Before we address this question, let us examine WHY there is a supposed value to Indulgences.
Indulgences remove temporal punishment due sin. What is that? Well, ‘temporal’ refers to time. Catholic sources define it as something that lasts only for a time, whose existence or activity will eventually cease. So Temporal Punishment would be: punishment that lasts only for a time, and it will eventually cease. This temporal punishment is caused by sin, and it is understood that even when that sin and its guilt is forgiven, that some temporal punishment still remains.
Often to understand this concept it is likened in these ways: It’s like an injury. Once the injuring event has passed, that injury still needs to be healed or rehabilitated. Or it’s like a thief who has stood trial and has satisfied the court’s sentence. That thief still needs to return or pay back what was stolen in order to set everything right. When we sin, we injure and act criminally towards others and ourselves. It is true that we may stop sinning and then healing and reparation can follow. Even immediate healing and reparation!… but sin runs far and wide. Even when we experience immediate/personally healing we have still set in motion a certain measure of disorder in our lives and in the world which take much more time and work to set straight.
Like the injury scenario; many times when one experiences an injury, even long after that injury is initially healed, they have to go through a strengthening therapy. Hours, days, and even years may be spent on resetting and rebuilding, not just that body part, but that persons relationships, social well-being, mental state, etc. Think of a grandfather who went to war and injured his leg. Although his leg has healed he still may have a limp or emotional/metal scars that prevents him from interacting with his grandchildren in a way he was meant to. That failure to interact is a sort of ‘punishment’ that his past injured is still brining into his life.
Sin, even forgiven sin, may be thought of like this. Even when we are forgive it's not uncommon for one's resolve to still be weak and in need of "therapy" (strengthening), or for relationships to be damaged (that then need to be mended).
So, what is the value of an Indulgence?
Indulgence Norm 2 (N2) states:
N2. An indulgence is partial or plenary according to whether it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due sin.
Therefor, to start us off, PLENARY indulgences are the indulgences that remove all of temporal punishment due to sin. Whether you have a little bit of temporal punishment on your plate or a lot, a Plenary indulgences remove that punishment in full. Completely, totally, and wholly.
That’s the value of a Plenary indulgences, short and sweet. Honestly though, the answer for PARTIAL Indulgences is not much more complicated. Indulgence Norm 4 (N4) says this:
N4. The faithful who perform with at least inward contrition 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.
To rephrase this: whatever benefits you would naturally receive from an action which is already charitable/edifying, that benefit is enriched and given back to you two-fold. Or, whatever effort you put in to the work itself, when it is enriched in a partial indulgence, the benefits you receive back are doubled.
Some would further explain this with the idea that; the Church offers equal remission of punishment like one would offer a “matching grant.” Matching grant are: funds paid to a special cause, in proportion to funds that are brought in from other sources. As observed in a standard situation; if one was to financially give $10 to a charity that has a matching grant set up, that charity would actually receive $20. It would receive your original $10 that you donated, and then $10 to match your donation. This extra $10 is given from another source that has promised to donate in equal amounts.
Here the Church has promised to donate in equal amounts. So lets say theoretically (and if spiritual works had financial value) that you preform a work that pays out $1 from the Treasury of the Church, that is then put towards the cause of reducing your temporal punishment. The Church promises that, in addition to the $1 you provided, they will draw from the Treasury of the Church on your behalf, and also donate $1, giving you $2.
So what is the value of a Partial indulgence? The value isn’t a set number but rather it is double of whatever you put into it.
The “Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina” also provides some insight:
12...a new norm or measurement has been established which takes into consideration the action itself of the faithful Christian who performs a work to which an indulgence is attached.
Since by their acts the faithful can obtain, in addition to the merit which is the principal fruit of the act, a further remission of temporal punishment in proportion to the degree to which the charity of the one performing the act is greater, and in proportion to the degree to which the act itself is performed in a more perfect way, it has been considered fitting that this remission of temporal punishment which the Christian faithful acquire through an action should serve as the measurement for the remission of punishment which the ecclesiastical authority bountifully adds by way of partial indulgence.
So, just to recap, Plenary indulgences, when gained, all have the same value of “complete forgiveness.” Partial indulgences have a double-valued of the natural forgiveness that comes with the work itself.
… Just to push the envelope a little further, it is my speculation that certain indulgence-enriched works produce more natural fruits then other indulgences, and therefore they are of a ‘higher’ spiritual value then some other works. For example, if one receives a partial indulgence from a failed attempt at a Plenary indulgence (let’s say the indulgence was qualifiable in every way except that they forgot to pray for the Pope), I would speculate that this indulgence likely had more spiritual weight and produced more spiritual fruits then an attempt that forgot to pray for the Pope AND did not receive Eucharistic Communion.
A final note before we end, I would like to address a past Indulgence practice that you may come across and find confusing. In 1967 a document was released called "Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina" by Pope Paul VI. Prior to this document it was common practice that when an Indulgence was approved it would relieve a numerical value of how many days, months, or years that an indulgence was good for. One indulgence might be good for 7 years, one might be good for 40 years!
However this document addresses and reshapes the old standards of indulgences, including the numerical values. So, rather then focusing on values and numbers when it comes to partial indulgences, these new measures allow a more accurate distribution of benefits (which is also Christ-dependent, since only he knows the values of what is being obtained). So, if you ever come across a resource that has a numerical value next to it's partial indulgences, it is likely that it was written before 1967 and that some of it's information might be old or notwithstanding.
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.
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