# Treatise on Purgatory

## About this edition

Catherine of Genoa’s teaching on Purgatory was recorded and transmitted by her disciples, and first appeared in print in 1551. The treatise reflects on the soul’s purification, its longing for God, and its conformity to His will.

This reading translation follows the supplied Italian transcription. This introductory note is editorial and is not part of Catherine’s text.

The Italian witness used here is the [Monastero Virtuale transcription](https://www.monasterovirtuale.it/s-caterina-da-genova/il-trattato-del-purgatorio.html?showall=1), whose historical print edition is not identified on that page. This is a reading translation, with a selected transcription correction; it is not a critical edition.

These English drafts were prepared with AI assistance using SWE-2 Max and then edited for Remember Eternity. Website review has checked structure, source provenance, and selected passages and corrections; it has not checked every sentence against the original. This is not a certified translation or an ecclesiastically approved edition.

This edition is available to read and download free of charge. No open reuse licence is stated for this modern English edition. Free access does not establish republication permission; the source transcriptions and editorial material may have separate terms.

## Prologue

This holy soul, still in the flesh, found herself placed in the Purgatory of the burning love of God, which wholly burned and purified her of all that she had to be purified of, so that, passing from this life, she might be presented in the presence of her sweet Love, God. By means of this loving fire, she understood in her soul how the souls of the faithful abide in the place of Purgatory, to purge away every rust and stain of sin that they had not yet purged in this life.

And since she, placed in the loving Purgatory of the divine fire, dwelt united to that divine Love and content with all that He worked in her, so she understood concerning the souls that are in Purgatory, and said:

## I. The perfect conformity of the souls being purified to the will of God.

1\. The souls that are in Purgatory (as it seems to me) can have no other choice than to be in that place; and this is by the ordinance of God, who has ordained it justly. Nor can they turn back toward themselves any more, nor say: "I have committed such sins that I deserve to remain here." Nor can they say: "I would that I had not committed them, for then I would go now to Paradise." Nor can they say again: "That soul will depart sooner than I," or: "I shall depart sooner than he."

2\. They can have no remembrance of their own, nor of others either, for good or for ill, that could bring them an affliction greater than their accustomed one. But they have so great a contentment in being within the ordinance of God, and in His working all that pleases Him and as it pleases Him, that they cannot have any thought of themselves that would increase their pain.

3\. And they see only the working of the divine goodness, which shows so much mercy to man in order to draw him to itself, that they can see nothing of pain or of good that may befall them as belonging to their selfhood; and if they could see it, they would not be in pure charity.

4\. They cannot even see that they are in those pains because of their sins, nor can they hold that sight in their minds; for there would be in it an active imperfection, which cannot be in that place, because there one can no longer actually sin.

5\. The cause of the Purgatory they have within them, they see only once, in the moment of passing from this life, and never see it again; for otherwise there would be selfhood.

6\. Being therefore in charity, and unable any longer to deviate from it by any actual fault, they can no longer will or desire anything but the pure will of pure charity; and being in that divine fire, they are in the divine ordinance (which is pure charity), and can no longer deviate from it in anything: for they are as much deprived of the power of actually sinning as they are of actually meriting.

## II. The joy of the souls being purified and their growing vision of God. The example of the rust.

1\. I do not believe that any contentment can be found to compare with that of a soul in Purgatory, except that of the saints in Paradise. And this contentment grows every day, through the inflowing of God into those souls, which goes on increasing as the impediment to that inflowing is consumed away.

2\. The rust of sin is the impediment, and the fire goes on consuming the rust; and so the soul is laid ever more open to the divine inflowing. Just as a covered object cannot respond to the radiance of the sun — not through any defect of the sun, which shines continually, but through the opposition of the covering — so, if the covering is consumed away, the object is laid open to the sun; and the more the covering is consumed, the more it will respond to the sun's radiance.

3\. Thus the rust (that is, sin) is the covering of the souls, and in Purgatory it is consumed away by the fire; and the more it is consumed, the more the soul responds to the true sun, God. Therefore the contentment grows as the rust diminishes and the soul is laid open to the divine ray. And so the one increases and the other diminishes, until the time is finished.

4\. Yet it is not the pain that lessens, but only the time of abiding in that pain. And as for the will, they can never say that these pains are pains, so greatly do they content themselves with the ordinance of God, to which their will is united in pure charity.

