CHAPTER XXIII.
Duration of Purgatory — The Cistercian Abbot and Pope Innocent III. — John de Lierre.
In the Life of St. Lutgarda, [1] written by her contemporary, Thomas de Cantempre, mention is made of a Religious who was otherwise fervent, but who for an excess of zeal was condemned to forty years of Purgatory. This was an Abbot of the Cistercian Order, named Simon, who held St. Lutgarda in great veneration. The saint, on her part, willingly followed his advice, and in consequence a sort of spiritual friendship was formed between them. But the Abbot was not as mild towards his subordinates as he was towards the saint. Severe with himself, he was also severe in his administration, and carried his exactions in matters of discipline even to harshness, forgetting the lesson of the Divine Master, who teaches us to be meek and humble of heart. Having died, and whilst St. Lutgarda was fervently praying and imposing penances upon herself for the repose of his soul, he appeared to her, and declared that he was condemned to forty years of Purgatory. Fortunately he had in Lutgarda a generous and powerful friend. She redoubled her prayers and austerities, and having received from God the assurance that the departed soul should soon be delivered, the charitable saint replied, " I will not cease to weep; I will not cease to importune your Mercy until I see him freed from his pains."
Since I am mentioning St. Lutgarda, ought I to speak of the celebrated apparition of Pope Innocent III.? I acknowledge the perusal of this incident shocked me, and I would fain pass it over in silence. I was reluctant to think that a Pope, and such a Pope, had been condemned
- ↑ June 16.
