PURGATORY

Purgatory

Purgatory is, according to Roman Catholic teaching, the state or place of purification or temporary punishment by which those who die with non-mortal sins and so in the state of grace are made ready for the Beatific Vision in Heaven. Only one who dies in the state of grace can be in Purgatory, and therefore no one who is in Purgatory will remain there forever or go to Hell. This theological notion has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, but the poetic conception of Purgatory as a geographically existing place is largely the creation of medieval Christian piety and imagination.

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purgatory

Noun

  1. In Catholicism, the stage of the afterlife where souls suffer for their sins before they can enter heaven
  2. any situation causing suffering

Adjective

  1. Tending to cleanse; expiatory.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: purgatory
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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