## III. The pains of the souls being purified. The separation from God, their greatest pain.

1\. On the other hand, they have a pain so extreme that no tongue can be found that could tell it, nor any intellect that could comprehend the least spark of it, unless God should show it by special grace.

2\. This spark God, by grace, showed to this soul; but I cannot express it with my tongue. And this sight that the Lord showed me has never since departed from my mind; and I will tell you of it what I can, and those will understand to whom the Lord deigns to open the intellect.

3\. The foundation of all the pains is original or actual sin. God created the soul pure, simple, and clean of every stain of sin, with a certain beatific instinct toward Himself; from this instinct the original sin that the soul finds in itself draws it away; and when actual sin is added to it, it draws still farther away; and the farther it removes itself, the more malign it becomes, for God corresponds to it less.

4\. And since all the goodness that can exist exists by participation in God — who responds in irrational creatures as He wills and as He has ordained, and never fails them, while in the rational soul He responds more or less according as He finds it purified of the impediment of sin — therefore, when a soul is found that draws near to its first creation, pure and clean, that beatific instinct discloses itself to it and goes on growing, with such impetus and such a fury of the fire of charity (which draws it to its last end), that to find itself impeded seems to it an unbearable thing; and the more it sees, the more extreme is its pain.

## IV. The difference between the damned and the souls being purified.

1\. And because the souls that are in Purgatory are without the guilt of sin, they have no impediment between God and themselves, save that pain which has held them back, so that the instinct has not been able to attain its perfection.

2\. And seeing with certainty how much even the least impediment matters, and that by necessity of justice this instinct is held back, there is born in them an extreme fire, like that of Hell, except for guilt; for it is guilt that makes the malignant will of the damned in Hell, to whom God does not correspond with His goodness: and therefore they remain in that desperate, malignant will, set against the will of God.

3\. From this it is manifestly seen that the perverse will, set against the will of God, is what makes the guilt; and as the evil will perseveres, so the guilt perseveres.

4\. And because those in Hell passed from this life with the evil will, their guilt is not remitted, nor can it be remitted; for they can no longer change their will, since it is with that will that they passed from this life — in which passage the soul is established in good or in evil according as it is found with its deliberate will; as it is written: [Ubi te invenero]{lang=la} — "Where I find thee" — that is, in the hour of death, with whatsoever will, whether of sinning or of being displeased and repentant for sin — [ibi te judicabo]{lang=la} — "there will I judge thee."

5\. From that judgment there is then no remission: for after death the freedom of the free will can no longer be turned, but remains fixed in that in which it is found at the point of death.

6\. Those in Hell, because they were found at the point of death with the will to sin, bear their guilt with them infinitely, and the pain also — though not so great a pain as they deserve; yet the pain they have is without end.

7\. But those in Purgatory have only the pain, because the guilt was cancelled at the point of death, since they were found displeased with their sins and repentant of having offended the divine goodness; and so that pain has an end, and keeps ever diminishing as to time, as has been said. Oh misery above every misery, and the greater for not being considered by human blindness!

## V. God shows His goodness even toward the damned.

1\. The pain of the damned is not infinite in quantity; for the sweet goodness of God spreads the ray of His mercy even into Hell.

2\. For man, having died in mortal sin, deserves infinite pain and infinite time; but the mercy of God has made only the time infinite, and the pain finite in quantity: for in justice He could have given them far greater pain than He has given.

3\. Oh how perilous is the sin committed with malice: for man repents of it with difficulty, and, not repenting, the guilt abides forever — persevering for as long as man remains in the will of the sin committed or of committing it!

## VI. Purified from sin, the souls being purified joyfully expiate their pains.

1\. But the souls being purified have their will in all things conformed to the will of God: and therefore God answers them with His goodness, and they remain content (as regards the will) and purified from original and actual sin, as regards guilt.

2\. Those souls thus remain purified as when God created them: and because they departed this life displeased with themselves, having confessed all the sins they had committed, with the will never to commit them again, God at once forgives them the guilt, and nothing remains to them but the rust of sin, of which they are then purified in the fire with pain.

3\. And thus purified from every guilt, and united to God by their will, they see God clearly, according to the degree He grants them to know; and they also see how much the fruition of God matters, and that the souls were created for this end.

