As is well known, the issue of life after death was one of the subjects of great concern to most Christians in medieval times. The hardships, anguishes, sins and sacrifices made in life could determine the torment of hells or the joy of heavenly life. It was through these two paths that man saw himself without any guarantee of his supernatural destinies.
But, after all, was it possible to determine which people would go to heaven or hell, given that all men were liable to make mistakes in life?
How would it be possible to quantify, for example, whether or not an individual had enough sin to then be condemned to hell? Was it only the saints or those who lived in a fully chaste life who had their entrance to heaven guaranteed? The doubts seemed to have no end.
In the fourth century d. C., St. Augustine looked at these questions seeking to imagine or project a middle ground between damnation and eternal salvation. In his view, people more inclined to sin should be condemned to hell. However, if the prayers of the living in his behalf had strength, he could have his suffering eased by divine strength. On the other hand, those who have had some sins should go through a preparation for a later entry into heaven.
In St. Augustine's speech, we perceive the need for a third destiny capable of rethinking the ever so complicated judgment of human acts. Centuries later, exactly in the year 1170, the French theologian Pierre le Mangeur used the word laina purgatorium to describe a location between heaven and hell. As an in-between, several Western artists who imagined a representation of purgatory explored elements of both a sacred and demonic nature.
Exploring other cultures and religions, we see that this third way also appears in other beliefs and religions. Reports from the sixth century BC C., point out that the Hindus believed that their dead could be taken to three different places: the world of light would be reserved for the righteous, the punitive reincarnations would be imposed on those who deliberately sinned and the intermediaries were living in a time of storms that would soon be replaced by a series of rebirths and improvements.
Consolidated in the Christian world in the 12th century d. a., the idea of purgatory ended up being beneficial at a time when the medieval society itself began to extrapolate the traditional orders of the feuds. The rebirth of cities and the development of commercial activities opened the way for the existence of increasingly heterogeneous social groups. Thus, purgatory had the function of covering the range of behaviors that did not fit into the duality of heaven and hell.
By Rainer Sousa
Master in History
Brazil School Team
Religion - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/religiao/a-concepcao-purgatorio.htm