Plenary Indulgence at First Communion

[DL82]

I am on a kind-of personalised RCIA at the moment - basically, I’m planning on getting married in December/January, and want to become Catholic before then so we can both receive communion. I was already heading in that direction, but never had the guts to ask about RCIA. By the time I did it was too late to join the class for this Easter.

Basically, my question is, do I still receive the plenary indulgence with my First Communion if it happens some time other than Easter Sunday? If not, is there some other way I can be granted this indulgence? I figure I’ve notched up quite a bit of time in purgatory in the 25 years before I became Catholic, even though the last 7 years have been in another Christian church (actually, another ecclesiastical community, as it was not a valid church). If it came to the choice of putting off marriage until Easter, marrying while still out of communion, or being confirmed without indulgence, I’m not sure what I’d do. I’m not sure putting off my confirmation would even be an option, as I will be moving to a different country before I marry, so would have to swap from one RCIA programme to another half way through.

Is the Indulgence only for those received at Easter?

 

[dylanschrader]

If you’re not baptized, then when you are baptized, you will have no need of an indulgence until you commit some sin again.

Otherwise, there are plenty of ways to gain a plenary indulgence.

For example, reciting the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament is enriched by a plenary indulgence.

Renewing your baptismal vows at the Easter Vigil also has a plenary indulgence attached to it.

There are many other ways, too. These can be found in the “Manual of Indulgences.” In previous editions, I believe, it was entitled the “Handbook of Indulgences.”

I wouldn’t put off being received into the Church for the sake of an indulgence, since the Church is quite generous with them.

 

[DL82]

Hang on a second here - if, having been to confession and with a genuine desire to turn away from sin, i then go to Adoration and recite the Rosary, I will have 0 time left in Purgatory?

Likewise, if I go to somebody else’s confirmation on Easter Sunday and renew my own baptismal vows at the same time (do I have to formally do this, or just say the vows while standing in the pews with everybody else?) then again, absolute clean slate?

How can that happen? Surely I’m no more ‘perfect’ after reciting the Rosary one day at Adoration than I would be if I just turned away from sins and went to confession then prayed for a while. If Purgatory is about purging remaining imperfections and stains of past sins, how does doing something as simple as renewing my vows at Easter (as opposed to at any other time of the year) make them disappear?

 

[THutch04]

I actually think that there is a plenary Indulgence attached to your First Communion in general, not just at Easter.

 

[Pug]

I actually think that there is a plenary Indulgence attached to your First Communion in general, not just at Easter.

Correct.

DL82,

On the Sunday right after Easter, there is a plenary indulgence for Divine Mercy Sunday (search for the recent threads on the topic). Also, on the anniversary of your baptism, you can renew your baptismal vows according to the standard formula and get a plenary indulgence, not just at the Vigil. You have zillions of opportunities for indulgences, if you meet the usual conditions. You can get one every day of the year, if you like.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Hang on a second here - if, having been to confession and with a genuine desire to turn away from sin, i then go to Adoration and recite the Rosary, I will have 0 time left in Purgatory?

Likewise, if I go to somebody else’s confirmation on Easter Sunday and renew my own baptismal vows at the same time (do I have to formally do this, or just say the vows while standing in the pews with everybody else?) then again, absolute clean slate?

How can that happen? Surely I’m no more ‘perfect’ after reciting the Rosary one day at Adoration than I would be if I just turned away from sins and went to confession then prayed for a while. If Purgatory is about purging remaining imperfections and stains of past sins, how does doing something as simple as renewing my vows at Easter (as opposed to at any other time of the year) make them disappear?

The website ourladyswarriors.org/indulge/ is an online version of the 1968 *Enchiridion on Indulgences *(I think it is the most current version, but I am not absolutely certain). It also has links at the top of the page to actions which carry a plenary indulgence, as well as a link to “Norms on Indulgences,” which would be useful to read.

Specifically, Norm # 26 gives these conditions:

"To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill the following three conditions:

• sacramental confession,
• Eucharistic Communion, and
• prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.

It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent.

If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only, saving the provisions given below in Norm 34 and in Norm 35 concerning those who are “impeded.”
The last condition, freedom from all attachment to sin, is important, and it is not easily achieved. Is there a sin, even a venial one, that even though I confessed it, I would do again if I had the opportunity? Do I have any habitual sins that I am really not quite ready to give up? So “wiping the slate clean” by means of a plenary indulgence requires a real change of heart.

It seems to me that this is what Purgatory achieves anyway — purifying us of all these attachments and imperfections that we cling to. If we can achieve that degree of detachment from sin here on earth, we won’t need Purgatory. Would that we all could reach that level of holiness!

 

[Pug]

(I think it is the most current version, but I am not absolutely certain).

The 1968 edition is not the most recent, but I don’t think current stuff is online in English, just Latin. Here is something that is in English to explain that there is a fourth edition.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

The 1968 edition is not the most recent, but I don’t think current stuff is online in English, just Latin. Here is something that is in English to explain that there is a fourth edition.

Thank you! That’s good to know. From the link you provided, it seems that the 1999 version has some additions and clarifications, but “The principles governing indulgences have not been changed at all in this new edition.”

 

[AngelRose81]

I actually think that there is a plenary Indulgence attached to your First Communion in general, not just at Easter.

Ok, maybe I don’t remember anyone ever telling me but I had no idea about this one!

 

[Pug]

Thank you! That’s good to know. From the link you provided, it seems that the 1999 version has some additions and clarifications, but “The principles governing indulgences have not been changed at all in this new edition.”

Yes, absolutely, all the usual stuff is in there. I mentioned it only because of your parenthetical remark.

 

[Jerry-Jet]

The greatest thing about Divine Mercy Sunday is that one can receive remission of all temporal debt of sin by a promise of the Lord and we don’t have to meet the usual requirement of a plenary indulgence which includes freedom of attachment to any sin including venial sin.

The floodgates of Jesus’ Mercy are open just as they are at Baptism.

What I’d like to know is other than Divine Mercy Sunday or after one’s first Baptism are there any people who are Not saints that are free from attachment to all sin including venial ones?

It almost seems to me that even though we might try to obtain plenary indulgences all our lives–if we aren’t saints–we probably will only receive partial ones.

For that reason for the non saints–which is most of us–Divine Mercy Sunday is quite a special day!

 

[Sixtus]

For the many millions across the catholic world, why don’t we meet here next Sunday to pray the Divine Chaplet?

For those of us who have to work, perhaps there could be several throughout the day.