## VII. With what violence of love the souls being purified long to enjoy God. The example of the bread and the famished man.

1\. They find, moreover, so unitive a conformity with their God, which draws them so mightily to itself (through the natural instinct between God and the soul), that no reasons, figures, or examples can be given sufficient to make this thing clear as the mind feels it in effect and understands it by interior perception. Nevertheless, I will tell an example that presents itself to the mind.

2\. If in all the world there were but one bread, which had to take away the hunger of all creatures, and such that merely by seeing it the creatures would be satisfied; and since man, by nature, when he is healthy, has the instinct to eat, if he did not eat, and could neither fall ill nor die, that hunger would grow ever more, because the instinct to eat would never fail him. And knowing that only that bread could satisfy him, and not having it, his hunger could not be taken away: he would therefore remain in intolerable pain. But the nearer the man drew to it, without being able to see it, the more his natural desire would be kindled, which by its instinct is wholly gathered toward the bread, wherein consists all his contentment.

3\. And if he were certain of never seeing the bread, at that point his Hell would be complete, like that of the damned souls, who are deprived of every hope of ever being able to see the bread, God, the true Savior.

4\. But the souls being purified have hope of seeing the bread and of being wholly satisfied by it. Therefore, they suffer hunger and remain in pain for as long as it will be until they can satisfy themselves with that bread, Jesus Christ, true God and Savior, our Love.

## VIII. Hell and Purgatory reveal the wondrous wisdom of God.

1\. Just as the clean and purified spirit finds no place for its repose except God, having been created for this end, so the soul in sin has no other place save Hell, God having ordained that place for it as its end.

2\. Therefore, in that instant when the spirit is separated from the body, the soul goes to its ordained place with no other guide than that which the nature of sin has — the soul, that is, departing from the body in mortal sin.

3\. And if the soul did not find at that point that ordinance (proceeding from the justice of God), it would remain in a greater Hell than that is; for it would find itself outside that ordinance, which partakes of the divine mercy, because it does not give it so much pain as it deserves. Therefore, finding no place more fitting nor of less evil for itself, by the ordinance of God it casts itself into it, as into its own proper place.

4\. So, to our purpose of Purgatory: the soul separated from the body, which does not find itself in that cleanness in which it was created, seeing in itself the impediment, and that it cannot be removed except by means of Purgatory, swiftly casts itself into it, and willingly.

5\. And if it did not find this ordinance, apt to remove that impediment, in that instant there would be generated in it a Hell worse than Purgatory, seeing that it cannot reach, because of the impediment, its end, God; which matters so much that in comparison Purgatory is not to be esteemed; although, as has been said, it is like Hell: but in that comparison it is almost nothing.

## IX. The necessity of Purgatory.

1\. I say further that I see, on God's part, that Paradise has no gate: but whoever wishes to enter, enters; for God is all mercy, and stands toward us with open arms to receive us into His glory.

2\. But I indeed see that divine essence to be of such purity and cleanness (and far more than can be imagined) that a soul which has in itself so much imperfection as would be a tiny speck, would cast itself sooner into a thousand Hells than find itself in the presence of the divine majesty with that stain.

3\. And therefore, seeing Purgatory ordained to remove those stains from it, it casts itself into it, and it seems to it to find a great mercy, in being able to remove that impediment.

## X. The terrible nature of Purgatory.

1\. Of how great importance Purgatory is, neither tongue can express nor mind comprehend; yet I see it to be of as much pain as Hell: and nonetheless I see the soul which feels in itself the slightest stain of imperfection receive it as a mercy (as has been said), in a certain way making no account of it in comparison with that stain that impedes its love.

2\. And it seems to me I see the pain of the souls being purified to be greater — by their seeing that they have in themselves something that displeases God, and that they did it willingly against such goodness — than any other pain they feel in Purgatory itself. This is because, being in grace, they see the truth and the importance of the impediment, which does not let them draw near to God.

3\. All these things that have been said, in comparison with that of which I am certified in my mind (so far as I have been able to comprehend it in this life), are of such extremity that every sight, every word, every feeling, every imagination, every justice, every truth seem to me lies and things of nothing. I remain still confounded, not knowing how to find more extreme words.

## XI. The love of God which draws the holy souls to itself, and the impediment they find in sin, generates the pain of Purgatory.

