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Indulgences

The word indulgence is uniquely Catholic. Most Protestants understand indulgence to

mean forgiveness of sin or a way to get someone out of hell. Protestants believe that indulgences

are sold or that they were done away with in response to the Protestant Reformation1. Still, others

believe that one cannot enter heaven without an indulgence applied to them. These common

myths concerning indulgences stem from the rift between Catholic and Protestant doctrines that

indulgences are built upon, specifically sin, confession, penance, Purgatory, and communion of

Saints. The doctrines of sin, confession, and communion of saints vary greatly between the two

camps, while penance and Purgatory has no Protestant counterpart. Therefore, in order to

understand indulgences, one must have a sound Catholic understanding of these five

foundational doctrines.

An indulgence is defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as “a remission before

God of the temporal punishment [penance] due to sins [sin] who's guilt has already been

forgiven [confession] ... Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead [purgatory and

communion of saints]” (CCC 1471). As delineated in brackets, many other doctrines are

contained within indulgences. After briefly explaining these encapsulated doctrines, the doctrine

of indulgences will be examined. Scripture quotations will be from the New American Standard

Bible, except for Second Maccabees. It seems appropriate to start with sin, as that began all of

our problems in the first place.

1 While Luther originally intended to reform the Church, his personal doctrines and

those of his Protestant colleagues ostensibly diverged so far from those of the Catholic faith

during the course of the Reformation that separation became the only visible course. Thus,

what is commonly known as the “Protestant Reformation” might more accurately be

described as the Protestant Revolution.

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Sin can be categorized by many properties, but division by gravity (divine severity) is

most important. According to traditional Catholic understanding, all sins are either mortal (grave)

or venial. Venial sin weakens charity (CCC 1863) and is humanly reparable; no priestly

absolution of guilt is necessary to persevere or maintain a state of grace. Mortal sin, however,

results in the loss of charity and sanctifying grace, placing one in a state of sin, which results in

eternal punishment: Hell (CCC 1861). Redemption is possible only through the sacrament of

reconciliation.

The sacrament of reconciliation is also known as the sacrament of conversion, penance,

forgiveness, or confession (CCC 1423, 1424). Why not confess directly to God, instead of

indirectly through a priest? Because Catholic doctrine holds that personal confession with

Church authority is the will of Jesus, as laid out in the Gospels: “As the Father has sent Me, I

also send you … If you [the apostles] forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven; if you

retain the sins of any, they have been retained” (John 20:23). The twelve apostles (with Matthias

replacing Judas Iscariot) were the first bishops of the Church, who traveled extensively to

establish the early Church - St. Mark working in Egypt, St. Peter in Rome, etc. As the Church

grew, the rite of confession was quickly conferred upon priests to facilitate the reconciliation of

the faithful.

With the sacrament of reconciliation, the penitent undergoes contrition, confession, and

satisfaction (CCC 1448). Contrition, “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed,

together with the resolution not to sin again” (CCC 1451), is either perfect (complete) or

imperfect (attrition). Attrition occurs when the fear of penalties engenders the sorrow (CCC

1452, 1453).
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During confession, the priest absolves the penitent's confessed sins. In God’s justice,

however, sin requires satisfaction, or reparation via temporal punishment. King David had an

affair with a loyal citizen’s wife, and in the process David had the husband killed on the

battlefield. After confessing his sin to the prophet Nathan, the emissary of God absolves the

penitent King of his sins: “Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has taken away your sin; you

shall not die’” (II Samuel 12:13). But satisfaction still remained: “However … the child also

born that is born to you shall surely die” (II Samuel 12:14).

After the priest absolves the penitent of the confessed sins, a penance, consisting of

prayers, fasting, or charitable deeds, is given for the confessant to perform. This penance is the

temporal punishment due and satisfies the sin upon completion.

But one must be pure to enter Heaven. Venial sins are less serious sins, entailing an

“unhealthy attachment to creatures” (CCC 1472) that must be removed before one enters heaven.

Venial sins do not need to be absolved by a priest, though they may be confessed and absolved if

desired. If these venial sins are not satisfied on earth, they will be satisfied in purgatory.

