INDULGENCES
784
INDULGENCES
granted means that it cancels an amount of purga-
torial punishment equivalent to that which would
have been remitted, in the sight of God, by the per-
formance of so many days or years of the ancient
canonical penance. Here, evidently, the reckoning
makes no claim to absolute exactness; it has only a
relative value. God alone knows what penalty re-
mains to be paid and what its precise amount is in
severity and duration. Finally, some indulgences
are granted in behalf of the living only, while others
may be applied in behalf of the souls departed. It
should be noted, however, that the application has
not the same significance in both cases. The Church
in granting an indulgence to the living exercises her
jurisdiction; over the dead she has no jurisdiction and
therefore makes the indulgence available for them by
way of suffrage (per modum siiffragii), i. e. she peti-
tions God to accept these works of satisfaction and in
consideration thereof to mitigate or shorten the suf-
ferings of the souls in Purgatory (see Puhgatory).
Who Can Grant Indulgences. — The distribution of the merits contained in the treasury of the Church is an exercise of authority {potestas jurisdictionis), not of the power conferred by Holy orders (potesias or- dinis). Hence the pope, as supreme head of the Church on earth, can ^rant all kinds of indulgences to any and all of the faithful; and he alone can grant plenary indulgences. The power of the bishop, pre- viously unrestricted, was limited by Innocent III (1215) to the granting of one year's indulgence at the dedication of a church and of forty days on other oc- casions. Leo XIII (Rescript of 4 July, 1899) author- ized the archbishops of South America to grant eighty days (Acta S. Sedis, XXXI, 758). Pius X (28 Aug., 1903) allowed cardinals in their titular churches and dioceses to grant 200 days; archbishops, 100; bishops, 50. These indulgences are not applicable to the souls departed. They can be gained by persons not belonging to the diocese, but temporarily within its limits; and by the subjects of the granting bishop, whether these are within the diocese or outside — ex- cept when the indulgence is local. Priests, vicars- general, abbots, and generals of religious orders can- not grant indulgences unless specially authorized to do so. On the other hand, the pope can empower a cleric who is not a priest to give an indulgence (St. Thomas, " Quodlib.'^', II, q. viii, a. 16).
Dispositions Necessary to Gain an Indulgence. — ^The mere fact that the Church proclaims an indul- gence does not imply that it can be gained with- out effort on the part of the faithful. From w-hat has been said above, it is clear that the recipient must be free from the guilt of mortal sin. Further- more, for plenary indulgences, confession and Com- munion are usually required, while for partial in- dulgences, though confession is not obligatory, the formula corde saltern contrito, i. e. " at least with a con- trite heart ", is the customary prescription. Regard- ing the question discussed by theologians whether a person in mortal sin can gain an indulgence for the dead, see Purgatory. It is also necessary to have the intention, at least habitual, of gaining the indul- gence. Finally, from the nature of the case, it is obvious that one must perform the good works — prayers, alms deeds, visits to a church, etc. — which are prescribed in the granting of an indulgence. For details see "Raccolta ".
Authoritative Teaching of the Church. — The Council of Constance condemned among the errors of Wyclif the proposition: "It is foolish to believe in the indulgences granted by the pope and the bishops" (Sess. VIII, 4 May, 1415; see Denzinger-Bannwart, "Enchiridion", 622). In the Bull "Exsurge Do- mine ",15 June, 1520, Leo X condemned Luther's as- sertions that "Indulgences are pious frauds of the faithful"; and that "Indulgences do not avail those who really gain them for the remission of the penalty
due to actual sin in the sight of God's justice " (En-
chiridion, 758, 759). The Council of Trent (Sess.
XXV, 3-4, Dec., 1563) declared: "Since the power of
granting indulgences has been given to the Church by
Christ, and since the Church from the earliest times
has made use of this Divinely given power, the holy
synod teaches and ordains that the use of indul-
gences, as most salutary to Christians and as ap-
proved by the authority of the councils, shall be
retained m the Church; and it further pronounces
anathema against those who either declare that in-
dulgences are useless or deny that the Church has
the power to grant them " (Enchiridion, 989). It is
therefore of faith (1) that the Church has received
from Christ the power to grant indulgences, and (2)
that the use of indulgences is salutarj' for the faithful.
Basis of the Doctrine. — An essential element in
indulgences is the application to one person of
the satisfaction performed by others. This transfer
is based on: (1) TJie Communion of Saints. — "We
being many, are one body in Christ, and every one
members one of another" (Rom., xii, 5). As each
organ shares in the life of the whole body, so does
each of the faithful profit by the prayers and good
works of all the rest — a benefit which accrues, in
the first instance, to those who are in the state of
grace, but also, though less fully, to the sinful mem-
bers. (2) The Principle of Vicarious Satisfaction. —
Each good action of the just man possesses a double
value: that of merit and that of satisfaction, or ex-
piation. Merit is personal, and therefore it cannot be
transferred; but satisfaction can be applied toothers,
as St. Paul writes to the Colossians (i, 24) of his own
works: "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up those things that are wanting of the suffer-
ings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the
Church." (See S.\Ti8FACTiON.) (3) The Treasury of
the CA i/rc/i .—Christ , as St. John declares in his First
Epistle (ii, 2), "is the propitiation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for those of the whole
world." Since the satisfaction of Christ is infinite,
it constitutes an inexhaustible fund which is more
than sufficient to cover the indebtedness contracted
by sin. Besides, there are the satisfactory works of
the Blessed Virgin Marj' undiminished by any pen-
alty due to sin, and the virtues, penances, and suffer-
ings of the saints vastly exceeding any temporal pun-
ishment which these servants of God might nave
incurred. These are added to the treasury of the
Church as a secondary deposit, not independent of,
but rather acquired through, the merits of Christ.
The development of this doctrine in explicit form was
the work of the great Schoolmen, notably Alexander
of Hales (Summa, IV, Q. xxiii, m. 3, n. 6), Albertus
Magnus (In IV Sent., dist. xx, art. 16), and St.
Thomas (In IV Sent., dist. xx, q. i, art. 3, sol. 1). As
Aquinas declares (Quodlib., II, q. vii, art. 16): "All
the saints intended that whatever they did or suf-
fered for God's sake should be profitable not only to
themselves but to the whole Church." And he fur-
ther points out (Contra Gent., Ill, 158) that what
one endures for another, being a work of love, is more
acceptable as satisfaction in God's sight than what
one suffers on one's own account, since this is a mat-
ter of necessity. The existence of an infinite treas-
ury of merits in the Church is dogmatically set forth
in the Bull "Unigenitus ", published by Clement VI,
27 Jan., 1343, and later inserted in the "Corpus
Juris" (Extrav. Com., lib. V, tit. ix, c. ii): "Upon the
altar of the Cross", says the pope, "Christ shed of His
blood not merely a drop, though this would have suf-
ficed, liy reason of the union with the Word, to re-
deem the whole human race, but a copious torrent
. . . thereby laying up an infinite treasure for man-
kind. This treasure He neither wrapped up in a
napkin nor hid in a field, but entrusted to Blessed
Peter, the key-bearer, and his successors, that they
