For many of us, the thought of Hell is like a bad dream—so disturbing that we avoid thinking about it. But the saints didn’t shy away. They frequently meditated on the Four Last Things: death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Some were even given the extraordinary grace of seeing Hell firsthand.
Why would that be a privilege? Because it led to deeper conversion. In The Truth about Hell, five saints are featured who encountered Hell directly: St. Padre Pio, St. Frances of Rome, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John Bosco, and Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich. Many others, such as the Fatima children, also saw visions of the damned. God may have allowed these glimpses so there could be no doubt about Hell’s reality. Christ’s teachings on Hell are clear—but seeing it made the saints burn with urgency to suffer and pray for the salvation of sinners.
5 Saints Who Saw Hell: Perpetual Nightmare
St. Padre Pio
Padre Benedetto, the saint’s spiritual director, testified:
“He experienced the torments of Hell in seeing the damned suffer… Every ten or fifteen days he underwent this agony. He felt the pains of the senses and of damnation, finding himself in body and soul among the damned and demons, in order to save others and himself from that place where they were destined if grace had not helped them.”
St. Frances of Rome
God revealed to her the punishments that correspond to particular sins, especially the seven deadly sins. The horror and humiliation of dying in unrepentant mortal sin, she said, defy human comprehension.
St. Teresa of Avila
This Doctor of the Church saw the place prepared for her in Hell, had she not amended her life of spiritual laxity. She described the suffering of her soul being torn apart—declaring that no earthly pain could compare to what she endured during that vision.
St. John Bosco
In a dream, Don Bosco was led to the depths of Hell, where he recognized some of his students. He saw them tormented by vermin and worms. Some were damned for withholding sins in Confession, others for impurity, worldliness, or lack of sorrow for sin.
Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
She described Hell as “an immense, heavy-looking building… black granite with metallic brightness… The dark and ponderous doors were secured with such terrible bolts that no one could behold them without trembling.”
Hell is a perpetual nightmare. No human mind can fathom its torments. Let us, then, pray daily with devotion the words Our Lady of Fatima gave us—not just for ourselves, but for every soul in danger at this very moment:
“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell.
Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.”
Learn More About The Reality Of Hell
Religious leaders do not teach about Hell to scare people to come to Church, though the fear of Hell often leads souls to turn back to God. Hell is the result of mankind’s free will, not God’s malice. French novelist Léon Bloy said: “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” Since only saints are in Heaven, the greatest tragedy, then, is to go to Hell.
In these gripping pages, Dan Burke and Patrick O’Hearn present the most common reasons souls go to Hell (you will be shocked!) and how to change your life to ensure that you’re striving for Heaven. At the moment of death, you will experience a particular judgment by God and be sent to either Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. Your mission in this life, therefore, is to pray, live, and help others to receive the mercy and salvation that God is offering so that you may attain eternity with Him in Paradise.
Your soul will be stirred as you discover:
- Twelve things Jesus said about Hell, and other Bible passages about this tormenting place
- How the evil one tempts souls to doubt the existence of Hell and the possibility of damnation
- The Church’s teachings on Hell, and the understanding of several Doctors of the Church about it
- Mystical experiences of the saints regarding Hell, and revelations in Marian apparitions
- Five ways to turn away from Satan and open your heart to God’s mercy
- Prayers, spiritual resources, and thought-provoking reflection questions for personal or group use
Jesus has prepared a place in His Father’s house for His true sons and daughters, but He forces no one to come. Instead, many have and will continue to choose Satan’s horror house, a place of never-ending torture, pain, remorse, and anguish from being separated from God for eternity — a place that can be our final destination if we do not repent and embrace the love and redemption offered by our Savior. Let these pages convict you in your commitment to follow Jesus in this life so that you can spend eternity with Him in the next.
Image: Photo by Marino Linic on Unsplash
