About Friends of the Poor Souls

Friends of the Poor Souls is a non-profit apostolate that was established on September 15, 2004, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, solely for the purpose of helping release the Poor/Holy Souls from Purgatory.

Our Mission is to empty Purgatory and is made of up people like you dedicated to prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Our primary objective is to say one prayer of St. Gertrude the Great for every thousand souls who have ever lived, thereby ensuring that Purgatory is emptied, based on God’s promise to St. Gertrude. We are also encouraged to pray the Chaplet of Our Lady of Sorrows which can be obtained by requesting it from us, Friends of the Poor Souls.

As Friends of the Poor Souls we are inviting you to become Prayer Warriors with hundreds of others in a spiritual campaign to pray for and help release the Poor Holy Souls from Purgatory. We do not ask for any money whatsoever, there are no dues, and we do not receive a salary for the work we are doing. We do accept donations to help defray printing and mailing costs for those who do not have the internet and to help maintain this website. The profits from any religious items we sell will be used to have Masses said for the Poor/Holy Souls in Purgatory.

We have set up a Golden Book. Members who join our apostolate are asked to send us the names of their living and deceased friends and relatives. The names are enrolled in the Golden Book and when the prayer warriors say their prayers they remember to “pray for all those enrolled in the Golden Book”. Imagine hundreds of people praying for your deceased husband, wife, child or parent. A Mass is offered every Friday for all those enrolled in the Golden Book.

We have noticed that the last two generations have very little, if any, knowledge about Purgatory. Who will pray for you when you are deceased? We will! We will continue to pray until Purgatory is emptied.

If you were to ask how can I best “help” a soul “get out of Purgatory”, we would answer: arrange to have a Mass said for the soul of the deceased. This is in fact one of the most effective Spiritual Works of Mercy we may offer, namely “to pray for the living and the dead”…”to comfort the sorrowful especially at the time of a death in the family”. At each Holy Mass the sufferings and death of Jesus on the Cross are renewed. Here the Lord prays for us and with us and offers Himself to the Father for us.

We also provide good Catholic books and prayer cards at reasonable prices. We encourage you to purchase these articles to distribute to your friends and relatives. Profits from the sale of many of these items will be used to have masses said for the Souls in Purgatory, but especially for all those enrolled in our Golden Book.
You are also encouraged to send us your Prayer Petitions. Each month we send the prayer petitions to Fatima, Portugal to be placed at the feet of Our Lady of Fatima at the Cova where she appeared to the three shepherd children.

Please consider joining us and send us the names of your loved ones you would like us to pray for as well as your prayer petitions. You may email us at holysouls@att.net . Please put the word “Purgatory” in the subject of your email. Members receive a newsletter regarding the Poor/Holy Souls. We also distribute prayer cards and additional information to help the Poor/Holy Souls. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

The poor souls in Purgatory do not forget us. They are not preoccupied with the cares or distractions of this world. Their focus is totally on God. When we earnestly or carelessly recite one prayer for them, their pain is temporarily eased. When they are finally released from their pains and enjoy the Beatific Vision for all eternity, they never forget their benefactors who helped release their chains.