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INDULGENCES 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029399080 
 
INDULGENCES 
 
 THEIR ORIGIN, NATURE, AND 
 DEVELOPMENT 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXIUS M. LEPICIER, D.D. 
 
 PRIEST OF THE ORDER OF THE FRIARS SERVANTS OF MARY; PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY 
 
 IN THE COLLEGE OF PROPAGANDA, ROME ; FELLOW OF THE ROMAN 
 
 ACADEMY OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, ETC. 
 
 ' ' The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden 
 in afield. Which a man having found, hid it, and for 
 joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth 
 that field." — Matt. xiii. 44. 
 
 LONDON 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER, & CO. Lt 
 
 PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 
 1895 
 
 k 
 
Tlie rights of translation and of reproduction arc reset ved. 
 
 Printed by Rai.!. wtyn'k, Hanson lS: Co. 
 .-// the /uith/i/vnt- Press 
 
lESV . CHRISTO 
 
 HOMINI ■ DEO 
 
 QVI . IN . CRVCE . PENDENS 
 
 TOTO . PROFVSO • SANGVINE 
 
 QVAE • NON . RAPVIT 
 
 TVNC • EXSOLVEBAT 
 
APPROBATIONS 
 
 Hy request of the Right Rev. Father General, having examined 
 the work bearing the title " Indulgences, &o.," written by the 
 Bev. Father Alexius M. L^pioier, O.S.M., I have much pleasure 
 not only in bearing witness to the soundness of the doctrine 
 therein contained, but also in expressing a conviction that many 
 advantages will accrue to the faithful, as well as to many outside 
 the fold of the Church, from the perusal of the same. 
 
 PEREGRINE M. STAGNI, O.S.M. 
 
 S. Maria in Via, Rome, 
 Feast of St. Agatha, 1895. 
 
 Having seen the approbation given by the Rev. Peregrine M. 
 Stagni, a Theologian of our Order, and Professor of Philosophy 
 at the College of Propaganda, Rome, to the book entitled " In- 
 dulgences, &o.," written by the Rev. Alexius M. L^picier, likewise 
 a Theologian of our Order, and Professor of Divinity at the same 
 College, we hereby sanction the publication of the same, subject 
 to the Imprimatur of the Ordinary. 
 
 Given at Rome, from our Monastery of St. MarceUus, February 
 
 6, 1895. 
 
 Fb. ANDREW M. CORRADO, 
 
 L. ►fi S. Prior-General of the Order of the Servants 
 
 of Mary. 
 
 3mptim8tut ; 
 
 HERBERTUS CARDINALIS VAUGHAN, 
 Aechibp. AYestmox. 
 
 Feir. 10, 1895. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The first idea of writing a book on the subject of 
 Indulgences presented itself to the author's mind 
 while engaged in missionary work in England. The 
 thought gradually impressed him, borne out by ex- 
 perience, that both enlightened believers might find 
 a confirmation of their faith, and inquisitive minds 
 assistance in their search after truth, if this point of 
 Catholic dogma, not of the lightest, were set before 
 them in a concise manner, yet with all possible clear- 
 ness. For, the doctrine of " Indulgences " is closely 
 •connected with the main tenets of our faith, such as 
 the imputableness of sin and good works, the efficacy 
 of atonement and regeneration, the communion of 
 saints and the power of the keys. 
 
 But such a study, he found, could not be satis- 
 factorily complete, unless, to the exposition of the 
 doctrine, a sketch were added on the history of the 
 practice of Indulgences in the Church. Holy Scrip- 
 ture, then, was first to be consulted, and asked to put 
 forth its own evidence, if it had any, on the matter 
 at hand ; then history was to be referred to, from the 
 Apostolic times to the first centuries of the Church, 
 and from thence, through the pilgrimages, crusades. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 and jubilees of the Middle Ages, down to the epoch 
 of the Eeformation, and from it to our own days. 
 
 Again, the doctrine itself, no less than the practice 
 of Indulgences, required for its right understanding, 
 that au exposition should be made — brief, yet not 
 obscure — of the penitential discipline as used in the 
 primitive Church. Those practices of earlier days are 
 not for a Christian a dead letter. They teach him 
 what his forefathers in the faith were able to bear ; 
 and they enable him to mete his own generosity by 
 theirs. Apart, then, from the close connection which 
 they have with our subject, the interest which they 
 should rouse in the hearts of the faithful will, we trust, 
 be a sufficient apology for the introduction of a whole 
 chapter bearing on that matter. 
 
 It will, therefore, be found that this book is not a 
 " Raccolta," nor an abridgment of the many decrees 
 which, at different times, the Holy See has issued 
 on Indulgences. It is a doctrinal exposition of this 
 point of Catholic teaching, viewed in connection 
 with the other tenets of our creed and the perpetual 
 practice of the Church. 
 
 To the reader of a more cultured taste, the book 
 may appear to proceed somewhat clumsUy in its 
 form and in the distribution of its parts. Delicate 
 ears, too, may be offended by the occasional recurrence 
 of, as it will be thought, harsh-sounding scholastic 
 terms. 
 
 For the imperfections which may occur, no better 
 apology can be made than the declaration that the 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 following pages were written at hours borrowed from 
 more important and commanding duties. The work 
 was for the author a work of love, and from this 
 alone he drew his inspiration. For, Indulgences are 
 an abiding pledge of the love of God to man, and 
 •of the love of man to both God and his neighbour. 
 
 As for the scholastic terms, so far from attempting 
 to replace them by others, the writer is of opinion 
 that much of their supposed barbarity would be 
 rubbed out, were they in more frequent use with 
 Catholic writers. They are, according to the autho- 
 rity of the Church, the best adapted to give expres- 
 sion to the mysteries of our holy faith. Besides, 
 men are not made for words, but words for men. 
 
 On the whole, the publication of this work may 
 be thought a bold attempt on the part of the writer. 
 Indeed, it is nothing less. Yet, when we see the 
 Church made every day the butt of new attacks, 
 when misrepresentation has supplanted history, when 
 the literature of the day feeds on nothing but vain 
 shadows and empty dreams, who will blame a son of 
 the Church for braving his insufficiency, and daring 
 take up arms in favour of truth? He who can do 
 much should do much ; he who can do little will 
 not be justified in remaining inactive. Beside the 
 costly gifts dropped in the corbona at Jerusalem by 
 the hands of the wealthy Jews, Our Saviour did not 
 disdain, but rather commended, the widow's mite. 
 
 This work, we said, has been a work of love. 
 The author will be amply repaid for his labours, 
 
X prefacp: 
 
 if the perusal of the following pages awake in a 
 Christian heart a sentiment of love for Our Re- 
 deemer, "who was bruised for our sins," ^ and of 
 sympathy for suffering human nature. This, of all 
 others, will be a sign of God's blessing on this work. 
 As " no man can say ' the Lord Jesus,' but by the 
 Holy Ghost," ^ so can no man " put on the bowels of 
 mercy " ^ but through Jesus Christ. 
 
 In conclusion, the author declares that he submits 
 this work to the judgment of the Church, the Mother 
 and Mistress of truth, from whose teaching it is his 
 firm purpose not to depart. He likewise is glad to 
 have this opportunity of giving a public expression 
 to his sense of heartfelt gratitude to the kind friends 
 who, either by advice, suggestions, encouragement, 
 or timely helps, have enabled him to bring out 
 this book. May they be requited a hundredfold for 
 their generous assistance and friendly interest by the 
 Giver of all goods. 
 
 1 Isa. liii. 5. 2 J Qgr. xii. 3. s Col. iii. 12. 
 
 Santa Maria in Via, Rome, 
 
 Feast of the Steven Holy Founders of the Order of 
 the Servants of Mar//, 1895. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 " T/iey shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with 
 their own devices}' — Prov. i. 31. 
 
 THE NATURE OF SIN AND OP GOOD WORKS. 
 
 PAOE- 
 
 1. Deatt was introduced into the world by sin . . . . i 
 
 2. The twofold guilt which sin imports 4 
 
 3. True sorrow for Bin, an essential condition for restoration 
 
 to the grace of God 4 
 
 4. Luther's acceptation of the word Penance .... 7 
 
 5. The Scriptural meaning of this word -9 
 
 6. The temporal debt is not always remitted through contrition 1 1 
 
 7. The power of satisfaction inherent to good works : it may 
 
 be applied to others 14 
 
 8. A "threefold fcase 'v^ith Regard to satisfaction .... 16 
 
 9. Christ's superabundant merits and satisfaction ... 19 
 
 10. What of these merits, if they are not applied .... 20- 
 
 11. The doctrine of the Cfommunion of Saints in the Catholic 
 
 Church 21 
 
 12. Peter de Blois's letter on this subject to the Monks of Chi- 
 
 chester 23 
 
 13. The Communion of Saints comprehends the Church MUitant, 
 
 Suflfering, and Triumphant 24 
 
 14. The mystery of sufifering 2J 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of 
 Christ:' —Ga^l. vi. 2. 
 
 TRUE NOTION OF AN INDULGENCE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Three ways in which satisfactory merits can be transferred . 31 
 
 2. First case, if a particular member applies his satisfactions to 
 
 another : this is no Indulgence 32 
 
 3. Second case, if a limited body make over their merits to 
 
 a particular person : neither is this transfer an In- 
 dulgence 34 
 
 4. The Church is a political body, a state, and the Bishops only 
 
 are her true Prelates -35 
 
 5. Third case, when this transfer is made out of the treasury 
 
 of the Church by the first Prelates : this is an In- 
 dulgence 38 
 
 6. What conditions are reqmred for the validity of an Indul- 
 
 gence : the first, lawful authority in him who grants it . 39 
 
 7. The second, a just motive for granting the Indulgence : what 
 
 this motive should be 42 
 
 8. The lessons taught by these two conditions . , . -45 
 
 9. The third condition — state of grace in the Penitent, and the 
 
 fulfilment of the works prescribed 46 
 
 10. Probable condition — that the faithful should be willing to 
 
 satisfy the justice of God, as mvich as they are able . 48 
 
 11. Indulgences on behalf of the dead 49 
 
 12. The Church grants them by way of suft'rage only . . . ^I 
 
 13. Conditions required in order to gain Indulgences for the dead 52 
 
 14. What is an Indulgence, and what it is not ... 54 
 
 15. The Scriptural meaning of the word Indulgence ... 59 
 
 16. The Church probably took this word from the ancient Juris- 
 
 consults 61 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAPTEE III 
 
 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 '■^Therefore,brethren,standfast,andholdtheiraditionswhichyouhave 
 learned, whether by word or by our Epistle.^' — 2 Thess. ii. 14. 
 
 INDULGENCES IN THE WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN WORD 
 OF GOD. 
 
 PASS 
 
 1. The twenty-second article of the Churcli of England . 66 
 
 2. Holy Scripture not the only source of faith ... 67 
 
 3. The practice of Indulgences implicitly contained in Holy Writ 68 
 
 4. The power of granting Indulgences, a consequence of the 
 
 Power of the Keys 70 
 
 5. Explicit proofs in Holy Scripture in favour of Indulgences : 
 
 the woman taken in adultery 72 
 
 6. St. Paul and the incestuous man of Corinth : inferences from 
 
 this fact 73 
 
 7. Is tradition silent on the matter ? . . . . -77 
 
 8. If the Church erred in granting Indulgences in the Middle 
 
 Ages, the gates of Hell may be said to have prevailed 
 against her 80 
 
 9. The absence of the exercise of a right, no argument against 
 
 its existence ... 81 
 
 10. A distinction between what is essential and what is merely 
 
 accidental in an Indulgence 83 
 
 1 1. The notion of development in the discipline of the Church . 84 
 
 12. Two ways of studying tradition 87 
 
 13. Quintus Septimius Florentius TertulUan : his errors . . 88 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 " Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes!' — 
 Job xlii. 6. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC AGE AND THE FIRST CENTUEIES OF 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. What penalties were inflicted on sin in the first ages of the 
 
 Church ... ... 92 
 
 2. Four classes of Penitents. The first class : the weepers . . 93 
 
 3. Second class of Penitents : the hearers . 94 
 
 4. Third class of Penitents : the knfeelers . 95 
 
 5. Fourth class of Penitents : the standers . . 96 
 
 6. The practice of the Western Church 97 
 
 7. St. Fabiola, her public penance . . 100 
 
 8. The Emperor Theodosius the Great and St. Ambrose . 104 
 
 9. Public Penance not the only one in use in the primitive 
 
 Church ... . . 108 
 
 10. When was public penance applied . 1 1 1 
 
 1 1. Voluntary Penitents . . in 
 
 12. The reconciliation .... . . 112 
 
 13. Those to whom reconciliation was denied . • 115 
 
 14. Satisfactory Penance not essentially canonical Penance . -117 
 
 15. Bishops' power of shortening the different stages of public or 
 
 canonical Penance, of granting an Indulgence . .119 
 
 16. Further reasons for granting a relaxation from the canonicAl 
 
 Penances ... .... 121 
 
 17. From the canonical PenaiKes we can judge of the nature and 
 
 extent of an Indulgence .123 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE LAPSED 
 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of 
 Christ^ — Gal. vi. i. 
 
 FROM THE SECOND TO THE FOURTH CENTURY. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 1. Therestoratignof God's kingdom and the destructionof idolatry 126 
 
 2. The origin of idolatry 128 
 
 3. The falseness of idolatry, according to St. Thomas Aquinas 
 
 and Holy Scripture 130 
 
 4. Its extension in the first centuries of the Church . . . 1 32 
 
 5. The book " Octavius " of Minucius Felix .... 133 
 
 6. Idolatry and the times of persecution . . ' . . . 135 
 
 7. Snares laid by Julian the Apostate for the Christians . .136 
 
 8. The persecution of Decius 139 
 
 9. The defection of Christians from the Church . . 140 
 
 10. Different kinds of lapsed 142 
 
 11. Conditions for re-admission into the Church . . '. .144 
 
 12. The "Libellus Martyrum," or Memorial of the Martyrs . -144 
 
 13. It was an Indulgence strictly so called 147 
 
 14. St. Cyprian, Novatian and Felicissimus 148 
 
 15. St. Cyprian's book " De Lapsis " 152 
 
 16. SS. Marcellus and Eusebius ... • ■ '55 
 
 17. Charity of Christians in favour of the dead . . . .158 
 
 CHAPTEE VI 
 
 EVOLUTION 
 
 " So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth, 
 
 and should sleep andrise night and day, and the seed should spring 
 
 and grow up whilst he knoweth not." — Mark iv. 26, 27. 
 
 FROM THE FIFTH TO THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 1. The Church in times of peace 165 
 
 2. The penitential discipline subjected to a regular organisation 167 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 3. Canonical Penances, how inculcated by the Canons of Councils 1 70 
 
 4. False " Penitentials " rejected '72 
 
 5. The penitential Canons of the Council of Tribur and others 173 
 
 6. The severity of these Penances I74 
 
 7. Redemptions and commutations of Penances — what relation 
 
 they had to Indulgences . ■ ■ ^77 
 
 8. Pilgrimages, especially to Rome ... . . 180 
 
 9. Often made with the purpose of gaining the Indulgences . 182 
 
 10. The power of granting Indulgences gradually centred in the 
 
 person of the Sovereign Pontiff . . .185 
 
 11. Pardons granted by letter . .188 
 
 12. The Christian Stations . • 191 
 
 13. Their origin . I93 
 
 14. Their development i95 
 
 15. The origin of Processions, of Rogations . . . . 195 
 
 16. Indulgences attached to the visit of the Stations . . 197 
 
 17. Pious foundations viewed with reference to Indulgences 198 
 
 CHAPTEE YII 
 
 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 " Take this holy sword, a gift from God, whcrcu-'ith thou shalt Ci-'cr- 
 throw the adversaries of my people Israel." — 2 Mac. xv. i5. 
 
 FKOM THE ELEVENTH TO THE THIRTEENTH CE^"T^RY. 
 
 1. A difference between the works of man and the works of God 202 
 
 2. The Church a work of God 203 
 
 3. The East in the second half of the eleventh century . . 207 
 
 4. Efforts made by the Popes towards the rescue of the Christians 208 
 
 5. Urban II. and the first Crusade 210 
 
 6. The Indulgence attached to the Crusade . . . 213 
 
 7. The second Crusade and St. Bernard ... 215 
 
 8. Indulgences granted for the building of churches . . -217 
 
CONTEISTTS xvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 9. The origin of the Bulla Gruciatce 220 
 
 10. Works of art promoted by the granting of Indiilgences . . 222 
 
 11. Indulgences granted for the translation of Relics . . . 224 
 
 12. For the dedication of Churches 226 
 
 13. Similar Indulgences granted by the Bishops also . . .231 
 
 14. The Bishops apply to the Sovereign Pontiff for Indulgences . 233 
 
 15. Gradual decline of canonical Penances another reason for 
 
 granting more copious Indulgences .... 235 
 
 16. The Penance of Henry II . 237 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 "In the year of the Jubilee all shall return to their possessions."— 
 Lev. XXV. 13. 
 
 FilOM THE THIRTEENTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 1. Continual growth of the Church 241 
 
 2. Pilgrimages to Holy Land and to Rome .... 243 
 
 3. Some famous shrines in England 245 
 
 4. The " Portiuncula " and the annexed Indulgence . . . 246 
 
 5. Indulgences granted for the recitation of vocal prayers . . 249 
 
 6. Sentiment of the faithful, of the Saints 250 
 
 7. The great "Jobel" of 1300 252 
 
 8. Great crowds flock to Rome 255 
 
 9. Giotto and Dante present at it 256 
 
 10. The original meaning of the word " Jubilee "... 258 
 
 1 1. The Jubilee of Clement VI 260 
 
 12. The Jubilee gained without going to Rome . . . .263 
 
 13. Subsequent Jubilees 264 
 
 14. Further dispensations from going to Rome .... 267 
 
 15. The opening and closing of the Porta /Sancia . . . . 269 
 
 16. The mystic signification of the Porte Sancto .... 270 
 
XVlll 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEE IX 
 
 USB AND ABUSE 
 
 " For what, if some of them have not believed? Shall their unbelief 
 
 make the faith of God without effect ? God forbid. But God 
 
 is true, and every man is a liar!'' — ROM. iii. 3, 4- 
 
 A EETKOSPECT. 
 
 1. Indulgences in their connection witli Catholic Dogma . 
 
 2. With the Dogma of Papal Supremacy 
 
 3. With the Dogma of the Eeal Presence of our Lord in the 
 
 Blessed Sacrament . 
 
 4. With the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed 
 
 Lady .... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 272 
 
 274 
 
 276 
 
 279 
 281 
 
 5. With the Dogma of Purgatory 
 
 6. Abuses of Indulgences no proof against their Divine institution 282 
 
 7. A threefold charge ... ... 
 
 8. Indulgences granted for alms-deeds 
 
 g. Have Indulgences ever been a cause of deception to the 
 Faithful 
 
 10. The non-gaining of an Indulgence fully compensated 
 
 1 1. Apocryphal Indulgences .... 
 
 12. The Church condemned them 
 
 13. The errors put forth by some Preachera are corrected by the 
 
 Church ... ... 
 
 J4. She represses the ambition of the "Quivstores" 
 1 5. The Council of Trent abolishes their office 
 
 16. The faithful should carefully guard themselves against 
 Indulgences 
 
 false 
 
 ^83 
 284 
 
 286 
 2S9 
 290 
 
 292 
 
 292 
 295 
 ^97 
 
 298 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 THE REVOLT 
 
 " For they have said: . . . Let our strength be the law of justice . . . let 
 
 us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, 
 
 and he is contrary to our doings^' — WiSD. ii. ii, 12. 
 
 THE SIXTEENTH CENTUEY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Friar ofWittenberg 303 
 
 2. The beginning of Martin Luther's defection from the Church 
 
 of Rome . . 305 
 
 3. The scholastic doctrines in the Catholic Church . . . 307 
 
 4. The groundwork.of Luther's system 310 
 
 5. Indulgences promulgated for the completion of St. Peter's . 312 
 
 6. Excesses committed by the preachers . . . . 312 
 
 7. Luther sets himself as an opponent . . 313 
 
 8. Luther's adversaries, Tetzel and Eckius . . . .315 
 
 9. The question of Indulgences dependent on that of Penance 
 
 and free-will . . 316 
 
 10. Behaviour of the Church during the attack . . -317 
 
 11. Luther summoned to the Pope's tribunal; his conferences 
 
 with Oajetan . . 319 
 
 12. Leo X.'s decree .... . 322 
 
 13. Luther turns to Erasmus for support .... 323 
 
 14. Li^ther's conference with Eckius : he is condemned by the 
 
 Universities . 324 
 
 15. The Bull " £a;s«rj(e iJomme " 325 
 
 1 6. Practical effects of the Reformation with regard to Indulgences 328 
 
 17. God's Providence over His Church 329 
 
XX CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEE XI 
 
 LOSS OR GAIN 
 
 " TAe wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting 
 in Christ fesus our Lord!' — RoM. vi. 23. 
 
 INDULGENCES IN THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Origin and ofl5ce of the Sacred Congregation of Belies and 
 
 Indulgences 332 
 
 2. Its authentic books 334 
 
 3. The Jubilee extended to the whole world . . . 336 
 
 4. The Jubilee of 1825 337 
 
 5. How is it that the Church is now so liberal in granting In- 
 
 dulgences ? . 340 
 
 6. The diflfioulty of gaining an Indulgence greatly exaggerated . 341 
 
 7. We are the younger children of the Church .... 344 
 
 8. Her compassion for human weakness and misery . . -345 
 
 9. Good effects of Indulgences : they make us value the Passion 
 
 of Christ ... 347 
 
 10. They foster the spirit of prayer 348 
 
 11. They keep alive the fear of God in the soul . . 350 
 
 12. They promote charity ... . ■ 35' 
 
 13. The "Heroic Act" . . 352 
 
 14. Its manifold advantages . . . . . 354 
 
 15. Beneficial results of Indulgences . . 356 
 
 16. Bad effects of Protestantism 357 
 
 17. The study of history . . 358 
 
 18. Indulgence a claim of human nature 359 
 
 19. The basis of domestic and social relations . . . 360 
 
 20. The idea of Indulgences instilled in public institutions . . 362 
 
 21. Epilogue. . . ... . . 363 
 
 INDEX . . .367 
 
INDULGENCES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 " They shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with 
 their own devices^' — Prov. i. 31, 
 
 THE NATURE Of SIN AND OP GOOD WORKS 
 
 Death a consequence of sin^The twofold guilt of sin — It is cancelled 
 only by true sorrow — Luther on Penance — The Scriptural mean- 
 ing of this word — Temporal debt — The power of satisfaction — 
 A threefold case — Christ's superabundant satisfactions— What of 
 these if not applied — The Communion of Saints — Peter de Blois 
 to the Monks of Chichester — The Church Militant, Suffering, and 
 Triumphant — The mystery of suffering. 
 
 I. The works of God, as they come from His hands, 
 are perfect. What the crowds said of Christ, accord- 
 ing to His Humanity, when He had opened the ears 
 and loosed the string of the tongue of the man that 
 was deaf and dumb, should be said of Him according 
 to His Divinity, and with reference to all His works : 
 " He hath done all things well." ^ And so, when 
 " the heavens and the earth were finished, and al 
 the furniture of them, God saw all things that He 
 had made, and they were very good." ^ 
 
 1 Mark vii. 37. ^ Gen. ii. i, i. 31. 
 
 A 
 
2 DEATH AND THE TKEE OF LIFE 
 
 One being, in the visible creation, was more perfect 
 than any other. It was the last of God's works, who 
 seenaed to have exhausted in creating it the bound- 
 less treasures of His Wisdom, of His Goodness, of His 
 Power. This was man, whom God had " made to the 
 image of His own likeness, and therefore incorrup- 
 tible ; " ^ whom He had raised to the supernatural 
 order, that is to say, to eternal life, consisting in 
 the vision of God's essence, not " through a glass 
 in a dark manner, but then face to face," ^ and 
 in the love unbounded, mutual, transforming of His 
 supreme bounty. However, this most beautiful of 
 God's works was marred by His own enemy : the 
 devil waxed jealous of man, and "through his envy, 
 ■death came into the world." ' 
 
 But death was brought in by sin : indeed, it could 
 mot have entered the world unless man himself had 
 opened a door for it ; for God had given man im- 
 mortality, and "His gifts are without repentance."* 
 And so, sin was brought into the world by man's 
 transgression, and through sin, death : but that sin 
 passed upon all men, who are ever born of the first 
 man, and so from the first man death has pervaded 
 the whole of humanity : " As by one man sin entered 
 into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed 
 upon all men, in whom all have sinned." ' 
 
 To avert the action of death upon man, God had 
 planted " in the midst of Paradise the tree of life," * 
 
 1 Wisd. ii. 23. » I Cor. xiii. 12. ' Wisd. ii. 24. 
 
 * Rom. xi. 29. « Rom. v. 1 2. » Gen. ii. 9. 
 
DEATH A CONSEQUENCE OF SIN 3 
 
 the fruit of which had the power of preserving him 
 in a constant state of health and vigour. But by 
 sin man, driven from Paradise, had no longer access 
 to the tree of life. Moreover, the death brought in 
 by sin was not of the body only, but of the soul as 
 well — the soul deprived of the friendship of God, 
 the body exposed to the deadly influence of its con- 
 flicting elements. 
 
 But God could not be outdone by the devil, the 
 essentially Good by the evil one. And so He decreed 
 that " where sin had abounded, grace should more 
 abound." ^ The tree of life in Paradise was no 
 longer accessible, but He would have another Tree, 
 not planted in Paradise, but the presence of which 
 would make the earth a Paradise, bearing forth, not 
 one fruit only, but two most delicious fruits : the one 
 destined to give life again to the soul, the other to 
 give relief to the body ; the one intended to cure 
 eternal death, the other to be a remedy against the 
 temporal penalty that ensued therefrom. 
 
 Of the first we have not here to speak. It is 
 nothing but " the grace of God through Jesus 
 Christ," ^ which comes to us through the virtue of 
 the Blood of Jesus, cancels sin, and gives eternal 
 Jife. We will only speak of the second fruit. It 
 consists in the satisfaction of Jesus, and has for 
 its effect the remission of the temporal debt 'due 
 to our sins. But before we proceed any further, 
 it is necessary that we should bear in mind the 
 
 1 Eom. V. 20. ^ Eom. vii. 25. 
 
4 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 teaching of the Catholic Church about sin and the 
 guilt thereof. 
 
 2. When a man offends God wilfully, his soul 
 contracts a twofold guilt in His sight : the one is 
 a guilt of stain, by which it becomes defiled, loath- 
 some, an object of disgust, of execration, of abomina- 
 tion in the sight of Him whom she has offended. 
 The other is a guilt of deht to be paid to the 
 Justice of God. For by offending God man indulged 
 his own self at the expense of the Divine Law ; he 
 deprived his Maker of that allegiance which, as 
 a servant, he was bound to give Him ; and this 
 act of flagrant injustice constitutes a real debt 
 towards God, to be atoned for by a punishment, 
 either self-imposed or coming from without. 
 
 This is typified in the Book of Apocalypse, where 
 the sinner, as an unclean and loathsome being, and 
 a figure of fallen Babylon, is represented as having 
 " become the habitation of devils, and the hold of 
 every unclean and hateful bird ; " ^ and next is 
 sentenced to suffer according to the grievousness 
 of his sin. " As much as she hath glorified herself 
 and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow 
 give ye to her." ^ 
 
 3. Hence it follows that when a sinner wishes to 
 be restored to the grace and friendship of God, 
 it is not enough for him to propose to himself a 
 change of life, and actually to avoid sin and its 
 occasions. He must also feel an inward sorrow 
 
 • Apoc. xviii. 2. a Ibid. v. 7. 
 
SIN IS CANCELLED ONLY BY TRUE SOREOW 5 
 
 for his past sins, and foster a sincere hatred and 
 detestation of his wicked life ; in short, to use the 
 word consecrated by the Church, he must have 
 contrition. 
 
 The blending together of these two elements — 
 sorrow for the past, and resolution for the future — 
 is beautifully illustrated in the definition which the 
 Council of Trent gives us of contrition : " A sorrow 
 of the soul, and a detestation of sin committed, 
 with a firm resolve not to sin again." ' 
 
 Of these two elements, the principal is the former, 
 the latter necessarily follows therefrom ; for it cannot 
 be that a man is truly sorry for his sin, if at the 
 same time he entertain a secret purpose of com- 
 mitting it again. 
 
 The Lord impressed on His people the necessity 
 of this inward sorrow. " Be converted to Me with 
 all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, ; and in 
 mourning, and rend your hearts and not your 
 garments, and turn to the Lord your God." ^ This 
 same sentiment of deep genuine sorrow made the 
 holy King David break forth into this mournful 
 protest, "To Thee only have I sinned, and have 
 done evil before Thee." ^ This kings Ezechias * and 
 Manasses* understood, when they humbled them- 
 selves and did penance for their past transgressions. 
 Thus the men of Ninive at the preaching of Jonas 
 "proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from 
 
 1 Sess. xiv. c. 4. 2 Joel ii. 12, 13. ' Ps. 1. 6. 
 
 4 II. Par. xxxii. 26. - ' II- Par. xxxiii. 12. 
 
6 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 the greatest to the least, and the king rose up 
 out of his throne, and cast away his robe from 
 him, and was clothed with sackcloth and sat in 
 ashes ; and neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, 
 tasted anything." ^ And in the new law St. Peter, 
 St. Paul, St. Mary Magdalene, Zacheus, the Prodigal 
 Son, and others without number, bear testimony by 
 their own conduct to this great Law of Penance. 
 
 The great Doctor of Milan, St. Ambrose, has 
 beautiful words on the subject. " It has been 
 easier for me," he writes, " to find men who have 
 preserved their innocence, than sinners who have 
 performed a suitable penance. To court human 
 dignities, to impose on ourselves no restraint in 
 the use of wine, in the enjoyment of the pleasures 
 of nature, is this true penance ? We must renounce 
 the world, indulge in sleep less than nature de- 
 mands ; we must break it by our groanings, inter- 
 rupt it by our sighs, spend it in prayer ; we must 
 so live as if we were dying to the use of this life. 
 Let man deny himself, and let him be utterly 
 changed. Even as that young man of whom it 
 is related, that after he had yielded to an unlawful 
 afi"ection, he set out for a far country, and when 
 he had rooted out every germ of vicious inclination 
 from his heart, he came back. One day he met 
 the person who had been the object of his unlawful 
 love. She wondered why he did not address her. 
 Thinking this was because he did not recognise her, 
 
 • Jon. iii. 5-7. 
 
LUTHEE ON PENANCE 7 
 
 she stepped forward: 'It is I,' said she— 'but I," 
 he answered, ' am no longer I.'" ^ 
 
 4. Luther, when first he began to fall away from 
 the Catholic Church, took it upon himself to impugn 
 this doctrine. He eliminated from contrition and 
 penance everything savouring of sorrow, of sadness, 
 of bitterness. True contrition, he said, can be found 
 without these ; the best , of penances is a new life,. 
 optima poenitentia nova vita ; the rest only serves. 
 to make a man a hypocrite and a greater sinner ;. 
 we must rather be intent on loving justice than 
 on hating sin ; nay, our only preoccupation must, 
 be how to act for the future.^ 
 
 In truth, it might have been asked of Luther,, 
 what our Lord in His Passion asked of Pilate, 
 " Sayest thou this of thyself, or have others told 
 it thee of Me ? " ^ For, Lawrence Valla * and Eras- 
 
 1 "Facilius inveni qui innocentiam servaverint quam qui congrue 
 egerint pcsnitentiam. An quisquam Olam pcenitentiam pufat, ubi 
 acquirendsB ambitio dignitatis, ubi vini efifusio, ubi copulas conjugalis- 
 usus? Eenuntiandum seculo est, somno ipsi minus indulgendum,, 
 quam natura postulat, interpellandus est gemitibus, interrumpendus 
 est suspiriis, sequestrandus orationibus ; vivendum ita, ut vitali huic 
 moriamur usui. Seipsum sibi homo abneget et totus mutetur : sicut 
 quemdam adolescentem fabulse ferunt post amores meretricios peregre 
 profectum et amore abolito regressum, veteri postea occurrisse dilectse, 
 quae ubi non interpellatam mirata, putaverit non recognitam, ruraus 
 ocourrens dixerit : ego sum, reaponderit ille : sed ego, non sum ego." — 
 Lib. II. de Poenit., c. 10. 
 
 2 See Luther's Sermon de Poenitentia, and the resolutions of his 
 propositions. 
 
 * John xviii. 34. 
 
 * In his notes on the seventh chapter of the second Epistle to the 
 Corinthians. 
 
8 DEATH AND THE TEEE OF LIFE 
 
 mus,^ who, each in his own way, might be called 
 the harbingers of the Protestant Reformation, had 
 already, with a great apparatus of Greek and Hebrew 
 erudition, put forth the opinion that sorrow for the 
 past is not an essential requisite for penance. In 
 the course of time, Theodore Beza^ adopted this 
 interpretation, and styled the contrary doctrine a 
 prejudice of illiterate minds. 
 
 According to these men, therefore, grammarians 
 rather than theologians, as Cardinal Bellarmine calls 
 them, the word pcenitentia should be used rather 
 to signify a love of justice than a hatred of sin ; 
 it implies no sense of regret or bitterness, for the 
 fulfilment of it is anything but difficult, unpleasant, 
 and painful. Hence, in the use of Scripture, the 
 word pcenitentia does not mean sorrow, but a change 
 of the mind, a mere purpose for the future, nera- 
 voiav,^ a bare resolve, rather than the laborious 
 exercise of penance. Thus did the Reformers argue 
 when they first set themselves "to root up, and 
 to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy," trusting 
 that they would afterwards, with the same facility, 
 be able " to build and to plant." * 
 
 But Luther himself, as it appears from his subse- 
 quent writings, and notably from the articles drawn 
 
 ' In his notes on the third chapter of St. Mi\tthew. 
 
 ^ In his commentaries on the tliird chapter of St. Matthew. 
 
 ' See Luther's letter to John Staupitz, the Vicar-General of the 
 Augustinian Order, written by him in 1518, and inserted iff the first 
 ■volume of his works printed at Wittuniberg. 
 
 * Jer. i. 10. 
 
MEANING OF THE "WORD PENANCE 9 
 
 up at Smalkalde, soon found himself in the necessity 
 of abandoning 'a doctrine of which he could hardly 
 be convinced, and which the law of nature openly 
 ■contradicted. In later years he dropped his new- 
 fangled teaching on this point, and acknowledged 
 with the Church the usefulness and necessity of true 
 penance for the past. 
 
 5. At the risk that our remarks may be taken 
 as " the censures of ill-meaning and discontented 
 persons," we can hardly here forbear expressing 
 .some doubts as to whether this doctrine was not the 
 principle which guided, in 1604, the fifty-four men 
 ■chosen by James I. for a revision of the English 
 Bible. That for the hundreds of times that the Vul- 
 gate has the word poenitentia, the Protestant version 
 should never have the corresponding term penance, 
 suggests the possibility that such an omission may 
 not have been altogether accidental. 
 
 The word Dn:^ nahham, for which the Vulgate has 
 pcenitere, means precisely a change of the mind, ac- 
 companied with sorrow and displeasure for the past 
 -and a disapproval thereof, manifested by sighs and 
 groanings. The Greek /xerafjIkeaQai is used in the 
 .same sense ; whilst, concerning the word ixeravoia, 
 which seems to have been the stronghold of Eras- 
 mus and of his disciples, Lactantius says that it sig- 
 nifies indeed a repentance, resipiscentiam, but that 
 those truly repent who are sorry for their faults 
 .and chastise themselves for their foolishness. '^ 
 
 1 L. vi. div. Inst., 0. xxiv. 
 
10 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 The translators, then, persistently discard the word 
 penance to mean this action, and repeatedly prefer the 
 word repentance. More is suggested than expressed 
 in this preference. It is true that both words have 
 now come to mean very nearly the same ; yet, viewed 
 in opposition with each other, the word repentance 
 may be taken as meaning simply a turning of the 
 mind, an after-counsel, as Erasmus called it, stripped 
 of every sense of unpleasant and bitter memory, and 
 exempt from the hardship which penance necessarily 
 involves. 
 
 But then, if repentance need not be associated with 
 suffering, either self-inflicted or imposed by a higher 
 avenging power ; and if, on the contrary, the ordi- 
 nary appendants of penance are toilsome labour 
 and smarting pain, why should the word repentance^ 
 rather than penance, be used in connection witk 
 painful exercises, such as are oftentimes mentioned 
 in Holy Scripture ? 
 
 One instance or two, taken at random out of a hun- 
 dred, will sufl&ce for our purpose. Where the Vulgate 
 has " Idcirco, ipse me reprehendo, et ago poeniten- 
 tiam — ^{lOnj — in favilla et cinere," ^ the Protestant 
 version has " Wherefore I abhor myself and repent 
 in dust and ashes." If dust and ashes were, among" 
 the Jews, the ordinary associates and the outward 
 emblems of sorrow, and repcutance means only a 
 turning of the mind, was it not obvious to say, as 
 
 ' Job xlii. 6. 
 
TEMPORAL DEBT ii 
 
 the Catholic version has it, "I reprehend myself and 
 do penance in dust and ashes ? " 
 
 Likewise in Jeremias ^ the text of the Vulgate, 
 " Postquam enim convertisti me, egi pcenitentiam — 
 "'09™," is well rendered by the Douay version, " After 
 Thou didst convert me, I did penance;" for it is natural 
 that penance for the past should follow conversion ; 
 that he who truly repents, looking back with bitter- 
 ness on the evil he has done, should wish it not to 
 be. But to say, as the Protestant version has it, 
 " Surely after that I was converted, I repented," is, to 
 say the least, a flagrant impropriety ; it is the case of 
 him who begins the building of his house by the roof ^ 
 
 6. Now, to come back to our subject, if the sinner, 
 on his returning to God by contrition, elicits an act 
 of inward penitential sorrow, equivalent in intensity 
 to the degree of the malice of his sin, he, together 
 with the grace and friendship of God, which is the 
 immediate fruit of contrition, obtains a perfect remis- 
 sion of the punishment due to his sin ; in a word, 
 he is quits with God, not so much, indeed, on account 
 
 1 Jer. xxxi. 19. 
 
 ^ That penance regards the past rather than the future is amply 
 proved by TertuUian in the second Book against Marcion and in his 
 book De Poenit., and by Aristotle in the third Book on Ethics, 
 chap. i. The celebrated Latin poet of the fourth century, Ausonius, 
 the master and friend of St. Paulinus, in his epigram De Occasione et 
 Pcenitentia, feigns jieravoiav to be an avenging goddess : — 
 
 " Sum dea, quae facti non factique exigo pcenas : 
 Nempe ut poeniteat, sic Metansea vocor." • 
 
 See Cardinal Bellarmine, De Pcenitentia, 1. i. c. 7. Also the important 
 notes on Matt. iii. i, 2, in the New Testament of Rheims, published 
 by George Henry & Co., London. 
 
12 . DEATH AIS^D THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 of what his sorrow is in itself, as on account of the 
 Divine acceptance of the same. 
 
 But if the inward sorrow falls short of that degree 
 of intensity, the guilt of stain is indeed removed 
 from the sinner's soul ; for the grace of God, which 
 he has recovered, is incompatible with the loathsome 
 stain that sin had inflicted, and with the separation 
 from the Source of all good. But there still remains 
 some debt to be paid to the Justice of God in the 
 shape of temporal punishment or of penitential exer- 
 cise ; for the "penance," says St. Cyprian, "must 
 not be inferior to the crime committed." ^ 
 
 We have clear instances of this truth in Holy Writ. 
 Adam and Eve, after their expulsion from Para- 
 dise, had, according to the opinion of the Fathers, 
 obtained from God, by sincere contrition, the par- 
 don of their sins ; yet they and their posterity 
 remained subject to a large number of temporal 
 punishments and physical failings — the darkness of 
 the intellect, the depravity of the heart, the weaken- 
 ing of the will, and, above all, the expectation of an 
 uncertain yet inevitable death. Likewise when God, 
 appeased by Moses's supplication, forgave the people 
 the crime of idolatry which they had committed 
 against Him in the desert. He, notwithstanding, 
 threatened them that a day of revenge would come 
 when He would visit their sin.'' And when they 
 murmured -in the desert and God threatened to 
 destroy them, and Moses interposed his supplication, 
 
 ' In the 5th Sermon de Lapsis. ' Exod. xxxii. 34. 
 
TEMPOEAL DEBT 13 
 
 the Lord said, " I have forgiven according to Thy 
 word, as I live, and the whole earth shall be filled 
 with the glory of the Lord. But yet all the men 
 that have seen My majesty, and the signs that I 
 have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have 
 tempted Me now ten times, and have not obeyed 
 My Voice, shall not see the land, for which I swore 
 to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that 
 hath detracted Me behold it." ' 
 
 A more conclusive proof that a debt of temporal 
 punishment often remains to be paid to the Justice 
 of God after the sin has been remitted, is afibrded 
 us in the history of David. The Lord, by the mouth 
 of the Prophet Nathan, had declared unto the repen- 
 tant king that his sin had been taken away ; but 
 this did not dispense him from performing a heavy 
 penance in fasting and sackcloth, from " labouring 
 in his groanings, every night washing his bed, water- 
 ing his couch with his tears," ^ and from earnestly 
 entreating God to "wash him yet more from his 
 iniquity, and cleanse him from his sin ; " ^ which 
 made St. Augustine exclaim, " Lord, Thou leavest 
 not without punishment the sins of those very ones 
 to whom Thou hadst forgiven them." * 
 
 Calvin himself could not deny that this had been 
 the faith of the Church for many centuries past. Yet 
 he did not shrink from the bold assertion that almost 
 all the ancient authors whose works we possess were 
 
 1 Num. xiv. 20-23. " Ps. vi. 7. 
 
 3 Ps. 1. 4. * Enarr. in Ps. 1. n. 11. 
 
T4 DEATH AND THE TEEE OF LIFE 
 
 mistaken in this respect, and that their language was 
 prompted by extreme severity.^ The holy Council 
 ■of Trent set forth the Catholic doctrine on this point, 
 when it declared it altogether false and contrary 
 to the Word of God, to say that the guilt is never 
 forgiven by God unless the whole punishment be 
 remitted.^ 
 
 But what further proof need we seek of a truth 
 which lies at the very basis of social relations ? 
 The natural law which binds man to his neighbour 
 prescribes that, when a man has offended his fellow- 
 man, no reconciliation can take place except on con- 
 dition that the offender offers to him whom he has 
 offended a compensation proportionate to the griev- 
 ousness of the offence. How much more, then, 
 should man offer to God, besides the sorrow of his 
 heart, a due compensation for the offence he has 
 given to His Divine Majesty ? 
 
 7. On the other hand, whenever we perform a 
 good work in the 'state of grace, to say nothing of the 
 power of impetration such a work possesses, we derive 
 therefrom a twofold advantage : first, our essential 
 merit is increased, and consequently our claim to the 
 retribution of eternal glory. It is this which marks 
 the different degrees of sanctity in this life, and bv 
 which " star differeth from star in glory " * in the 
 next. 
 
 ■ Inst. 1. iii. c. 4, n. 38. 
 
 ^ Sesaio xiv. c. viii. ; (/. can. xii. and xv. See also Ses?. vi. can. 30. 
 
 ' I Cor. XV. 4. 
 
THE POWER OF SATISFACTION 15 
 
 But besides that, our good works possess another 
 efl&cacy, that of satisfaction, by which we can atone 
 for the temporal debt of our sins. For the perform- 
 ance of every good work involves a certain amount 
 of hardship, of difl&culty, and consequently of self- 
 denial ; and this, when borne for God, is accounted 
 by Him as a compensation for past sins. 
 
 The merit belongs properly and exclusively to 
 the performer of these good works. It is inalien- 
 a,ble. It constitutes the reward due to each man, 
 and " every man," says St. Paul, " shall receive his 
 own reward according to his own labours." ^ But 
 the satisfaction may be made over to another. 
 Indeed, it is in this that satisfaction differs from 
 the other parts of penance, that it can be transferred 
 by us to our neighbour. " No man may be contrite, 
 or confess for another," says the Catechism of the 
 Council of Trent ; ^ " but those who are endowed with 
 Divine grace may pay for one another what is due 
 to God, and so they seem in some sort to bear each 
 other's burden."* 
 
 This is a point on which no room is left for doubt. 
 It is a mere consequence of that article in the Apostles' 
 Creed by which we profess to believe in " the com- 
 munion of saints." " Regenerated as we all are to 
 Christ, by having been washed in the same Baptism, 
 made partakers of the same Sacraments, and espe- 
 cially refreshed by the same meat and drink — the 
 Body and Blood of Christ our Lord — we are all 
 
 > I Cor. iii. 8. ^ Part II. cap. v. quaest. 72. ^ Qal. vi. 2. 
 
1 6 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 manifestly members of the same body. As then the 
 foot does not perform its function solely for its own 
 benefit, but also for that of the eyes, nor again do 
 the eyes see only for themselves, but for the common 
 benefit of all the members, so ought works of satis- 
 faction to be deemed common amongst us." ^ 
 
 8. Now, in the application of these satisfactions, a 
 threefold case may happen. 
 
 Sometimes the amount of satisfaction we go 
 through is not sufficient to cover the whole of our 
 debt, and there remains a surplus to be paid to the 
 justice of God. This, we fear, is the case with many 
 a Christian. The faults committed are many, and 
 the good performed scanty and imperfect — too light 
 to counterbalance God's rigorous Justice. 
 
 Sometimes the good work is just enough to cover 
 our debt. Such is, of itself, Baptism, and religious 
 profession, of which ascetic writers say that it is 
 so agreeable to God as to be accounted by Him as a 
 second Baptism. Such also is the act of martyrdom, 
 which, proceeding as it does from the perfect love of 
 God, makes up for every obligation to punishment. 
 
 But let us suppose, as a third case, that a man has 
 never lost his baptismal innocence, and yet that he 
 has for many years, like St. Paul the Hermit, perse- 
 vered in a life of the greatest austerity, what a store 
 of satisfactory merits must such a one have laid by, 
 after he has duly atoned for the few slips and imper- 
 fections inseparable from human nature ! 
 
 ' Oat. Rom., Part II. c. v. q. 76. 
 
A THREEFOLD CASE 17 
 
 Of some holy anchorites St. John Climacus relates 
 that he saw them in a monastery called the Prison of 
 Penitents, standing upright in the open air, thus 
 trying to overcome sleep. Others he saw with their 
 eyes continually fixed on heaven, asking God with 
 many tears to have pity on them. Others, on the 
 contrary, with their hands tied behind their backs, 
 kept their head bent towards the ground, as if 
 unworthy to look upwards. Others, again, would 
 sit on ashes, with their head between their knees, 
 and strike the ground with their forehead ; while 
 others, like St. Simon Stylites, would stand for years 
 on a column, exposed to all the inclemencies of the 
 weather — voluntary victims for sins which they 
 knew not. 
 
 We have no lack of similar examples of austere 
 penance in more modern times. For thirty -three years 
 St. Alexis Falconieri had led in Florence, amid the 
 corruption of the thirteenth century, a life of spot- 
 less innocence and of sublime virtue, mixed with the 
 practice of every kind of mortification. Then, in 
 compliance with the behests of the Queen of Heaven, 
 he retired, with his six companions, into solitude, 
 and finally embraced with them the religious life. 
 In this holy state he lived for fully seventy-seven 
 years ; and all this time, as his biographers relate, 
 was spent in the practice of incessant prayer, of 
 continual fasts, of austere mortifications, of painful 
 humiliations, of disinterested charity. What an 
 amount of superabundant satisfactions must this 
 
1 8 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 meek Servite saint have gained during those hundred 
 and ten years of his life ! 
 
 These men were they whom St. Paul describes as 
 having had "trial of mockeries and stripes, more- 
 over also of bands and prisons. They were stoned, 
 they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they 
 were put to death by the sword, they wandered 
 about in sheep-skins, in goat-skins, being in want, 
 distressed, afflicted." ^ And yet they could say with 
 St. Paul, " I am not conscious to myself of any- 
 thing;" ^ and again, " Our glory is this, the testimony 
 of our conscience, that in simplicity of heart and 
 sincerity of God, and not in carnal wisdom, but in 
 the grace of God, we have conversed in this world." ' 
 
 With how much truth, then, could they say these 
 words of Job, " that my sins, whereby I have de- 
 served wrath and the calamity that I suffer, were 
 weighed in a balance ! As the sand of the sea this 
 would appear heavier." * 
 
 But there is yet more. What must have been the 
 superabundant satisfactions of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary ! She had been conceived, as faith teaches 
 us, in original justice. Accordingly she had never 
 experienced that tendency to sin, on which depends 
 the greatest struggle of our lives, and which prompts 
 us to neglect the law of God. And so, as the holy 
 Council of Trent teaches us,^ never did the faintest 
 shadow of imperfection tarnish the brightness of 
 
 ' Heb. xi. 36, 37. - I C\.i-. iv. 4. 
 
 ' 2 Cor. i. 12. « Job vi. 2, 3. « Scss. vi. de Justif., c. 25. 
 
CHRIST'S SUPERABUNDANT SATISFACTIONS 19 
 
 grace in her soul. And yet, on the other hand, 
 what an ordeal of sufferings had she not to go 
 through all her life long! What anguish, what 
 heart-rending agony when — 
 
 " By the Cross of Jesus dying 
 Stood the mournful Mother crying. 
 While her Son was hanging there ! " 
 
 What a store both of merits and satisfactions 
 must she have possessed, when, by her Divine Son, 
 she was bidden make for the heavenly country, to 
 be crowned by Him Sovereign Queen of the whole 
 world ! Did ever queen present her spouse with 
 such a rich dowry ? 
 
 9. But there is One who toiled and suffered even 
 more than the Queen of Martyrs, " a Man of Sorrows, 
 and acquainted with infirmity, who surely hath borne 
 our infirmities, and carried our sorrows, and we have 
 thought Him, as it were, a leper, and as one struck 
 by God and afilicted." ^ And yet He was all holi- 
 ness and purity, " the Holy One of God," '^ who " did 
 no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth ; " ' 
 " a High Priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated 
 from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, 
 who needeth not daily, as the other priests, to offer 
 sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the 
 people's." * What an amount of satisfactions — infinite 
 satisfactions, for He was truly God — must He have 
 accumulated who suffered so great torments ! 
 
 1 Isa. liii. 3, 4. 2 Mark i. 21. 
 
 3 I Peter ii. 22. ^ Heb. vii. 26, 27. 
 
20 DEATH AND THE TEEE OF LIFE 
 
 lo. Now, what has become of these superabundant 
 satisfactions of Christ, of His Blessed Mother, and of 
 the saints ? Shall we dare assert that they are void 
 of practical utility, and that they have no sensible 
 effect, beyond that of teaching us how much Christ 
 and His saints have. been able to bear, when placed 
 in the crucible of sorrow ? Such an assertion would 
 be injurious to God's Wisdom and to our sense of 
 His Justice. 
 
 To His "Wisdom, because it would be absurd to say 
 that, when He submitted His own Beloved Son and 
 His dear saints to such torments, He had nothing 
 else in view, than to exhibit a sterile spectacle of 
 their patience and of their strength, such as amused 
 the Roman emperors in the savage combats of 
 gladiators, or again, such as interested the pagan 
 divinities, when they watched, from the height of 
 Olympus, Hercules in the midst of his labours. 
 
 And no less would it offend our sense of God's 
 Justice to say that these merits have no practical 
 application. For we have this innate persuasion, that 
 He is so just, as never to allow any merit, any good 
 whatever to be performed by men, without directing 
 it to some actual profit, whether to ourselves or to 
 those allied to us by ties of friendship, relationship, 
 or duty. 
 
 And yet we must of necessity say that these satis- 
 factions will lie deprived of actual and practical 
 usefulness, unless tlic}' are given over to such as 
 may l)onefit by them. Cotlers of gold, while lying 
 
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 21 
 
 buried in the cellars of an Indian prince, may indeed 
 rouse the admiration and foment the cupidity of a 
 covetous miser, but are of no profit whatever to 
 any one, until they are extracted therefrom, and 
 used in trade, for the purchase of commodities, for 
 public works, for building churches, or else judiciously 
 distributed to those in need. In like manner, the 
 superabundant satisfactions of Christ and of His 
 saints will be utterly fruitless, if they are not actually 
 drawn from the treasury of the Church, and used to 
 further the interests of the Christian commonwealth, 
 or to supply the deficiency of the poorer members of 
 Christ. 
 
 II. There is in the Apostles' Creed one article 
 which supplies an appropriate answer to objectors. 
 We have already mentioned the communion of saints. 
 In this article we are commanded to believe that 
 there is, in the Church, a link which binds Christians 
 together, which gives them an identity of interests, 
 and entitles them to a communion of goods, such 
 as exists between the members of one and the same 
 family. A family is enriched with the goods of the 
 individual members ; and again, the members are 
 benefited by the goods of the family, and one helps 
 another by the transfer of his alienable goods. 
 
 So is there in the Church an interchange of super- 
 natural goods. It consists not in' sympathies only, 
 not in mutual edification only, not in pouring forth 
 prayers and supplications for one another only, but 
 in a real and vital influence of one member upon 
 
2 2 DEATH AND THE TEEE OF LIFE 
 
 another, and of the whole body upon each member, 
 as we have heard from the Council of Trent. ^ 
 
 For the Church is exhibited to us in Holy Scripture 
 as a living body, which from the Head, Christ, " being 
 compacted and fitly joined together, by what every 
 joint supplieth, according to the operation, in the 
 measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, 
 unto the edifying of itself in charity/' '^ 
 
 So, interpreting the Apostle's mind, we may say 
 that as the substantial union of a human body re- 
 quires that all the members should be closely joined 
 together, should exercise on one another a vital in- 
 fluence, consisting in a mutual communication of 
 blood and strength, and finally that their growth 
 should result in the growth of the whole bodv ; so, 
 in virtue of the communion of the Church, the faith- 
 ful who are its members, " called the saints," ^ should 
 be closely bound by the unity of their faith, should 
 help and benefit one another 1)}' the participation of 
 their goods, and the whole should ultimately redound 
 unto " the perfecting of the saints and the edifying 
 of the Body of Christ in charity."^ 
 
 This close union and interdependence it is which 
 constitutes a joint liability among the members, in 
 virtue of which the good and the evil which is done 
 by some is imputed in some measure to the others. 
 
 Thus ha\c Christian communities often boon saved 
 by iL'iisoii of some living saint, unknown to men, but 
 
 1 Sue page 15. 2 KpU. iv. i6. 
 
 3 Horn. i. 7. < Epli. iv. 12. 
 
DE BLOIS TO THE MONKS OF CHICHESTER 23 
 
 known to God ; as of old Putiphar's house was the 
 object of abundant blessings from God because of 
 the holy and humble Joseph. On the other hand, 
 how often has it not happened that the whole Body 
 of Christ has been made to smart keenly under the 
 blows of persecutors, for some faults which but a few 
 wayward members have committed, but for which all 
 are in some measure answerable ! 
 
 12. Peter de Blois, an ecclesiastical writer of the 
 twelfth century {d. about 1 200), in the letter which 
 he wrote to the Abbot and Monastery of Chichester, 
 speaks in most impressive terms of the communion 
 of saints. The purport of the writer's letter is to 
 entreat the monks to pour forth fervent prayers to 
 God for himself, as he was soon to receive the 
 sacerdotal dignity. 
 
 " Indeed, we are all one thing in Christ," he says, 
 " and the entirety of the Church, which consists of a 
 uniform connection of the members, enjoins upon all 
 the rule of mutual communion and the undivided 
 affection of charity. I, therefore, entreat you in the 
 oneness of faith, in the communion of the saints, and 
 in the confession of one baptism, that ' the eyes ' of 
 your charity ' may see my imperfect being,' ' and 
 that, by your prayers, you may prop up a weak man, 
 whom the greatness of the burden frightens. 
 
 " With Christ, that which to one is a cause of pro- 
 ficiency is never to another a cause of deficiency; for 
 grace increases by being overspent, and the cruse of 
 
 1 Ps. cxxxviii. 16. 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
26 DEATH AND THE TREE OF LIFE 
 
 it fresh sufferings. No age, no condition, no state 
 of life, is sufficient to exempt man from sorro.w. It 
 takes hold of the child at its cradle, and does not 
 leave it, but at its departure from this world. We 
 may have lived but a few years as yet ; but if, at our 
 birth, we had been given to foresee the suffering that 
 we have already gone through, perhaps the heart 
 would have failed us at the sight, and we would 
 have said with holy Job, " Let the day perish wherein 
 I was born, and the night in which it was said : A 
 man-child is conceived." ' 
 
 But why should we be made to suffer ? Why 
 should our longings after happiness be ever made 
 void, our hopes blasted, our schemes frustrated ? 
 Why, in all and each of our works should we ever 
 be a prey to sorrow and affliction ? In a word, why 
 should suffering be the burden of our life ? 
 
 Those who will not acknowledge in the world 
 anything but matter, say that suffering is a tribute 
 exacted by nature, or the sheer effect of chance. But 
 nature can claim no superiority over man, that man 
 should be its tributary ; and chance is but an emptv 
 word. In very deed, the platonic reveries of self- 
 styled " Philosophers " have never succeeded in sooth- 
 ing a pain, in healing a wound, in comforting a broken 
 heart. 
 
 Yet suffering was not brought into the world hv 
 God. He is essentially good, and cannot be the 
 direct cause of evil. Suffering is an evil, and as 
 
 ' Job iii. 3. 
 
THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING 27 
 
 such could only be caused by that which is intrin- 
 sically evil. This is sin ; and so suffering was 
 brought into the world by sin, and God, who 
 allowed sin, willed that it should bring with it its 
 natural consequence — suffering. 
 
 This, then, is the origin of suffering. But there 
 is yet another mystery concealed in the working of 
 suffering. To what end has God willed the intro- 
 duction of suffering in the world? What is the 
 object of suffering? It is to restore the order of 
 God's offended Justice. The sinner refused God that 
 allegiance which, as His servant, he owed Him, and 
 now he is made to compensate his felony by smarting 
 keenly. And so, whilst he refused to serve God 
 willingly, he is made to serve Him forcibly. And 
 God remains the Great God. 
 
 But the mystery is not unfolded yet. The angels 
 sinned and suffered, and God's Justice was satisfied. 
 But this was all. Man sinned, suffered, satisfied 
 God's Justice, and further drew down from heaven 
 upon himself, through suffering, the graces by which 
 he is restored to his first noble condition. And so, 
 whilst in the case of the sinful angels, suffering had 
 no other end but that of making amends to God's 
 Justice, of being a mere satisfaction, in man's case 
 it has a twofold end, for it is both a payment to His 
 Justice and a means to draw down His Mercy. In 
 the case of the angels, " God's Justice is justice for 
 ever ; " -^ in the case of man, " mercy and truth 
 
 ' Ps. oxviii. 142. 
 
28 DEATH AND THE TEEE OF LIFE 
 
 have met each other, justice and peace have 
 kissed." ^ 
 
 This law is of universal application. As there is 
 no atonement for man's sins except through suffer- 
 ing, so is there no plea for mercy but that which 
 is based upon sorrow. 
 
 Hence, "Christ, the faithful Witness, the First- 
 begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings 
 of the earth," ^ would not be exempted from that 
 law. " And He began to teach them that the Son 
 of Man must suffer many things." ^ 
 
 But there is yet more contained in the mystery 
 of suffering. Suffering bears a proportion to the 
 restoration of God's Justice and ]\Iercy. By how 
 much the greater the sufferings, by so much the 
 more complete is this restoration. Hence, Christ, 
 " who was made unto us wisdom, and justice, and 
 sanctification, and redemption," * must needs have 
 been " the Man of Sorrows." ^ 
 
 And, of all the creatures of God, the one that was 
 most closely associated to Christ in the work which 
 He had undertaken of appeasing God's Justice and 
 drawing down upon earth His ■Mercy, was the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary, because of all creatures she 
 was most to suffer. So that, as by His Passion 
 Jesus atoned for our sins with regard to God's Jus- 
 tice, so IMary, by her compassion, worked with Him 
 towards the same end ; and as the Humanity of 
 
 • Ps. Ixxxiv. II. - Apoc. i. 5. s Jtavo. viii. 31. 
 
 ■• I Cor. i. 30. 6 Isa. liii. -,. 
 
THE MYSTERY OF SUFFEEING 29 
 
 Jesus was the most beautiful and stupendous work 
 of God's Mercy — "We saw Him full of grace and 
 truth," ^ — so was Mary, of all mere creatures, the 
 most fair and the most perfect — "full of grace"* 
 too, in her own line, and this because she suffered, 
 less indeed than her Son, yet more than any other 
 creature. 
 
 Now, what the relations of Jesus and Mary were 
 to suffering, such also are the relations of each one 
 of us. For "those that are Christ's have crucified 
 their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences." * 
 There is, however, this difference, that Jesus and 
 Mary, by suffering, did not atone for their own sins, 
 for they were both equally sinless, though through 
 different causes ; yet both, through suffering, merited 
 from the Divine Mercy graces for themselves. Jesus 
 through suffering entered into His glory ; * Mary, 
 through being the Queen of Martyrs, became the 
 Queen of Angels. 
 
 This, then, is the twofold end of suffering — to 
 give a due compensation to God's Justice, and to 
 call down graces from His Divine Mercy ; and these 
 two things ultimately result in the destruction of sin 
 and the glory of God. 
 
 At first the burthen of suffering sounds like a 
 harsh, discordant, ungrateful melody. Yet it is ac- 
 companied with a most delicious harmony ; its tone 
 is calm and gentle, and none but attentive ears can 
 
 1 Jolin i. 14. ^ Luke i. 28. 
 
 2 Gal. V. 24. * Luke xxiv. 26. 
 
30 DEATH AND THE TEEE OF LIFE 
 
 catch the sweetness of the music. And in permitting 
 suffering and ordering it to our good, the Almighty 
 is acting as a most skilful Artist. His work is a 
 drawing, the lines of which appear at first sight 
 rugged, disconnected, the effect of chance, rather 
 than the outcome of thought. But only draw back 
 and consider the whole design : there is a treasure 
 of meaning disguised among the rough outlines. 
 
 Faith is the light which discloses to us the secrets 
 of suffering. Reason alone is encompassed with a 
 shroud of darkness about this mystery : it is the 
 twilight of evening. Faith scatters thereon floods 
 of purest light : it is the dawn of morning. " In 
 the evening weeping shall have place, and in the 
 
 morning gladness."^ 
 
 1 Ps. xxix. 6. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of 
 Christ."— Gai.. vi. 2. 
 
 TRUE NOTION OF AN INDULGENCE 
 
 Three ways in which satisfactions may be transferred' — First case — 
 Second case — The Church a political body — Third case— Condi- 
 tions : lawful authority in him who grants it — A just motive for 
 granting it — The lesson taught by these two conditions— State of 
 grace in the penitent and fulfilment of the works— Probable con- 
 dition — Indulgences for the dead — They are granted by way of 
 suffrage only — Conditions for gaining them — What is an In- 
 dulgence, and what it is not — The scriptural meaning of the word 
 Indulgence— Its origin in the Church. 
 
 I. We have already seen that, when we offend 
 God wilfully, we make ourselves liable to His Justice 
 for a debt of punishment which contrition and abso- 
 lution are not always sufficient to cancel ; that, on 
 the other hand, Christ and His saints have acquired 
 by their superabundant sufferings a treasury of satis- 
 factory merits, and that, in virtue of the communion 
 of saints, these satisfactions may be transferred from 
 one to another. Now, starting from these principles, 
 which are grounded upon faith, let us examine in 
 how many ways such a transfer or donation of satis- 
 factory merits can take place within the Church. 
 
32 MERCY AND FOEGIVENESS 
 
 We may consider three ways in which this transfer 
 may take place. It may be made, first, by a pri- 
 vate member of the Church ; secondly, by a limited 
 community of faithful bound together by ties of a 
 common profession, or by those of a common dwelling- 
 place, such as the religious in a community or the 
 faithful in a parish ; or, thirdly, this transfer may 
 be made out of the treasury of the whole Church, by 
 the authorised dispensers. We shall examine each 
 of these cases, and see in which case this transfer 
 may be called au Indulgence. 
 
 2. There can be no doubt that an individual may 
 apply to another his own satisfactions. Eusebius, 
 Bishop of Caisarea, by his writings on the first ages 
 of the Church entitled to be called the father of 
 ecclesiastical history, relates that the Apostle St. 
 John had succeeded in brino-ino; back to the fold of 
 Christ a thief whose life for many years had been but 
 a tissue of crimes, and who was despairing of finding 
 mercy with God. St. John encouraged him, saj^ing, 
 " Fear not, my son ; there is still left for thee a hope of 
 salvation ; for thee will I make satisfaction to Clirist ; 
 for thy sake will I gladly suff"er death, even as Our 
 Blessed Lord condescended to die for us all ; for thy 
 soul will I lay down my own soul."^ Thus was St. John 
 in his charity handing over to that misera])le sinner 
 the satisfactions whii'h he himself had acquired. 
 
 So, too, did tlic martyrs, when, from their prisons, 
 whence they were soon to go forth and suffer 
 
 ^ Hist Ei't'los., iii. 24. 
 
FIEST CASE 33 
 
 death for Christ, they consigned by a solemn hand- 
 writing, though not yet sanctioned by the Church, 
 to the humble suppliant that besought their inter- 
 cession, their present and future sufferings, as a 
 satisfaction for penances to which, according to the 
 canons of the Church, he had made himself liable. 
 But of this we shall have occasion to speak more 
 fully later on. Thus, also, we read in the life 
 of some modern saint, that when administering 
 the Sacrament of Penance, he would, in some cases, 
 impose but light penances on great sinners, promis- 
 ing them that he would supply the rest. 
 
 However, this kind of transfer, made by an indi- 
 vidual member of the Church, and unwarranted by 
 the endorsement of her pastors, is not what we call 
 an Indulgence. For Indulgences are granted out 
 of the treasury which, we said, is made up of the 
 superabundant satisfactions of Christ and of His 
 saints ; whereas this concession originates from a 
 private man's spiritual fund. 
 
 Consequently an Indulgence can only be granted 
 by such as have received from Christ power over the 
 Church, whilst this transfer is made on altogether 
 private authority. 
 
 Moreover, it may be that the merits of that 
 generous soul, however great they may chance to 
 be, are not sufficient to discharge the whole debt of 
 the sinner, while the treasury of the Church, out 
 of which these satisfactions are taken, is more than 
 sufficient to cover the debt of a thousand sinful worlds. 
 
 c 
 
34 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 Lastly, an Indulgence frees a man both from his 
 debt with regard to God and from his debt with 
 regard to the Church ; but a private donation of 
 satisfactory merits, however ample, if it have not 
 the sanction of the Church, would not free a man 
 from the obligation of undergoing the amount of 
 public penance imposed on him for his sin by the 
 ancient canons, supposing they were still in full 
 vigour. 
 
 3. The second case in which a transfer of satisfac- 
 tory merits may be made is, as was said above, 
 when a limited body of faithful agree to make over, 
 whether by common accord or by the organ of their 
 immediate Superior, their joint satisfactions to a 
 particular person. The case would be that of a 
 group of pious persons agreeing to oflfer up certain 
 penitential exercises for an individual, or of a Supe- 
 rior of a Eeligious Community, of an Order, of a 
 parish, applying to a similar purpose the good works 
 of those under him. Of this second kind of applica- 
 tion instances are not wanting, and we have crops 
 of them in Religious Orders, in which, by a decree 
 of the Superior, the good works performed by all 
 the Eeligious are sometimes communicated to special 
 benefactors, as a reward for their charity. 
 
 But neither may this transfer or donation be called 
 an Indulgence, and this precisely for the very reasons 
 that were given in the first case, viz., because such 
 a donation is not made out of the whole treasury of 
 the Church, for it may be that the merits of that 
 
THE CHUKCH A POLITICAL BODY 35 
 
 body are not sufficient to cancel the whole debt of 
 the sinner ; secondly, because this application would 
 not liberate a man from undergoing the discipline 
 of the Penitential Canons if they were still in full 
 force ; and lastly, because this donation is not ratified 
 by the authority of the Church. 
 
 This last reason opens the gate to an objection. 
 Is not a religious Superior, an abbot, for instance, or 
 a parish priest, a man with authority in the Church ? 
 Does he not hold a hierarchical position, and has he 
 not truly power over those whom it is his office to 
 rule in spiritual matters ? And if so, how can it be 
 said that a donation made by him is not ratified by 
 the authority of the Church ? 
 
 The answer to this objection depends on a right 
 understanding of the Constitution of the Church. 
 
 4. Speaking generally, there are two kinds of 
 congregations or associations of men ; the one is 
 economical, the other political. A gathering of in- 
 dividuals, whether bound by ties of blood, as in a 
 family, or by bonds of religious or commercial in- 
 terests, as in a Religious Order or in a company, 
 constitutes an economical association. But a gather- 
 ing of several such associations, bound by the ties 
 of common interests, and by the sharing of the same 
 nationality, constitutes a political association united 
 under one government, and this we call a state. 
 
 Now the Catholic Church is a political body, a 
 state. It is an assembly, not of individuals 
 only, but of families, of villages, of towns, of pro- 
 
36 MEECY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 vinces, of nations, bound for the same purpose, 
 having a community of interests, obeying the same 
 laws, ruled by one and the same Supreme Pastor. 
 Indeed, it was the will of Jesus Christ that she 
 should include in her bosom all the nations of the 
 earth, for He said to His Apostles, "Go, teach ye 
 all nations." ^ And this is the reason why the faith- 
 ful are called " a holy nation, a purchased people, 
 who in time past were not a people, but are now the 
 people of God." '^ 
 
 If, then, the Church is a political association, a 
 state, in the true sense of the word, its government 
 also is that of a state, and its treasury a state 
 treasury. Consequently, the custody and the ad- 
 ministration of this treasury belong only to those, 
 among the rulers of the Church, who are intrusted 
 with a political or state authority, who are qualified 
 public persons, and who are called truly and properly 
 the Prelates of the Church. 
 
 Now these are the Bishops, and the Bishops only, 
 to whom alone belongs a full power in the dispensa- 
 tion of the Sacraments, and who alone possess a 
 native and full jurisdiction in the administration of 
 ecclesiastical justice ; who, under the " Prince of 
 Pastors," have the mission of feeding the flock 
 of (lod; who arc to be made "a pattern of the 
 flock from the heart ; " * who are the successors of 
 the apostles, the lirothers of the Sovereign Pontiff; 
 who are Christ's primary and ordinary "amliassa- 
 
 ' Mult, xxviii. 19. - I 1\'Ut ii. 9, 10. ^ i Poter v. 2-4. 
 
THE CHUECH A POLITICAL BODY 37 
 
 dors ; " ^ whose " daily instance is the solicitude for 
 all the Churches;'" and who are wedded to the 
 Church, and to her interests, the symbol of which 
 wedding they ever wear on their hand, the mystic 
 ring which indissolubly binds them to Christ and to 
 His Church. 
 
 But the inferior priests, apart from a special 
 delegation, have no authority in the Church beyond 
 the limits of their parish or the members of their 
 congregation. The faithful subject to them form 
 an economical body ; and even though honorific 
 titles be sometimes conferred upon these priests, 
 yet they are not properly the Prelates or Pastors 
 of the Church. In the dispensation of Sacraments 
 their power is circumscribed, for they derive it in a 
 limited manner from the Bishop", whose diligence, 
 watchfulness, and fatherly care they are destined 
 as helpers and coadjutors to supply, wherever his 
 action cannot reach. Hence, in their ordination, 
 the Bishop says to them, "By how much the weaker 
 and more infirm we are, by so much the more do we 
 need such helpers." ^ 
 
 When, therefore, a Superior of a Community or 
 of a parish applies to a particular person the good 
 works performed by its members, this is no In- 
 dulgence, not only because the good works of such 
 persons are limited, but especially because such a 
 Superior is not one of the first pastors, and conse- 
 
 1 2 Cor. V. 20. 2 2 Cor. xi. 28. 
 
 5 Pontif. Eom. See St. Thomas Aquinas, Suppl. qusest. xxvi. a. i. 
 
38 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 quentlj no true prelate, no superior officer of the 
 Church. He has no authority over the state trea- 
 sury, out of which alone there is sufficiency of wealth, 
 to remit, both in the sight of God and in the sight 
 of the Church, the debt of an infinite number of 
 sinful, but penitent souls. 
 
 5. When is it, then, that an Indulgence is granted ? 
 In the third and last case mentioned above, viz., 
 when a donation or transfer is made over from the 
 treasury of the Church by the qualified Prelates. 
 
 This is evident from what has been hitherto said. 
 First, the donation must be made out of the whole 
 treasury of the Church, because no private treasury 
 can be sufficient to meet the liabilities of every 
 sinner and cover the whole of his delit. 
 
 Secondly, it must be made by the qualified or 
 first pastors of the Church, because they alone have 
 authority over this treasury. There is yet another 
 reason. In order that such a donation may be an 
 Indulgence,, it must be accepted by the Church 
 as a compensation for that canonical penance to 
 which the sinner was bound according to the an- 
 cient statutes. For, by his transgression the sinner 
 has off"ended not God only, but the bodv also of 
 which he is a wayward member. The whole 
 ofi'ended body, then, has a right to exact satis- 
 faction from the limb that has ofl'onded. So, in 
 order that such an application out of the whole 
 treasury of the Church, may in reality be an " In- 
 dulgence," it must 1)0 such that, in virtue of it, the 
 
CONDITIONS REQUIEED FOR VALIDITY 39 
 
 debt may be paid off, not only in the face of God — 
 inforo interno — but also in the face of the Church 
 — m foro externo — wherein the first pastors are 
 ordinary judges. 
 
 6. But before we proceed any further, let us 
 examine what are the conditions required for the 
 validity of an Indulgence. These by theologians 
 are reckoned to be three in number, viz., lawful 
 authority in him who grants the Indulgence ; just- 
 ness of the motive for which it is granted ; and the 
 proper dispositions in him who receives it. The 
 two first conditions regard the Superior who grants 
 the Indulgence ; the third, the faithful who wish 
 to gain it. 
 
 There is in the Church a hierarchy of jurisdic- 
 tion, which, springing from Christ, is continued in 
 the variety of ministers who, from the Pope to the 
 simple priest, represent His authority. 
 
 This hierarchy is based upon the principle that 
 the sender communicates to him who is sent, in 
 virtue of this lawful mission, that authority which 
 enables the latter to continue the personality of the 
 former, either wholly or partly, according as he has 
 received from him who sends him the fulness of his 
 authority, or only a portion of it. Without this, 
 no man has power to bind or to loose ; and did he 
 presume to do so, his words would be but an empty 
 sound, and his concessions sheer impostures. 
 
 The first person vested with this authority, and 
 indeed of divine right, is the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 
40 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 " the Key-bearer, the successor of Peter, and Vicar 
 of Jesus Christ, who possesses the power of the 
 Keys which opened the heavens." ' He is in the 
 Church what a king is in his kingdom.^ His power 
 is not dependent upon man, but upon Christ alone, 
 of whom he holds it. He, therefore, possesses a full 
 power to bind and to loose, to forgive sins or to 
 retain them, to remit the punishment due to sin, 
 or to leave the sinner unabsolved. 
 
 This doctrine results from Holy Scripture, from 
 the teaching of the Councils and of the Fathers, 
 and from the constant use the Popes have made 
 of such a power, for well-nigh nineteen centuries. 
 
 Next to the Pope, a General Council possesses 
 this power, for it represents the Universal Church, 
 with which Christ promised to remain until the 
 consummation of the world. 
 
