Article — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Article II. On The Authority To Grant Indulgences
546. Errors. The following denied to the Church the power of granting indulgences: a) the Waldensians, or the so-called Poor Men of Lyons, the Wycliffites, the Hussites, and Peter of Osma. The errors of John Wycliffe were condemned by the Council of Constance in sessions 8 and 19;35 the errors of Peter of Osma were condemned by Sixtus IV through the Bull Licet ea of August 9, 1479.36 b) The Protestants. Luther at first wished to censure only the abuses of the collectors of indulgences, but he admitted the indulgence itself, just as he also acknowledged the power of the Supreme Pontiff to grant indulgences;37 afterward, however, he attacked indulgences themselves, which he called pious frauds.38 Modern Protestants are accustomed to assert the same thing; indeed, several dare to affirm that indulgences are nothing other than the freedom to sin more freely, purchased by the payment of money.
35 Cf. Denz., n. 622.
36 Cf. Denz., n. 729.
37 Luther says in his first thesis, proposed at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517: "Whoever speaks against the truth of the papal indulgence, let him be a curse and accursed."
38 Leo X condemned the proposition of Luther: "Indulgences are pious frauds of the faithful and remissions of good works; and they are of the number of those things which are lawful, and not of the number of those which are expedient" (Denz., n. 758).
547. Proposition 1. The Church has the power of granting indulgences.
This is of faith and was defined in the Council of Trent (session 25, Decree on Indulgences).39 Consequently, in the Profession of Faith prescribed by Pius IV, it is said: "I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church...."40
Proof 1. From Sacred Scripture. The power of granting indulgences is deduced from three dogmas of faith: 1. from the superabundance of the satisfaction of Christ; 2. from the communion of saints; 3. from the power of the keys. Enough has already been said above concerning the first two. The power of the keys which was handed down by Christ to the Church is indicated by the words: "Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."41 Therefore the power of loosing all things which exclude from the kingdom of heaven is handed down to St. Peter. But not only sins exclude from the kingdom of heaven, but also the punishments remaining after the remission of guilt. Therefore St. Peter and his successors must have the power of remitting those remaining punishments; and this is done by the granting of indulgences. Therefore, from Sacred Scripture it is established that the Church has the power of granting indulgences.
Proof 2. From theological reason. The power of conferring indulgences is intimately connected with the power of the keys handed down to the Church, and conduces exceedingly to the good of religion and the exercise of virtues. Therefore such a power must be admitted. For if the power of absolving from guilt and eternal punishment has been granted to the Church, as is done in the sacrament of penance, the faculty of absolving also from temporal punishment cannot fittingly be denied to her, since this likewise excludes from the kingdom of heaven. Daily experience proves that the gaining of indulgences conduces to every kind of virtue and to the good of religion. For various heads of Christian doctrine are inculcated concerning the justice of God demanding satisfaction for committed faults, the mercy of Christ so abundantly satisfying for us, and the Church so mercifully bestowing helps upon us and so securely leading us to heaven. Moreover, a man cannot gain indulgences except by the exercise of good works, such as the reception of the sacraments of penance and Communion, prayers, pilgrimages, alms, and so forth. Hence it is not wonderful that St. Ignatius of Loyola writes: "For those seeking the love of God and heaven, indulgences are an immense treasury and precious gems."42 Voltaire, however, is reported to have said concerning the jubilee of the year 1775: "One more jubilee like this, and it is all over with philosophy."43
Proof 3. From the tradition and continuous practice of the Church. St. Paul himself already granted an indulgence to the incestuous Corinthian, to whom he remitted part of the temporal punishment which he had imposed upon him.44 Nor may anyone say that St. Paul merely remitted canonical penance, but not the temporal punishments themselves which were due in the forum of God. For the holy Apostle says: "And to whom you have pardoned anything, I also. For what I have pardoned, if I have pardoned anything, for your sakes have I done it in the person of Christ."45 Therefore St. Paul in the person of Christ condoned these punishments, and consequently also in the forum of God.
39 Denz., n. 989. Cf. above, n. 538.
40 Denz., n. 998.
41 Matt. 16:19; cf. John 20:23.
42 Cited by Chr. Pesch, Prael. dogm. VII, n. 505.
43 Ibid.
44 1 Cor. 5:1 ff.
45 2 Cor. 2:10.
548. The historical progress of indulgences is intimately connected with the development of penitential discipline. Three periods can be distinguished in it: the first period down to the eighth century; the second down to the twelfth century; the third period down to our days.
In the first period indulgences appear under the form of a mitigation of public canonical punishment, which was granted especially through the so-called letters of the martyrs. Concerning these St. Cyprian testifies:46 "Those who have received letters from the martyrs can be assisted before God by their prerogative." Tertullian teaches the same thing (which, however, after he had fallen into the heresy of the Montanists, he rejected).47 Similar things are contained in the First Council of Nicaea.48 Punishments were also relaxed for the dying at that time, so that they might be able to enter heaven more quickly. Furthermore, in these cases the Church wished to relax not only canonical penances, because from this no advantage would have arisen for the souls themselves, but rather harm; for then the remaining punishment would have had to be discharged in purgatory, which certainly would have been still harsher than the rigorous penances imposed by canonical discipline. From all these things it is evident that already in the first centuries of the Christian era true remissions of temporal punishments, valid in the forum of God, or indulgences, were granted.
