Heroic Act of Charity: The spiritual equivalent of becoming an organ donor

The Heroic Act of Charity is a pledge a Catholic can make that offers all the prayers and good works of their lifetime, as well as the suffrages (prayers, good works, etc.) they may accrue after death, for the benefit of those souls bound to purgatory. It is a practice that dates back to a decree made by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, on 18 December, 1885, which was confirmed by Pope Leo XIII.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) instructs that, upon death, a soul in need of purification is sent to purgatory, where it is purified over time. This purification is necessary for a soul to proceed to heaven, as Scripture teaches that nothing unclean can enter paradise. Each soul’s purgatorial stint is relative to the quantity and quality of one’s sins, and souls in purgatory are largely powerless to change their own fates.

This is why praying for the dead is among the most important Spiritual Works of Mercy. Catholics are called to help the dead atone for their sins by offering prayers for the deceased, receiving communion, or acquiring indulgences. Charity toward the souls in purgatory is a mysterious process that rests in the domain of the Communion of Saints, but the laity can support the saints through a Heroic Act of Charity.

The Heroic Act of Charity, a truly selfless act, is not one to be undertaken lightly and, in fact, the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences warned that a Heroic Act of Charity should only be made after deep reflection. If a Catholic pledges a Heroic Act of Charity, they are volunteering to spend extra time in purgatory, so that other souls in purgatory may be purified faster.

By making a Heroic Act of Charity, one hands over everything that they have ever done that would be acceptable to God as atonement for one’s own sins to be used for the benefit of others. This means that the prayers, good works, faithful witness, and earthly charities you undertook in life would no longer be credited to you, but would be sacrificed to atone for the sins of others. These suffrages are placed in the hands of the Blessed Mother who distributes them among purgatorial souls at her merciful discretion.

In a sense, this is the ultimate act of charity a Catholic can make in order to emulate Christ. Just as Jesus died for the sins of us all, here we have an opportunity to sacrifice a piece of ourselves for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We could say it is similar to the last act of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who volunteered to die in place of a prisoner in the German concentration camp, Auschwitz.

It can be a frightening notion, to die with the understanding that none of the suffrages to one’s credit will stand as witness of one’s own good works, but this is where faith comes in. By undertaking a Heroic Act of Charity, one is placing oneself at the infinite mercy of God. This means that one can hold a reasonable hope that the act is in its own right a strong enough testament to a faithful life that God will not allow one’s punishments to be enacted in full.

The Heroic Act of Charity should certainly give the faithful reason to pause and contemplate prior to making the vow.

St. Claude la Colombiere is among those who hailed the commitment. When he made his own Heroic Act of Charity, St. Claude explained that a soul who has made this selfless pledge should have no fears of the torments of purgatory, because enduring such horrors for the sake of others honors God.

St. Claude wrote:

To learn more about the Heroic Act of Charity, read this comprehensive pamphlet: Daily Pilgrimage to Purgatory, produced by Sacred Heart Monastery.