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ESCHATOLOGY
OR

THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF
THE LAST THINGS
A DOGMATIC TREATISE
BY

THE RT. REV. MSGR. JOSEPH POHLE, Ph.D.,D.D.

ADAPTED AND EDITED

BY

ARTHUR PREUSS
Seventh, Revised Edition

B. HERDER BOOK CO.,
15 & 17 SOUTH BROADWAY, ST. LOUIS, MO.,
AND
33 QUEEN SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.
1937

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Printed in U. S. A.

NIHIL OBSTAT

Sti. Ludovici, die 2. Maii, 1929,
Joannes Rothensteiner,

Censor Librorum

IMPRIMATUR

Sti. Ludovici, die 3. Maii, 1929,
Joannes J. Glennon,

Archiepiscopus

Copyright 1917
BY JOSEPH GUMMERSBACH
First Edition, 1917
Second Edition, 1918
Third Edition, 1920
Fourth Edition, 1924
Fifth Edition, 1927
Sixth Edition, 1929

Vail-Ballou Preu, Inc., Binghamton and New York

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAO·
INTRODUCTION................................................................................. i

Part I. Eschatology of Man as

an

Individual ....

S

Ch. I. Death....................................................................................... S
Ch. II. The Particular Judgment................................................ >8

§ i. Existence of a Particular Judgment..............................18
§ 2. Time of the Particular Judgment............................. 22
Ch. III. Heaven...............................................................................28

§ i. The Existence of Heaven................................................28
§2. The Properties of Heaven............................................... 39
Ch. IV. Hell..................................................................................... 45

§ i. The Existence of Hell......................................................45
§2. Nature of the Punishment................................................52
§3. Characteristics of the Pains of Hell .... 65
Ch. V. Purgatory...............................................................................75

§ i. The Existence of Purgatory......................................... 75
§2. Nature and Duration of Purgatory............................. 83
§3. Succoring the Dead............................................................ 92

Part II. Eschatology of the Human Race............................102
Ch. I. The Signs that are to Precede the General Judg­
ment..................................................................... 103

Ch. II. The Resurrection of the Flesh.................................. 121
§ i. Reality of the Resurrection........................................ 121
§2. Universality of the Resurrection................................. 132
§3. Natureof the Risen Body.............................................. 138
Ch. III. The Last Judgment.................................................... >49
§ i. Reality of the Last Judgment........................................149
§ 2. Chiliasm, or the Theory of a Millennium . . .155

Index........................................................................................................... rôl

INTRODUCTION
I. Definition.—Eschatology is the crown
and capstone of dogmatic theology. It may be
defined as “the doctrine of the last things,’’ and
tells how the creatures called into being and raised
to the supernatural state by God, find their last
end in Him, of whom, and by whom, and in
whom, as Holy Scripture says, “are all things.’’1
Eschatology is anthropological and cosmo­
logical rather than theological; for, though it
deals with God as the Consummator and Uni­
versal Judge, strictly speaking its subject is the
created universe, i. e. man and the cosmos.
The consummation of the world is not left to
“fate” (fatum, ύμαρμίνη). God is a just judge,
who distinguishes strictly between virtue and vice
and metes out reward or punishment to every
man according to his deserts. The rational crea­
tures were made without their choice; but they can
not reach their final end without their cooperation.
Their destiny depends upon the attitude they take
towards the divine plan of salvation. The good
are eternally rewarded in Heaven, the wicked are
punished forever in Hell. In the latter God

INTRODUCTION

will manifest His justice, while in the former
He will show His love and mercy. By deal­
ing justly with both good and bad, He at the same
time triumphantly demonstrates His omnipotence,
wisdom, and holiness. Thus Eschatology leads
us back to the theological principle that the cre­
ated universe in all its stages serves to glorify
God.2
The consummation of the world may be re­
garded either as in process (in fieri) or as an ac­
complished fact (in facto esse). Regarding it
from the former point of view we speak of the
"last things” (novissima, τά έσχατα), f. e. the events
to happen at the second coming of our Lord.
“The four last things of man” are Death, Judg­
ment, Heaven (Purgatory), and Hell.3
The four last things of the human race as a
whole are: the Last Day, the Resurrection of the
Flesh, and the Final Judgment, followed by the
End of the World. These four events constitute
so many stages on the way to the predestined state
of consummation (consummatio saeculi, συντ«λ«α
αίώνοί), which will be permanent and irrevocable.
2. Division.—In the light of these considera­
tions it is easy to find a suitable division for the
present treatise. The object of the final consumJCfr. Pohle-Preuss, Cod the Au- nibui operibus tuis memorare nothor of Nature and the Supernatural, vwrima tua, et in aeternum non
and ed., pp. 80 sqq., St. Louis 19'6peccabû."
I
Cir. Ecclus. VII, 40: " ln °m·

INTRODUCTION

3

mation is the created universe, which consists
of pure spirits, human beings, and irrational
creatures. The lot of the spirits (angels and
demons) was determined forever at the very be­
ginning of things.* Man and the physical uni­
verse still await their consummation. Man, in­
dividually as well as collectively, occupies the
centre of creation. Hence we may divide Escha­
tology into two parts: (i) The Eschatology of
Man as an Individual, (2) The Eschatology of
the Human Race.
General Readings:—St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Supple­
mentum, qii. 69 sq. ; Summa contra Gentiles, III, 1-63 (tr. by
Rickaby, God and His Creatures, pp. 183-233, London 1905), and
the commentators.
Mazzella, De Deo Creante, disp. 6, 4th ed., Rome 1908.—E.
Meric, L’Autre Vie, Paris 1880; 14th ed., Paris 1920.—‘Card.
Katschthaler, Eschatologia, Ratisbon 1888.—F. Stentrup, S.J.,
Sotcriologia, Vol. II, Innsbruck 1889.—Chr. Pesch, S.J., Prae­
lectiones Dogmaticae, Vol. IX, 3rd ed., Freiburg 1911.—*Atzberger, Die christliche Eschatologie in den Stadicn Hirer
Offenbarung im A. u. N. T., Freiburg 1890.—B. Tepe, SJ.,
Institutiones Theologicae, Vol. IV, pp. 680 sqq., Paris 1896.—P.
Einig, De Deo Creante et Consummante, Treves 1898.—B. Jungmann, De Novissimis, 4th ed., Ratisbon 1898.—J. Royer, Die
Eschatologie des Bûches Job unter Beriicksichtigung der vorexilischen Prophetcn, Freiburg 1901.—♦ W. Schneider, Das andere
Leben; Ernst und Trost der christlichen Weltanschauung, nth
ed., Paderborn 1916 (English ed., The Other Life, by H.
Thurston, SJ., N. Y. 1920).—Card. Billot, SJ., Quaestiones
de Novissimis, 4th ed., Rome 1918.—Prager, Die Lehre
von der Vollendung aller Dinge, 1903.—Heinrich-Gutberlet,
Dogmatische Théologie, Vol. X, Part II, Munster 1904.
—J. E. Niederhuber, Die Eschatologie des hl. Ambrosius,
Paderborn 1907—J· Keel, Die jenseitige Welt, 3 vols.,
Einsiedeln 1868 sqq.— D. Palmieri, SJ., De Novissimis, Rome
4 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, pp.
340 ’QQ-

4

INTRODUCTION

1908,—Wïlhclm-Scannell, A Manual of Catholic Theology, Vol.
II, 2nd cd., pp. 534-560, London 1901.—S. J. Hunter, S.J., Out­
lines of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. Ill, pp. 424-464, London
1894.—P. J. Toner, art. "Eschatology," in the Catholic Ency­
clopedia, Vol. V, pp. 528-534.—W. Ο. E. Osterley, The Doctrine
of the Last Things, London 1908,—M. O'Ryan, "Eschatology
of the Old Testament," in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol.
XXVII, No. 509, 4th Series, pp. 472-486.—Charles, Critical His­
tory of the Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, in Judaism, and
in Christianity, London 1899 (to be read with caution).—J. C.
Sasia, S.J., The Future Life, New York 1918 (full but uncritical),
—B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of the History of Dogmas, Vol. I,
St Louis 1917, pp. 25 sqq., 38 sq., 41, 43, 96 sq., 133, 148,152,
169,197, 202, 457 sqq.—L. Labauche, S.S., God and Man, Vol. II,
New York 1916, pp. 271 sqq.—Jos. Zahn, Das Jenseits, Pader­
born 1916.—J. P. Arendzen, What Becomes of the Dead? A
Study in Eschatology, London 1925.—D. I. Lanslots, O.S.B.,
The End of the ll'orld and of Man, N. Y. 1925.
For further bibliographical data see Alger, A Critical History
of the Doctrine of the Future Life, idith Complete Bibliography
by Esra Abbott, New York 1871.
For the early history of Eschatology see Atzberger, Die
Geschichtc dcr christlichen Eschatologie innerhalb dcr vornicanischen Zeil, Freiburg 1896.
On alleged pagan parallels to the Catholic dogmas here involved
see B. Bartmann, Dogma und Religionsgeschichte, Paderborn
1922, pp. 94-100.

PART I
ESCHATOLOGY OF MAN
AS AN INDIVIDUAL
CHAPTER I
DEATH

I. Definition of Death.—“Death,”1 in
common as well as Scriptural usage, means the
cessation of life.
a) There is a threefold life (physical, spiritual, and
eternal), and hence there must be a threefold death.
(1) Physical death consists in the separation of the
body from the soul;
(2) Spiritual death is the loss of sanctifying grace,
caused by original or mortal sin ;2
(3) “ Eternal death ” is a synonym for damnation.
St. John3 calls damnation “ the second death ; ” * St.
Paul, “ eternal punishment,” 6 “ corruption,” · “ destruc­
tion.” T
St. Augustine says : “ Though Holy Scripture mentions
J Move, θάνατοι2 Cfr. Cone. Trident., Sets. V,
can. a: " peccatum quod eel more
animae."
3 Apoc. II, 11; XX, 6, 14: XXI, 8.

4 More eecunda. Sevrepot θάνατοι• "Ολνθρον αΐύνιον. (a Tbeaa. I,
»)·
« Φθορά. (Gal. VI, 8).
ΤΆνώλίια. (Phil. Ill, 19).

6

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

many deaths, there are two principal ones, namely, the
death which the first man [Adam] incurred by sin,
and that which the second man [Christ] will inflict
in the judgment.”8 Here bodily death and the loss
of sanctifying grace are comprised under one term, as an
effect of original sin. Of course, the loss of sanctifying
grace* and eternal damnation can be called “ death ” only
in a figurative sense.

b) Literally death means the cessation of bod­
ily life, caused by the separation of the soul from
the body.10 It is principally in this sense that
Eschatology is concerned with death.
The Biblical names for death are as various as they are
significant. Some are derived from the symptoms that at­
tend the separation of the soul from the body ; e. g. “ disso­
lution," u “ end,”12 “ outcome,”18 “ return to the earth,” 14
etc. Others point to original sin as the cause of death ;
for instance, “ work of the devil,” 18 “ the enemy,” 18
“ what God hath not made,” 17 etc. Belief in immortality
is more or less evident from such phrases as “ sleep,” 18
stripping off the earthly house of habitation,10 the “ lay­
ing away of this tabernacle,”20 going to the fathers,21
BOpus Imperfect. c. Julian., VI, ,
θάνατο» . . · χωρισμό» ψυχή»
31: " Quamvis multae mortes in­
πό σώματα».
veniantur in Scripturis, duae sunt
il Phi). I, 23; 2 Tim. IV, 6.
prarcifiuot: frima et tccunda; frima
lîMatth. X, 22.
«st quam feccando intulit frimus
IB Heb. XIII, 7.
homo [<4dam], secunda est quam
1« Gen. Ill, 19.
iudicando illaturus est secundus
IB John VIII, 44·
homo [Christus].*'
io i Cor. XV. 26.
β Αμαρτία irpi» θάνατον. (Cfr.
it Wisd. I. 13.
1 John V. 16).
is Job III, 13; Ps. XII. 4i Matth.
10 Cfr. St. Augustine, Dt Civ. Dei,
IX. 24.
XIII, 6: *' separatio animae a cor­
19 2 Cor. V, ».
pore."— Clement of Alexandria,
20 a Pet. I, 14.
Stromata, 7 (Migne, P. G., IX, 500):

DEATH

7

resting from labor,” the return of the spirit to God.” The
latter class of appellations is by far the most important,
since it presupposes belief in the immortality of the soul.
While the body decays or returns to the dust from which
it was formed, the soul lives on for ever. Its separation
from the body is merely temporary: at the general Resur­
rection the two will be reunited.2*
The state of the soul after its separation from, and
until its reunion with, the body must not be conceived
as an unconscious dream or a sort of semi-conscious
“soul-sleep” (hypnopsychy, psychopannychy), but as a
purely spiritual life, accompanied by full consciousness
and determined as to happiness or unhappiness by the
result of the particular judgment held immediately after
death.25

2. The Dogmatic Teaching of the Church.
—Divine Revelation teaches that:
( I ) Death is universal ;
(2) It is a result of sin; and
(3) It ends the state of probation.
Thesis I:

Death is universal.

This proposition embodies the common teach­
ing of Catholic theologians.
Proof. That death is universal we know from
experience. Furthermore reason tells us that it
is natural for man to be separated into his constit­
uent elements, body and soul.
a) Physiology teaches that every body contains within
itself the germs of dissolution and hence is doomed to die.
MApoc. XIV, 13.
23 Eccles. XII, 7.

2« F. infra. Part II. Ch. II.
s» F. infra. Sect, », pp. I» sqq.

8

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

When death comes as the result of old age, it is called
“ natural ” or “ physiological.” 2021
* Sacred Scripture ex­
presses a fact of ordinary and universal experience when
it calls death “ the way of all the earth ” 27 and teaches
that “ It is appointed unto men once to die.”28 Not
even Christ and His Immaculate Mother were exempt
from death.
b) Certain exceptional cases reported in Sacred Scrip­
ture give rise to the question whether the universality of
death is metaphysical or merely moral, in other words,
whether all men must die, or whether some escape the
ordinary fate of mankind.
a) Thus we are told that Henoch, the father of Mathusala, “ was translated, that he should not see death ; ” 29
he “ walked with God, and was seen no more, because
God took him.”80
Of Elias the prophet we read that, as he and his friend
Eliseus were walking and talking together, “ a fiery
chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and
Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 81
It seems certain that these two men are, as St. Augus­
tine puts it, still “ living in the same bodies in which they
were born." 82 But there is no reason to suppose that
they will escape the law of death. Since Tertullian’s
time it has been a pious belief among Christians that
Enoch and Elias are the two witnesses mentioned in the
Apocalypse,38 that they will reappear at the end of the
20 Cfr. H. Kisbert, Der Tod aus
Allersschtuache. Bonn »908; Flint,
Human Physiology. P· 849, New
York >888.
21 Jos. XXIII, 14; 3 Kings II, a.
as Heb. IX, 27: "Statutum est
hominibus semel mori." Cfr. Ps.
LXXXVIII, 49: " Q"'«
*«·.
oui vivet et non videbit mortemt "

20Heb. XI, 5.
so Cfr. Gen. V, 24; Ecclue. XLIV,
16; XI.IX, >6.
81 4 Kings II, 11.
82 De Peccato Originali, II, 24:
" Eliam et Henoch non dubitamur,
in quibur nati runt corporibus, vi33 Apoc. XI, 3 sqq.

DEATH

world to preach penance and finally be " overcome by the
beast,” i. e. die as martyrs to the faith.’*
/3) Concerning the just who will survive on earth at
the second coming of our Lord, St. Paul teaches: “ Be­
hold I tell you a mystery: we shall not all fall asleep,
but we shall all be changed.”’® The Vulgate renders
this passage differently : '* We shall all rise again, but
we shall not all be changed.” ” But the Greek text has
in its favor the famous Vatican codex, most of the uncial
and practically all the cursive manuscripts and vernacular
versions.81 Besides, the reading we have adopted is
3* Cfr. Tertullian, De Anima, 50:
" Nec mors eorum reperta est, dilata

to practically all the Greek Father*.
On the ground of external evidence,
therefore, this reading is far the most
probable. But internal evidence is
nt Antichristum sanguine suo exlinguant." (Migne, P. L., II, 73s).
almost more in its favor, for accord­
ing to this reading (a) there is a
However, as this interpretation is
mystery here, namely, that some
contradicted by St Jerome (Ep. rrq
shall be changed and put on int­
ad Minerv. et Alex., n. 4) and othmortality without passing through
ers, it is not entirely certain.
death, (b) the /Kpostle, as in the
30 i Cor. XV, 51: Ildi'res μϊν ού
rest of the chapter, refers only to
κοιμηθησύμιθα, trdvres ίέ άλλα·
the just, either all the just of all
ΊησόμϊΟαtimes if we render: ' we shall not
3β " Omnes quidem resurgemus,
all sleep *; or all the just alive at
sed non omnes immutabimur.”
the Second Coming if we render:
•T Cfr. C. Lattcy, S.J., in the
• none of us shall sleep
(e) the
Appendix to the Westminster Ver­
connexion with the next verse is easy
sion of i Cor.; Comely, Comment,
and natural: * we shall not all die
in l Cor., pp. 506 sqq., Paris 1890;
but we shall all be changed in a mo­
Al. Schâfer, Erklârung der beiden
ment/ etc. We take it. then, that
Briefe oh die Korinther, pp. 334
this is the true reading. Nor need
sqq.. Munster 1903; J. MacRory, The
there be difficulty about admitting an
Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinth­
error in our Vulgate about even a
ians, P. I, pp. 251 sqq., Dublin 1915.
Speaking of the reading which we dogmatic text like this, the reading of
which was uncertain not only at the
have adopted, Dr. MacRory (p. 25a
time of the Council of Trent but
sq.) says: " It is supported by
even in the days of St Jerome.
B E K L P among uncials, by
Trent, indeed, binds us to receive as
nearly all the cursive MSS., by the
sacred and canonical the sacred
Syriac, Coptic, Gothic versions, as
books with all their parts, as they
well as by many MSS. of the
were wont to be read in the Catho­
Aethiopic; it was the reading of not
lic
Church and are contained In the
a few Latin MSS. in the time of St
Old Latin Vulgate (Sass, iv. Deer.

10

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

demanded by the context. “ In the previous verse,” says
Father Lattey, “ St. Paul lays it down that the body in
its present perishable condition cannot enter heaven. At
once the difficulty arises about the just who are alive at
the last day. St. Paul meets it by telling of a ‘ mystery ’ ;
these just, it is true, will not die, but none the less their
bodies will have to be glorified — all the just, living or
dead, will be changed. When the dead rise incorruptible,
we, the living, shall be changed; our corruptible bodies
will put on incorruption. After that supreme moment,
death will have lost all power over man ; human bodies
will be perishable no more.”38
This plausible interpretation is confirmed by the fol­
lowing passage in Saint Paul’s First Epistle to the
Thessalonians : " For this we tell you as the Lord’s
word, that we who live, who survive until the Lord’s
coming, shall not precede them that are fallen asleep
(dormicrMHt), . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise
first (primi, πρώτον). Thereupon (deinde) we the
living, who remain, shall together with them be caught up
(simul rapiemur cum tilts) in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and thus we shall be ever with the
Lord.”8#
It is but fair to add, however, that these two Pauline
texts have been variously interpreted. St. Chrysostom,
St. Jerome, and apparently also Tertullian,40 taught that
the just who survive on the last day shall be glorified
without having died. St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and
de can. script.). But the Vulgate reading of it. (Cf. Corn., Introd.
version of this verse was never read Grn., p. 456 ff. ; Compend., p. 114
throughout the Catholic Church, be- if.).**
ing apparently unknown in the
88 Cfr. C. Lattey, Appendix I to 1
East, and hence even if the single
Cor., p. 52.
verse be a ' part · of Scripture in
a» 1 Thess. ÏV, 14 sqq. (Westthe sense intended by the Council, minster Version).
we are free to reject the Vulgate
so D» Resurrectione Comis, 41,

DEATH
others held that they shall die and slumber a while before
being summoned to the Last Judgment. The majority of
Catholic divines, in view of St. Paul’s teaching that all
who have sinned in Adam must die,41 prefer to steer a
middle course.42 They hold that while all men must
die, some will survive until immediately before the Gen­
eral Judgment. This teaching is favored by the Roman
Catechism 43 and many modern exegetes.

c) Whichever opinion one may prefer in regard
to the question here at issue, it is certain that even
if Henoch and Elias did not and never will die, the
debt of death (debitum mortis) rests upon all the
descendants of Adam. “It is held with greater
probability and more commonly,” says St.
Thomas, “that all those who are alive at the com­
ing of our Lord, will die and rise again after a
short while. ... If, however, it be true, as oth­
ers hold, that they will never die, . . . then we
must say . . . that although they are not to die,
the debt of death is none the less in them, and
that the punishment of death will be remitted by
God, since He can also forgive the punishment due
for actual sins.” 44 The only human beings ex41 Cfr. Rom. V, la sqq.
41 Cfr. Oecumenius, in Migne.
P. G.. CKVm. 894: "Istud 'non
(until dormiemus ' hoc modo opor­
tet accipere, quod non dormiemus
diuturni dormitione (τήν χρονικήν
Κοίμησιν). ut opus sit sepulchre ac
solutione ad corruptionem; sed bre­
vem mortem sustinebunt, qui tunc
reperientur."

43 P. I, e. u, qu. 4.
44 Summa Theologica, ra *ae. qu.
81. art. 3, ad i: " Probabilius et
convenientius tenetur, quod omnes
illi qui in adventu Domini reperientur, morientur et post modicum re­
surgent. . . . Si tamen hoc verum
sit. quod alii dicunt, quod illi nun­
quam morientur, dicendum est quod
··. est tomen in eis reatus mortis.

12

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

enipt from this law are Jesus Christ and His
Blessed Mother, though they, too, actually paid
tribute to death.
Thesis II : Death in the present economy is a pun­
ishment for sin.

This proposition embodies an article of faith.
Proof. It is the dogmatically defined teach­
ing of the Church that our first parents were
endowed with bodily immortality,45 but lost this
prerogative for themselves and their descendants
through sin.48
God solemnly forbade Adam and Eve to eat of
the fruit of a certain tree. “In what day soever
thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.” 47
By transgressing this command our first parents
incurred death. Thus, in the words of the Apos­
tle, “by one man sin entered into this world, and
by sin death ; and so death passed upon all men, in
whom all have sinned.”48 Therefore, “the wages
of sin is death.” 40
Long before St. Augustine, as the latter assured
Julian,50 the Fathers considered the causal con­
nection between sin and death to be an article of
faith.61
Sed poena au/ertur a Deo, qui «liant
peccatorum actualium poenas condonare potest."
4B Cfr. Syn. Milev., A. D. 416,
can. 1.
4« Cfr. Syn. Xrausic. II. can. a;
Cone. Trident., Seas. V, can. a.

47 Gen. II, 17; cfr. Gen. Ill, 19.
48 Rom. V, la.
49 Rom. VI, 33; cfr. 1 Cor. XV,
at, 32.
so Contra Julian., 1. II.
si For the teaching of the Fathers
on this point see Ginella, De No·

DEATH

U

The atonement wiped out sin and thereby enabled man
to escape the “ second death,” i. e. eternal damnation.
But the gift of bodily immortality was not restored.”
It is true, death loses the character of a punishment
through Baptism, because, in the words of the Tridentine
Fathers, “ there is no condemnation to those who are truly
buried together with Christ by Baptism into death.””
But the debitum mortis remains as an effect of sin
(poenalitas), which God wisely allows for the purification
of the just. Only in the case of Christ and His Blessed
Mother death was neither a punishment (poena) nor an
effect of sin (poenalitas).6*
Thesis III : Death ends the state of probation, that
is, after death man can no longer either merit or de­
merit.

This thesis embodies what is technically called
“doctrina catholica.”
Proof. Death ends the state of pilgrimage
(status viae) and inaugurates the state of final
consummation (status termini), which by its very
definition excludes the possibility of further
merit or demerit. It is true we cannot prove
that this must necessarily be so; but we know it
is so by virtue of a positive divine law.55
The impossibility of acquiring merits after death must
Hone atque Origine Mortis, 9 9,
Breslau 1868: for the post-Augustinian period, cfr. Casini, Quid est
Homof, ed. Scheeben, pp. 59 sqq.,
Mayence 186a.— See also PohlePreuss. God the Author of Nature
and the Supernatural, pp. 286 sqq.
sz Cfr. Rom. V, 18 sqq.

Si Cone. Trident., Sees. V, can. J.
54 See Pohle· Preuss. Christology.
pp. 71 sqq·. and Manology, pp. ya
sqq.
55 That this law is both congru­
ous and in accordance with nature
is convincingly shown by Ripaids,
De Ente Supernatural·, disp. yy.

14

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

not, however, be conceived as a cessation of free will.
At their entrance into the status termini the Elect as
well as the damned once for all decide either for or against
God; but within the state thus definitively chosen, each re­
tains full liberty of action.

a) As Christ ceased to acquire merits after
His death, so a fortiori will man. Death inau­
gurates “the night when no man can work.” δβ
Ecclesiastes compares man in this respect with a
tree: “If the tree fall to the south, or to the
north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall
it be.”67 St. Paul58 says every man will be
judged according as he hath done good or evil “in
the body.”59 St. Cyprian teaches that no one
can do penance or make satisfaction after
death.60 St. Augustine declares: “It is in this
life that all merit or demerit is acquired. ... No
one, then, need hope that he shall obtain after
death that which he has neglected to secure
here.”01 The Catholic Church has embodied this
revealed doctrine in her dogma of the Particular
Judgment.62
00 Cfr. John IX, 4; Matth. XXIV.
42; XXV, >3.
st Eccles. XI. 3: "Si ceciderit
lignum ad austrum aut ad aquilo­
nem, in quacunque loco ceciderit,
ibi erit."
08 2 Cor. V, 10.
0# τά διά τού σώματοί.
βο Ad Demetr., 25: "Quando
ûthinc excessum fuerit, nullus «am
poenitentiae locus, nullus satisfac­

tionis effectus: hic vita aut amitti­
tur aut tenetur,”
01 Enchiridion, c. 110: " Nento se
speret, quod hic neglexerit, quum
obierit, apud Deum promereri.”—
The unanimous teaching of theolo­
gians on this point is well developed
by Ripalda. De Ente Supernatural·,
disp. 77. sect. 1 sqq.
02 See infra, Ch. II, pp. «8 sqq.

DEATH

IS

b) It is the opinion of St. Bonaventure, Ripalda, and
Vasquez that the Elect in Heaven and the poor souls
in Purgatory can merit and apply for the benefit of
others certain praemia accidentalia. But this assumption
is opposed to the analogy of faith. The power of inter­
cession which the just wield in the world beyond is based
entirely upon merits previously acquired in the state of
pilgrimage.83
Hirscher’s view that those who. after wavering a
long time between God and the world, finally die in
the state of mortal sin, will be allowed to make their
final decision in the next world, is contrary to the dog­
matic teaching of the Church.84
c) From what we have said it follows that nothing is so
well calculated to demonstrate the hollowness of the world
and to preserve us from becoming unduly attached to
it, as the pious consideration of death. Our earthly life
is merely a “ pilgrimage,”85 a “ journey,”88 and we are to
make use of the things of this world only in so far as
they aid, or at least do not hinder us in attaining our
supernatural destiny.87 There is much in the thought of
death to comfort us. Death ends all our sufferings and
trials.88 But the hour when we shall be called hence is un­
certain,80 and therefore we must watch and pray and strive
always to be in the state of sanctifying grace. Mortal
sin is the only thing that can prevent us from attaining our
last end, which is the beatific vision of God.70 If we are
83 Cfr. St. Thomas, Comment, in
Sent., HI, diet. t8. qu. r, art. s:
" Beati non sunt in statu acquirendi
secundum aliquid sui; et ideo nec
sibi nec aliis merentur, quia, quod
impetrant modo nobis, contingit ex
hoc quod prius, dum viverent,

84 Hirscher’s error is refuted by
Father Joseph Kleutgen, S.J., in Die

Théologie der Vorseit, Vol II. and
ed.. pp. 437 sqq., Munster 1871.
«5> Cor. V. 6.
88 Jos. XXIU, 14; Wisd. HI. 3.
67 Wisd. V. r sqq.
68a Cor. IV, 16 sqq.; Apec. XIV,
13.
ββ Matth. XXIV. 4»; Luke XII. 39
eq., and elsewhere.
to Cfr. Luke XXI. 34.

16

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

in the state of grace, we can face death unflinchingly.71
That the fear of death is so deeply ingrained in human na­
ture,’2 is owing partly to sin and partly to the instinct of
self-preservation.’3 The immortality which our first par­
ents enjoyed in Paradise was a free gift and its loss is
a punishment. Death and the fear of death arc entirely
natural.’4 Nevertheless, the thought of death should not
discourage, but rather incite us to spend the short span
of existence granted us here below for the benefit of our
own souls and those near and dear to us.75 We must not,
because life is short, seek sinful pleasures after the ex­
ample of the ancient pagans, who had no hope of
Heaven.’· On the other hand, we should not despise
the things of this world. It would be folly to neg­
lect our earthly affairs in order to devote all our time
to works of piety. Every loyal Catholic should, on
the contrary, do his share in advancing the interests of
true progress and culture and thereby help to disprove the
oft-repeated calumny that the Church is inimical to the
world.” The more we accomplish in this world, if
we have the right intention, the more confidently may we
meet death. Ora et labora!78
Readings: — Ginella, De Notione atque Origine Mortis,
Breslau 1868.— Card. Bellarmine, De Arte bene Moriendi, 1620
n Phil. 1,21 sqq.
72 2 Cor. V. 4; Web. II, 15.
73 Cfr. St. Augustine, Serm., 172,
C. 1: " Mortem horret non opinio,
sed notura.'’
7« Cfr. St. Thomas, Summo Thcol.,
ia aae, qu. 164, art. 1: " Mors est
noturafû profter conditionem naturae
el poenalis propter amissionem di­
vini beneficii praeservantis a morte."
it Cfr. Eccles. IX. 10.
re Cfr. Reisacker, Der Todesgedonke bei den Griechen, Treves

1862; F. Hettinger. Apologie des
Christentums, Vol. II, 9th cd., P. 1,
pp. 23 sqq., Freiburg 1907.
77 Cfr. Leo XIII, Encyclical " Im­
mortale Dei," Nov. i. 1885: "Imo
inertiae desidiaeque inimica Ecclesia
magnopere vult, ut hominum ingenia
uberer ferant exercitatione et culturâ
fructus."
78 Cfr. A. A. Cataneo, Vorbereilung auf einen guten Tod, 3 vols.,
Ratisbon 1888-9,; Weber. Evange­
lium und drbeit, Freiburg 1898.

DEATH

ï7

(German tr., Die Kunst su sterben, by F. Hensc, 2nd ed., Pader­
born 1888).— C. M. Kaufmann, Die J enseitshoff nungen der
Griechen und Romer nach den Sepulkralinschriften, Freiburn
1899.— Idem, Die sefulkralen Jenseitsdenkmàler der Antike und
des Urchristentums, Mayence 1900.—S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines
of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. Ill, pp. 425-429.— R. W. Mackenna,
The Adventure of Death, New York 1917.—W. Schneider, The
Other Life, pp. 1 sqq., 307, 368 sqq., New York 1920.

CHAPTER II
THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

SECTION i
EXISTENCE OF A PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

I. Definition.—By “judgment” we mean the
investigation, sentence, and final order of a civil or
criminal court. God pronounces judgment upon
the soul immediately after its separation from
the body. This Judgment is called Particular, to
distinguish it from the General Judgment which
takes place at the end of the world.
The essential point in the Catholic dogma of the Par­
ticular Judgment is that the soul becomes aware of God’s
final decision immediately after death. In the General
Judgment the emphasis rests rather upon the sentence
as such. The Particular Judgment is not necessarily a
formal sentence. It may be merely a clear perception
of guilt or innocence, whereby the soul is moved
of its own accord to hasten either to Heaven, or Hell,
or Purgatory, according to its deserts.1 The Scriptural
1 Cfr. St. Thoma». Summo Theol.,
Supplem., qu. 69. art. a: " Sicut
corpus per gravitatem vel levitatem
•tolim fertur in locum ruum, nui probibcatur, ii» animo» «olulo vinculo

I

carni», per quod in statu viae de­
tinebantur, statim praemium constquunlur vel poenam, nisi aliquid im­
pediat. . . . Et quia locus deputatur
animabili iccundum congruentiam
Î8

THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

19

"Book of Judgment,” with its record of good and
evil deeds, is a metaphor,2 just like the description which
pious writers give of the judgment scene, where the
devil accuses, while the guardian angel either confirms
the accusation or defends his former client.
Where the Particular Judgment will take place no
one knows. Probably each soul is judged on the spot
where it leaves the body. Though Divine Revelation does
not expressly say so, we may assume that the God-man
Jesus Christ will act as judge both at the Particular and
at the General Judgment.8

2. Proof from Revelation.—Sacred Scrip­
ture teaches that the fate of each departed soul is
decided before the General Judgment. If this is
so, there must be a Particular preceding the Gen­
eral Judgment. Calvin 4 and the Chiliasts hold
that the fate of the departed souls remains un­
decided till the second coming of Christ. The
Hypnopsychites maintain that these souls spend
the interval between death and the General Res­
urrection in a state of unconscious or semi-con­
scious sleep,—a view which, Father Hunter
thinks, is shared by most Protestants who have
any conviction about the matter at all.5 Eu/•raewiii vel poenae, statim ut anima mile est. in eo instanti animam cogneabsolvitur a corpore, vel in infernum
ecere sese iudicari et salvari vel
mergitur vel ad caelos evolat, niti im­
damnari imperio et efficientia non
pediatur aliquo reatu, quo oporteat totum Dei, sed etiam hominis
Christi."
avolationem differri, ut prius anima
purgetur."
* Instit.. ΙΠ, 2$.
2 Cfr. St. Augustine, De Civitate
• Cfr S. J. Hunter. S.J.. Outlines
Dei. XX. '4·
of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. HI, p.
s Cfr. Suarer. De Myst. 1'ilae 430.
Christi, diep. $i, sect. 3: " P'eriii-

2o

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

sebius tells of a strange sect, called Thnetopsychites, who believed that the disembodied souls
await the General Judgment in a state of tempo­
rary annihilation.0 The teaching of the Church
is that the fate of every man is determined some­
time before the General Judgment.7
a) St. Paul says: “It is appointed unto men
once to die, and after this the judgment.” 8 This
text may be quoted in favor of our thesis, though
it is not conclusive because we do not know for
certain whether the Apostle refers to the Particu­
lar or to the General Judgment.” A more con­
vincing proof for our dogma is furnished by the
parable of Lazarus, Luke XVI, 22: “And the
rich man also died, and he was buried in hell.”
Dives must have been judged before he was pun­
ished. The same is true of Judas, who, according
to the sacred writer, “went to his own place.” 10
Ecclesiastes says that the body “returns into its
earth, from whence it was, while the spirit re­
turns to God who gave it.” 11
b) The teaching of the Fathers is in full ac­
cord with that of Sacred Scripture. St. Augus­
tine (to quote but one of them) says the departed
souls are judged as they leave the body and before
9 Hili. Eccltt., VI, 37.
1 V. infra, Sect a.
e Heb. IX. 37: "Statutum til
hominibus, scmrl mori, post hoc
(geri δ< τούτο) oulcm iudicium."

0 Cfr. Estïus i. h. I.
10 ■·. . . ut abiret in locum tuum
ielt rbv τόπον rbv Ιδιον·) Act. I,
as·
11 Eccles. XII, 7.

THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

21

they appear at the final judgment, which takes
place at the end of the world.1’
A further confirmation of our dogma will be
found below in Section 2, where it is shown that
the Particular Judgment takes place immediately
after death. If the fate of the departed souls is
determined immediately after death, it follows
that they are judged immediately after death.
12 De Anima et eius Origine, Π,
4, 8: " Rectissime et valde salubriter
creditur, iudicari animas, quum de
corporibus exierint, antequam veniant
ad illud iudicium. quo eas oportet

iam redditis corporibus iudicari atque
in ipsa, in qua hic vixerunt cane,
torqueri sive glorificari." (Migne,
P. L„ XLIV, 498).

SECTION 2
TIME OF THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

I. Historical Development of the Dogma.
—The Catholic dogma that the soul is judged im­
mediately after death has passed through a long
process of clarification in the minds of the faith­
ful. There was no official definition of it by the
Church until the Middle Ages.
a) In the primitive Church vague ideas were
current in regard to the immediate fate of the de­
parted.
Not to speak of the Chiliasts, the Hypnopsychites, and
the Thnetopsychites, even some orthodox writers har­
bored erroneous notions concerning the fate of the soul
after death. Thus St. Justin Martyr seems to have held
that the disembodied souls enjoy a natural beatitude in
the interval between death and the General Resurrec­
tion.1 St. Irenaeus imagined them dwelling in a sort of
paradise (locus amoenitatis) distinct from Heaven.2 Tertullian believed that the martyrs entered into the beatific
vision immediately after death.8 St. Hilary speaks of a
temporary imprisonment (custodia) of the soul.4
It would, however, be wrong to suppose that these Pa1 Diol., 80.
ï«4dv. Haereiee, V, 31, a.

* De Anima. 55.
«in P*·, iao, n. 16.

22

THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT
tristic writers erred in regard to the substance of the
dogma. There are many passages in their writings which,
at least virtually, inculcate the orthodox view, as when
they speak of our Lord's descent into Hell and the inter­
cession of the saints.

b) It was the universal belief of the early
Christians that the wicked go to Hell immediately
after death.
The dread sentence, “Depart from me, you cursed,
into everlasting fire,” 0 was regarded as the confirmation
of a previous judgment and an accentuation of the pun­
ishment imposed on both the soul and its risen body.
In accordance with this ancient belief, Benedict XII de­
fined in his dogmatic Bull “BenedictusDeus," A. D. 1336,
“ that . . . the souls of those who depart this life in the
state of mortal sin descend into Hell immediately after
death and are there subject to infernal torments.’’'1 A
similar passage occurs in the profession of faith sub­
mitted by the Greek Emperor Michael Palæologus at the
Council of Lyons, A. D. 1274,6
7 which was embodied in
the Decree of Union adopted at Florence, in 1439.·

c) The clarification of ideas with regard to the
fate of the just proceeded more slowly.
It was believed at an early date that the just, too, are
descendunt, mot fi e. sfalim) in
6 Matth. XXV, 41.
infernum descendere, poenis tamen
0 " Definimus
quod . . ■ animat
disparibus puniendas." (Denxingerdescendentium in actuali peccato
Bannwart.
n. 464).
mortali mor post mortem suam ad
s The bearing of thia dogmatic de­
inferna descendunt, ubi poenis in­
cree on the lot of unbaptiied in­
fernalibus cruciantur." (Denzingerfant· is explained jn Pohle-Preus·,
Bannwart, n. S3’)·
Cod the Author of Nature and the
7 " Illorum autem animas, qui in
Supernatural, pp. 304 tq.
mortali peccato vel cum solo originali

24

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

judged immediately after death ; but there was uncer­
tainty as to whether they were forthwith admitted to
the vision of the Blessed Trinity or enjoyed some inferior
kind of beatitude. This uncertainty continued even after
the Second Council of Lyons (1274) had declared that
"the souls of the just are received immediately into
Heaven.’” As late as 1330 certain Franciscan theolo­
gians are said to have taught that the souls of the just
enjoy the vision of Christ as man (tn forma servi), but
that the beatific vision of God (in forma Dei) was
reserved until after the Last Judgment. It is but fair to
add, however, that Wadding denies this charge against his
fellow-religious.8
*1011If the Franciscans really held the
opinion in question, they shared their mistake with Pope
John XXII, who about 1331 privately taught the same
doctrine.11 In 1336 Pope Benedict XII, in his afore­
mentioned Bull, defined that those who depart this life in
the state of sanctifying grace “ behold the divine essence
intuitively and face to face.” 12 The Council of Florence
cleared away the last remaining doubt by adding the
words: “They clearly behold God Himself, one and
tri-une, as He is.”12

2. Proof from Revelation.—Sacred Scrip­
ture teaches that the fate of every man is de­
cided immediately after death and that the ulti8 " Illorum [icil. iurtorum] ani­ 622 sqq., Freiburg 1890.
mor mor in cadum recipi." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 464).
lOXnnoler Minorum, ad annum
oli.” (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 531).
ta ·'. . . el intueri clore ipsum
1331. 2nd ed., Vol. VII, p. 118.
11 He did not, however, make an
Deum Irinum el unum, xtcnli est."
ex cathedra décision on the subject, (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 693).— Cfr.
as the opponents of papal infalli­ Pohle-Preuss, God; His Knowability,
Essence, and Attributes. 2nd ed., p.
bility assert. Cfr. Hcfele, Concili108, St. Louis 1914.
enjerchichte. Vol. VI, 2nd ed„ pp.

THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

25

mate condition of the Blessed and the damned
respectively is essentially the same before and
after the General Resurrection.
a) Ecclus. XI, 28: “It is easy before God in
the day of death to reward every one according
to his ways.” 14 If God rewards every one ac­
cording to his deserts “in the day of death,” He
must send the souls of the just to Heaven and
those of the wicked to Hell immediately after their
separation from the body. This is confirmed in
the parable which says that “the rich man also
died, and was buried in Hell.”15
St. Hilary writes : “ Lazarus was carried by angels to
the place prepared for the Elect in Abraham’s bosom,
whereas Dives was buried forthwith in the place of pun­
ishment.” 10 St. Gregory the Great teaches: “As beati­
tude causes the Elect to be glad, so, it is necessary to be­
lieve, fire torments the wicked from the day of their
death.”1T St. John Chrysostom expresses the same
thought in a striking simile : “ As criminals are dragged
in chains from jail to the seat of judgment, so the
souls of the departed are forthwith brought before that
terrible judgment seat, burdened with the various punish­
ments due to their sins.” 18

b)

The fate of the just is illustrated by the ex­

n Ecclus. XI. a8: " Quoniam fa­
cile est coram Deo in die obitus re­
tribuere unicuique secundum vias
suas."
u Luke XXIII, 431< In Ps., a, n. 48: " Testes nobis
[jwh/J evangelicus dives et pauper,
quorum unum angeli in sedibus bea­

torum et in /tbrahae sinu locaverunt,
alium statim poenae regio (scii. in­
fernum] suscepit."
Dial., IV, a8: "Sicut electos
beatitude laetificat, ita credi necesso
est quod a die esitas sui ignis repea­
ts Hom. in Matth., XIV, a g.

26

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

ample of Lazarus, who “was carried by the angels
into Abraham’s bosom’’ immediately after his
demise,’9 and by Christ’s promise to the good
thief, “This day thou shalt be with me in para­
dise.”20 The terms “Abraham’s bosom” and
“paradise,” strictly speaking, signify the limbus
Patrum, but we know that since the Ascension of
our Lord the limbo has made way for Heaven.
An even more convincing text is 2 Cor. V, 6
sqq. : “We know that, while we are in the body
^ημοϋντκ ίν τφ σώμαπ) we are absent from the Lord
(ίώημοϋμιν άπο τοϋ κυρίου)t for we walk by faith, and
not by sight. But we are confident and have a
good will to be absent rather from the body and to
be present with the Lord.” To “be in the body”
means to “walk by faith,” to “be present with the
Lord,” to enjoy the beatific vision, for which the
Apostle betrays such a keen desire in his Epis­
tle to the Philippians (I, 21 sqq.). The only
means of attaining this end is “absence from the
body,” i. e. death. Consequently, according to
St. Paul, the Elect enter upon their celestial in­
heritance immediately after death.
The Fathers held this dogma implicitly rather than
explicitly. St. Cyprian says : “ What a dignity it is,
and what a security, ... in a moment to close the eyes
with which men and the world are looked upon, and at
Luke XVI, aa.

20 Luke XXIII, 43.

THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

a;

once to open them to behold God and Christi”*1 The
Acts of the Martyrs and many ancient liturgies testify to
the belief of the primitive Church that those who lay
down their lives for the true faith immediately enter
into Heaven.22 That the early Christians held the same
belief with regard to all the just is evident from the
fact that they prayed to other saints besides the martyrs
for their intercession in Heaven.
Incidentally it may be noted that the dogma with which
we are dealing involves another, namely our Lord's
descent into Hell. After the death of Christ His soul
went down into Limbo to deliver the souls of the just
from the temporary punishment they were suffering, and
to introduce them to the beatific vision of God.” To
deny that these souls now enjoy the beatific vision would
involve a rejection of the dogma of Christ’s descent into
Hell.2*
21 De Exhort. Martyr., n. 13:
Quanta est dignitas et quanta se­
curitas. . . . claudere in momento
oculos, quibus homines videbantur
et mundus, et aperiri eosdem stalim,
ut Deus videatur et Christus."
22 Cfr. Coustant, Praef. ad Opera

S. Hilarii, f 6, seet 3, n. 119.
28 Cfr. Poble-Preuss, Soteriology,
2nd ed., pp. pt sqq.. Si. Louis tpi&
24 Cfr. H. Hurter, S.J., Compen­
dium Theol. Dogmat., Vol. IU. tbes.
268.

CHAPTER III
HEAVEN

SECTION i
THE EXISTENCE OF HEAVEN

I. Definition.—a) Etymologically the Latin
word for “Heaven” 1 means the expanse of sky
above the earth, which resembles a great dome or
arch apparently containing the sun, moon, and
stars. The Church employs the term caelum to
signify the abode of God and the Blessed, with
the emphasis upon the state rather than the place
in which they find themselves.
The Bible refers to Heaven both as a place and as a
state (eternal life, eternal rest, the kingdom of God,
the joy of the Lord, etc.). In the language of St. Paul,
to enter into Heaven is to “ be present with the Lord,” 2
which can mean nothing else but a spiritual occupation
engaging the highest faculties of the soul and culminating
in the knowledge and love of God. As Heaven is man’s
final goal (status termini), it must be identical with
the beatitude which comes to the created mind from the
iCodum = a
hollow
aphere;
Greek, ούραν&ι = vault, ceiling.

t a Cor. V. 8.

HEAVEN

contemplation and love of the divine essence and perfec­
tions (status beatitudinis).

b) To arrive at a real, as opposed to the nom­
inal, definition of Heaven, therefore, we must
ascertain in what precisely the happiness of the
Elect consists.
Boëthius defines Heaven as “a state made per­
fect by the accumulation of all good things.” a
St. Thomas says it is "the ultimate perfection of
rational or intellectual nature.” * These defi­
nitions, while correct, are not sufficiently specific,
for a "state made perfect by the accumulation of
all good things” and the "ultimate perfection of
rational nature” need not necessarily be supernat­
ural.
The happiness produced by the knowledge and love
of God would not be the same in a natural state of beati­
tude as it is in Heaven. In proposing to man a supernat­
ural end, the Creator abolished his purely natural destiny,
which consisted in an abstractive knowledge and a nat­
ural love of God. In the present economy the rational
creature has no choice between natural and supernatural
beatitude. To miss the latter means to miss both. Hence
Heaven, in the Christian sense, must be a state of super­
natural beatitude.
In what does this supernatural beatitude consist?

c) The supernatural beatitude of Heaven funs Dr Consolatione Philosophiae,
JU. ,· "Status omnium bonorum
congregatione perfectus."

« " Ultima perfectio rotionahs tira
intellectualis
naturae." (Summa
Theol., la. qu. 6a, art. i).

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

damentally consists in the intuitive vision of the
Divine Essence (visio Dei intuitiva), as opposed
to the purely abstractive and analogical knowl­
edge which man has of God here below.
St. Paul describes the difference between these
two kinds of knowledge as follows: “Now we
see in a mirror, obscurely ; but then [we shall see]
face to face. Now I know in part ; then shall I
know fully, even as I have been fully known [by
God].” 5 As the Divine Essence subsists in three
distinct Persons, the beatific vision involves an in­
tuitive knowledge of the Trinity. Needless to
say, the human intellect cannot attain to this ex­
alted knowledge by its own power, but requires
for this purpose a special “light of glory.” 0
The intuitive vision of God is essentially beati­
fic, that is, it renders man infinitely happy.
Thomists and Scotists have been engaged in
a long-standing controversy on the question
whether beatitude is in the intellect or in the will.
The two views are not incompatible, in fact, it is
only by judiciously combining them that we ar­
rive at the whole truth, viz.: that the knowledge
of God is the essence of beatitude, while the love
of God is its form and goal.
6 i Cor. XIII, ra·. " P’idemui
nunc per speculum in aenigmate:
lune autem facie ad faciem. Nunc
cognosco ex parte: tunc autem co­
gnoscam sicut el cognitus sum.” Cfr.
i John. ΠΙ. a: "Nunc filii Uei
sumus: el nondum apparuit quid

quoniam,
quum
' ei erimus: quoo Lumen gloriae.— On the lumen
gloriae see Pohlc-Prcuss. Cad: His
Knowability, Essence, and Attri­
butos, P- >46·

HEAVEN

3»

d) Perfect beatitude must include the will as
well as the intellect. That beatitude is de­
scribed more often as knowledge than as love
is owing to the fact that whereas the love we
shall have for God in Heaven is substantially
identical with the love we have for Him on
earth,7 the knowledge we shall have of Him there
differs essentially from the abstractive and an­
alogical knowledge which is vouchsafed us here.
This does not, however, prevent the visio beatifica
from culminating in a rapturous love, free from
imperfection, whereby the creature is made un­
speakably happy (amor beatificus). As faith is
transformed into vision and hope changes to pos­
session, love grows perfect and thus man becomes
completely happy.
2. Proof from Revelation.—Various hereti­
cal errors have been current at one time or other
concerning the nature of Heaven. Certain Ar­
menian writers of the fourteenth century claimed
that the Elect know God in an abstractive man­
ner only. The Palamites or Hesychasts, a school
of Greek mystics who flourished about the
same time on Mount Athos, taught that the di­
vine attributes are radiations of God’s Essence,
which become solidified as it were, by tak­
ing on the shape of an uncreated light, percepti­
ble to the Blessed by means of bodily vision.’
T Cfr

« Cor. ΧΙΠ, 8 sqq.

· Cfr. Pohle-Preus». ep. ctt. (note
6), p. 146.

32

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

Rosmini all but denied the beatific vision by say­
ing that its object is not the Divine Essence, but
God in His relation to the outside world.9 The
question was authoritatively decided by Benedict
XII (1336) and the Council of Florence
(1439)·1"
a) For the proof from Revelation see PohlePreuss, God: His Knowability, Essence, and At­
tributes, pp. 80 sqq.
b) The beatitude of Heaven would be incom­
plete if it did not include freedom from evil ;—
which is but another way of saying that the
Blessed can neither suffer pain nor commit sin.
Evil may be physical or moral. Physical evil disturbs
the order of nature ; moral evil interferes with the law by
which God governs the universe. Physical evils are, e. g.,
ignorance, sorrow, pain, sickness, and death. Moral evils :
sin and concupiscence (fontes peccati). In Heaven there
is neither physical nor moral evil. Cfr. Apoc. VII, 16:
“ They shall no more hunger nor thirst ; the sun shall not
oppress them, nor any heat.” Apoc. XXI, 4: “And
[God] shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall mourning or wail­
ing or pain be any more, because the first things are passed
away.”
The greatest of all evils is sin, and therefore the
Blessed can no longer sin. As this truth was denied by
Origen, it requires special proof. In saying that there
B Prop. Damnat. a Leone XIII,
prop. 38-40. The full text of the
decree of the Holy Office condemn­
ing Rosmini'e teaching will be found

in Schiffini, Diiput. Metaph. Spec..
Vol. 1, pp. 432 sqq.
10 V. eupra, Ch. II, Sect. a. pp. 33

HEAVEN

33

is no pain or sorrow in Heaven the inspired author of the
Apocalypse cannot have meant physical sorrow only.
Mental sorrow caused by the loss of sanctifying grace is
far deeper and keener than mere physical pain. More­
over, the beatitude of Heaven, being eternal, is incom­
patible with sin. As St. Augustine aptly observes, the
happiness of the Elect would be incomplete if it did not
exclude sin.11
Whether the so-called impeccability of the Blessed in
Heaven is due to a purely extrinsic confirmation in grace,
or rooted in the essence of the beatific vision, is a con­
troverted question. St. Thomas declares : “ They who
are already blessed in Heaven, apprehend the object of
true happiness as making their happiness and last end:
otherwise their desire would not be set at rest in that
object, and they would not be blessed and happy. The
will of the Blessed, therefore, cannot swerve from the
object of true happiness.”12 This constancy of the will
is rooted in an ineradicable love of God, which, being
based on a true knowledge of His essence, has neither the
power nor the will to offend Him.” However, there is
this much truth in the opposing view of the Scotists, that
the beatific vision and impeccability, though connected by
an intrinsic natural bond, are not essentially one, but
could be dissociated by a miracle. The same may be said
11 Cfr. Opusc. Imperf. c. Julian.,
sent beati. Quicunque igitur beati
sunt, voluntatem defiectere non pos­
sunt ab eo. in quo est vera beafitudo:
tas, tine qua non potest este illa, cui
non possunt igitur perversam vo­
non est aliquid addendum, iam plena
luntatem habere."
nostra felicitas."
13 Cfr. St. Gregory the Great.
12 Summa c. Gentiles. IV, 92:
Moral., V. η; "Angelica natura
" Sed illi qui iam beati sunt, ap­
in semelipsa mutabilis est, quam mu­
prehendunt id, in quo vere beatitudo
tabilitatem vincit per hoc. quod ei
est, sub ratione beatitudinis et ultimi qui semper idem est. vinculis amoris
finis; alias in hoc non acquiesceret colligatur."
oppelitus et per consequens non es­

34

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

of the beatific vision and sorrow : these, too, are naturally
but not metaphysically incompatible.

3. The Object of the Beatific Vision.—
What do the Blessed in Heaven actually behold
through the lumen gloriae? To answer this ques­
tion we must distinguish between the Divine Es­
sence and the things existing outside of it. The
Divine Essence itself is the object and source of
what is known as beatitudo essentialis sive
primaria, or beatitudo aurea. That secon­
dary beatitude which the Scholastics term acci­
dentalis, results from the contemplation of beauti­
ful objects existing outside of the Divine Essence.
The essential beatitude of the Blessed consists
in an intuitive vision of the tri-une God with His
various attributes.14 To what objects the acci­
dental beatitude of the Blessed extends cannot be
exactly determined.
a) From St. Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor. XIII,
9 sqq. we know that the Blessed clearly behold
in Heaven whatever they embraced with theo­
logical faith on earth. Faith is transformed into
knowledge.
It follows that the Blessed have a clear, though not an
14 Cfr. Concil. Florent., 1439,
Dcnzinger-Bannwart, n. 693: " II·
lorumquc animas, qui post baptis­
mum susceptum nullam omnino pec·
cati maculam incurrerunt, illa» etiam,
quae post contractam peccati macu­
lam, vd in »ui» corporibus, vel eis-

dem erutae corporibus, . . . sunt
purgatae, in caelum mox recipi ei
intueri clare ipsum Deum trinum et
unum, sicuti est, pro meritorum ta­
men diversitate alium alio perfec-

HEAVEN

35

adequate, knowledge of all the theological mysteries (the
Trinity, the Hypostatic Union of the two natures in
Christ, the Holy Eucharist), and their mutual relations.
A fortiori they must have a knowledge of the lesser
mysteries of our holy religion, e. g. in what manner the
Sacraments produce their effects, how the Holy Ghost
operates in the Church and in the souls of the faithful, the
nature of actual and sanctifying grace, the number of
the Elect, predestination and reprobation, and many other
things of which we on earth have at best only an inkling.

b) The beatific vision also involves a knowl­
edge of the causal relations between God and all
existing and possible creatures. This knowledge,
however, is not shared equally by all the Blessed,
but varies in clearness and depth in proportion to
merit.
God is the cause of His creatures in a threefold re­
spect: (i) as their pattern-exemplar (causa exemplaris),
i. e. the model according to which they are fashioned; (2)
as the efficient cause (causa efficiens) of both nature and
the supernatural; and (3) as the final end and object
(causa finalis) towards which all creatures consciously or
unconsciously tend.16 In all three of these respects the
Blessed in Heaven perceive not only God’s manifold re­
lations to His creatures, but also the why and wherefore
thereof, because knowledge of the Divine Essence neces­
sarily includes knowledge of the divine ideas (though not
of all), and the external glory of God. ». e. the admiration,
love, and praise of His creatures, grows in proportion to
their knowledge of His essence.
isCfr. Rom. XI. 36:

"£r ifto, el fer ifmm. el in ifto nut amnia."

36

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

c) The beatitude enjoyed by the Blessed in
Heaven is {per aeddens) increased by their inti­
mate association with the angels and saints.
The inhabitants of Heaven do not lead a solitary life,
but are associated together in a mystic body called the
Communion of Saints {communio sanctorum'). They
are members of the triumphant Church10 and admiringly
contemplate the angels in their hierarchical gradations as
well as the various degrees of dignity and happiness mani­
fested in their glorified fellowmen.17 Their knowledge is
not, however, limited to heavenly things, but extends to
Purgatory and this earth, comprising especially those
things which are closely related to the supernatural order
in general and the position occupied therein by each heav­
enly denizen in particular. They devote special attention,
of course, to whatever pertains to the worship and the
intercession of the Saints. Bellarmine thinks that they
derive their knowledge of these things from their official
position in the celestial hierarchy rather than from a
special revelation.

d) Various bonds connect the Blessed in
Heaven with the scene of their labors, battles,
temptations, and victories here below.
It was here they acquired that more or less pro­
found knowledge of science and art which is not lost but
clarified, deepened, and ennobled in Heaven.18 Here they
10 Cfr. Heb. II, 13·
IT Cfr. Lessius, De Summo Bono,
ΙΙ,9,6ι: " Par enim est.
civitatern suam et domum Patris sui ei
fratres suos et cives optime norint.

*· bonitatem Dei in singulis admirentur et laudent."
18 Cfr. 1 Cor. XIII. i0: " Evacuabitur quod ex parte est."

HEAVEN

37

still have relatives, friends, and descendants, in whom
their former interest continues unabated, for Death does
not destroy our earthly relations, but raises them to a
higher sphere, in which the salvation of souls outweighs
all other considerations. This knowledge the Elect can
not obtain from personal observation, as they lack the
organs of sense, but it is communicated to them by the
Divine Logos, in whom they behold all things.'·

4. The “Dowry” of the Blessed.—By the
dowry of the Blessed (dotes beatorum) the Scho­
lastic theologians understand the supernatural
endowments of the soul in the beatific state.
a) Like the mystic marriage of the soul with Christ,
the dotes beatorum must be conceived allegorically. As a
dowry is not the matrimonial bond, but something which
precedes marriage ; so the dowry that Christ bestows on
His mystic spouse is a habit which precedes the beatific
vision and renders it more enjoyable.20 The dowry of
the Blessed is, however, purely accidental, and must not
be confounded with the essence of the beatific vision,
which consists in the intuitive knowledge of God.21

b) The gifts that constitute the dowry of the Blessed
are partly of the body and partly of the soul. The
dowry of the body is identical with the properties de­
scribed infra, in Part II, Ch. II, Sect. 3. The dowry
of the soul consists of the three gifts of contemplation.
IS
ctr. or. 1 nomas, jummo >. Rome 1888.
so Cfr. St Thomas. Comment, in
Centilet. HI. SO — On the relations
of the Elect to the objects of the bea­
tific vision the student may consult
Franzelin, De Deo Uno, thee. 18.

38

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

possession, and fruition. Contemplation (visio) corre­
sponds to faith ; possession (comprehensio), to hope ; fru­
ition (fruitio), to charity. All three converge in the
light of glory, which dispels the obscurity of faith, in­
sures the eternal possession of God, and guarantees the
enjoyment of His love.22
22 St. Thomas rejects the parallel
drawn by some writers between the
dowry of the Blessed and the three
principal faculties of the soul. He
. quia irascibilis el con­
says:
cupiscibilis non sunt in farte in­
tellectiva. sed in farte sensitiva,
doles autem animae fonuntur in
ifsa mente." {Supplement., qu. 95,
art. S).— The question whether the
soul of Christ possesses the dotes
beatorum he answers as follows:
“ Kef omnino non convenit Christo
ratio dotis vel non ito frofrie, sicut
aliis sanctis; ea tamen, quae dotes di­
cuntur, excellentissime ei con­

veniunt." {Ibid., art. 3). Of the
angels he adds {ibid., art. 4):
" Exigitur enim inter sfonsum et
sponsam naturae conformitas, ut sell,
sint eiusdem speciei. Hoc autem
modo homines cum Christo con­
veniunt, inquantum naturam huma­
nam assumpsit. . . . Angelis autem
non est conformis secundum unita­
tem speciei neque secundum naturam
divinam neque secundum humanam,
et ideo ratio dotis non ita proprie
convenit angelis sicut hominibus."—
The Scholastic doctrine of the dotes
beatorum is of no great importance.

SECTION 2
THE PROPERTIES OF HEAVEN

Heaven is supernatural and eternal, and has
various degrees of happiness for the Blessed, cor­
responding to the higher or lower measure of
grace with which each is endowed and the in­
timacy of his union with God.1
I. Eternity of Heaven.—The eternity of
Heaven was in olden times denied by the Origenists. Benedict XII defined it as an article of faith :
“This same vision and fruition . . . continues
and will continue till the final judgment, and
thenceforward forever.” 2 The dogma is as old
as Christianity, for the Apostles’ Creed says: “I
believe ... in life everlasting.”
a) Sacred Scripture employs many beautiful
figures to illustrate the perpetuity of Heaven.
Thus it compares Heaven to “a treasure which
faileth not,” which "no thief approacheth, nor
moth corrupteth;” 3 a reception “into everlast1 On the supernatural character
of the beatific vision sec Pohle·
Preuss, God: His Knowability, Kt-

. , continuata exista et conti-

39

nuabifur usque id finale indicium,
et tune usque in sempiternum."
(Densinger-Bannwart. n. jji).

40

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

ing dwellings;”4* “a never fading crown of
glory;”6 an “everlasting kingdom.”8 St. John
frequently refers to the abode of the Blessed as
“eternal life.” 7
b) The Fathers conceived Heaven as unending.
Heaven must be everlasting, says St. Augustine,
because no happiness could be perfect that would
be overshadowed by the fear of a possible cessa­
tion or loss.8 St. Thomas defines eternity as an
intrinsic and essential quality without which
Heaven would not be Heaven. The opinion of
some of the later Scotists that eternity is an acci­
dental quality of beatitude, is untenable.
2. Various Degrees of Happiness Among
the Blessed.—The ancient heretic Jovinian held
that virtues and vices, merits and demerits, re­
wards and punishments are all alike. Luther, in
accordance with his false theory of justification,
contended that glory as well as grace are abso­
lutely equal in all men and do not admit of degrees.
The Catholic Church, on the contrary, holds as
an article of faith that there are among the
Blessed various degrees of happiness, in propor4 Luke XVI, 9: " Facite vobis
amicos de mammona iniquitatis: ut,
quum defeceritis, recipiant vos in
aeterna tabernacula."
0 i Pet. V, 4: " Quum apparu­
erit princeps pastorum, percipietis
immarcescibilem gloriae coronam."
ea Pet. I, 11: ” aeternum regnum
Domini."

t Kita aeterna,
αΐώΐ'ίοδ.
e De Civ. Dei, XII, 20: "Quid
enim illa bcatitudine falsius atque
fallacius, ubi nos futuros miseros aut
in tantâ veritatis luce nesciamus aut
in summS felicitatis arce timeamust
■ . . Atque ita spes nostrae infelicita­
tis est felix et felicitatis infelix."

HEAVEN

41

tion to merit. “One is more perfect than the
other according to the different merits of each,”
says e. g. the Decretum Unionis of Florence.’
a) This teaching agrees perfectly with Sacred
Scripture. Our Lord Himself intimates that
there are various degrees of happiness among
the Elect, when He says: “In my Father’s
house there are many mansions.” 10 St. Paul ex­
pressly declares : “Each shall receive his own re­
ward according to his own toil.” 11 And: “He
who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly,
and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap
blessings.” 12 And again: “The glory of the
heavenly is different from that of the earthly.
There is the glory of the sun, and the glory of the
moon, and the glory of the stars; for star differeth from star in glory. And so it is with the
resurrection of the dead.” 13
The Fathers express themselves in similar terms. St.
Polycarp bravely assures his heathen judge: " The more
I suffer, the greater will be my reward."14 St. Ignatius
13r Cor. XV. 41 sq.: "Alia
versitate alium alio perfectius."
Claritas solis, alia claritas lunae, et
(Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 693).
alia Claritas stellarum. Stella enim
10 John XIV, a: "In domo Pao stella differt in claritate: sic et
tris mei mansiones multae sunt."
resurrectio mortuorum."—Cfr. At
11 I Cor. Ill, 8: " Unusquisque
Schâfer, Erklârung der beiden
autem propriam mercedem accipiet
Briefe an die Korinther, pp. «8 sqq..
secundum suum laborem."
Munster 1903; J. MacRory. The
12a Cor. IX, 6: "Qui parce Epistles of St. Paul to the Corin­
seminat, parce et metet: et qui semi­ thians, P. I, pp. 443 aq-, Dublin
nat in benedictionibus, de benedic­
1»'Stionibus et metet."
14 Martyrium S. Polycarpi. 40.

42

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

of Antioch writes : “ The greater the toil, the greater
the gain.” “ Tertullian says : “ How is it that there are
many mansions in the Father’s house, if not for the va­
riety of merits? How does star differ from star in glory,
if not for the diversity of rays?”10 St. Jerome argues
against Jovinian: “ If there is no difference in merits, if
virgins do not differ from married women, if the easier
works of piety are equally meritorious with the constancy
of the martyrs, it is vain to strive for perfection,” and
proceeds to show how absurd it is to suppose that a
death-bed repentance puts the life-long sinner on a level
with the Apostles.16
17
The objection that inequality of glory in Heaven would
provoke envy and jealousy among the Blessed, is re­
futed by St. Augustine as follows : “ There will be no
envy on account of unequal glory, because one love will
govern all.”18 According to St. Thomas the measure of
glory enjoyed by each is gauged by the strength of the
love he has for God : “ That intellect which has more
of the light of glory will see God the more perfectly ; and
he will have a fuller participation of the light of glory
who has more of charity, because where there is greater
charity, there is a more ardent desire ; . . . hence he who
possesses the greater charity, will see God the more per­
fectly.” 18
16 M Polycarp., I. 3: ίπου
τλιΐων κόπο». πολύ xipbot.
1· Scorpiace, 6: " Quomodo mul­
tae mansiones opud Palrem. si non
pro varietate mentorum? Quomodo
el xtella a itella distabit in gloria,
nixi pro diverxitate radlorumt "
17 Contra lovin., II. 34; ■■
nulla meritorum divenitax, xi nihil
diitel inter virginei el mulierex
roniugatax, xi acqualix meriti xint
leviora virtutum opera et martyrum
cenitantia, vanum erit per/eclionix

xtudium. taediosus omnino erit

trahentur. Quid perseverant vir­
gines? Quid laborant viduae? Cur
maritatae te continent? Peccemus
et foit poenitentiam idem
erimus quod Apostoli sunt."
18
Tract, in loa., 67, 3: " Non
erit aliqua invidia imparis claritatis,
quoniam regnabit in omnibux unita!
10 Summa Theol., ia, qu. ta, art.
6: ■' Intellectus plus participans de

HEAVEN

43

b) The inequality of heavenly glory has given
rise to the Scholastic doctrine of aureolae, i. e.
special marks of success attaching to those who
have won conspicuous victories over the three
arch-enemies of man, the world, the flesh, and
the devil.20
The aureola of the virgin marks a heroic victory over
the flesh ;21 that of the martyr, over the world ; ” that
of the doctor, over the devil, who is the father of lies.”

