St. Teresa and the Provincial
Saint Teresa of Avila had much sympathy for the souls in purgatory. A special grace was given to her by God who frequently showed her the souls she was helping. In many of these encounters, she would see the souls being released and enter into heaven.
This story about a Provincial comes from St. Teresa herself who recounts the story in her own words:
I was told that someone who had been our provincial was dead. I had had some dealings with him and was indebted to him for some good deeds. He was a person of many virtues. As soon as I learned he was dead, I felt a lot of disturbance because I feared for his salvation in that he had been a superior for twenty years. Being a superior is something I am indeed very afraid of since I think having souls in one's charge involves a lot of danger; with much anxiety, I went to an oratory. I offered up for him all the good I had done in my life, which must in fact amount to little, and so I asked the Lord to supply from His own merits what was necessary for that soul to be freed from purgatory.
While beseeching the Lord for this as best I could, it seemed to me that person came out from the depths of the earth at my right side and that I saw him ascend to heaven with the greatest happiness.
She described that even though the priest was elderly when he was taken to heaven, he looked young as if not yet thirty years old. She continued to say that is face was shimmering with light.
The way she describes this experience is, "This vision, though very short, left me inundated with joy, and without a shadow of doubt as to the truth of what I had seen."
