Indulgence
An
indulgence, in
Catholic Theology, is the full or partial
remission of temporal punishment due for
sins which have already been forgiven. The
indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has
confessed and received
absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw
on the storehouse of merit acquired by
Jesus'
sacrifice and the
virtues and
penances of the
saints. They
are granted for specific good works and prayers.
Indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early Church. More
exactly, they replaced the shortening of those penances that was
allowed at the intercession of those imprisoned and those awaiting
martyrdom for the faith.
Abuses in granting indulgences were a major point of contention
when
Martin Luther initiated the
Protestant Reformation
(1517).
Catholic teaching
According to the teachings outlined in the
Catechism of the Catholic
Church, two distinct consequences follow when a person sins. A
mortal sin (one that is grave and is
committed knowingly and freely) is equivalent to refusing
friendship of God and
communion with the only source of
eternal life. The loss of eternal life that this rejection entails
is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. In addition, every sin,
even those that, not being mortal, are called
venial sins, cause a turning from God through
what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls an unhealthy
attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on
earth, or after death in the state called
purgatory. The resulting need to break this
attachment to creatures is another punishment for sin, referred to
as "temporal punishment", because, not being a total rejection of
God, it is not eternal and can be overcome in time. Even when the
sin is forgiven, the associated attachment to creatures may remain.
The sinner must "strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as
by prayer and the various practices of
penance, to put off
completely the 'old man' and to put on the 'new man'."
The Catholic doctrine of the
Communion of Saints teaches that this
work of cleansing or sanctification does not have to be done
entirely by the person directly concerned, since all Christians,
living and dead, are united as a single body that has Christ as
head. The holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that
the sin of one could cause others. Thus through the communion of
saints, recourse not only to the merits of the saints in heaven but
above all to those of Christ himself lets the
contrite sinner be more promptly and
efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.
In view of the Church's interpretation of the
power of binding or loosing granted by
Christ, the Church considers that it may administer to those under
its jurisdiction the benefits of these merits in consideration of
prayer or other pious works undertaken by the faithful. This the
Church does for individual Christians, not simply to aid them, but
also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.
There is a common misconception that indulgences
forgive sins; however, they
only relieve the punishment due because of the sins. A person is
still required to have their
sins
absolved by a priest to receive
salvation.
Since those who have died are also members of the
communion of saints, it is the belief of
the Catholic Church that the living can help those whose
purification from their sins is not yet completed not only by
prayer but also by obtaining indulgences for them. Since the Church
on earth has no jurisdiction over the dead, indulgences can be
gained for them only
per modum suffragii, i.e. by an act
of
intercession.
An indulgence may be plenary or partial, according as it remits all
or only part of the temporal punishment that at that moment is due
for sin. To gain a plenary indulgence, a person must exclude all
attachment to sin of any kind, even venial sin, must perform the
work or say the prayer for which the indulgence is granted, and
must also fulfil the three conditions of
sacramental
confession,
Eucharistic communion and
praying for the
intentions of
the Pope. The minimum condition for gaining a partial
indulgence is to be contrite in heart: on this condition, a
Catholic who performs the work or recites the prayer in question is
granted, through the Church, remission of temporal punishment of
the same worth as is obtained by the person's own action, similar
to
matching funds.
In response to suggestions made at the
Second Vatican Council,
Pope Paul VI substantially revised the
practical application of the traditional doctrine, making it clear
that the Church's aim was not merely to help the faithful make due
satisfaction for their sins, but chiefly to bring them to greater
fervour of charity; it was for this purpose that he decreed that
partial indulgences simply supplement, and to the same degree, the
remission that the person performing the indulgenced action has
already gained by the charity and contrition with which he does it.
Previously, partial indulgences were granted as the equivalent of a
certain number of days, months, "quarantines" (Lent-like forty-day
periods) or years of canonical penance. Those who did not
understand these terms sometimes misinterpreted them as meaning a
reduction of that length of stay in
Purgatory.
The abolition of this classification by years and days made it
clearer than before that repentance and faith are required not only
for remission of eternal punishment for mortal sin but also for
remission of temporal punishment for sin. Pope Paul VI wrote:
"Indulgences cannot be gained without a sincere conversion of
outlook and unity with God".
Actions for which indulgences are granted
There are four general grants of indulgence, which are meant to
encourage the faithful to infuse a Christian spirit into the
actions of their daily lives and to strive for perfection of
charity. These indulgences are partial, and their worth therefore
depends on the fervour with which the person performs the
recommended actions:
- Raising the mind to God with humble trust when performing one's
duties and bearing life's difficulty, and adding, at least
mentally, some pious invocation.
