Excerpt from “ Has Nobody Returned from Hell? ” by Abbot F. Chatel:
We must all fear hell.
The holy Pope Pius IX said one day to Cardinal Place: “ One of the first causes of all our current misfortunes is that we no longer preach about hell (Cf. Opinions of day on punishments beyond the grave, by Father Tournebize, SJ, in fine). » He also said to a priest who gave numerous missions in France: “ Preach a lot the great truths of salvation. Preach above all about hell... say very clearly, very loudly, the whole truth about hell. Nothing is more capable of making poor sinners think and bring them back to God (Cf. Mgr de Ségur: L'enfer; Paris, 1876, p. 138). »
The memory of eternal punishments is no less necessary for pious people and consecrated souls than for sinners, and the saints themselves frequently remembered them. Indeed: “There are coming days,” writes Saint Thérèse, “when those very people who have made an absolute gift of their will to God and who, rather than committing an …More