Advantages available to Members of the Archconfraternity

The following is a brief enumeration of the principal advantages which you, as a member of the Archconfraternity, derive from your charity towards the souls in Purgatory:

1. As an active member of this Archconfraternity you are, as it were, in the ark of Noe, in which you will find refuge from the deluge of temptations and sins. “We see in the course of our missions,” says Saint Alphonsus in his Glories of Mary, “the utility of confraternities. Generally speaking, one person who does not belong to any, is under the guilt of more sins than 20 persons who are members of one or more confraternities.”
2. You will feel anxious to avoid venial sins, and subdue your passions.
3. You will feel induced carefully to practice works of penance to cancel the punishments due to your sins.
4. Count if you can how many Masses are offered up for the deceased members of the Archconfraternity. Oh what great consolation and comfort for you in the hour of death, and, far more, in Purgatory to have been a member of this Archconfraternity! How soon must the souls of its deceased members be delivered from their place of torment! Ah! When millions of tongues cry every day to Our Lord: “Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on the souls of our departed brethren!”, His justice will be put to the blush, as it were, and give way to His mercy, either by releasing them at once from their prison of fire, or by shortening the duration and diminishing the intensity of their sufferings.
5. You will experience a great desire to sanctify yourself.
6. You will feel solicitous to profit by your time, and make up for lost time.
7. You will be watchful to preserve yourself in the grace of God.
8. You will be induced to do more good to the poor and indigent, in order to apply the merit of your works to the souls in Purgatory, thus earning a double reward for this twofold charity.
9. You will feel more and more confirmed and strengthened in faith, hope and charity.
10. You will practice more perfectly holy patience and resignation to the Will of God in all your troubles and sufferings.
11. You will always be filled with a holy fear of God’s judgments.
12. You help Jesus Christ to complete as it were the work of redemption in those souls of His elect who are detained in Purgatory, and you are instrumental to His justice giving way to His mercy.
13. You give particular pleasure to Jesus Christ, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the whole Heavenly Court.
14. You put the souls delivered from Purgatory by your prayers under special obligations to yourself.
15. The Blessed Virgin, and all the Saints of Heaven, especially the Patron Saints of those souls, as well as their Guardian Angels, will become intercessors for you before the throne of God in a most special manner.
16. Those souls themselves will, from a sense of gratitude, take a particular interest in your welfare, both temporal and spiritual, and promote the same by their prayers to the best of their power, even whilst detained in Purgatory.
17. You will not have to pass through Purgatory, or at least you shall not have to stay there very long.
18. To secure all these blessings so little is required, and no obligation under pain of sin is contracted.
19. You will be more assiduous in praying, in hearing Mass with devotion, in gaining indulgences, and in preparing for Confession and Communion, so as to secure these indulgences.
20. You will be more punctual in complying with all your obligations towards your neighbor.
21. You will, as an active member of the Archconfraternity, be also a good member of the Church Militant, always remaining in the Communion of the Saints, and as such, be one day admitted to the Church Triumphant, there to receive your inexpressible and everlasting reward.
22. Can there be a greater or purer joy for you than to deliver a captive soul from its prison of fire, and open the gates of Heaven for it?
    

Special Advantages

1. Every day on the island of Papa Stronsay the Holy Mass is offered for the living and deceased members according to the traditional rites of the Catholic Church.
2. The members share in the prayers offered by the Redemptorist Fathers for their benefactors.
3. When a member dies the Requiem Mass will be offered for his or her soul along with the other members whose certificates have been received since the last special monthly Mass for our departed members.1
4. The Rosary will be recited every Monday in the Chapel for the deceased members of the Purgatorian Archconfraternity.

Affiliation to the Redemptorists and other Orders

The heads of several religious orders have concurred in favouring the Archconfraternity. The Superiors-General of the Carmelites, of the Augustinians, of the Trinitarians, of the Franciscans and of the Capuchins, have affiliated all the members of the Archconfraternity as Oblates of their respective orders, and they grant them the privilege of sharing in all the good works which are performed in these orders.

The Archconfraternity being under the direction of the Redemptorists, all its members share also, in a particular manner, in all the good works which are performed in the Transalpine Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Privileged Altar

Let it be remembered here, that the altar of the Archconfraternity appointed by the Superior of the monastery is privileged for each Mass and for every priest.

This favour has been granted by the Holy See in behalf of the faithful departed, and its meaning is, that for each Holy Mass said on such an altar, a Plenary Indulgence is granted by the Holy See for any specified departed soul that may be detained in Purgatory, that by its application the same may be delivered from its sufferings.

On the 2nd of November all Masses enjoy this privilege, no matter at what altar they are said. On this day, that is to say, on All Soul’s Day, which is the chief solemnity of the Archconfraternity, and during the octave, if practicable, some devotions shall be performed both morning and evening, with tapers lighted.