Applying a plenary indulgence to a holy soul(s) in purgatory

[Dominic_Brother]

Before I ask my question, let me describe the situation.

All 5 items below must be performed to gain a plenary indulgence:

1. Sacramental Confession
2. Perform the prescribed work (such as a reciting a rosary in church)
3. Eucharistic Communion
4. Prayers for the pope’s intention.
5. Be free from all attachment to sin (ie venial sins).

My Actions now follow:

1. Day-1
   a. I go to confession.
2. Day-1
   a. I recite a Rosary on Day-1 in church and offer it up for world peace hoping I may gain a plenary indulgence for “Soul-1”.
   b. I add prayers for the pope’s intentions.
3. Day-1
   a. I perform the Stations of the Cross in the same church, also on Day-1, and offer this for an end to abortions. I’d like to use this work to gain a plenary indulgence for another soul, “Soul-2”.
   b. I add prayers for the pope’s intentions.
4. Day-2
   a. I read Holy Scripture at home for at least 30 minutes for vocations to the priesthood.
   b. I’d like to use this work to gain a plenary indulgence for a third soul, “Soul-3”.
   c. I add prayers for the pope’s intentions.
5. Day-3
   a. Since venial sins do not have to be confessed to a priest, I try to make a perfect act of contrition by praying in Church before mass and tell God that I am sorry for all sins.
   b. Then, I have Eucharistic Communion.

A plenary indulgence can only be gained once a day. In the above scenario, there are 3 days and 3 souls. HOWEVER…

**God willing; has a plenary indulgence been applied to these 3 souls? **
(do I need to have 3 Eucharistic Communion on 3 separate days?)
(must I perform the prescribed work on 3 different days?)
(must the intention in each prescribed work be solely for the holy soul in purgatory. That is, I cannot recite a rosary for world peace; the intention of the rosary I recite must be specific for the release of the holy soul from purgatory)

 

[Pug]

**God willing; has a plenary indulgence been applied to these 3 souls? **

You have one potential plenary indulgence here. You only received communion once. You need one for each plenary indulgence. The remainder I cannot answer with certainty. They desire you to fulfill the work and the Eucharistic communion on the same day. So ideally, you would have three days of going to daily mass, and on one of those days you would go to confession. And you would do a work on each of the three days (and also prayers for intention of pope, etc.). They allow leeway in doing the work and the communion not quite on the same day, but I don’t know how it comes out in the wash if, say, you do three works on the same day, but then receive communion on the following three days. I’d always interpreted the rule to mean that the three works (rosary, scripture reading, stations) would need to be on separate days. But I don’t actually know. The rule is you can only gain one plenary indulgence per day (there is an exception at the moment of death).

Remember, you did receive partial indulgences even if you did not get a plenary one!

 

[nicolep]

Before I ask my question, let me describe the situation.

All 5 items below must be performed to gain a plenary indulgence:

1. Sacramental Confession
2. Perform the prescribed work (such as a reciting a rosary in church)
3. Eucharistic Communion
4. Prayers for the pope’s intention.
5. Be free from all attachment to sin (ie venial sins).

My Actions now follow:

1. Day-1
   a. I go to confession.
2. Day-1
   a. I recite a Rosary on Day-1 in church and offer it up for world peace hoping I may gain a plenary indulgence for “Soul-1”.
   b. I add prayers for the pope’s intentions.
3. Day-1
   a. I perform the Stations of the Cross in the same church, also on Day-1, and offer this for an end to abortions. I’d like to use this work to gain a plenary indulgence for another soul, “Soul-2”.
   b. I add prayers for the pope’s intentions.
4. Day-2
   a. I read Holy Scripture at home for at least 30 minutes for vocations to the priesthood.
   b. I’d like to use this work to gain a plenary indulgence for a third soul, “Soul-3”.
   c. I add prayers for the pope’s intentions.
5. Day-3
   a. Since venial sins do not have to be confessed to a priest, I try to make a perfect act of contrition by praying in Church before mass and tell God that I am sorry for all sins.
   b. Then, I have Eucharistic Communion.

