Duration estimated from Indulgences and Canonical Penances
"Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged." - Psalm 119:5
The Church grants indulgences of ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, and even one hundred years. Whether we say that these numbers correspond to as many years without which the sinner would have been obliged to pass in Purgatory, or that we think they indicate remission of temporal punishment equivalent to that obtained by the performance of canonical penances, it is always evident that long penances are required for the expiation of our sins, and if surprised by death, these penances must be completed in Purgatory. We can further conjecture the length of expiation in the other life by the severity of the penitential canons, or rules of penances, arranged by the Church as an estimated equivalent.
The following is an extract taken from instructions to confessors by Saint Charles, printed by order of the French clergy:
"For voluntary and deliberate perjury, forty days on bread and water, and the seven following years passed in penance.
"For having thoughtlessly taken the name of God in vain once, seven days on bread and water, and fifteen for the second and third time.
"For having publicly blasphemed against God, the Blessed Virgin, or any saint: to remain kneeling outside the door of the church during all the High Mass for seven consecutive Sundays, and, the last of these seven Sundays, to be there without mantle or shoes, with a rope around the neck; to fast on bread and water for the seven Fridays which precede these Sundays; to be deprived during this time of entering the church; and, if possible, to feed, on each of these Sundays, one, two, or three poor persons, or to perform some other penance instead.
"For having done servile work on Sunday or a holiday of obligation, three days on bread and water.
"For having spoken in Church during Divine Service, ten days on bread and water.
"For having violated the fast of Lent, seven days of fast for each day on which we failed to observe the precept.
"For having injured father or mother, three years of penance; for having struck them, seven years.
"For having indulged hatred against a parent, to fast on bread and water as long a time as has elapsed without being reconciled.
"For having stolen, once or twice, things of little importance, one year of penance.
"For light slander, three days of penance.
"For readiness to slander, seven days on bread and water.
"For being over-anxious to please men, three years of penance.
"For sins against the sixth commandment, three, ten, fifteen years of penance, even all one's lifetime, according to the gravity of these faults, etc., etc."
Suppose a man had committed ten, twenty, thirty times, or more, faults which require many years of penance. His life is too short to expiate them entirely in this world; he must then atone for the remainder in Purgatory.
Now, if confessors impose less of these kinds of penances, it is not that the Church judges we do not merit them; but knowing the weak courage of many, like a kind mother she prefers to let us go to Purgatory because of the insufficiency of penances imposed in the holy Tribunal, to whicli the fervent can add something, than to be the occasion of a large number of her children going to hell through the discouragement they feel by a too difficult access to the Sacrament of Penance.
Historical Fact
Saint Augustine regards as certain that Adam, who shed so many tears during his long life of nine hundred and thirty years, was obliged to continue his penance after death till the time when our divine Saviour, having paid his ransom on the cross, descended into the place his soul inhabited in the midst of pain and grief. David lamented his double fault all his life. The tears that Peter shed to deplore his denial had marked two furrows on his cheeks. And what have we done in the way of penance?
Practice
Form the habit of applying to the souls in Purgatory every morning the indulgences attached to the prayers offered during the day.
Prayer of the Church
Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the sufferings of Purgatory; deliver them from the jaws of the lion, that they be not engulfed in the abyss nor fall into darkness; but may the standard-bearer, Saint Michael, conduct them into the holy light promised by Thee to Abraham and his posterity.
Lord, apply to them the indulgcnces of the following prayer and ejaculation:
My Queen! my Mother! I give myself entirely to thee; and to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my w^hole being, without reserve. Wherefore, good mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession.
My Queen! my Mother! remember I am thine own. Keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession.
- text taken from Month of the Dead by Father Celestin Cloquet, translated by a Sister of Mercy, with the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, 18 October 1886