One of the most efficacious prayers that the faithful departed appreciate is the recitation of the rosary for them. One of the promises of the Virgin Mary is that she shall deliver very promptly from purgatory the souls who are devoted to her rosary. By this sacred prayer, we continue to renew our invocation of Mary’s benevolent Heart, and we implore the Queen of the Holy Rosary to release the holy souls from purgatory or to vouchsafe them consolation in their torments.

The souls within the fire of purgatory rejoice exceedingly, just like a sick and bedridden man does when he receives a word of comfort that pleases his soul, when the rosary is recited for them. The children of the Virgin Mother are blessed, for she is their consolation and help not only in this world but also in purgatory. The Virgin Mary is solicitous for the suffering souls in purgatory because she is the Mother of pure souls. She exercises her maternal powers in mitigating their pains and in delivering them from their purgatorial imprisonment. Their pains are so great that all the sufferings of the sick, all the pains and torments of the martyrs since the beginning of the world added together do not in the least compare with those of purgatory.

Hence, the Virgin Mary descends with truly maternal charity into purgatory and eases their torments. The amiable and benevolent Virgin Mary shows herself to them so that they may receive comfort and consolation. By her mediation, purgatorial souls are released from their fiery prison. God has given the Virgin Mary the power, by virtue of her merits and dignity as the Mother of God, to release the souls from purgatory, particularly those who were foremost in their devotion to her. The Blessed Virgin appeared one night to St. Bridget and said: “I am the Mother also of the souls in Purgatory. Their torments are continually eased in some manner through my intercession. For it pleases the Lord to remit in this manner some of the punishments which are their due by justice.”

The Blessed Mother of Mercy also shows them mercy and shortens the purgatorial stay of those who were particularly devoted to her on earth. Can we imagine that Jesus would refuse his Mother’s prayer in heaven when he did not refuse her intervention to aid the newlywed couple in Cana? She is his Mother and the Mother of the souls in purgatory; therefore, it gives him the sweetest pleasure to release them, or at least to mitigate the torments of those for whom she pleads. She never ceases her intercession for the souls in purgatory, especially for those who were devoted to her on earth. Therefore, she rejoices at being invoked to intercede on behalf of the suffering souls in purgatory.

Let us pray. O Blessed ever-Virgin Mary, Queen of Angels, I give thanks to God with incessant praises for his infinite goodness and munificence to you. I beseech you, by the redeeming power of the blood of Jesus Christ, to aid the souls in purgatory, especially those who during their earthly life disposed themselves to you, to obtain satisfaction for their sins, to release them from the pains of purgatory, and to present them to Jesus Christ in heaven as one of his own and as the fruits of his blood and redemption. Amen.