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 The Mind of a Saint & The Pains of Hell


Presented here is a short introduction to a Saint that was canonized in 
1950 under Pope Pius XII. Saint Antonio María Claret y Clará, commonly 
known to the English speaking world as St. Anthony Mary Claret, 
accomplished surprisingly much in his 35 years as a priest, and saw as his 
primary work the giving of missions for the laity..
This composition is comprised of three parts:

I. Outline of the Accomplishments of St. Anthony Mary Claret
II. Description of a "Mission" - excerpts from the Catholic Encyclopedia 
(1913)
III. A meditation written by St. Anthony Claret used for a mission or retreat

The last is most importantly included because of its practical value. 
Most Catholics are unfamiliar with a parochial mission and the Spiritual 
Exercises of St. Ignatius so often used for them. St. Anthony Claret 
explains the 6th meditation (on the Pains of Hell) out of 35 from these 
Spiritual Exercises. Such an exercise is comprised of truths to meditate 
upon, affective acts to make in prayer in association with these truths, 
and resolutions which should be made based upon these beliefs and affective 

acts. Such a method has been a proven means to guide us to sanctity. This 
meditation on the Pains of Hell, written by a Saint, shows us his mind and 
heart. What better way to become a Saint than to make his very mind and 
heart our own?
It is encouraged that all people, young and old, try to set apart some 
time to make this exercise in private, while placing themselves in the 
presence of God. It is unfortunate that people are so quick to give time to 
entertainment and recreation, but finds it so difficult to give a fraction 
of that time to their own soul either under the pretext that they "do not 
have the time" to give, or else find the subject matter too "negative"..

________________________________________________________
I. St. Anthony Mary Claret - Spanish prelate and missionary

LIFE:
-Born at Sallent, near Barcelona, 23 December, 1807..
-Ordained on 13 June, 1835..
-Benefice in his native parish, where he continued to study theology until 
1839..
-Ministry at Valadrau and Gerona, Spain, attracting notice by his efforts 
on behalf of the poor..
-Recalled by his superiors to Vich, - engaged in missionary work throughout 
Catalonia..
-Canary Islands where he gave retreats for fifteen months (1848)
-At Vich - established the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the 
Immaculate Heart of Mary (16 July, 1849)
-Founded the great religious library at Barcelona which bears his name
-Pius IX (at the request of the Spanish sovereign) appointed him Archbishop 
of Santiago de Cuba in 1851..
-6 years & 2 months as Archbishop of Santiago in Cuba
over 9,000 marriages validated within the first two years..
visited every parish in his diocese 3 times giving a mission in each..
erected a hospital and numerous schools..
confirmed over 300,000..
walked everywhere he went even from town to town..
at least 15 attempts made on his life..
-February, 1857, he was recalled to Spain by Isabella II, who made him her 
confessor..
-Obtained permission to resign his see and was appointed to the titular see 
of Trajanopolis..
-Died at Fontfroide, Narbonne, France, on 24 October, 1870
-Relics were transferred to the mission house at Vich in 1897, at which 
time his heart was found incorrupt..
-Declared Venerable by Leo XIII in 1899..

GENERAL FACTS:
-Founded or drew up the rules of several communities of nuns..
-Wrote 144 books. (amounts to 4 books a year)..
-Preached an estimated 25,000 sermons (amounts to 2 sermons each day, for 
35 years)..
-Heard confessions as much as 15 hours a day on occasion..

________________________________________________________
II. Catholic Parochial Missions

"This term is used to designate certain special exertions of the Church's 
pastoral agencies, made, for the most part, among Catholics, to instruct 
them more fully in the truths of their religion, to convert sinners, rouse 
the torpid and indifferent, and lift the good to a still higher plane of 
spiritual effort."

"...these home missions are known in some communities of English-speaking 
Catholics as "parochial missions". Such missions usually consist of a 
systematic course of preaching and instruction, extending over a stated 
number of days, performed by authorized missionaries."

