An account given by Reverend Sister Paula, a Dominican

Religious of the Convent of St. Catherine in Naples, was

later confirmed to be true after a similar account had

come from St. Peter Damian who knew nothing about

sister Paula’s account.

According to Paula, certain days have been reserved by

the Queen of Heaven, and Mother of God, the Blessed

Virgin Mary, as days on which to exercise her mercy on

the souls in Purgatory. These are Saturdays (the days

especially consecrated by the church to the Blessed

Virgin), and also all days on which the church celebrates

the various Feasts of the Blessed Virgin. Among such

Feast days, the greatest is the Feast of Assumption. This is

the day the church remembers, and honours God for

sending down His angels to carry the body of His beloved

Mother into heaven. This was to avoid her holy and pure

body suffering the same fate of decay in the soil as that of

other human beings.

Mary, unlike every other human creature, was created

without the stain of original sin which all human race inherited from Adam and Eve (The Immaculate

Conception).

On such feast days, and on every Saturday, Mary,

descends into the dungeons of purgatory to visit and

console her devoted servants and deliver those of them

she has obtained God’s permission to release. She

hastens to deliver those souls who have been very

devoted to her during their life time, and those who have

worn the holy scapular. It has been confirmed that the

greatest number of souls are usually released by her on

the Feast of Assumption of each year. (This feast falls on

15th of August). It appears that the Sweet Mother of

Mercy prefers that as she rejoices with the faithful on

earth and in heaven on the commemoration of her

glorious Assumption into heaven, she also releases

several persons in Purgatory to join in the Celebration.

In her report, Reverend Sister Paula says that being rapt

in ecstasy one Saturday, she was transported in spirit into

Purgatory. She was surprised to find the usual partial

darkness gone, and replaced by a bright light, and

Purgatory thus looked like it was a Paradise. While she

was yet wondering what could be the cause of this

change, she saw the Queen of Heaven, wearing her

magnificent crown, and surrounded by a great number

of angels, to whom she gave orders to liberate those

souls who had honoured her in a special manner and

conduct them to heaven. In his own account, St. Peter

Damian affirms that on the Feast of Assumption every year, the Mother of Mercy releases from Purgatory,

several thousands of souls. It is a common pious practice

among the people of Rome to visit the churches carrying

a candle in hand, during the night preceding the Feast of

Assumption of Our Lady.

Peter Damian relates that on one of such nights in Rome,

a young lady praying in one of the churches, suddenly

noticed that the woman kneeling and praying in front of

her was her God mother by name Marozi, who died

about a year ago. Surprised, and not being able to believe

her eyes, the young lady decided to go out and wait at

the only open entrance to the church to talk to the

woman on her way out.

After a long time, and while she remained waiting at the

door, she noticed that the woman had finished her

prayers and was coming out. As Marozi arrived at the

door, the young lady held her by the hand, and drew her

aside.

“Are you not,” she said to her, “my godmother who

held me at the baptismal font?”

“Yes”, replied the apparition immediately, “it is I”.

“And how comes it that I find you among the living,

since you have been dead more than a year?”.

“Until this day, I have been plunged in a dreadful fire, on

account of the many sins of vanity which I committed in

my youth, but during this great solemnity the Queen of

Heaven descended into the midst of Purgatorial flames and delivered me, together with a large number of other

souls, that we might enter Heaven on the Feast of her

Assumption. She exercises this great act of clemency

each year and on this occasion alone, the number of

those whom she has delivered equals the population of

Rome.”

Seeing that her god-daughter remained stupefied and

seemed still to doubt the whole episode, the apparition

added: “In proof of the truth of my words, know that you

yourself will die a year hence, on the feast of the

Assumption. If you outlive that period, believe that this

was an illusion.”

St. Peter Damian concluded by stating that the young

lady not wishing to take any chances, began to prepare

herself to appear before the judgment seat of God. She

engaged in several exercises of good works and penance;

and exactly on the 15th of August, the following year she

died as the apparition had predicted. As soon as her

death on the Assumption Feast day was announced, all

to whom the young lady had narrated her experience in

the church with her late godmother, believed all she said.

People praised God for permitting the departed souls to

sometimes leave purgatory to come to this world again

and appear to people. Such apparitions have in no small

way helped to make people realize the truth in what the

church teaches about purgatory, Heaven, and Hell.