List Of Indulgences

[Sarah147]

Hello,

An indulgence is partial if it removes part of the temporal punishment due to sin, or plenary if it removes all punishment.

I came across an indulgence today and thought it would be great if we could list indulgences, especially ones that cover a long period of time.



"My Mother, My Confidence"
300 Days Indulgence
Pope Benedict XV




Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great

Our Lord dictated the following prayer to St. Gertrude the Great to release 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is said.

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."


--------------------------------

Please share indulgences you know (please include the type, length of time, requirements, and the person that enacted it). [size="2"][img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img][/size]

Edited August 7, 2010 by JoyfulLife

[Sarah147]

[size="2"]The requirements for gaining a plenary indulgence are (1) performance of the indulgence work - for example, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for at least one half an hour, devout reading of the Sacred Scriptures for at least one half an hour, or praying the Marian Rosary in a Church, public oratory or family group, etc.; (2) sacramental confession; (3) Eucharistic Communion, and (4) prayer for the Pope's intentions. The last three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work. However, it is fitting that communion be received and the prayer for the Pope's intentions be said on the same day the work is performed. If any of these conditions are not fulfilled the indulgence gained will only be partial.[/size]

[url="http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org/indulgences.html"]http://www.ourcathol...ndulgences.html[/url]

Edited August 8, 2010 by JoyfulLife

[CatherineM]

One of the first indulgences Pope Benedict announce after being elected was for those living with mental illnesses, and those that care for them.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='07 August 2010 - 08:15 PM' timestamp='1281230147' post='2153810']
One of the first indulgences Pope Benedict announce after being elected was for those living with mental illnesses, and those that care for them.
[/quote]

Seriously? Now for my ignorant question, "What exactly IS an indulgence?" I've heard the term, but never knew exactly what it was.

To me, indulgences are things like cake and ice cream, and soap that smells really good. I doubt that's what Pope Benedict meant.

If someone tells me to go google it, (and I may have this wrong), but my understanding is that the Pope has given me permission to do this.[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/getaclue.gif[/img]

P.S. Yes, I read the link, and I am still confused--hence the question.

P.S.S. Do you have to be Catholic to benefit from an indulgence?

Edited August 8, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[CatherineM]

I like to think about indulgences as credit for time served when it comes to Purgatory.

[Sarah147]

An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment for sins, according to Church doctrine [Norm 1, Indulgentiarum Doctrina].

In effect, a plenary [b]indulgence is provided by divine grace to cleanse the soul of the stain of every sin, and to remove the temporal effects of every sin.
[/b]
The Church teaches that through the sacrament of penance, sins are forgiven and the eternal punishment due to sin - namely, the eternal loss of the presence of God - is remitted. However, [b]sin also has a temporal dimension that disrupts the soul's relationship with God, with the Church and with others, causing suffering to the individual and to others.
[/b]
Those who have gone to confession and received sacramental forgiveness for their sins [b]may still need to undergo purification to have their disrupted relationships restored[/b]. Such purification may take place either in this life - or in purgatory, in the case of those whose purification is not completed by the time of their death.

Through a plenary indulgence, God grants that, through the prayer of the Church, the temporal punishment also due to an individual's sins is removed.

[url="http://archphila.org/bicentennial/plenary.htm"]http://archphila.org...ial/plenary.htm[/url]


Typical indulgences I've heard of are ejaculatory prayers, visiting a certain Church (I know of one in MA), Rosary, etc.

God purifies us through trials and suffering, if we offer it up and unite it to Jesus. We can also offer up our Holy Communion in atonement for stain of past sins.

To learn about the purification in Purgatory, a very detailed book is:
Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints by F. X. Schouppe
(I often have to remind myself that, as it says in the book, the very pictorial descriptions of physical cleansings are not actually that, because they are without their bodies in Purgatory. It is just a way of describing how it is sensed by the soul.)


More abour indulgences here:

HOW TO AVOID PURGATORY
By Fr. Paul O'Sullivan

CONTENTS

1. CAN WE AVOID PURGATORY?
2. HOW CAN WE AVOID PURGATORY?
3. THE FIRST MEANS: REMOVING THE CAUSE
4. THE SECOND MEANS: PENANCE
5. THE THIRD MEANS: SUFFERING
6. THE FOURTH MEANS: CONFESSION, COMMUNION, HOLY MASS
7. THE FIFTH MEANS: ASKING GOD
8. A SIXTH MEANS: RESIGNATION TO DEATH
9. THE SEVENTH MEANS: EXTREME UNCTION
10. INDULGENCES AND PURGATORY
11. THE THIRD ORDERS
12. THOSE WHO EARNESTLY HELP THE HOLY SOULS MAY WELL HOPE TO AVOID
PURGATORY
13. TO AVOID PURGATORY, DO AS FOLLOWS
14. HOW WE CAN HELP THE HOLY SOULS
* THE BROWN SCAPULAR
[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/spirit/avoidprg.txt"]http://www.ewtn.com/...it/avoidprg.txt[/url]



