"The prior advises them and if he sees that he cannot dissuade them from their intention"

"The prior advises them and if he sees that he cannot dissuade them from their intention"

Lough Derg--Travelogue--Middle Ages--Purgatory

A famous account of a 1398 visit by Viscount Ramon de Perellós to Saint Patrick's Purgatory

Ramón de Perellós

The Journey of Viscount Ramon de Perellós to Saint Patrick's Purgatory, p. 4

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts

1398

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork. Translated by Alan Mac an Bhaird.

Citation for the purposes of criticism

Electronic text translation

English, translated from Spanish

Travelogue

DD_0563

54.6083, -7.8714

https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T100079A/

"The custom is such that no one may enter unless it be to purge his sins and with the permission of the bishop or archbishop. And he is in the diocese in which the purgatory stands; and when the person who wishes to enter there goes there to one of them and speaks and tells them his wish, first of all they advise them that no way should they wish to enter there and tell them that many have gone in there and not come out; and if the man does not wish to renounce entering there, they give him his letters and send him to the prior of the church; and when the prior has read the letters and he tells him of his wish, he argues much against entering and advises him strongly not to enter but to choose some other penance because so many others have entered there who have never come out again but perished there. Thus the prior advises them and if he sees that he cannot dissuade them from their intention, he makes them enter the church and stay there for a certain time in penance and prayer; and after a certain time he gathers together all the clergy in that land who can be gathered together or found to sing a mass early in the morning in the aforesaid church; and the man who wishes to enter the pit receives the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ and holy water, as Saint Patrick has established and ordered. Afterwards the prior leads him with all the clergy to the gate of the purgatory with a great procession singing litanies; and then the prior opens the gate and tells him of the dangers which are in the place in which he wishes to enter and how the malign spirits will come out to him and fight him and how a great quantity of other people have been lost there; and if one pays no heed to this and does not shift from his intention, then he makes the sign of the cross over him and blesses him and all those who are there and he commends himself to their prayers and makes the sign of the cross over them and takes his leave and enters the pit. And the prior shuts the gate and afterwards he goes back in procession; and next morning all the clergy return to the gate of the pit and the prior opens it and, if the man is found there, they lead him in great procession to the church and he remains there for as long as he wishes; and if he is not found at the very same hour that he entered the day before, then they know for sure that he is lost body and soul. And the prior shuts the gates and goes back."

The Journey of Viscount Ramon De Perellós to Saint Patrick's Purgatory. Alan Mac an Bhaird (ed), First edition [i + 23 pp] CELT Cork (2012)