 The Bishops also can grant Indulgences, and 
 indeed of divine right, because of divine right, as 
 we have said, and not by the institution of the 
 Church, they are the heads of their flocks, and are 
 invested with ordinary jurisdiction, of which the 
 power of granting Indulgences is a part. 
 
 It is, however, subordinate to the Pope's power, 
 even as their authority, and this by the institution 
 of Christ, who intrusted St. Peter with the care of 
 feeding not only His lambs — that is, the faithful — 
 but also His sheep ^ — that is, the pastors. "They 
 
 1 Leo X. in his Docret. " Tor Pnvsontes." 
 '^ S. Tlioni. Supplem. <[. xxvi. ii. j. ' Joliii xxi. 17. 
 
LAWFUL AUTHOEITY 41 
 
 are assumed," says St. Thomas, "to share the 
 Sovereign Pontiff's solicitude as judges appointed 
 over each city : . . . therefore their power is taxed 
 according to the ordinance of the Pope." ^ This 
 is why, when some bishops had abused their power, 
 the fourth Council of Lateran limited it to grant- 
 ing one year's Indulgence at the consecration of a 
 a church, and forty days on other occasions.^ 
 
 And, as this power is a natural sequel of ordi- 
 nary jurisdiction, it is evident that bishops who 
 do not possess the latter cannot claim the former. 
 Hence titular bishops, bishops who have resigned 
 their See, Coadjutors, even with future succession, 
 do not possess the power of granting Indulgences ; 
 and an ordinary bishop cannot exercise this right 
 outside the territory of his diocese, except with 
 regard to his own diocesan subjects. 
 
 The other inferior prelates, whatever be their dig- 
 nity, have no native or ordinary power to grant 
 Indulgences. For whereas a bishop is the governor 
 of a whole people, like a Prefect in a province, and 
 consequently possesses a natural authority over the 
 common treasury, other prelates, as, for instance, a 
 parish priest, an abbot, a general of an Order, are 
 but like a father of a family wherein such a trea- 
 sury does not exist. The same should be said of 
 cardinals who are not bishops, and in general of 
 
 1 Supplem. q. xxvi. a. 3. 
 
 2 Can. 62. This decree was inserted among the Decretals of 
 Boniface VIII. 
 
42 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 all prelates who are not invested with ordinary 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 For this reason, Innocent III., in the fourth 
 Council of Lateran,^ severely reproves certain ab- 
 bots who, usurping the right of bishops, presumed 
 to grant Indulgences. He strictly forbids them 
 doing so for the future, except in the case of a 
 special faculty or of a lawful custom. 
 
 The power of granting Indulgences belonging, as 
 we have said, to jurisdiction, and not to order, it 
 may be delegated to persons not invested with 
 priestly character ; ^ and indeed instances of such 
 special commissions are not wanting in the Church.* 
 
 7. Besides the lawful power, it is also necessary 
 that a superior, in granting an Indulgence, should 
 have a just cause for so doing, and indeed a mo- 
 tive proportionate to the nature of the Indulgence 
 granted. 
 
 For, as we have said above, the prelates of the 
 Church are not the absolute masters, but only the 
 dispensers of this spiritual treasury, and a dispenser 
 cannot dispose of the goods of his master without 
 reason. Moreover, Jesus Christ has given this power 
 to His ministers for the edification of His Church, 
 not for her destruction ; now an injudicious and irra- 
 tional use thereof would prove a grievous detriment 
 to the faithful, by fomenting their indolence or their 
 
 ' Can. 60, insertcil in the Corpus Juris, 0. 12, do excessibus prwl. 
 ' S. Thoni. Supplem. q. xxvi. a. 2. 
 
 ' Ex. gr. ex Tabulario Cassinensi, ('liana ann. 1299. Soo Du Gauge 
 at the word " Indulgentia." 
 
A JUST MOTIVE NECESSARY 43 
 
 spirit of impenitence, or inspiring them with a con- 
 tempt for the Keys of the Church. 
 
 It is indeed far from the mind of the Church, 
 when granting Indulgences, to foment idleness on 
 the part of sinners, or to dispense them from the 
 obligation of the divine precept of Penance. She 
 only means to supply that which, through human 
 weakness, they are not able to perform, and thus 
 to help them in paying off, by this means, the debt 
 which they cannot discharge by themselves. 
 
 This is often inculcated by the Sovereign Pontiffs 
 in their Bulls. For, as a necessary condition, they 
 require that the penitent should be truly contrite, 
 which words indicate a serious detestation at least 
 of grievous faults, with a firm resolution of not 
 falling again, and a sincere will of satisfying Divine 
 Justice as far as he can. The absence of such a 
 motive would invalidate, either totally or in part, 
 the Indulgence granted — totally, if no reason what- 
 ever should exist ; in part, if the reason were not 
 proportionate to the extent of the Indulgence. 
 
 But here a twofold remark is necessary. The 
 first, that the Church herself is the best judge in 
 this matter, having with her the assistance of the 
 Holy Spirit : wherefore it would be rashness and 
 presumption for a private person to charge her with 
 injudicious dispensation. 
 
 The second, that we must not judge of the im- 
 portance of a cause which determines the Church 
 to grant an Indulgence from the particular persons 
 
44 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 to whom it is granted, or from the good works 
 enjoined considered in themselves ; but from the 
 common good that she has in view, such as the 
 glory of God, the edification of the faithful, the 
 increase of devotion among them, the defence of 
 the Church, the salvation of our neighbour, &c. 
 Hence a rich person may be entitled to a greater 
 Indulgence for having given a small alms, than for 
 having fasted a whole year ; not because it was more 
 difficult for him to give that alms than to fast, but 
 because that small coin, given for the above pur- 
 poses, contributes more to the glory of God, than 
 a year's fasting on bread and water. 
 
 What this motive should be, it is not easy to 
 determine a 'priori. The learned Father Lainez 
 says that " the interior reformation and the peace 
 of the Church are important motives for granting 
 a plenary Indulgence, because they contribute very 
 much to the glory of God and to the good of the 
 Church. Consequently, everything which effica- 
 ciously favours this reformation suffices for granting 
 an Indulgence ; for instance, the frequent use of 
 the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, 
 the zeal for prayer and mortification, pious and 
 long pilgrimages. . . . 
 
 " Actions even small in themselves," he adds, 
 " but united with others move important, or con- 
 nected with them, may suffice ; for instance, the 
 visit to the Basilioa of St. Peter during the Jubilee 
 year, the reception of the Papal blessing at Easter. 
 
LESSON TAUGHT BY THESE CONDITIONS 45 
 
 For although these actions taken singly be very- 
 little painful, yet those who perform them profess 
 thereby publicly the unity of the Church under 
 one pastor, and this unity strengthens the bond of 
 charity and obedience, and procures the greater 
 glory of God and the greater good of the Church ; 
 wherefore to those actions plenary Indulgences may 
 be granted." ^ 
 
 If this just reason be necessary when it is a 
 question of granting Indulgences to living persons 
 who are subject to the tribunal of the Church, much 
 more so will it be required in the concession of 
 Indulgences for the faithful departed, who belong 
 only to the tribunal of God. Hence St. Thomas 
 says : " The Prelate cannot grant as much Indul- 
 gence to the dead as he wishes, but only as much 
 as the cause or reason will allow." ^ 
 
 8. These, then, are the two conditions required 
 on the Superior's part for the validity of an Indul- 
 
 gence. 
 
 The necessity of authority sets forth the high dig- 
 nity of the invisible head of the Church, Christ Him- 
 self, from whom all power on earth and in heaven 
 depends, and accustoms the faithful more and more 
 to recognise, with the eyes of supernatural faith, the 
 Son of God in the person of His representative. 
 The pastors, too, are thereby reminded of the neces- 
 sity of union with Christ and His Vicar, for fear lest, 
 being cut oiF from the tree of life, their ministry 
 
 1 Disp. Trid. ii. 111-117. ^ 4 Dist. 45, q. 2. 
 
46 MEECY AND FOEGIVENESS 
 
 should become a vain show and their power an empty 
 pretence. 
 
 Again, from the fact that a just motive is re- 
 quired for the validity of Indulgences, the faithful 
 as well as the pastors are reminded that the suffer- 
 ings of Christ and of His saints are not to be rated at 
 a low price ; that the blood of the New Testament 
 is not such as can be carelessly trodden upon, and 
 that, if they wish it to be applied to themselves, they 
 must first " fill up those things that are wanting of 
 the sufferings of Christ " ^ in their own selves. 
 
 9. On the part of him who wishes to gain the 
 Indulgence, besides an, at least, general intention to 
 •do so,^ a twofold condition is required, and a third 
 is added on the score of probability. It is neces- 
 sary that the faithful should be in a state of grace, 
 and should exactly fulfil all that is required. It is 
 also probably required that they should endeavour 
 to satisfy the Justice of God, as much as they are 
 able by their own penitential works. We shall ex- 
 pound singly each of these heads. 
 
 The state of grace, then, is in the faithful a neces- 
 sary condition for gaining an Indulgence. Indeed, to 
 hope that God will remit us the temporal punish- 
 ment due to our sins while we are His enemies, would 
 be presumption no less absurd, than to expect from 
 Him the pardon of our sins, whilst our -ft-ill is 
 attached to them and disposed to commit new ones. 
 It would be the case of him who would expect special 
 
 ' Col. i. 24. - See Raccolta, Introd. p. .\ii. 
 
NECESSITY OF A STATE OF GEACE 47 
 
 favours from one whom he actually offends. More- 
 over, he who is in a state of mortal sin is liable to 
 God for a debt of eternal punishment, besides that 
 of temporal pain. How, then, can he hope that God 
 will remit him the lesser debt unless the greater is 
 forgiven ? 
 
 However, most theologians, resting on the autho- 
 rity of St. Antoninus,! admit that it is sufficient for 
 the acquisition of an Indulgence, that the last work 
 prescribed by the Bull of concession be done in 
 a state of grace, because it is then only that the 
 Indulgence produces its effect. As to the previous 
 actions, it is enough if they are done in a spirit of 
 penance and of detachment from mortal sin. Attach- 
 ment to one venial sin only is an impediment for 
 gaining fully a plenary Indulgence. In fact, the 
 punishment cannot be forgiven unless the guilt be 
 remitted, and the guilt is not remitted for those 
 sins, from which the sinner positively excludes con- 
 trition by attachment to them. 
 
 It is, moreover, necessary that the faithful exactly 
 perform the works prescribed, each and all, otherwise 
 no Indulgence whatever is gained. If, then, a person 
 is not able to fulfil, for some cause or other, any one 
 of the works assigned, he cannot gain the Indulgence. 
 Thus children, who have not the age for fasting and 
 receiving Holy Communion, cannot gain an Indul- 
 gence which is granted on those conditions, unless in 
 the grant special provisions are made to the contrary. 
 
 1 I P. tit. 10, c. 3, §§ 5 in fine. 
 
48 MERCY AND FOEGIVEJSTESS 
 
 Besides, it is necessary that every one should per- 
 sonally fulfil the works assigned, and it is not enough 
 to do so by deputy. 
 
 We cannot too strongly recommend to the faithful 
 an exact study of the conditions stated in the Bulls 
 of the Sovereign Pontiffs for the acquisition of 
 Indulgences, and a scrupulous observance of the 
 same, if they wish not to be deceived in their ex- 
 pectations. It often happens that, through over- 
 looking some of these conditions, the faithful are 
 deprived of considerable Indulgences. This recom- 
 mendation applies particularly to confraternities, the 
 erection and regulations of which are not alwavs 
 in accordance with all the conditions prescribed. 
 Great numbers of persons are thus often deprived 
 of the Indulgences. Likewise it is to be deplored 
 that books are sometimes circulated, bearing errone- 
 ous indications on this matter : too much care can 
 never be spent over publications of this kind. 
 
 lo. We have said above that some theologians 
 require, moreover, on the part of the faithful, that 
 he should endeavour to satisfy the justice of God 
 as much as he is able to do so bv his own works, 
 otherwise these Indulgences are of no use to 
 him. This is the opinion of Cajetan,^ followed bv 
 Navarrus, Bellarmine. and ' others. His reason is 
 that it would be unjust to pray a friend to satisfv 
 for us if we could do so by ourselves. ^bn-eover, 
 
 1 Tr. X. de Siisc. Ind., ([. i. Soo what Si. Thomas says on this subject, 
 (Jiiiiiil. Li. ![. 8, n. i6. 
 
INDULGENCES FOE THE DEAD 49 
 
 in a well -governed state, public money is never 
 employed to cancel the debts of those who, by their 
 own means, are in a position to meet the claims of 
 their creditors. Besides, the grant is usually made 
 in favour of those who are truly contrite — vere con- 
 tritis. Now, such as refuse to do penance by them- 
 selves, when able to do so, cannot be said to be truly 
 contrite, since a necessary part of this contrition is 
 the will of satisfying. Lastly, the Confessor is sup- 
 posed to give the penitent a penance proportionate 
 to his sins ; if, therefore, the penitent accepts it, as 
 indeed he should, then must he do what lies in his 
 power to fulfil it, and so Indulgences will only 
 supply that which he is not able to perform ; but 
 if he does not accept it, then certainly he is not 
 worthy of pardon, and if the stain of his sin is 
 not remitted him, much less is the pain, which, 
 as we have said, is but an appendage to the stain 
 of sin. 
 
 II. It may not be out of place to speak here of 
 the Indulgences granted in favour of the souls in 
 Purgatory. 
 
 It is a part of the Catholic doctrine, to believe that 
 we can apply to the souls in Purgatory the Indulgences 
 granted by the Church. Indeed, we are in communion 
 with them, no less than with the saints in heaven ; 
 for, says St. Augustine, " the souls of the faithful de- 
 parted are in no wise separated from the Church ; " ^ 
 
 1. De Civ. Dei, 1. xx. c. 9. Cf. Leo X. in his Decret. " Per Preesentes," 
 addresaed to Cardinal Cajetan when Apostolic Legate in Germany. 
 
 D 
 
so MEKCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 ^nd as they help us by their prayers, so do we help 
 them by our fasts, alms-deeds, the sacrifice of the 
 Mass, and particularly by the application of Indul- 
 gences/ 
 
 So are we warned in Holy Writ that "It is 
 therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray 
 for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins."^ 
 For " the just man shall fall seven times." ^ On the 
 other hand, " there shall not enter into heaven 
 •anything defiled." * It is, then, just that those souls, 
 which have not fully paid their debt to the Justice 
 of God, should have to be cleansed by the flames of 
 Purgatory ; and as they are our brethren, it is meet 
 that we ourselves should contribute to pay off their 
 debt, by applying to them the merits of Christ and 
 of His saints. 
 
 This application is confirmed by the definition of 
 the Church and the universal practice of many cen- 
 turies. When the pseudo-Synod of Pistoia, in its 
 eagerness to draw the Church to the Jansenistic 
 notions of the seventeenth century, declared this 
 transfer of Indulgences to the souls in Purgatory 
 to be nothing but a mere chimera,^ the Sovereign 
 Pontiff Pius VI. styled this proposition /aZse, rash, 
 ojfensive to pious ears, injurious to the Roman Pon- 
 tiffs, and to the practice and sense of the Unicersal 
 Church. 
 
 Again, if this has been, for many centuries past, 
 
 1 Cone. Trid., sess. xxv., Deer, de Purg. ^ 2 Mace. xii. 46. 
 
 ^ Prov. xxiv. 16. •■ Apoc. xxi. 27. « Prop. 42. 
 
GRANTED BY WAY OF SUFFEAGE ONLY 51 
 
 the practice and belief of the Universal Church, to 
 contend about the lawfulness of such a practice and 
 of such a belief, says St. Austin,^ " is nothing short 
 of most insolent madness." 
 
 12. Yet, we should observe with St. Bonaventure,^ 
 that the souls in Purgatory are united to the Mili- 
 tant Church by the bonds of charity, not by the 
 chains of true subjection. As soon as a soul departs 
 this life, it ceases to be subject to the jurisdiction of 
 the Church, and is submitted immediately to God's 
 tribunal. Hence, the Church can pronounce on the 
 faithful departed no juridical sentence, no formal 
 judgment, no direct absolution : this God alone can 
 now do. Yet, she can help them hy way of suffrage, 
 offering, or impetration ; that is, she can draw from 
 off her own treasury the merits of Christ, and offer 
 them to God, praying Him to accept these suffrages 
 in their behalf And in this indirect manner, the 
 Church helps the souls of her children that are de- 
 tained in the flames of Purgatory. 
 
 As regards the power of the Keys of the Church, 
 the intention of the donor, and the abundance of the 
 merits of Christ and of His saints, an Indulgence 
 applied to the souls in Purgatory should have the 
 same effect as if it were applied to the faithful on 
 earth. But with God's intention, on whom the appli- 
 cation entirely depends, it is not so. 
 
 ^ Ep. 54 (al. 1 18), n. 46 : " Si quid tota per orbem frequentat Ecclesia 
 quin ita faciendum sit disputare, insolentissimse insanise est." 
 ^ In 4 Sent. d. 20, Part ii. a. i, q. 5. 
 
52 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 For, although we may have a confident trust that 
 God will take into account our good wishes and sup- 
 plications, yet He has not pledged Himself irrevocably 
 to do so, at least in the measure which we ask ; so 
 that we cannot infallibly be certain that such a soul, 
 for which we have, by fulfilling all the conditions, 
 gained, for instance, a plenary Indulgence, is at once 
 on equal terms with the Justice of God and ushered 
 into Paradise. In fact, that should be said of In- 
 dulgences which the Sacred Congregation of Indul- 
 gences declared about the privilege annexed to some 
 altars,^ viz., that "in its real application it is a par- 
 don, the measure of which corresponds to the good 
 pleasure of Divine Mercy, and to His acceptance of 
 the satisfaction which is offered to Him." 
 
 And, if we may venture to fathom God's unsearch- 
 able ways, we may say that the fervour which that 
 soul displayed during this mortal life, its eagerness 
 to avail itself, then, of the Indulgences of the 
 Church, and to succour other suffering souls, are 
 motives which may move God to accept more readily 
 the satisfactions which are offered for such a soul 
 by the faithful on earth. 
 
 13. But, in order that this transfer may be valid, 
 it is necessary, in the first place, that it should be 
 authorised by an express declaration of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff. As a matter of fait, most Indulgences are 
 thus apjilical ile. 
 
 ycc(jndly, the doiiui- should Iiavo the intention, 
 1 28th July 1840. 
 
CONDITIONS FOR GAINING THEM 53 
 
 either actual or virtual, of making this transfer, 
 because Indulgences being goods properly belonging 
 to him, will not be applied to others, unless he 
 have a will to do so. And in this case, the good 
 works cease to be satisfactory for himself, for the 
 satisfaction has been transferred to others, though 
 the meritorious and impetratory value of them re- 
 mains to him who has performed them. 
 
 Moreover, it is necessary that the works should be 
 penal, otherwise they would have no proportion with 
 the satisfaction, and so would be incapable of atoning 
 for the penalty of sin. 
 
 Besides this, the greater part of theologians put 
 it down as a condition, that he who performs the 
 works should be in a state of grace, even as the 
 state of grace is necessary for the living to gain an 
 Indulgence. And the reason of this is, that the 
 application of the satisfaction rests more in the per- 
 sonal merit of him who performs the good work, 
 than in the value of the treasury out of which the 
 satisfactions are drawn. 
 
 The case, therefore, is far different from what it is 
 in the application of the sacrifice of the Mass, and 
 in the prayers which are offered in the name of the 
 Church by unworthy ministers. For, here, the virtue 
 of satisfaction takes its origin, not in the personal 
 merit of the immediate agent — that is, of the minis- 
 ter — but in the dignity of Him in whose name he 
 prays or offers the Divine Sacrifice, in the same way 
 in which the petition of a king takes its value not 
 
54 MEKCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 from the merit of his ambassador, but from the ma- 
 jesty of the king himself, and the merit of alms from 
 the intention of the master who gives them, not 
 from that of the servant who distributes them. But 
 in our case, the Indulgence being the application of 
 the merits of Christ through the good works of man, 
 unless the latter be in friendship with God, it would 
 be almost presumptuous to expect from Him an 
 actual application of these merits to the souls in 
 Purgatory. 
 
 Yet other theologians hold that, although such 
 works done in a state of mortal sin have no infal- 
 lible virtue towards remitting the penalty of the 
 souls in Purgatory, or, as they say, " de condigno," — 
 yet, if these suffrages be offered by a man in a state 
 of mortal sin, but without an actual affection to sin, 
 and under the motion of the Holy Ghost, there are 
 reasons to believe that God, in consideration of these 
 works, will shorten the penalties of the suffering 
 souls ; not indeed in an infallible manner, but be- 
 cause it becomes His Mercy and Justice to do so, or, 
 as theologians say, " de congruo." The Church has 
 not yet pronounced on this point. ^ 
 
 14. From what we have hitherto explained, it is 
 clear that an Indulgence is the condonation of a 
 debt which the sinner has contracted, both in the 
 sight of God and in the sight of the Church, and 
 which he has still to pay when he has already ob- 
 tained the remission of his sins ; which condonation 
 
 1 See Beringor, " Les Iiululgoncos," &c., Part i. p. 68. 
 
WHAT IS AN INDULGENCE 55 
 
 is made in virtue and by the application of the 
 superabundant merits of Christ and of His saints, 
 by the qualified pastors of the Church, for some just 
 and reasonable motive. 
 
 From this we can infer that an Indulgence is both 
 a payment, " solutio," and a remission, " absolutio.' 
 It is a strict payment of the debt which the sinner 
 has contracted, and indeed a payment "to the last 
 farthing." ^ It is a remission, for the money is taken 
 not from the sinner's fund, which is exhausted, but 
 from the inexhaustible treasure of Christ and of His 
 saints. 
 
 In the ancient Indults, the usual clause by which 
 Indulgences were published used to run in this wise : 
 remittimus de pcenitentiis injunctis dies, &c. — " We 
 remit of the penalties enjoined so many days." It 
 meant that the penitent obtained from God as much 
 of the remission of his debt, as he would have been 
 able to discharge through means of the canonical 
 penances, had they been imposed upon him, or 
 of the penance which the priest might rigorously 
 have imposed upon him in the tribunal of pen- 
 ance. 
 
 Sometimes the words et injungendis, "to be en- 
 joined," were added. " This addition," says Father 
 Beringer, " would refer to the penances which would 
 stiU remain to be imposed upon the reconciled sinner. 
 For the Church ever believed that an Indulgence, 
 when gained, stood, either totally or partially, in 
 
 ' Matt. V. 26. 
 
56 MERCY AND FOEGIVENESS 
 
 lieu of the penances which otherwise would have 
 been imposed, in accordance with the penitential 
 canons or by the confessor." ^ 
 
 However, as this clause gave rise to misinter- 
 pretations, the words vel alias quomodolibet dehitis 
 pcenitentiis, " or from penances otherwise due," have 
 been substituted for the preceding formula in later 
 years in the Bulls of concession. 
 
 Hence an Indulgence is not properly the remission 
 of sin, for it supposes sin to have already been 
 remitted. Sometimes, however, it is called remis- 
 sion of sin; but then the word sin is taken to 
 signify the punishment due to sin. Holy Scripture 
 itself often uses the word sin in this sense," and St. 
 Augustine teaches us that the word sin can be taken 
 in many and various ways, of which punishment 
 for sin is one.' 
 
 Consequently, when an Indulgence is granted in 
 these terms : "from guilt and froia pain," — a culpa 
 et a p>osna, — the first part of the clause refers to the 
 Sacrament of Penance, and the second to the power 
 of Indulgences ; or, according to Cardinal Bellarmines 
 interpretation,* it indicates that the Sacrament of 
 Penance is a condition presupposed for the gaining 
 of the Indulgence. And so the Pope remits the guilt 
 of stain by granting to his subordinate priests the 
 power of absolving, of freeing the penitent from cen- 
 
 1 Les Indulgences, &c., P. i. p. 54, note i. 
 ^ Ex. gr. 2 Mace. xii. 46 ; 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 ' L. iii. c. dims Ep. Pelap., 0. vi. n. 16. 
 '' Do Indulg., 1. i. c. vii. 
 
WHAT AN IISIDULGENCE IS NOT 57 
 
 sures and reserved cases ; and he condones the pain 
 by applying to the same penitent, when his guilt has 
 already been forgiven, the satisfactions of Jesus Christ 
 and of His saints. 
 
 It is no less erroneous to assert that Indulgences 
 are nothing more than the remission of that canonical 
 penance which should be imposed upon the sinner, 
 according to the ancient statutes of the Church. 
 This was the content of Luther's nineteenth propo- 
 sition, in which he said that Indulgences have no 
 virtue whatever to remit the penalty which we owe 
 for our sins to the Divine Justice. 
 
 Although this assertion was condemned by Leo X. 
 in his Bull " Exurge Domine," yet the fathers of the 
 pseudo- Synod of Pistoia maintained -^ " that an Indul- 
 gence, according to its true meaning, is nothing else 
 than the remission of a part of the penance which 
 the sacred canons imposed on penitents." 
 
 Such a proposition as this was deservedly con- 
 demned by Pius VI. ^ For, as St. Thomas had 
 already observed,^ it expressly derogates from the 
 privilege granted to St. Peter by our Lord Himself, 
 who said to him that whatsoever he should " loose 
 upon earth should also be loosed in heaven."* Besides, 
 if Indulgences are available only in the sight of the 
 Church, and not in the sight of God, the Church 
 might indeed be said to deceive the faithful. For, 
 
 1 Prop. 40. 
 
 2 In his Bull " Auctorem Fidei" of the 28th August 1794. 
 
 3 4 Sent. d. 20, q. i, a. 3, soL i. 
 * Matt. xvi. 19. 
 
S8 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 as the same St. Thomas remarks/ she would, by 
 thus dispensing them from performing their canonical 
 penance, hand them over to the tribunal of God 
 no less guilty, because, on the plea of a false par- 
 don, they have omitted to do a suitable penance. 
 Thus would Indulgences, instead of proving a 
 wholesome practice, as the Holy Council of Trent" 
 declares them to be, simply result in a baneful in- 
 stitution, which the sooner it were destroyed the 
 better. 
 
 However, those Indulgences, at least, will be 
 acknowledged to be more than the remission of the 
 canonical penances, which are granted by the Church 
 on behalf of souls in Purgatory, for these are no 
 longer able to undergo those painful exercises. 
 
 In a word, heretics would not have attacked the 
 Church and her doctrine on this subject in such a 
 virulent manner, had Indulgences been simply a 
 remission of the canonical penance ; for it was 
 plain that the Church could modify a chastisement 
 which she alone had established.' 
 
 It is hardly worth our while to point to the 
 ludicrously absurd notion of Indulgences, which is 
 not unfrequently found in prejudiced Protestant 
 writers, who make them out to be " remissions of 
 sin on payment of a sum of money, according to a 
 fixed table of rates ; " or who, more absurdly still, 
 call Indulgences " remissions of sin not vet com- 
 
 > Supplem. q. xxv. a. i. ^ v^^.^^ 25, Deer, de Ind. 
 
 ■" Wilmers, quoted by Beringer, Part I., ii. 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF THE WORD 59 
 
 mifcted," or " even a license to sin given before the 
 sin is perpetrated." ^ 
 
 Likewise, an Indulgence does not free the repen- 
 tant sinner from such consequences as are naturally 
 involved in the idea of true and genuine penance, 
 as, for instance, from the obligation of restoring ill- 
 gotten property, from the duty of retracting false 
 and slanderous reports, or of avoiding the occasions 
 of a relapse. Nor does it stave off the natural con- 
 sequences of sin, such as poverty, shame, sickness, 
 the loss of reputation, of friends, and the like. 
 
 15. Perhaps it will not be without interest and 
 usefulness for some of our readers to trace back the 
 origin of this word Indulgence. 
 
 This word is several times found in Holy Scrip- 
 ture, but with different meanings. Sometimes it 
 is equivalent to release, deliverance, remission, as 
 in the ist verse of the 6ist chapter of Isaias, in 
 which the prophet says, in the person of Christ, 
 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. ... He 
 hath sent me to preach a release to the captives ; " 
 for which the Vulgate has " ut prsedicarem captivis 
 indulgentiam." Which word implies an action of 
 freeing, of releasing, of remitting, as appears from 
 the Greek of the Septuagint, acpea-is, and more so 
 yet from the Hebrew "i^">7 (deror). 
 
 I It were well for such writers to be told of Cardinal Newman's 
 story in his " Present Position of Catholics," of that clergyman who had 
 sworn he had seen a price list of sins in the Cathedral of Bnissels. On 
 inquiry, this monstrous scandal turned out to be a simple list of the fees 
 for the use of chairs. 
 
6o MERCY AND FOEGIVENESS 
 
 The same passage, with a slight change of words, 
 is repeated in the i8th and 19th verses of the 4th 
 chapter of St. Luke, which our Blessed Lord fell 
 upon when unfolding the book of Isaias : " The Spirit 
 of the Lord is upon me. ... He hath sent me . . . 
 to preach deliverance to the captive." The Vulgate 
 has "prsedicare captivis remissionem ;" but the 
 Greek text has exactly the same words as the 
 Septuagint, Ktjpv^ai al^juaXooToii a(f)€(Tiv, for which the 
 words release, deliverance, which are in the Catholic 
 version, exhibit, to our opinion, a better rendering 
 than the word liberty, which is the Protestant trans- 
 lation for the l^i^ of Isaias, though, for the word in 
 the passage of St. Luke, the latter agrees with the 
 Catholic version. 
 
 Sometimes, the word Indulgence is taken in Holy 
 Writ to mean mildness, condescension, and it is thus 
 used by St. Paul in the First Epistle to the Corin- 
 thians, TOVTO oe Xe'yo) Kara cj-vryyi/co/xiji', ov kut eV iTa-y»}i' ; 
 for which the Catholic version has, " I speak this by 
 indidgence, not by commandment," and the Protes- 
 tant, "I speak this \>j permission, and not of com- 
 mandment." The word uvyyvu>ij.>i implies an idea of 
 condescension, and almost of connivance.* 
 
 It is evident that the word Indulgence, as we here 
 take it, is only a blending of the two significations ; 
 for we call Indulgente the remission of a punishment 
 due to sins, after the sinner has already olitained the 
 
 ' Cliap. vii. 6. 
 
 '' Of. Judith viii. 14 ; I.«a. Ixiii. 7 and 9. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE WORD 6i 
 
 pardon thereof, which remission is prompted by the 
 motherly mildness and condescension of the Church, 
 sympathising with our infirmity. Hence it is that 
 we often find Indulgences called by the name of 
 remissions, as in the Decretals,^ in the letters of 
 Alexander III., and other such documents. 
 
 1 6. Cardinal Bellarmine^ is of opinion that the 
 Church took this word " Ijidulgence," which has 
 now been consecrated in her language to mean such 
 a remission, from the laws by which the Roman em- 
 perors were wont on certain occasions to "indulge" 
 (indulgere), that is to say, to grant to the prisoners, 
 a remission of their punishment. Thus Baronius 
 relates* that in the year 322 the Emperor Constan- 
 tine, for the joy which he had experienced at the 
 birth of his children Crispus and Helena, granted a 
 solemn Indulgence to all criminals, excepting those 
 guilty of sorcery, of murder and adultery. 
 
 The same Emperor, the year before, importuned by 
 the prayers of the Donatists, had already granted an 
 Indulgence to, that is to say, had freed from exile, 
 those among them who had been condemned four 
 years before, leaving it to God to punish those whom 
 no chastisement had amended, or no clemency on the 
 part of the prince had softened.* 
 
 Later on, it became customary to set prisoners free 
 at Paschal time. Valentinian II. introduced this 
 
 1 Tit. 10 de Poenit. et Remiss. 
 
 2 De Indulgentiis, 1. i. c. i. 
 
 3 Annales, t. iii. sub aim. 322, n. 3. 
 * Ibid., sub ann. 321, n. 2 
 
62 MEKCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 custom in an edict which he published on the fifth 
 day before the Calends of March 385. He thereby 
 ordered the judges to carry out that which he him- 
 self had been accustomed to grant {indulgere)} How- 
 ever, he excepted those criminals whose presence 
 would rather have disturbed than augmented the joy 
 and gladness of all. 
 
 The same Indulgence was also wont to be granted 
 in the East, as appears from St. John Chrysostom, 
 who relates the following words as having been pro- 
 nounced by St. Flavian, the Bishop of Antioch, in an 
 oration which this prelate delivered at Constanti- 
 nople in the presence of the Emperor : "It was not 
 enough for thee to have released those that were 
 imprisoned, and forgiven them their crimes ; thou 
 wouldst also add : would to God that I could also 
 call back the dead, and raise them to life again ! " ^ 
 
 Hence, in the ninth book of the Codex Theodosianus 
 there is the thirty-ninth title, which treats of In- 
 dulgences to crimes ; and in the third law it is said, 
 that an Indulgence is the remission of crimes, with 
 regard to the punishment exacted by the laws only ; 
 whilst in the fourth law an Indulgence sometimes is 
 called remission, sometimes absolution.^ Moreover, 
 
 ' Baronius, Annales, t. iv. a. 385, n. 38. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 ' See F. Paulus Canciani, Old. Sorv. M., in his valuable work "Bar- 
 taronim Leges Antiqiio),'' Venetiis, 17S1, vol. i. p. 55; iii. lib. vii. 
 280 ; iv. Lex Rom., n. 28; I. Lucius, ff. ad senatus-consultum Turpill. 
 et 1. Indulgentia, C. de generali abolitione ; and Ammianus Marcellinus, 
 1. 16. Also the Capitulnvs of C'haiks the Bald, tit. 30, cap. i. et alibi 
 passim. 
 
TAKEN FROM CIVIL LAW 63 
 
 the same Codex Theodosianus contains a law called 
 the Law of Indulgence, by which the emperors granted, 
 at stated times, an amnesty to those who had been 
 condemned for greater crimes. Hence the Greeks 
 would call this Indulgence with the fitting term of 
 Scoped, Beta Swped, a gift, a divine gift.^ Instances of 
 this kind might be multiplied, but these have been 
 recorded here to show how it may have been natural 
 for the Church to adopt, in her own dogma, a term 
 which was already in use, to express, with a higher 
 and more spiritual meaning, that which she herself 
 intended to do within her own sphere. 
 
 That the Church should thus have borrowed from 
 profane sources and adapted to her own sacred 
 usages this word Indulgence, cannot be surprising to 
 any one ever so little acquainted with the origins 
 of Christian worship. Her propagation was brought 
 about, not so much by the destruction of the Pagan 
 institutions which she found already existing at her 
 appearance in this world, as by a transformation 
 of the same into something truly supernatural and 
 worthy of a thrice holy God. 
 
 She, who teaches us to sanctify even our most 
 ordinary actions, and turn them to the glory of God 
 and the good of our souls, taught the pagan world 
 how much honour and glory they could give to God, 
 and how much merit and grace they could gain for 
 themselves, did they but purify their actions and 
 
 1 See Du Cange, Glossarium ad scriptores medise et infimse latinitatis, 
 at the word " Indulgentia." 
 
64 MERCY AND FORGIVENESS 
 
 illumine them with the light of supernatural faith. 
 What wonder, then, that whilst the Church was 
 cleansing and solemnly consecrating to God temples 
 in which unsubstantial, empty, and even shameful 
 deities had been adored, as in Rome, the Pantheon 
 of Agrippa ; whilst she was instituting Christian fes- 
 tivals which, like that of the ist of January, should 
 cause the faithful newly converted from Paganism to 
 forget the abominable orgies committed on that day 
 in honour of Janus,^ or like that of the i st of August, 
 should direct their worship to St. Peter's blessed 
 chains ; ^ whilst she was assigning for her ministers the 
 civil garment used in those days by persons of dis- 
 tinction,' what wonder that she should have borrowed 
 from lay usages, and even from pagan emperors,* a 
 word which expressed so well the remission which, 
 on special conditions and circumstances, she gave her 
 children ? 
 
 Thus the words parochiis, a " parish priest," statio, 
 a "station," vigilicB, a "vigil," sac r amentum, a "sac- 
 rament," were originally used exclusively for military 
 purposes ; whilst the introduction of the doctrine of 
 
 1 Martigny, Dictionnaire des Antiquitfe C'liretiennes, at the word 
 " Fetes immobile^." 
 
 2 See the sixth lessou of Uu> Rom. Brev. on the feast of St. Peter's 
 chains, ist August. 
 
 ' Duchesne, Origines du Culte Clirelien, chap. xi. ; Pai'is, Ernest 
 Thorin, 1889. Also INFarangoni, Delle coso gentilesche profane traspor- 
 tate acl ornamento ed uso delK> chieso. 
 
 * There exist, says r.aronius, Aunalos Eocl., t. i. ann. 210, n. 3, some 
 medals of Scveius ri\is Auj;\is( us auil his son Antoninus Pius, by which 
 they indulge (" indulfjtcnt") several favours to the Carthaginians, for 
 which cause SexTi-ua was nunilKTod by the .\fricans among the f^ods. 
 
INDULGENCE AMONG THE JEWS 65 
 
 Christ, who had come " to re-establish all things that 
 are in heaven and on earth," ^ gave a new and higher 
 meaning to the names of charity, faith, hope, chas- 
 tity, justice, and other natural virtues. 
 
 The ancient Jews also had their days of forgive- 
 ness and Indulgence. Calmet^ tells us that there 
 was this tradition among the Israelites, that every 
 week, for the whole of Saturday, the punishment of 
 the souls in Purgatory was suspended. This per- 
 suasion was confirmed by the story they narrate, 
 that, when once a man manifested signs of misgiv- 
 ings about it, a Rabbi perceptibly showed him how, 
 on that day, no smoke came out of his father's tomb. 
 
 The day of solemn expiation was also held by 
 them as a day of Indulgence ; for they were con- 
 vinced that the many prayers which they said, the 
 many works of penance which they practised on that 
 day, brought to those souls a great deal of refresh- 
 ment. 
 
 1 Eph. i. 10. 
 
 ^ Dissert, de natura animee et ejus post mortem statu ex sententia 
 Veterum Hebrseorum. Ait. viii. in the second volume of the Venice 
 edition of his works, 1755. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 " Therefore, brethren, standfast, and hold the traditions -which you have 
 learned, whether by word or by our Epistle." — 2 Thess. ii. 14. 
 
 INDULGENCES IN THE WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN 
 WORD OF GOD 
 
 The xxii. Article of the Church of England — Holy Scripture not the 
 only source of Faith — Indulgences impKcitly contained in Holy 
 Writ — A consequence of the Power of the Keys — Explicit proofs 
 — St. Paul and the incestuous man of Corinth — Tradition on 
 Indulgences — The Church and the gates of Hell — The exercise of 
 a Right and its existence — The Essential and the Accidental in an 
 Indulgence — The notion of development in the Church — Two ways 
 of studying Tradition — Quintus Septimius Florentius Tertullian. 
 
 I. We have stated the doctrine of the Catholic 
 Church concerning Indulgences. It follows as a 
 natural corollary from several of the main tenets 
 of the Christian religion. Indeed, if a temporal 
 punishment is still due to the sinner who has been 
 forgiven ; if there exists in the Church a treasury of 
 satisfactory merits, composed of the superabundant 
 satisfactions of Christ and of His saints ; if the unity 
 of faith and charity places us in a direct communion 
 with the Church triumphant and suflfering, it is but 
 natural to say, that a part of these satisfactions can 
 be made over to us by the lawful pastors of the 
 
SCRIPTUEE NOT ONLY SOURCE OF FAITH 67 
 
 Church for the atonement of our debt, and that we 
 can make over to the souls of our departed friends, 
 that which we might otherwise have gained for our 
 own selves. 
 
 It now remains to see whether such a doctrine has 
 any foundation in the teaching of Scripture, and in 
 the practice of the centuries that have preceded us. 
 
 The 22nd among the Articles of the Church of 
 England gives to this question a flat denial. For, 
 it peremptorily asserts that " the Eomish doctrine 
 concerning pardons is a fond thing, vainly invented, 
 and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but 
 rather repugnant to the Word of God." 
 
 Before we set ourselves to examine the charge, it 
 will not be out of place to bear in mind one con- 
 sideration. 
 
 2. It cannot be admitted, without grievous preju- 
 dice to the deposit of faith, that those truths only 
 which are contained in Holy Scripture form a part 
 of the revealed Word of God, and are to be believed 
 by the faithful. From the fact that Christ has estab- 
 lished a living authority in His Church, that He has 
 intrusted this authority with the care of representing 
 and continuing His own mission, it follows that what 
 the Church holds and practises, is to be held and 
 practised no less than the word of Christ Himself 
 Thus did St. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, 
 charge them to " hold the traditions which they had 
 learned, whether by word or by our Epistle." ^ 
 
 1 2 Thess. ii. 14. 
 
68 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 Supposing, therefore, that the Holy Scriptures 
 were perfectly silent about Indulgences, we should 
 have no right to conclude against their existence. 
 It may well be that such a doctrine is contained 
 in the teaching of the Church, commonly called 
 Tradition. This even Protestants acknowledge in 
 practice. They believe in the descent of our blessed 
 Saviour into hell, and keep holy the first day of 
 the week instead of the Sabbath, only because of 
 the traditional teaching of the Church, for no word 
 is to be found in Holy Scripture bearing on these 
 points. 
 
 On the subject of Indulgences, however, Holy 
 Scripture is not silent. For the sake of clearness, 
 we shall first show, how that doctrine is contained 
 indirectly in Holy Writ ; and next, that it is literally 
 expressed therein. 
 
 3. That the doctrine of Indulgences is contained 
 indirectly and implicitly in the Sacred Scriptures, 
 is almost self-evident. Let it be borne in mind 
 what the general idea of an Indulgence is. It has 
 been said above that an Indulgence is the remission 
 of a temporal debt, made by God to a sinner, in con- 
 sideration of the satisfactory merits of His Divine 
 Son and of His saints. This is the same as to say, 
 that God in His Mercy is willing to overlook a 
 man's debt, on the consideration that other men, 
 akin to him, have sufficiently atoned for that debt. 
 
 Now, of this benign acceptance of other men's 
 satisfactions on the part of God, we have no lack of 
 
INDULGENCES CONTAINED IN SCRIPTURE 69 
 
 proofs in Holy Scripture. When He declared to His 
 ■faithful servant Abraham that He would spare the im- 
 pious city of Sodom, if only ten just men were found 
 therein ; when, at Moses's earnest request, he delayed 
 the punishment which He had decreed to inflict on 
 the children of Israel, on account of their sin of 
 idolatry — what were these, but proofs that God is 
 willing to forgive man his debt of temporal punish- 
 ment, in consideration of the satisfactions of others ? 
 
 But we do not even need such proofs, to show 
 that God readily accepts the satisfactions of some, 
 as a compensation for the trespasses of others. For 
 if, on account of the sin of one person only, He 
 has sometimes punished whole kingdoms, as when 
 He struck the Jewish nation for David's sin in 
 nuinbering his people, how can we doubt that He 
 " whose tender mercies are above all His works," ^ 
 who is much more prone to forgive than to punish, 
 will overlook, in the dispensation of His Justice, the 
 infinite satisfactions of His beloved Son, and those 
 of His elect, who are so dear to Him ? 
 
 This cannot be. For if God is a severe Judge, He 
 is equally clothed with the attributes of a tender 
 Father; and if He has threatened "to visit the 
 iniquities of the fathers upon their children unto the 
 third and fourth generation,"^ He has no less pledged 
 Himself not to leave unrewarded even the smallest 
 good work, were it only the giving of a cup of cold 
 water in His name.' 
 
 r 1 Ps. cxliv. 9. 2 Deut v. 9. ^ Mark ix 40. 
 
70 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 If so, must we not acknowledge that, at least, the 
 general idea which is implied by the doctrine of 
 Pardons or Indulgences, not only is not inconsistent 
 with the tone of the Holy Scriptures, but that it 
 cannot be denied without a grievous affront being 
 offered to God's infinite Goodness and Mercy ? 
 
 The Apostle St. Paul believed in this kind of 
 communication when he wrote to the Corinthians,^ 
 " I most gladly will spend and be spent myself 
 for your souls, although loving you more, I be loved 
 less." And to the Colossians,^ "Who now rejoice 
 in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things 
 that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my 
 flesh, for His body which is the Church." And to 
 Timothy,* " I endure all things for the sake of the 
 elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which 
 is in Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory." 
 
 4. This consideration, drawn from the general 
 aspect of the Sacred Scriptures, may be sufficient 
 to show us how reasonably it can be said that God 
 may, in consideration of the merits of some of His 
 saints, remit to others the temporal debt due to 
 their sins, but it does not evince the existence of 
 such a power in the Church. However, even this 
 can be inferred clearly, though indirectly, from the 
 teaching of the New Testament. 
 
 Here we find that our blessed Saviour first said 
 to St. Peter, and tlien to all His Apostles, " Amen, 
 I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, 
 
 ' 2 Cor. xii. 15. ' Col. i. ::4. ' 2 Tim. ii. 10. 
 
POWER OF THE KEYS 7r 
 
 shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you 
 shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in 
 heaven." ' By these words, Jesus Christ gave to 
 the first pastors of His Church what is called the 
 power of the Keys, viz., the power of opening or 
 keeping closed the gates of heaven. 
 
 Now there are two things, and two things only, 
 which shut the gates of Paradise against a soul : the 
 one is its own unworthiness, the other the temporal 
 debt which it may have to pay to God's inexorable 
 Justice. For the removal of the first, the Sacrament 
 of Penance has been ordained ; for the removal of 
 the second, we claim that some other remedy has 
 been instituted. 
 
 In fact, if the Church can wash away from the 
 soul the guilt of stain, and thereby prepare it to 
 meet the Creator, she can also exonerate it from 
 the lighter guilt of debt which it may still have 
 to pay to His Justice. If she have power over the 
 precious Blood of Jesus for the remission of sin, 
 so also has she for the atonement of the punishment. 
 To grant the one and to deny the other, is to limit 
 Christ's gift, to circumscribe His generosity, to halve 
 His donation. Such consequences must he face, 
 such incoherence in the "Word of God must he admit, 
 who acknowledges in the Church a power of re- 
 mitting sins, but will not own that she has any 
 authority to release the sinner's debt of temporal 
 punishment, to grant Indulgences. 
 
 1 Matt. xvi. 19 ; xviii. 18. 
 
72 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 Henry VIII., when as yet he had not begun to 
 fight against the Church, in the book which he 
 wrote against Luther, in defence of the Sacraments,^ 
 acknowledged that the power of granting Indul- 
 gences was implicitly contained in these words of 
 Christ to St. Peter and to His Apostles, "Whatso- 
 ever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also 
 in heaven," and in these other words, "Whose sins 
 you shall forgive, they are forgiven them." ^ 
 
 5. But we have in Holy Scripture something more 
 than indirect hints, concerning the practice of In- 
 dulgences : we have explicit evidences. 
 
 There is hardly anything more touching in the 
 New Testament, than the history of the woman 
 taken in adultery. According to the Jewish law, 
 she must die, for "Moses in the law commanded 
 to stone such a one." ^ The scribes and Pharisees 
 knew it, and this was for them a sufficient pretext 
 for tempting Jesus. They knew how meek He was 
 for sinners, but will His meekness make Him for- 
 getful of the rigour of justice ? " What say est 
 thou ? " they asked insidiously. 
 
 But the just Judge, who knew the amoimt of 
 guilt that lay on the conscience of each of the 
 accusers, put them to shame : " He that is without 
 sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." * 
 
 1 The book is entitled "Assoitiu VII. Sacramentorum adversus 
 Martinum Lutherum, edita ab invictissimo Angliiv et Francioa Rege 
 et Domino HiborniiD Henrico ejus nominis octavo, Londiui, 1521," 
 at the urticle " Do Indulgentiis.'' ' John xx. 23. 
 
 ^ Joliii viii. 3. •• Ibid. viii. 7. 
 
THE INCESTUOUS MAN OF COEINTH 73 
 
 Confounded, convicted by their own consciences, 
 they withdrew one by one. "And Jesus alone re- 
 mained, and the woman standing in the midst. 
 Then Jesus, lifting up Himself, said to her, ' Woman, 
 where are they that accused thee? Hath no man 
 condemned thee ? ' Who said, ' No man, Lord.' 
 And Jesus said, 'Neither will I condemn thee; go, 
 and sin no more.' " ^ 
 
 Here, then, the Son of God, of His divine autho- 
 rity, discharged that woman from that pain to which 
 she was subject according to the law of Moses. We 
 little know what passed between that woman and 
 Jesus. We can only conjecture about the torrents 
 of grace which, from, the Sacred Heart, flowed on 
 the soul of that woman. Yet, we do not hesitate 
 to infer that He remitted her, out of the fulness 
 of His mercy, that corresponding pain to which 
 she was liable in the tribunal of God. And as, 
 when^ He sent His Apostles, He invested them with 
 His own authority, it follows that they and their 
 successors must have possessed the power of re- 
 mitting the penalty due to sin, even as Christ 
 possessed it.^ 
 
 6. But we have yet more explicit evidence. 
 
 In his first Epistle to the faithful of the city of 
 Corinth,^ the Apostle had severely rebuked them, 
 for having suffered' a man charged with the infamous 
 crime of incest, to dwell in tlieir midst and converse 
 
 1 John viii. 9-1 1. ^ See S. Thorn., Suppl. q. xxv. a. i. 
 
 ^ I Cor. y. 
 
74 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 with them. Then, making use of all his apostolic 
 authority, he had solemnly excommunicated that 
 sinner, viz., he had cut him off from the company 
 of the faithful, and forbidden them "with such a 
 one not so much as to eat, but rather to deliver 
 him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that 
 the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 1 
 
 Now it happened that shortly afterwards St. 
 Timothy, whom St. Paul had sent to Corinth, came 
 back to the Apostle, and related to him what pro- 
 gress the Corinthians had made in the faith, and 
 how they had profited by the admonitions he had 
 given them in his first Epistle. He spoke in parti- 
 cular of the sorrow, which the faithful had expe- 
 rienced, when St. Paul had cut off that sinner from 
 their communion, of the signs of compunction and 
 repentance this poor sinner had given, and of the 
 desire and prayer of the Church to readmit him to 
 their fellowship. 
 
 St. Paul's heart was gladdened, and giA^ng vent to 
 his feelings, he wrote from IMacedonia, where he then 
 chanced to be, to the same Corinthians, that second 
 letter, the tone of which is so different from the first. 
 It was sent by the Apostle through the means of his 
 faithful disciples, Titus and Luke. 
 
 In the second chapter, St. Paul begins by apolo- 
 gising for the sorrow which he, unwillingly indeed, 
 had caused them. Then, he declares himself satisfied 
 
 ' I Cor. V. 5. 
 
THE INCESTUOUS MAN OF COEINTH 75 
 
 with the trial to which the sinner had been put, 
 exhorting at the same time the faithful to relax their 
 severity, and to show him now mercy and kindness. 
 " To him . . . this rebuke is sufficient, that is given 
 by many : so that, contrariwise, you should rather 
 pardon and comfort him, lest perhaps such an one 
 be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. For which 
 cause I beseech you, that you would confirm your 
 charity towards him." ^ 
 
 But the faithful had interpreted the Apostle's 
 desire ; they had already mitigated the severity of 
 the chastisement inflicted, or were about to do so. 
 St. Paul approves of such a determination, and in- 
 dorses it with the fulness of his apostolic authority : 
 "To whom you have pardoned anything, I also. For 
 what I have pardoned, if I have pardoned anything, 
 for your sakes have I done it, in the person of Christ, 
 that we be not over-reached by Satan ; for we are not 
 ignorant of his devices." ^ 
 
 Consider the import of these words. Here we 
 have "Paul, an Apostle, not of men, neither by 
 men, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father,"* 
 intrusted with power from above over the Church, 
 
 1 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7, 8. 
 
 2 Verses 10 and 11. The Greek text of the Codex Sinaiticus runs 
 as follows:— "*nt S4 n x^P^t^"^^, K^Vi" "al yip iyii S xexipiff/Mi, et ti 
 Kexdpuriiai, «i' i/iSs if trpoaiivif'S.piaToO, tva. n^ Tr\eov€Krri0S>ix.a> ujr6 to5 aaravS.. 
 oi vdp ai5ToO Ti vaiiiiaTa ayvooOixev." WMcli the Protestant version thus 
 renders:— "To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also; for if I 
 forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in 
 the person of Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of you ; for we 
 are not ignorant of his devices." 
 
 3 Gal. i. I. 
 
76 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 indeed an " ambassador for Christ," ^ who, in the 
 name and in the very person of Christ, ev -irpoawirw 
 XpuTTov, grants to a man who had already shown 
 such proofs of repentance, that there was a fear lest 
 sorrow should overcome him, a solemn remission of 
 that penance which had been imposed upon him, and 
 which consisted in being cut off from the communion 
 of the faithful, and this for a just motive, viz., lest 
 that sinner should be " swallowed up with overmuch 
 sorrow," and from this excessive sorrow the infernal 
 spirit, of whose devices St. Paul was not ignorant, 
 should take advantage of the severity of the pastors, 
 to plunge that unfortunate sinner into an abyss of 
 despair. 
 
 Here, then, we see verified to the letter the defini- 
 tion of an Indulgence, as given above, and the exist- 
 ence of the three conditions required for its validity : 
 authority in him who grants it, a just and pious 
 motive for granting it, and the state of grace in 
 him to whom it is applied. Therefore we say that 
 St. Paul granted a formal Indulgence, not difierent 
 in kind from those which the Church has granted 
 in all ages. 
 
 Now, observe that such pardon, granted in the 
 person of Christ, must have freed that man from the 
 burden of his debt of temporal punishment, not only 
 in the sight of the Church, but in the sight of God 
 also. For Christ is the inA'isible and spiritual Head 
 of the Church. He, therefore, has an invisible spiri- 
 
 ' 2 Cor. V. 20. 
 
TRADITION ON INDULGENCES 77 
 
 tual action upon the members, an action whicli 
 consists in the interior sanctifying and cleansing of 
 the soul. 
 
 That this is the way in which St. Paul's pardon is 
 to be understood, is evident from the absurdity which 
 would follow from a different interpretation. 
 
 Had the Apostle released that man from the debt 
 he owed to the Church, and not from that which he 
 owed to his God, he would, by freeing him from his 
 penitential exercise, have deprived him of the means 
 of atoning for his debt before God, and thus would 
 have made him suffer less in this life, in order to 
 make him liable to suffer more in the next. Would 
 not such a pardon have been rather a mockery than 
 a forgiveness ? ^ 
 
 Such, then, are the evidences afforded us in Holy 
 Writ about Indulgences, evidences which cannot fail 
 to strike any man of simple faith and sound judg- 
 ment. But if such a doctrine be in accordance with 
 the general tone of the Sacred Scripture ; if it flow 
 as a natural and necessary conclusion from some of 
 its doctrinal points ; if we find it practised by the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, with what ground of truth, 
 with what appearance even of probability, does the 
 22nd Article of the Church of England assert that 
 " such a doctrine is grounded upon no warranty of 
 Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of 
 
 God?" 
 
 7. However, Holy Scripture is not the only source 
 
 1 See St. Thorn, Suppl. q. xxv. a. i. 
 
78 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 of faith. Many truths are not explicitly contained 
 therein, but are handed down by word of mouth from 
 Christ and His Apostles, through successive genera- 
 tions in the Church, down to our own times. This we 
 call Tradition. It is a teaching no less divine than 
 Scripture ; the only difference being that the latter is 
 the written, and the former the unwritten Word of 
 God. 
 
 This Protestants will not admit, acknowledging as 
 they do, in matters of faith. Scripture and Scripture 
 only. But it is a most curious fact, that when they 
 come to examine the tenets of the Catholic Church, 
 by an inconceivable contradiction, they reject these 
 tenets, on the gratuitously asserted plea that they 
 are not grounded on any testimony of the Fathers, or 
 that they cannot be countenanced by any practice of 
 the primitive Church. 
 
 Indeed, it is strange beyond expression, that they, 
 who maintain the exclusive authority of Scripture to 
 determine the points of doctrine and discipline to be 
 held in the Church, should reject the lawfulness of the 
 practices of the Catholic Church, although based upon 
 clear evidences of Scripture, unless they appear to 
 them to be justified by the sanction of an unbroken 
 tradition. 
 
 As regards Indulgences, if Scripture alone is a 
 sufficient guide to our belief, then, we need not fur- 
 ther inquire into their dogmatic \vorth. They are 
 a lawful practice, because based upon the very 
 words of Scripture. And, if wo need to have it cor- 
 
THE GATES OE HELL 79 
 
 roborated by the tradition of ages that have preceded 
 us, then we must associate with Scripture Tradition 
 also as a rule of faith ; and then we have not one, 
 but two fountain-heads of doctrine — Scripture and 
 Tradition — which indeed are but a twofold aspect of 
 the same word of God spoken to man, a twofold shoot 
 from the same root of faith, a mutual exposition of 
 the same divine doctrine — Scripture ministering to 
 Tradition the elements of revealed truth ; Tradition, 
 •clothing them with its own variegated garb, and 
 illustrating them in sundry ways to the eyes of the 
 simple and of the little ones. 
 
 On the matter in hand, then, one of the greatest 
 diflSculties which hinder Protestants from acknow- 
 ledging the validity of Indulgences is, according to 
 them, the absence of warranty from the writings 
 of the Fathers and the practice of the primitive 
 Church. Which Chemnitius thus expressed : — " No 
 testimony of the Fathers, no instance in the ancient 
 Church, can be brought forward to show, that either 
 such a doctrine, or the use of such Indulgences ever 
 existed in the primitive Church until the year 1200." ^ 
 
 8. The charge is of a serious nature. It is equi- 
 valent to asserting that at that epoch the Church, 
 by introducing Indulgences, departed from the purity 
 of the doctrine of Christ, was substantially altered 
 from what her Divine Founder meant her to be, 
 and error was substituted in her teaching for divinely 
 revealed truth. 
 
 1 In P. 4, Exam. Cone. Trid. 
 
8o THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 From such an assertion a conclusion necessarily 
 follows, which we doubt whether any one, having 
 faith in the Scripture, would dare to uphold. 
 
 If the doctrine concerning Pardons or Indulgences 
 is an erroneous doctrine, contrary to God's Word, 
 and if the Church from the thirteenth century only 
 has, by her oft-repeated practice, upheld that which 
 she had not been commissioned to teach, it follows 
 that on this point she has been in error, she has 
 practically taught heresy. That she taught error 
 can mean nothing else, than that she deserted her 
 Spouse and was given over to the powers of dark- 
 ness, that she made a compromise with the sons 
 of Belial, and that the gates of hell finally pre- 
 vailed against her. 
 
 And note this, that not only the general body of 
 Bishops, throughout the world, is involved in the 
 charge, for having most of them exercised this 
 power of granting Pardons to their flock ; not only 
 the whole list of Eoman Pontiffs, each of whom for 
 so many centuries back have, as Henry YIII.^ him- 
 self observed, granted Indulgences under some form 
 or other, bu,t the whole Church at large, as it 
 comprehends the pastors and the faithful ; for the 
 readiness of the latter in accepting, never fell short 
 of the liberality of the former in grantina,-. 
 
 To say, then, that the Church in the thirteenth 
 century departed, in the matter of Indulgences, from 
 the teaching of Christ, is the same as to say that, 
 
 1 Aasertio VII. Sacr. at the article "De ludulgentiis." 
 
THE EXERCISE OF A RIGHT 8i 
 
 at least by silent connivance, and this for the space 
 of over three centuries, she has countenanced heresy, 
 she has borne with error. Which is equal to saying 
 that, for the space of three hundred years, the Divine 
 Spouse of the Church has deserted her, thus making 
 void His promise that He would ever be with her 
 to the end of the world,^ and that the gates of hell 
 should never prevail against her.^ 
 
 9. But, to examine more closely into the objection, 
 let us suppose that, in reality, the Church never 
 granted Indulgences previously to the eleventh cen- 
 tury. From this fact could any one, we ask, infer 
 that therefore the Church has no power to grant 
 them ? From the non-exercise of a power, is it lawful 
 to infer the non-existence of the power itself ? 
 
 The question conveys its own answer. The non- 
 exercise of a right is no argument against the 
 existence of that right, as, on the contrary, the mere 
 use of a right confers no claim thereto ; it is only 
 in him who uses it, a sign of what he either really 
 possesses or else falsely claims to possess. 
 
 In reality, as the display of a power confers no 
 power, so it is simply illogical, from the absence of 
 such a display, to infer the absence of the power 
 itself. 
 
 Doubtless, our Divine Saviour was not by any 
 means bound, even as man, to pay to earthly kings 
 the legal tribute.* If the children of temporal kings 
 
 1 Matt,xxviii. 20. ^ Matt. xvi. i8. 
 
 3 Cf, St. Thomaa, Catena Aurea on Matt. xvii. 26. 
 
 F 
 
82 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 are exempt from this law, how much more the 
 eternal Son of the King of Glory ! But, for our in- 
 struction, He would not exercise His right of exemp- 
 tion. On one occasion He even wrought a miracle, 
 so as to be enabled to pay the tribute. " That we may 
 not scandalise them," said Jesus to Peter, " go to the 
 sea and cast in a hook : and that fish which shall 
 first come up, take : and when thou hast opened its 
 mouth, thou shalt find a stater : take that, and give 
 it to them for me and thee." ^ Yet, by so doing, 
 Jesus did not forego His right. He remained the 
 one great Lord, who is no man's tributary, but to 
 whom the " children of God" are bidden " bring the 
 offsprings of rams," ^ and to whom " the kings of 
 Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents, the kings 
 of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts." ^ 
 
 Again, the Apostle of the Gentiles had no doubt 
 a right to be maintained at the charges of those to 
 whom he preached. But he chose not to make use 
 of it, "lest he should be a hindrance to the Gospel 
 of Christ." Yet, by no means did he intend to 
 renounce this very natural right. " If others be 
 partakers of this power, why not we rather ? " * 
 
 And so, the absence of the exercise of a right is 
 no argument against its existence, as from the fact 
 that a child does not use its reasoning faculties, it 
 would be illogical to infer that it does not possess 
 them. 
 
 ' Matt. xvii. 26. - Ps. xxviii. 1. 
 
 ' Ps. Ixxi. 10. * 1 Cor. IS. 12. 
 
THE ESSENTIAL AND ACCIDENTAL 83 
 
 Hence, even though we were to grant that the 
 Church, previously to the eleventh century, has 
 never granted Indulgences, this would be no proof 
 that in reality such a power does not belong to 
 her. However, the truth on this point will be 
 clearly shown hereafter. 
 
 10. But before we peruse the different ages of 
 the Church, and examine what amount of evidence 
 each epoch supplies in favour of the doctrine and 
 practice of Indulgences, there is an obvious distinc- 
 tion to be made, between what belongs to the 
 substance of an Indulgence and what belongs only 
 to the form — between that which is essentially con- 
 tained in an Indulgence, and that which is only 
 accidentally connected with it. 
 
 An Indulgence is the remission, granted by the 
 Church, but ratified by God, of a debt of temporal 
 punishment. This is what constitutes its nature, this 
 is what is absolutely requisite for its essence ; the 
 rest is purely accidental. That this remission be 
 granted under one form or another, depends on 
 circumstances. The first is a point of dogma, and 
 therefore unchangeable ; the second is a matter of 
 discipline, and therefore changeable according to 
 time, manner, and places, as it seems fit to the 
 Church. In both, dogma and discipline, she is the 
 mother and mistress of truth. 
 
 If, therefore, it is to be shown that she ever has 
 granted Indulgences, it will be necessary and suffi- 
 cient to show that she has granted, in the sight 
 
84 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 of God, the remission of a temporal punishment, 
 for she was at liberty to grant it under one form 
 or another, as might seem to her more appropriate. 
 
 This, and this only, is that for which we contend. 
 To pretend that Indulgences, if ever they were 
 granted in the primitive Church, ought to have 
 been granted in the very same form in which they 
 now appear, would be as erroneous, not to say 
 absurd, as to presume to maintain that unless the 
 faithful fast now-a-days as they fasted in the primi- 
 tive Church, they cannot be said in reality to fast. 
 
 II. But there are some who will not be reconciled 
 to the fact, that there is progress and develop- 
 ment in the Church of Christ. They imagine her 
 discipline to be as immutable as her dogma. Accord- 
 ing to them, the Church was born, she grew, she was 
 strengthened, she reached her full development on 
 the same day on which she sprang forth from the 
 Saviour's side. From that time to the end of her 
 existence, she must remain stationary, like an inert 
 body, alien from any sort of progress and in- 
 crease. 
 
 But this is not the idea which the Holy Scrip- 
 tures exhibit to us, nor that which is suggested 
 by the very constitution of the Church. In- 
 deed, the Church is represented to us by St. Paul 
 as a living bod}-, which " by joints and bands 
 being su]iplicil with nourishment and compacted, 
 growetli into the inciraso of Cod." ' Now it is the 
 
 ' Col. ii. 19. 
 
DEVELOPMENT IN THE CHUECH 85 
 
 condition of a living body, as, for instance, the 
 human body, to pass from the infirmity of child- 
 hood to the vigour of youth and to the strength 
 of manhood. 
 
 In fact, the supernatural order is analogous to the 
 order of nature. For grace is founded on nature, and 
 it works in a proportionate manner. Now we find in 
 every living body, whether physical or moral, a stage 
 of proficiency succeeding to a stage of mere beginning, 
 and a stage of perfection succeeding to that of pro- 
 ficiency. As the perfection of the whole depends on 
 the perfection of the parts, and the parts themselves 
 attain their own perfection only by the force of natural 
 growth and development, so the perfection of a living 
 body depends on the perfection of its members, and 
 the members themselves reach their proper degree 
 of perfection when they acquire that vigour and de- 
 velopment which befits their nature. 
 
 So it is in the Church. When her Divine Founder 
 created her. He did not give her that complete 
 equipment of practices and traditions which we now 
 behold, but He left her to attain, by the working 
 together of time, of circumstances, and especially of 
 grace, that degree of development which it was His 
 intention she should reach. 
 
 ' Hence it is that we speak of her sometimes, with 
 reference to what she was in her cradle, " Ecclesia 
 nascens;" sometimes with reference to what she 
 was, when still wrapped up, as it were, in her 
 swaddling-clothes, "Ecclesia vagiens ;" sometimes 
 
86 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 with reference to the state of youth and vigour 
 she had acquired, when, in the fourth century, she 
 was led by Constantino's hands out of the prison 
 of the Catacombs, still bearing on her brow, it is 
 true, the sign of her sufferings, but radiant with 
 freshness and beauty. 
 
 Having this before our mind, it will be easy to 
 understand how it is possible that, in a point of 
 doctrine like that of Indulgences, the Church, whilst 
 retaining unaltered their unchangeable nature, may 
 have varied in the disciplinary or practical part of 
 the same, precisely on account of the changes which 
 Christian society has undergone. 
 
 And not more than this do we intend to prove, 
 viz., that the Church, long before the thirteenth 
 century, granted Indulgences similar in kind to 
 those which she now grants, though the form of 
 granting them, owing to the change of cir- 
 cumstances, be now different from what it was 
 then. 
 
 And this, if it be proved, as we trust it will be, 
 must be sufficient for any fair inquirer who acknow- 
 ledges the authority of the Church in matters of 
 discipline, to conclude that, by granting Indulgences, 
 she continues even now, in an uninterrupted manner, 
 a practice which she has carried on ever since her 
 foundation : that, if she teaches the doctrine of 
 Pardons, it is only because she received it from 
 an unlnoken tradition, fully earryiug out the pre- 
 scription laid down by St. Stephen the Pope : " Let 
 
TWO WAYS OF STUDYING TRADITION 87 
 
 there be no innovation; hold fast to the received 
 doctrine." ' 
 
 12. For the study of tradition on Indulgences, 
 two ways lie open before us. On the one hand, 
 we might enter into the vast field of patristic erudi- 
 tion, unfold the Fathers' writings, consult the innume- 
 rous works they have left us — books, tracts, letters, 
 questions, and the rest — and confront all they have 
 said on the subject of Indulgences, with the present 
 practice of the Church. 
 
 But this way is long and has many- a winding. 
 Moreover, we know that the first Fathers, even as the 
 ?acred writers, never had an intention of writing 
 theological treatises ; there wa,s no need at the time 
 of such elaborate erudition, and besides, there was 
 then in full vigour a law jealously kept among the 
 Christians, the law of secrecy — disciplina arcani — 
 by which it was strictly forbidden to lay open to 
 profane ears the Christian mysteries, for it is not 
 becoming " to give that which is holy to dogs, nor 
 to cast pearls before swine." ^ 
 
 Further, any one who is a little acquainted with 
 the writings of the Fathers, especially of those of 
 the early times, will not have failed to observe of 
 what a highly spiritual nature these writings are, 
 and consequently how much generality, and even 
 mistiness, there is about them, so that a commentary 
 is necessary for a proper understanding of the same, 
 
 1 "Nihil innovetur, nisi quod traditum est." Quoted by St. 
 Cyprian, Ep. 74. ^ Matt. vii. 6. 
 
88 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 no less, sometimes, than for the understanding of 
 Holy Scripture. 
 
 And so, the course which suggests itself to the 
 student of tradition as shorter, more appropriate, 
 and fruitful of better result, is the study of what 
 the Church ever practised in her discipline, and 
 performed in her liturgy, since the very beginning 
 of her existence. This will give us the key to the 
 understanding of the more obscure passages of the 
 Fathers : it will make us live with our own ancestors 
 in the faith ; and so, confronting our lives and prac- 
 tices with theirs, we shall be able to decide what is 
 truly apostolic, and engrafted on Christ Himself, 
 from what is but extraneous growth and hetero- 
 geneous addition. 
 
 13. This we shall do. Yet, we cannot end this 
 chapter without saying a few words about one of 
 the early Fathers of the Church, one who may be 
 said to represent in a more perfect manner the 
 Catholic tradition on the discipline of Penance, and 
 of the consequent Pardons or Indulgences. 
 
 Quintus Septimius Florentius Tertullian (about 
 160-240) had been endowed by God with wonderful 
 gifts — a potent mind, a grasping memory, a deep- 
 thinking intellect. His erudition knew no limits, 
 and he could exercise his genius with equal advan- 
 tage on any subject. Like Paul, he had spent his 
 talents and employed his energy in combating the 
 Christian religion ; like him, too, he was over- 
 whelmed by the dazzling light which encompassed 
 
TERTULLIAN 89 
 
 the Spouse of Christ. "When a little over thirty, 
 he embraced the Christian religion, of which he 
 even became a priest. 
 
 His zeal, then, was turned to the defence of the 
 Church and her dogmas, and, with that vehemence 
 of language and quickness of style which is all 
 peculiar to him, he equally confuted the Jews, the 
 heathens, the heretics, and particularly the Gnostics 
 •of that time. 
 
 He wrote his book "De Pcenitentia," in order to 
 set forth the true Christian idea about Penance, 
 unfolding its essence and meaning, marking out its 
 extension and proving its necessity with regard to 
 Catechumens, and such as have need of this remedy 
 after baptism. 
 
 It seems hardly credible that such a genius should 
 have listened with complacency to the absurd de- 
 clamations of Montanus, and should have given 
 •credit to his vain and empty dreams. More aston- 
 ishing still it is to see, that he should have left the 
 kindly and secure light of the Catholic Church, to 
 follow the presumptuous illuminations and proud 
 illusions of the Montanists, and that he should now 
 have turned those weapons with which he had 
 mightily overcome their sect, against those of his 
 own fold, whom he, together with the spiritualists 
 of this new sect, would now style psychicians or 
 animals. 
 
 Then, Tertullian began to teach just the contrary 
 of what he had hitherto held in matter of doctrine ; 
 
90 THE TWO FOUNTAINS 
 
 but he could not unsay what he had said, and he 
 had spoken so well whilst a Catholic, that what he 
 now said had already been confuted by himself. 
 
 However, he must now speak evil, for out of a 
 perverse heart good things cannot come ; and among 
 other books, he wrote one entitled " De Pudicitia," 
 in which he spoke of Penance, and withdrew what 
 he had previously said. He denied, with Montanus, 
 that remission or absolution could be given for 
 mortal sins committed after baptism, especially for 
 the more grievous kinds, like apostasy, homicide, 
 adultery, and the like. Such as commit these sins, he 
 maintained, are irrevocably cast away from the bosom 
 of the Church, and abandoned to the Justice of God, 
 without any hope of further reconciliation. He dis- 
 torted St. Paul's passage in the First Epistle to the 
 Corinthians,-^ alluded to above as the chief scriptural 
 evidence in favour of Indulgences. 
 
 So much opposition against the Catholic dogma 
 brought him consequently to deny the existence, in 
 the Church, of the power of the Keys, of the satis- 
 factory merits of the martyrs, and of the efficacy 
 of their intercession, building up, according to his 
 own fashion, a new Cliurch invisible and insensible, 
 in which he acknowledged the fulness of the spirit, 
 instead of that living, active, and visible Church 
 which Christ built, and which acts sensibly through 
 her pastors and faithful. 
 
 The enormous and abnormal excesses to which 
 • Chap. V. from verae i-6. 
 
TERTULLIAN'S EEEOES 91 
 
 these principles led TertuUian, are the best confuta- 
 tion of the same. How can he be right at the outset, 
 ■whom his path leads so much astray ? 
 
 Then TertuUian was in open contradiction with 
 that venerable tradition of already well-nigh two 
 centuries ; his voice had no echo ; it was a dissonant 
 note in the splendid harmony of the Fathers. And 
 so, he was condemned to stand for ages as testimony 
 against these very errors, for his previous writings 
 could not easily be cancelled, and the Church had 
 in them an open and irrevocable confession of her 
 faith. Truly, if ever, now certainly " iniquity did 
 lie to itself." ' 
 
 However, it is now time that we should study 
 what has been the practice of the Church, with regard 
 to Pardons or Indulgences, ever since the beginning 
 of her foundation. But the idea of pardon supposes 
 the idea of penance ; it is a warrant of forgiveness 
 given to an offender, and an exemption from punish- 
 ment. It is necessary, therefore, that we should. first 
 speak of what the practice of Penance was in the 
 primitive ages of the Church. 
 
 1 Ps. xxvi. 12. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 " Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes." — 
 
 Job xliL 6. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC AGE AND THE FIRST CENTURIES OF 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 The practice of Penance in the primitive Church — The first degree of 
 Penitents — Second degree — Third degree — Fourth degree — The 
 practice of the Western Ohurch — St. Fabiola — The Emperor Theo- 
 dosius the Great and St. Ambrose — Public Penance not the only 
 one then in use — When was public Penance applied — Voluntary 
 Penitents — The Reconciliation — Those to whom Reconciliation was 
 denied — Public and canonical Penance not essentially the same — 
 The power of Bishops with regard to public Penance — Further 
 use of this power — The canonical Penances and Indulgences. 
 
 I. In order, then, to understand how the Church 
 granted Indulgences ever since the first ages of her 
 existence, it is necessary to take beforehand a general 
 view of the public penances enjoined by the sacred 
 canons, as an expiation for the more grievous sins. 
 
 In the beginning, those among the faithful who 
 were guilty of lesser faults, were simph- deprived of 
 the right of bringing their ofi'erings to the altar and 
 receiving Holy Communion. Those who were guilty 
 of more grievous crimes, were excluded from the 
 assembly of the Christians ; while others, more guilty 
 
THE FIRST DEGEEE OF PENITENTS 95 
 
 still, were banished for ever from the Church, and 
 their names were struck off the rolls of the faithful.^ 
 
 Later on, four degrees of penance were estab- 
 lished, each of which gave origin to a special class 
 of penitents. 
 
