the mystical temple of god 654 Finally, as an example, we make clear and assert the great mercy of the saintly Prince Ladislaus Jagiello. Indeed, as Duke of Lithuania, chosen to be King of Poland on the proviso that he would embrace the Catholic Religion, later he burned with such a great zeal to bring his people to the worship of the true God, that he personally explained the principal points of the faith to them; he spared no efforts in bringing them into the sheepfold of Christ and so from Grand-Duke of Lithuania he became a grand apostle,208 He could deservedly pray with the king-psalmist: “I will teach transgressors your ways, that sinners shall return to you” (Ps 51:15). Next, it is the greatest charity to pray earnestly to God for the freedom of the souls remaining in Purgatory, or to assist them by merciful alms as by various other means. Quite impious and foolish is he who is not moved by their torments, and does not help those who suffer when he can. The Leader, Judas Maccabees, just as vigorous as noble-minded, “took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view” (2 Macc 12:43). This was done by a man who was occupied with continual wars, which usually extinguish pity, and who may well have known that the Synagogue did not have as much power as our Holy Mother the Church to apply the merits of Christ the Lord to the faithful departed. What is appropriate for us to do; for us who can obtain much from Jesus, and have such frequent incentives to bring assistance to the souls of the faithful who are destined for temporary torture? Therefore, I am greatly amazed how it is possible that a Christian does not begin to feel deeply the entreaty 208 Ladislaus Jagiello, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and subsequently king of Poland (d. 1434). The author calls him “the great Apostle of Lithuania,” because Jagiello married Hedwig, the Polish Queen, “accepting proposals and conditions, of which the most important are: christianization of Lithuania and its union with Poland. Towards the end of the year [1386] both the king and the queen baptize Lithuania in Vilnius and endow eight parish churches”; cf. Chamiec, Xawery, Jagiello (Władysław): PEK XVII-XVIII, 266.
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