30 Days for the Holy Souls compiled by an Ursuline Nun of Sligo, Ireland

Goodreads: 30 Days for the Holy Souls: Stories about Purgatory and What They Reveal

Series: None

Publication Date: Aug. 1, 2005

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: This book was written to give readers an indelible understanding about Purgatory--first, that it exists; second, that the souls detained there suffer long, excruciating pains, just like those of Hell, and thus that they need our prayers, suffrages and Mass intentions; and finally, that while we are still living, we should strive to avoid Purgatory.

Review:  30 Days for the Holy Souls is divided, as one would surmise, into thirty sections that the reader is intended to read individually for a month, thus taking four weeks to focus on the souls suffering in Purgatory.  The book in facts assumes the reader will begin in November and refers to that month several times, which is logical but also seems somewhat restrictive for those who read it at a different time.

The average section has about three parts: an introduction, a reflection or prayer, and a story about Purgatory (such as visions the living received from those recently died and in Purgatory).  This is somewhat surprising, as the title suggests the book is primarily story-based, but it does provide good points of meditation for the reader.  The parts of each section do not always seem related either, which is puzzling, but each still has its individual merit.

The book as a whole was interesting, but may or may not have its desired effects, depending on the reader.  I certainly developed a greater passion for praying for souls in Purgatory, as their suffering and their need was made abundantly clear.  I am not sure how much I was inspired to live a better life in order to avoid those same sufferings myself.  Rather, the stories were sometimes a little too frightening; very holy men would appear to their friends or religious brothers and explain that they were condemned to intense agony for long years because they had done something “trivial” such as being negligent during some of their prayers or preferring a candidate for pope who was not selected.  My immediate reaction was not to pray more fervently, but to be worried every time I prayed that I was in some way doing it wrong!  And to be terrified about what would happen to me if all these good and devout men were suffering so greatly. In short, I could not read this book in the expected thirty days because I kept stopping out of terror.  Reading it at night was also a bad idea.

Unfortunately, though I know it was not the intention, the book came across as a bit of scare tactic to get me to behave better, and I was not a fan of the approach.  I still have a greater affection for the souls in Purgatory and I am grateful for the appendix of prayers and the comfort offered by visions who claimed these prayers helped, but I will not be reading this book or a similar one anytime soon.