Treatise on Purgatory
St Catherine of Genoa
CHAPTER VII
As the soul cleansed and purified finds no place wherein to rest but God, this being its end by creation, so the soul in a state of sin finds no place for it but hell, this being its end by the appointment of God. No sooner, then, does the soul leave the body in mortal sin than it goes straight to hell as to its allotted place, with no other guide than the nature of sin ; and should a soul not find itself thus prevented by the justice of God, but excluded altogether from His appointment, it would endure a still greater hell for God’s appointment partakes of His mercy, and is less severe than the sin deserves ; as it is the soul, finding no place suited to it, nor any lesser pain provided for it by God, casts itself into hell as into its proper place.
Thus, with regard to purgatory, when the soul leaves the body, and finds itself out of that state of purity in which it was created, seeing the hindrance, and
that it can only be removed by purgatory, without a moment’s hesitation it plunges therein : and were there no such means provided to remove the impediment, it would forthwith beget within itself a hell worse than purgatory, because by reason of this impediment it would see itself unable to reach God, its last end : and this hindrance would be so full of pain, that, in comparison with it, purgatory, though, as I have said, it be like hell, would not be worth a thought, but be even as nothing.
