From the Handbook of Indulgences
Visiting a Church or an Oratory on All Souls Day
A plenary (“full”) indulgence, which is applicable only to the souls in Purgatory is granted to the Christian faithful who devoutly visit a church or an oratory on (November 2nd,) All Souls Day.
Will you not, for love, try today to gain this indulgence?
Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence on All Souls Day (Nov. 2nd)
- Visit a church and pray for souls in Purgatory
- Say one “Our Father” and the “Creed” in the visit to the church
- Say one “Our Father” and one “Hail Mary” for the Holy Father’s intentions
- Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day if you can get to Mass)
- Make a sacramental confession within a week of All Souls Day
- For a plenary indulgence be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (otherwise, the indulgence is partial, not plenary, “full”).
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We Byzantine’s have All Soul’s Saturdays during Lent (every Saturday)- but we’ll still go to church today
Done!
Excellent post. I shall do the prayers and repost even for the sake of 1 soul; she could be my mom.
What does “Free from all attachment to sin” mean, exactly? That one seems impossible. Aren’t we all attached to sin in some way, shape, or form?
When it says make a sacramental confession “within a week”, does that include the days before All Soul’s? Because I went to confession yesterday, so I’m wondering if that counts, or if I’ll have to go again this weekend.
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been thinking about the souls in Purgatory today and am ashamed to say that, even though I’ve always been a Catholic, I had no idea of this plenary indulgence. This is great! I’m going to pass it along to some family members. My brother was just asking about venial sin and Confession, etc. I wish I knew more about the Catholic faith. The more I learn, the less I feel I know. I recently wrote a post on my blog about praying for the souls in Purgatory.
http://therosarytrail.com/souls-in-purgatory/
Hi-
Thank you Fr Z for the post on this subject.
To All: There is detailed info on the November Indulgences at Catholic Culture. Titled: Praying for the Dead and Gaining Indulgences During November.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1178
This has been confusing to me too.
I went to Mass this morning at our TLM chapel. It was the traditional ‘three Masses’ for All Souls Day, but I stayed only for the first Mass because I had to go to a funeral for a local pro-lifer who died last week in a bicycle/car crash. [Nice NO Mass, BTW-the traditionally-minded parish priest wore black and purple vestments, and there was some nice Gregorian chant by the young female organist. The priest alone gave the tribute sermon-no 'canonizations' by the family members] And besides, my poor knees and lower back can’t take all that kneeling! : D I was practically crippled last year coming out of the chapel after staying for all three Masses!
My maternal grandmother was born on All Souls Day in late 19th-century Germany. When the 100th anniversary of her birth came around many years ago, my mother [her daughter] said to me, ‘Make sure you remember your grandma on her birthday.’ And I did!
Yes, Father. Looking forward to this and the one for visiting a cemetary.
As to the question about Attachment to Sin…IIRC, Fr. Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity dealt with this question either earlier this year or sometime last year when pointing out how relatively easy it is to satisfy the Usual Conditions.
Here it is:
http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/2006/05/plenary-indulgences-not-impossible.html
I’ll echo Chad Myers’ question above: the requirements for the indulgence (Mass, confessions, prayers, etc) are easy enough to understand, but I am not sure how to know if I’ve obtained true detachment from sin. How does concupiscance factor in?
Dear Father:
I thought it is mandatory to receive Holy Communion on the same day as the plenary indulgence. Yet your comment of “ideally on the same day if you can get to Mass” appears to allow for receiving on another day (presumedly within a few days) if one cannot get to Mass on the same day. Is that really correct?
Thanks for the reminder, Father. I’ll go this evening.
Thank you Father. Done without even knowing about the plenary indulgence :)
Done! (at least, in a few hours it will be — I’m headed to Mass after I get off from work)
Done!
And the priest wore BLACK VESTMENTS!
It was awesome!
Black Vestments for the TLM/MEF last night in Mount Airy, NC, having been sewn by a laywoman attending.
The condition to go to confession within a week was abrogated in the last Jubilee year (2000 – the year after the handbook came out).
See: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_pro_20000129_indulgence_en.html
The time period was changed to “within 20 days.”
That change has not been reversed, to my knowledge, so it is no longer “within a week” it is now “within 20 days.”
I was pleased to see that the local cemetery had quite a few people visiting the dead yesterday. While I sat praying the rosary in the Priests’ section, an older couple came and sprinkled holy water on the priests’ graves and prayed for a moment.