Saints Prayers

An indulgence is attached to the work: PRAYERS IN HONOR OF THE SAINTS AND BLESSEDS

For Who: Anyone

For When: On the memorial of any saint listed in the calendar

For Where: Anywhere

Partial or Plenary: Partial

As written in the Manuel of Indulgences, under Grant 21:

21

PRAYERS IN HONOR OF THE SAINTS AND BLESSEDS

§1  A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who on the memorial of any saint listed in the calendar recite in that saint’s honor the prayer taken from the Missal or another one approved by legitimate authority.

** Grant 21 continues, addressing recent Canonizations and Beautifications

So a PARTIAL Indulgence only is granted to those who recite an approved prayer on the date/memorial of any saint listed in the calendar. Because there are no opportunities for a Plenary indulgence under this criteria, there is presumably no further reduction (from Plenary Indulgence to Partial) through which a Partial indulgence may be obtained. That said, other manners that resemble this Grant may still be Partial indulgences, just under an other Grant titles.

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 memorial”

In regards to memorials related to a saint, and in regards to a calendar, many minds will turn to a saints “feast day.” It is certainly safe to correlate feast days to memorials... However, simply by the fact that the language used is “Memorial” and not “feast day,” it makes me wonder if it is possible that this would mean occasions that include, but are not limited to, feast days. For example, St. Joseph has two feast days on the liturgical calendar. The first, on March 19, celebrates Joseph as the husband of Mary, and this is seen as his primary feast day. The second is on May 1 and celebrates St. Joseph the Worker. Mary has more!

Or, for example, in addition to St. Joseph’s feast day there is also some opportunities for what is know as a ‘Votive Mass’ that may be done in his honor. Furthermore, it may be that according to local customs there are more potential opportunities for some saints to be specially remembered. Perhaps these additions could also be considered memorials.

Addressing “the calendar”

This is a reference to a standard calendar, of which every canonized saint has a feast day on at least one day of the year.

This is not a super important detail for this indulgence, but just an interesting note for your own curiosity and consideration; the most popular calendar world wide is the Gregorian calendar. However there are also other variations, like the Julian calendar. If you are unsure which calendar you use, you are probably on the Gregorian calendar.

This should not cause issues but its worth noting that occasionally when looking up a saint, they may appear to have 2 different feast days (each especially noting that one is a “western” feast day and the other is an “eastern” feast day). “Western” refers to the Gregorian calendar and “eastern” refers to the Julian calendar. Unless you personally know otherwise, try to stick with the Gregorian or "western" feasts.

Addressing “prayer taken from the Missal”

Building on the two previous points; every canonized saint has a feast day that lands on the calendar. The church itself also crafts a calendar every year so that it can keep everyone informed and on track with important celebrations and details. For example: what days are connected to what liturgical reading, changing dates of some feasts, and noting important factors for each respective country are some of these important details. However, the detail we are interested in is how the church also adds *some saints to this calendar and gives at least one prayer that may be said within the context of the mass. This information is found in the [Roman/Catholic/Church] Missal under a segment called Proper of Saints. Every saint listed has a prayer called the “Collect” at least, and this is likely what is being referred to by this section of the Indulgence. Some saints have additional prayers that may cover a whole Mass, but I speculate that the Collect is truly what is being referred to since every listed saint has one of these prayers.

Here I would like to link a PDF of the 2011 Roman Missile (should be up-to-date enough for our purposes)

I shall also link the 2024 Liturgical Calendar for the USA provided through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

Addressing “another [prayer] approved by legitimate authority”

I have mentioned this before in other posts but often when it comes to indulgences “authority” is implied but never truly defined. That is, at what level is an appropriate authority? This range may very well span from up to The Pope-down to an entrusted layman who has been charged with teaching religious etiquette. So really, there’s no legalistic guidelines that can be given about what this authority looks like. That being said, we are not left totally to speculation! We certainly know that the Pope -through- major counsels of bishops may approve prayers. I also propose that if a prayer is being sold in a Catholic supply store, or is being promoted by a perish to it’s laity, it would also be safe to assume that those prayers are likely authorized in a manner that we may use them.

If I may be so bold to say, I think this requirement is more of a “liability” clause, to place boundaries on prayers that are spontaneous and which don’t serve to edify.

And this about wraps up the Partial Indulgence for Saint Prayers. 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 Church.