Denis the Carthusian Parts 1& 2: https://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/PHP/purg_d_carthusian_1.pdf

 

 Denis the Carthusian Parts 1& 2: https://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/misc/PHP/purg_d_carthusian_1.pdf

Denis the Carthusian Part 1  

 Denis was born into the well known Van Leewen family at Rijekel near Saint-Trond (Belgium) in either 1402 or 1403. He completed his studies in the nearby cities of Saint-Trond and Zwolle. Still a youth, he felt early on a strong attraction for the monastic life and thus asked to enter first the Carthusian Monastery of Zelem and then the one of Roermond, but he was rejected because he wasn’t yet twenty years old. Therefore he decided to go to Cologne to perfect his studies in theology and philosophy, his name is registered in the archives of the university as ‘master of art’ in 1424. Having returned to the Low Countries he could finally enter the Betlehem Mariae Carthusian Monastery in Roermond (Holland), where he found the ideal environment for his desire to grow in holiness. He dedicated himself full-time to the apostolate of writing: he wrote 42 volumes and just the “Commentary to the Bible”, his most important work, begun in 1434 and completed in 1457, takes up 14 volumes. His renown of erudition and holiness, went beyond the walls of the Carthusian Monastery and when Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa arrived in the Low Countries as an Ambassador, he wanted Denis to join him as a traveling companion and adviser. He spent the last years of his life in silence and prayer and died March 12, 1471 following a long illness. Denis had numerous visions of the Souls of Purgatory. 4 One day he recounted to a friar that the souls in purgatory had appeared to him hundreds of times. Denis wrote a work, in which he devoted a chapter entirely on the need to pray and to offer supplications for the Souls in Purgatory. He wanted to summon the consciences of the faithful on the reality that perhaps among the ones who still suffered in Purgatory there were parents, relatives, friends, benefactors, besides many other innumerable souls that no one remembers 2- 1471 anymore, because they are thought as being in Heaven long ago and that receive only the general supplications of the Church. Denis tried to call attention to the need for offering supplications in favor of those souls who are abandoned and forgotten by people and who need assistance. In another chapter Denis collected some prayers in supplication of the souls in Purgatory and above all he wanted to focus on those who had died suddenly and were unprepared for the judgment of God. For these souls Denis offered the Mass, but also all the merits of Christ, of the Mother of God, of the Angels, of the Saints, and the good works. God revealed to him that he should not forget, that in Purgatory, the justice of God requests satisfaction up to the last cent and that there were a great many souls in Purgatory who suffered excruciating pains for years; because their relatives had considered them by now to be in Heaven for some time. In two other works Denis described the pains of Purgatory, following the PURGATORY 0 visions of an English monk, the revelations of Saint Brigid, and also the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Bonaventure and Alexander of Hales. He maintained that the sufferings of Purgatory were much more intense than any torment on Earth.

Part 2

After the death of his father, Denis the Carthusian wanted to know so much where his soul was destined, that he omitted to pray for him. One day Denis heard a voice telling him: “Why do you allow yourself to be so controlled by your curiosity and you absolutely want to know where the soul of your father is? Instead of losing yourself in these thoughts, it would be better that you were praying for him so that he would be freed from the punishments of Purgatory.” Struck by this episode, Denis began to pray with great zeal for his father. After some time the Carthusian had from God the confirmation that his parent had been freed from punishments and enjoyed the vision of God. Another time Denis was assisting a dying novice, who for years had promised God to recite the whole psalter twice a day; but then he had often neglected his commitment and at the end he forgot it entirely. At the hour of death the novice remembered the promise, but not having fulfilled his duty, was overtaken by anguish. To console the youth, Denis promised the dying novice to fulfill himself the promise. But as a result of too many obligations, Denis forgot to recite the psalter for the novice. One day the deceased appeared to the Carthusian and reproached him, reminding him of the promise made: “If you had to suffer one thousandth of the punishments that I now must suffer in Purgatory, you would not say even one word to excuse 4 yourself, even if it were valid. Instead you would fulfill immediately the commitment 2- 1471 that you undertook in front of God for me.” Another episode struck Denis: John van Loewen, provost of Saint Victor in Xanten died December 23, 1438 and according to his wish was buried in the Carthusian Church of Roermond. He had been a very important man and had accumulated many benefits and profits. He never misused the vast income, instead he appropriated them for good works, like the construction of a new monastery at Roermond, and a College of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Cologne. At his death, he was condemned to a long and extremely painful punish ment in Purgatory. On the first anniversary of his death there was a celebration of the solemn office of the deceased with a Mass in the Church of the Carthusians of Roermond. During the chant of the Lauds, at the “Benedictus” Denis saw fiery flames coming out of the tomb of John van Loewen. The Carthusian pointed out the tomb to a young friar to understand if he too saw the flames, but he saw nothing. Denis was struck by the vision and asked himself its meaning: will the deceased be in Purgatory or in Hell? On the second anniversary of the death of the provost, the same thing repeated itself, but this time the flames were somewhat diminished. During the third anniversary it was revealed to Denis that the liberation of the deceased from Purgatory was by now close. P URGATORY 0 Denis was born into the well known Van Leewen family at Rijekel near Saint-Trond (Belgium) in either 1402 or 1403. He completed his studies in the nearby cities of Saint-Trond and Zwolle. He died in 1471.