Scapulars

Anything in the worship of God which does not tend to his honour and glory, or which is against the ordinances and practice of the Church, to whom the regulation of religious worship exclusively belongs, is superfluous worship and superstition. This sin is committed by attributing an infallible effect to a fixed number of prayers or acts of piety, or to the mere material wearing of scapulars or medals, or by unwarrantably acting against the rubrics while saying Mass or administering the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The intention of the Church is that scapulars, medals, and other pious objects should be used by the faithful with confidence in the goodness and power of God, whose aid is invoked on the wearers by the blessing of the Church. Ordinarily, however, this kind of superstition will not be more than a venial sin.

Scapulars, which the faithful are accustomed to wear, in their origin and institution are nothing other than the scapulars proper to various religious Orders, reduced to a small form for the greater convenience of the faithful.¹ Therefore they are a sign of a certain union with an Order or Congregation. More recent scapulars, however, are mere emblems or signs of a special devotion, for example toward the Sacred Heart, etc.

¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 12, 1907, to I.

I. Different scapulars. The principal ones are: the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity (of the Order of Trinitarians); of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (of the Carmelites); of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (of the Servites); of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (of the Theatines); and also of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (of the Congregation of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul).

II. Conditions. In order that someone enjoy the privileges of scapulars, these must be duly made, duly blessed and imposed by a priest having the faculty, with due inscription added if the matter concerns a scapular which is the badge of some Confraternity - such as, for example, the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, of the Seven Sorrows, and of the Most Holy Trinity - and finally they must be worn in the due manner.

1. They should be duly made, namely from woven wool. Yet nothing prevents the scapular from having ornaments woven in or embroidered with a needle from another material, provided such ornaments are such that the prescribed color predominates.¹

White is prescribed for the scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, brown or tawny for the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, black for the scapular of the Seven Sorrows, blue for the scapular of the Immaculate Conception, red for the scapular of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The form should be square or oblong rectangular, but not round, oval, or many-angled.²

The ribbons or cords can be from any material and of any color, except the cords of the red scapular, which must be made from red wool. Several scapulars can be attached to two common cords,³ provided that, if among them there is the Scapular of the Passion, the cords are made from red wool.

Finally, different scapulars must be "distinct, that is, truly several, for example five scapulars, united either by the same number of cords or by only two cords, and in such a way that one part of each scapular hangs from the shoulders and the other from the breast, but not only one scapular on which little pieces of cloth of different color are sewn."⁴ With these things considered, the little pieces of cloth should not be so joined that only the extremities of each scapular are visible; but it suffices if the individual little pieces are sewn together only at the upper part - for example by two cords - and otherwise hang loose.

2. They should be blessed and imposed by a priest having the faculty. Moreover the faculty belongs:

a) To Cardinals, who from their promotion in Consistory enjoy the faculty of blessing, by the sign of the cross alone, scapulars approved by the Apostolic See and of imposing them without the burden of inscription (canon 239, § 1, 5°).

b) To Bishops, even titular ones, who from receiving authentic notice of completed canonical provision can do the same as Cardinals, yet with the rites prescribed by the Church (canon 349, § 1, 1°).

c) To Superiors of the Orders to which the scapular pertains (n. 545).

d) Other priests must receive the faculty from the Holy See or from the Superiors of the Orders; the faculty received, however, is altogether personal, so that it does not belong to a substitute, nor can it be communicated to others, unless that has been expressly signified.⁵

3. They should be duly blessed and imposed;⁶ concerning this, observe:

a) Of itself, for scapulars of different species, different blessing and imposition are prescribed. I said of itself, since to many an indult has been granted of blessing and imposing at once, that is, under a single formula, four⁷ or even five⁸ of the enumerated scapulars. Several scapulars of the same species can be blessed at once (n. 546). The blessing can be done whether the persons to be invested are present or absent.

b) The imposition must be done by the same one by whom the blessing was done.⁹ An imposition made on only one shoulder and not around the neck is valid.¹⁰ If several persons are to be invested, it suffices to impose one and the same blessed scapular upon those several persons in alternate turns, yet in such a way that the first scapular which the enrolled person must afterward wear is blessed.¹¹ It has also been granted to some that each of the faithful may impose the blessed scapular upon himself. If several are concerned, it suffices to pronounce the form of imposition once in the plural number, and this either before or after the imposition of the scapular or scapulars, if there are several.¹²

4. The persons invested should be aggregated to the confraternity, if the imposition of the scapular is connected with the said aggregation (p. 411). Hence the priest continues: I, by authority, etc. But in order that the aggregation or reception be established, inscription in the register of the association must absolutely be made; indeed, since confraternities constitute a moral person (cf. canons 687, 708), inscription is necessary for validity (canon 694, § 2).

Beringer-Steinen rightly judge that the Decree of the Holy Office, April 23, 1914, persists,¹³ which states: "His Holiness, in the usual audience on April 23, 1914, granted to the Most Reverend Assessor of the Holy Office, after a previous sanation of all defects hitherto admitted in the inscription and transmission of the names of Christ's faithful who have been enrolled in any pious Sodality, declared that, with the obligation in conscience of inscribing and transmitting the names according to decrees and other prescriptions of the Holy See remaining firm, the faithful, by the very fact that they are admitted by one lawfully deputed, are to be considered duly enrolled, only for the effect that they may be able to gain indulgences and become participants in other spiritual graces, even if their names for any reason have not been entered in the register of the Sodality. Anything to the contrary notwithstanding."¹⁴ Besides, Cardinals are exempted from the burden of inscription if the matter concerns rosaries, medals, or scapulars with which association to some sodality is attached (canon 239, § 1, 5°).

