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From Augustine to Gregory the Great: an Evaluation of the Emergence of the Doctrine of Purgatory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

R. R. Atwell
R. R. Atwell
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Cambridge CB2 1TQ
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Extract

‘Almost everything in him has its roots in Augustine and yet almost nothing is genuinely Augustinian.’ The words are those of Reinhold Seeberg and the subject of the appraisal Gregory the Great (540–90). It is an observation that has a particular validity when applied to Gregory's adaptation of Augustine's material in his doctrine of Purgatory, which is the subject of this article. In his thought about life after death, Gregory adopted Augustine's theological framework at almost every point. Dogmatic questions such as: ‘At or after death, do the redeemed people of God, other than martyrs, need purification to make them fit for the love and presence of their holy Creator and Judge?’; ‘Does prayer for the dead relate to this growth?’; or ‘Is the life-to-come static?’; and ‘How should St Paul's more obscure statements in his First Letter to the Corinthians concerning salvation “yet so as by fire” be interpreted?’ were questions that Augustine had himself inherited and explored with diligence and real coherence. In large measure, Gregory was content to adopt Augustine's solutions. But in matters of detail Gregory departed from his great forebear, and then, significantly, it was to ‘firm-up’ some of Augustine's more cautious pronouncements particularly about the possibility of purgative suffering in the afterlife. In the celebrated phrase of B. J. Kidd, Gregory ‘erected speculation into a certainty’.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 173 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

1 Seeberg, Reinhold, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte, 4th rev. edn, Basle 1953, iii. 45.Google Scholar

2 Kidd, B. J., quoted by May, G. Lacey, ‘Dual attitucle to death’, Church Quarterly Review dv (1954), 264.Google Scholar

3 Vincent of Lérins, Commonitorium, 2, 3.

4 De anima xxxv.

5 Stromateis iv. 24, vii. 6, 10.

6 Epiphanius, Haer., 75.

7 ‘Hoc enim a patribus traditum, universa observat Ecclesia, ut pro eis qui in corporis et sanguinis Christi communione defuncti sunt, cum ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorantur, oretur, ac pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur.’ Sermo clxxii. 2, PL xxxviii. 936.

8 ‘Quia enim non malitia, sedignorantiaeerrorepeccaverat.’ Dial. iv. 42, SCcclxv. 152.

9 ‘Nunc pro peccatis matris meae deprecor te: exaudi me per medicinam vulnerum nostrorum, quae pependit in ligno et sedens ad dexteram tuam te interpellat pro nobis. Scio misericorditer operatam et ex corde dimisisse debita debitoribus suis: dimitte et tu illi debita sua, si qua etiam contraxit per tot annos post aquam salutis. Dimitte, domine, dimitte, obsecro, ne intres cum ea in iudicium…sed tantummodo memoriam sui ad altare tuum fieri desideravit, cui nullius diei praetermissione servierat, unde sciret dispensari victimam sanctam…Ad cuius pretii nostri sacramentum ligavit ancilla tua animam suam vinculo fidei. Nemo a protectione tua dirrumpat earn. Non se interponat nee vi nee insidiis leo et draco: neque enim respondebit ilia nihil se debere, ne convincatur et obtineatur ab accusatore callido, sed respondebit dimissa debita sua ab eo, cui nemo reddet quod pro nobis non debens reddidit.’ Augustine, Conf. ix. 13, 35–6; cf. 837: ‘ut quotquot haec legerint, meminerint ad altare tuum Monnicae, famulae tuae, cum Patricio, quondam eius coniuge…’ CSEL xxxiii. 223ff.

10 For a fuller discussion see R. Atwell, ‘Aspects in St Augustine of Hippo's thought and spirituality concerning the state of the faithful departed, 354–430’, The End of Strife, ed. Loades, David, Edinburgh 1984, 3–13.Google Scholar

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13 Conf. vii. 3.

14 ‘Quocirca hie omne meritum comparatur quo possit post hanc vitam relevari quispiam vel gravari. Nemo autem se speret quod hie neglexerit, cum obierit apud dominum promereri.’ Enchiridion xxix. no, CC xlvi. 108.

15 ‘Sed tamen de quibusdam levibus culpis esse ante iudicium purgatorius ignis credendus est.’ Dial. iv. 41, SC cclxv. 148.

16 ‘Quamvis hoc de igne tribulationis in hac nobis vita adhibito possit intellegi, tamen si quis haec de igne futurae purgationis accipiat, pensandum sollicite est quia ilium dixit per ignem posse salvari, non qui super hoc fundamentum ferrum, aes vel plumbum aedificat, id est peccata maiora et idcirco duriora atque tune iam insolubilia, sed ligna, foenum, stipulam, id est peccata minima atque levissima, quae ignis facile consumat. Hoc tamen sciendum est quia illic saltern de minimis nil quisque purgationis obtinebit, nisi bonis hoc actibus, in hac adhuc vita positus, ut illic obtineat promereatur.’ Dial. iv. 41, SC cclxv. 150.

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19 ‘Hos ergo, fratres carissimi, in causa vestri examinis, quam cum districto iudice habentis, patronos facite, hos in die tanti terroris illius defensores adhibete. Certe si apud quendam magnum iudicem causa quaelibet vestra esset die crastino ventilanda, totus hodiernus dies in cogitatione duceretur, patronum vestra fraternitas quaereret, magis precibus ageret ut apud tantum iudicem sibi defensor veniret. Ecce districtus iudex Iesus venturus est, tanti illius archangelorumque concilii terror adhibetur. In illo conventu causa nostra discutitur, et tamen nos patronos modo non quaerimus, quos tune defensores habeamus. Adsunt defensores nostri sancti martyres, rogari volunt, atque ut ita dixerirn, quaerunt, ut quaerantur. Hos ergo adiutores vestrae orationis quaerite, hos protectores vestri reatus invenite, quia ne punire peccatores debeat, rogari vult et ipse qui iudicat.’ Horn, in Eu. xxxii. 8, PL lxxvi. 1238. Cf. Augustine, In evang. loan. Tr. lxxxiv. 1; Serm. eclxxxv. 5.

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21 Clement of Alexandria, Stromaleis iv. 24, vii. 6, 10; Origen, De oratione xiv. 6; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis Mystagogicae v. 9.

22 Didascalia, Anaphora of SS Adai and Mari; Sacramentary of Serapion.

23 ‘Singulariter namque ad absolutionem nostram oblata cum lacrymis et benignitate mentis sacri altaris hostia suffragatur, quia is qui in se resurgens a mortuis iam non moritur, adhuc per hanc in suo mysterio pro nobis iterum patitur. Nam quoties ei hostiam suae passionis offerimus, toties nobis ad absolutionem nostram passionem illius reparamus.’ Horn, in Eu. xxxvii. 7, PL lxxvi. 1279.

24 Si culpae post mortem insolubiles non sunt, multum solet animas etiam post mortem sacra oblatio hostiae salutaris adiuvare, ita ut hoc nonnunquam ipsae defunctorum animae videantur expetere.' Dial. iv. 57, SC cclxv. 184.

25 Dial. iv. 42, SC cclxv. 150.

26 Ps- xix. 12.

27 Dial. iv. 57, S C cclxv. 184.

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