The Pains of Hell:

From the Writings of St. Anthony Mary Claret

      The sensation of pain in hell is essentially verydreadful. Picture yourself, my soul, on a dark night on the summit of a highmountain. Beneath you is a deep valley, and the earth opens so that with yourgaze you can see hell in the cavity of it. Picture it as a prison situated inthe center of the earth, many leagues down, all full of fire, hemmed in soimpenetrably that for all eternity not even the smoke can escape. In thisprison the damned are packed so tightly one on the other like bricks in akiln....Consider the quality of the fire in which they burn. First, the fire isall-extensive and tortures the whole body and the whole soul. A damned personlies in hell forever in the same spot which he was assigned by divine justice,without being able to move, as a prisoner in stocks. The fire in which he istotally enveloped, as a fish in water, burns around him, on his left, hisright, above and below. His head, his breast, his shoulders, his arms, hishands, and his feet are all penetrated with fire, so that he completelyresembles a glowing hot piece of iron which has just been withdrawn from anoven. The roof beneath which the damned person dwells is fire; the food hetakes is fire; the drink he tastes is fire; the air he breathes is fire;whatever he sees and touches is all fire.... But this fire is not merelyoutside him; it also passes within the condemned person. It penetrates hisbrain, his teeth, his tongue, his throat, his liver, his lungs, his bowels, hisbelly his heart, his veins, his nerves, his bones, even to the marrow, and evenhis blood. "In hell," according to St. Gregory the Great, "there will be a firethat cannot be put out, a worm which cannot die, a stench one cannot bear, adarkness one can feel, a scourging by savage hands, with those presentdespairing of anything good." A most dreadful fact is that by the divine powerthis fire goes so far as to work on the very faculties of the soul, burningthem and tormenting them. Suppose I were to find myself placed at the oven of asmith so that my whole body was in the open air but for one arm placed in thefire, and that God were to preserve my life for a thousand years in thisposition. Would this not be an unbearable torture? What, then, would it be liketo be completely penetrated and surrounded by fire, which would affect not justan arm, but even all the faculties of the soul?

More Dreadful than Man Can Imagine

      Secondly, this fire is far more dreadful than mancan imagine. The natural fire that we see during this life has great power toburn and torment. Yet this is not even a shadow of the fire of hell. There aretwo reasons why the fire of hell is more dreadful beyond all comparison thanthe fire of this life. The first reason is the justice of God, which the fireserves as an instrument in order to punish the infinite wrong done to hissupreme majesty, which has been despised by a creature. Therefore justicesupplies this element with a burning power which almost reaches theinfinite.... The second reason is the malice of sin. As God knows that the fireof this world is not enough to punish sin as it deserves, He has given the fireof hell a power so strong that it can never be comprehended by any human mind.-- Now, how powerfully does this fire burn? It burns so powerfully, O my soul,that, according to the ascetical masters, if a mere spark of it fell on amillstone, it would reduce it in a moment to powder. If it fell on a ball ofbronze, it would melt it in an instant as if it were wax. If it landed on afrozen lake, it would make it boil in an instant. Pause here briefly, my soul,and answer a few questions I will put. First, I ask you: If a special furnacewere fired up as was customarily done to torment the holy martyrs, and then menplaced before you all kinds of good things that the human heart might want, andadded the offer of a prosperous kingdom -- if all this were promised you oncondition that for just a half-hour you enclose yourself within the furnace,what would you choose?

A Hundred Kingdoms

      "Ah!", you would say, "If you offered me ahundred kingdoms I would never be so foolish as to accept your brutal terms,regardless of how grand your offer might be, even if I were sure that God wouldpreserve my life during those moments of suffering." Second, I ask you: If youalready had possession of a great kingdom and were swimming in a sea of wealthso that nothing was wanting to you, and then you were attacked by an enemy,were imprisoned and put in chains and obliged to either renounce your kingdomor else spend a half-hour in a hot furnace, what would you choose? "Ah!", youwould say, "I would prefer to spend my whole life in extreme poverty and submitto any other hardship and misfortune, than suffer such a great torment!"

