Purgatory and limbo

Use in the book

In the discussion of hauntings, Thyraeus supplies three alternatives: devils, damned souls seeking revenge, or souls from purgatory seeking relief. The different motives matter. Relief belongs to the purgatorial souls, revenge to the damned; Burton reports the Jesuit’s account beside examples attributed chiefly to Luther. A taxonomy borrowed for the anthology is not an unqualified profession of its doctrines.

The aerial digression turns otherworldly geography into speculative travel. The narrator would descend with classical visitors to the underworld, entering at St Patrick’s Purgatory, Trophonius’s cave or a volcano, in order to examine the earth’s interior. Later he asks whether the supposed region is hell, purgatory, the limbo of the fathers or “Ignatius parler.” The joke about men who have made maps follows a report that others reject such local proofs as fables or illusions. The alternatives remain questions, not the narrator’s geographical discoveries.

Elsewhere purgatory supplies both a threat and the promise of release. Burton alleges that wealthy offenders can buy pardons and redeem themselves even from hell; he also makes fear of the afterlife one possible inducement to a reluctant benefactor. That latter argument retains its conditions: the donor must be receptive to religion, the response is only likely, and Burton then explicitly recognizes many sincerely charitable people. In the religious partition, named regions become objects of hope and fear, while Lavater’s exclamation calls purgatory a tormenting invention. These passages concern the uses of belief as Burton portrays them, not one uniform account of the soul’s fate.

His “subterranean Geography” gathers purgatory and the two limbos into an accusation that popes built dominion and wealth through human traditions. Naming them together does not remove their differences. Near the account of despair he again alleges terror through purgatorial tales, then abruptly argues sarcastically that abundant pardons and “gaol-deliveries” should make Catholic despair impossible. Prison release is the local image; the sweeping inference is part of the polemic. The intervening turn criticizes “our” indiscreet pastors too for terrifying teaching about election and reprobation, so the account of religious fear is not confined to Catholics. The later sarcastic sequence ends by accusing spiritual advisers of tightening and loosening consciences for their own advantage.

Vision literature provides another use. Sir Owen’s descent into Saint Patrick’s Purgatory is placed beside the monk of Evesham’s sight of heaven and hell among experiences Burton says may be attributed to melancholy. A later narrative attributed to “Carolus Magnus,” with the impossible date “An.185,” names heaven and hell in the body but purgatory in the original margin. The edition offers a possible Charles/885 parallel without treating it as a licence to repair Burton’s name, date or destination.

The marriage satire brings the region down to everyday life. Courting lovers think themselves in heaven; once confined, “some of us” are in a purgatory, “if not hell it self.” Both the limited some and the escalation to hell matter. The passage develops images of cages and traps, but subsequently calls its comic violence comic and says that marriage itself can be an honourable, happy estate when the spouses agree.

Related entries

Soul; Fear; Despair; Religious melancholy; Ecstasy; Marriage. Indulgences and pardons follows the vocabulary of remission and its alleged price.

Cosmography and chorography, especially its subterranean geography discussion, considers the mapping metaphor alongside other forms of geographical description.

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 10–12; Note 514; Subsection 2 A Digression on the Nature of Spirits Evil Angels or Devils and How They Cause Melancholy · paragraphs 21–24; Subsection 6 Poverty and Want as Causes of Melancholy · paragraphs 36–40the marginal catalogue; apparition alternatives; wealth and supposed redemption.
2. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 8–10, 18–25; Member 3 Charity Combining All Three Kinds of Love Pleasant Profitable and Honourable · paragraphs 15–21; By Counsel and Persuasion, the Foulness of the Deed, the Faults of Men and Women, the Miseries of Marriage, the Consequences of Lust, and So Forth · paragraphs 31–44imagined descents and maps; the donor’s motives and sincere-charity exception; marriage as confinement.
3. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraphs 10, 35–38; Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraphs 14–23; General Symptoms: Love of Their Own Sect; Hatred of All Other Religions; Obstinacy and Ill Temper; Readiness to Undergo Any Danger or Adversity for It; Martyrs; Blind Zeal and Blind Obedience; Fasts and Vows; Belief in Incredible and Impossible Things. Particular Symptoms Among Pagans, Muslims, Jews and Christians; and Among Christians, Heretics Old and New, Schismatics, Scholastic Theologians, Prophets, Enthusiasts and So On · paragraphs 34–37; Causes of Despair: The Devil, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Harsh Ministers, Misunderstanding Scripture, Guilty Consciences, and So On · paragraphs 35–38; Causes of Despair: The Devil, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Harsh Ministers, Misunderstanding Scripture, Guilty Consciences, and So On · paragraphs 14–19hope, fear and Lavater’s complaint; visionary destinations; papal “geography”; renewed terror and mock release.

