§ VI. On the Indulgence of the Apostolic Blessing, or General Absolution in the Article of Death

1799. - Benedict XIV, in the Constitution Pia Mater, April 5, 1747, among other things established:

1° That Bishops who are placed over churches, or transferred to the governance of other churches, will obtain the faculty of imparting the blessing with plenary Indulgence to the faithful constituted in the article of death, for the whole time during which they will hold the governance of the Church once obtained, the faculty also being added of subdelegating, insofar as they shall have petitioned the aforesaid faculty.⁸

2° That Bishops furnished with this faculty of subdelegating can subdelegate in their cities one or more priests, as they shall judge necessary, and in dioceses as many as, according to the number of souls existing in the dioceses, they shall have judged necessary. Nevertheless priests deputed and subdelegated can be removed by Bishops according to their judgment and prudence, and others can be substituted in their place.¹

3° That indults granted to Bishops do not expire by the death of the Supreme Pontiff granting them; nor do subdelegations cease by the withdrawal or death of the Bishop subdelegating; but they persevere until the arrival of a new Prelate, by whose judgment they can be confirmed or revoked. Yet these subdelegations, if they are not revoked by the successor, are judged to be confirmed.²

1800. Questions. - Quaer. 1° To what sick persons in the article of death is this blessing to be imparted?

Resp. Generally to all asking,³ who are not excommunicated, impenitent, and are not dying in manifest mortal sin; also to children who were able to sin, or to whom absolution and Extreme Unction are ministered;⁴ likewise to those deprived of the use of the senses, delirious and insane, to whom the same Sacraments are ministered, as Benedict XIV prescribes in the rubric of this blessing.

Quaer. 2° What things are required on the part of the priest for imparting this Indulgence?

Resp. 1° That he be delegated. - But the delegation can be restricted, e.g., as regards Nuns, to their ordinary confessor alone,⁵ and by law it is restricted to the diocese of the one delegating; but within its limits it is valid for all indiscriminately, whether they are of another diocese, or Regulars, or other persons immune from the jurisdiction of the delegate.⁶

2° That he use the formula prescribed by Benedict XIV, which is not only directive, but prescriptive.⁷ See the formula in "Excerpt. ex Rit. Rom.," Ed. 1872, p. 248; Ed. 1874, p. 240.

3° That, "if the sick person wishes to confess, he hear him and absolve him. If he does not ask for Confession, let him excite him to eliciting an act of contrition; concerning the efficacy and virtue of this blessing, if time permits, let him briefly admonish him; then let him instruct and exhort him, that he willingly endure the inconveniences and pains of illness in expiation of his past life, and offer himself to God prepared freely to accept whatever shall please him, and patiently to undergo death itself in satisfaction of the penalties which he has deserved by sinning. Then with pious words let him console him, raising him into hope that, from the largess of divine munificence, he is about to obtain that remission of penalties and eternal life."¹ Finally, if other conditions are required, he ought to propose them to the sick person, so that he can fulfill them; concerning these in what follows.

It is to be noted here that the priest sometimes ought to be circumspect, lest, by exhorting the sick person to undergo death patiently in satisfaction of penalties, he offend the same, or incur the indignation of him or of the friends standing by. Therefore, if difficulties are foreseen, it will sometimes be advisable to exhort the sick person to undergo death patiently in Confession or in the absence of others; for, although for obtaining the Indulgence it is required that the sick person receive death from the hand of the Lord with an even and willing mind, nevertheless it is not required that this exhortation be made immediately before the application of the Indulgence, but it suffices that the sick person have that disposition. If this cannot be done, it is fitting to moderate the exhortation in such a way, and to propose it so prudently and gently, that the sick person be prepared to receive death itself from the hand of the Lord with an even and willing mind.²

Quaer. 3° What things are required on the part of the sick person for gaining this Indulgence?

Resp. 1° Grave infirmity. But how great the infirmity ought to be is not so clear. Certainly the article of death suffices, by which is understood, not indeed agony, but evident and imminent danger of death. Nor is it advisable to await the agony itself, lest the sick person, deprived of the use of the senses, be incapable of the disposition required for gaining the Indulgence, or less suited for the same. But it is doubtful whether it is validly granted to those who indeed are so gravely sick that the last Sacraments are administered to them, but nevertheless are not so near to death that they can be said to be constituted in the article of death. See the arguments for and against in De Herdt.¹ The affirmative opinion seems to us much more probable and confirmed by practice.

2° An intention, not indeed actual or virtual, but interpretative, as is clear from the words of the rubric: "or" they "would likely have asked for" that blessing.

3° That the sick person has confessed and been refreshed by Holy Communion, or, insofar as he was unable to do this, is contrite.²

4° That he invoke the name of Jesus with the mouth, if he can; if not, with the heart.

5° That he receive death itself from the hand of the Lord with an even and willing mind.

It is to be noted that the aforesaid conditions are required per se, if namely the sick person is of sound mind and with his senses whole; otherwise, insofar as he was capable of fulfilling them, as is clear from the rubric of the blessing, where it is said that the same is to be imparted even if the sick are deprived of the use of the tongue and of the other senses, or have fallen into delirium or insanity. Nevertheless the state of grace, as being altogether necessary for gaining indulgences, is always required.

Quaer. 4° Whether this apostolic blessing can be repeated?

Resp. No, in the same article of death, and whether by the same priest or by several priests having this faculty (although from a different head, e.g., by reason of the Scapular. See n. 1792. c.). - Yes, if someone has recovered and has fallen again into danger of death. Cf. Schneider, Die Ablasse, p. 611 sq.

Quaer. 5° By what rite is this blessing to be given?

Resp. The priest for this blessing is vested in surplice and stole, namely violet, because it pertains to a penitential rite. - Entering the sick person's room he says: Peace be to this house, etc., and then sprinkles the sick person, the room, and those standing around with blessed water, saying the antiphon Thou shalt sprinkle me without the psalm Miserere and the repetition of the antiphon, because Benedict XIV does not speak of these.

Then he performs those things which were said above in q. 2°. R. 3°. Then he recites the prayers which you have in "Excerpta ex Rit. Rom.," Ed. 1872, p. 248; Ed. 1874, p. 240.

If the Apostolic blessing is imparted immediately after Viaticum and Extreme Unction, the Confiteor must be repeated before the application of the Indulgence;¹ but the words Pax huic Domui and the sprinkling of water perhaps can be omitted, because they were said and done at the beginning; nevertheless it is safer always to put these before the blessing, because Benedict XIV commands that the formula composed by him be used, and all these things are contained in the formula itself.²