- Devoting oneself or one's goods compassionately in a spirit of
faith to the service of one's brothers and sisters in need.
- Freely abstaining in a spirit of penance from something licit
and pleasant.
- Freely giving open witness to one's faith before others in
particular circumstances of everyday life.
Among the particular grants, which, on closer inspection, will be
seen to be included in one or more of the four general grants,
especially the first, the
Enchiridion Indulgentiarum draws
special attention to four activities for which a plenary indulgence
can be gained on any day, though only once a day:
- Piously reading or listening to Sacred
Scripture for at least half an hour.
- Adoration of Jesus in the
Eucharist for at least half an hour.
- The pious exercise of the Stations of the Cross .
- Recitation of the Rosary or the Akathist in a church or oratory, or in a family, a
religious community, an association of the faithful and, in
general, when several people come together for an honourable
purpose.
A plenary indulgence may also be gained on some occasions, which
are not everyday occurrences. They include:
- Receiving, even by radio or television, the blessing given by
the Pope Urbi et Orbi (to the
city of Rome and to the world) or that which a bishop is authorized
to give three times a year to the faithful of his diocese.
- Taking part devoutly in the celebration of a day devoted on a
world level to a particular religious purpose. Under this heading
come the annual celebrations such as the World Day of Prayer for
Priestly and Religious Vocations, and occasional celebrations such
as World Youth Day.
- Taking part for at least three full days in a spiritual retreat.
- Taking part in some functions during the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity including its conclusion.
The prayers specifically mentioned in the
Enchiridion
Indulgentiarum are not of the
Latin
Rite tradition alone, but also from the traditions of the
Eastern Catholic Churches,
such as the
Akathistos,
Paraklesis,
Evening Prayer, and
Prayer for the Faithful Departed (Byzantine),
Prayer
of Thanksgiving (Armenian),
Prayer of the Shrine and
the
Lakhu Mara (Chaldean),
Prayer of Incense and
Prayer to Glorify Mary the Mother of God (Coptic),
Prayer for the Remission of Sins and
Prayer to Follow
Christ (Ethiopian),
Prayer for the Church, and
Prayer of Leave-taking from the Altar (Maronite), and
Intercessions for the Faithful Departed (Syrian).
Apart from the recurrences listed in the
Enchiridion,
special indulgences are granted on occasions of special spiritual
significance such as a
Jubilee
Year or the centenary or similar anniversary of an event such
as the apparition of
Our Lady of
Lourdes or the celebration of a World Youth Day.
Of particular significance is the plenary indulgence attached to
the
Apostolic Blessing that a
priest is to impart when giving the sacraments to a person in
danger of death, and which, if no priest is available, the Church
grants to any rightly disposed Christian at the moment of death, on
condition that that person was accustomed to say some prayers
during life. In this case the Church itself makes up for the three
conditions normally required for a plenary indulgence: sacramental
confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the Pope's
intentions.
History of indulgences
Early and medieval beliefs
In the early church, especially from the third century on,
ecclesiastic authorities allowed a confessor or a Christian
awaiting martyrdom to intercede for another Christian in order to
shorten the other's canonical penance.
The sixth-century
Council of Epaon
witnesses to the rise of the practice of replacing severe canonical
penances with something new and milder. It became customary to
commute penances to less demanding works, such as prayers, alms,
fasts and even the payment of fixed sums of money depending on the
various kinds of offences (tariff penances). By the tenth century
some penances were not replaced but merely reduced in connection
with pious donations, pilgrimages and similar meritorious works.
Then, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the recognition of the
value of these works began to become associated not so much with
canonical penance but with remission of the temporal punishment due
to sin.
The earliest record of a plenary indulgence was
Pope Urban II's declaration at the
Council of Clermont (1095) that he
remitted all penance incurred by
crusaders
who confessed their sins, considering participation in the crusade
equivalent to a complete penance.
Theologians looked to God's mercy, the value of the Church's
prayers, and the merits of the saints as the basis on which
indulgences could be granted. Around 1230 the Dominican Hugh of
St-Cher proposed the idea of a "treasury" at the Church's disposal,
consisting of the infinite merits of Christ and the immeasurable
abundance of the saints' merits, a thesis that was demonstrated by
great scholastics such as
Albertus
Magnus and
Thomas Aquinas and
remains the basis for the theological explanation of
indulgences.
Abuses
"Pardoner" redirects here. For
the character in The Canterbury Tales see
"The Pardoner's
Tale"
Because of the great demand from associations that their favourite
prayers, devotions, places of worship or pilgrimage, their
processions and meetings, be enriched with indulgences, there was a
tendency to forge documents declaring that such indulgences,
sometimes of extraordinary character, had been granted. Indulgences
were attached to many works that were not only good but also served
the common good, both religious and civil: churches, hospitals,
leprosaria, charitable institutions and schools, and also roads and
bridges.
The later Middle Ages saw the growth of considerable abuses, such
as the unrestricted sale of indulgences by professional "pardoners"
(
quaestores in Latin), who were sent to collect
contributions to the project. In many cases the preaching of these,
out of ignorance or shrewdness, went far beyond dogmatic teachings;
some of them even dared to promise that the damned would be
released from hell. Permission began to be granted to Catholic
kings and princes, particularly on the occasion of Crusades, to
retain for themselves a rather considerable part of the alms
collected for the gaining of indulgences.
The most well-known
and debated question is the indulgence granted for building the new
St. Peter's
Basilica
in Rome.
The
Fourth Lateran Council
(1215) suppressed some abuses connected with indulgences, spelling
out, for example, that only a one-year indulgence would be granted
for the consecration of churches and no more than a 40-days
indulgence for other occasions. The Council also stated that
"Catholics who have girded themselves with the cross for the
extermination of the heretics, shall enjoy the indulgences and
privileges granted to those who go in defense of the Holy
Land."
But very soon these limits were widely exceeded. In fact, false
documents were circulated with indulgences surpassing all bounds:
indulgences of hundreds or even thousands of years. In 1392, more
than a century before
Martin Luther
published the
95 Theses, Pope
Boniface IX wrote to the
Bishop of Ferrara condemning the practice
of certain
members of
religious orders who falsely claimed that they were authorized
by the pope to forgive all sorts of sins, and exacted money from
the simple-minded among the faithful by promising them perpetual
happiness in this world and eternal glory in the next.
An
engraving by
Israhel van Meckenem of the
Mass of Saint Gregory
(not the one illustrated, but also from the 1490s) began with a
"bootlegged" indulgence of 20,000 years, but in a later
state the plate has been altered to
increase it to 45,000 years. The indulgences applied each time a
specified collection of prayers, in this case seven each of the
Creed,
Our Father
and
Hail Mary, were recited in front of
the image.
The image of the Mass of Saint
Gregory had been especially associated with large indulgences
since the Jubilee Year of 1350
in Rome, when it was at least widely believed that an indulgence of
14,000 had been granted in connection with the Imago Pietatis, thought to be a
contemporary depiction of the miracle, then in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
.
Protestant Reformation
The false doctrine and scandalous conduct of the "pardoners" were
an immediate occasion of the
Protestant Reformation.
In 1517, Pope Leo X offered indulgences for those who gave
alms to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
. The
aggressive
marketing practices of
Johann Tetzel in promoting this cause provoked
Martin Luther to write his
Ninety-Five Theses, protesting
against what he saw as the purchase and sale of
salvation. In Thesis 28 Luther objected to a
saying attributed to Tetzel: "As soon as a coin in the coffer
rings, a soul from purgatory springs". The Ninety-Five Theses not
only denounced such transactions as worldly but denied the Pope's
right to grant pardons on God's behalf in the first place: the only
thing indulgences guaranteed, Luther said, was an increase in
profit and greed, because the pardon of the Church was in God's
power alone.
While Luther did not deny the Pope’s right to grant pardons for
penance imposed by the Church, he made it
clear that preachers who claimed indulgences absolved buyers from
all punishments and granted them salvation were in error.
Council of Trent
On 16 July 1562, the
Council of
Trent suppressed the office of quaestores and reserved the
collection of alms to two
canon
members of the
chapter, who
were to receive no remuneration for their work; it also reserved
the publication of indulgences to the bishop of the diocese. Then
on 4 December 1563, in its final session, it addressed the question
of indulgences directly, declaring them "most salutary for the
Christian people", decreeing that " that all evil gains for the
obtaining of them be wholly abolished", and instructing bishops to
be on the watch for any abuses concerning them.
A few years later, in 1567,
Pope Pius V
cancelled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other
financial transactions. After the Council of Trent, Clement VIII
established a commission of Cardinals to deal with indulgences
according to the mind of the Council. It continued its work during
the pontificate of Paul V and published various bulls and decrees
on the matter. But only Clement IX established a true Congregation
of Indulgences (and Relics) with a Brief of 6 July 1669. In a Motu
Proprio of 28 January 1904, Pius X joined the Congregation of
Indulgences with that of Rites, but with the restructuring of the
Roman Curia in 1908 all matters regarding indulgences was assigned
to the Holy Office. In a Motu Proprio of 25 March 1915, Benedict XV
transferred the Holy Office's Section for Indulgences to the
Apostolic Penitentiary, but
maintained the Holy Office's responsibility for matters regarding
the doctrine of indulgences.
