FOR LOVING OUR LADY, TOTAL EXEMPTION FROM PURGATORY
Since 2019, I've striven to post on Our Lady's role in rescuing souls from Purgatory on the last day of November. This year, I'm putting the spotlight on one saintly fellow who gained a total exemption from Purgatory because he relied so completely on the Mother of God.
Blessed Renier of Citeaux was known for his great devotion to Our Lady. But he was panicked at the thought of the pains of Purgatory; at just how badly his sins would cost him. His terror caused him to cast himself at the feet of Our Lady that he be under her protection. Blessed Renier was rewarded with a vision of Our Lady advocating on his behalf with Jesus, "My Son," she cooed, "deal mercifully with him in Purgatory because he humbly repents of his sins." Jesus responded, "My Mother, I place his cause in your hands." Then Blessed Renier was flooded with joy he was given the divine assurance that he'd not go to Purgatory, but would go straight up.
My source for this post was Schouppe's Purgatory, pages 178 - 179. But when I've done internet searches for "Blessed Renier of Citeaux" I've found nothing. This could be an indication of the limits of AI. It can - at times - only give out that which it has been fed and if no data has been collected on Blessed Renier then no mere facsimile of his life can be generated through its search organs. Thus, AI searches, however, can given the impression that Blessed Renier never existed.
My friend, Patrick O'Hearn is always encouraging people to pray to "the blesseds", the ones who are on their way to canonization and need someone to pray to them for a miracle that they may intercede and then be raised to the altars. Maybe the more unknown the blessed, the better, and I'd proffer Blessed Renier as one who can certainly intercede for people who are so panicked (for any reason) that they could potentially fall into despair. He was saved from despair and Purgatory by Our Lady. You can be, too.
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Madonna of the Souls in Purgatory, the classic painting that adorns this post was executed by Battistello Caracciolo.
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The story of The good thief on the side of Jesus who was assured he would be in heaven that day has always generated confusion about the necessity of purgatory And I wish someone could generate a theologically sound reason why the thief was exempt. Thank you Kathleen
ReplyDeleteJesus, during His agony on the Cross, made it completely clear about His eternal stance regarding capital punishment and its potential outcome for the executionee:
DeleteGestas (the "bad" criminal) had mocked Jesus by demanding, if He was truly God, that He come down off the cross and save the two criminals as well.
Jesus: no comment
Dismas: "Have you fear of God, since we are under the same sentence?
Jesus: no comment
Dismas to Jesus: please remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus: "This day, you will be with Me in Paradise"
1) Jesus did not counter Dismas when he said that they were all under the same sentence. That implies that capital punishment, even in the eye's of God, can be just.
2) A just sentence of death for the two criminals was given by a lawful authority which God acknowleged.
3) Had said lawful authority selected an altern option than execution, such a sentence would, by Dismas' own admission, been a long and severe punishment. Most such prisoners died in either incarceration or slavery.
4) Jesus told Dismas that he would be with God in paradise - that very day!
Conclusion: a death sentence, when it concerns a properly disposed soul, wipes all of the sins of the executee, allowing such a soul to bypass purgatory altogether.
I think the sovereignty of God is a good enough theological reason for the exemption granted to St. Dismas, as well as the extraordinary circumstances under which the Wise Thief recognized the Divinity of Christ.
ReplyDeleteActually the quote is "You will be with me in Paradise." This refers to the place of the dead or the underworld where the soul of Jesus went for three days until he rose from the dead. Jesus did not ascend into heaven until after the resurrection or even forty days later at the Ascension. He couldn't have been referring to heaven because he did not go into heaven "this day" but rather at a later time.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteThis comment is cleaned up, to wit:
The fact that you cannot find him on the internet only means you need to look in old books. Our first clue is that Renier can also be spelled as:
Rainier
Rainer
Reiner
Reinier
Reynier
Your second clue is that he is "of Citeaux." Now, is that the Cistercian monastery? I think that is likely.
Our third clue is that there is a 13th century cardinal, who was either a Cistercian, or associated with them, Raniero Cardinal Capocci, a 13th century cardinal who had a devotion to our lady and is buried at Citeaux abbey. He confirmed the founding of the Servites, an order devoted to Mary, and built a church called Santa Maria dei Gradi, both of which can be argued to be evidence, of a sort, that this man had a Marian devotion. The only information about him is in a work from 1644, for which there is little 13th century evidence. However, this man was a cardinal under Pope Innocent III and is not considered to be a blessed.
So, here is a case where the secondary source does not provide a primary source citation. Does that mean the central premise of the story is wrong? No, it does not. It just means we do not have evidence to substantiate the story at this point.
God"s judgement of Dismas is not for you or me critique.
ReplyDelete