"These missions are for the laity what retreats are for the clergy and 
religious communities. In fact they are an adaptation to the needs and 
capacities of the faithful of the spiritual exercises long traditional in 
the Church, and made use of especially during the Ages of Faith when people 
were in the habit of retiring to monasteries to devote themselves for a 
certain period of time to that renewal in the spirit of their mind, which 
the Apostle recommends: "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put 
on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of 
truth" (Eph., iv, 23, 24). In view, then, of the many benefits that accrue 
from a retreat, it is no exaggeration to say that, in the ordinary course 
of Divine Providence, a mission is the greatest grace that God can confer 
upon any parish. "There is nothing", says St. Alphonsus, "that is better 
adapted than missions or retreats to enlighten the minds of men, to purify 
corrupt hearts and to lead all to the exercise of a truly Christian life"..

"The usefulness of missions, moreover, for the sanctification and salvation 
of souls has received not a little recognition from various popes during 
the last two centuries. Paul III recommended the Spiritual Exercises of St. 
Ignatius as "full of piety and sanctity and very useful and salutary for 
the edification and spiritual advancement of the faithful". Benedict XIV, 
after comparing missionaries to those whom the Apostles Peter and Andrew 
called to assist them in landing their nets, says that for "purifying 
corrupt morals . . . nothing is more effective than to solicit the aid of 
others, namely to establish everywhere (that is in every diocese) sacred 
missions. Nor can this be called a new and uncertain remedy which is 
proposed for purifying the morals of the people. It is an old one and 
indeed the only one suitably adapted to cure existing evils, one which many 
bishops have employed in their dioceses with extraordinary results" 
("Gravissimum", 8 Sept., 1745)."

"While all missionary bodies pursue the same end, their methods of 
conducting missions vary according to the genius of each institute and its 
traditions. In general, however, it may be said that purely dogmatic 
sermons are avoided, as well as mere appeals to the emotions and the 
assumption that all that is, is bad. The aim is rather to seek the virtue 
that lies in the middle course of sound doctrine and wholesome religious 
sentiment. It is with this end in view that the subjects of the mission 
sermons are chosen, and, as the number of sermons is limited, only the most 
practical topics, bearing on the everyday lives of the people, are 
selected. If the mission lasts two weeks, the first week is usually for 
women exclusively and the second for men. If it is to continue four weeks, 
the first week is for married women, the second for unmarried women, the 
third for married men, and the fourth for unmarried men. As far as time 
will permit, the sermons usually deal with the following general subjects, 
which are varied to some extent according to circumstances: Salvation, Sin, 
Repentance, Hell, Death, Judgment, Heaven - with special instructions on 
matrimony, temperance, Christian education, etc. The instructions deal also 
with the essentials of the sacrament of penance, certain commandments of 
God and of the Church, Holy Communion, the Mass, devotion to the Blessed 
Virgin, prayer, duties of parents and children, etc. The style of these 
instructions is simple and didactic."

________________________________________________________
III. The Pains of Hell
(6th meditation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius as explained 
by St. Anthony Claret)

With a good sense of order Saint Ignatius puts the meditation on the 
pains of Hell immediately after the one on sin, so that one may the more 
detest and deplore one's sins if he has unhappily committed any, when he 
sees the deservingness of punishment which comes about as a necessary 
consequence. The penalty in the other life must infallibly follow our crime 
if God does not use His Mercy; because the moment a man sins he incurs a 
debt - a debt to be paid by eternal damnation - and he becomes like a 
criminal sentenced to die on a scaffold, who has no way of appealing the 
sentence. This is why, after the meditations on sin, Saint Ignatius 
immediately presents those on Hell. It is so that our heart, naturally 
fearful of punishment, especially eternal punishment, may be withdrawn from 
committing sin. ("...Fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in 
Hell" Matt. 10:28.) This is a very right motive for repenting, for 
grieving over past sins, and for imploring the Divine Mercy..

First Point

Quoting Saint Ignatius: "First preamble, composition of place - with 
the eyes of the imagination observe the length, width and depth of Hell..
"The second preamble (the appeal for something that I wish) will here 
be to beg a deep appreciation of the pains which the damned suffer, so that 
if, through my faults, I become forgetful of the Eternal Father's love, at 
least the fear of punishment will keep me from sin..
"The first point will be to see with the eye of the imagination the 
great fires, and souls appearing as in fiery bodies..
"The second will be to hear the frightful cries, wails, blasphemies 
against Christ our Lord and against His Saints..
"The third will be to smell the smoke, the rock, the sulphur, the filth 
and putridness..
"The fourth considers the sense of touch - a fire which touches and 
burns souls."

