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Museum of Purgatory and the
Immortality of the Spirit |
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In Rome,
outside the
Vatican,
next to the
sacristy of
the Church
of the
Sacred Heart
by Suffrage
of Souls, is
located the
so-called
Purgatory
Museum.
Before it
was
denominated
Christian
Museum of
the Beyond
and it
contained
the first
collection
of evidence
of the
presence of
disincarnated
Spirits,
acting in
the physical
world,
collected by
the Priest
Vitor Jouet,
who left his
physical
life in
1902.
According to
the catholic
conception,
the
documents
collected
and there
exposed
reveal the
presence of
souls of the
Purgatory,
asking for
help to
leave the
place and to
be able to
enter
paradise.
Indeed, such
evidence
shows the
great
presence of
the immortal
spiritual
being,
already
admitted by
many sectors
of the
Clergy, in
spite of
others who
attribute
such
manifestations
under very
special
conditions,
very rarely
and strictly
to the souls
of
Purgatory,
as well as
more voices
that point
that the
devil can
easily be
responsible
for the
phenomenon.
The Priest
Jouet was
able to
gather
numerous
objects with
handprints
printed by
the fire,
which are
part of the
museum's
collection.
One of them
is a piece
of cloth,
already aged
by the
years, in
which you
can see the
image of a
pyro-graphed
hand, on
June 21,
1789, in
Belgium.
According to
the
documentation
of the play,
a spiritual
entity
appeared to
his embodied
son for
eleven
nights,
making
terrifying
noises, and
became
tangible, on
the twelfth
occasion,
when he
called his
son’s
attention
for his
reproachful
deeds, and
afterwards
laid his
hand on the
sleeve of
his son's
shirt,
leaving
there his
mark. It is
said that,
due to what
happened,
the person
was
converted
and founded
a religious
order.
The
Spiritist
Doctrine
explains the
occurrence
of all the
facts
reported,
firstly the
"raps",
spiritual
manifestation
of the
simplest and
most
frequent,
consisting,
according to
"The Book
of Mediums",
in "dry
blows,
sometimes
thumps, weak
and light,
now clear,
distinct,
sometimes
resounding,
changing
places and
repeating
themselves
without any
mechanical
regularity"
("The Book
of Mediums”,
Chapter V -
83)
It is
important to
consider
that, in the
moment that
there is
communication
of the
extra-physical
beings,
constituting
a language,
by strokes
or beats,
one is faced
with the
physical
phenomenon
known as
"Typtology"
- classic in
Spiritism,
the famous
case of the
Fox sisters
in
Hydesville,
in the
United
States in
1848.
Another
issue to
consider is
the
production
of
materialization,
the deceased
becoming
visible,
leaving
engraved on
the son's
shirt the
image of his
hand. As in
the workings
of
materialization
intense
energy is
produced,
the mark
seems to
have been
formed by
burning
fingers in
flames. This
mediumistic
phenomenon
of physical
effects,
called
parapirogenesis,
that is, the
inexplicable
burning of
objects or
people, was
investigated
by Ernesto
Bozzano,
emeritus
professor of
philosophy
of science
at the
University
of Turin and
an Italian
Spiritist
researcher,
disincarnated
in 1943, who
published
the book
"Brands and
Supernormal
Prints of
Hands of
Fire",
translated
by the late
confrere
Francisco
Klors
Werneck and
made
available by
the
Spiritist
e-book.
Worthy of
mentioning
the
enigmatic
Gospel
passage with
the Master
Jesus,
appearing to
Mary
Magdalene,
in the
middle of
the tomb,
newly
materialized,
asking her
not to touch
him. This
very
enigmatic
phrase
corroborates
the
explanation
given
earlier, for
Magdalene
would feel a
vehement
shock if she
put her
hands on Him
(John
20:17). It
is necessary
to emphasize
that,
ignoring the
phenomenon
of
materialization,
the revisers
of the most
recent
editions of
the Bible
substituted
"do not
touch me"
for "do not
stop me".
On November
15, 1887,
when the
Church of
the Sacred
Heart was
only a
chapel,
during a
religious
ceremony, a
fire broke
out on the
altar. The
believers
saw in the
flames the
image of a
face with an
expression
of
suffering.
When the
fire ceased,
a print was
seen of the
face on the
wall behind
the altar.
Another case
of
parapirogenesis
and proof of
the presence
of spiritual
individuality
surviving
death.
For the
Catholic
Church, the
existence of
the
purgatory
state is a
truth of
faith,
established
by the
councils,
emphasizing
that it is a
place where
souls find
themselves
in atonement
and
purification
through
fire, their
venial sins
or grave
errors
forgiven by
confession.
