Indulgences - How do they work?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WingsOfEagles
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

WingsOfEagles

Guest
Wondering if someone could better define indulgences and how you gain them? I know they take time off Purgatory, but who decides (and how) what is partial/full and what actions will gain them?
 
Last edited:
There are a lot of threads on this subject. @Tis_Bearself is very knowledgeable about this subject, and I have learned a lot reading her posts.
 
s.cono said:
There are a lot of threads on this subject. @Tis_Bearself is very knowledgeable about this subject, and I have learned a lot reading her posts.
Click to expand...
I had searched through the threads, but still don’t really “understand” it.
 
The short answer is:
  • Indulgences can be earned by a Catholic in a state of grace.
  • The purpose of indulgences is to remit some of the temporal punishment for sins already confessed and absolved. (See Vico’s chart in the thread on indulgences recently started by Rutherford.) In other words, they reduce Purgatory punishment.
  • The Catholic earning indulgences can choose to keep and apply them to himself, or give them to a soul in Purgatory. Exception: certain indulgences are specified as only applying to Souls in Purgatory so you cannot keep them for yourself. You cannot earn an indulgence for any living person other than yourself and you cannot earn indulgences for future use (like if you might commit a sin next week).
  • The Church has the power to decide what indulgences can be earned and whether they will be plenary (full remission of all temporal punishment, in other words no Purgatory) or partial (Purgatory punishment is lessened). The Church sets this all out in a manual that it has revised numerous times.
Here is the most recent manual. It contains everything you need to know.

 
Last edited:
What does your study of the Catechism lead you to understand?

The “reduced time in purgatory” idea is mistaken, a holdover from the early days when full access to the sacraments was restricted for a period of time after confession due to the commission of certain sinful acts. An indulgence could reduce that time period, it wasn’t about “time in purgatory”, and in any case we don’t really know that time is really the proper measurement to use with regard to purgatory.
 
Last edited:
neophyte said:
What does your study of the Catechism lead you to understand?

The “reduced time in purgatory” idea is mistaken, a holdover from the early days when full access to the sacraments was restricted for a period of time after confession due to the commission of certain sinful acts. An indulgence could reduce that time period, it wasn’t about “time in purgatory”, and in any case we don’t really know that time is really the proper measurement to use with regard to purgatory.
Click to expand...
1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance.

What is an indulgence?

“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”

“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.

I guess I interpret temporal punishment to be referring to purgatory … still don’t get it I guess …
 
neophyte said:
The “reduced time in purgatory” idea is mistaken, a holdover from the early days when full access to the sacraments was restricted for a period of time after confession due to the commission of certain sinful acts. An indulgence could reduce that time period, it was never about purgatory.
Click to expand...
Please note that I specifically framed my response as “reduced Purgatory punishment”, not in terms of time, because time after death is nothing like human time on earth so the concept simply doesn’t make sense. God could also choose, in response to a partial indulgence being applied to a soul, either to let that soul out of Purgatory more quickly or just make it more comfortable while they are there. Of course a full plenary indulgence would remove all Purgatory and send the soul straight to Heaven.

Also, you do know that the revised manuals of indulgences since 1968 don’t specify anything with regards to “time”. They simply say partial indulgence or plenary indulgence. All that “Indulgence, 300 days” stuff that people misunderstood was done away with 50 years ago.

Finally, the Catechism section on indulgences is here , but it is very general and basically says what an indulgence is (remission of temporal punishment, as we have already discussed in 2 or 3 recent threads). Someone wanting actual details on how indulgences work needs to read the manual, which is also an official publication of the Catholic Church put out by the Vatican.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top