The Religion Anciently Professed by the Irish and British, Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Of Purgatory, and Prayer for the dead.
THe next Point that offereth it selfe unto our consideration, is that of Purgatory. Whereof if any man doe doubt;aQui de Purgatorio dubitat, Scotiam pergat, Purgatorium sancti Patricii intret, & de Purgatorii poenis ampliùs non dubitabit. Caesar. Heisterbach. Dialog. lib. 12. cap. 38. Caesarius (a Germane Monke of the Cistercian order) adviseth him for his resolution to make a journey into Scotland (the greater Scotland he meaneth) and there to enter into S. Patricks Purgatory: and then he giveth him his word, that he shall no more doubt of the paines of Purgatory. If Doctor Terry (who commendeth this unto us as the testimony ofbCujus loci fama, ita sparsim per omnes Europae partes velare visa est; ut Caesarius celeberrimus auctor, de eo nihil dubitans sic scribat. Guil. Thyraeus, in Discurs Panegyrit. de S. Patric. pag. 151. a most famous Authour) should chance to have a doubtfull thought hereafter of the pains of Purgatory; I would wish his ghostly Father to injoyne him no other penance, but the undertaking of a pilgrimage unto S. Patricks purgatorie; to see whether he would prove any wiser when he came from thence, than when he went thither. In the meane time, untill he hath made some further experiment of the matter, he shall give me leave to beleeve him that hath beene there, and hath cause to know the place as wel as any (the Iland wherein it is seated, being held by him as a part of the inheritance descended unto him from his ancestours) and yet professeth, that hee found nothing therein, which might afford him any argument to thinke there was a Purgatorie. I passe by, that Nennius, and Probus, and all the elder writers of the life of S. Patrick that I have met withall, speake not one word of any such place; and thatcHenr. Saltereyens. in lib. de Visione Oeni mil tis MS. in publicâ Cantabrigiensis academiae Bibliothecâ; & privatâ viri doctiss. M. Tho…ae Alani Oxomensis; & in Nigro libro Ecclesiae S. Trinitat. Dublin. Henrie the monke of Saltrey, in the daies of King Stephen, is the first in whom I could ever finde any mention thereof. this only would I know of the Doctor, what the reason might bee, that where hee bringeth in the words of Giraldus Cambrensis touching this place, asdDe posteriori non minùs authentica videtur auctoritas Giraldi Cambrensis, rerum lbernicarum diligentissimi investigatoris, qui taliter loquitur. Thyr, Discurs. Panegyric. pag. 153. an authenticall authoritie; he passeth over that part of his relation, wherein he affirmeth, that S. Patrick intended by this means to bring the rude people to a perswasion of the certaintieeDe infernalibus namque reproborum poenis, & de verâ post mortem perpetuâque electorum vitâ vir sanctus cum gente incredulâ dum disputâsset: ut tanta, tam inusitata, tam inopinabilis rerum novitas rudibus infidelium animis oculatâ fide certi…s imprimeretur: efficaciorationum instantiâ magnam & admirabilem utriusque rei notitiam, dutae que cervicis populo perutilem, meruit in terris obtinere. Giral. Cambrens. Topograph. Hibern. distinct. 2. cap. 5. of the infernall paines of the reprobate, and of the true and everlasting life of the elect after death.
