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An indulgence, in Roman 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.Code of Canon Law, (Cann. 992-997) Indulgences; Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th ed., 1999. The belief is that indulgences draw on the storehouse of merit acquired by Jesus\' sacrifice and the virtues and penances of the saints.Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and company. 1994. They are granted for specific good works and prayers.
Indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early church.
Indulgences, and the abuses that crept into granting them, were a major point of contention when Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation (1517).
A Roman Catholic indulgence, dated Dec. 19, 1521. The use of the printing press made possible the mass production of form documents offering indulgences.
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Personal sins, that is specific sins committed by a person instead of the inherited original sin or evil resultant of personal sin, are either mortal or venial.
Punishments for sin can be temporal and eternal. Temporal punishments are temporary punishments - those that affect us in this life or in Purgatory. The more temporal punishments you incur, the more punishment/suffering you have to endure on earth or in Purgatory. Eternal punishment is everlasting. Suffering eternal punishment essentially consists of being in Hell. All sins entail some sort of temporal punishment. Mortal sins also carry an eternal punishment. Even though a person may be forgiven of a sin (through the sacrament of Reconciliation), and relieved of any eternal punishment (hell), temporal punishments may still remain.
An Indulgence is granted for the remission of the remaining temporal punishments due to sins that have already been forgiven.
Plenary (full) indulgences are gained after the individual earning the indulgence completes the required tasks, which always includes the reception of the sacrament of Penance. Because the sacrament of reconciliation removes the culpable element of sin, the penitent is restored by reconciliation to the state of grace. However, while the individual’s guilt and any eternal punishment is removed by reconciliation, temporal punishments may still remain. God has mercy upon sinners who repent their sins, but His justice still requires that the sinner be punished for the wrongdoing. In addition, even though the separation caused by sin is removed, the repercussions/consequences for the sin have not been removed and still require punishment. E.g. if one steals a loaf of bread, the baker still is missing and suffers the loss of the bread even if the thief makes amends. This punishment is called "temporal punishment", both because it is a punishment of time, as opposed to eternal punishment, and because it relates to the temporary world (Earth or Purgatory), rather than to the “final destination” (Heaven or Hell).
Church teachings explain that individuals who experience trials and tribulations in this world by God\'s grace may have them serve as their temporal punishment for forgiven sins (Catechism 1473); other individuals die without having served the full temporal punishment for their sins. These individuals do not have guilt for sin, because it has been forgiven either through reconciliation or perfect contrition before death, and therefore they will attain Heaven. However, they are not yet ready to enter Heaven, as their punishment has yet to be served. Therefore, these individuals “enter” Purgatory, and the punishment they owe is "purged." The Church teaches that the souls in Purgatory desire to be there because they have realized that they are not yet ready to attain Heaven. Purgatory may be illustrated as a place of preparation for the deceased; they know they will enter Heaven, and Purgatory is a place in which the deceased are cleansed for God.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an individual acting in collaboration with the grace of God may gain merit (Catechism 2008). These acts do not gain the individual forgiveness for their sin; forgiveness results from God’s grace, freely given through Jesus, which cannot be earned. After the sins are forgiven, the individual\'s acts in union with Christ are meritorious and remove the penalty due for sin.
These good works are linked through the communion of Saints. These spiritual goods are called the Church\'s treasury (Catechism 1476). The Church’s treasury is not a storehouse of "extra" merit, in which the good deeds of the faithful are collected and accounted by individual; it is first and foremost the infinite value of Christ’s merits before God (Catechism 1476). He is the source of infinite merit which can never be exhausted. Jesus\'s merit in and of itself is sufficient to remit all temporal punishment due for sin for every individual. It also includes the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints (Catechism 1477).
In Catholic theology, the salvation made possible by Jesus allows the faithful sinner eventual admittance to Heaven. Baptism forgives all of the baptized person\'s existing sins; any sin committed after baptism incurs both guilt and a penalty that must be addressed. These are the sins addressed in reconciliation. With the act of penance after reconciliation, both the guilt and eternal punishment for the confessed sins are canceled, though not necessarily the entire temporal punishment. Furthermore, human beings by nature commit many venial, "light" sins daily which are unconfessed and, though they don\'t break communion with God, do damage to one spiritually, and temporal punishment remains for these. This punishment may be remitted in Purgatory, or by indulgence. The granting of an indulgence is the spiritual reassignment, as it were, of existing merit to an individual requiring that merit.