In the second period the matter appears still more clearly. St. Thomas relates:49 "The Pope grants an indulgence, so that he who goes to one church has seven years of indulgence; indulgences of this kind were also instituted by Blessed Gregory at the stations of Rome." William of Auxerre relates the same thing.50 Therefore Gregory the Great already granted indulgences which remain in force even in our times. Although this fact is denied by certain authors, for example, by Morinus, nevertheless Boniface VIII, granting for the year 1300 a plenary indulgence to those visiting the basilica of St. Peter, testified: "The faithful account of the ancients has it that great remissions and indulgences of sins were granted to those approaching the venerable basilica of the Prince of the Apostles in the City. We therefore... holding all and each of such remissions and indulgences ratified and approved, confirm them."51 Indulgences were granted by the Supreme Pontiffs especially when expeditions were made to the Holy Land to fight against the Turks. Thus, for example, Urban II established in the year 1095: "We, trusting in the mercy of God and in the authority of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, relax for the Christian faithful who take up arms against them [the infidels] the penances enjoined upon them for their offenses." Indulgences for the dead also already occur in the ninth and tenth centuries. Thus Paschal I granted that one who said a certain number of Masses for a deceased person in a certain chapel of St. Zeno would free that deceased person from purgatory. John IX granted an indulgence for the deceased Emperor Arnulf.52
In the third period indulgences become more frequent and easier. St. Thomas, living in the thirteenth century, handed down a complete doctrine concerning indulgences which has not been changed down to our days. Boniface VIII granted the first jubilee in the year 1300. Moreover, the Protestants themselves are bound to concede that the practice of indulgences flourished in the Catholic Church from the twelfth century onward.
46 Ep. 18; cf. Epp. 21, 33, 36.
47 Ad mart., c. 1 (Migne, Patr. lat. 1, 621), and De pudic., c. 22 (ibid. 2, 1026).
48 Can. 12.
49 In 4, dist. 20, q. 1, a. 3, sol. 2.
50 Summa, l. 2, tr. 6, c. 9.
51 Extrav. comm., l. 5, tit. 9, c. 1.
52 Cf. Schoofs, Die Lehre v. kirchl. Ablaß, p. 46, cited by Chr. Pesch, Prael. dogm. VII, n. 503.
549. Proposition 2. The Pope can grant indulgences principally; others, however, insofar as they receive from him either ordinary or committed, that is, delegated, power. Thus St. Thomas53 and the Code of Canon Law, c. 912.
The reason for this proposition is that he alone can grant indulgences who has the dispensation of the treasury of the Church. Now the Pope has this dispensation principally; others, however, insofar as they are delegated by the Supreme Pontiff. Whether this power in bishops is to be called ordinary or delegated is rather a question of name than of reality. How far the power of others extends will be stated below.
For the validity of the granting of indulgences, a just and reasonable cause is required. For the Supreme Pontiff is only the administrator of the treasury of the Church, which he can dispense, not at will, but reasonably in the name of God. Hence, if he were to grant the greatest indulgence for a most trifling work, he would act not only illicitly but also invalidly. St. Thomas constantly assigns the honor of God and the utility of one's neighbor as causes for granting indulgences.54 In estimating the proportion of the cause, however, not only the objective difficulty of the enjoined work must be considered, but also the utility of religion, of the Church, and of the faithful. Hence, for example, the plenary indulgence attached to the little prayer "Behold, O good Jesus," to be said after receiving Communion, is not to be called exaggerated, because by it the faithful are incited to receive the Eucharist more frequently and more devoutly.
The current practice of the Church. The following can grant indulgences:
a) The Supreme Pontiff for the whole Church. Sometimes the Pope grants indulgences by an oral declaration, but ordinarily, according to the current discipline, indulgences are granted through the Sacred Penitentiary;55 indeed, all general grants of indulgences made to all the Christian faithful are invalid unless they have been reviewed by the Sacred Penitentiary.56 But the following do not need such review: a) indulgences which are granted by religious orders according to the privileges granted to them;57 b) indulgences granted by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith;58 c) all particular indulgences; d) faculties of blessing pious objects and of attaching indulgences and privileges to them.59
b) Residential bishops were able, until the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), to grant all indulgences in their own diocese. But then their power was limited, and now they can grant one year at the consecration of some church, and on other occasions fifty days of indulgences. Archbishops can grant one hundred days; Cardinals, however, two hundred days.60
Indulgences granted by a bishop can be gained outside the territory by his subjects, and within the territory by all who dwell there,61 even exempt religious and in their churches.61a
But it must be noted that all who are inferior to the Roman Pontiff cannot:
commit to others the faculty of granting indulgences, unless this has been specially granted to them;
grant indulgences applicable to the dead;
add other indulgences to the same thing, act of piety, or sodality to which indulgences have already been granted by the Holy See or by another, unless new conditions to be fulfilled are prescribed.62
Nuncios, legates a latere, and the Major Penitentiary at Rome can likewise grant some indulgences.63 By special pontifical delegation other priests also, such as regular prelates, visitors, confessors, and so forth, can sometimes bestow indulgences, for example, the papal blessing.
53 Quodl. 2, a. 16.
54 Suppl., q. 25, a. 2; Quodl. 2, a. 16.
55 Code of Canon Law, c. 258, § 2.
56 Ibid., c. 920.
57 Holy Office, June 15, 1910.
58 Holy Office, July 13, 1910.
59 Benedict XV, Motu proprio, September 16, 1915; cf. Beringer-Steinen, loc. cit., n. 201.
60 Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 26, 1898; cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 239, § 1, n. 24; c. 274; c. 349, § 2, n. 2; c. 1166, § 3. Titular bishops cannot grant indulgences. Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, August 23, 1852. Vicars and Prefects Apostolic, however, can grant an indulgence of fifty days. Code of Canon Law, c. 294, § 2.
61 Code of Canon Law, c. 927.
61a Pontifical Commission, December 6, 1930 (Acta Apost. Sed. XXIII, 25).
62 Code of Canon Law, c. 913.
63 Cf. Beringer-Steinen, Die Ablässe15 I, n. 65 and Supplement.