Immortification of the Tongue

Oh! how easy it is to err in words! How rare a thing it is to speak for any length of time without offending against meekness, humility,sincerity or christian charity! Even pious persons are often subject to this defect; when they escape all other snares of the demon, they allow themselves to be taken, says St Jerome, in this last trap – slander.  When the celebrated Durand, who, in the eleventh century, shed luster on the order of St Dominic, was yet a simple religious, he showed himself a model of regularity and fervor; yet he had one defect. The vivacity of his disposition led him to talk too much; he was excessivel fond of witty expressions, often at the expense of charity. Hugh, his abbot, brought this under his notice, even predicting that, if he did not correct himself, without much restraint, to the disorders of the tongue.

After his death, the prediction of the Abbot Hugh was fulfilled. Durand appeared to a religious, one of his friends, imploring him to assist him by his prayers, because he was frightfully punished for the unmortification of his tongue. In consequence of this apparition, the members of the community unanimously agreed to observe strict silence for eight days, and to practice other good works for the repose of the deceased. These charitable exercises produced their effect; sometime after, Durand again appeared but now to announce his deliverance.

An excerpt from Purgatory Explained by Fr. F, X. Schouppe