First the deceased is buried in a temporary grave. Then once the body has had enough time to decompose, the skeletal remains of the individual are moved to the ossuary. Since it is strictly the skeletal remains that are moved, this allows more individuals to be placed in one area, since they now take up less space.

Perhaps one of the most impressive once that I have ever heard of is the Sedlec Ossuary which is located in the Czech Republic. The Sedlec Ossuary is estimated to have between 40,000 to 70,000 individual skeletons. Why is it so popular you ask?

Well, lets start from the beginning. This site started off as a cemetery and church.

in 1278 earth from Golgotha (the place where it is said that Jesus was crucified) was sprinkled on the cemetery. After word of this got around, many people wanted to be buried there. And when the Black Death came around, the number of people wanting to be buried there grew. In fact it is said that many who were dying went there to die.

Due to the number of individuals wanting to be laid to rest there, the cemetery had to be enlarged. Eventually the idea came about to turn the area into an ossuary.

Around 1400 a very large Gothic church was built in the middle of the cemetary, with the lower level being turned into an ossuary to house the graves that were exhumed during the construction. The task of arranging the bones was given to a half blind monk.

Although the way the Sedlec Ossuary looks now is to be credited to one Frantisek Rindt, who was given the job in 1870. Mr. Rindt decided to make it more of an artistic experience.

Four bells shaped mounds made of skeletal remains, one in each corner of the church, are housed there. As well as a chandelier contained at least one of each bone in the human body. Not to mention the coat of arms made of bone. The coat of arms is of the family Schwarzenberg, which is the family that hired Mr. Rindt to do the job.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is located on the Vatican’s own website, the definition of purgatory is “a purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven”. This is the final purification, before entering Heaven. According to this particular belief system, the final purification is necessary because “nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in Heaven.”

Purgatory is experienced by souls who are not completely free of their sins, but nor have they committed enough sin to be damned to Hell. Again, per the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it states that the people in purgatory, are in fact assured that they will go to Heaven, once their purification is completed.

Personally, I was always under the assumption that purgatory was where you went when God basically didn’t know what to do with you yet. In other words, where you waited for your final judgment to be rendered. You had the chance of either going to Heaven, or to Hell.

So apparently, the Vatican has proven me wrong. But I’m okay with that because I was never a Catholic.

Also, per this scripture, it is stated that if your family and friends pray for your soul, it will help you in purgatory. It seems to speed up the process of your purification. In fact it is not uncommon to ask a priest to hold a memorial Mass for the deceased. This Mass is held for loved ones who are believed to be in purgatory, so that they may be cleansed and accepted into Heaven. You may also assist your deceased loved ones by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.

So exactly how are your purified? Well, by fire. These cleansing fires are to burn away the sins that you created in life. Once your transgressions are burned away, you are then considered clean and may enter God’s presence.

This is not to be confused with the hell fires that are often associated with Hell. Again, according to the Vatican, this is not a punishment, even though they themselves describe it as the most painful thing that a being (whether a physical being or not) could possibly endure. So does that mean that the purifying flames or purgatory are worse than hell fire? Makes you think doesn’t it?

But again they state that this is not a punishment, this is your purification so that you may join God in Heaven. Interesting that it seems to hint that you may have an easier time of it in Hell if it really is supposed to be that painful. No wonder your living loved ones will do penance for you, so that you may be purified.

Souls who have committed a mortal sin, which is a grave violation of God’s law, may not enter purgatory. Those who have committed a venial sin, which is considered a “forgivable” sin, may enter purgatory to be cleansed by it’s fires.

You may also think of Hades, but that is for another post. I will touch on Hades a little here, but later on he will have a separate post dedicated to him.

Hades was the one that Charon was delivering the souls to.

Charon demanded a fare for his services. The coin that was usually referred to was a usually an obolus or danake. When an individual passed away, if the body was not buried and/or the coin was not placed into their mouth here in the mortal world, the soul was doomed to sit along the shores of the River Styx for 100 years.

Another belief concerning the fare of Charon’s services, was that he would accept a gold coin (this is rather vague, but it seems that any gold coin would do). Again, this was supposed to be placed in the deceased’s mouth. Specifically under the tongue. Another “punishment” for not being able to pay the fair was that you haunted the people who had failed to place the coin in your mouth. This was a punishment for the lost soul, as well as the loved ones who had denied the soul rest by not ensuring that their payment was there for them.

The River Styx itself is a river that connects Earth to the Underworld. It circles the underworld nine times.

Styx was a very powerful river. The Gods would swear oaths by the Styx, in which if they did not follow through their were dire consequences. Gods that did not follow through on these oaths had to drink from the river. Drinking from the river caused them to lose their voices for nine years. Once those nine years were completed they were then exiled from the council of the Gods for another nine years. However, on the other side of the coin it was said that if a living mortal drank from the River Styx, they would become immortal and invulnerable.

This is associated with how Achilles was said to become indestructible, except for his heel. You see, his mother had dipped him into the river. But so as to not lose her precious son she had dipped him in by holding onto one of his heels. Hence why that was his one and only weakness.

All of the previous information deals more with the Greek mythology.

However, interestingly enough the River Styx and Charon also appears in Christian fiction. In fact it is referenced in not only “The Divine Comedy” but also in “Paradise Lost”.

In “The Divine Comedy” Charon is put in charge of the river of Acheron.

Acheron, in Greek mythology, is known as the river of pain and is one of the five rivers of the Underworld. In Dante’s “Inferno”, Acheron forms the borders of Hell. Keeping with the Greek mythology, per “Inferno”, Charon ferries doomed souls to Hell via the Acheron.

And the River Styx was given to Phlegyas. The River Styx was then made the 5th circle of hell which is where the sullen and wrathful were drowned again and again in it’s dark waters.

Let’s take a little side note into who Phlegyas was. Phlegyas was the son of Ares (the God of War) and Chryse. He was also the King of Lapiths. He was also the father of Ixion and Coronis. Coronis was one of Apollo’s lovers. She had an affair and when Apollo found out he ordered her to be killed.

Phlegyas was irate, and burned down one of Apollo’s temples. Apollo then murdered Phlegyas. He is then entombed into a rock, by one of the Furies, slowly starving in front of an eternal feast.

Why these Greek figures are penned into Christian fiction, I am not sure. Personally, it does not surprise me as the Christians (whether it is doctrine, or not) borrow heavily from the older religions.