11/05/2024
What is a plenary indulgence?
A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
It is not a forgiveness of sin but the remission of punishment for sins already forgiven. It may apply either to oneself or to souls already in purgatory.
In order to obtain a plenary indulgence the faithful must — in addition to being in the state of grace — both have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin (even venial sin), have sacramentally confessed their sins and received the Eucharist (either within or outside of Mass), and must pray for the intentions of the Holy Father.
What about the All Saints’ octave?
The Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary, in its “Enchiridion Indulgentiarum” (“Handbook of Indulgences”), states that the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence for the faithful departed “every day, from the 1st to the 8th of November,” if, in addition to fulfilling the normal terms of a plenary indulgence, one “devoutly visit[s] a cemetery and at least mentally pray[s] for the dead.”
The conditions for a plenary indulgence can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence, but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed
