think without shuddering. How much worse will it be in Hell, where the bodies will lie close to one another, without any hope of being separated.
Bad as this stench is, it is greatly increased by the presence of the devils, who naturally are far more offensive to the nostrils than the bodies of the lost.
We read in the life of St. Martin that the evil one appeared to him upon one occasion, and the stench that filled the room was so overwhelming that the Saint said to himself: "If one single devil has so disgusting an odour, what can the stench be in Hell, where there are thousands of devils all together?"
How much suffering this abominable stench must cause to the damned! how it must aggravate their distress and pain! For it must be pestilential beyond description, arising as it does from so many different sources Hell itself, the bodies of the damned, the devils, the worms and reptiles, the fire of pitch and brimstone, each and all of which stink in the nostrils of the lost. Judge by what has been said how insupportable the combined odours of all these things must be.
Alas for the unfortunate beings who are condemned to breathe such an atmosphere! Alas for the poor sinners who have to dwell in it for endless ages! They must sink under it, they must constantly be on the verge of death. O my God, I beseech Thee by Thy infinite clemency, spare me from so terrible a fate.