Purgatory is a process of purification after death (Hanna 3). Every soul in purgatory will

ultimately enter into heaven. St. Paul describes this process in I Corinthians 3:11-15. A man,

building upon the foundation of Christ, layers gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw.

These materials represent the man’s deeds. After he dies, the man’s righteous acts – works that

give life to his faith (James 2:17) – symbolized by the gold, silver, and precious stones, remain.

But the sins represented by wood, hay, and straw are consumed by a cleansing fire. “But [the

man] shall be saved, yet so as through fire.” The early Church father Origen equates bringing

wood, straw, and hay into heaven with defiling the kingdom of God (Hanna 5). Fortunately, the
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souls in purgatory are not completely isolated; Christians on earth are able to assist their fellow

brothers and sisters in Christ through this purification process.

“I believe … in the communion of saints,” the ninth article of the Apostle’s Creed (Sollier

1), is a statement of the breadth of the Church2. The Church consists of the Church militant

(faithful pilgrims on earth), the Church suffering (souls in Purgatory), and the Church triumphant

(blessed in heaven) (Joyce 2). All are members of the one body of Christ. “For by one Spirit we

were all baptized into one body … But God has so composed the body … that there should be no

division in the body (I Corinthians 12:13, 25) .” Also, “[God] is not the God of the dead but of

the living” (Matthew 22:32). As such, just as one can pray for a friend, the faithful can intercede

for fellow Christians in Purgatory. One vehicle of intercession is indulgences.

As stated before, an indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment

due to sins who's guilt has already been forgiven” (CCC 1471). The overriding aim of

indulgences is not merely to aid the souls in Purgatory, but to raise the fervor of charity in the

hearts of the Church militant (CCC 1478). The act of performing this charity will improve the

Christian’s spiritual demeanor, no matter whom he chooses to impart the indulgence towards.

Everyone benefits.

Thus, the person who actually gains an indulgence may not necessarily receive it.

Indulgences may be applied to oneself or to another soul in Purgatory. They are extra-

sacramental, meaning indulgences presuppose the sacrament of confession has already taken

place, and thus do not forgive sins. They must be used upon receipt, which bars them from being

hoarded for future sins. An indulgence does not replace material restitution, such as

2 “Church” is capitalized by Catholics because it is a reference to Christ's indivisible body, as

well as a visible, hierarchical institution with specific privileges and authority granted by Jesus,

made up of local parishes.

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compensating for recklessly damaged property. And finally, indulgences have no effect on the

souls in hell, as they do not remit eternal punishment (Kent 1).

Indulgences and Purgatory have their roots in traditional Jewish belief. Second

Maccabees 12:38-46 recalls how Judas Maccabees and the army of Israel went to gather their

slain brethren from the battlefield. Judas discovered the fallen Israelites wearing idol amulets.

Because of this, he praised God for His supreme justice, but “took up a collection among all his

soldiers … which he sent to Jerusalem as an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very

excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view … thus he

made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.”

An indulgence is either partial or plenary, that is, removing some or all of a sinner's

temporal punishment. To receive any indulgence, one must be in a state of grace (having no

unconfessed mortal sins). To gain even a partial indulgence, one must intend to receive an

indulgence and perform the prescribed act(s) with a contrite heart (Myths 4).

To gain a plenary indulgence, one must additionally receive the sacrament of

reconciliation, the sacrament of the Eucharist, and pray for the Pope’s intentions. Also, one must

be free from all attachment to sin, including venial sins. If one attempts a plenary indulgence but

retains any attachments, a partial indulgence is gained. Up to one plenary indulgence may be

gained each day (Myths 4). Only the Pope can grant plenary indulgences. Also, the Church has

no jurisdiction over the dead (Kent 3), so an indulgence offered for a soul in Purgatory is not

guaranteed to be applied to that specific person; that is up to God's mercy and divine justice.

However, the indulgence will be applied to another soul in Purgatory, if not to the intended

recipient.
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Some licit acts that can gain a plenary indulgence on any given day include reciting the

rosary in a church, oratory, or religious community, or reading Scripture for thirty minutes. A

partial indulgence is gained when Christians devotedly sign themselves with the cross while

saying “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” (Myths 4).