 2, In the first class, were included those among 
 the faithful who were interdicted entrance into the 
 church. They were condemned to stand outside 
 the sacred place, and even outside the atrium, and 
 to remain in the exterior narthex ^ during the cele- 
 bration of the sacred mysteries. They were clad in 
 a mourning garment, and wore sackcloth as a sign 
 of their penance ; their hair was dishevelled and 
 bestrewn, with ashes. 
 
 In this humiliating and mournful attire they used 
 to confess their sins publicly, and beseech the faithful 
 who went into the church, to pray to God for their 
 forgiveness. 
 
 They would often mingle their tears with their 
 prayers and supplications, hence their name^enies, or 
 
 ' Martigny, Dictionnaire des Antiquites Chretiennes, at the article 
 " Penitence canonique." 
 
 ^ Narthex, from the Greek v&pB-rii, ferula, so called on account of 
 its figure resembling an oblong rectangular wooden rule. There 
 was formally a twofold narthex joined to the basilicas, one exterior, 
 the other interior. The exterior one, also called irpowvXalov, was 
 a vestibule in the shape of a portico situated outside the church, 
 which occupied all the breadth thereof. It had three, five, and even 
 seven columns, and was also used as a place of interment, when intra- 
 mural burial was allowed. Princes and kings often ambitioned this 
 honour. An atrium and biporticus, or sometimes quadriporticus, sepa- 
 rated this from the interior narthex, which was another vestibule, 
 similar to the first, but separated from the nave by a wall having three, 
 and sometimes five, doors leading in to the church. 
 
94 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 " weepers," and their degree was called -irpoa-KKauan, 
 " a weeping." Sometimes they would kneel and kiss 
 the feet of the faithful, entreating them to interpose 
 their mediation with the bishop, that he would admit 
 them among the penitents of the Church, for, rather 
 than true penitents, they were candidates for penance. 
 This preparatory stage of penance lasted sometimes 
 several years. 
 
 3. The second degree comprehended the lower class 
 of penitents, properly so called, whom the bishop, at 
 the request of the deacons and of the faithful, had 
 released from their painful and humiliating penance 
 outside the church, and had allowed to go through 
 the regular course of canonical rehabilitation. 
 
 They had a place in the interior narthex ; but as 
 they were separated from the rest by the wall of the 
 church, and were only in communication with them 
 by the three or five gates of this wall, they could see 
 nothing of what was going on, and could only listen 
 to the reading of Holy Scripture, and to the homilies 
 and sermons preached by the sacred ministers. 
 
 This was properly the place set apart for catechu- 
 mens, but where, at times, Jews also, heretics, and 
 schismatics, and even pagans, were allowed to pene- 
 trate, to hear the word of the Gospel, that they 
 might be converted, if God deigned to touch their 
 hearts. This stage of penance was called aKpoaim, " a 
 hearing;," and the penitents of this class were collec- 
 tively called audicntes, " hearers." 
 
 When the readings and instructions were over, the 
 
THE THIRD DEGREE 95 
 
 deacon, from an elevated place, bade the " hearers 
 and infidels retire ; " where, by the word infidel, are 
 meant all those who had not been baptized. 
 
 It would be difficult to say how much such a 
 penance must have told on their feelings. For 
 whereas, on the one hand, the fact of their being 
 commanded to assist at the instructions, was for 
 them equivalent to the reproach that as yet they 
 were ignorant of the rudiments of Christian doc- 
 trine, their sudden and untimely exit, on the other, 
 reminded them that, by their crimes, they had been 
 degraded to the level of those who had not yet been 
 favoured with Christian regeneration. 
 
 4. After these penitents had spent in this state a 
 number of years corresponding to the grievousness 
 of their sins, they were again admitted to have a 
 place in the church with the faithful, and thus they 
 entered into their third stage of penance. This new 
 class of penitents occupied in the sacred building that 
 space, which was immediately below the arribones} 
 
 ' The ambones were Mgh marble pulpits, to wliioli access was given 
 by a flight of steps ; hence their derivation, from the Greek word dpa- 
 ^aiveiv, to ascend. It was from this place that the deacon sang the 
 Gospel or preached to the people ; that the commemoration of the living 
 and the dead, whose names were registered on tablets called S'mruxph 
 diptychs, was made ; that the days of fasting, vigils, or coming fes- 
 tivals were announced, and generally what notices belonged to the 
 congregation of the parish or diocese. It was also from these pulpits, 
 that the newly converted made their profession of faith. Of the cele- 
 brated rhetorician Victorinus, St. Augustine, in the eighth book of his 
 " Confessions," c. ii., says ; " When the hour for him to make his pro- 
 fession had come, he pronounced the true faith /rom a lofti/ place (de 
 loco eminentiore) in presence of the Christian people with a wonderful 
 confidence." Martigny, Dictionnaire, &c. 
 
96 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 As soon as the " hearers " had departed, the peni- 
 tents of this third class prostrated themselves to the 
 ground with sighs and tears, in which the faithful 
 joined. Then, they rose together with the bishop, 
 and received from him the imposition of hands, 
 accompanied with the recitation of some canonical 
 prayers, after which they were bidden to depart from 
 among the faithful, together with those of the cate- 
 chumens who bore the same name. 
 
 They were called substrati, or " kneelers," and 
 their degree was styled inroTTTwa-K!, "prostration;" and, 
 during this stage of their penance, they had to go 
 through a severe course of private prayers, of fastings 
 and of laborious works. 
 
 5. After these, and last in the order of penitents, 
 came the consistentes, or " standers," who were 
 indeed allowed to remain in the church during the 
 whole of the liturgy, but who neither could receive 
 the Blessed Eucharist, nor make any offering des- 
 tined for the Holy Sacrifice or for the immediate 
 maintenance of the divine worship, as did the other 
 faithful. Their stage, from their position, was called 
 avcrraaig, " a standing." 
 
 We have in St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of 
 Neocaesarea, an exact description of these four degrees 
 of penitents. " The iveeping," says he, " is without 
 the door of the oratory. There the sinner, standing, 
 should beg for himself the prayers of the faithful 
 who go in. The hearing is withiu the door, in the 
 narthex, where it behoves him who has sinned to 
 
THE PEACTICE OF THE WESTERN CHURCH 97 
 
 stand as long as the catechumens, and thence depart. 
 'For,' saith he, 'let the hearer of the Scriptures 
 and of the instruction be cast out, and let him not 
 be deemed worthy of praying.' The kneeling is this, 
 that, abiding within the church door, he should go 
 out with the catechumens. The standing is this, 
 that he should stand with the faithful, and not go 
 out with the catechumens. Lastly, is the participa- 
 tion of the Sacraments." ^ 
 
 Here, however, it must be observed that the four 
 stages of penances were exclusively in use in the 
 Oriental churches, for we find no traces thereof in 
 Latin writers. Even in the East learned men make 
 it a question whether they ever represented a uni- 
 versal institution.^ The Western Church seems to 
 have been animated in her customs and in her rites 
 by a spirit of prudent moderation, rather than of 
 exaggerated zeal. 
 
 6. Yet, she too found it necessary to enforce on 
 sinners, whose sins had a public character, and who 
 had thus brought a disgrace on the Christian name 
 and an oifence to the purity of the Christian com- 
 
 ^ 'H TrpdffKKauns, ?|(J t^s TriiXi/s toO eiiKrqpiov iarlv iv8a iarSiTtt, rbv a/iap- 
 T&vovTa, XP^ Tuc el(ri6vTav deiaSai irurrGv, inrip airov eHxea&ai' i) axpians ivS66i, 
 TTji TriiXijs, iv Tip vdpBriKi' h6a ia-rdvat XP'I ''*'' ■niiapTrtuSra, ?ws tuv Karrjxov- 
 /ihav, Kal ivrevBev iypx^oOac aKoiav yii,p, <pr]a-l, tS>v ypa<t>(ov, Kal ttjs SiSao-- 
 KoKias, iKpa\\4(r8w, Kal /i-i) d^ioiaBw irpocrevxrjs' ii Si iTr6TrTa<n.s, tva, (ffuSev ttjs 
 Tri\r]S ToO vaov la-rd/ievos, juerd riii/ KaTrixovp-ivv i^ipxerar ij a-iaraais, ha 
 a-wluTaraL roh irto-TOis, Kal p.T\ i^ipxr/Tai ixerb, Tuv Kartixovfiivoiv reXevraTov, i) 
 liiSe^is Twv dyiaap-iTijiv. — Oan. xi. Mogmitice, 1655. 
 
 '' Duciesne, Origines du Oulte Chretien, Paris, 1889, cliap. zv. p. 
 420, in a note, where he brings the authority of Funk, Theol. Quartal- 
 schrift, 1866, p. 373, «* s^a. 
 
 G 
 
98 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 munity, the imposition of a serious penance, as a con- 
 ilition for their readmission into her bosom and for the 
 participation of her Sacraments and of her graces, to 
 -which baptism had been a first initiation. The demand 
 of reintegration— that is to say, of admission among the 
 penitents — was not granted without some difficulty, 
 and it was the rule to grant it once only during life.^ 
 
 The first thing that was required of the peni- 
 tents was that they should renounce public offices, 
 the ecclesiastical career, or the military state. They 
 could not marry, and if married, they lost their con- 
 jugal rights ; the men were to have their hair and 
 beard shaved, and the women were to receive the 
 veil of penance ; they were to give alms to the poor, 
 and abstain from such pleasures as would other- 
 wise have been allowed ; they were to be assiduous 
 to attend in their condition the divine service — in a 
 word, they had to live like monks or nuns. For 
 the monastic state was, then also, a state of penance, 
 with this difi'erence, that the monk had freely em- 
 braced it, whereas the penitent was bound to it ; the 
 monk could receive holy orders, the penitent could not. 
 
 Then, the penitents were left to live in their own 
 houses, without seclusion and without any official 
 supervision ; but, after the middle of the fifth century, 
 they were closed up in monasteries for the whole of 
 Lent, and were only released on IMaundy Thursday, 
 the day of public reconciliation.^ 
 
 1 Duclicsuc, Origines, chap. xv. p. 420. 
 ^ C'anciani, 0. S. M., vul. i. ji. 220. 
 
THE PEACTICE OF THE WESTERN CHURCH 99 
 
 In the third century, the Church found herself 
 obliged to submit this matter to a regular legislation. 
 Novatus, a priest of the African Church, and Nova- 
 tian, a deacon of the Church of Rome, falsely inter- 
 preting St. Paul's words to the Hebrews,^ had taught 
 that, for such as had lost their baptismal grace, pen- 
 ance could afford no remedy. As a protest against 
 such erroneous doctrine, the discipline of penance 
 was carried out in Rome with a special liturgy. 
 
 Ash-Wednesday, which was then called " Caput 
 jejunii aut Quadragesimse," the beginning of fast or 
 of Lent, was the day chosen for the imposition of 
 public penance. During the days that had immedi- 
 ately preceded, as indeed during the whole period 
 after Septuagesima Sunday — which period received 
 in England the suitable term of " Shrovetide," ^ or con- 
 fession-time — the penitents had prepared themselves 
 to the reception of public penance, by being shriven 
 or confessing their sins, that is, by the reception of 
 the Sacrament of Penance. 
 
 On Ash-Wednesday, therefore, they were solemnly 
 •clothed with sackcloth by the priest, and special 
 prayers we;ce made for them.^ Later on, the custom 
 prevailed for the penitents to receive also on that 
 day ashes on their heads, which custom soon became 
 universal; for we find that Pope St. Gregory the 
 Great established on that day a solemn procession. 
 
 1 Chap. vi. 4, 5, 6. 
 
 2 From the Anglo-Saxon serif an, to shrive, to confess. 
 
 3 See the Sacramentarium Gelasianum, i. 16. 
 
100 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 litania, to the Church of St. Sabina on the Aventine, 
 and chose it for the station of the first day in Lent. 
 He used to betake himself to that church, to preside 
 at the ceremony, receive the ashes, and speak to the 
 people, after the collecta or assembly had taken place 
 in the Church of St. Anastasia. 
 
 A priest, too, was chosen from among the clergy, 
 and appointed over the penitents. He was called 
 " Penitentiary," and his ofl&ce was to regulate their 
 penitential works. In course of time, when canonical 
 penance fell into disuse, the office of Penitentiary 
 was conferred on that priest, who was intrusted with 
 the power from the bishop to absolve from cases 
 reserved to him. There still exists the oflBce of 
 Cardinal Major Penitentiary in the Catholic Church, 
 whose duty is to grant, in the name of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff", the power of absolving from cases reserved 
 to him. 
 
 7. History has preserved for our edification the 
 memory of some illustrious personages, who gladly 
 went through the ordeal of public penance, as a 
 means of rehabilitation into the Church. 
 
 The holy matron Fabiola is one of them. She was 
 a member of the renowned family of the Fabii. In 
 her youth she had married a man of such disorderly 
 manners, that, not being able to live with him, she 
 had left him, and making use of the liberty which 
 civil law.s granted her, she luul married a second 
 husband. 
 
 After the death of the latter she repented, and St. 
 
ST. FABIOLA'S PENANCE loi 
 
 Jerome^ tells us in glowing terms what a severe 
 penance she went through. 
 
 " She put on sackcloth in order to confess publicly 
 her error, and, in the sight of the whole city of Rome, 
 on Easter Eve, she stood in the ranks of the peni- 
 tents in the Lateran basilica, while the bishop, the 
 priests, and the whole people were weeping over her : 
 her hair was dishevelled, her face pallid, her hands 
 unadorned, her neck humbly bent. , . . 
 
 " happy penance," exclaims this holy father, 
 "which draws down upon itself the eyes of God, 
 which, with a humble confession of faults, changes 
 His wrathful anger ! . . . She did not disown the 
 Lord on earth, and the Lord will not disown her in 
 heaven. She laid bare her wound before all, and 
 the colourless scar thereof. Eome beheld it weep- 
 ing. . . . 
 
 " She did not enter the Church of the Lord, but 
 sat with Mary, the sister of Moses, separated with- 
 out the camp, that the priest who had ejected her, 
 might himself call her back. She came down from 
 her throne of delights. ' She took a millstone and 
 ground meal,' ^ and with her bare feet she passed over 
 a torrent of tears. She sat upon coals of fire : these 
 were a help to her. She scourged that face by which 
 she had pleased her second husband ; she abhorred 
 gems ; she could not bear to see fine linen ; she re- 
 jected every ornament." 
 
 ^ Ep. ad Oceanum, which is the 30th. 
 2 Isa. xlvii. 2. 
 
I02 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 Then, St. Jerome passes on to speak witli admira- 
 tion of her profound charity to the poor and of her 
 many pilgrimages. " Had I a hundred tongues, a 
 hundred mouths, an iron voice, yet would I be 
 unable to tell, one by one, all the names of physical 
 ailments which Fabiola turned into so many refresh- 
 ments, to such a point that many healthy poor would 
 envy the condition of the sick. 
 
 " She used the same liberality with clerics, monks, 
 and virgins. "What monastery is there that has not 
 been maintained by her support ? Who among the 
 naked and bedridden has not been clothed by Fabiola ? 
 Was there any kind of misery, to whose assistance 
 her liberality did not rush ? Rome was too small a 
 place for her merciful compassion. Suddenly, and 
 against the estimation of all, she sailed for Jerusalem, 
 where she was universally welcomed, and where she 
 shared for a little while our own dwelling. 
 
 " When I remember her company, it still seems 
 to me I see her as I then saw her. Good Jesus ! 
 with what fervour, with what earnestness, she was 
 bent upon the divine Books ; and wishing, as it 
 were, to satiate her hunger, she read through the 
 Prophets, the Gospels, and the Psalms, proposing 
 questions, and, when solved, laying them up in her 
 bosom. . . , 
 
 " Then she went back to her own country, that she 
 might there live poor, where she had before swum in 
 opulence. She, who had harboured many guests, came 
 to dwell now in a strano-er's house ; and, under the 
 
ST. FABIOLA'S DEATH 103 
 
 eyes of the city of Rome, she came to lavish on the 
 poor what she had sold before all." 
 
 Then the holy doctor describes her death and 
 funeral : " Wherefore, as she was ever ready, death 
 could not find her unprepared. Moved by a presenti- 
 ment of what was coming, she wrote to many monks 
 to come and alleviate her heavy burden, that she 
 might make to herself, from the unjust mammon, 
 friends who would receive her into the eternal 
 dwellings. 
 
 "They came; they were made friends. She. went 
 down to sleep as she had wished — that is, as a poor 
 woman — and at last, laying aside her burden, she 
 flew up lighter to heaven. 
 
 " What a wonder Rome had possessed in the person 
 of the living Fabiola, Rome itself declared it at her 
 death. Hardly had she breathed forth her spirit, 
 hardly had she given back her soul to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, when already the swiftly-flying fame, har- 
 binger of so much sorrow, summoned together to the 
 obsequies the people of the whole town. 
 
 " There were singings of psalms, and the sounds of 
 the joyful hallelujahs shook the gilded roofs of the 
 temples. Here a choir of youths, there a group of 
 old men, were celebrating with verses the praises of 
 the valiant woman and her glorious deeds. Not so, 
 did Furius triumph over the Gauls, Papyrius over 
 the Samnites, Scipio over Numantia, or Pompey 
 over the people of Brutus. Those conquered bodies ; 
 she subdued spiritual wickedness. 
 
104 THE SECOND PLANK AFTEK SHIPWRECK 
 
 " Neither the squares, nor the porticoes, nor the 
 roofs above could hold the multitude of spectators. 
 Then did Rome behold all her people gathered to- 
 gether. Each of them individually rejoiced in the 
 glory of the penitent. And what wonder that men 
 exulted at her salvation, when angels rejoiced in 
 heaven at her conversion ? " 
 
 8. At the same time, that is, about the year 
 390, we find a similar example of public pen- 
 ance, performed by the Emperor Theodosius the 
 Great. It will throw, we trust, some light on our 
 subject. 
 
 The people of Thessalonica in a sedition had 
 massacred some of the Emperor's officers. When 
 Theodosius, who was then at Milan, heard this 
 news, he gave vent to a violent fit of passion ; 
 but St. Ambrose succeeded in pacifying him, and 
 the Emperor promised he would forgive the people. 
 Later, however, his officers represented to him 
 that it was important that such excesses should 
 not remain unpunished. They extracted from him 
 an order to put to death the authors of the sedition. 
 This order was executed, but in a most barbarous 
 manner. 
 
 While the people were assembled in the circus, the 
 soldiers surrounded it secretly, with orders to seize 
 indiscriminately, up to a certain number, any of those 
 whom they met, whether they were guilty or not, 
 and to put them to death. Seeues of unheard-of 
 barbarity took place. Among others, two brothers 
 
THEODOSIUS THE GEEAT AISTD ST. AMBEOSE 105 
 
 were captured, and their father, to save them, offered 
 the soldiers all the gold he had. They accepted the 
 gold, but answered they could only save one of them 
 at his choice. The miserable father looked at his 
 children in an agony of despair, but could take no 
 resolve. At last they were both slaughtered under 
 his eyes. 
 
 When the news reached Milan, St. Ambrose was 
 greatly afflicted. He wrote to the Emperor a letter, 
 in which he represented to him the atrocity which 
 had taken place at Thessalonica. " Sin is only 
 blotted out by tears," said the Bishop. " No angel 
 or archangel can remit it otherwise. The Lord Him- 
 self forgives those only who do penance. I counsel 
 thee, I entreat thee, I admonish thee." 
 
 The Emperor answered that David had committed 
 adultery and homicide. " Since thou didst imitate 
 his fault," said St. Ambrose, "imitate also his 
 penance." The Emperor submitted, and abstained 
 from entering the church, for the space of eight 
 months. 
 
 On Christmas Day, he was shedding tears in his 
 palace, when Euffinus, the most intimate of his 
 courtiers, asked him the cause. " I weep," said the 
 Emperor, " when I consider that the temple of God 
 is opened to slaves and beggars, and is shut to me, 
 and consequently heaven also." — " I shall go," said 
 Euffinus, " and beseech the Bishop to absolve thee." — 
 " No," said the Emperor ; " I know the justice of his 
 censures, and his respect for the imperial power 
 
io6 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 will not induce him to do anything against the law 
 of God." 
 
 However, Ruffinus went ; and Theodosius, buoyed 
 with a hope of pardon, followed closely after him. 
 Kuffinus arrived first, and St. Ambrose protested 
 that he would rather let himself be slain, than admit 
 the Emperor into the church. 
 
 Shortly after, Theodosius himself came, though 
 Rufiinus had already reported to him St. Ambrose's 
 answer. He went straight to the Bishop, who was 
 sitting in the atrium, and asked him to give him 
 absolution. 
 
 St. Ambrose charged the Emperor that, by such a 
 request, he was standing against God and trampling 
 under foot His laws. " I respect them," said the 
 latter, " nor do I pretend to go into the holy temple 
 against the canons, but I entreat thee to deliver 
 me from these ties, and not to close upon me the 
 doors, which the Lord has opened to those who do 
 penance." — " What penance hast thou done," said 
 St. Ambrose, " for such a sin 1 " — " It belongs to 
 thee," said the Emperor, " to teach me what I must 
 do." St. Ambrose commanded him to go through 
 the regular course of public penance. The Emperor 
 submitted. 
 
 Then the excommunication was taken away from 
 him, and he was allowed entrance into the church. 
 This was a kind of Indulgence, for this release was 
 granted to Theodosius before he had performed any 
 part of his canonical penance. However, he did not 
 
THE PENANCE OF THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 107 
 
 pray standing or kneeling, but, having taken off all 
 his imperial ornaments, lie prostrated himself on the 
 ground, saying these words of David, " My soul hath 
 cleaved to the pavement ; quicken Thou me, accord- 
 ing to Thy word." ^ 
 
 Eloquent in its brevity is the eulogium which of 
 this prince's penance St. Augustine has handed 
 down to posterity in his treatise on the City of 
 God.^ " Was there anything more wonderful than 
 his religious humility, when, by the intrigues of 
 some of his familiars, inveigled into avenging the 
 grievous crime of the Thessalonians, whom he had 
 promised to spare at the intercession of the Bishop, 
 and chastened by the discipline of the Church, he 
 so did penance, that the people would rather pray, 
 and shed tears over his imperial majesty, thus pros- 
 trate, than they would fear to provoke his anger 
 by their crimes." And of the Indulgence which had 
 been granted him by the Church he kept a grateful 
 remembrance. For the same St. Augustine^ tells 
 us that when the sons of his enemies, who were as 
 yet pagans, flew to the church for refuge, he would 
 induce them to become Christians, loved them with 
 true Christian charity, and instead of depriving 
 them of their goods, he conferred upon them honours 
 and dignities. 
 
 We have thought it advisable to relate these 
 examples of public penance, that it may be seen 
 what a view the Church takes of sin, and how she 
 
 1 ps. cxviii. 25. ^ Lib. v. chap. xxvi. ' Mod. he. 
 
io8 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 interprets the divine precept of penance, as a means 
 of rehabilitation into God's friendship. 
 
 9. The ceremony for the imposition of penance, 
 was substantially similar to that which is found 
 now-a-days in the Pontificale Romanum under the 
 rubric "De Expulsione publice poenitentium ab 
 Ecclesia in feria quarta Cinerum," and for which the 
 " Commination Service," directed to be performed 
 on the first day of Lent, by the Book of Common 
 Prayer of the Church of England, is but a paltry 
 imitation, and a still poorer substitution. 
 
 Yet it would be a most grievous error to imagine 
 with Erasmus/ that, at the time to which our 
 narrative refers, public penance was the only one in 
 use in the Church, and that private penance was only 
 introduced later, viz., at a time when, according to 
 Erasmus, the Church instituted the secret confession 
 of sins. It is no difficult matter to evince the false- 
 ness of the statement. What the ancient fathers of 
 the Church called secret exomologesis,^ is nothing else 
 than secret confession ; and as the public exomologesis 
 entailed the performance of a public penance, so did 
 the private exomologesis entail the performance of 
 a private penance (pcenitentia absconsa).'' 
 
 The great Doctor of the Church of Alexandria, 
 and the faithful mouthpiece of the traditions of the 
 Church in the first century of her existence, Origen, 
 
 ' In his notes to tliu abovo-iiuotod letter of St. Jerome to Oceanus. 
 '^ Thi» word derives its origin from the passiige of St. Mntthew iii. 6 
 and Maik i. 5 : 'ii^ofioXoyovfitiiOi tAs anaprlas niViDi'. 
 ' Du Cnnge, at the word " l\euitentia." 
 
PUBLIC PENANCE NOT ONLY ONE IN USE 109 
 
 surnamed the Adamantine for Hs application to 
 study and the firmness which he displayed in con- 
 fessing Christ in the midst of torments, thus 
 speaks of confession : " Consider what the Scrip- 
 ture says about it, that one must not keep secret 
 his iniquity, and conceal it interiorly. And as those, 
 whom some indigestible food or the abundance of 
 bilious matter has rendered heavy and languid, 
 feel a relief in rejecting the noxious element, so 
 those who have sinned, if they conceal and retain 
 their sins within themselves, are inwardly op- 
 pressed, and, as it were, suffocated by the disorderly 
 elements of sin ; but if they become their own 
 accusers, not only do they vomit up their crimes, 
 but also consume every cause of sickness in them- 
 selves." ^ 
 
 Of St. Ambrose, Paulinus narrates, that whenever 
 any one confessed his sins to him, to obtain the 
 pardon thereof, he was struck with so great com- 
 passion in the innermost part of his heart, that, 
 weeping over the sins he had heard, he would so 
 touch the penitent's feelings, as to move him to 
 tears. Now this could be but a secret confession 
 of sins, for Paulinus adds that St. Ambrose would 
 never reveal to any one the sins which he had 
 heard in confession, except to God, with whom he 
 interceded for the penitent sinner; thus leaving to 
 his successors in the priesthood a striking example, 
 to be rather intercessors before God, than accusers 
 
 ^ Second Homily on the 37tli Psalm. 
 
no THE SECOND PLANK AETER SHIPWRECK 
 
 before men.^ But this is not the place to speak dog- 
 matically of secret confession. 
 
 As for private penance, TertuUian supplements the 
 evidence of Origen. " Some," says he, " flee from the 
 exercises of penance or defer them, because they 
 consider them as a defamation, caring more about 
 their honour than about their salvation ; not unlike 
 those who, having contracted hidden maladies, dare 
 not discover them to physicians, but rather expose 
 themselves to death through that miserable shame." - 
 
 Secret penance existed, then, as also secret confes- 
 sion ; and as there was the solemn absolution, so was 
 there also the private absolution. 
 
 In fact, the solemn absolution was only given at the 
 end of the penitential term, which lasted sometimes, 
 as we have seen, for several years. Xow, we know 
 from the testimony of Innocent I., St. Jerome, and 
 others, as also from the authority of the Council of 
 Agde, celebrated in 506,^ that it was customary for 
 penitents to be admitted yearly to Communion. 
 Unless, therefore, we admit that penitents went to 
 
 ' See Baronius, torn. iv. a.d. 375, n. 25. Gi'ave authors are of opinion 
 that the humble posture which accompanied this form of exomologtfu, and 
 which, according to TertuUian (De Poenit., ix.), consisted in kneelinj; in 
 front of the priest (presbyturis advolvi et caris Dei adgeniculari), gave 
 rise, on the part of the pagans, to the gross calumny, wliicli Miuucius Felix, 
 in his book " Octavius," relates : " Alii eos (christianos) ferunt ipsius 
 antistitis ac sacerdotis colere genitalia, et quasi parentis sui adorare 
 naturam." — Paulo, post init. Of course, the unscrupulous pagans were 
 glad to find a pretext to charge the Christians witli an action, wliich 
 was to them familiar : " Ille, (^ui de adoratis s;icerdotis virilibus adver- 
 sum nos fabulatur, lentat in nos conferre quaj sua sunt," Ante fin. 
 
 ^ De Poonit,, c. viii. 
 
 ' See Bellarmiuo, tom. iii. p. 960, par. 1613. 
 
WHEN WAS PUBLIC PENANCE APPLIED iii 
 
 receive Holy Communion unabsolved — which two 
 things are, in the teaching of St. Paul and in the 
 practice of the Church, incompatible — we must 
 acknowledge that a private absolution was given 
 them, previous to their receiving Holy Communion. 
 We have already said that Shrovetide was the time 
 set apart for the performing of private penance, 
 and the first day in Lent for the imposition of 
 public penance. 
 
 10. Moreover, it should be observed that public 
 penance was inflicted only for public crimes, and 
 when the culprit had juridically been found guilty, 
 as we gather from several passages of St. Augus- 
 tine.^ Neither was it universally applied in a like 
 manner. The Church deemed it a prudent course, 
 to leave it to the discretion of the bishops to enforce 
 the penitential canons as they should judge best, 
 according to the 'difi"erent circumstances of time, 
 place, and persons. 
 
 Some, too, would naturally be dispensed, as 
 children, and in general those whom their age, 
 or their state of health, or their condition of life 
 did not enable to bear much fatigue ; married 
 persons, whose sins might thus have been revealed 
 to their consorts. However, such as these were not, 
 on that account, dispensed from going through a 
 course of penitential exercises in private, as much 
 as their state would allow them. 
 
 1 1 . Another particular remark to be made on this 
 
 1 Notably from tlie ssist Sermon, c. iv. 11.10. 
 
112 THE SECOND PLANK AiTER SHIPWEECK 
 
 subject is, that, in those centuries of fervour, many 
 among the faithful spontaneously condemned them- 
 selves to this painful exercise, not for any grievous 
 sin that they might have committed, but merely out 
 of a spirit of humility and love of God. They were 
 then mixed with the juridical penitents, and with 
 them went through the regular course. Hence 
 public penance was no revelation of secret sins, as 
 it was impossible to distinguish those who were 
 really guilty from those who were innocent ; unless, 
 of course, the sins of the former had been previously 
 made public by them. 
 
 In confirmation of this truth, Martigny^ quotes 
 from M. de Boissieu the following inscription of the 
 year 520, found in Lyons in 1857 : — 
 
 IN HOC TVMTLO REQIISCET BO 
 NAE MEMORIA CARVSA EELIGIO 
 SA QVI EGIT PENETENTIAM 
 ANNVS VIGEXTI ET DVOS ET VIXE 
 IN PACE ANNVS SEXAGENTA QVI 
 KQVE OBIET DIAE XIII KALENOC 
 TVBRS RVSTIANO ET VITALIANO V CL 
 
 "In this tomb rests Carusa of happy memory, a religious 
 woman, who did penance twent3'-two years, and lived in peace 
 sixty-five years. She died on the 13th of the Calends of October, 
 Eustianus and Vitalianus being consuls." 
 
 12. Maundy Thursday in the West, and Good 
 Friday, or even Hoi}- Saturday, in the East, were 
 the days consecrated for the rcconeiliation of peni- 
 tents to the Church. These days were chosen 
 
 ' Diotionnaire dos Antiiiuites, vie, at the woi-d "Pi'uitence canonique.'' 
 
THE EECONCILIATIOlSr 113 
 
 to enable the penitents to partake of the Blessed 
 Eucharist on Easter Sunday. For, "every time," 
 says St. Ambrose,^ "our sins are forgiven us, we 
 take the Sacrament of the Body of our Saviour, to 
 show that it is in virtue of His Blood, that the 
 remission of sins is granted." 
 
 The reconciliation of penitents to the Church was 
 considered as a second initiation, or a second baptism. 
 This is confirmed by the coincidence of the two cere- 
 monies, at the most solemn epoch of the year, viz., 
 that of our Saviour's Eesurrection. To the bishop 
 alone belonged the right of solemnly reconciling 
 sinners ; but, as the 32nd canon of the Council of 
 Elvira^ has it, in danger of death this power was 
 extended to the simple priest, and in his absence 
 to the deacon himself. 
 
 On that occasion, the penitent received from the 
 bishop the Bill of Penance, Xl^eXXov /j-eravolas, a 
 kind of certificate, attesting that he had regularly 
 gone through his period of penitential exercises, and 
 had been absolved from excommunication.^ And 
 if, at times, a penitent died before his reconciliation 
 had taken place, it was lawful to oifer for him the 
 Divine Sacrifice, because he had fulfilled his penance. * 
 
 The ceremony of reconciliation, which is still pre- 
 
 1 De Poenit., 1. ii. 3. 
 
 2 It took place a.d. 305. It contains eighty-one canons of discipline, 
 and is, of all the Councils, the most ancient which has handed down 
 to us penitentiary canons. 
 
 3 Anastasius Bibliothecarius, quoted by Maigne d'Arnis, Lexicon 
 Manuale, &c., at the word " Pcenitentia." 
 
 * Cone. Carthag., iv. c. 79. 
 
 H 
 
114 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 served in substance in the Pontificale Romanum/ 
 breathes throughout a spirit of the purest charity. 
 It is the outbreak of joy and gladness on the part 
 of the father, for the happy return of the long-sighed- 
 for prodigal son, and on the other hand an assurance 
 that he is well fit to put on again his first robe and 
 partake of the fatted calf, and make all merry by his 
 presence ; for the Church, like God Himself, " desires 
 not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked 
 turn from his way and live." ^ 
 
 " Be silent, hear most attentively," said the arch- 
 deacon to the barefooted penitents prostrate on 
 the ground, before the gate of the church. Then, 
 turning to the bishop : " This is, venerable pontiff," 
 he adds, " the acceptable time ; this is the day of 
 divine propitiation and of human salvation, in which 
 death has had an end, and life eternal a beginning. 
 For, although there is no time in which the riches of 
 the goodness and mercy of God are closed, yet the 
 remission of sins is now more abundant through His 
 indulgence ; and more copious, through grace, is now 
 the assumption of those who are born again." 
 
 After this, the ancient ceremonial directed the 
 faithful present to prostrate themselves three times 
 and invoke the Divine mercy. Then the archdeacon, 
 
 ' It is a remarkiible fact that the Book of Common rrayer, whilst it 
 invented thu Ciomiiiination Sorvice as a substitute for the old cere- 
 mony, "De Expulsione," &o., of the rontitiaile Eomanum, has nothing 
 to replace the touching Ordo, " De Reconciliatioue," although it adds 
 that the restoration of public penance is "much to be wished." 
 
 ^ Kz. xxxiii. 1 1. 
 
RECONCILIATION TO WHOM DENIED 115 
 
 addressing the assemblj", invited them to sing with 
 him the prayer of Indulgence, which was a kind of 
 litanv in this wise : — 
 
 We beseech Thee, O Lord 
 
 May it come down from the Most High 
 
 ]Maj it succour us miserable . 
 
 May it cleanse us from all sins 
 
 ^lay it be shown to penitents 
 
 May it be a patron to mourners 
 
 May it correct those who wander in the faith 
 
 May it raise up those who have fallen by sin 
 
 We beseech Thee, Loi-d 
 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 Indulgence ! 
 
 This litany was repeated three times, between each 
 of which special prayers were recited.^ 
 
 Then the penitents were again introduced into the 
 church, and the solemn sentence of absolution was 
 pronounced by the bishop : " May the Almighty God 
 absolve you from all bond of sias, that you may have 
 life eternal and live, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen." Some more prayers were added to ask God 
 to grant these penitents the gift of perseverance. 
 
 13. Of the benefit of this solemn reconciliation, 
 as indeed of canonical penance also, were deprived 
 those who, a second time, having fallen unfortu- 
 nately into any grievous sin, had again been cut 
 off from the communion of the faithful ; for the 
 one and the other, as we have said, were granted 
 but once.* 
 
 They could only be reconciled privately, and 
 
 1 Duchesne, Origines, iSrc, pp. 427, 42S. 
 * Ibid., chap, xv., in the beginning. 
 
ii6 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWKECK 
 
 at the time of death. Some exaggerated canons 
 went so far as to forbid expressly, even then, the 
 reconciliation and absolution of sinners, thus aban- 
 doning them to the sincerity of their own sorrow 
 and to the mercy of God. But such canons never 
 obtained the explicit approbation of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, but rather his formal disapproval, as we 
 gather from the Decretal of Innocent I. to Exuperius 
 of Toulouse, and that of Celestine I. to the Bishops 
 of the provinces of Vienne and Narbonne. 
 
 Even the use of denying Holy Communion to 
 sinners at the end of their lives, as we find it 
 expressed in several canons of the Council of Elvira,^ 
 has never been anything more than a local custom. 
 The general practice of the Catholic Church is, on 
 the contrary, well set forth in the 1 3th canon of the 
 first General Council, that of Nice. 
 
 " With regard to the dying, let the ancient and 
 canonical law be observed ; so that if any one is 
 about to depart this life, he will not be deprived of 
 the last viaticum, which is of so great necessity. 
 And if he, having thus received Conununion in 
 that extreme danger, recover his health, he will be 
 with those who are only partakers of prayer," that 
 is to say, the consi.stcntes. " In general, with regard 
 to all the dying who ask for the participation of the 
 Eucharist, the Bishop will grant it after examination." '' 
 And Pope Innocent I. : "If there be any danger of 
 
 ' Nolalily tliose ref^arding tho vriiiie of idolatry, of apostasy from 
 the fiiitli, of adiiltriy, and liomioide. '•' Mausi, t. ii. p. 674. 
 
PENANCE, CANONICAL AND SATISFACTORY 117 
 
 death, he (the penitent) must be absolved before 
 Easter, lest he die without Communion." ^ 
 
 We see by this law how justly the Sovereign 
 Pontiff Pius VI., in his Constitution Auctorem 
 Fidei, of the 28th August 1794, condemned as 
 perverse in its import, the proposition which had 
 been uttered by that gathering already spoken of, 
 which made a desperate effort to revive the dying 
 embers of Jansenism, the pseudo- Council of Pistoia, 
 and by which it maintained that " the fear of per- 
 petual exclusion from Communion and from peace, 
 even at the hour of death, acts as a powerful curb 
 on those who little consider the evil of sin, and feaic 
 it less." ^ 
 
 14. Such, then, was the practice of the Church 
 with regard to Penance, considered as a part of 
 that hearty sorrow, which is an essential condition 
 for the recovery of baptismal innocence. If we 
 have dwelt on this point of primitive discipline 
 longer than had at first been our intention, and 
 the nature of this work demanded, it must not be 
 thought that we have done so, as if regretting over- 
 milch the practical absence, in the present state of 
 the Church, of these penitential canons, and, as it 
 were, bewailing a notable decline in the fervour of 
 charity and in the purity of faith. 
 
 Satisfactory Penance is not essentially Canonical 
 Penance. The former has ever existed in the Catholic 
 Church ; the latter had a temporary existence. 
 
 1 Ep. ad. Decent. ^ N. 38. 
 
ii8 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 From the beginning of the Church there have 
 been men, who have freely chosen, both in public 
 and in private, a state of humiliation and suffering, 
 and the latter ages have furnished us unrivalled 
 examples of extreme austerities. From St. Mary 
 Magdalene, the penitent whom Jesus loved, to St. 
 Joseph Labre, the wonder of our age, the Church 
 numbers an uninterrupted list of such heroes, who 
 willingly gave themselves up to a life of most painful 
 exercises, whether to atone for their own sins, or to 
 make compensation for sins which they knew not. 
 And what are religious orders, but schools of penance 
 in all its varied aspects and most recondite regions ? 
 
 Satisfactory Penance is of Divine institution,^ and 
 therefore cannot cease to exist in the Church. But 
 Canonical Penance is only a human institution, and 
 therefore its fortune is subject to the variations which 
 time, place, and other circumstances demand. To 
 decide when and where and to what extent it should 
 be applied, is the office of the Church, which is the 
 " house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth," ^ 
 which has received as an inheritance the cloak of 
 Christ and His Spirit — that is to say, " His mind." ' 
 
 It is not altogether impossible that the Church 
 
 ' This we advance on the authority of our Lord in St. Matt xii. 41 : 
 "The men of Niuixe shall rise in judgment with this generation, and 
 shall condemn it, l)i;i.'a>ise tlioy did ponaucc at the preaching of Jonas. 
 And behold a greater tliau Jonas here." For examples of public 
 and private penitents, see " The Text Book of Holy Soriptui-e," by Rev. 
 K. Vaughan. Gf. the article " An Italian Lourdes," by D, Bede Camm, 
 O.S.B., 'Tlw Month, January 1895. 
 
 '^ I Tim. iii. 15. s , (^^^j. j. 16. 
 
PENANCE SHOETENED BY THE BISHOPS 119 
 
 should reinforce some one of the ancient canons. But 
 there is, we think, a great deal of truth in the witty 
 observation of Perrone,^ that such as unduly extol 
 the primeval discipline of the Church, and take plea- 
 sure in running down that which now exists, seek 
 by this means to exonerate themselves from the one 
 and the other — from the ancient discipline which no 
 longer exists, and from the new which they despise. 
 
 This, we reckon, is the case with the Prayer- 
 Book of the Church of England, which, while ex- 
 pressing in the Commination Service a yearning 
 for the ancient penitential discipline, in the 13th 
 Article does not recoil from the inconsiderate pro- 
 position, that " works " — and consequently works 
 of penance — " done before the grace of Christ and 
 the inspiration of His Spirit, are not pleasant to 
 God ; . . . yea, rather, for that they are not done 
 as God has willed and commanded them to be 
 done, we doubt not but that they have the nature 
 of sin." 
 
 15. Now, examining the practice of the Church 
 in this epoch, we find that, as early as the fourth 
 century, the bishops had the power to shorten, at 
 their discretion, the period of penance, nay, even 
 at times, to allow the penitents to pass straight from 
 the degree of hearers to that of standers, without 
 having to remain any length of time among the 
 kneelers. This was indeed a great concession, for 
 the stage of penance to which the kneelers were 
 
 I Tractatua de Poenit., &c., cap. xv. in fine. 
 
I20 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 submitted was the longest, and sometimes lasted 
 fifteen years/ 
 
 We find this power mentioned as a matter of fact in 
 the I ith and 1 2th canons of the Council of Nice (325). 
 It is said that according to the fervour with which a 
 man shall have received the penance enjoined him, it 
 is in the power of the bishop to grant him the Indul- 
 gence, so that he may be released from performing 
 the whole time prescribed to him.^ 
 
 The same had been previously mentioned in the 
 Council of Ancyra,^ which was celebrated about the 
 year 314. " We decree," it is said in the sth Canon, 
 "that the bishops, having considered the conduct of 
 the penitents' lives, be empowered to show mercy, or 
 to lengthen the time of penance. Above all, let their 
 former and subsequent life be examined, and thus 
 lenity will be shown unto them." 
 
 Later, the Council of Lerida (524) gave to the 
 bishops a similar direction ; and St. Basil, in his 
 letter to Amphilochius, had already said that "he 
 who has the power of binding and loosing, can lessen 
 the time of penance to the truly contrite." 
 
 Now, such a power was not, at that time, a new 
 introduction in the Church. It had existed long 
 
 ' See Eusebius (H. E. v. 32), who luings an instance of the complete 
 remiasion of a canonical pcnaiuo which othinviso would have had to 
 he performed before absolution. 
 
 ^ "OffOi Ka.1 tpb^ifi Kal Sd/cputri Kat vnofMOvi] Kai dya$Offiylat^ Ti]V iTicrpo^^v 
 ^pytfj Kal 06 ffx^/J'O.Tt iTTiSelKVWTai^ oOroi ir\tjpthtTavT€s riv xp^*'o^ t6»' u'piff/i^roi' 
 T^s iKpodfftciJi, eUdrus rwv €vx^v Aroti'unjffowrt, fitrti tov i^eivai r*^ ivt(XK6wtft 
 j(al (l>L\av$pujir6Tep6f ti wepl aiiruiv ^ovXtvffaaOai. Can, xii., Mansi, t, ii, p. 673. 
 
 ' 2nd and 5th Cimons. Ibid. pp. 514, 511;. 
 
EEMISSION OF CANONICAL PENANCE 121 
 
 before, for these authorities testify to existing facts. 
 Nay, as, on the one hand, no trace is assigned of the 
 introduction of such a practice, and, on the other, 
 no protestation is known to have ever been made 
 against it, there is no reason why we should not 
 trace it back as far as the time of the Apostles. 
 
 This fact shows not merely that the Church dis- 
 pensed the sinner from going through the ordeal 
 of penances which she herself had appointed — for 
 such an action, as has been noticed, would result 
 in nothing less than a deception and a mockery — 
 but that, out of the plenitude of her power, she 
 curtailed before God and before men, and some- 
 times remitted altogether, a satisfaction which had 
 already been more than sufficiently paid by Christ 
 and His saints. This is evident from the contem- 
 porary writings of the Fathers on this subject, and 
 particularly of St. Cyprian. 
 
 16. In subsequent ages, we find bishops using 
 w^ith apostolic liberty this power of reconciling the 
 penitents to the Church before their term was fulfilled. 
 
 In the time of St. Ambrose, the Church of Milan 
 had so been infected with the Arian heresy, that 
 hardly could a few Christians be found whose faith 
 was untainted, and who openly acknowledged Christ 
 as the true consubstantial Son of God. And so, when 
 the Arians returned to the true faith (about 375), the 
 holy bishop found it necessary to shorten for them 
 their stage of penance, nay, to lay open to them the 
 gates of the Church, otherwise his flock would have 
 
122 THE SECOND PLANK AFTER SHIPWRECK 
 
 been composed exclusively of penitents. Such a con- 
 descension on his part drew upon him the backbitings 
 of slanderous tongues, accusing him of prodigality 
 in the concession of ecclesiastical indulgence. The 
 same thing happened later to St. Gregory Nazianzen, 
 Patriarch of Constantinople.^ 
 
 In Africa, the Church had been laid waste by the 
 schism of the Donatists. When a temporary peace 
 was granted, the African bishops, anxious to provide 
 for the unity of the Church, assembled in national 
 Council at Carthage (401), and drew up letters 
 to Pope Anastasius and to the other bishops of Italy, 
 regarding the Indulgence to be given to those of the 
 Donatists who came back to the Church. The pur- 
 port of the letter was, that if it appeared seemly to 
 the bishops, they should, for the reason given above, 
 receive them without prejudice to the dignity and 
 to the exercise of the orders which they possessed 
 before their readmission. And St. Augustine teUs us 
 that these intentions were put in execution.^ 
 
 Indeed, the very act of entering again the Catholic 
 Church, the self-imposed humiliation of acknowledg- 
 ing error, the joy of the saints on earth, and 
 the rejoicings of angels in heaven, were sufficient 
 motives for the pastors of the Church to supersede 
 the long course of penitential exorcises, and to 
 supply them by the never failing satisfactions of 
 Christ and of His saints. 
 
 ' St. Anilinwo, de Pa>iiit., 1. ii. c. 7, 8. (y. Bjironiu.'^, .\..p. 375, n. 25, t, iv. 
 '^ Contra Crcsconiuiu, 1. ii. 0. 11 and 12. Cf. Baronius, a.d. 401, n. 
 14, t. V. 
 
EEMISSION OF CANONICAL PENANCE 123 
 
 Another motive for granting this relaxation to peni- 
 tents was the approach of a persecution. It was but 
 meet that they should then be in communion with the 
 Church and fortified by the prayers of the faithful. 
 " Not to those that are infirm," says St. Cyprian, "but 
 to the healthy, the peace of reconciliation is neces- 
 sary ; not to the dying, but to the living it must 
 be extended, in order that those whom we incite 
 to battle be not left without arms, but be fortified 
 by the Body and Blood of Christ. For, since the 
 object of the Holy Eucharist is to give strength to 
 those that receive it, they must not be deprived of 
 its support whom we would guard against the 
 enemy." ^ 
 
 So also when a penitent was in danger of death, 
 the penance was remitted him, but only on condition 
 that he departed this life. If he recovered, he must 
 submit to the penitential canons according to the 
 priest's direction. ' ' If any one," says the IVth Council 
 of Carthage, " after having, by the testimony of 
 others, implored forgiveness, be in imminent danger 
 of death, let him be reconciled by the imposition of 
 hands and receive the Eucharist. If he survive, let 
 him be informed that his petition has been complied 
 with, and then be subject to the appointed rules of 
 penance, so long as it shall seem good to the priest 
 who prescribed the penance." ^ 
 
 17. It was necessary to dwell at some length on 
 this ancient practice of canonical penances, because 
 ' Bp. Ivii. ' Can. 76, Manai, t. iii. p. 957. 
 
124 THE SECOND PLANK AFTEE SHIPWRECK 
 
 it is to this institution that we must appeal, if we 
 wish to understand rightly the nature and the extent 
 of an Indulgence. The nature — for an Indulgence is 
 but a substitution for this canonical penance, both 
 in the sight of the Church and in the sight of God. 
 The extent — for if we speak of an Indulgence of forty 
 days, of seven, ten, or twenty years, it is only with 
 reference to the ancient penances of forty days, of 
 seven, ten, or twenty years. 
 
 An Indulgence of one year is not, therefore, the 
 shortening, by one year, of the penalty in Purgatory, 
 as many imagine it to be ; but it is truly a substitu- 
 tion for one year of the ancient canonical penances ; 
 and as the canonical penances were a substitution for 
 so much penalty to be inflicted by God, either in this 
 life or in the next, so one year's Indulgence dis- 
 charges a man from a corresponding penalty which 
 God might inflict upon him in this world or in the 
 next. 
 
 But God alone knows what this penalty should be, 
 because He alone is capable of perfectly gauging the 
 depth of the malice of sin, and measuring the debt 
 proportionate to the ofience. No man, therefore, can 
 know with precision to what an abridgment of his 
 temporal penalty corresponds the Indulgence he has 
 gained. Our reckoning on this matter can only 
 have a relative value, not an absolute exactness. 
 That is to say — if one hundred days' Indulgence 
 is capable of cancelling so much of our debt, two 
 hundred days will cancel twice as much ; but what 
 
CANONICAL PENANCES AND INDULGENCES 125 
 
 is the first quantity is not known, except to the 
 all-seeing God. 
 
 But we have yet to see, in the history of the 
 Church, clearer and more convincing instances, in 
 favour of the tradition of Indulgences. The history 
 of the " Lapsed," while it will illustrate our subject, 
 will be a link between the apostolic times which we 
 have examined, and that glorious epoch when peace 
 was restored to the Church. 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE LAPSED 
 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of 
 Christ."— Gx-L. vi. i. 
 
 FROM THE SECOND TO THE FOURTH CENTDRY 
 
 Chriat and tlie pagan Divinities — The origin of Idolatry — Its maHce 
 — Its extension in the first centuries of the Ch\irch — The book 
 " Octavius " of Minucius FeUx — Idolatry and the times of Persecu- 
 tion — Snares laid for the Christians — The persecution of Decius — 
 The defections — Different kinds of Lapsed — Conditions for re- 
 admission — The "Libellus Martyrum" — It was an Indulgence 
 strictly so called — St. Cyprian, Novatian, and Felicissimus — St. 
 
 , Cyprian's book "De Lapsis" — SS. Marcellus and Eusebius — Charity 
 of the Christians for the dead. 
 
 I. The principal object of our Blessed Saviour's 
 coming into this world, was the restoration of His 
 Divine Father's kingdom. This kingdom is a mon- 
 archy, and indeed an absolute monarchy. 
 
 The evil one had sown dissension in this kingdom. 
 He had divided it, and set up a host of petty princes 
 instead of the one mighty King. But this was a 
 work of treachery and of lies, for of him it is written 
 that " he was a murderer from the beoiiming, and 
 he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in 
 him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his 
 own, for he is a linr, and the father thereof." ' 
 
 ' John viii. 44. 
 136 
 
CHEIST AND THE PAGAN DIVINITIES 127 
 
 But " for this was Christ born, and for this came He 
 into the world, that He should give testimony to the 
 truth." ' And the truth was life eternal, and " this 
 is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." ^ 
 And so the Church, founded by Christ in order to 
 continue that work which He had begun on earth, 
 had to assert and defend the existence of one only 
 true God against the hundreds of gods and goddesses, 
 with whom pagan superstition had peopled Olympus. 
 
 It was not so much by an open and bold strife 
 against her enemies, that the Church asserted her 
 mission, as by insinuating herself gently into the 
 more refined and logical sentiments of the people, 
 and stealing imperceptibly upon their higher and 
 more sober affections. For, the existence of one only 
 Supreme God is not a dogma of faith only, but it is 
 also imperiously demanded by reason ; and the heart 
 of man was not made to be divided into thousands 
 of different and often unlawful afieetions. 
 
 Thus, then, the Church, taking for her motto those 
 words of Isaias the Prophet, " Eeturn, ye transgres- 
 sors, to the heart," ' taught men that they could be 
 twice themselves, if only they acknowledged the ex- 
 istence of one only Supreme Being, the Kuler above 
 all. Thus did St. Paul insinuate the truth of the 
 Christian religion and the existence of one only God, 
 in the midst of the refined Areopagites, by appealing 
 to the better sentiments of their hearts, of which 
 
 ' John xviii. 37. * ^ John xvii. 4. ^ Isa. xlvi. 8. 
 
128 THE LAPSED 
 
 that altar, which they had dedicated to the Unknown 
 Grod, was a striking expression.^ 
 
 2. It was not, however, that idolatry had struck but 
 small roots and so could easily be defeated. Idolatry 
 was of long standing. It was almost as ancient as the 
 world. Writers are at variance whether it already 
 existed before the Deluge ; but one thing is cer- 
 tain, and this is, that after the confusion of tongues 
 and the dispersion of families, men gradually forgot 
 the teachings of their ancestors, and fell, generally 
 speaking, into a state of gross ignorance and savage 
 barbarity. 
 
 Yet, idolatry never became altogether universal. 
 " The nations," says St. Augustine, " have never 
 fallen into the worship of false gods to such an 
 extent, as to lose the belief in the existence of one 
 only God, by whom every natural thing has been 
 formed."^ Otherwise, how could St. Paul have called 
 men " inexcusable because that, when they knew 
 God, they have not glorified Him as God ? " ^ 
 
 Idolatry sprung from ignorance. ]\Ien witnessed 
 life and motion in the different parts of the world. 
 They saw the regular succession of days and nights, 
 of seasons and years, the budding forth at stated 
 times of shrubs and plants, the running of waters, 
 the motion of planets. Of these phenomena they 
 ignored the cause ; and so they imagined the whole 
 
 ' Acta xvii. 23. 
 
 * " Gontes non usiiue adeo ad falsos de03 sunt delapsas, ut opinionem 
 amitterent unius veri Dei, ex quo omnis nualiscuraque natura." — 
 C. Fiuist. ^^an. c. 20, n. iq. ^ Rom. i. 20, 21. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF IDOLATEY 129 
 
 world to be peopled with ruling gods and protecting 
 goddesses, issued by birth from the Supreme Being, 
 or related to Him by kindred or friendship. 
 
 And thus the different parts of the world were ruled 
 by genii ; the woods were presided over by fauns, 
 the fountains by naiads ; houses were protected by 
 the Penates ; banquets took place under the auspices 
 of Bacchus surrounded by satyrs, whilst in the starry 
 host of heaven were personified a multitude of deities 
 typical alike of vice and virtue, of truth and untruth, 
 of honesty and injustice. 
 
 Another cause of idolatry, perhaps the primary 
 cause, was the worship which men were wont to give to 
 their dead friends or relatives. " For a father," says 
 the Book of Wisdom,^ " being afflicted with bitter 
 grief, made to himself the image of his son who was 
 quickly taken away ; and him, who then had died as 
 a man, he began now to worship as a god, and ap- 
 pointed him rites and sacrifices among his servants. 
 Then in process of time, wicked custom prevailing, 
 this error was kept as a law, and statues were wor- 
 shipped by the commandment of tyrants. And to 
 the worshipping of these, the singular diligence also of 
 the artificer helped to set forward the ignorant. For 
 he, -being willing to please him that employed him, 
 laboured with all his art to make the resemblance in 
 the best manner. And the multitude of men, carried 
 away by the beauty of the work, took him now for a 
 cod, that but a little before was honoured as a man." 
 
 ^ Chap. xiv. 15-20. 
 
130 THE LAPSED 
 
 From the worship of those who had once dwelt 
 on this earth, men passed on to the worship of 
 imaginary deities who had no existence outside their 
 mind. The anxiety of countenancing, by a supreme 
 sanction, even their vilest desires, made them invent 
 and create a host of gods and goddesses, who, by 
 personifying the passions of the human heart, justified 
 any sinful deed, and cleared from the imputation of 
 guilt even the most abominable crimes. And thus 
 mythology was formed into a regular system, elaborate 
 in its constitution, but meeting every imaginaljle case 
 of right and wrong. 
 
 The growth of civilisation put no check to the 
 progress of mythology ; on the contrary, it increased 
 it greatly. For, to these empty divinities solemn 
 festivals, both of a religious and civil character, were 
 instituted. There was no need of any law to en- 
 force the observance of them ; their character had 
 enough attraction for the human heart and for 
 human passions. And in this, they were difi"erent 
 from the feasts of the Jews, which were of a more 
 serious nature, and had about them an aspect of 
 austerity and constraint. In his own days, Tacitus 
 expressed a proud disesteem for the festivals of the 
 Jews, because less joyful than those of the Pagans.^ 
 
 3. St. Thomas, speaking on the subject of idolatry,* 
 passes in review the different ways in which the 
 i'agans attributed divine worship to false deities. 
 
 1 Hist. 1. V. c. 5. 
 
 '^ Sum. Tliool. II. II. qurtst. 74, a. i. 
 
THE MALICE OF IDOLATEY 131 
 
 Sometimes, in their mind, this honour was paid to 
 the very matter out of which the idol had been made, 
 wood, stone, and the like. And so, they mistook the 
 destination of an image, which is that it should repre- 
 sent the person of whom it is an image, and that it 
 should convey to that person any honour or any wor- 
 ship which may be given to it. But oftener, the inten- 
 tion of the Pagans was to worship some being which 
 was represented by the image. This being might be 
 a man who had made himself conspicuous in civil or 
 military achievements, Hercules or Romulus, j^neas 
 or Numa Pompilius. And as these were mere crea- 
 tures, this worship was nothing short of idolatry. 
 Not unfrequently, the worship was directed to evil 
 spirits dwelling in those statues of which they had 
 taken possession, and out of which they uttered their 
 answers or expressed their will'; while some among 
 the Pagans meant thereby to honour God, but a god 
 after their own fashion, a god whom they imagined 
 to be the soul of the world, giving life and motion 
 to all, a part of which must be included in the 
 statue before them. 
 
 But all these errors had one common origin — the 
 light-mindedness and vanity of men. "All men are 
 vain," says the Book of Wisdom, ^ " in whom there is 
 not the knowledge of God, and who, by these good 
 things that are seen, could not understand Him that 
 is, neither by attending to the work have acknow- 
 ledged who was the workman. But have imagined 
 ^ Chap. xiii. 1-5. 
 
132 THE LAPSED 
 
 either the fire or the wind, or the swift air, or the 
 circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun 
 and moon, to be the gods that rule the world. With 
 whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them 
 to be gods, let them know how much the Lord of 
 them is more beautiful than they : for the fixst 
 author of beauty made all those things. Or if they 
 admired their power and their effects, let them under- 
 stand by them that He that made them is mightier 
 than they : for by the greatness of the beauty and 
 of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so 
 as to be known thereby." 
 
 4. At the time when our Blessed Saviour came 
 into this world, and in the subsequent three cen- 
 turies, civilisation was in its apogee, and so also was 
 idolatry. It had filtered itself into the manners and 
 usages of the people. It had become an essential 
 part of civil and military professions. It was the 
 promoter and supporter of fine arts. It was the 
 sole inspiration of the literature of the day. It had 
 become part of the language. A man swore by 
 Jupiter and protested by Bacchus. The force of 
 these proverbial and exclamatory expressions, which 
 now-a-days are but unmeaning forms, was then 
 connected with a firm belief in Pagan divinities. 
 TertuUian, in his book de Idololatria, describes 
 emphatically the appalling proportions which the 
 superstitious worship of false gods had taken in his 
 time. 
 
 Whilst the Church was left in peace by the 
 
THE EXTENSION OF IDOLATEY 133 
 
 Emperors of Eome, it was relatively easy for the 
 Christians to abstain from idolatrous worship. There 
 was a free intercourse between them and the Pagans, 
 and often such friendly relations, that the Fathers of 
 the Church assumed the task of moderating them, lest 
 the Christians should suffer in their faith and in the 
 practice of their religion by too much contact with 
 Pagans. TertuUian in his book ad TJxorem, which 
 he composed whilst still a Catholic, and which may 
 be said to be his testament to his wife, counsels her, 
 should he die first, not to marry again ; and if she 
 will marry, not to take a heathen for her husband ; 
 otherwise he will stand in her way, and prevent 
 her, by his insinuations, from practising her religion. 
 
 Yet, we cannot help observing that this free inter- 
 course between Christians and Pagans was the means 
 destined by God and prepared by Him to enlighten 
 the Gentiles, and dissipate in their minds those dark 
 prejudices which the enemies of the Christian name 
 were eager to disseminate and foster against the 
 Church of Christ and her members, 
 
 5. Among the books which the Fathers of the 
 Church of that time have left us, there is perhaps 
 none which illustrates better the nature of these 
 relations, together with the impious practices of 
 paganism and the absurd calumnies spread about 
 against the Christians, than that written by Minucius 
 Felix and bearing the title Octavius. 
 
 This celebrated jurisconsult had left the Pagan 
 worship and embraced the Christian religion. He 
 
134 THE LAPSED 
 
 had two friends, Cecilius Natalis and Januarius 
 Octavius. Cecilius dwelt with him in the same house 
 in Eome, but was a Pagan ; and, although endowed 
 with an upright heart and a mind accessible to 
 truth, yet he had the greatest horror for the Chris- 
 tian religion and her practices. Octavius, on the 
 contrary, was a fervent Christian. The office he 
 held as a lawyer had obliged him to leave Rome ; 
 but one year, during the autumn holidays, he came 
 and spent some time with his friend in the capital 
 of the empire. 
 
 One morning they proposed to start off to Ostia, 
 and there enjoy the country and sea-bathing. Whilst 
 walking together, they came to a statue of Serapis, 
 and Cecilius gave it a kiss as a sign of homage. 
 Octavius was offended at this act, and, turning to 
 Minucius, ironically rebuked him for having a friend 
 who, even in the light of day, could not help 
 stumbling against a stone. This cutting remark 
 pierced Cecilius to the quick ; and he bitterly com- 
 plained of the words of insult addressed to him, espe- 
 cially, he added, as he could far better defend his 
 religion than Octavius could his own. 
 
 The incident naturally gave rise to a hot discus- 
 sion between the two friends, and ]Minucius offered 
 to act as arbiter. Cecilius, in a resentins tone, 
 repeated one 1)}- one all the accusations which 
 were then commonly formulated against the Chris- 
 tians : the mysterious signs, the adoration of an ass's 
 head, the killing and eating of a child, to say nothing 
 
THE BOOK "OCTAVIUS " 135 
 
 of the more monstrous crimes which decency forbids 
 even to mention.^ Then, he added, the Christians 
 have no God whom they may show, no temple, no 
 image ; they adore the vague phantom of an all- 
 knowing and seeing God, and they sacrifice the pre- 
 sent, which is certain, for the delusion of imaginary 
 future goods which they expect at the hands of this 
 shadow of their God. These imputation* forcibly 
 remind one of the accusations which it was, of late, 
 the fashion to direct against the practices of the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 However, it was no difficult task for Octavius to re- 
 fute these accusations, and to show how the hundreds 
 of gods forged on the anvil of mythology, are in open 
 contradiction with the unity which both science and 
 nature — to say nothing of revelation — peremptorily 
 proclaim concerning the Supreme Being. Then he 
 examined the origin of idolatry, and recognised the 
 presence of devils in the great host of Pagan gods, 
 since they are bound to obey the voice of Christians 
 when they are bidden to depart in the name of the 
 one only God. 
 
 So well did Octavius speak, that Cecilius confessed 
 himself overpowered by the soundness of his reason- 
 ing, and he, too, embraced the Christian religion. 
 The matter of this conversation was by Minucius 
 committed to writing, and forms the substance of the 
 book Octavius which we have mentioned above. 
 
 > Cf. Morini, O.S.M., Origini del Culto alia Addolorata. Kome, 1893, 
 p. 32. 
 
136 THE LAPSED 
 
 6. Such were, in time of peace, the relations which 
 existed between the Christians and the heathens. 
 But this friendly intercourse grew cold, if it did not 
 altogether cease to exist, in the times of persecutions. 
 Indeed, it is not easy to conceive rightly what was 
 then the condition of Christians with reference to 
 Pagans and to the worship of idols. The followers 
 of Christ were then universally despised, as an irre- 
 ligious, unreasonable caste of people, fit only to bum 
 on the altar of the gods, in place of that incense 
 which they persistently refused to offer. 
 
 With regard to their being persecuted, much 
 depended on the wording of the imperial edicts. 
 But, even such edicts were susceptible of many and 
 various applications, according as the prefects in the 
 various provinces of the empire were eager or not to 
 exercise severity on the Christians. Thus, while on 
 the one hand, some particular Church might enjoy 
 relative peace, on the other, the Christian world at 
 large being in the meantime exposed to hard trials 
 and unending sufi'erings even in times of peace, there 
 were some provinces in which, owing to the zeal of 
 petty prefects, the Christians were sought and put 
 to death. 
 
 7. Some Emperors, of a more refined cruelty, 
 studied the means of putting the consciences of Chris- 
 tians to the torture, before they had the pleasure of 
 seeing them writhing with sufferings on the rack. 
 
 Julian the Apostate excelled above all others. It 
 was an old custom to adore not only the Emperors, 
 
SNAKES FOR THE CHEISTIANS 137 
 
 but also their images, and this adoration was nothing 
 but a civil honour, with no reference to religion. 
 These images were ordinarily accompanied with 
 trophies, captives or other similar indiiFerent figures. 
 But Julian added to his own images some idols, 
 in order that ordinary honour might not be given 
 them without idolatry. There was Jupiter in the act 
 of coming forth from heaven and presenting him 
 with the crown and purple ; Mars and Mercury, who 
 looked at him with complacency, as if to give testi- 
 mony to his valour and to his eloquence. 
 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen, Theodoret, and Sozomenus 
 tell us of another stratagem used by the renegade 
 Emperor to detect Christians and put their faith 
 to the test. 
 
 It was the custom that, on some occasions, the 
 Emperor, sitting on an elevated throne, should dis- 
 tribute largesses to his troops, giving them golden 
 ■coins according to their rank and merit. Julian 
 added an extraordinary ceremony. He had an 
 altar placed near him on which were burning coals, 
 .and ordered that each soldier should put incense 
 thereon before receiving his gold. Those who were 
 warned escaped the snare by feigning an illness; 
 others, through fear or love of money, yielded to the 
 temptation : the greater part did not notice the 
 artifice. 
 
 It once happened that several of these were sitting 
 at meat together. Being about to drink, they in- 
 voked the name of Jesus Christ, as they were wont to 
 
138 THE LAPSED 
 
 do, by lifting their eyes to heaven and making on the 
 cup the sign of the cross. One of their companions 
 expressed astonishment at this. " What," said he, 
 " you have renounced Jesus Christ, and now do you 
 invoke Him ? " — " What is this thou sayest ? " replied 
 the others ; " what meanest thou ? " — " Because you 
 have put incense on the fire," he replied. On hear- 
 ing this, they tore their hair, uttering great cries ; 
 then they rose from table, and ran in the public 
 square transported with zeal, saying aloud, "We 
 are Christians in our hearts. Let every one hear 
 it, and God in the first place, to whom we live and 
 for whom we will die. We have not deceived Thee, 
 Lord Jesus, we have not renounced the blessed 
 confession ; if the hand has failed, the heart did 
 not follow ; the Emperor deceived us ; we renounce 
 impiety ; we will expiate it with our blood." 
 
 Then they ran to the palace, and flinging at the 
 Emperor's feet the gold they had received, they ex- 
 claimed, " Thou hast not made us a present ; thou 
 hast condemned us to death ; spare us ; immolate us 
 to Jesus Christ ; throw us into the fire ; cut off our 
 guilty hands, and give to others thy accursed gold." 
 
 The Emperor became so angry at their boldness, 
 that in the first heat of passion he commanded them 
 to have their heads cut off. They were taken out- 
 side the town, and the people followed them, admir- 
 ing their courage. When they had arrived at the 
 place of martyrdom, the eldest of them entreated the 
 executioner to begin l)y the youngest, lest the tor- 
 
THE PEESECUTION OF DECIUS 139 
 
 ments of the others might discourage him. This 
 young man, named Romanus, then knelt down, and 
 the executioner had already taken up his bare sword 
 to strike, when a messenger came on the part of 
 Julian with orders to spare. The perfidious Emperor 
 would not let them obtain the glory of martyrdom. 
 The young soldier was deeply grieved, and said, 
 " Romanus was not worthy to bear the name of a 
 martyr." But the Emperor spared only their lives, 
 for he banished them to the farthest end of the 
 empire, forbidding them to abide in the cities.'' 
 
 We have dwelt at some length on the state of 
 Paganism in the first centuries of the Church, in 
 order that the condition of Christians at that time 
 may be better understood, and that it may the better 
 be seen how great were their temptations, how easy 
 the fall, and what a remedy God had prepared thereto. 
 
 8. In the middle of the third century, a persecution 
 broke out, more savagely fierce than any that had 
 preceded. It had been foreshown by God, as St. 
 Cyprian tells us,^ to a holy man of the Church of 
 Carthage. This man saw in a vision a father of a 
 family sitting between two young men. One was 
 standing on his right side, and was resting his face 
 on his own hand with an expression of deepest sorrow. 
 The other was on the left. He had a net in his 
 hand, and was in the act of gathering therein the 
 people who stood round about. Then a voice was 
 heard which said that the young man on the right 
 
 ' Fleury, Hist. EccL, at the year 360. ^ Ep. xi. 
 
140 THE LAPSED 
 
 was afflicted, because his commandments were not 
 obeyed ; whilst the other rejoiced, because he had 
 power to do harm to men. This was, according to 
 St. Cyprian, a sign of the great relaxation which had 
 crept into the Church, and of the coming storm. 
 
 The edict of persecution was peremptory, and 
 it was put in execution with unusual vehemence. 
 The magistrates had nothing to do but to seek the 
 Christians and to punish them. Threats were ac- 
 companied by the exhibition of every species of in- 
 struments of torture. There were swords, cruel 
 beasts, wheels, red-hot gridirons, racks, nails, burning 
 coals, metal plates fired to white heat. The per- 
 secutors tried their skill at finding new instruments 
 of torture. These were not such, that the patient 
 might briefly be put to death. The tyrant's inten- 
 tion was that they should sufi"er the longest, and 
 encounter death by slow fire. St. Jerome, in his 
 Life of Paulinus,^ gives us some instances of the 
 blind cruelty which was used on the Christians. 
 
 In a word, the horror of the persecution was such, 
 that many believed in the fulfilment of that terrible 
 prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that even the 
 elect, if it were possible, should be induced into 
 deception.'' 
 
 9. We may imagine lietter than describe the state 
 of excitement and anxiety in which this persecution 
 found the Christians. Tliey were anything but pre- 
 pared to meet such a shock. They had enjoyed 
 
 ' In the beginning. '^ Mntt. xxiv. 24. 
 
DEFECTIONS i4r 
 
 many years' peace, and this prolonged rest had been 
 prejudicial to their spiritual welfare. The accumu- 
 lation of riches had caused a considerable diminution 
 of fervour. Then, many had embraced the Christian 
 faith for merely temporal purposes — to please a friend^ 
 to obtain a post, or even from sheer love of novelty. 
 The priests themselves had become worldly, and 
 greater care was taken to furnish the churches with 
 precious lamps, silver censers, and golden chalices, 
 than to ordain fitting ministers of the Gospel. 
 
 When the blast came, many a spiritual edifice fell, 
 for it was built on sand. At Alexandria there was 
 an almost universal apostasy. Those who held public 
 ofiices were driven into it by the fear of losing their 
 posts ; others, impeached by their neighbours, were 
 dragged with chains to the place of execution. Their 
 trembling hands, their pallid faces, excited the raillery 
 of Pagans, who jeered at them, because they saw that 
 they were equally afraid to sacrifice to the gods and 
 to die for the faith. Others came boldly to the altars 
 denying that they had ever been Christians, and their 
 example was followed by many. Only a few were 
 constant enough to sufier themselves to be cast into 
 prison ; but even of these the greater number, after 
 a few days, fell into apostasy. 
 
 The number of defections was even greater at 
 Carthage. So many were those who sought to aposta- 
 tise, that, as St. Cyprian, an eye-witness, tells us,^ the 
 magistrates had no time to attend to them all, and 
 ^ Lib. de Lapsis. 
 
142 THE LAPSED 
 
 "were obliged, at the request of the apostates, to pro- 
 tract their sittings in the public square, even after the 
 night had set in. Those who had fallen perverted 
 the others. Some brought with them their children 
 in their own arms, that they might lose the grace of 
 baptism. The rich were weaker, for the fear they 
 had of losing their goods. ^ 
 
 lo. Those who went back to idolatry of their own 
 free will were simply called " Apostates ; " the others 
 were called " Lapsed," or fallen. 
 
 And there were many kinds of lapsed. Some had 
 offered incense to idols (thurijicati), or had defiled 
 themselves either by eating of the flesh of the vic- 
 tims, or by personally making a sacrifice to false 
 gods (sacrificati). 
 
 Others had not gone so far ; yet, to escape death, 
 they had made use of means unworthy of Christians. 
 They had presented to the judge a " IibeUus," or 
 memorial ; hence their name, " Libellatici." In this 
 memorial they declared that they were not Chris- 
 tians, that they were ready to off"er incense, and to 
 partake of the flesh of the victims, the moment they 
 would be called upon to do so. 
 
 Others had employed some Pagan friend or servant 
 to do that which their consciences would not allow 
 them to do personally, as if what is done through 
 the agency of others be not imputable to the chief 
 agent. Others, again, by a previous bribe, had im- 
 plored of the magistrates not to be called upon to 
 
 ' Flcury, Hist. Ecol., an. 259. 
 
DIFFERENT KINDS OF LAPSED 143 
 
 put their weak faith to the test, and had received 
 in return a schedule, attesting that they had actually 
 complied with the orders of the Emperors. 
 
 Some, among the lapsed, had taken an active part in 
 the superstitions of the Pagans. Such were those who 
 wore the crown used by the sacrificers ; those who 
 filled the office of " Flamen " or pagan priest, whose 
 duty it was to exhibit to the people the games and 
 spectacles which were given in honour of the gods, 
 and which invariably were sullied by superstitious 
 rites ; those who acted on the stage or drove the 
 chariots in the public spectacles ; those who sold 
 victims or incense for the sacrifices, who co-operated 
 in the making of false divinities, who erected altars 
 or temples to their names. ^ 
 
 We must pity, rather than hastily censure the 
 weakness of those of our forefathers who gave way 
 in the combat. Martyrdom appears surrounded with 
 a wonderful halo of glory when looked at from a 
 distance, and no doubt it is one of the noblest privi- 
 leges to which God may destine a Christian. But 
 much of this prestige vanishes away in presence of 
 the dreary reality — the prison, the rack, the death by 
 slow fire. 
 