Note 1. Even upon little children a scapular can validly be imposed, so that when they have attained the use of reason, they can enjoy the indulgences and privileges without a new reception.¹⁵ Besides, someone can also impose the scapular upon himself, provided he has received the faculty indiscriminately, and not specifically, for example only for some community of Nuns, etc.¹⁶

Note 2. Soldiers can be received into the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, "provided they impose upon themselves the aforesaid scapular, already previously blessed, and also pour out some prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary (for example by reciting the Hail Mary three times while they impose the scapular upon themselves), and thus are placed under the protection of the same Blessed Virgin."¹⁷

Note 3. On July 24, 1884, invalid receptions to scapulars and the respective sodalities previously made in good faith were sanated. Besides, receptions into the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel were last sanated on February 4, 1908, and receptions into the Confraternity of the Seven Sorrows on September 12, 1911.¹⁸

5. They should be duly worn. Moreover:

a) They must be worn day and night, and in such a way that one part hangs from the shoulders and the other from the breast;¹⁹ whether immediately upon the body or over clothing is indifferent.²⁰

b) Several scapulars can be worn in the manner of one, namely so that they are suspended by only two cords²¹ (p. 412).

c) One who has put aside the scapular for a brief time gains the indulgences; if it is put aside for a long time, the indulgences are suspended. If the scapular has been worn out or lost, or if someone has put it aside and even for a long time has not worn it, he is not bound to a new imposition, but it suffices to resume the scapular; nor is it necessary that the scapular which is resumed be blessed.²² Otherwise it must be said if someone put aside the scapular out of contempt or at least with the intention of no longer wearing it.

¹ Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 423).

² Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 423); cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 12, 1840 (Decreta authentica, n. 278).

³ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887, to IV.

⁴ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 22, 1872 (Decreta authentica, n. 306); April 24, 1843 (Decreta authentica, n. 319).

⁵ Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 18, 1862 (Decreta authentica, n. 394); August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 421); April 27, 1887.

⁶ Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 421); April 27, 1887.

⁷ Formerly the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel was always excepted from the indult (Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 27, 1887).

⁸ Nouvelle Revue Theologique 1911, p. 430 sq.

⁹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 16, 1872 (Decreta authentica, n. 430).

¹⁰ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 27, 1887.

¹¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 18, 1868 (Decreta authentica, n. 421, to I).

¹² Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, April 18, 1891; June 18, 1898, to IV and V.

¹³ Beringer-Steinen, op. cit., p. 49 sq.

¹⁴ A.A.S. VI, p. 307 sq.

¹⁵ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, August 29, 1864 (Decreta authentica, n. 410).

¹⁶ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 7, 1840 (Decreta authentica, n. 280).

¹⁷ Pius X, January 4 and March 30, 1908.

¹⁸ Beringer-Steinen, II, p. 207.

¹⁹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, February 12, 1840 (Decreta authentica, n. 277).

²⁰ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 12, 1855 (Decreta authentica, n. 367, to II).

²¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, September 26, 1864 (Decreta authentica, n. 408, to I).

²² Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 27, 1857 (Decreta authentica, n. 379).

III. Metal medals to be substituted for scapulars. Although Pius X "earnestly desires that the faithful continue to wear" scapulars, nevertheless he graciously conceded that for a scapular or scapulars, except those which are proper to Third Orders,¹ a single metal medal may be substituted, so that, with the laws proper to each scapular preserved, all spiritual favors (not excepting the so-called Sabbatine privilege of the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel) and all indulgences attached to each one can be participated in. Moreover:

1. On the obverse the medal should bear the image of Our Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ showing his Most Sacred Heart; on the reverse, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.²

2. The medal must be blessed; moreover, someone can bless several medals at once, whether those which he has before himself, or those "which the faithful have in the church or in some convent, even though these medals are not seen and are not known individually."³ Besides, the medal or medals must be blessed with as many distinct blessings, that is, signs of the cross, as there are scapulars for which they must substitute. But it does not matter whether or not the order of the different scapulars is observed in making the signs of the cross.⁴ "Yet lest," says Vermeersch, "those five signs of the cross, given confusedly, be valid for no definite scapular, the priest blessing will at least mentally assign his sign to each scapular."⁵ So also Stein,⁶ Beyersbergen.⁷ But it is not contradictory that all and each of the signs of the cross - for example, five - should be valid for each of the five scapulars, determined in the mind of the priest, so that, when five signs have been made, the medal supplies those five determinate scapulars. Since, however, the matter is doubtful, the safer part is to be put into practice. Finally, several medals can also be blessed for indeterminate persons, whether already enrolled in the scapular or to be enrolled afterward: if for those not yet enrolled, the medals will enjoy the favors of the scapulars at the time when the persons will have been enrolled by regular imposition.⁸ Soldiers, however, even before the scapulars have been imposed, can validly wear a medal in place of scapulars, and by that very fact are enrolled in the Confraternities.⁹

3. One who enjoys the faculty of blessing and imposing determinate scapulars can also bless a medal which supplies for them;¹⁰ nor is it required that the same one who blessed and imposed, or is going to bless and impose, the scapular, also bless the medal.¹¹

4. Of one who has put aside the medal, etc., the same must be said as was said of one who has put aside the scapular (p. 414).

¹ Holy Office, December 16, 1910; Sacred Congregation of Religious, March 25, 1922. Nevertheless, considering the cited decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, Superiors of the secular Third Order of St. Francis, with respect to their Tertiaries in individual cases, when a just and grave cause is present, can grant permission of substituting a blessed medal for the scapular of the secular Third Order of St. Francis.

² Holy Office, December 16, 1910.

³ Holy Office, June 5, 1913, to I.

⁴ Holy Office, June 5, 1913, to II and III.

⁵ Vermeersch, Periodica VII, p. 224.

⁶ Stein, op. cit., p. 54.

⁷ N. K. Stemmen, 1923, p. 17.

⁸ Secretariat of State, March 22, 1912; Vermeersch, Periodica VII, p. 224.

⁹ Holy Office, December 16, 1910; June 5, 1913, to I.

