The Punishment of the Damned

Those who undergo the punishment of hell are tormented by fire and also by other afflicting agencies. As the person condemned to hell has, in earthly life, put various material things in the place of God, he is justly punished by a variety ofafflictions.

“The worm that dieth not” will afflict the condemned soul in hell. This means that remorse of conscience (butnot repentance), will incessantly trouble that soul.

The “weeping” that will be in hell after the bodily resurrection will not be the shedding of tears (for there will be no bodily alteration in hell), but will be a steadyaffliction of the head and the eyes.

The darkness of hell is a true and material darkness. After the resurrection of bodies, this darkness will afflict the bodily vision of the damned. The fire of hell, as St. Basil says,will have heat but not light for those punished by it.

The fire of hell is a bodily fire which now afflictsand detains lost souls; after the resurrection it will torture the bodies of the damned in hell.

It seems that the fire of hell is essentially the same as the fire we know on earth, although it doubtlessly has different properties, since it needs no fuel and does not consume what is cast into it.

No one can say for certain where hell is located. It seems,however, to be suggested by some passages in scripture that hell is”under the earth,” that is, that it is located somewhere in the interior of the earth, under the earth’s surface.