Appendix: On Indulgences

Since Indulgences are one of the means by which satisfaction can be made for the punishment owed to sins, it will not be useless to discuss them briefly:

¹ St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 25-27; F. Mayron, De Indulgentiis; Suarez, disp. XLIX sq.; Lugo, disp. XXVII; E. Amort, De Origine, progressu, valore ac fructu Indulgentiarum, 1735; St. Alphonsus, n. 531-538; Baller. P., t. V, De Suffragiis et Indulgentiis; Lehmk., n. 524-564; Konings, n. 1777-1801; Genicot, n. 401-415; Noldin, n. 300-326; Melata, De Indulgentiis, Rome, 1892; Bouvier, Traité dogmatique et pratique des Indulg., 10th ed., Paris, 1855; Schneider, Die Ablässe, ihr Wesen und Gebrauch, Paderb., 1884; Maurel, S.J., Le Chrétien éclairé sur la nature et l'usage des Indulg.; Beringer, S.J., Die Ablässe, ihr Wesen und Gebrauch, rendered into French by E. Abt and A. Feyerstein, Les Indulgences, Paris, 1890; Lepicier, Indulgences, London, 1895, rendered into French: Les Indulgences, leur origine, leur nature, leur développement, Paris, 1903; Decreta authentica S. Cong. Indulg., 1883; Raccolta di Orazioni..., Rome, 1898.

1° concerning Indulgences considered in general;

2° concerning the Indulgence of the Jubilee;

3° concerning certain Indulgences in particular.

Division.

1° On their notion and existence;

2° On the authority granting Indulgences;

3° On the subject of Indulgences;

4° On the suspension, translation, and cessation of Indulgences.

599. 1° Definition. Indulgence (from indu-licentia)² has the same sound as mildness, condonation; as it is used here, it is usually defined: the remission of temporal punishment, owed to sin, valid before God, made through the application of the treasury of the Church, by a legitimate Superior, outside the sacrament.

² Cf. M. Bréal, Diction. étymolog. latin, Paris, 1885, p. 134.

It is declared: (a) remission of temporal punishment, but not of guilt, whether past or future, whether mortal or venial, as Protestants falsely assert; since, although in some old formulas there occur words by which an indulgence is granted from guilt and from punishment, these nevertheless were inserted not by the Church but by some questors, against the will of the Roman Pontiffs, who reproved an abuse of this kind;¹ hence deservedly Cardinal Cusanus in the provincial Synod of Magdeburg said: "The Apostolic See has never been accustomed to give indulgences under the words from punishment and guilt." Nor is it an obstacle that in some Apostolic Letters indulgences granted are said to be unto the remission of sins: for these words are understood by all concerning the remission of the punishment owed to sins; nor is anyone ever freed from punishment unless he has first been absolved from guilt.²

¹ Cf. Clementin., bk. V, tit. 9, c. 2.

² A few older theologians, such as Paludanus, had said that venial guilt can probably be remitted through indulgences; but this singular opinion is commonly rejected; for from what was said, n. 197, venial guilt is remitted through contrition.

(b) Valid before God; namely the remission of punishment has force not only in the external forum, before the Church, but also in the internal forum, before God; otherwise, as St. Thomas says,³ the Church would harm sinners more than help them, because, by absolving them from imposed penances, she would condemn them to graver punishments, namely those of purgatory.

³ Supplem., q. 25, a. 1.

(c) Through the application of the treasury of the Church; for, in remitting punishment, the Church nevertheless offers to God a payment, or some compensation, drawn from her own treasury: for there is a spiritual treasury, formed from the superabundant satisfactions of Christ and of the Saints, whose supreme dispenser is the Pontiff, and from which, for a just cause, the debts of the faithful can be paid; therefore he who grants an indulgence does not simply relax temporal punishment, but furnishes to the penitent something from which he may pay, by applying to him the superabundant satisfactions of Christ.

(d) By a legitimate Superior ...; hence not any man whatsoever can grant indulgences, but only those to whom the care of the treasury of the Church has been committed, namely the Pontiff or a general Council for the universal Church, Cardinals in the church of their title, and Bishops for their own diocese; yet it is said outside the sacrament, so that in this way an indulgence may be distinguished from sacramental satisfaction.

600. 2° Species. Indulgences are divided: (a) by reason of effect, into plenary and partial: by the former the whole punishment which remains to be expiated is remitted, by the latter some part of the same punishment. Hence indulgences of forty, or one hundred days, seven years, etc., are granted; this must be understood not in the sense that so many days or years of Purgatory are remitted, but in the sense that so much of the punishment owed is condoned as would have been remitted by forty or one hundred days of canonical penance, such as flourished in the first centuries of the Church. Hence the measure of the remission of the punishment itself remains unknown to us, and depends much on the fervor with which the conditions necessary for gaining Indulgences are fulfilled. - Sometimes an indulgence of six or seven years and as many quarantines is granted; the name quarantine signifies so many Lenten fasts, so that the sense is that there is granted a remission of punishment which corresponds not only to six or seven years of canonical penance, but also to as many Lenten fasts added over and above.

601. (b) By reason of subject, they are divided into indulgences for the living and indulgences for the departed, or those which are applicable to the souls of Purgatory.¹ Indulgences are granted to the living by way of juridical absolution, which nevertheless at the same time includes payment of the debt from the treasury of the Church; for these truly are subject to the jurisdiction of the Church; but to the departed by way of suffrage, or of payment of debt: for since these are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Church, ecclesiastical Superiors cannot directly apply an indulgence to them, but can only offer to God the satisfactions of Christ and of the saints and ask Him that, according to His mercy, He accept them as the payment of the price owed for the sins of the departed. Therefore the departed do not gain indulgences, properly speaking; but the living are permitted by the Church to apply to the departed certain indulgences which they themselves gain; however, in what measure they are in fact applied to the souls of Purgatory is unknown, and depends on the will of God alone.

¹ "All indulgences granted by the Roman Pontiff are applicable to souls detained in purgatory, unless the contrary is established" (Code, c. 930).

But the living cannot apply indulgences to other living persons, since the Supreme Pontiff, on whose will the matter depends, has not up to this time granted this faculty; and this indeed is consonant with reason: for if indulgences could be applied to the living, not a few would become more sluggish, thinking that others would make satisfaction for them.

602. (c) By reason of mode, indulgences are personal, real, or local: personal, when they are immediately granted to persons or communities; real, which are immediately attached to some thing, for example, to a rosary, or prayer beads, a medal, an image of the Crucifix, etc.; local, which are immediately attached to a pious place, or to some thing which is placed in a determinate place.

603. Here it is useful to explain what must be understood by those formulas which are sometimes found in grants of indulgences. Toties quoties signifies, from a special grant, that the faithful can gain the indulgence as many times as they repeat the pious works to which it is attached. Now there are many partial indulgences of this kind; but generally plenary indulgences can be acquired only once in the day, with a few exceptions, for example, the indulgence which is called of the Portiuncula, which those visiting, on the day of August 2, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, or other churches to which the same privilege has been granted, gain. - A perpetual daily plenary indulgence, which is granted to those visiting some church, must not be understood in such a way that it can be acquired daily, but only once in the year, on any day of the year, to be chosen by the judgment of each one, unless nevertheless it is expressly said in the grant that it is acquired daily.

604. Errors. That there is in the Church the power of granting indulgences was denied: (a) by the Waldenses, the Wiclefites, and also Peter of Osma, who taught that the Pontiff cannot bestow indulgences, nor liberate from purgatory;¹ (b) by Protestants: for Luther indeed at first seemed to censure the abuses of the questors of indulgences, but soon attacked indulgences themselves as useless and pernicious, and pious frauds invented for obtaining money. Modern Protestants assert the same, indeed many do not blush to affirm that indulgences are nothing other than a license to sin purchased by money paid.²

¹ Cf. Denzing., n. 615.

² This calumny is refuted no less pleasantly than eloquently by J. H. Newman, The Present Position of Catholics in England, London, 1889, p. 108 sq. Today, however, most Protestants soften these false accusations, saying that abuses of this kind flourished not in our times, but only in past centuries; nevertheless they attack indulgences as pernicious in their effects; thus Littledale, Plain Reasons, p. 102; Lea, op. cit., vol. III, p. 569 sq.

605. Thesis: The Church enjoys the power of granting indulgences, whose use is especially salutary for the Christian people. It is of faith from Trent:¹ "Since the power of conferring indulgences has been granted by Christ to the Church, and she has used power of this kind, divinely handed down to herself, even in the most ancient times: the Sacrosanct Synod teaches and commands that the use of indulgences, especially salutary for the Christian people and approved by the authority of Sacred Councils, is to be retained in the Church, and condemns with anathema those who either assert that they are useless, or deny that there is in the Church the power of granting them."

¹ Decree concerning Indulgences, ap. Denzing., n. 862.

606. 1° The power of granting indulgences flows, by way of corollary, from three dogmas, namely, from the superabundance of the satisfactions of Christ, from the power of the keys, and from the communion of saints.

(A) That the satisfactions of Christ, as being of infinite value, were superabundant, we have already proved in the Treatise on the Incarnate Word, n. 192. Moreover, according to the common doctrine which the Supreme Pontiffs have confirmed, some among the Saints performed more satisfactory works than were necessary for making satisfaction for their own sins: thus the Blessed Virgin, who never, not even venially, sinned, and otherwise suffered many things patiently; so also many virgins, who lived an angelic rather than a human life; martyrs, who willingly embraced such bitter torments; and many others, who, free from every mortal sin, unceasingly crucified their members. From all these satisfactory works, performed in union with Christ, there arose as it were an immense treasury of satisfactions.²

² Code, c. 911.

Clement VI, in the year 1343, thus explains this doctrine; for concerning Christ he says:³ "For not by corruptible gold and silver, but by the precious blood of Himself, the unspotted and immaculate Lamb, He redeemed us; and He, innocent, immolated on the altar of the cross, is known to have poured forth not a small drop of blood, which nevertheless because of the union with the Word would have sufficed for the redemption of the whole human race, but copiously, as a certain stream ... How great a treasury, therefore, from this, lest the mercy of so great an effusion be rendered superfluous, empty, or excessive, He acquired for the Church militant, the pious Father willing to treasure up for His sons, so that thus there may be an infinite treasury for men, and those who have used it have become participants of God's friendship." Afterwards, concerning the saints, he adds: "To the heap of this treasury indeed the merits of the Blessed Mother of God and of all the elect, from the first just man even to the last, are known to provide aid; concerning its consumption or diminution there is in no way to be feared, both because of the infinite merits of Christ, as has been said, and because, the more persons are drawn to justice from its application, the more the heap of their merits increases." Hence therefore it is clear that the treasury of satisfactions which can be applied to Christians is inexhaustible.

³ Extrav. Unigenitus, Extrav. commun., l. V, t. 9, c. 2, p. 1304, ed. Friedberg.

607. (B) From another side, the power of the keys, whose existence we proved, n. 20 sq., in its amplitude includes the faculty of remitting not only guilt, but also the punishment annexed to sin, namely by applying to penitents certain satisfactions of Christ or of the saints, drawn from the aforesaid treasury. This is inferred from the texts cited above.¹ Namely Christ said to Peter, the prince of the Apostles: "Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven"; for in the former part of this text, to Peter and the Apostles is conferred the power of binding the faithful by any spiritual bond whatsoever, by retaining sins and imposing canonical penalties; therefore in the latter part, whatsoever thou shalt loose, there is likewise given the power not only of absolving sins, but also of relaxing canonical penalties with prudence; for there is a parallelism between each part. This is confirmed from other words of Christ: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them" ...; for there is conferred there a most ample power of remitting sins, without any restriction; moreover sin involves three things, the debt of guilt, the debt of eternal punishment, the debt of temporal punishment; therefore the power conferred on the Church embraces these three things. Now the two former are taken away through the sacrament of Penance; the third can be taken away outside the sacrament, namely by condoning punishment through indulgences.

¹ Matt., XVI, 19; John, XX, 23.

