Yes Virginia, there is a Patron Saint of Purgatory

Yes, you read the title correctly. There is a patron saint of Purgatory.  Of course, it only makes sense given that there is a patron saint for literally everything else in existence, so why not a patron saint of Purgatory.

St. Nicholas of Tolentino was born in answer to the prayer of a holy mother and was consecrated before his birth to the service of God.  Named for the miraculous St. Nicholas of Myra, at whose shrine his parents prayed to have a child, at the age of 16, he joined the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.

I won't go too much into his life and earthly accomplishments. You can easily find more about St. Nicholas online; I want to reflect briefly on why the Church has declared him the patron saint of Purgatory (or, more specifically, Patron of the Holy Souls).

St. Nicholas lived a very austere life in an Order already quite austere in its practices.  During his life, he received visions of Purgatory, which his close acquaintances attributed to his holiness, and his rigorous fasts.  Because of these visions, he conceived an ardent charity for the Holy Souls and was often granted revelations that the souls whom he had prayed for at Mass had been admitted to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Despite his evident holiness, St. Nicholas was often haunted by his own sinfulness until he received a vision of Our Lady who said, "Fear not, Nicholas, all is well with you: my Son bears you in His Heart, and I am your protection."  

St. Nicholas took his repose in the Lord on September 10th, 1305.  He was canonized in 1446 by Pope Eugene IV, and because of his great devotion to the Holy Souls, St. Nicholas was proclaimed patron of the souls in Purgatory in 1884 by Leo XIII.

Devotion to the Holy Souls seems to have experienced a revival among many Catholics, which is certainly a worthy devotion, as every soul we liberate from Purgatory by our prayers and meritorious works becomes our grateful intercessor in heaven.  So if you are praying for the Holy Souls today, don't forget to invoke the powerful intercession of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Patron Saint of Purgatory.

It's alive, IT'S ALIVE!

For anyone reading this post, all you have to do is look at the next most recent post to see that it dates from Christmas of 2012.  What happened?  Well, in 2013 a number of things happened.  As you recall, Pope Francis was elected, and what seemed like a new springtime for tradition in the Church became a time of questions and unease.  In 2013 I also became a pastor for the first time at St. Mary of the Purification in Mount Forest, Ontario, and found that my time was much more limited, particularly my first year of settling into the new role.  Around that time too, blogs began to transform from something everyone did to professional blogs with multiple writers, while everyone else was posting on Twitter and other forms of social media.  Nowadays, of course, most younger people are on TikTok, and the visual medium has taken over for them, others are producing podcasts, and everyone else is still on social media. 

So why have a revived a nine-year-old blog that hardly anyone remembers, and hardly anyone read in the first place, especially since I'm on social media, and have my own fledgling podcast?  Just because, because in my current role I do have time to produce some extra content each week, because it's nice to have a little outlet for my thoughts and musings, and because if my thoughts and reflections help even a single person in their spiritual lives, to grow in their faith, to find their way to the Catholic faith, or just to find some hope in knowing that someone out there does think they way they do and they are not alone, it is worth it.

I doubt I will be able to post daily content like most of the professional blogs, but hopefully, in the midst of everything I can find the time to put up a couple of posts each week, so check back for more new content, here on Great and Glorious!