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Rebecca76
PostPosted: 01 Nov 2012 06:30 
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The prayer of St. Gertrude is often published with the claim that Jesus told St. Gertrude that the prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. Does anyone know if this claim has the approval of the Church? Here's the prayer I'm referring to:

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Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most precious blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home, and within my family. Amen.

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Dean
PostPosted: 01 Nov 2012 12:05 
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Rebecca,

Does the Church ever give approval for such specific claims or promises? I don't know that she does, although it is claimed that the prayer itself was approved by a Portuguese bishop.

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gabriel
PostPosted: 01 Nov 2012 16:57 
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I recall reading someplace that, if this was given to St Gertrude, it was only a promise for when she said it. I don't remember the source, or its reliability.

Personally, I have always had doubts about its validity. It just doesn't sound reasonable.

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Seamas O Dalaigh
PostPosted: 02 Nov 2012 17:14 
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Rebecca,

There is no mention of the prayer in the Catholic Encyclopedia entry on her, though it does mention her tenderess for the souls in purgatory. It mentions that the main characteristic of her piety was devotion to the Sacred Heart.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06534a.htm

The Wikipedia does mention the prayer and has this to say:

Quote:
Gertrude showed "tender sympathy towards the souls in purgatory" and urged prayers for them. She is therefore invoked for souls in purgatory.

Perhaps for that reason, to her name has been attached a prayer that, according to a legend of uncertain origin and date (neither are found in the Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great), Christ promised to release a thousand souls from purgatory each time it was said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners as well.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_the_Great

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Rebecca76
PostPosted: 03 Nov 2012 16:55 
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I found the same question as mine on another forum, and one response said that another thread on this topic contained a link to a document in Italian that said the promise did not have any Church approval. Unfortunately neither a thorough search of that forum nor a google search has produced this mystery document.

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Seamas O Dalaigh
PostPosted: 03 Nov 2012 18:13 
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Rebecca,

Apparently, the prayer was approved by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira, GCC, on 4 March 1936.

Quote:
"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Jesus, with all the Masses being said all over the world this day, for the Souls in Purgatory."

Our Lord showed St. Gertrude a vast number of souls leaving Purgatory and going to Heaven as a result of this prayer, which the Saint was accustomed to say frequently during the day.

Taken from the booklet Read Me or Rue It by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan which has the approval of the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal – March 4, 1936.




http://www.olrl.org/pray/stgertrude.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Gon ... _Cerejeira

(It was Cardinal Cerejeira who publicly declared that Portugal had been spared the scourge of communism because of the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima. It seems he was also a supporter of the rather cute notion of Luso-tropicalism.)

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