¹⁰ Holy Office, December 16, 1910.

¹¹ Periodica V, p. 269.

IV. The Sabbatine privilege. Among the favors attached to the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, and likewise to the medal, the so-called Sabbatine privilege deserves special mention; this privilege is reported as having been promulgated by John XXII through a Bull.

Most hold the said Bull to be spurious. There is, however, a Decree of the Holy Office under Paul V, January 20, 1613, which has these words: "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 Mary of Mount Carmel, namely that the Most Blessed Virgin, by her continual intercessions and pious suffrages and merits and special protection, after their passing, especially on 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 wore the habit, and observed chastity according to their state, and recited the Little Office, or, if they do not know how to recite, observed the fasts of the Church and abstained from flesh meat on Wednesday and Saturday (unless on those days the feast of the Nativity of the Lord should fall)." Moreover:

1. The Little Office can be said privately in any language. Those who are already bound to it under another title satisfy by a single recitation.

2. The faculty of commuting either the Office or abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday is conferred together with the faculty of aggregating the faithful to the confraternity, and it can be exercised even outside confession. Finally, by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, June 14, 1901,¹ to any confessor was granted the power of commuting abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday.

¹ A.S.S. XXXIV, p. 120.

1. Humbertus, a parish priest, when several persons are present who ask that various scapulars be imposed on them, lest it be wearisome to the people and he himself be too much fatigued, all things having been duly performed, says once, in the plural number, the formula, receive, brothers or sisters, etc., imposing the scapular successively and without interruption on all present, without repeating the aforesaid formula in the singular number for each. Is this licitly and validly done?

R. Affirmatively. Thus from the S. C. Indulg., Apr. 28, 1891, Collect. S. C. de P. F. n. 2175.

2. The same Humbertus, since it is often almost difficult to impose scapulars in the ordinary manner around the neck of women and nuns, then imposes them on one shoulder only. - Is such an imposition valid?

R. Affirmatively. S. C. Indulg., Sept. 26, 1892. A. S. S. v. 25, p. 319.

3. Tecla asks from her confessor that he be willing to commute for her into another pious work the works enjoined for gaining the indulgences of the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Sabbatine privilege. But Lucas, her confessor, does not know whether he himself has this power.

R. The confessor cannot make a commutation of this sort unless he expressly has the special faculty of making the aforesaid commutation. But this faculty is ordinarily given, together with the faculty of blessing and imposing the scapular, to an approved confessor. Yet it is not necessary that the commutation be made in confession. St. Alph., l. 6, n. 534, XV.

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."

1791. - In order that one may participate in the spiritual graces of Scapulars, these four things in general are required:

I. It is necessary that the Scapulars be of the prescribed matter, color, and form.

II. They are to be blessed and imposed by one having faculty.

III. Reception into the confraternity is necessary.

IV. They are to be worn constantly, and indeed after the manner of a Scapular.

The individual requisites are explained.

I. a) Matter. - It is necessary that Scapulars be of wool, and indeed woven, not knitted, or embroidered by needle, although they can have knitted or embroidered ornaments, even not of wool, provided these are not of such a kind that the prescribed color no longer prevails.

b) Color, - namely white with a visible Cross, whose upright is of red wool and whose crossbeam (under it) is of blue wool for the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity; - black for the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows; - dark brown or black for the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel; - blue (azure) for the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

c) Form, - namely they ought to consist of two parts in such a way that one descends over the breast, the other over the shoulder; yet it does not hinder validity if the little cloths of various Scapulars, some placed over others, are sewn to only two cords, which cords however ought to be of red color (this at least is safer) if one joins the Scapular of the Passion of the Lazarists to the four aforesaid Scapulars. - S. C. Ind. also decreed, August 18, 1868,¹ that nothing was to be changed as regards the oblong or at least square form of the Scapular.

1792. - II. Blessing and imposition by one having faculty.

a) Blessing and imposition, - by the prescribed or indulted formula, pronouncing at least the words which are substantial. You have most blessings in Rit. Rom. Baltim. 1873. - When several together desire to receive the Scapular, it is lawful to use in the plural the formula: Accipite viri devote, etc.; yet, unless a special indult is had, the Scapular must be imposed on each one to be aggregated, and indeed by one having power, but not (outside the case of a special indult) by the one to be aggregated. - Nevertheless a priest having the faculty of blessing some Scapular can bless and impose it on himself, provided that he has that faculty indiscriminately, and not only taxatively, e.g., for some community of Nuns only.

Addendum and Corrigendum to a). - It was asked: "Whether one who obtained from the Superior of the respective Order the faculty of blessing and imposing 'the said four Scapulars' (which are blessed and imposed by the Fathers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) can licitly and validly use the shorter formula approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites" (for the aforesaid Fathers), "without having obtained for this a special faculty from the Holy See?" The response was given by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, on 12 Sept. 1883: "Validly indeed, but not licitly." The Pastor, vol. II, p. 22 (123).

"Sometimes it happens, . . . that, when a priest legitimately deputed for this imposes the Scapular . . . on the faithful, Scapulars are lacking before satisfaction could be given to the desires of all the faithful." Hence it was asked: "Whether one and the same Scapular once blessed can validly be imposed on several in turn, only the formula of reception or imposition being repeated over each one?" - S. C. Ind., July 20, 1868,² responded: "Affirmatively; yet in such a way that the first Scapular which the enrolled person afterward must wear be blessed."

A Scapular can also be blessed and imposed on little children not yet having obtained the use of reason. S. C. Ind., August 29, 1864.³

If it happens that a Scapular is lost or worn out, each one can assume for himself a new one not blessed. Except, outside the case of a special indult, the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, which must be blessed anew, even in the case in which the red and blue Cross is no longer found on it.

b) Blessing and imposition by one having faculty.