Can non-Catholics obtain indulgences? Any baptized person, properly disposed, may receive at least a partial indulgence. More about it here:
[url="http://books.google.com/books?id=LVlAXL6qJxkC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=can+non-catholics+use+indulgences&source=bl&ots=KHQT7Bk8p1&sig=sJGvtPc_f8GY_ZiL5qJO5dP7rPY&hl=en&ei=qO9eTO33DYKKlweK-NmZCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=a%20member%20of%20the%20christian%20faithful&f=false"]http://books.google.com/books?id=LVlAXL6qJxkC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=can+non-catholics+use+indulgences&source=bl&ots=KHQT7Bk8p1&sig=sJGvtPc_f8GY_ZiL5qJO5dP7rPY&hl=en&ei=qO9eTO33DYKKlweK-NmZCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=a%20member%20of%20the%20christian%20faithful&f=false[/url]
On google books: [size="2"]A Modern Guide to Indulgences: Rediscovering This Often Misinterpreted Teaching[/size][size="2"] By Edward Peters[/size]

Edited August 8, 2010 by JoyfulLife

[Sarah147]

Perfect contrition also cleanses us of temporal punishment:

[font="Times New Roman"][left][font="Verdana"]Each act of perfect contrition erases the venial sins that disfigure the[/font][/left][left][font="Verdana"]soul; thus the soul grows more and more beautiful. Each act of perfect contrition remits temporal[/font][/left][left][font="Verdana"]punishment due to sin. Let us remember the words of the Savior regarding Mary Magdalene: "Many[/font][/left][left][font="Verdana"]sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much" (St. Luke 7, 47). And if this forgiveness of[/font][/left][left][font="Verdana"]temporal punishment makes us appreciate and value indulgences, good works, almsgiving, charity[/font][/left][font="Verdana"]toward God, which is the queen of the virtues, it stands in the first rank of these good works.
[/font][url="http://www.rosarychapel.net/files/PerfectContrition.pdf"][font="Verdana"]http://www.rosarycha...tContrition.pdf[/font][/url]

[/font]

Edited August 8, 2010 by JoyfulLife

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I know you'll be surprised, but to a non-Catholic those explanations might as well be written in Basque. But, don't apologize. This is a Catholic board, and everyone else understands. I'm finding the cultural differences, even in the use of English, are sometimes amazingly large. It's okay, I'll figure it out for myself. Or find an explanation written for 7-year olds. But, please don't worry. I don't feel offended or left out, just realizing that I am venturing into a "different country" where I am far from fluent in the language.

I am realizing more and more that I need to find someone who is fluent in both "languages," or at least, expert at explaining things to people who are basically very intelligent, but are hearing words and phrases used a certain way for the first time.

Anglicans and Catholics may have similar liturgies-at least the liturgies in English--but in culture, they are galaxies apart. I feel like an explorer in a pith helmet who has just discovered a very advanced culture, but one that is entirely foreign.

But, it does bring up another question--I know the Catholics distinguish between superstitions and traditions (like indulgences). How do they define the difference?

Edited August 8, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[Sarah147]

A simple way to look at it is with an example. A kid throws a ball into a window. He is sorrowful and apologizes for it. But the damage to the window is done, and that has to be repaired. Indulgences are things we can do to repair the damage of forgiven sins.

Does that help?

As for your question about superstition and Tradition, maybe someone else can answer better, perhaps in the question forum. I leave it to the Church to determine Tradition. They study the Bible and about the early Church Fathers to learn about such things.

[morostheos]

Another explanation I've heard for indulgences is this (it's pretty similar to the baseball metaphor):

If you imagine your soul as a piece of wood, and every time you sin you drive a nail into the wood. In confession, our sins are forgiven - which is like removing the nail. However, the hole from the nail (or the consequences of sin on our soul) still remain. Indulgences are like filling in the hole in our soul left from the sins we have committed. Usually they involve prayer or good works, which help our souls to be healed through God's grace.

(Edited to add:)

Oh, and the main difference between superstitions and religious practices is with superstitions, one is depending on a particular act or phrase to bring about a desired result. With religious practices, we can petition God to grant us something, but with knowledge that if it happens, it happens because it is God's will, not because we said a certain prayer or did a certain practice.

Many devotions can become superstitions if not seen in a proper light. I think it's hard to tell the difference sometimes, but for me, I ask myself - if I didn't do this particular devotion, would I be worried about what would happen? For example, one devotion that I think is borderline superstition is burying a statue of St. Joseph upside down in a front yard to sell a house faster. If someone says, "Oh, you'll never sell your house without burying St. Joseph" then that's definitely superstition -- God certainly does not require that for His will to be done! However, if someone encourages you to ask St. Joseph for help in selling your house, that still leaves the heavy lifting for God, instead of the statue of St. Joseph buried in the yard.

Does that help?

Edited August 8, 2010 by morostheos

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='morostheos' date='08 August 2010 - 04:41 PM' timestamp='1281303672' post='2154289']
If you imagine your soul as a piece of wood, and every time you sin you drive a nail into the wood. In confession, our sins are forgiven - which is like removing the nail. However, the hole from the nail (or the consequences of sin on our soul) still remain. Indulgences are like filling in the hole in our soul left from the sins we have committed. Usually they involve prayer or good works, which help our souls to be healed through God's grace.

