PLENARY INDULGENCE for Closing Day of Year for Priests

I would like to remind all lay people that it is possible to obtain, on the closing day for the Year for Priests, 19 June, a plenary indulgence

The decree of the Penitenzieria Apostolica says:

During the Year for Priests which will begin on 19 June 2009 and will end on 19 June 2010, the gift of special Indulgences is granted as described in the Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary, published on 12 May.

And …

B. The Plenary Indulgence is granted to all the faithful who are truly repentant who, in church or in chapel, devoutly attend the divine Sacrifice of Mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest, for the priests of the Church, and any other good work which they have done on that day, so that he may sanctify them and form them in accordance with His Heart, as long as they have made expiation for their sins through sacramental confession and prayed in accordance with the Supreme Pontiff’s intentions: on the days in which the Year for Priests begins and ends, on the day of the 150th anniversary of the pious passing of St John Mary Vianney, on the first Thursday of the month or on any other day established by the local Ordinaries for the benefit of the faithful.

Apparently the Mass for the conclusion of the Year for Priests to be celebrated on 11 June anticipates to some degree the actual end of the year.

To obtain the indulgence the faithful must attend Mass in an oratory or Church and offer prayers to "Jesus Christ, supreme and eternal Priest, for the priests of the Church, or perform any good work to sanctify and mould them to his heart."

The conditions for the faithful for earning a plenary indulgence are to have gone to confession with a few days of the work and prayed for the intentions of the Pope, that is, the intentions the Pope designates for you to help him pray for.

The elderly, the sick, and all those who for any legitimate reason are unable to leave their homes may obtain the plenary indulgence if, with the intention of observing the usual three conditions as soon as they can, "on the days concerned, they pray for the sanctification of priests and offer their sickness and suffering to God through Mary, Queen of the Apostles."
 
A partial indulgence is offered to the faithful when they repeat five times the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, or any other duly approved prayer "in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to ask that priests maintain purity and sanctity of life."

Make a plan!

And please pray for me.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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28 Comments

  1. Random Friar says:

    I thought it ended June 19th?

  2. Totus Tuus says:

    No, according to the Vatican Information Service it ends June 11th.

    “At 10 a.m. on Friday 11 June, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Year for Priests will officially come to an end with a Eucharistic concelebration presided over by the Pope in St. Peter’s Square.”

    http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=36879

  3. albizzi says:

    I thought it was enough praying for the Pope and for the worries he actually
    has. Where can I find “the intentions the Pope designates for me to help him
    pray for? ”
    Are they displayed in a website?

  4. Thomas Francis says:

    Thank-you for reminding of us of that Father,…..do I ever need it!!

  5. Ulrich says:

    @albizzi
    http://www.ewtn.com/faith/popeprayer.htm
    here is one site whre you can find them.

  6. Random Friar says:

    Ok, I’m confused, because the original decree said June 19th: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=8822 , and it began June 19, 2009.

  7. Thomas S says:

    “gone to confession with a few days of the work”

    Would last Sunday fall “within a few days”? Otherwise, by the grace of God, I don’t have any mortal sins to confess now.

  8. Jerry says:

    The Vatican web sirte (http://www.vatican.va/special/anno_sac/index_en.html) confirms that the Year for Priests ends on June 11. The duration was one liturgical year — beginning and ending on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — rather than one calendar year.

  9. Ralph says:

    Question for the Fathers or anyone else who might know:

    Can I do the work for a plennary indulgence for someone else on earth or a poor soul in Pergatory? How about the unbaptised?

    Thanks for the info.

  10. Will do. After Mass tomorrow and on Saturday.
    Ralph: you can do the works for a plenary indulgence for yourself or for the souls in purgatory (which MAY include the unbaptized…we do not know for certain the fate of the unbaptized…they may have made an act of faith at their death (baptism of desire)…I know, I know…crucify me now!!).
    But we cannot make a plenary indulgence for another person who is living.

  11. Random Friar says:

    Thank you for the clarification, Jerry! That makes sense. I just always had the date from another announcement in mind.

    Ralph, see: Can. 994 “Any member of the faithful can gain partial or plenary indulgences for oneself or apply them to the dead by way of suffrage.”

    However: You can always, always pray and offer a Mass, your sacrifices and do penance for whomever you wish. Think of St. Monica and that rascal son, Augustine.

