This happened in Switzerland,
in Einsiedeln
a place of Marian pilgrimage;
It was winter,
one day of the week,
and the church was almost empty;
Aloisia
prayed with her parents.
Looking toward the main altar, she noticed
the presence of a very old nun,
dressed in a very ancient habit, from a distant time.
Aloisia went to her
and the nun handed her a sheet of prayers
that she placed in Aloisia's pocket.
Then something extraordinary happened:
the door of the church
suddenly opened
and Aloisia
saw an immense crowd of pilgrims enter,
all poorly dressed,
who walked with silent steps,
there were a lot of pilgrims
in a line of almost endless length
who entered the church;
there was a priest
who showed them the way.
Aloisia
was wondering how that huge crowd was going to fit in the church.
Then she turned to light a candle,
and when she looked back again to the crowd,
the church was again as empty as at the beginning.
Full of amazement, she asked her parents
where all those people had gone.
But her parents
didn't see the pilgrims
and the nun.
Without understanding what was happening,
she looked in her pocket for the sheet
that the nun had given her;
this sheet
she was holding in her hands
contained a prayer
that our Lord Jesus Christ taught
to Saint Mechtilde
in one of His appearances.
It was the Our Father of Saint Mechtilde
for the souls of Purgatory.
Every time Saint Mechtilde
prayed this prayer,
she saw legions
of souls from Purgatory
go to heaven.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Our Father, Who art in Heaven
I beg you, O Heavenly Father,
to forgive the souls of purgatory,
for they neither loved you nor gave you
the honor that is only deserved by you,
their Lord and Father who by pure grace
adopted them as children.
On the contrary,
because of their sins, they cast you
from their hearts
where you, however, always wanted to live.
In reparation for
these faults,
I offer you the love and veneration
that your incarnate Son showed you
throughout his earthly life
and I offer you
all the acts of penance and reparation
that He carried out,
and through which he erased and repaired
the sins of men.
Amen.
Hallowed be Thy name
I beg you, oh most wonderful Father,
to forgive the souls of purgatory,
because they did not always honor your Holy Name
with dignity
but often pronounced it in vain
and made themselves unworthy of the name of Christian
because of their life of sin.
In reparation for these faults,
I offer you all the honor
that your beloved Son rendered to your Name
with his words and his acts
throughout his earthly life.
Amen.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
I beg you, O most wonderful Father,
to forgive the souls of purgatory,
because they did not always submit their will to yours,
nor did they try to fulfill your will in everything,
but even lived and acted doing only their will.
In reparation for their disobedience,
I offer you the perfect conformity of the heart
full of love
of your divine Son
with your holy will
and the most profound of the submissions
that he demonstrated by obeying you until his death on the cross.
Amen.
Give us this day our daily bread
I beg you, oh most wonderful Father,
to forgive the souls of purgatory,
because they did not always receive the Blessed Sacrament
of the Eucharist
with sufficient desire,
but rather they often did it without love,
even unworthily,
and even omitted to do so.
In reparation for all these faults,
I offer you the eminent holiness
and great love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, your divine Son,
and the ardent love
with which He gave us this incomparable gift.
Amen.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive
those who trespass against us
I beg you, oh great Father,
to forgive
the souls of purgatory
for all the faults of which they became guilty
by succumbing to the seven deadly sins,
and also for not having wanted to forgive their enemies.
In reparation for all these sins,
I offer you the prayer full of love that your divine Son
addressed to you on behalf
of his enemies
when he was on the cross.
Amen.
And lead us not into temptation
I beg You, O most wonderful Father,
to forgive the souls of purgatory,
for they often did not resist temptations
or passions
but instead followed the enemy and abandoned themselves to the lusts
of the flesh.
In reparation for all these multiple sins
of which they are guilty,
I offer you the glorious victory
that our Lord Jesus Christ obtained over the world
as well as His most holy life,
His work, His pains, His suffering and His most cruel death.
Amen.
But deliver us from evil
And from all the punishments,
by virtue of the merits of your beloved Son,
and lead us, as well as the souls of purgatory,
to your Kingdom of Eternal Glory
that is identified with you.
Amen.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.