Purgatory
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Purgatory, according to the Catholic dogma, is the state of a soul being between Heaven and Hell. In this state the soul must pay penance for venial or forgivable sins that were not repented for during life. Jugie says, "according to this teaching, the soul immediately after death, goes to Heaven, or to Hell, or to Purgatory, according to the nature of its relations with God at the precise moment of death"(1). The soul is kept in this state until all sins are purged. Though the souls in Purgatory are rejoicing because salvation is theirs, there must be punishment or chastisement for the sins they may well have had time to repent for. Purgatory made the time before death more important; it may have been too late to go straight to Heaven, but salvation and eternal life were still attainable through this state. One of the greatest writings that documented Purgatory was Dante's account, Purgatorio. In this book, Purgatory is a mix of his accounts of Heaven and Hell.
The belief in Purgatory, researched by Jugie, originated in the Latin Church in the eleventh century (2). Believing in Purgatory first means there must be a belief in immortality and being resurrected and also that a person can actually achieve immortality...