These saints will inspire you to pray for souls in purgatory this month
Throughout the month of November, dedicated to the souls in Purgatory, the Church prays for the suffering souls who await the joy of Paradise. Certain saints have had extraordinary experiences that can help inspire us to pray for them with even greater hope and faith.
St. John Bosco and his best friend
When John Bosco and his best friend, Louis Romollo, were seminarians, they promised each other that the first of the two to die would come back to inform the other of his eternal fate.
This solemn oath was perhaps a bit foolish, because they knew that the Church condemns attempts to communicate with the dead, but it was motivated by their desire to relieve the possible expiatory sufferings of whichever died first.
In the first half of the 19th century, premature death was not unusual, nor was it unusual for 24-year-olds to think about it. Death was omnipresent and, in Catholic circles, the thought of the end of life was constant.
The first to die was Louis, in 1839, just a few months before his ordination. John’s grief was immense, but he hadn’t forgotten the oath he had exchanged with his friend. The night after Romollo’s death, while the seminarians were asleep, a loud voice was heard throughout the dormitory, waking everyone up as it shouted: “Bosco! Bosco! I am saved!” Everyone, including John, recognized the voice of their missing comrade and felt a healthy fear of the disembodied voice. It surely put an end to further desires to ask for news from the beyond.
In fact, Don Bosco soon understood that it wasn’t necessary for him to ask for news in order to receive it – whether in the form of a dream (as on the night when little Dominic Savio showed himself to him in a splendid garden) or through verbal communication.