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Hi, DeeDee and Doug —
To my knowledge the Church has
never distinguished between Saints that have gone straight to Heaven and
Saints that may have gone through Purgatory first in order to be purified for Heaven.
I don't know how the Church would ever know such a thing, unless via miraculous
communication.
When the Church canonizes a person it means:
- they are in Heaven, and
- they are solid Christian models we can imitate because they imitated
Jesus and
His
Holy Life soooo well.
The purpose of the Church canonizing Saints is to show other Christians, the
world over, good, very holy models of Christian living who have, in addition,
shown special heroic virtue in their lives.
Purgatory and Heaven go together in a sense.
Because those in Purgatory have been saved and are bound for Heavenly bliss.
- Why is there a Purgatory then?
<Because of our attachments to lingering self-love, in our lives.>
Although Confession forgives the guilt of our sins, remaining purification is needed because our holiness and will has been (weakened|lessened).
Nevertheless, good works and deeds performed in this life, done in Christ, can go to restore our holiness. Think of Purgatory as the
Holy Hospital of Heaven. It's painful but it's a good pain.
(Like <the bad> disinfecting a cut or wound with alcohol before <the good> putting a Band-Aid on it so the cut/wound can heal.)
Purgatory is a state or place of purification where man is totally
made holy so as to enter Heaven and worship God for eternity. Remember, there
is no impurity in Heaven, or it wouldn't be Heaven : )
27 Nothing unclean will be allowed
to enter into Heaven. — Revelation 21:27
It's important to reiterate, Purgatory has nothing to do with ones
justification or salvation,
rather it has to do with ones own personal holiness. Because each of us has a unique calling in life, and we respond to it differently with our free will, the personal holiness each of us has at our Particular Judgment will probably vary from person to person.
My explanation of Purgatory is (expounded and elaborated on) in the Similar Issues . . . at the end of this answer.
On the contrary, Hell is total separation
from God.
St. Therese, Doctor of the Church, tells us,
"There is no love in
Hell."
I hope this answers your question.
Mike
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