1\. I see so great a conformity of God with the soul that when He sees it in that purity in which His Majesty created it, He gives it a certain attractive force of burning love, sufficient to annihilate it, though it be immortal.

2\. And He keeps it so transformed in Himself, its God, that it sees itself to be nothing other than God, who continually goes on drawing it and absorbing it, never leaving it, until He has brought it to that being from which it came forth, that is, into that pure cleanness in which it was created.

3\. When the soul, by interior sight, sees itself thus drawn by God with so great a divine fire, then, from that heat of the burning love of its sweet Lord and God, which it feels overflowing in its mind, it is wholly melted.

4\. Then seeing, in the divine light, how God never ceases to draw it and lovingly lead it to its whole perfection, with such care and continual provision; and that He does this only out of pure love; and that it, having the impediment of sin, cannot follow that drawing made by God, that is, that unitive glance which God has given it to draw it to Himself; seeing, moreover, how much it matters to it to be delayed in not being able to see the divine light; added to this the instinct of the soul, which would wish to be without impediment, so as to be drawn by that unitive glance: I say that the sight of the aforesaid things is that which generates in the souls the pain which they have in Purgatory.

5\. Not that they make account of their pain (though it is indeed most great), but they make far more account of the opposition they find themselves to have against the will of God, whom they clearly see burning with an extreme and pure love toward them.

6\. This love, with that unitive glance, draws so strongly without ceasing, as if it had nothing else to do. Therefore the soul, seeing this, if it found another Purgatory beyond that one, so as to be able to remove so great an impediment more quickly, would swiftly cast itself into it, through the impetus of that conforming love between God and the soul.

## XII. How God purifies the souls. The example of gold in the crucible.

1\. I also see proceeding from that divine love toward the soul certain rays and fiery flashes, so penetrating and powerful that it seems they must annihilate not only the body but even the soul itself, were it possible.

2\. These rays perform two operations: by the first they purify, by the second they annihilate.

3\. Look at gold: the more you melt it, the better it becomes, and you could melt it so much that you would annihilate every imperfection in it. This effect fire produces in material things; but the soul cannot be annihilated in God, but rather in itself: and the more you purify it, the more you annihilate it in itself, and in the end it remains purified in God.

4\. When gold has been purified even to twenty-four carats, it can no longer be consumed, whatever fire you may give it; for nothing can be consumed but its imperfection. So does the divine fire act in the soul. God holds it in the fire until He has consumed every imperfection in it, and brings it to the perfection of twenty-four carats (each one, however, in its own degree): and when it is purified, it remains wholly in God, without anything in itself of its own, and its being is God.

5\. And when He has brought the soul thus purified to Himself, then the soul remains impassible, because nothing more remains in it to be consumed. And if, thus purified, it were still held in the fire, it would not be painful to it; rather it would be to it a fire of divine love, as in eternal life, without any contrariety.

## XIII. The ardent desire of the Souls to be transformed into God, and the wisdom of God in hiding their imperfections from them.

1\. The soul was created with all those good conditions of which it was capable, in order to attain perfection: provided, however, that it lived as God had ordained for it, not contaminating itself with any stain of sin.

2\. But having been contaminated by original sin, it loses its gifts and graces, and remains dead, nor can it be raised again except by God. And when it has been raised again through Baptism, the evil inclination remains in it, which inclines and leads it (if it does not resist) to actual sin, by which it dies again.

3\. God then raises it again with another special grace; for it remains so befouled and turned toward itself that, to call it back to its first state, as God created it, it needs all the aforesaid divine operations, without which it could never return there.

4\. And when the soul finds itself on the way back to that first state of its own, so great is the burning within it to be transformed into God that this is its Purgatory. Not that it can look upon Purgatory as Purgatory; but that instinct, kindled and impeded, is what makes its Purgatory.

5\. This last act of love is what accomplishes this work without man; for there are found in the soul so many hidden imperfections that, if it saw them, it would live in despair; but this last state goes on consuming them all. And once they are consumed, God shows them to the soul, so that it may see the divine operation which causes in it the fire of love that consumes the imperfections that must be consumed.

## XIV. Joy and sorrow of the souls being purified.

1\. Know that what man judges in himself to be perfection is, before God, defect: for all that he does in things that have the appearance of perfection — even if he only sees them, feels them, understands them, desires them, or remembers them — without recognizing them as coming from God, in all of them he is contaminated and befouled.

