Purgatory (Lat. purgatorium, from purgo, 'I cleanse') is the name given to a place of purgation, in which, according to the Roman Catholic and Oriental churches, souls after death either are purified from venial sins (peccata venalia) or undergo the temporal punishment which, after the guilt of mortal sin (peccata mortalia) has been remitted, still remains to be endured by the sinner (see ATONEMENT). The ultimate eternal happiness of their souls is supposed to be secured; but they are detained for a time in a state of purgation, in order to be fitted to appear in that Presence into which nothing imperfect can enter. Catholics hold as articles of their faith (1) that there is a purgatory in the sense explained above, and (2) that the souls there detained derive relief from the prayers of the faithful and from the sacrifice of the mass. The scriptural grounds alleged by them in support of this view are 2 Macc. xii. 43-46, Matt. xii. 32, Luke, xii. 48, 1 Cor. iii. 11-15, 1 Cor. xv. 29; as well as certain less decisive indications contained in the language of some of the Psalms. And in all these passages they argue not alone from the words themselves, but from the interpretation of them by the Fathers. The direct testimonies cited by Catholic writers from the Fathers are very numerous, from the days of Clement and Origen down; amongst the Latins Augustine being one of the most important (though at times he speaks doubtfully); in Gregory the Great the doctrine is found in all the fullness of its modern detail. The epitaphs of the catacombs, too, supply Catholic controversialists with some testimonies to the belief of a purgatory, and of the value of the intercessory prayers of the living in obtaining not merely repose, but relief from suffering, for the deceased; and the liturgies of the various rites are still more decisive and circumstantial. Beyond these two points Catholic faith, as defined by the Council of Trent, does not go; and the council expressly prohibits the popular discussion of the 'more difficult and subtle questions, and everything that tends to curiosity, or superstition, or savours of filthy lucre.' As to the existence of purgatory Greek and Latin churches are agreed; and they are further agreed that it is a place of suffering; but, while the Latins commonly hold that this suffering is 'by fire,' the Greeks do not determine the manner of the suffering, but are content to regard it as 'through tribulation.' The decree of union in the Council of Florence (1439) left this point free for discussion. Equally free are the questions as to the situation of purgatory; as to the duration of the purgatorial suffering; as to the probable number of its inmates; as to whether they have, while there detained, a certainty of their ultimate salvation; and whether a 'particular judgment' is passed on every one immediately after death. For Patrick's Purgatory, see DERG (LOUGH).
The mediæval doctrine and practice regarding purgatory were among the leading grounds of the protest of the Waldenses and other sects of that age. The Reformers as a body rejected the doctrine. Protestants generally reply to the arguments of Roman Catholics on the subject of purgatory by refusing to admit the authority of tradition or the testimonies of the Fathers, and at the same time by alleging that most of the passages quoted from the Fathers, as in favour of purgatory, are insufficient to prove that they held any such doctrine as that now held by the Roman Catholic Church, some of them properly relating only to the subject of prayer for the dead (see PRAYER), and others to the doctrine of Limbus (q.v.). That the doctrine of purgatory is the fair development of that which maintains that prayer ought to be made for the dead Protestants generally acknowledge. As to the alleged evidences from Scripture, they are commonly set aside by Protestants as irrelevant or wholly insufficient to support such an inference. The doctrine of purgatory in its historical connection with other eschatological doctrines is touched on in the article HELL.