A Short Catechism on Indulgences (Part 2)

Here is the last part of A Short Catechism on Indulgences. Even if you are familiar with the subject it doesn’t hurt to remind yourself to accept the gifts the Holy Catholic Church offers.

7. Why does the Church grant indulgences? The Church grants indulgences for two reasons:

1. The Church wishes to save us from the suffering of purgatory and to hasten our entrance into heaven.

2. The Church wishes to encourage us to perform certain good works. As an added inducement to perform them, the Church grants us an indulgence. For example, to encourage us to make the Stations of the Cross, to recite the rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, to read the Bible with due veneration and as spiritual reading, to recite certain prayers, the Church has attached to these exercises various indulgences.

8. Does an indulgence forgive sins? No, it takes away the punishment due to sins already forgiven.

9. Is an indulgence a permission to commit sins? No. No one can grant permission to commit a sin.

10. What are the two principal kinds of indulgences? The two principal kinds of indulgences are the plenary (complete) and the partial indulgence. A plenary indulgence takes away all of the temporal punishment due to the sins of one person; a partial indulgence takes away part of the temporal punishment due to one’s sins.

11. What is an indulgence of “300 days”? The phrase “300 days” does not mean that the time in purgatory is shortened by 300 days. It means that the indulgence takes away as much temporal punishment as would have been taken away by 300 days of public penance in the early Church. An example will help to explain this point. In the early days of the Church if John Smith had sinned by injuring his neighbor or by stealing and then had gone to confession, he might have been given some difficult penance, e.g., kneeling during the entire Mass for 300 consecutive days. This public penance gained for him great merit and took away some of the temporal punishment due to his sins. But how much it took away neither he nor anyone else on earth knew. In granting an indulgence of 300 days the Church applies to an individual soul the same amount of merit that would have been gained by 300 days of difficult public penance. But no one on earth knows how much temporal punishment is taken away (or how much purgatory is shortened) by that indulgence.

12. What does the phrase “usual conditions” mean? In stating what must be done to gain a particular indulgence, it is sometimes said that the indulgence may be gained by doing the prescribed works and “under the usual conditions”. The conditions referred to are these four:

1. Going to confession.

2. Receiving Holy Communion.

3. Visiting a church or oratory.

4. Praying for the intention of the Pope.

13. What must one do to gain an indulgence? To gain an indulgence one must:

1. Be a baptized Catholic and not be excommunicated from the Church.

2. Be in the state of grace.

3. Have at least the general intention of gaining the indulgence.

4. Perform the work prescribed by the Church for gaining the indulgence (e.g., making the Stations, reading the Bible, etc.).

14. Can we gain indulgences for others? We cannot gain indulgences for other living persons. But we can gain indulgences for souls in purgatory, because the Church makes most indulgences applicable to them also.

15. How often can we gain indulgences? We can gain indulgences as often as we can fulfill the conditions required for gaining them. For example, the indulgence of 300 days attached to the recitation of the ejaculation “My Jesus, mercy” may be gained as often as that ejaculation is recited. Again, the indulgence of three years for reading the Bible as spiritual reading for fifteen minutes may be gained as often as the Bible is read for fifteen minutes. However, unless the opposite is expressly stated, a plenary indulgence for one particular good work (e.g., reciting the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament) can be gained only once each day. But many plenary indulgences may be gained in one day if they are for different good works (e.g., one for making the Stations of the Cross, another for reciting the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament).

A Short Catechism on Indulgences (Part 1)

I am glad to bring you a two-part teaching on the Holy Catholic Church’s teachings concerning Indulgences. It was in a Bible from 1951–note the lack of ambiguity. This is the first installment, and the final part I will post later today or perhaps tomorrow.

A Short Catechism on Indulgences 

1. What is an indulgence? An indulgence is the removal by the Church of temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

2. What is temporal punishment? Temporal punishment is temporary punishment. It will last only for a time. It is not endless, like the punishments of hell.

3. After a man’s sins are forgiven, must he still suffer for them? Even after a man’s sins are forgiven, he must make up for them, or atone for them in some way. He must make satisfaction to God for the injustice done by his sins. A parent who has forgiven a child’s prank (e.g., breaking a window) would still demand that the child in some way atone for the injury committed (e.g., by paying for the window). Similarly God, even after forgiving a man’s sins, demands that he atone for the injustice done.

4. How can one make up for the sins he has committed? There are many ways in which one can satisfy or make up for his sins. For example, confession, by which sins are forgiven, also helps atone for them, that is, it takes away some of the temporal punishment due to one’s sins. Also, suffering, patiently endured and offered to God, atones for sins. Doing good works (e.g., giving alms to the poor, praying devoutly, etc.) also helps to atone for sins.

5. If all one’s sins are not completely atoned for at the time of his death, how shall he atone for them? After his death his soul shall suffer for a time in purgatory to atone for those sins not already atoned for in life.

6. Can sin be atoned for in any way except by one’s own personal good works and sacrifices? Yes. The merits of Christ, of Mary, and of the Saints can help to atone for the sins of men. Christ’s death, in addition to meriting forgiveness for the sins of all men, also made infinite atonement or satisfaction for the sins of men. That infinite satisfaction merited by Christ and the superabundant satisfaction merited by Mary and of the Saints (which they gained during life but did not need) constitutes the “Treasury of the Church”. From this store of supernatural merit, which the Church can apply to its own living members, the Church grants indulgences. An indulgence is the application to a particular soul some of the satisfaction merited by Christ, by Mary, or by the Saints.

Catechism on Indulgences, p. xi, xii. The Holy Bible. The Catholic Press, Inc. Chicago, Illinois. Copyright 1951.

Indulgences For Reading The Bible

   (Good Catholic art is uplifting)

So many of the rich treasures of Holy Catholic Church are hidden away in older books. Here is a Pope Pius XII-era writing on Indulgences for reading the Bible:

A. To the faithful who read the books of Sacred Scripture for at least a quarter of an hour, with the great reverence due to the divine word and after the manner of spiritual reading:

an indulgence of three years is granted. 

B. To the faithful who piously read at least some verses of the Gospel and in addition, while kissing the Gospel Book, devoutly recite one of the following invocations: “May our sins be blotted out by virtue of the words of the Gospel,” “May the reading of the Gospel be our salvation and our protection,” “May Christ teach us the words of the Holy Gospel”:

an indulgence of 500 days is granted;

a plenary indulgence is granted, under the usual conditions, to those who daily for a whole month act in the way indicated above;

a plenary indulgence is granted at the hour of death to those who have often during life performed this pious exercise, as long as, having confessed and received Communion, or at least having sorrow for their sins, they invoke the most holy name of Jesus on their lips, if possible, or at least in their hearts, and accept death from the hand of God as the price of sin.

[Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 694]

There is a “Short Catechism on Indulgences” in the same book I will put in another post tomorrow, probably in two posts so it will not be too long.

Quote from Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 694, p. xi. The Holy Bible. The Catholic Press, Inc. Chicago, Illinois. Copyright 1951.