 It is the property of a rash and inconsiderate mind, 
 to wish actually for the trials to which the martyrs 
 were subjected, or to boast of fidelity in temptation. 
 The Prophet Jeremias himself recognised his weak- 
 ness, when he said, " The mercies of the Lord that 
 
 1 See Devoti, Instit. Canonicse, 1. iv. tit. iii. 
 
144 THE LAPSED 
 
 we are not consumed, because His commiserations 
 have not failed." ' And St. Paul, with Isaias : " Un- 
 less the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we 
 had been made as Sodom, and we had been like 
 unto Gomorrha." ^ 
 
 "Who can tell the mental anguish, the remorses of 
 conscience, the inward struggles which these weak 
 Christians experienced under the threats by which 
 they were terrified ? One of these memorials, found 
 among the tea thousand papyri discovered at El- 
 Fayoum, gives us sufficient indications to judge of the 
 depression of mind of those fallen Christians.^ 
 
 1 1 . The discipline practised with regard to apos- 
 tates in general was most rigorous. They were cast 
 out of the Church. In some places they were not 
 admitted to reconciliation and absolution, except 
 in case of death. But, as a general rule, the con- 
 dition for readmission was that the apostate should 
 perform the estaljlished canonical penances. These 
 were lengthened or shortened by the Bishop, in pro- 
 portion to the sinner's guilt and the fervour of his 
 repentance. We have already seen, at the end of the 
 last chapter, what to think of this relaxation of the 
 canonical penance with reference to Indulgences. 
 
 12. By little and little, with the sanction of the 
 Church, a custom was introduced into the Christian 
 community. There were never wanting in the Church 
 
 ' Lam. iii. 22. ^ Rom. ix. :g ; 1/. Isa. i. 9. 
 
 ^ ScH' tlie " IVIerin," 8tli Ain-il 1804. " Faiblesse ot Ropoutir," par 
 Alfi'eil ill' Bi'zaiufuel. 
 
THE " LIBELLUS MARTYRUM " 145 
 
 generous souls who, while others were falling away 
 from their sacred engagements, adhered steadfastly to 
 Christ, even "unto tribulation, unto distress, unto 
 famine, unto nakedness, unto danger, unto the 
 sword." ^ They had already confessed their Master 
 before the judge, they continued to confess Him in 
 prisons, they were about to confess Him even unto 
 death. They were dear to Him, therefore, rich in 
 merits, even more than was necessary for them to 
 atone for their own personal debts. Might they 
 not intercede for their brethren, and interpose the 
 surplus of their merits between them and Grod, and 
 thus obtain for them a more speedy reconciliation 
 with the Church ? Charity has ever been ingenious : 
 in this case it worked prodigies. 
 
 So, when the excommunicated lapsed repaired to 
 the prisons, and falling on their knees before the 
 martyrs, suppliantly entreated these friends of God to 
 open for them, by their intercession, the gates of the 
 kingdom of heaven, by making over to them a part 
 of their sufferings, the martyrs, grand in their gene- 
 rosity, gladly became the mediators of their fallen 
 brethren, and delivered to them a memorial, known 
 under the name of " Lihellus martyrum," to be pre- 
 sented to the Bishop and examined by him, that, if 
 he deemed it expedient, the lapsed might again be 
 received into the bosom of the Church. 
 
 Thus the martyrs became sureties for the peni- 
 tents ; nay, they actually offered their own merits 
 
 1 Eom. viii. 35. 
 
146 THE LAPSED 
 
 towards tlie payment of their debts ; and the Church 
 would accept this substitution in consideration of 
 the better and more illustrious portion of her flock; 
 and, "filling up those things that are wanting of the 
 sufferings of Christ in the flesh of her children for 
 His body, which is herself," ^ she would dispense 
 with the penance, and welcome in a fond embrace 
 the prodigals to her bosom. 
 
 Indeed, this custom of having recourse to the 
 martyrs' intercession had long been in use in the 
 Church, though it was never so widely spread as in 
 the time of which we are speaking. Tertullian's words 
 on the subject are remarkable : " Which peace," says 
 he, " some not having in the Church, are accustomed 
 to beg from the martyrs in prison; and therefore you 
 should possess and cherish and preserve it in you, 
 that so ye may perhaps be able to grant it to 
 others." ^ It is true that, when a Montanist, he re- 
 proved this custom ; but he became thereby a more 
 authentic witness of the truth we are stating, and 
 this, for us, is sufficient. 
 
 Doubtless, St. Irenseus also was alluding to this 
 practice when he wrote : " The holy martyrs forbore 
 showing any sign of haughtiness with regard to the 
 apostates. On the contrary, they willingly communi- 
 cated to those who were in need a poi'tioi of the 
 goods which they abunda » tly jwssessed. They showed 
 them a heart full of sympathy and tenderness, like 
 that of a mother, and shed for them many tears 
 
 1 Col. i. 24. 2 x,\ :\iartYros, c. i. 
 
AN INDULGENGE STRICTLY SO GALLED 147 
 
 before God their Father. They were asking for life, 
 and God granted it to them, and they shared it with 
 their neighbour, and in all things they came out 
 victorious in the sight of God." ^ 
 
 13. This writing or memorial which the martyr 
 made over to the penitents was also called his 
 " desiderium" or wish; his petition, his legacy. It 
 was considered as his testament, and respected as 
 such.^ 
 
 Not that the Bishop would always grant at 
 once the petition expressed therein ; but an account 
 was taken of the length of the penance to be per- 
 formed, as also of the part the sinner had already 
 gone through. All this being duly considered, the 
 martyrs' satisfactions were applied to the penitent, 
 in virtue of, and together with, the infinite Satis- 
 factions of Jesus Christ ; he was absolved from his 
 penance and restored to the communion of the 
 Church, in a word, the Indulgence was granted. 
 
 And this Indulgence the Bishops would grant not 
 in their tribunal only, in the external " forum," but 
 in the tribunal of God, in the internal "forum," 
 remitting in truth and in very deed, that which they 
 proclaimed by word of mouth. For, this concession 
 was called the giving of peace to the fallen, " pacem 
 dare lapsis;" and, unless true peace had corre- 
 sponded to their words, they would indeed have 
 incurred the reprehension uttered by God through 
 
 1 See Euseb., Hist. Eccl., 1. v. c. ii. 
 ? See St. Cyprian's Epist. ivjii. 
 
148 THE LAPSED 
 
 the mouth of Jeremias : " And they healed the breach 
 of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying : 
 Peace, peace, and there was no peace." ^ 
 
 That the punishment due in the sight of God was 
 remitted, as well as the canonical punishment, was 
 the sense of the Fathers of the Church at that time. 
 Thus St. Cyprian hopes confidently that the lapsed, 
 when about to die, though they have not yet fulfilled 
 the whole of their penance, in virtue of the martyrs' 
 intercession, "the hand having been laid upon them 
 unto penance, will soon come to God with peace, 
 which the martyrs," says he, " in their letters to us, 
 have desired should he given them." ^ 
 
 Now, when we compare this short description of 
 the "memorials of the martyrs" with what we have 
 explained in the first and second chapters of this 
 book concerning the genuine idea of an Indulgence, 
 what can we conclude but that such a transfer, when 
 endorsed by the Bishop, was a true, real Indul- 
 gence ? For, we have the remission of a temporal 
 penance due for sins previously committed, which 
 remission was solemnly granted and officially recog- 
 nised by those, in the Church, to whom the Key? 
 of the kingdom of heaven had been intrusted ; and 
 this remission was made in virtue and by the appli- 
 cation of the superabundant merits of Christ and of 
 His saints. 
 
 14. What particularly confirms this identification 
 of the " Uhdlus martijrum " with the granting of 
 
 • Chap. vi. 14. » Ep. xiii. 
 
ST. CYPEIAN 149 
 
 an Indulgence is the doctrine which the great St. 
 Cyprian has left on this subject in his different 
 writings. 
 
 We have seen how many defections had taken 
 place at Carthage. St. Cyprian was the Bishop of 
 that city, and, zealous as he was for the integrity 
 and purity of Christian discipline, he had to follow 
 a middle course between enervating relaxation and 
 excessive rigour in the readmission of penitent 
 apostates. 
 
 The heretic Novatian, who about that time made 
 an abortive attempt to assume the supreme pontifi- 
 cate in the Church of Eome against the legitimate 
 Pope St. Cornelius (d. 251), maintained that none of 
 the lapsed should be received back into the Church. 
 His plea was that there would be no more martyrs, 
 if so wide a door were opened to receive the re- 
 pentant apostates. St. Cyprian discovered the venom 
 of such a doctrine and laid it bare. "Think not, dear 
 brother," he said, "that the virtue of the brethren 
 will be diminished, or that we shall witness no more 
 martyrdoms, because we open the gate of penance 
 to those who have fallen, or we have offered a hope 
 of peace to the humble penitents. 
 
 " The strength of true believers remains unshaken, 
 and with those who fear and love God with sincerity 
 of heart, a vigorous and healthy wholesomeness will 
 not fail. For although we allow a time of penance, 
 and we give peace to adulterers, yet virginity is not 
 on that account wanting in the Church, neither does 
 
ISO THE LAPSED 
 
 the glorious purpose of continency grow faint through 
 the sins of others. The Church is ever blossoming, 
 crowned as she is with so many virgins ; chastity and 
 purity lose not the tone of their glory ; and though 
 to the adulterer penance and pardon are given, yet 
 the vigour of continency is not weakened." ^ 
 
 But the greatest opposition St. Cyprian had to 
 meet on this matter, came from those who would 
 have the apostates admitted again into the Church, 
 without a sufficient warrant for their worthiness 
 and contrition, and even without their having gone 
 through any penance whatever. Several confessors, 
 among whom one Lucian of Carthage, presumed 
 to give, both in their own name and in that of 
 the martyrs, by whom they said they had been 
 commissioned to do so, letters or memorials, in 
 general terms, available for one or many persons 
 indiscriminately. 
 
 Some went even so far as to traffic on these letters, 
 whilst the inferior clergy arrogated to themselves, 
 without any consent from the Bishop, the right of 
 reconciling to the Church any who presented them- 
 selves provided with such letters. A man notorious 
 for his crimes and rebellion to the Church, Felicis- 
 simus, whom Novatus, a simple priest, had appointed 
 deacon on his own authority, taught publicly that 
 any one should be received into the Church without 
 a previous penance. This was a grievous abuse. 
 
 A price hud l)cen set on St. Cyprian's head, and 
 
 ' Baronius, Ann. Eccl., t. ii. n. 254, n. 105. 
 
ST. CYPRIAN REPROVES ABUSES 151 
 
 the circus and amphitheatre of Carthage were, con- 
 tinually ringing with the shouts of " Cyprian to 
 the lions." The holy man, thinking that his with- 
 drawal might be a means of appeasing the sedition, 
 sought a place of concealment, from which he 
 continued to administer his flock. He wrote to 
 Rome on the matter. The answer he received from 
 the clergy who ruled the Church during the vacancy 
 of the Holy See was to this effect : That the Church 
 must not lose any of her vigour by the injudicious 
 granting of Indulgence, neither should she relax the 
 reins of severity to the detriment of the majesty of the 
 faith. In presence of the defections which were daily 
 becoming more numerous, to grant reconciliation to 
 those who had fallen were of no avail, unless the apos- 
 tates showed signs of sincere and heartfelt penance.^ 
 
 St. Cyprian, having had this answer, wrote from 
 his place of exile several letters to the martyrs and 
 confessors, to the priests and deacons, as also to the 
 faithful people, instructing them what the discipline 
 of the Church should be with regard to apostates, 
 their penance, and their reconciliation. What he 
 particularly insisted upon was the abolition of those 
 blanks given by the martyrs, and which could be made 
 over to any one. " To this you should diligently 
 attend," he writes to the martyrs, " that you designate 
 by name those to whom you wish peace to be given." ^ 
 
 1 Cf. Darras, "A General History of the Catholic Church." New- 
 York. Vol. i. pp. 242, and foU. 
 
 ^ Ep. XV. See also Epp. xii. xiii. xiv. xvi. 
 
152 THE LAPSED 
 
 1 5. But what better illustrates our point, and the 
 similarity between an Indulgence and the absolution 
 then given on the martyrs' recommendation, is the 
 book which St. Cyprian wrote, " De Lapsis," of those 
 that have fallen. It was written in 251, to serve as 
 a guide to the bishops whom he had convoked for the 
 purpose of deliberating on the question, in order that 
 they might proceed with unity of views and concord 
 of action. 
 
 The persecution of Decius was so much the shorter 
 as it had been more violent. This Emperor had been 
 the scourge of God, and the means used by Him to 
 purify the Church ; but he must yield at God's bid- 
 ding. When St. Cyprian wrote, peace had already 
 been restored to the Church. In the exordium of 
 his book, this holy father expresses his joy at this 
 fact, and at the glorious phalanx of martyrs and 
 confessors whom the persecution had produced. At 
 the same time, he gives vent to his sorrow, for the 
 disturbance which had been created in the Church 
 by the arrogance of those that had fallen. 
 
 " Tears are necessary rather than words," says he, 
 " to express the sorrow which makes us weep over 
 the wound of our body, and groan over the loss of 
 so many. Is there any one so hard and cruel who, 
 forgetful of Christian charity, will remain with his 
 eyes tearless at the sight of the loss of so many 
 brethren ? . . . I pity you ! I pity you, brethren ; 
 neither does my wholesomeness and personal health 
 suffice to soften my sorrow, for the shepherd receives 
 
ST. CYPEIAN'S BOOK "DE LAPSIS" 153 
 
 a greater wound when it is inflicted on his flock. . . . 
 The arrows of the destroying enemy have stricken 
 also my members, and the cruel ones have thrust 
 their sword even through my bowels." 
 
 In this sorrowful tone, the holy Bishop goes on 
 bewailing the lack of discipline and fervour which 
 had been the cause why so many Christians had 
 opposed little or no resistance, sacrificing their salva- 
 tion on the altar of the devil, and lighting up their 
 hope and faith on that of death. 
 
 But what made matters worse was that many, 
 encouraged even by priests who had been untrue to 
 their vocation, had the presumption of re-entering 
 into the communion of the Church, without having 
 previously performed a satisfactory penance. " Such 
 as these," continues St. Cyprian, " on coming back 
 from the devil's altar, draw near to the Lord's 
 sanctuary, with their hands as yet sordidly dripping 
 with the incense oflfered to the gods. They have not 
 yet digested the flesh of the victims ofi"ered to the 
 idols, their breath is as yet tainted with the putrid 
 smell of those deadly viands, and already they pre- 
 tend to throw themselves on the body of Christ. . . . 
 
 " Despising the admonitions of Scripture, before 
 they have expiated their crimes, before even they 
 have confessed them, before they have cleansed their 
 conscience with sacrifice and the imposition of the 
 Bishop's hand, before they have appeased the anger 
 of the Lord, they do violence to His Body and Blood, 
 and with their mouth and with their hand they sin 
 
1 54 THE LAPSED 
 
 against the Lord, far more now than when they 
 denied Him." 
 
 St. Cyprian goes on inculcating the practical truth 
 that the absolution granted to them is untimely ; 
 that as it has been granted against the will and 
 disposition of God, it is fruitless and deceitful, nay 
 more, baneful to their souls, and that the inter- 
 cession of the martyrs has no virtue, where true 
 repentance is wanting. 
 
 He then relates wonderful facts which had taken 
 place, both of persons who, notwithstanding their 
 unrepented apostasy, presumed to receive Holy Com- 
 munion, and of others who, on the contrary, were 
 eager to exonerate, through confession, their con- 
 sciences from even simple thoughts of sacrificing to 
 the idols. 
 
 But the main thought which engrosses the holy 
 Bishop's attention, and is the very soul of his book, 
 is the grand fact of the health-giving transfer of 
 satisfactions, from one member unto another in the 
 body of Christ, through the pastor's authority. " The 
 Lord can mercifully pardon him who repents, labours, 
 prays ; He can set down to his account whatever the 
 martyrs have asked and the Bishops (sacerdotes) 
 have done for such persons." 
 
 St. Cyprian concludes his book, by earnestly ex- 
 horting the lapsed to do penance, to confess their sins, 
 and to foster a sincere and efficacious desire of contri- 
 tion and expiation. Moreover, he promises to grant, 
 in due time, to those who will have given sufficient 
 
TRUE REPENTANCE NECESSARY 155 
 
 signs of penance, the absolution of their faults and 
 the boon of reconciliation with the Church.^ 
 
 Who, whilst reading the decree of the Council of 
 Trent, issued in its 25th session on the matter of 
 Indulgences, will fail to acknowledge that the same 
 spirit, which had animated the great Bishop of 
 Carthage in writing his book " De Lapsis," had also 
 guided the fathers of Trent in the publication of 
 their decree ? Both recognise the lawfulness of a 
 transfer of the satisfactory merits of Christ and of 
 His saints, to the spiritually poorer and more desti- 
 tute members of the Church. Both extol in com- 
 mendatory words this bond of Christian unity and 
 this token of brotherly charity. But at the same time 
 they recommend, in the pastors, a judicious dispensa- 
 tion of those spiritual treasures of which they are 
 but the ministers, and, in the faithful, true repent- 
 ance and the state of grace, in order not to vilify 
 by their unworthiness the gifts of G-od, and make 
 themselves more guilty by not valuing, as they 
 should, the merits of Christ and the satisfactions of 
 His saints. 
 
 16. The dissensions which had been roused in the 
 Church, on occasion of the penance which the pastors 
 were to exact from the lapsed, as a condition for 
 their readmission, did not cease with St. Cyprian's 
 death. The great Bishop of Carthage sealed with his 
 blood his unsullied faith in 258. Fifty years later, 
 a lapsed Christian, and one indeed who could claim 
 
 » Cf. Moehler, Patrologie, S. Cyprien. 
 
156 THE LAPSED 
 
 no plea for excuse, for he had denied the faith even 
 before the persecution, uttered seditious cries against 
 the inflexible firmness of the Eoman Pontiff. For 
 Pope St. Marcellus, of whom the " Liber Pontificalis " 
 says that " he established twenty -five titulos or parish 
 churches, as it were so many dioceses for the admini- 
 stration of Baptism and Penance, and for the burial 
 of the martyrs," ^ exacted from those that had fallen, 
 as a condition for reconciliation, the tears of sincere 
 repentance. 
 
 The factious clamours which that renegade uttered 
 against these measures, created in Eome discord, 
 contentions, and murders. Such were the troubles 
 caused in the Christian community, that the Emperor 
 Maxentius was prevailed upon to send the holy 
 Pontiff into exile. 
 
 Pope St. Damasus recorded the fact in the follow- 
 ing inscription which he placed over St. Marcellus's 
 tomb : — 
 
 VERIDICVS RECTOR LAP80S QVIA CRIMINA FLERE 
 PRAEDIXIT MISERIS FVIT OMNIBVS HOSTIS AMARV3 
 HINO FVROR HINC ODIVM SEQVITVR DISCORDIA LITES 
 SEDITIO CAEDES SOLVVNTVR FAEDKRA PACIS 
 CRIMEN OB ALTERIVS CHRISTVM QVI IN PACE NEGAYIT 
 FINIBVS EXPVLSVS PATRIAE EST FERITATE TYRAXNI 
 HAEC BRBVITBR DAMASVS VOLVIT COMPERTA REFERRK 
 MARCELLI VT P0PVLV8 MERITVM COGNOSCERE POSSIT 
 
 " The veracious Ruler, inasmuch as he ordered tlie lapsed to 
 bewail their crimes, became to all these wretched a bitter enemy. 
 
 ' "XXV. lilulosin Romacoustituit quasi diocosis (stc) propter baptis- 
 muiii et pHiiiloutiam vt sepulturas nuirtvrum." — In Mai-cello, See the 
 "Liber Poiililiealis," par I'Abbii Duohosue, passim. 
 
SS. MAECBLLUS AND EUSEBIUS 157 
 
 Hence rage follows ; hence hatred, discord, strife, sedition, 
 murders : the bonds of peace are broken. For another's crime, 
 who denied Christ in time of peace, he was expelled from the 
 bounds of his country by the tyrant's cruelty. These things ascer- 
 tained, Damasus would briefly relate, that the people might know 
 the merit of Marcellus." 
 
 St. Marcellus was succeeded in the Supreme Ponti- 
 ficate by St. Eusebius (310). This Pope had to meet 
 with a similar opposition, on the part of the lapsed, as 
 his predecessor. A certain Heraclius, perhaps the same 
 renegade who had persecuted St. Marcellus, incited 
 the Emperor against the new Pontiff, who also was 
 exiled. Yet his accuser, too, met with the same fate. 
 St. Eusebius was banished on the coast of Sicily, 
 where he ended his mortal life. 
 
 We are likewise indebted to St. Damasus, for a 
 record of this fact, in the inscription which he 
 composed and placed over the tomb of the martyr- 
 pontiff. 
 
 DAMASVS EPISCOPVS FECIT 
 HBEACLIVS VBTVIT LAPSOS PECCATA DOLEKB 
 EVSBBIVS MISBROS DOCVIT SVA CRIMINA FLBRE 
 SOINDITVR IN PARTES POPVLVS GLISCENTE PVEORE 
 SEDITIO OABDES BELLVM DISCOBDIA LITBS 
 BXTBMPLO PARITEE PVLSI FBRITATE TTRANNI 
 INTEGRA CVM RECTOR SERVARET FOBDBRA PACIS 
 PBRTVLIT EXILIVM DOMINO SVB IVDICB LAETVS 
 LITORB TRINACRIO MVNDVM VITAMQVB RBLIQVIT 
 EVSEBIO BPISCOPO BT MABTTEI 
 
 " Damasus, Bishop, wrote. Heraclius forbade the lapsed to be- 
 wail their sins. Eusebius taught these wretched to weep over 
 their crimes. The people are divided into factions. "Whilst the 
 minds were thus incensed with fury, and sedition, murders, war, 
 
iS8 THE LAPSED 
 
 discord, and strifes were witnessed, both were forthwith sent 
 into exile by the cruelty of the tyrant. Yet the Pontiff preserved 
 entire the bonds of peace. He suffered his exile with joy, taking 
 the Lord for his judge, and left the world and this life on the 
 shore of Sicily. To Eusebius, bishop and martyr." i 
 
 Such, then, was the motherly solicitude of the 
 Church towards her fallen children. She wished 
 them to return to her bosom ; she longed for that 
 moment. But they must repent, otherwise she would 
 add to the guilt, by being partaker of their sins. 
 
 17. But her tender care was not confined to this 
 mortal life. She followed her children with anxious 
 eyes even beyond the grave. Of some she had the 
 confident trust that their lot was among the blessed. 
 They had served God with their whole heart ; per- 
 haps they had laid down their lives for the testi- 
 mony of Jesus. ^ Her exiled children could direct to 
 them their devout supplications. 
 
 ATTICE 
 
 DORMI IN PACE 
 
 DE TVA INCOLVMITATE 
 
 SEOVEVS ET PRO NOSTRIS 
 
 FECOATIS PETE SOLLICITVS 
 
 "Atticus, sleep in peace, sure of thine own safety; and pray 
 earnestly for our sins." ^ 
 
 With others she had no more concern. They had 
 disgraced their baptismal yeal ; the}- had turned 
 
 ' See " Rome Souterraine," par Paul Allai-d, 1. iii. chap. v. 2me ed. 
 Paris, 1874. See also Orini Is. " I lapsi e la deportazione in Sicilia del 
 Papa S. Euseliio." Roma, 1886. ^ Apoc. i. 9. 
 
 ' Inscription of the licKinning of the fourth century, found near the 
 ■Church of St. Sabina in Rome. See " Moniteur de Rome," 21 Mai, 1893. 
 
CHAKITY OF CHRISTIANS FOR THE DEAD 159 
 
 deserters of the great Captain, and expired suffocated 
 by tlie incense they had burned to idols, or choked 
 by the meats offered to the gods of the Capitol. 
 
 But there were some who had died bearing on their 
 forehead the seal of redemption. These, she might 
 with reason presume, were not sufficiently freed 
 from the bonds of this world, to be admitted at 
 once to behold a thrice holy God. For these she 
 prayed refreshment, light, and peace; "locum re- 
 frigerii, lucis et pads ut indulgeas deprecamur." -^ 
 She knew full well that, after death, no change can 
 take place in the soul with regard to its essential 
 state, but she was at the same time conscious of 
 the existence of burning flames, in which the " last 
 farthing is to be repaid." ^ 
 
 And so, while their bodies were taken to the 
 grave, the train of her ministers accompanied them 
 with the singing of psalms ; ^ neither would she 
 depart without engraving on the marble slab which 
 closed the loculum the wishful prayer, " Spiritus 
 tuus bene requiescat in Deo," — " May thy spirit rest 
 well in God ! " 
 
 Sometimes it happened that these suffering spirits 
 would, in a vision or a dream, solicit from their 
 friends special helps to be freed from their torments. 
 Then the faithful would redouble their prayers and 
 supplications, hopefully trusting that they would be 
 
 1 Sacram. Gelas. ap. Muratori, Lit. Horn. Vet., t. i. col. 749-760. 
 
 2 Matt. V. 26. 
 
 3 Const. Apost. vi. 17, ed. Pitra, Jur. Eccl. Grsec, t. i. p. 344. 
 
i6o THE LAPSED 
 
 of some avail to assuage their pains. ^ St. Perpetua, 
 whilst awaiting in the prison at Carthage the day 
 of her martyrdom, saw in a vision her brother 
 Dinocrates, a boy of seven years, who had died from 
 a loathsome wound in the face, coming out from a 
 dark place. He looked parched with thirst, and 
 bore on his countenance the marks of great sorrow. 
 There was a well close by, but its margin was 
 higher than the boy. Whatever efforts he made to 
 get at the water were fruitless, and Perpetua could 
 not help him, for an abyss divided them. 
 
 The kind sister was heartily grieved. She under- 
 stood that he was suffering, and though she had 
 already prayed for him, she now ceased not to do 
 so, night and day. At last she was given to see 
 Dinocrates once more. But now he was comely, 
 well-dressed, and refreshed, and a simple scar showed 
 that the wound had been perfectly healed. The 
 well was there, but the rim thereof had been lowered 
 to the boy's waist. And the boy drew water in- 
 cessantly with a golden goblet, and he drank thereof, 
 and the goblet never failed. And when his thirst had 
 been quenched, he went to play in the manner of 
 children with great joy. And Perpetua understood 
 that he had been freed from his pain." 
 
 1 "Fidebam me profecturam labori ejus." — The Pnssion of St. Per- 
 petua, n. vii., edited by J. Armitage Robinaon, Cambridge. 
 
 ' Ibid., n. vii. and viii. Mr. Robinson (p. 29) rojocts the interpre- 
 tation of St. Perpetu:i's vision given by Catholic writers after St. 
 Augustine (De Anima ad Reuatum, 1. i. cap. x.), that the soul of Dino- 
 crates was suU'eiing in I'urgatory for some slighter faults committed 
 in life. The explanation which he gives is that the boy had died 
 
MASS OFFERED FOR THE DEAD i6i 
 
 Yet, the Church had better gifts to offer to the 
 Divine Justice, in compensation for the transgressions 
 of her children, than mere supplications. She had 
 the unbloody sacrifice of the altar — both a com-, 
 memoration and a renewal of the sacrifice of the 
 Cross. It was offered on the day of the deposition, 
 and repeated on stated anniversaries, as Tertullian 
 tells us.^ Some were deprived of this refresh- 
 ment as a punishment for some unworthy actions 
 severely condemned by the Church,^ but the denial 
 of its efficacy was styled a heresy.^ St. Ambrose 
 celebrated it for Valentinian, Theodosius, and his 
 
 unbaptized, and that the quenching of his thirst is to be taken to 
 mean, on his part, the reception of baptism. Much could be said on 
 this universal indulgeiice, but the following suggestions will suffice. 
 The theory that baptism can be given after death is in direct contra- 
 diction — -first, with the nature of a sacrament, which is a means of 
 grace for the wayfarer (viator) only ; second, with the teaching of the 
 Church, borne out by the dictates of reason, with regard to the im- 
 mutability of the soul after death ; third, with Holy Scripture : " If 
 the tree fall to the south or to the north, in what place soever it shall 
 fall, there shall it be " (Eccles. xi. 3). Moreover, there was not, that we 
 know, any open controversy on the existence of Purgatory, or on the 
 fact that baptism could not be conferred after death, before or at the 
 time of St. Augustine, that Mr. Robinson should presume to say of 
 the great doctor of Hippo, that he was driven to this explanation by 
 the exigencies of controversy. But on what ground, shall we ask, does 
 Mr. Robinson categorically assert that the household of St. Perpetua 
 was a pagan one ? What if some one were to uphold that, with the 
 exception of the father, all its members were Christians, or at least 
 catechumens? Lastly, we shall be allowed to observe that the con- 
 firmation which Mr. Robinson draws in favour of his view from the 
 9th Similitude of Hermas (xv. 5) is, to say the least, not cogent, 
 for the passage need not be interpreted of baptism given after death. 
 See Le Nourry, Dissertatio de Vita et Scriptis S. Hermse, art. xix., and 
 the places to which he refers. Migne, Patr. Grsec, t. i. 
 
 1 De Corona MOitis, c. iii. 
 
 2 St. Cypr. Ep. 66. = St. Epiph. Heeres. 75. 
 
 L 
 
ii62 THE LAPSED 
 
 brother Satyrus, whilst St. Augustine wrote a book, 
 De cur a pro mortuis, " on the care for the de- 
 parted," in which he bore witness to the antiquity 
 and Christianity of this custom. " Some," says St. 
 Ambrose, " celebrate this sacrifice on the third and 
 on the thirtieth day ; others on the fourth and 
 fortieth."' 
 
 But charity is ingenious. Whilst the priests were 
 offering the Divine Sacrifice for the repose of the 
 departed — sacrificium pro dormitione — the faithful 
 thought they could do some work of charity, and 
 thereby benefit their dear friends detained in the 
 cleansing prison. Some of them were blessed with 
 the abundance of the goods of this world, and 
 there were not wanting within the bosom of the 
 Church numbers of poor and infirm. These they 
 would collect in a love-feast, ayairrj^ and, in memory 
 of the deceased, feed and refresh in the name of 
 Christ. Perhaps the kind Judge, who promised 
 that a cup of cold water given in His name would 
 not be without a reward,^ would cause the earthly 
 rejoicing of the poor to be re-echoed below by a 
 proportionate assuagement in the sufferings of the 
 brethren. Thus, the illustrious Senator Pammachius 
 celebrated the funeral of Paulina, the daughter of St. 
 Paula.' 
 
 Or else, they would set free some of their slaves, 
 thus proclaiming by deed that " freedom wherewith 
 
 ' De Obitii Thcodosii, n. iii. 2 j^att. x. 42. 
 
 ' St. Paulinus, Ep. xiii. 11. 
 
INDULGENCES FOE THE DEAD 163 
 
 Christ has made us free," ^ and urging the great 
 Judge to set their friends at liberty and admit them 
 to the inheritance of the children of the kingdom. 
 This they confidently practised as a redemption for 
 their souls — po^o redemptione animcs suce; this they 
 trusted God would accept in favour of their friends.^ 
 These, then, were the principal ways in which 
 the faithful were accustomed to succour their de- 
 parted brethren. They could not think that the 
 links which had bound them together could be 
 utterly broken asunder. Is not love stronger than 
 death ? Theirs indeed was, for it was grounded on 
 the substantial, divine, imperishable love of God. 
 And so they trusted that God would graciously 
 accept their prayers, their sacrifices, their moanings, 
 their generosity, their abnegation, in favour of their 
 friends. The Church knew this their pious trust ; 
 and she, the Mistress of truth, approved of it, en- 
 couraged it. She did more. She watched the move- 
 ment of compassionating charity towards the holy 
 souls, and the movement was growing as a torrent. 
 Truly what is the voice of Nature is the voice of 
 God. She had the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
 Hitherto she had made use of them in favour of 
 the living only. Could she not thereby benefit the 
 dead also ? "Were they not within the pale of the 
 one great Church which Christ has founded ? 
 
 1 Gal. iv. 31. 
 
 2 See Armellini, "Gli antichi cimiteri cristiani," Eoma, 1893, pp. 24, 
 25 where he gives several such inscriptions. 
 
i64 THE LAPSED 
 
 And so, in course of time, she exercised, in favour 
 of the holy souls in Purgatory also, the power of 
 granting Indulgences. She began to reach them 
 with her pardons, as she had reached them with 
 her prayers and sacrifices. And this was no in- 
 novation, no usurpation, but the mere display of 
 a right which she had possessed from the beginning ; 
 for He who sits at the tiller of the world, and who 
 regulates the return of each season, had decreed that, 
 as time went on, the Church should, with greater 
 liberality, open to her living children the treasury 
 of the holy Indulgences, and enable them to benefit 
 therelDy, in a formal manner, both their own selves, 
 and the souls of their departed brethren. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 EVOLUTION 
 
 " So is the kingdotn of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earthy 
 
 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should 
 
 spring and grow up whilst he knoweth not." — 
 
 Mark iv. 26, 27. 
 
 PROM THE FIFTH TO THE ELEVENTH CENTURY 
 
 The Church in time of peace — The penitential discipline organised — 
 Inculcated by the Councils — False "Penitentials'' rejected — The 
 penitential Canons of various Councils — The severity of these 
 penances — Redemptions and Commutations, akin to Indulgences 
 —Pilgrimages, especially to Rome — Their connection with Ih.- 
 dulgences — The power of granting Indulgences centred in the 
 Pope — Pardons granted by letter — The Christian Stations — Their 
 origin — Indulgences attached to the visit of the Stations — Pious 
 foundations viewed with reference to Indulgences. 
 
 I. At the break of the fourth century, peace began 
 to dawn upon the Church. Her ministers were 
 allowed to go out of the Catacombs, where they had, 
 at different times, been buried alive, and to celebrate 
 the sacred mysteries of their religion in the light of 
 day. Her subterranean " cubicula" were abandoned 
 for more sumptuous temples, rivalling in gold and 
 beauty that of Jupiter in Rome and that of Apollo in 
 Corinth. Her confessors came out of the prisons, 
 still b"ea,ring on their bodies the scars of the wounds 
 they had received for Christ. 
 
 For, a generous and noble-minded p^'ince had suc- 
 ceeded the barbarous tyrants who, for_ fully three 
 
 16s 
 
1 66 EVOLUTION 
 
 centuries, had treated Rome and the Roman people 
 with the cruelty and savageness with which the vic- 
 torious Carthaginians treated of old their conquered 
 foes. In the year 313, Constantine the Great, together 
 with his colleague Licinius, published at Milan a 
 joint-edict in favour of the Christians, commanding 
 that complete liberty should be given them, and that 
 their goods should be restored unto them. 
 
 However, persecutions did not, even then, com- 
 pletely cease. They did not cease in the provinces, 
 especially those more remote from the capital of the 
 empire ; for we find martyrs even during Constan- 
 tino's reign ; and only half a century later, an 
 Emperor died in Rome, whose hands had been steeped 
 in the blood of Christians, and who could boast that, 
 had the Christian religion been a perishable insti- 
 tution, he, if any, would certainly have ruined it. 
 However, he did not overcome the Church ; and 
 although he fought hard during the three years that 
 he held the supreme power, yet he had to confess at 
 his death that he had been conquered by the Man- 
 God of Galilee.' 
 
 The Eastern Churches, until the eighth century, 
 were harrowed by underhand vexations and inter- 
 mittent persecutions. The successors of the great 
 Constantine on the throne of Byzantium forgot that 
 they were only outtvard bishops, whose duty it was 
 to protect the Church and defend her with their 
 sword. They stepped into the sanctuary, and pre- 
 ' Julian the Apo8tate, Roman Empei'or from 361 to 363. 
 
PENITENTIAL DISCIPLINE ORGANIZED 167 
 
 sumed to dictate concerning the Son of God, the 
 honour due to images, the Procession of the Holy 
 Ghost. They thought, with but a few exceptions, 
 that it was part of their divine mission, as emperors, 
 to torture the Christians and massacre their pastors. 
 
 So, the Church was never without her martyrs, 
 without her confessors ; and the practice of having 
 recourse to them in their prisons in order to obtain, 
 through their means, a release from canonical pen- 
 ances, may be said to have continued as long as the 
 persecutions lasted — at least, where there were legiti- 
 mate pastors to grant it. 
 
 Meanwhile, the canonical penances were in full 
 vigour, and they continued to be so, long after the 
 persecutions had ceased. And, side by side with the 
 application of these penances, was the exercise on 
 the part of the Bishops of the power they possessed 
 to shorten them, as they judged proper in the sight 
 of God. 
 
 2. Indeed, and this should be particularly noticed, 
 the canonical penances have never been formally 
 abolished. They fell into disuse, especially at the 
 time of the Crusades, as we shall show hereafter ; but, 
 even then, and later, the Church repeatedly incul- 
 cated that, if she had allowed the non-application 
 of these penances, not on that account would she 
 depart from the spirit which pervaded them and from 
 the end of their institution. Thus the Council of 
 Trent mentions them with honour ; ^- and St. Charles 
 
 ^ Sess. xxiv. ; De Eef., c. 8. 
 
1 68 EVOLUTION 
 
 Borromeo, whose pastoral ministry may be said to 
 have realised with perfect precision the decrees of 
 that Council, has inserted among his instructions for 
 confessors a brief account of the ancient canons, as a 
 guide for his priests in the imposition of sacramental 
 penance. 
 
 In the fifth and sixth centuries, the penitential 
 discipline became subjected to a regular organisation. 
 In Rome the institution of the Penitentiaries, of 
 which we have already spoken,^ gave origin to a 
 -regular office with its corresponding duties. Socrates 
 relates that, as early as the times of the Emperor 
 Decius (d. 251), there was to be in every church, in 
 Eome, a priest whose duty it was to hear the accusa- 
 tions of those who had fallen after baptism." He 
 was called Trpea^vrepoi ettI r^y ixeTavola^, which we may 
 well translate by " Penitentiary," and was intrusted 
 with the execution of the exercises of penance con- 
 tained in the " Penitentials." 
 
 These were kinds of manuals drawn up for the 
 penitents. They varied according to the countries. 
 
 Of the different Penitentials which the destruc- 
 tive hand of time has spared, that of Theodore, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, is worthy of special notice, as 
 bearing witness to the ancient religious customs of 
 this country. 
 
 Theodore had formerly been a monk of Tarsus in 
 
 ' Chapter iv. p. loo. 
 
 2 H. E., 1. V. c. 19. See also Sozomeims, 1. vii. c. i6, and Nicephorus 
 Callistus, 1. xii. c. 28. 
 
PENITENTIAL DISCIPLINE OEGANIZED 169 
 
 Cilicia. He was learned and wise, and Pope Vitalian 
 had chosen him in 668 to fill the See of Canterbury. He 
 was the first who ever exercised a primatial jurisdic- 
 tion over the other Churches of England. He founded 
 several schools for the teaching of ecclesiastical 
 sciences ; and until his death, which took place in 690, 
 he earnestly laboured to maintain in all their purity 
 the deposit of faith and the tradition of discipline. 
 
 To this end he composed his Penitential, or sum- 
 mary of canons for the regulation of penances to be 
 imposed on diverse sins. Though what remains of it 
 now is neither entire nor all genuine,^ yet the work, 
 on the whole, afibrds sufiicient ground to impress the 
 reader with the severity of ecclesiastical penances in 
 those times. 
 
 Eome, of all other Churches, had its Penitential 
 of ancient date ; and of Pope St. Simplicius (468- 
 483), Anastasius the librarian relates that he ap- 
 pointed some priests to look over the penitents, and 
 to receive their e^omoXoytja-iv or confession at St. 
 Peter's, St. Paul's, and St. Lawrence's.^ From Eome 
 the custom soon spread to other Churches.^ 
 
 Sometimes the Bishop himself in person would 
 
 1 What remains of this Penitential, and of the other works of 
 Theodore, was printed at Paris by Jacques Petit in 1677 ; also in the 
 9th vol. of the Spicilegium of Dom Luc d'Achery, and in the Appendix 
 to the 6th voL of the Councils of P. Labbe in 1671. See Migne, 
 
 Kouvelle Encyxilopedie Thfiologique, t. xxiii., at the word " Thdodore," 
 Paris, 1859. 
 
 2 Du Cange, at the word " Pcenitentia." 
 
 3 See Capitularium Regum Francorum, 1. vii. n. 132, in Canciani, 
 vol. iii. p. 317. 
 
170 EVOLUTIOIf 
 
 preside over the penitents, and grant them, on 
 stated days, the Pardon or Indulgence. At Cologne, 
 the day especially chosen for the granting of such 
 Pardons was Palm-Sunday.^ Each Church was dis- 
 tinguished by some special practice. Ash- Wednesday 
 was, as we have seen, generally chosen for the imposi- 
 tion of penance. In some places it was customary to 
 gird the penitents, especially if they had been guUty of 
 murder, with an iron chain, called ferrum poenitentiale. 
 They were commanded to go in this painful attire on 
 a pilgrimage to the holy places." In other churches, 
 as, for instance, in the cathedral church of Sens, 
 penitents were given a small woollen ball, which they 
 were to bring back on Maundy Thursday, the recon- 
 ciliation-day.^ 
 
 3. As charity waxed cold, and there was a grow- 
 ing tendency on the part of Christians to shun these 
 penances, the Church was obliged, in her CouncUs, 
 to inculcate, under a severe sanction, the observance 
 of the same. 
 
 The decrees of the Council held at Ch41ons-sur- 
 Sa6ne in 813, at which the Bishops of the "Gallia 
 Lugdunensis," excepting those of the province of 
 Tours, assisted, are a striking proof of the solicitude 
 which the Church had, lest this saving institution 
 should fall into disuse. 
 
 " The custom of traditional penance," says the 
 
 • Du Caiige, at the word " Indulgeiitia." 
 
 ' MartOne Aneod. See the Lexicon Manuale ad Script, med. et inf. 
 latin, par Maigiie d'Ai'ais. Migiie, 1858. 
 ' Du Oange, at the word " I'asiiiteiitiii." 
 
INCULCATED BY COUNCILS 171 
 
 Council, " has been abolished in many places ; there- 
 fore it is necessary to call upon the Emperor's help 
 in order that public sinners be submitted to a public 
 penance, and that they be excommunicated and re- 
 conciled according to the canons (c. 25). 
 
 " Some do not entirely confess their sins ; so they 
 must be admonished to confess sins of thought, no 
 less than exterior sins (c. 32). Confession must be 
 made, not to God only, but also to priests ; and in this 
 judgment, care must be taken lest any one should 
 allow himself to be prejudiced by any passion (cc. 
 33 and 34). 
 
 " Many, in performing their penance, crave not so 
 much for the remission of their sins, as for the fulfil- 
 ment of their term ; and if they are forbidden the 
 use of wine and meat, they seek after other dishes 
 and more excellent drinks. A true penitent deprives • 
 himself entirely of the pleasures of the body. Some 
 also deliberately sin with the hope of blotting out 
 their crimes with almsgivings. One must not sin 
 in order to give alms, but rather give alms because 
 he has sinned (c. 35). 
 
 "Penance should be imposed according to Scrip- 
 ture and the custom of the Church, and those 
 books which are called Penitentials should be utterly 
 banished, as the errors contained therein are certain, 
 though the authors thereof are uncertain. For such 
 books serve only to deceive the sinner by imposing 
 for great sins light and trifling penances"^ (c. 38). 
 
 ' Fleury, H. E., 1. xlvi. n. 5. 
 
172 EVOLUTION 
 
 4. &uch, then, was the wish of the Church, viz., 
 that the faithful should submit to the imposition of 
 such penances, as had been sanctioned by a venerable 
 tradition. 
 
 The Penitentials here condemned were little books 
 containing a milder and shorter form of penance, than 
 it had hitherto been the usage of the Church to inflict. 
 
 In fact, these new Penitentials fell short of the end 
 which the Church had had in view, when establish- 
 ing her true penal code. This end was that penance 
 should be proportioned to the guilt, and that the 
 .body of the Church might thereby be purified from 
 the plague of sin and the corruption of vice.^ But 
 these new Penitentials, by promising an untimely for- 
 giveness, in reality only served to deceive the faithful. 
 
 Hence, generally speaking, the Bishops and the 
 Councils strotigly opposed such innovations. Thus, 
 the sixth Council of Paris (829) rejects them, and 
 inculcates, as the Council of Ch&lons had already 
 done, the necessity of following the true penitential 
 canons.^ Halitgar, Bishop of Arras and Cambray, 
 who had assisted at this Council, wrote a treatise on 
 Penance, in which he specified what penances should 
 henceforth be used. These, however, are milder 
 than they were in the ancient canons.' 
 
 ^ " 0! -yip ^7101' Trar^/Jts ^fi-^v ixffavolas Tp6irovs ^K^4fi€voi, Kal tTtTi/xfwp 
 IS^ai dva\6yovs rots twv dvBpiifiTdjv dfiapri/ifjiaffiv fairevSov di aiTwv AvaKxtSaipeiv 
 t6 a-Q/M T^t (^/cxXtjo-Ios."— Joan. Antioch. ed. a t'otelerio, c. i. See Du 
 Cange at the word, " PcEiiiteiitia." 
 
 ' 0. 43. Fleury, H. E., 1. xlvii. n. 24. 
 
 ^ Ibid., 1. xlvii. n. 28. 
 
PENITENTIAL CANONS 173 
 
 5. In the Council of Tribur, near Mainz (894), the 
 penitential canons of the first century were renewed, 
 and they remind us of those of Ancyra, and of the 
 letters of St. Basil to Amphilochius. In fact, a 
 wilful murderer is subjected to seven years' penance. 
 For forty days, he is to be excluded from the 
 church. In the meanwhile he has to fast on bread 
 and water, to walk barefooted, wearing only such 
 garments as natural decency commands ; he is for- 
 bidden to carry arms or use a carriage ; he must 
 separate from his wife, and have no intercourse with 
 other Christians. 
 
 When these forty days are over, he must still be 
 excluded from the church, abstain from flesh meat, 
 cheese, wine, and any kind of mead, a beverage made 
 of water and honey. If he fall sick, or have to start 
 on a journey, he is permitted to redeem Tuesday, 
 Thursday, and Saturday by giving a penny in alms or 
 feeding three poor men. At the end of the year he 
 is allowed to enter the church ; but he must continue 
 for two years more in the same penance, with per- 
 mission, however, to redeem the three said days of 
 the week in the above manner. 
 
 Each of the last four years he must fast during 
 three quarantines or Lents; one before Easter, 
 one before the Feast of St. John the Baptist, 
 and one before Christmas. During these four 
 years, he is bound to fast only on Wednesday and 
 Friday, and is allowed to redeem the Wednesday. 
 And at the end of these seven years, he will be 
 
174 EVOLUTION 
 
 reconciled to the Churcli and will receive Holy 
 Communion.^ 
 
 Towards the end of the tenth century, Atto, Bishop 
 of Vercelli, in the 90th chapter of his Capitulary, 
 which contains a hundred articles, recommended the 
 parish priests to take cognizance of the signs of con- 
 version and repentance manifested by the penitents ; 
 and if they accomplished their penance with extra- 
 ordinary signs of fervour, or were in danger of death, 
 he directed them to have recourse to the Bishop, or, 
 in his absence, to the cardinals — so were the priests 
 of the cathedral called — and obtain absolution.^ 
 
 In the letters of Alexander II. (1061-1073), we 
 often find the canonical penances alluded to, and 
 permission given to the Bishops to remit part of 
 them.^ 
 
 About this time, St. Peter Damian, Bishop of 
 Ostia, whom we know to have laboured so efiica- 
 ciously towards the reformation of the clergy, com- 
 plained bitterly that false canons had been substituted 
 for the true ones, and that thereby the nerve of 
 discipline had greatly been weakened ; * whilst, on 
 his part, St. Gregory VII. (1073-1085) inveighed 
 against false penances,' and the Council of Piacenza 
 re-echoed his complaints. 
 
 6. The canonical penances were most severe. 
 They consisted chiefly in humiliations, fastings, 
 
 1 Fleury, H. E., 1. liv. n. 24. ' Ibid., 1. Iv. 11. 55/ 
 
 ' See Ep. 37 ; Ibid., 1. l.xi. n. 59. i Ibid., 1. lix. n. 76. 
 
 * Ibid., 1. Ixiii. n. i. 
 
EIGOUR OF PENITENTIAL DISCIPLINE 175 
 
 discipline, and other austerities. Sometimes the 
 Bishops added to the penances prescribed in the 
 Sacred Canons. Thus, we read that a certain 
 Leontardus, for a sin of homicide, had been for- 
 bidden by his Bishop to communicate, except at 
 the moment of death ; that he likewise had been 
 forbidden the use of meat and wine, except on 
 Sundays and feast-days ; that a prohibition had been 
 laid upon him to have his hair cut, to marry, to 
 converse with other men, to command his servants, to 
 enjoy his goods, and to take a fief from his lord. 
 
 The Pope, John VIIl. (872-882), heard of this, 
 and fearing lest the penitent should be overcome 
 with over-much sorrow, wrote to the Bishop, telling 
 him that the penance seemed too severe to him, 
 and that he should moderate it, lest the penitent 
 should be cast into despair.^ 
 
 We also read of King Edgar of England (957-975). 
 that, for a grievous crime which he had committed, 
 he was sentenced by St. Dunstan, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, to a penance of seven years, during 
 which he was not to wear his crown, but he was to 
 fast two days in the week, and was to give much 
 in alms. And of Blessed ^Ifege we read in Matthew 
 of Westminster (a.d. 974), that on Ash- Wednesday, 
 after he had removed the penitents from the threshold 
 of the church, he exhorted them to give themselves 
 to fastings during the holy season of Lent, and to 
 abstain not only from unlawful pleasures, but also 
 
 1 Ep. 61 ; Fleury, H. K, 1. liii. n. 37. 
 
176 EVOLUTION 
 
 from such enjoyments as might have been permitted 
 them by their state and condition. 
 
 To this epoch is to be referred the custom which 
 prevailed in some parts of the Church, and of which 
 we read in the Life of St. Bartholdus.^ This holy 
 man spent the greater part of his time in hearing 
 confessions. Now, he was in the habit of striking 
 all his penitents, without distinction of persons ; 
 neither would he dismiss any one without having 
 administered to him a salutary discipline. And, 
 when on his death-bed, he called to himself the 
 whole congregation, heard their confession one by 
 one, and after he had stricken each of them with his 
 own hands, he absolved them. 
 
 Sometimes, too, the Church imposed penances upon 
 sinners who had not asked for them, and she even 
 threatened excommunication if they would not sub- 
 mit. Thus Stephen, Count of Auvergne (a.d. 867), 
 having driven away by force Sigonius, Bishop of 
 Clermont, from his See, and put a usurper in his 
 stead, was commanded by the Pope St. Nicholas I. to 
 restore immediately the prelate in his bishopric, and 
 to present himself before the Legates s\'hom he had 
 sent to preside over a Council, in order that he might 
 justify himself from this and other similar crimes he 
 had committed. "Otherwise," added the Pope, "we 
 forbid you the use of wine and of flesh meat, until 
 you come to Rome, and present yourself before us." ' 
 
 ' Act. SS., t. vi. Jul. p. 480, col. I, and p. 486, col, 2. 
 2 Fk'Uiy, H. E., 1. li. n. 8. 
 
REDEMPTIONS AND COMMUTATIONS 177 
 
 Yet, in the ninth century, secrecy in matters of 
 faith and discipline was still a law in vigour in the 
 Church, so that we possess but scanty documents 
 with regard to the discipline of penance, A mention 
 of this law of secrecy is made by St. Nicholas I. (866) 
 in his answer to the consultation of the Bulgarians. 
 These people had been previously converted to the 
 Catholic faith, together with their King Bogoris ; 
 and they asked the Pope to teach them what to 
 believe and to practise. We see, from the Pope's 
 answer, that the penitential Canons, as well as the 
 formulas of sacraments, were as yet a secret, known 
 only by the priests.^ 
 
 7. But the faithful were not always able to submit 
 to these penances. Their bodily weakness and the 
 exigencies of their state, often made them incapable 
 of going through that long stage of privations and 
 mortifications. Consequently, the Church allowed 
 redemptions or commutations, that is to say, lighter 
 exercises which did not tell so much on human 
 nature, and thus dispensed, in the name of Christ, 
 with the more severe ones, filling up what was 
 wanting from the treasury of Christ and of His 
 saints. 
 
 Of these redemptions and commutations we have 
 many instances. 
 
 The Council of Ancyra had already expressly 
 sanctioned a commutation of the public penance in 
 the case of deacons who had once fallen, but who 
 
 1 Fleury,H.E., 1.1. 11.51. 
 
 M 
 
1 78 EVOLUTION 
 
 afterwards stood firm.'' In the epoch we are study- 
 ing, these commutations and redemptions worked 
 themselves into a regular system. Thus, the above- 
 mentioned King Edgar, among the sixty-seven 
 canons which he composed for the pastors of the 
 churches, marks how a sick penitent might redeem 
 the fast prescribed to him. One day's fast could 
 be redeemed by an alms of one penny, or by the 
 recitation of one hundred and twenty psalms, or 
 again, by sixty genuflections and sixty Our Father's ; 
 two days' fast by a mass, &c. 
 
 In the Penitential of Theodore, of which we have 
 already spoken, it is stated that a penitent who had 
 been condemned to a year's fast on bread and water, 
 could redeem a day by having a mass sung for him- 
 self, hearing it, offering the bread and wine with his 
 own hands to the priest, and answering the latter's 
 salutations and exhortations, and on that day he 
 was allowed to eat and drink what he wished, except 
 wine, meat, and suet ; he could redeem other days in 
 a like manner. Another way was also open for the 
 same purpose, that of giving a fixed alms, according 
 to the penitent's condition, either towards the de- 
 liverance of captives, the maintenance of the divine 
 service, or the support of the poor who were at the 
 charge of the Church.^ 
 
 Those who were destitute of the goods of this world, 
 
 1 See Wiseman, "Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices 
 of the Catholic C^hurch," Lect. xii. 
 
 ^ Canones Pcenitentiales cum notis Antonii Augustini, Venetiis, 1584, 
 tit. ix. chaps. 28, 29, 3P. 
 
AKIN TO IZSTDULGENCES 179 
 
 were by St. Bede's Penitential directed to redeem one 
 day's fast, by singing three times the Psalm " Beati 
 immaculati in via," and six times the Psalm " Mise- 
 rere mei Deus," and prostrating themselves on the 
 ground seventy times, singing each time the Lord's 
 Prayer.'^ 
 
 The Eoman Penitential was about as severe. It 
 ordered for a similar redemption the singing of 
 fifty Psalms on bended knees in the church and the 
 feeding of a poor man, or one hundred genuflexions 
 in the church with appropriate penitential prayers. 
 For the illiterate, it ordered the giving of three 
 pence [denarii) in the case of a rich man, and of 
 one penny in that of a poor man- — the use of wine, 
 meat, and suet being always forbidden.^ 
 
 In Germany, Burchard, Bishop of Worms, who 
 died in 1026, in the collection of canons which he 
 composed for the restoration of ecclesiastical penance, 
 speaks of these redemptions, or commutations of 
 penances, especially in almsgivings and prayers. 
 
 In Italy, in the year 1062, there died at Luceole, 
 in Umbria, St. Dominic, a hermit, surnamed Lori- 
 catus, on account of his ever wearing an iron breast- 
 plate for penance. St. Peter Damian, who had been 
 his penitent, tells us that this hermit, having learned 
 that those who said eighty times twelve Psalms, 
 with their arms stretched in the form of a cross, 
 
 1 Canones Pcenitentiales, tit. ix. c. 31. Cf. Cancianij vol. ii. p. 
 
 274. 
 
 2 Ibid., c. 25 and foil. 
 
i8o EVOLUTION 
 
 redeemed a year's penance, practised it frequently, 
 not for himself only, but for others also.'' Similar 
 facts are not unfrequently met with in the history 
 of the Church.^ 
 
 Now these redemptions, compensations, or com- 
 mutations took place under the sanction, sometimes 
 tacit, oftener explicit, of the Church. On the other 
 hand, it would be impious, no less than absurd, to 
 say that the Church would deceive her children by 
 bringing them to believe that their punishment was 
 atoned for, and that they were on equal terms with 
 the justice of God, if it were not so in reality. We 
 must then conclude that these compensations were 
 nothing short of true Indulgences, and that by saying 
 those prayers in the above-mentioned form, by per- 
 forming those deeds of almsgiving, the sinner was 
 released from his sin, as to the pain that remained to 
 him to pay to the justice of God after his sin had 
 been remitted, and this in virtue of the superabundant 
 merits of Jesus Christ and of His saints. 
 
 8. Another fact connected with these redemptions 
 will no less illustrate our point ; I mean the practice 
 of 'pilgrimages. 
 
 Pilgrimages to the holy places, especially to Jeru- 
 salem, and to Rome, are of most ancient origin. It 
 would be difficult to state when the faithful began to 
 visit the sepulchre of our Blessed Lord and Saviour 
 
 ^ Pleury, Hist. Ecc, 1. Ix. n. 51. 
 
 ^ On these reili'inptions and oomrautations of penances, see Du Cange, 
 Gloss, niuil. et inf. Lat., at tlie word " Pa.'niteutin." 
 
PILGEIMAQES i8i 
 
 at Jerusalem, His birthplace at Bethlehem, or the 
 sacred shrines of St. Peter and St. Paul at Eome. 
 
 When, in the year 351, under the Patriarchate of 
 St. Cyrillus, the miraculous fact took place, recorded 
 by Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, of the apparition in 
 the sky, over the town of Jerusalem, of a luminous 
 cross, stretching out from Mount Calvary to the 
 Mount of Olives, fifteen stadia (or about 2^ miles) 
 long and proportionately broad, there were then 
 many pilgrims in the holy city, so that the fact was 
 soon divulged far and wide. 
 
 In the eighth century St. Bede, in his work on the 
 Holy Places, often speaks of frequent pilgrimages from 
 England to Eome ; and the Saxon Chronicle observes, 
 as a remarkable event, that in one year, viz., 889, 
 no pilgrims went to Rome, and Alfred's letters were 
 to be sent by two messengers.^ 
 
 Of St. Willibald's journey to the Holy Places, 
 which he undertook in 721 with several of his 
 countrymen, we have a detailed and interesting 
 relation composed by a nun of Heidenheim under 
 the Saint's dictation.^ 
 
 Each country had also its venerated shrine. The 
 above-named Council of Chalons speaks of two most 
 famous pilgrimages of Eome and Tours. England had 
 St. Alban's. It was the most renowned pilgrimage 
 in Great Britain, and history tells us that when St. 
 
 1 Chron. Sax., p. 90. Lingard's "Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon 
 Churcli," c. ix. n. 5, note 68. Ed. PhiladelpMa. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
1 82 EVOLUTION 
 
 Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, and St. Lupus, Bishop 
 of Troyes, in their mission to this country (430), had 
 victoriously fought against the Pelagians, they went 
 to give thanks to God and to the glorious martyr 
 St. Alban. St. Germain had the sepulchre opened, 
 and placed therein the relics of all the Apostles, and 
 of several martyrs, which he had collected from 
 different countries. He then gathered on the very 
 spot some dust, still dyed with the martyr's blood, 
 took it with himself, and when he arrived at his 
 town of Auxerre, he had a splendid church built in 
 St. Alban's honour.^ 
 
 9. In the beginning these pilgrimages had only 
 one object, that of testifying the devotion of the 
 faithful towards the mysteries of our Blessed Lord's 
 life, and of claiming His patronage and that of His 
 saints. 
 
 But, when the discipline of the Church became 
 milder, another object was attached to pilgrimages. 
 They sometimes served as a substitution, ratified by 
 the Church, for the more severe penances. Mori- 
 nius tells us that, as early as the eighth century, 
 pilgrimages were introduced to take the place of 
 canonical satisfactions.^ 
 
 But, what most (5f all induced the faithful to 
 undertake these long journeys, was the hope of hear- 
 ing from the Prelates' lips words of pardon and 
 absolution. In fact, to speak of Eome only, we 
 
 1 SeeFleury, H. E., 1. xxv. u. 17. 
 ' Lib. \ii. c. 15. 
 
PILGEIMAGES AND INDULGENCES 185 
 
 have many instances of men and women repairing 
 in pilgrimage to the Eternal City in order to be 
 released from their sins. 
 
 Thus (a.d. 867) a certain Eriartus, having killed 
 a monk-priest of St. Eiquier, went to Rome to be 
 absolved of his crime. The Pope, St. Nicholas I., 
 imposed upon him twelve years' penance. During 
 the three first years he was to stand weeping at 
 the church gate ; during the fourth and the fifth 
 he was to be among the hearers, without receiving 
 Holy Communion ; during the seven last years, he 
 was allowed to receive Holy Communion at the most 
 solemn feasts, but without making any offering. 
 During all that time, he was to fast until evening, 
 as in Lent, except on Sundays and feast-days, and 
 was to travel only on foot. " He should," adds the 
 Pope, "have done penance during all his lifetime, 
 but we have taken into consideration his faith, and 
 the protection of the Holy Apostles, which he came 
 to seek." ^ 
 
 Here we see that the Supreme Pontiff, out of 
 the plenitude of his apostolic authority, in consi- 
 deration of the pilgrim's faith, as a moving cause, 
 and in virtue of the holy Apostles' protection, as an 
 eflacient principle of satisfaction, releases a sinner 
 from a part of that penance which, according to the 
 Sacred Canons, he should have otherwise accom- 
 plished. And what is this but an Indulgence ? 
 
 About this time Solomon, Bishop of Constance, 
 
 1 See Fleury, H. E., 1. li. n. 8. 
 
1 84 EVOLUTION 
 
 ceding to human passion and frailty, had so far 
 forgotten his episcopal dignity, as to seek and pro- 
 cure the death of three personages who had set 
 themselves as his adversaries. However, he soon 
 repented of his foul deed, and repaired to Rome to 
 implore, from the Vicar of Christ, penance and for- 
 giveness. The Pope, relates Ekkehard, received him 
 with kindness. However, as it was then the cus- 
 tom, he let him wait outside his palace for some 
 time, and at last the Bishop entreated him with 
 sighs and tears to grant him the Indulgence. The 
 Pope condescended to do so, and shortly after Solo- 
 mon returned to his own city.'' 
 
 Such, then, was the pilgrims' object. It is thus 
 recorded in an inscription dating from the time of 
 these pilgrimages. This inscription is to be found 
 at St. Sebastian's, on the Appian Way, over one of 
 the doors leading to the underlying hypogea — 
 
 HOC EST COEMBTERIVM B. CALLIXTI PAPAE ET MARTTRIS IXCLITI 
 QVICVMQVE ILLVD CONTRITVS ET CONFESSVS INGRESSVS FVERIT 
 PLENAM REMIS8I0NBM OMNIVM PECCATORVM SVORNTI OBTINEBIT 
 PER MERITA GLORIOSA CENTVM SEPTVAGINTA QVATTOR MILLITM 
 SANOTORVM MARTYRVM VNA OVM QVADRAGINTA SEX SVJIMIS 
 PONTIFICIBVS QVORVM IBI CORPOIL&. IN PACE SEPVLTA SVXT 
 QVI OMNBS EX MAGNA TRIBVLATIONE VENERTXT ET VT HEREDES 
 FIERENT IN DOMO DOMINI MORTIS SVPPLIOIVM PRO CHRISTI 
 NOMINE PERTVLERVNT 
 
 " This is the cemetery of St. Callistus, Pope and M;vrtyr of 
 great renown. "Whoso will enter, being contrite and shriven, 
 will obtain the full remission of all his sins through the glorious 
 merits of one hundred and seventy- four thousand holy martyrs, 
 
 1 Ekkehard, P. I., p. 25. 
 
POWER CENTRED IN THE POPE 185 
 
 together with forty-six sovereign Pontiffs, whose bodies therein lie 
 huried in peace, who have all come out of great tribulation, and 
 who, for the name of Christ, have endured the torment of death, 
 that they might be made heirs in the house of the Lord." ^ 
 
 Of the happy palmer, then, we can say that 
 
 " Not in vain 
 He wore his sandal-ahoon and scallop-sheU." " 
 
 10. It has already been shown how the power of 
 granting Indulgences emanates directly from the 
 power of the Keys. As the plenitude of this power 
 resides originally and ordinarily in the Roman Pon- 
 tiff, so also the plenitude of the power of granting 
 Indulgences. Those alone, therefore, who have re- 
 ceived power from him can validly grant Indulgences, 
 as no one can sit as judge of sins and remit them 
 who does not from him derive his credentials. 
 
 But the Popes had, at least tacitly, allowed the full 
 use of this power in the Bishops, in the first ages 
 of the Church. Later, as the Church extended far 
 and wide, and it was necessary that the principle of 
 unity on which she is founded, and which is to bind 
 together so many multitudes, should be asserted lest 
 there should be schisms in the Church, the fulness of 
 
 1 This is but a modern copy of the old inscription which time has 
 destroyed, and it eloquently suggests, on the part of the pilgrims, as one 
 of the motives for thus visiting those remains of the martyrs, the hope 
 of gaining the holy Indulgences. It should, however, be observed, that 
 this cemetery, properly called ad Catacumbas, was, until the recent 
 discoveries made by De Rossi, confounded with that of St. Callistus, 
 and that the number of 174,000 given to the martyrs, and that of 46 
 given to the Popes deposited therein, is due rather to the fictions of 
 pious imaginations than to the data of history. See Armellini, Gli 
 antichi Cimiteri Cristiani di Roma e d'ltalia. Roma, 1893, P- iii- c. xxxii. 
 
 2 Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, 4th canto. 
 
1 86 EVOLUTION 
 
 the exercise of this power began gradually to be with- 
 drawn from the Bishops, and to be centred in the 
 person of the sovereign Pontiff. This was done, not 
 by any positive action, but by that interior motion 
 of the Holy Ghost, which, in the order of grace, 
 corresponds to the spontaneous development and 
 natural adjustment of things in the order of nature. 
 
 By little and little, then, the faithful flocked to 
 Eome rather than to Tours, to Compostella, to St. 
 Alban's, or to Jerusalem ; and their object was to see 
 Peter — Peter living in his successor — and to ask him 
 pardon for past sins, and a release from those penalties 
 which they had incurred, and which Divine justice 
 demanded they should undergo — not in the face of 
 the Church only, but in the face of Heaven ; for what 
 Peter looses on earth, is loosed also in Heaven. 
 
 Thus it is that pilgrimages to Rome became so 
 frequent. The just thought they could not obtain 
 the sanction of their holiness unless they saw Peter, 
 and venerated the spots hallowed by the blood of the 
 martyrs. The sinners had a hope of finding Pardon 
 where the spiritual coffers of the Church lay ever 
 opened. They came from England, from France, 
 from Germany, and even from more distant coun- 
 tries. 
 
 These pilgrims could not fail to take back with 
 them some keepsake from the Eternal Citv. Those 
 among them whose interest had been more particu- 
 larly awakened by the spots they had visited, and 
 who were not altogether unskilled in penmanship. 
 
ITINERARY OF WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY 187 
 
 drew out for themselves, as exactly as their ability 
 allowed them, a topography which they brought 
 home with them. 
 
 Thus did William of Malmesbury, a writer of 
 the twelfth century, who inserted a topography 
 of Eome and its cemeteries in his Gesta Regum 
 Anglorum, whilst relating the journey thither of 
 pilgrims and crusaders under Urban II. Little did 
 he think, when writing out his itinerary, that illus- 
 trious archaeologists would, in future ages, appeal 
 to his authority, to reconstruct the topography of 
 those famous catacombs, which were once the cradle 
 of the Christian religion, and which are now its 
 brightest jewels ; and that his itinerary, as a magic 
 ring, would serve to link together the faith of bygone 
 centuries, with that which is now the very life of the 
 Church of Eome. ^ 
 
 Filled with the memory of what they had wit- 
 nessed, these blessed palmers gave expression to their 
 enthusiasm by consigning to writing the records of 
 the marvels of the Eternal City : " Mirabilia Urbis 
 Eomse." And, either to keep fresh in their minds 
 the memory of the heavenly treasures they had 
 gained, or to entice others bravely to undertake 
 the perilous journey, they drew up, under the name 
 of Libri Indulgentiarum, catalogues of the Indul- 
 gences which could be gained by the visit to the 
 
 I See Armellim, Oli Antichi Cimiteri, Sc, p. 96, and foil., wliere the 
 learned arcliseologist speaks at some length of the other itineraries which 
 have come down to us from the pilgrimages of the Middle Ages. 
 
1 88 EVOLUTION 
 
 different shrines, and of the relics which were pre- 
 served therein.! 
 
 Naturally, this concourse met with opposition. 
 Some " trembled for fear where there was no fear." ^ 
 They were afraid lest the condescension of the Roman 
 Pontiff who, like his Master, Christ, "would have 
 mercy, and not sacrifice," ^ should turn to the detri- 
 ment of the Church. They objected to these pilgri- 
 mages. The Council of Selingstad (1022) forbade 
 the penitents to go to Rome without leave from the 
 Bishop or his vicar, lest the Pope should remit them 
 all their sins.* 
 
 But the Pope, in remitting the penitents' debt, 
 was only using a power which he had received from 
 Christ, and no one could reasonably contest it. This 
 the fathers of the Council of Limoges (1031) unani- 
 mously acknowledged : " We have learned from the 
 Popes, and from the other Fathers, that if a Bishop 
 has placed his diocesan under penance, and sends 
 him to the Pope, that he may judge whether the 
 penance is proportioned to the guilt, the Pope may, 
 of his authority, confirm, lessen, or augment the 
 same." ^ 
 
 1 1. And when the penitents could not go to Rome, 
 
 ' Manuscripts of these Libri Indulgentiarum are to be found in the 
 principal libraries of Europe, dating from the fifteenth, or even the end 
 of the fourteenth century. They were tirst printed in the second half 
 of the fifteenth century. See Paul Allard, Eome Souterraine, 2nd 
 edit., Paris, 1874, p. m, n. 4. 
 
 2 Ps. lii. 6. 3 Mattix. 13. 
 
 ■■ CiU). 18. Fleury, H. E., I Iviii. n. 51. Cf. 1. xlvi. n. 55. 
 
 ' lliid., lix. n. 24. 
 
PAEDONS GRANTED BY LETTER 189 
 
 or otherwise obtain a commutation of their penances, 
 they applied by letter to the Supreme Pontiff, in 
 order to obtain a Pardon for the punishment due to 
 their sins. 
 
 Thus Pope John VIII. ( + 882), mentioned above, 
 consulted by the Bishops of Germany whether 
 those who had been killed in war, whilst combat- 
 ing against the pagans in favour of the Christian 
 religion, and of the State, received the remission of 
 their sins, answered, that those who had died with 
 Christian piety received life eternal, and that he gave 
 them absolution, as much as he had power to do so.* 
 
 Unless I am greatly mistaken, we have here an 
 instance of a Pardon, which we now call a Plenary 
 Indulgence. It is an Indulgence. For that absolu- 
 tion the Pope speaks of, cannot be the absolution 
 which is called sacramental, since sacramental absolu- 
 tion supposes confession previously made, and the 
 physical presence of the penitent ; it is then an abso- 
 lution granted outside the Sacrament — an Indulgence. 
 It is plenary, for the Pope grants it to the whole 
 extent of his power. These courageous men, there- 
 fore, who on the battlefield gave their lives for faith 
 andi fatherland, received, at the hour of their death, 
 a full remission of the debt of temporal punishment 
 due to their sins, and could go straight to heaven, 
 to enjoy the bliss of the beatific vision. 
 
 Sometimes similar letters were sent to the Bishops 
 
 1 Fleury, H. E., 1. liii. n. 37. Of. Baronius, Ann., torn. x. a. 87& 
 n. 34- 
 
190 EVOLUTION 
 
 also. Towards the year 876, Hildebald, Bishop of 
 Soissons, having fallen dangerously ill, sent a written 
 confession to Hincmar, Bishop of Eheims, his metro- 
 politan. The latter, on receiving this message, ordered 
 prayers to be offered for Hildebald throughout his 
 arch-diocese ; but the same Bishop of Soissons sent a 
 second time, by a priest, his confession to Hincmar, 
 earnestly asking for letters of absolution. 
 
 Hincmar wrote back a letter, in which he spoke of 
 the excellency of the power of remitting sin which 
 has been entrusted to priests, and of the consequences 
 of such a power. He then gave him a general abso- 
 lution, in the form of a prayer, and excused himself 
 for not having been able, through sickness, to go and 
 see him. However, he says, he visits him in spirit, 
 and commits to his brother priests to do to him what 
 he himself would have done. He sends him, at the 
 same time, the oil, which he himself has blessed with 
 his hand. 
 
 " I caution thee," he adds, " that, as I doubt not 
 thou hast already done, besides this general confes- 
 sion, thou also confess in detail to God, and to a 
 priest, anything thou knowest to have committed 
 from the beginning of thy life to the present day. 
 And it is enough for one to have made once this 
 confession of all his sins in detail, provided he do not 
 fall again ; if one fall again he must have recourse to 
 penance, and remember that it avails him nothing to 
 be sorry for his sins unless he abandon them. 
 
 " As for other lighter and daily sins, they should 
 
THE CHEISTIAN STATIONS 191 
 
 be confessed daily to our brethren, in order that they 
 may be blotted out by their prayers and by the 
 practice of good works." ^ 
 
 Morinius observes ^ that this absolution which 
 Hincmar sent in writing was nothing but an Indul- 
 gence and blessing, and not a sacramental absolution, 
 since it supposes that private confession is made to a 
 priest in detail ; and what he here calls general con- 
 fession is that in which no sin is specified, as the 
 Conjiteor and other similar prayers.^ 
 
 1 2. As the pilgrims often came to Eome ii; order 
 to perform the devotion of the Stations, and gain 
 the Indulgences annexed thereto by the Sovereign 
 Pontiffs, we shall speak here of this ancient devotion. 
 
 The word station, " statio," seems to have been 
 borrowed, as we have said, from military usages. 
 Among the Romans it was used to mean sometimes 
 the place where guards were kept in safety for a 
 time, sometimes the post which had been assigned 
 them, and from which they were on no account to 
 depart : — 
 
 "... Servantque vices statione relieta."* 
 
 As to the idea of such an institution, it is to be 
 traced down to the Synagogue, the rites and cere- 
 monies of which were but figures foreshadowing the 
 higher and holier sacraments of the new covenant. 
 Among the Jews, then, there was this persuasion, 
 
 ^ Hincm., opus 40, t. 2, p. 686. ^ Pcenit., 1. viii. c. 25, n. 45. 
 
 s See Fleury, 1. lii. n. 37. * Virgil, ^n. 1. ii. 
 
192 EVOLUTION 
 
 that the people should assist at the sacrifice which 
 was offered for them. But as this could not always 
 be, they instituted a IQ^Q, station, office or ministry, 
 composed of ten l'3'?a3, disengaged persons, whose 
 duty was simply to represent the people in the 
 sacrifices. 
 
 The word Station was therefore introduced in the 
 Christian liturgy to signify the assistance of the 
 faithful at the sacred functions, and was then syno- 
 nymous with the words, Synaxis, Collecta, Con- 
 ventus. 
 
 From apostolic times, the Church was wont to 
 sanctify the night by watching and prayer, and 
 these night - watehings took the name of Vigils. 
 TertuUian calls them nocturnal convocations, and 
 the pagans took occasion of these night meetings 
 to build up against the Christians a whole frame- 
 work of slanderous reports. But the Church meant 
 thereby to atone for the high revel and base orgies 
 of pagans, and to comply with the divine precept : 
 " In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, 
 and bless ye the Lord." ^ 
 
 During the persecutions, these meetings took place 
 in the catacombs. In the times of peace, they were 
 held in the church of the martyr, whose memory was 
 to be celebrated on the morrow. There, psalms and 
 hymns were sung, and a spiritual conference followed, 
 presided over and directed by the Bishop ; and the 
 meeting was closed by the celebration of the Holy 
 
 ' r.-i. cxxxiii. 2. 
 
OEIGIN OF THE CHEISTIAN STATIONS 193 
 
 Mass, at which the faithful received Holy Com- 
 munion. 
 
