Visiting Sacred Places on the Solemnity of its Titular

Visiting Sacred Places on the Solemnity of its Titular

An indulgence is attached to the work: VISITING SACRED PLACES

For Who: Anyone

For When: on the solemnity of its Titular

For Where: a minor basilica, a cathedral church, a parish church, an international, national, or diocesan shrine established by competent authority

Partial or Plenary: Plenary

As written in the Manuel of Indulgences, under Grant 33:

33

VISITING SACRED PLACES

§1 A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who visit, and there devoutly recite an Our Father and the Creed,

1° one of the four Patriarchal Basilicas in Rome, either as part of group making a pilgrimage to the basilica, or at least with the purpose of expressing during the visit filial submission to the Roman Pontiff;

2° a minor basilicaa. on the solemnity of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul;

b. on the solemnity of its Titular;c. on August 2, the day of the “Portiuncula” indulgence;

d. once a year, on a day chosen by the Christian faithful;

3° the cathedral churcha. on the solemnity of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul,b. on the solemnity of its Titular;c. on the liturgical celebration of the Cathedral of St. Peter, the Apostle; d. on the dedication of the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior;e. on August 2, the day of the “Portiuncula” indulgence;

4° an international, national, or diocesan shrine established by competent authority

a. on the solemnity of its Titular;b. once a year, on a day chosen by the Christian faithful;c. as often as they assist in a group pilgrimage visiting the shrine;

5° a parish churcha. on the solemnity of its Titular;b. on August 2, the day of the “Portiuncula” indulgence;

6°a church or an altar on the day of its dedication;7° a church or an oratory of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, on the liturgical memorial of their founder.

§2  Similarly, a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who assist in the sacred functions held in any stational church on its designated day; if they merely visit the church devoutly, the indulgence will be partial.

§3  A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit one of the ancient Christian cemeteries or catacombs.

So the Titular-specific part of this PLENARY Indulgence is granted to those who recite the Our Father and the Creed when they a visit an appropriate church, which is named under after an appropriate Titular Saint/Mystery, on the appropriate feast day.

-

A PARTIAL Indulgence, even though it is not explicitly stated but by simply following the principle that an incomplete or unsatisfied Plenary indulgence will default to a partial indulgence, may still take form under this Grant. These other ways may look like:

1) Going to a location titles under the patronage of the same saint, but followed different title for that saint. (Ex. Mary-Our Lady of Sorrows vs. Mary-The Immaculate conception)

2) the Our Father and the Creed were not devoutly recite during the visit.

3) The other conditions necessary to gain a Plenary Indulgence are less then fulfilled.

4) One’s state of heart is contrite, but not fully detached from affections towards sin.

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 “Titular”

So, the big question; What is a Titular? In the Church, a Titular may be understood as a categorical step above a ‘patron saint’. Titulars includes patron saints of course, but it also includes mysteries of the faith that we can place ourselves under the patronage of. This can be seen pretty easily in how we name our Churches. For example, a Church named ‘St. Peter’s’ is considered to be under the patronage of Saint Peter. He is that church’s patron saint and by extension it’s Titular. A Church named ‘Holy Cross’ is considered to be under the patronage of the mystery of Christ’s Holy Cross. So the Cross is that church’s equivalent to a ‘patron saint’ and by extension it’s Titular.

It’s important to note that there may be some variation in this topic of Titulars also, which may make it a little more confusion. I plan to address this in another post, but just to give some examples: Some church’s may have two Titulars. Some saints may have titles, which need to be considered when determining the right solemnity. Some church’s may have no title for their saint in the church name, which may make it confusing between saints of the same name. Like I said, I hope to address these kind of things in another post.

Addressing “Solemnity”

A solemnity is a Catholic feast day that celebrates a significant event or mystery of faith. Usually most saints are only described as having ‘feast days,’ and every saint has one. Usually their feast day is the date that they died since this is seen as the date that they entered eternal life. This date is often elevated to a solemnity for Churches that are under their patronage (aka. have them as their patron saint).

Note: like mentioned above in the ‘Titular’ section, there may be some variations in how a feast day/solemnity is determined, so it may be beneficial to do a little extra research if you plan to attempt this indulgence.

Addressing “the Our Father and the Creed”

This is a common condition found in several Grants. Many Grants say to visit a church and recite the Our Father and the Creed, and certainly if that’s all you did, (step foot at an applicable church or oratory and recite these prayers) that would fulfill the required work. However, let us remember that during the Mass and often in other celebrations we say the Our Father and the Creed naturally. So, because in indulgences aspects of the Mass can be broken down into parts of a whole, It is my understanding that if we step foot at an applicable church or oratory, and we remain for the Mass (or ceremony) and say these prayers within that context, that will totally satisfy the work/Grant.

Addressing “a minor basilica, the cathedral church, an international, national, or diocesan shrine established by competent authority, a parish church”

All of these listed locations cover most all of the ecclesiastic buildings that the Catholic church establishes. Any building under the title of cathedral, shrine, [parish] church, or basilica should qualify for this indulgence. Even the Patriarchalbasilicas, should count under the Titular indulgence by means of them being basilicas. (They simply also apply for pilgrimage indulgences.) And Co-Cathedrals, which is when a second Cathedral is designated to hold the chair of the Bishop, should qualify as a cathedral.

There may be a few other places, maybe like certain sites that are religious in nature, with a church building that is not yet officially, which do not carry a titular-related indulgence. This would be something that, if you had any questions on if a building applies, you could first look at the title of the building to see if it is a Parish Church or higher. If it’s not, you could question to care-takers of the building on what exactly it is and if it’s officially established.

NOTE: You do not need to be a parishioner of a church in order to gain a Titular-indulgence.

And this concludes the first post on Titular. I hope this has been helpful. Like I said, I plan to continue examining this particular portion of indulgences because this one seems to be more confusing., at least to me. Of course, with so many paths for Titular solemnities to take, I shouldn’t be surprised that this one isn’t as clear as the other indulgence grants. Anyway, please feel free to leave your thoughts and questions.