A plenary indulgence can only be gained once a day. In the above scenario, there are 3 days and 3 souls. HOWEVER…

**God willing; has a plenary indulgence been applied to these 3 souls? **
(do I need to have 3 Eucharistic Communion on 3 separate days?)
(must I perform the prescribed work on 3 different days?)
(must the intention in each prescribed work be solely for the holy soul in purgatory. That is, I cannot recite a rosary for world peace; the intention of the rosary I recite must be specific for the release of the holy soul from purgatory)

1. 
   I don’t have my Indulgence handbook on me right now, so bear with me for a minute.
   
   As the PP mentioned, Holy Communion should be received on the same day as the “work” (by saying work I mean to include all of the requirements such as the prayer/devotion and the prayer for the Pope’s intentions). Confession can be said once for all three as long as Holy Communion and the work are done within a week of confession. Pug was also correct saying only one plenary indulgence can be gained per day. More than one partial indulgence can be gained per day, I believe. Again, I don’t have my book with me so I will double check of the information when I get home.
   
   You have to have the intent to gain a plenary indulgence. So yes, when you recite the rosary, the intention should be for the souls in purgatory. I do not know however if there can be more than one intention.
   
   As to your specific questions –
   
   **God willing; has a plenary indulgence been applied to these 3 souls? **
   (do I need to have 3 Eucharistic Communion on 3 separate days?) Yes
   (must I perform the prescribed work on 3 different days?) Yes
   (must the intention in each prescribed work be solely for the holy soul in purgatory. That is, I cannot recite a rosary for world peace; the intention of the rosary I recite must be specific for the release of the holy soul from purgatory) Yes, but as mentioned I do not know if you can have more than one intention
   1. 
      
      /

 

[Pug]

More than one partial indulgence can be gained per day, I believe. Again, I don’t have my book with me so I will double check of the information when I get home.

Indeed, more than one partial indulgence is possible per day. It is only if a particular partial indulgence is specially marked that way that a particular partial indulgence couldn’t be gotten more than once a day.

Also, as of at least the Jubilee, you have 20 days to squeeze in the confession. There was a clarification offered by the apostolic penitentiary concerning a doubt about how to apply a particular document about the Jubilee. See here for the clarification. Most folks will not have heard about this, since most people probably never read the document about the Jubilee indulgence. The rule previously had been a week, as far as I know.

This 20 day thing is still in effect, unless someone knows that the clarification has been superseded.

 

[Dominic_Brother]

Thanks PUG and NICOLEP for your replies. (sorry if this is too long a reply)

I did some research by perusing the “Manual of Indulgences”. As you both confirm, Holy Communion must be received for each plenary indulgence. Since one plenary indulgence per day is given, this means I must have 3 communions on 3 different days for those 3 Holy Souls. Under Norm20-S2 of the said manual, “A single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Holy Communion must be received and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father must be recited for EACH plenary indulgence.”

Norm20-S3 says “The three conditions MAY be fulfilled several days before or after the prescribed work; it is, however, fitting that Communion be received and the prayer for the intention of the Holy Father be said on the same day the work is preformed.”

The 3 conditions are defined under Norm20-S1 as confession, communion and prayer for the pope.

My interpretation is this; one should do their best to have communion, prayers for the pope and the prescribed work all on the same day. But separating the prescribed work on one day followed by communion with prayers for the pope on another day is allowed.

This seems reasonable when you consider the recitation of the family rosary; a prescribed work for earning a plenary indulgence. For example, we may be at home on a Wednesday night after work to recite the rosary as a family. Then, we have our communion at Sunday mass. The “work” and the “communion” are on separate days.

The question remains as to whether performing more than one “prescribed work” on the same day can be used to earn several plenary indulgences the following days. I’m reading the manual but cannot find any answers.

 

[Dominic_Brother]

I searched the forum and found a post in the “Ask an Apologist” section. Here’s the link,
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=312989

A question was asked if another communion was required to earn a plenary indulgence if one forgets to offer the communion received the previous day.
According to Fr Serpa, “All that is required is that one receive Holy Communion. There is no special intention required.”

If I read between the lines, this means the intention to earn the plenary indulgence by this poster was made way before their holy communion.

In my book of “Manual of Indulgences”, it says under norm N18-S2 that to gain an indulgence, one must have at least the general intention to do so….

The question now becomes at what point do you make the intention. (ie to help a specific Holy Soul)

I think the following sequences are valid, please correct if I am wrong.

• Intention-Confession-Prescribed Work-Communion-Prayers for Pope
• Confession-Intention-Prescribed Work-Communion-Prayers for Pope
• Confession-Prescribed Work-Intention-Communion-Prayers for Pope

However, I am not sure of this sequence:
Confession-Communion-Prescribed Work-Prayers for Pope-Intention

Wow, seems like I have more questions now than I had before I began this thread.