Oh, and the main difference between superstitions and religious practices is with superstitions, one is depending on a particular act or phrase to bring about a desired result. With religious practices, we can petition God to grant us something, but with knowledge that if it happens, it happens because it is God's will, not because we said a certain prayer or did a certain practice.

Many devotions can become superstitions if not seen in a proper light. I think it's hard to tell the difference sometimes, but for me, I ask myself - if I didn't do this particular devotion, would I be worried about what would happen? For example, one devotion that I think is borderline superstition is burying a statue of St. Joseph upside down in a front yard to sell a house faster. If someone says, "Oh, you'll never sell your house without burying St. Joseph" then that's definitely superstition -- God certainly does not require that for His will to be done! However, if someone encourages you to ask St. Joseph for help in selling your house, that still leaves the heavy lifting for God, instead of the statue of St. Joseph buried in the yard.

Does that help?
[/quote]

I like the wood analogy--Indulgences are like grout. Works for me.

I'm not as sure as you are that some common practices haven't, over time, become superstitions. But, I could also be wrong.

One I've read a lot is the novena to St. Jude, that if you say the novena you will be definitely cured. Now, you and I know that that is male cow feces. Prayer helps, and sometimes God says "Yes" and sometimes he says, "No." But, there is nothing magical in saying the novena to St. Jude nine times that will definitely cure you or fix the hopeless situation. That feels like superstition to me. (I'm not saying it IS superstition--just that it feels like it in some of the descriptions of the St. Jude novena I've read.)

[morostheos]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' date='08 August 2010 - 10:02 PM' timestamp='1281315756' post='2154390']
I like the wood analogy--Indulgences are like grout. Works for me.

I'm not as sure as you are that some common practices haven't, over time, become superstitions. But, I could also be wrong.

One I've read a lot is the novena to St. Jude, that if you say the novena you will be definitely cured. Now, you and I know that that is male cow feces. Prayer helps, and sometimes God says "Yes" and sometimes he says, "No." But, there is nothing magical in saying the novena to St. Jude nine times that will definitely cure you or fix the hopeless situation. That feels like superstition to me. (I'm not saying it IS superstition--just that it feels like it in some of the descriptions of the St. Jude novena I've read.)
[/quote]

I agree!

I think for many devotions they DO become superstitions for people. The thing is we can't sort through and say this is a superstition and this other one isn't because it depends on the intention of the person.

[Guest Sean R.]

[quote name='IgnatiusofLoyola' timestamp='1281295037' post='2154198']
I know you'll be surprised, but to a non-Catholic those explanations might as well be written in Basque. But, don't apologize. This is a Catholic board, and everyone else understands. I'm finding the cultural differences, even in the use of English, are sometimes amazingly large. It's okay, I'll figure it out for myself. Or find an explanation written for 7-year olds. But, please don't worry. I don't feel offended or left out, just realizing that I am venturing into a "different country" where I am far from fluent in the language.

I am realizing more and more that I need to find someone who is fluent in both "languages," or at least, expert at explaining things to people who are basically very intelligent, but are hearing words and phrases used a certain way for the first time.

Anglicans and Catholics may have similar liturgies-at least the liturgies in English--but in culture, they are galaxies apart. I feel like an explorer in a pith helmet who has just discovered a very advanced culture, but one that is entirely foreign.

But, it does bring up another question--I know the Catholics distinguish between superstitions and traditions (like indulgences). How do they define the difference?
[/quote]


In the spiritual realm God allowed those still alive on earth to serve their temporal punishment (sufferings in purgatory) here on earth. So take a saint like St. Therese of Liseux, she sinned minimally but was a carmelite nun and dedicated her human life to her own self-suffering. So what happens when they completely fulfill their temporal punishment but they are still suffering? Well God puts it in a "spiritual bank" full of the sufferings of saints and holy people who, like saint therese, went above and beyond in suffering. So when someone gets an indulgence, they take out from the "spiritual bank" what the indulgences allow. now remember that purgatory in itself is only for those without the original sin that we are born with from adam and eve. now here's the amazing part.... Jesus and Mary the virgin mother are the only two people recognized to have been born with original sin (meaning that they could skip purgatory and go straight to heaven without any effort) but they still greatly suffered anyway...why? The first reason was to set an example and the second was SO THAT THEY COULD GREATLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE "SPIRITUAL BANK"... now imagine the suffering of Jesus that contributed to the spiritual bank.... persecution, torture, walking up mount calvary while being mocked, and excruciatingly painful death on the cross.... now imagine his suffering when he was a child to the start of his ministry.... obedience, some more persecution, even the small things like cleaning...ALL OF THAT IS FOR OUR OWN BENEFIT AND IS GIVEN TO US THROUGH INDULGENCES.
thanks for listening,
sean r.

[Tony]

hmm, didn't they change "X amount of days" all to "Partial indulgence"? something about discouraging keeping tallies .. "300 days for this indulgence, and got 500 on this other so I'm up to 800"

[tinytherese]

The man who ends up marrying me and sticking it out will get one heck of an indulgence.