Explanation:

- God is just in His awards. He rewards the upright with the glory of 
Heaven and punishes the wicked with the eternal pains of Hell. We have seen 
how man was created to love and serve God. Now when he sins, he does not 
love nor serve God, but despises Him (Isaias 1:2), and thus he comes under 
sentence of eternal punishment in Hell. This punishment will be in 
proportion to the malice of his sins and their number. In sin there are 
found five evils of malice..
The first evil is the contempt with which the sinner treats God. On 
this account he deserves to be punished with the pain of loss, the loss of 
what he had made light of or disdained; hence he suffers the deprivation of 
the sight of God..
The second evil is his act of rebellion or independence from God, 
amounting to an abuse of liberty. Thus he deserves to be punished by losing 
his liberty and suffering slavery and subjection to Satan; for God says, 
"...therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all 
things," you will serve thy enemy. (Deut. 28:47-48)
The third evil is the over-fondness for a created object for which one 
sinned. Thus a created object, which is fire, will cause torment, and this 
is called a pain of sense..
The fourth evil is a sensual or spiritual satisfaction that the sinner 
finds in sin; thus he deserves to be tormented with a corresponding 
dissatisfaction, as God commands - "As much as she hath glorified herself, 
and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her..." 
(Apoc. 18:7)..
The fifth evil is pride, which consists in man wanting to be happy of 
himself, independent of God. In Hell he thus finds humiliation, confusion, 
and every pain. Finally, as a sinner in Hell is found obstinate in his evil 
disposition like a rock in a well, the duration of his suffering is 
rightfully eternal..
Let us begin with the pain of loss: - Picture to yourself Christian 
soul, a man whose lot is one of total loss: - Picture to yourself Christian 
soul, a man whose lot is one of total misfortune, without anything good. 
Now a Christian who is damned to Hell loses God, the Supreme Good, and 
eternal happiness. To lose God is a misfortune that goes beyond all that 
the imagination can grasp. It is just as impossible to grasp it, as it is 
impossible to grasp and comprehend the Infinite Good one gains who 
possesses God. Yet we can conceive a vague idea of it. Enter into yourself, 
O my soul, and seriously weigh what it means to lose God..

1. One who is damned loses the enjoyment of God. At the moment a soul 
enters Heaven, God gives it so clear an enlightenment that it can know 
perfectly - as far as a creature can - all the depths of His Infinite 
Nature, and inflames the soul with such a burning desire to enjoy God, that 
any delay, even a moment's delay, would cause it infinite pain. But because 
it so ardently desires this Good and at the same time perfectly enjoys It 
with the infallible certainty that it will eternally enjoy It, the soul 
experiences such a flood of joy that all other delights of paradise can be 
counted as nothing by comparison...in Hell just the opposite happens. When 
the soul enters Hell, God sheds over it so vivid a light that it can know 
to the limits of its capacity, the greatness of His Infinite and Divine 
Essence. This enkindles in it so impatient a desire to enjoy God, that the 
delay of even a single instant causes infinite pangs. As it craves with 
such ardor to possess this tremendous Good and at the same time sees itself 
violently separated, with the certainty that it will never for all eternity 
enjoy God, such a painful sadness arises from this that compared to it, all 
other torments of Hell are considered as nothing....To sum up, as the 
happiness of a soul in paradise is beyond all measure because it possesses 
God so the grief of a soul in Hell is boundless due to its loss of God..

2. One who is damned loses God's devoted, special Providence which cared 
for him. As long as man is alive, he is under the care of God, Who 
enlightens his mind with exalted lights and encourages and fortifies him in 
his sufferings. But a soul which has entered the eternal abyss must hope 
for none of this. God no longer cares about it and regards it as something 
which no longer belongs to Him. And so for all eternity its mind, will not 
arouse its will toward the good, nor awaken a pious desire in its heart. It 
will become incapable of any good. There will be no more than very 
horrifying specters appearing to the imagination. Only the most distressing 
thoughts will prevail in the mind. The will will be stirred up with rage, 
madness and despair. The memory will perceive itself always grieved with 
very painful recollections. Wherever the soul may turn, it will find 
confusion and bitterness..

