Appendix D – Quotations on Hell

1.  St. Alphonsus Liguori: Our most important affair is that of our eternal salvation; upon it depends our happiness or misery for ever. This affair will come to an end in eternity, and will decide whether we shall be saved or lost forever; whether we shall have acquired an eternity of delights, or an eternity of torments; whether we shall live forever happy, or forever miserable. Way of Salvation, 15.
2. St. Alphonsus Liguori: He who prays not is certain to be damned. All the saints were saved, and came to be saints by praying; all the accursed souls in Hell were lost through neglect of prayer; if they had prayed, it is certain that they would not have been lost. And this will be one of the greatest occasions of their anguish in Hell, the thought that they might have saved themselves so easily; that they had only to beg God to help them, but that now the time is past when this could avail them. Way of Salvation, 430.
3. St. Alphonsus Liguori: The gate of Heaven is narrow: to enter it we must labour, and must do violence to ourselves. And we ought to be persuaded that what we can do today, we shall not be always able to do hereafter. The delay of conversion sends many Christians to Hell. Sermons of St. Alphonsus, 399.
4. St. Teresa of Avila: When a soul leaves off prayer, it is as if she cast herself into Hell without any need of the devils. St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Holy Eucharist (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1887), 344.
5. C. S. Lewis: In the long run, the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins, and at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing over every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does. The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 116. 
6. Sr. Lucia dos Santos: Some people, even the most devout, refuse to speak to children about Hell, in case it would frighten them. Yet God did not hesitate to show Hell to three children, one of whom was only six years old, knowing well that they would be horrified to the point of, I would almost say, withering away with fear. In Lucia’s own words, 105.
7. St. John Vianney: Depart, accursed fathers and mothers! Depart into the Hell where the wrath of God awaits you, you and the good deeds you have done, while all the time you have let your children run wild. De- part into Hell; they will not be long in joining you there. Quoted in Paul Thigpen, A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2001), 101.
8. St. Thomas More: God was so displeased with pride that He did not spare to drive down into Hell the noble, high, excellent angels of heaven for the sake of their pride. So who in this wretched world could have a status so high that he would not have serious cause to tremble and quake in every joint of his body as soon as he feels a high, proud thought enter his heart?Quoted in Thigpen, Dictionary of Quotes, 223. 
9. St. Alphonsus Liguori: He who has had the misfortune of having committed a mortal sin must go to confession immediately; for he may die any moment, and be damned. You may say: “I will go to confession at Easter or Christmas.” And how do you know that you will not die suddenly in the meantime? “I hope in God that I shall not!” But should it happen, what must become of you? How many have kept saying, “Hereafter, hereafter,” and are now in Hell: because death came upon them, and they were not able to make their confession. Preaching, 527.
10. St. John Chrysostom: How many do you think will be saved out of our city [of Antioch]? Not out of so many thousands will a hundred be found! And it is doubtful that there will even be this number. How much wickedness there is among the young! How much sloth among the old! No-one has zeal: we are like a pile of straw! Homily 40, to the people, cited in Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on Matthew 14:13–14
11. St. Augustine: The Church is a barn in which there is much chaff but only a few grains of wheat. There are more wicked than good; there are more to be damned than saved. St. Augustine, Contra Cresconium, cited in Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on Matthew 14:13–14.
12. St. Bede the Venerable: Broad is the way to the pleasures of the world, and there is no work involved in finding it, for it offers itself willingly. All find the way [to salvation] to be narrow, and many of those who find it do not enter into it. There are many who, captured by the pleasures of the world, turn themselves away in the middle of the journey of truth. Exposition of the Gospel according to Matthew.
13. St. Alphonsus Liguori: The damned shall ask the devils what is the hour of the night. “Watchmen, what of the night?” — Isa. xxi. 11. When shall it end? When shall these trumpets, these shrieks, this stench, these flames, these torments cease? Their answer is, Never, never. And how long shall they last? Forever, forever. Ah Lord, give light to so many blind Christians, who, when entreated not to damn themselves, say: “If I go to Hell, I must have patience.” O God! they have not patience to bear the least cold, to remain in an overheated room, or to sub- mit to a buffet on the cheek. And how can they have patience to remain in a sea of fire, trampled by the devils, and abandoned by God and by all, for all eternity? Preparation for Death, or, Considerations on the Eternal Maxims (Boston: Thomas Sweeney, 1854), 267
14. guide speaking to St. John Bosco: Do you really believe that some of them would reform if you were to warn them? Then and there your warning might impress them, but soon they will forget it, saying: “It was just a dream,” and they will do worse than before. Others, realizing they have been unmasked, will receive the Sacraments, but this will be neither spontaneous nor meritorious; others will go to Confession because of a momentary fear of Hell, but will be attached to sin. Forty Dreams, 154–155.
15. St. Sebastian: For which are more greatly to be feared, I ask you? Should we fear most greatly those tribulations which are here today and gone tomorrow, those fires which burn today and by tomorrow will be extinguished, those pains which spring up for a brief hour and within the same hour have passed? Or should we not rather fear much more tribulations which never end, the fire which shall never be extinguished, and the pains which will continue without relief for endless ages? Quoted in St. Ambrose of Milan, A Tale of Death and Glory: The Acts of St. Sebastian and His Companions, trans. Fr. Robert Nixon, O.S.B. (Gastonia, NC: TAN Books, 2022), 26.
16. demons speaking through a possessed heretic: We are compelled to make known that he who perseveres in devotion to Mary and to the Rosary will not be damned; for Mary will secure for him eternal salvation. Preaching, 133.
17. St. Gemma Galgani: If I saw the gates of Hell open and I stood on the brink of the abyss, I would not despair, I would not lose hope of mercy, because I would trust in You, my God. Quoted in Thigpen, Dictionary of Quotes, 70.
18. St. Alphonsus Liguori: When the Devil tempts you, remember Hell; the thought of Hell will preserve you from that land of misery. I say, remember Hell, and have recourse to Jesus Christ and to most holy Mary, and they will deliver you from sin, which is the gate of Hell. Sermons of St. Alphonsus, 83.
19. St. Padre Pio: I have been down there with those miserable [souls], and God let me feel the pain that the damned suffer. Padre Pio said this to Cleonice Morcaldi, and she wrote about it in her published memoir, La mia vita vecino Padre Pio (Rome: Dehoniane, 1997), 181