'Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord'

Saint Gregory the Great is loved and honored on many accounts — for bringing us the Gregorian Chant, for his Dialogues, for his codification of the Roman Canon Mass, and for being the first to organize Church alms for the poor.

More than that, he handed us the offering of Gregorian Masses (30 Masses) for the holy deceased. The Mass is considered the chief source of the devotion to the Holy Souls. No prayers, no suffrages can assist the holy souls as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (“Sacrament of Charity”), reminded the faithful “of the importance of prayers for the dead, especially the offering of Mass for them, so that, once purified, they can come to the beatific vision of God” (32).

In the 13th century, St. Bonaventure wrote: “The Mass is a compendium of all God’s love, of all His benefits to men, and each Mass bestows on the world a benefit not less than what was conferred on it by the Incarnation.”

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the 20th-century stigmatist popularly known as Padre Pio, said: “It would be easier to survive without the sun than to do without the Holy Mass.”

Origins of the Gregorian Masses

Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604), the first pontiff to receive the name “Great” and the first Benedictine monk to become pope, tells us in his Dialogues that he ordered 30 Masses to be celebrated on 30 consecutive days for the repose of the soul of Justus, a monk, who had died in his Monastery of St. Andrew on Mount Celio in Rome, where the Church of St. Gregory now stands. (Justus had succumbed without benefit of the sacraments after violating the vow of poverty by keeping three gold coins in his cell.)

After the series of 30 Masses was completed, Justus appeared to his brother Copiosus, a physician who had assisted him in his last illness, and informed him that he had been delivered from purgatory. “Bless God, my dear brother,” Justus told Copiosus, “today I am delivered and admitted into the society of the saints.” Copiosus then shared news of this vision with the monks.

“Copiosus did not know what the brethren were doing for his dead brother, and the brethren did not know that Copiosus had seen him; yet at one and the same time he learned what they had done and they learned what he had seen, and the vision and the sacrifice harmonized,” Pope St. Gregory wrote. “So the fact was plainly shown forth how that the brother who had died had escaped punishment through the salvation-giving Mass.”

The pope thus reaffirmed the Catholic tradition regarding souls in purgatory drawn in part from Scripture: “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they be loosed from sins” (2 Macc 12:46).

In the Church of St. Gregory on Mount Celio is the original altar where these Masses were first offered. this same altar is where Pope St. Gregory himself offered Masses for purgatorial souls.

Where the Church of St. Gregory stands today, Latin inscriptions in three relief panels on this strikingly beautiful altar record key events that took place here. Translated, the left panel reads: “St. Gregory has freed the soul of this monk by thirty Masses.” The middle panel states: “The suffering Jesus Christ is seen here by Pope Gregory celebrating (Mass).” The right panel testifies: “In this room, Pope Gregory celebrated Masses to release souls from purgatory.”

A pious tradition

Pope St. Gregory had a fervent devotion for purgatorial souls — so much so that he lamented that after his death he would not be able to assist them. Tradition holds that Our Lord spoke to him and said: “My friend, I want to grant in your favor a privilege that will be unique. All souls in purgatory for whom thirty Masses are offered in your honor and without interruption will immediately be saved, however great may be their debt toward me.”

It may astonish to hear that 30 Masses offered consecutively can obtain for a poor soul the grace of release from purgatory. Although this practice is approved by the Church, there is no official guarantee. this hallowed tradition of more than 1,300 years has been declared “a pious and reasonable belief of the faithful” on the authority of the Roman Curia.

Still, it is a custom that both underscores the power and efficacy of the Holy Mass and reminds us there are souls in purgatory who are in desperate need of our Masses.

What is certain is that the custom of offering prayer for 30 days for the dead without interruption dates back to the Old Testament. We read that the Israelites wept and prayed for 30 days after the death of Moses and Aaron. Saint Gregory revived this custom, and the revelation he received confirmed to him that he was acting justly.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God” (1032).

Make the request

Today, we too can request that Gregorian Masses be celebrated for a loved one, a family member, or any other person who has passed on. Many religious communities and missionary societies will happily arrange for these Masses for our offering. A simple online search for Gregorian Masses will turn up many options.

From the time of Pope St. Gregory, many religious orders instituted the practice of offering a series of Gregorian Masses for each of their members after death. We could do the same by having these Masses said for priests or religious who were significant in our own lives: a religious who taught us, a priest who baptized us or absolved us of sin, or the bishop who confirmed us.

We also can arrange in our will for Gregorian Masses to be offered on our own behalf after death, to assist our own souls on the path to eternal life. But what if the person we pray for or have Gregorian Masses offered for is already in heaven? No prayer is ever wasted with God. The deceased in heaven receive an increase in their intimacy of God’s love and an increase in their own intercessory power (CCC 958). Saint Thomas Aquinas called this “accidental glory.” The lesson is: we must never stop praying for our dead.

SUSAN TASSONE is the author of 14 books, including Day by Day for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and Praying with Jesus and Faustina during Lent and in Times of Suffering. She is a popular speaker and frequent television guest on purgatory and St. Faustina Kowalska. 


Healing the family tree: Masses for the holy souls

What are you doing for your deceased loved ones? Who do you miss the most? Who do you wish you could have done more for? Who hurt you? Who helped you the most spiritually or temporally?

Have a Mass offered for them! The Council of Trent tells us: “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Perpetual Sacrifice, is the greatest of all suffrages for the Holy Souls.”

In Exodus, God says, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but show steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exod 20:5-6).

Offer Gregorian Masses or a novena of Masses for healing your family tree back to the fourth generation, or even for earlier ancestors. Have a Mass said for anyone who has left a negative or positive impact on our lives, even those who have injured us or given a poor example. Remember teachers, supervisors, government leaders, our enemies. We can have Masses offered even for ourselves, or on special occasions and holidays.

We can give the gift of prayer with a Mass. A living person is still capable of growing in sanctifying grace. The offering of the Mass may assist in this increase of sanctity by helping people face their sufferings and trials more deeply united to Christ. As an intercessory prayer, a Mass offered for a person in a state of actual mortal sin may yet supply the grace necessary for repentance even though conversion always requires a free acceptance of the grace that is offered. Only the living can become holier, even to the point of directly entering heaven after death.

The Mass obtains for us a happy death. In the 13th century, Our Lord assured St. Mechtilde that He would comfort and console all those who were persevering in hearing Mass and that He would send as many of His saints to assist them when dying as they had heard Masses in their lifetime. Therefore, go to Mass as often as possible, and offer it for the purgatory souls. Through the Mass we can nourish the hope of being received into heaven immediately after death without having to pass through the cleansing rigors of purgatory. — Susan Tassone