608. (C) But the reason why the satisfactions of Christ and of the saints can be applied to penitents is drawn from the communion of saints. For all the faithful are so intimately joined under one head, Christ, that they form one body, and therefore all the good works of the just are as it were proper to each one, and can yield to their utility: "For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, nevertheless are one body, so also is Christ ... And if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glories, all the members rejoice together."¹ Now, if the matter is so, the satisfactions of Christ and of the Saints, overflowing into others who are debtors to divine justice, can be derived to them, the authority of God which has been committed to the Church acceding; for, as St. Thomas says,² "those things which are common to some multitude are distributed to individuals of the multitude according to the judgment of him who presides over the multitude; hence, just as someone would obtain remission of punishment if another had made satisfaction for him, so also if the satisfaction of another is distributed to him by one who has power."

¹ I Cor., XII, 12-26.

² Supplem., q. 25, a. 1.

The matter is illustrated by a comparison. In a well-ordered Republic, the President has the power sometimes of softening the severity of laws and penalties, when the common good demands this, or when amendment of the guilty person has been manifested by certain signs; but the Church is a well-ordered society, indeed nobler and more perfect than other societies, since she promotes the supernatural good of souls; therefore it was fitting that the rulers of the Church should enjoy the power, for a just cause, of condoning something of spiritual debts; and this is done by taking away or diminishing punishments through indulgences.

609. 2° The thesis is proved historically.³ The historical progress of indulgences is intimately connected with the evolution of penitential discipline; and in it three stages can be distinguished.

³ Cf. A. Boudinhon, Sur l'histoire des indulgences, in Rev. de l'Institut cathol. de Paris, May 1902, p. 238-257.

(A) In the first epoch, which extends up to the seventh century, the granting of indulgences appears under the form of mitigation of public penance. That this penance was laborious and long-lasting has already been shown above, n. 151. But sometimes something of canonical penance, imposed by the authority of the Church, was remitted. (a) This was done especially in view of the intercession of martyrs. Tertullian is a witness of this matter; while he was still Catholic, he wrote these things:¹ "Which peace, not having it in the Church, some have been accustomed to entreat from the martyrs in prison; and therefore you also ought on this account to have, foster, and guard it in yourselves, so that perhaps you may be able to furnish it also to others." This practice afterwards, having fallen into the error of the Montanists, he reproved;² but even this very thing demonstrates that this practice existed and had been approved by the Roman Pontiffs. St. Cyprian likewise testifies to this, by declaring that those "who have received letters from the martyrs can be helped by their prerogative before God."³ Besides, the matter is so evidently established that it is denied by no one today. Now the relaxation of canonical penance was nothing other than the relaxation of the punishment owed to sin, since penance was ordered to the remission of this punishment.

¹ Tertull., Ad martyr., c. 1; P. L., t. I, p. 621.

² De pudic., c. 22; P. L., t. II, 1026.

³ St. Cyprian, ep. 18, t. II, p. 523, ed. Vind.; cf. ep. 21, 33, 36, and De lapsis.

(b) The same kindness was shown to those who by a laudable and fervent life redeemed their sins; thus the Council of Ancyra (314) decreed (can. 5): "We have determined that Bishops, the manner of conduct having been examined, have the power either of using clemency, or of adding more time. But before all things let both the preceding life and that which has followed be examined, and thus let clemency be imparted to them." Likewise Nicaea I (can. 12): "As many as, by fear and tears and penance, or by good works, demonstrate their conversion by the things themselves, not by simulation, these, after fulfilling the defined time of hearing, then at length may communicate with the faithful in prayer. Afterwards, however, it will be lawful for the Bishop to think something more humane concerning these."

(c) Punishments also were relaxed for the dying, so that they might be able more quickly to enter heaven; if they recovered, they were bound to pay certain penalties, but not all. Moreover in all these cases, the Church, by relaxing canonical penance, certainly did not wish to hand penitents over to graver punishments of purgatory, and therefore was using the power of condoning part of the satisfaction owed to sin.

610. (B) In the second period, from the seventh to the eleventh century, indulgence appears under the form of commutation of canonical penance into other works which were judged equivalent. For then a certain special penance was inflicted for each sin, as was noted above, n. 116. Now works of this kind were sometimes commuted into certain pious works, especially prayers, flagellations, and alms. Thus, according to St. Peter Damian, St. Dominic Loricatus, on each day of Lent, by subjecting himself to blows of rods, and by completing three psalters, was considered to do penance of one hundred years.¹ In the same age, to those who visited the basilicas of the Apostles at Rome, part of canonical penance was condoned. For Nicholas I says concerning a certain homicide: "Certain things [of penance] we have moderated, because he devoutly hastened to ask the suffrages of the prince of the Apostles, our nourisher."² Likewise, in the ninth century, Sergius II granted to those visiting the church of Saints Sylvester and Martin, on the feasts of several saints, an indulgence of three years and three quarantines: this is established from a marble tablet, placed in this church, which Baronius describes, at the year 847. Again, in the Vallicellian sacramentary, drawn up in the same century, mention is made of an indulgence of certain days and years. In the eleventh century, Leo IX condoned to those who had assembled for the consecration of the metropolitan church of Besançon the third part of their penance. - In these or similar cases, a certain part of canonical penance was commuted into pious pilgrimages or other works of this kind.

¹ Ap. Migne, P. L., t. CXLIV, p. 1015.

² Apud Ivo, P. L., t. CLXI, p. 700. - Some hold that certain indulgences were granted by Gregory the Great to those who visited the stations (the principal churches) of Rome. This is related by St. Thomas (in IV, dist. 20, q. 1, a. 3, sol. 2) and William of Auxerre (Summa, l. IV, tr. 6, c. 6); yet Morinus denies this (op. cit., l. X, c. 20, n. 10), because nothing concerning this matter appears in the letters or sermons of St. Gregory. Whatever the case may be, this practice is very ancient; for Boniface VIII commemorates it (year 1300), in the Bull of the Jubilee: "The faithful relation of the ancients has it that to those approaching the honorable basilica of the prince of the Apostles of the City, great remissions and indulgences of sins were granted." (Extravag. commun., l. V, t. 9, c. 1, p. 1303, ed. Friedberg.)

611. (C) In the third age, from the eleventh century, indulgences properly so called are now granted, or the total or partial remission of punishment owed to sin, yet after certain works determined by a legitimate superior have been posited. This was done especially for promoting expeditions into the Holy Land: thus Urban II, in the Council of Clermont, in the year 1095, decreed (can. 2): "Whoever shall have set out for the sake of devotion alone, not for the attainment of honor or money, to liberate the Church of God at Jerusalem, that journey shall be reputed to him for all penance." An indulgence of this kind was also granted to those who fought against heretics, especially the Albigenses. Afterwards, in the thirteenth century, Lateran IV (1215) decreed that indulgences not be extended too much, and thus abuses be prevented. - But the matter became more universal from the institution of the Jubilee. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the jubilee was instituted or confirmed by Boniface VIII, who granted a plenary indulgence and other spiritual favors for the year 1300 and for each following hundredth year; afterwards Clement VI decreed that the jubilee be celebrated every fiftieth year, beginning from 1350; finally Paul II wished that it have place every twenty-fifth year, beginning from the year 1475. Afterwards the Pontiffs began to grant extraordinary jubilees, or an indulgence after the manner of a jubilee, for grave causes. Soon they became accustomed to bestow plenary or partial indulgences for promoting pious works, namely the erection of churches or hospitals. On this occasion certain abuses crept in, from the fact that questors, or preachers of indulgences, in order to obtain more abundant alms, amplified beyond measure the force and efficacy of indulgences. But Trent eradicated this abuse by abolishing questors.

From all these things it is gathered how greatly Protestants are deceived who, with Chemnitz, say that Catholics "cannot bring forward either any testimonies of the Fathers, or any examples of the ancient Church, that such doctrine or use of such indulgences ever existed at any time in the old Church up to the years after Christ's birth 1200."

612. (D) Difficulties are solved. (a) The granting of indulgences frees man from the debt of making satisfaction, and therefore mutilates the sacrament of Penance, which involves some satisfaction; therefore it must be rejected.

Resp.: I deny the supposition, for indulgences prudently granted do not exempt the penitent from sacramental or extra-sacramental satisfaction, but are granted to those sincerely contrite so that they may have that from which they may satisfy more promptly and efficaciously. For no one can gain indulgences unless he performs certain prescribed works and sincerely repents.

(b) The adversaries insist: Facility in satisfying for all sins through some prayers or works generates spiritual sloth, since there is no proportion between the prescribed works and the punishment remitted.

Resp. I deny the subsumed proposition: for external works which are prescribed, although they are light in themselves, suppose interior dispositions of contrition and firm purpose, which exclude sloth; for, as Cajetan says (De suscipient. indul., q. 1), indulgences are not profitable to those neglecting to satisfy by themselves, because they are unworthy of indulgence, but to those whose will is so prepared for satisfying that the work is not delayed unless impeded. Thus, for example, he does not gain a plenary indulgence unless he is free from every affection toward venial sins. But when these things have been posited, the facility of the work enjoined is rather a certain kind of allurement, by which penitents are drawn to procure perfect interior dispositions: and thus there are promoted contrition of heart, zeal for prayer, frequentation of the sacraments, and the practice of works of mercy.

613. (c) They insist again: the granting of indulgences tends to diminish the time of purgation in this or the other life; but this is against the order intended by God.¹

¹ Littledale's argument returns to this (op. cit., p. 109): "God loves these souls, and detains them in Purgatory, not that they may pay punishments, but that they may be purified. We confidently admit that God punishes them with the greatest mercy, kindness, and efficacy. Hence their untimely departure from Purgatory brings them no advantage, unless nevertheless it is admitted that the Roman Church is wiser and kinder than God Himself, and that she snatches the victims from the divine hands, so to speak!"

Resp. I deny the minor: for to God, who loves penitent souls, nothing is more acceptable than to diminish this time of purgation; on the one hand indeed, as a wise Legislator, He established that no one would enter the kingdom of heaven except after the payment of the punishment owed to sin; but on the other hand, as a merciful Father, He wishes to spare penitents; therefore if someone satisfies for others, he performs a work pleasing to God, namely by helping Him to reconcile the rights of justice and mercy.

(d) The granting of indulgences has furnished occasion for innumerable abuses; for the Roman Pontiffs, without any reason, did not blush to bestow indulgences of one hundred, one thousand, and more years, indeed to sell them for money, thus committing the most shameful crime of simony. Resp. We do not deny that some abuses crept into the granting and preaching of indulgences; but those abuses were neither universal nor frequent, and were several times reproved by the Roman Pontiffs and Councils; thus in the eleventh century, Gregory VII, to the Bishop of Lincoln asking an indulgence of delicts, agreed, yet under this condition, that by adhering to good works he should bewail the excesses committed;² in the twelfth century, Gregory VIII declared to the faithful of Benevento that it was safer that they do penance than that they obtain even a remission of the third part of penance; in the thirteenth century, Lateran IV reproved the laxity of certain Bishops in granting indulgences; and Trent (sess. XXV concerning Indulgences) established that the office of holy indulgences be dispensed holily and incorruptly to all the faithful, and proscribed all abuses which through ignorance or superstition had crept into various dioceses. Now a thing good and useful in itself must not be eradicated because of some inconveniences which arise from it, but the inconveniences themselves are to be prevented, insofar as it can be done; and this indeed the Church has done when opportunity was given.

² Cf. Baronius, Annales ecclesiast., at the year 1703, n. 71; Drouin, l. cit., § 4, where these and other facts are related.

But what is added concerning the selling of indulgences rests on a false supposition. Money which sometimes was given, or even now sometimes is given, for example on the occasion of a jubilee, for gaining an indulgence, is not and never was the price of the indulgence; for it was alms prescribed as a pious work, and to be turned to good uses, for defeating the Turks who were disturbing the peace of Europe, for the erection and endowment of churches, hospitals, and other institutes of this kind. From another side, only a few indulgences are granted under this condition; for most require only merely spiritual works.¹

¹ Some Protestants go farther, and assert as certain that absolution from sins is sold for money; in proof of this they exhibit the taxes of the Chancery, which must be paid when absolution from censures is sought. But here they confuse two things plainly distinct: absolution from sins in the internal forum, which can never be procured by money; and absolution from censures in the external forum, for which sometimes alms are demanded, either so that expenses for the dispatching of letters of absolution may be paid, or as a charitable compensation for scandals given: in which case money thus collected is to be expended for pious uses. J. H. Newman refutes this splendidly (op. cit., p. 112-113).