These marks must be something real, immanent in the
soul, and may be conceived as an internal joy over the
victory won. What some theologians say of the external
visibility of these crowns of glory, or their color, is pure
conjecture.
Readings:—*Lessius, De Summo Bono et Aeterna Beatitudine
Hominis, Antwerp 1616 (ed. Hurter, 1869).— Suarez, De Fine
Ultimo.—* Bellarmine, De Sanctorum Beatitudine.— Schntitgen,
Die Visio Beatifica, Würzburg 1867.— A Krawutzcky, De Visione
Beatifica Comment. Histor., Breslau 1868.— Kirschkamp, Gnode
und Glorie in ihrem inneren Zusammenhang, Wurzburg 1878.—
♦Bautz, Der Himmel, spekulativ dargestellt. Mayence 1881.—
*Franzelin, De Deo Uno, thes. 14-19, Rome 1888.— F. Boudreaux,
S.J., Die Seligkeit des Himmels, Kevelaer 1898.— Scheeben, Die
Mystericn des Christentums, 3rd ed., pp. 583 sqq, Freiburg 1912.
— E. Méric, Les Élus se reconnaîtront au Ciel, Paris 1881.—
Blot, S.J., Das IViedererkennen im Jenseits, 10th ed., Mayence
fuminr gloriae perfectius Deum vide­
bit. Plus autem participabit de lu­
mine gloriae, qui plus habet de cari­
tate, quia ubi est maior caritas, ibi
est maius desiderium. . . . Unde qui
plus habebit de caritate, perfectius
Deum videbit."
20 Cfr. St. Thoma», Summa Theol..
Supplement.. qu. 95. art. 1: "Au­

reola est aliquid aureae [beafitudini
essentiali] superadditum, ύ e. quod­
dam gaudium de operibus a se factis,
quae habent rationem victoriae re­
cellentis."
St Apec. XIV. j.
SS Cfr. Maith. V. n aq.
sa Cfr. Dan. ΧΠ. 3.

44

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

1900.—G. Gietmann, S.J., art. "Nimbus," in Vol. XI of the
Catholic Encyclopedia—Jos. Honthcim, S.J., art.
"Heaven,"
ibid., Vol. VII— Delloue-Lcahy, Solution of the Great Problem,
New York 1917, pp. 217 sqq.—B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of the
History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St. Louis 1918, pp. 430 sqq.—W.
Schneider, The Other Life, pp. 260 sqq., New York 1920.—J. S.
Vaughan, Life Everlasting, London 1922.—L. Bremond, Le Ciel,
ses Joies, scs Splendeurs, Paris 1926.

CHAPTER IV
HELL

SECTION I
THE EXISTENCE OF HELL

I. Definition.—Our English word “Hell”
comes from the Anglo-Saxon hel, which origin­
ally signified “a hidden place.” 1 According to
present-day usage Hell means the abode of evil
spirits and the place or state of punishment of the
wicked after death. The Hebrew term sheol is
sometimes used in the same sense, though its
proper meaning is “cave,” “nether world," or
“abode of the departed.” The Latin infernus
(Greek,
more definitely signifies the place
where the wicked are tormented. The Hebrew
name for this place is gehenna, which originally
meant “valley of the Hinnom.” This valley was
near Jerusalem and once belonged to the sons of
Hinnom (Ennom). Later it became the scene of
cruel sacrifices to Moloch and finally served as
a garbage dump.2 The term gehenna in the sense
1 See the Oxford New Englieh
Dictionary. Vol. V, s. v.

» Cfr. 4 Kings XXIII, 10; Jer.
VII, ji; XIX. 6.

45

46

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

of infernus was in common use among the Jews
at the time of our Lord.3
Besides these more or less technical terms, Holy Scrip­
ture employs a number of metaphorical expressions to
describe the abode of the damned, e. g., “ exterior dark­
ness,” accompanied by “ weeping and gnashing of
teeth ; ” * “ everlasting fire ; ”8 “ the second death,” ® etc.
Though all these phrases, with the exception of the last,
may connote a place, the emphasis is upon the state of
eternal damnation and torment. Very truly, therefore,
has it been said that the damned carry Hell around with
them.

2. The Existence of Hell Proved from
Sacred Scripture and Tradition.—The exist­
ence of Hell was denied by the Jewish sect of the
Sadducees, by the followers of the Gnostic heretic
Valentinus, and, generally, by unbelievers of all
ages. The Catholic Church, on the contrary, has
repeatedly and solemnly defined that “the wicked
[will receive] eternal punishment together with
the devil.” ’
a) Sacred Scripture inculcates this truth so
frequently and unmistakably that it has been
justly said that no other Catholic dogma has such
a solid Biblical basis. St. Jude designates Hell as
sCfr. Matth. V, 22, 29; Mark
IX, 46; Luke XII, 5·
« Tenebrae
exteriores,
σκότο>
itftrepov· (Matth. VIII. 12).
a Matth. XXV. 41; Mark IX, 42.
e k. supra, p. 5.

t Cone. Lot. II', Cap. " Firmi­
ter": "Illi [scii. mali] cum diabolo
poenam perpetuam et isti [soil. feoni]
cum Christo gloriam sempiternam
[recipient]." (Dcnzinger-Bannwart,
n. 4’9).

HELL

47

“the punishment of eternal fire.”8 St. Paul calls
it “eternal punishment in destruction.” ’ Our
Lord Himself describes it as an “unquenchable
fire,” a place “where the worm dieth not and the
fire is not extinguished,” 10 a “furnace of fire,” 11
etc. St. John in the Apocalypse refers to Hell as
“a pool burning with fire and brimstone.”12
Many other texts could be cited, but it is unneces­
sary to multiply proofs in view of our Lord’s own
declaration that the wicked will be cast into an
“everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil
and his angels.” 13
b) The Fathers faithfully echo this teaching
of Scripture. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch
writes to the Ephesians : “Do not err, my breth­
ren ; ... if a man by false teaching corrupt the
faith of God, for the sake of which Jesus Christ
was crucified, such a one shall go in his foulness
to the unquenchable fire,14 as also shall he who lis­
tens to him.”15 Not content with testifying to
the teaching of Scripture on the subject, the Fa­
thers proved it from reason. Thus they argue
that God in His justice cannot possibly allow crimlorum erit in Stagno ardenti igne
el sulphure: quod est mors secunda."
— For other expressions see No. 1.
10 Mark IX, 43: " Ubi vermis
eorum non moritur, et ignis non
extinguilur."
11 Matth. XIII. 4»: " Et mittent
eos in caminum ignis
12 Apoc. XXI, 8: ". . . fors il­

ta Matth. XXV, 41: "Discedite
a me maledicti in ignem aeternum,
qui paratus est diabolo et angelis
1* els rb trip rô taffearoe·
ta rid Eph.. XVI. ».

48

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

inals to go unpunished. “I will briefly reply,”
says St. Justin Martyr, “that if the matter be not
thus, either there is no God, or if there is, He
does not concern Himself with men, virtue and
vice mean nothing, and they who transgress im­
portant laws are unjustly punished by the lawgiv­
ers.” 10 St. Chrysostom writes: “All of us,—
Greeks and Jews, heretics and Christians,—ac­
knowledge that God is just. Now many who
sinned have passed away without being punished,
while many others, who led virtuous lives, did not
die until they had suffered innumerable tribula­
tions. If God is just, how will He reward the lat­
ter and punish the former, unless there be a Hell
and a Resurrection?” 17
c) A cogent philosophical argument for the existence
of Hell can be drawn from the consensus of mankind that
there must be a place where criminals receive their just
punishment in the next world. This belief is so general,
so definite, and so clearly demanded by reason that it
must be true.
Society and the moral order could not exist without
belief in Hell, and it is probably on this account that
all nations have clung to this belief despite its terrors.
Those individuals who deny the existence of Hell are
mostly atheists or libertines, distinguished neither for
learning nor purity of life. Wherever conscience is
allowed to speak, it voices the firm conviction that God
will punish the wicked and reward the just in the world
is Apol., II, n. 9.
17 Hom. in Ep. ad Phil., 6, n. 6.

—Other Patristic tcstiinoni
Sect. 3.

HELL

49

beyond. St. Chrysostom aptly observes: " If those who
argue against Hell would embrace virtue, they would soon
be convinced of its existence.” 18

2. The Location of Hell.—The Fathers and
Scholastics believed Hell to be somewhere un­
der the earth or near its centre, which latter
view is immortalized in Dante’s Inferno.19 This
ancient belief was based on such Biblical passages
as Numb. XVI, 31 sqq.: “Immediately as he
had made an end of speaking, the earth broke
asunder under their feet, and opening her mouth,
devoured them with their tents and all their sub­
stance, and they went down alive into hell.” Ps.
LIV, 16: “Let death come upon them, and let
them go down alive into hell.” Isaias V, 14:
“Therefore hath hell . . . opened her mouth,
and their strong ones . . . shall go down into it.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself “descended into
hell.”20
a) But these texts no more prove that Hell is beneath
or in the earth than the ancient conception of Heaven as
“ above ” proves that the abode of the Blessed is located
somewhere beyond the firmament. The ancients had a
20
Cfr. Pohfe-Preuss. Soteriology.
18 Hom. in Ep. ad Rom., 31, n.
4.— The argument from reason in p. 9t.— Other Patristic a iterances
in Lessius, De Perfect. Sionbueque
St Thomas, Summa c. Gent.. III.
140; Summa Theo!., ra aae. qu. 87,
Divinie, ΧΠΙ. 34.— The question re­
art. 1.— Cfr. H. Luken. Die Tra- garding the probable location of Hell
diiionen dee Meneehengcschfechtes.
is treated at length by Bautz. Die
and ed., pp. 410 sqq.. Munster 1869.
Hotle. im Anechluee an die Scho10 Cfr. Patuzzi. De Sede Inferni fastik. and ed.. pp. j8 sqq.. Mayence
in Terra Quaerenda, Venice 1763.
•9»S·

50

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

geocentric conception of the universe, which found its sci­
entific expression in the Ptolemaic system. To them the
earth was the centre of the universe, surrounded in great
circles, called deferents, by the revolving centers of smaller
circles, called epicycles, on whose circumferences the plan­
ets were supposed to move. Beyond the last and highest
sphere was an imaginary region of light, the empyreum,
to which fire and other tenuous bodies were believed to
tend as to their natural goal. This conception of the
universe led the Scholastics to locate Heaven in the
empyreum and Hell in the centre of the earth, with
Purgatory and the Limbo somewhere in the outer strata
of our planet. Those who, like Cosmas Indicopleustes,21
conceived the earth as a rectangular plane encircled by
steep walls, placed Hell underneath this plane.
b) It is easy to ridicule these naive ideas from the
advanced standpoint of modern science, as Draper and
Flammarion have done. But no sane philosopher will
argue that Hell does not exist because “ there is no place
for it in the heliocentric system.” We readily admit
that modern astronomy has corrected many erroneous
notions and that the progress of geography and physics
has exercised a wholesome influence on Eschatology.
To-day “ above ” and “ below ’’ are recognized as purely
relative terms, and we know that the heavens con­
stantly change their position towards us as the earth
revolves around its own axis and around the sun. Holy
Scripture and the Fathers speak the language of the
common people, and such phrases as take the geocentric
system for granted, must not be interpreted literally.
The unfortunate Galileo case is a warning to theolo21
Topographie Chritliana, 1. II.
han. Patrology, pp.
(On this writer and his Christian
Louis 1908).
Topography cfr. Bardenhewer-Sha-

S55

φ

st.

HELL

gians. The Church has never defined that Hell is a
place, though the dogma of the Resurrection seems to
entail this conclusion. Still less has she defined where
Hell is. That is a question lying entirely outside
the sphere of dogma. St. Gregory the Great says:
“I dare not define anything on this subject, for some
believed Hell to be situated somewhere within the earth,
whereas others look for it under the earth.” M In point
of fact we know nothing at all about the location of Hell,
and instead of prying into the unknowable, we should
heed the warning of St. Chrysostom : " Do not inquire
where Hell is, but how to escape it.” M
22 Dial., IV. 42: "De hac re
temere definire nihil audeo. Nonnul­
li namque in quadam terrarum farte
infernum este putaverunt, alii vero

hunc tub terra este aettimani."
(Migne, P. L., LXXVH, 400).
23 Hom. in £/>. ad Rom., 31. o. j
(Aligne, P. G., LX, 674)·

SECTION 2
NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENT

Though the Church has defined nothing with
regard to the nature of the punishment which
the wicked are compelled to suffer in Hell, theolo­
gians usually describe it as partly privative and
partly positive.
Its most dreadful element is undoubtedly the
loss of the beatific vision. To this (poena damni)
are added certain positive torments (poena sen­
sus).
The twofold punishment of the wicked, ac­
cording to St. Thomas, corresponds to the two­
fold nature of sin, which is both a turning away
from God (aversio a Deo) and an inordinate
turning towards the creature (conversio ad cre­
aturam). “Punishment,” he says, “is propor­
tionate to sin. Now sin comprises two things.
First, there is the turning away from the immu­
table good, which is infinite, and therefore, in
this respect, sin is infinite. Secondly, there is the
inordinate turning to mutable good. In this re­
spect sin is finite, both because the mutable good
itself is finite, and because the movement of
S3

HELL

53

turning towards it is finite, since the acts of a
creature cannot be infinite. Accordingly, in so
far as sin consists in turning away from God, its
corresponding punishment is the pain of loss,
which also is infinite, because it is the loss of the
infinite good, i. e. God. But in so far as sin turns
inordinately [to the mutable good], its corre­
sponding punishment is the pain of sense, which
also is finite.” 1
i. The Pain of Loss (Poena Damni).—
Damnation consists essentially in a realization, on
the part of the creature, of the fact that through
its own fault it has lost the greatest of all goods
and missed the very purpose of its existence, and
thereby its natural destiny. This knowledge
causes a feeling of unhappiness akin to despera­
tion, which is the exact counterpart of the beati­
tude of Heaven. The poena damni is expressed
in the words, “Depart from me, ye cursed!”
whereas the poena sensus is indicated in the
phrase, “into eternal fire.”2 There are other
Scriptural texts that confirm this doctrine. Luke
1 Summa Theo!.. ta aae, qu. 87,
tum etiam quia ipsa conversio est
art. 4: "Poena proporlionatur pecfinita; non enim possunt esse actus
In peccato autem duo sunt: Creaturae infiniti. Ex parte igitur
quorum unum est aversio ab
aversionis respondet peccato poena
commutabili bono, quod est infinitum,
damni, quae etiam est infinita; est
unde e* hac parte peccatum est in­
enim amissio infiniti boni, scilicet
finitum; aliud quod est in peccato
Dei. Ex parte autem inordinatae
est inordinata conversio ad com­ conversionis respondet ei poena sen­
mutabile bonum; ei ex hac parte sus. quae etiam est finita."
peccatum est finitum. Ium quta ip­
î P. infra. No. s.
sum bonum commutabile est finitum.

54

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

XIV, 24 : “But I say unto you that none of those
men that were invited, shall taste of my supper.” 3
In the parable of the Master of the house, Luke
XIII, 27 sq., the Lord says: “I know you not,
whence you are : depart from me, all ye workers of
iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth, when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of
God, and you yourselves thrust out.” 4
The Fathers unanimously confirm the teaching
of Scripture. St. John Chrysostom describes the
pain of loss, in contradistinction to the pain of
sense, as follows: “The fire of Hell is insup­
portable—who does not know it?—and its tor­
ments are awful. But if you were to heap a
thousand hell-fires one on top of the other, it
would be as nothing compared to the punishment
[that consists in] being excluded from the bea­
tific glory of Heaven, hated by Christ, and com­
pelled to hear Him say, ‘I know thee not.’ ” 5
It is difficult, nay impossible, to write a psychology of
the damned. This much, however, is certain : the repro­
bates in Hell are beyond redemption, and sanctifying
grace in their souls is replaced by a fierce hatred of Al­
mighty God.
s Luke XIV, 24: "Dice autem
vobis, quod nemo virorum illorum,
qui vocali sunt, gustabit coenam
meam."
♦ Luke XIII, 27 eq.: "Nescio
vos, unde sitis: discedite a me

omnes operarii iniquitatis. Ibi erit
fletus et stridor dentium: quum vi­
deritis Abraham et Isaac et lacob
et omnes prophetas in regno Dei,
vos autem expelli foras."
s Hom. in Matth., 23, n. 8.

HELL

55

Schell8 has protested against the “ rigorism ” which as­
serts that the will of the wicked after death is suddenly
set against God and that their previous half-hearted love
of, or indifference towards Him, becomes transformed
into “ satanic malice.” The germs of moral good which
a soul takes with it into the next world, he argues, cannot
be lost, since God destroys no good thing. This doubt­
ful principle led Schell to conclusions closely akin
to those of Hirscher.7 His teaching was violently as­
sailed by Father J. Stufler, S. J.8 Professor F. X. Kiefl
defended Schell and interpreted his words more mildly.
It is undeniable, however, because of the essential dis­
tinction existing between the status viae and the status
termini, that when the damned enter Hell, where grace
ceases and conversion becomes impossible, they are smitten
with great confusion of spirit and a corresponding
sentiment of impenitence. Being permanently deprived
of grace makes them enemies of God. It is not nec­
essary to conceive this state as a sort of confirmed
“ Satanism.” No doubt there are degrees of malice and
impenitence in Hell. But all the damned hate God more
or less because He is no longer their friend. Herein
lies the dreadfulness of eternal punishment. The natural
will, being a gift of God, remains good ; but it no longer
wills that which is good. It wills the bad, or if it wills the
good, wills it with a wrong intention. St. Thomas ex­
plains the reason as follows : “ The damned are abso­
lutely turned away from the final end of the rightly di­
rected will. The will cannot be good except it be ordered
to that end, so that, even if [the damned] willed some­
thing good, they would not will it in the right way, i. e. so
6 Dogmatik, Vol. II, Part II, pp.
745 sqq.

■ Dit Htiligktil Collet und Jtr
twigt Tod, Imubruck 1904.

56

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

that their will might be called good.” 0 Though such an
exercise of the will is sinful, it entails no demerit, because
the damned are in the status termini.10* Hence the
damned by the sins which they commit in Hell do not
merit an increase of the poena damni or of the torments
which constitute the poena sensus. This is the com­
mon teaching of Catholic theologians, based on the wis­
dom and justice of God.11

2. The Pain or Punishment of Sense
(Poena Sensus).—“Pain of sense” in Catholic
theology means a pain which is caused by a sen­
sible medium, regardless of whether it is felt by
the senses or not.12 The external medium
through which the positive punishments of Hell
are inflicted is called by Sacred Scripture fire
{ignis, *vp'). Must this term be taken literally
or may it be interpreted in a metaphorical sense?
“ The worm that dieth not ”18 is undoubtedly a figure
of speech, signifying the pangs of conscience, and hence
there is no intrinsic reason why the word “ fire ” might not
signify mental anguish, as Origen, Ambrose Catharinus,14 Mohler,16 and others have maintained. The
S Comment, in Sent., IV, diet. 50,
qu. 3, art. 1 : "Et hoc idea, quia
runf perfecte averri a fine ultimo rec­
tae voluntatis. Nec aliqua voluntas
potest esse bona nisi per ordinem ad
finem praedictum, unde etiam si ali­
quid bonum velint, non tamen bene
bonum volunt illud, ut ex hoc volun10 K. Ch. I, Thesis III, p. 13,
llCfr. Chr. Pesch, S.J., Theo-

logische Zcitfragen, ate Folge; pp.
83 sqq., Freiburg 1901; J. Lehner,
Der Willenssustand des Sunders
nach dem Tode, Vienna 1906.
isCfr. Suarez, De Angelis, VIII,
18 Mark IX, 43.
Opuscula. ed. Lugdun., 154a,
PP- HS sqq.
liNeue Untersuchungen, $th ed.,
P. 3*8, Ratisbon 1890.

HELL

57

Church has never issued a dogmatic definition on the
subject. Hence we are not dealing with an article of faith
nor even with a sententia fidei proxima. However, since
the literal interpretation is favored by the great majority
of Fathers and Scholastics, it may be regarded as " sen­
tentia certa.”

There must be some external medium or agent
— (whether solid, fluid or gaseous, or in some
state transcending the laws of nature)—by which
the wicked are tormented, and the nature of
which is absolutely unknown to us. In taking
this position we oppose the naïve realism of those
who regard Hell as literally a gigantic “furnace”
or an active volcano.
a) In trying to ascertain the nature of the
infernal fire, the first thing that strikes us is that,
though it is physical and real, it cannot be material.
a) Neither in its nature nor in its properties, neither
in its beneficent nor in its malign effects, is the fire of
Hell identical with, or even similar to, the material fire
of nature.
Sacred Scripture speaks of Hell as a “ furnace of fire,”
a “pool of fire and brimstone,” an “ external darkness in
which there is howling and gnashing of teeth,” an
“ eternal fire ” prepared for the devil and his angels from
the beginning.,e Now the devil and his angels (the
demons), being pure spirits, cannot be affected by
material substances such as fire and brimstone, heat
and darkness, because they possess neither senses nor sen10 K tupra. Sect 1.

58

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

sitive faculties. The same is true of the souls of the
wicked during their disembodied state, i. e. before the
Resurrection of the flesh.
This fact was clearly perceived by the Fathers. Lac­
tantius says: “ The nature of that everlasting fire is dif­
ferent from this fire of ours, which we use for the nec­
essary purposes of life, and which ceases to burn unless
it be sustained by the fuel of some material. But that
divine fire always lives by itself, and burns without nour­
ishment ; nor has it any smoke mixed with it, but it is pure
and liquid and fluid, after the manner of water.” 1T St.
Ephraem18 and St. Basil19 declare that the fire of Hell
causes darkness and incessantly torments its victims,
without however destroying them. St. Ambrose writes :
“ Therefore it is neither a gnashing of the bodily teeth,
nor a perpetual bodily fire, nor a bodily worm.” 20 St.
Augustine says that the fire of Hell, while it bears some
resemblance to our material fire, is not identical with
it.21 St. John of Damascus teaches : “ The devil and
his angels and his man, i. e. Antichrist, as well as all
other impious and wicked men, will be thrust into
eternal fire, [which is] not a material fire like ours, but
of a quality known to God.” 22
β) A few Catholic theologians (Henry of Ghent,
Toletus, Tanner, Lessius, and Fr. Schmid 23 ) conceive the
11 De Div. Inst., VII, st.
61: "Non esse corporalia, sed si­
18 Serm. Exegct., Opera Syriace el
milia corporalibus, quibus animae
Latine, Vol. II, p. 354.
corporibus exutae afficiantur."
1» In Psal., 29, 7, n, 6.
22 οΰχ υλικόν, olov rb παρ' -ημίν.
20
In Lucam, VII, n. 204: άλλ’ olov Su elbelq ό Qeôs- (De
" Ergo neque est corporalium stri­ Fide Orthodoxa, IV, 27).— Several
dor aliquis dentium neque ignis ali­ Fathers explain the term " eter­
quis perpetuus flammarum cor­
nal fire” metaphorically; cfr. Pesch,
poralium neque vermis est corpora­ Praelect. Dogmat., Vol. IX, and ed.,
lis."
pp. 322 sq.
21 De Genesi ad Literam, XII, 32,
23 Quaestiones Selectae, pp. 145
sqq., Paderborn 1891.

HELL

59

action of the infernal fire upon the demons and the souls
of the wicked as that of a material upon an immaterial
substance.2* Opposed to this theory is the fact that pure
spirits as well as disembodied souls are utterly devoid of
sense perception. But could not God make them feel
sensual pain by a miracle? That depends on the
answer to another question, viz.: Is there an intrinsic
contradiction involved in the assertion that pure spirits
can be affected by a material substance? Neither phi­
losophy nor Revelation gives a definite answer to this
question. The existing uncertainty has led other theo­
logians to devise a more plausible theory. They regard
the effect of the fire of Hell as purely spiritual, holding
that the constant presence of fire, which is a material
element, occupies the intellect of the damned in a dis­
agreeable manner and fills the will with sadness
and aversion,28 or the fact of their being locally and in­
separably bound up with this lowly elementM hinders the
free activity of the spirit and thus causes internal anguish
(per modum detentionis). The souls of the lost before
the Resurrection, says St. Thomas, "shall suffer from
corporeal fire by a sort of constriction (alligatio). For
spirits can be tied to bodies, either as their form, as the
soul is tied to the human body to give it life: or without
being the body’s form, as magicians by diabolic power
tie spirits to images.2’ Much more by divine power may
spirits under damnation be tied to corporeal fire; and it
is an affliction to them to know that they are tied to the
meanest creatures for punishment.” This opinion is
s< Cfr. Lessius, Dr Div. Perf.,
XIII, 30: "Si ignis naturaliter per
suum calorem potest affligere spiritum
hominis mediante corpore, cur idem
ignis ut instrumentum Dei non po-

ullo corpore mediat "
35 Cfr. St Thomas. Summa TheoL,
Supplement., qu. 70. art 3.
se Cfr. * Pet. II. 4; Jude 6.
27 See Rickaby’s note on this pas­
sage in God and His Creatures, p.
413. London 1905.

6o

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

shared by the majority of Thomists.28 Suarez goes
so far as to say 29 that the effect of hell-fire is purely
spiritual, disfiguring the demons and the disembodied
souls of the lost in a manner analogous to that in which
sanctifying grace beautifies the angels and saints. This
theory, though it correctly emphasizes the mysterious na­
ture of the fire, reduces it to the level of an intangible
metaphor.
One thing has been made certain by the subtle debates
of the Schoolmen, namely, that the fire of Hell cannot be
identical with material fire, but must be something at the
same time physical and supra-physical, a punishment in­
vented by an avenging God, of which we know nothing
except that it exists and torments the damned.

b) What we have so far said applies princi­
pally to the demons, who are pure spirits ; but it
is applicable also to the souls of the wicked be­
fore the Resurrection.
These souls, it is true, do not lose their sensitive facul­
ties when they leave the body. But they become incapable
of sense perception for lack of adequate organs (brain
and nervous system). "Incorporeal subsistent spirits,”
says St. Thomas, “ have no organs of sense nor the use
of sensory powers."80 It is different after the Resur­
rection, when the souls are reunited with their bodies.
“ Whatever may be said of the fire which torments the
disembodied souls," adds the Angelic Doctor, “ the fire
that torments the bodies of the damned after the Res­
te Summa Contra Gent., IV, 90;
cfr. De Veritate, qu. 26, art. 1.
it De Angelie, VIII, 14.

eenruum non habent neque potentiil
eemilivie utuntur." (Summa contra
Gent., IV, 90).

HELL

6ι

urrection must be regarded as corporeal, because a pain
is not adapted to the body unless it is a bodily pain."81
Nevertheless, the theory we have set forth is not
free from difficulties. It implies two strange corollaries,
viz.: (i) that the pains of sense which the souls of the
lost suffer in Hell differ before and after the Resur­
rection; and (2) that the souls of wicked men through­
out eternity suffer more intensely than the demons, for
whom the everlasting fire was originally prepared. For
if that fire be qualitatively the same for the demons and
the souls of wicked men, it must cause the same kind of
pain to both. True, the body, too, is affected; but this
bodily pain need not be conceived as a real burning; it
may be something entirely sui generis. We can obtain no
certain knowledge in the matter, though the possibility of
a real burning is undeniable. However, if we consider
that the assumption of a material fire, or a fire analogous
to the material, does not sufficiently account for either
the quantitative inequality of the torments inflicted or their
qualitative adaptability to the different kinds of sins to
be punished, we shall be confirmed in the conviction that
the fire of Hell in no wise resembles the material fire of
nature.82
animas separatas cruciat, de igne
tamen, quo cruciabuntur corpora

adaptari poena, nisi sit corporea.'
32 Fr. Joseph Rickaby, S. J., says
in a recent brochure (Everlasting
Punishment, pp. 7-11, London 1916):
“ The fire of hell is real fire:
that is to say, the word fire is the
most proper and exact word which

human speech affords to tell us
what that terrible thing if. * Ever­
lasting fire ' is not a figurative ex­
pression; it occurs in a judicial sen­
tence. Judges in passing sentence
do not use figurative language; not
in any figurative or metaphorical
sense shall you be * hung by the neck
till you are dead.' At the same
time we have no exact and certain
knowledge of the precise nature of
the fire of bell. Is it exactly like
the fire of earth? But what exactly
is the fire of earth? What is com­
bustion? Not till the end of the

02

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

But if this be true, why does Sacred Scripture call the
mysterious medium of eternal punishment “ fire ” ? Why
not “ water,” or “ snow,” or “ ether ” ? The answer is
of the world or universe it is to be,
eighteenth century was man able to
I am of opinion that no man knows,
reply, * combustion is rapid combina­
unless haply some one to whom the
tion with oxygen.’ Our ancestors
Spirit of God has shown it.’ (Qui
did not scientifically know what fire
ignit cujusmodi et in ç«a mundi vel
was. They thought it was a ’ sub­
rerum parte futurus sit hominem
stance,' an ' element,’ the lightest
scire arbitror neminem, nisi forte cui
and in natural position the highest
Spiritus divinus revelavit.— De Ci­
of the four elements, fire, air, water,
vitate Dei, xx. 16). There is, how­
and earth, out of which all bodies
ever, a general consent of the faith­
were composed. So then the fire of
ful to regard it as a ' material ’ fire,
hell, if it really was fire, they
and though this be not absolutely of
thought must be a substance too.
faith, still it cannot be denied with­
So it well may be, but we must
out incurring the theological note
speak cautiously. Modern science
of ‘ rashness.’ In accordance with
presents us with heat, fire, light, and
this general consent I have described
electricity, and tells us that they
it as ’ a material environment.*
are all so many, not substances or
further speculation: is this material
elements, but modes of motion affect­
environment itself on fire, or is it
ing substance, whatever substance
such that the soul chafing and strug­
may be. They are most abundant
gling against that constraint —' the
things in nature: the fixed stars
great net of slavery,’ μϊ-γα bovXelas
are all on fire; electricity is sus­
pected of being a primary constituent
•γάγγαμον, to borrow a phrase of
Æschylus— and, as St. Teresa says,
of matter. We know much more
about these things than our an­
• continually tearing herself in
pieces’—thereby sets herself on
cestors did: still we are in great
perplexity over them, indeed our
fire? The question is beyond our
knowledge to answer. We are ac­
perplexities grow with our knowl­
edge. Such is our ignorance of the
customed to pictures of flames, with
fire of this world, matter though it
souls in bodily shapes writhing in
be of our daily experience. Of a
them, and in such sensible repres­
fire such as that in which angels and
entations we must fain acquiesce
disembodied souls burn, happily we
as being the best way to bring home
have no experience. And beyond
to imagination the reality of hell­
teaching us that there is such a fire,
fire. God knows His own justice,
real fire, Christian revelation does
which in hell at any rate works
not go. It would be therefore ex­
so as by fire.
tremely rash, beyond the existence
" Over and above this material en(on sit) of such a fire, to pretend to
vironment I have been myself led
lay down with certainty its nature.
to argue the probability of the
qualities, composition, and mode of
spiritual substance of the soul, or
action (quid sit). The Church does
evil angel, itself coming truly to
not do so. Her theologians echo St.
burn under two opposing constraints,
Augustine’s words: ‘ As to which
the natural constraint, or effort, of
fire, of what sort, and in what part
the spirit, seeking to go out to God,

HELL

63

easy to guess. The most intense pain known to man is
caused by fire. We can no more form an adequate
conception of the nature of eternal punishment and its
medium than of the beatitude of Heaven,” and hence
the sacred writer could hardly have chosen a more ap­
propriate phrase than “Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire,”34 even in a context where meta­
phorical expressions are otherwise avoided. If Christ
had called the infernal fire by its true name, we should
not have understood His meaning as well as we do now.
in whom alone, as it finds out too
tinct causes. There is first what I
late, its essential happiness lies, and
have called 'a material environ­
to the contrary, the constraining
ment,' ' some external objective en­
hand of God, driving that spirit
vironment,* producing in the soul
plunged into it a pain which to us,
back upon itself. (By ’ the con­
with our human experiences, is most
straining hand of God ’ I do not
properly declared by calling it the
mean the * material environment' I
pain of fire. Of the nature of this
mean simply God's will to carry out
the sentence, ' Depart from me '). material environment I have no idea,
no theory, any more than St. Au­
Under analogous constraint, any
gustine bad. I accept the fact of
material substance, as all physicists
it simply because I wish to keep
now know, would grow hot and
my rank in the common herd of
glow intensely. The laws of mat­
Christian believers. Secondly, there
ter may well have their analogue in
is the loss of God; and about that,
the spirit world. If this be so, the
what I have had to say comes to
mere depart from me must involve
this, that considering the relation in
everlasting fire. If this be so again,
which the soul stands to its Last
the wicked spirit has made its own
End, the mere felt loss of God,
hell, having first rejected the God
apart from all other agency, may,
who now rejects it. Also, if this
on an analogy drawn from the physi­
be so, it becomes transparently clear
cal to the spiritual, be enough to set
that as Heaven means God. so hell
the substance of the soul veritably
on fire. The 'mighty constraining
what the obstinate impenitent sin­
force,' which I have invoked for
ner has chosen to have in this life,
this theory, is something quite over
and consequently in the next This,
and above the ' material environ­
however, is a speculation. It makes
ment.' It is God's refusal of the
the fire of hell very real and very
terrible. For what is terrible in a soul, driving it away from Him, a
refusal called a force only by anal­
fire is not the medium in which
ogy with things physical.'·
you are placed, but how you your­
ss t Cor. II, 9·
self burn.
as Mattb. XXV, 41.
" There are two perfectly distinct
fires of hell, arising from quite dis­

64

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

For all these reasons we deem it advisable to confess our
ignorance in a matter that plainly exceeds human under­
standing, rather than engage in speculations which might
easily lead us into error. Let us live so that we need not
fear the mysterious fire of Hell.30

3. Accidental Pains of the Damned.—Be­
sides the pain of loss and the pain of sense, which
together constitute the essence of Hell, the
damned suffer various accidental punishments.
There is first and above all the remorse of
conscience, which the Bible compares to a worm
that will not die.30 This and other accidental
pains are all the more terrible as the damned
never experience the slightest alleviation of their
suffering and are compelled to live forever in
the company of demons and witness their hid­
eous outbursts of rage and hatred. The reunion
of soul and body after the Resurrection will fur­
ther increase the misery of the lost souls in Hell.
85 Cfr. Knabcnbauer, Comment. in
Matth., Vol. II, pp. 384 sq., Paris
1894; Scheeben, Die Mystcricn des

Christentums, 3rd ed., pp. 607 sqq.,
Freiburg 1912.
80 Mark IX, 43.

