The Medieval Doctrine of Purgatory

Synopsis

It would be nearly impossible to exaggerate the significance of purgatory in the life of the medieval church, especially in the way that life was lived by individual Christians. The antechamber of heaven where the good but not perfect souls suffer their temporary punishment had a fixed place in the beliefs of virtually all Christians in the Western Church and deeply affected their religious practices. Apart from heretics like the Waldensians and the Cathars and, later, John Wyclif, purgatory was believed in as firmly as the Eucharist, the divinity of Christ, the Trinity and other central beliegfs of the church and played a role almost as large as the Eucharist and the Virgin in the daily devotional lives of people. The one could assist one's deceased father and mother and other loved ones and shorten their stay in purgatory led to the development of a rich variety of religious devotions and practices, from which, it is safe to say, no parish in Christendom was exempt.

Cited from F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. London & New York: Routledge, 2002. Pbk. ISBN: 0415132886. p.287. Logan's section on purgatory (pp.287-294) is excellent.

Primary Sources

	Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, D.H. Farmer, editor, Leo Sherley-Price, translator. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1955. Pbk. ISBN: 014044565X. Book 5, Chapter 12.
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	Dante, The Divine Comedy, 3 Vols. Charles S. Singleton, translator. Princeton, 1070-75.
	Dante, The Divine Comedy, Canticle II: Purgatorio (Purgatory) [E-BOOK: ADOBE READER].
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	Joseph McGuinness, Lough Derg: St Patrick's Purgatory. Columba Press, 2003. Pbk. ISBN: 1856072959. pp.96.
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	Saint Patrick's Purgatory: A Record from History and Literature, J.R.S. Leslie, trans. 1932. pp.195-215.

Secondary Sources

	R.R. Atwell, "From Augustine to Gregory the Great: An Evaluation of the Emergence of the Doctrine of Purgatory," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 38.2 (1987): 173-186.
	David Brown, "No Heaven without Purgatory," Religious Studies 21.4 (1985): 427-456.
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	Robert Easting, ed., St Patrick's Purgatory. Early English Text Society, Original Series, No. 298. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952. Hbk. ISBN: 0197223001. pp.432.
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	Shane Leslie, Saint Patrick's Purgatory: a record from history and literature. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1932. pp.xlvii + 215.
	F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. London & New York: Routledge, 2002. Pbk. ISBN: 0415132894. pp.287-294.
	J.R. McNally, Patrick's Purgatory. Lion and Lamb Press, 2001. Hbk. ISBN: 0967828627. pp.340.
	Takami Matsuda, Death and Purgatory in Middle English Didactic Poetry. Woodbridge, Suffolk / Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 1997. Hbk. ISBN: 0859915077. pp.288.
	Gerhard Ludwig Muller, "Purgatory," Theology Digest 33.4 (1986): 31-36.
	Barbara Newman, ."Hildegard of Bingen and the Birth of Purgatory," Mystics Quarterly 19.3 (1993): 90-97.
	Robert Ombres, OP, The Theology of Purgatory. Theology Today, 24. Dublin: Mercier Press, 1978. ISBN: 0853426139.
	Robert Ombres, OP, "The Doctrine of Purgatory According to St. Thomas Aquinas," Downside Review 99 (1981): 279-87.
	Robert Ombres, "The Latins and Greek in Debate Over Purgatory, 1230 - 1439," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 35.1 (1984): 1-14.
	Thomas W. Petrisko, Inside Purgatory: What History Theology and the Mystics Tell Us About Purgatory. St. Andrew's Productions, 2000. Pbk. ISBN: 1891903241. pp.108.

Related Subjects

	Eschatology
	Purgatory

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