ARTICLE 2— Purgatory Series — Part II “Visions of Purifying Love: How Three Mystics Reveal the Reality of Purgatory”
Purgatory is one of the most misunderstood teachings of the Catholic faith—spoken of often, explained rarely, and imagined in ways that swing between gentle purification and terrifying fire. Yet across the centuries, God has granted certain mystics extraordinary insight into this hidden realm. Their experiences pull back the veil, revealing not only the seriousness of sin but the breathtaking mercy that prepares the soul for heaven. These mystics do not contradict one another; instead, they illuminate purgatory from different angles, like facets of a single diamond catching the light. Through them, we glimpse purifying love, divine justice, and the hope that awaits every Holy Soul destined for God.
This article explores three mystics of the Catholic Church who received profound revelations about purgatory: St. Catherine of Genoa; St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi; and St. Faustina Kowalska. Each offers a distinct window into the mystery—one serene and theological, one dramatic and visionary, one merciful and relational. It is necessary to study all three because no single mystic captures the full depth of purgatory. Together, they provide a balanced, multidimensional understanding of how God purifies the soul, why this purification is necessary, and how our prayers participate in His work. Their voices help correct misconceptions, deepen devotion to the Holy Souls, and remind us that purgatory is not a place of despair, but the final triumph of divine love.
St. Catherine of Genoa — The Apostle of Purgatory - A Brief Biography
St. Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510) lived her entire life in the vibrant port city of Genoa, Italy. Born into the noble Fieschi family, she grew up surrounded by political influence and ecclesial prestige, yet she herself lived quietly and without public recognition. At sixteen she entered a difficult marriage marked by her husband’s infidelity and financial ruin. For years she drifted into spiritual indifference, until a sudden and overwhelming mystical experience during confession transformed her life completely.
From that moment forward, Catherine became a woman consumed by divine love. She embraced prayer, penance, and service to the sick, eventually directing the largest hospital in Genoa. Her sanctity did not come from dramatic visions or external ecstasies, but from an interior fire of love that illuminated her understanding of the soul, sin, and God’s purifying mercy. It was within this interior transformation that she received her extraordinary insights into purgatory, earning her the title often given to her by spiritual writers: the Apostle of Purgatory.
St. Catherine of Genoa Mystical Understanding of Purgatory
Catherine’s teaching on purgatory is unlike any other mystic’s. She did not see flames, dungeons, or symbolic punishments. Instead, she perceived purgatory as an interior reality, a spiritual state where the soul encounters the blazing love of God and willingly submits to purification. She wrote that purgatory is the last stage of God’s love for the soul. This single line captures her entire theology: purgatory is not a place of fear, but the final embrace of divine mercy.
For Catherine, the Holy Souls choose purgatory freely. When a soul sees God at the moment of death, it instantly recognizes the imperfections that still cling to it. The soul longs for God so intensely that it desires purification more than anything else. This longing is its suffering, yet it is also its joy. Catherine teaches that the Holy Souls retain no memory of their faults; shame and fear vanish in the presence of God’s holiness. What remains is pure desire—an unquenchable thirst for union with Him.
She describes the purification of purgatory as an inner fire, not a punitive flame. It is the fire of divine love burning away the rust of sin. As the rust diminishes, the soul becomes more radiant, more receptive to God, and more filled with happiness. Catherine insists that the suffering of purgatory is actually joy, because the soul’s will is perfectly united to God’s will. The Holy Souls suffer only because they love God completely and long for Him deeply.
Her message is profoundly hopeful. Catherine teaches that God desires trust, not terror. Purgatory is not a threat but a promise: the assurance that God will finish His work in us. Yet she also emphasizes the urgency of holiness in this life. Every attachment surrendered now shortens our purification later. Every act of charity, humility, and repentance becomes a step closer to heaven.
St. Catherine of Genoa gives the Church its most serene and theological vision of purgatory—a vision rooted not in fear, but in the transforming fire of divine love.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi — The Most Detailed Visions of Purgatory -A Brief Biography
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi (1566–1607) was a Carmelite mystic from Florence, Italy, whose life was marked by extraordinary ecstasies, prophetic insight, and profound union with Christ. From childhood she experienced supernatural encounters that revealed both the beauty of heaven and the suffering endured by the Holy Souls. Her spiritual life was intense and deeply sacrificial; she embraced severe penances, long hours of prayer, and a burning desire to console Jesus. Her sisters carefully recorded her mystical experiences, recognizing that God had chosen her to witness the hidden reality of purgatory with unparalleled clarity.