SECTION 3
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PAINS OF HELL

The pains of Hell have two distinguishing
characteristics: (i) they are eternal and (2) they
differ in degree according to guilt.
i. The Pains of Hell are Eternal.—In
consequence of the erroneous teaching of Origen,
the Church early in her history defined the
eternity of Hell as an article of faith. She did
this at the Council of Constantinople, in 543.
The definition given by this Council was approved
by the Fifth Ecumenical Council of 553.1 The
Athanasian Creed, which was compiled about the
same time, says: “They that have done good
shall go into everlasting bliss, and they that have
done evil, into everlasting fire.”2 This truth was
repeated in similar terms by the Fourth Council
of the Lateran.3 The Protestant Reformers did
not attack the dogma of eternal punishment, and
hence the Tridentine Synod contented itself with
declaring: “If any one saith that in every good
1 Cfr. HefeJe, ConcUicngeichichte,
Vo!. II. § 2572 " Qui bona egerunt, ibunt in vitam aeternam, qui vero mala, in ig-

nem aeternum." (Duuinger-Baon·
W"*. "· 40).
I F. npra, p. 46.

6S

66

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

work the just man sins, . . . and consequently
deserves eternal punishments, ... let him be
anathema.” 4
a) The dogma of eternal punishment is clearly
contained in Sacred Scripture. The prophet
Daniel proclaims: “Many of those that sleep in
the dust of the earth, shall awake : some unto life
everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it
always.” 6 The New Testament speaks repeat­
edly of an eternal and inextinguishable fire.0 St.
John says in the Apocalypse: “And the beast
and the false prophet shall be tormented day and
night for ever and ever.” 7
Though saeculum (αιών) is sometimes used indefinitely
to denote a period of long duration,8 its meaning in this
passage obviously is eternity. The phrase in saecula sae­
culorum always has this meaning in the New Testa­
ment, whether referring to the glory of God,® the king­
dom of Christ,10 or the joys of Heaven.11 St. Augustine
has pointed out that there is no stronger argument for the
eternity of Hell than the fact that Sacred Scripture com­
pares it in respect of duration to Heaven.12 This rea­
«Sess. VI, can. 25: "Si quit
* Cfr. Pohle-Prcuss, Cod: His
dixerit, iustum in quolibet opere bono Knowability, Essence, and Attributes,
peccare . . . atque ideo poenae aeter­
pp. 306 sqq.
nae mereri, anathema sit."
» » Tim. I. 17; 2 Tim. IV, »8;
s Dan. XII, 2: " Et multi de his,
Gal. I, 5; Apoc. XV, 7.
qui dormiunt in terrae pulvere, evi­
10 Apoc. I, 18; XI. is,
gilabunt: olit in vitam aeternam, ei
11 Apoc. XXII, s.
alii in opprobrium ut videant sem­
12 De Civitate Dei, XXI, 23: " Si
per."
utrumque aeternum, profecto oui
β V. supra. Sect. ».
utrumque cum fine diuturnum aut
’ Apoc. XX, io: “. . . et beetia
utrumque sine Une perpetuum debet
fi pseudopropheta cruciabuntur die
intellegi; par pari enim relata sunt."
ac nocte in saecula saeculorum."

HELL

67

soning is confirmed by the Biblical teaching that the fate
of every man is irrevocably sealed at death.” That there
is no hope of salvation for the wicked in Hell may be con­
cluded from our Saviour’s dictum, “ It were better for
him if that man had never been born.”13
14

b) The Fathers echo the teaching of Scrip­
ture. St. Polycarp tells his executioners : "You
threaten me with fire, which burns but for an
hour15*and then is extinguished; for you know
not the eternal fire of punishment reserved for the
wicked.”10 Minucius Felix says: "There is
neither measure nor termination to these tor­
ments. There the intelligent fire (™p <™t>povow)
burns the limbs and restores them, feeds on them
and nourishes them. ... So that penal fire is not
fed by the waste of those who burn, but is nour­
ished by the unexhausted eating away of their
bodies.” 17
Origen held that all free creatures, demons as well as
lost souls, will ultimately share in the grace of salvation
(apocatastasis). This heretical teaching to some extent
influenced even such enlightened writers as Didymus the
13 V. supra, Sect. >, No. i. Thee.

i«Matth. XXVI.
"...bontm erat ei, si natus non fuisset
homo Hie."
,s irpit ώραν.
ιβ αΐώκον κολάσιωι trop- (Startir. Polyc., XI, a; Funk, Patres
Apost.. I, 29s).
17 Octavius. 35: "Nee tormentis
out modus ullus aut terminus. Illic
sapiens ignit membra urit et reficit,

earpit et nutrit. ... Ita poenale il­
lud incendium non damnis ardentium
poscitur, sed increta corporum la­
ceratione nutritur." Some editor»
have changed sapiens to rapiens, but
there is no need of this, as trip
σωφρονούν is an expression of Clem­
ens -Alexandrinus. (See R. E. Wal­
lis. The Writings of Cyprian. Vol.
II, p. 509, η. i. Edinburgh 1869).
For additional Patristic testimonies
see Petavius, De Angelis, 1Π, 8, 4.

68

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

Blind, Evagrius of Pontus, and St. Gregory of Nyssa.1·
It is not true, however, as some writers assert, that St.
Gregory of Nazianzus and St. Jerome denied the dogma
of eternal punishment.’0

c) The proposition, "Ex inferno nulla redemp­
tio,” can be demonstrated also by theological rea­
soning.
If it were possible to rescue a lost soul from
Hell, this could only be in one of four ways:
by conversion, by an apocatastasis in the sense
of Origen, by complete annihilation, or through
the intercession of the living.
The first and second of these methods have been ex­
cluded by positive arguments, which incidentally also
prove the impossibility of the fourth. St. Augustine
expressly says that the damned do not receive the slightest
alleviation of their sufferings through the intercession of
the living.20 Some Fathers and theologians, particu­
larly St. Chrysostom21 and the poet Prudentius,’2 held
that now and then, on stated days, as in the night before
Easter, God grants the damned a certain respite through
the prayers of the faithful. Petavius23 judges this hy­
pothesis mildly, whereas St. Thomas rejects it as vain,
presumptuous, and without authority.24 The singing of
1« Cfr. Kleinheidt. Grcgorii Nyss.
Doctrina de Angelis, pp. 48 eqq.,
Freiburg i860; Hilt, Des hl, Gregor
von Nyssa Lehre vom Menschen,
Cologne 1890.
19 Cfr. Pesch, Praelect. Dogmat.,
Vol. IX. 2nd ed., pp. 309 eqq.— On
the eternity of Hell see Bautz, Die
Hoile, and ed., pp. 56 eqq., Mayence
1905.

20 De Civitate Dei, XXI, 24. Else­
where, however (e. g. Enchir., no)
he seeny to take a different view.
21 Hom. in Ep. ad Phil., 2. n. 3.
22 Hymn., V, 125 sqq.. in Migne,
P. L.. LIX, 827.
28 De Angelis, III, 8.
24 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu.
71, art. 5: "Erl praedicta opinio
praesumptuosa, utpote dictis sancto·

HELL

69

a certain hymn by St. Prudentius at the lighting of the
Paschal candle is not equivalent to an ecclesiastical ap­
proval of the author’s belief.25
The only other means by which a reprobate could
escape eternal punishment is complete annihilation. The
Socinians thus interpret “ the second death ” of the Apo­
calypse. Cut this interpretation is contrary to the teach­
ing of St. John. Cfr. Apoc. XIV, 11 : “ The smoke of
their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever.'”·
Apoc. XX, 14: “ And hell and death were cast into the
pool of fire; this is the second death.”27 St. Paul, too,
plainly avers that the damned are punished forever.
“ The wicked,” he says, “ will pay the penalty of everlast­
ing ruin, from before the face of the Lord and the glory
of his might.” 28 Tradition is equally positive. St. Cyp­
rian declares that the fire of Hell is everlasting and no
respite is granted to the damned.20 St. Gregory, in a char­
acteristic passage of his Expositio in Librum Job, gener­
ally known by the title of Moralia, calls Hell " mors sine
morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine defectu, quia et mors
vivit et finis semper incipit et deficere defectus nescit.'' ”

d) Philosophy cannot furnish conclusive evi­
dence for the eternity of Hell, but it can show
that this truth is not repugnant to reason and
rum contraria et tana, nulli aucto­
ritate fulta."
25 Cfr. H. Hurter, S.J., Compen­
dium Theologiae Dogmat., Vol. Ill,
η. 8o8.
:e Apoc. XIV, 11 : καί A xarrif
τον βασανισμον αυτών eh alüvat
αίύνων άναβαίνιι.
st Apoc. XX. 14: καί A θάνατοί
καί άδηι Ιβλήθησαν eh τήν λίμνην
τον ' irvp6r- oùrot A θάνατοι A
AeirepAt A<rrtv(Cfr. Apoc. XXI, 8.)

281 Thess. I. 9: "Qui poenae
dabunt in interitu aeternae (δίκην
τίσονσιν δλιθρον αίύνιον) a facie
Domini et a gloria virtutie vine."
2» Ad Demelr., 44 : " Cremabit
addictae ardeae eemper gehenna et
titacibue Sammie vorar porno. .Vrc
erit, unde habere tormenta ret re­
quiem poeeint aliquando vel Anrm."
so Moralia. IX, 66.

70

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

that the objections raised against it prove nothing.

a) When the wicked soul enters into the status termini,
it realizes that it is irrevocably lost. God, who alone
could save it, refuses to do so. “ He who falls into
mortal sin by his own free will,” says St. Thomas, “ puts
himself into a state from which he cannot be rescued
except with the help of God, just as one who casts him­
self into an abyss from which he could not escape un­
aided, might say that it was his will to stay there for­
ever, no matter what else he may have thought.”81 The
final decision being irrevocable, the will is confirmed in
malice and can no longer feel contrition.82
Moreover, punishment must be coextensive with guilt.
The guilt of mortal sin consists in the deprivation of grace,
which loss, for those who have entered upon the status
termini, is irretrievable, and consequently the reatus
poenae, too, must be eternal. “ Therefore,” says St.
Thomas, “ whatever sins turn man away from God, so
as to destroy charity, considered in themselves, incur
a debt of eternal punishment.”88
/3) It has been objected that there is no proportion be­
tween a sinful act or thought, which lasts but one brief
moment, and eternal punishment. The comparison is
not correctly drawn. Though the sinful act (peccatum
si Summa Theol., Supplement., qu.
99. art. i : " Qui in peccatum mor­
tale lobilur proprii voluntate, se
ponit in statu, a quo erui non pot­
est niii divinitus adiutus; sicut si
aliquis se in foveam proiiceret, unde
exire non posset, nisi adiutus, posset
dici quod in aeternum ibi manere
voluerit, quanlumcunque aliter co-

82 Cfr. Op. cit., qu. 98, art 1 sqq.
88 Summa Theol., ia aae, qu. 87,
art. 3: " Et ideo quaecunque pec­
cata avertunt a Deo caritatem au­
ferentia, quantum est de se, indu­
cunt reatum aeternae poenae."—
Other arguments apud Sachs, Die
civice Dauer der Hollenstrafen.
Paderborn 1900.

HELL

7»

actuale) be brief and transient, the ensuing sinful habitus
or state endures. St. Thomas explains this with his
wonted lucidity as follows : " The fact that adultery or
murder is committed in a moment, does not call for a
momentary punishment; in fact, these crimes are some­
times punished by imprisonment or banishment for life,
sometimes even by death; . . . this punishment, in its
own way, represents the eternity of punishment inflicted
by God.”84
The so-called misericordes, whom St. Augustine com­
batted,35 appealed to the mercy of God as an argu­
ment against eternal punishment. But God is not only
merciful, He is also infinitely just and holy, and His
justice and holiness compel Him to hate and punish sin
in proportion to its guilt. The divine mercy is not a
weakly sentimentality, but benevolent goodness tempered
by strict justice. If there were any chance of conversion
in the other world, or any hope that Hell might end,
even after millions of years, how few would shrink from
sin 180 The thought of eternal punishment alone deters
the average man from crime.
St. Gregory of Nyssa’s friendly attitude towards Ori­
gen’s theory of a universal apocatastasis is explicable on
the assumption that he regarded the reform of the evil­
doer as the sole object of punishment. This view is in­
correct. Punishment is inflicted primarily to satisfy di­
vine justice and to vindicate and restore the disturbed
moral order (poena vindicative);87 Not even worldly
3« Summa Theol.. ta sae, qu. 87.
art. 3, ad 1 : " Non enim
adulterium vel homicidium in
mento committitur, propter hoc mo­
mentanei poeni punitur, sed quan­
doque quidem perpetuo carcere vel

talem poenae divinitui indictae."
»» De Civitate Dei, XXI. 1·. 1.
«•Cfr. St Jerome. In Io·., j, 6
(Mime. P. L·. XXV. 1144).
st Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Cod: Hit
Knowability. Eieence. and Attributee.
pp. 460 sqq.

72

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

justice can get along without vindictive punishments,
though Lombroso and Liszt have tried to abolish them by
declaring all crimes to be the result of bodily disease or
mental disorder. " Even the punishment that is inflicted
according to human laws,” says St. Thomas, “ is not al­
ways intended as a medicine for the one who is punished,
but sometimes only for others. Thus when a thief is
hanged, this is not done for his own amendment, but for
the sake of others, that at least they may be deterred
from crime through fear of punishment.”38
Another objection raised against the dogma of eternal
punishment is based upon the desire for happiness which
the Creator has implanted in every human heart. But
God is not obliged to gratify this desire in all men. He
has conditioned eternal happiness upon a good life. If
the innate desire for happiness remains unsatisfied in
some, it is their fault, not God’s.
It is true that the happiness of rational creatures is the
secondary purpose of creation ; but, as we have seen in a
previous treatise,80 this purpose is subordinate to the glory
of God (gloria Dei), which is attained by the manifesta­
tion of His justice no less than His mercy.

2. The Pains of Hell Differ in Degree
According to Guilt.—Though one single mor­
tal sin renders the sinner as deserving of Hell as a
thousand crimes, justice demands that sins he pun­
ished in proportion to their grievousness. Ac88 Summa Theol., la aae, qu. 87,
art. 3, ad 2: " Poena, quae etiam
secundum leges humanas infligitur,
non semper est medicinalis ei, qui
punitur, sed solum aliis; sicut quum
latro suspenditur, non ut ipse emen-

detur, sed propter alios, ut saltem
metu poenae peccare desistant."
3» Pohle-Preuss, God the Author
of Nature and the Supernatural, pp.
80 eqq.

HELL

73

cordingly, to the degrees of reward and happiness
enjoyed by the Blessed in Heaven there corre­
spond analogous degrees of punishment and mis­
ery in Hell. This is the express teaching of the
Church.40
a) Our Divine Saviour draws a clear-cut dis­
tinction between the judgment pronounced on
Tyre and Sidon and the penalty inflicted on the
unbelieving inhabitants of Corozain and Bethsaida. The inspired seer of the Apocalypse says
of the corrupt city of Babylon: "Render to her
even as herself hath rendered, and give her dou­
ble according to her works ; ... as much as she
hath glorified herself and wantoned in luxury,
so much give her of torment and mourning.”41
Cfr. Wisd. VI, 7 sqq. : "... the mighty shall be
mightily tormented, ... a greater punishment is
ready for the more mighty.”42
b) The Fathers seem to have held that the
poena damni, being a mere privation, is inflicted
equally on all, but that the poenae sensus differ
in degree. Thus St. Gregory the Great says:
“As there are many mansions in the house of the
Father, according to the different degrees of vir­
tue, so the disparity of guilt subjects the damned
disparibus."
40 " Poenis
(Cone. Florent., A. D. 1439).
41 Apoc. XVIII, 6 sq.: "Reddite
illi ricut et ipsa reddidit vobis: et
duplicate ei duplicia secundum opera
eius; . ■ ■ quantum glonficavit se el

in deliciù fuit, tantum dale illi tor­
mentum et luctum."
42 ” Potentes autem potenter tor­
menta
patientur. . . . f-rtioribue,
autem fortior instat cruciatio."

74

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

in different degrees to the fire of Hell.” 43 Dante
exemplifies this belief in the concentric circles of
his Inferno. Of course only a mysterious and
essentially supernatural fire can produce such
radically different effects.
Readings: — Patuzzi, De Futuro Impiorum Statu, Venice 1749.
—Carle, Du Dogme Catholique sur l'Enfer, Paris 1842.— J.
Bautz, Die Hoile, 2nd ed., Mayence 1905.— L. de Ségur, L'Enfer,
39th ed., Paris 1905 (German tr., Die Hoile, 3rd ed., Mayence
1889.)—Fr. Schmid, Quaestiones Selectae ex Theologia Dog­
matica, pp. 145 sqq., Paderborn 1891.— Tournelize, Opinions du
Jour sur les Peines d'Outre-tombe: Feu Métaphorique, Univer­
salisme, Conditionalisme, Mitigation, Paris 1899.— Passaglia, De
Aeternitate Poenarum deque Igne Inferno, Rome 1854.— J. Sachs,
Die cwige Daucr der Hollenstrafcn, Paderborn 1900.—F. X.
Kiefl, Die Ewigkeit der Hoile und ihre spekulative Begriindung,
Paderborn 1905.—J. Hontheim, S.J., art. “ Hell," in the
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, pp. 207-211.—Card. Billot,
De Novissimis, Rome 1902.—Hewitt, “ Ignus Aeternus," in the
Catholic World, LXVII (1893), pp. 426 sqq.—V. Morton,
Thoughts on Hell; A Study in Eschatology, London 1899.—Jos.
Rickaby, S.J., Everlasting Punishment, London 1916.—Dublin
Review, Jan. 1881, Vol. V, pp. 130 sqq.—Charles R. Roche, S.J.,
“Eternal Punishment,” in the Irish Theological Quarterly, Vol.
V (1910), No. 17, pp. 64-79.—Delloue-Leahy, Solution of the
Great Problem, New York 1917, pp. 228 sqq.—J. G. Raupert,
Hell and its Problems, Buffalo, N. Y., 1917.—B. J. Otten, S.J.,
A Manual of the History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St. Louis 1918,
pp. 426 sqq.—J. S. Vaughan, "Eternal Punishment," in the Irish
Eccles. Record, No. 615 (March, 1919), pp. 177-188.—W.
Schneider, The Other Life, pp. 307 sqq., New York 1920.—D. I.
Lanslots, O.S.B., The End of the World and of Man, N. Y.
1925, pp. 130 sqq.
48 Moral., IV, 47: " Sicut in
domo Patrii mansiones multae eunt
pro diversitate virtutis, sic damnatos

diverso supplicio gehennae ignibus
subncit disparitas criminis."

CHAPTER V
PURGATORY

SECTION i
THE EXISTENCE OF PURGATORY

I. Definition.—Purgatory (purgatorium) sig­
nifies a process of cleansing.
a) Whether Purgatory is a place or a state is a contro­
verted question. The poor souls are in a state of transi­
tion, but it is not necessary to hold that they are confined
in any particular place. St. Thomas intimates that Pur­
gatory is somehow “connected with Hell."1 We might
with equal probability argue that it is connected with
Heaven, because the poor souls are children of God, who
are sure to be admitted sooner or later to the abode of
the Blessed.2

b) Not all who depart this life in the state of
grace are fit to enter at once into the beatific
vision of God. Some are burdened with venial
transgressions. Others have not yet fully ex1 Summa Theo!., Appendix, qu. I,
art. a.
2 The various views regarding the
location of Purgatory arc set forth
by Cardinal Bellarmine in his treat-

75

fse. De Purgatorio. II. 6. That
Purgatory is situated in the bowels
of the earth is as undemonstrable as
the location of Heaven and Hell.

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

piated the temporal punishments due to their sins.8
It would be repugnant to divine justice to admit
such souls to Heaven, into which, according to
Holy Writ, nothing defiled shall enter.4 Nor can
God in his justice consign these souls to Hell.
Hence there must be a middle state in which they
are cleansed of venial sins, or, if they have not yet
fully paid the temporal punishments due to their
forgiven sins, must expiate the remainder of
them. St. Thomas says: “There may be some
impediment on the part of the good in the way of
their souls receiving their final reward in the vis­
ion of God immediately upon their departure from
the body. To that vision, transcending as it does
all natural created capacity, the creature cannot
be raised before it is entirely purified : hence it is
said that nothing defiled can enter into it (Wisd.
VII, 25), and that the polluted shall not pass
through it (Is. XXXV, 8). Now the pollution
of the soul is by sin, which is an inordinate union
with lower things ; from which pollution it is puri­
fied in this life by Penance and other Sacraments.
Now it happens sometimes that this process of
purification is not entirely accomplished in this
life, and the offender remains still a debtor with a
debt of punishment upon him, owing to some neg8 Cfr. Canal. Trident., Sees. IV,
an. 30Î Pohle-Preuss, The Sacramente. Vol. ΪΠ, p. 2x9.
4 Apoc. XXI, 27: "Non intrabit

in earn licii. civitatem] aliquod coinquinatum, aut abominationem fo­
dene, et mendacium , .

PURGATORY

77

ligence or distraction, or to death overtaking him
before his debt is paid. Not for this does he de­
serve to be entirely shut out from reward : because
all this may happen without mortal sin, and it is
only mortal sin that occasions the loss of charity,
to which the reward of life everlasting is due.
Such persons, then, must be cleansed in the next
life, before entering upon their eternal reward.
This cleansing is done by penal inflictions, as even
in this life it might have been completed by penal
works of satisfaction: otherwise the negligent
would be better off than the careful, if the penalty
that men do not pay here for their sins is not to be
undergone by them in the life to come. The
souls, then, of the good, who have upon them in
this world something that needs cleansing, are
kept back from their reward, while they endure
cleansing purgatorial pains. And this is the rea­
son why we posit a purgatory or place of cleans­
ing.” 6
Purgatory may therefore be defined as a state
of temporary punishment for those who, depart­
ing this life in the grace of God, are not entirely
free from venial sins or have not yet fully paid the
satisfaction due to their transgressions.
2. Proof from Revelation.—The existence
of Purgatory was denied by Aërius in the fourth
e 5"u>n»ia c. Gent., IV, gt. (Rickaby, Of God and Hie
Creatures, p. ij

* .)

78

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

century, by the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Hus­
sites in the Middle Ages, and more recently by
Luther and Calvin.” Calvin termed the Catholic
dogma “ a pernicious invention of Satan, which
renders the cross of Christ useless.” 7 This teach­
ing of the Reformers is quite consistent with their
false idea of justification. If a man is justified
by faith alone, and all his sins are “covered up”
by the grace of Christ, there can be nothing left
for him to expiate after death.
The Church defined the existence of Purgatory
in the Decree of Union adopted at Florence
(T439)> saying that “the souls are cleansed by
purgatorial pains after death, and in order that
they may be rescued from these pains, they are
benefitted by the suffrages of the living faithful,
viz.: the sacrifice of the Mass, prayers, alms, and
other works of piety.”8 The Council of Trent
repeated this definition in substance :
. The
Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost,
has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tra­
dition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils,
and very recently in this ecumenical Synod,® that
there is a Purgatory, and that the souls detained
β Cfr. Bellarmine, De Purgatorio,

1 " Exitiale satanae commentum,
quod Christi crucem evacuat."

iusmodi releventur, prodesse eis
fidelium vivorum suffragia, missarum
scii, sacrificia, orationes et elemosy·
nas et alia pietatis officia.'’ (Deni·
inger-Bannwart, n. 693).
b Se». VI, can. 30; Se». XXII,
cap. a and 3.

PURGATORY

79

in it are helped by the suffrages of the faith­
ful.” 10 Pope Leo X solemnly condemned Lu­
ther’s assertion that “Purgatory cannot be proved
from the canonical Scriptures.” 11
a) The scriptural locus classicus for our
dogma is 2 Mach. XII, 43 sqq. When Judas had
put Gorgias to flight, and came with his company
to take away the bodies of the slain, he found that
some of them had under their coats treasures
of which they had robbed the idols at Jamnia.
In committing this robbery the soldiers had
probably been moved by avarice rather than
idolatrous intent. Yet their conduct was plainly
a transgression of the Mosaic law, which said:
“Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire;
thou shalt not covet the silver and gold of which
they are made, neither shalt thou make to thee any
thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an
abomination to the Lord thy God.” 12 However,
what these soldiers had done was not necessarily a
mortal sin, and so Judas and his men, after bless­
ing the just judgment of God, betook themselves
to prayer, and “making a gathering [taking up
a collection], he sent twelve thousand drachmas
of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered
for the sins of the dead.” Both Judas and his
lOSess. XXV:
. purgatorium
esse animasque ibi deltulcu fidelium
suffragiis. potissimum vero acceptabili altaris sacrificio iuvari." (Denaing»r-Bannwart. n. 983).

11 Prop. Damn, a Leone X., prop.
37: "Purgatorium non potest pro­
bari er Scriptura, quae nl m co­

li Deut VII. aj.

8o

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

people, as well as the priests of the Temple, evi­
dently believed that those who die in the grace
of God can obtain forgiveness of venial sins
and temporal punishments through the suf­
frages of the living. This belief is confirmed by
the sacred writer when he adds : “It is therefore
a holy and wholesome thought13 to pray for the
dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” 14
Protestants deny the cogency of this argument on the
ground that the Book of Machabees is apocryphal. But
the historical authenticity of the incident sufficiently
proves that belief in Purgatory, so far from being an in­
vention of the “ Papists,” was common among the Jews
long before the beginning of the Christian era.15

From the New Testament we will quote the
remarkable utterance of our Lord recorded in
Matth. XII, 32: “Whosoever shall speak . . .
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven
him neither in this world, nor in the world to
come.”16 The “world to come” (“ίων μίλλων')
plainly means life after death. Hence, ac­
cording to our Saviour’s own testimony, there
must be some sins that are forgiven after death.17
13 δαία καί
iirlvoia1« τήί αμαρτία! άπολνΟήναι- (s
Mach. XII. 4S).
IS Cfr. Mayer, Das Judcntum, pp.
46s sqq.. Ratisbon 1893.
10 Matth. ΧΠ. 33·· " 0«' autem
disent [wrbum] contra Spiritum
«netum, non remittetur ei neque in
hoc saeculo neque in futuro."

IT This interpretation is favored
by Augustine (De Civ. Dei. XXI,
24) and other Fathers (see Hurter,
Compendium Thcol. Dogmat., Vol.
Ill, n. 823). St. Gregory the Great,
e. g., teaches: " In qua sententia
datur intellegi, quasdam culpas in
hoc sacculo, quasdam vero in futuro
posse relaxari." (Dial., IV, aj).

PURGATORY

8ι

b) The belief of the early Church is evident
from the immemorial custom of praying for the
dead, offering the Holy Sacrifice, and giving alms
for their benefit.
Tertullian mentions anniversary masses for the dead.1*
That he had Purgatory in mind appears from his advice
to a widow, “ to pray for the soul of her husband, beg­
ging repose for him, and ... to have sacrifice offered
up for him every year on the day of his death.” ”
This pious custom is confirmed by many sepulchral
inscriptions found in the catacombs, in which the de­
parted ask for the prayers of their surviving friends or
beg God for “ peace and refreshment.”18
*20
The Fathers expressly inculcate the doctrine which
inspired these pious practices. In the Acts of St. Per­
petua we read that she beheld her brother Dinocrates,
who had died a heathen and was “ suffering terrible
torments, released from the place of punishment through
her prayers.”21 St. Basil affirms the existence of " a
place for the purification of souls ” and of “ a cleansing
fire.” 22 St. Augustine appeals to his friends to pray for
his pious mother, St. Monica, and instructs them as to
the most effective way of helping her soul.” There is
no doubt,” he says in another place, “ that the dead are
18 De Corona Mil., 3: " Obla­
tiones pro defundis annui die faci·

le De

Monogamia,

10: “ Debet

interim adpostulare ci et . . . of­
ferre annuis diebus dormitionis
suae."— For other Patristic testimo­
nies see Pohie-Preuss. The Sacra­
mcnts, Vol. II. pp. 376 sq.
30 " Pa* et refrigeratio.1’ as e. ff.
in the formula: " Spinlum tuum

Deus refrigeret."— Cir. Kraus, Realensyhlopâdie der christlichsn Alterturner. Vol. II, s. v. " Refrigerium."
Freiburg 1886; J. P. Kirsch, Die
Akklamationen und Cebete der altchristlichen Crabinschriften. Co­
logne 1898.
at Xcfo Martyr. S. Perpetuae et
Socior.
22 χωρίο» καθαρισμόν ψνχύ»; —
καθάρσιο» trip. (In Is.. IX. 19).
38 Confess.. IX. ij.

82

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

aided by the prayers of holy Church, by the salutary sacri­
fice, and by the alms which are poured out for their
souls.” ··
These passages from the writings of the Fathers could
easily be multiplied. Even Calvin was constrained to
admit that the custom of praying for the dead may be
traced to the early days of Christianity.25 Thinking Prot­
estants keenly feel the gap in their theological system
caused by the denial of Purgatory. Thus Dr. Hase says :
" Most people when they die are probably too good for
Hell, yet surely too bad for Heaven. It must be frankly
confessed that the Protestantism of the Reformers is un­
clear on this point, its justified denial [ ?] not yet having
advanced to the stage of affirmation.” 28 The Catholic
dogma in this as in so many other cases agrees per­
fectly with the postulates of reason.
24Sermoner, 172: " Orationibus
sanctae Ecclesiae et sacrificio salu­
tari el elemosynis, quae pro eorum
spiritibus erogantur, non est dubi­
tandum mortuos adiuvari, ut cum
eis misericordius agatur a Domino,
quam eorum peccata meruerunt; hoc
enim a Patribus traditum universa
observat Ecclesia." (Cfr. the same
writer's Enchirid., 60).— The argu­
ment from Tradition is developed
more fully by Pesch, Praelect. Dog­
mat., Vol. IX. 2nd ed., pp. 283 sqq.
25 Inst., Ill, 5, S 10: '' Ante mille

ei trecentos annos usu receptum fuit,
ut precationes fierent pro defunctis."
28 Handbuch der proteslantischen
Polemik gegcn die romisch-katli.
Kirche, p. 445, Leipzig 1862: "Die
meistcn Sterbenden sind wohl zu gut
fiir die Holle, aber sicIter zu schlecht
fur den Himmel. Man muss often
zugcstehcn, dass hier im reformatorischen Protestantismus einc Unklarheit vorliegt, indent seine berechtigte
Vcrneinung noch nicht zur Beiahung fortgeschritten war."

SECTION 2
NATURE AND DURATION OF PURGATORY

The Church has defined nothing with regard to
the nature of Purgatory except that the poor souls
detained there are in a passing state of punish­
ment and suffer “purgatorial pains.” 1 Like the
pains of Hell, those of Purgatory are twofold,
•viz.: pain of loss {poena damni) and pain of
sense {poena sensus).
I. The Pain of Loss.—The poena damni for
the poor souls in Purgatory consists in their be­
ing deprived of the beatific vision of God. This
temporary deprivation constitutes the essence of
the state of purgation. It is the severest pun­
ishment that can be inflicted upon a disembodied
soul. The consciousness of being separated from
the Creator, who is so near and yet so far, causes
terrible suffering, which is enhanced still more by
the knowledge that the venial sins and punish­
ments due to sin could have been expiated
by contrition, confession, prayer, almsgiving, and
other good works so easily performed in the way­
faring state.
1

" Points purgatoriis; " v. supra, p. 78.

