Sobering story: "Your Husband Is In Hell" A widow asked St. Padre Pio to pray for the whereabouts of her recently disappeared husband. San Padre Pio touched and smiled in pain and said: Your husband is in hell. The woman said: How? My husband confessed before he died. San Padre Pio then answered: In his youth he had a calling, he played with the Lord's calling because he wanted to rejoice in sin and enjoy life; time passed and he became stubborn in sin and could not return to God. And before confessing he forgot to confess some sins to the priest, he omitted and did not confess with a contrite heart. Without the pain of sin, without repentance, without the purpose of amending, confession will become a mockery and at the moment of communion a sacrilege, so we must ask God for that grace of holy fear and pain for sins. Let us call on San Padre Pio to obtain the grace of a good and holy confession.
I do not believe St. Padre Pio, or anybody, could know that the man was in Hell, the story is an exaggeration. We only know of of people in Hell by name, Judas and Cain in Hell.
Only Judas and Cain in Hell? You should read this:
Saints Who Saw Hell: And Other Catholic Witnesses to the Fate of the Damned
@Flavio Raposo...I implied that we only know of two people by name in Hell. There are likely an untold number in Hell that we do not know their names.
@chris griffin Surely you do not doubt that God could reveal to whomsoever He chooses the name or names of souls in Hell? Why would he not, if the result is the salvation of a soul?
@occasnltrvlr...what we are talking about is private revelation which I do not believe and which it is perfectly Catholic to reject. Thanks.
@Boanerges Boanerges you are completely right. This should be clarified properly before disseminating posts like this.
The key word in this story is "he omitted". One can omit intentionally or forgetfully. The story is not clear about this, however few words earlier it says "he forgot" so one would logically conclude that it was not willingly but forgetfully. And yet he got the capital punishment of Hell. So one would conclude that we all go to Hell if we unintentionally forget some sin from our past and consequently we would end up in extreme scrupulosity. Maybe there's a translation problem with this or maybe I am reading it wrong...
This is taken word for word from Prophet of the People, A Biography of Padre Pio, p. 158
“Padre Pio had an unpleasant duty to perform. He was talking with a recently-widowed woman. Her husband had once left her and their two children to live with another woman for over three years. Unexpectedly cancer had claimed his life. Before his death, after urgent appeals, he had consented to receive the last Sacraments of the Church. The woman, short and plain, finally asked the inevitable: ‘Where is his soul, Padre? I haven’t slept, worrying.’ Padre Pio watched her with troubled eyes. He could almost feel her grief filling his own heart. ‘Your husband’s soul is condemned forever,’ he whispered. The woman shook her head and her eyes clouded with tears. ‘Condemned?’ Padre Pio nodded sadly. ‘When receiving the last Sacraments he concealed many sins. He had neither repentance nor a good resolution. He was also a sinner against God’s mercy, because he said he always wanted to have a share of the good things in life and then have time to be converted to God.’”