Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/868

 INDULGENCES

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INDULGENCES

that "with the decline in the financial possibilities of the system, indulgences have greatly multiplied as an incentive to spiritual exercises, and they can thus be so easily obtained that there is no danger of the recur- rence of the old abuses, even if the finer sense of fit- ness, characteristic of modern times, on the part of both prelates and people, did not deter the attempt." The full significance, however, of this "multiplica- tion " lies in the fact that the Church, by rooting out abuses, has shown the vigour of her spiritual life. She has maintained the practice of indulgences, because, when these are used in accordance with what she pre- scribes, they strengthen the spiritual life by inducing the faithful to approach the sacraments and to purify their consciences of sin. And further, they encourage the performance, in a truly religious spirit, of works that redound, not alone to the welfare of the individual, but also to God's glory and to the service of the neigh- bour.

Bellarmine, De indulgentiis (Cologne, 1600) ; Passerini,

De indulgentiis (Rome. 1672); Amort, De origine indut-

genliarum (Venice. 17.38); Bouvier. Traite dogmatique et pratique des indulgences (Paris. 1855) ; Schoofh, Die Lehre vom fciTchl. Ablass (^Iunste^, 1857); Grone. Der Atdnss, seine Gesch. u. liedeuiung (Ratisbon. 1863); AIelata, Manuale de Indulgentiis (Rome. 1892); Lepicier. Indulgences, their Origin, Nature antl Dei'elopment (London. 1895); Mocchegiani. Col- lectio indulgentifiruni (Quaracchi. lS97); "K-VR?,, Die katholische Lehre vom Abhis.'< (Paderliom, 1900); Beringer. Die Ablas.te, ihr Wesen u. (/el'nmch (Paderborn, 1900; French tr. Paris. 1905); Lea, A History of Auricular Confession owl Intlulgences (Philadelphia, 1896); Baumgarten, Lea's //i^/-»ri'fv// Writings (New York, 1909); Kent, Dr. Lea's History of In/lulircnces in Dublin Review (.July, 1897); Boudinhon. Hur Vhistoire des indulgences a propos d'un Here recent (Lea) in Rev. d'histoire et de lilt, relig.. Ill, 1898.

W. H. Kent.

Indulgences, Apostolic. — The indulgences known as Apostolic or Apostolical are those which the Roman pontiff, the successor of the Prince of the Apostles, attaches to the crosses, crucifixes, chaplets, rosaries, images, and medals which he bles.ses, either with his own hand or by those to whom he has dele- gated this faculty. The principles set forth in the general article on indulgences apply here also. But since these Apostolic indidgences are among the most frequent and abundant of those now in u.se throughout the Church, they seem to require a separate antl more detailed treatment. As the name implies, they are indulgences granted by the pope himself. Some of them, as will be seen from the subjoined list, are plenary, and others are partial imlulgences. It maybe observed that the possession of the cross or medal or other indulgenced object is not the sole or immediate condition for gaining the indulgences attached there- to by the blessing of the Holy Father or his delegate. But the possession enables the recipient to gain the various indulgences on the performance of certain prescribed good works or acts of piety. In this re- spect the possession of the object may be regarded as analogous to the local or personal limitation of other indulgences. For in blessing the objects presented to him, the Holy Father thereby grants the indul- gences, not to all the faithful indiscriminately, but to certain persons, to wit the actual or prospective possessors of these crosses, medals, etc., which may thus be regarded as the marks or tokens distinguishing those persons to whom this special privilege is given. At the same time, since it is open to all the faithful to obtain such blessed objects, especially now, when the faculty for giving this blessing is so readily granted to the clergy throtighout the world, the Apostolic indulgences can hardly be reckoned with those that are merely local or personal.

Altho\igh the popes have been in the habit of granting indulgences from a much earlier date, some of them having an analogous limitation or connexion with the holding or wearing of a blessed object, the Apostolic indulgences, as we now know them, date only from the year 1587 — just a lifetime after the

publication of Luther's famous theses against indul- gences. And a curious interest attaches to the fir.st origin of this familiar practice. Before that date popes had simply blessed medals or other objects presented to them for that purpose. But as Pope Sixtus V sets forth in his Bull "Laudemus viros gloriosos" (1 December, 15.S7), the workmen engaged in his restoration and adornment of the Lateran Basilica, in pulling down some very old walls, had accidentally brought to light a number of ancient coins bearing on one side a cross and on the other the like- ness of one or other of the early Christian emperors. This remarkable discovery led the pontiff, in accord- ance with the opening words of his Bull, to sing the praises of those old rulers of Christendom, such as Constantine, Theodosius, and Marcianus. And, by a happy thought, he made their old coins again pass current, though bearing, as befitted their new life, not an earthly but a heavenly and spiritual value. In other words, he granted a number of indulgences, on the performance of certain pious works, to all who became possessors of the old coins enriched with this new blessing. The list of special indiilgences set forth in this Bull as thus attached to those coins of the Christian emperors is the first instance of the Apos- tolic indulgences which the popes now attach to the medals, etc. presented for their benediction. It must not be supposed, however, that the Apostolical indul- gences, now so generally given in this familiar man- ner, are in all respects the same as those granted on this special occasion by Pope Sixtus V. A com- parison of the aforesaid Bull " Laudemus viros glorio- sos" with the list in the instruction annexed to the customary faculty for blessing rosaries etc., attaching indulgences thereto, will show many points of differ- ence, both in the extent of the indulgences and in the good works prescribed as conditions for gaining them. And it will be found, as might have been anticipated, that in some cases the indulgences given in the Sixtine Bull are more abundant than the others. In at least one important point both lists arc in agreement. Thus it will be .seen that in both cases a plenary indul- gence may be gained by those who devoutly invoke the Holy Name of Jesus at the hour of death (in mortis artictili)). But, on the other hand, the plenary indulgence for confession and Communion which the possessors of the Lateran coins could apparently gain on any day can only be gained by holders of ordinary indulgenced ol)jccts on certain great festivals, and that on the fixed condition of reciting certain prayers. In like manner the partial indulgences granted in the Sixtine Bull are in some cases as much as two or three Inmdred years; none of these in the motlern lists are higher than seven years and .seven (piarantines (or spaces of forty days); and others are no more than one hundred days or fifty days.

The following list gives the indulgences now at- tached to chaplets, crosses, and medals blessed by the Holy Father or by any priest holding the delegated facullas bendiccndi ciirnna.s, cruces el sacra niimismata: —

(1) A plenary indulgence, to be gained by all who .shall recite at least once a week the chaplet of Our Lord, or that of the Bles.scd Virgin, or thero.sary, orthe third part thereof, or the Divine Office, or the Little Office of the Bles.sed Virgin, or the Office of the Dead, or the Seven Penitential Psalms, or the Gradual Psalms; or who shall teach the rudiments of the Faith, or visit those who are in prison or in a hospital, or succour the poor, or hear or say Mass, if being truly contrite and having confessed to a priest approved by the bishop, they receive the Holy Eucharist on any one of the following days, to wit: Christmas, the Epiphany, Easter, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Purification, Annunciation, Assumption, Nativity, and Immacu- late Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the feasts of St. John the Baptist and the Apostles Peter and Paul,