Indulgences

“ I said this punishment must be blotted out by our penance. Now, the Church gives us an easy means of so doing, by granting us indulgences. She helps us by giving us a share in the merits of the Blessed Virgin and of the saints. All this we have explained when speaking in the Creed of the communion of saints.
*232 Q. Is an indulgence a pardon of sin, or a license to commit sin? A. An indulgence is not a pardon of sin, nor a license to commit sin, and one who is in a state of mortal sin cannot gain an indulgence. ”

“ Non-Catholics grant a kind of plenary indulgence to every one by saying that works of penance are unnecessary. The practice of the Catholic Church of granting an indulgence only to the deserving is certainly more conformable to Scripture as well as more reasonable.
Experience teaches us the utility of indulgences. They encourage the faithful to frequent the sacraments, to repent, to do acts of penance, and perform works of piety, charity, and devotion. ”

“ The abuse of the Sacrament is another, and not unnatural objection to its use; and it often gets mixed up with Mediaeval teaching about Indulgences.
An Indulgence is exactly what the word suggests—the act of indulging, or granting a favour. In Roman theology, an Indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment due to sin after Absolution. ”

“ Draw near and I will give you letters duly sealed, by which even the sins you shall hereafter DESIRE to commit shall be forgiven you. There is no sin so great that indulgence cannot remit. Pay, only pay largely and you shall be forgiven. But more than all this, indulgences save not the living alone, but they also save the dead. ”

“ Indulgence of 3 years, once a day, for each prayer; plenary indulgence, once a month, on usual conditions. — Pius IX., April 11, i860. The S. Congr. of Indulgences, May 5, 1890, declared that priests can gain the indulgence granted for the above offering by saying it before celebrating Mass.
AN OFFERING.
ETERNAL Father, we offer Thee the blood, the Passion, and the death of Jesus Christ, the sorrows of Mary most holy, and of St. Joseph, in satisfaction for our sins, in aid of the holy souls in purgatory, for the needs of holy Mother Church, and for the conversion of sinners. ”

“ It would seem that an indulgence avails those who are in mortal sin. For one person can merit grace and many other good things for another, even though he be in mortal sin. Now indulgences derive their efficacy from the application of the saints' merits to an individual. Therefore they are effective in one who is in mortal sin. ”

“ We meet them everywhere—indulgences for the adoration of relics, indulgences for worship at certain shrines, indulgences for pilgrimages here or there, indulgences for contributions to this or that special object of charity. Luther roundly charges the indulgence-vendors with teaching the people that the indulgences are a means to the remission of sins. ”

“ But you share every day in the prayers and good works of 30,000,000 associates, and of nearly all the Religious Orders in the world. You gain numerous indulgences, thereby satisfying for temporal punishments that may be due on account of your sins and omissions, and saving yourself from a longer purgatory. By these indulgences you may also help your friends and other poor souls who have gone before you into the next world, and who will in gratitude become your intercessors forever. ”

“ I answer that, Indulgences avail both seculars and religious, provided they have charity and satisfy the conditions for gaining the indulgences: for religious can be helped by indulgences no less than persons living in the world. ”

“ Now, if indulgences are as effective as they claim to be, a man by setting himself to gain indulgences might become immune from all debt of temporal punishment. Therefore it would seem that a man ought to put aside all other kinds of works, and devote himself to gain indulgences. ”

“ On the contrary, Indulgences are granted in virtue of the power conferred on the prelates of the Church. Now mortal sin takes away, not power but goodness. Therefore one who is in mortal sin can grant indulgences. ”

“ We should, as far as practicable, prefer reciting those vocal prayers which the Church has enriched with indulgences, for we thereby gain a twofold advantage — the benefit of the beautiful and devout prayers themselves, and the indulgences, which help us to acquit ourselves of the great temporal debt which we have contracted toward the divine justice on account of our numerous sins. Or we may also apply said indulgences, when so applicable, to the souls in purgatory, who will be relieved thereby and will not fail to intercede for us in our wants. ”

“ To assert that, by an Indulgence, the Church forgives sins, past or future, or that she grants indulgences for money, is a gross calumny. It is true that, when granting an Indulgence, she has sometimes, besides the conditions of a sincere repentance, prescribed alms-deeds for charitable purposes ”

“ His warnings were repeated in other sermons, preached October 31st, 1516, and February 14th, 1517. [31] The burden of these warnings is always the same: the indulgences lead men astray; they incite to fear of God's penalties and not to fear of sin; they encourage false hopes of salvation, and make light of the true condition of forgiveness, vis., sincere and genuine repentance.
These warnings are repeated in the Theses. The preaching of indulgences has concealed the true nature of repentance; the first thing to consider is what "our Lord and Master Jesus Christ means," when He says, "Repent." ”

“ There is no reason why indulgences should be detrimental to religious observance, because, as to the reward of eternal life, religious merit more by observing their rule than by gaining indulgences; although, as to the remission of punishment, which is a lesser good, they merit less. ”

“ To gain an indulgence you must also have the intention of gaining it. There are many prayers that we sometimes say to which indulgences are attached, and we do not know it. How can we gain them? By making a general intention every morning while saying our prayers to gain all the indulgences we can during the day, whether we know them or not. For example, there is a partial indulgence granted us every time we devoutly make the Sign of the Cross or devoutly use an article of devotion, such as a crucifix or scapular, properly blessed by any priest. ”

