Prayer to Avoid Purgatory by St. Joseph Cafasso

This Prayer to Avoid Purgatory was written by St. Joseph Caffaso.

Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860) was an Italian priest who actively fought Jansenism and the intrusion of the State into Church affairs (something we’re battling today).

Even though he had a deformed spine, he became a wonderful professor of moral theology.

A friend of St. Dom Bosco, he worked to improve the conditions of prisoners.  In fact, he was called “priest of the gallows” because he had a talent of being able to extract confessions from death row inmates.  

It is important for us to remember that although, difficult, it is not impossible to avoid purgatory. 

Is it Really Possible to Avoid Purgatory?

The only way we can avoid purgatory is if we try to do our best to live a penitential life, in union with God.  Who wouldn’t want that?

The reason why we have to pass through Purgatory after death is that we have committed sins and have not made satisfaction for them. Every individual sin must be expiated–in this life or the next! Not even the slightest shadow of sin or evil can enter the all-holy presence of God.

“The graver, the more frequent the sins, the longer will be the period of expiation and the more intense the pain.

It is not God’s fault, nor God’s wish, that we go to Purgatory! The fault is all our own.

We have sinned and have not made satisfaction.

Even after our sin, God, in His infinite goodness, places at our disposal many easy and efficacious means by which we may considerably lessen our term of expiation, or even entirely cancel it.

~Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, How to Avoid Purgatory

Pray this prayer to avoid purgatory, as a daily reminder to stay in the state of grace and to live a life, focused on Christ, and hopefully attain heaven!

Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints

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Prayer to Avoid Purgatory

O my sweet Jesus, in addition to the many graces which Thou hast conferred on me in the course of my life, I ask Thee for this further one: when my soul shall have departed from this world, not only that it not be condemned to Hell, but that it shall not be compelled to remain away from Thee for even a moment in Purgatory. It is true that I am a debtor to Divine Justice, but I hope to pay all my debts from the infinite merits of Thy Passion and Death.

​O Heaven, holy city of my God, my dear native land! Oh, how I sigh for thee! O happy day when I shall reach thee! O Heaven, my dear Heaven, come quicky and satisfy the desires of a wretched heart that sighs for thee!

My God, I accept whatever kind of death it may please Thee to send me, with all the terrors, all the pains, all the sufferings that shall justly accompany it. Finally, I pray Thee to accept the destruction of my body as the last act of homage that I can offer to Thy Supreme Divine Majesty, in satisfaction for the offenses committed in the course of my life.

O Mary, I ask thee for one more grace: Obtain from thy Divine Son that I may die, but that I may die with thee, and that I may fly to Heaven along with thee. O merciful Mother, grant that when my soul is liberated from this wretched body I may go immediately to find thee in Heaven, there to commence that life which will be my occupation for all eternity.

Requiem aeternam dona mihi, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat mihi. Requiescam in pace.

Amen.

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Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory

Recommended Books on Purgatory

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• Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory
• On Purgatory: The Members of the Church Suffering (De Controversiis)
• Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints
• Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (with Supplemental Reading: A Brief Life of Christ) [Illustrated]
• The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by Fr Charles Arminjon

See Also

Purgatory Index

Ten Ways To Bring Relief to the Poor Souls In Purgatory