‘Of the four principal torments of the damned ~ 'The Dialogue' of Saint Catherine of Siena; 1907; A …
[Saint Catherine of Siena /Caterina di Benincasa/; XIV-XV Century AD; Siena, Republic of Siena/Rome, Papal States; aged 33; Spiritual Writer; Mystic; Virgin; Doctor of the Church]
“Of the four principal torments of the damned, from which follow all the others ; and particularly of the foulness of the Devil.
" My daughter, the tongue is not sufficient to narrate the pain of these poor souls. As there are three principal vices, namely : self - love, whence proceeds the second, that is love of reputation, whence proceeds the third, that is pride, with injustice and cruelty, and with other filthiness and iniquitous sins, that follow upon these.
So I say to thee, that in Hell, the souls have four principal torments, out of which proceed all the other torments.
The first is, that they see themselves deprived of the vision of Me, which is such pain to them, that, were it possible, they would rather choose the fire, and the tortures and torments, and to see Me, than to be without the torments …More
'The fourth torment that they have is the fire. This fire burns and does not consume, for the being of the soul cannot be consumed, because it is not a material thing that fire can consume. But I, by Divine justice, have permitted the fire to burn them with torments, so that it torments them, without consuming them, with the greatest pains in diverse ways according to the diversity of their sins, to some more, and to some less, according to the gravity of their fault.'
"My daughter, the tongue is not sufficient to narrate the pain of these poor souls. As there are three principal vices, namely : self - love, whence proceeds the second, that is love of reputation, whence proceeds the third, that is pride, with injustice and cruelty, and with other filthiness and iniquitous sins, that follow upon these."