September | 2022 | Erick Ybarra

Time to share a quote that might cause a stir. I think it is OK since St. Bede the Venerable (673-735) is venerated by the Greek East and Latin West, and is honorable among Anglican/Lutheran theologians. On the intermediate state, he writes:

“But in truth there are some who were preordained to the lot of the elect on account of their good works, but on account of some evils by which they were polluted, went out from the body after death to be severely chastised, and were seized by the flames of the fire of purgatory [𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑖]. They are either made clean from the stains of their vices in their long ordeal (𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒) up until judgement Day, or, on the other hand, if they are absolved from their penalties by the petitions, almsgiving, fasting, weeping, and oblation of the saving sacrificial offering by their faithful friends, they may come earlier to the rest of the blessed.”

Latin: 𝐴𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑖 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑚 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑎𝑑 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖 𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖 𝑑𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑖 𝑒𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑢𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑎𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎 𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑠 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑒𝑖𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑠 𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑝𝑠𝑖 𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑚

[𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕; Eng. Trans. Martin and Hurst, Bede: Homilies on the Gospels, ed. by David Hurst, 𝑩𝒆𝒅𝒆: 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒔, 𝒆𝒅. 𝒃𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑯𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝑩𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒆 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒎 𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒊 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒊 𝑰𝑰, 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒆 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂, 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒊𝒊: 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂, CCSL 122 (1955). Trans. Lawrence T. Martin & David Hurst, 𝑩𝒆𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆: 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑶𝒏𝒆, 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒕. Vol. 110, Cistercian Studies. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991), 17; citation taken from Isabel Moreira, 𝑷𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒚 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 159.]