Plenary and partial indulgences

A plenary indulgence is one by which all the debt of temporal punishment due to a person for his sins is remitted, while a partial indulgence, of say, forty days, remits the same amount of temporal punishment as would have been remitted by undergoing canonical penance for forty days according to the ancient discipline of the Church.

Indulgences are local, if they can only be gained in a particular place, as by visiting some particular church; they are personal, if they are attached to certain persons who fulfil certain conditions; they are real, if they are attached to a particular object, as to a crucifix or a rosary.

Again, they are temporary if they can only be gained within a specified time; if granted without any time limit, they are perpetual.

III. Division of indulgences. Indulgences are chiefly divided:

1. Into plenary and partial, according as of themselves they wholly or partially remit the punishment due for sins. Now when an indulgence is granted, for example, of one year, the sense is that so much punishment is remitted to someone as would be remitted to him if for a year he performed the penance once customarily imposed for sins according to the canons (St. Alphonsus, VI, 535). By quarantines, however, which are sometimes attached to years - for example, an indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines - there is not understood some time beyond the years themselves, but that part of the year in which a harder penance was prescribed, namely the time of Lent.

2. Into personal, local, and real, according as they are granted only to certain persons, for example religious or members of a confraternity; or are affixed to certain places, for example to a church or altar, that is, to their pious visitation, etc.; or are attached to certain things, for example rosaries, medals, etc., that is, to the pious use of them.

3. Into temporary and perpetual, according as they are granted in perpetuity or only for a definite time.

4. Into indulgences for the living only, for the departed only, and for both the living and the departed.

Corollary I. From what has been said it follows how deservedly canon 911 states that indulgences are to be held in great esteem, and that their use - which is of faith¹ - is most salutary. For indulgences, besides remitting temporal punishment, stir the faithful to contrition and other salutary works, since they are not granted except to penitents and under definite conditions.

Corollary II. Those who make gain from indulgences are guilty of simony (vol. I, n. 621); indeed, by canon 2327 they are punished ipso facto with excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See.

¹ Council of Trent, session 25, Decree on Indulgences.

I. The power of the Supreme Pontiff to grant indulgences for the departed. That the Supreme Pontiff enjoys this faculty is proximate to faith, because of the condemnation, and that repeated several times, of the contrary opinion.¹ It is established from the practice of the Church, by which the Supreme Pontiffs have established various indulgences applicable to souls in purgatory; and it follows from the dogma of the communion of Saints, by virtue of which a mutual communication of goods has place in the Church.

The manner of granting indulgences for the departed was explained above, on p. 377.

¹ Thus, for example, proposition 42 condemned by Pius VI against the Synod of Pistoia (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1542).

II. Requisites so that one acquiring indulgences may apply them to the departed. It is required: 1. that the Supreme Pontiff has granted them as applicable to the departed; since, as canon 913, 2°, states, those inferior to the Roman Pontiff cannot grant indulgences applicable to the departed. Besides this, all indulgences granted by the Roman Pontiff, unless something else is established, are applicable to souls in purgatory (canon 930). 2. The intention of the one acquiring is required, by which he wills this and determines, in general or in particular, to whom the indulgence acquired by him is to be applied. The reason is that the Supreme Pontiff makes indulgences only applicable, as follows from canon 913, 2°, and 930. A virtual intention suffices, or even, because the matter concerns a quasi-donation, a habitual one.

It is disputed whether the state of grace is required in the one gaining. The Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, when asked several times concerning this matter, answered on August 20, 1822: Deferred; and on February 22, 1847: Let approved authors be consulted. Now from the approved authors, some¹ deny it, because the state of grace is required only as a disposition for obtaining the effect of the indulgence, that is, the remission of punishment. Therefore, if the effect is to be received by the departed person, it suffices that this person be in the state of grace, but the said state is not required in the living person who fulfills the conditions of the indulgence. Nevertheless, with St. Alphonsus (n. 534, under 10) and others,² it seems the contrary must be admitted. For by granting indulgences for the departed, the Supreme Pontiff constitutes them only as applicable, as follows both from concessions of the Supreme Pontiff and from canon 913, 2°, and canon 930; in other words, he grants to the faithful a certain right in the satisfactions of Christ and the Saints, or at least a right of offering those same satisfactions to God in the name of the Church. Now, if the matter concerns a sinner, the former cannot be admitted, since a sinner cannot merit any satisfaction for himself. As regards the latter, it likewise is admitted with difficulty that a right of this kind is granted to a subject who, even at the end of the works to be performed by him, persists in enmity with God; all the more because then the Church would grant to a sinner the faculty of doing for others what he cannot do for himself as regards previously remitted sins.

To what extent indulgences applied to the departed produce an infallible effect was explained above, on p. 377.

¹ St. Bellarmine, De Indulgentiis, book I, chapter 14; Billuart, De Indulgentiis, single dissertation, article 6.

