Have you made or do you plan to make the Heroic Vow for the Souls in Purgatory?

[Xavier]

Among the greatest acts of Heroism to which Holy Mother Church directs and inspires us is the Heroic Act for the Souls in Purgatory. This heavily indulgenced practice to which Our Lord and Our Lady have given their express approval, as have the Popes, consists in offering the satisfactory value of all one's good works, entirely into the hands of Jesus and Mary, simply that Purgatory may sooner be emptied and scores of souls be set free. In return we offer all we have, namely all our prayers, good works, struggles, sacrifices suffering, every Holy Mass we have assisted at, every Holy Communion as an act of reparation for the intentions of the Poor Souls and their release. We offer also all the suffrages that may accrue to us after our death, so that we live solely at the pleasure of His Divine Majesty, and may therefore have a longer Purgatory. It is considered an act of faith and love, of hope in God's Providence which always rewards sacrifice richly and cannot fail those who trust Him, and the epitome of a practical Christian life. The recent feast of St. Margaret Mary, who made and was taught to make this vow to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is a good time to make or renew it.

Have you made this vow? Are you planning to do it? Or interested in learning more about the matter before deciding? Or, not interested?

"A decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences dated  December 18, 1885, and confirmed the following day by Leo XIII, says:

The Heroic Act of Charity in favor of the souls detained in purgatory consists in this, that a member of the Church militant (Christifidelis), either using a set formula or simply by an act of his will, offers to God for the souls in Purgatory all the satisfactory works which he will perform during his lifetime, and also all the suffrages which may accrue to him after his death. Many Christians devoted to the Blessed Vrgin Mary, acting on the advice of the Theatine Regular Cleric Father Gaspar Olider, of blessed memory, make it a practice to deposit the said merits and suffrages as it were into the hands of the Blessed Virgin that She may distribute these favors to the souls in purgatory according to Her own merciful pleasure. Olider lived at the beginning of the eighteenth century."

The Heroic Act is often called a vow, yet it partakes more of the nature of an offering made to God and to Mary, and it is also, unlike a vow, revocable at will. This point has been decided by the S.C. Indulg., Feb. 20, 1907, in answer to a question from Chicoutimi in Canada. A special vow "never to revoke the Act" would probably be binding, because its subject matter is an act of the personal will of which man can freely dispose, whereas he has not the disposal of his satisfactory works in favor of the departed; that depends on God; for man it is only a matter of pious desire, and only in this sense a votum. It always remains doubtful to what extent God accepts the oblation, and it is certain that the holy souls altogether lack the power of accepting it. The practice of the Heroic Act is based on the communion of saints, in virtue of which the good deeds of one member of Christ's body benefit all other members. Its meritoriousness results from the more intense charity (love of God and His suffering friends) which inspires it, and on which the intrinsic perfection of all our good deeds depends. Its heroicity arises from the willingness it involves to take upon one's self the dreadful pains of purgatory for the love of one's neighbor, although there remains the reasonable hope that God in His goodness, and the sainted souls in their gratitude, will not allow the punishment to be exacted to the full.

The Heroic Act has been enriched with numerous indulgences by Benedict XIII (1728), Pius VI (1788), and Pius IX (1852). Priests who make it receive the personal privilege of gaining a plenary indulgence for a soul of their choice each time they say Mass. Laymen gain a similar indulgence each time they receive Holy Communion, also each Monday they hear Mass for the departed; in both cases the usual conditions are required.

Words to a formal Act of Heroic Charity are as follows:

O Holy and Adorable Trinity, desiring to aid in the relief and release of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, through my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I cede and renounce, on behalf of these souls, all the satisfactory part of my works, and all the suffrages which may be given to me after my death. In their entirety, I offer them to Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, that she may use them, according to her good pleasure, for those souls of the faithful departed whom she desires to alleviate their suffering. O my God, deign to accept and bless my offering which I make to Thee through the most august Queen of Heaven and Earth. Amen.

From: http://purgatorysouls.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-heroic-act-for-poor-souls-in.html

St. Catherine of Siena to Blessed Raymond Capua: "I saw the pains of Hell and of Purgatory, [which are] so great that no tongue of man is able to declare them. I saw also the bliss of Heaven and the glory of my Divine Spouse, which only to think of fills my soul with a loathing for all things that are in the world." (The 33 Doctors of the Church, p. 403)

See also: http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/heroic-act.htm

[martin88nyc]

I've made it years ago but have never renewed it.

[Michael Wilson]

I already made the total Consecration to Our Blessed Mother according to St. Louis de Montfort's formula, so I think this also takes care of the Holy Souls.

[mikemac]

I already made the total Consecration to Our Blessed Mother according to St. Louis de Montfort's formula, so I think this also takes care of the Holy Souls.

Me too.

[Gardener]

I already made the total Consecration to Our Blessed Mother according to St. Louis de Montfort's formula, so I think this also takes care of the Holy Souls.

Me too.

Same here.