 

[Verbum_Caro]

Dominic (and nicolep),

Just a quick note:

(do I need to have 3 Eucharistic Communion on 3 separate days?) Yes

Since the requirement to receive Holy Communion may be done on a different day than the indulgenced work, and since one could legitimately receive communion twice in one day (under certain conditions) then technically I would think that one would not have to receive communion on three separate days in order to receive three plenary indulgences.

VC

 

[Pug]

The question remains as to whether performing more than one “prescribed work” on the same day can be used to earn several plenary indulgences the following days. I’m reading the manual but cannot find any answers.

It might all hinge on when you are credited with the indulgence, so to speak. When it says you can only gain one per day, what, exactly does that mean? If the “gaining” happens upon completion of all the works *and *conditions, then one could find oneself in the boat of having done five “works” on each day of the week and then on Saturday having the one confession that is to suffice for all five, and then “gaining” them all on that Saturday. This would make you “gain” a bunch of them on one day, which is supposedly not allowed. So, I think this analysis means that this way of looking at it cannot be correct, since that one Saturday is supposed to suffice. Thus, I consider it more likely that “gaining” it is counted by the day upon which you do the “work” portion and not the “conditions” portion. If this is so, then you cannot do more than one “work” per day. Three plenary indulgences would require “works” on three separate days. Of course, if you did extra “works” on a particular day, they would be partials instead. Prayer is never wasted!

BTW, I agree with your assessment about why a family praying the rosary would have the communion on a separate day. It is clear why they allow the fulfillment of the “conditions” on a separate day.

Also, about intentions, one of our previous parochial vicars had recommended to us that we form a daily intention, one to gain any possible indulgences for the poor souls, so that we would meet the habitual intention requirement for their sake. You can glue it onto your morning offering in one brief line.

Sorry to ignore your thread for so long! Happy Easter!

 

[Dominic_Brother]

When it says you can only gain one per day, what, exactly does that mean? If the “gaining” happens upon completion of all the works *and *conditions, then one could find oneself in the boat of having done five “works” on each day of the week and then on Saturday having the one confession that is to suffice for all five, and then “gaining” them all on that Saturday. This would make you “gain” a bunch of them on one day, which is supposedly not allowed.

The “Manual of Indulgences” (at least the copy I have) says that a single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Holy Communion must be received for EACH plenary indulgence. For me, that means I would need to have 5 communions in the scenario you describe. Having a single communion on the Saturday only, would gain a plenary indulgence for only one of the 5 five works.

But then as “verbum caro” says in a previous post, we are allowed 2 communions per day. In this case, a plenary indlugence is earned on the day you have those 2 communions and maybe another plenary indulgence is earned on a day where you did not have communion.

I think the one per day plenary indulgence rule was formed because of the common practice of having one communion per day. (even though we are allowed 2 holy communions per day, the real intent is to have one communion per day.) ewtn.com/expert/answers/communion_times.htm

I don’t think I will get a comfortable answer to my initial question, *(whether 2 or more prescribed works in a single day can be used to earn plenary indulgences on those days you don’t do a prescribed work). * As long as you receive the same number of communions as the number of works you did, it should be allowed. I was hoping someone could give an accurate answer by quoting canon law or in the manual of indulgences or a decree from the penitentiary etc. I did my best to search this site for common posts, but I’m surprised this question has never been asked before on this site because this site is very good and comprehensive.

Thanks Pug for your reply and taking time to read my post. Happy Easter to you too!

 

[Pug]

The “Manual of Indulgences” (at least the copy I have) says that a single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Holy Communion must be received for EACH plenary indulgence. For me, that means I would need to have 5 communions in the scenario you describe. Having a single communion on the Saturday only, would gain a plenary indulgence for only one of the 5 five works.

Quite so. I was assuming communion on each of the five days, but not bothering to type it. Like you, I figure the set up that may underly some of what they have in mind is some type of daily communicant. Then, since most parishes do offer confession on Saturday, the person would go to that confession time every so often. That twenty day rule from the Jubilee indulgence makes perfect sense if they have in mind a person who goes to confession once a month. That would really cover 40 days, or about a month, give or take a little. Anyway, the daily communicant could also pray the rosary before each mass in the rosary group (and do prayers for the pope, etc.), and that would rack up the indulgences with little trouble at all.

I’m not surprised you can’t find an answer to your precise question here, actually. Plenary indulgences aren’t very popular, it doesn’t seem. Though the Triduum is a great time to acquire several.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Sorry - I didn’t read carefully enough. My point had already been made.