3. When a soul is condemned, by losing God it ceases to be loved any more 
by creatures. The Blessed Virgin, one's Guardian Angel, all the Saints, 
love a man as long as he lives on earth. But once he is condemned by God, 
then God's friends agree in God's judgment and condemnation. For all 
eternity they will not have a kind thought for this wretch. Rather they 
will be satisfied to see him in the flames as a victim of God's justice. 
("The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge..." Psalm 
57:11) They will abhor him. A mother will look from paradise upon her own 
condemned son without being moved, as though she had never known him. What 
is worse, is that in all the immense throng of persons damned in Hell, not 
one will fail to increase the torments of his companions, partly due to the 
horror one causes another, partly due to the anger with which they rage 
against one another, and also due to the heat, the stench and the closeness..

4. After losing God and with him all Things, a condemned person also falls 
under the devil's power. God does not then care about him and delivers him 
entirely up to the enemy's will. And alas! what will the devil not do with 
this soul? As the devil is tremendously clever and powerful, has great 
hatred for men, is full of rage, with an ability to torment him according 
to the number and gravity of sins a man has committed and for which he is 
damned, then what will he not do? He can twist into the form of a serpent, 
enter the body, and torment him cruelly with his teeth. As a poisonous 
snake he can enter the mouth and bite and gnaw and destroy lungs, liver, 
heart and all the bowels. He can make his victim swallow molten metal and 
feed him poisonous toads. He can torment him practically all he wishes at 
his own pleasure, for God has withdrawn and the man is left under the 
fiendish demon's despotic control..

Affective Acts:

1. Act of Repentence: - O Jesus, how frightening are Thy judgments! How 

strict is Thy Justice! Oh, what a great evil sin is and how bitter are its 
effects! To be shut out of paradise for all eternity, to be forever cursed 
by the elect, to be always tormented and oppressed by the devil's tyranny 
- this is the reward of sin. Up to now have I believed these truth? Ah, 
indeed - that is just what increases my guilt! I have believed that a 
single sin is enough to make me lose God and with God all happiness 
forever; and yet I have sinned. I have done this without caring, without 
alarm. I do not think I know which is greater, my blindness or my malice. O 
Jesus! Do not take Thy Mercy from me..

2. Resolution: What will I do? What is it that I will resolve upon? Ah! By 
all the means I want to be able to behold Thee in Thy glory. O Supreme 
Good, and my last End! Though this would cost me a thousand lives, with 
all determination I must reach Heaven to embrace Thee there, my Jesus, my 
beloved Redeemer. Even if it be only through the cruelest torments, I must 
yet see Thee, O my dearest Mother, and you, O dear friends of God in 
paradise, even though it cost me all the blood in my veins....This is my 
resolution - to rather die a thousand times than commit a single sin. Ye 
angelic spirits, be witnesses to the sincerity of my heart. I prefer a 
thousand deaths to ever sinning again. I will confess with repentance the 
sins I have committed up to now..

Second Point:

One who is condemned in Hell finds God to be a supreme evil. It is 
true. One who loses God as hid Supreme Good, finds Him to be like a supreme 
evil. Now how can it be that God, Who is a man's Supreme Good and 
Blessedness, change into that same man's supreme misery? Listen with 
attention, my soul, to what God does with those who are damned, and you 
will clearly know the truth..

1. Within the reprobate, God places and preserves a very vivid knowledge of 
the Divine Beauty, with a very ardent desire to enjoy it. If the soul in 
Hell did not have a knowledge far greater than it had in this life, then it 
would be spared its greatest torment. But because this knowledge is very 
clear in the (damned) soul and presents very vividly to it the immense 
happiness and blessedness which it could have enjoyed in God, from this a 
bitterness comes which is inconceivable, inasmuch as every moment it is 
driven towards God with a burning desire, and also realizes at each instant 
that it is cast off by the Lord. What would be the torment of a thirsty 
man, tied hand and foot a thousand years where he would see ever before him 
a large drinking vessel containing a very delicious drink, and could not 
reach with his lips nor taste a drop of it?

2. Within the damned person God preserves the sight of the Divine 
Countenance outraged (by his sin). Before the eyes of a damned soul, God is 
never presented in any other aspect than as a Lord supremely outraged, 
always armed for vengeance and ever engaged in tormenting it and pursuing 
it. The soul may try with all its might to withdraw from such a painful 
sight, to flee God's presence and escape His wrath. But the more it tries, 
the more closely God approaches it to make it suffer the weight of His Hand 
and all the bitterness of His anger. It will not be hard to estimate the 
horribleness of this pain. Just as the bare sight of God's Loving Face is 
enough to fill all the elect with a boundless joy, likewise the sight of 
God's angry Countenance is enough to strike infinite terror and an infinite 
pain into all the damned..