 However, these vigils were often protracted during 
 a considerable part of the following day. They were 
 then called wxP^fiepai; and St. Gregory Nazianzen 
 describes in pathetic verses the sterling faith of those 
 early Christians, whom their fervour urged to spend 
 their lives in these night-daily stations, occupied in 
 the recitation of psalms^ taking but a scanty rest on 
 the dust of the bare floor, their flesh, as it were, 
 melting away at the fervour of their vigUs. 
 
 Kal (rapKas e^errjKev dypxnrviais, 
 tf'aXfJAfSiai'S re, koI o-rao-et w)(dr]ixep(ff." 1 
 
 13. It would be difi&cult to assign the exact date 
 of the origin of the Christian station. Like almost 
 every other ecclesiastical institution, this holy prac- 
 tice began insensibly to grow among the faithful, 
 informal at first and hardly noticeable, like the tiny 
 rivulet near the summit of a hill ; then it formed itself 
 into a calm and steady stream as it came down from 
 the mountain of time, until it became that mighty 
 river on whose waters the soul can sail in safety 
 towards the shores of eternity. 
 
 The Stations undoubtedly belong to the more 
 remote antiquity. TertuUian ( + 240) complains that 
 on Station days a heathen husband would rather 
 invite his wife to the baths.^ St. Leo the Great 
 
 1 In Carmine Cygneo, v. 576 et seq. 
 
 2 " Si statio facienda est, maritus de die condicat ad balnea." Ad 
 Uxorem, 1. ii. iv. 
 
 N 
 
194 EVOLUTION 
 
 {+461) often alludes to this practice in his sermons. 
 Among the succeeding Pontiffs, none contributed so 
 much to the increase and orderly organisation of 
 them, as St. Gregory the Great ( + 604), as we gather 
 from the testimony of John the Deacon, in the 
 life of this Pope.^ We have already seen how he 
 would every year betake himself to the Church of 
 Sancta Sabina on foot, on the first day in Lent, and 
 there, kneeling in the posture of a humble penitent, 
 receive the symbolic ashes on his shaven head.^ 
 
 But the spirit of evil insinuates itself into the best 
 of institutions, and disorders crept into these noc- 
 turnal meetings to such an extent,^ that it was 
 deemed prudent to suppress them. But this was 
 only later, about the eighth or ninth century, at 
 which time, the prayers wont to be recited for the 
 dead at night, and which on that account were called 
 VigilioB, received the substituted name of Office for 
 the Dead. However, the holy practice of praying at 
 night remained in full vigour in the monastic orders, 
 in which the night office, the JMatins with the Lauds, 
 divided the night into four parts, not unlike the divi- 
 sion of military watches to which the Evangelist St. 
 Matthew alludes in the fact of the apparition of 
 Jesus walking on the waters.* 
 
 But then the laity, too, were admitted to take part 
 in the divine Psalmody. Many, both men and 
 
 ' Lib. ii. c. ii. and vi. ' Chap. iv. p. 99. 
 
 ' See the 25th sermon among those falsoly attributed to St. Augus- 
 tine. 
 
 * Matt. xiv. 25. Cf. St. Jerome's Cummentaiv in this place. 
 
PEOCESSIONS OF THE STATIONS rgS 
 
 women, had a scruple to be absent therefrom, and we 
 read of Charlemagne that he would take an active 
 part in the divine office, nay, that he would preside 
 and survey the orderly recitation of the same. 
 
 14. After the discipline in regard to Stations had 
 thus been regulated by St. Gregory, the custom pre- 
 vailed that, on the approaching of a festival, the 
 faithful should be admonished to meet, early in the 
 morning of that day, in some special church, where 
 prayers were to be recited and mass celebrated, and 
 this first meeting was called the Collecta, or gather- 
 ing. Then they all proceeded in due order to the 
 Church of the Station, where the Solemn Mass was 
 sung, and the Homily took place. This church was 
 later on called by the foreign name of Galilcea, 
 possibly in allusion to the promise of our Lord, that 
 He would be seen by the disciples in Galilee.^ 
 
 1 5. And as we mentioned processions, it will per- 
 haps not be without interest to some of our readers, 
 to know that these had long been in use among the 
 pagans, before the Catholic Church adopted them, 
 as a part of her liturgy. The irpoa-oSoi, as they called 
 them, were supplications made by them, whilst they 
 repaired to the altars of the gods. Plato in his laws 
 orders that such processions and pomps should be 
 performed in honour of the gods : TrpoaoSovi koI ■jrofj.irai 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 7, 10. But it is difficult to assign any satisfactory 
 reason for tMs denomination. In subsequent times, the name Galilee 
 was given to a portico wliicli was usually built at or near tlie west end 
 of the great abbey churches, as can be seen at the western extremity 
 both of Durham and Ely Cathedrals. 
 
196 EVOLUTION 
 
 Oeoi? TToieiadat. In these processions they used instru- 
 mental music, dancing, torches and singing of hymns, 
 which Athenagoras appropriately called -n-poa-oSiaixeXri. 
 
 The Christians, too, sang in their processions ; but 
 what they mostly sang were the litanies, so called 
 from the Greek word Xiraveuai, " to pray earnestly." ^ 
 These litanies consisted of the invocation of many 
 saints and martyrs, especially those of a local in- 
 terest. They usually began with the Greek words 
 Kvpie e\e>]crov, Lord have mercy on us, which words 
 were no less in use among the Jews than among the 
 Christians. They were familiar also to pagan ears, 
 and St. Austin remarks^ that this invocation was 
 common to Latins as well as to barbarians. 
 
 These processions, with the invocations in the form 
 of litanies which accompanied them, in course of 
 time took the name of Rogations. These are still in 
 use in the Catholic Church on the feast of St. Mark, 
 and on three consecutive days previous to the festival 
 of the Ascension of our Lord. The former are still 
 qualified as major Litanies in the Roman Missal, and 
 are commonly attributed to St. Gregory ; the latter 
 minor Litanies, and their author is usually said by 
 ecclesiastical writers to have been St. ]\Limertus, the 
 illustrious Bishop of Vienne in Gaul. HoAvever, not 
 a few among the ecclesiastical writers assign to them 
 a more ancient institution, and account for the dis- 
 tinction into major and minor from the greater or 
 lesser assistance of the faithful ; while other writers 
 
 ' See Bona, l)iv. Psalmodia, c. 25, met. 31, n. 2. " Ep. 178. 
 
INDULGENCES ATTACHED TO THE STATIONS 197 
 
 do not hesitate to trace back the origin of this dis- 
 tinction to pagan usages and institutions.^ 
 
 16. Now, to come back to the point in question, 
 the pilgrims, in coming to Eome, often had for their 
 object to assist at the Stations, and perform with the 
 faithful the annexed devotions. Thus, to quote one 
 fact, when Charlemagne went to Eome for the first 
 time, in the year 774, he made it a point to assist at 
 the solemn mass which the Pope himself celebrated 
 on Easter Sunday in St. Mary Major's, on Easter 
 Monday in St. Peter's, and on Easter Tuesday in St. 
 Paul's Outside the Walls, which days are to the 
 present time the days assigned for the Stations in 
 these churches. 
 
 To these Stations copious Indulgences have been 
 successively annexed by the Sovereign Pontiffs. It 
 would be difficult, not to say impossible, to ascertain 
 the date of the different concessions. Like so many 
 other institutions, this off"set of ecclesiastical liturgy, 
 which now has put forth such mighty and vigorous 
 shoots and blossoms, springing forth from the grain of 
 mustard seed sown in this world by the Son of God 
 Himself,^ is rooted at a considerable depth in the 
 ground of time. The grant of Indulgences in connec- 
 tion with the Stations is so ancient, that the Church 
 in times gone by strictly forbade any catalogues of 
 the same to be published, as it was not possible to 
 
 1 See the Isagoge lAturgica inserted in vol. ix. of the Maurinian edi- 
 tion of the works of St. Gregory the Great, Venice, 1772. 
 ^ Matt. xiii. 31. 
 
198 EVOLUTION 
 
 check them by the original documents.^ At last, 
 Pius VI., by his decree of the 9th July 1777,^ ap- 
 proved a new regulation of these Indulgences which 
 had been previously drawn up by the Sacred Con- 
 gregation of Indulgences after careful study and 
 mature deliberation. ^ 
 
 17. Lastly, in connection with the tradition on 
 Indulgences in the first part of the Middle Ages, can 
 be mentioned the foundations which the faithful 
 made of churches, monasteries, and hospices for 
 pilgrims, homes for the poor, and hospitals for the 
 sick. The world at large is still covered with such 
 pious institutions. Even in countries rebellious to 
 the Church, the efforts to substitute humane socie- 
 ties for Christian guilds and brotherhoods, platonic 
 philanthropy for real genuine and supernatural 
 charity, have not been able to root out all such 
 charitable foundations. 
 
 Eome, of all places, was the centre where all these 
 different institutions could be seen, inspired by the 
 same spirit, illumined by the same faith, bound up 
 together by the same bonds of divine love ; and the 
 eternal city was, as it is still now, notwithstanding 
 the furious blast, a delicious garden, planted with all 
 the variety of home-bred and exotic flowers, whose 
 aromatic perfumes are wafted through the air, under 
 a sun of eternal spring. 
 
 Here, indeed, every need and infirmity of life had 
 
 1 Deer, autli. n. 12. 2 u^.gci. awth. i. n. 313. 
 
 " Beringi'r, " Les Indulgences," t. i. p. 423. 
 
PIOUS FOUNDATIONS AND INDULGENCES 199 
 
 been met with a corresponding charity. There were 
 hospitals for every kind of disease, and men who 
 volunteered their services ; there were original en- 
 dowments for marriageable girls, and pensions for 
 the aged; asylums for orphans, and homes for the 
 blind ; free schools for the learning of different trades, 
 and colleges for the education of young levites, from 
 all nations ; shelters for pilgrims from every part of 
 the world, and as many guilds as there are trades 
 for the requirements of life. There were no poor 
 rates, but voluntary benefactors were never wanting ;, 
 the poor felt no reluctance in knocking at doors, 
 over which the Gospel device was written, as the 
 invariable motto of the inmates : " The charity of 
 Christ presseth us," ^ and they could stretch out their 
 hands without the blush of shame on their face, to 
 receive that alms for which they, the door-keepers of 
 heaven, could in return introduce their benefactors 
 into the " everlasting dwellings." ^ 
 
 Now, the motive which prompted the erection of 
 these pious establishments was, for the greater part, 
 that their founders might thereby provide for their 
 souls' future state : in remedium animce sucb. 
 
 This clause usually appears in connection with 
 these pious foundations. Thus, to quote only one 
 instance. Flavins Belisarius, the glorious general of 
 Justinian, who alone would have sufficed to make 
 illustrious that Emperor's fame, who freed Italy 
 from the domination of the Goths, and ruled it 
 1 2 Cor. V. 14. "' Luke xvi. 9. 
 
200 EVOLUTION 
 
 with imperial power — Belisarius is recorded to have 
 built a Xenodochium or hospital on the Flaminian 
 Way, with an adjoining oratory dedicated to the 
 Mother of God, under the title of Sancta Maria 
 in Trivio, which is still extant. A writer of the 
 eleventh or twelfth century has recorded in the 
 Latin epigraphic style of that epoch, the motives 
 which prompted the noble patrician, Belisarius, to 
 build the church. Namely, it was to obtain the 
 pardon of his sins ; wherefore any one entering the 
 sacred temple is earnestly requested to pray to God 
 that He may have mercy on his soul. 
 
 HANC VIR PATRICIVS VILISARIV8 VEBIS AMICVS 
 
 OB CVLPAE VENIAM CONDIDIT ECCLBSIAM 
 
 HANO HIO CIRCO PEDEM 8ACRAM QVI PONIS IN AEDEM 
 
 VT MISERETVB EVM SAEPB PREOARE DEVM 
 
 lANVA HAEC EST TBMPLI DOMINO DEFEN8A POTEXTI ^ 
 
 Such foundations then were made by the penitents 
 with the confident trust, that they could serve as 
 a release to their souls oppressed by sin — not, in- 
 deed, to take away the guilt thereof, for that is the 
 work of contrition and absolution only ; nor to cure 
 their evil habits, for that is done only by contrary 
 acts, but to avert that punishment to which, accord- 
 ing to Almighty God's justice, the sinful soul is 
 obnoxious. St. Peter Damian confirms this inter- 
 pretation of such a practice. " When we receive," 
 says he,^ " from the penitents a plot of land, we 
 
 ' See Armellini, Le Chiese di l^oraa. Roma, 1S91, p. 277. 
 ^ Lib. iv. op. 21. 
 
PIOUS FOUNDATIONS AND INDULGENCES 201 
 
 remit them a quantity of their penance proportionate 
 to their gift." 
 
 Now, this was a common practice at that time, as 
 the saint's words indicate. The Church knew it, 
 and did not oppose it ; she must then, unless we 
 accuse her of deceiving her children, have ratified 
 these remittals of penances ; and as what she looses 
 on earth is loosened also in heaven, these remittals 
 must have been valid also in the sight of God. 
 In a word, through that means also, she granted 
 Indulgences. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 " Take this holy sword, a gift from God, wherewith thou shalt over- 
 throw the adversaries of my people Israel." — 2 Mac. xv. 16. 
 
 FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY" 
 
 The works of man and the worka of God — The Church a work of Gk)d 
 — The Christians of the East — The Popes' concern for them — 
 Urban II. and the first Crusade — The annexed Indulgence — The 
 second Crusade and St. Bernard — Indulgences for the building of 
 churches-^The origin of the Bulla Cruciatm — Indulgences means of 
 promoting works of art — Indulgences for the translation of Eelics 
 — For the Dedication of Churches — Indulgences granted by the 
 Bishops — Bishops apply to the Sovereign Pontiff — Xe'n- motives 
 for granting more copious Indulgences — Henry II.'s penance. 
 
 I. Between the works of man and the works of 
 God there is a marked difference. To the works of 
 his hand man cannot impart the principle of life ; 
 he cannot produce a vital handiwork ; he can at best 
 but imitate the outward aspect of nature's animated 
 beings, their colour, their shape. The effect of his 
 work can only be an inert mass, which, from the 
 moment of its production, begins insensibly to decay, 
 until it utterly perishes. No wonder, for man's 
 power is necessarily finite, and so all his works must 
 iiueds bear on them the stamp of gradual decline, of 
 mortality, and destruction. 
 
 But it is not so with the works of God. lie is 
 
WORKS OF MAN AND WORKS OF GOD 203 
 
 essential life, in whom was life from the beginning. 
 Nay, according to St. Cyril and St. Augustine's read- 
 ing of the third verse of St. John's first chapter, 
 "What was made in Him was life" — S yeyovev iv 
 avTcp ^w^ ^v. All created things before they were 
 made, that is from all eternity, had their being in 
 the mind of God, not only full of life, but living 
 God's own life.-' 
 
 And when the appointed time came, creatures 
 came out of His hands as He had decreed. On the 
 more noble ones, endowed with vital power from 
 within, the Divine blessing was conferred, as a token 
 of lasting fecundity : " Increase and multiply." ^ 
 
 If the Church, then, is but a mere human institu- 
 tion, we must resign ourselves to see it gradually 
 decline and fall away from its first beauty and splen- 
 dour, like those magnificent cathedrals which no art 
 of man can preserve from decay ; we must own 
 that it received its finishing stroke and reached its 
 utmost perfection in the time of Christ and His 
 Apostles, but that since then to the end of time, 
 it must be subjected to a continual falling away 
 from its first grandeur, until it crumbles into dust 
 and vanishes away. 
 
 2. But the Church is not the work of man, it is 
 the work of God. Indeed it is one of the noblest 
 works that, in the spiritual order, has ever come out 
 of His hands. It then must bear an impress of His 
 
 1 St. Thomas, Summa Theol. P. I. q. xviii. a. 4. 
 2 Gen. i. 28. 
 
204 " DIEU LE VEUT " 
 
 life, not reflected in its outward structure only, but 
 pervading and quickening its inmost constitution ; 
 pouring incessantly into its veins a luxuriant stream 
 of health-giving blood, flowing into it from the 
 sacred wound of the dying Saviour's side, and daily 
 supplied by the renewal of His death on our altars. 
 
 Now if the Church is thus a divine institution, 
 living a supernatural and unending life, it must 
 have, like all living creatures, its natural growth, 
 its gradual progress, its increasing development ; and 
 this growth, this progress, this development, is the 
 principle of new and more vigorous actions, and 
 numerous operations, as the works of a man in his 
 mature years surpass in number and in vigour those 
 of his infancy. 
 
 And that the Church is thus, in virtue of the prin- 
 ciple of life infused into it, a growing body, is made 
 manifest by our blessed Lord Himself who, under 
 the appellation of the Kingdom of Heaven, likens 
 it to "a grain of mustard seed, which a man took 
 and sowed in his field, ivhich is the least indeed of 
 all seeds, but when it is grown up, it is gveate)' than 
 all herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of 
 the air come and dwell in the branches thereof."^ 
 
 No wonder, then, that the Church should, in the 
 course of time, have magnified her own actions, 
 aggrandised her own institutions ; that, to her wail- 
 ings in the Catacombs, should have succeeded the 
 glad song of triumph in the Basilicas ; that she 
 
 '■ Mali. xiii. 31, 32. 
 
THE CHUECH A WORK OF GOD 205 
 
 should begin to run her course as a giant, who before 
 was bound in swaddling clothes ; that she, who once 
 was compelled to take refuge in the very bowels of 
 the earth, should now appear in the full light of day, 
 surrounded with " all the glory of the King's daugh- 
 ter, in golden borders, clothed round about with 
 varieties."^ 
 
 It was natural to expect, and so it came to pass, 
 that, as time went on, and the Church grew stronger, 
 she should have developed and strengthened her 
 doctrine, marked out her liturgy, fixed her discipline, 
 in a word, that she should have asserted her own 
 authority, by a more ample and spontaneous exercise 
 of the power given her by Jesus Christ. 
 
 And so we shall not wonder if, in the matter of 
 Indulgences, we see the Church, in the new epoch we 
 are going to consider, enlarge upon what she had 
 hitherto practised, lay open the sacred coffers com- 
 mitted to her care, and lavish her riches upon her 
 children, with indeed queen-like generosity. 
 
 As she censured new errors, and defined new 
 dogmas in her councils ; as she decreed the erection 
 of new bishoprics, and fixed the rights of bishops ; 
 as she began to possess territory of her own, and thus 
 gave rise to a new temporal principality ; as she 
 mitigated, or tolerated the going into disuse of old 
 penances, and established new ones, so also did she 
 grant Pardons, or Indulgences in a new form, and 
 with new liberality, and thus made it more easy for 
 
 ^ Ps. xliv. 14, 15. 
 
2o6 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 the faithful to atone for the debt incurred by their 
 sins, relaxing the rigour of penances without a dimi- 
 nution of their value. 
 
 This is what the new period we enter upon, which 
 dates from the time of the Crusades, and comes down 
 to the time of the first solemn Jubilee, will, we trust, 
 abundantly illustrate. In this epoch we shall see 
 that, if the Church had hitherto been sparing of the 
 satisfactions of Christ and of His saints, she now began 
 to apply them with greater facility, and magnified her 
 bounty into generosity. If, hitherto, she had exacted 
 long and severe penances before she would again 
 admit the sinner to her communion, and had seldom 
 relaxed but portions of them, now she declared her- 
 self satisfied with a prayer, an almsgiving, a visit 
 to a sanctuary, an enrolling oneself in the Christian 
 armies for the rescue of the Holy Land, freely remit- 
 ting, in the name of Christ, the rest of the penance 
 to be performed. 
 
 She had possessed the power to do so from the 
 very beginning of her institution, but the time had 
 not yet come for her to exercise the fulness of that 
 power. He who watches the growth of the smallest 
 herb among His Creation, and has decreed the time 
 when it shall bloom forth and produce its seed, had 
 also designed that the Crusades should be the starting- 
 point of a new era, an era of mercy and of grace for 
 men, when the Church should pour forth the accumu- 
 lated satisfactions of Christ and of His Saints, for 
 the remission of men's sins. 
 
THE CHRISTIANS OF THE EAST 207 
 
 3. At the epoch to which our perusal of the 
 Church's history has brought us, viz., the second half 
 of the eleventh century, the eyes of the Western 
 Church were anxiously turned towards her sister of 
 the East. 
 
 There was more in that look than a sister's com- 
 passion, there was a mother's solicitous care ; there 
 were pangs and throes, as it were of child-bearing. 
 The Holy Land had fallen into the hands of the 
 sworn enemies of Christ. The spots once hallowed 
 by the presence of the Saviour, and consecrated 
 by the sweat of His brow, those cities once the 
 scenes of His love for men, and the silent witnesses 
 of His tender mercies, had now become tributaries of 
 the Crescent. The churches erected in memory of 
 our Lord's mysteries had been turned into pagan 
 temples, wherein an infamous and superstitious 
 worship was paid to the devil, and nameless abomina- 
 tions were daily committed. To speak only of the 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it was polluted by the 
 orgies of the Mussulmans, whilst many among the 
 other churches served as stables for horses. 
 
 The Christians were not better treated than the 
 Holy Places. If the Mussulman did not respect the 
 temples built of stone and mortar, why should he 
 respect Christ's own living members ? Had not 
 Mohammed sworn a war to the death against the 
 followers of Jesus ? 
 
 And so, the Christians of the Holy Land were 
 overpowered by a cruel tyranny, oppressed with 
 
2o8 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 taxes, treated with scorn, abused and reviled in 
 sundry ways. Children were taken and constrained 
 to apostatise, and if they refused they were put to 
 death ; priests and deacons were slaughtered in sanc- 
 tuaries, and the holiness of consecrated virgins was 
 not safe, even in the recesses of their cloistered 
 walls. 
 
 Eumours of this ill-treatment were continuously 
 wafted from the East to the "West, from Jerusalem to 
 Eome, from Nazareth and Bethlehem to Milan and 
 Lyons. The numerous pilgrims who came back from 
 their journey of redemption, told their fellow-men in 
 mournful accents, what they had suffered, and what 
 greater evils the native Christians had to endure ; 
 and there was through the West an upheaval of 
 indignation, mixed with a yearning for speedy 
 vengeance. 
 
 4. To such a cry of misery, the Popes could not 
 remain indifferent. They knew the evil, and they 
 felt it, as a father feels the sufferings of his children ; 
 and their one great wish was that they might relieve 
 their flock from such a state of oppression and 
 bondage. 
 
 The Church had not yet entered into the second mil- 
 lennium of her existence, and one of the successors 
 of St. Peter, who united with a fatherly solicitude 
 for the welfare of Christians, a perfect knowledge of 
 philosophy and mathematics, Sylvester II. ( -f- 1003), 
 better known as the famous monk Gerbert, the once 
 illustrious prcecptor of kings and emperors, felt his 
 
THE CHRISTIANS OF THE EAST 209 
 
 heart break within him, at the thought of the hard 
 captivity endured in the East by so many children of 
 the Gospel. The West was then a prey to religious 
 wars and civil dissensions ; nevertheless, Sylvester 
 shrunk not before the idea of sending throughout 
 Christendom an encyclical letter to princes and 
 nations, urging them to rise as one man and come tO' 
 the rescue of the Christians, suffering in the East. 
 His voice did not find. an echo in the selfish West ; 
 however, the world was shaken, and to Sylvester is 
 due the glory of having been the first to speak to 
 the world in favour of his Eastern children. 
 
 Three-fourths of a century elapsed, and another 
 Pope, second to none of his predecessors in virtue and 
 courage, attempted to revive the dying spark which 
 Sylvester II. had kindled in favour of the Christians 
 of Jerusalem. St. Gregory VII. , the renowned Hilde- 
 brand, attempted (1074) to jouse European princes 
 to this work. Waiving the differences which had 
 set him at variance with Henry IV., Emperor of 
 Germany, he wrote him a letter, in which he de- 
 scribed, in a vivid manner, the pitiful state of the 
 Christians of the East, and what vexations they were 
 exposed to at the hands of the Mussulman despots. 
 
 The Pope added that already he had sent nume- 
 rous letters to the Christian princes, begging them 
 earnestly to lend him their help in such an important 
 enterprise, and that many of them had not hesitated 
 to answer his call, being willing to assist him in the 
 holy undertaking. He then urged the Emperor ta 
 
2 10 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 do the same ; and to encourage him the more, pro- 
 tested that he would be happy to go in person, and 
 fight for the deliverance of the Holy Places, and of 
 the Christians of Palestine. 
 
 But it was not in the destinies of Providence that 
 the great Pontiff, whom so many works had already 
 made illustrious, should add to his name the glory of 
 initiating the Crusades. Twenty-one years elapsed 
 after the writing of this letter. During this time, the 
 sympathies of the faithful were strengthened with 
 regard to the state of their Eastern brethren. The 
 hearts and minds of all were burning with a holy 
 zeal of hastening to the rescue of the tomb of Christ, 
 •or dying in the saving combat. Only a favourable 
 occasion was wanted for the ever-gro'^'ing flame to 
 burst out into open blaze. 
 
 5. The moment came, and it fell to the lot of 
 another successor of St. Peter, Urban II., to add to 
 the lustre of his Pontificate the glory of becoming the 
 mainspring and organiser of the Crusades. It does 
 not fall within our purpose to speak at length of 
 these expeditions. Much could be said to vindicate 
 these bold and noble enterprises from the calumnies 
 of which they have been the object. Such writers as 
 are wont to judge of a work by its effects, or to 
 reckon others' ardour by their own coldness, will not 
 see in the Crusades anything but the swelling of 
 fanatic enthusiasm, and a door opened to licentious- 
 ness and to the relaxation of morals, similar to those 
 observers whose judgment of a noble monument 
 
THE FIRST CRUSADE 211 
 
 is guided only by the consideration of some defective 
 details. 
 
 For us, apart from the result of these enterprises, 
 and the defects inherent to every human institution, 
 we cannot but recognise in the motives that prompted 
 these immense levies of men, and in the disinterested- 
 ness with which these brave knights left the comforts 
 of their homes, the signs of a generosity of heart 
 and of a quickness of faith which is the greatest 
 praise of the character, both civil and religious, of 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
 However, the Crusades, acknowledged unanimously 
 by the people to be God's holy will, are among those 
 events ordained by Divine Providence to be, for the 
 Church, a means of asserting her vitality, of tending 
 to fuller growth, and to an ampler display of her 
 discipline. 
 
 The man whom the Holy Ghost had chosen to 
 be the promoter of this work, was Peter the Hermit. 
 While at Jerusalem on a pilgrimage, he had heard 
 the burning words of Simeon, Patriarch of that city, 
 asking for help from the West. Our Divine Saviour 
 Himself, tradition relates, had spoken to him whilst 
 he was praying in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
 "Arise, Peter," He had said, "and hasten to preach 
 the Crusade, for I shall be with thee." 
 
 He came to Clermont, where a council of two 
 hundred bishops was being held {1095), gave the 
 Pope an account of his mission, and with his blessing 
 began to preach the Crusade. His first harangue was 
 
212 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 addressed to the Council. His zeal acted like an 
 electric current. The Pope was singularly moved. 
 He rose up in the council, and, by a pathetic discourse, 
 roused the clergy and princes assembled, and all with 
 one voice exclaimed, Dieu le veut, " It is God's will." 
 
 But, for the labours of this holy enterprise the 
 Pope granted a compensation. He took it out of 
 the treasury of the Church. He declared in the 
 council that he remitted, to those who would take 
 up arms against the infidels, the penance due to 
 their sins, and to those who would die in the combat, 
 the pardon of their sins and life eternal. 
 
 The decision was formulated in the second canon 
 of this council in these words: " AYhoever shall go 
 to Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God, out of 
 pure devotion, and not for the purpose of obtaining 
 honour or money, let the journey be counted in lieu 
 of all penance." ^ 
 
 Every one knows the effect which this promise 
 produced on the assembly. All on the spot declared 
 the Crusade to be God's work, and swore to take the 
 Cross. The electric current, bursting from within the 
 assembly, overspread the whole of France, of Ger- 
 many, of England, of Italy — the haughty nobleman 
 and the humble peasant, the warlike knight and the 
 contemplative monk, mingling together in one mightv 
 army, with one design, that of freeing the Holy Places. 
 
 ^ " Quicumque pro sola devotione, noii pro honoris vel pecuniro 
 adeptione ad liberandam Ecck'siain Dei Jerusalem profectus fuerit, 
 iter illud pro omni ]nruil,entia reputetiir." Ooiic. Clarnmont, Man?!, 
 Saor. ('(inc. Nov. et Ampl. Colleet. Yen. 1775, t. xx. p. 816. 
 
THE ANNEXED INDULGENCE 213 
 
 with, one hope of reward, that of obtaining the re- 
 mission of the debt due to their sins. 
 
 It was a marvellous sight to see those hundreds of 
 thousands of men leaving the comforts of their home, 
 the company of their friends, and undertaking, with 
 the badge of salvation on their breast, a long and 
 perilous journey, with no other hope than that of 
 atoning for their past transgressions, with no other 
 pay than the Indulgence. 
 
 6. Doubtless, the Spirit of God must have been 
 with His Church, in inspiring her with this action of 
 opening her spiritual treasury, and alluring thereby 
 the faithful to go to the rescue of the Holy Places. 
 Otherwise, we must confess that He allowed the whole 
 Church to fall into error — the pastors by teaching 
 falsehood, the faithful by believing it. For we do not 
 read that any one contested the action of the Church, 
 protested against the right of the Pope, or at least 
 denounced the Indulgence as scandalous and a source 
 of relaxation. It is true that some, in the course of 
 time, made use of the Crusades for selfish ends, and 
 even for unlawful purposes ; but not for such as 
 these was the Indulgence, nor could their wickedness 
 taint and sully that which was essentially good. 
 
 In reality, this concession of the entire remission 
 of the canonical penance, as well as of the punish- 
 ment due to the justice of God on account of sin, was 
 but the confirmation of a right which the Church 
 had always possessed, but which she exercised in 
 different manners, according to the differences of 
 
214 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 times and places. There was no innovation in the 
 matter ; the form of concession alone varied, as we 
 have seen it varying, from the time of persecution to 
 the times of peace which succeeded. 
 
 The concession was more ample, for seldom had 
 the Church granted to penitents a full remission of 
 their penance. But here, was granted the remission 
 of the whole penance due to sins up to the time of 
 the departure of the pilgrims, and in case of death 
 the pardon of their sins and life eternal, viz., the 
 remission of the debt contracted until the moment of 
 death, provided, of course, the Crusader died in thr 
 grace of G-od.^ 
 
 Nor will it be objected that there was not a suflS- 
 cient motive for granting this Indulgence. The 
 work was one of great importance. It redounded 
 directly to the honour and glory of God, and to 
 the eood of His Church. It was difficult of exeeu- 
 tion, and entailed many sacrifices, and the Church 
 would show herself more generous than she had 
 ever been, by applying more abundantly to the 
 noble Crusader the wealth of the satisfactions of 
 Christ. And as the proud minds and unsubdued 
 hearts of these Northern men could not easily be 
 brought to go through the regular course of tears, 
 fastings, and prostrations enjoined bv the sacred 
 canons, the Church would count the energy, strength, 
 and valour they displayed for the cause of Christ, 
 as a suffii'icnt substitution, and grant the Crusader 
 
 ' Syiiddalis Cimcio I'lliani Pp. IT. Mansi, ibid,, p. 821. 
 
THE SECOND CEUSADE 215 
 
 a full and ample pardon in consideration of what he 
 had already done, and in the hope that he would 
 achieve still greater things. 
 
 Who will find fault with the Church? Who. 
 will accuse her of squandering the Precious Blood 
 of Jesus ? Indeed, if ever there was a reason for 
 making such ample distribution, it was certainly ia 
 these circumstances. If ever the satisfactions of 
 Christ found a generous soil in which to be sown, it 
 was the burning hearts of those noble knights, for 
 whom life was as nothing, provided the Sepulchre of 
 the Saviour was set free. 
 
 7. St. Bernard was the preacher of the second 
 crusade (1146). The eloquent Abbot of Clairvaux 
 has left us, in some of his epistles, unequivocal 
 expressions of the sentiments of esteem which he 
 had for Indulgences.-^ In his letter to the bishop,, 
 clergy, and people of Spiers, in Bavaria, he warmly 
 exhorts them to join the Crusades, alluring them by 
 the promised Indulgence. 
 
 Commenting upon this text of St. Paul to the 
 Corinthians,^ "Behold now is the acceptable time, 
 behold now is the day of (plentiful) salvation," St. 
 Bernard says :, "I say to you. The Lord your God is 
 tempting you. He looks down upon the children of 
 men, if perchance there be any that understand and 
 
 ' Ep. 322, according to tlie Paris edition, but 363 in Edit. Venet.^ 
 1750. According to tMs edition of the works of St. Bernard, com- 
 piled by Horstius and Mabillon, tbe letter is entitled : " To the Clergy- 
 and People of Eastern France." 
 
 2 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 
2i6 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 make inquiries, and bewail their state. For the Lord 
 hath mercy on His people, and to those who have 
 grievously fallen. He sets forth a wholesome remedy. 
 
 " Sinners, despair not, the Lord is gracious. Had 
 He wished to punish you, not only would He not 
 have asked for your services, but He would not 
 have accepted them even when ofifered. 
 
 " Again, I say unto you, consider the riches of 
 the goodness of God : observe the design of His 
 compassion. He makes Himself needy, or feigns to 
 be so, being merely desirous to supply your wants. 
 He wishes to be held as a debtor, that He may 
 give a recompense to those that fight for Him — the 
 remission of their offences and the grant of ever- 
 lasting glory. Blessed then do I call the genera- 
 tion which is visited by such a fruitful season of 
 Indulgence, and which is found living in a year so 
 peaceable on the part of the Lord, and which is 
 so truly a Jubilee. This blessing is, in fact, dilfused 
 throughout the whole world, and all emulously ^y 
 to the sign of life. 
 
 " Thou hast now, valiant soldier, brave warrior, 
 an opportunity of fighting without danger : here 
 to win is glory, and to die is gain. If thou be 
 a discreet and industrious merchant, if thou be a 
 trafficker of this world, behold great goods do I show 
 thee, take heed lest they perish. 
 
 " Eeceive the sign of the Cross, and thou shalt 
 likewise ol)tain the Indulf/cnce of all thou hast con- 
 Jessed with- a rontrite hart." 
 
ST. BEENAED ON INDULGENCES 217 
 
 Here, we have the last father of the Church speak- 
 ing in most eulogistic words of the Indulgences 
 granted by the Popes to Crusaders. Like St. Cyprian 
 and the fathers of the Council of Trent, he recom- 
 mends true contrition and humble confession as an 
 essential condition for gaining the Indulgence. For 
 no man, as we have said, can obtain from God the 
 remission of the penalty due to his sins, unless he 
 be contrite for them, and unless he come, like those 
 that believed at the preaching of St. Paul, "con- 
 fessing and declaring his deeds." ^ 
 
 In several other places of his writings, the holy 
 Abl)ot of Clairvaux speaks with similar emphasis of 
 Pardons and Indulgences. " Fearing for the multi- 
 tude of my iniquities, but trusting in Thy mercy, I 
 confess to thee, my Creator and Eedeemer, who hast 
 promised that after guilt, pardon and indulgence 
 shall be obtained through a pure and humble con- 
 fession ; for in sins was I conceived, in sins was I 
 brought up, and in sins have I conversed for the 
 whole of my life up to the present day." ^ And fur- 
 ther, " He that truly repents and is really sorry, wUl 
 undoubtedly and without delay obtain indulgence." ^ 
 
 8. The Crusades mark a new epoch in the history 
 of Indulgences. That outburst of faith on the part 
 of Christians urged the Church to be more liberal 
 towards her children, and to fling open to them the 
 
 * Acts xix. 18. 
 
 ' Tract, de Interiori Domo., cap. xix. Ed. Mabillon. 
 
 2 Cap. xxi. 
 
2i8 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 treasures which had been committed to her. It 
 made her the more conscious of the existence of a 
 power which had lain, as it were, half dormant in her 
 Ijosom, and which she had hitherto but scantily and 
 reservedly exercised. From this time forward, we 
 shall see the gradual unfolding of this power prompted 
 by her charity and compassion for poor human nature. 
 
 At this time, then, her motives for granting In- 
 dulgences became more varied and numerous. For 
 instance, the contributing towards a public work 
 from which much good was expected, the taking 
 part in a war against infidels, the building of a 
 sanctuary, the dedication of a church, the canonisa- 
 tion of a saint, or the translation of a relic, were 
 taken as so many occasions for granting Indulgences 
 to the faithful. 
 
 In 1 1 18, Ildephonsus or Alphonsus, King of Aragon, 
 recovered after a great battle the city of Saragossa 
 from the Moors, who had held it for the space of 
 nearly four hundred years. His first care was for 
 the restoration of religion in a city which had once 
 been illustrious among all in Spain, for its glorious 
 phalanx of martyrs and its special devotion to the 
 Mother of God. In consequence, Peter Libranus 
 was elected Bishop, and was by the King sent to the 
 Roman PontiS", Gelasius II., to be consecrated bj" him. 
 
 The Pope welcomed with special kindness the 
 Bishop-elect, consecrated him with his own hands, 
 and delivered to him letters in favour of the Chris- 
 tian army which was fighting against the infidels. 
 
INDULGENCES FOE BUILDING CHURCHES 219 
 
 In these letters, tlie Pope granted, through the merits 
 of the saints and the prayers of the whole Catholic 
 Church, an Indulgence to those who, having received 
 penance, would die in this expedition.^ An Indul- 
 gence was likewise granted to those who would work 
 towards the restoration of the Church of Saragossa, 
 or who would contribute an alms towards the main- 
 tenance of the clergy. 
 
 As the Papal Brief left it to the discretion of the 
 Bishops to fix the extent of the Indulgence in pro- 
 portion to the good works accomplished, Peter 
 Libranus, on his return to Saragossa, sent by his 
 Archdeacon Miorrand an encyclical letter to the 
 Catholics of the whole world, apprising them of the 
 miserable state of his Church, and urging them to 
 generosity by the promise of holy Indulgences. 
 "Eelying on the divine clemency," says the Bishop, 
 " and on the authority of our Lord Gelasius, Pope 
 (you shall find, here above written, a copy of the 
 letters of the Cross, which we keep under seal in 
 our Church), and of our Lord Bernard, Archbishop 
 of Toledo, and of the Legate of the Holy Eoman 
 Church, and of all the bishops of Spain, we remit 
 ... of penance." ^ The blank was to be filled by 
 each bishop, according to his discretion. 
 
 1 " Si quis vestrum, acoepta de peocatis suis pcenitentia, in expedi- 
 tione hao mortuiis fuerit, nos eum sanctorum meritis et totius Catholicre 
 Ecolesise precibus a suorum vinculis peooatorum absolvimus." Baronius 
 A.D. 1118, n. xviii., who for the taking of Saragossa gives the erroneous 
 date 1 1 15. 
 
 2 " Nos eis divina dementia ac Domini Gelasii Papee auctoritate freti 
 (exemplar litterarum Crucis, quas in nostra- Ecclesia signatas habemus. 
 
2 20 "DIEULEVEUT" 
 
 9. It is to be remarked that the Pope's Bull is 
 styled in Peter's encyclical letter, "the letters of 
 the Cross " — litterce crucis. This denomination, and 
 the purport of the letter, have led grave authors to 
 trace to this fact the origin of that which has become 
 so famous in the annals of the Church of Spain, from 
 the second half of the sixteenth century down to the 
 present day, under the name of " Bulla Cruciatoe" 
 the Crusade Bull. 
 
 This Bull, a true summary of privileges repeatedly 
 granted by the Sovereign Pontiffs to the Kings of 
 Spain in favour of their subjects, may be said to be 
 based on the principles of the letter of Pope 
 Gelasius II. to the Bishop of Saragossa. For, the 
 Crusade Bull, though emanating from the Eoman 
 Pontiffs, is entrusted for its execution to one of the 
 Prelates of Spain, habitually the Archbishop of 
 Toledo, to whom it belongs to fix the quantity of 
 the good work to be performed ; and it is granted 
 in favour of those who either go in person to fight 
 for the liberty of the Church from her ^Mussulman 
 enemies, or who, being themselves unable to go to 
 war, do so by deputy, or again contribute an alms 
 towards the same purpose or towards some equi- 
 valent work of devotion, appointed liv the Com- 
 missary of the Crusade Bull. 
 
 But, as it habitually happens in similar matters, 
 
 in sujjrasii'ipta pagina soriptuiu invonietis) atque P. Bornardi Arcln- 
 prEesulis Toletani, et Sancto) liom.mce Ecclositu Loguti, ae omnium 
 Episcoporum ]IiK]ianiaj . . , puuifoiilico ivmittimus." — Ibid. n. xix. 
 
OEIGIlSr OF THE " BULLA CEUCIAT^ " 221 
 
 this privilege, in course of time, became more com- 
 prehensive, and extended over a wider range of 
 persons. To the Indulgences which alone were at 
 first contained in the Bull, other, boons were gra- 
 dually added, so that, though numerically one, it is 
 virtually complex. In its more ample form, besides 
 a special grant of Indulgences for the living and 
 the dead, and, under special conditions, a formal 
 participation in the goods of the Church, it compre- 
 hends a partial or total exemption from the effects 
 of an interdict, a dispensation from fasting and 
 abstinence, a greater facility for obtaining absolu- 
 tion from reserved sins, the power of having vows 
 commuted for other good works, and of coming to 
 a composition with regard to ill-gotten property. 
 And this privilege extends to all the provinces which 
 are at present, or formerly were, subject to the King 
 of Spain. It applies even, to persons who repair 
 thither, were it only to avail themselves of the 
 privilege. 
 
 Although the wars against the infidels may be 
 said to have practically ceased, yet the offerings 
 made by the faithful as a condition for availing 
 themselves of the privilege, are not without a holy 
 destination. They are employed chiefly for the 
 maintenance of divine worship; and the "Fabrica" 
 of St. Peter's in Rome, which has daily to face 
 heavy expenses, comes in for a large share of the 
 same. 
 
 Such writers as are ever on the watch for any 
 
222 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 opportunity of maligning the Church and her in- 
 stitutions, have only sfeen in the Crusade Bull a 
 means of raising money for the gratification of her 
 rapacious prelates. Of a difi'erent nature, we trust, 
 would their judgments have been, had they taken 
 the trouble of investigating more closely into the 
 real destination of these treasures. At the sight of 
 the numberless charitable institutions supported b}' 
 these funds, they might have persuaded themselves 
 that if Rome is not ashamed to stretch out one hand 
 to receive, it is only that with the other she may give ; 
 but, faithful to the Master's precept, she does not allow 
 the former to know what the latter has done.^ 
 
 lo. But be this said parenthetically. "\Miat be- 
 longs to our subject now is that Indulgences became 
 the means of building those magnificent churches 
 and cathedrals of the Middle Ages, which are still 
 the wonder of our times. The workmen wanted no 
 other pay. 
 
 When the Friars Servants of Mary had determined 
 to build in Florence a church worthy of the Mother 
 of God, in memory of the miraculous painting of 
 her Annunciation, St. Manettus, the General, went to 
 the Pope, and asked him to grant Indulgences to 
 those who would contribute in some way towards 
 the building of that church. Clement IV. heard his 
 prayer, and granted (1265) twenty days' Indulgence 
 to those who, being truly penitent, and having con- 
 fessed their sins, would help the Servants of Mary 
 
 1 Matt. vi. 3. 
 
INDULGENCES AND WOEKS OF ART 223 
 
 towards that holy work (qui eis ad id manum por- 
 rexerint adjutricem)} 
 
 In the year 1 308 a large fire burst out at St. John 
 Lateran's in Rome, and set on flames both the palace 
 and the church adjoining. All was destroyed, except 
 the Sancta Sanctorum and the wooden altar in the 
 shape of an ark, on which St. Peter had celebrated 
 the sacred mysteries, and which some holy persons 
 had had the courage to save from the destroying 
 fire. The Pope was then Clement V., famous in 
 history for his transfer of the See of Peter from 
 Rome to Avignon, and for the abolition of the Order 
 of Knights-Templar. He thought at once of re- 
 building the Church, and devoted to that efiiect 
 large sums of money. All, without distinction of 
 rank, sex, or condition, took part in the works, 
 and, to encourage them, the Pope granted Indul- 
 gences.^ 
 
 But it would be too long, and beyond the scope of 
 the present work, to enumerate all the sumptuous 
 temples of which the bestowal of papal or episcopal 
 Indulgences was either the determining cause, or at 
 least the prompting motive. England, of all coun- 
 tries, is still scattered over with sumptuous cathe- 
 drals and majestic abbeys. They are the admiration 
 of countrymen and foreigners alike, of Christians and 
 unbelievers. But, had it not been for those spiri- 
 
 ^ Ann. Ord. Serv. B. M. V., t. i. cent. i. 1. iii. c. ix. See Soulier, 
 O. S. M. Storia dei Sette Santi Fondatori dell' Ordine de' Servi di Maria. 
 Eoma, 1888, p. 223. 
 
 2 Fleury, H. E., 1. xci. n. 28. 
 
224 "DIEULEVEUT" 
 
 tual favours by which the Church sweetly prevailed 
 on the noble and on the poor alike to offer, both 
 in their own way, their voluntary contributions 
 towards the building of these imperishable monu- 
 ments, these stones, now so eloquent, would remain, 
 for the greater part, but dumb witnesses of selfish- 
 ness and indolence, like the coffers of gold buried in 
 the cellars of an Indian prince. 
 
 II. The translation of Relics of Saints became also 
 the occasion for granting new Indulgences. Such 
 an event was then a universal cause of rejoicing, 
 and the Church thought she could caU upon those 
 friends of God and ask them to help, out of their 
 abundant funds, their more destitute brethren. 
 
 Matthew of Paris, in his " Chronicon," tells us that, 
 in 1247, the Master of the Knights-Templar and 
 that of the Knights-Hospitaller sent to England, 
 through a Templar, a portion of the Precious Blood 
 of our Blessed Lord, in a vessel of crystal, accom- 
 panied with the attestation of the Patriarch of 
 Jerusalem, and of the Bishops, Abbots, and Lords 
 of Holy Land. King Henry III. received it vdt]i 
 great signs of joy, and sent letters to all the lords 
 of his kingdom, summoning them for the day of the 
 translation of St. Edward, viz., the thirteenth of 
 (Jctober, that they might be present at the procession 
 of the relic. 
 
 The King did on this occasion what his brother-in- 
 law, St. Louis of France, had done to honour the 
 true Cross, He fasted on the eve of the feast, on 
 
INDULGENCES FOR TRANSLATION OF RELICS 225 
 
 bread and water, and on the day itself he solemnly 
 carried the relic from the Cathedral Church of St. 
 Paul, to that of St. Peter at Westminster, to which 
 he gave it. 
 
 The Bishop of Norwich celebrated Mass there, and 
 delivered a sermon in which he related how this relic 
 had long been an object of veneration in Syria, and 
 had been brought to England that it might there be 
 placed in safety, against the outrages of Mahome- 
 dans. He explained from an apocryphal book how 
 St. Joseph of Arimathea, having taken down from 
 the Cross the Sacred Body of Jesus, had carefully 
 collected the Blood from His Sacred Wounds, and the 
 water with which he had washed His Body, and had 
 shared the precious relic with Nicodemus, who helped 
 Joseph in burying Jesus. 
 
 Thus had this sacred deposit been preserved from 
 father to son, untU it had come into the hands 
 of the Patriarch Eobert, who then held the See 
 of Jerusalem, and who had given it to England. 
 He concluded by granting, in the name of all 
 the prelates there present, an Indulgence of six 
 years, and one hundred and forty days to all those 
 who would come and pay honour to the Precious 
 Blood.^ 
 
 It is commonly known that Alexander IV., in the 
 year 1255, wrote to St. Louis, King of France, a Bull 
 praising him for his admirable virtues and fortitude. 
 In this Bull, the Pope grants, to him, to his wife, and 
 
 ^ Fleury, 1. Ixxxii. 66. 
 
2 26 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 to his successors, the privilege of not incurring ex- 
 communication or interdict without a special order 
 from the Holy See. He also grants ten days' Indul- 
 gence to all those who will pray God for the Bang 
 during his lifetime, and after his death, for the space 
 of ten years.^ 
 
 1 2. Next to the Crusades, that which determined 
 on the part of the Church a more plentiful concession 
 of spiritual Indulgences to the faithful, was the solem- 
 nity of the Consecration or Dedication of churches. 
 These are the material temples of the living God, His 
 dwelling-places on earth, at the same time images 
 of the heavenly Jerusalem, and emblems of the faith- 
 ful soul. Therefore, in the dedication of these holy 
 buildings, what the Church considered most was the 
 consecration of the soul to her heavenly Spouse, who 
 has shed all His most precious blood to cleanse and 
 sanctify her, " and espouse her to Himself for ever, 
 in justice and judgment and in mercy and in com- 
 miserations."^ It was, then, just and proper that, 
 on such a recurrence, the Church should open to the 
 faithful the treasury of her Indulgences, whence they 
 might be made fitting ^•essels for the Holv Spirit, 
 that the spiritual temples might be none the less 
 beautiful than the material. 
 
 Indeed, this was no novelty. Such a custom 
 could be traced back to a more remote antiquity. 
 The learned Pope Benedict XIY., in his Constitution 
 "Jam iriilc <i ^)r/»/('s itunis," tells us that, in the 
 
 1 FKury, H. K., I. Ixxxiv. ii. 4. - Osee ii. 19. 
 
FOE THE DEDICATION OF CHUECHES 227 
 
 archives of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, 
 there exists a Bull of Gregory IX., in which a men- 
 tion is made of an Indulgence of one year and forty 
 days, which the Sovereign Pontiff" Sixtus III. (432- 
 440) granted when, after he had rebuilt this Basilica, 
 he consecrated it anew.-' 
 
 This Basilica seems to have been particularly 
 favoured by the largesses of the Sovereign Pontiffs. 
 For, the same Indulgence of one year and forty days 
 is recorded to have been granted by Clement III. 
 (1187-1191) when, on the anniversary of the conse- 
 cration of the church, he laid on the High Altar the 
 consecrated stone. A similar Indulgence was granted 
 by Honorius III. (12 16-1227), from the anniversary 
 of the consecration (5th August) until the octave of 
 the Assumption (22nd August) ; which Indulgence 
 was confirmed by Gregory IX. (i 227-1 241). All this 
 is recorded on an inscription of comparatively recent 
 date, which is to be found near the east end on the 
 right aisle. 
 
 QVISQVIS SACEOSANCTAM LIBERIANAM BASILICAM INGEB 
 DERIS TB MONITVM OPORTET XISTVM III. KO DIE QVO SA 
 CRAM ABDEM CONSECRAVIT VNIVS ANNI ET XL DIERVM 
 CLBMENTBM III. CVM ANNIVERSARIA DIB CONSEORATIONIS 
 EIVSDEM BASILIOAB LAPIDEM SACRO CHRISMATB DELIBVTVM 
 ARAB MAXIMAE IMPOSVIT ITEM VNIVS ANNI BT XL DIERVM 
 INDVLGBNTIAM OMNIBVS QVI BODBM DIE BASILICAM DB 
 VOTE VISITAVERINT C0NCBSSIS8B EAMDBMQVB INDVLGEN 
 TIAM HONORIVM III. AB IPSO FBSTO CONSEORATIONIS VS 
 
 1 On the inscription recording the consecration of this church by 
 Sixtus III., see Origini del Culto alia Addolorata per Fr. Agostino 
 Morini, 0. S. M. Eoma, 1893, p. 64. 
 
22 8 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 QVE AD OCTAVAM ASSVMPTI0NI8 B. MARIAE VIRGINIS PARITER 
 
 CONOESSISSB BIVSMODI VNIV8 ITIDEM ANNI ET XL DIBRVM 
 
 INDVLGENTIAM AB EODEM FE8T0 C0NSECRATI0NI8 V8QVE 
 
 AD EAMDBM A88VMPTAB IN COELVM DBIPARAE OCTAVAM GRE 
 
 G0RIV8 IX. SAORAM BA8ILICAM VISITANTIBV8 CONCE88IT OMNES 
 
 QVB SVPRA MEM0RATA8 INDVLGENTIAS CONFIRMAVIT QVO 
 
 RVM OMNIVM TE8TATIVS MONVMENTVM IN HVIV8 BA8ILICAE TABV 
 
 LAHIO AS8BRVATVR IPSIVS GRBGORII IX. AVTOGRAPHVII DIPLOMA 
 
 DAT. LATBBANI X KAL. IVLII PONTIPICATVS ANNO XIII. 
 
 In the ninth century, this custom of granting In- 
 dulgences on occasion of the Dedication of Churches 
 extended far and wide. St. Leo III., when he visited 
 the Emperor Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle (803), 
 dedicated in his palace the Church of the Blessed Mary 
 ever Virgin, enriching it with many Indulgences. 
 He likewise dedicated a church to the Blessed ^"irgin 
 both at Tongres and at Visetum, besides many others, 
 and endowed them all with copious Indulgences, 
 which made St. Ludgerus in his letter to St. S-n-ibert 
 say that this Pontiff granted many Indulgences 
 through France and Germany. 
 
 This Pope granted likewise Indulgences for the 
 celebration of religious festivals. Thus, when he be- 
 took himself to the town of Werdam, and solemnly 
 canonised St. Swibert, he granted to the church of 
 the monastery special Indulgences in favour of all 
 the faithful who would devoutly celebrate this saint's 
 feast, and assist on that day at the divine services.^ 
 
 Less than half a ceiitiuy later (847), the Sovereign 
 Pontifl' Scrgius II., on restoring the ancient church of 
 SS. Silvester and Martin in Rome, doilicated therein 
 
 ' Soe Bar. Ann., t. ix. an. 803, n. 2 and 4. 
 
FOEMULAS OF INDULGENCES 229 
 
 a sacred altar, and collected from the cemetery of 
 Priscilla, on the Via Salaria, many martyrs' relics, 
 which he placed in this altar, granting an annual 
 Indulgence of three years and three quarantines to 
 all those who would devoutly visit this church, as one 
 may read on a marble slab placed on the right hand 
 side, says Baronius/ But Mabillon expresses some 
 doubts about the exactness of this statement.^ 
 
 Similar instances do we find in Mabillon of the 
 Sovereign Pontifis Benedict IX., Alexander II., 
 Urban II., Callistus II., and Innocent III., each of 
 whom granted Indulgences on the occasion of the dedi- 
 cation of some church to such as would pay a visit 
 to this same church, provided — these are the words 
 used, as a rule, in the formula of concession — they 
 confess their sins to a priest, and amend their lives.^ 
 
 An inscription still exists in the Church of St. 
 John Before the Latin Gatein Eome, bearing that 
 Pope Celestine III. granted forty days' Indulgence 
 for every year in occasion of the dedication of this 
 church. The inscription is typical of the style of that 
 time, and exhibits the genuine idea of Indulgences. 
 
 ^ANN . DNIO INCAB . M.C.LXXXX EC 
 
 LBSIA . SCI . lOhlS . AN'B . PORTA . LATINA. . DEDICA 
 TA . ® . AD . hONOBS DEI A BEATI loRlS EVAN . P 
 MAN . ONI CELBSTINI . Ill . PP . PSENTIB . TERB . OM 
 NIB ; CARd . TA . Epis . 9 ^-^ BTALIIS CARcl . MEN . MA 
 DIO . DIB X . FESTIVIT . SCO^ GORD ET EPIMAChi 
 E ENIM IBI RBMISSIO . VERB PENITENTIB ; XL. DIB^. 
 DB INIVNCTA SIBI PBlfiA . SINGVLIS ANNIS. 
 
 1 Ann., t. X. a. 847, n. iv. 
 2 Prsef. in Ssec. v. Bened., n. 109. ^ Ibid., n. 109. 
 
230 "DIEU LE VEUT' 
 
 ►J< In the year of our Lord's Incarnation, m.c.lxxxx., the 
 Church of St. John, before the Latin Gate, was dedicated in 
 honour of God and of the blessed John the Evangehst, by the 
 hands of our Lord Celestine III,, Pope, almost all the Cardinals 
 being present, both those who were bishops and the others, on the 
 tenth day of the month of May, being the Feast of Saints Gordianus 
 and Epimachus. For, to those who are truly penitent, a remission 
 is granted of forty days every year, out of the penance that has been 
 enjoined unto them. 
 
 The formula of concession, used by Urban III., is 
 likewise worthy of notice. In the first year of his 
 Pontificate (1185), he consecrated the Church of 
 Parthenon of our Lady of Epeia, in the diocese of 
 Verona. " Of our authority, we grant to all those who 
 will come to this place on the anniversary of this 
 dedication, and it is our will that the aforesaid Car- 
 dinals, Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops grant of 
 our own apostolic authority for the same purpose, to all 
 those who are truly penitent and who have confessed 
 their sins, one year and forty days of the penance 
 which has been assigned to them for grievous sins, 
 and a fourth part of that appointed for venial sins. 
 Likewise we remit to them their breaches of vows, so 
 that they may go back to the monastic life ; we also 
 forgive their parents the excesses they have committed, 
 unless they be enormous. To the penitents who are 
 in quarantine we remit a year out of everv three, and 
 forty-seven (lii}-s. To those who are performing their 
 solemn penance wo giant that tlie\- mav resume their 
 shoes." ^ \\y tliese words we can trace to some extent 
 
 1 Tin ('.'inj,'o, (UdsM. mod. et inf. Lat., at tho word " Indul!:;eutia." 
 
INDULGENCES GEANTED BY BISHOPS 231 
 
 what was the penitential discipline of the Church at 
 that time, and what the exercises annexed thereto. 
 
 13. The Bishops, too, with the tacit consent of the 
 Holy See, granted with open hands Indulgences on 
 the occasion of their consecrating or dedicating some 
 church or other building destined for sacred purposes. 
 We find an illustration both of the exercise of this 
 power and of the manner of dispensing the treasures 
 of the Church, in the wording of the Indulgence 
 which Pontius, Bishop of Aries, granted when, in the 
 year 1000, he dedicated the Church of Mount Major. 
 
 In the words of the concession it is said that, if 
 " any one has been forbidden from entering into the 
 Church, or receiving the communion of the Body 
 of Christ, or the kiss of peace ; likewise, if prohibi- 
 tion has been made to him to cut or shave his hair, 
 to wear linen garments, to raise spiritual children 
 from the sacred font, to taste anything except bread 
 and water on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday " — all 
 these were signs of public penance at that time — 
 " such an one, should he repair to the said church on 
 the day of the dedication thereof, or help towards the 
 building of it, on the authority of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ and ours, let him be absolved from a third part 
 of his greater sins, and be permitted to enter all the 
 churches for a whole year, to communicate and receive 
 peace, to have his hair cut and his beard shaved, to 
 wear linen garments and raise god-sons from the 
 sacred font." ^ 
 
 1 Mabillon, Prsef. ad Ssec. v. Bened., n. 108. Rothomagi, 1732. 
 
232 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 In the old Temple Church in London, there is still an 
 ancient Latin inscription engraved over the principal 
 door. It states how, on the tenth day of February 
 1 185, the church was consecrated in honour of the 
 Blessed Mary by the Lord Heraclius, who to those 
 yearly visiting it hath indulged sixty days of the 
 penalty enjoined them. 
 
 >J«ANNO . AB . INOARNATIONE . DOMINI . M.C.L.X.X.X.V. 
 
 DBDICATA . HBO . BCCLESIA . IN . HONOEB . BEATE . MAKIE. 
 A . DNO . ERAOLIO . DEI . GEA . SOB . EESVEBCTIONIS. 
 ECCLE8IE . PATEIAECHA . IIII. IDVS . FEBRVAEII . dj . EAM. 
 ANNATIM . PBTBNTIBVS . DE . "ilVNTA . S . PENITETIA. 
 LX . DIES . INDVLSIT.l 
 
 All these were but partial Indulgences. However, 
 Bishops granted at times plenary Indulgences also. 
 The first instance of such a concession recorded in 
 history is about 11 59, when the little town of Cala- 
 trava, in Castille, l^eing attacked by the Arabs, John, 
 Archbishop of Toledo, granted to all those who would 
 go and help the besieged, the remission of aU their sins.^ 
 
 Bishops granted Indulgences also for the dedica- 
 tion of such buildings as were intended to serve for 
 pious purposes and for objects of a beneficial charac- 
 ter. Thus, in the year 1 381, we find the Archbishop 
 of Magdeburg granting eighty days' Indulgence on 
 occasion of the dedication he made of the new hos- 
 pital of Halle, with its church and cemetery. 
 
 ' As regards the solemnity which accompanied in England the dedi- 
 cation of churches, see John Lingard's " The Antiquities of the Anglo- 
 Saxon Church," chap. vii. n. vi. Edit. Fithian. Philadelphia. 
 
 2 Fleury, H. E., 1. Ixx. n. 32. 
 
BISHOPS APPLY TO THE POPE 233 
 
 14. But the Bishops themselves knew that what 
 authority they had, was dependent on the superior 
 power of him whom Christ had bidden feed, not the 
 lambs only, but the sheep also — that is to say, of the 
 Sovereign Pontiff. And so it is that we find them 
 applying to Eome in the more difficult cases, and 
 humbly asking for others and even for themselves the 
 Indulgence of past transgressions. 
 
 As early as the end of the ninth century, the 
 Bishops of Bavaria applied to Pope John IX. (898- 
 900), asking him to absolve, out of the fulness of 
 his authority, the soul of the Emperor Arnoulf, who 
 had recently died.-' 
 
 Remigius, the Bishop of Lincoln, had sent to the 
 Apostolic See a priest guilty of murder, that he might 
 obtain from the Pope the dispensation for saying 
 Mass. The Pope, who was then St. Gregory VII., 
 was at Terracina when the culprit arrived. On the 
 fourth day of the nones of December 1073, he wrote 
 back to the Bishop, absolutely rejecting his petition, 
 and strictly forbidding the guilty priest to be again 
 admitted to celebrate the sacred mysteries. And as 
 the Bishop, in his letter to the same Pontiff, had 
 asked for the absolution of his own sins, which we 
 commonly call Indulgence, Pope Gregory granted it 
 in these terms : " Eelying on the authority of the 
 princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, whose office 
 we, though unworthily, do hold, we have thought it 
 proper to send to thee the absolution of thy sins, even 
 
 1 See Mabillon, Praef. ad Saec. v. Bened., n. 108. 
 
234 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 as thou hast asked us ; provided thou insist in the 
 practice of good works, weeping over thy past trans- 
 gressions as much as thou shalt be able, and thus 
 thou do present the dwelling of thy body as a clean 
 temple to God." i 
 
 We see by this how anxious the Church was at all 
 times to inculcate, whilst granting Indulgences, the 
 necessity for the faithful to better their lives, to 
 reform their manners, to do penance for their past 
 sins, and so to live, that their lives might ever be an 
 uninterrupted hymn of praise to the Almighty. 
 
 But it would be far too long and beyond the 
 purpose and the limits of this book to enumerate 
 all the Indulgences which the Popes, or the Bishops, 
 have granted since that time. Such a study, if it 
 were possible, would only have for its result to 
 show us how the Church unfolded, expanded, de- 
 veloped the exercise of this power which she firmly 
 believed to be in her possession. 
 
 She had indeed, in the beginning, the same power 
 of granting Indulgences even as now, but it was 
 only by degrees and on certain occasions that she 
 manifested the exercise of this power, just as it is 
 only with the lapse of time that a child passes from 
 infancy to manhood, and from childish deeds to 
 those more manly of a riper age. And if the Church 
 believed that she possessed this power, who is there 
 that, mindful of the promise of her Divine Spouse to 
 be with her " all days, even to the consummation 
 
 ' Bar., Ann. Ecc, t. xi. an. 1073, n. 71. 
 
DECLINE OF PENANCES 235 
 
 of the world," ^ will accuse her of wilful error or 
 deliberate deception ? 
 
 1 5. Beside the facts of the Crusades, of the solemn 
 dedication of churches, &c., another reason which 
 led the Church to a fuller exercise of that power, is 
 to be found in the growing disuse of the canonical 
 penances. 
 
 As we have seen, until the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries, these penances had been in full force, or, 
 at least, the Church had repeatedly in her councils 
 inveighed against the carelessness of men, and com- 
 manded that they should be re-established. In some 
 places mitigations had been introduced in order to 
 invite the faithful the more willingly to submit 
 to them. 
 
 But it was of no avail. In fact, whether it was 
 that the times were altered or that human constitu- 
 tions had grown weaker, or rather that charity had 
 waxed cold, the movement for the abrogation of 
 ancient canons went on, and the time soon came, from 
 the twelfth century upwards, when they became a dead 
 letter, a relic of ancient days — rather a study for 
 lovers of archaeology than a practical rule of action. 
 
 This was a grief to the Church, as we see from the 
 Canons of the Councils of that time. She protested 
 as long as she could. She used the weapons of her 
 censures. 
 
 But her children defied excommunications and 
 slighted interdicts. The fierce partisans of the 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
236 "DIETJ LE VEUT" 
 
 Emperors of Germany, the effeminate courtiers of 
 France and England, could not easily be brought 
 to submit to a regular course of ten years' fasting 
 on bread and water for having broken their plighted 
 faith, or to twenty years' standing outside the door 
 of the church, weeping, confessing their sins, and 
 imploring the prayers of those that went in and out 
 in order to atone for a homicide. 
 
 But the Church is a tender mother. She knows 
 how to pity the weakness of her children. Un- 
 like the Pharisees, "she does not bind heavy and 
 insupportable burdens and lay them on men's 
 shoulders," ^ but her yoke, like that of her Founder, 
 "is sweet and her burden light." ^ She knows how 
 to adapt her discipline to the requirements of the 
 times and to the weakness of men. After all, the 
 canonical penances were but her o'^ii institution. 
 She had established them for the good of her chil- 
 dren. She could mitigate them, or even dispense 
 with them, when the occasion required it. And so 
 she did. 
 
 As early as 912, when the Normans, with their 
 chief EoUon, or Eobert of Normandy, embraced the 
 Catholic faith, and the Archbishop of Rheims, Herv^, 
 consulted John X. what Penitential code he should 
 in future follow with them, the Pope had answered : 
 " You must not treat them according to the rigour 
 of the canons, lest this burden should appear to them 
 insupportable." ' And so, now that these penances 
 
 ' Matt, xxiii. 4. - Mntt. xi. 30. ' Fleuvy, H. E., 1. liv. n. 51. 
 
MOTIVE FOR GRANTING NEW INDULGENCES 237 
 
 were no more of any avail to her children, nay, 
 exposed them to daily disobedience, the Church could 
 connive at and tolerate their going into disuse. 
 
 But, at the same time, she could not deprive men 
 of the benefit of satisfying for their sins in another 
 way. She would have been cruel, had she dispensed 
 her children from doing penance in this life, exposing 
 them thereby to a far greater penance hereafter. 
 She had in her hands the treasury of Christ's satis- 
 factions. She held the deposit of what her saints 
 and martyrs had superabundantly gained by their 
 merits, and she possessed the power to distribute 
 them. This she did. And whereas before a heavier 
 penance of long years was required, now she con- 
 tented herself with a pilgrimage to a shrine, with 
 an expedition against the infidels, with the giving 
 of an alms, and filling up what was wanting with the 
 gold and silver of her cofi"ers, she paid to the Justice 
 of God the debt due for the transgressions of her 
 children. 
 
 Like her Divine Master, she combined two things, 
 which, at first sight, seem irreconcilable ; justice and 
 mercy : " Mercy and truth have met each other ; 
 justice and peace have kissed." ^ 
 
 16. However, the disuse of canonical penances 
 was not a universal fact. On the one hand, the 
 examples of previous centuries were yet too fresh to 
 be easily forgotten. On the other, faith was still 
 alive in men's hearts, — a quick, generous faith, which 
 
 1 Ps. Ixxxiv. 1 1. 
 
238 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 prompted them to great penances. There were still 
 among men some who, if they committed foul deeds, 
 were not ashamed to confess them, and if they re- 
 belled against the Church, were not slow to submit 
 to most humiliating and painful exercises. The 
 examples of public penance were not indeed now so 
 numerous as before, but they were perhaps more 
 striking. 
 
 We have a famous one in Henry 11. , King of Eng- 
 land (115 4- 1 189). He had had a share in the death 
 of St. Thomas of Canterbury. He had not expressly 
 willed or directly sought it ; but the animosity which 
 he had unjustly manifested against that holy man, 
 had led others to commit that foul deed. He felt 
 that he must wash his sin in the waters of penance. 
 
 On the 22nd of May 1272, whilst at Avranches with 
 the Pope's Legates, he promised to send instantly to 
 Jerusalem, for the defence of the Christians, two 
 hundred knights, who would serve there for a year 
 ■at his expense. This form of succour to the Holy 
 Places was then of most common occurrence, and the 
 Church accepted it in lieu of a personal expedition, 
 when the person himself was lawfully prevented. 
 Besides, the King promised that he would take the 
 cross for three years, and would make the journey 
 in person, unless the Eoman Pontiff dispensed him. 
 
 This was not all. " JMoroover," said he, " I, and my 
 elder son the King, we swear that we will receiA'c 
 and hold from our Lord Pope Alexander and his 
 catholic successors the Kingdom of England ; and we 
 
THE PENANCE OF HENEY II. 239 
 
 and our successors, unto the end of time, will not 
 consider ourselves as Kings of England, except as 
 long as they hold us to be catholic kings." ^ Besides 
 this, the Legates enjoined upon the King, fasts, alms, 
 and other penal works, to which he gladly submitted. 
 He was then led of his own accord outside the door 
 of the church, where he received absolution ; after 
 which he was led back again into the church. 
 
 Likewise, of the four murderers of St. Thomas we 
 read that, after some years, stung by the remorse of 
 their conscience, they went to Alexander, asking him 
 to impose upon them a congruous penance. The 
 Pope ordered them to go on a pilgrimage to Jeru- 
 salem, where three of them died as penitents. 
 
 Yet, the repentant king had not yet atoned for all 
 his debts with divine justice. A time came for him 
 of sorrow and affliction. His son rebelled against him, 
 and he saw himself encompassed by foes on all parts. 
 He again turned to Alexander for counsel and for 
 help. " The kingdom of England is held of your 
 jurisdiction ; and what regards the ties of feudal 
 right, I am only beholden to you. Let England ex- 
 perience what the Eoman Pontiff can do ; and as he 
 does not make use of material weapons, let him keep 
 the patrimony of St. Peter with a spiritual sword." ^ 
 
 •" " Prseterea ego, et major filius meus rex, juramus quod a Domino 
 Alexandro Papa et ejus Catholiois successoribus recipiemus et tenebimus 
 regnum Angliae ; et nos et successores nostri in perpetuum non reputa- 
 bimus nos Angliae reges, donee ipsi noa Catbolicos reges tenuerint." — 
 Bar., a,. 1 172, n. 5. 
 
 2 " Vestrse jurisdiotionis est regnum Anglise, et quantum ad feudatarii 
 
240 "DIEU LE VEUT" 
 
 The following year, as the rebellion continued, he 
 had recourse to the saint whom he had so much 
 persecuted during his lifetime, and made a pilgrimage 
 to his tomb. 
 
 He rode the whole night from Southampton to 
 Canterbury, taking nothing but bread and water. 
 At daybreak, on perceiving from afar the towers of 
 the metropolitan church, he alighted, put on sack- 
 cloth next his skin, and walked bare-footed towards 
 the town on a stony and muddy road. 
 
 When he arrived, he went into the church and 
 prostrated himself at St. Thomas' tomb. After- 
 wards he betook himself to the chapter-room, where 
 the monks of the monastery, and some bishops and 
 abbots — eighty-four in all — were gathered. The royal 
 penitent, kneeling, confessed his offence before all ; 
 and, at his formal request, each of the bystanders, 
 with a knotted rope, applied three or five stripes on 
 the monarch's shoulders. 
 
 After that, he returned to the subterranean church, 
 and remained there prostrate the whole day and the 
 whole night in prayer, without taking the least food. 
 
 However, he soon experienced the reward of his 
 penance. Three weeks after, the war ceased in the 
 whole of England, and the rebels submitted to the 
 King. 
 
 juris obligationem, vobis dumtaxat obnoxius toneor et obstringor. Ex- 
 periatur Anglia quid possit Romanua Pontifex, et quia materialibus 
 armis non utitur, patrimouium Beati Petri spirituali gladio tueatur." — 
 Bar., a. 1173, n. 10, et inter Kpist. Petri Bles., 136. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "yOBEL" 
 
 " In the year of the Jubilee all shall return to their possessions." — 
 Lev. XXV. 13. 
 
 FROM THE THIRTEENTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Continual growtli of the Church— Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and 
 to Rome — ^Some famous Shrines in England — The " Portiuncula " 
 — Indulgenoed prayers — What the Saints thought of Indulgences 
 — The great " Jobel" of 1300— Great crowds in Rome— Giotto and 
 Dante— Original meaning of the word " Jubilee " — The Jubilee of 
 Clement VI. — The Jubilee gained without going to Rome — Subse- 
 quent Jubilees — Further dispensations from going to Rome The 
 
 Porta Sancta — Its mystic signification. 
 
 I. The time that elapsed between the epoch we 
 have just examined, until the day when the Augus- 
 tinian Friar kindled the first sparks that were to 
 give rise to a mighty conflagration, especially in the 
 northern provinces of Europe, may justly be called a 
 time of transition in the practice of Indulgences. 
 
 Indeed this epoch, which comprehends the latter 
 part of the middle ages, and the beginning of modern 
 times, considered in its universal aspect, appears 
 to us as the forerunner of what took place in subse- 
 quent ages. Then, the generous efforts of chivalrous 
 knights preluded to the great and orderly battles of 
 later years; the discovery of printing foretold the 
 coming of an age, when distant nations would unite 
 
 =4X Q 
 
242 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 in closer intercourse of thought and relation. Then 
 also, by seeing the Catholic Church send forth mis- 
 sionaries to Asia, men could anticipate a time, when 
 her sons would cross the seas and penetrate into 
 the wildest countries, and would leave no spot un- 
 visited, where there was a rational soul to save. 
 
 Great events must have small beginnings, and this 
 law holds good in the physical as well as in the social 
 order, in the department of grace no less than in the 
 reign of nature. So that the Body of Christ also, 
 which is His Church, "by joints and bands, being 
 supplied with nourishment and compacted, may grow 
 unto the increase of God." ^ 
 
 "We have already seen the application of this law 
 in the matter we have assumed to examine, that of 
 Indulgences, and we have witnessed how the Church, 
 through successive ages, granted — diiFerent, indeed, 
 in form, yet the same in substance — new and more 
 increased largesses to her children, out of that great 
 treasury which is made up of the merits of Christ 
 and of His saints, and which has been confided to 
 her care. It was only the growing of the grain of 
 mustard-seed transforming itself into a stately tree. 
 
 We shall now assist at a further development of 
 this doctrine, and we shall witness a larger application 
 of it through the centuries that followed the first 
 Crusades, until the Catholic world was startled by 
 the impudent denial of what, for fifteen centuries, 
 had been held as an article of faith. 
 
 ' Col. ii. 19. 
 
PILGRIMAGES TO THE HOLY LAND 243 
 
 2. Notwithstanding the oft-repeated regrets and 
 protestations of the pastors of the Church, the 
 canonical penances finally fell away, so that we 
 scarcely find any traces of them in the twelfth cen- 
 tury, and we see them wholly disappear in that 
 which followed. Whether this was an evil or not, it 
 does not come within the scope of our work to ex- 
 plain. One thing is certain, viz., that the deep regret 
 and mournful lamentations of the Jansenists, of whose 
 sentiments the Galilean historian Fleury ^ made him- 
 self the interpreter, contain much more of exagge- 
 ration and zealotry, than of prudent solicitude and 
 sober earnest. 
 