That faculty is obtained either from the Holy See, or from Superiors General (or Religious deputed by them) of the Orders which wear that larger Scapular to which the small one corresponds. - Our Bishops can and are accustomed to grant the faculty of blessing the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. See p. LXXIII. n. 9.

c) One having the faculty of blessing a certain Scapular, by that very fact has the faculty of granting to those aggregated in the article of death the general absolution, yet, under penalty of nullity, by the formula of Benedict XIV, c. Pia Mater, with the name of the proper holy Founder added to the Confiteor. S. R. C., May 7, 1882.

1793. - III. Reception into the confraternity in the case in which reception of the Scapular carries with it reception into the confraternity, as when the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows, or of Mount Carmel is received.¹

But inscription of the names of those received, outside the case of a special indult, "is necessary for those receiving the Scapulars of the Most Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows; but not for those receiving the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. - Nevertheless the aforesaid priests are to be warned," i.e., those to whom belongs the faculty of receiving the faithful into the sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, "that they not omit to have the names of those received enrolled in the list of the nearest sodality itself, or respectively of the Monastery of Religious, lest in their death they be deprived of suffrages." Thus S. C. Ind., September 17, 1845.²

The material act of inscribing can be done by anyone. S. C. Ind., September 25, 1844.³

1794. - IV. Wearing of the habit, - a) so continuous that, by the very long time during which you put off the Scapular, or by the motive for which you put it off, you do not seem to renounce the sodality. Therefore he who has put off the Scapular from contempt or from impiety, or for a time so long that he had almost lost the memory of the sacred habit, will more safely take care that the Scapular be blessed and imposed on him anew. - b) After the manner of a Scapular, namely so that hanging from the neck, by one part it covers the breast, by the other the shoulders. - Yet it is not necessary that it be worn immediately upon the body, so that it physically touches it.

1795. - Quaer. What is required so that someone may enjoy the privilege called Sabbatine?

Resp. 1° This privilege, concerning which see Benedict XIV¹ and the Roman Breviary,² is annexed only to the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.

2° Besides those four things concerning which we spoke in nn. 1791-1794, there is required:

a) That each one cultivate chastity according to the manner of his state.³

b) That he who knows how to read daily recite the little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, i.e., the nocturn of the day with Lauds, and the other hours of the same day, and this according to the Roman rite, unless someone has his own rite approved by the Holy See - excepting however those who are already held to recitation of the divine Office.

c) That those who do not know how to read observe the fasts of the Church, and abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday, except the day of the Nativity of the Lord.

But "a grave impediment supervening," e.g., grave illness, S. C. Ind.⁴ responded that confreres are not held to the things said under b) and c); "nevertheless the faithful are to be counseled that in this case they subject themselves to the judgment of a learned and prudent confessor for obtaining some commutation." - But if there is question of a non-grave impediment, commutation must be obtained from a confessor endowed expressly with faculty for this;⁵ but the commutation does not necessarily have to be made in Confession.⁶

679. The indulgence of the holy Scapular. - The scapular a) must be made exclusively from wool, each one of its proper color; this, however, is not necessary for the cords, except for the scapular of the Passion, whose cords must be woolen and red; - b) it must be legitimately blessed and imposed; but if it has been worn out or lost, another not blessed can be substituted for it; - c) he who receives the scapular generally must be enrolled in the confraternity of which it is the insignia; - d) he must wear it hanging from the neck, so that one part covers the breast, the other the shoulders; nor is it required that it be worn immediately upon the body, for it suffices even over the clothes; - e) if someone does not regularly carry it, the indulgences are suspended until he resumes it; - f) nor is it necessary that he be admitted anew, unless he has laid it aside from contempt or from the will to leave the confraternity or cast away the scapular; - g) one who carries several must keep them sufficiently distinct, so that the little cloths do not form one scapular, and they are not sewn together except at the upper part, but each adheres to its cords.

The principal scapulars are:

1. The scapular of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel, of brown color, which is most ancient and is eminent by the singular protection which the Blessed Virgin is piously believed to have promised to those who have devoutly worn it and die in it; - and by a special privilege by which members, under certain conditions, on the first Saturday after death, can hope, by the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin, for special help ordered to prompt liberation from purgatory. The Church permitted the Carmelites to preach this (S. Off., Jan. 20, 1613). The conditions are that one observe chastity according to his state; and if he knows how to read, that he recite daily the little Office of the Blessed Virgin, which condition clerics and religious who say the office to which they are bound satisfy; one who does not know how to read must fast on the days prescribed by the Church, and observe abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday, except the day of the Nativity of the Lord; but all confessors can commute this abstinence.

2. The scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, of white color, furnished with a cross of red and blue color not painted with a needle.

3. The scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows, of black color.

4. The scapular of the Immaculate Conception, of blue color. This had been endowed with a singular favor, by which members, in honor of the Holy Trinity, of the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived without stain, and according to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff, reciting 6 Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Bes, gained toties quoties the indulgences of the Portiuncula, Jerusalem, the 7 Basilicas of the City, and St. James of Compostela, that is, once in the day for plenaries. Nevertheless, by a recent decree of the Sacred Penitentiary, Apr. 22, 1933, this grace, like all other similar ones, was reduced so that those reciting can gain only a partial indulgence of 10 years on each occasion; but if through an entire month they have done this, they can acquire a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions.

5. The scapular of the Passion, of red color, which must be furnished with an image.

All have privileges and indulgences, concerning which, as concerning all things which regard indulgences, Beringer-Steinen, Die Ablasse, can be consulted; this work has been translated into various languages.

After the scapular has been imposed, a medal also can be worn in its place. And indeed from the decree of the Holy Office, Dec. 16, 1910, a single medal, showing the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ displaying his Most Sacred Heart, and on the other side the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, can be worn, but on one's own person, in place of all scapulars approved by the Holy See, except those which are proper to Third Orders. It is necessary that the medal be blessed by as many distinct blessings as there are scapulars in whose place it is substituted, and indeed by a priest who possesses the respective faculty of blessing the scapulars.