Indulgences occur when the Church, acting by virtue of its authority, "intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins" (Catechism 1478). The individual gains the indulgence by participating in certain activities, most often the recitation of prayers. By decree of Pope Pius V in 1567, following the Council of Trent, it is forbidden to attach the receipt of an indulgence to any financial act, including the giving of alms. In addition, the only punishment remitted by an indulgence is existing temporal punishment, that is, for sins already committed. Indulgences do not remit punishment for future sins, as those sins have yet to be committed. Thus, indulgences are not a “license to sin” or a “get-out-of-Hell-free” card; they are a means for the sinner to “pay” the “wages” of sin.
Indulgences are "plenary" or "partial”:
Before the Second Vatican Council, partial indulgences were stated as a term of days, weeks, months, or years. This has resulted in a common perception that indulgences are to remit a specific period of time equal to the length of the soul\'s stay in Purgatory. This was not the intention; rather the stated length of time actually indicated that the indulgence was equal to the amount of remission the individual would have earned by performing a canonical penance for that period of time. For example, the amount of punishment remitted by a "forty day" indulgence would be equal to the amount of punishment remitted by the individual performing forty days of penance.
The original reasoning for the "days" terminology was that, in the early days of the Church, a person\'s only means of returning to the state of grace was believed to be performing penances equal to the sins he had committed. Because a person may not receive Eucharist while not in a state of grace, he must perform these penances if he wished to be Catholic. However, because some people had been habitual sinners, such as professional thieves or prostitutes, they would have to undergo hundreds of years of penance to get remission for their sins. To alleviate this, the Church instituted certain actions or prayers which would cleanse such a person for the amount of time noted.
In addition to remitting punishment for the individual\'s own existing sins, an individual may perform the actions necessary to gain an indulgence with the intention of gaining the indulgence for a specific individual in Purgatory. In doing so, the individual both gains the indulgence for the soul in Purgatory, and performs a spiritual act of mercy.
To gain an indulgence the individual must be "in communion" with the Church, and have the intention of performing the work for which the indulgence is granted. To be "in communion," the individual must be a baptized Catholic without any un-reconciled mortal sins (if there are any un-reconciled mortal sins, the individual has cut himself/herself off from God and cannot receive the indulgence) and must not be dissenting from the Church’s teaching. The individual must also intend to receive the indulgence.
Generally, a plenary indulgence requires the following conditions in order to be valid (in addition to the acts performed to earn the indulgence).
It is recommended that the Communion be received at Mass on the same day that the indulgence is received. Reconciliation may be within a prudent period before or after the act (typically, one week, though during the Great Jubilee, the Vatican specifically allowed confession within three weeks of the act). Several indulgences may be earned under the same confession (reconciliation). If any of these additional conditions is missing, the plenary indulgence will instead be partial.
Penitential redemptions were a milder form of indulgence that cut down the time of penance.
Boudinhon, A. (1913). "Penitential Redemptions". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
The following acts are examples of those which result in the award of an indulgence:
In 1294, Pope Celestine V issued a bull of pardon in L\'Aquila, Italy, granting a plenary indulgence to everybody sincerely contrite and confessed entering the basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.The only other "Saint Door" outside Vatican is opened annually by a Cardinal between the evening of August 28 and the day after.
Indulgences are still granted in the modern day. In 2005, and again in 2007, attendees of the Catholic youth festival World Youth Day were granted a plenary indulgence, provided they "attentively and devotedly participate". World Youth Day Archives Australian Catholic WYD 2008
Also in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI granted a plenary indulgence on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes. Pilgrims visiting the Massabielle grotto, where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette, could receive indulgence between December 8, 2007 and December 8, 2008. Pilgrims who visited a public sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes between February 2 and 11, 2008, could take part in some necessary steps to receive that indulgence."Pope approves Lourdes indulgences", BBC News, 2007-12-06. Retrieved on 2007-12-06. ;
There is no certain evidence of general indulgences before the 11th century.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
In the early church, especially from the 3rd century on, ecclesiastic authorities allowed a confessor or a Christian awaiting martyrdom to intercede for another Christian in order to shorten the other\'s penance.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 In the West, with the development of the doctrine of purgatory, canonical penance came to be defined as reducing the soul\'s temporal punishment in purgatory. The transition to believing that the prayers and the merits of the saints reduced purgatorial punishment was easy.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
The earliest record of a plenary (or full) indulgence was Pope Urban II\'s promise (1095) that all penance due for sins that crusaders committed and confessed would be remitted.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
In the late Middle Ages, professional "pardoners" sold indulgences without restriction.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 The abuse of indulgences led in part to the start of the Protestant Reformation.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
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 95 theses, protesting 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".Bainton, 60; Brecht, 1:182; Kittelson, 104. The 95 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.Certum est, nummo in cistam tinniente augeri questum et avariciam posse: suffragium autem ecclesie est in arbitrio dei solius. (Thesis 28)
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.Errant itaque indulgentiarum predicatores ii, qui dicunt per pape indulgentias hominem ab omni pena solvi et salvari. (Thesis 21)
The Catholic Reformation, whose keystone was the Council of Trent, clamped down on abusive misuse of indulgences.