 Instead, then, of performing canonical penances, 
 the faithful, with the consent, sometimes tacit, often 
 explicit, of the prelates of the Church, undertook long 
 and painful pilgrimages. Holy Land was one great 
 goal. In these days we wonder, when we hear that 
 some hundreds of pilgrims travel thither with all the 
 facilities of modern conveyance. But, then, pilgrim- 
 ages were performed for the most part on foot, often 
 through trackless countries, by thousands of fervent 
 palmers. Thus in 1054, three thousand pilgrims 
 started on one day from Picardy for the Holy Land, 
 and later on seven thousand from the banks of the 
 Khine.2 
 
 In the course of time, so many Indulgences were 
 
 ' Discours sur I'Hist. Ecol. depuis I'annSe DC. jusqu'i I'annte mcx., 
 n. xvi. 
 
 Blanc, Hist, de I'Eglise, t. ii. p. 28S. Paris, 1886. 
 
2 44 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 annexed to this pilgrimage by successive Pontiffs, 
 that it became impossible to have an exact list of 
 them, and a prohibition was issued, under pain of 
 excommunication, to publish them. 
 
 Next in veneration for the faithful, was the 
 pilgrimage to Rome, Ad limina Apostolorum, that 
 is to say, to the tomb of the Apostles St. Peter 
 and St. Paul, and to the feet of the successor of the 
 Prince of the Apostles. We have numerous examples- 
 of such pilgrimages in the history of the Church. 
 One of the most remarkable is that recorded by 
 ancient chroniclers, and quoted by the present 
 Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster in a learned 
 paper, which he read in 1891 at the Catholic Truth 
 Society's Conference.' 
 
 In 1030 the great Cnut or Canute, King of Den- 
 mark, England, Norway, and of part of Sweden, 
 went to Rome, " to pray," as he himself says in a 
 letter he wrote from thence to his people, " to pray 
 for the remission of his sins, for the safety of hia 
 kingdom, and for the nations that were subject to 
 his sceptre." 
 
 At first, the devout pilgrims could learn only from 
 the mouth of the Pontiff, what Indulgence the 
 latter was pleased to grant them ; but afterwards, 
 special Indulgences were bestowed in a permanent 
 manner upon any one visiting Rome. In this respect 
 we have, as early as the year 11 16, the example of 
 
 ' It is to be found among the Conference Papers published in that 
 year. 
 
SHEINES IN ENGLAND 245 
 
 Pope Paschal 11.-^ granting fixed Indulgences for such 
 visits, 
 
 3. Each country had its own particular pilgrimage 
 or pilgrimages with Indulgences annexed thereunto, 
 sometimes by the Bishops, sometimes by the Pope 
 himself. Thus Spain had its St. James of Com- 
 postella ; France its St. Martin of Tours ; England 
 its St. Thomas of Canterbury, the circumstances of 
 which pilgrimage inspired the gay tales of Chaucer, 
 and which, if its history were adequately told, 
 would bear ample witness, at once to St. Thomas' 
 mighty power of intercession, and to the esteem 
 which our forefathers entertained for the Holy Par- 
 dons, which they were in hopes to obtain at this 
 hallowed shrine. 
 
 Besides Canterbury, England had a famous shrine 
 to St. Peter at Peterborough. As early as 664, when 
 the great Abbey Church was completed, Wolfhere, 
 King of Mercia, obtained from Pope Vitalianus, 
 that such as could not repair to Eome might fulfil 
 their vow at this shrine. Pope Agatho, in a rescript 
 to King Ethelred, confirmed this grant, establishing, 
 moreover, that the palmer "shall receive the same 
 absolution from Christ and St. Peter, from the abbots 
 and monks, that he would receive, if he went to 
 Eome." And history tells us that streams of pilgrims 
 poured into Peterborough, eager to obtain through 
 St. Peter's intercession the absolution, that is to say, 
 the Indulgence of their sins. The illustrious names 
 
 1 Apud Baron, hoc an., n. 6. 
 
246 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 of Edward III., Queen Philippa, Queen Isabella, the 
 Black Prince, are mixed with the myriads of the 
 peasants who flocked to this holy shrine.^ 
 
 The tomb of St. Thomas, Bishop of Hereford, in 
 this country, became also in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury a centre of devotion, a source of Indulgences. 
 In a letter written from Avignon on the 12th of 
 the Calends of May 1320, John XXIL, who had 
 canonised that holy Bishop, granted boons of Indul- 
 gences (praemia Indulgentiarum) to such as would 
 visit his shrine every year on the day of his feast, 
 and on the following eight days.^ 
 
 4. Among the celebrated shrines of that epoch, 
 that of Portiuncula deserves special mention. 
 
 Portiuncula is a place about two miles from Assisi. 
 It was so called originally, because it formed a small 
 portion of the goods possessed by the Benedictine 
 monks of Monte Subasio. 
 
 In that spot stood a church called St. Mary of the 
 Angels, which in great part had fallen into ruins, 
 and was altogether al^andoned. In the beginning of 
 his conversion, St. Francis betook himself to this 
 church and resolved to restore it. The s^^ot pleased 
 him so much, that he established therein his soiouru. 
 and began to lay the foundations of his Order. 
 
 One day (1221) as he was praying, he asked our 
 Lord, through the mediation of His ]\1 other, to grant 
 
 ' See a letter of Kr. W. H. Bernard Sauu.lors, " An Ancient National 
 Dov.illon to St. Peter," imblished by the Catholic Times, June 23, 1893. 
 ^ Rayualdus, a.d. 1320, n. 46. 
 
POETIUNCULA, NEAE ASSIST 247 
 
 a plenary Indulgence to all those who, being contrite, 
 and having confessed their sins, would visit this 
 church. Jesus Christ granted this prayer, on con- 
 dition that Francis would obtain from the Sovereign 
 Pontiff the confirmation of the Indulgence. 
 
 The Holy Patriarch, in compliance with the wish of 
 Heaven, repaired to Honorius III., who then governed 
 the Church, and received from him the desired 
 confirmation. Later (1223), the same Pope, in ac- 
 cordance with a further wish of Jesus Christ, mani- 
 fested to St. Francis in a second vision, fixed the 
 day available for the gaining of this Indulgence to 
 the 2nd of August, which was the anniversary of 
 the dedication of the sanctuary, and further decreed 
 that this Indulgence could be gained every year and 
 for ever, on that same day. The first publication 
 of this great Pardon was made on August ist of 
 that same year. St. Francis pronounced a most 
 eloquent discourse, in which he extolled the great 
 worth of Indulgences ; after which the Bishops of 
 Assisi, Perugia, Todi, Spoleto, Foligno, Nocera 
 and Gubbio, there present, published the Indul- 
 gence.^ 
 
 This Indulgence was, in subsequent ages, granted 
 by the Sovereign Pontiffs to all the churches of 
 the Franciscan Order ; and more recently a similar 
 Indulgence was by special concession granted to the 
 churches of some other Eeligious Orders, such as the 
 
 1 Ben. xiv. De Syn. dioeces. 1. xiii. c. 18, nn. 4, 5. Also DiscLuisitio 
 de Ind. Portiunculss in his " Opusoula Miscellanea." 
 
248 PILGKIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 Dominicans, the Minims, the Servites, the Carmelites, 
 on their most solemn festival respectively. 
 
 This is the famous Indulgence called Portiuncula, 
 or the great Pardon ; and it illustrates, according to 
 Cardinal Bellarmine,^ as confirmed by our Blessed 
 Lord Himself, three important dogmas of the 
 Church : the truthfulness of Indulgences, the power 
 of the Popes in this matter, and the necessity of 
 auricular confession. We might add also, that it 
 reminds us of the existence of Purgatory, for that 
 Indulgence can be gained for the holy souls toties 
 quoties, that is to say, as often as the visit to the 
 church is made, and the prescribed prayers are 
 recited. 
 
 Now, to come back to our subject, what was, we 
 will ask, the pilgrims' intention in resorting to these 
 holy places, in visiting these sacred shrines ? "Was 
 it simply to receive the sacramental absolution of 
 their sins ? If so, there was no need of their under- 
 taking such long and painful journeys, of exposing 
 themselves to the inclemency of the weather, or to 
 the many possible accidents which must have accom- 
 panied travelling in those days. For the sacramental 
 absolution is as validly conferred in one place as in 
 another, by a simple prie.st as by a bishop, or by the 
 Pope himself. 
 
 Their intention, then, must have been to seek for 
 that which they could not find at home, viz., the 
 relaxation from the debt of temporal punishment 
 
 ' Po Indiilg., 1. ii. c. XX. 
 
INDULGENCED PEAYEES 249 
 
 which remained to be paid to the justice of God 
 after their sins had been remitted, and for which the 
 superabundant merits of Christ and of His saints, 
 applied to them in consideration of their devotion 
 and of the sanctity of the place to which they 
 resorted, were copious compensation. 
 
 Thus, pilgrimages are illustrative of the doctrine 
 and practice of Indulgences, especially in the latter 
 part of the Middle Ages. But, though characteristic 
 of that time, they were not the only exercises of piety 
 to which Indulgences were attached. Besides the 
 building of churches and hospitals, of which we have 
 already spoken, new Crusades or wars against the 
 infidels, especially those who occupied the Holy 
 Land, were occasions for the granting of new Indul- 
 gences, partial or plenary. We will merely mention 
 the Indulgences granted for new Crusades by Eugene 
 III. (i 14s), Gregory VIII. (1187), Clement III. (i 188). 
 
 5. About this time, also, we find Indulgences 
 granted for the recital of some vocal prayer. Thus 
 we read in the author of the "Fasciculus Tem- 
 porum " that in the year 1268 Clement IV., at the 
 request of St. Louis, King of France, granted an 
 Indulgence of three years to the faithful, every 
 time they should read or pronounce these words : 
 " May the sweet name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 that of His most glorious Mother, the Virgin Mary, 
 be blessed for ever and ever. Amen. May the Virgin 
 Mary bless us with her Holy Child ! Amen." ^ 
 
 ' Spondanus, a.d. 1268, n. xiv. 
 
250 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 6. But, if we wish to make a proper estimate of 
 what the sense of the Church was concerning Indul- 
 gences in this epoch, we must view, besides the decrees 
 of her ruling pastors, also the sentiment of the faith- 
 ful who compose the mystic Body of Christ. These, 
 too, the Spirit of God pervades and informs, with 
 His mighty action and sweet inspiration. Christ's 
 prayer for Peter, that " his faith should not faU," ^ 
 was made for him, not only inasmuch as he was to 
 be His own Vicar upon earth, but also inasmuch as 
 he, too, being a son of the Church, represented all 
 human generations that, until the end of time, were 
 to be borne in the mystical bark to the harbour of 
 salvation. 
 
 In other words, as Henry VIII. argued, if the 
 Eoman Pontiffs did sin when they granted Indul- 
 gences, the whole congregation of the faithful was 
 certainly not free from sin, as for such a long time 
 they received Indulgences with a unanimous consent. 
 "For me," added the King, " I would rather yield to 
 the sentiment and to the pious custom of the saints, 
 than to Luther alone, who, with so great fury, con- 
 temns the whole Church." ^ 
 
 Now, we do not find that any one, then, inveighed 
 against the doctrine of Indulgences, or against this 
 
 ' Luke xxii. 32. 
 
 " "Certe Indulgentias, si Pontifices peccavore qui concesserunt, 
 immunis a peccato non erat tota congref^iitio fidelium qui eas tamdiu 
 taiito consensu suaceperunt, quorum ego jiidicio, et observata; Siinctorum 
 consuetudini non dubito potius acquiescomlum, quam Luthero soli, qui 
 totam Ecolesiani tam furiosc conteninil." — A.'tsrrtio, dr. At the article 
 " De Indulgent i is." 
 
EAGERNESS OF THE SAINTS 251 
 
 manner of granting them. The revolutionary clamours 
 of Wickliffe and the Hussites had not yet disturbed 
 the peace of the Church ; the cynical derisions of 
 Erasmus, who combined in himself the greatness of a 
 genius with the unsteadiness of a stage -player, had 
 not yet scandalised the ears of the faithful ; the 
 apostasy of Luther had not yet opened the way to 
 the denial of every truth, divine and human. All 
 and each, according to their capacity, in their eager- 
 ness to avail themselves of those spiritual riches, 
 either flocked in person to the rescue of the Holy 
 Places, or by offerings concurred towards the building 
 of churches, or resorted to the shrines of the saints, 
 or gave themselves up as a ransom for the rescue 
 of captives, or crossed unknown seas to preach the 
 Gospel of Christ to heathen nations and open to 
 them the gates of heaven. • 
 
 If we turn, now, to the example of the servants of 
 God who distinguished themselves by special holi- 
 ness, we shall find them full of a holy avidity to gain 
 these Indulgences. St. Clare of Assisi, whose sweet 
 figure will remain for ever the type of dove-like 
 innocence joined to most austere penance, asked and 
 obtained, on the point of death, from Pope Inno- 
 cent III., a plenary Indulgence for all the sins of 
 her life. 
 
 Moreover if, from the cloister, we pass on to the 
 palaces of kings, we shall find St. Louis of France 
 addressing, in his testament, to his son Philip, the 
 heir of his kingdom, this fatherly counsel: "Be 
 
2S2 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 ■careful in procuring for thyself the Indulgences of 
 our holy Mother the Church." '• 
 
 The holy king had himself practised what he 
 preached. His faithful companion, to whom we owe 
 so many details of his life, Joinville, tells us that 
 when he was in Palestine, he would often carry 
 hods of bricks and mortar on his own shoulders, 
 for the repairing of the citadels of Joppa and Sidon, 
 in order that he also might gain the holy Pardons 
 attached to that work.^ Such value did he set upon 
 Indulgences. 
 
 7. In this period, a fact happened, recorded by all 
 ecclesiastical historians, which illustrates in a most 
 striking manner, both the tradition of the Church 
 with regard to Indulgences, and what an active part 
 belongs to the faithful in the keeping of the deposit 
 of faith. 
 
 Towards the end of 1299, a rumour was spread in 
 Eome that in the following year, 1300, all those 
 Romans who should visit the BasUica of St. Peter, 
 could gain a plenary Indulgence of aU their sins, 
 and that every hundredth year the same pri\'ilege 
 could be obtained. 
 
 Pope Boniface VIII. , who was then sitting in the 
 chair of St. Peter, having heard of this rumour, had the 
 archives of the Church carefully soarehod ; but nothing 
 could be found that authorised such a practice. 
 
 The first day of January had almost passed in the 
 
 ' l^aynaldus, Coiitin. llaron., a.h. 1270, 11. xv. 
 ' Idem, A.i). 1251, 11. liii. 
 
THE GEEAT PAEDON OF 1300 255 
 
 usual way, when, towards evening, a prodigious con- 
 course of people began to flock to St. Peter's, and 
 lasted until midnight, as if the Indulgence was to end 
 on that day. However, this spontaneous concourse 
 went on for almost two months, having reached its 
 climax on the Sunday after the Octave of the Epi- 
 phany, which that year fell on the 17th of January, on 
 which day it was customary to show the Veronica,^ 
 that is to say, the Sacred Face of our Blessed Lord. 
 
 The Sovereign Pontiff, from the palace of Lateran,. 
 where he then resided, was watching carefully, nay, 
 encouraging this movement of devotion. 
 
 There lived then an old man, who said that he 
 was one hundred and seven years old. The Pope 
 called him ; and, in the presence of diverse witnesses, 
 the old man said that he remembered well the 
 previous hundredth year ; that his father, a country- 
 man, had come to Eome to gain the Indulgence, and 
 had remained as long as the food which he had taken 
 
 ^ The Veronica is the veil with which a holy woman is said to 
 have wiped the face of Jesus when, on His way to Calvary, He sunk 
 under the weight of the Cross. The divine features were then miracu- 
 lously impressed upon that cloth, which remained as a lasting picture 
 of our Divine Saviour's face. I am indebted to Mr. Kegan Paul for 
 the follo'W'ing note ; — " The name by which the compassionate woman 
 is known, seems to have arisen from this memorable action. It means 
 'Victorious,' and is composed of two Greek words which signify 'I 
 bring victory.' Some, however, hold that the name arises from the 
 Latin words Vera Icon, or true likeness, but the words ceasing to be 
 correctly understood, were mispronounced ; Vera Icon became in 
 popular speech Veronica, or even Berenice ; the name was transferred 
 from the relic to the pious woman who possessed it, till the story 
 which grew up round Saint Veronica confused the memory of the real 
 woman and her real life. This is, however, less congruent to the rules 
 of language, and the manner in which names are usually formed." 
 
254 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 with him had lasted him. He had warned his son 
 not to fail to go to Rome on the following hundredth 
 year, if he still were alive, a thing which he did not 
 think would be likely. 
 
 Some of the bystanders asked the old man what 
 had been the reason of his coming to Eome, and he 
 answered that he had done so, because the faithful 
 could gain one hundred years' Indulgence every day 
 in that year. The same opinion about the Indulgence 
 to be gained in Rome was prevalent in France, as 
 two men over a hundred years old from the diocese 
 of Beauvais bore witness. Many Italians affirmed 
 the same. 
 
 After this information, the Pope, with the advice 
 of the Cardinals, issued a Bull in which he confirmed 
 and renewed all the Indulgences which, according to 
 the faithful relation of the old men, had been granted 
 to those who visited the Church of the Prince of the 
 Apostles. But, to foster the devotion of the people to 
 the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and to promote 
 the frequentation of their churches, the Pope, out of 
 the fulness of his apostolic authoritj', granted to 
 those who, being truly contrite and having confessed 
 their sins, would devoutly visit the Basilicas dedicated 
 to those two saints, a full and entire remission of 
 their sins, to be gained during that same year and 
 every hundredth year to follow. 
 
 In the same Bull, the Pope established the number 
 of visits to be made by the inhabitants of Rome and 
 by the pilgrims, and ended by saying that the merit 
 
GEEAT CEOWDS IN EOME 255 
 
 of the faithful would be so much the greater, and the 
 Indulgence so much the more efficacious, as the visits 
 would be more numerous and performed with greater 
 devotion. 
 
 8. It would be difficult to say with what exultation 
 this Bull was met on the part of the people. The 
 Eomans set the example ; and, without distinction of 
 rank, of sex, of age, performed the appointed visits 
 in the designated churches. From England, from 
 Germany, Spain, and other nations, pilgrims came 
 flocking to Eome — not robust men only, but also 
 old men and sick carried on litters. Among others, 
 an old man from Savoy was seen in Eome over one 
 hundred years of age, carried by his own sons, and who 
 remembered the ceremonies of the previous centenary. 
 
 All these circumstances are related by Cardinal 
 James Stefaneschi, who then resided in Eome, and 
 was a member of the Pope's council. The Florentine 
 historian John Villani, an eye-witness, confirms these 
 assertions, and adds that the greatest wonder was, 
 that there were continually in Eome during the whole 
 year not less than two hundred thousand pilgrims, 
 besides the Eoman people and those who were on 
 the journey. " Nevertheless," says he, "both men and 
 horses were sufficiently provided with food during all 
 that time." ^ Eaynaldus speaks of a monumental 
 inscription then existing at Florence, and attesting 
 that in 1 300 men came even from Tartary to Eome, 
 in order to gain the Jubilee Indulgence.^ 
 
 ^ Fleury, Hist. Eccl., lib. Ixxxix. n. 79. ^ A.d. 1300, n. i. 
 
25 6 PILGKIMAGES AND THE GEE AT "JOBEL" 
 
 To tHis Jubilee is attributed the foundation of a 
 house for English pilgrims in Eome. John Shepherd 
 and his wife Alice, seeing there was no such house in 
 Rome, settled there, and devoted their substance to 
 the maintenance of the poor pilgrims who came from 
 their own country. " This small beginning grew 
 into sufficient importance for it to become a royal 
 charity ; the kings of England became its patron, 
 and named its rector, often a person of high con- 
 sideration." ^ 
 
 9. Among the pilgrims whom the Jubilee of 
 Boniface VIII. brought to Eome, two of the most 
 illustrious were Griotto and Dante. They, too, re- 
 sorted to the Eternal City, moved by their ardent 
 faith and unfailing hope, trusting to gain for their 
 souls the copious remission. 
 
 Their gigantic minds were deeply impressed by 
 the great event. They left, each in his own way, 
 to posterity an everlasting monument of the senti- 
 ments which the Jubilee had awakened in their hearts. 
 Giotto painted on the walls of the great Loggia of 
 the Lateran Basilica a fresco representing the Pope 
 in the act of granting the Jubilee. The painting was 
 judged by Giotto's admirers to be one of his best 
 works." Unfortunately time destroyed it, and only 
 a small fragment of it now remains. It has been 
 transferred from its primitive place to the second 
 
 1 Wiseman, "The Four Last Popes." Leo XIL c. iv. p. 180. 
 
 2 Armellini, " Le Cliicsc di Roma dal sec. IV. al xix.,' Roma, 1891, 
 p. 98. 
 
GIOTTO AND DANTE IN EOME 257 
 
 pier in the first aisle on the right of the said church, 
 and represents the portrait of Boniface standing 
 between two cardinals, in the act of announcing the 
 Jubilee from the Loggia of that church. 
 
 As regards the immortal author of the " Divina 
 Commedia," Balbo ^ holds it to be a probable opinion 
 that the idea of the sacred poem first came to 
 Dante's mind, precisely from the sight of the Jubilee. 
 However, it was undoubtedly with reference to this 
 great event, that he wrote in his eighteenth canto * 
 of "Hell:"— 
 
 " E'en thus the Eomans, when the year returns 
 Of Jubilee, with better speed to rid 
 The thronging multitudes, their means devise 
 For such as pass the bridge ; that on one side 
 All front toward the castle, and approach 
 Saint Peter's fane, on th' other towards the mount." 
 
 And again, in the second canto* of " Purgatory : " — 
 
 " He (Casella) answer'd straight : 
 ' No outrage hath been done to me, if he 
 Who, when and whom he chooses takes, me oft 
 This passage hath denied, since of just will 
 His will he makes. These three months past indeed, 
 He, whoso chose to enter, with free leave 
 Hath taken ; whence I wand'ring by the shore 
 Where Tiber's wave grows salt, of him gain'd kind 
 Admittance.' " 
 
 Most probably also, it was in remembrance of what 
 he had seen during the Jubilee in Eome, that he 
 wrote in the thirty-first canto of " Paradise : " * — 
 
 ' Vita, i. 10. ^ Verses 29 and foil., Gary's "translation. 
 
 ' Verses 90 and foU. ^ Verses 93 and foil. 
 
 R 
 
258 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 " Like a wight, 
 Who haply from Croatia wends to see 
 Our Veronica, and the while 'tis shown, 
 Hangs over it with never-sated gaze. 
 And, all that he hath heard revolving, saith 
 Unto himself in thought : ' And didst thou look 
 E'en thus, Jesus, my true Lord and God, 
 And was this semblance thine?'" 
 
 10. It is to be noted that in his Bull Pope Boni- 
 face VIII. makes no mention of the word Jubilee. 
 Indeed, authors are not of one mind with regard to 
 the origin of this word. Some derive it from the 
 Hebrew woid jobel, b2\ which means "ram," because 
 it was customary to announce it with the horn of a 
 ram, or at least with an instrument bearing the shape 
 thereof. St. Jerome^ makes this word come from 
 johal, belonging likewise to the Hebrew language, 
 and which means remission. Josephus ^ gives it the 
 signification of liberty, whilst Calmet, in his "Dic- 
 tionary of. the Bible," prefers the derivation of it 
 from the word b^^2.7^, hobil,^ to bring back or to call 
 hack, because then goods and possessions among the 
 Hebrews went back to their first owner. 
 
 But all these diiferent derivations agree in this, 
 that they present us with diverse aspects of one and 
 the same institution, registered and described in 
 Leviticus : — 
 
 " Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of 
 years, that is to say, seven times seven, which to- 
 
 ' In cap. iii. Isai. ^ In tliu third ISonk of " Jewish Antiquities." 
 
 ^ In Iliphil from '^^''.jixbal. 
 
THE HEBREW JUBILEE 259 
 
 gether make forty-nine years. And thou stialt sound 
 the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of 
 the month, in the time of the expiation in all your 
 land. And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and 
 shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy 
 land : for it is the year of Jubilee. Every man shall 
 return to his possession, and every one shall go back 
 to his former family. Because it is the Jubilee and 
 the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the 
 things that grow in the field of their own accord, 
 neither shall you gather the first-fruits of the vines, 
 because of the sanctification of the Jubilee ; but as 
 they grow, you shall presently eat them. In the year 
 of the Jubilee, all shall return to their possessions." ^ 
 
 Such was the Hebrew Jubilee, and such were its 
 regulations. The Church that succeeded the Syna- 
 gogue in the mission of benefiting man by leading 
 him back to the Creator, adopted, making it her own, 
 this wholesome institution. She also, therefore, had 
 her Jubilee ; but, instead of restoring man to the pos- 
 session of his temporal goods, she offered him a pro- 
 pitious occasion of recovering the friendship of God, 
 and returning, as it were, to a state of baptismal inno- 
 cence, by the relaxation of all the penalty due to his 
 .sins. 
 
 The Jewish Jubilee restored man to his social and 
 
 domestic position, by calling him back to his own 
 
 property and family ; the Christian Jubilee made 
 
 him a fellow-citizen of the saints and of the house- 
 
 1 Chap. XXV. from v. 8 to v. 13. 
 
2 6o PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 hold of God, worthy, if overtaken by death in that 
 state, to be admitted into the company of the blessed, 
 to enjoy at once and for ever the ravishing vision of 
 the Divine Essence. 
 
 The origin of the Christian Jubilee is lost in the 
 haze of time. What we have related of the event 
 which took place in Eome under Boniface VIII. , shows 
 that an analogous institution must have existed 
 before the beginning of the fourteenth century, and 
 that probably it had been handed down by tradi- 
 tion already for several centuries. The concession of 
 Alexander III., who ascended the chair of Peter in 
 1 1 59, of a Jubilee to the Church of Compostella 
 under the form of that of Eome, confirms this state- 
 ment, and Boniface VIII. himself, three years before 
 he granted that solemn Jubilee, had already declared 
 in his Constitution "Frequenti" that, from ancient 
 times, the Roman Pontiffs, his predecessors, had 
 bestowed Indulgences of diverse kinds, and he added 
 that he recognised and increased them.-' But we do 
 not know upon what documents some authors have 
 grounded the assertion that the Christian Jubilee is 
 to be traced to Apostolic times. ^ 
 
 II. Boniface VIIL, with his Bull of the 22nd 
 February 1300, had decreed that the Plenary In- 
 dulgence which he had granted should be repeated 
 every hundredth year following. But Clement VI., 
 on his accession to the 8ce of iSt. Peter, received at 
 
 ' Raynaldus, a.h, 1297, u. 70. 
 ^ Of. Fulic. Aunu'cius Capitonus, O.S.M., de Jubila-o, 1576. 
 
BULL OF CLEMENT VL 261 
 
 Avignon, where he was residing, a deputation from 
 the Eoman people asking him, among other things, 
 that he should reduce to fifty years the Indulgence 
 of the hundredth year which Boniface had previously 
 granted, because few were those who could live long 
 enough to see it. The Pope willingly granted their 
 request, and published to that effect, on the 27th of 
 January 1343, the famous Bull "Unigenitus," inserted 
 afterwards in the Corpus Juris} 
 
 This Bull dogmatically recognises the existence of 
 an infinite treasury of merits in the Church, intrusted 
 to the dispensation of St. Peter and of his successors. 
 It is the most weighty document which has ever 
 come from the Apostolic See on the matter of Indul- 
 gences. It repeats in substance the conditions which 
 Boniface VIII. had already laid down for the gaining 
 of this Indulgence, adding the Church of Lateran to 
 those of St. Peter and St. Paul for the prescribed 
 visit. Later on. Cardinal Cajetan, when conferring 
 with Luther at Augsburg, referred to this Bull ; but 
 Luther would not acknowledge it as dogmatical. 
 
 The same Pontiff thought it fit, at the approach 
 of the Holy Year, to renew the Bull which he had 
 sent, seven years before, in order to awaken in the 
 minds of the faithful the memory thereof, and the 
 better to prepare them for the coming great Indul- 
 gence, which he, for the first, styles a Jubilee.^ 
 
 Historians tell us wonders of the eagerness with 
 which the faithful celebrated this Jubilee. It was 
 ^ Extrav. Comm., lib. v. tit. ix. ^ Bellarm. de Ind., 1. i. c. i. 
 
262 PILGEIMAGES AND THE GEEAT "JOBEL" 
 
 opened on Christmas Day, 1 349, which day was then 
 reckoned as the beginning of the year. The cold was 
 intense, but nothing could keep back the pilgrims, 
 neither the frost, nor the snow, nor the water. 
 The roads, though made impracticable by the in- 
 clemency of the weather, were day and night fre- 
 quented by men and women of every condition. 
 
 Inns and other houses on the wayside were not 
 sufficient to give shelter to the men and horses. 
 The Germans and Hungarians, more inured to the 
 cold weather, stood in the open air, and spent the 
 night gathered together in large numbers around 
 immense fires. The innkeepers could not attend to 
 all their guests, nor even had they time to receive 
 their dues. They often were compelled to leave the 
 money on the table, but none of the travellers would 
 ever touch it until the master of the house came. 
 
 Through the streets no clamours were heard, no 
 quarrels witnessed. The pilgrims sympathised ^ath 
 one another, helped one another, consoled one an- 
 other with patience and charity. Eobbers tried to 
 attack the pilgrims ; but these knew how to defend 
 themselves, and the people of the country kept watch 
 on the roads. 
 
 It was impossible to keep an exact number of the 
 pilgrims, but according to the reckoning made bv 
 the Roman people, on Christmas Dav and the fol- 
 lowing feasts, as well as during Lent, there wore 
 continually in Uomo as many as 1,1 20,000, and on 
 the Feast of tlie Ascension and on AVliitsunday 
 
THE JUBILEE OF CLEMENT VI. 265 
 
 upwards of 800,000. In summer, their numbers 
 began to diminish on account of the excessive heat 
 and the labour of the harvest ; but they were never 
 less than 200,000. The streets of Eome were so 
 filled with people that, whether on foot or on horse- 
 back, it was necessary to follow the crowd. The pil- 
 grims visited the three churches daily, some oftener, 
 some less often, according to their devotion. 
 
 Henry, a monk of Rebdor, tells us that, on Passion 
 Sunday, the holy Veronica was shown to the people, 
 and that such was the crowd in St. Peter's Church, 
 that many were suffocated under his very eyes. 
 Matthew Villani adds, that, to console the pilgrims, 
 the Holy Face of our Lord was shown every Sunday 
 and feast day, and that, on one occasion, as many as 
 twelve persons were trodden underfoot. 
 
 At the end of the year, the concourse of pilgrims 
 began to increase, and became as great as at the 
 beginning. It was then, that grand lords and noble 
 dames, and other conspicuous persons, came flocking 
 to Kome from the different parts of Italy and from 
 other countries. On the last days, all those that 
 were in Rome were dispensed from the time that was 
 wanting to them to perform ■ all their stations, in 
 order that all might gain the Indulgence. 
 
 1 2. Raynaldus narrates that many princes, among 
 whom were the Kings of Aragon, of Portugal, and 
 Cyprus, and the Duke of Austria, not having been 
 able to go to Rome for the Jubilee, asked the Pope's 
 leave. to gain.it in another manner. The Pope con- 
 
264 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 suited the Cardinals ; and finally answered Hugh, 
 King of Cyprus, that this Indulgence, having been 
 granted not only for the salvation of the soul, but 
 also in honour of the saints, he did not consent 
 that it should be granted to any one who did not 
 visit the aforesaid churches. 
 
 However, the Pope allowed John, the Archbishop 
 of Brindisi, and Internuncio in Sicily, to grant the 
 Jubilee Indulgence to thirty persons, on condition 
 that, if they had effectually made up their minds to 
 go to Eome, and had been prevented from doing so 
 through lawful impediments, they should give the 
 sum which they might have spent on the journey, 
 for the spreading of the faith and for other good 
 works, according to the Pope's disposition.'^ 
 
 13. A little later, that is, in the year 1389, we 
 find Urban VI. reducing to thirty-three years, in 
 honour of the thirty-three years of our Blessed Lord's 
 life on earth, the time which should pass between 
 one Jubilee and the other. He commanded that 
 the next Jubilee should be held in the following 
 year, 1390. This Jubilee was likewise attended by 
 ■a, great concourse of people. But the great schism, 
 which had subtracted from the obedience of the 
 Pontiff of Rome so many provinces of the West of 
 Europe, prevented the number of pilgrims being as 
 great as at the preceding Jubilee. In fact, the 
 Prench, and other peoples of the obedience of 
 Avignon, would not recognise the reduction made 
 
 ' Hdf FUMiry and tlio authority he cites, lil.. xcv. n. 51. 
 
THE JUBILEE OF NICHOLAS V, 265 
 
 by Clement VI. for every fifty years ; much less 
 did they recognise the change made by Urban VI., 
 whom they did not acknowledge as Pope. They 
 kept it, therefore, in the year 1400, and repaired 
 to Eome in large numbers. 
 
 But the enmity which existed then between the 
 King of France, Charles VI., who followed the 
 obedience of Avignon, and the Pope of Eome, 
 Boniface IX., caused the King to fear lest this pil- 
 grimage, whilst it would enrich, as he thought, the 
 Roman States, would impoverish his own subjects and 
 decimate their numbers, thus making it easy for his 
 adversaries to make an inroad in his own kingdom. 
 Consequently, he forbade any one thenceforth to 
 undertake the journey, and commanded, under severe 
 penalties, that those who were on the way should 
 instantly return. 
 
 Later, Nicholas V. chose to return to the decree 
 of Clement VL, which authorised every fifty years 
 only the celebration of the Jubilee. In consequence, 
 on Christmas Eve, 1449, he opened the Holy Year. 
 This is one of the most renowned in history. Pil- 
 grims came flocking to Eome in such large numbers, 
 that several of them were sufi"ocated in the crowd. 
 This was for the Pope a cause of great affliction. 
 He ordered the victims to be buried with honour, 
 and caused some houses to be pulled down to enlarge 
 the passage for the pilgrims in the streets.^ 
 
 Then, Eome was given to behold one of those spec- 
 
 1 Eohrbacher, H. U., lib. xxxiii. § iv. 
 
266 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GEEAT "JOBEL" 
 
 tacles with which she, of all cities, is so often favoured. 
 Among the pilgrims whom the desire of gaining the 
 holy Pardon at the intercession of the martyrs had 
 attracted to the Eternal City, was the Spanish Fran- 
 ciscan friar St. Diego of Seville. At first, he was 
 lost among the three thousand and eight hundred 
 Eeligious, whom the Jubilee had gathered at the 
 Ara Cceli, for he was but a lay brother. But 
 the splendour of his virtues soon began to break 
 through the crowds, for many of the pilgrims had 
 fallen ill at the monastery, and to Diego was com- 
 mitted the care of the sick. 
 
 Forgetful of his own needs, he spent and over- 
 spent himself for his brethren. There, he was to be 
 seen at every hour of the day and night, running 
 from one bed to another, bringing everywhere help 
 and assistance, tempered by that look of radiant 
 kindness which breathed forth from his countenance, 
 and those soothing words which came out of an 
 overflowing heart. 
 
 Miracles were necessary to feed all that multitude, 
 for there was a great dearth in Eome that year. 
 But for his dear sick he could work miracles : the 
 bread and wine were multiplied in his hands. He 
 did not shrink from those stricken with the most 
 loathsome and repulsive diseases. He had deadened 
 nature in himself to such a point, that he could with- 
 out reluctance kiss even their very sores. God was 
 pleased with him, for we read that lie would anoint 
 the sick with the oil that l>urned before the imaare 
 
JUBILEE EXTENDED OUTSIDE EOME 267 
 
 of the Mother of God, and making the sign of the 
 Cross, he would restore them to perfect health. 
 Truly, his presence was an additional Jubilee to the 
 city of Rome. 
 
 The spiritual good effects of this Jubilee had been 
 so conspicuous, as to make it desirable that the time 
 which was to divide one Jubilee from another should 
 yet be shortened. On the other hand, the latest 
 reduction, owing to the general shortness of human 
 life, made it impossible for many to avail themselves 
 of these spiritual riches. Consequently, Paul 11., 
 by a Bull of the 19th of April 1470, restricted to 
 twenty-five years the time that should elapse be- 
 tween one Jubilee and another. 
 
 The next Jubilee, then, was to be in 1475, but 
 this Pope did not live to open it. His successor, 
 Sixtus IV., confirmed Paul II. 's Constitution, and 
 moreover decreed that all the Indulgences granted 
 to every church in the world should be suspended 
 during the Jubilee year. The holy festival was 
 opened, as the Pope had decreed, on Christmas Eve, 
 1474. But owing to the war in which France, 
 England, Spain, Hungary, and Portugal were en- 
 gaged, the number of pilgrims was not as great as 
 it had been on previous occasions. 
 
 14. At the end of the fourteenth century, dispen- 
 sations from going to Rome in order to gain the 
 Jubilee began to be more frequently granted. In 
 the year 1391, Boniface IX. granted to the inhabi- 
 tants of the cities of Munich and Cologne a plenary 
 
268 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 Indulgence, to be gained under the same form as at 
 Eome, for a whole year, on condition that the faithful 
 should visit certain churches and should give alms. 
 
 The following year he extended the same privilege 
 to the city of Magdeburg ; and later, to those of 
 Meissen and Prague. He also granted the Jubilee 
 to the monks of Canterbury, who kept it every fifty 
 years. We read that the people flocked from all parts 
 of England to this venerated shrine of St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, in order to avail themselves of those 
 spiritual grants and discharge their debts with God. 
 
 Alexander VI. extended to all the faithful outside 
 Rome the Jubilee of 1500, on condition that each 
 one should contribute a fixed alms towards covering 
 the expenses of the war against the Turks. 
 
 Such, then, is the origin, the progress, the deve- 
 lopment of the Christian Jubilee. At the imitation 
 of the Church, temporal princes began to grant to 
 their subjects, on the recurrence of some special 
 anniversary, as that of their birth, a jubilee solem- 
 nised by a law of amnesty, or by some special 
 temporal concession. Thus we read of Edward III., 
 King of England, that when he came to the age of 
 fifty, which was in 1362, he caused his birthday to 
 be kept after the manner of a Jubilee. He ordered 
 prisoners to be released on that occasion ; he par- 
 doned all offences except treason ; he made new and 
 beneficial laws, and granted many privileges to his 
 people.' 
 
 ' Fleury, Hist. Eccl., lib. cs. n. 7. 
 
THE PORTA SANCTA 269 
 
 15. There is, in connection witla the Jubilee, a 
 splendid ceremony called the opening and closing of 
 the Porta Sancta. The object of this ceremony is to 
 impress the faithful with the fact that the gates of 
 heaven are thrown open, through the privilege of the 
 Jubilee Indulgence, to the repentant sinner. 
 
 On Christmas Eve a procession takes place, com- 
 posed of the Pope, carried in sedia gestatoria, of 
 the cardinals, of the bishops and prelates of the 
 Pontifical Court, of the clergy both secular and re- 
 gular, and in general of all those who have a place 
 in the Papal chapel. 
 
 The procession starts from the Sistine Chapel in 
 the Vatican, goes down through the Scala Regia 
 and the Piazza of St. Peter, and enters the atrium 
 of the Basilica, of which all the doors have been 
 previously shut. 
 
 Among these doors there is one, the last on the 
 right-hand side, which at other times is walled up. 
 When the Pope reaches it, he strikes it three times 
 with a silver hammer, singing these words : Aperite 
 mihi portas justiticB. "Open ye to me the gates of 
 justice." ^ The Cardinal Penitentiary strikes it also 
 twice. 
 
 At these strokes, the wall is immediately removed, 
 having previously been cut round from the jambs 
 and lintel of the doorway. Then the Vatican Peni- 
 tentiaries wash the threshold thereof, and the Pope, 
 with a cross in his right hand and a lighted candle 
 
 ' Ps. cxvii. 19. 
 
2 70 PILGRIMAGES AND THE GREAT "JOBEL" 
 
 in his left, first passes through ; then the Sacred 
 College follow him in white vestments, and all those 
 who take part in the procession. 
 
 The same ceremony is subsequently practised in 
 the three other patriarchal churches of Eome, of 
 which the doors must previously have been shut. 
 At St. Paul's the ceremony is performed by the 
 Cardinal-Dean ; at St. John Lateran's and at St. 
 Mary Major's, by the respective Cardinals-archpriests 
 ■of these Basilicas. 
 
 When the holy year is at its close, the Pope him- 
 self announces the walling up of this door a little 
 before Christmas Eve, in the same way in which he 
 had announced the opening thereof on Ascension 
 Day the previous year. 
 
 He celebrates a reverse ceremony at St. Peter's, 
 -and the same Cardinals at the three other Basilicas. 
 A procession similar to the first takes place. Then 
 the Pope, assisted by the Cardinal Major-Peniten- 
 tiary, begins by spreading three times some mortar 
 on the threshold of the Porta Sancta with a silver 
 trowel, and places thereon three stones together with 
 some medals. After which, the masons proceed to 
 wall up the door entirely, and it remains so until the 
 following Jubilee-year. 
 
 1 6. "This ceremony," writes a modern author, 
 " has a mysterious and sublime meaning. The Porta 
 Sancta is on the right, and the baptismal font on the 
 left of the church. These signify the two entrances 
 which lead man to heaven. Baptism is the first. 
 
ITS MYSTIC SIG^S^IFICATION 271 
 
 Man can pass through it but once. Penance is the 
 other ; and, thanks to the Divine mercy, it is never 
 irrevocably closed up. It is on Christmas Day that 
 the Porta Sancta is open — a day truly of Indulgence 
 and forgiveness. To the Pontiff, who represents our 
 Saviour, is reserved the prerogative of opening it, 
 and the glory of being the first to cross its threshold. 
 A hammer is used instead of keys, because a door 
 which is opened with keys remains, and may yet 
 be closed. But, opened with a hammer, it is 
 demolished, and every one can enter freely and 
 fearlessly."^ 
 
 What we have said applies to the regular Jubilees, 
 which happen four times in a century ; but the 
 Sovereign Pontiffs are also wont to grant extra- 
 ordinary Jubilees in special circumstances ; as, for 
 instance, at the occasion of their exaltation to the 
 supreme Pontificate, or in some urgent need of 
 Christendom. 
 
 ' Le Cat^ch. en Ex. iii° partie, chap. viii. n. 1808, 4^ edit. Paris. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 ^'' For what, if some of them have not believed? Shall their unbelief 
 
 make the faith of God without effect f God forbid. But God 
 
 is true, and every man is a liar." — ROM. iii. 3, 4, 
 
 A RETROSPECT 
 
 Relation of Indulgences to Catholic Dogma — To Papal Supremacy 
 —To the Real Presence— To the Immaculate Conception — To 
 Purgatory — Abuses of Indulgences — A threefold charge— Indul- 
 gences granted for alms-deeds — They were no cause of deception 
 — Compensation — Apocryphal Indulgences — Condemned by the 
 Church — She reproves the errors of Preachers — The ambition 
 of the " Quaestores " — She abolishes their office — -Authenticity of 
 Indulgences. 
 
 I. The works of God are not without a "nise pur- 
 pose. When He produces any being or founds any 
 institution, He does not mean it to be simply some- 
 thing to look at, a food to man's curiosity. His 
 works have an end, a sublime end, and this end is 
 to further man's sanctification in view to God's own 
 glory. Now, every man is called to be a member 
 of His Church. All the works of God, then, are 
 directed to the good of His Church, to " the building 
 up of the body of Christ." ^ 
 
 Indulgences are a divine institution, and so must 
 have an object. We shall therefore examine in this 
 
 ^ Eph. iv. 12. 
 37J 
 
INDULGENCES AND CATHOLIC DOGMA 273 
 
 chapter what moral influence they exercised upon the 
 Church in the Middle Ages, that is to say, from the 
 time this practice began to develop itself into a 
 notable part of the Christian discipline, down to 
 the epoch of the Keformation. 
 
 But, like every other divine institution confided 
 to man's care and ministration, this presents itself 
 to us under a twofold aspect : the divine and the 
 human. The first is marked out, as all things 
 coming from God, by a principle of life, of grace, of 
 perfection ; the second, by a principle of imperfec- 
 tion, of destruction, of death ; for man can hardly 
 handle anything which God has made without im- 
 pairing its beauty, enervating its vigour, and sully- 
 ing its spotlessness. In other words, we shall speak 
 in this chapter of the moral good effects brought 
 about in the Church by the practice of Indulgences, 
 and of the abuses and faults to which it occasionally 
 gave rise, through the ignorance, weakness, or even 
 malice of man. 
 
 To begin by the first aspect, there was perhaps 
 no practice which, in the Middle Ages, shed a more 
 propitious and abundant light on Christian dogma 
 than that of Indulgences. For, the notion of In- 
 dulgences follows, as has already been said, from 
 the doctrine of the malice of sin and its conse- 
 quences, of imputableness of merits, of good works, 
 and of the Communion of Saints. These dogmas 
 are so linked together that the denial of one must 
 bring about the denial of the others : if one stone is 
 
2 74 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 shaken, the whole edifice crumbles into dust. We 
 shall see, in the next chapter, how Luther's sense 
 of consistency brought him insensibly to overthrow 
 one by one these articles of our faith, having once 
 planted his battering-ram against the doctrine of 
 Indulgences. 
 
 As far as the epoch we are now examining is con- 
 cerned, it seems as if God had so disposed that 
 Indulgences should be a means of asserting in His 
 Church such of the principal dogmas of faith, as, 
 in future ages, were to meet with marked opposi- 
 tion on the part of His enemies. 
 
 2. This was the time, when the powers of heU aimed 
 their more deadly blows at the corner-stone of the 
 Church ; when the centre of Catholic unity was made 
 a butt for the darts of confusion and disorder ; when 
 a factious band endeavoured to dethrone Peter and 
 place in his stead anarchy deified. Wicklifie had 
 pronounced the Pope to be Antichrist ; Luther was 
 to take up the slanderous reproach ; while the har- 
 bingers of Jansenism, retrenched behind a show of 
 hypocritical distinctions, were to make the Pontiff 
 of Eome the tool and plaything of a council, as if 
 Christ's ^'^icar on earth could be the slave of man. 
 
 Among the means employed by God to keep the 
 minds of men in the belief of this fundamental truth, 
 and to prepare them for the reception of the 
 Florentine definition of the Pope's supremacy, and 
 the subsequent Vatican declaration of his infallibility, 
 Indulgences, we venture to assert, did not hold the 
 
INDULGENCES AND PAPAL SUPEEMACY 275 
 
 least nor last place. For he, indeed, must be the 
 supreme head of the Church who alone can bestow, 
 out of its treasury, on the faithful, as much riches as 
 he wishes ; and he must be the keeper of the deposit 
 of the faith who prevents, on the part of those under 
 him, any injudicious distribution of these heavenly 
 treasures. 
 
 The Popes, then, were careful, when the occasion 
 presented itself, to vindicate against any unjust 
 usurper the fulness of the power of granting Par- 
 dons. For, the Sovereign Pontiff alone has inherited, 
 independently from any human authority, and with- 
 out earthly restriction, the keys of the kingdom of 
 heaven — that is, the power of binding and loosing ; 
 whilst the bishop's power is dependent on that 
 of the Pope. When, therefore, any bishop misused 
 such a power, or presumed to exercise it without 
 the Pope's consent, the Eoman Pontiffs, the keepers 
 of divine tradition, thought it their duty to raise 
 their voice and claim what was their own. 
 
 This was the case when, in 1423, Henry, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, with the consent of his clergy, moved 
 either by the hope of increasing the patrimony of 
 his church, or by a preposterous zeal of fomenting 
 devotion among his people, granted the Jubilee In- 
 dulgence to those who would, at stated times, visit 
 his church. It was an encroachment on the Sovereign 
 Pontiff's authority, who alone had hitherto granted 
 such an Indulgence. And so, as soon as the news came 
 to the ears of Martin V., he deputed two delegates — 
 
276 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 James, Bishop of Trieste, and Master Simon of Teremo 
 —to inquire into the matter and inform him of the 
 case. When he learned that it was really so, he wrote 
 a letter in which he reproved the action of the Arch- 
 bishop, saying, that " some men, full of presumption 
 against the Apostolic See and the authority of the 
 Roman Pontiff, to whom alone such a power has been 
 granted by God, have endeavoured to erect a false 
 ark of salvation." ^ 
 
 3. Next to the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 the Blessed Eucharist is the most powerful link 
 which binds Christians together into one and the 
 same mystical body. The Pope's word makes them 
 one, in the external profession of the same faith, in 
 the reception of the same Sacraments, in the practice 
 of the same virtues. The Blessed Eucharist makes 
 them one, by the same substantial blood that runs 
 through the veins of its members. The Pope is the 
 head, to precede, to rule, and to guide ; the Eucharist 
 is the heart, to infuse throughout the body life, 
 health, and vigour. Without the Pope, each man 
 differs from another in faith, because he has onlv his 
 private judgment to guide him ; without the Blessed 
 Eucharist, each man has but his private personalitv 
 to fall back upon ; he is an isolated member, and one 
 man is independent of another, like the trees in a 
 nur.scry-ground. This is why we call tliis Sacrament 
 by the fitting name of Si/iiaxis, C\~immunion. 
 
 Towards tlie middk^ of the eleventh century an 
 
 ' Raynalilux, .\.i\ 142^, 11. :;i. 
 
INDULGENCES AND THE EEAL PEESENCE 277 
 
 attempt had been made by Berengarius, to deny the 
 Real Presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. 
 Though he relapsed into his errors as many times 
 as he had retracted them, yet he made no proselytes. 
 His denial, however, had the practical result of in- 
 ducing the learned Lanfranc to compose his beautiful 
 tract on the Eucharist. But in later centuries, 
 WycklifFe, Luther, Zuinglius, and Calvin were to 
 turn, with greater success, their weapons against 
 this consoling dogma, and endeavour to strike at 
 the very heart of the Church. 
 
 The practice of Indulgences, in this epoch, appears 
 to us to have been a means prepared by God to 
 strengthen the belief of the faithful in the Eeal 
 Presence, and forewarn them against the bold denials 
 of heretics. 
 
 The institution of the Feast of Corpus Christi in 
 1264 by Urban IV. is a well-known fact. In the 
 Bull which he sent to all the prelates, and in which 
 he explained the motives which prompted him to 
 institute such a festival in the Church, the Pope, 
 in order to induce the faithful to a devout celebra- 
 tion thereof, granted, as St. Thomas says in the Office 
 of the Blessed Sacrament which he composed at the 
 Pontiff's request, to those who would devoutly attend 
 the services of the Church, on that day, spiritual 
 gifts from the treasury of the Church — that is. In- 
 dulgences — instead of the ordinary daily distributions. 
 
 "You shall exhort," says Urban IV., "the faithful 
 to prepare themselves for this festival with a sincere 
 
278 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 confession, with almsgivings and prayers, together 
 with other exercises of piety, in order that they 
 may be able to receive worthily on that day the 
 Holy Communion ; and in order to induce them the 
 more to do so, we grant one hundred days' Indul- 
 gence to those who will assist at the Matins of the 
 day, and the same to those who will assist at Mass 
 and at the first and second Vespers. For the assist- 
 ance at Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline, 
 forty days' Indulgence ; and one hundred days' 
 Indulgence for the whole ofiice every day of the 
 Octave ; all this to the effect of lessening the pen- 
 ances which may have been imposed upon them." ^ 
 These last words are illustrative of the true notion 
 of Indulgences and of their relation with canonical 
 and sacramental penances. 
 
 This was a protest against the denial of Berengarius, 
 and a provision against future attacks. 
 
 From this time forward, we see the Church opening 
 her treasury to induce thereby the faithful to pay 
 homage to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and 
 thus acknowledge His Real Presence therein. And 
 not to simple acts of private adoration only, but to a 
 display of that outward homage and reverence which 
 is due to God, would the Church entice her children 
 by a promise of those heavenly wages. It was with 
 that intention that Url)an VI. (1389) granted a 
 hundred days' Indulgence to those who would ac- 
 company the Blessed Sacrament, when carried to the 
 
 ' Floury, Hist. Eccl., lib. Ixxxv. n. 27. 
 
INDULGENCES AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 279 
 
 sick, from the church to the house, and when brought 
 back to the church. 
 
 4. Together with the faith in the Real Presence of 
 our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the belief in our 
 Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception, was to be, 
 on the part of the propagators of new-fangled doc- 
 trines, an object of the basest calumnies and most 
 virulent attacks. And yet the Immaculate Conception 
 is closely connected with the Incarnation. Our Lord 
 took His human flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
 for St. Paul says that He was " made of a woman." ^ 
 Hence she is in truth and in very deed His mother. 
 
 Now, had Mary been conceived in original sin, even 
 though she had been purified after her conception, it 
 would always be true to say that the flesh of the Son 
 of God had been taken out of a once corrupted and 
 defiled source, and that He, who came to cleanse men 
 of their sins, had not been altogether without some, 
 at least, distant connection with sin. And if, as the 
 Book of Proverbs^ tells us, "the glory of children 
 is their fathers," what glory, what praise, can we 
 imagine would have accrued to Jesus from the sinful- 
 ness of His mother ? 
 
 Wherefore, it has ever been the sense of the Church 
 that Mary was conceived immaculate ; and this belief, 
 handed down by one century to another, received 
 in late years a solemn dogmatic sanction from the 
 infallible guide of the faith.^ 
 
 1 GaL iv. 4. ^ Prov. xvii. 6. 
 
 3 Bull « Inetfabilis," Sth December 1854. 
 
28o USE AND ABUSE 
 
 But the Eeformers, as they had opposed the Son, 
 so must they oppose the Mother, for the two go to- 
 gether. In olden days, Nestorius, by denying the 
 unity of person in Christ, had been brought to deny 
 the divine maternity. In more modern times, those 
 who distorted the quickening power of Christ's grace 
 and sacraments, could not well acknowledge in the 
 Mother of God that boundless power of intercession 
 which the Church recognises in her, and thought they 
 could reduce it to nought in the minds of men, if 
 Mary were brought down to the level of an ordinary 
 woman ; and so they attacked the sinlessness of her 
 conception, that they might the better remove the 
 sinlessness of her after life. 
 
 But Luther and Calvin had had some forerunners. 
 In the fifteenth century especially, some preachers 
 who called themselves Catholic had thought of gi"^'ing 
 glory to God, by saying that it was a heresy or a 
 mortal sin to believe or to teach that the Mother of 
 God had, in her conception, been preserved from 
 original sin, and that none could recite the office of 
 that feast or listen to the sermons which were then 
 preached without committing sin. 
 
 These propositions called forth from the Popes 
 words of formal disapproval and the extension in the 
 Universal Church of the feast already existing in 
 her honour. Indulgences were the solemn sanction 
 of this institution. Sixtus IV. was the Pontiff who 
 thus vindicated the honour due to the ^Mother of God. 
 He annexed (1476) to the celebration of this feast 
 
INDULGENCES AND PURGATOEY 281 
 
 the same Indulgences which Urban IV. and Martin 
 V. had granted for the celebration of the feast of 
 the Blessed Sacrament.^ 
 
 5. The work of the Reformation was a work of 
 division, of separation, of isolation. It was an effort 
 to sever nations from Peter, the centre of Christian 
 life ; to rob the faithful of the bread of angels, to cast 
 off the intercession of Mary and the Saints, thus 
 leaving man alone to purchase, as best he could, the 
 lieavenly kingdom by a barren faith in the one 
 Mediator. 
 
 One thing remained : to cut off from the com- 
 munion of the living the souls that are suffering in 
 the flames of Purgatory, to isolate them, and leave 
 them to themselves to endure their torments, without 
 its being possible for man on earth to release them, 
 •or assuage in some way their excruciating pains. 
 
 But in this respect also, Luther had had a fore- 
 runner. In the year 1479, Peter de Osma, Professor 
 of Theology at the University of Salamanca, whom 
 his efforts to diminish, nay, to annihilate the power 
 of the Keys has rendered sadly famous, but who, for- 
 tunately, died without having made any followers, 
 presumed to deny that the Roman Pontiff can remit 
 the pain of Purgatory, or release in any way the 
 souls that suffer in this place of torments. 
 
 This was equivalent to a flat denial of the doctrine 
 of the Communion of Saints. But it ultimately 
 resulted in attacking the power and efl&cacy of 
 
 1 Fleury, Hist. Eccl., lib. cxiv. n. 83. 
 
282 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 Indulgences, as if thereby the faithful could not 
 release by way of suffrage the suffering souls of 
 Purgatory. Sixtus IV. solemnly condemned this 
 error in his Constitution "Declarant," establishing as 
 a point of faith the contrary doctrine, and so Indul- 
 gences became also a safeguard against the error of 
 the opponents of Purgatory. 
 
 6. However, the study we have made on the 
 tradition of the Church concerning Indulgences in 
 the Middle Ages would be incomplete, and we might 
 incur the reproach of partiality, were we to be silent 
 on the question of the abuses which, in course of 
 time, crept into this holy institution. 
 
 We have already seen in the third and fourth 
 centuries how much the fathers of the Church, 
 especially St. Cyprian, inveighed against the abuse 
 which some made of the martyrs' commendation, and 
 of the letters they had received from them. Now, 
 the form under which Indulgences were granted had 
 varied, but the nature of man remained ever the 
 same — of man, who misuses the verv best of God's 
 institutions. 
 
 This sad side of our subject has been so magnified 
 by Anti-Catholic writers, that it alone seems to have 
 engrossed their attention, and they seem to have lost 
 sight of the tree, for the few spoiled fruits that have 
 fallen from it. Their invectives, against this point 
 of Catholic doctrine, are but a repetition of the 
 clamours of the Hussites (141 1), and the echo of the 
 calumnies which Euchard of Upper "Westphalia uttered 
 
ABUSE OF INDULGENCES 283 
 
 against Indulgences, With an overweening con- 
 fidence in his assertions, he had styled Indulgences 
 as "nothing else than pious frauds and beguilings of 
 Christians," adding that " those are insane who go to 
 Rome for the sake of gaining pardons, which they 
 might as well find at home, if they were contrite." ^ 
 The Sovereign Pontiff, Sixtus IV., condemned this 
 proposition (1479). 
 
 Does it not seem as if the authors of the Thirty- 
 nine Articles had this proposition before their eyes 
 when they wrote ^ that the "Romish doctrine con- 
 cerning pardons is a fond thing, vainly invented, and 
 grounded on no warranty of Scripture ? " 
 
 7. This accusation, well understood, implies a 
 threefold charge : first, that Indulgences are not of 
 divine institution, but rather an unwarranted inven- 
 tion of the Church; secondly, that the object which 
 moved the Church to this forgery was simply to de- 
 ceive the faithful ; and thirdly, that they are merely 
 a futile device, productive of no real fruit. 
 
 If, as we have seen, the power of Indulgences is 
 an appendage of the power of the Keys ; if we have 
 an instance of a grant of pardons in our Saviour's 
 behaviour with regard to the adulterous woman, and 
 in St. Paul's dealing with the incestuous Corinthian ; 
 if, from the very foundation of the Church, we see 
 this power exercised by the Sovereign Pontiff and 
 the Bishops, it is clearly evident that the first 
 charge brought against the divine institution of 
 
 1 Eaynaldus, a.d. 1479, n. 33. ^ In the 22n(i Article. 
 
284 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 Indulgences falls to the ground, and that we are 
 entitled to number them among those practices, the 
 origin of which is to be ascribed to our Divine 
 Saviour's will and action. 
 
 If it be so, even though abuses may have crept 
 into the dispensation of Indulgences, it is manifestly 
 absurd to say that the wish of deceiving the faithful 
 was the moving principle which determined the 
 Church to invent this practice. Is it good logic, 
 from the faults which, in course of time, beyond and 
 contrary to, the founder's intentions, crept into the 
 practice of Indulgences, to condemn as deceitful the 
 doctrine itself? Is the institution of the professsion 
 of arms to be ascribed to a desire of ill-treating 
 a sister nation, because oppressors have sometimes 
 turned it to such unworthy purpose ? 
 
 As to the third charge, we have already seen, and 
 we hope to see yet further, how the doctrine and 
 practice of pardons have been fruitful of most bene- 
 ficial results — in the department of art, by prompting 
 the erection of those magnificent cathedrals, peaceful 
 hospitals, and retired monasteries, which will ever 
 remain a wonder to future generations — in the range 
 of social interests, by bringing together men of so 
 diiferent countries and of so contrary habits to 
 more perfect civilisation and common sympathy — 
 but above all, in the order of faith, by impressing 
 the deep truths of religion and promoting the spirit 
 of prayer and the practice of good works. 
 
 8. As it sounds, then, the accusation has been 
 
INDULGENCES FOR ALMSGIVING 285 
 
 suflficiently answered. But more is suggested than 
 expressed in the charge. For, even such as admit 
 the divine institution of Indulgences, and the bene- 
 ficial eff'ects to which they have given rise, will 
 persistently hold that, for the greater part, the 
 Church granted Indulgences only for the sake of 
 enriching herself, or that, for a like purpose, she 
 countenanced the publication of false Indulgences. 
 In these cases, at least, it would be true to say that 
 they were merely pious frauds and deceptions. Let 
 us see how much truth there is in this new aspect of 
 the accusation. 
 
 It having been proved that the Church has the 
 power of granting Indulgences for any good work 
 that is performed by the faithful, it must be ac- 
 knowledged that she can grant them also for deeds 
 of almsgiving.^ For almsgiving is one of the peni- 
 tential works so often inculcated by Holy Scripture, 
 and, together with prayer and fasting, constitutes 
 the summary of the Christian penal code. But 
 then, these almsdeeds, for which a prelate grants 
 an Indulgence, must have in his intention a holy 
 destination. Otherwise they will not contribute 
 to the glory of God, and so the second condition 
 required for the validity of an Indulgence — the good 
 motive — will be absent, and the Indulgence cer- 
 tainly null. 
 
 The Sovereign Pontiffs, then, could annex the grant 
 of an Indulgence to the giving of an alms for a holy 
 
 1 S. Thomas, Supplem. quaest. xxv. art. iii. 
 
286 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 purpose ; and so they did. And these Indulgences 
 became for them a means of carrying on grand 
 enterprises, as the Crusades, the erection of monas- 
 teries and hospitals, and the building of churches, as 
 that of St. Peter's in Eome. Indirectly also these 
 Indulgences became a source of enrichment ; for 
 instance, to the sanctuaries, to which they were 
 annexed ; nay, often to the surrounding neighbour- 
 hood also. Villani says that on occasion of the 
 Indulgence granted by Boniface VIII., the Church 
 was greatly enriched, and the Eomans had no rliffi- 
 culty in selling off all their merchandise. 
 
 Now, it is not unlikely that, just because In- 
 dulgences became thus a source of riches to the 
 Church, so many attacks were directed against them. 
 Men's covetousness grew into jealousy, and jealousy 
 into slander. But had the slanderers had a share in 
 the profits occasioned by these Indulgences, would 
 they have been so hasty to calumniate them ? How- 
 ever, the philanthropic instincts of these men ought 
 to have made them acknowledge the advantages 
 which accrued to humanity, from the fact that 
 Indulgences were a means of brinoiuo- toeether men 
 of most different manners and distant climes, in 
 epochs when hardly any means of communication 
 existed. 
 
 9. But to examine impartially whatever abuse was 
 possible in the matter, we shall suppose a threefold 
 case. 
 
 First, it may be that the object for which the In- 
 
NO CAUSE OF DECEPTION 287 
 
 dulgence was granted was really a holy one, and the 
 monies thence derived by the collectors were really 
 spent for that purpose — say, for carrying on a war 
 against infidels, or for building a church or an hos- 
 pital. In this case, there was no abuse whatever. 
 The Indulgence was gained, and it became the means 
 of furthering the glory of God, of promoting works 
 of penance and of benefiting humanity. 
 
 Or, the money originally destined for a holy pur- 
 pose was afterwards, through the malice of a private 
 individual, diverted from its primary end and made 
 to enrich his own private coffers. Thus six years 
 before the rise of Luther, an Indulgence was preached 
 in Saxony to raise money for a war against the Turks, 
 and the whole sum was divided between the Emperor 
 and the Elector, except two hundred florins given by 
 the latter to the Church of Wittenberg.^ In this 
 case also, who can doubt that the faithful gained the 
 Indulgence ? For, this is gained as soon as the con- 
 ditions on the part of the penitent are fulfilled ; and 
 the subsequent abuse of the efi"ect of his good work 
 cannot undo that which has been perfectly done. 
 
 Thirdly, it may be that the prelate was mistaken 
 as to the nature of the work for which the Indulgence 
 was granted ; for instance, that he would grant an 
 Indulgence to such as would take up arms for the 
 overthrow of one whom he thought to be an unjust 
 adversary, but was in reality in the full possession of 
 his right. Or else, to present the case in its worst 
 
 1 Schmidt, lib, viii, c. 3. 
 
288 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 aspect, we shall imagine a prelate, having in one 
 hand the crosier and in the other the sword, grant- 
 ing an Indulgence to such as would fight against his 
 own enemies, knowing them, however, to be in the 
 full possession of their rights ; or promulgating an 
 Indulgence simply for the sake of filling up his 
 coffers with gold, or distributing it to his well- 
 wishers. 
 
 In the last century, and in the early part of the 
 present, when the Catholic Church was stUl, in the 
 eyes of the English public, " the Scarlet Woman," her 
 Pontiff " Antichrist," and her discipline " abomina- 
 tion of desolation," it was the fashion to traduce the 
 practice of Indulgences, as the meanest of traffics on 
 the part of Popes and Bishops, in order to get money 
 from the people. We hardly know what to wonder 
 at most, the overweening confidence of the -uTtiters 
 in dealing out such forgeries, or the simplicity of the 
 public in accepting them as genuine truths. 
 
 The current teaching of Protestant authors was 
 then that " in the beginning of the twelfth century 
 the Bishops, whenever they wanted a supply of money 
 for their private pleasures or the exigencies of the 
 Church, recurred to the scandalous traffic of Indul- 
 gences ; and when the Roman Pontiffs saw that 
 immense treasures were thus accumulated by the 
 inferior rulers of the Church, they thought proper to 
 limit the powers of the Bishops in remitting the 
 penalties imposed upon transgressors, and assumed 
 it, almost entire!)', as a profitable traffic to them- 
 
COMPENSATION 289 
 
 selves." ^ These gratuitous charges should rather 
 rouse compassion than excite anger. It was neces- 
 sary to invent fabulous romances on events of other 
 times and other countries, in order to divert the atten- 
 tion of the public from the recent spoliations of the 
 churches and monasteries perpetrated at home, and 
 which were still vividly present in the minds of all. 
 
 10. However, even granting this to have happened, 
 yet we hold that Indulgences, granted under such 
 conditions, cannot be said to have been frauds and 
 deceptions of the faithful, in the sense in which those 
 Protestant writers understood it. 
 
 That the faithful, though they performed with 
 proper dispositions the work enjoined, gained no In- 
 dulgence, is evident, as there was not, on the part 
 of the prelate, the just motive required by the very 
 nature of an Indulgence, and inculcated in the Coun- 
 cils both of Lateran and Trent. Yet, even in this 
 case, whatever deception there may have been with 
 regard to the Indulgence, was fully compensated by 
 a still greater good. The greater good was the work 
 itself, which necessitated the state of grace in the 
 faithful, and determined an act of special virtue, 
 meritorious of eternal life, which would not have been 
 made, had not the hope of gaining the Indulgence 
 acted as a spur. 
 
 God's goodness is not made void by man's malice, 
 neither does the infidelity or wickedness of the 
 minister weaken the value of grace and of good 
 1 Rees's Cyclopaedia, at the word " Indulgence," 
 
2 90 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 works. There is no human or divine institution 
 whatever which man cannot abuse ; but this does 
 not impair the goodness of such an institution, or 
 cause Grod to withdraw His gifts, because man squan- 
 ders them away. Not all those who miraculously 
 receive sight, hearing, and speech make use of these 
 gifts to glorify God. He is sometimes scorned by 
 those very eyes which His divine power has re- 
 kindled, and blasphemed by those very tongues which 
 He has loosened. And yet He does not withdraw 
 those gifts. 
 
 1 1 . It cannot be denied that, in course of time, many 
 apocryphal Indulgences were put forth and published 
 with the appearance of authenticity. Such publica- 
 tions were the offspring either of ignorance or of 
 indiscreet zeal, or, again, of a vain desire of emerging 
 above others. Thus, with the people of Ancona there 
 ran a fabulous story that Alexander III. had granted 
 them as many Indulgences as both hands joined to- 
 gether could contain grains of sea-sand.^ 
 
 But how did the Church behave with regard to 
 the publication of such Indulgences ? Did she ever 
 countenance them ? Indeed, she rather energetically 
 set herself, at all times, to the rooting up of the same. 
 She severely condemned such absurd fables. 
 
 A decree of the Sacred Congrefration of Indul- 
 gences and Relics,'' of the 7th of March 1678, 
 
 1 Baron., a.d. 1177, n. 49. 
 
 ^ See Richard et Qiraud's Diet. Univ. des Sciences Eccl., at the word 
 " Indulgences." 
 
APOCEYPHAL INDULGENCES 291 
 
 enumerates in detail and rejects a large number of 
 such unauthentic Indulgences, published without the 
 sanction of. the Church. We shall extract a few of 
 them. 
 
 There was an Indulgence, supposed to have been 
 granted by Pope Eugenius III., at the request of St. 
 Bernard, in honour of the wound of our Saviour's 
 shoulder. Another by Innocent III. to the Confra- 
 ternity and Order of Redemption. Another by John 
 XXII. to those who would kiss the measure of the 
 sole of the foot of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Another 
 by Pius IV. or V. to the Prince of Siena. There 
 were Indulgences said to have been granted to the 
 Confraternities of St. Sebastian and St. Roch at 
 Perugia and at Rome ; to the Society of St. Bernard 
 at the Trajan Column ; and to the Confraternities of 
 St. Eustorgius at Milan, Rimini, and Bologna ; that 
 granted to those who wear the measure of our Blessed 
 Saviour's height, or to the image or measure of the 
 wound of His sacred side, or to the prayer which was 
 supposed to have been found on His sepulchre.^ 
 And how often, especially in Italy, do we not come 
 across men selling flying sheets with a prayer, and 
 at the back the indication that Pope Clement, or 
 Benedict, or John — which of the many Popes bearing 
 those names the paper does not say — granted for its 
 recitation a plenary Indulgence. 
 
 1 Examples of similar apocryphal Indulgences are to be found in Fr, 
 Theodore of the Holy Ghost, in his classical teeatise on the Indul- 
 gences, ii. p. 247 and foil. See also Deoreta Authentica, passim. 
 
292 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 1 2. But all this is not the teaching of the Church. 
 The Popes and Councils severely reproved such false 
 publications. In 1330, Pope John XXIL, on the ist 
 of November, caused throughout the whole kingdom 
 of France all the brothers of the Hospital of Haut- 
 Pas to be seized at the same hour, with all their 
 goods, because they made a bad use of letters of 
 Indulgences, and falsely asserted that they contained 
 more Indulgences than had been granted. They 
 were subsequently shut up in diverse episcopal 
 prisons.^ 
 
 The following year we read that the same Pope 
 committed to the Bishop of Melphi and to the Inqui- 
 sitor to proceed against a new sect of heretics, whose 
 chief was a certain Angelus from the Valley of 
 Spoleto, an illiterate layman ; because, although they 
 were not adorned with priestly character, yet, under 
 the appearance of false sanctity, they presumed to 
 hear the confessions of simple people, and to pro- 
 mise them various Indulgences.^ With a like severity, 
 Pope Boniface IX., in 1390, proceeded against certain 
 beggars guilty of a similar imposture.^ 
 
 1 3. Sometimes the errors came from the preachers 
 themselves, and then the Church in her Councils, 
 through her legates or by means of her Theological 
 Faculties, hastened to correct the errors they had 
 advanced. 
 
 Thus Clement V. in the Council of Vienne (131 1), 
 
 ' Spondanus, A.D. 1330,11. xi. 
 2 Raynaldus, ad. 1331, n. vi. s Id., a.d. 1390, n. ii. 
 
3 
 
 ERRORS OF PREACHERS 293 
 
 condemned those preachers who presumed to deter- 
 mine with precision the time when the souls in 
 Purgatory are set free through Indulgences.^ 
 
 When the famous Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa was 
 in Germany as Apostolic Legate in 1450, it came to 
 his notice that some preachers of Indulgences, mis- 
 understanding, as Benedict XIV. tells us,^ the words 
 "a culpa eta poena," sometimes used in the formula 
 of concession, taught that Indulgences delivered the 
 soul, both from the punishment due to sin and from 
 the guilt thereof. This was false, as we have said,' 
 for the Indulgence has nothing to do with the 
 remission of the guilt. The Legate publicly rectified 
 this point of doctrine in the Council of Magdeburg, 
 saying that the Holy See did not grant Indulgences 
 under this form " a culpa et a poena." * Thirty-two 
 years before (141 8), the Council of Constance ^ had 
 already decreed that all the Indulgences granted to 
 any place with the formula " a poena et culpa" or 
 " de plena remissione," to avoid all misunderstandings, 
 were revoked and annulled. 
 
 When a rash preacher in the diocese of Saintes 
 in 1482, eager beyond measure for the rebuilding of 
 the Church of St. Peter in that town, advanced that 
 any one who would give for it an alms of six hlancs 
 — an ancient little coin worth a little more than 
 
 1 Clem, de Abusionibus de Poenit. et Remiss. 
 
 2 De Syn. Dicec, lib. xiii. c. xviii. ' Page 56. 
 
 4 See Baynaldus, a.d. 1450, n. x., wbo quotes the great Chronicle of 
 Belgium. 
 
 5 Sess. xliii. n. 14, See Harduin, t. viii. p. 883. 
 
294 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 half a farthing — would instantly deliver 'a soul from 
 Purgatory, the Theological Faculty of Paris pro- 
 scribed such a proposition, and proved the falsehood 
 of the preacher's statement that this Indulgence was 
 grounded on a Bull of Sixtus IV.' 
 
 Likewise, when some prelates, misusing their powers, 
 granted excessive Indulgences, the Church was care- 
 ful to repress their ill-timed prodigality. Thus the 
 fourth Council of Lateran, celebrated under Innocent 
 III. in 1215, declared, "that the superfluous Indul- 
 gences which some prelates grant promiscuously 
 cause the Keys of the Church to be despised, and 
 ener^'ate the satisfaction of penance. Wherefore tEe 
 Fathers decree that, at the dedication of a church, 
 the Indulgence be not more than one year's, whether 
 the ceremony be performed l)y one bishop or by 
 several ; and that the Indulgence be only of forty 
 days, for the anniversary of the dedication or for any 
 other cause, since the Pope, even on these occasions, 
 is not wont to grant more." ' 
 
 This the Fathers of Trent re-echoed three centuries 
 later, deploring the abuses " which had slipped into 
 this point of ecclesiastical discipline, and on account 
 of which this name Indulgence, so worthy of every 
 respect, was blasphemed by heretics." Consequently, 
 it prescribed that every criminal gain in the publica- 
 tion of these favours should be entirely abolished, 
 as having been the cause of many abuses. And, 
 that every disorder, coming either from superstition, 
 
 ' Fleury, Hist. Eccl., lib. cxv. n. 6. ^ Id., lib. Ixxvii. n. 55. 
 