² De Lugo, Disputation XXVII, n. 75; Tournely, De Poenitentia, last question, article 6; Wignandt, Tribunal Confessariorum, treatise 14, n. 96.

III. The measure according to which an indulgence comes to the departed.

1. If the indulgence is plenary and is applied to one person, it is understood, if we suppose that God assents to the Church making suffrage, to remit all the remaining punishments of the soul. If it is plenary and is applied to several or to all, which can be done,¹ the distribution is left to Divine Providence.

2. If the indulgence is partial, for example of one year, it is understood to remit so much punishment as would be remitted to someone if for a year he performed the penance once customarily imposed for sins according to the canons. If it is partial and is applied to several or to all, the distribution is left to the Providence of God.

¹ Raccolta, p. XI.

To whom can indulgences be applied? Since the living are subject to the authority of the Church, the Church directly remits temporal punishments to them through indulgences; and consequently indulgences are said to be granted by way of payment and absolution, namely by paying those penalties through the application of the satisfactions of Christ and of the Saints. St. Thomas, IV, dist. 20, q. 1, art. 3, q. 1, ad 2. Indulgences can also be applied to the dead dwelling in Purgatory, and they are applied to them by way of suffrage, since the Church no longer has jurisdiction over the souls which are detained in Purgatory. By way of suffrage, namely by offering to God a part of the satisfactions of Christ and of the Saints which corresponds to the granted indulgence, asking God that he will console the souls of Purgatory by remitting to them as much punishment as corresponds to the obtained indulgence. But the real effect of such an indulgence cannot be infallibly affirmed, namely whether it is applied totally and to such a soul. For God has made no formal promise of this matter. But, the communication of the Saints being considered, it can very piously be believed and hoped. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 28, 1840. Hence it is very useful to apply to the dead as great a number of indulgences as we can. Therefore "although the effect of indulgences for the living is infallible, nevertheless it is not infallible for the dead, since for them there is no promise present, whence God accepts them only according to his good pleasure." L., book 6, n. 534. And this is confirmed from the use and practice of the Church of celebrating Masses for several years and for the same souls, e.g., anniversaries, even on privileged altars, or those to which the privilege of plenary indulgence adheres.

But that practice would be vain if it were established with infallible certainty that immediately, when the first Mass was applied to them, they would be freed. All and individual indulgences which are reviewed in the Collection of prayers, etc., commonly Raccolta di orazioni, etc., are applicable also to the faithful departed. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 30, 1852. St. Thomas, supplement, q. 27, art. 4, q. 71; Lugo, disp. 27, n. 58; La-Croix 1336; Billuart, Appendix, art. 6; E.M.

Of how many kinds is Indulgence? One Indulgence is plenary, another partial. Plenary is that by which the whole temporal punishment owed to sins is remitted. But partial is that by which some certain quantity of the aforesaid punishment is remitted. St. Thomas, Quodlibet 2, art. 16. Now a partial indulgence, e.g., of forty days or one year, does not import remission of forty days or one year of the punishment of Purgatory, but only remission of that punishment of Purgatory which someone would once have obtained before God through canonical penance of forty days or one year. But how great is the remission of the punishment of Purgatory corresponding to the aforesaid canonical penance is a matter unknown to us and is reserved to divine mercy. Benedict XIV, de Syn., book 13, chap. 17; St. Thomas, supplement, q. 28; L., book 6, nn. 530, 535.

Besides, one Indulgence is local, another personal, another real. Local is that which is affixed to a determined place, e.g., to a determined church, to a determined chapel and altar, statue or image, placed in some Sanctuary. Personal in the stricter sense is that which is granted to some person or persons, without being granted to all the faithful. But less strictly it is that which is granted to the faithful independently of place or of a determined object, on account of some act of piety. Finally, real is that which is annexed to portable objects or things of devotion, e.g., a crucifix, medal, rosary, small statue, etc. This real Indulgence is regularly also personal, since regularly only the owners of these things, to whom the aforesaid things were first handed over, can gain the indulgences. And if the same things are lent to others so that they may gain the indulgences, or are given to them, the indulgences are lost. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 6, 1657; February 3, 1745. Blessed objects can neither be sold nor exchanged, otherwise the indulgences are lost. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 4, 1721; December 4, 1722. Indeed, if someone buys them so that he may then distribute them blessed, he can neither seek back their price, nor anything even under the title of alms, without the indulgences being lost. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 22, 1847; January 31, 1837; July 16, 1887. But real indulgences of this kind endure as long as the object is not at least morally destroyed; and thus, if a rosary is repaired because some beads have been lost, the indulgences are not for that reason lost. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, January 10, 1839.

Moreover one Indulgence is perpetual, another temporary. The former endures until it is revoked; the latter endures only for a determinate time, e.g., three, five, seven years. But indulgences granted at the good pleasure of the Roman Pontiff or of the Apostolic See are judged perpetual, because they are referred not to the person, but to the dignity. Rule 16 of Law in 6.

