Plenary indulgence

“ This indulgence may be gained on any day, when, being truly penitent, after confession and communion, they shall pray for peace and union among Christian princes, for the extirpation of heresy, and for the triumph of holy Church.
He granted in like manner a plenary indulgence at the hour of death. Finally, to excite the faithful to a very frequent use of these acts, he extended the indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines (which, by the grant of his predecessor, could be gained only once a day) to every time that these acts are said with heartfelt devotion. ”

“ Persons go to Purgatory, as you know, to have the temporal punishment blotted out; but if you have no temporal punishment to make satisfaction for, there is no Purgatory for you. Gaining a plenary indulgence requires proper dispositions, as you may understand from its very great advantages. To gain it we must not only hate sin and be heartily sorry even for our venial sins, but we must not have a desire for even venial sin. ”

“ During its continuance plenary indulgence is obtainable by all the faithful, on condition of their penitently confessing their sins and visiting certain churches a stated number of times, or doing an equivalent amount of meritorious work. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Hence we may see how few there are, who gain the full effect of a Plenary Indulgence, as there are few, who have a sincere and efficacious repentance of every venial sin, and a sincere and firm resolution of avoiding every sm, great or small, with all the probable occasions of sin. ”

“ Sinners say nowadays ‘I care not how many or how great sins I commit before God, for I shall easily and quickly get plenary remission of any guilt and penalty whatsoever (cujusdam culpae et poenae) by absolution and indulgence granted to me from the Pope, whose writing and grant I have bought for 4d. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For being mindful of my profession, and of the fraternal communion which we have in the Lord, I have believed that indulgence should be given to his person while, nevertheless, indulgence is not given to his sin. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is no sin so great that an indulgence can not remit; and even if one (which it doubtless is impossible) had offered violence to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, let him pay—only let him pay 70 well, and all will be forgiven him. Reflect then, that every mortal sin you must, after confession and contrition, do penance for seven years, either in this life or in purgatory; now, how many mortal sins are there not committed in a day, how many in a week, how many in a month, how many in a year, how many in a whole life! ”

“ What is an Indulgence?
AN indulgence is the remission by the Church, on specified conditions, of the whole or a part of the debt of satisfaction remaining due for sin. The Church has power to absolve from guilt ”

“ At first indulgences were limited exclusively to church penances, but in process of time they embraced all the temporary punishments due the soul on earth and in purgatory. Christ, it was said, had endured and removed the eternal penalties of sin; but the sufferings short of everlasting continuance must be borne in purgatory, pilgrimages, or be removed by indulgence. The earthly sufferings could be enduring by deputy—any amount of fasting, flagellation or pilgrimage work could be discharged by substitute—and throngs of monks in time of papal darkness were competitors for the repulsive service. ”

“ Whether they can be granted by one who is in mortal sin?
Art. 1 - Whether every parish priest can grant indulgences? Objection 1: It would seem that every parish priest can grant indulgences. For an indulgence derives its efficacy from the superabundance of the Church's merits. Now there is no congregation without some superabundance of merits. Therefore every priest, who has charge of a congregation, can grant indulgences, and, in like manner, so can every prelate.
Objection 2: Further, every prelate stands for a multitude, just as an individual stands for himself. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Their growth and their utility has been owing to methods altogether different. Our ancient indulgence has been said to be pursued to a fault. It may be so; but we know, if feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable than our attempt to mend it, and our sin far more salutary than our penitence. ”

“ But the aids and prayers of the Church depend only on the will and good pleasure of God.
32. "Those who imagine they are sure of salvation by means of indulgences will go to the devil, with those who teach them so.
35. "It is an antichristian doctrine to pretend, that, in order to deliver a soul from purgatory, or to purchase an indulgence, there is no need of either sorrow or repentance.
36. "Every Christian who truly repents of his sins has entire forgiveness of the penalty and the fault, and, so far, has no need of indulgence. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Is IT HONEST to assert that the Catholic Church grants any indulgence or permission to commit sin—when an 'indulgence,' according to her universally received doctrine, was never dreamed of by Catholics to imply, in any case whatever, any permission to commit the least sin ”

“ Thus, in holy judgment, because of our indulging and conniving at the usurper of Christ's throne, he left a great part of the ministers to take that wretched indulgence; and another part, instead of remonstrating the wickedness of that deed, have been left to palliate, and plaister, and patronize it, in keeping up the credit of the king and council's curates, wherein they have shewed more zeal, than ever against that wicked indulgence. ”

“ 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? ”

“ By the systematic sale of indulgences, however, vice stalks abroad clothed in a mantle of impunity. The commission of an enormous crime is but a small matter, providing you possess wherewithal to bribe the church for the same: how heinous soever may be the sin, the priest will wipe it clearly away for a consideration. To smooth the path of vice, indulgences are to be had ready to hand, before the crime is committed; and the indulgence once paid for, the sinner has a balance in his favour till the offence is consummated: and then all is square again until the next occasion. ”

“ He who gains an indulgence is not, strictly speaking, absolved from the debt of punishment, but is given the means whereby he may pay it.
Reply to Objection 3: The effect of sacramental absolution is the removal of a man's guilt, an effect which is not produced by indulgences. But he who grants indulgences pays the debt of punishment which a man owes, out of the common stock of the Church's goods, as explained above. ”