A Prison of Eternal Fire

      Now turn your thoughts from the temporal to theeternal. To avoid the torment of a hot furnace, which would last but ahalf-hour, you would forgo all your property, even things you are most fond of,you would suffer any other temporal loss, however burdensome. Then why do younot think the same way when you are dealing of eternal torments? God threatensyou not just with a half-hour in a furnace, but with a prison of eternal fire.To escape it, should you not forgo whatever He has forbidden, not matter howpleasant it can be for you, and gladly embrace whatever He commands, even if itbe extremely unpleasant? A most terrible thing about hell is its duration. Thecondemned person loses God and loses Him for all eternity. Now, what iseternity? O my soul, up to now there has not been any angel who has been ableto comprehend what eternity is. So how can you comprehend it? Yet, to for someidea of it, consider the following truths: Eternity never ends. This is thetruth that has made even the great saints tremble. The final judgment willcome, the world will be destroyed, the earth will swallow up those who aredamned, and they will be cast into hell. Then, with His almighty hand, God willshut them up in that most unhappy prison. From then on, as many years will passas there are leaves on the trees and plants on all the earth, as many thousandsof years as there are drops of water in all seas and rivers, as many thousandsof years as there are atoms in the air, as there are grains of sand on all theshores of all seas. Then, after the passage of this countless number of years,what will eternity be? Up to then there will not even have been a hundredthpart of it, nor a thousandth -- nothing. It then begins again and will last aslong again, even after this has been repeated a thousand times, and a thousandmillion times again. And then, after so long a period, not even a half willhave passed, not even a hundredth part nor a thousandth, not even any part ofeternity. For all this time there is no interruption in the burnings of thosewho are damned, and it begins all over again. Oh, a deep mystery indeed! Aterror above all terrors! O eternity! Who can comprehend thee?

The Tears of Cain

      Suppose that, in the case of unhappy Cain,weeping in hell, he shed in every thousand years just one tear. Now, O my soul,recollect your thoughts and suppose this case: For six thousand years at leastCain has been in hell and shed only six tears, which God miraculouslypreserves. How many years would pass for his tears to fill all the valleys ofthe earth and flood all the cities and towns and villages and cover all themountains so as to flood the whole earth? We understand the distance from theearth to the sun is thirty-four million leagues. How many years would benecessary for Cain's tears to fill that immense space? From the earth to thefirmament is, let us suppose, a distance of a hundred and sixty millionleagues. O God! What number of years might one imagine to be sufficient to fillwith these tears this immense space? And yet -- O truth so incomprehensible --be sure of it as that God cannot lie -- a time will arrive in which these tearsof Cain would be sufficient to flood the world, to reach even the sun, to touchthe firmament, and fill all the space between earth and the highest heaven. Butthat is not all. If God dried up all these tears to the last drop and Cainbegan again to weep, he would again fill the same entire space with them andfill it a thousands times and a million times in succession, and after allthose countless years, not even half of eternity would have passed, not even afraction. After all that time burning in hell, Cain's sufferings will be justbeginning. This eternity is also without relief. It would indeed be a smallconsolation and of little benefit for the condemned persons to be able toreceived a brief respite once every thousand years.

No Relief

      Picture in hell a place where there are threereprobates. The first is plunged in a lake of sulphuric fire, the second ischained to a large rock and is being tormented by two devils, one of whomcontinually pours molten lead down his throat while the other spills it allover his body, covering him from head to foot. The third reprobate is beingtortured by two serpents, one of which wraps around the man's body and cruellygnaws on it, while the other enters within the body and attacks the heart.Suppose God is moved to pity and grants a short respite. The first man, afterthe passage of a thousand years is drawn from the lake and receives the reliefof a drink of cool water, and at the end of an hour is cast again into thelake. The second, after a thousand years, is released from his place andallowed to rest; but after an hour is again returned to the same torment. Thethird, after a thousand years, is delivered from the serpents; but after anhour of relief, is again abused and tormented by them. Ah, how little thisconsolation would be -- to suffer a thousand years and to rest only one hour.However, hell does not even have that much relief. One burns always in thosedreadful flames and never receives any relief for all eternity. He is forevergnawed and stricken with remorse, and will never have a rest for all eternity.He will suffer always a very ardent thirst and never receive the refreshment ofa sip of water for all eternity. He will see himself always abhorred by God andwill never enjoy a single tender glance from Him for all eternity. He will findhimself forever cursed by heaven and hell, and will never receive a singlegesture of friendship. It is an essential misfortune of hell that everythingwill be without relief, without remedy, without interruption, without end,eternal.

