Feijoo's critique of Purgatory
Dublin Core
Title
Feijoo's critique of Purgatory
Subject
Lough Derg--Pilgrimage--Magazine--Narrative
Description
An account of Lough Derg from a late-nineteenth-century pilgrim.
Creator
Matthew Russell, 1834-1912
Source
'Lough Derg: By a Recent Pilgrim', The Irish Monthly: A Magazine of General Literature Sixth Yearly Volume, pp. 27-8
Publisher
M.H. Gill & Son, Dublin
Date
1878
Contributor
Sponsored and digitised by Google, Princeton University Library
Rights
Public domain
Format
Article
Language
English
Type
Magazine Article
Identifier
DD_0447
Coverage
54.6083, -7.8714
References
https://archive.org/details/irishmonthlyvol01unkngoog/page/n5
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
"A Spanish Benedictine, called Feijoo, wrote a treatise against the genuineness of St. Patrick's Purgatory, which was received with great approbation on the Continent. Their arguments may be briefly summed up : —
1. There is no evidence that St. Patrick was ever in Lough Derg at all.
2. There were no Canons Regular of St. Augustine in Ireland before the beginning of the 12th century ; and, therefore, they could not have been made guardians of St. Patrick's Purgatory in the 6th century.
3. It is heretical to speak of the terrestrial paradise as the abode of souls, and distinct from Purgatory and Heaven ; II Council of Lyons, and the Council of Florence, according to Feijoo, at least implicitly, condemn this error.
In our opinion these arguments are by no means conclusive. It does not surely follow, because we have no written record of the fact, that St. Patrick never visited Lough Derg. Have we written records of all the places he visited during his seven years' sojourn in Connaught? We have a strong and vivid traditional record that he visited Lough Derg, and this tradition is confirmed by Lanigan's own account of how our Apostle, when in the district of Tyrconnell, went back eastward towards Lough Erne, the very place where Lough Derg is situated. We know, too, that our Saint was in the habit of withdrawing to lonely and retired places for the purpose of prayer and penance, and no place could be more suitable for that purpose than an island in Lough Derg. The Bollandists answer the second objection. It is true there were no Canons Regular in Ireland before Imar of Armagh introduced them to his great Church of St. Peter and Paul, built about 1126 ; but as the Canons Regular reformed or repeopled most of the old Irish monasteries desolated during the Danish wars, the custom gradually grew up of calling their monastic predecessors also in those houses Canons Regular, and even St. Patrick himself was called a Canon Regular, and his festival specially celebrated in their Order. As to the charge of heresy no one expects that the vision of a rough soldier like Owen would conform to strict theological accuracy. The Councils mentioned, too, were held since the time of Henry of Saltrey."
1. There is no evidence that St. Patrick was ever in Lough Derg at all.
2. There were no Canons Regular of St. Augustine in Ireland before the beginning of the 12th century ; and, therefore, they could not have been made guardians of St. Patrick's Purgatory in the 6th century.
3. It is heretical to speak of the terrestrial paradise as the abode of souls, and distinct from Purgatory and Heaven ; II Council of Lyons, and the Council of Florence, according to Feijoo, at least implicitly, condemn this error.
In our opinion these arguments are by no means conclusive. It does not surely follow, because we have no written record of the fact, that St. Patrick never visited Lough Derg. Have we written records of all the places he visited during his seven years' sojourn in Connaught? We have a strong and vivid traditional record that he visited Lough Derg, and this tradition is confirmed by Lanigan's own account of how our Apostle, when in the district of Tyrconnell, went back eastward towards Lough Erne, the very place where Lough Derg is situated. We know, too, that our Saint was in the habit of withdrawing to lonely and retired places for the purpose of prayer and penance, and no place could be more suitable for that purpose than an island in Lough Derg. The Bollandists answer the second objection. It is true there were no Canons Regular in Ireland before Imar of Armagh introduced them to his great Church of St. Peter and Paul, built about 1126 ; but as the Canons Regular reformed or repeopled most of the old Irish monasteries desolated during the Danish wars, the custom gradually grew up of calling their monastic predecessors also in those houses Canons Regular, and even St. Patrick himself was called a Canon Regular, and his festival specially celebrated in their Order. As to the charge of heresy no one expects that the vision of a rough soldier like Owen would conform to strict theological accuracy. The Councils mentioned, too, were held since the time of Henry of Saltrey."
Original Format
Article
Citation
Matthew Russell, 1834-1912, “Feijoo's critique of Purgatory,” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed April 25, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/468.