Exorcist Diary #360: A Priest in Purgatory

Last week I spoke about the fact that there are no "stuck souls," that is, there are no deceased souls who remain attached to this world and cannot pass on to the next life without help. The Church firmly teaches that upon death we are immediately subject to our own particular judgment and are consigned to heaven, hell, or purgatory.

But there are souls in purgatory who, at times by God's providence, contact us needing our prayers. There are even cases of priests in purgatory asking for our prayers. The following is a case in point...

One of our exorcists shared with me the following experience:



I was an associate pastor. The pastor told me that, before I arrived, a parish in the diocese was experiencing a strange phenomenon. Every morning when the sacristan came to prepare for Mass, he found the altar set up for Mass with the candles burning. He asked if anyone had prepared the altar for Mass, and no one admitted to it. The parish priest denied it, and the sacristan was the only one with access to the Church in the morning, aside from the pastor. Eventually, the bishop was notified because it was happening daily without any possible explanation. It was discovered that the previous parish priest, who had died, had a stash of Mass intentions for the dead that were never celebrated. The bishop asked the priests in his diocese to celebrate Masses for the dead for (I think one month) all the missing Masses. Once the month had passed, the altar was found normal again.



I find this especially interesting since, some years ago, a priest-friend told me a similar story. Years ago, after a priest-pastor died, the new pastor said there were a number of unexplained, apparently preternatural, phenomena in the rectory. After some discernment and searching, they found a drawerful of unsaid Mass intentions. Again, the pastor said all the Mass intentions and the preternatural phenomenon ceased.

Continued below.