614. Corollaries. (a) Indulgences can be applied to the faithful departed detained in purgatory by way of suffrage, that is, not by way of absolution, but by way of satisfaction and payment of debt, insofar as the satisfactions of Christ and of the Saints, stored up in the treasury of the Church, are offered to God in compensation for the punishment to be expiated by the departed. "For there is no reason," says St. Thomas,² "why the Church can transfer the common merits, on which indulgences rest, to the living and not to the dead." For Christ satisfied for all, and His satisfactions can be applied both to the living and to the departed by him who enjoys legitimate authority. In reality, the Roman Pontiffs, already at least from the ninth century, granted indulgences of this kind; thus John VIII (878) and John IX (900).¹ Hence Pius VI condemned as false, rash, and offensive to pious ears the proposition of the Synod of Pistoia asserting "that still more lamentable is this: that this chimerical application [of indulgences] has been willed to be transferred to the departed." (Denzing., n. 1405.)

² Suppl., q. 71, a. 10.

¹ Cf. Mabillon, preface in century VI Bened., n. 108.

Yet power of this kind is so exercised that these indulgences are directly applied to the living by way of juridical absolution, and only indirectly to the dead, by way of payment of debt. For, as St. Thomas says (l. cit.), directly and principally he receives the indulgence who does that for which the indulgence is given; hence, since the dead cannot do anything of those things which are prescribed, indulgences cannot directly have force for them. Therefore the granting of an indulgence for the departed comes to this: that, by force of the authority of the Church, the living faithful person, who performs the pious work to which it is attached, can apply to the departed the remission of punishment which, by gaining the indulgence, he acquires.

615. (b) Indulgences have force not only before the Church, for taking away canonical penalties, but also before God for remitting temporal punishments owed to sins. This is certain from the condemnation of the contrary opinion which the Synod of Pistoia had defended.² For, as St. Thomas rightly observes,³ the opinion of the adversaries is expressly against the privilege given to Peter, to whom it was said that what he remitted on earth would be remitted in heaven. Hence the remission which is made as to the forum of the Church also has force as to the forum of God. Moreover the Church granting indulgences of this kind would harm rather than help, since in purgatory punishments would have to be endured which she would remit on earth.

² Ap. Denzinger, n. 1403.

³ Suppl., q. 25, a. 1.

616. 1° Principle. For granting indulgences there is required the power of jurisdiction in the internal forum, with authority over the treasury of the Church, and a reasonable cause. It is said:

(a) The power of jurisdiction, because here there is question of a judicial act, but not of the conferral of a sacrament; (b) in the internal forum, because temporal punishment is remitted not only before the Church, but also before God; (c) with authority over the treasury of the Church, because an indulgence is not only absolution, but also payment of some debt, by the help of satisfactions which are contained in the treasury of the Church; (d) and with reasonable cause, and indeed for validity, as all confess; for ecclesiastical Superiors are only administrators of the treasury of the Church, and therefore cannot distribute it unless a just cause accedes, and without prejudice to the right which God has of exacting some punishment from sinners. But because nothing is required of a steward except that he act according to the rules of prudence, that cause will be sufficient which shall seem to Superiors just and proportionate.

A just cause can be to promote the recitation of certain prayers or the fulfillment of pious works, by granting indulgences, so that prayers may be poured forth or works performed more frequently and fervently; or some public utility, or gratitude toward those who have labored for the good of the Church; in one word, whatever can promote the good of souls or the extension of the Church.

617. 2° Corollary. Indulgences can be granted by:

(A) The Supreme Pontiff, who has supreme authority over the treasury of the Church, and can grant indulgences to the faithful of the whole Catholic world, plenary and partial, for the living and for the departed. Moreover all indulgences granted by the Roman Pontiff, unless another thing is established, are applicable to those living in Purgatory (can. 930). Likewise he can bestow them in whatever way seems good to him, by an oracle of the living voice¹ or in writing, immediately or mediately through the organ of some Congregation. Faculties which once, concerning this matter, were granted to the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, today pertain to the Sacred Penitentiary.¹

¹ "Those who have obtained from the Supreme Pontiff grants of indulgences for all the faithful are bound, under penalty of nullity of the grace obtained, to deliver authentic copies of the same grants to the Sacred Penitentiary." (Code, c. 920.)

¹ With the right of the Holy Office saved "of seeing those things which regard dogmatic doctrine concerning indulgences or concerning new prayers and devotions." Code, c. 258, § 2.

"Besides the Roman Pontiff, to whom the dispensation of the whole spiritual treasury of the Church has been committed by Christ the Lord, only those can by ordinary power bestow indulgences to whom this has been expressly conceded by law."²

² Code, c. 912.

618. (B) Ecclesiastical Superiors inferior to the Pope cannot grant indulgences applicable to the departed;³ - nor add other indulgences to crosses, medals, etc., blessed by the Pope or by another delegate, or to acts or to a sodality⁴ to which indulgences have already been attached, unless new conditions are imposed; - nor divide the same act of piety into parts, and grant to each part all the indulgences which they can bestow; - nor commit to others the faculty of granting indulgences, unless this has been expressly granted to them by the Apostolic See.⁵ Moreover they must observe the norms which the Roman Pontiff himself follows in granting indulgences. These things having been posited:

³ Code, c. 913, n. 2.

⁴ Code, c. 913, n. 3.

⁵ Code, c. 913, n. 1.

(a) Residential Bishops, from possession having been taken, have the right of granting indulgences of fifty days in the places of their jurisdiction.⁶ When a church or altar is consecrated, the consecrating Bishop, although he lacks jurisdiction in the territory, grants an indulgence of one year to those visiting the church or altar on the day itself of consecration, but on the anniversary day fifty days, if he is a Bishop; one hundred, if an Archbishop; two hundred, if a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.⁷

⁶ Code, c. 349, § 2, n. 2.

⁷ Code, c. 1166.

Archbishops in their own diocese and in their own province can grant an indulgence of one hundred days.⁸

⁸ Code, c. 274, n. 1.

(b) Cardinals "enjoy the faculty of granting indulgences of two hundred days, to be gained even toties quoties, in places or institutes and for persons of their jurisdiction or protection; likewise in other places, but only by those present, to be gained each time⁹."

⁹ Code, c. 239, § 1, n. 24.

We shall speak: 1° concerning those to whom indulgences can be granted, 2° concerning the conditions for gaining indulgences.

619. 1° Indulgences cannot be granted except to those who are: (a) baptized, because the power of the Church is not exercised over those who are outside; (b) not excommunicated,¹ since all separated from her by that very fact are deprived of the goods which pertain to the communion of Saints; (c) subjects of the one granting, even outside the territory, since an indulgence is an act of jurisdiction, and by law it has been established that pilgrims can gain local indulgences; the same must be said of Regulars, even exempt, who in favorable matters are not excluded from episcopal jurisdiction;² (d) capable of sinning, since the punishment owed to sin cannot be remitted when no sin has been committed; therefore children before the use of reason and those perpetually insane are incapable.

¹ Code, c. 925, § 1.

² Code, c. 927.

620. 2° Conditions necessary for gaining indulgences:

(A) The state of grace,³ at that moment of time at which the indulgence is to be gained, namely generally at that instant at which the last prescribed work is performed: for temporal punishment cannot be remitted while guilt and eternal punishment have not yet been remitted.

³ Code, c. 925, § 1.

This indeed is certain as to indulgences for the living; but it is disputed as to indulgences for the departed, and when the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences was questioned concerning this matter, it responded:⁴ "Let him consult approved authors." Now Suarez⁵ holds that the state of grace is not required; for one gaining an indulgence for the departed obtains this effect not for himself, but for another: for this the execution of the prescribed work suffices; but Lugo with others more probably affirms,⁶ because the departed person does not acquire an indulgence except insofar as some living person gains it and applies it to the departed; moreover the living person cannot gain the same unless he is in the state of grace. - Yet an exception can be admitted for the indulgence of a privileged altar, which is applied to the departed by the priest, not as a private person, but insofar as he represents the Church.

⁴ Decret. authent., n. 341, February 22, 1847.

⁵ Suarez, disp. LIII, sect. 4, n. 5-6.

⁶ Lugo, disp. XXVII, n. 75.

Moreover, if there is question of a plenary indulgence to be gained totally, detestation of all venial sins is required, since the punishment owed even to venial sin cannot be remitted unless first the fault itself is forgiven. Yet if the plenary indulgence is not obtained totally, because of affection toward some venial sins, it can be acquired partially, insofar as the punishment of those sins concerning which contrition is had is remitted.¹

¹ Code, can. 926.

621. (B) The intention of gaining indulgences, not indeed a special one, by which someone intends specifically to gain this or that indulgence; but a general one, by which someone wishes to acquire all the indulgences which he can, even if he does not know whether they are attached to such or such a work. Nor is an actual intention required, but a virtual intention suffices, indeed more probably a habitual one, namely one which has once been elicited and not retracted. Yet an interpretative intention, which in reality does not exist, does not suffice, whatever a few may have said to the contrary;² for books concerning Indulgences published with special approval of the Holy See require a true intention.³ - Indeed it is an excellent counsel to renew daily the intention of gaining all and each indulgence which can be acquired in the course of the day, so that the works to which indulgences are attached may be performed more promptly and more fervently.

² Baller. P., n. 27.

³ Cf. Raccolta, Introduction, p. VII-VIII.

622. (C) The fulfillment of the prescribed works; for this is the condition under which indulgences are granted, so that, the condition not being fulfilled, the effect is not obtained. Hence here neither ignorance, nor impotence, nor good faith excuses:⁴ for there is question of a benefit to be obtained, to which there is no right; therefore no injury is done if, the condition lacking, the indulgence is not granted.

⁴ Raccolta, p. VIII.

Yet if only a very small part of the enjoined work is omitted, for example, one Pater and Ave in the recitation of the rosary, the indulgence is acquired, because in a moral matter a little is reputed as nothing. - Moreover, with the consent of the Confessor acceding, certain other works can be substituted for the prescribed works, when these cannot morally be fulfilled.⁵

⁵ Code, can. 935.

623. The prescribed works must be performed according to the manner and circumstances determined by the Superior.

(a) As to the manner, the works must be fulfilled personally, i.e., by the very person who intends to gain the indulgence, except alms, which can be given through another, provided that one gives from his own goods; - by a morally good act, because God evidently cannot be placated by a sinful act; therefore an act intended solely toward an evil end would not profit; but if to a work good in itself there were mixed some venial sin, suppose that of vainglory, the indulgence could nevertheless be obtained; - by a work not otherwise strictly obligatory, unless the contrary intention of the one granting is established; for regularly we cannot by one action satisfy two obligations, each of which demands individual actions; thus those who are bound to the canonical hours cannot through them satisfy the prayers prescribed for gaining a plenary indulgence;¹ but Paschal communion suffices for satisfying the precept of annual communion and for gaining the indulgence of the papal blessing;² likewise, from a recent decree, June 14, 1901, a penitent, fulfilling prayers and other works imposed by the confessor for penance, enriched with indulgences, can at the same time both satisfy the penance and gain the indulgences.³

¹ Thus the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 29, 1841, Decret. authent., n. 291, ad 2.

² Decreta authent., n. 288, March 19, 1841; and n. 327, May 10, 1844.

³ Ap. Acta S. Sedis, XXXIV, p. 125-126. Cf. Code, c. 932.

If from various titles various indulgences have been attached to some thing or work, regularly not all the indulgences can be acquired unless the enjoined works are renewed; thus if to one crown both Apostolic indulgences and indulgences of the Rosary have been applied, both cannot be obtained unless the rosary is recited twice.⁴

⁴ Code, c. 933.

(b) As to the circumstances, the works must be performed in the place and time predefined, in the manner to be explained below. Here we shall set forth only the manner of computing time, according to the decisions of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences. - Commonly indulgences are affixed to the natural day; now the natural day is computed from midnight to midnight; hence, unless another thing is expressly said, we can gain indulgences affixed to such a day from midnight.⁵ - But sometimes an indulgence can be acquired, as often happens on feasts, during the whole ecclesiastical day, i.e., from first vespers, namely from the time at which vespers are commonly accustomed to be publicly recited⁶ (the middle hour between noon and sunset) until sunset of the following day, i.e., the evening twilight which often endures one hour after sunset.

