Old Holy Roman Church of the English Rite: Indulgenced Acts

1. No one, acquiring indulgences, can apply them to other living persons.

2. Partial as well as plenary indulgences can always be applied to the departed by way of suffrage.

3. The grant of a partial indulgence is designated only with the words "partial indulgence," without any determination of days or years.

4. The faithful, who at least with contrite heart perform an action to which a partial indulgence is attached, obtain, in addition to the remission of temporal punishment acquired by the action itself, an equal remission of punishment through the intervention of the Church.

5. Diocesan Bishops, and others equated to them in law, have the right from entrance upon their pastoral office to grant a partial indulgence to persons or in places under their jurisdiction. Provincial Archbishop can grant a partial indulgence in their suffragan Sees, as well as in their proper diocese.

6. All books or lists of indulgences may not be published without the permission of the Ordinary or Superior of the place.

7. If a feast or its external solemnity is legitimately transferred, it is understood that an indulgence, attached to the feast, is transferred to the same day.

8. A visit to a church or oratory, if required to gain an indulgence attached to a certain day, can be made from noon of the preceding day to midnight at the close of the day itself.

9. Indulgences attached to a visit to a church do not cease if the church is totally destroyed, provided the church is rebuilt within fifty years in the same or almost the same place and under the same title.

10. An indulgence attached to the use of an article of devotion only ceases, when the article is completely destroyed or is sold.

11. To be capable of gaining an indulgence for oneself, it is required that one be baptized, not excommunicated, in the state of grace at least at the completion of the prescribed works, and a subject of the one granting the indulgence.

12. In order that one who is capable may actually gain indulgences, one must have at least a general intention to gain them and must in accordance with the tenor of the grant perform the enjoined works at the time and in the manner prescribed.

13. Unless the tenor of the grant clearly indicates otherwise, indulgences granted by a Bishop can be gained by his subjects even outside his territory and by others within his territory who are exempt or who have or do not have a domicile elsewhere.

14. A plenary indulgence can be acquired once only in the course of a day. But one can obtain the plenary indulgence for the moment of death, even if another plenary indulgence had already been acquired on the same day.

15. A partial indulgence can be acquired more than once a day, unless otherwise expressly indicated.

16. The work prescribed for acquiring a plenary indulgence connected with a church or oratory consists in a devout visit and the recitation during the visit of one Our Father and the Creed.

17. To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill the following three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intention of the Holy Father as First Among Equals of all Bishops. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent. If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only, except where otherwise indicated. The three conditions may be fulfilled several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work.

18. A single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but the conditions of Communion and the required prayer must be recited for the gaining of each plenary indulgence. The condition of the required prayer in No. 17 is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary; nevertheless, each one is free to recite any other prayer according to his piety and devotion.

19. An indulgence cannot be gained by a work to which one is obliged by law or precept unless the contrary is expressly stated in the grant; one, however, who performs a work which has been imposed as a sacramental penance and which happens to be one enriched with an indulgence can at the same time both satisfy the penance and gain the indulgence.

20. An indulgence attached to a prayer can be acquired by reciting the prayer in any language, provided the fidelity of the translation is vouched for by a declaration of the Ordinary or Superior of those places, where the language of the translation is the one commonly spoken.

21. To gain an indulgence attached to a prayer, it is sufficient to recite the prayer alternately with a companion or to follow it mentally while it is being recited by another.

22. Confessors can commute either the prescribed work or conditions in favor of those who, because of a legitimate impediment, cannot perform the work or fulfill the conditions.

23. Local Ordinaries or Superiors can grant to the faithful over whom they exercise legitimate authority and who live in places where it is impossible or at least very difficult to go to confession or Communion permission to gain a plenary indulgence without confession and Communion, provided they have true contrition for their sins and have the intention of receiving these Sacraments as soon as possible.

24. The deaf and dumb can gain indulgences attached to public prayers if they devoutly raise their mind and affections to God while others of the faithful are reciting the prayers in the same place; for private prayers it suffices if they recite them mentally or with signs, or if they merely read them with their eyes.

[Document Archive]

[Main Page]