The Grecians alledge this for one of their arguments against Purgatory: that whereas fforeign. Marcus Ephesius, in Graecorum Apolog. de igne Purgatorio ad Concil. Basileens.their Fathers had delivered unto them many visions and dreames and other wonders concerning the everlasting punishment, wherewith the wicked should be tormented in Hell; yet none of them had declared any thing concerning a purgatorie temporarie fire. Belike the Doctor was affraid, that wee would conclude upon the same ground; that S. Patrick was carefull to plant in mens minds the beleefe of Heaven and Hell, but of Purgatory taught them never a word. And sure I am, that in the booke ascribed unto him, De tribus habitaculis, (which is to be seene in his Majesties Librarie) there is no mention of any other place after this life, but of these two only. I will lay downe here the beginning of that treatise; and leave it to the judgement of any indifferent man, whether it can well stand with that which the Romanists teach concerning Purgatorie at this day. gTria sunt sub omnipotentis Dei nutu habitacula: primum, mum, medium▪ Quorum sumimum, regnum Dei vel reg…ū Coelorum di…itur, imum vocatur inferous, medium Mundu… praesens vel Orbis tertarum appellatur. Quo…um extrema omninô sibi invieem sunt contraria, & nullâ sibi societate conju… cta: (quae enim societas potest esse luci ad tenebras, & Christo ad Belial?) medium veò nonnullam habet similitudinem ad extrema, &c Commixio namque malorum simul & honorum in h…c mundo est. In regno autem Dei nulli mali sunt, sed omnes boni: at in Inferno nulli boni sunt, sed omnes mali. Et uter que locus ex medio suppietur. H…minum enim huius mundi ali… elevantur ad Coelum, ali… trahuntur ad Infernum. Similes quippe similibus i…gu …, id est, boni bonis, & mali malis; iusti homines iustis angelis, transg essores homine transgressoribus angelis; servidei Deo, servi diaboli Diabolo. Benedicti vocantur ad … paratum ab origine mundi: maledicti expelluntur in ignem aeternum, qui prae para… … Diabolo & angelis eius. Patric. de trib, babitac. MS. in Bibliothecâ Regid Iacobae….There be three habitations under the power of Almighty God: the first, the lowermost, and the middle. The highest whereof is called the Kingdome of God, or the Kingdome of Heaven, the lowermost is termed Hell, the middle is named the present World, or the circuit of the earth. The extremes whereof are altogether contrary one to another: (for what fellowship can there be betwixt light and darkenesse, betwixt Christ and Belial?) but the middle hath some similitude with the extremes. For in this world there is a mixture of the bad and of the good together. whereas in the Kingdome of God there are none bad, but all good: but in Hell there are none good, but all bad. And both those places are supplyed out of the middle. For of the men of this world, some are lifted up to Heaven, others are drawne downe to Hell▪ namely, like are joyned unto like, that is to say, good to good, and bad to bad: just men to just Angels, wicked men to wicked Angels; the servants of God to God, the servants of the Divell to the Divell. The blessed are called to the Kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the world: the cursed are driven into the everlasting fire that is prepared for the Divell and his angels, Thus farre there.
Hitherto also may be referred that ancient Canon of one of our Irish Synods, wherin it is affirmed, that the soule being separated from the body is hCustodita…imam usque dum steterit ante tribunal Christi; cui refert sua prout gesserit propria. Nec archangelus potest ducere ad vitam, usque dum indicaverit eam Dominus; nec Zabulus ad poenam traducere, nisi Dominus damnaverit cam. Synod. Hibern. in vet. cod. Canonum, titulorum 66. MS. in Bibliothecá D. Roberti Cot…oni. Cuius initium: inter vetera Concilia, quatuor esse venerabiles Synodos, &c.presented before the judgement seat of Christ, who rendreth it owne unto it, according as it hath done: and that neither the Archangel can leade it unto life, untill the Lord hath iudged it; nor the Divell transport it unto paine, unlesse the Lord doe damne it. as the sayings of Sedulius likewise; that after the end of this life, iFinem dixit exitum vitae & actuum; cui aut mors, aut vita succedit. Sedul. in Rom. 7.eyther death or life succeedeth, and that kMors po…ta est, per quam itur ad regnum Id. in. 1. Cor. 3.death is the gate by which wee enter into our kingdome: together with that of Claudius; that lSuscepit Christus sine reatu supplicium nostrum; ut inde solreret reatum uostrum, & finiret etiam supplicium nostrum. Claud. in Galat. 3.Christ did take upon him our punishment without the guilt, that thereby hee might loose our guilt, and finish also our punishment. Cardinall Bellarmine indeed alledgeth here against us the vision of Furseus: who mBeda lib. 3. hist. Anglor. cap. 19. scribit, B. Furseum à mortuis resurgentem narrâsse multa, quae vidit de purgatoriis poenis. Bellarm. de Purgator. lib. 1. cap. 11.rising from the dead, told many things, which he saw concerning the paines of purgatory; as Bede, he saith, doth write. But, by his good leave, we will be better advised, before wee build articles of faith upon such visions and dreames as these: many whereof deserve to have a place among nforeign. Phot. Bibliothec. num. …30.the strange narrations of soules appearing after death, collected by Damascius the heathen Idolater; rather than among the histories and discourses of sober Christians.
