Treatise on purgatory

With her brief Treatise on Purgatory, Saint Catherine of Genoa brought a breath of new joy and hope to the Church. Although she does not base her theology on mystical revelations, but rather on her own experience of her personal earthly purgatory, her words ring true and continue to exert a powerful influence on many generations of theologians and believers worldwide.

Purgatory, as Catherine sees it, is not a geographical location deep inside the earth. It is a great fire of longing for God's presence, burning in souls wounded by sin, pain and the awareness that God is so holy and pure that a soul stained with sin cannot stand before him. Unconditional and infinite love thus becomes a balm for the aching, suffering soul, as well as a flame exposing the lukewarm decisions made during life.

"God purified man, bound him with a delicate golden thread, which is his love, and attracts him to himself with such a strong affection that man remains, vanquished and defeated and completely beside himself," Catherine of Genoa recalls the words of Dionysius the Areopagite, which sum up her entire theology of purgatory. The book is ecclesiastically approved.