About
The Italian purgatory church is decorated with macabre symbols of death and mummies.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, religious thinking in Europe was marked by the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Among the contested ideas was the notion of purgatory, thought to be a “place of cleansing” for those who have sinned and not yet received full forgiveness for their acts. After Protestant pushback on this concept, Catholics reaffirmed the importance of the doctrine and consequently built several “purgatory” churches around southern Italy and Sicily. This led to mass being celebrated to pray for the souls of those in limbo, so they could go on to heaven.