The Kindness of His Mercy

      Now I understand in part, O my God, what hell is.It is a place of extreme pain, of extreme despair. It is where I deserve to befor my sins, where I would have been confined for some years already if yourimmense mercy had not delivered me. I will keep repeating a thousand times: TheHeart of Jesus has loved me, or else I would now be in hell! The mercy of Jesushas pitied me; for otherwise I would be in hell! The Blood of Jesus hasreconciled me with the heavenly Father, or my dwelling place would be hell.This shall be the hymn that I want to sing to Thee, my God, for all eternity.Yes, from now on my intention is to repeat these words as many times as thereare moments that have passed since that unhappy hour in which I first offendedYou. What has been my gratitude to God for his kind mercy that He showed me? Hedelivered me from hell. O, immense charity! O, infinite goodness! After abenefit so great, should I not have given Him my whole heart and loved Him withthe love of the most ardent Seraphim? Should I not have directed all my actionsto Him, and in everything sought only His divine pleasure, accepting allcontradictions with joy, in order to return to Him my love? Could I do lessthan that after a kindness that was so great? And yet, what is it that I havedone? Oh, ingratitude worthy of another hell! I cast You aside, O my god! Ireacted to Your mercy by committing new sins and offenses. I know that I havedone evil, O my God, and I repent with my whole heart. Ah, would that I couldshed a sea of tears for such outrageous ingratitude! O Jesus, have mercy on me;for I now resolve to rather suffer a thousand deaths than offend You again.

The Urgency of Hell

      It is of faith that Heaven exists for the goodand Hell for the wicked. Faith teaches that the pains of Hell are eternal, andit also warns us that one single mortal sin suffices to condemn a soul foreverbecause of the infinite malice by which it offends an infinite God. With thesemost positive principles in mind, how can I remain indifferent when I see theease with which sins are committed, sins that occur as frequently as one takesa glass of water, sins and offenses that are perpetrated out of levity ordiversion? How can I rest when so many are to be seen living continually inmortal sin and rushing in this blind manner to their eternal destruction? Noindeed, I cannot rest, but must needs run and shout a warning to them. If I sawanyone about to fall into a pit or a fire, would I not run up to him and warnhim, and do all in my power to help him from falling in? Why should I not dothis much to keep sinners from falling into the pit and fires of Hell? Neithercan I understand why other priests who believe the selfsame truths as I do, aswe all must do, do not preach or exhort their flock so that they might avoidthis unbearable eternity of Hell. It is still a source of wonder to me how thelaity - those men and women blessed with the Faith - do not give warning tothose who need it. If a house were to catch fire in the middle of the night,and if the inhabitants of the same house and the other townsfolk were asleepand did not see the danger, would not the one who first noticed it shout andrun along the streets, exclaiming: "Fire! Fire! In that house over there!" Thenwhy should there not be a warning of eternal fire to waken those who aredrifting in the sleep of sin in such a way that when they open their eyes theywill find themselves burning in the eternal flames of Hell?

        Zeal for thesalvation of souls spurred St. Anthony Mary Claret to preach an estimated25,000 sermons, write 144 books, found three religious orders, preach countlessmissions, and in six years a bishop, confirm over 300,000 and validate morethan 9,000 marriages. Starting as a missionary in Spain and the Canary Islands,he was later appointed Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, and thereafter confessorto the Queen of Spain. But in all he did, he labored so ceaselessly, sotirelessly, and so fruitfully for the cause of Christ and His Church that he issimply called a "Modern Apostle." Miracles surrounded his work, and hepossessed the gifts of prophecy and the reading of hearts. He often saw OurLord and Our Lady (to whom he was especially devoted), receiving from theminstruction, encouragement, and prophecies. Driven by the overwhelmingmotivation of saving immortal souls from eternal damnation, St. Anthony MaryClaret directed all his energies to this end, finding all other goals worthlessin comparison. St. Anthony Mary Claret is a saint of major proportions. Thereare three books available on his life from TAN Books (1-800-437-5876).We offer a short story of his life.

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