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{"id":8234,"date":"2012-12-10T16:00:40","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2012-12-10T16:00:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T16:00:40","slug":"purgatorium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2012\/12\/purgatorium\/","title":{"rendered":"Purgatorium"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

<\/p>

Some years ago, Jacques Le Goff argued in The Birth of Purgatory <\/a> $\"\"$ that the notion of Purgatory as a place distinct from heaven and hell emerged only in the late twelfth century. Notions of purgation after death appear much earlier, but Le Goff claimed that the linguistic evidence pointed to a later development. Purgatorium <\/em> replaced purgatorius ignis <\/em> and purgatoriis locis <\/em> between 1160 and 1180. <\/p>\n

Le Goff\u2019s book ignited a fiery battle among medievalists, but more recently Megan McLaughlin ( Consorting with Saints: Prayer for the Dead in Early Medieval France <\/a> $\"\"$ , 18-19) has defended Le Goff. While admitted that he may have overstated his thesis, she thinks Le Goff \u201cessentially correct.\u201d She adds, \u201cWhile individual early medieval writers (notably the Venerable Bede) may have described something like Purgatory in their works, there was certainly no shared notion of a single place of purgation in the next world before the twelfth century.\u201d The popularity of the word purgatorium <\/em> in the twelfth century \u201creflected the new importance that purgation after death was taking on at this time\u201d as \u201cother images and ideas associated with prayer for the dead . . . were gradually discarded.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"