As for this vision of Furscus: all that Bede relateth of it to this purpose, is concerning certain great fires above the ayre, appointed tooEtsi terribilis iste & grandis rogus videtur, tamen iuxta merita operum singulos examina…: quia uniuscuiusque cupiditas in hoc igne ardebit. Bede lib. 3. cap. 19. examine every one according to the merits of his workes. which peradventure may make something for Damascius his Purgatory in Circulo lacteo (for in that circle made hee pforeign. Damasc.. apud …o. Philoponum … 1. Meteor. fol. 104. b.away for the soules that went to the Hades in Heaven; andqforeign. Id. ibid. would not have us wonder, that there they should be purged by the way:) but nothing for the Papists Purgatory, which Bellarmine by the common consent of the Schoolemen determineth to bee within the bowels of the earth. Neyther is there any thing else in the whole booke of the life of Furseus (whence Bede borrowed these things) that looketh toward Purgatorie: unlesse peradventure that speech of the Divell may bee thought to give some advantage unto it.rHic homo non purgavit delicta sua in terrâ, … vindictam hic recipit. Vbi …st ergo iusticia Dei? ab. v…ae Furse…. This man hath not purged his sins upon earth; neither doth he receive punishment for them here. Where is therefore the justice of God? as if Gods justice were not sufficiently satisfied by the sufferings of Christ; but man also must needs give further satisfaction thereunto by penall workes of sufferings, eyther here, or in the other world. which is the ground, upon which our Romanists doe lay the rotten frame of their devised Purgatorie.
The later visions of Malachias, Tundal, Owen, and others that lived within these last five hundred years; come not within the compasse of our present inquirie: nor yet the fables that have beene framed in those times, touching the lives and actions of elder Saints; whereof no wise man will make any reckoning. Such (for example) is that which we read in the life of St. Brendan: that the question being moved in his hearing,sSi peccata mortuorum redimi possunt ab amicis suis remanentibus in hâc vitâ; orando, vel eleemosynas faciendo. Vit. Brendani, in Legendâ. Io. Cap. gravii. Whether the sinnes of the dead could be redeemed by the prayers or almes-deeds of their friends remaining in this life (for that was still a question in the Church:) he is said to have told them, that on a certaine night, as hee sayled in the great Ocean, the soule of one Colman tColmannus, inquit, vocor: qui sui Monachus iracundus, discordiaeque seminator inter fratres. Ibid.(who had beene an angry Monke, and a sower of discord betwixt brethren) appeared unto him; who complaining of his grievous torments, intreated that prayers might be made to God for him, and after sixe dayes thankefully acknowledged that by meanes thereof hee had gotten into heaven. Whereupon it is concluded,uIn hoc ergo, dilectissimi, apparet: quòd oratio vivorum multùm mortuis prodest. …. that the prayer of the living doth profit much the dead. But of S. Brendans sea-pilgrimage, we have the censure of Molanus a learned Romanist; that there beexMulta apocrypha deliramenta. Molan. in Vsuard. martyolog. Mai. 26. many apocryhall fooleries in it: and whosoever readeth the same with any judgement, cannot choose but pronounce of it, as Photius doth of the strange narrations of Damascius, formerly mentioned; that it containeth not only apocryphall, but alsoyforeign. Phof. Bibliothec. num. 130. impossible, incredible, ill-composed, and monstruous fooleries. Whereof though the old Legend it selfe were not free (as by the heads thereof, touched by Glaber Rodulphus and Giraldus Cambrensis, may appeare) yet for the tale that I recited out of thezNova Legenda Angliae. impress. Londin. an. 1516. New Legend of England, I can say, that in the manuscript books which I have met withall here, in St. Brendans owne country, (one whereof was transcribed for the use of the Friars minors of Kilkenny, about the yeere of our Lord 1350.) there is not the least footstep thereof to be seene.
