As the story goes, as the woman approached the confessional, she could see Saint Jean-Marie Vianney talking to the Virgin Mary...
She was distraught over the fact that her husband committed suicide, and therefore went straight to hell.
She spoke to Saint Jean-Marie Vianney about her grief. But the saint-to-be replied:
"When your husband jumped off the bridge, he made a perfect act of contrition before he hit the water. Your husband is in purgatory."
This is not to make suicide to seem like a trivial sin. But sometimes in God's mercy, people are given a second chance.
Sometimes there are other factors in the suicide that only God can see. In this case, the person may have regretted the act of suicide before doing, but might have thought it was "the only option".
God is the only one capable of seeing the whole picture.
The other example is King David in the Old Testament. Not only did have someone killed for his mistress (the mistress's husband), but King David committed adultery. Additionally, everyone probably realized the scandal that King David was involved: seduces a married woman, and then having her husband killed in battle.
Things are Black and White. But only God can see shades of gray...
In other words, it is not for us to judge, but only God.
And only God might make exceptions to serious sins and allow a soul to enter purgatory rather than go to hell...
I’d never heard that story before. Thanks for sharing it.
Purgatory will have cleansed the man — not from his own sin — but from how his sin affected those around him. He is merely making reparations for the harms he caused his wife and family and friends.