Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/863

 INDULGENCES

783

INDULGENCES

With the progress of the physical sciences in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the attention of logicians was concentrated almost exclusively on the application of the inductive method to the dis- covery and proof of the laws of nature; and at the present time its philosophical foundations are giving rise to considerable discussion.

Joyce, Principles of Lofiw (Loudon. 1908): Joseph, .471 In- troduction to Z/Offic (Oxford, 1909); V^'Euroii, Man lull of Logic, II (London, 1901): Venn, Empirical Logic (London, 190S): Mill, Logic (London, 1884); Mellone, Introductory Text-Book of Logic (Edinburt^li, 1905): treatis&s on logic by Sigwart, BosANQUET, V'eitch, Fowler, etc. ; Mercier, Logique (Lou- vain, 1902): Idem, Induction scienlifique et induction complete in Revue Neo-Scolastique (May, 1900) : Laurie in Mind, vol. II, new series, 326 sqq.; Roberts, ibid., new series, No. 71, Oct. 1909.

P. Coffey.

Indulgences. — The word indulgence (Lat. indul- gentiii. from indulgeo, to be kind or tender) originally meant kindness or favour; in post-classic Latin it came to mean the remission of a tax or debt. In Ro- man law and in the Vulgate of the Old Testament (Is., Ixi, 1 ) it was used to express release from captivity or punishment. In theological language also the word is sometimes employed in its primary sense to signify the kindness and mercy of Ciod. But in the special sense in which it is here considered, an indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven. Among the equiv- alent terms used in antiquity were pax, remissio, donatio, condonatio.

WH.A.T AN Indulgence is not. — To faciUtate e.x- planation, it may be well to state what an indulgence is not. It is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin; neither could be granted by any power. It is not the forgiveness of the guilt of sin; it supposes that the sin has already been forgiven. It is not an exemption from any law or duty, and much less from the obligation consequent on certain kinds of sin, e.g., restitution; on the contrary, it means a more complete payment of the debt which the sinner owes to God. It does not confer immunity from temptation or remove the possibility of subsequent lapses into sin. Least of all is an indulgence the pur- chase of a pardon which secures the buyer's salvation or releases the soul of another from Purgatory. The absurdity of such notions must be obvious to any one who forms a correct idea of what the Catholic Church really teaches on this subject.

Wh.\t an Indulgence is. — An indulgence is the extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punish- ment due, in God's justice, to sin that has been for- given, which remission is granted by the Church in the exercise of the power of the keys, through the ap- plication of the superabundant merits of Christ and of the saints, and for some just and reasonable mo- tive. Regarding this definition, the following points are to be noted: (1) In the Sacrament of Baptism not only is the guilt of sin remitted, but also all the pen- alties attached to sin. In the Sacrament of Penance the guilt of sin is removed, and with it the eternal punishment due to mortal sin; but there still remains the temporal punishment required by Divine ju.s- tice, and this requirement must be fulfilled either in the present life or in the world to come, i. e., in Pur- gatory (q. v.). An indulgence offers the penitent sinner the means of discharging this debt during his life on earth. (2) Some writs of indulgence — none of them, however, issued by any pope or council (Pesch, Tr. Dogm., VII, 196, §464)— contain the expression, "indulgentia a culpa et a poena", i. e. release from guilt and from punishment; and this has occasioned considerable misunderstanding (cf. Lea, "History" etc. Ill, 54 sqq.). The real meaning of the formula is that, indulgences presupposing the Sacrament of Penance, the penitent, after receiving sacramental absolution from the guilt of sin, is after- wards freed from the temporal penalty by the indul-

gence (Bellarmine, "De Indulg"., I, 7). In other words, sin is fully pardoned, i. e. its effects entirely obliterated, only when complete reparation, and con- sequently release from penalty as well as from guilt, has been made. Hence Clement V (1305-1314) con- demned the practice of those purveyors of indul- gences who pretended to absolve "a culpa et a poena" (Clement, I, v, tit. 9,c. ii); the Council of Constance (1418) revoked (Sess. XLII, n. 14) all indulgences containing the said formula; Benedict XIV (1740- 1758) treats them as spurious indulgences granted in this form, which he ascribes to the illicit practices of the "quEestores" or purveyors (De Syn. dioeces., VIII, viii. 7). (3) The satisfaction, usually called the "penance ", imposed by the confessor when he gives absolution is an integral part of the Sacrament of Penance ; an indulgence is ext ra-sacrament al ; it pre- supposes the effects obtained by confession, contrition, and sacramental satisfaction. It differs also from the penitential works undertaken of his own accord by the repentant sinner — prayer, fasting, alms-giving — in that these are personal and get their value from the merit of him who performs them, whereas an indul- gence places at the penitent's disposal the merits of Christ and of the saints, which form the "Treasury " of the Church. (4) .\n indulgence is valid both in the tribunal of the Church and in the tribunal of God. This means that it not only releases the penitent from his indebtedness to the Church or from the obligation of performing canonical penance, but also from the temporal punishment which he has incurred in the sight of God and which, without the indulgence, he would have to undergo in order to satisfy Divine jus- tice. This, however, does not imply that the Church pretends to set aside the claim of God's justice or that she allows the sinner to repudiate his debt. As St. Thomas says (Suppl., xxv. a. 1 ad 2um), "He who gains indulgences is not thereby released outright from what he owes as penalty, but is provided with the means of paying it. " The Church therefore neither leaves the penitent helplessly in debt nor ac- quits him of all further accounting; she enables him to meet his obligations. (5) In granting an indul- gence, the grantor (pope or bishop) does not offer his personal merits in lieu of what God demands from the sinner. He acts in his official capacity as having jurisdiction in the Church, from whose spiritual treas- ury he draws the means wherewith payment is to be made. The Church herself is not the absolute owner, but simply the administratrix, of the superabundant merits which that treasury contains. In applying them, she keeps in view both the design of God's mercy and the demands of God's justice. She there- fore determines the amount of each concession, as well as the conditions which the penitent must fulfil if he would gain the indulgence.

Various Kinds of Indulgences. — An indulgence that may be gained in any part of the world is universal, while one that can be gained only in a specified place (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.) is local. A further distinc- tion is that between perpetual indulgences, which may be gained at any time, and temporary.which are avail- able on certain days only, or within certain periods. Real indulgences are attached to the use of cer- tain objects (crucifix, rosary, medal); personal are those which do not require the use of any such ma- terial thing, or which are granted only to a certain class of individuals, e. g. members of an order or con- fraternity. The most important distinction, how- ever, is that between plenary indulgences and partial. By a plenary indulgence is meant the remission of the entire temporal punishment due to sin so that no fur- ther expiation is required in Purgatory. A partial indulgence commutes only a certain portion of the penalty; and this portion is determined in accordance with the penitential discipline of the early Church. To say that an indulgence of so many days or years is