2\. For, since these operations must be perfect, they must be wrought in us without us, so far as we are concerned as principal agents: and the operation of God must be in God, without man as the first operator.

3\. These operations are those which God performs in the last operation of pure and clean love, by Himself alone, without any merit of ours: and they are so penetrating and so burning to the soul that the body which surrounds it seems to be consumed in the same way as one standing in a great fire; for it would never rest until death.

4\. It is true that the love of God, which overflows into the soul (as I see), gives it a contentment so great that it cannot be expressed; yet this contentment does not take away one spark of pain from the souls that are in Purgatory.

5\. Rather, it is that love which finds itself held back that causes their pain; and the greater the perfection of the love of which God has made them capable, the greater the pain it causes them.

6\. So the souls in Purgatory have the greatest contentment and the greatest pain, and the one does not hinder the other.

## XV. The souls being purified can no longer merit.

1\. How their will is disposed toward the works offered in this world in suffrage for them. If the souls in Purgatory could purify themselves by contrition, in an instant they would pay all their debt, so burning an impulse of contrition would come upon them; and this because of the clear light they have of the importance of that impediment which does not let them be joined to their end and their Love, God.

2\. And know for certain that, of the payment owed by those souls, not even the smallest farthing is forgiven, such having been established by divine justice; and this is so far as concerns God's part.

3\. As for the souls' part, they no longer have any choice of their own, and can no longer see except as much as God wills, nor would they wish for anything else, for so they are established.

4\. And if some alms is done for them by those who are in the world, which lessens their time, they can no longer turn with affection to look upon it, except under that most just balance of the divine will, in all this leaving God to act, who pays Himself as it pleases His infinite goodness. And if they could turn to see those alms outside that divine will, it would be a selfhood in them that would take away their sight of the divine will; and that would be a Hell to them.

5\. Therefore they remain immovable before all that God gives them, whether of pleasure and contentment or of pain: and never again can they turn to themselves, so intimate are they and so transformed into the will of God; and in everything they content themselves with His most holy ordinance.

## XVI. The Souls will their perfect purification.

1\. And if a soul were presented to the vision of God while still having a little left to purge, a great wrong would be done to it, and it would be a greater suffering to it than ten Purgatories.

2\. For that pure goodness and supreme justice could not bear it, and it would be an unseemly thing on God's part.

3\. And to that soul which saw that God was not yet fully satisfied by it, so that it still lacked even a single blink of an eye of purgation, it would be intolerable; and to remove that little rust, it would sooner cast itself into a thousand Hells (if it could choose them for itself) than remain before the divine presence not yet wholly purified.

## XVII. Exhortations and reproofs to the living. And so that blessed soul, seeing the aforesaid things in the divine light, said:

1\. I long to cry out with so loud a cry that it would frighten all the men who are upon the earth, and to say to them: O wretched men, why do you let yourselves be so blinded by this world that you make no provision at all for so great and so urgent a need as you will find at the moment of death?

2\. You all take shelter under the hope of the mercy of God, which you say is so great; but do you not see that so great a goodness of God will stand in judgment against you, for having acted against the will of so good a Lord?

3\. His goodness should compel you to do all His will, and not give you hope of doing evil; for His justice cannot fail either, but must in some way be fully satisfied.

4\. Do not trust in yourself, saying: I will confess, and then I will gain the Plenary Indulgence, and at that point I will be purged of all my sins, and so I will be saved.

5\. Think that the confession and contrition required for that Plenary Indulgence are so difficult to attain that, if you knew it, you would tremble with great fear, and you would be more certain of not having it than of being able to have it.

## XVIII. The spontaneous and joyful suffering of the souls being purified.

1\. I see those souls abiding in the pains of Purgatory with the sight of two operations.

2\. The first is that they suffer those pains willingly, and they seem to see that God has shown them great mercy, considering what they deserved and knowing how much God matters. For if His goodness did not temper justice with mercy (satisfying it with the precious blood of Jesus Christ), a single sin would merit a thousand everlasting Hells.

3\. And therefore they suffer this pain so willingly that they would not remove a single carat of it, knowing that they most justly deserve it and that it is well ordained: so that they complain of God (as far as the will is concerned) no more than if they were in eternal life.

