All Souls’ Day, 2nd November

Wayne Perkins

Main image: Souls being harried by demons, Doom Painting, All Saints, Hastings. Photo: © W Perkins 2021.

Drawing of St. Patrick’s purgatory (1419) by an unknown artist in the Alsacian manuscript Legenda Aurea, cpg 144 of the University Library Heidelberg, folio 338r. Public domain.
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg144/0699

All Souls’ Day is the third day of Allhallowtide; a day of remembrance for the ‘faithful’ departed through the action of prayer, intercessions & the giving of alms. Christians commemorate the ‘poor’ souls in Purgatory* in an attempt to gain them indulgences.

Souls being harried by demons, ‘The Last Judgement,’ St Mary the Virgin, Newington-next-Sittingbourne. Photo: © W Perkins 2022.

Indulgences were believed to be a way to reduce the amount of punishment that the dead had to undergo for their sins (Peters 2008:13). It was believed that the purification of souls in Purgatory could be assisted by the actions of the faithful on Earth.

Doom Painting above the chancel arch, All Saints, Hastings. Photo: © W Perkins 2021.

The Catechism of the catholic church states that such actions can provide a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to past sins.

Miniature by Stefan Lochner showing souls in purgatory
Public domain © http://www.manuscript-facsimiles.com.

The ‘Doctrine of the Souls’ states that those departed from the body are not ‘perfectly’ cleansed from venial sins (or have not fully atoned for their past transgressions).

Purgatory was believed to have been an ‘intermediary’ state after physical death for the expiatory purification of the soul – the final purification of the elect. Purgatorial fire was believed to have been ‘expiatory’ not punitive like Hell-fire (Mershman 1913).

There are many examples of devotional graffiti cut into the render which had been applied to the walls to take the Doom Painting. St Mary the Virgin, Newington-next-Sittingbourne. © W Perkins 2022.

* (Latin, “purgare”, to make clean, to purify)

Bibliography

Historic England (2022) Church of All Saints. *, List Entry Number: 1353127.Date first listed: 19-Jan-1951.Statutory Address:CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, ALL SAINTS STREET.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1353127?section=official-list-entry

FOSMC (2022) ‘A Short Guide to the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Newington-next-Sittingbourne, Kent.’ Church booklet.

Mershman, F (1913) Purgatory. New Advent

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm

Peters, E (2008) A Modern Guide to Indulgences; Rediscovery of This Often Misinterpreted Teaching.

Osei-Bonsu, R (2012) “Purgatory: A Study of the Historical Development and Its Compatibility with the Biblical Teaching on the Afterlife” in Philosophy Study, ISSN 2159-5313 April 2012, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 291

Published by Wayne Perkins

I am an archaeologist with over twenty years of experience. After a decade or so working as a volunteer on excavations in the 1990’s, I undertook my degree in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. In the last year of my degree I helped to supervise the university’s annual excavations. Directly after my exams I began my career in Commercial Archaeology as a Field Archaeologist with Oxford Archaeology and remained there for four years. Anticipating a career in archaeology in France I volunteered on excavations at Rom and at Prisse-la-Charriere, Niort (for Poitiers & Rennes University respectively). In due course I worked for the States’ premier scientific organization, I.N.R.A.P. (Institut Nationale des Récherches Archéologiques Préventives) as well as for a number of private companies. I returned to the UK in 2013 and resumed my role as a Supervisor, undertaking projects around Oxfordshire with John Moore Heritage Services before moving to London in 2014. I now undertake Historic Building Surveys and supervise urban excavations in the City of London as well as overseeing rural excavations in surrounding Sussex, Surrey & Kent. Wayne Perkins BA Hons (Archaeology) ACIfA (Associate Member, Chartered Institute for Archaeologists)

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