The book, The Month of the Holy Souls, presents daily considerations for the month of November in the form of meditations and practical examples. The example for today is as follows.

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EXAMPLE

The simple narration of the following historical event, speaks more eloquently than the longest discourse:

A man who, for five years, had been confined in a well-known prison, worn out by suffering, conceived at length a project for his deliverance. At that time a woman had great power, and her influence was so great, that she was able to break the prisoner’s chains and bring his sufferings to an end. History relates that the petition he addressed to her was couched in these words: “Madame, the 25th of this month, 1760, I shall have been suffering a hundred thousand hours, and there yet remains two hundred thousand hours more suffering before my sentence ends. Oh! Madame, let your heart be moved by such a long and painful martyrdom.”

I know not if this woman was hard-hearted enough to resist such an eloquent appeal, but it would seem impossible to express more in so few words. I have been suffering a hundred thousand hours, and there remains yet two hundred thousand more to suffer. There are two hundred thousand more! . . . . He had then counted the hours!  Yes, as we should count one by one the strokes of a clock’s pendulum during a long night, when pain and suffering prevented sleep!

And thus, it is that the poor souls in Purgatory calculate the duration of their sufferings, but not by hours or by days do they count, it is by years, and these years appear to them as ages.  O justice of God, how terrible art thou! O poor souls who have suffered so long, how I pity you!

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This anecdote comes from Month of the Souls in Purgatory by Abbé Berlioux, originally published in English in the year 1886. This book contains meditations and an example story for each day of the month. In an effort to preserve short inspiring stories from our Catholic past, every day for the month of November you can find the example story for the day published on the website under people/stories.

The same author also published similar books for the months of March (St. Joseph), May (Our Lady), and June (Sacred Heart). We are planning to post the stories for these months in the future, as well as re-publish a collection of these four books as a set, so be sure to check back in a few months.