‘Pains of Purgatory Diversity of the Pains — King Sancho and Queen Guda …’ – ‘Purgatory’ by Rev. Shouppe; 1929; Chapter XX; p. 60-62, part I
Chapter XX ~ Diversity of the Pains — King Sancho and Queen Guda — St. Lidwina and the Soul Transpierced — Blessed Margaret Mary and the Bed of Fire.According to the saints, there is great diversity in the corporal pains of Purgatory. Although fire is the principal instrument of torture, there is also the torment of cold, the torture of the members, and the torture applied to the different senses of the human body. This diversity of suffering seems to correspond to the nature of the sins, each one of which demands its own punishment, according to these words : Quia per quce peccat quis, per hac et torquetur — " By what things a man sinneth, by the same also is he tormented."1 It is just that it should be so with regard to the chastisement, since the same diversity exists in the distribution of the reward. In Heaven each one receives according to his works, and, as Venerable Bede says, each one receives his crown, his robe of glory. For the martyr this robe is of a rich purple colour, whilst that of the confessor has the brilliancy of a dazzling whiteness.
The historian John Vasquez, in his chronicle of the year 940, relates how Sancho, king of Leon, appeared to Queen Guda, and by the piety of this princess was delivered from Purgatory. Sancho, who had led a truly Christian life, was poisoned by one of his subjects. After his death, Queen Guda passed her time in praying and causing prayers to be offered for the repose of his soul. Not content with having a great number of Masses offered for his release, in order that she might weep and pray near the dear remains, she took the veil in the convent of Castile, where the body of her husband had been deposited. One Saturday, whilst praying at the feet of the Blessed Virgin, and recommending to her the soul of her departed husband, Sancho appeared to her ; but in what a condition ! Great God ! he was clad in garments of mourning and wore a double row of red-hot chains around his waist. Having thanked his pious widow for her suffrages, he conjured her to continue her work of charity. " Ah ! if you knew, Guda, what I suffer," said he to her, "you would do still more. By the bowels of Divine Mercy, I conjure you help me, dear Guda ; help me, for I am devoured by these flames."
The Queen redoubled her prayers and good works ; she distributed alms among the poor, caused Masses to be celebrated in all parts of the country, and gave to the convent a magnificent ornament for use of the altar.
At the end of forty days the King again appeared. He had been relieved of the burning cincture and of all his other sufferings. In place of his robes of mourning, he wore a mantle of dazzling whiteness, like the sacred ornament which Guda had given to the convent. "Behold me, dear Guda," said he, " thanks to your prayers, delivered from all my sufferings. May you be for ever blessed. Per- severe in your holy exercises ; often meditate upon the severity of the pains of the other life, and upon the joys of Paradise, whither I go to await you." With these words he disappeared, leaving the pious Guda overflowing with consolation.
One day a woman, quite disconsolate, went to tell St. Lidwina that she had lost her brother. " My brother has just died," she said, " and I come to recommend his poor soul to your charity. Offer to God for him some prayers and a part of the sufferings occasioned by your malady." The holy patient promised her to do so, and some time after, in one of her frequent ecstasies, she was conducted by her angel-guardian into the subterranean dungeons, where she saw with extreme compassion the torments of the poor souls plunged in flames. One of them in particular attracted her attention. She saw him transpierced by iron pins. Her angel told her that it was the deceased brother of that woman who had asked her prayers. "If you wish," he added, "to ask any grace in his favour, it will not be refused to you." "I ask, then," she replied, "that he may be delivered from those horrible irons that transpierce him." Immediately she saw them drawn from the poor sufferer, who was then taken from this special prison and placed in the one occupied by those souls that had not incurred any particular torment. The sister of the deceased returning shortly after to St. Lidwina, the latter made known to her the condition of her brother, and advised her to assist him by multiplying her prayers and alms for the repose of his soul. She herself offered to God her supplications and sufferings, until finally he was delivered.
Image: SIGNORELLI, Luca – ‘The Angel Arrives in Purgatory’