In this edition

“Limbus patrum” becomes “the limbo of the fathers.” In “Limbus Patrum, Infantum,” the second Latin genitive means “of infants,” with limbus understood; the modern column makes that shared construction easier to read. It does not make Infantum alone mean the whole phrase “limbo of infants.” “Gaol-deliveries out of Purgatory” becomes “releases from the prison of purgatory,” exposing the prison metaphor. In the marital figure, the modern moves “some of us” to the front but preserves the limitation.

The margin’s purgatoriis is translated “purgatories,” and its de purgatorio “of purgatory.” These are translations of original quoted marginal Latin, not new words in Burton’s paired English body. At the disputed vision, the modern body continues to say heaven and hell while the marginal translation continues to say purgatory. Keeping both prevents an attractive but unsupported harmonization.

purgatory: post-mortem purification

A state of purification after death in the Catholic teaching referred to by the edition; in Burton it is reported, satirized or attacked, and distinguished from hell and the two limbos.

Grammar: English noun, singular Purgatory/purgatory and polemical plural Purgatories.

Original text: “souls out of Purgatory that seek ease”. In the modern column: “souls from purgatory seeking relief”. Purgatory is the source of one proposed class of haunting souls, distinguished from the damned seeking revenge. Thyraeus will have them to be: a reported set of alternatives, not Burton’s unqualified identification. Out of becomes from; seek ease becomes seeking relief. The place name contributes purgatory, not the whole soul construction. Complementary earlier route: Soul. Shared attestation: Soul explains the souls; this record explains the distinct post-mortem state named as their alleged origin.

Original text: “redeem their souls from Purgatory and Hell it self”. In the modern column: “redeem their souls from purgatory and hell itself”. The religious states are objects of an accusation that money can buy exemption from every consequence. Burton’s satire of wealthy impunity, not a statement that Catholic indulgences purchase release from hell. Purgatory corresponds to purgatory; and Hell it self remains a separate escalated claim.

Original text: “save his soul out of hell, and free it from Purgatory (if he be of any religion)”. In the modern column: “save his soul from hell and free it from purgatory—if he has any religion”. Release from purgatory supplies a claimed incentive for a reluctant donor. Burton attacks motives; peradventure and in all likelihood are predictions, not guarantees. At 112-21 he expressly allows many sincere benefactors. Hell and purgatory remain separate objects; the conditional religious receptiveness is retained. Complementary earlier route: Religion and superstition. Shared donor passage: Religion and superstition explains the condition of receptiveness and sincere-charity exception.

Original text: “reward and punishment, Purgatory, Limbus Patrum”. In the modern column: “reward and punishment, purgatory, the limbo of the fathers”. A named afterlife state becomes an object of hope and fear in the alleged machinery of religious control. Burton attributes exploitation to the Devil and his alleged ministers in a Protestant polemic. Purgatory remains purgatory; limbo is another item, not its translation. Complementary earlier route: Fear. Shared passage: Fear explains the siege-engine metaphor; the present entry distinguishes its named otherworldly objects.

Original text: “Deus bone (Lavater exclaimes) quot hoc commentum de purgatorio miserè afflixit! good God, how many men have been miserably afflicted by this fiction of purgatory!” In the modern column: ‘“Good God,” Lavater exclaims, “how many people this invention of purgatory has miserably tormented!” Good God, how many people have been miserably afflicted by this fiction of purgatory!’ Burton follows Lavater’s Latin exclamation with his own English condemnation of the supposed affliction. Lavater is the explicitly named speaker of the Latin; Burton echoes him in English. Fiction and invention express their rejection. The final original English purgatory aligns with the final modern English purgatory; the preceding translated Latin is a separate clause.

Original text: “Purgatory, Limbus Patrum, Infantum, and all that subterranean Geography”. In the modern column: ‘purgatory, “the limbo of the Fathers and of infants,” and all that subterranean geography’. Purgatory is one member of an asserted papal system of otherworldly regions. The preceding who refers to popes: enrichment and political dominion are Burton’s alleged motives, not an established history of doctrinal origins. The named regions remain distinct within the hostile geographical collective.