83

84

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

Nevertheless, their sad condition does not drive the
suffering souls to despair or to commit new sins, as Luther
falsely claimed.2
For the rest, it would be no easier to write a psychology
of the poor souls in Purgatory than of the damned in
Hell. We earthly pilgrims are incapable of forming
an adequate conception of the spiritual suffering involved
in even a temporary privation of the beatific vision.
Shorn of all earthly impediments, and placed beyond the
world of sense which veils the things of the spirit,
the poor souls in Purgatory concentrate their attention
on God. But God hides and withdraws from them,
which causes them to be tormented incessantly by a
veritable agony of love. There is nothing improb­
able in St. Bonaventure’s conjecture that “ the sever­
est pain of Purgatory exceeds the most violent known
on earth,”8 but we need not necessarily adopt the opinion
of St. Thomas that “ even the slightest torture of Purga­
tory is worse than all the sufferings one can endure in this
world.” ‘ There is no certainty to be had in these mat­
ters.®

2. The Pain of Sense.—Whether besides the
poena damni the poor souls suffer a poena sen­
sus, is doubtful. Still more difficult is it to an­
swer the question whether this additional punish­
ment, if it exist, is caused by a material me­
dium similar to the fire of Hell. Theologians
2 Prop. Damn, a Leone X, prop.
38: " Animae in purgatorio non
runt securae de earum salute. saltern
non omnes."—Prop. 39: "Animae

sione, quamdiu quaerunt requiem et
horrent poenae."

3 Comment. in Sont., IV, «list, so,
« Comment, in Sent., IV, dist. ar,
qu. I. art. 1.
3 Cfr. Bellarmine, De Purgatorio,

PURGATORY

85

consider it extremely probable that such is the
case.
a) The phrase employed by the Florentine
Council, “animas poenis purgatoriis purgari,"
seems to point to the existence of some positive
torment over and above the poena damni. This
assumption gains strength from the concurrent
teaching of the Fathers and Schoolmen.
The difficulty begins when we attempt to ascertain the
precise nature of the sensitive pain experienced by the
poor souls. The Church has issued no definition with
regard to the existence of a purgatorial fire, and hence
nothing can be asserted on this head as of faith or even
as fidei proximum. When Cardinal Bessarion at the
Council of Florence argued against the existence of a
real fire in Purgatory, the Greeks were assured that the
Roman Church had never pronounced dogmatically on
the subject, and nothing was said about it in the Decree
of Union. The Greek view that Purgatory is a place of
darkness, smoke, and mourning (locus caliginis, tenebra­
rum, turbinis, moeroris) is too vague to enable us to form
any positive idea as to its nature.®

b) In the Western Church belief in the exist­
ence of a material purgatorial fire, analogous to
the fire of Hell, is common. Hence the name
“ignispurgatorius” (German, Fegefeuer). This
view derives a certain probability from 1 Cor. Ill,
ii sqq.
e On the teaching of the Russian
schismatic· see A. Bukowski, S.J.,
Die Cenugtunng fir die Sinde noth

der Auffairung der rtueiechen Or·
thodoxie. pp. i«j aqq.. Paderborn
1911.

86

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

a) In warning the faithful of Corinth against cer­
tain dangerous doctrines that were propagated among
them, the Apostle says : “ Foundation can no man lay
other than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus
Christ. But if a man buildeth upon the foundation,
[whether it be] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass
[or] straw,— the work of each man shall become mani­
fest. For the Day shall declare it, because [that day]
is to be disclosed in fire, and the worth of each man’s
work shall that fire assay. If any man’s work abide,
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive reward:
if any man's work be burnt up, he shall lose his reward,
but himself shall be saved, yet as [one that hath passed]
through fire.” 7 No doubt the test by fire is quite as much
a figure of speech as building upon a foundation of gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, grass or straw. But the
concluding sentence, which asserts that a man shall be
saved as through fire, seems to indicate that there is a real
fire in Purgatory.8
β) The Pauline passage is interpreted literally by some
of the Fathers. Thus St. Ambrose writes : “ When Paul
says, ‘ yet as through fire,’ he means that he will indeed be
saved, but will have to suffer the pain of fire, in order
that, purged by fire, he be saved.”0 St. Augustine, on
t I Cor. Ill, 12 sqq.: El St τη
Ζποικοδομίϊ Zirl τόν Οιμίλιον τούτον
χρυσόν, ipyvpov, XlOovs τιμίουη
ξύλα, χόρτον, καλάμην, ίκάστου τό
tpyov φανερόν yev/iderai' ή yàp
^ΐμίρα όηλώσιι, δτι iv πυρ! άποκαλύιττίται. καί Ικάστου τό tpyov
όκοίόν όσην, τό ττϋρ δοκιμάσιιΕΓ τιροτ τό tpyov μινιΐ δ Ζποικο·
όόμησιν, μισθόν λ-ήμψιται' «Γ rivos
τό tpyov κατακαήσιται, ξημιωθήσιται. ο,ύτόι όί σωθήσιται. ούτωι δό
ώι διά irvpôr.
» On 1 Cor. Ill, ii »qq., see Bell·

arminc, De Purgatorio, I, 5; ΛΙ.
Schafer, Erkliirung der beiden Briefe
an die Korinther, pp. 70 sqq.; J.
MacRory, The Epistles of St. Paul
to the Corinthians, Part I, pp. 38
sqq.; Hugh Pope, O.P., in the
Irish Thcol. Quarterly, Vol. IV
(1909), No. 16, pp. 441-456.
0 Zn Ps., 118: "Quum Paulus di­
cit: 'sic tamen, quasi per ignem,
ostendit quidem illum salvum fu­
turum, sed poenam ignis passurum,
ut per ignem purgatus fiai salvus."

PURGATORY

87

the other hand, interprets the phrase " quasi per ignem "
figuratively, applying it to *' the fiery furnace of earthly
tribulation.” Origen says: “ Whoever is saved, is saved
through fire, in order that, if he contains an admixture of
dross, it be dissolved by fire, so that all may become solid
gold.” 1011 This passage and another similar one in Ori­
gen’s writings 11 show that he regarded the purgatorial
fire as a figure of speech. In this he followed his master,
Clement of Alexandria, who called Purgatory " a spiritual
fire.” 1213 On the whole it may be said that the number of
Greek Fathers who believe in the existence of a real
fire in Purgatory is quite small. Among the Fathers
of the Latin Church some favor the literal interpretation.
Thus St. Gregory the Great speaks of those who after this
life “ will expiate their faults by purgatorial flames," and
adds that the pain will be more intense than any that
can be suffered in this life.13. In another place he says:
“ But it must be believed that there is a purgatorial
fire for [the expiation of] venial sins before the [Gen­
eral] Judgment.” 14 But even in the West there is not a
sufficient consensus patrum for a solid argument from
Tradition.
y) This fact did not, however, prevent the Scholastics
from confidently asserting the existence of a material fire
in Purgatory. The value of their teaching is discounted
by the fact that they were uncritical, ascribed too much
importance to unauthenticated visions and private rev­
elations, and tried to prove the reality of the purga­
torial fire from the existence of volcanoes, and so forth.
We need not wonder, in view of such insufficient argu10 Hom. in Exod.. 6.
11 Dt Principiis. II, io.
12 rd φρόημον trip. (Stromata.
VII, 6).
13 Pt Ill Potnit., η. I.

t* Dial., IV, 39: "Sid tamtn
dt quibuidam Inibur cutpit unit
indicium [nnlvtrtalt} tilt purga·
forint ignit crtdtndut tit."

88

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

ments, that a number of modem theologians (e. g. Klee,
Mohler, Dieringer) deny, or at least doubt, the exist­
ence of a material fire in Purgatory. However, it is well
to remember, in the words of Cardinal Bellarmine, that
“ If there is no real fire, there will be something much
more terrible, which God has prepared in order to demon­
strate His power.” 15*

3. How the Poor Souls are Cleansed in
Purgatory.—Clement of Alexandria taught10
that the poor souls can effect their own spiritual
amendment by submitting patiently to the tor­
ments of Purgatory.17 Whatever we may hold
on this subject, one thing is certain, namely, that
no merits can be acquired in Purgatory.18
A more important and more practical problem
is, how the poor souls expiate their venial sins and
the punishments due to their forgiven mortal sins,
and how they get rid of their evil habits.
a) Forgiveness of venial sins can be obtained
in three different ways : ( 1 ) by unconditional re­
mission on the part of God; (2) by suffering and
the performance of penitential works, and (3) by
an act of contrition.
(1) Absolutely speaking, God can forgive all sins un­
conditionally. But in the present economy He has chosen
to make contrition a condition of forgiveness, and hence it
IS De Purg., II, 14: "Si ibi eit
trruj ignis, erit omnino acerrimus
... si non ignis verus, erit aliquid
mullo horribilius, quale Deus parare
potuit, qui potentiam suam in hoc

ostendere voluit
10 See Stromata, VII, ,2.
17 Bevripa παιδιία.
18 Cfr. Oswald, Eschatologie, p.
119.

PURGATORY

89

is not reasonable to suppose that venial sins are forgiven
unconditionally in Purgatory.
(2) What does God demand of the poor souls as
a condition of forgiveness? Can it be mere passive suf­
fering (satispassio) ? This might wipe out the reatus
poenae, but it could never expunge the reatus culpae,
of which a sinner can rid himself only by an act of
contrition (motifs displicentiae). Hence the only means
by which venial sins can be forgiven in Purgatory is
contrition. St. Thomas says : “ Venial sins are remit­
ted after this life, even with regard to guilt, in the
same way in which they are remitted in this life, namely,
by an act of charity towards God, expressing re­
pugnance for the venial sins committed in this life.
However, since it is no longer possible to acquire merits
in the world beyond, such an act of love, while it removes
the impediment of venial guilt, does not deserve absolu­
tion or a decrease of punishment." 19
When does the soul make the act of contrition which
wipes out venial sin? Most probably immediately after
its separation from the body, when the soul is for the first
time alone with God.20 Some theologians, however, think
that the process of purgation is gradual.21

b) It is not difficult to understand how the tem­
poral punishments due to sin are expiated in Pur­
gatory. The soul is no longer able to make satis­
10 De Malo, qu. 7, art. >1:
Genialia remittuntur eis post hone
vitam etiam quantum ad culpam eo
modo, quo remittuntur in hae vita,
scii, per actum caritatis in Deum re-

commissis. Quia tamen post hanc
vitam non esi status merendi, ille

dilectionis motus in eis tollit quidem
impedimentum venialis culpae, non
20 Cfr. Suarez, Comment, in S.
Theol.. ΠΙ. disp. >1. sect. 4.
21 Cfr. Fr. Schmid, Die Sedanlâuterung im Jenseits, Brixea 1907

9°

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

faction, and hence can atone only by suffering.
This suffering, technically called satispassio,22*
has neither meritorious nor satisfactory value be­
cause the poor souls are no longer able to do any­
thing for themselves, but have entered into the
night “in which no man can labor.’’
The duration of Purgatory is entirely a matter of con­
jecture. Some theologians think that the poor souls are
detained for a long time; others, that the period of
purgation is brief. The truth probably lies between
these two extremes. God, being infinitely just, owes it
to Himself to punish every sin according to its guilt and
to exclude from Heaven whatever is unclean. But He
is also infinitely merciful, and His mercy has provided
an effective means of shortening the sufferings of the
poor souls through the intercession of the Church and
the faithful on earth.
Dominicus Soto and Maldonatus maintained that no
one remains in Purgatory longer than ten years. This
view is untenable, and one of the practical conclusions
drawn from it, namely, that legacies for the saying of
masses for the dead become invalid after ten years, has
been formally condemned by Alexander VII.28 How­
ever, from her acceptance of unlimited mass stipends it
does not follow that the Church believes the sufferings of
the poor souls in Purgatory to be of extremely long dura­
tion. God, in consideration of a great number of masses
and suffrages which He has foreseen from all eternity,
may release a soul immediately after death. On the other
22 On the nature of satispassio see
St. Bonaventure, Comment. in Sent.,
IV, diet, so, p. i. art. i, qu. 3.
as Prop. Damn, die 18. Martii,

«666, prop. 43: " Annuum legatum
pro anima relictum non durat plus
quam per decem annos." (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1143).

PURGATORY

9»

hand, no one can be sure that Purgatory does not last for
centuries in the case of souls who enter eternity with an
exceptionally heavy load of venial sins and temporal
punishments.
The faithful who will be alive at the second coming of
our Lord will not, of course, be able to expiate their
venial sins and temporal punishments in Purgatory, for
there will be no Purgatory after the Last Judgment.
With regard to these survivors it is piously believed that
God will grant them a general indulgence, or that the
tribulations and sufferings they will have to undergo in
the flesh will make up for their deficiencies.

c) A word concerning the evil habits which re­
main in the soul after conversion.
There are two classes of evil habits (habitus'), vis.:
those which are rooted in the sensitive faculties (drunk­
enness, impurity, etc.), and those which are based on
the spiritual powers of the will (pride, excessive ambi­
tion, etc.). The former are eradicated as it were auto­
matically at the moment of death, when the sensitive fac­
ulties become inoperative. The latter accompany the soul
into Purgatory, but are probably destroyed by an act
of love elicited at the threshold of eternity. Should
these habits continue to exist in Purgatory, there can be
no doubt that they are eventually cast off at the gate of
Heaven. They cannot be expiated by suffering because
they have already been the subject of contrition, and,
like concupiscence, are neither sins nor deserving of
punishment.

SECTION 3
SUCCORING THE DEAD

I. The Communion of Saints.—The Coun­
cil of Trent says that the poor souls in Purgatory
“are aided by the suffrages of the faithful, and
principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the
altar.” 1 The efficacy of this intercession is based
on the Communion of Saints.2
a) By the Communion of Saints we understand
the spiritual union of the faithful with one an­
other, with the blessed Angels, the Elect in
Heaven, and the poor souls in Purgatory, under
the supernatural headship of Christ, who is the
font and well-spring of all grace ;3 or, to put it
somewhat differently, the mystic union of the mili­
tant, the triumphant, and the suffering Church of
Christ.
b) The ninth article of the Apostles’ Creed
teaches that there is a visible communion on earth,
as well as an invisible interchange of blessings
between the militant and the triumphant Church,
1 Sees. XV :
. catholica Ec­
clesia . . . docuerit,
purgatorium
eue, animaeque ibi detentas fidelium
suffragiis, potissimum vero acceptabili altaris sacrificio iuvori. . .

2 " Credo sanctorum communio­
nem." (Apostles' Creed).
3 On the gratia capitis see PohlePreuss, Christology, pp. 239 sqq.

92

PURGATORY

93

of which latter Purgatory is a preparatory
stage. This has always been Catholic teaching.4
Whereas an impassible gulf separates the
Blessed in Heaven from the demons,8 the mem­
bers of Christ’s mystic body in Heaven and
on earth are closely bound together by a super­
natural communion of blessings,® of which the
innermost essence and principle is sanctifying
grace, or theological love, and, to some extent,
theological faith. For this reason even those
Catholics who are guilty of mortal sin belong to
the militant Church and consequently, in a
restricted sense, also to the Communion of Saints.
As for the angels, they form part of the ecclesia
triumphans, and as such participate in the com­
munio sanctorum.
Through the Communion of Saints the faithful
on earth, especially those who are in the state of
sanctifying grace, share in all the Masses, pray­
ers, and good works offered up by the militant
Church. They are moreover benefitted by the in­
tercession of the angels and the just in Heaven,
and they can aid the poor souls in Purga­
tory by prayers, indulgences, alms, and other
good works, especially by having the Sacrifice of
the Mass offered for them. The first and second
of the above-mentioned propositions having been
«Cfr. A. Harnack, Apottol. Clan·
bcnibckenntnii, gtb ed., pp. 33 sqq.,
Berlin 189a.

sCfr. Luke XVT. 16.
· Cfr, r Cor. XII. s« sqq.

94

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

dealt with in previous volumes of this series,7 it
remains to prove the third, viz.: that the liv­
ing faithful can succor the dead by works of satis­
faction.8*
2. The Dogma.—That the souls of the faith­
ful departed are aided by the suffrages of the
living follows as a corollary from the dogma of
Purgatory.”
Theologians are wont to quote in confirmation
of this teaching certain scriptural texts, which
are not, however, entirely convincing. Such a
text is, e. g., Tob. IV, 18: “Lay out thy bread
and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and
do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked.” 10*
Some exegetes interpret this passage as inculcat­
ing the usefulness to the dead of a meal given to
the poor in their memory.11 But this is by no
means certain. Another, equally inconclusive
text often quoted in this connection is i Cor. XV,
29, where the Apostle speaks of persons “who are
baptized for the dead.” As Dr. MacRory points
out, “this metaphorical sense of Baptism (as a
baptism of mortification and affliction for the
7 Pohlc-Preuss, Mariology, pp. 14a
sqq. ; The Sacraments, Vol. II, pp.
376 sqq.
8 On the dogma of the Communion
of Saints see J. P. Kirsch, Die Lehre
von der Cemeinschaft der Heiligen
im christlichen Altertum, Maycnce
1900 (tr. by J. R. McKee, The Doc­
trine of the Communion of Saints
in the Ancient Church; A Study in

the History of Dogma, London
1911); Chs. F. McGinnis, The Com­
munion of Saints, St. Louis 1913.
ο V. supra, Sect. 1.
10 Tob. IV, 18: "Panem tuum
et vinum tuum super sepulturam iusti
constitue et noli ex eo manducare et
bibere cum peccatoribus."
11 Cfr. Bellarmine, De Purgatorio,

PURGATORY

95

dead) is very rare, being found only in the two
passages just referred to, and there in the mouth
of Christ in reference, not to ordinary mortifica­
tions, but to His baptism in His blood. This be­
ing so, is it likely that the Corinthians could be
expected to think of a metaphorical baptism here?
Besides, if this were the sense, the Apostle, as
Estius points out, should have written, ‘who bap­
tize themselves,’ i. e. undergo voluntary mortifi­
cations, rather than ‘who are baptized.’ ” 12
3. Suffrages for the Dead.—In regard to
suffrages for the dead {suffragia pro mortuis) we
may ask four questions: (a) How many kinds
of suffrages are there? (b) Who profits by
them? (c) In what manner do they advantage
the dead? and (d) By whom can they be offered?
a) There are three different kinds of suffrages
by which the living can assist the dead, viz.:
the Mass, prayers, and good works. This dis­
tinction is very old.'3
While good works are mostly typified by alms, there are
others, such as fasting, scourging, making pilgrimages,
etc. The shedding of tears alone is not effective. St.
Chrysostom says, “ the dead are not aided by tears, but by
prayer, intercession, and alms.” M
If a man has forgotten or neglected to make restitution
for some injury done to his neighbor, and others make it
12
The Epistles of St. Paul to the
Corinthians, Part I, pp.
«1·.
Dublin ·9>5· Cfr. Bellarmine, De

96

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

for him after his death, does he derive any spiritual
benefit from the act? D. Soto15 and Bellarmine18*answer
this question in the negative, and they are probably right.
For the dead man, in omitting to make restitution, either
committed a sin or he did not. If he committed a sin, he
must expiate that sin, regardless of what his heirs or friends
may do. If he did not sin, he incurred no punishment.
Offering up indulgences for the dead is not a distinct
class of good works, because the efficacy of indulgences is
conditioned upon prayer and good works. Neither are
the ceremonies of Christian burial to be regarded as a
special kind of suffrage, for to bury the dead is an act of
corporal mercy and therefore belongs to the category
of good works.” The same applies to the preparation of
corpses for burial, the burning of candles at the bier,
sprinkling dead bodies with holy water, accompanying
them to their last resting-place, decorating the graves,
etc., etc. All these are good works which help the dead
if performed with the right intention.18
Cremation is not a good work but “ a detestable abuse ”
in which the Church forbids Catholics to cooperate.1®
The practice of burning dead bodies, though in itself not
opposed to Catholic dogma, was prohibited because it was
originally introduced and is now advocated chiefly by
avowed enemies of religion.20
18 Comment. in Sent., IV, dist.
45, qu. z, art. 3.
18 De Purgatorio. II, 16.
IT Cfr. 2 Kings II, 5; Matth.
XXVI. 12.
18 Cfr. St Thomas, Summa
Theol., Supplement., qu. 71, art 11;
Bellarmine. De Purgatorio, II. 19;
L. Ruland, Geschichte der kirchlichen
Leichen/eier, Ratisbon 1901.
iv See the Decree of the S. Con­
gregation of the Holy Office, of

May >9, 1886.— Regarding certain
conditions under which such persons
may be left in good faith, see the
decree of July 27, 1892, issued in
reply to certain questions asked by
the Archbishop of Freiburg (Cath­
olic Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, p. 482).
20 On cremation in general cfr.
Wm. Devlin, s. v„ in the Cath.
Encyclopedia, Vol. IV; delà S.
Sedis, XXV, 63; rim. Eccles. Re­
view, XII, 499; Fortnightly Review,

PURGATORY

97

b) Suffrages offered for the dead cannot bene­
fit the just in Heaven or the damned in Hell, but
they can and do benefit the poor souls in Purga­
tory. The just do not need human assistance.
This is especially true of baptized infants and the
blessed martyrs. St. Augustine says it is an in­
sult to pray for a martyr.21 The ancient practice,
evidenced by the teaching of the Fathers and the
early liturgies, of praying and offering sacrifice
for deceased Apostles, martyrs, prophets, and
saints, was inspired by a desire to thank God for
having glorified them in Heaven. We pray for
them, says St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “in order that
through their prayers and supplications God
may receive our own.” 22 And St. Augustine:
“When sacrifices . . . are offered on behalf of
the very good, they are thank-offerings, . . . and
in the case of the very bad, even though they do
not help the dead, [these sacrifices] afford conso­
lation to the living.” 23

c) To understand how the suffrages of the liv­
ing can benefit the poor souls we must recall the
distinction between the meritorious and the satSt. Louis, Mo.. Vol. XXIII, No. 17;
Λ. Besi, Dit Becrdigung und Prrbrennung der Ltichen. Ratisbon
1889; G. Hassl, Cottrtacker odcr
Leichenofen, 1898.
21 Serm.. 17: " Iniuriam facit
martyri, Qui orat fro martyre."
(Cfr. Pohle-Prcuss, Atariology, p.
US)·

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

98

isfactory value of good works.24

The meritori­

ous value of a good work consists in an increase

of

sanctifying grace

and

is

not

transferable.

Its satisfactory value consists in an expiation of

punishment due, and may be surrendered in favor
of another.

It is the satisfactory value alone

that God accepts on behalf of the dead.

From this point of view we can appreciate the “ heroic
act of charity ” approved by Pius IX, which consists in
the voluntary relinquishment for the benefit of the poor
souls of all claim to the satisfactory fruits of one’s good
works as well as to the suffrages of one’s friends after
death. However, it is doubtful whether God accepts
such a sacrifice and actually deprives those who make it
of the satisfactory values which they surrender. That
He approves of the heroism that dictates such a noble act
goes without saying, for it is in full accord with St.
Paul’s exclamation, “ I wished myself to be an anathema
from Christ, for my brethren.” (Rom. IX, 3).25
Over and above their meritorious and satisfactory value,
prayers for the dead have an impetratory value, inas­
much as they move God to hear the petitioner’s prayer,
gwa prayer, regardless of the value of the satisfaction
offered.
With regard to indulgences it is commonly held that
they may be applied to the poor souls “ by way of
suffrage” (per modum suffragii).29

d)

We can offer suffrages for the dead either

2« Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol.,
Supplément., qu. 71. art. 4.
28 E. Coubi, "L'Acte héroïque
pour les âmes du Purgatoire" in
the Revue Set Objectione, Paris,
>S Dec., 19«4. Vol. V, No. la, pp.
747-7S5-

20 The student will find this sub­
ject treated more fully in PohlePreuss, The Sacramenti, Vol. Ill,
pp. 260 sqq.

PURGATORY

99

by performing, or causing others to perform, a
good work that produces its effects ex opéré
operato (e. g. the Mass) ; or by creating satisfac­
tory or impetratory values for the benefit of the
poor souls by giving alms, reciting the office of the
dead, etc. In the former case it is sufficient that
the good work be performed to secure its ef­
fects ;27 whereas in the latter case all those condi­
tions must be fulfilled which are required to ren­
der a good work meritorious, principally this,
that the applicant be in the state of sanctifying
grace.28 An act by which no merits or satisfac­
tions are gained for the doer himself, cannot ap­
ply such merits or satisfactions to others.29
Can the just, who have arrived at the status termini,
intercede for the poor souls in Purgatory?
The just who have arrived at the status termini are di­
vided into two classes: (i) the Angels and Saints in
Heaven, and (2) the poor souls in Purgatory.
The liturgical prayers of the Church show that the
Angels and Saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary
and St. Michael, are powerful intercessors for the dead.·*
Whether the poor souls can assist one another is a
more difficult question to answer. We know that,
being in a state of punishment, they need assistance
themselves. To assume that they can obtain release
27 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, The Sacra­
menti, Vol. I. PP· 122 sqq.
28 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Grace: Ac­
tual and Habitual, pp. 84 sqq., 413.
2» Cfr. St Thomas. Summa Theol.,
Supplement., qu. 71. art 3.

»0 ■·. . . ut intr'cedentibue omnû
bue Sanctù luû ptetalu tuae demen­
tis omnium delictorum norum remam coneeguantur." (Roman Mis­
sal).

100

THE LAST THINGS OF MAN

from Purgatory by their own prayers, would seem to
contradict the revealed teaching that they are unable
to acquire merits or even quasi-merits.31 However, ex­
pressly excluding this untenable corollary, we may hold
that the poor souls are able to pray for one another ef­
fectively. Suarez32 and Bellarmine 83 furthermore main­
tain that the poor souls can aid the faithful on earth by
their intercession. This is, however, opposed to the teach­
ing of St. Thomas, who in reply to the objection that the
poor souls can help us because they are friends of God
says : “ Those who are in Purgatory do not yet
enjoy the vision of the Divine Logos, which would en­
able them to know what we think and speak, and there­
fore we do not implore their suffrages, but those of the
living.’’84 The further objection that the poor souls must
have power with God because they are impeccable, he re­
futes thus : “ Though they are superior to us in as far as
they can no longer sin, they are inferior to us as regards
the punishments which they suffer, and therefore they
are in no condition to pray [for others], but rather in
a state where they need the prayers of others.”35
Nevertheless those who piously invoke the poor souls,
or promise them Masses, need not be disturbed, because
it is probable that they can aid us by their interces­
sion, and quite possible that God may aid both the
poor souls and those who pray for them without the
81 On the meritum de congruo
•ee Pohle-Preuss, Grace: Actual
and Habitual, pp. 430 sqq.
82 De Oratione, I, 11.
88 De Purgatorio, II, 16.
8< Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 83.
art. 4, ad 3: "Illi, qui sunt in
purgatorio, nondum fruuntur visione
Verbi, ut possint cognoscere ea,
quae nos cogitamus vel dicimus, et

ideo eorum suffragia non imploramus
orando, sed α vivis petimus collo­
quendo."
saOp. cit., art. 11, ad 3: "Illi,
qui sunt in purgatorio, etsi sunt
superiores nobis propter impeccabilitatem, sunt tamen inferiores quantum
ad poenas, quas patiuntur, et se­
cundum hoc non sunt in statu oran­
di, sed magis ut oretur pro eis."

PURGATORY

ιοί

knowledge of the former. Let us not forget our Sa­
viour’s dictum : " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy.” ” The Church in her liturgy prays for
the poor souls, but never invokes their intercession.
Readings : — S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines of Dogmatic Theology,
Vol. Ill, pp. 442 sqq.— Wilhelm-Scannell, A Manual of Catholic
Theology, Vol. II, pp. 553 sqq.— Wiseman, Lectures on the Prin­
cipal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church, Sect. XI,
London 1836 (frequently reprinted).— Coleridge, The Prisoners
of the King, London 1897.— Canty, Purgatory, Dogmatic and
Scholastic, Dublin, 1886.—Loch, Das Dogma der griechischen
Kirche vom Purgatorium, Ratisbon 1842.—Red ne r, Das Fegefeuer, Ratisbon 1856.— Bautz, Das Fegefeuer, Mayence 1883.—
Tappehorn, Das Fegefeuer, Dillingen 1891.—St Binet, S.J., Der
Freund der armen Seelen oder die hath. Lehre vom jenseitigen
Reinigungsorte, Freiburg 1896.— Fr. Schmid, Das Fegefeuer nach
kath. Lehre, Brixen 1904.— Idem, Die Seelenlauterung im lenseits,
Brixen 1907.— Bellarmine, De Purgatorio.—Casaccia, 11 Purga­
torio, Biella 1863.— B. Jungmann, De Novissimis, Ratisbon 1871.
— Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology, London 1878.— Sadlier, Pur­
gatory: Doctrinal, Historical, Practical, New York 1886.— L.
Rouzic, Le Purgatoire, Paris 1918.— Atzbcrgcr, Gcsclrichte der
christlichcn Eschatologie. Freiburg 1896.—E. J. Hanna, art.
“ Purgatory,” in Vol. XII of the Catholic Encyclopedia, pp.
375-380.— H. Thurston, S.J., The Memory of the Dead, London
1916 (contains a brief but fairly comprehensive sketch of the
Catholic practice of prayer for the dead from the first centuries
of Christianity to the close of the Middle Ages).— Delloue-Leahy,
Solution of the Great Problem, New York 1917, pp. 214 sqq.—
B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of the History of Dogmas, Vol. I,
St. Louis 1917, pp. 452 sqq—P. Bernard, art. "Purgatoire” in
Diet. Apol. de la Foi Cath., Vol. IV, cols. 496-528.
On the reasonableness of the doctrine of Purgatory see J. S.
Vaughan, Thoughts for AU Tinies. 23rd Am. ed., Springfield,
Mass.. 1916. pp- 156-171·—W. Schneider, The Other Life, pp. 306
sqq., New York 1920.
SO Matth. V, 7:

" Beati misericordes, quoniam ipsi misericordiam con-

PART II

ESCHATOLOGY OF THE HU­
MAN RACE
Parallel with the consummation of the individ­
ual runs the consummation of the human race,
which will take place as soon as the predestined
number is reached.
When “the last day” 1 will come no one can tell.
All calculations and speculations from St. Augus­
tine to the present have merely confirmed our
Blessed Saviour’s dictum that God alone knows
the day and the hour when the Son of man will
come to judge the living and the dead.2
Following St. Augustine’s example3 we shall
consider, (i) the Signs that are to Precede the
General Judgment, (2) the Resurrection of the
Flesh, and (3) the Last Judgment.
1 John VI. 39 s<l2 Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol.,
Supplementum, qu. 77, art. a:
··. . . quorum falsitas patet et pa-

tebit similiter eorum, qui adhuc computare non cessant."
a De Civitate Dei, XX, 30.

102

CHAPTER I
THE SIGNS THAT ARE TO PRECEDE THE GENERAL

JUDGMENT

Revelation tells us 1 that the General Judgment
will be preceded by certain definite signs. Hence
we may conclude that the world will not come to
an end before these signs appear. On the other
hand, no one can foretell the exact day of the
Last Judgment from these signs. It is only when
they all concur that a reasonable conjecture will
become possible, and even then there will still be
danger of self-deception. Cfr. 2 Thess. II, 1 sq. :
“We beseech you, brethren, touching the com­
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gath­
ered together unto Him, that you be not readily
shaken out of your right mind nor kept in alarm,
—whether by spirit-utterance or by discourse or
by a letter purporting to be from us,—as though
the day of the Lord were upon us.”12 As the
precise time of the Last Judgment is known only
1 Matth. XXIV, 37 sqq.; 3 Pet.
cito moveamini vestro sensu, neque
HI, 3 sqq.
terreamini, neque per spiritum, neque
2 a Thess. II, i sq. : " Rogamus per sermonem, neque per epistolam
autem vol fratres fler adventum
tamquam per nos missam, quasi in­
Domini nostri lesu Christi. el no­ stet dies Domini."
strae congregationis in ipsum : ut non
103

104

THE END OF THE WORLD

to God, it were idle for us to speculate about it.
The principal signs or events usually enumer­
ated by theologians as preceding the Last Judg­
ment are :
(1) The General Preaching of the Christian
Religion all over the earth ;
(2) The Conversion of the Jews ;
(3) The Return of Henoch and Elias;
(4) A Great Apostasy and the Reign of Anti­
christ;
(5) Extraordinary Disturbances of Nature;
(6) A Universal Conflagration.
I. General Preaching of the Christian
Religion.—The first of the predicted signs was
announced by our Divine Saviour Himself,
Matth. XXIV, 14: “And this gospel of the king­
dom shall be preached in the whole world, for a
testimony to all nations, and then shall the con­
summation come.” 3
It must not be concluded from this prophecy that
all men will ultimately embrace the Christian religion.
Our Lord says that the Gospel will be preached to
all nations; not that all men will be converted.4 The
words “ and then ” (και rore) are probably not meant
to indicate an immediate sequence of events, but merely
s Matth. XXIV, 14: " Et prae­
dicabitur hoc evangelium regni in
universo orbe, in testimonium omni­
bus gentibus: et tunc (καί rire)
veniet consummatio."
«Cfr. St Augustine, Ep., 199. n.