St. Mary Magdalene’s mystical mission was rooted in compassion. Christ allowed her to witness the purification of the Holy Souls so she would pray for them with greater urgency. She did not seek visions, nor did she desire dramatic experiences; they came upon her suddenly, often during prayer before the Blessed Sacrament or while walking in the convent garden. Her revelations were vivid, sensory, and often physically overwhelming. Her sisters recorded her experiences as she moved through ecstasy, trembling, weeping, and crying out for mercy on behalf of the Holy Souls. Through these encounters, she became one of the Church’s most detailed witnesses to the reality of purgatory.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi Visions of Purgatory
This Carmelite mystic's visions are among the most graphic and symbolic depictions of purgatory in Catholic mysticism. While praying in the convent garden, she suddenly saw the pits of purgatory open before her. At that moment, her guardian angel appeared and invited her to descend spiritually into the suffering of the Holy Souls. He became her guide, leading her from level to level, leaving her to witness their purification for what felt like an eternity, though in earthly time the ecstasy lasted only about two hours.
As she walked in circles through the garden, her body reacted visibly—her back bent as though under a great weight, her face drained of color, and tears streamed down her cheeks. She cried out for mercy, pleading with Christ to send His Precious Blood to relieve the Holy Souls. Her sisters watched in awe as she moved through this spiritual descent, pausing at times as if overwhelmed by the agony she saw before her.
Her visions revealed a vast diversity of purifications. She saw an abyss reserved for priests and religious whose responsibilities had been great and whose failures required deeper cleansing. She saw the souls of children and those who had sinned out of ignorance, suffering lightly and strengthened by their guardian angels. She witnessed hypocrites pierced with needles, liars burned with molten lead and frozen in ice, the impatient crushed under heavy weights, the greedy liquefied like metal, the ambitious suffering in darkness, and the hard‑hearted immersed in molten lead. Each scene symbolized the spiritual damage caused by particular sins and the justice of God in healing those wounds.
Yet even in the most terrifying visions, the Florentine saint saw hope. Every Holy Soul accepted its suffering willingly, knowing it was the path to God. She often remarked that the Holy Souls were content, even joyful, because they understood the necessity of their purification. Lesser sinners endured lesser purifications, while those who had misused great graces suffered more deeply. Her visions were not meant to frighten but to awaken compassion and intercession. She begged her sisters to pray relentlessly for the Holy Souls, knowing that their suffering could be shortened through acts of charity, sacrifice, and prayer.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi Encounters with Individual Souls
St. Mary Magdalene also encountered specific souls during her visions. She saw her own brother in purgatory, suffering because he had not fully responded to the graces given to him during life. He begged her to receive 107 Holy Communions on his behalf, which she faithfully did. The saint also saw a religious sister who had ignored God's grace on several occasions, choosing embroidery over prayer on a feast day, remaining silent when she should have spoken for the good of the community, and placing family concerns above her commitment to Christ. After sixteen days of purification, the sister appeared once more to the Carmelite visionary, radiant and freed from purgatory.
These encounters reinforced the Carmelite mystic's conviction that the Holy Souls depend upon the prayers of the faithful. She understood that God allowed her to witness their suffering so that she might avoid even the smallest sin and encourage others to pray for the Holy Souls with greater fervor. Through these extraordinary revelations, the sixteenth-century Carmelite offers the Church one of its most dramatic and visionary portraits of purgatory, a multi-leveled landscape of purification in which each level reveals the wounds caused by specific sins, the seriousness of moral choices, the justice and mercy of God, and the urgent need for intercession.