Finally, one Indulgence is only for the living, another only for the dead, another for the living with the faculty of applying it to the dead. This Indulgence granted for the living and also applicable to the dead does not signify that someone can gain the indulgence twice, for himself and for the dead, but only that he can gain it at his choice either for himself or for the dead. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, January 15, 1839. Therefore, in order that an indulgence can really be applied to the dead, it is required: 1. that in the Pontifical Indult it be granted as applicable to the dead; 2. that there be an intention of making such application. Suarez, disp. 53, sect. 14. But it can be applied either generally to all souls dwelling in Purgatory, or in particular to some or to one only. E.M.

1047. • QUESTION 4. What is understood by Indulgences of ten or fifteen days, years, forty-day periods, etc., etc.?

Reply. According to the common opinion, there is to be understood a remission of as much penalty as formerly was remitted, or would have been remitted, through canonical penance of the same duration. Thus, for example, through an Indulgence of seven years, as much penalty is remitted as was remitted through a penance of seven years customarily imposed according to the ancient Canons. But how much canonical penances availed before God, and how much partial Indulgences of so many days or years now avail, is altogether unknown to us, because we do not know what proportion our satisfactions bear to the penalty due to our sins. Thus commonly.

QUESTION 5. Does one gain Indulgences who does not completely perform the work prescribed for them?

Reply 1. Negatively, if he omits a notable part of the work, such that according to moral estimation he does not perform it as to its substance; because he is not considered simply to satisfy the required conditions.

Reply 2. Otherwise, if he omits a very small part, because then the prescribed work is considered to be performed morally, or as to its substance. But a very small part must be taken relatively. Thus, in the Rosary, omission of one Pater and Ave seems very small; but it is otherwise if five Paters and Aves are required, because omission of a fifth part of the work is notable. Thus St. Alphonsus, book 6, no. 534; Voit, no. 658, etc.

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.

672. An indulgence is divided: A. By reason of the quantity of the effect, one is plenary, which of itself, or from the intention of the one granting, remits the whole punishment to him to whom it is applied: so that, if because of indisposition, since he has not yet obtained the remission of guilt of all venial sins, someone "cannot gain it plenarily, nevertheless he gains it partially according to the disposition which he has" (can. 926); - another is partial, which remits only part of the punishment according as it is expressed by the one granting, for example, of one year, forty days, seven years, etc.: namely, so much punishment of purgatory is remitted as would be remitted if a man performed canonical penance, such as was done formerly, of one year, or of a Lent, or of seven years, etc., the value of which consequently cannot be perfectly determined. Up to this point some quarantines were usually granted to be gained; but these indulgences in more recent times generally have been abrogated: this is clear from the authentic collection of indulgences, 1938, approved by the Sacred Penitentiary, Dec. 31, 1937.

B. By reason of the thing to which it inheres, one is personal, which is granted immediately to persons who have performed such a work, whether individuals or a community such as a religious Order or confraternity, whose members can gain it provided the society has been canonically erected and they themselves have been legitimately enrolled (can. 692), even if they do not always observe its statutes; - another is local, which is affixed to a place, for example an altar, church, miraculous image fixed in a place, to be gained by those who devoutly visit it; - another is real, annexed to the possession or use of a movable thing, such as a cross, rosary, medal, image, etc., which for validity must be solid, and not made from material which can easily be broken or consumed.

C. By reason of extension, it is universal if it is granted to all the faithful of the whole Church; or particular, which is given to some diocese, city, community, or private person.

D. By reason of duration, it is perpetual, granted in perpetuity, or temporal, limited to a certain time, for instance to a year, three years, or seven years.

E. By reason of the subject to whom it is applied, one is for the living, which remits punishments by way of payment; another is for the dead, which obtains remission of punishments by way of suffrage; and finally another is for the living and the dead, which can be gained by the living, but can also be yielded by them to be applied to the dead: thus from can. 930: "all indulgences granted by the Roman Pontiff, unless the contrary is clear, are applicable to the souls detained in purgatory," and in those who have made the heroic act, all the indulgences which they can gain are applicable to the dead.

The application of indulgences to be made to other living persons is not usually granted, because it is not expedient to help those who, when they themselves are able, do not take care to gain indulgences for themselves; hence at his own choice "no one acquiring indulgences can apply them to others living in this life"; - nevertheless, by a special concession of the Supreme Pontiff, nothing prevents this from sometimes being able to be done: thus one celebrating at a privileged altar for the living and the dead gains an indulgence also for the living, and indulgences to be gained for the dying are sometimes granted to certain persons.

F. By reason of the mode by which it is granted, it is in gracious form if it is granted immediately by the very fact that someone fulfills the required condition; or in commissory form if it is given through the ministry of another to whom the faculty of granting immediately is delegated, as, for example, the apostolic blessing at the article of death.