From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Can you please clarify the conditions to gain an indulgence? My
diocese thankfully has not yet closed churches but my archbishop has forbidden communion on the tongue. In obedience, my TLM pastor is continuing to say Mass but is not distributing communion. If I make a spiritual communion at Mass, does that qualify as one of the usual conditions for me to gain an indulgence?
Oh, boy. This virus thing keeps pulling the rock up and exposing problems.
One gains indulgences “under the usual conditions”, which includes, within some 20 days of the work performed, reception of Holy Communion, that is Eucharistic Communion, preceded by sacramental confession.
Enter the devout Catholic who, as a matter of conscience, will not receive Communion on the hand.
Enter the devout Catholic who cannot travel to a place where Mass is held.
Enter the priest who refuses to give Communion on the tongue.
What to do to gain indulgences, which are needed even more in these times than in others?
The “usual conditions” for a plenary indulgence means reception of Eucharistic Communion (No. 20 §1), rather than a “spiritual Communion”.
The indulgence would be partial without the three conditions (along with exclusion of attachment even to venial sin), that is,
1) sacramental confession,
2) Eucharistic Communion, and
3) prayer for the Sovereign Pontiff’s intentions.
SOLUTION.
No. 24 in the Handbook of Indulgences says:
Confessors can commute either the prescribed work or the conditions in favor of those for whom these are impossible because of a legitimate impediment.
So, priests who have the faculty to hear confessions can, for a good reason, commute the conditions. That means that a confessor say, “Make a good Spiritual Communion, in the state of grace, of course, rather than a Eucharistic Communion.”
No. 25 in the Handbook of Indulgences says:
Hierarchs or local ordinaries can grant permission to the faithful over whom they exercise legitimate authority and who live in places where it is impossible or at least very difficult to go to confession or Communion to gain a plenary indulgence without confession and Communion, provided they have contrition for their sins and have the intention of receiving these Sacraments as soon as possible.
If individual confessors can handle individual cases, the diocesan bishop or the vicar general (also a “local ordinary”) could issue a decree for all the subjects in that diocese regarding how to receive a plenary indulgence.
That would take some of the pressure off of this issue for a lot of people who want to gain plenary indulgences. Otherwise, what to do? Find a priest who will give you Communion on the tongue either during or, perhaps, after Mass? That’s an option.
I think using the laws laid down as they are is a pretty good solution. Hopefully, dioceses will remember also indulgences and issue some decrees.
From a reader…
These are serious days, but I hope a little humor can be applied.
Adrian arrived in Rome in 1522. The Plague gripped the city. People were fleeing in droves. One priest, taking possession of his new church in the Via del Governo Vecchio – where seminarians from the North American College often walk to and from classes – Santa Cecilia de Turre Campi, later razed to build the Oratory, could get up to the upper floor because there were so many bodies in the place. Dislike for Adrian was so bad that, rather like Pres. Trump, he was blamed for the plague that was already there. A poet named Antonio Tebaldeo, secretary to Lucrezia Borgia and official under Leo X, mocked Adrian with the epitaph: “Here lies Adrian. Whoever succeeds him, don’t touch his throne. He was a plague.” Antonio would later lose everything in 1527 Sack of Rome. “Who bites the Pope dies”, I guess.
San Marcello al Corso, one of the Roman Stations during Lent, had burned in 1519, but the large 14th c. Sienese wooden crucifix was miraculously undamaged. The new church was built by Sansovino with a facade by Carlo Fontana.
President Trump declared that today, 15 March, to be a National Day of Prayer.
From a reader…
Where I am, in the Cupboard Under The Stairs, the local county has decreed that gatherings of 250 or more, including religious events, are banned. You can still go to nearly every other sort of place, but not church if there are 250 people. Fine or imprisonment! I suppose if there were a few hundred people showing up for Mass, some would have to be turned away. For my part, I would say, “I’ll say Mass for you who are here at the scheduled time and, after the church clears out, I’ll say Mass again for any remaining.” Maybe that would work.
From a reader…
