Our History AND MISSION

The Catholic Church teaches that those who die in God’s grace, but are imperfectly purified, undergo a final purification before entering Heaven (Matt 5:26; 1 Cor 3:15; 1 Pet 1:7; CCC 1030). This place of purification is named Purgatory, and the persons there are known as the Church Suffering, the Holy Souls, or the Suffering Souls.

Sacred Scripture exhorts us to pray for the dead (2 Macc. 12:46). We are also taught that prayer and penance for the Suffering Souls consoles them, relieves their debt, and helps them into Heaven.

Friends of the Suffering Souls (FOSS) assists those in Purgatory with offerings of Holy Mass. We take our encouragement from Our Lady of Knock, whose apparition in 1879 followed 100 Masses for the Holy Souls, and from the words of St John Vianney, “How quickly we could empty Purgatory, if we but really wished to.”

Our association began in Australia during the 1980s, and has since expanded internationally, comprising over 11,000 primary members and 30,000 sponsored members, both living and deceased. Since 2020, the association has been under the stewardship of the Australian Office of the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need.

The sole requirement of membership is to have one Mass offered per year for this intention: “For the Holy Souls, especially the deceased members of FOSS.”  Our deceased members receive the graces of being prayed for in the 40,000 Masses offered by our association ever year. Our living members also receive these graces and have the assurance of being prayed for in perpetuity after they are likewise called into eternity.

We invite you to join us in this work of mercy.

Benefits of FOSS membership

1. Acts of charity, offered in community, can earn merit for every member of that community (CCC 2026, 2027). As such, FOSS members receive the merit of every Mass offered in association with FOSS.
2. Members are blessed with the gratitude and prayers of the Holy Souls, whose intercession continues in Heaven.
3. Members can enrol third parties, such as family or friends, and offer additional Masses for the Holy Souls on behalf of those sponsored members. They share the merit of a Mass- offering with their sponsored members.
4. Those who die as members of FOSS are enrolled in a Perpetual Register of deceased members, and, as such, are remembered at every Mass offered for the above-given FOSS intention.

Membership requirements

The only requirements of FOSS membership are to book one Mass each year “for the holy souls in Purgatory, especially the deceased members of FOSS” and to confirm with FOSS this Mass has been booked. Members can also enroll family and friends as third-party members and arrange the annual FOSS Mass on their behalf. Members can assist poor and persecuted priests around the world by requesting their Masses from Aid to the Church in Need at this link but may also book their Masses through any parish or apostolate of their choosing.

Each member chooses a date for the annual Mass and receives a reminder shortly before the date. The Mass does not need to be offered on the precise day allocated; it can be offered around that time.