What are partial and plenary indulgences, and why are they important?

To get the concept of what an indulgence is and does, let us first consider the bigger picture of our relationship with God, our life in grace, the well-being of our souls. We all need forgiveness of our sins, and we primarily receive this forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Mortal sins must be confessed to restore our life of grace. Venial sins may be remitted through our reception of Holy Eucharist, but we still encourage the confession of any and all sins in Reconciliation as well.

In our Catholic teaching, we acknowledge there is a “temporal punishment due to sin.” This is closely linked to our teaching on Purgatory. In a nutshell, although our sins may be forgiven in the sacrament of Reconciliation, and a penance assigned and performed, we may still need purification from the effects of those sins in our lives. That purification will continue as we move from this life into the next, through the process we know as Purgatory.

An “indulgence,” then, is a lessening of this temporal punishment which would otherwise be due in that state of purification, “for sins whose guilt has already been forgiven,” in the words of our Catholic Catechism (CCC 1471). Though it is hard for our time-bound minds to comprehend while living on earth, our Purgatory is not measured in earth years, but rather in terms of the degree of purification each soul will need to reach its final state of perfection, the Beatific Vision of heaven. It is simply termed “temporal” in contrast to the “eternal punishment” of hell from which there is no release.

“Every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified here on Earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory” (CCC 1472).

Obtaining an indulgence involves doing a prescribed spiritual action with the proper disposition of soul. It may be a devotional prayer, a religious pilgrimage, or a charitable act to which the indulgence is attached. Attending a parish mission, and even making the Stations of the Cross, are examples of such. A plenary indulgence is attached to attending Sts. Anne and Joachim Church during the Diocesan Synod April 11–13.*

The principle and practice of offering indulgences suffered a rocky ride through the Reformation period when Martin Luther posted his objection to the selling of indulgences but emerged the better for it. There is to be no monetary exchange connected with them. There is no purchase of the free gift of salvation won for us by Christ, and likewise no purchase of the cleansing of the effects of our sin.

In addition to completing the prescribed prayer or action, the following requirements are designed to help the recipient have the proper disposition and state of soul to receive the full effect of the indulgence: we must confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, receive Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Pope, and be detached from our sins. This last requirement is a qualitative one, perhaps best verbalized in the Act of Contrition: “I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to avoid the near occasions of sin.”

Indulgence may be “plenary” or “partial.” Plenary means a complete remission of the temporal punishment, so that in theory one would experience no Purgatory if one were to die having fulfilled all of its requirements at that moment in time. Partial indulgence, then, would lessen but not completely eliminate that required purification. Many of our customary devotional prayers have a partial indulgence attached to them.

So, in sum, the indulgence counteracts the effects of the sins in which we had engaged. We did something objectively wrong, with full knowledge and consent of the will. Now we engage in a spiritually renewing activity with full intent to detach ourselves from that sin and be strengthened by the Eucharist to resist falling into the same pattern of sin once more. We pray for the Holy Father’s intentions, reaching beyond the borders of our own soul to the needs of the whole Church. In so doing, we renew and deepen our relationship with God and his People, and ready ourselves to embrace eternal life in heaven, the gift Christ alone could gain for us through his death and Resurrection.

*A plenary indulgence is granted a single time to the faithful who devoutly visit Sts. Anne and Joachim during the diocesan synod and there recite an Our Father and the Creed. The usual conditions of detachment from sin, sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intention of the Holy Father are required to receive this indulgence. Faithful are invited to attend the opening Mass for the Third Synod on Thursday, April 11 at 5 p.m. as well as the closing Mass on Saturday, April 13 at 12:30 p.m., both at Sts. Anne and Joachim Church in Fargo.