  12. avecrux says:

    I’m really sad it is ending. :(

  13. SGCOLC says:

    PLEASE remember in a special way a very good priest, Fr. C, who is enduring an awful crisis of crucifixion at this moment. He is suffering terribly and he needs much, much prayer. Thank you, everyone.

    Fr. Z, could you post this in its own posting so as many people as possible will see it? Thank you.

  14. Mike says:

    I will pray for Fr. C at Mass tomorrow.

  15. Gwen says:

    Thanks, Father Z! (I need all the plenary indulgences I can get). I’m going to a special Mass on Saturday celebrating the feast of St Josemaria (yes, I know it’s two weeks early), with confession before Mass. I’ll remind everyone else (at the brunch to follow) of the plenary indulgence.

    albizzi, the Holy Father’s intention for June 2010 is “That every national and trans-national institution may strive to guarantee respect for human life from conception to natural death.”

    The Holy Father’s mission intention for June 2010 is “That the Churches in Asia, which constitute a ‘little flock’ among non-Christina populations, may know how to communicate the Gospel and give joyful witness to their adherence to Christ.”

  16. Agnes of Prague says:

    Thomas S–the usual days for confession to receive indulgences are 8 days before and after, if I understand correctly.

    But for future reference, even if you have only venial sins you can still confess; From the Catholic Encyclopedia, article “Sacrament of Penance,” subheading “What Sins are to be Confessed”:

    While mortal sin is the necessary matter of confession, venial sin is sufficient matter, as are also the mortal sins already forgiven in previous confessions.

    Also, as you can see from the second part of the sentence, even if you don’t have venial sins but are sorry for past mortal sins, you can go to confession validly, mentioning any imperfections you wish and then saying the formula “…for these and all the sins of my past life, especially X, I am truly sorry.” Thus you are confessing again to X which you have confessed before, and can be absolved of it again, which takes away more of the temporal punishment. The link has a citation from St. Thomas about this and from Pope Benedict XI.

    http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm

  17. I’m confused. If the conclusion of the year for priests is on June 11, then isn’t the plenary indulgence to be obtained on June 11 rather than June 12?

  18. jesusthroughmary says:

    Jonathan –

    As Father Z showed in his original post, the end of the Year for Priests is Saturday, 19 June, the Mass tomorrow notwithstanding.

    Of course, one can obtain a plenary indulgence every day (under the usual conditions, of course) simply by reading the Scriptures devoutly for 30 minutes before or after daily Mass and going to confession every Saturday.

  19. jesusthroughmary says:

    The Decree of Indulgence, not a press release or news story, governs. The Year for Priests ends June 19, not June 11.

  20. Ah – I was not aware that there are plenary indulgences that can be gained on any day. That’s great news – I’ll try to obtain one every Sunday.

  21. Ed the Roman says:

    This would also be an excellent occasion for the Heroic Act of Charity.

  22. Question: Are we bound by the usual Friday observance of sacrifice today, being the Feast of the Sacred Heart?

  23. jesusthroughmary says:

    Diane –

    No. Canon 1251 explicitly states that there is no obligation of abstinence on a Friday on which a solemnity falls:

    “Canon 1251 Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities.”

  24. Thomas Francis says:

    Hmmmm,….my calendar has a little red fish directly under the words; “Sacred Heart of Jesus”, and “1st Class – White”.

    I’m confused,….as usual.

  25. Liz F says:

    SGCOLC, if you happen to see this: we were able to go to our church for the Dolorosary and Benediction tonight. Our intention was to pray for priests on this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Anyway, I had forgotten about Fr. C for most of today, but actually (amazingly with my memory these days) thought of him and I prayed very hard for his intentions. I will try to remember him and his intentions. I did remember to pray for you too, Fr. Z. God bless you all.

  26. jesusthroughmary says:

    Thomas –

    Your calendar was most likely published by someone who ignores the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Friday abstinence is a matter of canon law, not of rubrics or of the liturgical calendar. It may have been a day of abstinence in 1962, but following the 1962 calendar doesn’t bind you to the Code of Canon Law as it stood in 1962.

  27. lux_perpetua says:

    Agnes,

    thank you for that link! many times i have wished to confess again the particularly horrible episodes of my wayward past, either because i’m not sure i actually ever did confess them or because i am sure that, at the time, i wasn’t truly contrite about them. the advice from priests i’ve gotten about this is that i was being overscrupulous, that absolution is absolution, and that to question that is to question the validity of the Sacrament. i have oftentimes wanted to make a general confession but, by and large, have not really found any good ways of going about doing this. sorry for being slightly off topic.

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