⁵ Decreta authent., n. 434, January 18, 1878.

⁶ Raccolta, p. XVII; hence the opinion holding that the ecclesiastical day begins at the second afternoon hour does not seem sufficiently safe. Cf. Melata, op. cit., p. 54.

624. (D) Among the various prescribed works, the principal ones are confession, communion, visitation of a church, certain prayers, concerning which we shall note a few things.

(a) Confession, when it is required, must be performed even by those who are in the state of grace; it must be sacramental, or in order to absolution, although it is not necessary to receive absolution. - If several indulgences to be gained on the same day require confession, one confession suffices for acquiring them all. Indeed, "the faithful of Christ who are accustomed, unless they are legitimately impeded, at least twice in the month to approach the sacrament of penance, or to receive holy communion in the state of grace and with a right and pious mind daily, although once or twice through the week they abstain from the same, can obtain all indulgences, even without actual confession which otherwise would be necessary for gaining them, except indulgences either of the ordinary and extraordinary jubilee or after the manner of a jubilee."¹

¹ Code, c. 931, § 3.

Moreover, "for gaining any indulgences whatsoever, a confession perhaps required can be made within the eight days which immediately precede the day to which the indulgence has been affixed," or "even within the entire following octave."²

² Code, c. 931, § 1.

(b) Communion can be received on the vigil of that day to which the indulgence is annexed or "even within the entire following octave."³

³ Ibid.

(c) Visitation of a church is prescribed for certain indulgences. If the visitation of some determinate church is enjoined, for example, the parish church, this indeed must be visited, unless a legitimate commutation has been made; otherwise, the visitation can be made in any church or public oratory whatsoever, and indeed "from noon of the preceding day, until the midnight which closes the appointed day."⁴

⁴ Code, c. 923.

Moreover, by force of a privilege granted by Pius X, on January 14, 1909, the faithful of either sex, who, for the pursuit of perfection or for the sake of instruction or education or even of health, live a common life in houses lacking a church or public chapel, established with the consent of the Ordinaries, and also all persons dwelling there for ministering to them,⁵ whenever the visitation of some non-determined church or of some indeterminate public oratory is prescribed, can visit the chapel of their own house, in which by law they can satisfy the obligation of hearing Mass.

⁵ Thus the Code, c. 929. Cf. Holy Office, June 24, 1909. A. A. S., I, 210.

(d) Prayers to be recited are generally prescribed for plenary indulgences and sometimes for partial ones. Mental prayer does not suffice, but at least certain vocal prayers are required. These indeed are not determined, but are permitted to the judgment of anyone; the shortest prayer does not suffice, but five Pater and Ave, or something equivalent, are required.

"If a particular prayer has been assigned, indulgences can be acquired in whatever language the prayer is recited, provided that the fidelity of the version is established from the declaration either of the Sacred Penitentiary or of one of the Ordinaries of the place where the language into which the prayer is translated is common; but indulgences entirely cease because of any addition, subtraction, or interpolation. For the acquisition of indulgences it is enough to recite the prayer alternately with a companion or to follow it with the mind while it is recited by another."¹

¹ Code, c. 934.

(e) "Confessors can commute into other works the pious works enjoined for gaining indulgences for those who, detained by a legitimate impediment, cannot perform the same."² "Indulgences annexed to feasts or sacred supplications or novendial, septenary, or triduan prayers, which are performed before or after the feast or even while its octave lasts, are understood to be transferred to that day to which feasts of this kind are legitimately transferred, if the transferred feast has an office with Mass without solemnity and external celebration and the transfer is made in perpetuity, or if the solemnity and external celebration is transferred either for a time or in perpetuity."³

² Code, c. 935.

³ Code, c. 922.

(E) Indulgence or blessing in the article of death: 1) "The parish priest or another priest who assists the sick has the faculty of granting them the apostolic blessing with plenary indulgence in the article of death, according to the form handed down by approved liturgical books; let him not omit to impart this blessing."⁴

⁴ Code, c. 468, § 2.

2. This indulgence is altogether distinguished from the plenary indulgence which all can gain in the article of death, without any blessing, who hold some object to which Apostolic indulgences are attached, or who are members of a Confraternity to which such a privilege has been granted.

3. From the concession of Pope Pius X, March 9, 1904, any Christian can gain for himself a plenary indulgence for the instant of his death, provided that he recites the prescribed formula, by which he receives death with all its distresses with an even and willing soul, and fulfills the other conditions (confession, communion).

N. B. The deaf-mute and the mute can gain indulgences for which vocal prayer is desired: if public prayers are enjoined, by devoutly joining themselves to the praying people and praying mentally; if visitation of a church is privately prescribed, by praying there mentally; if prayers are to be recited privately, by performing the pious works which the confessor, in place of prayers, shall enjoin,⁵ or by pouring forth the enjoined prayers by signs, or mentally, or by reading them without any pronunciation.⁶ (Cf. Can. 936.)

⁵ Decret. authent., n. 355, March 15, 1852.

⁶ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 18, 1902.

628. 1° On Suspension. Indulgences can be suspended in a twofold manner: (a) from the very nature of the matter, when one of the essential conditions required for gaining them ceases for a time, for example, when the stations of the Way of the Cross are removed so that they may again be placed in the same place; (b) extrinsically, or from the will of the one granting, an example of which is had in the time of Jubilee, when almost all other indulgences are suspended, from the things to be said below.

629. 2° On Translation. It can occur in two ways, as to place and time.

(a) As to place, a local indulgence is transferred when the competent Superior orders it no longer to be gained in the place to which it had been attached, but in another determinate place; this is done especially when the community which held the former place migrates to another.

(b) As to time, when an indulgence granted for some time is transferred to another; this especially has place in indulgences granted for some feast. Now an indulgence annexed to some feast is transferred whenever the external solemnity is transferred, although the office and Mass are not transferred;¹ but if there is question of feasts which are accustomed to be performed without solemnity, when the feast is transferred in perpetuity, the indulgence is transferred;² but when the feast is transferred by accident, the indulgence remains affixed to the day. - Yet such an indulgence cannot be acquired twice; for example, if someone at Rome has gained the indulgence annexed to the feast of the Immaculate Conception, he cannot acquire the same at Paris if he is in that city at the time when the transferred solemnity is celebrated.

¹ Decret. authent., n. 360, August 9, 1852.

² Decret. authent., n. 435, January 12, 1878.

630. 3° On Cessation. Indulgences can cease:

(a) Through the death of the one granting, if this has been expressed in the grant itself either explicitly, or implicitly, for example, if the clause at my good pleasure or another similar one has been added, but not at the good pleasure of the See, because the See does not die.

(b) Through the revocation of the competent Superior sufficiently promulgated.

(c) Through the death of the person, or the legitimate extinction of the College, to which they had been granted; but if some College has been illegitimately suppressed, and afterwards revives, the indulgences likewise revive.

(d) Through the destruction of the place or things to which the indulgences were attached, if it is total physically and morally; but not if the thing in common estimation, although physically renewed, remains morally the same. Hence they are not lost if the thing is renewed even totally by successive repairs, indeed if an altar is destroyed, yet in such a way that a new one is built in the same place and under the same title.³

³ Decret. authent., n. 317, April 24, 1843.

N. B. Through the transfer of ownership of a movable thing, for example, a rosary, to which an indulgence is attached, the indulgence now no longer ceases; for the decree of Alexander VII forbidding that transfer has been abrogated by the Sacred Penitentiary (February 18, 1921).

631. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Jubilee was instituted or confirmed by Boniface VIII, who granted a plenary indulgence and other spiritual favors for the year 1300, and for each following hundredth year; afterwards Clement VI decreed that the Jubilee should be celebrated in each fiftieth year, beginning from 1350; finally Paul II willed that it should have place in each twenty-fifth year, beginning from 1475.

¹ Besides the works already cited on Indulgences in general, cf. Navarrus, Comment. de Jubilaeo, Rome, 1575; Viva, de Jubilaeo, Padua, 1709; Theodoricus a S. Spir., Tract. historico-theologicus de Jubilaeo, Rome, 1750; Loiseaux, Traité Canonique et pratique du Jubilé, Paris, 1859; P. Bastien, O.S.B., Tr. de Jubilaeo, Brussels, 1901; H. Thurston, S.J., The Holy Year of Jubilee, St. Louis, 1900.

Division:

On the notion and species of the Jubilee;

On the works to be executed for gaining the Jubilee;

On the faculties granted during the time of the Jubilee;

On the suspension of graces during the time of the Jubilee.

632. 1° Notion. The Jubilee is nothing other than a plenary indulgence, heaped up with various privileges by the Roman Pontiff. Therefore it differs from a plenary indulgence only accidentally, namely by reason of the solemnity and the privileges which are annexed to it.

633. 2° Species. The Jubilee is twofold, ordinary and extraordinary.

(a) The former, which is also called the major Jubilee, or simply the Jubilee, is that which recurs in each twenty-fifth year. Generally it is first celebrated at Rome through an entire year, which is called the holy year; then in the following year it is extended to the whole world for a shorter time, commonly for six months. At Rome it begins from the first Vespers of the Nativity of the Lord, which precede the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 100th year of each century, and it is concluded at the second Vespers of the Nativity of the following year.

(b) The latter, or extraordinary Jubilee, which is also called minor, is that which the Roman Pontiff, according to his judgment, grants for some time, on account of a grave cause. Thus commonly each new Pontiff grants a Jubilee after his exaltation, and besides, in the greater necessities or solemnities of the Church. This Jubilee is customarily celebrated at the same time at Rome and throughout the whole world.

(c) Besides each of these Jubilees, which is universal, as granted to all the faithful, there is sometimes given a particular Jubilee, which is granted to some province or place; such is the Jubilee granted to the Aniciensis church whenever the feast of the Annunciation falls on the day of Parasceve.

(d) Sometimes also plenary indulgences are given in the form or after the manner of a Jubilee, for giving greater honor to some place and for more greatly exciting the piety of the faithful; these indeed do not differ from ordinary indulgences except by reason of solemnity.

Here it must be noted that the rules to be observed in a Jubilee, whether ordinary or extraordinary, were handed down by Benedict XIV,¹ and that they are to be observed even today in all things in which a special Bull published for each Jubilee does not stand against them.²

¹ Bull Peregrinantes, May 5, 1749, by which the Jubilee is proclaimed; Bull Cum nos super, May 17, 1749, where indulgences and faculties are suspended; Bull Convocatis, November 25, 1749, by which faculties are granted to the Penitentiaries of the City; Bull Inter praeteritas, December 3, 1749, concerning questions and controversies about the works enjoined; Bull Paterna caritas, December 17, 1749, by which provision is made for Nuns, Oblates, etc.; Bull Benedictus Deus, December 25, 1750, by which the Jubilee is extended to the whole world; Bull Celebrationem, January 1, 1751, concerning the extension of the Jubilee.

² Decret. authent., n. 353, March 15, 1852.

634. For gaining the Jubilee various works are prescribed, namely for the ordinary Jubilee: confession and communion, and also visitations of churches; for the extraordinary Jubilee: in addition, fasting and alms. - In executing these, no order is required, provided that the last work is performed in the state of grace. But the general rule is that works already owed from some other source do not suffice.³

³ Bull Inter praeteritos, n. 53.

Nor is it necessary that all be completed in the same week, even for an extraordinary Jubilee;⁴ nor in one and the same place, so that confession can be made in one place and communion in another, provided that the special rules established by the Bishop of that place are observed.⁵

⁴ Sacred Penitentiary, March 16, 1865, in Acta S. Sedis, I, p. 176.

⁵ Sacred Penitentiary, January 15, 1886.

635. 1° On confession and communion. (a) Apart from a special concession, one cannot satisfy the paschal precept and gain the Jubilee by one confession and communion.⁶ Yet, with respect to confession, one can first confess in order to gain the Jubilee; and if afterwards, within the year, he has admitted no mortal sin, he will not be bound to confess, since the law of annual confession obliges only those who are conscious of grave sin (n. 245). Nor is absolution required, if one is in the state of grace, unless it is expressly said in the Bull, as in the year 1851, "having confessed their sins and having expiated them by sacramental absolution."

⁶ Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1875, in Acta S. Sedis, VIII, pp. 266-267; cf. p. 361.

(b) Confession and communion must be made during the time of the Jubilee, but not on the vigil, unless from first Vespers, when it is already customarily begun at Rome.

(c) He who, after confession has been performed, falls into mortal sin before he has completed the last work, must repeat confession, so that by sacramental absolution he may recover grace;¹ nor is it sufficient for him to elicit perfect contrition.

¹ Bull Inter praeteritos, n. 79.

636. 2° On the visitation of churches. Which churches are to be visited, and how often, the Supreme Pontiff designates in the City, and the Bishop of each diocese outside the City.

(A) Thus for the year 1900, Leo XIII prescribed² that the four basilicas of Blessed Peter and Paul, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major should be visited at least once in the day for twenty continuous or interposed days, whether natural or ecclesiastical, by inhabitants residing at Rome; for at least ten days by pilgrims. But if those residing in the City, or on the journey itself, are prevented by illness or by another legitimate cause from making certain or all visitations, they can nevertheless gain the Jubilee by performing other works enjoined by confessors.

² Bull Properante, in Act. S. Sedis, XXXI, p. 644 sq.

(B) Outside the City, (a) Bishops determine, according to the Bull of the Pontiff, how many churches and how often they are to be visited. In places where there is one church, they can grant that all the prescribed visitations be made in this church; this power was given to them in the year 1852 in a general manner,³ so that they enjoy it even if the Bull of the Jubilee is silent concerning this matter. They can also designate a public oratory, if Mass is habitually celebrated in it.⁴

³ Decret. authent., n. 353, March 15, 1852.

⁴ Sacred Penitentiary, January 15, 1886, in Act. S. Sedis, XVIII, p. 334.

(b) If the same church must be visited several times, this can be done on the same day or on distinct days, unless in the Bull of the Jubilee it is defined otherwise. But visitations made in the same church must be so distinguished from each other that each time it is necessary to go out from the church in order that a new visitation can be made.

(c) Regulars cannot gain the Jubilee by performing the prescribed visitations in their own church, unless they have obtained a special privilege from the Roman Pontiff.⁵ But if they are legitimately impeded from visiting the churches designated by the Ordinary, each one can obtain commutation from his own confessor.

⁵ Sacred Penitentiary, 1875, in Act. S. Sedis, VIII, p. 554.

(d) Often also the number of visitations is diminished by instituting processions, with the license of the Bishop, from a special privilege granted by the Holy See. In which case the faithful who, because of the narrowness of the church or oratory, remain outside the doors and pray with the others, form one body morally, and therefore satisfy the visitation for gaining the Jubilee, provided, however, that all who can be contained in the church enter it. Likewise, if because of a legitimate reason processions are made with vestments not choral, without a cross, with psalmody in a low voice, or even without any chant, this is valid.¹

¹ Sacred Penitentiary, in Act. S. Sedis, VIII, p. 554; vol. XXXIV, p. 638; vol. XXXV, p. 43.

637. 3° On fasting. (a) In extraordinary Jubilees a fast of three days is usually prescribed; this imports abstinence from meat; indeed also from eggs and lacticinia, if it is prescribed for the time of Lent. Sometimes, outside Lent, the same strict fast (i.e., abstinence not only from meat, but from eggs and lacticinia) is imposed, namely whenever in the Bull it is said, "using fasting foods²."

² Since in certain regions it is very difficult to observe such a fast, Bishops can approach the Holy See, so that this mandate may be softened.

(b) That fast must be distinct from the fast already established by the Church, unless otherwise is declared in the Bull explicitly or implicitly.

(c) Often the three fasts are enjoined to be performed in the same week, on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; but if no day is assigned, they can be made at any time whatsoever, outside days of fasting by precept.

(d) A fast of this kind must be observed even by those who otherwise are excused from the law of fast; but if they are not able to fast, the confessor can commute this work into another.³

³ Decret. authent., n. 425, July 10, 1869, ad 8.

638. 4° On alms. (a) If it is prescribed "according to the judgment or devotion of each one," any donation will be sufficient, provided that it is not so small that it is reputed as nothing; but if it is prescribed "according to the means of each one," it is necessary that there be some proportion between the alms and the fortune of the person; whence an obol will indeed suffice for a poor person, but not for a rich person; indeed the poor can obtain from the confessor a commutation of the alms into another work.

(b) Alms can be made through another, for example, through a superior, if there is question of the members of some community, or through the father of a family, if there is question of a wife or children, or through a rich person in the name of a poor person; provided, however, that the alms is bestowed with their knowledge.

To the faithful of Christ who wish to gain the indulgence of the Jubilee, special privileges are granted: 1° with respect to the choice of confessor; 2° with respect to the faculties given to confessors.⁴

⁴ These privileges are enumerated in the Bull of Benedict XIV which begins Celebrationem, January 1, 1751, and in the Bull proper to each Jubilee, for example, for the last Jubilee, in the Bull of Leo XIII which begins Temporis quidem sacri; which Ami du Clergé, XXIII, 1901, 145-152, clearly explained.

639. (A) Nuns properly so called, making solemn vows, and their novices, can choose for themselves, for gaining the Jubilee, a confessor from among those who, for nuns, for any monastery whatsoever, have been approved as ordinary or extraordinary confessors. But nuns of simple vows can choose for themselves a confessor simply approved.

(B) All other faithful of either sex, both lay and ecclesiastical, even Regulars of any Order whatsoever, can for the same effect choose for themselves as confessor any priest whatsoever, whether Secular or Regular, even of a different Order, approved by the Ordinary of the place for hearing the confessions of seculars. But if Regulars wish to choose a confessor of their own Order, he alone must be one of those approved by the Regular Prelate.

640. Special faculties are granted to these confessors, but only for the confession of the Jubilee.

(A) The faculty of absolving from all sins and censures, whether reserved to Bishops or to the Roman Pontiff, provided, however, that a salutary penance and other things to be enjoined by law are enjoined. - Yet certain cases reserved in the Constitution Sacram. Poenitentiae are excepted: (a) the absolution of one's own accomplice; (b) the absolution of one absolving an accomplice, if this crime has been committed three times or more throughout life;¹ (c) the absolution of those who have been excommunicated, suspended, or interdicted by the Roman Pontiff or by another Prelate by name, or have been publicly denounced as bound by censure,² unless they have made satisfaction within the time of the Jubilee.

¹ This was expressly declared by the Sacred Penitentiary, January 11, 1900, in Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, 508.

² Thus Sacred Penitentiary, June 5, 1901, in Acta S. Sedis, XXXIV, p. 187. - Formerly a false and juridical accusation of solicitation was also excepted; but in the recent Jubilee of 1900 this restriction was not preserved.

It is said, "and other things to be enjoined by law," namely by imposing those conditions which are prescribed by law; for example, heretics who have publicly taught heresy are not absolved unless the heresy has been abjured and scandal repaired; those who have unjustly acquired ecclesiastical goods are not absolved unless these have been restored, or a settlement has been made or at least sincerely promised.

641. (B) The faculty of commuting vows, even sworn vows and those reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, not excepting the vow of not seeking commutation. The following are excepted: (a) vows of perpetual chastity or of entering Religion properly so called; (b) obligatory vows which have been accepted by a third party, unless he renounces his right; (c) penal vows, which are emitted for removing the danger of sin, unless the commutation is made into another work which restrains from committing sin no less than the matter of the prior vow.

For commuting vows no other reason is required than the Jubilee itself; but the commutation cannot be made into a notably lesser work.

(C) The faculty of dispensing from irregularity contracted only on account of violation of censures, provided that it is occult, and has not been brought, nor can easily be brought, to the ecclesiastical forum; but not from other irregularities.

(D) The faculty of dispensing, for the forum of conscience only, concerning certain impediments of marriage: namely the occult diriment impediment of illicit affinity of the first and second degree, provided that canonical causes are present, if there is question of contracting marriage; the impediment of spiritual relationship, and likewise the occult impediment of crime, with neither party, however, plotting. - Likewise the faculty of restoring the right of seeking the debt in the case of incestuous affinity supervening upon marriage; or of dispensing with those who are bound by a simple vow of chastity, admonishing them, however, that they will sin against the vow if they offend outside the use of marriage, and that they remain bound by the same vow if they survive their own spouse.

(E) The faculty of commuting the works prescribed for the Jubilee into other works of nearly the same value, provided that a just cause is present, i.e., physical or moral inability. Generally confession and communion cannot be commuted into other works; nevertheless for children who have not yet been admitted to sacred communion, another work can be prescribed in place of communion; and the same is probably said of those who, on account of chronic illness, are not able to receive communion.

642. (a) Confessors cannot use these faculties outside the act of sacramental confession; and only toward those who confess with the sincere mind of gaining the Jubilee, yet in such a way that absolution from censures, commutations of vows, and dispensations remain in their force, even if it happens that he who had already obtained them, having changed his plan, does not fulfill the remaining works. But by a sacrilegious confession censures and reservations are not removed, since the disposition necessary for gaining the Jubilee is lacking.

(b) They can use these privileges only once with respect to the same penitent, although the indulgence of the Jubilee can be acquired several times when he has already fulfilled all the works of the Jubilee;¹ an exception is given for commutation of works, which can be made as often as someone gains the indulgence.² - Yet it is not necessary that all the faculties be applied in the same confession and by the same confessor. Thus he who, in the confession of the Jubilee, has forgotten to confess a reserved sin or to ask for commutation of vows, can afterwards obtain absolution or commutation from any confessor. Likewise he who, the first time in which he gained the Jubilee, did not need these faculties, but afterwards fell into a reserved censure or needed some dispensation, can, in a second acquisition of the Jubilee, when it is permitted, obtain absolution or dispensation.

¹ Moreover, the confessor can use these faculties several times toward the same penitent who has not yet fulfilled all the works enjoined, from the response of the Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1901, and June 5, 1901.

² Thus Sacred Penitentiary, July 2, 1881. But in the Jubilee of 1900 the contrary was declared by the Sacred Penitentiary, February 20, 1900, in Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, 637; afterwards, however, May 10, 1900, it was said that the penitent can nevertheless gain the Jubilee several times, by repeating the works enjoined in the first commutation.

643. This suspension obtains only during the holy year, when the Jubilee is celebrated at Rome, but not in the following year when it is extended to the whole world; nor does it affect the City of Rome itself, but the other parts of the Catholic world. In truth, certain privileges are suspended elsewhere for this reason: that the faithful may be drawn to the City and may there gain the Jubilee.³

³ Cf. Benedict XIV, Bull Cum nos nuper; Leo XIII, Bull Quod Pontificum, in Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, pp. 257-259.

1° All indulgences, both plenary and partial, granted by the Roman Pontiff - but not by an inferior Prelate - are suspended, with the following exceptions:

(a) indulgences for the dead; indeed all other indulgences which at other times can be acquired only by the living, in the holy year are applicable to the dead and can be acquired for them;¹

¹ Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, p. 320.

(b) the indulgence in the article of death;

(c) indulgences for the angelic salutation (i.e., the Angelus Domini) at the ringing of the bell;

(d) the indulgence of ten years and as many quarantines for visitation of the Most Blessed Sacrament exposed for forty hours;

(e) indulgences granted to those who accompany the Most Blessed Sacrament when it is carried to the sick, or who send a candle or torch to be carried by others on that occasion;

(f) the indulgence of the Portiuncula to be gained at Assisi; outside Assisi it can be acquired only for the dead.

644. 2° Faculties granted by the Holy See, but not by Bishops, are suspended, namely:

(a) the faculty of absolving from cases and censures reserved to the Pope; (b) the faculty of commuting vows; (c) the faculty of dispensing concerning irregularities and impediments (under which name certain authors understand matrimonial impediments, though others contradict them). - But, for the Jubilee of 1900, the Sacred Penitentiary declared, December 21, 1899, that the suspension of faculties "does not extend to those penitents who at the time of confession, in the judgment of the Ordinary or of the confessor, cannot here and now approach the City without grave inconvenience"²; now such is the case of most of the faithful. Besides, it declared, December 26, 1899, that this suspension does not extend to faculties granted to Ordinaries for the external forum, and consequently not to the faculty of dispensing concerning impediments of marriage in the external forum. And rightly; for otherwise Bishops, while the holy year is turning, would not be able to provide for the necessities of the faithful, and the concession of the Jubilee would be rather unto ruin than unto edification.

² Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, p. 335.

645. But the following are not suspended, but remain ratified and firm:

(a) the faculties of dispensing in fast and abstinence, of blessing rosaries, medals, crosses, and of annexing papal indulgences to them; the faculty of giving the papal blessing; and others not enumerated above; (b) faculties granted to Bishops by Trent (cap. Liceat) with respect to occult cases, or by common law, or by the Apostolic See for certain persons and cases;³ (c) faculties bestowed by the Apostolic See upon Prelates over Regulars subject to them; (d) finally, faculties granted to missionaries by the Sacred Penitentiary or the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, to be exercised in the places of Missions and on their occasion; now this can certainly be understood of missionaries who labor in regions of infidels or heretics (and consequently in the United States of America); but it is doubted whether it can also be understood of missionaries who preach in Catholic regions.

³ Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, p. 507.

Since it is impossible here to enumerate all indulgences, we shall hand down rules for distinguishing true indulgences from apocryphal ones, and we shall briefly set forth certain ones from among the principal indulgences, referring the reader for the rest to approved authors.

646. Rules of this kind, drawn up by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 3, 1899, and approved by Leo XIII, August 10, 1899, have the force of a general law.

¹ Cf. Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, pp. 241-249; Ami du Clergé, XXII, 1900, pp. 292-298.

"Rule I. All indulgences are authentic which are contained in the most recent Collection edited by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences.²

² This Collection is Raccolta di Orazioni e pie Opere... Roma, 1898, at the beginning of which it is read: "Moreover Leo XIII, Pope, by his apostolic authority approved this Collection of this kind... and therefore it must be retained by all as the genuine and authentic Collection of Indulgences hitherto granted for all the faithful of Christ and for certain groups of them designated there."

Rule II. General indulgences which are not displayed in the aforesaid Collection, or which are reported as granted, will then only be held as authentic when the autograph document of their concession has been recognized by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, to which, under penalty of nullity, it must be exhibited before they are published.

Rule III. Indulgences granted to religious Orders and Congregations, Archconfraternities, Confraternities, Archsodalities, Sodalities, Pious Unions, Pious Societies, certain more celebrated Churches, Pious Places, and Objects of devotion, which are contained in Summaries recognized and approved by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, and printed by its authority or permission, are to be held authentic.³

³ The principal work, in which these authentic summaries are contained, was edited by J. Schneider, S.J., under this title: Rescripta authentica S. Cong. Indulg. ... necnon Summaria Indulgentiarum, Ratisbon, 1885; it was recognized as authentic by the Sacred Congregation on December 16, 1882, so that all indulgences enumerated there are genuine.

Rule IV. Indulgences, whether general or particular, are not to be held as authentic when they are contained in books, in booklets, in summaries, in sheets, in little papers, or even in images, printed without the approval of the competent authority; this approval must be granted after diligent recognition and expressed distinctly.¹

¹ The competent authority in this matter is the Apostolic See itself, except, however, the following cases, in which the approval of the Ordinary of the place suffices: (a) in the concession of a particular indulgence, or in a Summary of indulgences which is to be taken from one Rescript only; (b) in a Summary already published by authority of the Sacred Congregation, except, however, the catalogue of Apostolic indulgences and the integral version of the Collection Raccolta; (c) in the Summaries of those Confraternities which, by concession of the Holy See, are erected by Religious Institutes or aggregated by Archconfraternities; for these the approval of the Bishop of that place where these Institutes or Archconfraternities have their principal seat suffices (Decret. authent., n. 388). - The approval must be expressed distinctly, i.e., with the name of the one approving, and also the place and time of the approval.

Rule V. Apocryphal, or now altogether revoked, are all indulgences of a thousand or of several thousands of years, at whatever time they may be said to have been granted.²

² Already by the decree of May 26, 1898, all those indulgences, if any were ever granted, had been revoked. In Acta S. Sedis, XXXI, 127.

Rule VI. Plenary indulgences which are asserted to have been granted to those reciting only a few words are to be held suspect, except indulgences in the article of death.

Rule VII. Indulgences are to be rejected as apocryphal which are circulated in booklets, sheets, or little papers, printed or manuscript, in which, from slight or even superstitious causes and uncertain revelations, or under illusory conditions, indulgences and graces exceeding usage and measure are promised.³

³ The reason is because the Holy See is not accustomed to grant indulgences except from pious and reasonable causes; if therefore ridiculous or superstitious things are found in booklets or sheets in which indulgences are enumerated, these must be held as apocryphal. The Sacred Congregation of Indulgences had already reproved some of those little sheets on May 26, 1898, in Acta S. Sedis, XXXI, pp. 727-744; for others already condemned by previous decrees see Ami du Clergé, XXII, pp. 296-297.

Rule VIII. Sheets and booklets are to be rejected as counterfeit in which liberation of one or of several souls from Purgatory is promised to the faithful reciting one or another prayer; and the indulgences which are customarily added to the said promise are to be held as apocryphal.⁴

⁴ In past centuries some Pontiffs had used that formula in granting indulgences, so that by these words they might signify that a plenary indulgence applicable to the dead was given; but today this mode of speaking is no longer employed, lest the faithful be deceived; for, as we said above (n. 559), no one knows in what measure indulgences are applied to the dead.

Rule IX. Indulgences of a more recent asserted concession are to be held apocryphal, or at least gravely suspect, if they are extended to an unusual number of years or days."¹

¹ The Church is accustomed to grant partial indulgences according to certain fixed formulas, for example, of 50, 100, 200, or 300 days, or of one year, or of 3, 5, 7 years and as many quarantines; if therefore formulas entirely foreign to the customary ones are found, for example, indulgences of 1080 days, they must be rejected as apocryphal.

Therefore let Bishops and pastors take care lest the faithful, especially the pious, be deceived in this matter and fall into superstition, neglecting the duties of their state in the hope of gaining extraordinary privileges which in reality were never granted.

647. 1° Nature. Under this name comes a plenary indulgence which the Roman Pontiff imparts to the dying, either by himself or through a delegate; it is also called the Papal Blessing, because it is granted under the form of a blessing, in the name of the Supreme Pontiff. It is altogether distinguished from the plenary indulgence which all those can gain in the article of death, without any blessing, who hold some object to which Apostolic indulgences are annexed, or are members of a Confraternity to which such a privilege has been granted. - Here we treat only of that indulgence which is annexed to the Papal Blessing in the article of death.

This can be acquired in the true, not in the presumed, article of death;² now the true article of death is that which death really follows, while the presumed article is verified when the sick person, in the judgment of skilled persons, is believed shortly to die. Although, however, the indulgence is not acquired except in the true article of death, it can be granted to the faithful constituted in grave danger of death,³ namely to those to whom Viaticum can be given; but the indulgence remains suspended until they are in the true article of death, since it has been granted by the Roman Pontiffs for this end: that provision may be made for the faithful at precisely that moment at which they are about to appear before the Supreme Judge.

² Decret. authent., n. 9, April 23, 1675.

³ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, December 18, 1885, in Acta S. Sedis, XVIII, p. 414.

Hence it must not be repeated in the same infirmity, however long-lasting, since this would be altogether useless; but only if the sick person has recovered and afterwards falls into a new danger of death.⁴ Nor is it permitted to repeat it even if the sick person received it in the state of mortal sin, or, after having received it, has relapsed into venial or mortal sin;¹ nevertheless the sick person will gain it if he dies in the state of grace; nor is it permitted to give it several times under several titles.²

⁴ Decret. authent., n. 263, September 24, 1838.

¹ Decret. authent., n. 257, June 20, 1836, ad 7.

² Decret. authent., n. 362, March 12, 1855. - These various decrees you will find in Beringer, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 518-519.

648. 2° Conditions for acquiring it. (A) On the part of the one granting. From the Code, c. 468, § 2, "the parish priest or another priest who assists the sick has the faculty of granting them the Apostolic blessing with plenary indulgence in the article of death, according to the form handed down by approved liturgical books, which blessing let him not omit to impart." Thus henceforth there will be no need of an Indult or of delegation for imparting this blessing.

649. (B) On the part of the sick person: (a) that he not be excommunicated or manifestly impenitent; yet it can be granted to those who even culpably have not received the sacraments, if they suddenly fall into danger of death; in one word, to all those, even destitute of their senses, to whom sacramental absolution can be given; also to children who have been able to sin; probably also to those who are in danger of death from another cause than illness, for example, those condemned to death.

(b) That, if he can, he has received the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist; if he cannot, the state of grace suffices while he breathes his last breath.

(c) That he offers himself prepared to accept whatever shall have pleased God, and to undergo death itself patiently in satisfaction for the punishments which he himself has merited by sinning; so explicitly in the Bull Pia Mater.

(d) That he invoke, at least in his heart, the Most Holy Name of Jesus, when he is composed of mind; and elicit an act of sorrow and charity.

650. 3° Rite for imparting this blessing.³ (a) The priest, clothed in surplice and violet stole, upon entering the room of the sick person, says: Peace be to this house, etc.; then he sprinkles the sick person, the room, and those standing around with blessed water, saying Thou shalt sprinkle me, etc., without the Psalm Miserere. - If the blessing is given immediately after Viaticum and Extreme Unction, very probably the words Peace be to this house can be omitted, because they have already been said at the beginning; nevertheless more securely they are prefaced, since they are contained in the formula prescribed by Benedict XIV. But it is certain that the Confiteor must be repeated before the application of the indulgence, unless death is imminent.¹

³ Cf. Rit. Rom., Tit. V, c. 6, Rite of the Apostolic Blessing; Excerpta ex Rit. Rom., Baltimore, 1884, pp. 248-251, where, however, not all conditions necessary for obtaining this indulgence are declared; therefore the Roman Ritual itself should be approached, tit. V, c. 6.

¹ Decret. authent., n. 286, February 5, 1841, ad 5 and 6.

The practice of giving the blessing to several dying persons at the same time can be tolerated, by reciting the prior admonitions and prayers in the plural, but by pronouncing the formula of the blessing itself, "Our Lord Jesus Christ" down to the words "Spiritus S. Amen," singularly over each one.²

² Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 10, 1886.

(b) If the sick person wishes to confess, let the priest hear him and absolve him; if he does not ask for confession, let him excite him to an act of contrition; let him admonish him concerning the efficacy of this blessing, and exhort him to be prepared willingly to accept whatever shall have pleased God, and patiently to undergo death itself in satisfaction for the punishments which he has merited by sinning. Yet he must propose this prudently and gently, lest he incur the indignation of relatives and friends; wherefore, if difficulties are foreseen, let this exhortation be made privately, for example, in the confession itself.

(c) Then let him console the sick person with pious words, and raise him into hope, whereby he may more abundantly obtain remission of punishments. Finally let him pronounce the words described in the Ritual: "Our help... Most merciful God... Our Lord... Through the most sacred... May He bless thee..."

(d) But if the sick person is so near to death that there is not time for reciting all the prayers, it is enough to say: "I grant to you plenary indulgence and remission of all sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."³

³ Beringer, I, p. 515.

From the concession of Pope Pius X, March 9, 1904, any Christian, the required conditions having been fulfilled, can gain for himself a plenary indulgence for the instant of his death, provided that he emits an act by which he receives death with all its distresses with an even and willing soul. (Ami du Clergé, vol. XXVI, 1904, p. 631.)

651. 1° Notion and species. (A) By this name is understood a plenary indulgence to be applied to the dead alone; which, "if the mind of the one granting and the use of the keys of power are considered, immediately frees the soul from all the punishments of Purgatory; but if the effect of the application is considered, it is to be understood as an indulgence whose measure corresponds to the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy."¹

¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, Decret. authent., n. 283, July 28, 1840. Cf. Codex, c. 916.

(B) A privileged altar is local, personal, or mixed: local is annexed to a determinate altar, so that all celebrating on it can enjoy this privilege; personal is granted to the priest himself celebrating at any altar whatsoever; mixed is annexed to a determinate altar, yet so that only determinate priests can use this privilege, for example, only those who are members of such a Confraternity. On November 2, all altars enjoy this privilege, for all celebrating.

A privileged altar after the manner of the altar of St. Gregory, or a Gregorian after the manner², is now no longer granted.

² Holy Office, December 12, 1912, A. A. S., V, 33.

652. 2° Conditions for gaining the indulgence. (A) General: (a) A "Requiem" Mass is not required even when the Rubrics permit it.³

³ Holy Office, February 20, 1913.

(b) The indulgence must be applied to him for whom the Mass is celebrated, because, although of itself it is not repugnant that the Mass be applied to one and the indulgence to another, in fact the Roman Pontiff wills that it aid only the soul for whom the Mass is offered.⁴

⁴ Even virtual intention is required neither in the Priest nor in the one offering the stipend for gaining this indulgence. (Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, June 17, 1915.)

(c) If the Mass is applied to several, the privilege of the Altar can be attributed to only one of them. Thus, for example, on the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, on which all altars are privileged, the priest can celebrate Mass for one or several deceased persons, but can apply the indulgence to only one of them.

(B) Special: (a) for the privilege of a local Altar: the altar must be fixed, but for this it suffices "that in the middle of a stable and immovable altar, although not consecrated, a consecrated stone, even movable, be placed"⁵; nevertheless the privilege is granted to the altar, not to the stone, so that the latter can be changed. - The church or public oratory in which the altar exists must be at least blessed. - In older concessions the privilege was limited to days on which the Mass of the dead could be said; but this restriction has been removed.

⁵ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 26, 1867.

(b) For the privilege of a personal Altar: he who has obtained it is not bound to exhibit it to the Ordinary, unless otherwise is declared in the concession itself. - He who uses this privilege satisfies the burden undertaken of celebrating at a privileged altar.

N. B. "Bishops, Abbots or Prelates nullius, Vicars and Prefects Apostolic, and major Superiors of exempt clerical religion, can designate and declare one perpetual daily privileged altar, provided another is not had, in their cathedral, abbatial, collegiate, conventual, parochial, quasi-parochial churches..."¹

¹ Codex, c. 916.

653. 1° Notion. The Way of the Cross is a pious exercise by which the Passion of the Lord is proposed to be contemplated in various stations which are passed through, in the manner in which pilgrims visit the stations of the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem. The indulgences acquired by this exercise are the same as one would gain by visiting the Jerusalem stations; these indeed are many, both plenary and partial; but, to avoid abuses, it has been prohibited that they be enumerated in pulpits or written in the little shrines. All are applicable to the souls of Purgatory. - From the documents it is not established that indulgences annexed to this exercise can be acquired as often as it is repeated.³

² Cf. Instructio de Stationibus S. Viae Crucis erigendis visitandisque, Quaracchi, 1888; Putzer, Comment. in Fac. Apostol., nn. 205-210.

³ Lehmkuhl, II, p. 408. Cf. Resp. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 10, 1882.

654. 2° Conditions for gaining the indulgences. Some are required for the canonical erection of the stations, others for the manner of performing this exercise.

(A) For canonical erection there are required: (a) authority in the one erecting; this resides as ordinary and supreme in the Roman Pontiff; as ordinary and subordinate in the Superiors of the Franciscan Order; as delegated in those who are deputed by the Roman Pontiff or by the Order of St. Francis.⁴ The delegation must be had in writing, under penalty of nullity, and, before its use, must be exhibited to the Ordinary, if the erection is made in a place not exempt from his jurisdiction.

⁴ In the United States of America, Bishops have the faculty of erecting stations of the Way of the Cross in places of their diocese in which Franciscans are not present, and of delegating this power to priests exercising the sacred ministry.

(b) The consent of the Ordinary of the place in which the Way of the Cross is to be erected, given in writing for any erection, under penalty of nullity; likewise the written consent of the pastor or of the Superiors of the place in which the Way of the Cross is to be erected, if it is erected outside the bounds of the convents of St. Francis.¹

¹ Decret. authent., nn. 175, August 3, 1748, and 445, June 21, 1879.

(c) A suitable place, that is, decent and not liable to irreverence; under this name come churches, public and private oratories, domestic rooms which are not destined for profane uses, cemeteries, even open-air places, provided that the little shrines erected for the individual stations are protected by railings, lest animals freely enter there, etc. - Crosses can be affixed not only to walls, but also to benches, provided that these are immovable and sufficiently upright.²

² Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 14, 1904; in Acta, vol. XXXVII, p. 395.

(d) The blessing of the crosses. Fourteen crosses are required, which are wooden and visible to those standing by, without the image of the Crucified; they ought not to be covered with iron crosses,³ but they can be gilded, silvered, or adorned with various colors. Images, or painted tablets, which represent the Passion of Christ are indeed useful for fostering devotion, but are not necessary; they can be separated from the crosses.

³ Decret. authent., n. 442, November 23, 1878.

The crosses are blessed, according to the formula contained in the Appendix to the Roman Ritual, by a priest enjoying the proper faculties, and morally present in the place of erection. But the affixing of the crosses can be done by any other person, yet in such a way that there is some distance between one station and another, and the way is not completed in only a few steps.⁴

⁴ Decret. authent., n. 194, August 28, 1752; n. 311, August 22, 1842.

(e) After the erection, an instrument must be drawn up, signed by the one erecting, in which are described the petition and concession of the erection, and also the consent of the Superiors, in one word, all essentials which have been performed; let two copies be made, of which one is to be kept in the archives of the concessionary, the other in the episcopal Curia, for perpetual memory of the matter.

(f) A new erection is not required on account of an accidental change in the crosses, for example, if, removed for a time, they are restored to the same place, or are better arranged in the same church, or if, the old church having been destroyed, a new one is built under the same title and in nearly the same place; or if new crosses are substituted for old ones, yet in a lesser part; or if they are renewed, their substance being preserved.⁵ - It is otherwise if the crosses were essentially destroyed or changed in the greater or half part.⁶ For a new erection in the same place the consent of those whom it concerns can be presumed.

⁵ Decret. authent., nn. 323; 258; 264; 270; 375.

⁶ Decret. authent., n. 311, August 22, 1842; n. 223, December 16, 1760, ad 1.

655. (B) On the manner in which the exercise of the Way of the Cross must be performed. (a) The individual stations must be visited, by moving locally from one to another, insofar as the multitude of people and the narrowness of the place permit, even in a public exercise, if disturbance is not feared.¹ But if in a public exercise this local movement is morally impossible, it suffices that the priest with two clerics or cantors go around, and, stopping at each station, recite there the customary prayers, the others responding in their place.² One priest could also recite the prayers in the pulpit, provided that another visits the stations. Nevertheless it is advised that the faithful rise at the individual stations and genuflect with the priest.

¹ Decret. authent., n. 100, April 3, 1731.

² Decret. authent., n. 210, August 6, 1757. In religious communities of brothers and sisters, in place of a priest with two clerics, only one from the brothers or one from the sisters can go around and stop at each station and recite the customary prayers, Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 27, 1901, and May 7, 1902. (Acta, vol. XXXV, pp. 254-255.)

(b) All the stations must be visited in one continuous course, without notable interruption; nevertheless a rather long interruption through a religious action, for example, to hear Mass or to perform confession, does not hinder the gaining of the indulgences;³ otherwise it must be said of a profane action.

³ Decret. authent., n. 223, December 16, 1760, ad 4.

(c) At each station it is necessary to meditate, however briefly, on that part of the Passion which corresponds to each station, or at least on any phase of the Passion, but not on the Passion in general. No vocal prayers are required; nevertheless the pious practice is counseled of eliciting at the individual stations a brief act of contrition and reciting a Pater and Ave.

656. 3° On Crucifixes of the Way of the Cross. By this name are understood crosses with the image of the divine Redeemer, to which are applied the indulgences of the Way of the Cross to be gained. This privilege, at the request of the Franciscans, was kindly granted by Clement XIV, so that the sick or others impeded might be able to gain the indulgences of the Way of the Cross. To enjoy this privilege, it is required:

(a) That on the cross there be an image of the Redeemer, raised in relief, and from solid material, and that this be blessed by one of the Franciscans of the stricter observance, or by another regularly delegated by the Superiors of the Order.

(b) That there be infirmity, or another legitimate impediment to performing the exercise of the Way of the Cross, for example, excessive distance from the church, or difficulty of approaching the church.

(c) That there be recited, with contrite heart, in one continuous course, while holding the blessed Crucifix in the hand, twenty Pater, Ave, and Gloria, namely fourteen for the stations, five in honor of the Wounds of Christ, and one according to the intention of the Roman Pontiff. From the decree of December 14, 1917, meditation on the Lord's Passion is also required, or at least pious remembrance of the same. - If several perform this exercise in common, it is enough that the Crucifix be held by any one of the community, with whom the others devoutly join themselves. - If anyone, on account of grave infirmity, is unequal to reciting these prayers, he can gain the indulgences by reciting once an act of contrition, or the invocation: "We beseech Thee, therefore, help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with precious blood"; provided that at least in mind he follows the recitation, made by another standing by, of three Pater, Ave, and Gloria.

Recently, August 16, 1901, sodalities of the living Way of the Cross were instituted, enjoying the same privilege.¹

¹ Cf. Acta, vol. XXXIV, pp. 121-123; Ami du Clergé, vol. XXIII, p. 1072.

657. 1° Notion and species. The Rosary is a certain formula of praying which consists of fifteen decades of Angelic Salutations, with the Lord's Prayer interposed at the beginning, and the Gloria Patri at the end of each decade. The third part of the Rosary, consisting of five decades, is called a chaplet.

² Melata, pp. 145-158; Beringer, I, pp. 360-385.

There are several species of chaplets, of which the principal are the Rosary of St. Dominic, the Chaplet of St. Bridget, and the Chaplet blessed by the Crucigers.

(A) The Rosary of St. Dominic,³ so called because St. Dominic had the principal parts in its institution and propagation, must be blessed by Religious of the Order of Preachers, or by those who are delegated by the Holy See or by the General of the said Order, with the special formula being employed which is found in the Appendix to the Roman Ritual. - (a) It must consist of five, ten, or fifteen decades, but not six decades; while praying it must be held and turned in the hand; but when it is recited in common, it suffices that one person hold and turn the chaplet in the hand, provided that the others, cares which impede attention having been removed, devoutly unite themselves with him in the recitation of the Rosary.

³ André Pradel, O.P., Manuel du T. S. Rosaire, Mazères (Ariège); Chéry, O.P., Histoire générale du Rosaire, 1869, Paris; Leikes, O.P., Rosa aurea de sacratissimo B. M. V. Rosario..., Dülmen, 1886.

(b) Formerly at least five decades had to be recited morally in one continuous course. Today, however, by force of the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 8, 1908, the individual decades of the Rosary can be recited separately, yet within the space of one and the same day, without the indulgences being lost.⁴

⁴ Canoniste, vol. 32, 1909, p. 109.

(c) The recitation of the Rosary must be accompanied by meditation on the mysteries of the life, Passion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; nevertheless the more unlearned and those less suited to meditation are excused from it.

(d) The principal indulgences annexed to this Rosary are these: an indulgence of one hundred days for any Pater and Ave, provided that at least the third part of the Rosary is recited; an indulgence of five years and as many quarantines, as often as they recite the third part of the Rosary; for recitation made in common: an indulgence of ten years and as many quarantines to be gained once in the day; a plenary indulgence once in the year for those reciting at least the third part of the Rosary on individual days.

To those reciting the third part of the Rosary on the feast day of the Most Holy Rosary and on individual days through the octave, a plenary indulgence has been granted by Leo XIII; likewise a plenary indulgence, if after the Octave of the Most Holy Rosary they recite the third part of the Rosary at least ten times within the month of October.

To the confreres of the Sodality of the Most Holy Rosary many other indulgences are granted, for example, an indulgence of five years and as many quarantines as often as, while reciting the Rosary, they devoutly pronounce the name of Jesus in the angelic salutation; an indulgence of ten years and as many quarantines, if they recite the Rosary three times in the week, for each time; a plenary indulgence on the feast of the Annunciation if, having confessed and been refreshed by communion, they recite the Rosary; and many other plenary indulgences for those who visit the chapel or church of the confraternity on certain days.¹

¹ You will find all these things in the new Summary of indulgences of the Most Holy Rosary, edited by order of Leo XIII, August 30, 1899, and recognized as authentic, in Acta S. Sedis, XXXII, pp. 226-241.

658. (B) The Chaplet of St. Bridget,² so called from its institutress, (a) consists of six decades, each of which contains 1 Pater, 10 Ave, 1 Credo, and 1 Pater at the end, with 3 other Ave. It must be blessed by the Order of the Most Holy Savior Lateran, or by those who are delegated by the Abbot General of this Order or by the Holy See. A special form of blessing is not required.

² Facultas benedicendi coronas cum applicatione indulgent. S. Brigittae, Rome, 1878; Beringer, I, pp. 360-366; Raccolta, p. 206.

(b) Often the faculty is granted by the Holy See of applying the indulgences of St. Bridget to Rosaries of five, ten, or fifteen decades; then it is not necessary to add 1 Pater and 3 Ave at the end, but the Credo must be said at the end of each decade; and five decades suffice. - In neither case is meditation on the mysteries required.

(c) The principal indulgences are: an indulgence of 100 days for any Pater, Ave, or Credo, provided that six or five decades are recited; a plenary indulgence in the article of death for those who have been accustomed to recite this chaplet once in the week.³

³ You will find the authentic Summary of all indulgences granted to the chaplets of St. Bridget in Rescripta authent., pp. 352-356.

659. (C) Chaplets blessed by the Crucigers (the faculty of blessing them cannot be delegated to others) have annexed an indulgence of five hundred days as often as a Pater or Ave is recited with them, without its being necessary to recite the whole Rosary, or that some meditation be required.¹

¹ Thus Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 15, 1884, in Acta S. Sedis, XVI, 404; cf. Beringer, I, pp. 366-369.

660. 2° General rules for all chaplets. (a) Several indulgences can be annexed to one and the same chaplet, for example, the indulgences of the Rosary and of St. Bridget; and, for gaining each one, the recitation of the prayers need not be repeated, but the indulgences can be accumulated, from the concession of June 12, 1907.

³ The rules handed down here are applied to crucifixes or other blessed objects.

(b) Chaplets enriched with indulgences must be handed over altogether gratis; otherwise the indulgences are lost; yet this penalty does not affect those who buy chaplets, committing to the seller himself the care of obtaining the blessing, and who pay the price and the expenses of transmission at the time when those things, already blessed, are handed over.² Likewise the indulgences are not lost when Rosaries already blessed pass by donation from one person to another or to a third, etc., nor if they are lent to another. (Codex, can. 924, § 2.)

² Thus Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 10, 1896, in Acta S. Sedis, XXIX, 320.

661. 1° Notion and species. The small Scapular, concerning which we speak here, is a certain badge, consisting of two little cloths joined together by cords, which is worn after the likeness of scapulars which are proper to certain Orders. In their origin they were nothing other than scapulars proper to Religious reduced to a small form, for the greater convenience of the faithful;⁵ yet with the passage of time certain ones were introduced which are nothing other than a certain sign of devotion toward Christ, the Blessed Virgin, or the Saints.

⁴ Ulrich, Trésor spirituel ou Indulgences attachées aux scapulaires et autres objets de piété, Paris; Melata, pp. 103-109; Beringer, I, pp. 390-414.

⁵ Decret. authent., August 18, 1868.

They are referred to a threefold class: (a) certain ones are so the badges of some Confraternity that, unless they are imposed at the time of enrollment and afterwards worn, indulgences cannot be acquired; thus, for example, the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel; (b) others are so the badges of a Confraternity that it is free to wear them or not for gaining indulgences; thus the scapular of the pious Union of the Immaculate Conception, erected at Rome in the church of Araceli; (c) still others, finally, which are not badges of any Confraternity, but must be imposed and worn for gaining the indulgences annexed to them, as, for example, the blue scapular of the Immaculate Conception.

The principal scapulars are: the scapular of Mount Carmel; the blue scapular of the Immaculate Conception; the red scapular of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ; the scapular of the Most Holy Trinity.

662. 2° General rules. (A) With respect to the scapular itself: (a) It must be made exclusively of wool, and indeed of simple woven fabric, but not embroidered; nevertheless it is permitted that woven scapulars have ornaments, even embroidered, from another material, provided that the prescribed color prevails.¹ (b) The color of the wool is various for the various scapulars: tawny or black for the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel;² blue for the scapular of the Immaculate Conception; red for the Scapular of the Passion; white for the scapular of the Most Holy Trinity; black for the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows, etc. Yet this is not necessary for the cords, except for the scapular of the Passion, whose cords must be woolen and red. (c) The form of the little cloth should be oblong or square, not round or oval.

¹ Decret. authent., n. 423, August 18, 1868.

² Decret. authent., n. 278, February 12, 1840.

(B) With respect to blessing and imposition: (a) It must be blessed by a priest having the faculty either from the Holy See or from the Superior of the Order to which the faculty of blessing has been granted; it must be imposed by the same priest who blesses it;³ when a multitude is present, and there are not scapulars in sufficient number, one and the same scapular, once blessed, can validly be imposed successively upon several, with only the formula of reception repeated, yet in such a way that the first scapular which the enrolled person will thereafter put on has been blessed.⁴ But when another is substituted for a scapular previously received, it is not necessary that it be blessed; this today is true even of the scapular of the Most Holy Trinity,⁵ which formerly was excepted from the general rule. (b) Several scapulars can be imposed at the same time by those who have received this faculty; but an exception is given with respect to the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, which is to be blessed and imposed in the first place and separately from the others.⁶ (c) It must be blessed and imposed with the prescribed formula observed, at least in its substantial parts. (d) When several are to be clothed with the habit, all scapulars can be blessed with one formula in the plural; then they can be imposed successively and without interruption upon all who are present, saying: "Receive, brothers or sisters, etc."; finally all together are received into the confraternity, by using the plural number, "I receive you into the Confraternity," etc.¹

³ Decret. authent., n. 430, June 16, 1872.

⁴ Decret. authent., n. 421, August 1868.

⁵ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 24, 1895, in Acta S. Sedis, XXVIII, 256.

⁶ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887, in Acta S. Sedis, XIX, p. 554.

¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 18, 1891, in Acta S. Sedis, XXIV, p. 567.

663. (C) On the part of the one receiving: (a) He must be present, so that he himself may receive the scapular from the hand of the priest. (b) He who has the faculty of imposing the scapular generally, but not restricted to some community, can impose it upon himself.² (c) It is validly imposed upon little children not yet having attained the use of reason; but these cannot enjoy the indulgences except after the use of reason has been attained.³ (d) He who receives the scapular must be enrolled in the Confraternity, if there is question of a scapular which is the badge of some Confraternity; this today is true also of the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.⁴

² Decret. authent., n. 280, March 7, 1840.

³ Decret. authent., n. 410, August 29, 1864.

⁴ Decret. authent., n. 421, August 18, 1869; Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887, in Acta S. Sedis, XIX, p. 556.

(D) On the part of wearing it: (a) For gaining the indulgences, it is required that the scapular always be worn hanging from the neck, not crosswise, but in such a way that one part covers the breast, the other the shoulders;⁵ yet if it is taken off for a brief time, for example, to wash oneself, the indulgences persevere; if for a long time, they are suspended until it is put on again; in which case a new imposition of the sacred habit is not required.⁶ (b) It is not necessary that the scapular be worn immediately upon the body, but it can be retained over the clothes.⁷ (c) If several scapulars are worn at the same time, it is enough that the various little cloths, placed one over another, be suspended by only two cords (which, however, must be woolen and red in color, if among them is the scapular of the Passion); but it is expressly prohibited that the little cloths make up only one scapular.⁸

⁵ Decret. authent., n. 277, February 12, 1840.

⁶ Decret. authent., n. 379, May 27, 1857.

⁷ Decret. authent., n. 367, March 12, 1855, ad 2.

⁸ Decret. authent., n. 423, August 18, 1868; Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887, in Acta S. Sedis, XIX, 557.

Today, in place of scapulars approved by the Holy See (except, however, those which are proper to Third Orders), it is permitted to wear decently a single medal, blessed by a priest possessing the due faculty, and so to gain the spiritual favors annexed to the scapulars, not excepting the Sabbatine privilege. The obverse of this medal must bear the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ showing His most sacred heart, the reverse the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But the medal must be blessed with as many distinct blessings as there are regularly imposed scapulars for which it is substituted; each blessing, however, can be imparted with one sign of the cross.⁹

⁹ Holy Office, December 16, 1910, A. A. S., III, 22.

664. Summaries of indulgences granted to the various scapulars you will find in Schneider, Rescripta authentica, pp. 473, 468, 285, 571, 476, 483, 647, and other approved authors.

Among the privileges granted to the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, that one stands forth which is called the Sabbatine, approved and confirmed by various Pontiffs, and recognized by the Holy Office, January 20, 1613, in these words:¹ "The Carmelite Fathers are permitted to preach that the Christian people can piously believe concerning the help of the souls of the brothers and confreres of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel, namely that the Most Blessed Virgin, by her continual intercessions, pious suffrages and merits, and special protection, after their passing, especially on the day of Saturday, which day has been dedicated by the Church to the same Most Blessed Virgin, will help the souls of the brothers and confreres dying in charity, who in life have worn the habit and have cultivated chastity according to their state, and have recited the Little Office; or, if they do not know how to recite, have observed the fasts of the Church and have abstained from meats on Wednesday and Saturday² (unless the feast of the Nativity of the Lord should fall on those days)."³

¹ In Schneider, Rescr. authent., p. 475.

² Yet for a just cause the confessor, having a special faculty, can commute abstinence into another pious work.

³ From the decree of the Holy Office, December 16, 1910, to those wearing the medal all spiritual favors annexed to the Scapulars are granted, "not excepting the Sabbatine privilege."

665. 1° Notion. This act consists in this: that a member of the faithful of Christ, whether by employing some formula, or only in mind, offers to God, for the souls of Purgatory, all satisfactory works which he himself will perform through life, and all suffrages which can come to him after death. - Laudably this oblation is made through the hands of the Blessed Virgin, so that satisfactions and indulgences may be distributed to the dead according as it shall please her; but this is not an integral and necessary part of the heroic act.⁵

⁴ Atto eroico di carità, Rome, 1853; Raccolta, pp. 530-531; Melata, pp. 110-114; Beringer, I, q. 320-324.

⁵ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, December 19, 1885, in Acta S. Sedis, XVIII, pp. 337-339.

By an oblation of this kind, merits are not ceded, which are altogether personal; nor even impetrations, which can be offered for us and for others, even after an act of this kind has been elicited; but only satisfactions and indulgences. With respect to Mass, nothing else is ceded than the special fruit proper to the priest; consequently the priest who has elicited this act is not prohibited from offering the sacrifice of the Mass for those who have offered the alms. - Such an act, although sometimes designated under the name of a vow, does not oblige under sin and can be revoked.

666. 2° Privileges granted to the heroic act.¹ (a) Priests enjoy the indult of a personal privileged altar on individual days; (b) the faithful can gain a plenary indulgence applicable only to the dead as often as they receive sacred communion, or on Monday hear Mass in suffrage for the dead, provided that they have visited some church, and there prayed according to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff; (c) all and individual indulgences which priests or faithful gain are applicable to the dead.

¹ Rescripta authent., n. 392.

But the principal value of this act is the great increase of charity, and also the acquisition of many merits, since the cession of indulgences and satisfactions made to the dead is especially meritorious. And indeed the least increase of merit must be esteemed more than liberation from the greatest punishment of Purgatory: for this punishment will shortly end, while an increase of merit makes us more blessed through all eternity. - Nor indeed is it to be feared that, on account of this, those eliciting the heroic act will remain for a long time in Purgatory: for those who daily exercise charity toward the dead can, by right and deservedly, trust in divine mercy: "Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down, and shaken together and running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure with which you have measured, it shall be measured back to you."²

² Luke VI, 38.

Thanks, therefore, to Christ, who by His precious blood not only washes away our sins, but has also kindly bestowed the means of expiating the punishments due to sin!