3. God keeps alive the person who is damned. The strongest desire of a 
damned soul in Hell is to die. ("...Men shall seek death and shall not find 
it. And they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them." Apoc. 
9:6.) For knowing it can never appease God's anger against it, it desires 
death as the only means of escape. But it will desire this in vain, for the 
damned person will live as long as God will live. Just as God forever 
preserves the Saints in Heaven to delight them with new pleasures, so He 
will preserve forever the damned in Hell, to always torment them with new 
sufferings..

4. God remains angry toward the condemned. The damned wretch will curse his 
sins a thousand times over again, but will yet be obstinate in them. He 
will roar with very pitiful moans, capable of moving stones to compassion. 
He will shed enough tears to flood the earth. A time will come when one 
could say that he has suffered in these flames a thousand million years for 
every mortal sins. In spite of this, he will not calm God's anger, nor ever 
move Him to pity..
The Lord will continue to show wrath toward him and will never cease 
hating him for all eternity. As the reprobate knows this, he will surrender 
to a complete despair, will go into a fury, will fill his heart with rage, 
and in an extreme spite will gnaw his own flesh. Not satisfied with this, 
he will conceive an eternal hatred for God; he will become, so to speak, a 
devil vomiting our continuous curses and blasphemies against God, and will 
have such a spitefulness against Him that he would engineer God's complete 
destruction if it were possible..

Affective Acts:

1. Act of fear: Oh, what a happy affair it is to be at peace with God, and 
how bitter it is to have Him angry with us. How sweet it is to find God 
rewarding us; how painful to find Him an avenger. How fortunate to be 
plunged into a torrent of delights such as God lavishes upon His elect! How 
dreadful to find oneself planted in Hell, suffering all the evils which God 
will cause to fall like rain upon the damned. How sweet it is to enjoy God 
for all eternity, and how bitter to lose Him forever!
What will I do to escape from this infinite evil? Ah, my soul! After 
sin there is no other remedy but a deep hatred of sin and a sincere 
confession. - I now have access to this remedy, and turning to Thee, my 
God, weeping in all earnestness with the most contrite remorse....I tell 
Thee that I am sorry for my sins and I give Thee my word that I will go to 
Confession..

2. Act of Repentance: O my God, with all my heart I detest and curse all 
the sins that I have committed until now. I know what evil I have done. In 
reference to Thee, sin is the supreme evil, because it is an offense 
committed against Thy Infinite Goodness and Mercy. It is also the greatest 
of evils in reference to me, because it is the ruin of my soul, which is 
immortal. And so I detest it and I curse it with all my heart...Oh, would 
that I had never sinned, my Jesus! Oh, would that I had never offended 
Thee, my Sovereign Good! But the evil is done. I have lost Thee, O my last 
End and only happiness, and I can never again rejoice with Thee except by 
means of penance and tears. O my heart, repent and do not be satisfied with 
a half-hearted sorrow, but enlarge, expand, as much as possible, to squeeze 
into yourself an immense sorrow. Be witness to this, O Jesus, that if I had 
a thousand lives, I would want to spend all of them in pain and torments if 
in this way I could undo my sins...Thus I want to repent and indeed do 
repent of my sins, O my God! It is my intention to renew this will and 
repentance in Thy presence as many times as there are drops of water in all 
rivers and seas. O my Jesus, supply what is lacking in me; and offer to Thy 
Eternal Father, in place of my sorrow which Thou had in the garden for my sins..

3. Resolution: But how will I conduct myself in the future? I will sin no 
more. If I cannot avoid sin except by dying, I will gladly choose death, 
even the most cruel death, rather than sin. If I can avoid sin only by 
bearing insult and contempt, I will gladly suffer being despised and abused 
by everybody rather than sin. I want to die rather than sin. Therefore, 
with this aim I will use all my days and all my hours and moments in loving 
my Supreme Good and keeping closely united with Him. O my Jesus, engrave 
deeply in my heart these resolutions; keep them there so that I will never 
forget to practice them..
Our Father, Hail Mary..








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