If there was a top ten list of most misunderstood Catholic teachings, indulgences would easily make the list. Thanks to a checkered history and polemics from those outside the Church, indulgences have become a source of embarrassment for many modern Catholics. Can anything good come out of the Middle Ages? Added on top of the embarrassment is that the practice has been largely ignored in the western areas of the Church.  

With such a one-sided start, let’s address the negativity with a definition by negation, from the Catholic Encyclopedia article on indulgences: 

“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… Least of all is an indulgence the purchase of a pardon which secures the buyer's salvation or releases the soul of another from Purgatory.” 

Indulgences are acts of charity, acts of piety, works of mercy, and works of penance. Those are all good things that increase our holiness, benefit others, and build up the Body of Christ. I urge anyone in or near the “embarrassment camp” to rest assured: the Church’s teaching on this matter gets clearer the further we distance ourselves from the polemics and caricatures.  

To get a full explanation of indulgences, we need to touch on sin, the Mystical Body of Christ, and purgatory (also on that top ten most misunderstood list). Provided below are some points to provide the basis of the teaching, further illustrate the history and practice, distinguish between the types of indulgences, and how to gain them. I hope this will be a source of information, but more so of inspiration. 

Indulgences in General

There are two types of indulgences: partial and plenary. A plenary indulgence wipes away all of the temporal effects of sin up unto that point—there are no “get out of purgatory free” cards that wipe out future temporal effects of sin.  

A partial indulgence works out an indeterminate amount of temporal punishment. In the centuries leading up to the Second Vatican Council, partial indulgences had a number of days or years off in Purgatory attached to them. This was simply meant to as a measurement of the act. I do not know if there was ever a formula, but the numbered days and years gave the faithful some indication of the weight and meaning of their works of faith. This led to some confusion. Pope St. Paul VI did away with that somewhat confusing practice in his 1967 encyclical Indulgentiarum Doctrina, noting that the degree of charity could either increase or decrease the effect of the partial indulgence—making it difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. This should further emphasize that indulgenced acts require love on our part; for all her Christ-given power, the Church is not a vending machine of grace. We have to cooperate with the grace given to us by God through the Church.  

If there was a recipe for an indulgence, the first ingredient is the authority of the Catholic Church to bind and loose; this was given to the apostles by Christ Himself and passed on to the successors of the apostles. The Church really does have the authority to forgive sins in persona Christi. 

The second ingredient of an indulgence is charity on the part of the person doing it. Anyone using an indulgence transactionally with no authentic charity is abusing this ministry of the Church and will not receive the indulgence.

The final ingredients are the acts of devotion themselves. These vary depending on the act or whether there is a particular feast day with a unique observance (for example, the All Souls indulgences; see below).  

The Wages of Sin is Death

There is one more important piece to the indulgence discussion: sin. Sin has two effects: first, the eternal punishment. Our communion with God is harmed; in the case of mortal sin, this communion is broken. The second effect is a temporal punishment. That is, even seemingly insignificant sins have an effect on us; they leave wounds as well as attachments to vice and the things of this world.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, after describing these two effects, is careful to put them in the proper context. “These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin” (CCC #1472). It bears repeating, for without this point, the whole reason behind salvation and the forgiveness of sins is lost. By its nature, sin harms, divides, and destroys.  

One of the common analogies to explain the two effects of sin is a broken window. In an imaginary scenario, I throw a rock and break my neighbor’s window. Even with the neighbor's forgiveness, there is still broken glass all over the lawn and a broken window to replace. Sin, like the window, needs healing on the temporal side of things even after God forgives us.  

How do we receive healing from the eternal punishment of sin? This happens in a few ways. The eternal punishments of venial sin can be forgiven in confession or by reception of the Eucharist. An important note: mortal sins must be forgiven in confession before receiving Holy Communion. It is further sin to receive Holy Communion while not in a state of grace. Healing from the temporal punishment of sin can come through works of mercy and acts of charity which can be applied to ourselves or for the benefit of others.

While we cannot force anyone to ask forgiveness of God, we can offer works of charity on their behalf. Using the broken window analogy, my brother can offer to clean up the broken glass and replace the window for me as an act of brotherly love and support. Similarly, we can offer our prayers and indulgences on behalf of the holy souls in Purgatory.  

The Definition & the Documents

With the “recipe” and the definition of sin as a foundation, the Catechism’s definition of an indulgence will read more intelligible: 

"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.” CCC #1471

A few important, if seemingly obvious, notes. First, the sin is already forgiven. Trying to satisfy the requirements of an indulgence is not a Pelagian effort to bypass repentance. Second, a person trying to gain an indulgence needs to be baptized and in a state of grace. Practices that spur us onto holiness are right and just no matter our life situation, whether in mortal sin or not. For an indulgence, however, the state of grace is mandatory.   

The Vatican-published manual that has all the information on indulgences is called the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, or Manual of Indulgences. It lists the types of indulgences and what practices can be done to obtain them. In recent memory, it was revised in 1968 by Pope St. Paul VI and again by Pope St. John Paul II in 1999.  

Low Hanging Spiritual Fruit

The 1999 Manual of Indulgences lists four “grants” for partial indulgences. Again, this is best read as ‘good spiritual things to do have a positive effect on our holiness and the Body of Christ.’

“A partial indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful, who… 

1. while carrying out their duties and enduring the hardships of life, raise their minds in humble trust to God and make, at least mentally, some pious invocation.

2. led by the spirit of faith, give compassionately of themselves or of their goods to serve their brothers in need.

3. in a spirit of penance, voluntarily abstain from something that is licit for and pleasing to them.

4. in the particular circumstances of daily life, voluntarily give explicit witness to their faith before others.”

The Manual gives a number of examples, I encourage every reader to look it up for inspiration (starts on pg. 28). 

Getting a Plenary Indulgence

Plenary indulgences remit a person’s entire temporal punishment due to sin when the following four conditions are met: 

1. Reception of Holy Communion

2. Sacramental Confession

3. Prayers for the Holy Father – this can be satisfied with prayers of our own liking and devotion (see Norm 20 §5).  The Manual suggests an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Apostles’ Creed, unless other prayers have been specified

4. The person must be detached from every sin, even venial ones (this is the hard part).  If one is not detached from sin, the indulgence shifts from a plenary to a partial.  And, honestly, God is the only one that can make this judgment

Holy Communion and prayers for the Holy Father should be done on the same day; confession is sometimes more difficult to schedule. I’ve seen some priests having a limit on going to confession within 8 days; others have said 20 days. The Manual of Indulgences only specifies that it can be done “several days” before or after.  

We can earn a limit of one plenary indulgence per day in ordinary circumstances, aside from instances of death. And one confession can account for multiple indulgences! 

Here’s one of the best parts: easy plenary indulgences (see pg. 40 of the Manual). Alongside the four conditions mentioned above, the faithful can earn a plenary indulgence for: 

adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour, piously making the Way of the Cross, saying the rosary in common, and devoutly reading Sacred Scripture for half an hour.   These are all bedrock practices of a good spiritual life.  

For one of the indulgences with greatest effect, pray for the souls in Purgatory from November 1 – 8. By visiting a cemetery and praying for the faithful departed, we can earn one plenary indulgence each day that can only be applied to a soul in Purgatory. I highly recommend this free ebook, using prayers from St. Alphonsus Ligouri.

I encourage every Catholic to pick up this practice from our heritage, to grow in holiness, and to grow in union with God.