In the past, partial indulgences were rated in days or years to signify the amount of effort

that was expended in gaining it (Myths 3). This nomenclature was confusing to some, who

thought the time referred to how much a soul’s stay in purgatory was reduced. Today, a partial

indulgence is effective proportional to the fervor of the deeds performed (Kent 2).

Certain abuses of indulgences were addressed long before Martin Luther was born. In

1215, the Fourth Council of Lateran limited the efficacy of an indulgence to one year for parish

dedications and forty days for parish anniversaries. The Council of Ravenna passed similar

legislation in 1317. Pope Boniface IX also condemned those who outright falsified writs of

indulgences to pilfer peasants in 1392 (Kent 8). Early Writs of Indulgences contained the

expression “a culpa et a poena” or “release from guilt and punishment.” This statement led some

to think that an indulgence replaced confession and penance. Since an indulgence presupposes

the sacrament of confession, this could not be true. To eliminate confusion, the Council of

Constance (1418) removed this phrase (Kent 1).

The construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome gave birth to the most famous

indulgence abuse. The Dominican monk Johann Tetzel was dispatched as a preacher of

indulgences (“pardoner”) to Juterbog, Germany. Almsgiving has always been a charitable deed

commanded of all Christians by Scriptures (Matthew 6:2), and thus, was one of the many

charitable deeds that could gain a person an indulgence. A natural orator and fundraiser (Ganss

6), Tetzel coined the jingle “As soon as the gold in the casket rings, the rescued soul to heaven
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springs” (Ganss 2), encouraging indulgences through monetary donation for the basilica

construction project. This specific corruption of the Church's teachings was noted poignantly by

Martin Luther, who nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of the local parish shortly after

Tetzel came. Thesis number twenty-seven references Tetzel’s jingle and theses numbers fifty and

eighty-six refer to St. Peter’s Basilica (Luther 1). Luther’s theses did not condemn indulgences,

but rather the implementation and erroneous preaching that surrounded the doctrine. Thesis

number forty-nine proves this, where Luther calls indulgences “useful” (Luther 2).

It is important to note that indulgences were never for sale (Myths 2). Though they could

be obtained via donations, contrition of heart and the other previously outlined conditions were

always required for them to be valid. However, history proved this distinction to be too thin a

line. The Council of Trent, called to address the Reformation, enacted reforms culminating in

1567 with Pope Pius V canceling all grants of indulgences involving financial transactions

(Kents 10). Today, almsgiving is no longer one of the charitable deeds that can be performed to

gain an indulgence.

Thus, after the Reformation, only two significant changes were made to the doctrine of

indulgences: (1) removing almsgiving as a viable deed and (2) removing the designation of days

on indulgences. The foundational doctrines of indulgences – confession, temporal punishment,

purgatory, and praying for the dead – are part of the Traditions of Catholicism and are not subject

to change by a council or Pope. That little reunification between Protestants and Catholics has

transpired suggests that although the abuse of indulgences began the Protestant Revolution, the

fundamental disagreement has more to do with Church authority.

Works Cited
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“Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).” 2000. Vatican. 2 July 2008

<http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM>.

Ganss, Henry. “Johann Tetzel.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 14. New York: Robert Appleton

Company, 1910. 14 Jul 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14539a.htm>.

Ganss, Henry. “Martin Luther.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 9. New York: Robert Appleton

Company, 1910. 14 Jul 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09438b.htm>.

Hanna, Edward. “Purgatory.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 12. New York: Robert Appleton

Company, 1910. 14 Jul 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm>.

Joyce, George. “The Church.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 3. New York: Robert Appleton

Company, 1910. 14 Jul 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm>.

Kent, William. “Indulgences.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 7. New York: Robert Appleton

Company, 1910. 14 Jul 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm>.

Luther, Martin. “Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of

Indulgences.” 1517. Project Wittenberg. 2 July 2008.

<http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html>.

“Myths about Indulgences”. 2004. Catholic Answers. 2 July 2008.

<http://www.catholic.com/library/Myths_About_Indulgences.asp>.

New American Bible. Wichita, KS: Devore and Sons, Inc., 1987.

New American Standard Bible. Ed. Spiros Zodhiates. Chattanooga, TN: AMG International, Inc.,

1990.

Sollier, Joseph. “The Communion of Saints.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 4. New York:

Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 14 Jul 2008

<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04171a.htm>.