St. Faustina Kowalska — The Secretary of Divine Mercy - A Brief Biography
St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), born Helena Kowalska in rural Poland, was a humble young woman with little formal education and no outward signs of extraordinary talent. At nineteen she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, where she spent her days performing simple tasks in the kitchen, garden, and bakery. Yet beneath this quiet exterior, the young Polish nun lived one of the most profound mystical lives of the twentieth century. Because she faithfully recorded every word Jesus spoke to her, every vision, and every interior grace, she is known throughout the Church as the Secretary of Divine Mercy.
The mystical life of the apostle of Divine Mercy was marked by visions of Christ, encounters with angels, and revelations of heaven, hell, and purgatory. Her experiences were deeply spiritual, tender, and permeated by the presence of Jesus. The Polish mystic lived in constant dialogue with Him, receiving guidance, consolation, and instruction. Her mission was to reveal God's mercy to the world, and part of that mission included witnessing the suffering and longing of the Holy Souls in purgatory.
St. Faustina Kowalska Visions of Purgatory
The Secretary of Divine Mercy's most significant vision of purgatory occurred in 1926. One night she asked Jesus whom she should pray for, and He told her He would show her the next evening. When the time came, her guardian angel appeared and led her to what she described as “a misty place full of fire.” In her Diary she writes: “There was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid” (Diary, 20). This single line reveals the heart of the Polish mystic's understanding of purgatory: the Holy Souls cannot help themselves, but our prayers can.
She asked the Holy Souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered in one voice that their deepest torment was “longing for God.” This longing, this burning desire for the Beatific Vision, was more painful than any fire. The visionary nun then saw Our Lady visiting the Holy Souls, bringing them refreshment and comfort. Afterward, her guardian angel led her out again. She wrote, “Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.” This vision was not meant to frighten but to awaken compassion and a sense of responsibility for the Holy Souls.
Another powerful encounter occurred in 1933, when a deceased sister from her order appeared to the apostle of Divine Mercy. The sister had died two months earlier, yet the saint saw her “in a terrible condition, all in flames with her face painfully distorted.” She prayed intensely for her, but the next night the sister returned in even greater distress, saying that her prayers had not helped her but had instead benefited other souls. Overwhelmed, the young nun replied, “If my prayers are not helping you, sister, please stop coming to me.” The soul disappeared.
Still, the humble religious sister continued praying. Sometime later, the sister returned transformed: “Her face was radiant, her eyes beaming with joy” (Diary, 58). She told the Polish mystic that her prayers had helped many souls and that she herself would soon be released. Before departing, she begged her never to stop praying for the Holy Souls. St. Faustina marveled, writing, “How astounding are the ways of God!”
What the Soul Wishes It Had Known
Before death, the soul rarely grasps the true weight of its choices, the value of its time, or the depth of God’s mercy. Yet St. Faustina’s revelations show that these realities become unmistakably clear the moment a soul enters the light of God. Her Diary reveals what the soul understands too late: that purification is shaped by how it lived, loved, trusted, and surrendered to God during earthly life. The teachings that follow—drawn directly from her mystical experiences—show the living what the soul wishes it had known earlier. They illuminate the three essential ways a person can cooperate with grace now, reducing or even avoiding the purifying fires of Purgatory: aligning one’s will with God’s will, practicing radical trust in Divine Mercy, and living daily charity with full awareness of the value of time.
1. Align Your Free Will with God’s Will in All Things
The Polish mystic’s revelations show that the soul’s purification is determined above all by how deeply it surrendered its will to God during earthly life. Her Diary repeatedly emphasizes that union of wills — the human will freely joined to the divine — is the foundation of sanctity and the most direct path to bypassing Purgatory.
Diary Support
Diary 372 & 374: During her 1935 retreat, Jesus commands Faustina to cross out her own will and write, “From today on, I do the will of God in everything, always and in everything.” This moment marks a radical turning point in her spiritual life.
Diary 279 & 616: Faustina writes that true love of God consists in carrying out His will in all actions, not merely in feelings or intentions.
Diary 1107: Jesus explains that God never forces the soul; sanctity depends entirely on whether the person freely cooperates with grace and unites their will to His.
Diary 1264 & 1394: St. Faustina describes total abandonment to God’s holy will, accepting everything He sends — joys, sufferings, misunderstandings, and trials — with peaceful submission.
Diary 1731: She teaches that selfless prayer offered in Christ’s name is itself an act of surrendering one’s ego and aligning completely with God’s desires.
