment for the relief of the poor souls in Purgatory, again, from our Father’s loving hand. To better make use of these graces, and to preserve a holy life,
The Month of the Souls in Purgatory, by the Abbé Berlioux, contains a valuable harvest of devotions, practices and meditations toward sanctifying the month of November. The book is excellent as a daily reader for the month, but also very useful for the anniversaries of the deaths of loved ones, whose daily assistance is a chief duty of the Church Militant. Let us remember the dead, and look to our last day as well.
Each chapter contains the whole day’s reading, prayer, and a fitting example for the reading, usually taken from the author’s personal knowledge or some other historical example. The main theme is the nature and duration of Purgatory’s pains. As each of the thirty days of November progress, the subjects cover every possible facet of devotion to the Church Suffering, solidifying for the devotee a rich theological truth and piety. The methods of relieving the souls are all detailed, that the reader may perform that which is among the highest charitable acts.
The examples after each reading reflect upon each truth taught each day. Many of the stories are parallel truths that bring the reader to a realization of the earnestness of the November devotions, and others are simply inspiring about individuals who understood the necessity of praying to and for the dead and gained all favors from the delivered souls. Truly, those who persevere through this devotion will save their own souls, the souls around them, and deliver many souls from the fires and pains of Purgatory.
The Month of the Souls in Purgatory was first published in French at Grenoble.by Abbé Berlioux, a priest of that diocese and parish priest of the church of St. Bruno. In this work, he calls out to the reader, addressing him by the name, “Christian Soul”, in nearly each day’s reading as he gets to the point of what the individual could do to utilize and live a Christian life based on a greater devotion to the souls in Purgatory, increasing the seriousness of the tone as well as gripping the attention of the reader with it. In its pages you will find:
- An organized 30 days of devotions to the Holy Souls for the complete month of November;
- Daily spiritual reading on the various truths and means of the devotion;
- A detailed study of the pains and helplessness of Souls in Purgatory, and ways to personally apply the message;
- Daily prayers to and for these suffering souls;
- Daily examples of true-life stories that draw out the truths within each day’s reading;
- A special Rosary of the Dead.