Eastern Orthodox Church
The
Eastern Orthodox
Churches believe one can be absolved from sins by the Sacred
Mystery of Confession, which in the East is preceded by a period of
fasting. Because of differences in the underlying doctrine of
salvation, indulgences for the remission of temporal punishment of
sin do not exist in
Eastern
Orthodoxy, but until the twentieth century there existed in
some places a practice of absolution certificates
(
συγχωροχάρτια - synchorochartia).
While some of these certificates were connected with any
patriarch's decrees lifting for the living or the dead some serious
ecclesiastical penalty, including excommunication, the
Greek Orthodox Patriarch
of Jerusalem, with the approval of the
Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople, had the sole privilege, because of the expense
of maintaining the Holy Places and paying the many taxes levied on
them, of distributing such documents in large numbers to pilgrims
or sending them elsewhere, sometimes with a blank space for the
name of the beneficiary, living or dead, an individual or a whole
family, for whom the prayers would be read.
Greek Orthodox
Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheos
Notaras (1641-1707) wrote: "It is an established custom and
ancient tradition, known to all, that the Most Holy Patriarchs give
the absolution certificate (
συγχωροχάρτιον -
synchorochartion) to the faithful people … they have granted
them from the beginning and still do."
A Russian Orthodox source says that these certificates were in use
among Greek Orthodox until the middle of the twentieth century, and
were "certificates which absolved from sins, which anyone could
obtain, often for a specified sum of money. The absolution granted
by these papers, according to Christos Yannaras, had no connection
with any participation of the faithful in the Mystery of Penance,
nor in the Mystery of the Eucharist". The same source interprets
the Western indulgence also as absolution from sin, not as
remission of temporal punishment.
Notes
- Code of Canon Law, (Cann. 992-997)
Indulgences; Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th ed.,
1999.
- Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and
company. 1994.
- Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article
indulgences
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC),
1472
- CCC, 1473
- CCC, 1474-1477
- CCC, 1478
- CCC, 1479
- Normae de Indulgentiis, 2
- Normae de Indulgentiis, 20
- Normae de Indulgentiis, 4
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Quarantines
- Indulgentarium Doctrina, 11
- Normae de Indulgentiis, Quattuor Concessiones
Generaliores
- Enchiridion Indulgentiarum
- Aliae concessiones, Proœmium, 7
- Concessiones 30
- Concessiones 7 §1, 1º
- Concessiones 13, 2º
- Concessiones 17 §1, 1º and 23 §1
- Concessiones 4
- Concessiones 5
- World Youth Day Archives
- Australian Catholic WYD 2008
- Concessiones 10
- Concessiones 11
- The Great Jubilee Indulgence
- Grant of indulgence on the occasion of the 150th
apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes
- Concessiones 12
- Enrico dal Covolo: The Historical Origin of
Indulgences
- Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article
plenary indulgence
- Shestack, 214
- name=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.html
- Parshall, 58 (quoted), and Shestack, 214 (illustrated in
both).
- A Brief History of Political Cartoons
- Bainton, 60; Brecht, 1:182; Kittelson, 104.
- Certum est, nummo in cistam tinniente augeri questum et
avariciam posse: suffragium autem ecclesie est in arbitrio dei
solius (Thesis 28).
- Errant itaque indulgentiarum predicatores ii, qui dicunt
per pape indulgentias hominem ab omni pena solvi et salvari
(Thesis 21).
- Session 21, chapter 9
- Session 25, Decree on Indulgences
- Catholic Encyclopedia: article
Indulgences
- "Myths About Indulgences." Catholic Answers. Retrieved 16 Apr.
2008 "http://www.catholic.com/library/Myths_About_Indulgences.asp".
- Δοσίθεος Νοταρᾶς, Ἱστορία περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις
πατριαρχευσάντων, Bucharest 1715, p. 88
- Indulgences in the History of the Greek Church.
Retrieved 11 April 2008.
References
- Parshall, Peter, in David Landau & Peter Parshall, The
Renaissance Print, Yale, 1996, ISBN 0300068832
- Shestack, Alan; Fifteenth century Engravings of Northern
Europe; 1967, National Gallery of Art, Washington (Catalogue),
LOC 67-29080
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