The Practice
Holiness does not require extraordinary feats. The saint shows that even “a bit of good will” — the daily choice to accept what God permits and to act according to His desires — purifies the soul at its root.
The Purpose When a soul freely unites its will to God’s, its purification happens now, during earthly life. This prevents the accumulation of spiritual disorder that must later be burned away in Purgatory. A soul that consistently chooses God’s will over self‑will is already undergoing its purgation on earth.
2. Practice Radical Trust in Divine Mercy
Jesus reveals to the Secretary of Divine Mercy that complete trust in His mercy allows Him to purify the soul instantly.
Diary Support
Diary 300: Jesus tells her that distrust wounds His Heart more than sin itself.
Diary 548: Jesus says, “The greater the trust, the greater the mercy.”
Diary 1578: Trust is the vessel by which souls draw grace.
Diary 1448: A soul that trusts in His mercy has nothing to fear at judgment.
The Practice
Instead of hiding flaws out of pride or falling into discouragement, the soul must approach Confession with humility and absolute confidence in God’s forgiveness. St. Faustina stresses that Jesus is never more offended than when souls distrust His mercy.
The Purpose
When a soul throws itself entirely into Divine Mercy, Jesus meets it at death not as a strict Judge but as a Merciful Savior. Trust allows grace to penetrate the soul so deeply that purification happens in life rather than after death.
3. Live with Active Charity, Forgiveness, and Awareness of the Value of Time
The Polish mystic's visions reveal what souls understand too late: earthly time is an irreplaceable gift meant for cultivating love.
Diary Support
· Diary 20: The saint sees the souls in purgatory and learns that their greatest suffering is longing for God and the inability to help themselves.
· Diary 36: She is shown her soul as God sees it, with every relationship revealed in truth, including even the smallest failures in charity.
· Diary 274: Jesus teaches that acts of mercy toward others carry great weight at judgment.
· Diary 1032: The Polish nun learns that every small act of love has eternal value.
· Diary 1226: Jesus emphasizes praying for the dead, especially through the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
The Practice
Use ordinary moments intentionally:
forgive quickly
resolve conflicts
extend selfless charity
speak kindly
repair relationships
pray for the living and the dead
St. Faustina stresses that prayers, sacrifices, and especially the Divine Mercy Chaplet offered for the deceased bring real relief to the Holy Souls.
The Purpose
Souls who settle for a comfortable, mediocre religious life waste the graces God gives them. Choosing love, mercy, and forgiveness ensures that God will measure out that same mercy to you at judgment. Every act of charity becomes a flame of purification now, sparing the soul from fire later.
Preparing to See the Whole Picture
Taken together, St. Faustina’s teachings reveal what the soul longs to tell the living: that every moment of trust, surrender, and charity carries eternal weight. Her Diary opens a window into the hidden drama of grace at work in ordinary life and shows how the soul’s purification begins long before death. Yet the apostle of Divine Mercy is only one voice among the Church’s great witnesses to purgatory. To grasp the full richness of this mystery, it is necessary to place her insights alongside those of St. Catherine of Genoa and St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi. Each mystic was shown a different facet of the same reality — one interior, one visionary, one relational — and together they form a unified Catholic vision of the soul’s journey toward God. The next section explores how their teachings converge and diverge, revealing a deeper, more complete understanding of purgatory and the quiet work of grace that prepares the soul for heaven.
Three Voices, One Mystery
Having briefly explored each mystic individually, we can now step back and see how their insights form a single, coherent witness. St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, and St. Faustina Kowalska each received authentic revelations about purgatory, yet their experiences differ in tone, imagery, and emphasis. Viewed together, their teachings reveal a unified Catholic vision of purification while highlighting the distinct charisms through which God communicates His truth.
St. Catherine offers an interior understanding of the soul transformed by divine love; St. Mary Magdalene presents a dramatic, symbolic unveiling of sin’s consequences; St. Faustina reveals the relational and intercessory bond between earth and purgatory. Their combined testimony shows purgatory not as a narrow doctrine but as a multifaceted mystery — one fire of love seen through three different lenses — giving us a deeper understanding of the Holy Souls, the seriousness of sin, and the hope that flows from divine mercy.
