Padre Pio and Purgatory

(Taken from the Marian Centre Newsletter, with permission)

"I see so many souls from Purgatory that they don't frighten me any more'. 'More souls of the dead than the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers.' (Padre Pio)

Padre Pio had a very special relationship with the Holy Souls..indeed such was the relationship that they were his frequent visitors..and led him to make the statements quoted above.

When Padre Pio was asked how long a particular soul would stay in Purgatory he replied " At least one hundred years. We must pray for the Souls in Purgatory. It is unbelievable, what they can do for our spiritual good, out of gratitude they have towards those on earth who remember to pray for them.'

" The souls who are being purified pray for you, offer their sufferings for your well being and, through your prayers, are assisted in being set free from those human imperfections which prevent them from entering into the eternal joy of paradise....Those souls in purgatory who, while on earth, had formed part of my cohort, now enjoy a special union with me, feel in a special way my presence which sweetens the bitterness of their suffering, and shortens the time of their purification. And it is I myself who go to receive these souls into my arms, that I may lead them into the incomparable light of paradise." (From "To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons", Our Lady's words to Father Gobbi, through locutions.)

Prayer of St. Gertrude for the Holy Souls

Eternal Father, I offer you the Most Precious Blood of yoru Divine Son, Jesus, in union with all the masses said throughout the world today for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."