some time in purgatory, and had to ask help from a certain Canon of Cologne, because when at the imperial court he did not recite his office at the proper time, or with due attention, on account of the number of things he had to attend to. Surius relates in the Life of St. Ludgard, that Innocent III., that Pope who did such great things for the Catholic Church, appeared to this Saint after his death surrounded by flames, and said: “I have indeed escaped eternal fire through the mercy of Mary, who obtained for me the grace of perfect contrition on my death-bed; but the divine justice has condemned me to severe torments in purgatory till the end of the world, unless I get help from the living.” Cardinal Bellarmine, reflecting on this terrible example, says: “This instance fills me with dread; for if a pope, who was looked on as a saint, deserved to suffer purgatory to the end of the world, what superior has not reason to fear and to scrutinize the inmost recesses of his conscience?”
We have just reason, then, to fear and to live cautiously.
And, alas! my dear brethren, what are we to think of ourselves, if those holy servants of God have been chastised so sharply for such seemingly small faults? We who think so little of venial sin and commit it almost every hour? We who often order our lives only according to our sensuality, to the requirements of bodily comfort, and the vanity and customs of the world? Let us think of this every day, and think deeply on it; for that thought will make us avoid venial sin and not think too lightly of it; it will make us patient in crosses and trials, so that we shall be ready to thank God for sending us a short suffering here to atone for our sins, that we may not have to suffer so severely for them in the next life; that thought will inspire us with Christian humility, and impel us to restrain and mortify our senses, to frequent the sacraments, to gain indulgences, to be zealous in the practice of virtue, that we may daily wipe out some of our debt, and reduce our obligations to the divine justice. St. Catharine of Genoa used to say that he who tries to atone for his sins in this life pays a debt of a thousand ducats with a few pence; but he who defers atonement till the next life must pay a thousand ducats to clear off a debt of a few pence. Her meaning was that in this life a slight penance can atone for many sins, but in the next small faults must be atoned for by long and severe punishments. Let no one depend on the help of others after his death, if he neglects to help himself now; for it is much better to say once during life: My God, have mercy on me! than to cry out a hun-