AMBITION OF THE " QU^STOEES " 295 
 
 ignorance, or irreverence, might the better be re- 
 moved, the Council intrusted every Bishop with 
 the duty of finding out such abuses, of making a 
 report of them in the next Provincial Synod, and 
 referring them afterwards, with the assent of the 
 other Bishops, to the Sovereign Pontiff himself.^ 
 
 14. But the greatest blame in the matter is to 
 be thrown on those extravagant preachers who, as 
 it was the fashion of the time, thought they could 
 not conciliate their hearers' attention unless they 
 put forward exaggerated and pretentious Indulgences. 
 Ambition seldom goes without covetousness. In our 
 case, it bred in these preachers a vehement desire of 
 filthy lucre. As they received a percentage on the 
 amount, they imposed on the credulity and simpli- 
 city of the faithful. They forgot the precept of 
 evangelical poverty, and simoniacally extorted money 
 as a condition for the granting of Indulgences, of 
 which they were but the dispensers. The censure pro- 
 nounced by Dante against these false preachers will 
 remain as an everlasting brand on their memory : — 
 
 "The preacher now provides himself with store 
 Of jests and gibes ; and, so there be no lack 
 Of laughter, while he vents them, his big cowl 
 Distends, and he has won the meed he sought : 
 Could but the vulgar catch a glimpse the while 
 Of that dark bird which nestles in his hood. 
 They scarce would wait to hear the blc-ssing said 
 Which now the dotards hold in such esteem, 
 
 1 Sess. XXV., de Indulgentiis. 
 
296 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 That every counterfeit, who spreads abroad 
 The hands of holy promise, finds a throng 
 Of credulous fools beneath. Saint Anthony 
 Fattens with this his swine, and others worse 
 Than swine, who diet at his lazy board. 
 Paying with unstamp'd metal for their fare." ''■ 
 
 But the Roman Pontiffs never countenanced this 
 unworthy traffic. They opposed it with all their 
 might. They enacted severe constitutions against 
 these false preachers, and Luther himself, speaking 
 of Leo X., was obliged to avow that this Pope had 
 most clearly condemned in his decrees the impudence 
 -of the Qusestores.'^ 
 
 Sometimes they forbade under pain of nullity to 
 have the Indulgences published by Quaestores. The 
 Bull granted to St. Manettus, fourth General of 
 the Servite Order, in favour of the SSma. Annunziata 
 in Florence, and referred to above, is an instance.' 
 
 They likewise were careful to remove, in connec- 
 tion with Indulgences, anything which might even 
 remotely suggest simoniacal intentions. In the Coun- 
 cil of B^le (1436), the Fathers had proposed to grant 
 a Plenary Indulgence, to be gained once in life and 
 again at the point of death, to those who would 
 contribute with their alms towards the reunion of 
 the Eastern Churches with the "Western. Now, we 
 
 t^' Paradise, Canto xxix. verses 121 and foil., Oarv's translation. 
 
 ' Luth. Op. i. Prref. 
 
 ' Chap. vii. n. 10, p. 222. The words ai-e : "Quas (Indulgentias) 
 mitti per QuDOstuarios firiuitor inhibeiuus ; eas, si secus actum fuerit, 
 carere viribus decornentes." 
 
THE QU^STOEES ABOLISHED 297 
 
 read ^ that the legates of Pope Eugene IV. strongly 
 opposed such a decree, lest it should be thought that 
 Indulgences were granted with a view of procuring 
 money. 
 
 The same eagerness for the purity of doctrine 
 moved the successors of Alexander VI. to dispense 
 with the condition which this Pontiff had placed 
 for gaining outside Eome the Jubilee Indulgence, 
 viz., that the faithful should contribute a fixed alms 
 towards the expenses of the war against the Turks. 
 ■Thus did they wish to eliminate, in connection with 
 Indulgences, even the least shadow of temporal 
 interest. 
 
 1 5; As time went on, the Church took a yet more 
 energetic course. The Holy Council of Trent utterly 
 abolished the name and office of the ancient Quses- 
 tores, and annulled all the privileges annexed to 
 their charge, because they had made themselves guilty 
 of great abuses in the publication of Indulgences. 
 It established, moreover, that Indulgences should 
 for the future be granted altogether gratuitously,^ 
 ra clause which Pius IV. in his decree "Decet 
 Romanum Pontificem," published in 1562, renewed 
 and enforced. 
 
 His successor, the great St. Pius V., in his Bull 
 "Etsi dominici gregis," published in 1567, revoked 
 all Indulgences for which something was to be paid, or 
 by reason of which the Qusestores or Qusestuarii could 
 collect money ; and, in another Bull, published three 
 
 1 Fleury, Hist. EccL, lib. cix. n. 8. ^ Sess. xxi. cap. ix. 
 
298 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 years later, he ordered all the Bishops to destroy all 
 briefs of Indulgences, for which a pecuniary con- 
 tribution was to be given, and annulled all such 
 documents and concessions.' 
 
 Thus do we see the Church ever anxiously watch- 
 ful to keep, in its purity and entirety, the deposit of 
 faith in the matter of Indulgences. What abuses 
 crept in were the doings of private men. They 
 did not affect the dogma itself. They were offsets 
 which were to be lopped off, and the Husbandman 
 whom Christ had appointed to keep and till His 
 vineyard did his work. 
 
 These abnormal outgrowths were the result of an 
 exuberance of vigour and luxuriance of life, which 
 were the best warrant for the soundness of the tree. 
 But a good logician knows how to distinguish the 
 substantial value of an institution, from what is only 
 accidentally and externally connected thereto ; and 
 none but a sophist will ever, from the fact of the 
 abuses committed in the preaching of Indulgences, 
 conclude with Luther that they are nothing but 
 "impostures of the flatterers of the Court of Rome, 
 proper only for losing the faith and gaining money." 
 
 16. In conclusion, let us warn the faithful that 
 no circumspection can ever be too great in this im- 
 portant matter. For, it often happens that Indul- 
 gences, granted some centuries ago, have been 
 revoked in subsequent years. As regards Indul- 
 
 1 See Beringor, P. i. p. 108, 109, who quotes Fr. Theodore of the 
 Holy Ghost, i. 105 and foil. 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF INDULGENCES 299 
 
 gences granted to the faithful of the whole world, 
 the latest edition of the Eoman Raccolta should serve 
 as a guide and authentic rule, as it is published with 
 the authority and special approbatioja of the Sacred 
 Congregation of Indulgences. Yet this book does 
 not contain those Indulgences of a particular char- 
 acter which have been granted to special countries, 
 dioceses, religious orders, confraternities, and churches. 
 The books containing these Indulgences should bear 
 the approbation of the Sacred Congregation of In- 
 dulgences, or at least of the Bishop of the respective 
 diocese. 
 
 Greater care should yet be taken in the case of 
 partial Indulgences of a great number of years, such 
 as of several hundreds or thousands of years. These 
 Indulgences are often nothing but forgeries ; the 
 more so, if they are attributed to Popes who lived 
 in an epoch when such concessions were less copious 
 than now-a-days. In the thirteenth century, an 
 Indulgence of three and five years was an extra- 
 ordinary grant, and Pope Nicholas IV. in a Bull of 
 1290 speaks of an Indulgence of seven years and ■ 
 seven quarantines as of an exceptional favour It 
 was only in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
 that such concessions became more abundant; but 
 even then many of these Indulgences were false, or 
 have been revoked and replaced by others. 
 
 Sometimes the forgery is too evident to allow the 
 possibility of any mistake about it. As an instance, 
 this is, we think, the case with the Indulgence of one 
 
300 USE AJSTD ABUSE 
 
 thousand years, and one hundred and twenty days, 
 said to have been granted by Gregory IX. in 1238, 
 on occasion of his consecrating the Church of St. 
 Eusebius in Kome, to those who would visit the said 
 church, from Wednesday in Holy Week to the Octave 
 of Easter Sunday. 
 
 This Indulgence is thus recorded, in the spell- 
 ing of the time, in an inscription engraved on 
 a marble slab outside the west end wall under the 
 portico and at the right on entering : — 
 
 >J< ANN . DNI . M.CC.XXXVIII . INDICTIO^ . XI . M8B 
 
 MAETII . QVARTA FEEIA . MAIORIS EDOMADE QVADRA 
 
 GESIME . DNS GREGOKIVS . VP . N0XV8 GSBCRAVIT 
 
 HANC ECCLESil IN HONORE BEATORVM EVSEBII . ET 
 
 VINCENTII . CVM TRIBVS ALTARIBVS . QVORVM 
 
 MAIVS ALTARE C0NFESS0RI8 Ip! MANIBVS PRO 
 
 PRIIS CONSEORAVIT . STATVENS VT OMI ANNO 
 
 A QVARTA FBRIA MAIORIS EDOMADE QVADRA 
 
 GESIME VSQVB AD OCTAVAM . DNICE RESVREECTI 
 
 ONIS . HANC ECCLAM VISITANTES . MILLE . ANNIS 
 
 ET CEN5fv VIGINTI DIERV DE INIVNTASIBI PENI 
 
 TENTIA . INDVLGEMTIAM CONSEQVANTVR. 
 
 " In the year of our Lord mocxxxviii., indiction xi., in the 
 month of March, on "Wednesday in Holy Week of Lent, our 
 Lord Gregory IX., Pope, consecrated in honour of the Blessed 
 Eusehius and Vincent this church with three altars, of which he 
 consecrated with his own hands the high altar of the same Con- 
 fessor, decreeing that every year, from the Wednesday in Holy 
 Week of Lent to the Octave of Easter-Sunday, those who visit 
 this church, may obtain a Pardon of one thousand years and one 
 hundred and twenty days from the penance enjoined to them.'' 
 
 Surely, the incongruous addition of one hundred 
 and twenty days' Indulgence — in other words, of 
 
FICTITIOUS INDULGENCES 301 
 
 three quarantines — to the enormous sum of one 
 thousand years, cannot but give rise to some 
 doubts as to the authenticity of the grant. The 
 doubt is increased as one observes that the word 
 MiLLE is evidently a substitute for another number 
 previously existing, and which apparently has been 
 scraped out. Besides this, a single glance at the 
 inscription which is on the other side of the wall 
 ought to be amply sufficient to unmask the fraud 
 and dispel every doubt. Therein it is said that in 
 the year 1573 — when already the Church was wont 
 to bestow more copious Indulgences— Pope Gregory 
 XIII. grants, to all the faithful who, being truly 
 penitent and having confessed their sins, will visit 
 the chapels of SS. Eusebius, Leo and Benedict in 
 that church, from the first vespers of their feast 
 until sunset every year, and will there pray for the 
 concord among Christian princes, &c., an Indulgence 
 of ten years and so many quarantines : decern 
 annos et totidem quadragenas de injunctis seu alias 
 quomodolibet debitis poenitentiis. Judging, there- 
 fore, by the first inscription, it would result that, 
 for about the same work, the Pope, in the thirteenth 
 century, would have granted an Indulgence of one 
 thousand years and three quarantines, and in the 
 seventeenth, ten years and so many quarantines, 
 which is in open contradiction with what we know 
 of the growing practice of the Church. 
 
 However, although the greater number of these 
 considerable Indulgences may be said to be apocry- 
 
302 USE AND ABUSE 
 
 phal, yet it is certain that several of them have been 
 and are authentic. An Indulgence, for instance, of 
 two hundred years can be gained for the recitation 
 of the Rosary of the Seven Dolours, and every year 
 the Sovereign Pontiff grants an Indulgence of one 
 hundred years for each day of the Novena prepara- 
 tory to the feast of Christmas, as this Novena is 
 publicly practised in Eome. 
 
 " These high numbers," says Father Beringer,^ 
 "should not astonish us, if we reflect that the Church 
 very often permits the application of these Indul- 
 gences to the dead, and that there may be in 
 Purgatory souls which have to pay a much more 
 considerable debt. The sacred canons, for one single 
 mortal sin, often imposed a penance of seven 
 years and more. Are there not in Purgatory souls 
 which, after having spent a long life in disorder, 
 have been converted at the very last moment, but 
 are still debtors to the divine justice of temporal 
 penalties due for thousands of sins ? " ^ 
 
 ' Les Indulgences, &c., P. I. ix. p. 57. 
 
 ^ Cf. Bellarmine, De Indulgent., Ub. i. c. ix. 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 
 THE REVOLT 
 
 " For they have said: , . . Let our strength be the law of justice . . . let 
 
 us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our 
 
 turn, and he is contrary to our doings" — WiSD. ii. ii, 12. 
 
 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Luther — The beginning of his defection from Rome — The Scholastic 
 doctrines — The groundwork of Luther's system — Indulgences for 
 the completion of St. Peter's — Excesses committed by the preachers 
 — Luther's opposition — His adversaries, Tetzel and Eckius — Indul- 
 gences akin to Penance and Free-Will — Behaviour of the Church 
 during the attack — Luther at the Pope's tribunal — Leo X.'s Decree 
 — Luther applies to Erasmus — His conference with Eckius — The 
 Bull "JSxurge Domine" — Development in the practice of Indul- 
 gences — God's Providence over His Church. 
 
 I. But it is now time that we should treat of that 
 epoch, when the very foundations of the Catholic 
 Church were so violently shaken, that she would 
 not have survived the assault had she been an 
 earthly and mortal institution. Yet she stood 
 still ; nay, the fight strengthened her. But it was 
 a bitter sight for her, to witness the defection of so 
 many millions of her children in the provinces of 
 the North. She could find no better expression 
 of her grief than these words of Jeremias : " How 
 doth the city sit solitary that was full of people ! 
 How is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a 
 
304 THE REVOLT 
 
 widow : the princes of provinces made tributary ! 
 Weeping, she hath wept in the night, and her tears 
 are on her cheeks : there is none to comfort her 
 among all them that were dear to her : all her 
 friends have despised her, and are become her 
 
 enemies." ^ 
 
 The man who was to win for himself the sad 
 honour of having initiated this tremendous attack 
 against the Spouse of Christ was Martin Luther. 
 
 When we read of the sentiments of his earlier 
 life, we cannot but be amazed and wonder, how 
 such an utter change could take place in him in 
 the short space of a few years. The first time he 
 had gone to Eome in 1 510, he had fallen upon his 
 knees, raised his hands to heaven, and exclaimed, 
 " Hail ! holy Rome, truly sanctified by the holy 
 martyrs and by their blood ! " He had visited the 
 Catacombs and churches ; he had said Mass therein, 
 and had expressed his grief that his parents were 
 not yet dead, because he might thus have relieved 
 them from Purgatory with his Masses, good works, 
 and prayers.^ 
 
 But a few years later, and in the book he wrote 
 on the captivity of Babylon, Eome had become for 
 him the great city of confusion, the sacrifice of the 
 Mass the greatest of abominations, good works as 
 many sins, and Indulgences frauds and impostures. 
 
 I Lam. i. i, 2. 
 
 ^ Rohrbaclier, liv. 84, § i, who quotes Walclier, t. v. p. 1646, and 
 t. xxii. p. 2374, 
 
LUTHER 305 
 
 No less amazing is it to confront the terms of 
 respectful submission with which he had protested 
 his filial obedience to the Keys of Peter, and the 
 base revilings with which he outraged the Pontifi", 
 after the Bull had been issued which condemned 
 him. 
 
 "Most holy Father," he had written to Leo X. 
 on Trinity Sunday, 15 18, when already the propo- 
 sitions he had uttered had called forth the atten- 
 tion of the Catholic world, — " Most holy Father, 
 I prostrate myself at the feet of thy Blessedness ; 
 I offer myself to thee with all I am and all I have ; 
 give life or death, call or recall, approve or re- 
 prove, as it shall please thee ; thy voice will I 
 hear, even as that of Jesus Christ, who abides in 
 thee, and speaks through thy mouth." He had 
 written a similar letter, the following year, on 
 the 2ist of March; a letter full of protestations of 
 fidelity, recognising the authority of the Pope as 
 the first after that of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Only one year later, the Pope had become for 
 him the very person of Antichrist ; his teaching, 
 heresy ; his voice of command, oppression and 
 tyranny ; his court, a rock of scandal and a place 
 of abominations. How could a man, in such a short 
 time, utter such contradictory statements ? A great 
 change must have taken place in him, first in the 
 intellectual, and next in the moral order. What 
 were the causes of this change ? 
 
 2. Historians generally attribute the origin of 
 
 V 
 
3o6 THE EEVOLT 
 
 Luther's defection from the Church, and consequently 
 of the Reformation, to the formal denial he made 
 of Indulgences in 15 17. But Rohrbacher^ shows, 
 documents in hand, that the origin of the errors 
 of Luther is to be traced back to another cause 
 and to an earlier period. In fact, the learned his- 
 torian attributes the beginning of Luther's errors 
 to his contempt for the logic of Aristotle and to 
 his departure from sound scholastic teaching. 
 
 In 1 5 16 after he had for many years taught the 
 " Physics " of Aristotle in Wittenberg, without, how- 
 ever, grasping the system, he wrote to the Prior 
 of the Augustinians in Erfurth : "I desire nothing 
 more, had I time to do it, than to lay bare before 
 a great multitude, and show in all his shamefulness 
 this comic writer (viz., Aristotle), who has amused 
 for so long a time the Church with his Greek mask." 
 The same year, 1 5 1 6, he wrote to George Spalatrne, 
 the private secretary of the Elector of Saxony, 
 " Our theology and St. Augustine are in progress, 
 and Aristotle is declining fast, together with the 
 Schoolmen." In the beginning of 151 7, and before 
 the question of Indulgences had been broached, he 
 published ninety-nine theses against the Scholastic 
 doctrine and the Dreavis of Aristotle. 
 
 His love for the teaching of St. Thomas was 
 no greater than for that of the Philosopher of 
 Stagini. When, on the i6tli of October 15 18, he 
 stole away from Augsburg, where the Apostolic 
 
 ' Hial. Univ. de I'Eglise Oalholique, lib. Ixxxiv. 
 
LUTHEE'S DEFECTION FROM ROME 307 
 
 Legate, Cardinal Cajetan, had been commissioned 
 by the Pope to hold with him a conference to the 
 end of bringing him back from his errors, he 
 placarded an appeal " from the Pope badly in- 
 formed, to the Pope better informed;" and stated, 
 among other reasons of his withdrawal, that he 
 could not defer to the sentiments of St. Thomas, 
 which Cajetan followed. 
 
 The fact is not without its deep meaning. The 
 new proselytiser, the Ecclesiastes of Wittenberg, as 
 he used to style himself, had a twofold end in view, 
 to destroy the Church then existing, and to build 
 upon its ruins a conventicle after his own fashion. 
 That he should have begun by despising and reject- 
 ing Scholastic philosophy and theology, is for us a 
 most clear evidence of the value of the same for 
 the preservation of the Church. 
 
 3. We have not here to trace the history or to 
 make the apology of Scholasticism. The seed sowed 
 by St. John Damascene, and watered by Peter Lom- 
 bard and St. Anselm, had grown to a stately tree 
 under the care of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bona- 
 venture. Taking the dogmas of the Church, they 
 classified fhem, sifted them through the refinement 
 of reason, distinguished in them the cause from 
 the effect, the genus from the species, and presented 
 them under clearer forms, clothing them with new 
 and more definite terms. 
 
 Under the light of the Angelic and Seraphic 
 Doctors, these dogmas appeared no longer indepen- 
 
3o8 THE EEVOLT 
 
 dent tenets, isolated truths, but a body of doctrine 
 ruled by some invariable principle, bound witb close 
 relations, and quickened by mutual operations. 
 Among others, the dogma of Indulgences was set 
 forth with perfect precision as to its main lines. 
 However, it is to be deplored that the Angelic Doctor 
 did not live to bring to completion that incompar- 
 able " Summa Theologica," his masterpiece, and mark 
 with the depth and clearness which distinguishes 
 this book, the nature and working of Indulgences. 
 
 In the sixteenth century the Scholastic doctrines 
 were still held in high repute. The Angelic and 
 the Seraphic schools counted a host of doctors who, 
 if at times they indulged in useless subtleties and 
 unprofitable disputes over endless questions, stUl 
 had mastered to perfection the Scholastic system, 
 and could meet, armed with such a panoply, any 
 aggressive attack on the dogmas of the Church. 
 
 Luther knew something of the working of that 
 system of teaching natural and revealed truths ; 
 — too little to have made a real profit in it ; too 
 much to have appreciated its bearing and its 
 strength. Hence, he understood that he could not 
 strike an efficacious blow at the city itself, and 
 reduce it to ruins, unless he first pulled down the 
 bulwarks and bastions that surrounded and pro- 
 tected it. He understood that the shortest and 
 surest way of conquering tlie adverse ranks was 
 to snatch from the soldiers' hands the weapons 
 wherein they trusted. In other words, he was put- 
 
THE SCHOLASTIC DOCTEINES 309 
 
 ting in practice what one of his followers, Bucerus, 
 afterwards expressed with his Tolls Thomam et 
 dissipaho Ecclesiam — " Take away St. Thomas and 
 I will lay waste the Church." 
 
 Thanks to the Providence of God, the champions 
 of the Church understood the peril ; they clung fast 
 to their arms, and remained victorious. Luther's cry 
 had for its effect to raise up a whole constellation 
 of great theologians, who coupled with depth of doc- 
 trine strength of Scholastic method. Be it enough 
 to mention, in the first place, the incomparable 
 Cajetan, with his deep, unsurpassable commentaries 
 on St. Thomas, and Bellarmine with his unrivalled 
 controversies, set forth with remarkable clearness of 
 thought and strictness of logic. 
 
 A century later, the greater part of the schools of 
 theologians were drawn away from the path beaten 
 during so many centuries, by the dazzling appear- 
 ance of the new method brought forth by Descartes. 
 For well-nigh two centuries, the Scholastic doctrines 
 were superseded by the new theories ; but with 
 what result has appeared of late years. The dogmas 
 of the Church, impugned by her adversaries, found 
 no victorious defenders, except among those few 
 who, notwithstanding the universal scorn, had kept 
 and fostered the sacred fire of Scholastic teaching. 
 It will not be the least among the glories of the Pon- 
 tificate of our most holy Father Leo XIIL, that he 
 called back theologians and philosophers to the 
 ancient Scholastic method, and bade them draw their 
 
310 THE REVOLT 
 
 doctrines out of the limpid and never-failing wells 
 of St. Thomas.' 
 
 Henry VIII. himself, if he was able to confute 
 Luther, whom he used to call the " scourge of the 
 anger of God against Christians," owed it to the 
 great St. Thomas, whom he had deeply studied, and 
 upon whom he bestowed unending praise. Happy, 
 indeed, had he remained faithful to such sound 
 teaching. Strange to say, it was that book in 
 which he proved and defended the points attacked 
 by Luther, and among others the doctrine of In- 
 dulgences, which gained for him from Leo X., to 
 whom he had dedicated the work, the title of 
 Fidei Defensor, which the sovereigns of England 
 retain to the present day. Fidei Defensor, that is, 
 of that faith which is contained in that book of 
 his, and which the Church of Eome then professed, 
 including the doctrine of Indulgences. So the sove- 
 reigns of Protestant England publicly call themselves 
 the defenders of the Roman faith, including the doc- 
 trine of Indulgences ! ^ 
 
 4. Thus departing from the tradition of the School, 
 
 1 " Providete ut sapientia ThomjB ex ipsis ejus fontibus hauriatur." 
 — Encyclical Letter of Leo XIIL, " .Eterni Patiis." Cf. Saorfe Doctrinse. 
 Thomisticsa St udii Utilitas Demonstrata, by Alexius ^I. Lqiicier, O.S.M.. 
 Rome, 1893. 
 
 2 Upon tliis title, see Rov. T. E. Bridgett's O.SS.R. pamphlet, "The 
 Defender of the Faith : The Royal Title, its HiMov\- and Value," Lon- 
 don, Burns & Oates, wherein the author maintains the opinion that the 
 ))0(ik "Asscrlid Septem Saciamentorum" is really the work of Henry's 
 pen. "Henry's eoudemnntions, objurgations, and appeals," says Fr. 
 Bridgett, e. iii. p. 43, "remind the modem reader less of Luther's 
 extra N'agances than of Henr^-'s own.'' 
 
GEOUNDWOEK OF LUTHEE'S SYSTEM 311 
 
 and placing himself in a state of anarchy inde- 
 pendent of the rules of faith, Luther framed to 
 himself a new system of doctrine. The fundamental 
 point of it was faith, an absolute, but at the same 
 time a bare, theoretical, sterile faith, which, according 
 to him, is alone capable of justifying man. 
 
 It is said that the germs of this theory were 
 suggested to him by one of the Religious of his 
 Order. One day Martin Luther was in doubts about 
 his vocation and his eternal salvation. He went 
 to lay open the state of his mind to that Religious. 
 He received an answer that he was to believe in 
 his salvation, and rest entirely upon this belief. 
 This thought struck Luther's mind, especially when 
 he read those passages of St. Paul to the Romans, 
 where the Apostle extols the principle of faith above 
 the works of the law. 
 
 Following his private impulse, he made faith, 
 and faith alone, to be the only cause of justification 
 and salvation ; without it, all is useless ; with it all 
 is superfluous. Consequently good works are super- 
 fluous — nay, sinful ; the Sacraments either are a 
 useless invention, or else they do not confer grace ; 
 penance is an injury to Christ, who has fully satis- 
 fied for us. And what about Indulgences? They 
 are but a vain and useless invention, fit only to 
 deceive the faithful. 
 
 But Luther did not come at once to this conclu- 
 sion ; he understood that a bold denial of what the 
 Church universally practised would have prejudiced 
 
312 THE EEVOLT 
 
 his work of reformation, and so he proceeded by- 
 steps, as we shall show. 
 
 5. At that time, therefore. Pope Leo X., magnifi- 
 cent in his projects, as the family from which he 
 had sprung, undertook to complete the building of 
 St. Peter's at Rome, which Julius II., his predecessor, 
 had begun some few years before. But large sums 
 of money were yet wanted. The work was one that 
 conduced to the glory of God and the good of souls, 
 and so the Pope sent Indulgences to the northern 
 provinces of Germany, even as Julius had done to 
 Poland and France, in favour of those who would 
 contribute with their alms towards the completion 
 of that work. 
 
 He intrusted Albert, Elector of Mainz, and Arch- 
 bishop of Magdeburg, with the care of naming in 
 Germany the preachers of these Indulgences. For 
 Saxony, John Tetzel, the Provincial of the Domini- 
 cans, was appointed, and this delegate sub-delegated 
 those of his Religious whom he thought fit for that 
 work. 
 
 6. History tells us how in some places these 
 preachers did not discharge their office with that 
 amount of respect and gravity, which became their 
 priestly character and the holiness of their mission. 
 There was in some a show of boastful presumption, 
 which prompted them to utter propositions which 
 they were not commissioned to preach — nay, which 
 were reproved by the C*hurch as heretical. In 
 others, covetousness and the desire of amassing large 
 
EXCESSES OF PEEACHEKS 313 
 
 "sums, by which perhaps they were in hopes of 
 benefiting, made them partial in the concession of 
 these Indulgences, as if they were to be weighed 
 by the farthing. Others, roving from town to 
 town, set up their dispensing offices in taverns, 
 and, amid the clatter of the wine-cups, received 
 the alms of the faithful and distributed the Indul- 
 gences. 
 
 Some even presumed to say that every contribu- 
 tor, if he paid on his own account, infallibly opened 
 for himself the gates of heaven ; if on account of 
 the dead, he instantly liberated a soul from the 
 prison of Purgatory.^ 
 
 Thank God, these abuses were not universal. Many 
 showed themselves faithful dispensers of the mys- 
 teries of God. But as it has always been, so will 
 it ever be until the end of time, that the tares shall 
 be mixed with the wheat, even among the ministers 
 of the Gospel. In our case the tares were conspi- 
 cuous enough to afibrd any one, eager to calumniate 
 the Church, a favourable opportunity. 
 
 7. Luther seized the occasion. It was some time 
 since he had been anxious to manifest himself to the 
 world, to shine forth, no matter under what shades of 
 colour, to make men speak of him, to bring to light 
 his system of doctrine, which he had been hatching 
 
 1 John Lingard, D.D. The History of England, vol. iv. c. vii. It 
 is to be noted, however, that these accusations originate for the greater 
 part, from the preachers' adversaries, who, as Lingard observes, were 
 interested in the matter. 
 
314 THE EEVOLT 
 
 for many years, and set it up in the middle of the 
 Catholic Church as a bold defiance. 
 
 Indeed, he could have found no better oppor- 
 tunity. His apparent object was to defend the 
 purity of faith and morals. The thought that an 
 Order, which he looked upon as a rival, had been 
 preferred to his own, urged him to take the side of 
 the body to which he belonged against the adverse 
 party ; and in this he shielded himself under the 
 cloak of obedience, for John Staupitz, the Vicar- 
 General of the Augustinians, commissioned him 
 to oppose the preachers of Indulgences and to 
 denounce their excesses, assuring him at the same 
 time of his protection. 
 
 Luther did so ; but from the abuses of Indul- 
 gences to the doctrine thereof there was but one 
 step, and he made it. 
 
 On the Eve of All-Saints, 1517, he publicly sus- 
 tained at Wittenberg ninety-five short theses on the 
 nature of Indulgences and the errors of the Quaes- 
 tores. It is true that, in his pamphlet against 
 Hans Worst which he published in 1541, he re- 
 peatedly asserted, and confirmed the assertion with 
 an oath,^ that when he began to preach against 
 Indulgences he did not even know himself what 
 an Indulgence was ; but what cared he for truth, 
 if only he could have his own wav ? Passion in him 
 had overthrown conviction. 
 
 These ninety-five theses are a mixture of erroneous 
 
 * Luther's Works, Wittenberg edit., 1572, pp. 12, 324. 
 
LUTHER'S OPPOSITION 315 
 
 propositions, of rash and new opinions, of right 
 sentences. He says, among other things, that In- 
 dulgences are but a relaxation of the canonical 
 penances ; that they procure no relief to the souls 
 in Purgatory ; that they are not to be preferred 
 to good works, &c. The seventy-first proposition 
 is worthy of notice : " If any one denies the truth- 
 fulness of the Indulgences of the Pope, let him be 
 anathema." 
 
 Luther sent these propositions to Albert, Arch- 
 bishop of Magdeburg, with a letter in which he 
 asked him to remedy the evil caused by the preach- 
 ers. The love and zeal for truth which Luther 
 affected ; the freedom, apparently apostolic, with 
 which he censured what he styled the rapacity of 
 the Court of Eome, and the personal avarice of the 
 Qusestores ; the patronage which most of those pro- 
 positions could claim from some or other of the 
 orthodox theologians, dazzled many, and disposed 
 generally the public mind in his favour. 
 
 8. But God had sent him a valorous opponent 
 in the person of the Dominican Provincial John 
 Tetzel.^ He immediately answered Luther's pro- 
 positions, by publishing one hundred and six theses 
 contrary to those of the Augustinian fria-r, and in 
 which the Catholic doctrine on Indulgences was 
 clearly set forth. 
 
 1 See Tetzel's justification by Dr. Janssen, Histoire du Peuple 
 AUemand, t. ii. p. ^^, and Dr. Groene, Tetzel et Luther, ou Histoire 
 et Justification du Dr. J. Tetzel, prMicateur des Ind. et Inquisiteur. 
 2me ^dit., Soest. 
 
3i6 THE EEVOLT 
 
 He was a deep and well-read theologian, and 
 represented with advantage the traditions of the 
 school of St. Thomas, and the firmness of Catholic 
 doctrine, which the Dominican Order, above all 
 others, has the mission to defend. He was, more- 
 over, shrewd, with much foresight, and he gauged 
 at once the depth of error to which Luther's asser- 
 tions could lead. 
 
 But had he, with this sagacity of intellect, coupled 
 a greater meekness of heart, the Catholic truth would 
 not thereby have sufi'ered in the least ; and perhaps 
 those that opposed it might have been kept back 
 from falling into the miserable abyss, dragging along 
 with them multitudes in their fall. The simplicity 
 of the dove has never prejudiced the prudence of 
 the serpent. Indeed, Tetzel might have spared burn- 
 ing publicly Luther's theses, and then the world 
 would not perhaps have been amused with the 
 comedy of seeing immediately afterwards Luther's 
 disciples burning Tetzel's propositions in the great 
 square of Wittenberg. 
 
 Another conspicuous champion of Catholic truth 
 was John Eckius, Doctor in Divinity, and Vice- 
 Chancellor of the University of Ingolstadt. In the 
 beginning of 1518 he wrote some notes on the pro- 
 positions of Luther, vindicating, in favour of the 
 Catholic doctrine of Indulgences, the unbroken tradi- 
 tion of the Church. 
 
 9. But Luther was sufficiently awake to the truth 
 that the question of Indulgences is but a secondary 
 
PENANCE AND FEEE-WILL 317 
 
 question, dependent on that of penance and free-will. 
 Indeed, if there be such a thing as penance, a relaxa- 
 tion of the same is possible to be granted by him 
 who has been offended or by his representative ; and 
 if there be free-will in man, there is also responsi- 
 bility and morality in his actions — the possibility 
 of doing good and of doing evil, of being rewarded 
 for the good done, and of being punished for the evil 
 perpetrated. 
 
 But if we abolish Pardons or Indulgences, we 
 must take away also the truthfulness of penance 
 and the existence of good and penitential works, 
 and place man under the necessity of doing good 
 or of doing evil, without his being responsible 
 for it. 
 
 If we are not greatly mistaken, the teachings of 
 modern materialists and rationalists are but, under 
 another form, a reproduction of Luther's doc- 
 trines. 
 
 To the notes of Eckius, then, Luther gave answer 
 by publishing erroneous theses on penance and 
 freewill, and henceforth in the disputes between 
 the Catholic and Lutheran theologians we see the 
 question of Indulgences superseded, and almost 
 eclipsed, by the debates on penance and the sacra- 
 ments, on free-will and justification. 
 
 10. At this time, also, we cannot help remarking, 
 much to the credit of the Church, how dignified was- 
 her behaviour before the bold-faced assaults and 
 shameless revilings of her adversaries, how nobla 
 
3i8 THE EEVOLT 
 
 was her resistance to their rude IjIows and impu- 
 dent attacks. She stood as a matron whose virtue 
 is her safeguard, whose righteous deeds are her bul- 
 warks. Following the advice of St. Paul to Timothy, 
 she contended not in words, for it is to no profit, 
 but to the subverting of the hearers. She carefully 
 studied to present herself approved unto God, a 
 workwoman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
 handling the word of truth.-' 
 
 Before the controversy had taken this new aspect, 
 and at the very time when the question of In- 
 dulgences was captivating the Catholic world, 
 the Church was continuing to condemn erroneous 
 opinions, and asserting the right doctrine through 
 her Catholic Universities, 
 
 On the 6th of May of the year 15 18, the Theologi- 
 cal Faculty of Paris censured as false and scandalous 
 this proposition : " Whoever puts in the box for the 
 Crusade one ' teston ' ^ for a soul in Purgatory, this 
 soul goes immediately and infallibly into Paradise. 
 And if he put ten ' testons ' for ten souls, then ten 
 souls go immediately to Paradise." On the other 
 hand, the said Faculty approved as true this other 
 proposition : " It is not certain that in Purgatory all 
 the souls for each of which the faithful put in the 
 crusade-box ten ' sols-tournois ' go immediately into 
 Paradise, but we must abide liy God's judgment, who 
 
 1 2 Tim. ii. 14, 15. 
 
 ' An ancient silver coin worth about eiglitpence halfpenny of English 
 money. 
 
ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH 319 
 
 accepts as He pleases the treasure of the Church 
 applied to the said souls." 
 
 Meanwhile, the Church went on granting Indul- 
 gences, just as though no question had ever been 
 raised against them. At that time, Pope Leo X. 
 had sent to England Cardinal Lawrence Campeggio 
 with a twofold mission. The first was to obtain 
 from the clergy a subsidy in money to enable him 
 to carry on the war against the Turks. The other 
 to induce Henry VHL to enter into the league which 
 he had planned, and in which all Christian princes 
 would unite, for the defence of religion and of the 
 Church. Cardinal Wolsey was associated with him 
 as joint-Legate. 
 
 Campeggio made his solemn entry into London on 
 the 29th of July 15 18, and a Bull from the Pope 
 was read, by which he granted Indulgences to all 
 those who would assist at the Mass which one or 
 other of these two Legates would celebrate in 
 presence of the king or of the queen, or at least 
 would receive the prelates' blessing, provided they 
 were contrite for their sins and had been to con- 
 fession. 
 
 Likewise, when Henry VIII. 's work, " Assertio," &c., 
 was presented to Leo X., the latter "declared that 
 the king's book contained an 'admirable doctrine,' 
 and granted an Indulgence to those who should 
 read it." ^ 
 
 II. Notwithstanding the protestations of fidelity 
 
 1 Fr. Bridgett, "The Defender of the Faith," &o., c. iii. p. 41. 
 
320 THE EEVOLT 
 
 and submission sent at repeated times by Luther to 
 the Pope, his persistency in holding doctrines con- 
 trary to those of the Church exposed him to be 
 judged by an ecclesiastical tribunal. Leo X. reserved 
 the case to himself and summoned him to Eome, 
 granting him sixty days to make the journey. But 
 Luther could not easily be induced to expose him- 
 self, and defend his new doctrine where the Lamp 
 of Truth was ever burning and its light too dazzling 
 for his eyes. He alleged some futile reasons as 
 preventing him from making such a journey, and 
 asked to be judged in Germany. 
 
 The Pope consented, and sent Cardinal Thomas 
 de Vio, the celebrated Cajetan,^ already mentioned 
 above. He appointed for the meeting the town of 
 Augsburg in Swabia, where the Emperor Maximilian 
 was then holding a Diet or assembly. 
 
 The Cardinal held but two conferences with Luther 
 on the question of Indulgences. In the first con- 
 ference, Cajetan quoted the Constitution of Clement 
 VI. ,^ published in 1349, in which it is said that 
 the merits of Jesus Christ compose the treasure of 
 Indulgences ; that one drop only of His most Precious 
 Blood would have been enough to wash away the 
 sins of millions of worlds, if they existed, and con- 
 sequently that His merits were inexhaustible ; that, 
 together with these merits, those of the Mother of 
 God and of the saints concurred to form the trea- 
 
 1 So called from Qaeta or Cajeta, his birthplace. 
 ' Sec chap. viii. n. ii, p. 261. 
 
LUTHER AND CAJETAN 321 
 
 sury of the Church, not as a necessary element, but 
 through superabundance. 
 
 Luther answered that this Constitution was not 
 grounded on any authority of Holy Scripture, and 
 that the saints could not have had any super- 
 abundance of merits, since they were not even able 
 to acquit themselves of their obligations. 
 
 This was waiving the question of Indulgences, and 
 entering into that of justification by faith alone, or, 
 in other words, into what may be called in Luther's 
 mind the question of the sinfulness of good works. 
 This did not escape the keen perception of Cajetan. 
 He understood that the question of Indulgences 
 would never be terminated at that rate, and so he 
 cut short any digression by urging Luther to ac- 
 knowledge the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff. 
 If Luther did so, the debate was at an end, and 
 the question resolved in two words ; and the point 
 concerning Indulgences was but an atom lost among 
 the huge amount of dogma, which belief in the 
 authority of the Pope implicitly contains. But 
 Luther shifted the question, and gave then a dis- 
 tinction which the Jansenists of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury afterwards eagerly adopted, and which became 
 their stronghold. He appealed from the Pope badly 
 informed to the Pope better informed. 
 
 In the second and last conference, Luther, accom- 
 panied by four senators from Augsburg, presented 
 to Cajetan a paper in which— strange contradiction— 
 he protested his obedience to the Holy See, not- 
 
 X 
 
322 THE REVOLT 
 
 withstanding that he did not admit the Constitution 
 of Clement VI. The heresiarch was beginning to 
 repudiate the authority of Peter, to separate himself 
 from the Tree of Life ; the root of schism had been 
 planted ; it only remained for him to complete the 
 work. 
 
 This was the object at which he had aimed from 
 the very beginning ; the question of Indulgences had 
 only been a pretext to him, as it had been a pretext 
 a century before to the Hussites, to oppose the 
 Church. AVhat he wished for, was to shake off the 
 yoke of the Pope and constitute himself the high 
 priest of a new religion, the basis of which would be 
 independence from all authority, and no Indulgence, 
 but rather a war to the death with any principle that 
 tended to lessen this unbridled freedom. 
 
 12. However, as Luther's doctrines were daily tak- 
 ing ground, lest the faithful should waver in their 
 belief, Leo X., on the 9th of December of the same 
 year 1 5 1 8, issued a decree in which he declared that 
 the Sovereign Pontiff, the successor of St. Peter and 
 the Vicar of Jesus Christ, possesses, in virtue of the 
 Keys, the power of remitting both the guUt and 
 the penalty of sins ; the guilt by the Sacrament of 
 Penance, and the temporal penalty by Indulgences ; 
 that he can grant, for just and reasonable causes, such 
 Indulgences to the faithful who are the members of 
 Jesus Christ; that their usefulness does not extend 
 only to the living but to the dead also ; that they 
 are drawn out of the superabundant merits of Jesus 
 
LUTHER AND ERASMUS 323 
 
 Christ and of the saints, of which treasury the Pope 
 is the dispenser, not only by form of absolution, but 
 also by way of suffrage. 
 
 13. Luther was fully conscious of his own weak- 
 ness, and of the disadvantages of the cause he had 
 undertaken to defend. He sought for help and sup- 
 port from others. Erasmus was then astonishing 
 Germany by the vastness of his erudition. The 
 name which he had gained for himself by his works 
 on the Oriental texts of the Bible, the eagerness he 
 showed in embracing new doctrines, above all, the 
 invectives he had uttered, some time before Luther, 
 against the Scholastic doctrines, against religious 
 Orders, against Indulgences, were so many reasons 
 which prompted the Friar of Wittenberg to draw to 
 his cause such a useful helpmate. In fact, accord- 
 ing to the testimony of Albertus Pius, Erasmus, 
 long before Luther, had inveighed against Indul- 
 gences, which, he said, served the faithful as water- 
 clocks to measure the time of Purgatory — centuries, 
 years, months, days, hours, as if from a mathemati- 
 cal table. 
 
 But Erasmus, who had playfully tried his wits on 
 subjects closely connected with the dogmas of the 
 Church, was frightened at the idea of leaving her, 
 whom he knew to be the only guide to the harbour 
 of salvation. In this sense he answered Luther, 
 endeavouring to show him the falseness of the road 
 wherein he had engaged himself ; and putting forth 
 all the sweetest words of his vocabulary to bring him 
 
324 THE REVOLT 
 
 back to the Church. Vain efforts ! Luther was de- 
 termined to go to the end of his errors.^ 
 
 1 4. Soon an event took place which proved that the 
 cause of Luther's adhesion to his own opinion was not 
 sheer love for truth. On the i ith of July 1519, 
 John Eckius held a conference with Luther and Melane- 
 thon at Leipsic, in the castle of Duke George of 
 Saxony, uncle to the Elector Frederic, on the question 
 of Indulgences. Such was the amount of authorities 
 brought forth by Eckius from tradition, St. Gregory, 
 the Councils of Vienne, of Lateran, of Constance; 
 such was the weight of his arguments, and the clear- 
 ness of his reasoning, that Luther was constrained to 
 admit the existence in the Church of the power to 
 grant such pardons ; he even acknowledged the use- 
 fulness of Indulgences ; but rather than surrender, he 
 gave way to the most virulent attacks against the 
 preachers of the same. 
 
 After the conference, though evidently he had had 
 the worst of the fight, he retracted none of his errors, 
 but pursued his desperate course, and went on pour- 
 ing forth endless invectives against the Pope, the 
 Church, and her dogmas. 
 
 Eome had patiently waited for nearly three years, 
 withholding her censures, in the hope that Luther 
 
 ' See Raynal<lus, a.d. 1516,11. xcvi. See also Erasmus' book " Laus 
 Stullitiiii." It is a fact worthy of notice that the great founder of the 
 Society of Jesus wouhl never read the books of Erasmus ; nay, when 
 he was Geni'ml of the Society, he forbade his Religious to do so, or at 
 least warned them not to read his works without great precautions. 
 Rohrbacher, Hist F.cel., lib. Ixxxiv. n. 9. 
 
THE BULL "EXSUEGE DOMINE" 325 
 
 would disabuse himself and come back to the belief 
 of his fathers. Other authorities had not been so 
 patient. In August 1 5 1 9, the University of Cologne 
 had solemnly condemned Luther and his writings, 
 and in November that of Louvain had followed the 
 example. The Order to which he belonged became 
 startled at the audacity of him who had given first 
 such bright hopes of himself. Consequently the 
 Chapter deputed two Religious to bring him back ; 
 but all was in vain. 
 
 15. John Eckius and John Ulric had already re- 
 paired to Rome to denounce Luther. The Pope had 
 lost every hope of bringing him back to the path of 
 truth. Schism and heresy were taking alarming 
 proportions. In consequence, Leo X. issued his 
 Bull " Exsurge Domine," in which he condemned 
 in forty-one articles the doctrine of Luther on 
 Penance, Indulgences, the power of the Church, of 
 the Popes, and of the Councils, good works, and 
 Purgatory. 
 
 The introductory part of this Bull shows that the 
 Pope fully appreciated the danger and trembled at 
 its consequences, and that he had placed his confi- 
 dence in anything but the help of man. 
 
 The articles on Indulgences are six in number. 
 It will not be amiss to give them here at full length, 
 for the contradictory propositions contain the true 
 doctrine of the Catholic Church, and serve to illus- 
 trate more and more the dogmatical concept of tradi- 
 tion concerning Indulgences. 
 
326 THE EEVOLT 
 
 I. The treasures of the Church, out of which the 
 Pope grants Indulgences, are neither the merits of 
 Christ nor those of the saints. 
 
 II. Indulgences are pious frauds practised on the 
 faithful ; they dispense them from doing good works, 
 and are of the number of those things which are law- 
 ful but not expedient. 
 
 III. Indulgences, in those who gain them, do not 
 indeed remit the pain due to Divine Justice for 
 actual sins. 
 
 IV. It is a mistake and an illusion to believe that 
 Indulgences are wholesome and useful. 
 
 V. Indulgences are only necessary for public crimes, 
 and are not properly granted except to those who are 
 hard-hearted and impenitent. 
 
 VI. They are not useful nor necessary to six sorts 
 of persons : to the dead or to those who are on the 
 point of death ; to the sick ; to those who are de- 
 tained by lawful impediment ; to such as have not 
 committed crimes ; to those who have only committed 
 secret sins, and to those who practise the works of 
 the highest perfection. 
 
 A more flagrant misrepresentation of the Catholic 
 doctrine, and a more evident inconsistency, could 
 hardly be found than what Luther taught in these 
 six heretical propositions. Indeed, if it is a mistake 
 to believe that Indulgences are wholesome and use- 
 ful, why should they be properly granted to such as 
 are hard-hearted and impenitent ? And if, as Henry 
 VIII. observed, Luther denied the existence of 
 
EXTRAVAGANCE OF LUTHER 327 
 
 Purgatory altogether, why should he at all dispute 
 about the subsidy wherewith we are freed from Pur- 
 gatory ? ^ But this is not all that could be said on 
 the matter. 
 
 After his condemnation, Luther threw off the mask 
 openly. As a ferocious lion, he broke his chains, 
 and gave himself up to tear what was most holy 
 and venerated in the Church of God. There was 
 not a dogma he left entire, not a practice he did not 
 condemn ; and, trampling under foot the traditions 
 of fifteen centuries, he preached a new gospel, the 
 foundation and the end of which was the worship of 
 self. We need not say how quickly the new doc- 
 trines spread far and wide, owing to the favour of 
 temporal princes and to the relaxation of the clergy 
 in Germany, nor with what vicissitudes of contra- 
 diction and of approval they were received afterwards 
 in England. 
 
 The ultimate result was, as regards this country, 
 the drawing up of a new creed composed of thirty- 
 nine erroneous and contradictory statements ; the 
 twenty-second of which contains words of reproba- 
 tion and of high-flown contempt for Indulgences, 
 a doctrine which had been held by the Universal 
 Church for seventeen centuries, and a practice which 
 
 1 " Quid prof uerit cum iUo loqui quibus subsidiis liberemur a Purga- 
 torio, qui totum ferme toUit Purgatorium ? "— De Primatu Rom. Pont, 
 et de'lndulgentiis adversus Lutberum . Extracted from Henry Eighth's 
 "Aasertio" and inserted in Rocaberti, Biblioth. Pont. Max., t. xiii. 
 Romse, 1698. 
 
328 THE EEVOLT 
 
 had, up to that time, sanctified men and given glory- 
 to God. 
 
 1 6. Yet such a categorical denial of the doctrine 
 of Indulgences was not without a good result. The 
 opposition had had a twofold object : first, darken- 
 ing the notion itself of Indulgences, and traducing 
 the doctrine as an erroneous and heterogeneous addi- 
 tion to the teaching of Christ and of His Apostles ; 
 second, rooting out from among the faithful a prac- 
 tice which was regarded as superstitious. 
 
 A contrary result took place in both cases. As 
 to the doctrine, new definitions were formed by the 
 Church, precisely the reverse of those very assertions 
 which heretics had uttered. We have already seen 
 this in two instances : in the definition of Leo X. of 
 the 9th of December 1518, and in the Bull "Exsurge 
 Domine" just quoted, of the 15th of June 1520. 
 And when a Council of the Universal Church had 
 gathered at Trent, in the twenty-fifth session, held 
 on December 3rd and 4th, 1563, under Pius IV., it 
 was decreed that the power of granting Indulgences 
 had been conferred by Christ on His Church ; that 
 the origin of this divine institution was to be traced 
 back to most ancient times ; that such a practice was 
 most wholesome to Christian people ; and that, being 
 approved by the authority of sacred Councils, it was 
 by all means to be retained ; and the Council struck 
 with anathema such as doniod their usefulness or 
 failed to acknowledge the power of the Church iu 
 their dis[)ensation. So that in this ease, if ever, the 
 
PROVIDENCE OF GOD 329 
 
 word of St. Augustine proved true, that "truth 
 would not be sought after, with so much care and 
 diligence, if it had no adversaries." ^ 
 
 As to the practice, far from being in any way- 
 weakened, it went on increasing as a growing tor- 
 rent. From the sixteenth century down to our 
 own times, a noble strife was seen between the 
 pastors and the faithful as to who should be fore- 
 most, the former in granting, the latter in availing 
 themselves of those spiritual riches. It is consol- 
 ing, and at the same time edifying, to read in the 
 lives of the saints what ingenious stratagems they 
 made use of, to gain as many Indulgences as they 
 could. The Church, too, on her part, may be said 
 to have reached the climax of liberality in this line 
 of concession. 
 
 1 7. God is ever watching with anxious care over 
 His Church. From the time she sprang forth out of 
 the sacred side of her Heavenly Spouse, even to the 
 present day, she has been ever growing stronger, and 
 spreading forth her mighty influence over the world 
 at large ; and the malice of men has not been able 
 to stop her progress or to stint her growth. 
 
 If any of her ministers ever prove a Judas, God 
 has another ready upon whom to bestow the latter's 
 " bishopric." ^ If " a nation choose not to know Him, 
 and kingdoms not to call upon His name," ^ " behold 
 
 1 " Negligentius queereretur (veritas) si adversaries non haberet." — 
 Serm. li. cap. vii. n. 11. 
 
 2 Ps. cviii. 8. ' Ps. Ixxviii. 6. 
 
330 THE REVOLT 
 
 He calleth another nation which He knew not, and 
 the nations which knew not Him run to him." ^ 
 
 While, then, Luther, distorting his divine mission, 
 was ruining good morals and the religion of Christ 
 by the bold negation of the existence of free-will in 
 man, of the usefulnes of good works and penance, St. 
 Ignatius of Loyola, in his solitude at Manresa, was 
 writing, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, his 
 wonderful " Spiritual Exercises," which are a flat 
 denial of Luther's assertions, and were destined to 
 work a true and lasting reformation in the world at 
 large. 
 
 While the apostate friar was inveighing against 
 Indulgences, calling them vain and frivolous insti- 
 tutions and impostures of the Church of Eome, the 
 illustrious founder of the Society of Jesus was giving 
 to the hosts of sons whom he was to beget to the 
 Church in course of time, a splendid example of 
 the value they should set on them, by starting ofl" 
 from Manresa as a poor, unknown pilgrim, in order 
 to visit Eome and the holy places, where he might 
 gain for himself the holy treasures of the Indul- 
 gences. 
 
 And not content to preach by example, he would, 
 a few years later (1540), write to his own country- 
 men, the inhabitants of Aspezia : " Indulgences are 
 such excellent goods, that I find myself incapable of 
 praising and extolling them as they deserve : the 
 only thing which remains to me to do is to pray 
 
 1 Isa. Iv. 5. 
 
ST. IGNATIUS ON INDULGENCES 331 
 
 and entreat you all, through the love and respect 
 which you owe to God, to esteem them highly, and 
 to endeavour to profit by them with all the] [care of 
 which you are capable." ^ 
 
 1 Cartas de San Ignacio de Loyola, i. 92. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 " The wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting 
 in Christ Jesus our Lord" — Rom. vi. 28. 
 
 INDULGENCES IN THE PRESENT DAY 
 
 Sacred Congregation of Relics and Indulgences — Its authentic books — 
 The Jubilee extended to the whole world — The Jubilee of 1825 — 
 Liberality of the Church at the present day — Exaggerated diffi- 
 culties — We are the younger children of the Church — Her com- 
 passion for human weakness — Indulgences make us value the 
 Passion of Christ — They foster the spirit of prayer — They keep 
 alive the fear of God — They promote charity — The " Heroic Act " 
 — Its manifold advantages — Good effects of Indulgences — Bad 
 effects of Protestantism — The study of history — Indulgences a 
 claim of human nature — The basis of domestic and social relations 
 — Instilled in public institutions — Epilogue. 
 
 I. We have said that the controversy raised by 
 Luther and his followers on the question of Indul- 
 gences ultimately resulted in calling forth, on the 
 part of the prelates, a greater liberality to grant 
 pardons, and on the part of the faithful a greater 
 eagerness to receive them. The opposition had, how- 
 ever, another good result, and it was that of deter- 
 mining the Llhurch to submit the dispensation of 
 Indulgences to a systematic organisation, and to 
 estal)lish to that end a special department of eccle- 
 siastical economy. 
 
S. CONGREGATION OF EELIGS AND INDULGENCES 333 
 
 The Council of Trent had given the impulse. 
 After asserting, as we have said, in general terms, 
 the possession in the Church of the right of granting 
 pardons, it had declared the use of them to be whole- 
 some to the faithful, and inculcated the necessity 
 of rooting up every abuse which might have crept 
 therein. 
 
 The imminent death of the Sovereign Pontiff Pius 
 IV. had not allowed the Fathers to enter into fuller 
 particulars upon that subject. The Council, opened in 
 1 545, was closed in 1 563. A few years later Clement 
 VIII. (159 2- 1 605), guided by the spirit of this decree, 
 named a Commission composed of several cardinals 
 and prelates remarkable for their learning and piety, 
 whose office would be to assist the Pope in regulat- 
 ing the dispensation of Indulgences, according to the 
 canons of the fourth Council of Lateran, and the 
 spirit of the Trentine Decree. Cardinal Baronius 
 in his works describes this Commission, and Cardinal 
 Bellarmine mentions it with praise. 
 
 Clement's successor, Paul V. (1605-1621), who, 
 whilst as yet a cardinal, had been a member of that 
 Commission, continued his predecessor's work ; and 
 the result was the suppression of many apocryphal 
 Indulgences, said to have been granted to Con- 
 fraternities or to Eeligious Orders. But it was only 
 in 1669 that Clement IX. founded in a lasting 
 manner a special Congregation, called the "Sacred 
 Congregation of Holy Kelics and Indulgences," 
 composed of a Cardinal-Prefect, of several other 
 
334 LOSS OE GAINI 
 
 cardinals, of a certain number of consultors, and 
 of a secretary, all of whom are appointed by the 
 Pope. 
 
 The ofl&ce of this Congregation is to examine 
 into all the matters which concern Indulgences and 
 sacred relics, to solve doubts, to issue decrees relat- 
 ing thereunto, and to proscribe every abuse known 
 to exist with reference to Indulgences and Sacred 
 Eelics. 
 
 In matters of greater importance, this Congregation 
 refers, through the secretary, the decision to the Holy 
 Father in a special audience ; but in matters of lesser 
 weight, the Cardinal-Prefect can, in virtue of the 
 powers annexed to his ofl&ce, decide cases and grant 
 Indulgences. The Congregation in its solemn or 
 general sessions examines greater doubts and resolves 
 more serious difficulties ; but then, one or several 
 consultors of the Congregation previously intrusted 
 with the care of studying the question with the 
 greatest accuracy, read a votum, or elaborate paper, 
 the result of their study, by which the other members 
 may be guided in giving their decision. 
 
 2. One of the most important works of this Con- 
 gregation is the publication of a book, containing 
 the prayers and good works which the Holy See 
 has enriched with Indulgences. This book is called 
 Raccolta. 
 
 Previous to 1877, the editions of this book were 
 only semi-official, as they were but the work of a 
 private consul tor. But the two latest editions, viz., 
 
THE "EACCOLTA" 335 
 
 those of 1877 and of 1886, have been published under 
 the immediate care of the Sacred Congregation and 
 by order of the Sovereign Pontiff, so that they repre- 
 sent, in an authentic manner, all the concessions 
 made in general for all the faithful, and without 
 limit of time. However, in case of a difference be- 
 tween the two editions, a decree guides us to prefer 
 the latter, and to stand by it. This book contains, 
 moreover, certain general observations, couched in 
 a brief and precise style, and extracted from the 
 different decisions enacted by the Holy See. 
 
 It is hardly needful to observe how becoming it is 
 for each Catholic to possess a copy of this valuable 
 work, whereby he may continually be enabled, by 
 the recitation of those indulgenced prayers, to atone 
 for his sins, and to relieve the suffering souls in 
 Purgatory, for all the Indulgences contained in this 
 book are applicable to the souls of the faithful 
 departed.-' 
 
 Another equally important work published by the 
 care of the same Congregation, is the collection of 
 over four hundred and fifty decrees or declarations, 
 given during the last two hundred years and more, 
 in answer to different questions proposed to this Con- 
 gregation, concerning Indulgences or Eelics, This 
 work, the acts of which have been immediately taken 
 from the Archives of the Sacred Congregation of 
 Indulgences, was published in 1883 by the command 
 of our Holy Father, Leo XIII. , who, the year before, 
 
 1 Deer. Sept. 30, 1842. 
 
336 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 had given to this compilation his supreme approbation, 
 and had commanded all the faithful to consider it 
 as authentic. The title is " Decreta Authentica Sacrse 
 Congregationis Indulgentiis, Sacrisque Eeliquiis prse- 
 positfe." ^ 
 
 A simple perusal of these authentic documents of 
 the Church will convince the reader of two important 
 facts : the one is the anxious solicitude of the Church 
 not to grant Indulgences, except for some holy pur- 
 pose, and on condition that the faithful perform some 
 pious act of devotion ; the second, that the liberality 
 of the Church in this respect has ever been growing 
 greater and greater. 
 
 3. The Jubilee is a striking proof of this truth. 
 We have seen above how the Sovereign Pontiffs 
 began in the Middle Ages to grant more frequent 
 dispensations from going to Rome in order to gain 
 the Jubilee. Boniface IX. had made this a special 
 concession, in perpetuity, in favour of several towns, 
 and in the case of the Jubilee of 1 500, Alexander VI. 
 had extended it to all the faithful. ^ 
 
 In course of time, it became customary for the 
 Popes, to grant to the faithful of the whole world the 
 same Jubilee which had been granted in Rome, to 
 be gained the following year, and only for a shorter 
 period, usually six months. Thus did the Sovereign 
 Pontiffs, Benedict XIV. in 1751, Pius VI. in 1776, 
 Leo XII. in 1S26. 
 
 But Pius IX. in 1S75 preferred to extend to the 
 
 • Rati.Mboii, Pustot. 1SS3. ' Soo cliap. viii., n. 14, p. 267. 
 
JUBILEE EXTENDED TO THE WHOLE WORLD 337 
 
 faithful of the whole world the Jubilee of that year.^ 
 This custom was since followed in the three extra- 
 ordinary Jubilees which our Holy Father Leo XIII. 
 granted of late years ; the first on occasion of his 
 exaltation to the See of Peter ; the second in the year 
 1882, in order to obtain from God assistance in the 
 present necessities of the Church ; and the third in 
 1886, to the end of obtaining Mary's intercession in 
 the present tribulations. 
 
 Thus there was no spot under the sun, no nook 
 or corner of the world, however wild, however remote, 
 u which the faithful of every sex, age, condition, 
 nationality, could not avail themselves of the saving 
 Indulgence. For, special provisions had been made 
 in favour of the sick, of the young, of the aged, 
 of travellers, of soldiers, of mariners, of prisoners, 
 and in general of every one detained by some im- 
 pediment. 
 
 So, that is not true which some extreme anti- 
 Catholic writers^ assert, that, since Luther's time, 
 " the Popes have been more sparing in the exercise of 
 this power of granting Indulgences," as if the Refor- 
 mation had been for them a check in the dispensation 
 of these heavenly treasures. The truth is, on the 
 contrary, that the movement has ever been growing, 
 and that past largesses are not only equalled, but 
 greatly outdone by new ones. 
 
 4. On the other hand, the eagerness of the faithful, 
 
 1 See Beringer, 2me partie, 3 sect. 
 2 For instance, Eees in his Cyclopaedia, at the word " Indulgence." 
 
 Y 
 
338 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 in availing themselves of these sacred treasures, has 
 not grown cold, as some would have it to be. If the 
 facility which the faithful have of gaining the Jubilee 
 at home, has been the cause that many do not under- 
 take the journey to Kome who would otherwise have 
 done so, the number of those who do flock to Eome 
 on these occasions is conspicuous enough, to show 
 that Christians do not overlook these heavenly 
 treasures. 
 
 The Jubilee granted by Leo XII. in 1825 is a 
 proof of what we assert. The troubles caused by the 
 French Eevolution throughout Europe, and the death 
 of Pope Pius VI. had prevented the celebration of the 
 Jubilee of 1 800. Twenty- four years later, though a 
 relative peace had been granted, yet many, both 
 Eomans and strangers, were opposed to the celebra- 
 tion of a Jubilee. Many feared lest it should inun- 
 date Eome with a host of banditti and outlaws 
 clothed under the garb of mendicant pilgrims, whilst 
 the Papal treasurer was terrified at the inroad which 
 the expenses would necessarily make into the state 
 funds. Indeed if, in these circumstances, the liberality 
 of some wealthy pilgrim is a cause of enrichment for 
 some churches, the greater number of those visiting 
 Eome are poor and have no means of subsistence, 
 except through the alms of the Church. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these difficulties, Leo XII. 
 ordered that the Jubilee should take place. We 
 cannot better form to ourselves an idea of the 
 mimlier of pilgrims who flocked to Eome, and of the 
 
THE JUBILEE OF 1825 339 
 
 charity exercised in their regard, than by quoting 
 the very words of Cardinal Wiseman, an eye-witness. 
 It is the best confutation both of those who say that, 
 since the time of the Reformation, the devotion of the 
 faithful to the Jubilee has gradually cooled down, and 
 of those who readily subscribe to the statement made 
 by the New Popular Encyclopedia that tbe Jubilee 
 1825 had but little success/ 
 
 " There is in Rome," writes the Cardinal, " a large 
 house, attached to a Church of the Holy Trinity, 
 expressly established for the charitable entertainment 
 of pilgrims. Hence it is called La Trinitd, dei Pelle- 
 grini. It is divided into two sides, one for men and 
 the other for women. The ground-floor is laid out 
 in immense refectories, above which are dormitories, 
 equally vast. 
 
 " During Holy Week there is a certain amount of 
 activity in the house, as a considerable number of 
 pilgrims then arrive ; perhaps half a refectory and 
 half a dormitory may be occupied. During the rest 
 •of the year the establishment sends a huge carriage, 
 now rather modernised, to the hospitals to bring 
 away all discharged patients, to whom, under the 
 title of convalescents, it gives three days' hospi- 
 tality, and often leisure to look out for some occupa- 
 tion. 
 
 " The revenues of the house, the fruit of charity, are 
 tolerably abundant, and it used to be said that in the 
 interval between two Jubilees, they were employed 
 
 1 At the word "Jubilee." 
 
340 LOSS OE GAIN? 
 
 the first half of the time in paying ofi" the liabilities 
 incurred, and the second in accumulating for the 
 coming celebration. 
 
 " But in addition to the accumulation permanently 
 secured at home, the charity provided immense 
 lodging-room along the wide and airy corridors of 
 religious houses. In the month of November our 
 Confraternity of the Holy Trinity, to which many 
 English belong, lodged and fed for three days 23,090 
 men and 15,754 women — in all, 38,844 persons, 
 besides 350 members of branch confraternities. 
 From this, some idea may be formed of the scale 
 on which hospitality was exercised during the entire 
 year." And further, " Scarcely ever did Eome pre- 
 sent a more motley crowd, arrayed in every variety 
 of costume, from the sober and almost clerical dress 
 of the German peasant, to the rainbow hues of the 
 Abruzzi or Campagna." ^ 
 
 5. But how is it, it will be asked, that the Church 
 is now so liberal in her concessions of Indulgences ? 
 Never was such a prodigality witnessed in ages 
 past. New grants come out every day. The 
 Raccolta is growing in bulk and size at every new 
 edition, and some Indulgences surely seem out of 
 proportion, as for a short prayer manv vears' Pardon 
 are often granted, and sometimes a plenary Indul- 
 gence. Is not this an abuse worse than any the 
 Church has over reproved ? 
 
 To these questions some give answer, that it is 
 ' Recollections of tlio Four Last Popes (Leo XXL c. iv.). 
 
LIBEEALITY OF THE CHURCH 341 
 
 very difficult to gain an Indulgence, that it is one 
 thing that the Church should grant copious Indul- 
 gences and another that the faithful should be sure 
 to gain them, that it is very hard to obtain a Pardon 
 in the extent in which it has been granted ; whilst 
 with regard to plenary Indulgences, they teach in 
 a dogmatical tone that exceedingly few are those 
 who can gain it, and fewer still those who actually 
 do gain it — perhaps a holy nun in some remote 
 corner of the world, or some saintly hermit dead to 
 this life and its concupiscences. 
 
 6. For our part, we cannot help expressing our 
 doubts that such a sentiment is anything but honour- 
 able to our Blessed Saviour's Body, which is the 
 Church, or beneficial to its members. The Church 
 must indeed have fallen off from her sanctity, if 
 from among the two hundred millions and more 
 children whom she has begotten to Christ, one or 
 two only are able so to avail themselves of our 
 Blessed Kedeemer's satisfaction, as to cancel all the 
 debt of sin left to them. 
 
 On the other hand, if one or two persons only 
 in such a large multitude can have a probable chance 
 of gaining this plenary remission, these indeed must 
 have arrived at the apex of perfection, and have 
 obtained a perfect dominion over every one of their 
 passions. It is, then, a superfluous and useless 
 work trying to gain such an Indulgence for the rest 
 of mankind, who have to fight daily against in- 
 numerable foes, both visible and invisible, who, even 
 
342 LOSS OE GAm-! 
 
 as the just man, fall seven times,^ and who say 
 with truth the Lord's Prayer, " Forgive us our tres- 
 passes." 
 
 Such an opinion, whilst apparently aiming at 
 setting forth the value of Indulgences, and urging 
 the faithful to free themselves from every impedi- 
 ment to their acquisition, in reality has no other 
 result than to discourage the faithful, and to keep 
 them away from that which they deem unattainable. 
 This is what St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, 
 would call " building up to destruction, not to edifi- 
 cation." 
 
 But after all, in what does this great difficulty 
 consist ? To gain a plenary Indulgence, one must 
 be in a state of grace, have no afi"ection whatever 
 to venial sin, and diligently fulfil all the works 
 prescribed. 
 
 Certainly the difficulty cannot be on this last head. 
 The works are sometimes so plain and simple, that 
 with a little good- will they can easily be performed. 
 Again, the difficulty of placing oneself in the state 
 of grace is not so very great. Although it be true 
 that no man can with absolute certainty know 
 whether he be worthy of love or hatred," yet may 
 we not be morally sure that many among the faithful 
 who live with the fear of God deeply impressed in 
 their hearts, are in the grace and friendship of 
 God? 
 
 The only real difficulty, then, will lie in being 
 
 ' Prov. xxiv. 1 6. ^ Kcclcs. ix. i. 
 
EXAGGERATED DIFFICULTIES 343 
 
 detached from every affection to venial sin. But, 
 we should observe that it is one thing to fall into 
 venial sin, and another to have an affection for it. 
 The first means an act, the other a state of the 
 soul. The first is often the result of weakness, of 
 inadvertence, of a habit not yet eradicated, but for 
 the rooting out of which we have already manfully 
 striven. The other implies something more — that is, 
 a certain amount of wickedness on the part of the 
 will, excessive attachment to creatures, with the 
 offence of the Creator. 
 
 From the first no man, however holy, excepting 
 Christ, and His Blessed Mother, can call himself 
 free ; but many should be, and in reality are, free 
 from the second. How can we imagine faithful 
 souls, that are anxious to please God, and daily seal 
 this desire with the Bread of Life — and their genera- 
 tion, thank God, is not extinct — how can we ima- 
 gine such as these to be wilfully attached to that 
 which, though not causing eternal death, yet is in- 
 finitely injurious to the Divine Majesty ? 
 
 In conclusion, it would be better, rather than 
 spread such ill-grounded and unauthorised opinions, 
 to go hack by examination and reflection to the 
 heart,^ and work up the will to be " ready "^ to 
 walk in the path of God's justice and judgment. 
 Thus shall we gain either for ourselves or for the 
 souls in Purgatory, those heavenly riches which 
 Holy Church offers us from her spiritual treasury. 
 
 1 Isa. xlvi. 8. ^ Ps. cvii. 2. 
 
344 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 And if, at times, we fail in our intent, not on this 
 account are our efforts vain, for the Indulgence in 
 this case from plenary becomes partial, and though 
 we receive not the pardon of all our debt, yet we 
 obtain the remission of a part of it. 
 
 7. But if so, how is it that the Church is now so 
 liberal, whilst she was so sparing in ages gone by ? 
 
 It would be presumption on our part to pretend 
 to enter into the mind and intentions of the Church. 
 Yet we dare make a few suggestions. 
 
 We are, with regard to the faithful who have pre- 
 ceded us, the younger children of the Church. She 
 then loves to show to us, whom she has begotten in 
 a riper age, signs of greater benignity, of more ample 
 liberality, of an easier forgiveness than she ever 
 showed to our elder brothers. They bore the burden 
 of the day and the heat, but ive come at the eleventh 
 hour, and labour only in the cool breeze of even- 
 ing ; yet for all this, she gives us in reward the same 
 penny which she gave to those who worked from the 
 early morning. 
 
 As Jacob clothed Joseph with a coat of many 
 colours, so she surrounds us with a variety of goods 
 and favours ; and as the same aged patriarch watched 
 anxiously over the life of his own dear Benjamin, 
 and would not allow him to be detained in bondage, 
 so she carefully watches over evcrv one of our steps, 
 not consenting that the chains of our sins should 
 detain us from the source of every good. Our elder 
 brothers, to accjuit themselves of their penances, had 
 
THE CHUECH AN INDULGENT MOTHEK 345 
 
 to go through a long course of fasting, weeping, and 
 praying ; we, with a few ejaculations, can discharge 
 all our debt, and we have enough in our hands to 
 avoid the excruciating pains of Purgatory. 
 
 The Church, then, acts with us as a kind mother 
 who has remitted much of her former severity. 
 And not in the matter of Indulgences only, but 
 generally in all observances. She has relaxed 
 much of the ancient rigour of fasting and absti- 
 nence, of the duty of assisting at Mass, of fre- 
 quenting the Sacraments, of observing Christian 
 festivals. Does it not seem as if she would facilitate 
 for men the entrance into the kingdom of heaven, 
 even against their own will ; as if she were afraid 
 not to complete the number of the elect, and to 
 leave without fruit the Precious Blood of her Divine 
 Spouse ? 
 
 8. But in this we cannot accuse her of too much 
 facility in relaxing the nerve of ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 In the first place, she is but imitating God's 
 infinite goodness, who is more ready to forgive 
 than to smite, who welcomes the prodigal son 
 with signs almost of untimely joy, who forgets to 
 upbraid, and, in sign of joy and gladness, kills His 
 fatted calf, and adorns His son with the same linen 
 garments he had worn before his desertion. 
 
 Then she takes into consideration, on the one 
 hand, the growing weakness of human nature, and 
 on the other, the new and more fierce temptations 
 
346 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 that harass her children. It seems hardly correct to 
 say that man is able now to bear as much as he 
 could centuries ago. Whether it be that the phy- 
 sical constitution in general has grown weaker, or 
 that the ideas and ways of modern society are 
 offended at the severe penances of bygone days, or 
 that both combined have worked together to alter 
 the conditions of human life, certain it is, that to 
 call the world back again to the penances of the first 
 centuries, or even to those milder ones of the ]\fiddle 
 Ages, might be considered a superhuman enterprise. 
 Add to this the sad, yet most real fact that the 
 fervour of charity has grown colder, and that the 
 spirit of faith has considerably diminished. 
 
 There are indeed some staunch Christians, too 
 much and too deeply rooted in the love of our 
 Blessed Lord to have at all suffered from the 
 destroying blast — living monuments of the heroism 
 of the faith and of the charity of ancient times. 
 But they are few and far between, and are rather 
 trophies of the victories of God's power in souls, than 
 captains to be followed by all. 
 
 Then, there are the many temptations that the 
 faithful have to sustain now-a-days ; the more fre- 
 quent, though more latent incursions from the 
 diabolical spirits ; the inveiglements of a society in 
 which every comfort is to be found ; the attacks 
 against the Church, her institutions, her ministers ; 
 and consequently tlie facility of falling, and the 
 difficulty of resisting so many assaults. 
 
SPIRIT OF CHKIST GUIDING THE CHURCH 347 
 
 No wonder, then, that the Church should have 
 multiplied the means of obtaining the remission of 
 punishment through Indulgences, as she has multi- 
 plied the means of obtaining the remission of the 
 guilt through the Sacrament of Penance, in order 
 that the faithful, free from all bond of sin and from 
 the consequences thereof, may more generously "fight 
 the good fight of faith." ^ 
 
 If these considerations be borne in mind, it will, 
 we trust, be acknowledged that the Spirit of Christ, 
 who has promised to be with His Church from the 
 beginning, is still guiding her in the present age in 
 the dispensation of these divine treasures, and that 
 the Hand which rules the succession of seasons, and 
 causes the earth to yield diff"erent fruits under dif- 
 ferent climes, has also adapted to the times in which 
 we live, proportionate helps and timely remedies; 
 and as what He does is always the best, so what 
 the Church decrees in His name is also the most 
 opportune. 
 
 9. In fact, we can best judge of the advantages 
 which accrue to the Church from the institution of 
 Indulgences, by considering the great good it pro- 
 duces among the faithful. 
 