Apostolic Indulgences are called those which the Roman Pontiff is accustomed to attach to pious objects, such as crosses, prayer-beads and medals, while he blesses them.

Question 1. What are the conditions for gaining these Indulgences?

Resp. They are the following: 1°. That the faithful of Christ carry some one of the stated objects on their own person.

2°. But if this is in no way done, it is required that they keep it in their own room, or another decent place of their habitation, and before it devoutly recite the prescribed prayers.

3°. Images engraved by printing, painted images, and likewise crosses, crucifixes, small statues, and medals made of tin, lead, or other fragile or consumable material are excluded from the concession of the apostolic blessing.¹

4°. Images must represent Saints who either have already been canonized in the customary form, or have been described in duly approved martyrologies. - S. Off., 5 Sept. 1914. - A. A. S., vol. 6, p. 503.

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1140, n. 101.

Question 2. Whether our Priests could, by delegation, concede Apostolic Indulgences?

Resp. Affirmatively, speaking generally, for to our Bishops there was conceded not only the faculty of applying these Indulgences, but also "of communicating this same faculty with presbyters functioning in the sacred ministry." - I said, speaking generally, because in fact this communication was not found in all dioceses. - Cf. now S. C. Consistorialis, 25 Apr. 1918. See Can. 349, § 1; 239, § 1, n. 6; 913, n. 1.

Question 3. How practically is the application of these Indulgences made?

Resp. Our Most Holy Lord Pius X "deigned to decree and declare:

"In blessing several similar or diverse objects of religion, which are offered joined or commingled to a priest furnished with several faculties, and to be enriched in themselves with indulgences by force of diverse faculties, one sign suffices for several blessings and attachments of indulgences. And the declaration is not extended to metallic medals to be substituted for scapulars, concerning which in the decree of the S. Office given on the day 16 December, in the year 1910." S. C. S. Off. (S. D. I.), 18 May 1914.

Many scapulars are given today, but here briefly there will be spoken only of the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, which is the most ancient and more common. But for the other scapulars special treatises can be consulted.

Question 1. What are the Indulgences attached to the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel?

Resp. They are many, and both partial and plenary; these latter are conceded on the following days:

1°. On the day of reception of the scapular, with confession, communion, and some prayer made according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff nevertheless supposed.

2°. On the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, or on the Sunday next following, or also on any day whatever within the Octave, with the same aforesaid conditions nevertheless observed.

3°. On the day of the Immaculate Conception, Nativity, Presentation, Annunciation, Visitation, Purification, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: likewise on the feast day of St. Joseph, St. Simon Stock [16 May], St. Anne, St. Michael, and St. Teresa: likewise on one of the fourth weekdays of any month and besides on any day whatever, once in the year. Cf. Acta S. S., vol. 19, p. 557. But to gain these indulgences, besides the aforesaid conditions, the visitation of some church of the Carmelite Order is required, and where this is lacking, of the parish church; and if not even this can be performed, the faculty of making a commutation is given to the confessor.

4°. In the article of death. - Cf. Maurel-Beringer, n. 88.

Question 2. What are the other privileges of this scapular?

Resp. Besides plenary indulgences, and not a few other partial ones, two great privileges of this scapular must be remembered, namely that of a happy death, and that which is called Sabbatine. To obtain the first privilege, which rests upon the very words of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "Dying in this, he will not suffer eternal fire," it is required that someone has been duly marked with the scapular, and die with it suspended from the neck. But to gain the other privilege, which consists in this, that someone will be freed from the penalties of Purgatory shortly, or at least on the Sabbath after death, the following conditions are required: 1°. that chastity be observed according to one's own state; 2°. that the little office of the Blessed Virgin Mary be said daily, and for those who do not know how to read, that abstinence be observed on every Wednesday and Sabbath through the year, except the case in which the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ has fallen on one of these days. - Yet observe: 1°. that those who recite the Roman Breviary daily are not held to recite the little office of the Blessed Virgin Mary; 2°. that in a case of necessity a confessor, furnished with due faculty, can commute this recitation and abstinence into another pious work. - Cf. Benedict XIV, de Festis, lib. 2, cap. 6. - Maurel, n. 88.

Question 3. What are the conditions that someone may be said to be duly marked with this scapular?

Resp. On the part of the scapular it is required that it be of due material and color. On the part of the subject, that it be worn continuously and in the manner of a scapular. But on the part of the one giving it, that it be blessed and imposed by a priest having the faculty. Now:

1°. The material of this scapular is wool, and indeed woven, although some ornaments can be added.¹

2°. The color ought to be dark brown, or almost black.

3°. Continuous wearing imports that it not be deserted for a long time, or indeed for a short time but with the intention of rejecting it altogether, so that in either case someone can be said to have willed to renounce such devotion.

4°. Wearing in the manner of a scapular signifies that this is had suspended from the neck in such a way that one part is over the breast and the other between the shoulders, and therefore he would not observe this condition who carried the scapular with himself in some pocket of his garment, or somehow sewn upon the clothes.

5°. The blessing and imposition of the scapular ought to be done by a priest having the faculty, and through the prescribed formula which is had in the Roman Ritual, p. 476. Our Bishops were able to communicate the faculty of erecting the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, as is clear from the Extraordinary Faculties T. n. 21, in which is contained the faculty of enrolling the faithful in those Confraternities, of blessing and imposing the scapulars of the same. Thus S. Off., 11 May 1898.

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1153, n. 130.

It is helpful here to report the following responses of the S. Congregation of Indulgences:

I. "Whether one and the same scapular, once blessed, can validly be imposed upon several in turn, only the formula of reception or imposition being repeated over each?

