The main theme of Little Flowers is the fact that all friars had to undergo poverty to become holy, however, they would have to spend some time in purgatory to pay for their already forgiven sins. Someone in the story, Pacifico, had a vision of brother Umile rising up into heaven without going through purgatory. One day, while people were moving Umile’s bones, Pacifico washed them in wine and kissed them. The people moving the bones thought he was just being weird, until he told them of his vision. They immediately understood. However, if you went through purgatory before you went to heaven, what hope was there for a regular person to go to heaven without going through an indefinite time in purgatory? My guess is no, not at all.