Original text: “Popes pardons, Purgatories, Masses, impossibilities”. In the modern column: “papal pardons, purgatories, masses, impossibilities”. The plural names the doctrine or imagined purgatorial regions as items in a hostile catalogue. The alternatives either idleness or defence of lies are Burton’s charges against churchmen; impossibilities is his classification. Purgatories becomes purgatories without converting the plural into distinct independently described Catholic doctrines.

Original text: “to terrifie mens souls with purgatory, tales, visions, apparitions”. In the modern column: “terrify people’s souls with purgatory, tales, visions and apparitions”. Purgatory belongs to the reported terrors said to overwhelm even noble minds. Burton’s anti-Catholic allegation; the Brenz-attributed hypocrisy charge follows, and does not turn the whole paragraph into a neutral observation. At 164-38 Burton turns to our indiscreet pastors too. With marks the alleged means of frightening; purgatory itself is not a living agent. Complementary earlier route: Generous. Shared source: Generous explains noble spirits in this accusation; this record explains the threatening afterlife term.

purgatorium

Purgatory, represented as a region or state after death; the quoted Latin forms occur in lists, an apparition classification and polemical or visionary constructions.

Grammar: Latin neuter noun; purgatoriis is ablative plural after de in the larger catalogue; purgatorio is ablative singular after è or de.

Original margin: “simulachris, missis, purgatoriis”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “images, Masses, purgatories”. The plural is part of Bale’s hostile list of religious objects, rites and beliefs quoted in Burton’s margin. Bale as quoted by Burton, within the hypothetical survey of what Democritus would see. The note’s Translation and Explanation are supplied editorial text. Only purgatoriis is aligned to purgatories; adjacent images and Masses belong to other Latin nouns. Complementary earlier route: Simulacra. Shared original marginal construction: Simulacra explains simulachris; purgatoriis is the distinct adjacent noun.

Original margin: “Vel spiritus sunt hujusmodi damnatorum, vel è purgatorio, vel ipsi dæmones”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “Spirits of this kind are either of the damned, or from purgatory, or demons themselves”. The marginal alternative distinguishes spirits from purgatory from damned souls and demons. Attributed Thyraeus passage; original marginal Latin and its supplied English translation are kept separate from the paired body. È purgatorio corresponds only to from purgatory, not the entire three-part alternative.

Original text: “quot hoc commentum de purgatorio miserè afflixit”. In the modern column: “how many people this invention of purgatory has miserably tormented”. Purgatory is the subject-matter of the invention Lavater condemns. Latin quotation attributed to Lavater; Burton’s following English is a separate restatement. De purgatorio means of purgatory; people is supplied as the English object understood with quot.

Original margin: “post seriam meditationem in vigilia diei dominicæ visionem habuit de purgatorio”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “after earnest meditation on the eve of the Lord’s day, he had a vision of purgatory”. The original marginal destination is purgatory, whereas the body says heaven and hell. The margin does not resolve the body’s impossible An.185 or Carolus Magnus attribution. The edition proposes a Charles/885 parallel without silently repairing Burton. De purgatorio becomes of purgatory, not heaven and hell from the body. Complementary earlier route: Ecstasy. Shared vision episode: Ecstasy preserves the suspect body date and different destinations; this record attests the distinct original marginal noun.

limbus patrum

The traditional abode of righteous people who died before Christ and awaited his redemption, distinguished here from purgatory and from the proposed limbo of infants.

Grammar: Latin phrase: limbus is nominative singular masculine; patrum is genitive plural, of the fathers.

Access scope (patrum): Genitive plural, of the fathers: identifies the occupants in limbus patrum, not the whole meaning of limbo.

Access scope (Patrum): Printed capitalized genitive plural, of the fathers: identifies the occupants in Limbus Patrum.

Access scope (of the fathers): Genitive occupants clause in limbo of the fathers, not the whole meaning of limbo.

Original text: “or Limbus patrum, as Gallucius will, & as Rusca will (for they have made maps of it)”. In the modern column: “or the limbo of the fathers, as Gallucius and Rusca maintain—for they have made maps of it”. The abode assigned to righteous pre-Christian dead is proposed as one alternative in a satirical geographical question. Interrogative, not an assertion that the narrator visited or located the region; the preceding paragraph reports rejection of such local proofs. Limbus patrum becomes the limbo of the fathers; as... will attributes the position to named authorities.