 In the first place, the practice of Indulgences is 
 for the Christian a potent motive for acknowledging, 
 revering, and valuing at their full worth, the sufi"er- 
 ings of the saints, and especially those of Jesus Christ. 
 For he who gains an Indulgence is reminded, that it 
 
 1 I Tim. vi. 12. 
 
348 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 was by the Cross of Christ that " the handwriting of 
 the decree that was against us, which was contrary to 
 us, was blotted out," ^ and that it is only in virtue 
 of His sacred Passion, and of the sufferings of those 
 who " with Christ are nailed to the Cross," ^ that he 
 is released from death and the temporal misery an- 
 nexed to sin. " In order to gain the Indulgences," 
 wrote Bossuet,* " it is necessary to unite oneself to 
 the tears, to the sighs, to the groanings, to the morti- 
 fications, to the labours, to the sufferings of all the 
 martys and of all the saints, and above all, to the 
 Agony, to the Bereavement, to the Passion, and to 
 the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in whom and through 
 whom, all the satisfactions and good works of the 
 Saints are accepted by His Father." 
 
 lo. Again, Indulgences, especially those annexed 
 to some particular prayer, are a means of bringing 
 the faithful to the practice of the Presence of God, 
 of union with Him, of humble submission to His 
 decrees ; in a word, they foster the spirit of prayer. 
 Prompted by the promise of some hundred days' 
 Indulgence, how many fervent ejaculations dart from 
 the hearts of the faithful during the day, and draw 
 from the very Throne of Divine ^lercy iloods of 
 blessings. 
 
 These prayers for the most part are very short, 
 sometimes they consist of but a few words, yet how 
 pregnant with meaning thoy are ! This simple 
 
 1 Col. ii. 14. « Gal. ii. 19. 
 
 ' Instruct. NiScess. pour le JuMlo, a. i. Venice, mdcclviii., p. 37. 
 
THEY FOSTEE THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER 349 
 
 ejaculation of St. Francis of Assisi, "My God 
 and my all!"^ or that other "one, "My Jesus, 
 mercy," ^ what an amount of good do they not by 
 themselves work upon the mind and heart of him 
 that pronounces them ! How ready must God be to 
 assist by His grace that man, who calls upon Him 
 with such an invocation as this, " May the most just, 
 most high, and most amiable will of God be done 
 in all things, be praised and magnified for ever." * 
 
 Did Indulgences possess but this virtue of keep- 
 ing alive the spirit of faith in the presence of God 
 and of His Divine Majesty, and consequently of 
 teaching man the abjection and nothingness in 
 which he stands with regard to his Creator, and of 
 supplying him with a means of continual help from 
 Him, this alone would suffice to show, that they 
 little understood the excellency of spiritual life and 
 the workings of grace in the soul, who presumed to 
 call them nothing but " frauds and deceptions of 
 the faithful." No, there is here no fraud, no decep- 
 tion, but real sterling gain. 
 
 Nor should it be objected that the motive which 
 prompts the recitation of such prayers is not worthy 
 of God, since man prays only in order that he may 
 be delivered from temporal pain. Indeed, we dare 
 
 1 Fifty days' Indulgence every time it is recited with a contrite heart. 
 S.C.Ind.,4t]i May 1888. 
 
 2 One hundred days' Indulgence every time it is recited with devotion 
 and a contrite heart. S. C. Ind., 24th September 1846. 
 
 3 A plenary Indulgence at the hour of death to those who, having 
 often said it during life, and being properly disposed, will accept death 
 with resignation from the hand of God. S. C. Ind., 19th May 1818. 
 
35° LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 assert that nine-tenths of the faithful daily raise 
 their hearts to God by prayer, to the end of obtain- 
 ing from Him some favour, who would not otherwise 
 do so. The pure and altogether disinterested love 
 of God, as a matter of fact, is not a very fre- 
 quent element among Christian people. How many 
 are kept within the bounds of religion through the 
 fear that God would abandon them, and make them 
 lose their temporal prosperity, were they to give up 
 religious practices. Yet, who will dare condemn this 
 impelling — not final — motive, or assert that it is an 
 outrage to the Divine Majesty? And so, if some 
 are induced to pray by the hope that they will 
 lessen the time of their temporal punishment, who 
 will find fault with this ? It is one thing that we 
 should be induced to pray by this motive, and 
 another that we should pray solely for this end. 
 The first is right, the second is alien from the mind 
 of the Church and the practice of Christians. 
 
 1 1 . Prayer is the foundation of spiritual life, since 
 it is the food of the soul, as the Holy Fathers call it. 
 But the element that safeguards the wholesomeness 
 of the soul, that preserves the Christian from spiritual 
 sickness, is the fear of God. " Blessed is the man 
 that feareth the Lord." ' That filial fear it is which 
 is the beginning of wisdom, gladdens the heart, and 
 gives joy, length of days, and security at the hour 
 of death." That fear it is which makes the saints 
 tremble at the very thought of the possibility of 
 
 ' Ps. cxi. I. • Ecchis. i. 12. 
 
THEY KEEP ALIVE THE FEAE OF GOD 351 
 
 offending God, and faint at the sight of a venial 
 sin. 
 
 Indulgences are a potent means to keep alive 
 in us this wholesome fear. They recall to our 
 minds the severity of God's judgments, they remind 
 us how every debt must be paid, even to the last 
 farthing. They make us anticipate the sight of the 
 excruciating pains of Purgatory, the length of time 
 a soul is to be punished there for small defects not 
 atoned for during this life : in a word, they keep 
 before our imagination in vivid colours the sanctity 
 of God, who admits of no defilement, and the careful- 
 ness with which we must live, lest we should depart 
 from that purity of life which He requires of us. 
 
 And so, Indulgences are as a bright lamp, ever 
 lighted to illumine our path, and prevent us from 
 falling into the precipice that lies open on either side 
 of the road that leads to eternity. 
 
 12. But if faith is the foundation, and the fear 
 of God the strength of our spiritual edifice, charity 
 is the coping-stone thereof. That charity which is 
 patient, benign, which worketh no evil, which beareth 
 all things; that charity which "never falleth away, 
 whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues 
 shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed ; " ^ that 
 charity which, to be true, manifests itself by the 
 love of our neighbour, since it is impossible that we 
 should love God whom we see not, if we hate our 
 neighbour whom we see.^ 
 
 1 I Cor. xiii. ^ i John iv. 20. 
 
352 LOSS OR GAIN1 
 
 Here is the apex of the perfection of Indulgences, 
 and the highest standpoint from which it behoves us 
 to judge of their worth — they promote true Christian 
 charity. By gaining Indulgences, we are enabled to 
 rescue the souls of our suiFering brethren in Purga- 
 tory. We have only to offer to God those satis- 
 factory works of ours, and we have an assurance 
 that God will take them into account in favour of 
 those souls which, perhaps also through our own 
 sins, are still suffering in those cleansing flames. 
 
 But Indulgences prompt the faithful oftentimes 
 to exercise a greater charity still. For not few are 
 those who, in order to help others, do not wait until 
 they have fully satisfied for themselves. Forgetful 
 of their own misery, they think only of the misery 
 of their departed brethren ; they gain the Jubilee, 
 frequent the Portiuncula, or perform some other 
 work by which these suS"ering souls may be released, 
 even before they themselves have paid all their debt 
 to the justice of God. And this charity is so much 
 the more conspicuous, as they pray for unknown souls, 
 and sometimes for those that are the most forgotten, 
 or even for such as may be detained in Purgatory 
 precisely for having wronged them. 
 
 13. Nay, there are not wanting among the faith- 
 ful some who, mindful of our Blessed Saviour's 
 words, " Greater love than this no man hath, that 
 a man lay down his life for his friends," ^ have made 
 to God, on behalf of the souls in Purgatory, an 
 
 ' Jolin xv. I •!. 
 
THE "HEROIC ACT" 353 
 
 entire donation of all the Indulgences they will 
 ever gain, as also of all the satisfactory works they 
 wUl ever perform during life. They even have in- 
 cluded in the same bequest, as far as God may accept 
 them, all the Indulgences which others may apply 
 to them after death, thus throwing themselves alto- 
 gether helpless into the hands of Di\T.ne Mercy and 
 Justice, as a slave that would give for the ransom of 
 his companions, rather than for his own, any money 
 which should come to him by right of inheritance or 
 which should be paid for him by his friends. 
 
 This is what is called in consecrated language 
 " The Heroic Act in favour of the souls in Purga- 
 tory." It was instituted at the beginning of the 
 last century, and noble and conspicuous names are 
 to be found among those who practised it. It was 
 enriched with copious Indulgences by the Popes 
 Benedict XIIL, Pius VI., and Pius IX.,' and Father 
 Gaspar Oliden, a Theatine, introduced, or at least 
 propagated in connection with this pious act, at the 
 end of the last century, the holy custom, though 
 not essential to the Heroic Act itself, of oflFering to 
 God these suffrages through the hands of the Blessed 
 Virgin, that she may apply them conformably to 
 God's will, to such souls as she may wish to be the 
 sooner freed from Purgatory. 
 
 Of course, one only transfers thereby the satis- 
 factory value of his good works, and not the meri- 
 torious part of the same. This, as has been observed, 
 
 1 Seethe "Raccolta." 
 
 Z 
 
354 LOSS OE GAIN? 
 
 is inalienable ; ^ nay, it may be said to increase con- 
 siderably, on account of the charity which prompts 
 the performing of such a good act. So that, though 
 a man, who has made the aforesaid act, exposes 
 himself to remain, perhaps for long years, in Purga- 
 tory, in order to atone for the punishment due to 
 his sins, yet he is not the loser by it. For, a slight 
 increase of merits and of grace is incomparably 
 greater and more precious, than a speedier liberation 
 from the greatest pain of Purgatory, as Dominic 
 Soto observes,^ because the latter is simply the 
 removal of an obstacle to the beatific vision, whereas 
 the former ennobles the soul considerably in the 
 sight of God. 
 
 14. Father Faber, in his beautiful book "All for 
 Jesus," ' enumerates six advantages which accrue to 
 us, from our giving over our Indulgences to the 
 holy souls in Purgatory. First, it considerably in- 
 creases our merit, and consequently our claim to 
 glory. Next, it lays the soul that we release under 
 a particular obligation to us, both because of the 
 singular benefit it receives from entering all the 
 sooner into glory, and also because of the tremen- 
 dous sufi"erings from which it is delivered. More- 
 over, it gives us the consolation to think that those, 
 whom we have released from Purgatory, are doing 
 for us in heaven the great work of loving, praising, 
 and glorifying God on our behalf. Again, it adds 
 fresh joy to the Church triumphant, from the fact 
 
 ' P. 14. - 4 Sent dist. ii. n. i. ' Chap. ii. sect 5. 
 
ITS MANIFOLD ADVANTAGES 355 
 
 that to the heavenly hierarchy a new citizen is added 
 who can sin no more, whilst to the Church militant 
 it brings comfort from the gain she has made of a new 
 advocate. Besides, it secures a prompt application of 
 our Indulgences, which, in the possible case that we 
 were in no want of them for ourselves, might remain 
 for many years buried in the treasury of the Church. 
 And last of all, it entitles us to a speedy discharge 
 of our own debt in Purgatory ; for, if temporal alms 
 are satisfactory above most other good works, much 
 more will spiritual alms be so. And if he who gives 
 up anything for God receives a hundredfold, we may 
 have a security that, to recompense us for our gene- 
 rosity. He will so deal with us, that we shall need 
 little Purgatory, or He will inspire devout souls to 
 pray for us. 
 
 We might add, that God can certainly derogate 
 from His laws, and apply to us immediately the 
 satisfactions of Jesus Christ without Indulgences. 
 In any case, the faithful who have made the Heroic 
 Act should not feel despondent because they have no 
 satisfaction or Indulgence to fall back upon ; for as 
 David said to the Prophet Gad, " It is better to fall 
 into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are many, 
 than into the hands of men." ^ 
 
 And so, this devotion is no loss, but all gain ; or, if 
 it be at all a loss, it is that of the husbandman, who 
 is willing to sacrifice a few grains of wheat in order 
 to reap in due time a rich harvest. 
 1 2 Kings xxiv. 14. 
 
3S6 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 15. But a tree is known by its fruits,^ and surely 
 if Indulgences are an exotic, a baneful institution in 
 the Churcli, they must ultimately result in the cor- 
 ruption of morals and in the waning of the religious 
 spirit. Let us see what impartial writers tell us 
 of the fruit brought about by the Portiuncula or 
 the Jubilee. 
 
 Of the Portiuncula, Bourdaloue tells us how it has 
 ever been blessed by extraordinary fruits of sincere 
 penance, and how many have been the faithful who, 
 on that occasion, have passed from a life of sin to a 
 life of holiness, from a state of forgetfulness of God to 
 the practice of the most heroic acts of virtue.^ 
 
 Of the Jubilee year. Cardinal Bellarmine does not 
 hesitate to say, from his own experience, that it 
 produces such great fruits of penance, such remark- 
 able conversions, such numerous and splendid works 
 of piety, that it can justly be called the holy year, 
 the year pleasing to God, of all the years the most 
 fertile.' 
 
 Of the Jubilee of 1825 already referred to. Cardinal 
 Wiseman tells us in glowing terms what good effects 
 it produced. " I wish you could have seen," he says, 
 " not merely the churches filled, but the public places 
 and squares crowded to hear the word of God— for 
 churches could not contain the audience ; I wish you 
 could have seen the throng at every oonfessional, aud 
 
 1 Matt. vii. 20. 
 
 2 Sermon sur la l'\Ho de la Portionculo, yim partie. 
 ' Ix'lliuuuiie de lud., 1. i. o. i. 
 
BENEFICIAL EESULTS OF JUBILEES 357 
 
 the multitudes that pressed round the altar of God to 
 partake of its heavenly gift. I wish you could know 
 the restitution of ill-gotten property which was made, 
 the destruction of immoral and irreligious books 
 which took place, the amendments of hardened 
 sinners which date from that time, and then you 
 would understand why men and women undertook 
 the toilsome pilgrimage, and judge whether it was 
 indulgence in crime and facility to commit sin that 
 is proffered and accepted in such an institution." ^ 
 
 But what proves with greater evidence, that the 
 Jubilees have been at all times a blessing to the 
 Church by their good effects, is the fact of the 
 combined efforts of unbelievers to prevent their 
 realisation and to check these outbursts of faith. 
 And when they failed in this enterprise " of night," 
 they would slanderously travesty history, and repre- 
 sent Jubilees as a cause of corruption and vice ; un- 
 less the contrary evidence were so great as to compel 
 them to confess, with D'Alembert, that, for instance, 
 the Jubilee of 1775 had sent the Revolution twenty 
 years back, or to say with Voltaire : "Another Jubilee, 
 and our Philosophy is done for." ^ 
 
 16. On the other hand, we have from the lips of 
 the founder of the Reformation an open confession 
 of the evil effects which the abolition of the practices 
 of the Church, including Indulgences, caused among 
 
 1 Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic 
 Church, Lect. xii. See also " Eecollections of the Four Last Popes," 
 Leo XII., where he amply describes that Jubilee. 
 
 2 Beringer, Part I. vii. pp. 51, 52. 
 
358 LOSS OK GAIlsM 
 
 the people of Germany. " From tlie time that our 
 doctrine has been preached," said Luther, " the world 
 ever becomes more wicked, more ungodly, more im- 
 pudent, and men are more avaricious, more given to 
 lasciviousness than under Papism. We see every- 
 where nothing but avarice, intemperance, drunken- 
 ness, fornication, shameful disorders, and abominable 
 passions." ^ 
 
 And again: "Men, because they find themselves 
 freed from the bonds and ropes of Papism, would 
 also rid themselves of the Gospel and of all the com- 
 mandments of God ; and from henceforth nothing 
 is good, nothing is just, but that which is in 
 accordance with their whims and pleasures. It 
 would seem as if our Germany were possessed by 
 the devil, since the great light of the Gospel has 
 arisen over it. Young men are barefaced and wild ; 
 they will not allow themselves to be educated. Old 
 men are contaminated by avarice, usury, and many 
 other sins." ^ 
 
 17. Many, says St. Jerome, fall into error because 
 they ignore true history.^ This is true above all 
 in the present matter. Had the reformers studied 
 the history of the Church, from the time when St. 
 Paul absolved the incestuous man of Corinth, to 
 the time of the martyrs, and through the Middle 
 Ages down to the present epoch, they would not 
 
 ^ Dollingcr, La lirforrae, t. i. p. 167, &o. 
 ^ Explic. do I'Ev. lie St. Joan. AValch., xiv. p. 164. 
 ' " Multi labimtur errore propter ignornntiam historic'." Comment, 
 in call. ii. J[all. 
 
THE STUDY OF HISTORY 359 
 
 with so much confidence have asserted that "the 
 doctrine concerning Pardons and Indulgences is a 
 fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no 
 warranty of Holy Scripture, but rather repugnant to 
 the word of God." ' 
 
 On the contrary, had they wished to draw aside 
 from their minds' eyes the cloud of prejudice which 
 covered them, they might have recognised, in the 
 present practice of the Church, a faithful expres- 
 sion of the tradition of the first ages, handed down 
 indeed to us in an unaltered and incorrupted manner, 
 yet spread abroad, strengthened, and perfected, as 
 every other point of dogma or discipline contained 
 in the deposit of faith. And, instead of representing 
 this practice as a breach of discipline and a cause 
 of demoralisation, they would have acknowledged it 
 to be, as one of the benefits bequeathed to us through 
 our Saviour's Passion, conducive to the spiritual weal 
 and profit of Christians. 
 
 18. But there was no need of going through such 
 a laborious process of study. It was enough to con- 
 sider the natural and social relations of man to man, 
 to be convinced that indulgence, in a wider sense of 
 the term,^ is in the supernatural no less than in the 
 natural order, a claim of human nature. 
 
 St. Augustine tells us that, in the first ages of the 
 Church, the bishops often interceded with the magis- 
 trates, in order to obtain from them, in favour of 
 the culprits, a mitigation of the punishment inflicted 
 
 1 22nd Article. ^ See p. 59. 
 
36o LOSS OE GAIN? 
 
 upon them by civil laws ; and the magistrates in their 
 turn would intercede with the bishops, in order to 
 obtain from the latter in favour of their penitents, 
 a diminution of the pain which had been inflicted 
 upon them according to the sacred canons.^ 
 
 19. Moreover, indulgence is the warranty of peace- 
 ful relations within the precinct of the family circle, 
 a safeguard against the breaking off" of the chains 
 which bind societies together. 
 
 " There is no Protestant father of a family," says 
 M. de Maistre, " who has not granted indulgences in 
 his own home, who has not forgiven a punishable 
 child, through the intercession and merits of another 
 child, with whom he has every reason to be pleased. 
 There is no Protestant Sovereign who has not signed 
 fifty indulgences during his reign, by granting a 
 post, by remitting or commuting a punishment, and 
 the like, through the deservingness of fathers, of sons, 
 of parents, of ancestors. . . . Let blind or rebellious 
 men contest the principle of Indulgences as much as 
 they please ; we will leave them alone ; it is the prin- 
 ciple of reversion ; it is the faith of the universe." ^ 
 
 And if, from the sanctuary of the household or the 
 courts of a commonwealth, we pass on to the world 
 at large, we shall find indulgence a necessary re- 
 quirement for peaceful international relations. An 
 instance chosen out of a hundred will illustrate the 
 statement. 
 
 ' Ep. ad Mneedon. 547. 
 - Soirees de S. Peteisbouig, t. ii. lome eutretien. 
 
EDWARD III. AT THE SIEGE OF CALAIS 361 
 
 It was in 1346. Edward III. had, for many 
 months already, laid siege to the city of Calais. The 
 garrison, which had held out as long as they were 
 provided with victuals, were at last obliged to sur- 
 render. But Edward, incensed by the long resist- 
 ance, would have put all the men to death, had it 
 not been for the entreaties of the brave Flemish 
 knight. Sir Walter Manny. Yet the terms granted 
 by the king were hard enough. 
 
 Six of the principal citizens, bareheaded and bare- 
 footed, were to present to Edward the keys of the 
 city ^nd then to be beheaded ; but which were to be 
 the victims was left to the inhabitants to choose. 
 
 Eustace of St. Pierre offered himself for the first ; 
 five others followed his example ; and, amid the tears 
 and blessings of their countrymen, they repaired to 
 the king's pavilion. 
 
 Edward's first impulse was to order them to be 
 beheaded on the spot, for he had suffered much from 
 , the men of Calais ; but Sir Walter Manny inter- 
 posed : " Noble king, forbear from doing that which 
 would tarnish your fame : it would be great cruelty 
 on your part to put these innocent men to death." 
 But the king would not listen to his words : " They 
 shall die," he muttered. 
 
 However, Queen Philippa, the king's wife, had 
 witnessed the whole scene. Moved with compassion, 
 she knelt before her husband. "Gentle sir," she 
 said, "since at my life's peril I crossed the sea to 
 join you, I have asked you no favour; but now, for 
 
362 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 the sake of Mary's glorious Son, and for the love of 
 me, your true wife, take pity on these six burgesses." 
 At these words, Edward's heart was moved to com- 
 passion. " Ah, dame ! " he exclaimed, " I would you 
 had been anywhere but here ; I can refuse you 
 nothing. Take these prisoners ; they are yours ; do 
 with them what you will." And we know with 
 what kindness they were treated. 
 
 We leave it to the candid reader to see what close 
 analogy passes between this fact, chosen at random 
 from among a thousand, and the Catholic doctrine 
 of Indulgences. 
 
 20. But in order utterly to abolish the idea of 
 Indulgences from among the people, Protestants 
 ought to reform the very institutions of this country. 
 
 " Some years ago," writes Mr. Kegan Paul,^ " there 
 was an usage at Eton, which seemed to the present 
 writer, when only a boy of thirteen, exactly, though 
 perhaps unintentionally, framed on the lines of eccle- 
 siastical Indulgences. 
 
 " The ' Remove ' was a part of the school in which 
 geography and history were especially studied, and 
 the making of maps was a weekly exercise, to which 
 an importance w^as attached beyond their real value 
 as a means of teaching. The masters of this form, 
 and, as far as I remember, of this form alone, were 
 in the habit of giving what were termed exemp- 
 tions for well-executed maps. A small piece of the 
 corner of the map which deserved praise was torn 
 
 • Vaitli and Unfaith. Kssays. 1891. 
 
INSTILLED IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 363 
 
 off, signed with the master's initials, and handed to 
 the artist. 
 
 " Perhaps a day or two afterwards the same boy 
 was accidentally late for school, and ordered to write 
 out fifty lines of Virgil as a punishment. When 
 the time came for producing the lines, he presented 
 instead his ' exemption,' which was accepted without 
 a word ; his previous merits had gained him an 
 indulgence. 
 
 " I have some impression, though my memory in 
 this serves me but imperfectly, that the transfer of 
 exemptions was at least tacitly allowed, even if not 
 directly sanctioned, but I speak under correction. 
 If it so chanced that a graver fault had been com- 
 mitted than the more venial offence of being late 
 for school, talking in class, or the like, and that the 
 offender then presented an exemption, not only was 
 it not received in lieu of punishment, but the very 
 pleading the excuse was held to deepen the fault ; 
 and here, on a lower ground, was all the distinction 
 between venial and mortal sin." 
 
 In conclusion, we cannot help observing how won- 
 derfully strange it is that Protestants should reject 
 the Catholic idea of Indulgences who believe and 
 maintain, as a part of their creed, that after death 
 a universal Indulgence will take place, and sins will 
 utterly be blotted out as to their guilt and penalty. 
 
 21. When, on the one hand, we observe the weight 
 of evidence in favour of the Scriptural and tradi- 
 tional truthfulness of Indulgences, and on the other 
 
364 LOSS OR GAIN? 
 
 the fiat denial whicti the majority of Protestants 
 give to it, we cannot help recording an observation 
 which the historian Fleury makes upon a story re- 
 lated by Mathew of Paris, an eye-witness. 
 
 In the year 1228, there came to the Monastery of 
 St. Alban, first martyr of England, an Archbishop 
 of Greater Armenia. On being asked by the monks 
 what he knew of a certain Joseph of whom the people 
 spoke much, and who, as the story went, had been 
 present at our Blessed Saviour's Passion, a Knight 
 who was among the Archbishop's attendants, and 
 served him as interpreter, answered thus in French : 
 " His Lordship knows this Joseph very well, and a 
 short time before he set off for the West, he received 
 him at his table in Armenia. When Jesus Christ 
 was taken by the Jews and led before Pilate, this 
 man, then named Cartaphilus, was Pilate's porter ; and 
 as the Jews drew Jesus outside the Prsetorium, after 
 they had prevailed on the judge to condemn him, 
 Cartaphilus pushed Him roughly on the back with 
 his fist, and insultingly said to Him : ' Make haste, 
 Jesus, make haste ; why dost Thou tarry ? ' Jesus 
 looked at him with a stern countenance and said : ' I 
 am going, but thou shalt wait until I come.' 
 
 " After our Lord's resurrection, Cartaphilus re- 
 ceived baptism at the hands of Ananias, who also 
 baptized St. Paul, and took the name of Joseph. He 
 was about thirty years old, and when he reached 
 the age of one hundred, he fell into an illness which 
 seemed incurable, and during which he was wrapt as 
 
THE WANDEKING JEW 365 
 
 it were in ecstasy ; but lie recovered, and found him- 
 self at the same age in which he was at the time of 
 our Saviour's Passion, and this renewal happens to 
 him every hundredth year. 
 
 " He often lives in Armenia, and in the other 
 Eastern countries, dwelling with the bishops and other 
 prelates ; he is a godly man, and leads a saintly life ; 
 he speaks little, and only answers questions which 
 are put to him upon facts of olden times. He refuses 
 every present, being content with what is necessary 
 to him, as food and raiment. He sheds many tears, 
 and expects with fear the last coming of our Lord, 
 hoping, however, for mercy, for he has offended Him 
 through ignorance." 
 
 Fleury, upon relating this fable, which evidently 
 gave rise to the story of the Wandering Jew, says 
 that he does not know what' to wonder most at, the 
 boldness of that Knight to relate it, or the simplicity 
 of the English monks to believe in it.^ 
 
 The same thing, to our judgment, could be said 
 concerning the matter of Pardons as concerning this 
 unindulgenced Jew. It would be difficult to say 
 which is most to be wondered at, the boldness of 
 those who, against all evidence, have assumed the 
 task of denying the existence of Indulgences, or 
 the simplicity of those who have blindly believed 
 the traducers. Yet, this should be noted, that the 
 denial was inspired by private interest and the hope 
 of filthy lucre, whilst the belief in this denial was 
 
 1 Hist. Eccl., lib. Ixxix. n. 45. 
 
366 LOSS OE GAIN? 
 
 forced by fire and sword upon an innocent people. 
 Strength was made the law of justice.^ Iniquity 
 prevailed. The nations were stripped of all means 
 of atonement. But "the poor man shall not be 
 forgotten to the end ; the patience of the poor shall 
 not perish for ever. Arise, Lord, let not man be 
 strengthened ; let the Gentiles be judged in Thy 
 sight." ' 
 
 1 Wisd. ii. II. 2 Ps. ix. ig, 20. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbots cannot grant Indulgences, 
 
 41 ; reproved by Innocent III., 42 
 
 Absolution, sacramental, 1 10, 248 ; 
 
 public, 115 
 Abuses of Indulgences, 282 
 Accusations against Christians, no 
 Adam and Eve, punishment in- 
 flicted on, 12 
 jElfege, exhortations to penitents, 
 
 175 
 Affiliation to Eeligious Orders, no 
 
 Indulgence, 34 
 dydm;, love-feast in memory of the 
 
 dead, 162 
 Agde, Council of, no 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, 228 
 Alban's, St., pilgrimage to, 181, 364 
 Albert, Archbishop of Magdeburg, 
 
 3ii>3i5 
 Albertus Pius, testimony of, 323 
 Alexander II., Pope, on canonical 
 
 penance, 174 ; Indulgence granted 
 
 by, 229 
 Alexander III., Indulgence granted 
 
 by, 260, 290 
 Alexander IV., Bull to King of 
 
 France, 225 
 Alexander VI., Jubilee extended by, 
 
 268, 336 
 Alexius Falconieri, St., O.S.M., his 
 
 penance, 17 
 AUard, Paul, referred to, 158 
 Ambones, origin and meaning of, 95 
 Ambrose, St., on true penance, 6 ; 
 
 on secret confession, 109 ; attack 
 
 on, 121 ; on the sacrifice of Mass, 
 
 162 
 Ancona, 290 
 
 Ancyra, Council of, 120, 177 
 Angelus of Spoleto, a heretic, 292 
 Annunziata, SSma., church of, 222, 
 
 296 
 Antichrist, 274, 288, 305 
 Antoninus, St., on conditions for 
 
 gaining Indulgences, 47 ; quoted, 
 
 342 
 Antoninus Pius, Eoman Emperor, 
 
 his medals, 64 
 Apostates, 142 ; subject to discipline, 
 
 144 
 
 Aragon, King of, 263 
 
 Areopagites, 127 
 
 Arians, heresy of, 121 ; receive the 
 Indulgence, 121 
 
 Aristotle, 306 
 
 Armenian bishop, 364 
 
 Article 22nd of the Church of Eng- 
 land, 67, 283, 327, 359 ; 13th, 119 
 
 Ash- Wednesday chosen for the im- 
 position of public penance, 99 
 
 Aspezia, 330 
 
 Assertio VII. Sacramentorum of 
 Henry VIII., 72 
 
 Association, when economical, when 
 political, 35 
 
 Athenagoras, 196 
 
 Atticus prayed to, 158 
 
 Atto, Bishop of Vercelli, on canoni- 
 cal penance, 174 
 
 Aitdientes, their stage of penance, 94 
 
 367 
 
368 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Augsburg, Diet of, 320 
 Augustine, St., his praise of Theo- 
 
 dosius, 107 ; on Purgatory, 160 ; 
 
 quoted, 329, 359 
 Ausonius on penance, 1 1 
 Austria, Duke of, 263 
 Avignon, 261, 264 
 Avranches, legates at, 238 
 
 Babylon, figure of sinner, 4 ; cap- 
 tivity of, 304 
 
 Balbo referred to, 257 
 
 Bale, Council of, 296 
 
 Baptism, cancels the whole debt of 
 sin, 16; second, 113; cannot be 
 given after death, 161 
 
 Baronius quoted, 333 
 
 Bartholdus, St., his dealings with 
 penitents, 176 
 
 Basil, St., quoted, 120 
 
 Bavaria, bishops of, 233 
 
 Bede, St., his Penitential, 179 ; re- 
 ferred to, 181 
 
 Belisarius, hospital founded by, 199 
 
 Bellarmine, Cardinal, on penance, 
 1 1 ; on the Portiuncula, 248 ; his 
 controversies, 309 ; quoted, 333 ; 
 on the Jubilee, 356 
 
 Benedict IX., Indulgence granted 
 by, 229 
 
 Benedict XIII., 353 
 
 Benedict XIV. referred to, 226, 293, 
 
 336 
 
 Berengarius, a heretic, 277 
 
 Beringer quoted, 302 
 
 Bernard, St., and the second Crusade, 
 
 215; request of, falsely alleged, 
 
 291 ; Society of, 291 
 Bernard, Archbi.shop of Toledo, 219 
 lO'^JOIl. their duty, iq2 
 Beza, Theodore, on penance, 8 
 Bible, Protestant, 9 
 Bishops, their power of jurisdiction, 
 
 36 ; of granting Indulgcnci's, 40 ; 
 
 subordinate to Po]h\ 40 ; limited 
 
 in the fourth Council of Lateran, 
 41 ; who cannot grant Indulgences, 
 41 ; power of shortening canonical 
 penances, 119, 147, 167 ; of grant- 
 ing Indulgences, 185,231 ; plenary 
 Indulgences, 232 ; apply to Pope, 
 233 ; publish Portiuncula, 247 ; 
 abuse of power, 275 ; duty of, 
 with regard to Indulgences, 295 
 
 Blanc, a coin, 293 
 
 Blanks, abolished by St Cyprian, 
 
 151 
 Blessing, Papal, motive for granting 
 
 Indulgence, 44 ; Divine, 203 
 Blood, precious, taken to England, 
 
 224 
 Body, offended, debt due to, 38 ; 
 
 human, an image of the Church, 
 
 85 
 
 Bogoris, King of Bulgarians, 177 
 
 Boissieu, De, referred to, 112 
 
 Boniface VIII. grants first Jubilee, 
 254 ; his BuU "Frequent!," 260 
 
 Boniface IX., 265, 267, 336 ; re- 
 forms abuses, 292 
 
 Borromeo, St. Charles, on canonical 
 penance, 168 
 
 Bossuet on the Jubilee, 348 
 
 Bourdaloue on the Portiuncula, 356 
 
 Bridgett, Fr., quoted, 310 
 
 Brussels, Cathedral of, 59 
 
 Bulla Cniciatce, origin of, 220 ; 
 boons contained in, 221 
 
 Burchard, Canons of, 179 
 
 Cajetax, Cardinal, on conditions 
 for gaining Indulgences, 48, 261, 
 307, 309 ; conference with Luther, 
 320 
 Calatravn, town of, 232 
 Callistus, St., cemetery of, 184 
 Callistus II., Indulgence granted 
 
 by, 229 
 Calmet referred to, 258 
 Calumnies against Indulgences, 286, 
 
INDEX 
 
 369 
 
 298 ; good results of, 328 ; against 
 
 Jubilees, 357 
 Calvin on penance, 13 ; on Blessed 
 
 Eucharist, 277 ; on the Mother of 
 
 God, 280 
 Campeggio, Cardinal, 319 
 Canciani, O.S.M., Leges, referred to, 
 
 62, 98, 169 
 Canterbury, St. Thomas of, 239 ; 
 
 pilgrimage to, 245 ; Jubilee at, 
 
 268 
 Cardinals cannot grant Indulgences, 
 
 41 
 
 Carmelites, 248 
 
 Cartaphilua, his history, 364 
 
 Carthage, fourth Council of, 113, 
 123 ; Fathers at, 122 
 
 Caruea, voluntary penitent, U2 
 
 Casella, 257 
 
 Ceoilius Natalis, 134 ; becomes a 
 Christian, 135 
 
 Celestine I. quoted, 116 
 
 Celestine III., Indulgence granted 
 by, 229 
 
 Ch§,lon8-sur-Sa6ne, Council of, 170, 
 181 ; Canons of, 171 
 
 Charlemagne, 195, 197, 228 
 
 Charles VI. of France, 265 
 
 Chaucer, 245 
 
 Chemnitius on Indulgences, 79 
 
 Chichester, monks of, 23 
 
 Christ, infinite satisfaction of, ig ; 
 sufferings, 28 ; invisible Head of 
 the Church, 45 ; subject to no 
 man, 81 ; measure of His height, 
 of His wound, 291 
 
 Christians, in times of persecutions, 
 136 ; caught in snares, 138 ; re- 
 laxed, 141 ; apostate, 141 ; should 
 be pitied, 143 ; anguish of, 144 ; 
 of the East, 207 ; temptations of, 
 346 ; guided by Christ, 347 
 
 Christmas, Novena of, 302 
 
 Church, a living body, 22 ; militant, 
 suffering, and triumphant, 24 ; her 
 
 constitution, 35 ; a state, 35 ; best 
 judge of motive, 43 ; her propaga- 
 tion, 63; accused, 80; Mother and 
 Mistress of truth, 83 ; development 
 in the, 84, 204, 213; different stages 
 of the, 85 ; insinuated herself in 
 the pagan world, 127 ; in time 
 of peace, 1 6 5 ; a work of God, 203 ; 
 grants more copious Indulgences, 
 
 206 ; her compassion for the East, 
 
 207 ; an emblem of the soul, 226 ; 
 tenderness of, 236 ; keeps the de- 
 posit of faith, 298 ; attacked, 303 ; 
 dignified action of, 318 ; liberality 
 of, 341 ; indulgent mother, 344 ; 
 imitates God's goodness, 345 
 
 Clare, St., Indulgence granted to, 
 251 
 
 Clement III., Indulgences granted 
 by, 227, 249 
 
 Clement IV., Indulgences granted 
 by, 222, 249 
 
 Clement v.. Indulgence granted by, 
 223 ; represses abuses, 293 
 
 Clement VI., Bull of, 261, 320 ; re- 
 duction made by, 261 
 
 Clement VIII., 333 
 
 Clement IX., 333 
 
 Clermont, Council of, 211 
 
 Climaous, St. John, on penitents, 17 
 
 Cnut, his pilgrimage to Rome, 244 
 
 Codex, Sinaiticus, text of, 75 ; Theo- 
 dosianus on Indulgence, 62 
 
 Collecta, 100, 192, 195 
 
 Cologne, pardons at, 170 ; Jubilee 
 at, 267 ; University of, 325 
 
 Gommedia, Divina, 257 
 
 Commination service, 108 
 
 Common Prayer-Book, 114, 119 
 
 Communion denied to sinners, 116; 
 facts relating to, 154 ; of saints, 
 according to the Catechism of the 
 Council of Trent, 15 ; what it 
 imports, 21 ; conditions for, 25. 
 
 Commutations of penances, 177 
 2 A 
 
370 
 
 INDEX 
 
 ■Compensation, 289 ; of penances, 
 180 
 
 Conception, Immaculate, 279 
 
 Conditions for validity in an Indul- 
 gence, 39 ; lessons taught by, 45 ; 
 should be exactly followed, 48 ; 
 laid by Boniface VIII., 254 ; not 
 difficult to fulfil, 342 
 
 Congregation, Sacred, of Indul- 
 gences, 299, 333 ; oflce of, 334 
 
 Consecration of churches. Indul- 
 gence for, 226 
 
 ■Consistentes, their stage of penance, 
 96 
 
 Constance, Council of, 293 
 
 Constantine the Great grants an 
 Indulgence, 61 ; his edict in 
 favour of Christians, i66 
 
 Contrition necessary for restoration 
 to grace, 5 ; effects of, 11 ; re- 
 quired for gaining plenary Indul- 
 gences, 43, 49 
 
 Cornelius, St., 149 
 
 Corpus Domini, Feast of, 277 
 
 Council, General, can grant Indul- 
 gences, 40 ; of Agde, 1 10 ; Ancyra, 
 120, 177; Bale, 296; Clermont, 
 211 ; Constance, 293; Carthage, 
 iv., 113; Chaion3-sur-Sa6ne, 170, 
 181 ; Elvira, 113, 116; Florence, 
 274 ; Limoges, 188 ; Lerida, 120 ; 
 Lateran, 41, 289 ; Magdeburg, 
 293; Nice, 116, 120; Piacenza, 
 174 ; Pistoia, pseudo, 50, 57, 1 17 ; 
 Trent, 5, 14, 58, 155, 289, 294, 
 297, 32S, 333 ; Tribur, 173 ; Vati- 
 can, 274 ; A^ienna, 293 
 
 Crispus and Helena, birth of, 61 
 
 Cross, apparition of, 181 
 
 Crusades, beginning of, 2 10 ; effects 
 of, 210; first, 211; Indulgence 
 annexed Id, 212; second, 215; 
 Bull, 220 ; substitutes for, 238. 
 
 Cruse of oil, an emblem, 24 
 
 Cyprian, St., referred to, 123, 139, 
 
 141 ; zeal of, 149 ; opposed by 
 apostates, 150 ;' persecuted, 151 ; 
 his book De Lapsis, 152 ; incul- 
 cates penance, 154 ; death of, 155 
 Cyprus, King of, 263. 
 
 D'AiiEMBERT, 357 
 
 Damasus, St., Pope, inscriptions of, 
 
 156, 157 
 Damian, St. Peter, on canonical 
 
 penances, 174, 179 ; on pious 
 
 foundations, 200 
 Dante on Jubilee, 256 ; on false 
 
 preachers, 295 
 David's temporal punishment, 13. 
 Deacons, power of, 113 
 Dead, Indulgences for, 49, 163 ; 
 
 how we can help them, 50, 158 
 Death brought in by sin, 2 
 Decius, persecution of, 140, 152 
 Decreta Authentica, 334 
 Dedication of churches, Indulgences 
 
 for, 226 
 De Maistre on communion of saints, 
 
 25 
 De Rossi, discoveries of, 185 
 Descaxtes, new method of, 309 
 Desiderium of the martyrs, 147 
 Development in the Church, S4, 241, 
 329 ; in the practice of Indulg- 
 ences, 234, 329, 337, 341 
 Diego of Seville, St., 266 
 Difficulty of gaining Indulgences 
 
 exaggerated, 341, 343 
 Dinocrates appears to St. Perpetua, 
 
 160 ; his sufferings, 160 
 Diptychs, 95 
 
 Disciplina Arcani, 87, 177 
 Discipline, mutable, 84 ; study of, 88 
 Dispensations with regard to Jubi- 
 lee, 263, 267 
 Doctors, scholastic, 308 
 Dogma, immutable, 84 
 Dominic, St., a hermit, 179 
 Dominicans, 24S 
 
INDEX 
 
 371 
 
 Donatists, Indulgence granted to, 
 61, 122 ; soUsm of, 122 
 
 Duchesne referred to, 64, 97, 98, 115 
 
 Dunstan, St., Archbisliop of Canter- 
 bury, 175 
 
 Durham, Cathedral of, 195 
 
 East, penance in the, 97 ; Chris- 
 tians of the, 207 
 Ecclesiastes of Wittenberg, 307 
 Eckius, John, 316 ; conference with 
 Luther, 324 ; denounces Luther, 
 
 325 
 
 Edgar, of England, penance im- 
 posed upon, 175 ; Canons of, 178 
 
 Edward III., of England, 246 ; 
 Jubilee granted by, 268 ; at the 
 siege of Calais, 361 
 
 Elvira, Council of, 113, 116 
 
 Ely, Cathedral of, 195 
 
 Emperors, Roman, 61 ; cruelty of, 
 166 ; Eastern, 166 
 
 Encyclopsedia, new popular, 339 
 
 England, Reformation in, 327 
 
 Epeia, Church of, 230 
 
 Erasmus on penance, 7 ; on con- 
 fession, 108 ; on Indulgences, 
 251, 323 ; appealed to by Luther, 
 323 ; books of, 324 
 
 Eriartus, a monk, his penance, 183 
 
 Ethelred, 245 
 
 Eucharist, relation to Indulgences, 
 276 ; office of, 278 
 
 Eugene III., Indulgences granted 
 by, 249, 291 
 
 Eugene IV., legates of, 297 
 
 Eusebius, St., Church of, 300 
 
 Eusebius, St., Pope, persecuted, 157 ; 
 inscription on, 157 
 
 Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, re- 
 ferred to, 32, 120 
 
 Eustace of St. Pierre, 361 
 
 Eustorgius, confraternities of, 291 
 
 Evolution in matter of Indulgences, 
 164, 165 
 
 Exercise of a right, and existence, 
 
 81 
 Exomologesis, secret and public, 108 
 JExsurge Domine, Bull of Leo X., 325 
 
 Faber, Fr., quoted, 354 
 
 Fabiola, St., fault of, 100 ; penance, 
 
 loi ; praised by St. Jerome, loi ; 
 
 charity of, 102 ; pilgrimages, 102 ; 
 
 death and funeral, 103 
 Fabrica of St. Peter, 221 
 Faculty, theological, 292 ; in Paris, 
 
 294 ; condemns errors, 318 
 Faith, extolled by Luther, 311 
 Faithful, sentiment of, 250 
 Falconieri, St. Alexius, O.S.M., his 
 
 penance, 17 
 Fathers, first, did not write formal 
 
 tracts, 87 ; sometimes obscure, 87 
 Felicissimus, a heretic, 1 50 
 Ferrum Pcenitentiale, 170 
 Festivals, Pagan and Jewish, 1 30 
 Fidei Defensor, 310 
 Flavian, St., Bishop of Antioch, 62 
 Flentes, their stage of penance, 93 
 Fleury on penance, 243 ; quoted, 
 
 364 
 
 Florentine declaration of infalli- 
 bility, 274 
 
 Forum, external and internal, 147 
 
 Foundations, pious, akin to Indul- 
 gences, 198 
 
 Fountain, twofold, 79 
 
 Francis, St., and the Portiuncula, 
 246 
 
 Free-will, 317 
 
 QalUcea, church so called, 195 
 
 Gates of Hell, 80 
 
 Gelasius II., Pope, Indulgence 
 
 granted by, 218 
 Generals of Orders cannot grant 
 
 Indulgences, 41 
 George of Saxony, 324 
 Gerbert, Monk, Sylvester II., 208 
 
372 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Germain, St., Bishop of Auxerre, 182 
 
 Germans, 262 
 
 Germany, Reformation in, 327 
 
 Giotto, 256 
 
 God's kingdom a monarchy, 126 ; 
 existence proved by reason, 1 27 
 
 Grace, state of, necessary for gain- 
 ing an Indulgence, 46 ; probaljly 
 required for gaining Indulgence 
 for the dead, 53 ; founded on 
 nature, 85 
 
 Gregory, St., Thaumaturgus, on four 
 degrees of penance, 96 
 
 Gregory, St., Nazianzen, slandered, 
 122 ; quoted, 193 
 
 Gregory, St., the Great, procession 
 established by, 99 ; organises the 
 stations, 194 
 
 Gregory VII., St., on false penance, 
 174; eflforts for rescue of holy 
 places, 209 ; his grant of Indul- 
 gence, 233 
 Gregory VIII., Indulgence granted 
 
 by, 249 
 Gregory IX., Indulgence granted 
 by, 227 ; false attributed to, 300 
 Gregory XIII., Indulgence granted 
 
 ty, 301 
 
 Guilt of stain, 4 ; removed by con- 
 trition, 11; of debt, 4 ; often 
 remains after justification, 12 
 
 Halle, hospital of, 232 
 
 Hans Worst, 314 
 
 Heidenheim, Nun of, 181 
 
 Henry, Archbisluip of Canterbury, 
 
 275 
 Henry of Rebdor, 263 
 Henry II,, penance of, 238 ; declares 
 
 England a feud of the Pope, 
 
 239 
 Henry III., King of England, 224 
 Honry VIII., on Indulgences, 72, 80, 
 
 250, 327 ; enteem for Si. Thomas, 
 
 310 ; mission to, 319 
 
 Henry IV., Emperor of Germany^ 
 
 letter to, 209 
 Heraclius, Patriarch, Indulgence 
 
 granted by, 232 
 Heroic act, 353 ; advantages of, 354 
 Herve, Archbishop of Rheims, 236 
 Hierarchy of jurisdiction in the 
 
 Church, 39 
 Hildebald, Bishop of Soissons, 190 
 Hildebrand. See St. Gregory VII. 
 Hincmar, Bishop of Rheims, 190 ;. 
 
 his grant of Indulgence, 190 
 History, study of, 358 
 Honorius III., Indulgence granted 
 
 by, 227 ; confirms the Portiuncula, 
 
 247 
 Hospital, English, at Rome, 256 ; of 
 
 Haut-Pas, 292 
 Hungarians, 262 
 Hussites, 251, 282, 322 
 
 Idolatry, origin of, 128, 129, 131 ; 
 growth of, 129 ; malice of, 131 ; 
 extension of, 132 
 Ignatius, St., of Loyola, on Erasmus, 
 
 324 ; on Indulgences, 330 
 Ildephonsus, King of Aragon, 21S 
 Indian prince, coffers of, 2 1 
 Indulgence, not a private donation, 
 33 ; granted out of the whole 
 treasury of the Church, 33 ; by 
 those in authority, 33 ; available 
 in the sight of God, 34, 76 ; not a 
 transfer made by a limited body 
 of faithful, 34 ; when granted, 38 ; 
 conditions required for validity, 
 39, 76, 214, 217, 2S5 ; not meant 
 to foment idleness, 43, 184, 229, 
 233 ; for the dead, 49 ; by way of 
 suH'rage only, 5 1 ; application de- 
 pendent on Divine acceptance, 52 ; 
 what it is, 34 ; both a payment 
 and a remission, 55 ; what it is 
 not, 56 ; meaning in Holy Writ, 
 60 ; origin of the word, 61 ; how 
 
INDEX 
 
 373 
 
 xiamed by tlie Greeks, 63 ; general 
 idea of, 68 ; of many years, 299 ; 
 not always false, 302 ; in the thir- 
 teenth century, 299 ; idea of, im- 
 plied in Scripture, 69, 283 ; and 
 tradition, 78, 359 ; essential and 
 accidental in, 83 ; how it should 
 be understood, 124 ; for the dead, 
 163 ; catalogues of, 187 ; plenary, 
 granted by John VIII., 189 ; an- 
 nexed to the first Crusade, 212 ; 
 new motives for granting, 218 ; 
 for building churches, 222 ; for 
 translation of relics, 224 ; to those 
 who pray for King of France, 226 ; 
 for consecration of churches, 226 ; 
 annexed to pilgrimages, 244 ; for 
 pious works, 249 ; valued by 
 saints, 251 ; relation to Catholic 
 dogma, 273 ; influence of, 273, 
 286 ; relation to supremacy of 
 Pope, 275 ; to Blessed Eucharist, 
 276 ; to Immaculate Conception, 
 279 ; to Purgatory, 281 ; abuse 
 of, 282 ; a threefold charge 
 Against, 283 ; promote the spirit 
 ■of prayer, 284 ; the practice of 
 good works, 284, 319; granted 
 for almsgivings, 285 ; source of 
 enrichment, 286 ; calumnies 
 against, 286, 288 ; no cause of 
 deception, 58, 284, 287 ; apocry- 
 phal, 290, 301 ; condemned by 
 the Church, 291-295, 319 ; care 
 about, 299 ; Sacred Congregation 
 of, 299, 333 ; scholastic doctrines 
 concerning, 308 ; according to 
 Luther, 311 ; dependent on pen- 
 ance and free-will, 317 ; granted 
 by Leo X., 319 ; Bull of Leo X. 
 on, 322 ; articles of Luther con- 
 demned, 326 ; Council of Trent on, 
 328; growingpracticeof, 234, 329, 
 336 ; organisation of, 332 ; abun- 
 dance of, 341 ; from plenary be- 
 
 come partial, 344 ; make us value 
 the Passion of Christ, 348 ; pro- 
 mote the fear of God, 350 ; the 
 practice of charity, 352 ; warranty 
 of peaceful relations, 360 ; in- 
 stilled in public institutions, 362 
 
 Indulgenced prayers, 249 
 
 Indults, ancient, on Indulgences, 55 
 
 Ingolstadt, University of, 316 
 
 Innocent I. quoted, 116 
 
 Innocent III., Indulgence granted 
 by, 229, 251, 291, 294 
 
 Inquisitor, 292 
 
 Inscription in the church of St. 
 Maria in Trivio, 200 ; of St. Mary 
 Major, 227 ; of St. John before 
 the Latin Gate, 229 ; in Temple 
 Church, London, 232 ; in St. 
 Eusebius, 300 
 
 Institutions, pious, in Home, 198, 
 222 ; human, 203 ; substance and 
 accidents of, 298 
 
 Intention necessary for gaining In- 
 dulgence, 46 ; also for Indulgence 
 for the dead, 53 
 
 Irenseus, St., on the transfer of satis- 
 factions, 146 
 
 Isabella, Queen, 246 
 
 Itineraries, 187 
 
 James, Bishop of Trieste, 276 
 Jansenists, lamentations of, 243 ; 
 
 errors of, 274 
 Janus, feasts in honour of, 64 
 Jerome, St., referred to, 140, 258, 
 
 358 
 Jesus grants an Indulgence to the 
 
 woman taken in adultery, 73 ; 
 
 apparition of, 194 ; Indulgence to 
 
 St. Francis, 247 
 Jew, wandering, 365 
 Jews, punishment of, after their sins 
 
 had been forgiven, 12 ; traditions 
 
 with regard to Indulgence, 65 
 Jobel, origin of, 258 
 
374 
 
 INDEX 
 
 John, St., and the thief, 32 
 John, Deacon, 194 
 John, Archbishop of Toledo, Indul- 
 gence granted by, 232 
 John, Archbishop of Brindisi, 264 
 John VIII., Pope, mitigates penance, 
 175 ; his grant of Indulgence, 189 
 John IX. resorted to by bishops, 233 
 John X. consulted by Herv6, 236 
 John XXII., Indulgence granted 
 by, 246, 291 ; reproves abuses, 292 
 Joinville referred to, 252 
 Joseph, St., of Arimathea, 225 
 Josephus referred to, 258 
 Jubilee, 216 ; of 1300, 254 ; received 
 ■with joy, 255 ; meaning of word, 
 258 ; Hebrew, 258 ; Christian, 
 259 ; origin of, 260 ; reduction of, 
 261, 264, 267 ; to the Church of 
 Compostella, 260 ; of Clement 
 VI., 261 ; extended, 264 ; of 
 Nicholas V., 265 ; to Canterbury, 
 268 ; extraordinary, 27 1 ; dispen- 
 sations annexed to, 336 ; of Leo 
 XIII., 337 ; of Leo XII., 338 ; 
 good effects of, 356 ; slandered, 
 
 357 
 Julian, the apostate, persecution of, 
 
 136, i56 ; lays snares for Chris- 
 tians, 137 
 Jurisdiction, the power of granting 
 
 Indulgence belongs to, 42 
 Justice of God with regard to 
 
 Christ's satisfactions, 20 ; satisfied 
 
 by suffering, 27 
 Justification according to Luther, 
 
 311 
 
 Kegan Paul, Mr., quoted, 253, 362 
 Keys, power of, ^^•illl lofiTonce to 
 
 Indulgoii(.-e, 71, 185, 281, 283 
 Knights-IIospilallei', 224 
 Kniglils-Tem]i]ai', 223, 2^4 
 Kvpif fXirjiTiii', Cdliiluiiu to Pai^'iius, 
 
 Jews, and Christi;ius, ig6 
 
 Labhe, St. Joseph, penitent, ii8 
 
 Lainez, Fr., on motives for granting- 
 Indulgence, 44 
 
 Land, Holy, persecutions in, 207 
 
 Lapsed, different kinds of, 142 ; had 
 recourse to martyrs, 145 ; their 
 release, 148; pretensions, 153 
 
 Lateran, St. John, Church of, 223, 
 270 ; Loggia of, 256 ; fourth 
 Council of, 294 
 
 Law, natural, on reconciliation, 14 ; 
 of Indulgence, 62 
 
 Leo, St., the Great, 194 
 
 Leo III., St., Indulgence granted 
 by, 228 
 
 Leo X., represses abuses, 296 ; his 
 message to England, 319 ; Indul- 
 gence granted by, 319 ; summons 
 Luther to Rome, 320 ; Bull of, on 
 Indulgence, 322 ; Bull Exsurge 
 Domine, 325 
 
 Leo XII., 336 ; Jubilee of, 338 
 
 Leo XIII. on scholastic doctrines, 
 309 ; on Indulgences, 335 ; Jubi- 
 lees granted by, 337, 356 
 
 Leontardus, penance imposed on, 175 
 
 Lerida, Council of, 120 
 
 Letter, pardons granted by, 189 
 
 Lihelhis Martyr"ii>, 145 ; an Indul- 
 gence, 148 ; traffic on, 150. 
 
 Libranus, Peter, Bishop of Sara- 
 gossa, 218 
 
 Libri Indulgentiarum, 187 
 
 Limoges, t'ouncil of, iSS 
 
 Lincoln, Bishop ot, 233 
 
 Liugard referred to, 232 ; quoted, 
 
 313 
 
 Litania, 100 
 
 Litany of Indulgenoo, 115 ; in pro- 
 cessions, 1 96 
 
 Los^ or gain, 332 
 
 Louis, St., of France, 224, 249 ; 
 Bull to, 225 ; csloeiu for Indul- 
 gouoos, 251 
 
 Louvain, University of, 325 
 
INDEX 
 
 375 
 
 Love of God, pure, 350 
 
 Love of Cliristians for the dead, 163 
 
 Ludgerus, St., 228 
 
 Lupus, St., Bishop of Troyes, 182 
 
 Luther on penance, 7 ; to John 
 Staupitz, 8 ; on Indulgences, 57 ; 
 condemned by Leo X., 57 ; his 
 doctrine, 261, 274, 277, 280, 296, 
 298 ; sentiments of earlier life, 
 304 ; letter to Leo X., 305 ; 
 cause of his defection, 306 ; op- 
 poses Scholasticism, 308 ; prin- 
 ciples of, 311 ; Theses he siis- 
 tains, 314 ; on penance and free- 
 will, 317 ; on the Pope's autho- 
 rity, 321 ; courts Erasmus's sup- 
 port, 323 ; conference with Eck- 
 ius,324 ; condemned by Universi- 
 ties, 325 ; condemned by the Pope, 
 325 ; quoted, 358 
 
 Magdalen, St. Mary, penitent, 118 
 
 Magdeburg, Archbishop of, 232 ; 
 Jubilee at, 268 ; Council of, 293 
 
 Maistre, De, quoted, 25, 360 
 
 Mamertus, St., Bishop of Vienna, 196 
 
 Man's perfection, i 
 
 Manettus, St., IV. general of the 
 Servites, 222, 296 
 
 Manny, Sir Walter, 361 
 
 Manresa, 330 
 
 Marcellus, Pope St., prescriptions on 
 penance, 156 ; inscription on, 156 
 
 Martigny referred to, 64, 93, 95, 112 
 
 Martin V. represses abuses, 276 ; 
 Indulgence granted by, 281 
 
 Martyrs, transfer of satisfactions, 
 33 ; sureties for penitents, 145 ; 
 memorial of, 145 ; wish of, 147 
 
 Mary, Blessed Virgin, her satisfac- 
 tions, 18 ; her sufferings, 28 ; im- 
 maculate conception of, 279 
 
 Mary Major, St., Indulgence granted 
 to, 227 ; Porta Sancta at, 270 
 
 Mass, application of, 53 ; sacrifice 
 
 of, offered for the dead, 161 ; its 
 efficacy, 161 ; St. Augustine and 
 St. Ambrose on, 162 
 
 Mathew of Paris referred to, 224 
 
 Matins, night office, 194 
 
 Maximilian, 320 
 
 Meaning of Dnj, 9 ; of the word In- 
 dulgence, 59; of the word Jubilee, 
 258 
 
 Meissen, Jubilee at, 268 
 
 Melphi, Bishop of, 292 
 
 Men, old, testimony of, 253 
 
 Mercy of God drawn by suffering, 
 27 ; to forgive, 69 
 
 Merit, inalienable, 14, 354 
 
 liiTovoia, meaning of, according to 
 Lactantius, 9 ; according to Au- 
 sonius, II 
 
 Middle Ages, influence of Indul- 
 gences in, 273 
 
 Milan, Church of, 121 
 
 Minims, Order of, 248 
 
 Minister, unworthiness of, 289 
 
 Minucius, Felix, relates the accusa- 
 tions of pagans, no ; his conver- 
 sion, 133 ; his book Octavius, 135 
 
 Miorrand, Archdeacon, 219 
 
 Monies appropriated by Emperor of 
 Germany and Elector of Saxony, 
 287 
 
 Morinius referred to, 182, 191 
 
 Motive, just, necessary for granting 
 Indulgences, 42, 214, 217, 289 ; 
 absence of, invalidates the Indul- 
 gence, 43 ; how to judge of, 43 ; 
 what it should be, 44 ; necessary 
 for granting Indulgences for the 
 dead, 45, 285 
 
 Mount Major, church of, 231 
 
 Munich, jubilee at, 267 
 
 Mussulmans, persecution of, 207 
 
 Mystery of suffering, 25 
 
 Nahthex, origin and meaning of 
 word, 93 ; a place for penitents, 94 
 
376 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Nature, human weakness of, 346 
 Nestorius, 280 
 
 Newman, Cardinal, referred to, 59 
 Nice, Council of, 116, 120 
 Nicholas I., St., 176 ; answer to Bul- 
 garians, 177; Indulgence granted 
 
 by, 183 
 
 Nicholas IV., Bull of, 299 
 Nicholas V., Jubilee of, 265 
 Nicholas of Cusa, Cardinal, 293 
 Nicodemus, 225 
 
 Normans embrace the faith, 236 
 Norwich, Bishop of, 225 
 Novatian, his error, 99, 149 
 Novatus, his error, 99, 1 50 
 vvx6rnL€pai, stations, 193 
 
 OcTAViijs, Januarius, 134; dispute 
 with Cecilius Natalis, 134 ; an- 
 swers the accusations, 135 
 
 Oliden, Fr. Caspar, 353 
 
 Origen on confession, 109 
 
 Pagans, relations of, with Chris- 
 tians, 133 ; accusations of, 134 
 
 Pammachiiis, Senator, 162 
 
 Pantheon of Agrippa, 64 
 
 Paris, Council of, 172 ; Faculty of, 
 294, 318 
 
 I'arorhus, origin of the word, 64 
 
 Paschal II., Indulgence granted by, 
 245 
 
 Paul, St., on penitents, 18 ; his first 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, 73 ; 
 excommunicates a sinner, 74 ; his 
 second Epistle to the Corinthians, 
 74 ; he grants an Indulgence, 75 ; 
 his right of being maintained by 
 the faithful, 82 
 
 Paul II., reduction made by, 267 
 
 Paul v., 333 
 
 I'aulina, her fuiienil, ilt2 
 
 I'aul's, SI., iiutside l]ie walls, 270 
 
 Paul's, St., in Lomlon, 225 
 
 Peace given to the Church, 165 
 
 Pelagians, 182 
 
 Penance should be proportioned to 
 sin, 12, 49; Tertullian on, 89; 
 against, 90 ; in the primitive 
 Church, 92 ; stages of, 93 ; de- 
 scribed by St. Gregory Thauma- 
 turgus, 96 ; ceremony for the 
 imposition of, 108 ; private, 108 ; 
 public, when inflicted, 1 1 1 ; those 
 dispensed from, in ; bill of, 
 113 ; canonical, distinct from 
 public, 117; inculcated by St. 
 Cyprian, 154 ; canonical never 
 abolished, 167 ; inculcated by 
 councils, 171 ; severity of, 175 ; 
 redemptions and commutations 
 of, 177 ; remissions of, 230, 231 ; 
 decline of, 235, 243 ; of Henry 
 II., 238 ; Indulgences dependent 
 on, 124, 317 
 
 Penitents, examples of, in old law, 
 5 ; in new law, 6, 1 1 8 ; prison of, 
 17 ; first degree of, 93 ; second, 
 94 ; third, 9 ; ; fourth, 96 ; obli- 
 gations imposed on, 98 ; secluded 
 in monasteries, 98 ; voluntar\-, 
 112; reconciliation of, 113; re- 
 lap.-^ed, 115 ; released in time of 
 persecutions, 123 
 
 Penitentials, 168; of Theodore, 168, 
 17S ; of Rome, 169, 179 ; false, 
 171, 172; of Halitgar, 172; of 
 St. Bede, 179 
 
 Penitentiaries, their office, 100, 168, 
 269 
 
 Perpetua, St., her passion, 160 
 
 Perrone, quoted, 119 
 
 Persecutions, times of, 136 ; of 
 Julian the Apostnte, 137; of 
 l>ecius, 140 ; underhand, 166 
 
 Peter, St., his chains, 04 ; living in 
 his successor, i So 
 
 IVter the Hermit, preacher of the 
 first C'nisnde. 21 1 
 
INDEX 
 
 377 
 
 Peter de Bloia on the commumon 
 of saints, 23 
 
 Peter de Oama, 281 
 
 Peter's, St., in Rome, concourse at, 
 253, 263 ; Porta Sancta at, 269 
 
 Peter's, St., at Westminster, 225 
 
 Peterborough, pilgrimage at, 245 ; 
 Indulgences annexed to, 245 
 
 Philippa, Queen, 246, 362 
 
 Philosopliers, self-styled, on suffer- 
 ing, 26 
 
 Piacenza, Council of, 174 
 
 Pilgrimages, 180 ; to Jerusalem, 
 181, 243 ; to Rome, 181, 244 ; to 
 St. Alban's, 181 ; object of, 182 ; 
 inscription relating to, 184; in 
 England, 245 ; object of, 249 
 
 Pilgrims from tbe East, 208 
 
 Prince, the Black, 246 
 
 Pistoia, psexido-synod of, on Indul- 
 gences for the dead, 50 ; on the 
 meaning of an Indulgence, 57, 
 
 - 117 
 
 Pius IV., represses abuses, 297 ; 
 on Indulgences, 328 
 
 Pius v.. Bull of, 297 
 
 Pius VI., decree of, 198 ; Indul- 
 gences of, 353 ; referred to, 336, 
 
 338 
 
 Pius IX., 336, 353 
 
 Plato, laws of, 195 
 
 Pontiff, sovereign, power of grant- 
 ing Indulgences, 39 ; declaration 
 necessary for transferring Indul- 
 gences to the dead, 51 ; remits 
 guilt and pain, 56 
 
 Pontificale Romanum, 194 
 
 Pontius, Bishop of Aries, 231 
 
 Popes, solicitude of, for the East, 
 208 ; power of, 275 ; Luther's 
 submission to, 305 ; rebellion 
 against, 305 
 
 Porta SaiKta, opening of, 269 ; clos- 
 ing of, 270 ; meaning of, 270 
 
 Portiuncula, 246 ; extended to 
 
 other Orders, 248 ; good effects 
 
 of, 356 
 
 Portugal, King of, 263 
 
 Power of the keys in reference to 
 Indulgences, 71 ; of the Church 
 with regard to sin, 71 ; centred 
 in the Pope, 185 
 
 Prague, Jubilee at, 268 
 
 Prayers for the dead, 158 
 
 Preachers, extravagant, 295 ; con- 
 demned, 293, 297, 312 
 
 Prelates of the Church, who they 
 are, 36 ; inferior, have no power 
 of granting Indulgences, 41 
 
 Prescription, 120 
 
 Priests, simple, are not the prelates 
 of the Church, 37 ; parish, cannot 
 grant Indulgences, 41 
 
 Priscilla, cemetery of, 229 
 
 Processions, origin of, 195 ; related 
 to stations, 196 
 
 Profession, religious, cancels debt 
 of sin, 16 
 
 nponvXaiov, exterior narthex, 93 
 
 Protestantism, effects of, 358 
 
 Protestants on Indulgences, 58 ; on 
 the dogmas of the Church, 78 
 
 Providence of God over the Church, 
 206 
 
 Psychicians, Christians so called by 
 the Montanists, 89 
 
 Purgatory, souls in, in communion 
 with the Church, 50 ; not sub- 
 jected to her tribunal, 51 ; be- 
 lieved in, 1 59, 248 ; connection 
 of, to Indulgences, 281, 351, 3541 
 355 ; errors regarding, 313 
 
 Putiphar's house blessed because of 
 Joseph, 23 
 
 QuiESTOEES, ambition of, 296 ; abo- 
 lished, 297, 315 
 
 Raccolta, Roman, 299, 334, 340 
 Rationalists, modern, 317 
 
378 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Eaynaldus, referred to, 255, 263 
 Rebdor, Henry of, 263 
 Reconciliation, ceremony of, 113 ; 
 
 private, 115; denied to relapsed, 
 
 116 
 Redemptions of penances, 177 
 Reformation, 281 
 Relics, Holy, Sacred Congregation 
 
 of, 333 
 Remission of sins not an Indulg- 
 ence, 56 ; of canonical penance 
 not an Indulgence, 57 ; Indul- 
 gences called so, 61 
 Remove, 362 
 Revolt, 303 
 
 Reward promised for good work, 69 
 Right, absence of exercise and exist- 
 ence of, 82 
 Robert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, 225 
 Robinson, Mr., referred to, 160 ; 
 interpretation of St. Perpetua's 
 vision, 161 
 Rogations, 196 
 RoUon, Norman chief, 236 
 Romanus, confessor of Christ, 139 
 Rome, jjious institutions in, 198 ; 
 
 crowds in, 254, 262, 265 
 Ruchard, of Upper 'Westphalia, 283 
 Ruflfinus, Theodosius's officer, 105 
 
 Sacrament, origin of word, 64 ; 
 Blessed, Olfice of, 278 ; Indul- 
 gence granted in view of, 278 
 
 Sacrifice of Mass offered for the 
 dead, 162 
 
 Saintes, 293 
 
 Salamanca, University at, 281 
 
 Saragossa, recovery of, 218 
 
 Satisfaction, transferable, 1 5 ; scanty, 
 16 ; adequate, 16 ; superabun- 
 dant, 16, 237 ; communicated to 
 others, 70, 1 54 ; private, not al- 
 ways sufficient to cancel the debt, 
 33 ; its application, 53 
 
 Scalii Eiyiii, 269 
 
 Schism, great, 264 
 
 Scholasticism opposed by Luther, 
 306 ; growth of, 307 
 
 Scripture not the only source of 
 faith, 67 ; Indulgences implicitly 
 taught in, 70 ; explicitly, 72 
 
 Sebastian, St., Church of, 184 ; Con- 
 fraternity of, 291 
 
 Sedia Gestatoria, 269 
 
 Selingstad, Council of, 188 
 
 Sens, custom of penance at, 170 
 
 Sepulchre, Holy, Church of, 207 
 
 Servants of Mary, Indulgence in 
 favour of, 222 ; Portiuncula ex- 
 tended to, 248 
 
 Seven Dolours, Rosary of, 302 
 
 Severus Pius Augustus's medals, 64 
 
 Shrove-tide, 99 
 
 Siena, Prince of, 291 
 
 Sigonius, Bishop of Clermont, 176 
 
 Simon Stylites, his penance, 1 7 
 
 Simplicius, St., Pope, 169 
 
 Sin, sorrow for, 5 ; detachment 
 from, 343 
 
 Sixtus III., Indulgence granted by, 
 227 
 
 Sixtus IT., Indulgences granted by, 
 280, 282, 283 ; false Indulgence 
 attributed to, 294 
 
 Slaves set free on behalf of the dead, 
 163 
 
 Smalkalde, articles drawn at, 9 
 
 Sodom offered forgiveness, 69 
 
 Solomon, Bishop of Constance, his 
 penance, 1S4 
 
 Sorrow for sin, examples of, in Holy 
 Writ, 5 
 
 Soto, Dominic, 354 
 
 Soul, how excluded from Paradise, 
 
 71 
 Stages of penance not used in the 
 
 "\\\'st, 97 
 States, Roman, 265 
 Stations, origin of woi-d, 64 ; whence 
 
 derived, 191 ; antiquity of, 193 ; 
 
INDEX 
 
 379 
 
 Church of the, 195 ; frequented 
 by pilgrims, 197 ; Indulgences 
 annexed to, 197 ; for the Jubilee, 
 254, 261, 263 
 
 Staupitz, 314 
 
 Stefanesohi, Cardinal, referred to, 
 
 2S5 
 
 Stephen, Count of Auvergne, pen- 
 ance imposed on, 176 
 
 Substrati, their stage of penance, 96 
 
 Suffrages for the dead, 161 ; to whom 
 denied, 161 
 
 Suffering, mystery of, 25 ; not a 
 tribute exacted by nature, 26 ; 
 not the effect of chance, 26 ; 
 origin of, 26 ; end of, 27, 29 ; 
 ordered to God's justice and 
 mercy, 28 ; our relations to, 29 ; 
 harmony in, 29 ; of Christ, value 
 
 of, 45 
 Sylvester and Martin, SS., Church 
 
 of, 228 
 Sylvester II., appeal of, in favoiu: of 
 
 the East, 208 
 Synaxis, 192, 276 
 Swibert, St., canonised, 228 
 
 Tacitus quoted, 130 
 Tartary, pilgrims from, 256 
 Temple Church, Indulgence granted 
 
 to, 232 
 Teremo, Master Simon of, 276 
 Tertullian on penance, 1 1 ; conver- 
 sion of, 88 ; zeal for faith, 89 ; 
 book on penance, 89 ; becomes a 
 Montanist, 89 ; book de Pudi- 
 citia, 90 ; errors of, 90 ; on pri- 
 vate penance, no ; book de 
 Idololatria, 132 ; ad Uxorem, 133 ; 
 on the transfer of merits, 146; 
 quoted, 193 
 Tetzel, 312, 316 
 
 Theodore, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 168 ; his Penitential, 169, 
 178 
 
 Theodosius the Great, dealings with 
 the Thessalonians, 104 ; penance, 
 105 ; asks for absolution, 106 ; 
 released from excommunication, 
 106 ; praised by St. Augustine, 
 107 
 
 Thessalonica, sedition in, 104 
 
 Thomas, St., of Canterbury, 238 ; 
 pilgrimage to, 245 
 
 Thomas, St., of Hereford, pilgrimage 
 to, 246 
 
 Thomas Aquinas, St., on constitu- 
 tion of the Church, 37 ; on power 
 of the Pope, 40, 57 ; of bishops, 
 41 ; on delegation of power, 42 ; 
 on Indulgences, 58 ; on idolatry, 
 130; office of Blessed Sacrament 
 by, 277. 
 
 Three ways of transferring satisfac- 
 tions, 32 
 
 Tiber, 257 
 
 Timothy, St., report to St. Paul, 74 
 
 Tongres, 228 
 
 Tradition on Indulgences, 67, 78 ; 
 kept by the Church, 86 ; also by 
 the faithful, 252 ; two ways of 
 studying, 87 
 
 Transfer of satisfactions, 33, 34 
 
 Tree, the, of life, 2 ; of the cross, 3 
 
 Trent, Council of, on contrition, 5 ; 
 on remission of debt of sin, 14 ; 
 on Indulgences, 58, 155, 294, 328 ; 
 reproves abuses, 297 ; dates of, 
 
 333 
 Tribur, Council of, 173 ; penitential 
 
 canons of, 173 
 Tribute paid by Christ, 82 
 Trinitd dei Pellegrini, 339 
 Trinity, Holy, Confraternity of, 340 
 Trowel, silver, 270 
 Truth brought by Christ, 127 
 
 Uleic, John, 325 
 
 Unigenitus, BuU, 261 
 
 Union with Christ and his Vicar, 45 
 
38o 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Unity of the Church, 274 
 
 Urban II., 187 ; initiates the Cru- 
 sades, 210; Indulgence granted 
 by, 229 
 
 Urban III., Indulgence granted by, 
 230 
 
 Urban IV., 277 ; Indulgence granted 
 by, 281 
 
 Urban VI., reduction made by, 264 ; 
 Indulgence granted by, 278 
 
 Use, frequent, of sacraments, 44 
 
 Uselessness of Christ's satisfaction 
 if not applied, 2 1 
 
 Valentinian if., law of Indul- 
 gence, 62 
 
 Valla, Lawrence, on penance, 7 
 
 Vatican declaration of Infallibility, 
 274 
 
 Vaughan, Cardinal, referred to, 244 
 
 Veronica, 253, 258, 263 
 
 Viotorinus, Rhetorician, 95 
 
 Vienna, Council of, 293 
 
 Vigil, origin of this word, 64 ; Chris- 
 tian, 192 
 
 Villani quoted, 255, 263, 286 
 
 Virtues, natural, ennobled by Christ, 
 
 Vise turn, 228 
 
 Visit to St. Peter's, 44 
 
 Vitalian, Pope, 169 ; Indulgence 
 
 granted by, 245 
 Voltaire, 357 
 
 Wandering Jew, 363 
 
 Werdam, town of, 228 
 
 West, penance in the, 98 
 
 Wickliffe, 251, 274, 277 
 
 Will to satisfy the justice of God, 
 48 ; free, 317 
 
 William of Malmesbury, 187 
 
 Willibald, St., journey of, 181 
 
 Wisdom of God, 20 
 
 Wiseman, Cardinal, referred to, 178 ; 
 quoted, 256, 339, 356 
 
 Wittenberg, 306, 314, 316 
 
 Wolfhere, King of ilercia, 245 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 319 
 
 Woman taken in adultery, 72 
 
 Word of God, written and un- 
 written, 78 
 
 Works, of God, perfect, i ; different 
 from works of man, 202 ; purpose 
 of, 272 ; good, merit annexed to, 
 14; power of satisfaction, 15; 
 performance of, necessary for 
 gaining Indulgence, 47 ; should 
 be personal, 48 ; penal, 53 
 
 ZuiNGLius, 277 
 
 THE END 
 
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