An indulgence is attached to the work: USE OF ARTICLES OF DEVOTION
For Who: Anyone
For When: on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, (partial)-Anytime
For Where: Anywhere
Partial or Plenary: Both
As written in the Manuel of Indulgences, under Grant 14:
14
USE OF ARTICLES OF DEVOTION
§1 A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who, on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, make prayerful use of an article of devotion, as defined by Norm 15, that has been blessed by the Supreme Pontiff or by any bishop, provided the faithful also make a Profession of Faith using any legitimate formula.
§2 A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who devoutly use such articles of devotion properly blessed by either a priest or a deacon.
So, a PLENARY Indulgence is granted to those who, in addition to fulfilling all the other requirements, make use of an article of devotion that has been blessed by the Pope or any bishop. This divotional use must be on the day of the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and they must also make a Profession of Faith using any legitimate formula (ex: The Creed)
Articles of devotion are addressed and listed in Norm 15 (N15), provided here:
N15. The faithful can acquire an indulgence if they use devoutly one of the following properly blessed pious objects, namely: a crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular, or medal.
-
A PARTIAL Indulgence is granted to those who devoutly use an article of devotion, which has been blessed by a priest or deacon. Or, a partial indulgence may be granted to those who either intended to only obtaining a partial indulgence this way, or to those attempting to gain a plenary indulgence but they fail to obtain it in some way or another. Some examples of what this may look like are:
1) Though qualifiable in every other way, the article of devotion used was not blessed by the Pope or a bishop when celebrating this Solemnity
2)Though qualifiable in every other way, a Profession of Faith was not made using a legitimate formula or not made at all.
3) The other conditions necessary to gain a Plenary Indulgence are less than fulfilled.
4) One’s state of heart is contrite, but not fully detached from affections towards sin.
5) Though qualifiable in every other way, a Plenary Indulgence has already been obtained for that day in another way.
These are a few instances that would lead to a partial indulgence, either by choice or by accident.
-
Examining further, please allow me to address portions of this indulgence so that we may ponder deeper as to what are reasonable perimeters and expectations to have as we attempt to gain this indulgence:
Addressing “the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul”
This solemnity is observed every June 29th.
Fun fact: tradition implies that this is the day that both these saint were martyred in Rome by Emperor Nero (granted on different years). This observation aside, the more likely reason these two saints share a feast day is due to their legacies and common will to spread the Gospel message.
Addressing “prayerful use of an article”
Articles of devotion, related to gaining the Plenary indulgence on this Solemnity, are to be used “prayerfully.” This likely alludes to the statement that follows where the faithful must also make a Profession of Faith. My guess is that it would be most appropriate if the article was being held/used at the time that the Profession of Faith was being prayed.
Addressing blessed by “the Supreme Pontiff or by any bishop” and/or “a priest or a deacon”
Any one of the five (5) listed articles of faith (a crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular, or medal) has to be appropriately blessed in order to be used in the gaining of an indulgence. To gain a Plenary indulgence on the appropriate Solemnity that article must be blessed by the Pope (who is alternatively known as the bishop of Rome) or any other bishop (including Archbishops and Cardinals->who are almost always bishops too). To gain a Partial indulgence that article must be blessed by a priest or deacon. It is understood that these partial indulgences may be gained on any day/at any time when that article is devoutly used, not just on the approved Solemnity.
Although there is a line drawn within this Grant between priests/deacons and bishops/the Pope, this is not to imply that one blessing or another has a higher or lower value over another blessing, or that one of them may be better or worse then the other. This line is only a conditional perimeter used for this indulgence.
What if multiple authorities bless the same article? First it is important to understand that an article MAY be blesses more than once. Catholic sources address the issue, saying that something (or someone) having been previously blessed doesn't keep it from being blessed again. Neither does any subsequent blessing negate a previous blessing nor "stack up" blessings. Therefore, having an article blessed by both a bishop, and/or a priest, and/or the pope, and/or a deacon does not mean that one blessing supersede the other or that the blessing creates some sort of ‘double value,’ within that item.
Back to addressing the perimeters of this indulgence, a bishops blessing is just as satisfactory to a Plenary indulgence as the Pope’s blessing, and the same is true for priests and deacons. If your article was blessed by a priest/deacon and then blessed by a bishops/the Pope that would then qualify that item for both indulgence types, partial and plenary. However I speculate that if an article is blessed only by a bishop/the Pope, and not by a priest/deacon it probably is still satisfactory for day-to-day partial indulgences based off the fact that the Pope/bishops still belong to the priestly order.
Lastly on this topic, please carefully consider if you should request a blessings for an item at all. If one does not plan to ‘set apart’ that article for reverent use/display, then perhaps it may not be advisable or appropriate to get it blessed.
Addressing “a Profession of Faith using any legitimate formula”
The most common professions of faith are the Apostle’s Creed and Nicene[-Constantinople] Creed. There may be other professions of faith (for example, it appears that those who take special vows recite alternative professions of faith) but because these two prayers are the most common I would suggest just sticking to one of these. I also suggest this since it is very likely that you would profess one of these prayer naturally if you attend Mass or another celebration on the solemnity date. Making this profession during Mass does count towards the gaining of this Plenary indulgence.
Addressing “devoutly use”
For Partial indulgences, the article should be used devoutly (aka. use with devotion) Certainly what this devout use looks like depends on the article. For example, you wouldn’t 'use' a rosary in the same manner that you would 'use' a scapular. But, no matter how you use and article, one’s attitude of devotion should be the same. Devotion is defined as: a manner that shows deep religious feeling or commitment. It is also defined: in a totally committed and sincere way; earnestly. This manner of commitment, feeling, and sincerity is how we should be approaching and using our indulgence-related articles.
Addressing one more issue; Norm 16 (N16) presents this:
§2. An indulgence attached to the use of an article of devotion ceases only if the article is destroyed or sold.
This means that items, able to gain an indulgence, do not loose their capacity to provide opportunities for indulgences if they are repaired or partially replaced (like restringing a rosaries). Or if they are gifted, or perhaps even if they are repurposed into another acceptable article (altering, attatching, or reformatting the item, but not destroying it). There may be situations other then these, but just so long as the article isn’t sold or destroyed it retains its integrity.
And so this ends our study on Grant 14! I hope this has been helpful. Indulgences can be a confusing topic so please feel free to leave your thoughts and questions. I hope to address all I can so that we can come to know this hidden gem of the Catholic Faith.
Comentários