48: "In quibus gentibus nondum
est Ecclesia, oportet ut sit. non ut
omnes, qui ibi fuerint, credant.
Omnes enim gentes promissae sunt,
non omnes homines omnium gen-

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

105

to mark the beginning (terminus a quo) of the period
which will end with the General Judgment. " What does
the phrase ‘ then it will come ’ mean,” says St. Augustine,
“ except that it will not come before that time? How long
after that time it will come, we do not know. The only
thing we know for certain is that it will not come sooner." ’

2. The Conversion of the Jews.—St. Paul
says : “I would not have you ignorant, brethren,
of this mysery, . . . that blindness in part has
happened in Israel, until the fulness of the gen­
tiles should come in. And so all Israel should be
saved, as it is written :8 ‘ There shall come out
of Sion he that shall deliver, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob.’ . . . For as you also in
times past did not believe God, but now have ob­
tained mercy through their unbelief, so these also
now have not believed, for your mercy, that they
also may obtain mercy.” T
From this text it may with reasonable certainty be con­
cluded :
(a) That the majority of nations, or at least the major­
ity of the people of all nations (plenitudo gentium), will
embrace Christianity before the end of the world;
6 Ep.. 197, n. 4: " ' Tunc veniet '
quid est. nisi ante non venietf
Quanto post veniat, incertum nobis
est. dnte tamen non esse venturum,
dubitare utique non debemus."
0 Is. LIX. 20.
7 Rem. XI. 25 sqq.: Oü yàp θίλω
νμάί dyvoeiv. άδελφοί. τό μυστήριον
τούτο. ■ ■ ■ Sri πώρωσιτ drà pipovs
τφ 'Ισραήλ yiyovtv Λχρίί ον τδ

πλήρωμα τύν ίβνών ιϊσίλθν. sal
ούτωί πάι 'Ισραήλ σωβήστται.
καΟώι yiyparrrat' "1Τ{ε<
Σιώ»
δ pvipirot καί άποστρίψβι datpsias
άπά Ία*ύβ· ■ ■ ■ "ΪΙσπιρ yip sal
ipeis rrorè ήπιιθήσατι rÿ θε<ρ. νύν
Si ήλιήβητβ τή τούτων driiMn.
οΟτωι sal ούτοι νυν irslthfoav τψ
ύμΐτίρτρ
Ira sal αύτοί iXeqtv-

io6

THE END OF THE WORLD

(b) That, after the general conversion of the “gen­
tiles,” the Jews, too, will accept the Gospel.
Though these propositions by no means embody arti­
cles of faith, it requires more than such antisemitic scold­
ing as was indulged in by Luther to disprove them. The
Apostle expressly speaks of a “ mystery,” and ascribes the
final conversion of the Jews, not to the physical or mental
characteristics of the Semitic race, but to a special dis­
pensation of God’s “ mercy.” Luther overlooked both
these factors when he wrote : “ A Jew, or a Jewish heart,
is as hard as wood, stone, or iron, as hard in fact as
the devil himself, and hence cannot be moved by any
means. . . . They are young imps condemned to Hell.
. . . Those who conclude from the eleventh chapter of
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans that the Jews will all be
converted towards the end of the world, are foolish and
their opinion is groundless.” 8
On the other hand, however, there is no reason to as­
sume that the Jews will all be converted, or that the He­
brew race will embrace the true faith in a body. Like
the “ gentiles,” the Jews will probably flock to the Church
in great numbers. “ When the multitude of nations will
come in,” says St. Jerome, “ then this fig-tree, too, will
bear fruit, and all Israel will be saved.” 8
The parable of the sheepfold (John X, 16) is some­
times applied to the end of the world, though, we believe,
ineptly. In saying, “ I have other sheep that are not
of this fold, them also must I bring, and they shall hear
8 Samtl. Werke, Jena ed„ Vol.
VIII, p. 109: "Ein Jude oder jü·
ditch Hers ist so stock-stein-cisenteufelluirt, doss mit keiner Weise su
bewegen ist. . . . Es sind junge
Teufel, sur Hôlle verdammt. . . .
Dost etliche aus der Epistel sum
Romer im it. Kapitel solchen Wohn

schSpfen, als solltcn allé Juden bekehrt warden am Ende der Welt, ist
0 In Habac., Ill, 17: " Quum in­
traverit plenitudo gentium, tunc
etiam haec ficus afferet fructus suos
et omnis Israel salvabitur."

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

107

my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd,”
our Lord simply meant that His Church was to embrace
all nations.

3. Return of Henoch and Elias.—The be­
lief that Elias and Henoch will return to herald
the second coming of our Lord and to convert the
Jews, was held by many Fathers.
a) So far as it regards Elias, this belief is based on
the prophecy of Malachias: "Behold I will send you
Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the chil­
dren to their fathers: lest I come and strike the earth
with anathema.” 10* “ Elias the prophet ” cannot be iden­
tical with John the Baptist, as some have thought, because
the Septuagint expressly calls him “ the Thesbite.”11
Moreover, our Lord Himself clearly distinguishes be­
tween the two, and ascribes to Elias precisely the rôle
that was attributed to him by His contemporaries.
Matth. XVII, 11 sq. : " But he answering, said to
them: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things;
but I say to you that Elias is already come. . . .
Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to
them of John the Baptist.”12 St. Augustine explains
this text as follows : “ As there are two advents of the
10 Mal. IV, 5 sq.: "Ecce ego
it i θισβίτηι·
mittam vobis Eliam prophetam, ante­
isMattb.
XVII,
ii
sqq.:
quam veniat dies Domini magnus et
'IlKelas pie Ιρχιται καί drehorribilis. Et convertet cor patrum καταστήσω rdrra' htyu Si t/iir
ad filios et cor filiorum ad patres Sri 'HXe/ar ffiq q\9e»· ■ - - Tire
eorum, ne forte veniam et percutiam
σντήκαν ol μαβηταΐ ότι repi
terram anathemate." (Cfr. Eccles.
'Ιωάνναν τον βαντιατον titrer
XLVIII, io).
aûroit-

io8

THE END OF THE WORLD

Judge, so there are two precursors. ... He sent before
Him the first precursor and called him Elias, because
Elias was to take the same part in the second coming that
John had in the first.” 13
*18
From what we have said it further appears that the
phrase " dies Domini ” does not mean the first coming of
Christ as the Messias, but His second coming as the Uni­
versal Judge. The day of His Incarnation was a day of
mercy and blessing; the day of the Last Judgment will be
a “ day of terror.”
b) Concerning Henoch the argument is less
convincing.

Some theologians substitute Moses or Jeremias for
Henoch, but this procedure is rejected by the majority.14
The Bible says that “Henoch pleased God, and was
translated into paradise, that he may give [preach]
repentance to the nations.”18 The Septuagint is less
definite. It says: καί μ&πτίθη (ets παράδεισον is missing)
παράδειγμα μετάνοιας ταΐς γενεαϊς,— which might mean that
Henoch was set up as an example of repentance for his
contemporaries. St. Paul says: “ By faith Henoch was
translated, that he should not see death.” 10 In view of
this passage and of the “ two witnesses ” who accord­
ing to the Apocalypse (XI, 3 sqq.) will appear as pre­
cursors of our Lord when He returns for the Last Judg­
ment, there has existed in the Church since the earliest
times a popular belief that Elias and Henoch will come
13 Tract, in loa., VII, 5: "Quo­
modo duo adventus iudicis, ita duo
praecones. . ■ ■ Misit ante se pri­
mum praeconem, vocavit illum Eli­
am, quia hoc erit in secundo ad­
ventu Elias, quod in primo Joannes."

i·* Cfr. Suarez, De Myst. Vitae
Christi, disp. 55, aect. 3.
16 Eccles. XLIV, 16.
i«Heb. XI, 5: "Fide Henoch
translatus est. ne videret mor-

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

109

back to preach penance before the end of the world.
However, this is not a dogmatically certain truth, as
claimed by Bellarmine.’7

4. The Great Apostasy and Antichrist.—
The “great apostasy,” i. e. a tremendous defection
among the faithful, is described partly as the
cause and partly as an effect of the appearance of
Antichrist. Both events may be reckoned among
the signs that are to precede the Last Judgment,
because it is certain that either before or after
the conversion of nations and of the Jewish
race there will be a great revolt, led by Antichrist,
which will reduce the number of the faithful.
a) That a great apostasy will occur before the
end of the world we know from St. Paul's Second
Epistle to the Thessalonians.
The congregation at Thessalonica had taken alarm at
a spurious letter purporting to come from the Apostle,
“ as though the day of the Lord were near.” To
prove the genuineness of the present epistle, and as a
precaution against forgery, St. Paul inserts the following
words in his own handwriting: “ I, Paul, [send you J this
greeting with my own hand. That is the sign in every let­
ter ; thus I write.” 18 His references to the end of the
world appear rather obscure to us because he adverts to
certain things which he had told the Thessalonians by
word of mouth and of which we have no knowledge : " Do
you not remember that while I was still with you I used
IT De Romano Pontifice. Ill, 6.
18 2 Thess. Ill, >7-‘ “ Salutatio,

mea manu Pauli, quod eit lignum ■·
omni efùiola. Ila ecribo."

HO

THE END OF THE WORLD

to tell you these things? ” 10 On one point, however, he
is quite clear, viz.: that the “ day of the Lord ” (ή ήμίρα τού
κυρίου) will not come " unless the apostasy first befall, and
the man of lawlessness be revealed, the son of perdi­
tion.”20 “Apostasy” (ή αποστασία, discessio) in this
connection can scarcely mean a political revolution,
for the whole movement is described as “ a mystery
of iniquity,”21 a Satanic “ seduction to evil for them that
are perishing, because they have not entertained the love
of the truth22*unto their salvation. And therefore God
sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe
that lie,28 in order that all may be judged that have be­
lieved the truth,24 but have acquiesced in unrighteous­
ness.” 28
It is true that some older exegetes understood this
text as foreshadowing, at least secondarily, a great po­
litical upheaval, in particular the fall of the Roman Em­
pire.20 But neither this catastrophe, nor the Protestant
Reformation (1517), nor the dissolution of the Holy Ro­
man Empire (1806), have proved to be the discessio pre­
dicted by the Apostle.

b) In the passage quoted above St. Paul men­
tions another sign among those preceding the day
of the Lord, viz.: the revelation of the “man of
ίο 2 Theas. II, 5: " Non retinetis
quod quum adhuc essem apud vos,
haec dicebam vobis f "
20 2 Thess. II, 3: " Ne quis vos
seducat ullo modo: quoniam nisi
venerit discessio primum, et revelatus
fuerit homo peccati, filius perdi21 Mysterium iniquitatis, μυστή­
ριοι· τήι άνομίαί.
22 την àyinqv τήϊ άληβϊίαί·
28
ψιύίιι-

2* rÿ àKqOelq..
2r' τή άδικίφ. (s Thess. II, 9-11).
20 St. Thomas interprets the text
as follows: " Discessio primo est 0
fide, quia futurum erat ut fides a
toto mundo reciperetur. . . . Disces­
sio a Romano imperio debet intellegi,
non solum a temporali, sed a spiri­
tuali, scii, a fide catholica Romanae
Ecclesiae." (Expositio in Omnes S.
Pauli Epistolas, cap. II, lect. 1).

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

in

sin,” the “son of perdition,” who is usually called
Antichrist.

a) The name Antichrist is not found in the Epistles of
St. Paul, but in I John II, 18, 22; IV, 3; 2 John VII.
St. John speaks of “antichrists” in the plural num­
ber, but there can be no doubt that he believed in a
personal Antichrist. Cfr. 1 John II, 18: "Little
children, it is the last hour ; and as you have heard that
the Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many
antichrists : whereby we know that it is the last hour.” ”
This personal Antichrist is to be preceded by messengers
who will prepare the way for him and inaugurate his
reign. Cfr. 1 John IV, 3: “And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is antichrist, of
whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now
already in the world.” The Greek text is more definite:
και τοϋτό ίση το τοΰ αντίχριστου [the work of Antichrist],
δ [not ôç] άκηκόατι ότι ϊρχιται, και νυν ιν τύ κόσμια ιστία
ηίη. Evidently the Antichrist predicted by St. John is
not merely a pretender, but the incarnate antithesis
of our Divine Saviour, and therefore His deadly enemy.
Whether “ Antichrist ” is merely a collective name for
certain persons and tendencies, or whether it designates
one particular person, a human individual of flesh and
blood, cannot be concluded with certainty from the Johannine text. St. Paul, however, is positive on this point
He speaks of Antichrist as “ the man of lawlessness,”"
“ the son of perdition,”2B who " shall oppose and exalt
himself against all that is called God ” and " seat himself
21 1 loa. II. 18: "Filioli, notis­
sima hora (ίσχάτη Hpaf est, et sicut
audistis quia antichristus venit (Sri
i αντίχριστοι Ιρχιται)· Et nunc

tntichristi multi facti sunt. unde tri­
nus quia novissima hora est."
31 h drdpuswot njf ipaprlat·
3* i vUi rqt drnihelat·

THE END OF THE WORLD

112

in God’s sanctuary, giving himself out as God.”80 “ And
then shall the lawless one30
31 be revealed, whom the Lord
Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth and bring
to nought by the manifestation of his coming. But that
other’s coming is through Satan’s working [attended]
by every [kind of] feat and sign and lying wonder, and
by every seduction to evil for them that are perishing.”32
This graphic description cannot be applied to a mere per­
sonification, but points to a concrete individual, and hence
we may safely reject the figurative interpretation
of “ Antichrist,” though it is not necessarily contrary to
Catholic teaching.
/3) It is difficult to say what St. John meant when he
wrote in the same Epistle : “ And now you know what
keepeth him back (το κατίχον), to the end that he may be
revealed in his own season. For the mystery of law­
lessness is already at work; only let him who now rcstraineth (ô κατέχων) be taken out of the way, and then
shall the lawless one be revealed.” 83 This obscure text
has been variously interpreted. Most exegetes see in it a
reference to some contemporaneous event. SS. Chrysos­
tom and Jerome regarded the Roman Empire as the re­
straining influence (το κατέχον, ό κατίχων). Others held
that “ the lawless one ” is kept in check by the fact that
the Gospel has not yet been preached to all nations and
the Jewish people remain unconverted. Dr. Dollinger
identified “ the man of lawlessness ” with the Emperor
Nero, the κατίχων with Claudius, the “ mystery of lawless­
ness ” with Nero’s intrigues to usurp the throne, and the
30 2
31 i
82 a
38 i
II, 6

Thesi. II. 3 «1<1·
άνομοι·
Thess. II. 8-to.
John IV, 6-7 —Cfr. 2 Thess.
sq. : Kai νυν rb κατίχον

oïSart,
els τδ άποκαλυφθήναι
αύτόν Ιν τώ ίαυτοΰ καιρώ. Τδ
yàp μυστήριον ήδη ivepyeïrai τήι
άνομίαι' μόνον δ κατίχων άρτι ίωι
ίκ μέσου yiv-ηται·

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

113

“ sitting in the temple ”34 with the profanation and de­
struction of the Jewish temple under Titus and Ves­
pasian.35 Such historical parallels may be ingenious and
entertaining, but in appraising them at their true value
we must not overlook the fact that St. John speaks of
the second coming of Christ, and that “ he who re­
strains ” this coming is most likely the devil, who is re­
serving his forces for the end of the world, when he will
make his last and most formidable assault upon the hu­
man race through Antichrist.

Some conceive Antichrist to be an incarnate devil or
a man possessed by Satan.80 The rôle assigned to him,
however, would seem to require an independent person.
Such appellations as “ the man of lawlessness ” and " the
son of perdition ” sufficiently indicate that he will be a
man, not an incarnate devil or an energumen.

The belief that Antichrist will be the son of a Jewish
mother overshadowed by Satan37 is pure conjecture.
That he will be born in Syria or Babylonia, rule the world
for three years from Jerusalem or Rome, and be deposed
at the second coming of our Lord, are more or less prob­
able surmises that have nothing to do with the dogmatic
teaching of the Church.38
34 Cfr. Dan. IX, 27.
85 Dollinger, Christentum und
Kirche, pp. 277 sqq.
3« Cfr. St. Jerome, In Dan., VII,
8: " Unus de hominibus, in quo
satanas inhabitaturus sit corporali-

Bl Cfr. Lactantius, fnstit., VI, 17:
" Oritur ex Syria, mala spiritu ge­
nitus, eversor et perditor generis
humani."

sa Cfr. Roncaglia, Lesioni Sacra
intorno olla Cenula, Costumi e
Monarchia dell' .dnlicristo, Rome
1718; Λ. J. Maas, S.J., art "Anti­
christ." in Vol I of the Catholic
Encyclopedia; J. H. Newman. " The
Patristic Idea of Antichrist ” (Dis­
cussions and rlrguments on Carious
Sub/ects, pp. 44-108. new impres­
sion, London 1907).

114

THE END OF THE WORLD

Extraordinary Disturbances of Na­
ture.—The second coming of Christ will be sud­
den and terrifying. Matth. XXIV, 27 : “As the
lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth
even into the west, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be.” 30 Luke XVII, 24: “As the
lightning that lighteneth from under heaven, shineth unto the parts that are under heaven, so shall
the Son of man be in his day.”40 Scripture
clearly indicates that this event will be preceded
by tremendous disturbances.

5.

a) It is not easy to separate the eschatological part of
our Lord’s teaching from his references to the destruc­
tion of Jerusalem. However, there can hardly be a
doubt that the following passage refers entirely to the
end of the world : “ And immediately after the tribula­
tion of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: and
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven :
and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn : and they shall
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
much power and majesty.”41 The tribulations here de­
scribed are partly material (extraordinary perturbations
of nature) and partly spiritual (mental anguish suffered
a» Matth. XXXV, 27: " Sicut
enim fulgur exit ab oriente, ct paret
usque in occidentem : ita erit et ad­
ventui Filii hominis."
40 Luc. XVII, 24: '' Nam sicut
fulgur coruscans de sub caelo in
eo. quae sub caelo sunt, fulget : ita
erit Filius hominis in die sua."
41 Matth. XXIV, 29 sq.: " Statim

autem post tribulationem dierum il­
lorum sol obscurabitur, et luna non
dabit lumen suum, ct stellae cadent
de caelo, et virtutes caelorum commo­
vebuntur: et tunc parebit lignum
Filii hominù in caelo: et tunc plan­
gent omnci Iribus terrae: ei videbunt
Filium hominis venientem in nubibue
caeli cum virtute multa ei maiestale."

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

115

by men). It will not do to interpret the passage figura­
tively. The Fathers and theologians accept our Lord’s
prophecy in its literal sense. Quite naturally, He em­
ployed the language of the people to whom He spoke, not
the terminology of science. We know that the (fixed)
stars cannot “ fall from heaven.” Hence the expression
“ powers of heaven ” must apply to the atmospheric belt
that surrounds the earth. We are forced to conclude that
the words of the Bible refer to the earth alone and
not to the planets and other astral bodies by which it is
surrounded. True St. Paul says: “Every creature
groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now, and not only
it, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit.” 42 But nature, ». e. the material universe, expects
redemption and consummation only in so far as it groans
under the curse which deprived it of the blessings
of Paradise. In matter of fact God cursed the earth, not
its planets, nor the sun, nor the stars. Cfr. Gen. Ill,
17 sq.: “Cursed is the earth in thy work; . . . thorns
and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.”42
This simple and rational explanation is confirmed by
what may be regarded as the most important of all
Scriptural texts dealing with the consummation of the
world, vis., 2 Pet. Ill, 10: “But the day of the Lord
shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass
away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted
with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it
shall be burnt up.”44 As the context shows, “ heavens ”
42
Rom. VIII, 32 sq· : " Scimus
enim quod omnis creatura (ιτάσ-η
Krlais) ingemiscit, et parturit usque
adhuc. Non solum autem illa, sed
et nos ipsi primitias spiritus ha­
bentes."
«sGen. III. 17 *1··· " Maledicta
terra in opere tuo: . . . spinas ei

n6

THE END OF THE WORLD

here means the atmosphere surrounding the earth, for
the conflagration described by St. Peter is related to the
deluge, “ whereby the world that then was, being over­
flowed with water, perished ; ” whereas “ the heavens and
the earth, which now, by the same word are kept in store,
[are] reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men.”45 A comparison of the two
sentences shows that the “ heaven ” which will be de­
stroyed by fire is the same that helped to bring on the del­
uge. Hence it must be the atmosphere of our earth, of
which alone, furthermore, it can be said that it “ shall pass
away with great violence.” 40
b) How are we to conceive “ the new heavens ”
which Scripture predicts in connection with the “ new
earth ” that is to be after the Last Judgment ?47 We shall
hardly go astray if we picture this transformation as a
restoration of the telluric atmosphere. The earth and
its surrounding atmosphere will not be totally destroyed,
but transformed into a paradise. It is hazardous to
deduce more than this from the cryptic intimations found
in various parts of the Bible. The analogy of faith
as well as the geocentric conception of the universe known
to have been held by the sacred writers favor the assump­
tion that there is to be a re-created “ heaven ” (i. e.
atmosphere) as well as a restored earth. In what manner
the planets and stars arc to be led to perfection,— we can
hardly assume that they will continue their revolutions
forever,— Revelation does not tell. The views held by
the Fathers and medieval Scholastics were based on an
45 a Pet. ΙΠ, 6-7: "Per quae
ille tunc mundus aquâ inundatus periit, coeli autem, qui nunc sunt. et
terra eodem verbo repositi sunt, igni
reservati in diem iudicii ct perdi·
tionu impiorum hominum."

48 a Pet III, to: " caeli magno
impetu transient."—On the inter·
pretation of a Pet. 6-10 see St
Augustine, De Civitate Dei, XX, 24.
47 Cfr. Is. LXV, >7; LXVI, aa|
Apoc. XXI, 1 sq.; a Pet. III, 13.

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

117

erroneous notion of the universe and cannot be regarded
as an authentic exposition of the Catholic faith.

6. The Universal Conflagration.—The
“end of the world” will be brought about by a
great conflagration, which will destroy our planet
and its atmosphere.
a) It is uncertain whether this catastrophe will take
place before or after the General Judgment. The
former view is based on the assumption that the advent
of the Great Judge in the clouds of heaven 48 must coincide
with the universal conflagration, and that this conflagra­
tion will not only cause the death of those who are still
alive, but likewise supply for them the place of Purgatory.
But this theory is open to many objections. In the first
place it is improbable that the Last Judgment will be
delayed until after the destruction and subsequent restora­
tion of the earth, for how, in this hypothesis, would it
be possible for the living to “ hasten unto the coming of
the Lord ” ? Moreover, it seems proper that the great
conflagration should follow the Last Judgment and thus
actually mark the end of the world.
b) By what means God will bring about this terrible
conflagration we know not. It is neither probable nor
necessary to assume that the phenomenon will be strictly
miraculous. Even infidel scientists ..dmit that there are a
number of purely natural causes which may at any mo­
ment bring about the end of the world. If, for instance,
the earth were to collide with a comet accompanied by
a swarm of meteorites, or with some solar system other
than our own, or if one of the so-called fixed stars were to
«•Maith. XXIV. a9; a Pet III.io.

Ii8

THE END OF THE WORLD

enter our planetary circle, the result would be destruction.
Curiously enough the signs predicted by our Lord and
by St. Peter as preceding or accompanying the end
of the world coincide with the perturbations which pres­
ent-day scientists say would probably ensue if the earth
were hit by a comet. A well-known astronomer, Father
Charles Braun, S.J., has called attention to the existence of
comets which are ten thousand times larger than the
earth. If such a ponderous body were to strike the earth
at a speed of, say, six geographical miles per second, he
says, “ the result would be the same as if a compact mass
of equal weight, shooting through space with the velocity
of a cannon ball, would collide with the earth. No human
being could live through such a catastrophe. . . . Millions
of luminous meteorites and meteors, which, as is well
known, always accompany comets, would penetrate the at­
mosphere, and, by condensing, produce such enormous
masses of cosmic dust that the sun would lose its splendor
and glow with a reddish hue. Presently the head of
the comet would arrive and either strike the earth and,
by destroying its crust, cause the kernel of liquid fire to
burst forth, or, leaving behind a large part of its coma,
enter our atmosphere in the form of a frightful hur­
ricane and start a general conflagration, which even
the minerals could hardly resist, and which, within
a few hours, would convert all organic structure into
ashes.” 49
c) Will this universal conflagration annihilate the earth
with all its inhabitants or will some organic beings sur­
vive? This question is inspired by curiosity rather than
49 Chs. Braun. SJ.. Ueber Kotmogonie vom Standpunkt christlicher
H'issenschaft, 3rd ed., pp. 3R3> 38j>
Munster 1905.— On other pos­
sibilities see M. Valier, Der Unter-

gang der Erde, Munich igaa; J.
Pohle. Die Sterncnwelten und Hire
Betuohner, 6th ed., pp. a43 B<w„

SIGNS OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT

119

dogmatic considerations. The Scholastics generally held
that no corruptible substances (corpora mixta = animals
and plants) shall find a place on the " new earth.”50 In
point of fact we have no positive knowledge concerning
this matter. The Schoolmen claimed no greater weight
for their theories than that due to the arguments
which they adduced. Their arguments in the present
case are anything but conclusive. Why should not God
in His omnipotence endow mixed bodies with the same in­
destructibility or incorruptibility which is possessed by
simple bodies (corpora simplicia), or recreate the animals
and plants for the benefit of the race of transfigured men
that is to inhabit the new earth? St. Anselm seems to
have had some such idea in mind when he wrote : “ The
earth which once harbored in its bosom the body of our
Lord, like a great garden which, having been wa­
tered by the blood of saints, will wear an imperishable
garland of sweet-smelling flowers.”’1 This view has
found favor with some modern theologians (Bautz and
Einig), but though it is quite fascinating, we do not adopt
it because it cannot be proved.
“ Science,” says Father Joseph Rickaby, " has some­
times dreamt of a final condition of things in which the
machinery of the universe shall be completely run down,
the energies of nature so dislocated as no longer to fur­
nish any potentiality of organic life, a uniform tempera­
ture established everywhere, suns cooled, planetary revo­
lutions stopped,— the realization in fact of the άμοΰ
πάντα χρήματα, or universal deadlock, which was the Greek
bo Among modem writers this
view ia held by Oswald (Escha­
tologie, 5th ed., Paderborn 1893).
61 " Terra, quae in gremio suo
Domini corpus fovit, tota erit ut
paradisus, el quia Sanctorum san­

perpetuo decorata.'’ (Cfr. Suarea,
Comment, in S. Theol., Ill, qu. 59,
art 6. aect j).

120

THE END OF THE WORLD

notion of a mindless chaos. Things may come to this
final impasse, or they may not, science cannot tell. But
there remains God’s promise to re-establish (ΰι-ακίφαλαιωσασθαι, gather up under a new head) all things in
Christ.82 ‘ Hence it is said,’ quotes St. Thomas : they
are the last words of his book :88 “I saw a new heaven
and a new earth :54 I will create new heavens and a new
earth ; and the things that were before shall not be in
memory, neither shall they rise into thought; but ye
shall be glad and rejoice forever.” 85 ‘ So be it,’ says
Aquinas.”88
Readings: — J. B. Kraus, Die Apokatastasis der unfreien Natur
auf kath. Standpunkt, Ratisbon 1850.— Houchedé, Die Lehre vom
Antichrist dargestellt nach der hl. Schrift und Tradition, Ratis­
bon 1878.— A. Delattre, Le Second Avènement de Jésus-Christ,
Louvain 1891.— J. Rohm, Die protestantische Lehre vom Anti­
christ, Hildesheim 1891.— Dornstetter, Das endseitliche Gottesreich nach der Prophetic, Würzburg 1896.— Thomas, Das
Weltende nach der Lehre des Glaubens und der Wissenschaft,
Münster 1900.— Joh. Rademacher, Der Weltuntergang, Munich
1909.— Jungmann, Tract, de Novissimis, Ratisbon 1885.— Billot,
Quaestiones de Novissimis, Rome 1903.— J. H. Newman, "The
Patristical Idea of Antichrist,” in Discussions and Arguments on
Various Subjects, new impression, London 1907, pp. 44-108.—
A. J. Maas, S.J., art. “ Antichrist," in the Catholic Encyclopedia,
Vol. I, pp. 559-562.— J. L. Ratton, Antichrist: An Historical
Review. London 1917.— Jowett, “Excursus on the Man of Sin,”
in Epistles of St. Paul, London 1859.— P. Batiffol, art. " Apo­
catastasis,” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, pp. 599 sq.
52 Eph. I. 10.
53 The Summa contra Gcntilei.
6« Apoc. XXI, I.

55 Is. LXV, 17 sq.
se J. Rickaby, S.J., God and Hit
Crealurcc, p. 419.

CHAPTER II
THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

SECTION i
REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION

I. Definition.—The Resurrection of the flesh
is one of the most important dogmas of the
Christian religion.
St. Paul says: “If there is no resurrection of the
dead, neither is Christ risen; and if Christ is not risen,
vain truly is our preaching, vain too your faith.” 1 The
Bible employs “ resurrection of the dead ” 2 and “ resur­
rection of the flesh ” 8 synonymously. The latter phrase
is the more significant because it emphasizes the body.
The soul, of course, does not “ return ” to life; it is im­
mortal.

The Resurrection of the flesh may be defined
as “a substantial conversion whereby a human
being, which has been resolved into its component
elements by death, is restored to its former con­
dition.”
2 Resurrectio mortuorum or de
1 I Cor. XV, 13 »q.l "Si autem
resurrectio mortuorum non eel:
mortuis, àrioraois rùr eeepüu or
neque Christus resurreril; si au­ 4κ reepûr·
3 Resurrectio carnis, dederaeit
tem Christus non resurrerit, inanis
est ergo praedicatio nostra, inanie aapKÎtest et Udes vestra."
121

122

THE END OF THE WORLD

The Resurrection is called a conversion (mutatio) to
distinguish it from creation (creatio ex nihilo), by which
an entirely new being comes into existence.
The change involved in the Resurrection is substantial
because it affects the substance of human nature, and not
merely its accidents. The subject is a corruptible being,
composed of elements which are separated by death and
thus admit of substantial destruction. Man as such is
destroyed, and of the two essential elements that compose
him, viz.: body and soul, the former gradually returns
to dust. Its resurrection is not a re-creation, but a mi­
raculous reproduction (reproductio) with full identity of
subject.

2. Heretical Errors vs. the Dogmatic
Teaching of the Church.—The Resurrection
of the dead appeared foolish to the gentiles.4 It
was denied by the Sadducees,5 the Gnostics, the
Manichæans, and the medieval Albigenses and
Waldenses, and is still violently attacked by athe­
ists, materialists, and rationalists. Against all
these the Catholic Church firmly upholds the
Resurrection of the body. The dogma is ex­
pressly mentioned in the so-called Apostles’ Creed,
in the Nicene and the Athanasian creeds, in the
symbol of the Eleventh Council of Toledo, and
in other ancient professions of faith. Origen’s
teaching of an Apocatastasis of the dead0 was
condemned by the Council of Constantinople
« Cfr. Acts XVII, 18.
S Cfr. Matth. XXII, aj: "...

Sadducaei, qui dicunt non cue recurrectionem."
• V. cupra, pp. Û7 sqq.

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

123

(553)? The Fourth Council of the Lateran spe­
cifically defined that “all men will arise [from the
dead] with their own proper bodies.”8
3. Proof from Sacred Scripture.—The
Resurrection of the body is mentioned in both
the proto- and the deutero-canonical books of the
Old Testament. The former advert to it veiledly,
whereas the latter inculcate it with perfect clear­
ness.
a) The proto-canonical books contain two classes of
texts referring to the Resurrection. Some predict the
restoration of Israel under the figure of a general rising
of the dead; others point to the Resurrection of Christ
as a symbol of our own.
a) The prophet Osee puts these words into the mouths
of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia: “He will revive us
after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and
we shall live in his sight.”® Yahweh Himself promises
his chosen people through the same prophet : “ I will
deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem
them from death. O death, I will be thy death; O hell,
I will be thy bite.” 10
Another argument may be deduced from the famous
vision of Ezechiel. The prophet saw how the dry bones
that lay scattered over the plain of the dead, at God’s com­
mand began to stir, took on sinews and flesh, and were
T " Si quit dixerit, quod in fabu­
losa restitutione futurae sunt solae
mentes
nudae,
anathema sil."
(Deiuinger. 9th ed., n. aoo).
» " Omnes cum suis propriis resurgent
corporibus." (Deniinger·
Bannwart, nth cd., n. 449).
v Os. VI. j : " Pivihcabii nos post

duos dies: in die tertia suscitabit
nos. et vivemus in conspectu eius."
10 Οι. XIII. 14: "De manu
mortis liberabo eos. de morte re­
dimam eos: ero mors tua 0 mors,
morsus tuus ero inferne." (Cfr. 1
Cor. XV. M «q:)

124

THE END OF THE WORLD

covered with skin. When they stood upright, and lived
and breathed, the Lord said to the prophet : “ Son of man,
all these bones are the house of Israel. . . . Behold I
will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sep­
ulchres, O my people, and will bring you into the land of
Israel.”11 Though this vision symbolizes the restora­
tion of Israel, it would have been unintelligible to the
Jews had they not been familiar with belief in a resurrec­
tion?2

/3) The texts of the second group refer to the
Resurrection of the Messias, which we Christians
rightly regard as a figure and pledge of our own.
Cfr. Ps. XV, io: “Thou wilt not leave my soul
in the nether world,13 nor wilt thou give [permit]
thy holy one to see corruption.” 14
b) A veritable locus classicus for the dogma of
the Resurrection is Job XIX, 23 sqq. : “Who
will grant me that my words may be written ? who
will grant me that they may be marked down in
a book with an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or
else be graven with an instrument in flint stone?
For I know my Redeemer liveth, and in the last
day I shall rise out of the earth, and I shall be
clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall
see my God, whom I myself shall see, and my eyes
shall behold, and not another : this my hope is laid
11 Et. XXXVII, il sq.: "Fill
hominis, ossa haec universa domus
Israel est. . . . Ecce ego aperiam tu-

vestris,

populus meus:

12 Cfr. Tertullian, De Resurrec­
tione Carnis, 30: ·' Non posset de
ossibus figura componi, si non id
ipsum et ossibus eventurum esset."
>θ eis βδην; Hebrew, sheol.
nCfr. Acts II, 3, sq. ; XIII, 35.

