The Little Flowers of St. Francis

ONCE, while the aforesaid Friar John was saying Mass, the day after All Saints’ Day, for all the souls of the dead, according as the Church has ordained, with such fervour of charity and with such anguish of compassion did he offer that most sublime sacrament (which, for its efficacy, the souls of the dead desire above all other things which can be done on their behalf) that it seemed as if he were all melted with tender pity and brotherly love. For which cause, during that Mass, while he was devoutly elevating the body of Christ and offering it to God the Father, and praying that, for love of His Blessed Son Jesus Christ, who had hung upon the cross to redeem men’s souls, it would please Him to liberate from the pains of purgatory the souls of the dead by Him created and redeemed, — immediately he beheld an almost infinite multitude of souls coming forth from purgatory, like the sparks of fire innumerable, which fly from a blazing furnace; and he saw them rise up to heaven, through the merits of the passion of Christ, who every day is offered for the living and the dead in that most sacred Host, the which is worthy to be adored in sæcula sæculorum.