A PRINCESS IN PURGATORY

St Catherine of Sweden had accompanied her mother, St Bridget of Sweden on a pilgrimage to Rome. T'was the 1300s and such a trip to the eternal city was especially arduous. But even though they were Swedish nobility and had come from affluence, Bridget was an acetic and she mortified her senses so as to sanctify and Catherine was modeling her penitential ways on her mother. 

One day Catherine was in Old St Peter's Basilica, in the era before the artists of the Renaissance made it the place that we know now. While Catherine prayed, a lady came towards her dressed in a white robe and black mantle. The lady asked Catherine for prayers for a person newly dead and she gave one only clue as to the deceased's true identity, that she was Swedish, "It is one of your countrywomen who needs your assistance."

Catherine asked the name of the deceased who needed help. The mysterious woman replied, "It is Princess Gida of Sweden, the wife of your brother Charles." This put Catherine in shock: her brother's wife had died while she was 1,600 miles away from home in Rome. Catherine pleaded with the black-veiled lady to come with her and that together they would break the news to her mother, Bridget. But the lady refused utterly and said laconically, "I am charged with a message for you alone and I am not allowed to make any other visits, for I must depart immediately." The stranger gave this tantalizing foreknowledge, "You have no reason to doubt the truth of this fact, in a few days another messenger will arrive from Sweden, bringing the gold crown of Princess Gida. She has bequeathed it to you by testament, in order to secure the assistance of your prayers." 

To think that a gold coronet was proffered Catherine in exchange for the promise of prayer! The stranger was, however, stern about the need for urgent prayer and charitable self-sacrifices, "But extend to her from this very moment your charitable aid, for she stands in most urgent need of your suffrages." These words spoken, she disappeared. Catherine was in grief at the death of Gida and astounded as to this awkward apparition. 

She rushed back to her mother, Bridget who saw through the apparition's artifice and assured her daughter, Catherine that the veiled lady was, in fact, Gida, "It was your sister-in-law Gida herself that appeared you...She still has to expiate the faults of her youth. Let us both do all in our power to give her relief. The gold crown which she sends you imposes this obligation upon you."

A while later, an officer from the Swedish royal court came to Rome and he had in his possession Gida's gold crown. He thought himself the first to break the bad news of Gida's death to Bridget and Catherine, but they already knew. Instead of wearing the crown, Catherine and Bridget sold it. Instead of keeping the money, they used it to pay for Masses and charitable works done with the aim of speeding Gida's soul through the sparks of Purgatory. 

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This post was informed by Fr Schouppe's Purgatory which you may buy in the Spirit Daily Store. The picture that accompanies this post is of St Catherine of Sweden.