To appreciate the benefit of an indulgence, one must recognise that every sin, because it is an injustice against God, merits punishment. Moreover, one must understand that the forgiveness of sin is one thing but the removal of punishment is something else. After the fall, for example, Adam was forgiven his sin (cf. Wisdom 10: 1-2) but he still had to suffer the punishment of death. Even though King David's adultery was pardoned, he nonetheless had to endure the death of his child as a penalty for his offence.
Mortal sin and the eternal punishment due to it are removed by a sacramental confession. But just as Adam and David, having been forgiven their mortal sins, underwent temporal punishment (i.e. punishment that lasted for a time), so also, the Church's theologians affirm, according to the ordinary law the sorrow of the penitent does not remove all the temporal punishment. This punishment must be endured either here in this world or in purgatory.
An indulgence, however, is one way that the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin is removed. The Council of Trent pronounced that Christ had given to His Church the power of granting indulgences and that the Church had used this power since the earliest times. Recognising that the use of indulgences is especially salutary for the Christian people as well as approved by the authority of the holy councils, Trent condemned those who either claimed that indulgences are useless or who denied the Church's power to grant them.
Besides maintaining the Church's authority to grant indulgences, Pope Clement VI explained the existence of the Church's treasury. He said that through the death of Christ there was established an infinite treasure by which those who use it become partakers of God's friendship. Christ entrusted this treasure, the pontiff continued, to be dispensed to the faithful through Peter and his successors either for the total or the partial remission of temporal punishment due to forgiven sins (cf. Denzinger 551). Not only do the merits of Christ belong to this treasury but also those of Our Lady and the saints. There can be no fear of any diminution of this treasury not only because Christ's merits are infinite but also because when merits are applied they bring many to justice and this increases the treasury (cf. Denzinger 552).
Transferring the merits from one member to satisfy for the punishments of another strikingly illustrates the doctrine of the communion of saints. As St Paul says, 'And if one part is suffering, all the rest suffer with it; if one part is treated with honour, all the rest find pleasure in it. And you are Christ's body, organs of it depending upon each other' (1 Cor. 12:26-27). 'Because all the faithful, under Christ their head, form one mystical body', Fr A M Herve SJ wrote, 'the merits of Christ and the satisfactions of Christ and the saints are, in a certain sense, the property of the individual members and these members can grant them for the benefit of one another' (cf. 'De Indulgentiis,' Herve, Vol IV, p.69). By granting indulgences, the Church through the Vicar of Our Lord on earth applies the merits of Christ and the saints to the souls in purgatory and to the faithful on earth to satisfy for the punishment their forgiven sins deserve. Those in purgatory are members of the mystical body whose bond is love. Because they cannot help themselves, they depend upon the charity of the faithful on earth to gain indulgences for them. Unlike some remission of temporal punishment from the prayers, fasts and almsgiving of an individual member of the faithful the value of the indulgence is much greater because it is derived from the intervention of the Church Herself.
Three things are necessary for an indulgence: (1) the one granting it must have legitimate authority; (2) there must be a just cause for granting it; (3) the one acquiring the indulgence must be in a state of grace and subject to the one granting the indulgence.
In practice the entire power of granting indulgences belongs to the Sovereign Pontiff. Since he is not the Lord but the administrator and distributor of the Church's treasury, he cannot arbitrarily dispose of it but requires a just cause. Any cause, however, which inclines to the honour of God and the benefit of the Church is a just cause. The weight of the indulgence is not measured by the difficulty in performing the work but by the end intended by the one granting the indulgence. Consequently, a great indulgence is attached to stations of the cross, a work of minor difficulty, because it is considered exceedingly useful for the Church. The subject who is capable of gaining indulgences should have the general intention, which once made is never retracted, of acquiring them.
Indulgences, which remove temporal punishment due to forgiven sin, may be gained by the living for themselves or applied to the souls in purgatory but they cannot be applied to other living persons. Indulgences are called plenary if they remove temporal punishment and partial if they remove only some of it. A plenary indulgence can be acquired only once in the course of a day but a partial indulgence may be acquired more than once a day. To gain an indulgence for oneself one must be baptised, in a state of grace at least at the completion of the prescribed work and subject to the one granting the indulgence. One must also have at least a general intention of gaining them and must perform the works enjoined at the time in the manner prescribed.
"To acquire a plenary indulgence," the 1968 Enchiridion of Indulgences, issued by the Sacred Penitentiary, states, " it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil the following three conditions; Sacramental Confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent. "If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only..."
The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work: it is, however, fitting that Communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff be said on the same day the work is performed. "A single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Communion must be received and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff must be recited for gaining of each plenary indulgence". "The condition of praying for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary; nevertheless, each person is free to recite any other prayer according to his piety and devotion".
Some works to which are attached plenary indulgences are: a visit to the Blessed Sacrament which lasts for half an hour, the stations of the cross, recitation of five decades of the rosary while contemplating the mysteries, and reading scripture for one half hour.
In the revision of indulgences the measurement of partial indulgences by day and years has been abolished. Pope Paul VI, however, made three general grants for partial indulgences. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in the performance of their duties and in bearing the trials of life, raise their mind with humble confidence to God, adding (even if only mentally) some pious invocation. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who in a spirit of faith and mercy give of themselves or of their goods to serve their brothers in need. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who in a spirit of penance voluntarily deprive themselves of what is licit and pleasing to them.
With permission of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter Elmhurst PA USA
Various days on which a Plenary Indulgence may be gained:
On 1st January, if the hymn Veni Creator is publicly recited or sung.
On any Friday in Lent or Passiontide, by reciting the prayer En ego in front of an image of OLJC Crucified after having receiving Holy Communion.
On Holy Thursday and on the feast of Corpus Christi, at the singing of Tantum ergo during the ceremonies.
On Good Friday, by kissing the Cross during the ceremonies.
On Holy Saturday, by joining in the Renewal of Baptismal Promises during the Vigil.
On the feast of the Sacred Heart, if the Act of Reparation is publicly recited.
On the feast of OLJC the King, if the Form of Consecration is publicly recited.
On All Souls' Day, only applicable to the Souls in Purgatory, by visiting a church and there reciting a Pater and Credo.
On the feast of the title of any church, by visiting the church and there reciting a Pater and Credo.
On 2nd of August (Portiuncula), by visiting a church and there reciting a Pater and Credo.
On 31st December, if the Te Deum is publicly recited or sung.
(Enchiridion Indulgentiarum Normæ et Concessiones 1968)
Copyright © 2006 The Latin Mass Society
Adaption for Canada by VTMS