Originally arranged as 30 Days for the Holy Souls, this book was written to engrave on the minds and hearts of its readers an indelible understanding of Purgatory: first, that it exists; second, that the souls detained there suffer long and excruciating pains, likely even of the same nature as those of Hell, and thus that they desperately need our prayers, sacrifices, and Mass intentions; and third, that while we are still living, we ourselves should strive mightily to avoid Purgatory.

We read in St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Yet we know that none of us is really perfect and that few human beings die in a state of soul with all their past sins atoned for during life. Most people whose souls are saved, therefore, end up detained for a time in Purgatory. Some reports say that the passage of “time” (though they have passed out of time, in a fashion) in these souls’ perception is slowed to a hundredth or less of what we on earth experience. Thus, the agony and languishing of the Poor Souls often seems almost interminable.

Stories about Purgatory and What They Reveal: 30 Days for the Holy Souls will impress upon your heart a healthy and holy respect for the sufferings endured by the Holy Souls, such that you will ever after remember them in your prayers and Masses. It will teach you also to strive to rectify your own life, that you may avoid Purgatory altogether—or at the very worst, spend very little “time” there before being united to God in Heaven. Belief in Purgatory is truly Catholic and consoling; it is a reality whose truth has been buttressed by many famous true stories, recorded here, of the sufferings undergone by the Poor Souls, plus their gratitude toward and wonderful aid for those who help them.