“ The palsied man receives first the forgiveness of his sins, then his temporal punishment (the palsy) is removed. This is exactly what is done by indulgences, which are granted for the purpose of removing temporal punishment. Only he who is cleansed from mortal sin and is in a state of grace, can gain an indulgence. ”

“ She opens wide the rich treasury of indulgences, of which she is the appointed dispenser, and exhorts the whole of Christianity to the firm hope of pardon. She is purely intent upon vanquishing with unconquerable love and sweetness the most rebellious wills. ”

“ He promises at the same time indulgences of seven years and seven lents as often as they shall recite the aforesaid decades on Sundays and holidays, &c. It is impossible to imagine a more glaring preference of ritual above principle. The guilt of moral sin is remitted as a reward for the performance of an ecclesiastical rite. ”

“ At the time of the temptation to carnal indulgences I do not recommend you to meditate upon certain points—as many books suggest—as a remedy against this temptation; such, for instance, as the vileness of this vice, its insatiableness, the loathing and remorse which follow upon it, the peril and loss of goods, life, honour, and all such things. For this is so far from being a sovereign remedy against such temptations, that it may prove hurtful rather than otherwise ”

“ To understand the nature of indulgences we must observe, that “the temporal punishment due to sin, by the decree of God, when its guilt and eternal punishment are remitted, may consist either of evil in this life, or of temporal suffering in the next, which temporal suffering in the next life is called purgatory ”

“ Further, nothing detrimental to religious life should be done in the Church. But, if indulgences were to avail religious, this would be detrimental to regular discipline, because religious would become lax on account of indulgences, and would neglect the penances imposed in chapter. ”

“ His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII, by a rescript of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 26, 1883, granted to all the faithful who. with at least contrite heart and devotion, shall recite the above prayer, an indulgence of three hundred days, once a day. ”

“ By all such Indulgences, all the temporal penalty is remitted to us which we owe to God for all those sins for which, though pardoned, we were still debtors, so that theologians teach us, that were we to die immediately after gaining worthily a Plenary Indulgence, we should go straight to heaven. ”

“ Finally, works of piety and love are infinitely better than indulgences, [13] and yet these are not preached with such ceremony or such zeal; nay, for the sake of preaching the indulgences they are kept quiet, though it is the first and the sole duty of all bishops that the people should learn the Gospel and the love of Christ, for Christ never taught that indulgences should be preached. How great then is the horror, how great the peril of a bishop, if he permits the Gospel to be kept quiet, and nothing but the noise of indulgences to be spread among his people! ”

“ To restrain your desire for indulgences is not only well bred, but it is heroic; much good results from it. Watch well the little sins, and you will escape those which are more gross. This applies, not only to morals, but to the minor morals—the manners. ”

“ God grant us of His holy grace that such dispositions be found in all those Christians who are desirous of gaining these Indulgences; and grant us likewise to remember, that whilst we do our utmost to gain them, we ought always, notwithstanding, to endeavour at the same time to do worthy fruits of penance, and by means of other wholesome penal works, as well as works of mercy and devotion, pay to the Divine justice some satisfaction for the misdeeds we have done. ”

“ Hence we must say on the contrary that indulgences hold good both in the Church's court and in the judgment of God, for the remission of the punishment which remains after contrition, absolution, and confession, whether this punishment be enjoined or not. The reason why they so avail is the oneness of the mystical body in which many have performed works of satisfaction exceeding the requirements of their debts; in which, too, many have patiently borne unjust tribulations whereby a multitude of punishments would have been paid, had they been incurred. ”

“ Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory wish to be bought out of it, as in the legend of Sts. Severinus and Paschal.
30. No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere; much less that he has attained full remission.
31. Rare as is the man that is truly penitent, so rare is also the man who truly buys indulgences, i.e., such men are most rare. ”

“ Therefore indulgences do not avail religious.
On the contrary, Good brings harm to no man. But the religious life is a good thing. Therefore it does not take away from religious the profit to be derived from indulgences. ”

“ To this end we have, with apostolic liberality, several times opened to the faithful the spiritual treasures of the indulgences in order that, animated thereby to the penitence and purged by the sacrament of reconciliation from the stains of sin, they might be able to approach the throne of grace with more confidence, and be worthy of their prayers being benignantly received by God. ”

“ Peter's Church, the indulgence was a simple bargain, according to which, on the payment of a stipulated sum, the individual received a full discharge from the penalties of sin or procured the release of a soul from the flames of purgatory. The forgiveness of sins was offered in the market for money." G. P. Fisher, The Reformation, chapter 4. The doctrine concerning indulgences which the Roman Catholic Church maintains at the present day is stated by one of its most eminent prelates as follows: "What then is an Indulgence? ”

“ On the contrary, If the cause is removed, the effect is removed. If therefore a person fails to do that for which an indulgence is granted, and which is the cause of the indulgence, he does not gain the indulgence. ”

“ In these cases the whole evil of the indulgences of course falls upon the mediums; and who would wish to assume personal relation with such a world, and be forced to bear in their own bodies the evils of the unhallowed indulgences of unseen spirits, against their will? ”

“ In the338 Middle Ages the doctrine of indulgences was applied to souls in purgatory, and the shortening of the period of their suffering there made dependent not alone upon the prayers of their friends on earth, but often practically upon the payment of sums of money, designated as alms to the poor or gifts to the Church. ”