is to be observed as for the visits. Hence, if the condition limits the visit to some particular church, then, besides making the visit, the prayers must be said in that church. If any one desires to gain several plenary indulgences on the same day, and a visit is prescribed for each one of the indulgences, the prayers must be said, as often as a visit is made, for each of the separate indulgences.
Finally, any person who receives communion in the church which is to be visited, and there offers up pious prayers to God, on the day appointed for the gaining of an indulgence, is to be considered as having satisfied both the obligation of visiting the church, and that of praying according to the conditions prescribed.
But the most important condition for gaining a plenary indulgence is to have a true hatred for all sins, even venial, and to be wholly free from any attachment to them. This condition is absolutely necessary; for, as St. Alphonsus teaches, “it is certain that, so long as the guilt of venial sin is not remitted, the punishment due to it cannot be remitted.” So that, whilst the soul bears the guilt of a single little venial sin, or even any actual attachment to such sin, it is clear that it cannot obtain the total remission of its punishment, or, in other words, a plenary indulgence; for a plenary indulgence is nothing more nor less than the complete remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, of which the guilt has been already remitted. Hence the great importance, for those who desire to gain a plenary