And this is a thing very observable in the ancienter lives of our Saints (such I meane, as have beene written before the time of Sathans loosing; beyond which we doe not now looke:) that the prayers and oblations for the dead mentioned therein, are expressly noted to have beene made for them, whose soules were supposed at the same instant to have rested in blisse. So Adamnanus reporteth, that Saint Colme (called by the Irish, both inaQui videlicèt Columba nunc à nonnullis, composito à cella & Columba nomine, Colum-celli vocatur. Bed. lib. 5. hist. ca. 10. Bedes and our dayes, Colum-kille)bAdaman. Vit. Columb. lib. 3. cap. 15. caused all things to be prepared, for the sacred ministry of the Eucharist; when he had seene the soule of St. Brendan received by the holy Angels: and that hee did the like, when Columbanus Bishop of Leinster departed this life. for I must to day (saith St. Colme cMeque (ait) hodiè, quamlibèt indignus sim, ob venerationem illius animae, quae hâc in nocte inter sanctos Angelorum choros vecta ultra siderea coelorum spatia ad Paradisum ascendit, sacra oportet Eucharistiae celebrare mysteria. Ib. cap. 16.there) although I bee unworthy, celebrate the holy mysteries of the Eucharist, for the reverence of that soule which this night, carried beyond the starry firmament betwixt the holy Quires of Angels, ascended into Paradise. Whereby it appeareth, that an honourable commemoration of the dead was herein intended, and a sacrifice of thanksgiving for their salvation rather than of propitiation for their sinnes. In Bede also wee finde mention of the like obsequies celebrated by St. Cuthbert for one Hadwaldus; afterdVidi, inquit, animam cujusdam sancti manibus Angelicis ad gaudia regni coelestis ferri. Bed. in vit. Cuthbert. cap. 34. he had seene his soule carried by the hands of Angels unto the joyes of the kingdome of heaven. So Gallus and Magnus (as Walafridus Strabus relateth in the life of the one, and Theodorus Campidonensis, or whosoever else was author of the life of the other) eCoeperunt missas agere, & precibus insistere pro commemoratione B. Columbani. Walafrid. Vit. Gall. lib. 1. cap. 26. Theodor. vit. Magni, li. 1. cap. ult. edit. Goldasti, c. 12. Canissi.said Masse (which what it was in those dayes wee shall afterward heare) and were instant in prayers for the commemoration of Abbat Columbanus their countryman;fDeinde tanti patris memoriam precibus sacris & sacrificiis salutaribus frequentaverunt. Ibid. frequenting the memory of that great Father, with holy prayers, and healthfull sacrifices. Where that speech of Gallus unto his Deacon Magnus or Magnoaldus, is worthy of speciall consideration: gPost hujus vigilias noctis, cognovi per visionem, Dominum & patrem meum Colum. banum de hujus vitae angustiis hodie ad Paradisi gaudia commigrásse. Pro ejus ita que requie sacrificium salutis debeo immolare. Ibid.After this nights watch, I understood by a vision, that my master and father Columbanus is to day departed out of the miseries of this life unto the joyes of Paradise. For his rest therefore I ought to offer the sacrifice of salvation. In like manner also, when Gallus himselfe dyed;hPresbytez eum ut surgeret monuit, & pro requie defuncti ambitiosiùs Dominum precaretur. Intraverunt itaque Ecclesias, & …piscopus pro …a…ssimo salutares hostias immolavit amico. Finito autem fraternae commemorationis obsequio, &c. Walafrid. Strab. vit. Gall. lib. 1. cap. 30. qui etiam addit postea, Discipulos ejus, pariter cum Episcopo orationem pro illo fecisse. cap. 33. Iohn Bishop of Constance prayed to the Lord for his rest, and offered healthfull sacrifices for him: although he were certainly perswaded that he had attained the blessing of everlasting life; as may bee seene in Walafridus. And when Magnus afterwards