This
emblematic
citation of
fire,
consuming
the souls in
the
so-called
Purgatory,
represents
the
suffering
felt in
Spirit,
already
freed from
the dead
body,
without the
limitation
of the time
proper of
the physical
dimension,
having the
appearance
or illusion
of
indeterminate
time, of
something
that never
seems to end
("eternal
fire"), but
it has its
end, assured
by Jesus,
emphasizing
that this
imprisonment
is
transitory,
because
"verily I
say unto
thee, Thou
shalt not go
forth thence
until thou
payest the
last cent"
(Matthew
5:26).
The Christ
refers to a
prison
represented
by guilt and
the strong
feeling of
remorse,
imprisoning
the
creature,
due to
self-judgment
that takes
place in the
spiritual
intimacy,
remembering
with
suffering of
the steps
taken in the
dark paths
of wrong
actions. The
person’s own
faults are
the bars
that bind
it, living
with the
distress and
despair that
come from
the
accusations
of its own
conscience.
The being
has becomes
a slave of
itself,
responsible
for the
results of
the
unfortunate
conduct
adopted.
The Council
of Trent,
held in the
sixteenth
century,
established
that the
penalty
should be
fulfilled
ephemerally
since
forgiveness
was granted
to guilt.
Who grants
remission
and freedom
to the
being? The
answer is
stated by
the
individual
himself who,
after
becoming
aware of his
guilt,
begins to
experience
remorse,
acknowledging
his mistake
and
repenting of
all the
faults
committed.
However,
there is
still the
payment of
the last
penny, which
will happen
when he
repairs, in
due
reincarnations,
the wrong
caused.
Freedom
shall be
established
when he has
settled his
debts with
his victims,
reimbursing
in a new
situation
all the
suffering
committed,
accepting
his tests or
atonements
and worthy
of
consideration
that "no
merit he
will be
granted if
he is not
reached in
his pride
and in his
material
interests"
(Issue 1000
of "The Book
of
Spirits").
Therefore,
spiritual
distress is
always
fleeting. In
the Parable
of the Rich
and Lazarus,
Jesus
narrates the
anguish of a
disembodied
being that,
in the
physical
world, had
been very
wealthy and,
because of
his
indifference,
experienced
intense
suffering.
The
afflicted
was said to
be tormented
by a flame
(Luke
16:24). This
purifying
fire is not
really
definitive,
since the
patriarch
Abraham
himself,
there,
affectionately
calls him
"son". How
could he
still be
Abraham's
son if he
was
condemned
forever and
ever? Of
course,
being
qualified as
a son, he
was not
hopelessly
lost.
In the work
Our Home,
psycho-graphed
by the loved
and
cherished
Chico
Xavier, the
spiritual
author Andre
Luiz
mentions the
"purifying
fire"
suffered by
the souls
disembodied
in the
so-called
"Threshold",
described as
"a kind of
purgatory
zone,
functioning
as a region
destined to
depletion of
mental
waste, where
the
deteriorated
material of
the
illusions
which the
creature
acquired
wholesale is
burned
slowly,
disregarding
the sublime
opportunity
of an
earthly
existence".
Andre points
out that "if
the task of
the firemen
in the great
earthly
cities is
difficult,
by the
flames and
waves of
smoke that
face them,
the
missionaries
of the
Threshold
encounter
very heavy
fluids
emitted
without
ceasing by
thousands of
unbalanced
minds in the
practice of
evil, or
terribly
plagued in
rectifying
sufferings".
The Mentor
emphasizes
that
"despite the
shadows and
anguish of
the
Threshold,
there has
never lacked
divine
protection
there. Each
Spirit stays
there for as
long as it
takes".
Catholicism
presumed the
existence of
painful
states in
the
Dimension of
the Beyond,
qualifying
them as
Purgatory
and Hell.
The building
of the
Museum of
the Souls of
Purgatory
awakens, in
religious
people or
even
unbelievers,
the
reflection
regarding
Spiritist
themes, such
as the
communication
of the
so-called
dead with
those who
still live
in the
flesh.
The presence
of Jesus,
after His
physical
death,
"preaching
to the
Spirits in
prison"
(1-Epistle
of Peter
3:19),
reveals to
all mankind
that life
continues
beyond life
and that the
so-called
"eternal
hell"
corresponds
to an image
of symbolic
content. It
may be
pointed out
that if
Christ
attended a
spiritual
place to
preach to
those who
would be
eternally
lost, in
truth no one
is condemned
in the
extra-physical
world and
there will
always be
the
opportunity
for
spiritual
redemption,
because to
indoctrinate
someone
already
sentenced
forever has
no purpose
at all.
The Master
undoubtedly
reveals the
transience
of suffering
Beyond-Tomb
and
testifies
that the
Father, Our
Dear God, is
essentially
loving and
merciful,
not
punishing
any of His
children,
always
giving them
the chance
of spiritual
recovery and
of standing,
before the
Infinite, as
"Sons," who
return to
the Divine
Breast
already full
of
scientific
knowledge
and
spiritual
wisdom.
Translation:
Eleni
Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br