II. Whether the formula of this kind accustomed to be employed in the act of imposition of scapulars is essential, so that someone is judged duly to have received the scapular and has the right to the Indulgences conceded to those bearing it; or whether, without loss of the Indulgences, it can be omitted, especially in sickness or another urgent case?

To I. Affirmatively; yet in such a way that the first Scapular, which the one enrolled ought thereafter to put on, be blessed.

To II. Both as regards the first and as regards the second part, the words which are substantial are to be pronounced, according to the form of the Decree of this S. Congregation of the day 24 August 1844, which has itself thus: - Urbis - Whether the enrollment of the Faithful in the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel is valid, which is made indeed by priests having the faculty, yet the form described in the Ritual and Breviary of the Order of Carmelites not having been observed? - The Sacred Congregation responded: Affirmatively, provided priests having the faculty are not deficient in substantial things, namely in the Blessing and imposition of the habit, and in reception into the Confraternity." Thus declared the S. C. on the day 24 Aug. 1844.

By the general twofold Decree of the S. Office, 16 Dec. 1910 and 5 June 1913: 1. To all the faithful duly enrolled, or to be enrolled, in one or several approved scapulars (except those proper to Third Orders), it is permitted hereafter to wear decently upon their own person one single medal of metal in place of the same, whether one or several; 2. By carrying this thus, they can gain all spiritual favors, with the proper laws of each being observed, and all indulgences attached to each; 3. This medal ought to bear on one side the image of the Most Holy Our Lord Jesus Christ showing his Most Sacred Heart, on the other, that of the Blessed Virgin Mary; 4. This medal must be blessed with as many distinct blessings as there are scapulars regularly imposed for which, according to the pleasure of those asking, it is to suffice; 5. The several blessings can be given by one sign of the cross: for example, one for the scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, another for the second approved scapular, etc., or according to the order in which one was enrolled in the diverse scapulars; 6. These blessings ought to be made by a priest powerful with the ordinary or delegated faculty of blessing the respective scapulars; they are licitly made by such a privileged priest distinct from the one enrolling; 7. A priest powerful with the faculty of imposing scapulars can, by one sign of the cross for each scapular, publicly bless all the Most Holy Medals which the faithful have in the Church or in some convent, although these Medals are not seen nor known individually; 8. The blessing can be imparted to Most Holy Medals for persons not yet enrolled by imposition, but to be enrolled afterward or later; but the medals will finally enjoy the favors of the scapulars when the persons shall have been enrolled through regular imposition, and therefore it is not necessary that the persons already be enrolled before the Most Holy Medals can be blessed for them; 9. Many medals can be blessed, which afterward are to be distributed to any persons whatever, of whom some are already inscribed in the scapulars, and others not enrolled; 10. The faithful are held to wear the medal either at the neck or otherwise, yet decently, upon their own person; Hilgers is of the opinion that if someone has the medal attached to the prayer-beads or rosary which he continually carries with himself, it does not seem necessary at night to wear it around the neck or in another way upon the person, but it suffices if he leaves it in the clothes near himself; but others speak more strictly, although these also say that attention should not be paid to a brief interruption; 11. Each medal must be blessed; but, on the contrary, not the scapular, for when someone already duly enrolled in the Confraternity has lost the scapular or lays aside one worn out, the new scapular does not need a new blessing. Nevertheless Pius X vehemently desired that the faithful continue to carry scapulars in the same way as they had been accustomed until now.

Pius X benignly conceded that all soldiers from the land and maritime forces constituted under arms could, at their pleasure, legitimately at any time be enrolled in sacred scapulars, and remain definitively enrolled in them, and gain the attached indulgences and graces, on this condition only, that they carry the metallic medal prescribed by decree of the supreme S. Congregation of the S. Office of the day 16 December 1910 and duly blessed, nor nevertheless be held first by the law of receiving the cloth scapulars, as is proper: indeed, during the present war Benedict XV granted to every priest the faculty of enriching medals with the several blessings of scapulars for the utility of soldiers. S. Off., 10 Nov. 1914.

According to Benedict XIV, that pious exercise which is commonly called the Way of the Cross is to be numbered among the principal acts of piety to be performed by the faithful, both because it is excellent in itself, and because it has been enriched with many indulgences. The origin of this pious exercise was the very devotion of the faithful visiting those holy places which have been marked by the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ; for to these the Church had conceded many indulgences, and in the course of time extended them also to those who would recollect with pious meditation certain imitations of those places. Therefore we know that several indulgences have been attached to the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross, but it is difficult, indeed even prohibited, to enumerate them. - Cf. Maurel-Beringer, n. 60.

Question 1. What is required for the canonical or valid erection of the Way of the Cross to be made by a priest?

Resp. Before the erection of the Way of the Cross the following formalities are required for validity: 1. A written faculty given by competent authority to the priest who is to erect the Way of the Cross; 2. Before each erection, permission of the Ordinary given in writing, Decr. Auth. n. 445 ad 3; 3. Consent of the Parish Priest given in writing, if the erection is made in places which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Parish Priest; 4. Consent given in writing of the Superior of the monastery or church in which the Way of the Cross is to be erected. Acta S. Sedis, v. 25, 317 ad 9, ad 10 and ad 11. - Cf. Beringer, Die Ablässe, pp. 278 and following. Certainly the license of the Bishop is not required for those places which are exempt from his jurisdiction.

Question 2. What does the clause "in places . . . in which there are no Franciscan Fathers" import?

Resp. "By places in which the Order of Friars Minor Observant of St. Francis of Assisi does not exist is to be understood a city, town, village, with their respective suburbs, and the places adjacent to them. In cities and generally places in which two dioceses have been constituted, those faculties which are proper to certain Orders, and which were conceded by special indult with the clause: 'provided that in the said place no convent of the same Orders is found,' can be exercised in that part of the city or place in which no convent of the said Orders is present, but is present in another." S. C. Indulg., 28 Aug. 1903.