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

up in my bosom.” 15 So clearly does this passage
express the dogma of the Resurrection that St.
Jerome says: “Job prophesied the resurrection
of the body in such plain terms that no man
has written of it more clearly or more certainly,
... no one [has treated this dogma] as openly
after Christ as Job did before Him.” 18
The Hebrew text, it is true, differs slightly from the
Vulgate rendering, which is followed by our English
Bible. It runs something like this : “ I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and he will in the end stand above the
dust. Then shall I be clothed with this skin, and in my
flesh I shall see God. Yea, I will see him for myself,
my eyes will see him, and not another: my reins con­
sume themselves in my bosom.” But, though the word­
ing is different, the hope of a glorious Resurrection is
common to both versions. Where the Vulgate says, "Et
in novissimo die de terra resurrecturus sum," the He­
brew text has: “He [». e. the Redeemer] will stand
above the dust.” Both passages affirm the fact of the
Resurrection, with this difference, that one mentions its
efficient, while the other speaks of its formal cause. To
interpret the whole passage as merely voicing Job’s
confidence of regaining his health, will not do. For in
that assumption, as even Rabbi Rosenmüller admits, there
IS Job XIX, 13 sqq.: " Quis mihi
det, ut exarentur in iibro stylo ferreo
el plumbi lamina vel celte sculpan­
tur in siUcef Scio enim quod Re­
demptor meus vivit, et in novissimo

is Ep., S3. ·-■ "lob resurrectionem
corporum sic prophetat, ut nullus de
ea ve! manifestius vel cautius scrip­
serit. . . . nullus tam aperte post
Christum, quam iste ante Christum."

126

THE END OF THE WORLD

would be no proportion between the majestic announce­
ment with which the text opens, and the unimportant
fact which it records.” The logical sequence of ideas
demands that Job meet the charges of his friends by ex­
pressing his belief that the due proportion between guilt
and punishment will be restored in the world beyond, espe­
cially since he himself had just closed his earthly account
in the sure expectation of death.18 “ We must assume,”
says Rosenmüller, “ that his thoughts were directed to the
final resurrection of the body and the restoration of all
things.” 18

c) The deutero-canonical books of the Old Tes­
tament teach the doctrine of the Resurrection ex­
plicitly.
Ecclesiasticus is not entirely conclusive because the
Greek text is badly corrupted and differs in many places
from the Latin Vulgate. Nevertheless, the praise of
Elias, who is expected to return at the end of the world,
may be quoted. The Greek text says : “ Blessed are
they that saw thee [i. e. Elias at the end of the world]
and were honored in love ; for we too shall live.” 20
That the post-exilic Jews firmly believed in the Resur­
rection of the flesh is proved by the glorious martyrdom
of the seven brethren and their mother, recounted in 2
Mach. VII, 9 sqq. “ Thou indeed, O most wicked man,”
says the second of the brothers to the cruel tyrant Anti­
ochus, “ destroyest us out of this present life, but the King
IT Rosenmuller, Scholia in Li·
brum lob. ». h. L
J8 lob XVII.
IB Scholia in Librum lob, h. I.:
" Oportet eum de venturo iudicio,
torporum returrectione ultimâ et re-

20 Ecclus.
XLVIII,
11,
ed.
Tischendorf, 188a: Μακάριοι ol
Ibivrtt at καί ol ir àyan^aei
κικοσμημίνοΓ καί yàp ή/iei r fwjj
Ι;ησ6μ(βα·

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

127

of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the
resurrection of eternal life.” 21 And the fourth declares:
“ It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope
from God, to be raised up again by him: for, as to thee
thou shalt have no resurrection unto life.”22 The mother
exhorts them all to be steadfast. “ The Creator of the
world,” she says, “. . . will restore to you again in his
mercy both breath and life.”28 When Razias, one of
the ancients of Jerusalem, was put to death for his loyalty
to the Jewish religion, we are told that, "as he had yet
breath in him, being inflamed in mind, he arose, and while
his blood ran down with a great stream, and he was
grievously wounded, he ran through the crowd, and stand­
ing upon a steep rock, when he was now almost without
blood, grasping his bowels with both hands, he cast them
upon the throng, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit
to restore these to him again: and so he departed this
life.”2*

d) In the New Testament we have the distinct
assurance of Christ and His Apostles that the
dead will rise again.
a) Our Lord says: “Fear ye not them that

2» a Mach. VII. 33: "mundi
Creator et spiritum . . . vobis ite­
rum cum misericordia reddet et

24 a Mach. XIV. 46: "...et
quum adhuc spiraret. accensus ani­
mo, surrexit: et quum sanguis eius
magno fluxu delineret, et gravissimis
vulneribus esset saucius, cursu tur­
bam pertronsiit: et stans supra
quandam petram praeruptam, et iam
exsanguis effectus, complexus i*·
festina sua, utrisque manibus profe­
cit super turbas, invocans domina­
torem vitae ac spiritus, ut haec illi
iterum redderet: atque Ita vili de-

128

THE END OF THE WORLD

kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul : but

rather fear him that can destroy both soul and
body in hell.” 25

denied

the

He accuses the Sadducees, who

Resurrection,

of

ignorance.

“You

err,” he says, “not knowing the scriptures, nor

the power of God.” 20

When Martha before the

tomb of her brother exclaimed, “I know that he
shall rise again in the resurrection at the last
day,” 27 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the

life : he that believeth in me, although he be dead,
shall live.”28

On another occasion He predicted

that He Himself would raise the dead to life:

“The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the

graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God;
and they that have done good things, shall come

forth unto the resurrection of life ; but they that

have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg­

ment.” 29

Those who eat of the “true bread of

heaven,” i. e. His Body and Blood in the Holy
Eucharist, have our Lord’s solemn promise that
He will “raise them up in the last day.”30
25 Matth. X, 28: " Nolite timere
eos, qui occidunt corpus, animam
autem non possunt occidere: sed po-

mam et corpus perdere tn gehen2» Matth. XXII, 29: " Erratis
nescientes Scripturas, neque virtu-

21 John XI, 24: " Scio quia re­
surget tn resurrectione in novissimo
die."

28 John XI, 25: Ego sum re­
surrectio et vita: qui credit in me,
etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet."
28 John V, 28 sq.: ”. . . venit
hora, in qua omnes, qui in monu­
mentis sunt, audient vocem Filii
Dei: et procedent qui bona fecerunt,
in resurrectionem vitae, qui vero
mala egerunt, in resurrectionem
iudicii."
so John VI, 40: "Ego resu­
scitabo eum in novissimo die."

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

129

/3) The Apostles testified both to the Resurrec­
tion of Christ and to the General Resurrection of
the dead, with such power that the Sadducees
were ‘'grieved.” 31 St. Paul places the Resurrec­
tion of the dead on the same level, as regards cer­
tainty, with the Resurrection of our Lord:
“Now if Christ is preached as risen from the
dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead? If there is no resur­
rection of the dead, neither is Christ risen;
and if Christ is not risen, vain truly is our preach­
ing, vain too your faith.”32 Again he says : “If
the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead, dwell in you : he that raised up Jesus Christ
from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bod­
ies, because of his spirit that dwelleth in you.”33
And : “Know you not that all we who are bap­
tized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death?
For we are buried together with him by bap­
tism into death ; that as Christ is risen from the
dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may
walk in newness of life.”34 The Apostle pro­
docerent populum.
32t Cor. XV. 13 sqq.: "Si
tern Chrietuc praedicatur quod

neque Chriatua
Chriilut non r>

ergo praedicatio naîtra; inanù eel
et Mee Vectra."
33 Rom. VIII, It: "Quod ei
epiritue eiue, qui tujcilatU Iream
a mortuis, habitat in vobie. qui
suscitafit letum Christum a mortals,
viviAcabit et mortalia corpora vestra,
propter inhabitantem Spiritum eme
in vobis."
34 Rom. VJ, 3 sqq. : " An i/noratis quia quicunque boplisati sumus

130

THE END OF THE WORLD

claimed the doctrine of the Resurrection before
the Epicureans and the Stoics,36 and courage­
ously upheld it in the presence of Felix, the gov­
ernor,3" and King Agrippa.37 Hymeneus and
Philetus were publicly denounced by him as apos­
tates for having taught that “the resurrection is
past already.”88
4. Proof from Tradition.—The Tradition
of the early Church agrees perfectly with the
teaching of the Bible. To construe a complete
Patristic argument for the Resurrection, “one
would have to transcribe almost all the writings
of the early Fathers,” 39 for not only do they all
mention the dogma occasionally, but a number of
them (Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Theophilus,
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of
Nyssa, Ephraem, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Am­
brose, and others) have left special treatises on
the subject.
If we study the arguments of these Fathers we find that
they embody splendid proofs for the fitness of the Res­
urrection. Thus Minucius Felix points to the analogy
in Christo lesu. in morte ipsius bap·
tisati
sumus P Consepulti
enim
jumui cum illo per baptismum in
mortem: ut quomodo Christus surrexit a mortuir per gloriam Patris,
ito et nos in novitate vitae ambu­
lemus." (Cfr. 3 Cor. IV, 14; Heb.
VI, s).
80 Acts XVII, 18 sqq.
88 AcU XXIV, is.

ST Acu XXVI, 8, 33.
88 3 Tim. II, 18: “. . . resurrec­
tionem esse iam faciam."— The
Scriptural argument for the Resur­
rection of the dead is more fully
developed by Fr. Schmid. Der
Unsterblichkeitsglaube in der Bibel,
Brixcn >902.
a# Thus Oswald, Eschatologie, p.
388.

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

131

existing between revelation and nature. " The sun,’’ he
says, “ sinks down and rises, the stars pass away and
return, the flowers die and revive again, the shrubs re­
sume their leaves after their wintry decay, seeds do not
flourish unless they are rotted. ... So we, too, must wait
for the springtime of the body.”40
The Fathers refute the objection that it is impossible for
the dead to return to life by pointing to the divine
omnipotence. Thus Cyril of Jerusalem says: "God
created us out of nothing; why should He not be able
to re-awaken that which is destroyed?”41 St. Irenaeus
emphasizes the dignity of the body as the temple of
the Holy Ghost and receptacle of the Eucharistic Christ.
“ How can it be asserted,” he asks, " that the flesh which
is nourished with the Body and Blood of our Lord shall
not partake of the life? ” 42 St. Clement of Rome declares
that the body must rise again in order to be rewarded
for the merits it has acquired here below.*1 Tertullian
argues that if there were no resurrection of the body, the
devil would prove mightier than God and the divine econ­
omy of grace would show a fatal defect.44
«0 Octavius, 34: "Sol demergi­
tur et nascitur, astra labuntur et re­
deunt. flores occidunt et revivi­
scunt, post senium arbusta fronde­
scunt, semina nonnisi corrupta re­
viviscunt. . . . Expectandum nobis
etiam corporis ver est."
41 Calech., 18.
42 Adv. Haeres., IV, 18: " Quo­
modo dicunt, carnem non percipere
vitam, qua corpore Domini et san­
guine alituri " (Cfr. Pohle-Preuss.
The Sacraments, Vol. II, pp. 71 sq.).
<3 Ep. ad Corinth., 1, aj: καί

άναστήσιιι ri)r σάρκα μον ταύτην
την άιατλήσασα» ταντα tràrra.
44 De Resurrectione Camis, c. <i:
" Diabolus validior in hominem intel­
legitur totum eum elidens. Deus in­
firmior renuntiabitur non totum re­
levans. Atqui et Apostolus suggeris,
ubi delicium abundaveris, illic gra­
tiam abundasse."—Cfr. C. Scheurer.
Das Auferstehungsdogma der vornisânischcn Zeil. Wûrrburg 1896; H.
Kibn, Pairologie, Vol. I. pp. 17a
sqq., -’89 sqq.; Vol. II. pp. 160. 470
el passim, Paderborn >904-1908;
D. I. Lanslots. O.S.B., The End
of the H'orld and of Man, N. γ.
>9^5. PP- 36 W-

SECTION 2
UNIVERSALITY OF THE RESURRECTION

I. The Catholic Church teaches that on
the Last Day all men shall rise in the flesh,—
the just to be rewarded with eternal life, the
wicked to be punished with eternal death.
Though the early creeds stress the fate of the
just,1 the Church has never permitted her chil­
dren to doubt that the wicked also will rise in the
flesh. The so-called Athanasian Creed says:
“All men shall rise again with their bodies, and
shall give an account of their works ; and they that
have done good shall go into life everlasting, and
they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.” 2
The Fourth Council of the Lateran defines:
“All men shall rise again with their own bodies,
which they now have, to receive according to
their deeds, whether good or bad: the latter,
everlasting punishment with the devil, the former,
eternal glory with the Lord.” 3 Hence it is an ar1 Cfr. the Symbolum Nicaenum as
revised at Constantinople: " Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum et
vitam venturi saeculi."
z " Omnes homines resurgere habent [i. e. resurgent] cum corpori,

bus suis, etc." (Bcnzinger-Bann·
wart, n. 40).
a " Omnes cum suis propriis resurgent corporibus, quoe nunc gestant, ut recipiant secundum opera
suo, sive bona fuerint sive mala: illi

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

133

tide of faith that the souls of the damned as well
as those of the Elect will be reunited to their
bodies on the last day.
a) This teaching can be convincingly demon­
strated from Holy Scripture. Cfr. Dan. XII, 2:
“And many of those that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake : some unto life everlasting, and
others unto reproach, to see it always.” * Our
Lord Himself says : “They that have done good
things shall come forth unto the resurrection of
life; but they that have done evil, unto the res­
urrection of judgment.” 5 St. John writes in the
Apocalypse: “And the dead were judged by
those things which were written in the books, ac­
cording to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave
up their dead that were in them; and they were
judged every one according to their works. And
hell and death were cast into the pool of fire.
This is the second death. And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life, was cast
into the pool of fire.”8 St. Paul, when brought
cum diabolo poenam perpetuam, et

tam." (Denzinger-Bannwart, η.
4 Dan. XII. a: "Ei mulli de hit,

« Apoc. XX.
iudicali nil n

THE END OF THE WORLD

134

before Felix, the governor, openly professed his

belief in “a resurrection of the just and the un­
just.” ’

A difficulty has been raised in view of Ps. I, 5:
“ Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment."8
But this difficulty is apparent rather than real. The
Royal Psalmist does not except the wicked from the Gen­
eral Resurrection ; he merely wishes to say that they will
be unable to stand judgment. This is clearly apparent
from the Hebrew text, which says : “ The wicked shall
not stand, but be as dust which the wind driveth from
the face of the earth.”
b) Though the Fathers devote more attention

to the Resurrection of the just, there can be no
reasonable doubt that they believed also in the

Resurrection of the wicked.

Clement of Rome admonishes the Corinthians : “ Keep
the flesh pure and the seal undefiled, that we may obtain
eternal life, and let none of you say that this flesh
is not judged and does not rise again.” B His meaning
evidently is that impurity will be punished, as purity is
rewarded, in the flesh. Tertullian testifies to the early
belief in Christ’s return to judge the wicked and the just,
rewarding the latter with eternal life and punishing the
num ignit."— On the “ Book of
Life ” see Pohle-Preuss, Grace, Ac­
tual and Habitual, pp. 192 sq.
1 Acts XXIV, 15:
. resur­
rectionem futuram iustorum et in­
iquorum (δικαίων τ« καί άδίκωνί."
β Ps. I, s: "Ideo non resurgent

impii in indicio."
β II Ep. ad Corinth., 8, 6-9, 1:
τηρήσατ( την σάρκα àyvi)v καί τήν
aippayiSa Ασπιλον. Iva ri)v αΙώνιον
fui/v
άηολάβωμίν
καί μη
λίγ/τω rit υμών. Άτι αΰτη ή σαρξ
ού Kplverai ούδί άνίσταται.

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

135

former with eternal fire, after they have all arisen from
the dead and resumed their bodies.10

c) Though reason cannot prove the necessity
of the Resurrection, it can show its congruity.
“ It is against the nature of the soul,” says St. Thomas,
“ to be without the body. But nothing that is against na­
ture can be lasting. Therefore the soul will not be for­
ever without the body. Thus the immortality of the
soul seems to require the resurrection of the body.”11
However, this argument must not be strained. It does
not prove the impossibility of an eternal separation be­
tween body and soul. If it did, a natural resurrection of
the flesh would have to be postulated for the pure state
of nature, and the dogma of the Resurrection could be
conclusively proved from philosophy. Some Catholic
writers have indeed asserted this to be so.” Scheeben shatters their arguments by showing the essentially
supernatural character of the Resurrection.” Man has
no natural claim to be restored to life after death, least
of all in a transfigured body, and to say that God might
allow the souls of the dead to live forever without their
bodies involves no contradiction, either against the order
petuo maneat [quia immortalis],
oportet eam corpori iterato conium
tere, quod est resurgere."·— Cfr.
Rickaby, Cod and His Creatures, p.
403.
IS Notably A. Feretti (Philosophia
resurrectione cum restitutione car·
Moralis, pp. 88 «qq.t Rome >38y)
and
Coj(aRoMe<ri
(Philosophia
Moralis, end ed., pp. 41 aq., Innabruck >886).
13 Die Mysterien des Christentums,
3rd ed.. pp. 391 aqq., Freiburg
ipra.
Quum igitur per­
10 De Praescript.. 13: "Credimur
. . . Christum venturum cum clari­
tate ad indicandos sanctos in vitae
aeternae et promissorum caelestium
fructum, et ad profanos adiudicandos

136

THE END OF THE WORLD

of nature or against any divine attribute.14* The souls
of the Old Testament patriarchs have been living
without their bodies for several thousand years and will
continue in a disembodied state until the day of Judgment.
There is no reason for assuming that they could not
exist in this way forever.
A second argument for the congruity of the Resurrec­
tion is derived from the attribute of divine justice and
may be tersely formulated as follows : “ Reward and pun­
ishment are due to men both in soul and body. But
in this life they cannot attain to the reward of final hap­
piness, and sins often go unpunished : nay, here * the
wicked live, and are comforted and set up with riches’
(Job XXI, 7). There must, then, be a second union of
soul and body, that man may be rewarded and punished
in both.”18
2. In conclusion we may add a few words concerning
the raising of Lazarus and other dead persons by Christ
during His earthly sojourn, and similar miracles per­
formed by Saints. The persons thus miraculously raised
were restored to life only to die again, and now await
their final resurrection with the remainder of humanity.
Some doubt exists with regard to the saints who came
forth bodily from their graves at the death of our Sa­
viour.18 There have been theologians who thought that
these privileged persons anticipated, as it were, the Gen­
eral Resurrection and ascended to Heaven with Christ;
others (e. g. Theodoret and St. Augustine) hold the more
14 Cfr.
St. Thomas, Summo
Theo/., Supplement., qu. 75, art. 3.
is St. Thomas. Summo contra
Gentiles, IV, 79: " Necessarium
est, ponere iteratam ad corpus coniunclionem, ut homo in corpore et
animo praemiari et puniri possit."

ιβ Cfr. Matth. XXVII, 52 sq.:
" Monumenta aperta sunt et multa
corpora sanctorum, qui dormierant,
surrexerunt; et exeuntes de monu­
mentis post resurrectionem eius,
venerunt in sanctam civitatem et
apparuerunt multis."

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

t37

probable opinion that they were revived only for a time
and died again. This latter theory is preferable to the
former because it agrees with the Catholic belief that the
bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an alto­
gether unique privilege.17
17 See Poblc-Prcuss, Mariology, pp. ios Ml·

SECTION 3
NATURE OF THE RISEN BODY

The body that will be reunited to the soul at the
Resurrection will be identical with the one in­
habited by the soul on earth.
I. Proof from Revelation.—The Eleventh
Council of Toledo says: “We believe that we
shall arise, clothed not in air or some other flesh,
but in the self-same [flesh] in which we [now]
live, exist, and move.” 1 The so-called Creed of
Leo IX, which is still employed in the consecra­
tion rite of bishops, contains this passage : “I be­
lieve also in the true resurrection of the same
flesh which I now have.” 2 The Fourth Council
of the Lateran defines: “All men will rise again
with their own bodies [the same] which they now
have.” 8
a) The Biblical argument for this dogma is
based on the same texts that prove the Resur1 " Nec in aéra vel qualibet alia
carne, ut quidam delirant, surrecturos nos credimus, sed in iata, qua
vivimus, consistimus et movemur."
(Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 387).
2 " Credo etiam veram resurrec­
tionem eiusdem carnis, quam nunc

gesto." (Denzinger-Bannwart,
n.
347).
s " Omnes cum suis propriis re­
surgent corporibus, quae nunc ge­
stant.” (Denzinger-Bannwart,
n.
138

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

139

rection, especially the vision of Ezechiel and the
passage from Job which we have quoted above.4
Where Sacred Scripture does not expressly assert the
identity of the risen body with that inhabited by the soul
before death, it takes this identity for granted. For a
man to rise again in a strange body would not be a
true resurrection. “ We cannot speak of a resurrection,"
says St. Thomas, “ unless the soul returns to the same
body, because resurrection signifies a new rising. To
rise and to fall belong to the same subject, . . . and
hence, if the soul did not resume the same body, there
would be no resurrection, but rather the assumption
of a new body.” * St. Paul writes : “ For this corrupti­
ble [body] must needs put on incorruption, and this
mortal [body] immortality.”* Consequently, it is one
and the same body which, having been corruptible and
mortal in this life, becomes incorruptible and immortal
after the Resurrection.

b) The Fathers conceived the Resurrection of
the flesh as a reawakening or restoration of the
body formerly inhabited by the soul, and re­
jected the contrary teaching of the Origenists.
St. Jerome says : “As Christ arose in that body
which lay with us in the sacred sepulchre, so we,
on the day of judgment, shall arise in the same

turgere et cadere. ... et ita. ci
non eel idem corpue, quod anima

reeumit, non dicitur reeurreciio, eed
magie novi corporie aeenmptio."
® i Cor. XV, sj: "Oportet enim
corruptible
hoc Μ φβαρτί,
τούτο) induere incorruptionem et
mortale hoc (τί drqrir τούτο) in­
duere immortalitatem."

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THE END OF THE WORLD

bodies by which we are surrounded and with
which we are buried.” 7 The Patristic teaching
that holy Communion is a pledge of the Resurrec­
tion would be meaningless if the risen body were
not identical with the one the soul inhabits on
earth.
Tradition expressed itself practically in the solemn
burial rite of the Church, the liturgical prayers recited for
the dead, the respect shown to corpses, and especially the
veneration exhibited towards the bodies of saints and
their relics.8

2. Speculative Discussion of the Dogma.
—Speculative theology strives to understand the
dogma more fully and to answer some of the
questions that arise concerning the identity and
integrity of the risen body and its functions.
a) As regards the identity of the risen body,
it must be taken neither in too broad nor in too
limited a sense.
Durandus declared that identity of soul is sufficient to
constitute identity of person, and that the risen body may
be composed of matter entirely different from that which
constituted it during life. But would an entirely new
body be really and truly “ my body ”? If my soul were to
inhabit an entirely new body, should I not, on the contrary,
be a different person, at least materially? The Church
T Ep., 61: " Sicut turrexit Dominui in corpore, quod apud not in
tacro tepulcro conditum iacuit, ilo
et not in ipris corporibut, quibut
circumdamur et tcpelimur, in die
iudicii turreciuri eumut."

8 Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Mariology,
PP- *53 sqq.— The argument from
the monuments of the early Church
is well developed by Katschthaler,
Etchatologia, pp. 448 sqq., Ratisbon
1888.

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

141

declares that after the Resurrection man will not only
be of the same species as before, but identically the
same individual. It makes no difference whether this
identity is conceived in accordance with the hylomorphic
system of Aristotle and St. Thomas, or the modern atomic
theory, as long as the reality of matter is admitted.
Nor, again, must the identity of the risen body be con­
ceived too narrowly. Of course, corporeal individuality is
not to be gauged by a mathematical standard. Infants
and old men will probably not arise exactly as they died,
but in a more perfect form. Moreover, we know that in
consequence of the process technically called metabolism,
the human body changes its material composition every
seven years or so. Hence there can be no absolute bodily
identity even in this life. Nor need the identity of the
risen with the earthly body be conceived as absolute.
“ What does not bar numerical unity in a man while he
lives on uninterruptedly,” says St. Thomas, “ clearly can
be no bar to the identity of the risen man with the man
that was. In a man’s body while he lives, there are not
always the same parts in respect of matter, but only in
respect of species. In respect of matter there is a flux
and reflux of parts: still that fact does not bar the man’s
numerical unity from the beginning to the end of his
life.” 8
It has been objected that, as the same matter enters suc­
cessively into the composition of differen, men, many indi­
viduals, especially savages addicted to anthropophagy, will
have to fight for their bodies at the Resurrection. But
mu): " Regula fidei aperle iradit
corpora resurgentium /ore eodem or

i42

THE END OF THE WORLD

this objection is unworthy of serious consideration. God
in His omnipotence and wisdom can surely find ways and
means of restoring to every man his own body.10
b) The

integrity of the

risen body offers a real

difficulty, owing to the fact that many men are

mutilated before they die, while others (monstra)
never enjoy the possession of a normal physique.

St. Augustine says on this subject : “ As the members
appertain to the integrity of human nature, they shall
all be restored together; for they who were either blind
from birth, or who lost their sight on account of some dis­
ease, the lame, the maimed, and the paralyzed, shall rise
again with an entire and perfect body.”11 The same
holy Doctor expresses the expectation that “ whatever
old age or disease has wasted in the body . . . shall be re­
paired by the divine power of Christ,” 12 and that the
body will be raised, not in an immature or decrepit con­
dition, but as it appeared in the prime of life.18 How­
ever, these are mere conjectures. We have no positive
knowledge whatever on the subject.
Certain theologians hold that the bodies of the risen
will be either asexual or all of the male gender. This
opinion is untenable for the reason that the distinction of
sex appertains both to the integrity and the identity of the
individual14 and also because our Lord seems to take the
iu Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa con­
tra Gentiles, IV, 81.—Cfr. F. E.
O'Hanlon, “ The Identity of the
Risen Body,” in the Irish Theol.
Quarterly, Vol. XVII (1922), No.
67, PP- 23>-*37·
11 Enchiridion, c. 89: "Quomam membra ad veritatem humanat
naturae pertinent, simul restituentur
omnia. Qui enim vel ab ipso ortu

oculis capti sunt vel ob aliquem mor­
bum lumina amiserunt, claudi atque
omnino manci et quibusvis membris
debiles integro ac perfecto corpore
resurgent." Cat. Rom. P I c ι·
12 De Civitate Dei, ΧΧΠ
13 Ibid., ΧΧΠ, I(i
14 Çfr. Gen. I, 27, 3J.

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

143

continued existence of sex for granted when He says:
“ In the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be mar­
ried.” 16 In Eph. IV, 13: “Until we all meet and at­
tain to the unity of faith, and knowledge of the Son of
God, even to a perfect man, to the measure of the full
stature of Christ,” 18 the context shows that the Apostle
speaks of that perfect manhood which the soul is destined
to attain in the life beyond. He does not mean, as St.
Thomas notes, that when the risen go forth to meet
Christ, they shall all be of the male sex, but merely desires
to foreshadow the perfection and strength of the Church,
which shall be like that of a full-grown man.ir

c) Of the bodily functions all those that per­
tain to the vegetative life will cease in the next
world.
Nutrition and propagation are incompatible with the
status termini. Moreover, Christ Himself expressly re­
pudiated the idea of a Mohammedan paradise. Cfr.
Matth. XXII, 30 : “ In the resurrection they shall neither
marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in
heaven,” 18 that is to say, though the distinction of sex
remains, its functions will cease.
Scripture often likens Heaven to a banquet, at which
all men will sit down to feast with the Patriarchs. This
is a mere allegory, designed to illustrate the happiness
of the Elect. St. Paul says: "Food is for the belly,
is Matth. XXII, 30: " In resur­
rectione enim neque nubent, neque
is Eph. IV, 13: "Donec occur­
ramus omnes in unitatem fidei, et
agnitionis Filii Dei in virum perfec­
tum tels Λνδρα rlXeior) in mensu­

ram aetatis plenitudinis Christi."
IT Summa contra Gentiles. IV, 88
18 Matth. XXII, 30:
„nr.
rectione
enim
neque
nubent
(γαμονσιη). neque nubentur Ιγαμί
ferrai): sed erunt sicut angeli Del
in caelo."

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THE END OF THE WORLD

and the belly for food ; still, God will end both the one
and the other.” 19 This cannot mean that the organs of
digestion and assimilation will be destroyed, for they be­
long to the integrity of the body,— but that they will no
longer exercise their functions.
As regards the senses, the eyes and ears will no doubt
continue to exercise their functions, the former by en­
joying the sight of the God-man, the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and the Saints, the latter by listening to the conversation
of the Blessed and drinking in their paeans of praise and
exultation.20
What some theologians say concerning delicious odors,
essences, etc., enjoyed by the Elect is pure speculation
with no basis in fact.

3· The Four Transcendent Endowments
Qualities of the Risen Bodies of the
Saints.—In addition to the natural characteris­
tics of identity and integrity common to all risen
bodies, the glorified bodies of the Elect will enjoy
four supernatural qualities, viz.: impassibility,
brightness, agility, and subtility.
a) Impassibility (impassibilitas, αφθαρσία) puts
the bodies of the Elect beyond the reach of death,
pain, and discomfort, i Cor. XV, 53: “This
mortal body must needs put on incorruption.” 21
Apoc. XXI, 4: “God shall wipe away every tear
from their eyes, and death shall be no more,

or

18 i Cor. VI, 13: " Esca ventri
et venter escis, Deus autem et hunc
et has destruet."
20 Cfr. Lessius, De Summo Bono,

21 i Cor. XV, S3: Sei yàp rd
φθαρτόν τούτο ίνδύσασθαι άφθαρ

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

145

neither shall mourning or wailing or pain be any

more, because the first things are passed away." 33

The term αφθαρσία, as employed by St. Paul, signifies
something more than “ incorruption.” The bodies of the
wicked, too, are after a fashion “ incorruptible,” but they
are by no means impassible. Impassibility is a peculiar­
ity of the glorified body. Whether it is a positive quality
imparted to the soul by God, or results from the expulsion
of the active and passive factors responsible for pain and
suffering, we are unable to say. All that we know for
certain is that the bodies of the Saints will be incapable of
suffering. St. Thomas ascribes this supernatural im­
passibility to the complete and perfect dominion exercised
by the soul over the body, whereby the latter is effec­
tively protected against all harmful influences both from
within and without.23
b) The second quality of the glorified body
is a certain brightness (claritas, &&») that will
cause the just, in the words of our Saviour Him­
self, to “shine as the sun.” 24
This prerogative was foreshadowed in the transfigura­
tion of Christ on Mount Thabor. “ Our conversation,’’
says St. Paul, “ is in heaven, from whence also we look
for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will trans­
form the body of our lowliness, that it may be one with
the body of his glory, by the force of that power whereby
22 Apoc. XXI. 4: καί ίξαΚιΙψιι
ό Oiàs πάν δάκρυα» από τώ»
όφθαλμών αυτών, καί ό βάνατοι
ούκ tarai Ιτι. oCre τΜ" οΰη
Kpauyi) οΟτα nôvot ούκ tarai tri,
δτι rà πρώτα άπήλβι»·

2β Summa Thto!.. Supplement., qu.
24 Matth. XIII. 4j: " Tunc meti
fulgebunt ncut eoi in regna Petrie

m6

the end of the world

he is able to subject all things to himself.” 26 Elsewhere
the Apostle intimates that the body will be transfigured
in proportion to the light of glory which illumines the
soul and enables it to behold the divine essence. Cfr. i
Cor. XV, 40 sq. : “ The glory of the heavenly is differ­
ent from that of the earthly. There is the glory of the
sun, and the glory of the moon, and the glory of the stars ;
for star differeth from star in glory. And so it is with
the resurrection of the dead.” 28 “ Thus,” explains St.
Thomas, “the glory of the soul shall be perceptible in
the glorified body as the color of a body enclosed in a glass
receptacle is visible through the glass.” 27 As the wounds
of our Divine Saviour do not disfigure His glorified
body, but shine forth with indescribable radiance, so, we
may assume, the scars of the blessed martyrs, far from
marring, will rather enhance the beauty and glory of their
transfigured bodies.28

c) The third quality of the glorified body is
a certain agility (agilitas, δυναμ»), by which, un­
der the influence of the spirit, now no longer re­
strained, the body is freed from its innate clumsi­
ness and moves with the utmost facility in what­
ever direction it is drawn by the soul.
25 Phil. Ill, 20 sq.: "Naîtra au­
tem conversatio in caelii est: unde
etiam Salvatorem crpectamus Domi­
num nostrum lesiim Christum, qui
reformabit corpus humilitatu nostrae,
configuratum corpori claritatis suae,
secundum operationem, qua etiam
possit subiicere sibi omnia.’’
2« ·—
terrestrium : alia claritas solis, alia

claritas lunae, et alia claritas stella­
rum. Stella enim a stella differt in
claritate: sic et resurrectio mortuo­
rum."
27 Summa Theol., Supplement., qu.
85, art. 1 : " Et ita in corpore glo­
rioso cognoscetur gloria animae, sic­
ut in vitro cognoscitur color corpo­
ris. quod continetur in vase vitreo.”
2SCf.-. St. Thomas, Supplement..
qu. 82, art, i, ad 5,

RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH

147

The body of our Lord after the Resurrection was no
longer subject to the limitations of space. Similarly the
transfigured bodies of the Saints will be able to move
from place to place, from planet to planet, from star to
star, with the utmost ease and celerity. St. Thomas as­
cribes this ability to the fact that in the glorified body the
soul is free to exercise its functions as the substantial form
and motive power (vis niotrix).29
Can the Blessed move from place to place in a time­
less moment, that is, without passing through the inter­
vening space? This purely philosophical question is an­
swered negatively by the Angelic Doctor. “ The glori­
fied body,” he says, “ moves in time, but imperceptibly be­
cause of its quickness.” 30 Suarez 31 takes the opposite
view and supports it with certain utterances of the Fa­
thers. The metaphysical possibility of such unhampered
motion depends on the nature of time and space.

d) The fourth and last quality of the trans­
figured body is subtility (subtilitas s. spirit Hali­
tas). This property does not imply that the glori­
fied body (σώμα ιτνηματικόν) is imperceptible to the
senses, or that it is transformed into spirit.32 The
body merely enters into the full possession of
grace and participates in the higher life of the
soul to such an extent that it may be said to be al­
most spiritualized.
The soul is filled with the divine pneuma, which, as
the principle of supernatural life, assumes into itself the
20 op. cit.. qu. 84. art I.
so Ibid. : " Corpus
gloriosum
movetur in tempore, sed imperceptibiliter propter brevitatem."

tiDe Myst. ritae Christi, disp.
48. sect A.
3= Cfr. St Thomas. Summa Thsol.,
Supplemt'nt., qu. 83, art 6.