In response to the Second Vatican Council, the Church has changed is practical application of indulgences, and the number of plenary indulgences has been greatly reduced.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
An 18th century indulgence granted by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and sold by Greek monks in Wallachia
Because the underlying doctrine of salvation differs from the Latin Catholic model, indulgences do not exist in Eastern Orthodoxy, although formerly there existed, in some places, a similar practice of Absolution Certificates until the twentieth century, known as aphesis or συγχωροχάρτια - synchorochartia; at the beginning of the 18th century Dositheos Notaras (1641-1707), Patriarch of Jerusalem, writes about Indulgences as something known to everyone in the ancient tradition: "This practice was confirmed by ancient Tradition that was known to all, that the Most Holy Patriarchs would grant certificates (συγχωροχάρτιον - synchorochartion) for the remission of sins to the faithful people."
The Eastern Catholics have certain indulgenced prayers, such as the Akathistos, Paraklesis, Evening Prayer, and Prayer for the Faithful Departed (from the Byzantine church), Prayer of Thanksgiving (from the Armenian church), Prayer of the Shrine and the Lakhu Mara (from the Chaldean church), Prayer of Incense and Prayer to Glorify Mary the Mother of God (from the Coptic church), Prayer for the Remission of Sins and Prayer to Follow Christ (from the Ethiopian church), Prayer for the Church, and Prayer of Leave-taking from the Altar (from the Maronite church), and Intercessions for the Faithful Departed (from the Syrian church).Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th edition, 1999, pp. 68-69.
Though indulgences are usually gained for the personal benefit of the person who recites the prayer or performs the work of piety to which the indulgence is attached, the fact that, in Roman Catholic teaching, indulgences may be applied also for the benefit of the dead has led members of other denominations to associate them solely with the concept of Purgatory, which they reject, and for that reason they reject indulgences also.
The practice of offering sacrifice (with animals purchased through a collection) for the expiation of the sins of the dead appears in the deuterocanonical 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 (ca. 100 BC).Only the denominations that arose from the Protestant Reformation exclude this book from the Bible. The pre-existing Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Ortodoxy consider it an integral part of the Bible. This practice is seen nowhere else in the Bible in favour of the dead, except in 2 Timothy 1:16-18, where prayer is for the welfare of the deceased on Judgment Day, as in 2 Maccabees it is for their welfare at their resurrection. The doctrines of resurrection and judgment are associated with the Pharisees. The Sadducees did not believe in Judgment Day and the Essenes were not part of the Temple power structure.
The Reformation, from which most Protestant denominations came, arguably began with Martin Luther\'s posting of his 95 Theses, a harsh critique of the practice. Thus, Protestant denominations today frequently cite indulgences as a prime Roman Catholic error. Luther rejected the distinction between temporal and eternal debt and argued that Christ paid all debts of all sinners in full by his sacrifice. Any need of the sinner to merit remission of divinely imposed penalties, argued Luther, obscured the glory and merit of Christ and overthrew the Gospel of unmerited salvation for Christ\'s sake. In contrast the papal understanding of the Office of the Keys as a legislative power given to the pope for creating conditions and means for salvation, Luther understood the Keys as bestowed on the whole Church, administered publicly by all the clergy equally, and consisting in the command of Christ to forgive the sins of the penitent and retain the sins of the impenitent. As he saw the right use of the Keys as commanded by God, no bishop or pope could possibly have the authority to set up additional means of obtaining forgiveness, whether canonical satisfactions or indulgences. Most Protestants continue to express a sense of a completed atonement similar to Luther\'s, although Luther\'s doctrine of the Keys is found almost exclusively among Lutherans today.
"Apostolic Indulgences". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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