While reading the Confessiones tonight, I came across a couple of interesting passages (from elsewhere in Augustine’s massive corpus) cited by O’Donnell in his commentary on Book IX of the Confessiones. I relate them both because they’re generally interesting, but also because I have question about the translation of a word at the end of the first.

In the Enchiridion de fide, spe, et caritate 29.110, Augustine writes:

Neque negandum est defunctorum animas pietate suorum viventium relevari, cum pro illis sacrificium Mediatoris offertur vel eleemosynae in Ecclesia fiunt. Nor ought it to be denied that the souls of the deceased are refreshed by the piety of those who survive them when on their behalf the sacrifice of the Christ is offered or alms are given in the Church. Sed eis haec prosunt qui cum viverent haec ut sibi postea possent prodesse meruerunt. But these things benefit those who, while they lived, merited that these things might benefit them after death. Est enim quidam vivendi modus, nec tam bonus ut non requirat ista post mortem, nec tam malus ut ei non prosint ista post mortem; est vero talis in bono ut ista non requirat, et est rursus talis in malo ut nec his valeat cum ex hac vita transierit adiuvari. For there is a certain way of living that is neither so good that it does not need those helps after death nor so bad that those helps do not benefit it after death; but there is also a life holy enough not to need those helps, and again a life so bad that it is beyond the reach of such helps after it has left this earth.

Quocirca hic omne meritum comparatur quo possit post hanc vitam relevari quispiam vel gravari. Wherefore here is every work done by which a soul can be refreshed or pained after this life. Nemo autem se speret quod hic neglexerit, cum obierit, apud Dominum promereri. Moreover, let no one hope that when he will have died he can merit from the Lord what he neglected to do here. Non igitur ista quae pro defunctis commendandis frequentat Ecclesia, illi apostolicae sunt adversa sententiae qua dictum est: Omnes enim adstabimus ante tribunal Christi ut referat unusquisque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, sive bonum sive malum; quia etiam hoc meritum sibi quisque dum in corpore viveret comparavit, ut ei possint ista prodesse. Therefore those things which the Church does frequently to commend of the souls of the departed are not contrary to that apostolic saying: “For all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ so that each may render an account of those things done in the body, whether good or bad”; because each man also gained this for himself while he lived in the body, namely, that those things may be of benefit. Non enim omnibus prosunt. For they do not benefit all. Et quare non omnibus prosunt, nisi propter differentiam vitae quam quisque gessit in corpore? And why should they not benefit all unless because of the different lives lead by each in the body? Cum ergo sacrificia, sive altaris sive quarumcumque eleemosynarum, pro baptizatis defunctis omnibus offeruntur, pro valde bonis gratiarum actiones sunt; pro non valde bonis propitiationes sunt; pro valde malis etiam si nulla sunt adiumenta mortuorum; qualescumque vivorum consolationes sunt. Therefore when sacrifices, whether of the altar or of any sort of almsdeeds, are offered for all the baptized deceased, in the case of the exceedingly good, they are acts of thanksgiving; in the case of the not so good, they are propitiations [for sin]; in the case of the exceedingly bad, although they are no help to the dead, they are at least some consolation for the living. Quibus autem prosunt, aut ad hoc prosunt ut sit plena remissio, aut certe ut tolerabilior fiat ipsa damnatio. Now for those who may benefit, the benefit is a full remission [of sins], or at least the punishment itself is made more bearable.

My guess (I hope educated) was that “full remission” means “full remission of sins”. But maybe it means the full remission of punishment in purgatory? Though that might well amount to the same thing in this case. But the “damnatio” - surely, that doesn’t mean “eternal damnation”? I think it means “the penalty of purgatory” - otherwise, Augustine is saying that we can lessen the sufferings of the damned. But that doesn’t sound right. So I think it makes most sense to take the “aut certe” as indicating some qualification on the foregoing statement: “they receive a full remission of the punishment in purgatory or, at least, it is lessened.”

The second passage is from Sermones 172.2.2:

Proinde pompae funeris, agmina exsequiarum, sumptuosa diligentia sepulturae, monumentorum opulenta constructio, vivorum sunt qualiacumque solatia, non adiutoria mortuorum. So the pomps of a funeral, the train of mourners, the sumptuous outlay of the burial, the expensive construction of tombs, are the consolations, such as they may be, of the living and are no help to the dead. Orationibus vero sanctae Ecclesiae, et sacrificio salutari, et eleemosynis, quae pro eorum spiritibus erogantur, non est dubitandum mortuos adiuvari; ut cum eis misericordius agatur a Domino, quam eorum peccata meruerunt. But by the prayers of holy Church, and by the salvific Sacrifice, and by alms, which are dispersed on behalf of the departed, the dead are certainly helped, so that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully than their sins have deserved. Hoc enim a patribus traditum, universa observat Ecclesia, ut pro eis qui in corporis et sanguinis Christi communione defuncti sunt, cum ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorantur, oretur, ac pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur. For this tradition, which the universal Church observes, comes from the Fathers, that for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are remembered in their place at that sacrifice, there is a prayer, and it is recalled that the sacrifice is offered also for them.

Cum vero eorum commendandorum causa opera misericordiae celebrantur, quis eis dubitet suffragari, pro quibus orationes Deo non inaniter allegantur? But when works of mercy are performed for the sake of commending their souls, who doubts that they are helped for whom not in vain are prayers put to God? Non omnino ambigendum est, ista prodesse defunctis; sed talibus qui ita vixerint ante mortem, ut possint eis haec utilia esse post mortem. Make no doubt about it, those things help the dead; but they help such as lived life so that they might benefit from these things after death. Nam qui sine fide quae per dilectionem operatur, eiusque Sacramentis, de corporibus exierunt, frustra illis a suis huiusmodi pietatis impenduntur officia, cuius, dum hic essent, pignore caruerunt, vel non suscipientes, vel in vacuum suscipientes Dei gratiam, et sibi non misericordiam thesaurizantes, sed iram. For those who left the body without faith, which works through charity, and without the Church’s sacraments, for such as these are works of this sort of piety done in vain by their relatives, such as lacked a pledge of that piety while they were here, either not accepting the grace of God or accepting it in vain, and storing up for themselves not mercy but wrath.

Non ergo mortuis nova merita comparantur, cum pro eis boni aliquid operantur sui, sed eorum praecedentibus consequentia ista redduntur. Therefore new merits are not gained by the dead, when their relations do something good on their behalf, but their actions in this life are finally given their desserts in the next. Non enim actum est, nisi cum hic viverent, ut eos haec aliquid adiuvarent, cum hic vivere destitissent. For it does not come about, except when they lived here, that these things should help them a bit when they have quitted this life. Et ideo istam finiens quisque vitam, nisi quod meruit in ipsa, non poterit habere post ipsam. And therefore as each man finishes this life, he can have nothing after it save that which he has merited in it.