Original text: “Purgatory, Limbus Patrum”. In the modern column: “purgatory, the limbo of the fathers”. The traditional abode enters the named objects of manipulated hope and fear. Burton places this belief in a hostile account of religious control. Patrum is of the fathers; it does not mean a purgation of those souls. Complementary earlier route: Fear. Shared fear passage; complementary identification of one named otherworldly region.

Original text: “Limbus Patrum, Infantum”. In the modern column: “the limbo of the Fathers and of infants”. The first of two limbos in the list is distinguished by the genitive of the fathers. The edition’s definition is editorial explanation; Burton lists the terms while alleging papal invention. Limbus Patrum corresponds to the limbo of the Fathers; the following Infantum supplies another genitive with Limbus understood.

limbus infantum

The proposed state of infants dying without baptism, named elliptically after limbus patrum in Burton’s list.

Grammar: Latin noun phrase supplied by ellipsis: printed Infantum is genitive plural, of infants; Limbus is understood from the preceding phrase.

Original text: “Limbus Patrum, Infantum”. In the modern column: “the limbo of the Fathers and of infants”. A second class of occupants differentiates this limbo from that of the fathers. An accompanying note supplies the explanatory definition; the body’s charge of papal invention remains polemical. Infantum contributes of infants only. The full phrase limbus infantum is a normalized retrieval expansion, not continuously printed body wording.

St Patrick’s Purgatory

A named place represented in descent and vision traditions as an entrance to the other world; used in speculative travel and the reported story of Sir Owen.

Grammar: English proper-name phrase, with printed St./Saint and Patricks/Patrickes.

Original text: “at St. Patricks Purgatory, at Trophonius den, Hecla in Island, Ætna in Sicily”. In the modern column: “at St Patrick’s Purgatory, Trophonius’s cave, Hekla in Iceland, or Etna in Sicily”. A named legendary entrance to the other world is imagined as a point of descent in the aerial digression. I would have is a speculative wish; classical travellers and volcanoes are gathered with the legendary site, not certified as equivalent real entrances. St. Patricks becomes St Patrick’s; Purgatory remains part of the proper name, not a general state assigned to all souls.

Original text: “Sir Owen, that went down into Saint Patrickes purgatory in King Stephens dayes, and saw as much”. In the modern column: “Sir Owen, who went down into Saint Patrick’s Purgatory in King Stephen’s days and saw as much”. Sir Owen’s reported descent belongs to medieval vision literature and is grouped with the monk of Evesham’s visions. Matthew Paris is the cited reporter. Burton says such accounts may be attributed to melancholy, not that the journey has been historically verified. The name is normalized; saw as much carries forward the heaven-and-hell vision just mentioned. Complementary earlier route: Religious melancholy. Shared episode: Religious melancholy explains may be referred to melancholy; this record identifies the named descent site.

purgatory: figurative misery

A tormenting condition of life, here marriage imagined as confinement and suffering rather than a literal location after death.

Grammar: English common noun with indefinite article in a figurative predicative construction.

Original text: “we are in a purgatory some of us, if not hell it self”. In the modern column: “some of us are in purgatory, if not hell itself”. The loss of a wooer’s liberty becomes purgatory, with hell as an intensified alternative. The plural satirical voice is limited to some; later the narrator calls the comic violence comic, and allows marriage itself to be happy when spouses agree. The modern moves some of us to the front and omits the indefinite article; the limited some and escalatory if not are retained. Complementary earlier route: Marriage. Shared anti-marriage sequence: Marriage preserves the conditional farewell to wiving and the subsequent qualification; this is its distinct purgatory metaphor.

gaol-deliveries out of purgatory

Releases from purgatory figured as discharges from prison, in Burton’s sarcastic account of pardons and religious observances.

Grammar: English plural compound noun gaol-deliveries with out of plus the named place.

For subterranean Geography, see Cosmography and chorography.

Original text: “so frequent gaol-deliveries out of Purgatory for all souls, now living, or after dissolution of the body”. In the modern column: “such frequent releases from the prison of purgatory for all souls, whether now living or after the body’s dissolution”. Prison-release imagery makes the alleged abundance and accessibility of remission concrete. Read with the sarcastic denial of despair at 165-14 and clerical-manipulation conclusion at 165-19; this is not a verified universal offer. Gaol-deliveries contributes releases from the prison; out of Purgatory fixes the mock prison’s identity. All souls and the temporal alternatives remain Burton’s sweeping language. Complementary earlier route: Despair. Shared argument: Despair identifies the sarcasm and its scope; this record explains its prison-release figure.