What is an indulgence?

[Angel_Hazard]

My question is in reference to something I read about the Blessed Sacrament Chaplet.

“The Holy Father (Pope Pius X) has granted the entire world an indulgence of 300 days, each time the ejaculation is recited upon each of the 33 beads. Those who recite the Blessed Sacrament Chaplet daily share in the mass said every Thursday and Friday.”

 

[Erich]

From the Catholic Encyclopedia (emphasis mine):

The word indulgence (Latin indulgentia, from indulgeo, to be kind or tender) originally meant kindness or favor; in post-classic Latin it came to mean the remission of a tax or debt. In Roman law and in the Vulgate of the Old Testament (Isaiah 61:1) it was used to express release from captivity or punishment. In theological language also the word is sometimes employed in its primary sense to signify the kindness and mercy of God. But in the special sense in which it is here considered, an indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven. Among the equivalent terms used in antiquity were pax, remissio, donatio, condonatio.

Here’s a Primer on Indulgences.

And here’s a “real-world” example: imagine your teenager just did something that got him/her grounded for a month. Now imagine that about halfway through the “grounding” you decide, based on his/her actions, that the penalty should be reduced to “time served”. You’ve effectively just granted an indulgence, since the temporal punishment was for a full month.

 

[baltobetsy]

In addition to the excellent Primer on Indulgences, there needs to be a clarification of the concept of “300 days” and such.

In the past, people did public penance for their sins. It could last many years. Indulgences were once measured in terms of the equivalent amount of public penance. So an indulgence of 300 days would be equal to 300 days of public penance. As time went on and public penance became uncommon, the idea of number of days or years became confused. People mistakenly thought it referred to time taken off their time in Purgatory. Since Purgatory is outside of time, that cannot be so.

In recent years, the Church has changed the way it expresses the value of indulgences. Now, a pious work or prayer can be endowed with either a plenary indulgence or a partial indulgence. There are no more numbers of days or years associated with indulgences.

A plenary indulgence remits all the temporal punishment due to sin. If a person gained a plenary indulgence and died immediately, he would go directly to heaven. In order to gain a plenary indulgence, one must do the indulgenced work and also meet what are called, “the usual conditions.” The usual conditions are going to Confession within two weeks before or after doing the indulgenced work, going to Mass and receiving Communion on the day of the work, praying for the Pope’s intentions (an Our Father and Hail Mary are the usual prayers), and being completely detached from sin, even venial sin. The last condition is one that causes misunderstanding and confusion. Some believe it is nearly impossible to achieve that detachment and therefore few people actually gain plenary indulgences. Others believe that God (through the Church) would not offer plenary indulgences if they were nearly impossible to attain. But it’s always worth trying, whichever view is correct.

A partial indulgence remits part of the temporal punishment due to sin. Without a reference (sorry), I think I recall reading that it doubles the value of whatever prayer or work is done. If one attempts and does not receive a plenary indulgence, a partial indulgence is granted. Just about any prayer or good work can gain a partial indulgence, if one only asks. It is good to form the intention every day to gain all the indulgences possible.

The example in the OP would be of a partial indulgence. Hope this helps.

Betsy

 

[Student09]

Just about any prayer or good work can gain a partial indulgence, if one only asks. It is good to form the intention every day to gain all the indulgences possible.

So can one simply form this intention in the morning in a general way, without knowing everything that is or is not indulgenced? Does one have to ask for every indulgence separately, or does a general intention suffice? I was under the impression that one needed to ask for each separately, which made me really just not want to think about them at all …

 

[baltobetsy]

So can one simply form this intention in the morning in a general way, without knowing everything that is or is not indulgenced? Does one have to ask for every indulgence separately, or does a general intention suffice? I was under the impression that one needed to ask for each separately, which made me really just not want to think about them at all …

Once again, without any references, I have been taught by priests that one only needs to ask at the beginning of the day to gain all the indulgences possible. It makes sense when one remembers that God loves us and is always looking for excuses to shower us with grace. Can’t hurt to ask, right?

Betsy

 

[Claire_from_DE]

And it’s worth remembering that we can offer these indulgences for the souls in purgatory who can no longer gain them for themselves. And that our attitude is important. An indulgenced action or prayer performed with great love for God or our neighbor is of more value than one done in a perfunctory manner. In the same way, the penance the indulgenced prayer replaces would have been of more benefit to the soul if it was done with true love or repentance than if the person was just going through the motions.

We don’t really earn indulgences. We gain them, but they are a gift of God through the church and they’re available to us from the storehouse of the infinite merits of Jesus’ sacrifice and the merits of the saints who were joined to Him.

Please excuse if there’s any theological error in what I’ve written. This is how I understand indulgences. The catechism is the authority when it comes to a real explanation of them.

I’ve been told that one can make the intention to gain all the indulgences available for any works or prayers and that the intention doesn’t have to be made daily, just one time and perhaps renewed when we think of it. I’ve been told some people who consecrate themselves to the Blessed Mother ask that any indulgences they gain should be dispensed as she wishes (which means, of course according to God’s will).