Question 3. What are the other conditions required for a valid erection?

Resp. Besides the mentioned delegation it is required: 1°. that the Crosses be wooden, and 2°. that the Stations be somewhat distant from one another. But because the indulgences are properly attached to the Crosses, these can be transferred to other Images without detriment to the indulgences. - Cf. Acta S. Sedis, vol. 11, p. 401.

Question 4. What are the conditions required on the part of the faithful?

Resp. It is required: 1°. that the faithful go around the Stations without moral interruption, and 2°. that they meditate somewhat on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the capacity of each one. Now in the public exercise of the Way of the Cross the faithful can retain their place, and it suffices that only the priest with the Ministers go around. Besides, also in the private exercise the manner of going around must be understood according to the circumstances of places and persons. But moral interruption imports turning aside to foreign acts, and therefore to perform confession or receive communion while this pious exercise is being done is not morally to interrupt it. - Cf. Prinzivalli, nn. DVII, CCXXXVI, DC, LXXVI, and CCXLIX.

Question 5. Whether someone can gain the Indulgences of the Way of the Cross several times in a day?

Resp. The authors who have written concerning this matter up to now affirm it. Nevertheless, to the Bishop of Périgueux recently it was responded thus by the S. C. of Indulgences, 10 Sept. 1883: "From the documents it is not established that the Indulgences conceded for the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross are gained as often as the aforesaid pious exercise is repeated." - Cf. Nouvelle Revue Théologique, vol. 15, pp. 473 and following.

The indulgence of a privileged altar is a plenary indulgence applicable to the dead, and gainable through the celebration of Mass with the intention of liberating some soul in particular. - The privilege of an altar is twofold, namely real, if the indulgence is attached to the altar itself, and personal, if it is conceded to the person.

§ 1. That it may be indicated that an altar is privileged, nothing else is to be inscribed except: privileged altar, perpetual or for a time, daily or not, according to the words of the concession.

§ 2. For Masses to be celebrated at a privileged altar, under pretext of the privilege, a greater Mass alms cannot be exacted (Can. 918).

Question 1. How great and what kind is the efficacy of this privilege?

Resp. This efficacy the S. Congregation of Indulgences thus declared on the day 28 July 1840: "By the indulgence attached to a privileged altar, if the mind of the one conceding and the use of the power of the keys is considered, there is to be understood a plenary indulgence which immediately liberates the soul from all penalties of Purgatory; but if the effect of application is considered, there is to be understood an indulgence whose measure corresponds to the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy."

Question 2. Whether this Indulgence can profit several souls of the dead?

Resp. Negatively, as is established both from various declarations of the S. C. of Indulgences and because this indulgence can be applied only to that soul for which the Mass is said. This rule, namely that the indulgence of a privileged altar is applicable to one soul only, is valid even in the case of a Mass celebrated for several deceased persons. S. C. Indulgent., 29 Feb. 1864; 19 June 1880; 19 Dec. 1885. Nor is the day of the commemoration of all the dead excepted, on which all altars enjoy this privilege. - Cf. Beringer, Die Ablässe, p. 449 and following. - Acta S. Sedis, vol. 13, p. 139. When someone says Mass for several or all the dead, it is best to determine the soul to whom he wishes to apply the indulgence.

§ 2. All altars of the church through those days on which the supplication of the Forty Hours is performed in it are privileged (Can. 917).

Question 3. Whether for gaining this Indulgence it is required that a Mass of Requiem, or of the Feria or Vigil with the proper prayer of the deceased, be celebrated?

Resp. Negatively; thus the S. Office responded on 20 Feb. 1913: "For gaining the indulgence of a privileged altar, as they call it, it is no longer required in the future under penalty of nullity that a Mass of Requiem, or of the feria or vigil with the proper prayer of the deceased, be celebrated: Yet this is laudably done, when it is permitted and fitting, for the sake of piety toward the deceased."

Question 4. Whether Bishops have the faculty of conceding the Privilege of an Altar?

Resp. Affirmatively, and indeed both personal and real.

Bishops, Abbots or Prelates nullius, Vicars and Prefects Apostolic, and major Superiors of an exempt clerical religion, can designate and declare one privileged daily perpetual altar, provided that another is not had, in their cathedral, abbatial, collegiate, conventual, parochial, quasi-parochial churches, but not in public or semi-public oratories, unless they are united to a parochial church or subsidiary to the same (Can. 916).

Note. - A priest who has made the HEROIC ACT, or oblation of all his satisfactions in favor of the souls which are in Purgatory, enjoys by the fact itself the personal privilege of the altar. - Cf. Prinzivalli, n. DCXLIII. Acta S. Sedis, vol. 18, pp. 337 and following.

The heroic act of charity toward souls detained in Purgatory consists in this, that a faithful Christian, whether by some formula being used or even only mentally, offers to God Almighty, for the souls of Purgatory, all satisfactory works which he himself, as long as he shall live, will perform, and also all suffrages which after death could in any way come to him. Many faithful Christians most devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . have been accustomed somehow to deposit satisfactory works and suffrages of this kind into the hands of the Blessed Virgin, to be distributed by Her according to Her merciful good pleasure in favor of the souls of Purgatory. This act has been enriched by the Supreme Pontiffs with manifold favor. Among the satisfactory works offered in this act are comprehended indulgences applicable to the dead. This oblation is not satisfied by those who reserve to themselves indulgences conceded for the living; but these indulgences are to be applied to the dead according to the Indult conceded to those emitting this act. That deposition of satisfactions into the hands of the Virgin Mary is not an integral or prescribed part of the heroic act, but is a pious accessory devotion to the act, to be commended to the faithful. The plenary indulgence of a personal privileged altar must be applied by the priest who emitted the act to the soul for whom he celebrates Mass; for in this manner the privilege of the altar is conceded by the Supreme Pontiff.