4\. The other operation is a contentment which they have in seeing the ordinance of God with the love and mercy that He exercises toward the souls.

5\. These two sights God imprints on those minds in an instant; and because they are in grace, they understand and comprehend them as they are, according to their capacity; and so they give them a great contentment which never fails; rather, it grows in them the more they draw near to God.

6\. And those souls do not see it in themselves, nor for their own sake, but in God; on whom they are far more intent than on the pains they suffer, and whom they esteem far more, beyond all comparison. For every little sight that can be had of God exceeds every pain and every joy that man can conceive: and although it exceeds them, it does not take from them one spark of joy or of pain.

## XIX. The Saint concludes her doctrine on the souls being purified with the application of what she experiences in her own soul.

1\. This purgative form which I see in the souls being purified, I feel within my own mind, especially during these last two years; and every day I feel it and see it more clearly.

2\. I see my soul abiding in this body as in a Purgatory, conformed and made like to the true Purgatory, yet in the measure that the body can bear, so that it does not die, nevertheless ever increasing little by little, until at last it does die.

3\. I see the spirit estranged from all things, even spiritual things, that could give it nourishment, such as joy, delight, or consolation; and it has not the power to savor anything, whether temporal or spiritual, by will, by intellect, or by memory, in such a way that I could say: I am more content with this thing than with that.

4\. My inner self finds itself so besieged that all the things in which spiritual and bodily life once found refreshment have been taken from it little by little; and once they are taken away, it knows them all to have been things on which to feed and take comfort; but as they are recognized by the spirit, they are so hated and abhorred that they all depart beyond remedy.

5\. This is because the spirit has within itself the instinct to strip away everything that impedes its perfection, and with such cruelty that it would almost consent to be cast into Hell in order to attain its end. And so it goes on removing all the things on which the inner man might feed; and it besieges him so subtly that not even the smallest speck of imperfection can pass without being seen and abhorred by it.

6\. As for the exterior part, because the spirit does not respond to it, it too remains so besieged that it finds nothing on earth in which it may refresh itself according to its human instinct. No other comfort remains to it but God, who works all this out of love and with great mercy, to satisfy His justice.

7\. This sight gives it great peace and contentment; yet this contentment does not lessen the pain, nor the siege; nor could any pain be so great as to make it wish to depart from that ordinance of God. It does not leave its prison, nor does it even seek to leave it, until God has done all that is needful. My contentment is that God be satisfied; nor could I find a greater pain than to go outside the ordinance of God, so just do I see it, and attended by such great mercy.

8\. All the things I have spoken of I see and touch, but I cannot find fitting words to express what I would wish to say; and what I have said of them, I feel at work within me spiritually, and that is why I have said it.

9\. The prison in which I seem to myself to be is the world; the bond is the body. And the soul illumined by grace is the one that knows the gravity of being held back or delayed by some impediment from attaining its end; and this gives it great pain, because it is so delicate.

10\. It also receives from God, by grace, a certain dignity which makes it like God Himself; indeed, it makes it one and the same thing with Him through participation in His goodness. And just as it is impossible for God that any pain should befall Him, so it happens to the souls that draw near to Him; and the nearer they draw to Him, the more of His property they receive.

11\. The delay, then, which the soul encounters causes it intolerable pain: the pain and the delay render it unlike those properties which it has by nature and which are shown to it by grace; and unable to possess them, though capable of them, it remains in a pain as great as its esteem of God. The esteem, moreover, is the greater the more it knows; and it knows the more, the more it is without sin; and the impediment becomes the more terrible, especially as the soul remains wholly recollected in God and, being without any impediment, knows without error.

12\. Just as the man who lets himself be killed rather than offend God feels the dying, and it gives him pain, but the light of God gives him a zeal which makes him esteem the divine honor more than bodily death; so the soul, knowing the ordinance of God, esteems that ordinance more than all interior and exterior torments, however terrible they may be; and this because God, for whom this work is done, exceeds everything that can be felt and imagined.

13\. And since the occupation of Himself that God gives to the soul, however slight it may be, holds it so occupied in His Majesty that it can take account of nothing else, it therefore loses all selfhood, nor does it any longer see, speak of, or know harm or pain within itself; but it knows it all, as has been said above, in an instant, when it passes from this life. And finally, in conclusion, we understand that God makes man lose all that is his own, and Purgatory purifies him.