was in his death bed, hee is said to have used these words unto Tozzo Bishop of Ausborough, that came to visit him.iNoli flere, venerabilis P…aesul, quia me in tot mundialium perturbationum procellis laborantem conspicis: quoniam credo in misericordiâ Dei, quòd anima mea in immortalitatis libertate fit gavisura. tamen deprecor, ut orationibus tuis sanctis me peccatorem & animam meam non desinas adjuvare. Theodor, Campiden. vel quicunque author fuit vitae Magni, lib. 2. cap. 13. edit. Goldasti, cap. 28. Canissi. Doe not weepe, reverend Prelate, because thou beholdest me labouring in so many stormes of worldly troubles: because I beleeve in the mercy of God, that my soule shall rejoyce in the freedome of immortalitie. yet I beseech thee, that thou wilt not cease to helpe mee a sinner and my soule with thy holy prayers. Then followeth: that at the time of his departure, this voice was heard;kVeni, Magne, veni; accipe cotonam quam tibi Dominus praeparatam habet. Ibid. Come, Magnus, come, receive the crowne which the Lord hath prepared for thee. and that thereupon Tozzo said unto Theodorus (the supposed writer of this history)lCessen… flere, frater; quia potiùs nos oportet gaudere de animae ejus in immortalitate sumprae hoc signo audito, quàm luctum facere: sed eamus ad Ecclesiam, & pro tam charissimo amico salutares hostias Domino immolare studeamus. Finito itaque fraternae commemorationis obsequio, &c. Ibid. Let us cease weeping, brother; because wee ought rather to rejoyce, having heard this signe of the receiving of his soule unto immortality, than to make lamentation. but let us goe to the Church, and be carefull to offer healthfull sacrifices to the Lord for so deare a friend.
I dispute not of the credit of these particular passages: it is sufficient, that the authors from whom wee have received them, lived within the compasse of those times, whereof wee now doe treate. For thereby it is plaine enough (and if it be not, it shall elsewhere be made yet more plaine) that in those elder dayes it was an usuall thing, to make prayers and oblations for the rest of those soules, which were not doubted to have beene in glorie: and consequently, that neither the Commemoration nor the Praying for the dead, nor the Requiem Masses of that age, have any necessary relation to the beleefe of Purgatory. The lesson therefore which Claudius teacheth us here out of Saint Hierome, is very good: thatmDum in praesenti seculo sumus, sive orationibus, sive consiliis invicem posse nos adjuvari: cùm autem ante tribunal Christi venerimus, nec Iob, nec Daniel, nec Noe, rogare posse pro quoquam; sed unumquemque portare onus suum. Claud. in Gal. 6. while wee are in this present world, wee may bee able to helpe one another, either by our prayers or… by our counsailes, but when wee shall come before the Iudgement seate of Christ, neither Iob, nor Daniel, nor Noah can intreate for any one, but every one must beare his owne burden. and the advice which the no lesse learned than godly Abbat Columbanus giveth us, is verie safe: not to pitch upon uncertainties hereafter, but now to trust in God, and follow the precepts of Christ; while our life doth yet remaine, and while the times, wherein we may obtaine salvation, are certaine.
Vive Deo fidens (saith nColumban. in epist. ad Hunaldum.he) Christi praecepta sequēdo;
Dum modò vita manet, dum tempora certa salutis.
Whereunto Iohn the Briton (another son of Sulgen Bishop of St. Davids) seemeth also to have had an eye, when (at the end of the Poëme which he wrote of his owne and his fathers life) he prayeth for himselfe in the same manner:
Vt genitor clemens solitâ pietate remittat
Factis aut dictis quae gessi corde nefando;
Dum mihi vita manet, dum flendi flumina possunt.
Nam cum tartareis nullius cura subintrat.