The Common Vision They Share
All three mystics agree on several essential truths:
Purgatory is real, necessary, and rooted in God’s love.
Souls willingly embrace purification because they see God clearly.
The greatest suffering is longing for God, not physical torment.
The Poor Souls depend on our prayers, and our intercession truly frees them.
No prayer is wasted—every act of charity benefits someone.
Together, they form a unified Catholic vision: purgatory is the final purification of love, justice, and mercy.
Three Lenses, Three Expressions
St. Catherine of Genoa
Mystical, interior, serene.
Purgatory is an inner fire of divine love.
Suffering is joyful union with God’s will.
Focus: the soul’s transformation.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
Dramatic, visionary, symbolic.
Purgatory appears as diverse “dungeons” revealing consequences of sin.
Emphasis on justice, responsibility, and the seriousness of sin.
Focus: the gravity of moral choices.
St. Faustina Kowalska
Relational, merciful, intercessory.
Purgatory is longing for God and dependence on our prayers.
Emphasis on reciprocal mercy: we help them, they help us.
Focus: the communion between earth and purgatory.
The Quiet Work of Grace in Daily Life
When these three witnesses are placed side by side, one truth becomes unmistakable: grace is the quiet thread running through every moment of our lives, and the soul’s eternal destiny is shaped by how it responds to that grace. Purgatory reveals not only the consequences of sin, but the weight of grace ignored — the invitations to love, surrender, trust, and conversion that were offered gently, repeatedly, and often unnoticed. God’s grace rarely arrives in dramatic visions; it comes in the subtle, ordinary moments we pass through each day:
· a sudden patience we did not expect
· a nudge to pray instead of scroll
· a moment of clarity during Mass or prayer
· the urge to apologize or repair a relationship
· the strength to hold our tongue when we could have reacted
· the quiet awareness that someone needs our attention
· the discomfort that signals a habit is becoming an attachment
· the unexpected compassion that rises when we could have judged
· the desire to forgive even when it feels costly
· the small interior prompting to choose humility over pride
· the gentle reminder to return to God after distraction
· the moment of gratitude that interrupts complaint
· the impulse to help someone without being asked
· the interior check that warns us away from gossip or negativity
· the grace to endure a small suffering without bitterness
These are the everyday graces God gives — small, delicate, easily missed, yet carrying eternal significance. The mystics show us that these moments are not trivial; they are the very material of sanctity. To recognize them now is to cooperate with the purification that would otherwise await us later. To ignore them is to settle for less than what God desires to accomplish in us. In the end, purgatory is not a punishment for failing spectacularly, but the healing of all the ways we failed quietly — the graces we brushed aside, the love we withheld, and the God we postponed. And so the final urgency of their message is simple: respond to grace now, while time, relationships, and the presence of God are still within reach.
“The grace of God has appeared… training us to reject godless ways and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.” (Titus 2:11–12) Amen.
Patricia Altier, CPO Board Member
References & Additional Reading:
· Catherine of Genoa. Purgation and Purgatory: The Spiritual Dialogue. Translated by Serge Hughes, Paulist Press, 1979.
· Catherine of Genoa. Treatise on Purgatory. Anastasia Press, 2026.
· Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed., Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.
· Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Liturgical Year Archive PDF, 2012, https://liturgicalyear.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/divine-mercy-in-my-soul.pdf.
· Dore, Gustave. The Avaricious, Purgatorio Canto 20, Verses 16–18. Circa 1857, Wikimedia Commons.
· Kosicki, George W. Faustina: Saint for Our Times. Marian Press, 2005.
· Kowalska, Maria Faustina. Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul. 3rd ed., Marian Press, 2005.
· Mary Magdalene de Pazzi. The Complete Works of Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi. Translated by the Carmel of Florence, 5 vols., Sheed & Ward, 1960.
· Maria Magdalene de Pazzi. Selected Revelations. Paulist Press, 2000.
· Rubens, Peter Paul. The Deliverance of Souls from Purgatory. Circa 1635, Tournai, Wikimedia Commons.
· Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Saint Faustina: Her Life and Mission. Marian Press, 2014.
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