Daily national Democrat., 1858-11-25
Indulgcnces.

dulgences, Oy pohtlncal authoII'y' A"N9S ."
dulgences, he contended we're simply per
missions to the members of the church tC
commit any kind of sin, with impunity, the
holy fathers Undertaking, for a moderate sun
of money, to stand between them and the
wrath of Heaven on account of the same
This charge, we believe, the Catholics have
strenuously denied, declaring that the noto
rious Tetzel, and others who made traffic o
the kind of indulgences denounced by Luther
/ and Melancthon, did 50 without authority
and simply abused their privileges. Be that
as it may, indulgences, at the present day
are not of the character above described, but
wholly different. They are simply remit
tances Of the temporal punishment due to
sins which are already forgiven.
1t appears that the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope
Piux TX, has lately granted Plenary In
diligence to the faithful throughout the Uni
verse;" which indulgence ends with the ter.
mination of the present year. Archbishop
Alemany, of San Francisco, in proclaiming
the will of the Pope to the faithful" of this
State, explains the meaning and extent Of
the indulgence granted, as follows:
The Pastors are expected to explain to their
respective flocks the nature ofan indulgence,
which is neither n permission to commit SIN
in future, or the forgiveness Of past guilt, or
the remission Of the eternal punishment due
to mortal sin, as, unfortunately, many of our
separated brethren are taught we believe
but it is the remission of temporal punish
ment due to sin after the guilt has been re
mitted. 1t cannot be contested that after
the guilt of sin and the eternal punishment
have been remitted, there is frequently a
temporal punishment exacted from the sinner
by the Divine Justice. The pentent king.
on his acknowledging his guilt with sincere
sorrow, was informed by the Prophet Ma
than that his sin was forgiven, but that in
punishment thereof, his child should surely
die (u Kings, l2.) The Israelites, on their
journey to the land of promise, murmured
against Moses and Aaron; and, although
through the intercession of Moses, their sin
was forgiven by Almighty God, yet their
corpse was doomed to lie in the wilderness in
punishment of their sin. Numbers, l4.) In
Adam we all sinned and although we be
washed and sanctiied in the sacrament of
baptism, yet death-that hard, penitential
struggle of death-is in store for us ALL II
is equally certain that our Blessed Redeemer
not only authorized the church to forgive the
original sin by baptism, and the sins commit
ted after baptism by the sacrament of pen
ance, but that He also empowered her to
grant, for Just cause, the remission of the
temporal punishment which may remain due
for actual sins He gave her the keys of the
kingdom of heaven He commissioned her
to remove all impediments to the kingdom OF
heaven, and to loosen whatever band NAV
hinder its entrance therefore, temporary
punishment being an obstacle, can be removed
by the power conferred on her This is what
| is declared by the Council of Trent, in these
words: "The church having received from
Christ the power of granting indulgences
and having made use of such power, which
God granted to it, even in the earliest times ,
the sacred council teaches and eniuins that
the use of indulgences, most wholesome to
the Christian people and approved by the
authority of the sacred councils, should be
retained in the church. (Scss. ult. dec. de
ind.) As the Fathers of Trent indicate in the
above decree, this is no new teaching it had
been incucated by many councils before, es
pcciallly by those of Lateran, Carthage and
Nice, which latter directed the Bishops TO
grant some indulgence to such as would Sc
riously do penance Eusebius relates that
this was the general practice adopted by all
the Bishops, after the persecuti IN of Decius
Hist. L. 6, c. 4s.) And it is well known that
in the early prosecutions, the Bishops used,
with moderation, to grant indulgences to
such penitent sinners as had commendatory
letters from the martyrs to that effect, which
practice was approved by Pope ST. Cornelius
in his reply to the application made to him
and to the Roman Clergy by st. Cyprian,
upon this subject, following the example of
St Paul, who, in the person of Christ, and
at the request Of Titus, granted an il dugence
to the penitent Corinthian, releasing him
when humble, from the temporal punishment
he had inflicted on him when guilty. (u
Corinthians, 2) Before closing this short ex-
planation, we would lay before your minds
the concise and clear reasoning of St. Tho.
mas upon this matter, from which every un
biased mind can see that the prudent use of
indulgence is nothing else than an office of
charity. "The value of indulgence" saws
the holy Doctor, "arises from the unity Of
the mystical body of the church, in which
many performed more penitential works than
the measure Of their faults required, and
though working in the sacraments, have not
their efficacy confined in them, because it is
infinite. But it is said to the Galatians, (6:2)
bear We one another's burdens : therefore
it appears that one may bear for another the
burden of his penance. Besides charity can
do more with God than with men; but
out of love for him therefore, mnch more
on ha in -. ,.fT
vine justice-so that in regard to the remis-
sion Of temporal punishment, one can merit
for another, through the means of charity,
by which we are all one in christ Jesus. -
(Gal. 3;2S) (Sup. q. % and l3)
Consequently it is justly determined that
the use OF indulgences should he retained in
the church, since it is grounded on reason,
on the spirit of Christian charity, on the de-
clarations of general councils, and on the
constant practice of the church, nav of the
Apostles themselves. And Justly, too, do we
lament, and will never cease to lament, over
the unfortunate step taken by that impetu-
Gus Catholic priest of Watten6erg. who, upon
the unjustifabe plea that the church had
ceased to be the church by granting indul-
gences, broke away from her co rmunon, in
augurated disuniOn studied success in ar
raigning the revealed mysteries of God be-
fore the private judgment of man, divided
the Christian mind into countless different
systems of belief, and thus brought into the
Christian commonwealth an intestine war
the most distressing because affecting reli-
gion, and the most humiliatng because it en-
courages the deist in his hatred to Christiani-
ty, which, if sanctioning disunion and con
tradiction, cannot be the Inspiration of a
God of harmony and truth That God, in
His infinite mercy, may youchsafe to bring
back into the unity of the Faith all such as