Many people use the term purgatory without having been raised Catholic and therefore probably not really understanding the concept. Purgatory is a concept in Catholic theology referring to a state of purification after death for souls who died in God’s grace but still need to be cleansed of the temporal punishment due to sin before entering heaven. The doctrine holds that souls in purgatory are destined for heaven but must first be purified of any remaining attachment to sin or incomplete penance for forgiven sins. This purification process involves suffering, though the exact nature is not definitively defined by Church teaching. Catholic theology draws on passages like 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (about being “saved as through fire”) and 2 Maccabees 12:39-45 (prayers and offerings for the dead). The belief supports practices like prayers for the dead, indulgences, and Masses offered for deceased souls. Many Catholics pray for the “poor souls in purgatory” and believe the living can help shorten their purification through prayers and good works. Most Protestant denominations reject purgatory, believing souls go directly to heaven or hell after death. Eastern Orthodox churches have different concepts about the afterlife and purification. Other religions have their own varied beliefs about post-death states.
Many religious and spiritual traditions have concepts similar to purgatory covering intermediate states or processes of purification after death. The notable equivalents include Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which doesn’t accept Catholic purgatory but believes in purification after death. They emphasize prayers for the dead and a gradual process of theosis (deification) that may continue after death. In Buddhism, the “bardo” states described in Tibetan Buddhism represent intermediate states between death and rebirth where consciousness experiences various purifying or challenging visions before the next incarnation. In Hinduism certain afterlife realms like some levels of the astral plane serve as temporary purification states. The concept of working through karma across lifetimes also involves gradual spiritual purification. Islam is a bit different and while most souls go directly to paradise or hell, some Islamic traditions describe al-A’raf, a liminal space between heaven and hell, and purification processes for certain souls before entering paradise. Traditional Jewish thought includes concepts like Gehinnom (sometimes translated as hell), described by many rabbis as a temporary purification process lasting up to twelve months for most souls (hence, the year of mourning or Avelut where certain mourning observances continue for up to twelve months, during which mourners may recite the Kaddish prayer daily and observe other commemorative practices).
Some people think purgatory and limbo are the same thing, but they’re not. Purgatory is a state of purification for souls destined for heaven and involves suffering and cleansing. It’s temporary and souls eventually do enter heaven with the living helping through prayers and good works. On the other hand, Limbo is a state of natural happiness but without the beatific vision of God. There is no suffering involved and it is a permanent state with no possibility of assistance from the living. Limbo was theorized to address theological questions about unbaptized infants and righteous people who lived before Christ.
I have been aware of the notary process since I was in high school. The notary process involves steps to authenticate documents and verify identities, something we always seemed to need to do in Rome in the late 1960s. The notary must confirm the signer’s identity through acceptable identification (driver’s license, passport, etc.). The person always had to appear in person before the notary. The notary ensures the document is complete, with no blank spaces that could be filled in later, and that it’s the type of document they’re authorized to notarize. Depending on the document type, the signer either acknowledges they signed voluntarily (acknowledgment) or swears/affirms the contents are true (jurat/oath). After recording the details in their official journal, the notary signs the document and applies their official seal or stamp, completing the notarial certificate. Notary practices vary significantly across states and dramatically around the world, as different legal systems have developed distinct approaches to document authentication.
I have now run into this whole melange of document authentication in the course of my dual citizenship application process. Six months ago it all seemed fairly routine and perfunctory, but after seeing what I have seen and learning what I have learned, I’m about at my wits end. I think I have discovered a form of purgatory on earth. It is like purgatory because it involves a cleansing or purification of one’s identity and life choices. I have to gather documents on birth and death, which seems somewhat routine…though that does somewhat depend on the states or countries in which you do either. Then I have to gather documents on marriages and divorces, which is sort of the next level of human engagement and also matters a lot by state and even sometimes county and/or city. I will note that being a United States citizen only matters so much since each state and municipality has its own ways of maintaining records retrieving records and authenticating records. I’m not sure how much we all realize it, but changing names and identities is more commonplace than you might realize. The most obvious is a name change due to marriage with the maiden name either left behind or perhaps incorporated into the new marital moniker. You would think that there is a supreme and therefore prevailing authority in the country, but just because you have a passport that says something does not mean that a state or municipality has you recorded by the same name. And, of course, more complicated lives involve other forms of name change, whether through emigration or immigration and the process of cultural reformation that takes place when one shifts life venue. Then there is the process of marriage, divorce and remarriage and so on and so on. Those who have lived more simple lives have it far easier than those of us who have lived very “full” lives with multiple marriages and divorces as well as children from various marriages…and then the various venue and name changes they all go through.
All of this distills down into an authentication and validation process that has to be done by a notary as a preamble to whatever Apostille process is needed for those documents to be useful in a foreign judicial process. Think of the Apostille as a more formal notarization (by a sovereign entity) of a first level notarized and certified document that was issued by a sovereign entity and validated by a person authorized to do so by that same sovereign entity. If it sounds complicated you are starting to understand my being at my wits end.
But here’s the thing, the digital economy has started to change the notary process. Just like payment processing that used to be validated by banks is being overtaken by things like new-age authentication via things like blockchain ledgers. Today I went through an online notary process on one document and then was told to go to FedEx for another “wet” signature in-person notary on another. FedEx seems to have done away with in-person notaries and ONLY does online notaries. So with my phone I went through the process right there at the FedEx office and actually swore my fidelity to a mini-image of a live notary who had me hold my hand up and swear to the veracity of my signature. I then sent the digital document to the FedEx printer and used the code given to me to print the hard copy of that digitally notarized document and slid it into a FedEx envelope to send off for Apostille verification. I may find out I have to go to the UPS Store for a real live notary and then I will have to yet again go back to FedEx to send it back to the Apostille people, but I feel like I am inching up on the finish line.
I am not sure what exactly I did in life to warrant this purification process through suffering, but I am in the midst of notary purgatory. I would call it limbo, but I sense the beatific presence of God in the process so I am just keeping my eyes down toward my feet so as not to incur any more of Notary Beelzebub’s attention.