Purgatory's Meaning (As Mentioned in Dante's Inferno)

Dante was Catholic, which is evident in his book, The Inferno. How do we know? Well, Dante includes purgatory in The Inferno, which is a Catholic belief (even though it is never really mentioned in The Bible. So, what does the Catholic belief define as Purgatory? Catholics believe that some people who are good people but never knew God go to Purgatory, as well as people who repented at the last possible moment before their deaths go to Purgatory, which is sort of like a temporary version of hell, where you undergo limited amounts of torment for a limited amount of time before you would go to Heaven. Your sentence there could be shortened by sincere prayers for you back on earth. However, The Bible makes a point against purgatory saying that nobody can go to heaven because they are a good person because only God is good (Mark 10:18). Even Jesus said that he wasn't good because only God is good.

Anyways, what was the meaning behind the punishments of purgatory In The Inferno? Well, they weren't to punish you, they were also to purify you. Nobody can enter into heaven without being cleansed, and the punishments would be a way to cleanse you. "Purgatory comes from a Late Latin verb meaning "to cleanse" — purge shares the same root. In Roman Catholic doctrine, souls atoned for past sins in purgatory before entering heaven. In fact, for centuries, purgatory was often regarded as an actual physical place." (Purgatory)

It's interesting to see the deeper meaning behind purgatory, even if you don't believe in it.

Works Cited

"Purgatory." Vocabulary.com, www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Purgatory. Accessed 7 Dec. 2024.