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THE END OF THE WORLD

life of the body and raises it to its own level. The
soul is no longer subject to death and suffering and no
longer depends on material objects for the processes of
nourishment and acquiring knowledge. The body be­
comes absolutely subject to the spirit, and the former con­
flict between the two is at an end.
It is a controverted question whether the transfigured
bodies of the Blessed, by virtue of this supernatural gift
of subtility, can penetrate one another, i. e. occupy the
same space. Most authors hold that they are endowed
with mechanical compenetrabilitas, i. e. the capability of
mutual penetration. That this is metaphysically possible
we know from the fact that Christ after the Resurrec­
tion passed through the walls of the sepulchre and the
closed doors of the council chamber without let or hind­
rance. St. Thomas ascribes this prerogative to a special
act of divine omnipotence, whereas Suarez thinks it
may be explained as a natural effect of the spirituality of
the transfigured body.·'”’
Readings: — E. Ramers, Des Origenes Lehre von der Aufcrstehung des Fleisches, Treves 1851.— M. Seisenberger, Die Lehre
von der Auferstehung des Fleisches, Ratisbon 1867.— J. Bautz,
Die Lehre vom Auferstehungslcibe, Mayence 1877.—G. Scheurer,
Das Aufcrstchungsdognia dcr vornizdnischen Zcit, Würzburg
1896.—A. Brinquant, La Resurrection de la Chair et les Qualités
du Corps des Lius, Paris 1899.—* F. Schmid, Dcr Unstcrblichkeitsund Auferstehungsglaubc in dcr Bibel, Brixen 1902.—Chadouard,
La Philosophic du Dogme de la Resurrection de la Chair au se
Siècle, Paris 1905.—A. J. Maas, S.J., art. “Resurrection," in the
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, pp. 792 sq.—B. J. Otten, S.J.,
History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St. Louis 1918, pp. 418 sqq.—W.
Schneider, The Other Life, pp. 225 sqq., N. Y. 1920._J. T.
Darragh (Anglican). The Resurrection of the Flesh, London
1921.—J. P. Arendzen, What Becomes of the Dead? London
1925, pp. 163 sqq.—A. Vonier, O.S.B., The Life of the World
to Come, London, 1926, pp. 132-168.
*3 St- Thoma·, op. fit., qu. 83,
art. 3., Suarez, De Myit. Vitae

Chrüti, disp. 48, sect. s _

i. The Dogma in Sacred Scripture and
Tradition.—Aside from the great conflagra­
tion which is to destroy the earth, the General
Judgment {indicium universale) will be the last
important event in the history of the human race.
This event is so intimately connected with the
Resurrection of the dead, that no room remains
for a terrestrial reign of Christ and His saints
{millennium) which, the Chiliasts hold, is to
precede the end of the world. That there
will be a General Judgment, held by Jesus Christ
in Person, has always been an article of faith in
the Catholic Church, as may be seen from the
ancient creeds. The Apostles’ Creed expresses
this belief in the words: "From whence He
fChrist] shall come, to judge the living and the
dead.”
a) Few truths are more clearly and insistently
>49

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THE END OF THE WORLD

proclaimed in Scripture than this. The New
Testament in particular speaks time and again of
the “second coming” of Christ as the Universal
Judge, in opposition to His “first coming” as the
Redeemer. This “second coming” is commonly
called parousia, i. e. advent ;1 sometimes “epi­
phany” (έπιφώ'ίΐα) f i, e, apparition,2 and sometimes
“apocalypse” (άποκάλυφκ), i. e. revelation.3 Our
Lord Himself predicted the General Judgment,4
and the Apostles echoed His teaching. We have
already quoted St. Paul. St. James says: “Be
patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of
the Lord. . . . Grudge not one against another,
that you may not be judged. Behold, the Judge
standeth before the door.” 5 St. Peter writes:
“The day of the Lord shall come as a thief ; . . .
what manner of people ought you to be in holy
conversation and godliness, looking for and hast­
ing unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by
which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with the burning
heat.” 0
b) Though the writings of the Apostolic Fa1 T Cor. XV, 23 ; i These. II, 19,
and elsewhere; cfr. L. Billot, S.J.,
Z.0 Parousie, Paris 1920.
2 2 These. II. 8; 1 Tim. VI, 14; 2
Tim. IV. 1; Tit. II. 13.
8 2 These. I, 7; 1 Pel. IV. 13.
4 Matth. XXIV, 27 sqq.; XXV, 31
sqq.
s lac. V, 7 sqq.: " Patientes rgiiur
estote fratres usque ad adventum
Domini. ■ . ■ Nolite ingemiscere fra­
tres in alterutrum, «t non indicemini.

Ecce index ante ianuam assistit."
0 2 Pet. Ill, 10 sqq.: " Adveniet
autem dies Domini ut fur: . . .
quales oportet vos esse in sanctis
conversationibus et pietatibus, ex­
pectantes ct properantes in adventum
diei Domini, per quem caeli ardentes
solventur, et elementa ignis ardore
tabescent f" Cfr. Apoc. XX, 11
sqq ; additional scriptural texts in·
fra. No. a.

THE LAST JUDGMENT

151

thers are tinged with Chiliastic views,’ the dogma
of the Last Judgment has a solid Patristical
foundation. Clement of Rome refers to Christ as
“judge of the living and the dead.” 8 In the socalled Epistle of Barnabas we read that the Son
of God is “destined to judge the living and the
dead.”9 Tertullian writes: “Christ will re­
turn on the clouds of heaven, the same as He
arose.” 10
2. Circumstances Attending the Gen­
eral Judgment.—Sacred Scripture expressly
mentions certain features of the General Judg­
ment.
a) Our Lord Jesus Christ will conduct the trial
in person. John V, 22: "The Father . . . hath given
all judgment to the Son.”*1 He will be assisted by
the angels. Matth. XXIV, 31 : “ [The Son of man]
shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the
utmost bounds of them.” 12
b) The site of the Last Judgment, according to the
prophet Joel, will be the valley of Josaphat.” St. Paul
t V. infra. Sect. a.
8 κριτοϋ ζώντωο καί οικρύο(Eput. ad Corinth., I. a, 1).
» μέλλων Kpireir fûirrar καί
ηκρούι· (Ef>. Bar nab.. VII, i).
10 Adv. Prax., c. 30: "Chritlul

12 Matth. XXIV, 31: "Et mit­
tet angelot enoe cam tuba et voce
magna, et congregabunt elector eiur a
quattuor veniit, a eummit caelorum
urque ad terminor eorum." (Cfr.
I Cor. XV. ja; 1 The» IV. ij).
■ 2 Joel III. a: " Congregabo
omncr gente/ et deducam eae in
vallem I o/aphat."—Cath. Encgcl.,
Vol. VIII, p. J03

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THE END OF THE WORLD

says the newly risen shall be “ taken up in the clouds
to meet Christ;”14 whence some commentators infer
that the judgment will be held in the air.
c) Immediately before the second coming of Christ,
" the sign of the Son of man ” will appear in the heav­
ens.’8 What may this sign be? Some Fathers think it
is the cross on which our Saviour died, others, that a
miraculous light will appear in the air. Neither inter­
pretation is certain.
d) Finally our Lord Himself will “ come in the clouds
of heaven with much power and majesty.” ”
e) All men without exception, the just as well as the
wicked, will appear before His judgment seat. Matth.
XXV, 32 : “ All nations shall be gathered together be­
fore him, and he shall separate them one from another,
as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats.” 11
Rom. XIV, 10 : “ We shall all stand before the j udgment
seat of Christ.”18
Baptized infants who have done neither good nor evil
will also appear, not, however, to be judged, but to behold
the glory of the Judge.’9 The unbaptized will probably
appear in order to be convinced of the justice of God in
denying them the beatific vision.20
As for the pure spirits, the angels and demons, though
they are already judged, will participate in the Gen­
eral Judgment to receive the accidental rewards which
X4 On the Eschatology of St.
Paul see C. Lattey, S.J., in his ap­
pendix to Thessalonians in the
Westminster Version, pp. 17 sqq.
is Matth. XXIV, 30: "Et tunc
farebit signum Filii hominis in
1« Ibid.: "Videbunt Filium ho­
minis venientem in nubibus caeli cum
virtute multo et maiestate."
it Matth. XXV, 32: "Et can-

gregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes,
et separabit eos ab invicem, sicut
pastor segregat oves ab hoedis."
ia Rom. XIV, 10: " Omnes enim
stabimus ante tribunal Christi.’’
to Cfr. St. Thomas. Summo Theol.,
Supplement., qu. 89, art. 5, ad 3 :
“. . . non ut iudiceniur, sed ut vi­
deant gloriam iudicis."
20 Suarez.

THE LAST JUDGMENT

153

they have merited or the punishments they have incurred
by unduly influencing the course of human events.”
f) The twelve Apostles will sit in judgment over
the tribes of Israel.21
22 It is probable that the Blessed
Virgin Mary, the prophets of the Old Testament, John
the Baptist, and other saints will also assist the Great
Judge.23
g) The judgment itself will embrace all the works of
man, good and evil, thoughts, words, and deeds.24* This
is necessary to manifest the mysterious dispensations of
Providence and the justice and glory of the Universal
Judge.28 It is prudent to hold with St. Thomas24 and the
majority of Catholic theologians that the forgiven secret
sins of the just will also be revealed on the Last Day. in
order that the judgment may be made complete and the
justice and mercy of God glorified.
h) With regard to the form of the Last Judgment ob­
serve that such expressions as the separation of the goats
from the sheep, the just standing on the right and the
wicked on the left hand of the Judge, etc.,2’ may be alle­
gorical. Their object probably is to show that the con­
duct and deserts of every man will become clearly appar­
ent to his own conscience and to the whole world. To
interpret these texts literally would hardly do, for the rea­
son that, as St. Thomas points out,2’ such a process car­
ried out literally would require an incalculable length of
28 Cfr. St Thomas. Summa
21 Cfr. i Cor. VI. 3; a Pet II,
Theol.. Supplement., qu. 99. art 1.
4; Jude 6. (St. Thomas, Summa
24 Cfr. Matth. XII, j6; r Cor. IV.
Theo!.. Supplement., qu. 89, art. 8).
22 Matth. XIX. 28: “. . . vos
□s Cfr. Suarer. De Myst. b'itae
qui secuti estis me. in regeneratione
quum sederit Filius hominis in sede Christi, disp. 53. sect 1.
2β Supplement., qu. 87. art a.
maiestatis suae, sedebitis et vos su­
21 Cfr. Matth. XXV, j' sqq.
per sedes duodecim, judicantes duo­
2β Supplement., qu. 88. art s:
decim tribus Israel." Cfr. 1 Cor.
"Inaestimabilis magnitudo temporis
VI. a: " stn nescitis quoniam
ad hoc erigeretur."
sancti de hoc mundo indicabunt/“

154

THE END OF THE WORLD

time. Most probably the whole procedure will be over in
a few minutes. By divine illumination every man will
instantly comprehend the state of his own soul and that of
his fellow-creatures. “ It is likely,” says St. Basil, “ that
by an inexpressible power, every deed we have done will
be made manifest to us in a single moment, as if it were
engraved on a tablet.”28 The words of the sentence,
however, “ Come ye blessed,” etc., will in all probability be
actually spoken by Christ.
Readings:—J. P. Grendzen, What Becomes of the Dead? Lon­
don 1925, pp. 177-192.—E. S. Berry, The Apocalypse of St. John,
2nd ed., Columbus, O., 1921, pp. 118 sqq., 202 sqq.
29 In loa., I, 18.

SECTION 2
CHILIASM, OR MILLEN ARIANISM

i. Chiliasm in Its Two Forms.—There are
two forms of Chiliasm or Millenarianism. The
exaggerated form is heretical, while the more
moderate is simply erroneous.
a) The heretical form of Chiliasm may be traced partly
to the Jewish expectation of a temporal Messias 1 and
partly to the apocryphal writings of the Old Testament,
which abound in fables? The Chiliasts of this school con­
ceived the millennium as a period of unbridled sensual in­
dulgence. Eusebius the church-historian says of Cerin­
thus, a Gnostic heretic who flourished towards the end of
the first century : “ He held that at some time in the fu­
ture Christ would reign on earth ; and as he was addicted
to the pleasures of the flesh, he imagined that the reign of
God would consist of such things.”* This error was
shared by the ancient Ebionites and Apollinarianists and,
in a somewhat more respectable form, still persists among
the Mormons and Irvingites.
b) Moderate Chiliasm had a number of adherents
among Patristic writers, notably Papias, Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Nepos, Commodian, Victorious of
Pettau, and Lactantius. Its favorite text was Apoc.
1 Cfr. 1«. IX. 6; LXVI, >8; Joel
» Cfr. Funk. Patrer HfartaM.
ΠΙ, 17; Matth. XX. jo »q.; Acu I, II. »76 »qq.
6.
*Hirt. Eerie/., III. «S: " Here
ISS

i56

THE END OF THE WORLD

XX. i sqq. Papias believed that the Resurrection of the
flesh would be followed by a glorious reign of Christ, in
which the Saints would enjoy a superabundance of
earthly pleasures for a thousand years. These pleasures,
however, were to be spiritual, or at least morally licit.
In developing this idea its champions parted ways.
Some expected the millennium between the General Judg­
ment and the Resurrection of the dead, while others
believed it would occur after the General Resurrection,
immediately before the assumption of the just into
Heaven. A third, still more moderate group of Millenarianists, which is not yet extinct, contents itself with as­
serting that an era of universal peace and tranquillity will
precede the second coming of Christ, to be suddenly inter­
rupted by the great apostasy and the forerunners of AntiChrist.*

2. Refutation of Chiliasm.—Chiliasm in
both its forms is untenable.
a) Heretical Chiliasm stands condemned in
the light of the moral law, which excludes in­
temperance and unchastity from the kingdom of
Heaven.6 It is blasphemous and an insult to God
to assert that Christ, who is all-holy, will found
an earthly paradise for libertines. No wonder
even those Fathers and ecclesiastical writers who
entertained Chiliastic ideas vigorously condemned
fuit illius opinio, regnum Christ» ter­
renum futurum. Et quarum rerum
cupiditate ipse flagrabat, utpole vo­
luptatibus corporis obnoxius camique
addictus, in eis regnum Dei situm
fore somniavit.”
4 On the modified Millenarianism
of Chabauty (Avenir de l'Eglise

Catholique selon le Plan Divin,
1890) and Rohling (Erklârung der
Apokalypse, 1895: Die Zukunft der
Menschheil als Cattung, 1907) see
Scheeben-Atzbergcr, Dogmatik, Vol.
IV. 3, p. 908.
a Cfr. Matth. XXII, 30; Rom.
XIV, I7i i Cor. XV. 50 et passim.

CHILIASM

î57

this grossly sensual species of Millenarianism as
heretical.
b) It is not so easy to refute the more moderate
form of Chiliasm, for it seems to have a basis
in Sacred Scripture and primitive Tradition.
The New Testament as well as the early creeds
speak of the Resurrection of the flesh, the Last
Judgment, and the end of the world in terms
which make it apparent that these three events
are to follow one another in close succession,’
leaving no time for a millennium.
a) The favorite passage of the Chiliasts is in the Apo­
calypse and reads as follows: “And I beheld an angel
coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of
the bottomless pit, and a great chain. And he seized
the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years. . . . They [». e. the
just] came to life again, and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years. The rest of the dead came not to life
until the thousand years were accomplished. This is the
first resurrection. . . . And when the thousand years are
accomplished, Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and
he shall come forth to lead astray the nations which are
in the four corners of the earth . . .”1
6 Cfr. John VI, 39; John XII, 48;
Matth. XXIV, 14 sqq.; 1 Theas. IV,
«S ««I·
7 Apoc. XX, 1 sqq.: "Et vidi
angelum descendentem de caelo, ha­
bentem elavem abyssi. et catenam
magnam in manu sua. Et appre­
hendit draconem, serpentem anti­
quum. qui est diabolus, et satanas, et
ligavit eum per annos mille (χίλια
/τη) . . . Et vixerunt frustorum

animae) et regnaverunt cum Christo
mille annis (χίλια trq). Ceteri
mortuorum non vixerunt. donec
consummentur mille anni (τά χίλια
Ιτη) : haec est resurrectio prima.
. . . Et quum consummati fuerint
mille anni, solvetur satanas de car­
cero suo. ei exibit. et seducet gentes,
quae sunt super quattuor angulos

i58

THE END OF THE WORLD

This is undeniably one of the most difficult and obscure
passages found in Sacred Scripture, and no one has yet
succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily. But it proves
nothing in favor of Millenarianism, which has no claim to
our assent unless it can show that its tenets do not conflict
with the general teaching of the Bible. Among the more
probable interpretations of the Johannine text suggested
by Catholic writers we may mention that of St. Augustine,
which was adopted by Pope St. Gregory the Great. These
two Fathers think that the imprisonment of Satan refers
to the first coming of our Lord, and his temporary loosing
to His second coming (parousia) at the time of Anti­
christ. Christ’s millennial reign with His saints on earth
(the “ first resurrection ”) signifies the kingdom of
Heaven, where the Blessed reign under the headship of
our Lord before the “ second resurrection ’’ (i. e. the Res­
urrection of the flesh). Similarly, the term “ first death ”
is applied to the separation of the body from the soul,
whereas “ second death ” refers to eternal damnation. If
this theory is correct, the number one thousand is not to be
taken literally, but simply indicates an indefinite period of
considerable length.
P) Despite appearances to the contrary, Chiliasm has
no foundation in Tradition. Among its early advocates
Lactantius, Nepos, Commodian, and Victorious may, in
the light of the Decretum Gelasianum, be set aside as
worthless witnesses.8 The same could be said of Sulpi­
cius Severus if he were to be reckoned among the Chiliasts, which is, however, extremely doubtful, as his ex­
tant writings contain no trace of this error. Of the
remaining writers who are quoted in favor of Chiliasm we
8 The Decretum de
non recipiendie libris
papal decrees said to
sued by St. Gelasius

recipiendie el
i» a series of
have been is­
I at a Roman

synod about A. D. 48«. Cfr. Bardenhewer-Shahan, Patrology, p. 6ao;
Mansi, Collect. Concil., VIII, 151,
>70.

CHILIASM

»59

may disregard Papias because he was uncritical,’ and
Tertullian because he was a heretic when he em­
braced Millenarianism.10 St. Justin Martyr11 and St.
Irenaeus,12 the only two remaining witnesses who
are absolutely trustworthy, did not inculcate Chiliasm as
an article of faith, but merely proposed it as a personal
opinion. Whether St. Melito, Bishop of Sardes, har­
bored Millenarian notions, is uncertain.13 St. Hippolytus,
who is numbered among the Chiliasts by Bonwetsch,1*
has not written a single line, in the works that have come
down to us, which must necessarily be interpreted in a
Chiliastic sense.15 Bonwetsch himself15 is constrained to
admit that Hippolytus discarded some of the eschato­
logical notions held by Irenaeus and Tertullian.
Among the opponents of Chiliasm were Clemens Alex­
andrinus, Origen, and Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria,
whom Eusebius honored with the title of Great and
St. Athanasius called a Doctor of the Catholic Church.11
Moderate Chiliasm has lately been revived by Professor
Francis Spirago, author of the well-known Catechism.
Readings:—J. B. Paganini, Das Ende der Welt oder die
Wiederkunft unseres Herrn, 2nd ed., Ratisbon 1882.—J. Bautz,
Weltgericht und Weltende, Mayence 1886.—J. Sigmund, Das
Ende der Zeiten mit einem Nachblick in die Ewigkeit, oder das
Weltgericht mit seinen Ursachen, P'orseichen und Folgen, Salz­
burg 1892.—J. A. McHugh in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.
VIII, pp. 552 sq.—J. Tixeront, History of Dogmas, J Vols,
St. Louis 1910-1916, see Index s. v. "Judgment.”—St. Thomas,
5. Theol., Supplem., qu. 49-91.—B. J. Otten, S.J., A Manual of
the History of Dogmas, Vol. II, St Louis 1918, pp. 4-’-“ sqq.—
W. Schneider, The Other Life, pp. 238 sqq., N. Y. 192a
is Cfr. Atzberger. Ceschichte dcr
0 Cfr. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., ΙΠ.
christlichen Eschatologie innerhalb
39. "·
der vornùrânischen Zeit, pp. j;8 sqq,
10 Cfr. Tertullian, ΛΛ’. Marcion.,
Freiburg
1896.
Ill, *4te Sludien su den Kommenlaren
It Dial. e. Tryph., c. 80 sq.
Hippolyte, p. jo, Leipsic 1897.
12 Xrft·. Haer., V, 3a sqq.
17
Eusebius,
Hist. Eccles.. VI. 35;
IS Cfr. Bardenhewer, Ceschichte
dcr altkirchlichen Literalur, Vol. I,
VII, praef.; St Athanasius, Ep. de
Sent. Dion., c. 6. Cfr. Bardeop. 551, Freiburg igos.
u Hippo!. Opera, pp. 143 sq., Leip­ h ewer-Shahan, Patrology, p. 154.
sic 1897.

i6o

THE END OF THE WORLD

On Chiliasm see H. Corrodi, Kritische Geschichtc des Chiliasmus, 1794-—H. Klee, De Chiliasmo Primorum Sacculorum, May­
ence 1825.—Wagner, Der Chiliasmus in den ersten Jahrhunderten,
1849.—J. N. Schneider, Die chiliastische Doktrin und ihr Verhàltnis sur christlichen Glaubenslehre (pro-Chiliastic), Schaff­
hausen 1859.—J. P. Kirsch, art. "Millennium," in Vol. X of the
Catholic Encyclopedia, pp. 307-310.— Chiapelli, Le Idee Millenarie
dei Cristiani, Naples 1888.— L. Guy, Le Millénarisme dans ses Ori­
gines et son Développement, Paris 1904.— Franzclin, De Scriptura
et Traditione, P. II, thés. 16, Rome 1896.— H. Kihn, Patrologie,
Vol. I, pp. 120 sqq., Paderborn 1904.—J. Tixeront, History of
Dogmas, Vol. I, St. Louis 1910 (see Index s. v. “ Millenarianism”).—Shirley Jackson, The Millennial Hope, Chicago 1918.—
W. Schneider, The Other Life, pp. 298 sqq., New York 1920.—
F. Spirago. Der U'eltuntcrgang und die ncue Erde, Prague 1919
(refuted by J. Schmidangcrbach in the Theologisch-praktische
Quartalschrift, 1922, Heft 1 and 2).—On Apoc. XX, I to 6, see
J. Sickenberger in Festschrift Sebastian Merkle su scinem 60.
Geburtstag gewidmet, Düsseldorf 1922.—E. S. Berry, The
Apocalypse of St. John, 2nd ed., Columbus, O., 1921, pp. 196 sqq.

INDEX
A
"Abraham's bosom,” 26.
Acts of the Martyrs, 27.
Adam, 6, II, 12.
Aërius, 77Agility as an endowment of the
glorified body, 146 sq.
Albigenses, 78, 122.
Alexander VII, 90.
Ambrose, St., 10, 58, 86, 130.
Amor beatificus, 31.
Angels, 36, 92, 93, 99, 15;, 152,
157.
Anselm, St., 119.
Antichrist, 109 sqq., 156, 158.
Apocalypse, 8 sq., 33, 47, 66, 73,
133. ISS sq., 157Apocatastasis, 67 sqq., 122 sq.
Apostasy, The great, 109 sq.
Apostles, 153.
Apostles’ Creed, 39, 92, 132.
Appollinarianists, 155.
Armenian heretics, 131.
Athanasian Creed, 65, 122, 132.
Athanasius, St., 159.
Athenagoras, 130.
Augustine, St., 5 sq., 8, 10, 12,
14, 20 sq., 33. 40, 42, 58, 65, 68,
71, 81, 86, sq., 97, 102, 105, 136,
142, 158·
Aurcolœ, 43.
B

Body, Nature of the risen, 138
sqq.; Identity of, 140 sqq.;
Four transcendent qualities
of, 144 sqq.
Boethius, 29.
Bonaventure, St, 15, 84.
Bonwetsch, 159.
“ Book of Judgment,” 18 sq.
Braun, Charles (S.J.), 118.
Brightness as a quality of the
glorified body, 145 sq.
Burying the dead, 96.

C
Calvin, 19, 78, 82.
Catharinus, Ambrose, 56.
Cerinthus, 155.
Chiliasm, 19, 22, 149, 151, <55
sqq.
Chrysostom, St, to, 25, 48, 49,
51. 54, 68, 95, 112.
Cement of Alexandria, St, 87,
88, 130, 159.
Clement of Rome, St, 131, 134.
Commodian, 155, 158.
Communion of Saints, 36, 92
sqq.
Comfenelrabilitas. 148.
Conflagration, The universal,
117 sqq.
Constantinople,
Council of
(543), 65; (553). 65, 122 sq.
Consummation of the world,
I, 2.
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 50.
Cremation. 96.
Cyprian, St., 14. 26, 69.
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., 97, 131.

Baptism, 94 sq.
Barnabas, Epistle of, 151.
Basil, St., 58, 81, 154.
Beatitude, 29 sqq., 52.
Bellarmine, Cara., 36,88, 96, too.
D
Benedict XII, 23, 24, 32, 39.
Bessarion, Card., 85.
Dante, 49. 74·
161

I

INDEX

102

Dead, Succoring the, 92 sqq.
Death, 5 sqq.
Debitum mortis, 13.
Definition of Eschatology, 1 sq.
Degrees
of
happiness
in
Heaven, 40 sqq.; Of punish­
ment in Hell, 72 sqq.
Descent into Hell, Christ’s, 27
Didyrnus the Blind, 67 sq.
Dieringer, 88.
Dies Domini, 108, no.
Dinocrates, 81.
Dionysius of Alexandria, 159.
Disturbances of nature preced­
ing the General Judgment,
114 sqq.
Dives, 20, 25.
Division of Eschatology, 2 sq.
Dollinger, 112.
Dotes beatorum, 37 sq.
"Dowry" of the Blessed, 37 sq.
Draper, 50.
Durandus, 140.
Duration of Purgatory, 90 sq.

E
Ebionites, 155.
Ecclesiasticus, 126.
Elias, 8 sq., 11, 107 sq., 126.
End of the world, 117 sqq.
Ephraem, St., 58,130.
Eternal punishment, 65 sqq.
Eternity of Heaven, 39 sqq.
Eusebius, 19 sq., 155, 159.
Evagrius of Pontus, 68.
Evil, 32 sq.
Ezechiel, 123 sq., 139.
F

Faith, 34, 38.
Fate, I.
Fire of Hell, 56 sqq. ; Of Purga­
tory, 85 sqq.
Flammarion, 50.
Florence, Council of (1439)· 23>
24. 32.41.78,85.
Four last things, 2.

G
Galileo, 50 sq.
Gehenna, 45 sq.
Gnostics, 122, 155.
Gregory of Nazianzus, St. 68
Gregory of Nyssa, St., 68 sq., 71,
130·
Gregory the Great, St., 2S si
69, 73, 87, 158.
' 5 ’

H
Hase, 82.
Heaven: Existence of, 28 sqq.;
Properties of, 39 sqq.
Hell : Existence of, 45 sqq. ; Lo­
cation of, 49 sqq. ; Nature of
punishment of, 52 sqq. ; Char­
acteristics of, 65 sqq.
Henoch, 8 sq., it, 107, 108 sq.
Henry of Ghent, 58.
Heroic act of charity, 98.
Hcsychasts, 31 sq.
Hilary, St., 22, 25.
Hippolytus, St., 159.
Hirscher, 15, 55.
Hunter, S. J. (S.J.), 19.
Hussites, 78.
Hypnopsychites, 7, 19, 22.

I
Identity of the risen body, 140
sqq.
Ignatius of Antioch, St., 41 sq.,
47·
Immortality, 13, 16.
Impassibility of the risen body,
144 sq.
Impeccability of the Blessed, 33·
Indulgences, 96, 98.
Integrity of the risen body, 142
sq.
Irenaeus, St., 22, 155, 159.
Irvingites, 155.

J
Jerome, St., 10, 42, 68, 106, 125,
»39·

163

INDEX
Jews, Conversion of the, 105
sqqJob, 124 sqq·, ’39·
John XXII, 24·
John Chrysostom, St. See
Chrysostom.
John Damascene, 5°·
, 1... the Baptist, tor
John
107. ’53·
Jovinian, 4°, 42Judas Maccabæus, 79 sq.
Judgment, Particular, ’8 sqq.;
General, 149 sqq.
Justin Martyr, St., 22, 48, ’30,

155, ’59·
K

Κατίχων, '0, 112 sq.
Kicfl, F. X., 55·
Klee, 88.

Lactantius, 58, 155, ’58·
Last Judgment, 149 sqq.
Lateran, Fourth Council of the,
123, 132,138.
Lattey, C. (S.J.), 9. ’?· ,
Lazarus, 20, 25, 26, 128, 130·
Leo IX, 138.
Leo X, 79·
Lessius, 58.
Life a pilgrimage, 15.
Lombroso, 72.
Lumen giorite, 30. 34, 42.
Luther, 40, 84. 106.
Lyons, Council of (1274), 24·

M
Machabees, 126 sq.
McRory. J.. 9. 94Maldonatus, 9θ·
Manichæans, 122.
Mary, Bl. Virgin, 12, 13. 99. ’37.
Melito of Sardes, ’59·
Merits can no longer be ac­
quired after death. 13 sqq.
Michael Palæologus, 23.

Michael, St., 99.
Millennium, 156.
Minucius Felix, 67, ’3® *Ί·
Mohler, 56. 88.
Monica, St., 81.
Mormons, ’55·, . ,
Mysteries, Theological, 34 sq·

N
Nepos, ’55, ’5θ·
Nero, 112.

0
Object of the beatific vision, 34

Origen, 32, 39, 56. 65, 67, 68, 7’,
87, 122, 130, ’39, ’59·
Osee, 123.

Palamites, 3’ sq·
Papias. ’55 sq·. ’59·
Parousia, 150 sqq., ’5»·
, o
Paul, st..9sqq-»’-,*JOJ®,l5
to 34, 4’· 47. 69. 86. 9»· ’°5.
?06,.08,IW·· ■«·"'· "f:”
129 sq., 133 sq·, 139, ’43 »9··
145. ’46,’50·
Perpetua, St., KI.
Petavius, 68.
Pius IX, 98·.
_
Poena damn». 52 sqq. »3 «I·
Pom,
“»
Polvcarp, St., 4’. 67·
Prayers for the dead, 8’ sq., 92
pShing of U» Chus·™ rePr’fe^Sd, «6, «·««'·
Prolesfânts. 6s sq - ^•So‘32'
Prudentius. St.. 68.09.
Psychopannychy. 7Ptolemaic system, 49 sqPurgatory: Existence ot. 75
sq^ ; Nature and duration of.
83 sqq- . ,
Πίρ aaxpparovr, 67.
R

Razias, 127.

INDEX

S
Sadducees, 46, 122, 128, 129.
Satanism, 55.
Satispassio, 90.
Scheeben, 135.
Schell, 55.
Schmid, Fr., 58.
Scotists, 30, 33,40.
“ Second death,” 69, 158.
Signs preceding the General
Judgment, 103.
Sin, 12 sq., 15, 32, 52 sq., 70 sq.,

. .
Soto, Dominicus, 90, 96.
Soul-sleep, 7. 19 sq.
Stufler.J. (S.J.),55.
Suarez, 60, 100, 147.
Subtility of the glorified body,
147 sq.
Suffrages for the dead, 95 sqq.
Sulpicius Severus, 158.

T
Tanner, 58.

Tertullian, 8, 10, 22, 42, 81, 130
131, 134. ISS, 159·
Theodorct, 136.
Thnetopsychites, 20, 22.
Thomas, St., 11, 29, 33, 40,
52, 55 sq., 59 sq., 60 sq., 68,
7 b 72, 75, 76, 84, 89, 100, i
135, 139, Mb 143, 145, 146, 147,
148,153.
χ
Thomists, 30, 60.
Toledo, Eleventh Council of,
122, 138.
Toletus, 58.
Trent, Council of, 78, 92.
Trinity, 30, 34.
Two witnesses, The, 8 sq.

,8 3 ft

104

Reason, The dogma of eternal
punishment not contrary to,
69 sqq.
Resurrection of the flesh, 121
sqq.
Rickaby, Jos. (S.J.), 61 sq., 119
sq.
Ripalda, 15.
Roman Catechism, 11.
Rosenmüller, 125 sq.
Rosmini, 32.

U
Universality of death, 7 sqq.;
Of the Resurrection, 132 sqq.
V
Valentinus, 46.
Valley of Josaphat, 151.
Vasquez, 15.
Victorinus of Pettau, 155,158.
Vindictive punishment, 71 sq.
Vision, Beatific, 29 sqq., 52.
W

Wadding, 24.
Waldenses, 78, 122.