But any faithful person can revoke the heroic act as it shall please him. S. C. Indulg., 19 Dec. 1885; 20 Feb. 1907.¹

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1092, n. 23.

By various titles the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence in the article of death. Those have a right to it who often in life and also in the hour of death invoke the Most Holy name; who often have poured forth the prayer Angele Dei; who often in life make acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity; who keep with themselves some one of the objects which are enriched with Apostolic Indulgences; who are joined to certain Confraternities; in these cases the indulgence enters of itself. Generally the conditions are: communion or at least an act of contrition, invocation of the Most Holy name made by mouth, or, if it cannot be done by mouth, by heart, and acceptance of death from the hand of God. To the recitation of the following Prayer Pius X attached a plenary indulgence, 9 Mar. 1904: "O Lord my God, from this moment now, whatever kind of death, as it shall please Thee, with all its anxieties, penalties, and sorrows, I receive from thy hand with an equal and willing mind." The same His Holiness conceded that all the faithful who, on a day to be chosen by them, duly cleansed by sacramental confession and refreshed by the sacred Synaxis, with a true affection of charity toward God, have brought forth the aforesaid act, can gain a plenary indulgence in the very article of death.

§ 2. To the Parish Priest or another priest who assists the infirm there is the faculty of conceding to 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 (Can. 468).

Now, with relation to the conditions of gaining this indulgence, and the manner of imparting it, there exist several decrees of the S. C. of Indulgences, of the principal of which this is the summary:

1°. A priest does not validly confer this indulgence if the formula prescribed by the Supreme Pontiff is omitted, nor does the lack of the book excuse him. - 5 Feb. 1841.

2°. The infirm person cannot in the same article of death gain this indulgence several times, given by several priests having the faculty of imparting it. - Ibid.

3°. This indulgence cannot be imparted several times during the same infirmity, even if long-lasting. - 12 March 1855.

4°. The Blessing must be conferred only once in the same state of illness. - 20 Sept. 1775.

5°. But it can be repeated if the infirm person has recovered, and then, from whatever cause, falls into a new danger of death. - 12 Feb. 1842.

6°. Of itself it is not to be repeated because perhaps Extreme Unction must be repeated. - 20 June 1836.

7°. The indulgence is received, that is, the gain of the indulgence properly is had, only in the true article of death. - 23 Apr. 1615.

8°. It is valid, although the Blessing was conferred on an infirm person existing in the state of mortal sin. - 20 June 1836.

9°. It is also valid, and the Blessing is not to be repeated, if the sick person after its reception has fallen into sin. - Ibid.

10°. Both validly and licitly it is conceded to those who, even culpably, have not been refreshed by the sacraments from the beginning of the illness, and suddenly are inclining toward destruction. - 20 Sept. 1775. - Cf. Lehmkuhl, n. 564. - Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Sept. and Nov. 1883; and Feb. 1884. - The Pastor, vol. 3, pp. 279 and following; and vol. 4, pp. 209 and following.

11°. It is also required that the dying person invoke the Most Holy Name of Jesus by mouth, or, if this cannot be done, at least by heart (S. C. Indul., 22 Sept. 1892), and receive death from the hand of the Lord with an equal and willing mind. - Cf. Beringer, Die Ablässe, p. 486.

12°. The Sacred Congregation of Indulgences on 23 Jan. 1901 responded that a dying person can gain the plenary indulgence conceded for the article of death only once, that is, in the true article of death, even if he has a right to it by various titles.

13°. Those condemned to death who duly prepare themselves for dying are sharers of this grace.

Case.—Last summer, while railroading through England, Father Titus journeyed with some Irish soldiers who were bound for the front. Their splendid devotion to Mary Immaculate showed itself in the scapular which they were proudly wearing. Some, who had no scapulars, asked the priest for a pair, but as he had none with him, he determined to give them medals from Lourdes which had been blessed at the shrine, and which he again blessed before giving to them. He knew that the Holy See had allowed the use of medals in place of the scapular, so his mind was at ease. Since then Father Titus has heard that only special medals can be used for the gaining of the scapular indulgence.

Question.—Did Father Titus do right?

Solution.—Father Titus’ action was sacerdotal and praiseworthy. The simple faith and prayerfulness of the soldiers going to the front must have been pleasing to Almighty God, and it surely won for them at least the spiritual protection of the Mother of Christ, whom they intended to honor by scapular or medal. Yet it does not follow that they gained the scapular indulgence. The fact that the medal was from Lourdes and had been blessed there does not attach to it the indulgence granted by Pius X. in 1910. The conditions imposed by the Pope for the gaining of the indulgence have to be met. In general these conditions are: (1) Enrollment in the scapular by a priest having the proper faculties. (2) Wearing of the scapular, or of its substitute, the medal. (3) Blessing of the medal as prescribed. (4) The medal to be of the type determined by the Holy See and commonly known as the scapular medal. If all these conditions were fulfilled, then the soldiers could gain the indulgence given for the wearing of the scapular. That they were not, is rendered certain by the fact that the medal given by the priest was a Lourdes medal and not a scapular medal. Again, the question arises as to the faculties of the priest. Did he have the necessary faculties for blessing scapular medals? In March, 1912, concessions were made in favor of soldiers (sub armis), but even here the medal of investment had to be blessed by a priest having such faculties. In November, 1914, Benedict XV. granted faculties to all priests, even to those who are not approved for the hearing of Confessions, whereby they may bless and indulgence the scapular medal. This concession is granted only in favor of soldiers, and of those soldiers whose countries are at war, and is to last only for the duration of the war. It is to be noted again that only the regular scapular medal can be blessed under this extension of faculties. Any priest, from, or in, any country, can bless these medals, provided they are intended for soldiers under arms of the nations at war. Hence this indulgence of the scapular, even in these days, is not effective in relation to the Lourdes medal.