Plenary Indulgences
Question from Tom Mallonee on 6/30/2008:
What are the requirements to receive an indulgence?Please describe the time requirements as far as sacramental confession for the indulgence to be valid. Thank you
Answer by Rev. Mark J. Gantley, JCL on 6/30/2008:
The conditions for a plenary indulgence is as follows:
1. Exclusion of all attachment to sin (i.e., there is no sin that a person is not willing to renounce)
2. Sacramental confession (one sacramental confession can cover the requirement for several plenary indulgences; the confession should happen within several days before or after the indulgenced work)
3. Reception of Holy Communion
4. Prayer for the intentions of the pope (these are regularly announced, but an intention to pray for his intentions is adequate even if a person is not explicitly mindful of the exact announced intention; one Our Father and one Hail Mary satisfies this condition, although other prayers may be used instead)
5. Completion of the indulgenced work (certain prayers, work of charity, acts of penance), ordinarily on the same day as the reception of Holy Communion and the prayer for the pope
I seemed to have gotten the question of "how many days" is "several." The norms do not give an exact number. Certainly, a month is more than several days, but several could be more than three days.
Question from Tom Mallonee on 6/30/2008:
What are the requirements to receive an indulgence?Please describe the time requirements as far as sacramental confession for the indulgence to be valid. Thank you
Answer by Rev. Mark J. Gantley, JCL on 6/30/2008:
The conditions for a plenary indulgence is as follows:
1. Exclusion of all attachment to sin (i.e., there is no sin that a person is not willing to renounce)
2. Sacramental confession (one sacramental confession can cover the requirement for several plenary indulgences; the confession should happen within several days before or after the indulgenced work)
3. Reception of Holy Communion
4. Prayer for the intentions of the pope (these are regularly announced, but an intention to pray for his intentions is adequate even if a person is not explicitly mindful of the exact announced intention; one Our Father and one Hail Mary satisfies this condition, although other prayers may be used instead)
5. Completion of the indulgenced work (certain prayers, work of charity, acts of penance), ordinarily on the same day as the reception of Holy Communion and the prayer for the pope
I seemed to have gotten the question of "how many days" is "several." The norms do not give an exact number. Certainly, a month is more than several days, but several could be more than three days.
The Holy Father recently proclaimed that a pilgrim to Rome during the Pauline Year would be entitled to a Plenary Indulgence by visiting the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. In order to complete the indulgence, must a Pilgrim to the Basilica of St. Paul receive Holy Communion while there or can that be done at another time? The tour I'll be taking may not bring us to the Basilica during Mass not permitting us to do both at the same time.
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