Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-10

70 Goo, either by his own Individual SUI
1erlngs on earth, or in Purgatory, or
through second and extra-sacramental
application Of the powers of the church.
whatsoever you shall loose pom earth shall
he loosed in heaven" has il been said of
the church, Ordinarily the sinner is left to
pay himself the penalty. In certain cir
cumstances, when the church iudoes
that Gods glory Is otherwise more
advanced, she RENTS herself the
penalty III reward for go7d works and acts
OF piety. jubilee is the proclaim alton to
the Universal church that upon certain
conditions q plenary indulgence shall be.
give to all the faithful; that ig the full
remission Of the temporal p nalsy which
each one may still have against him IN the
scales of divine justice. The conditions of
the jubilee proclaimed . few years ago by
Leo XIII. were-besides contrition and
confession required for the remission of
sin itself and the eternal penalty due TO
sln-peniten5iaI fasting, three visits to
CHURCHES and the recitation in them of
pray ers for the universal veal of Gods
kingdom on earth, and the bestowal of
aims,elther for the poor or for q work of re.
Hglon. The aims in the diocese of ST.
PauI were given to tho society of the
Propagation of the Faith. What Protes-
tant would say that in this jubilee there
was aught irrational or shocking to uious
Christian souls? Still there was money in
connection with it-not certainly q the
price OF the indulgence, but as aims, one
OF the works of mercy which the church
desired to encourage, and which she
named as one Of the conditions for gain.
ing the jubilee.
Bear in mind that always and ever
when an indulgence is announced, either
it il said plainly, or it is manifestly IN
derstood that before the indulgence can be
obtained, sin must have been previously
remittsd through sincere penanee. An in
duigsnce is never a remission of sin; 1t
has no connestion directly with sin. Ii
remiss simply the temporal penalty remain
ing due after sin has been forgiven.
The Church never applies directly an in
dulgence to the souls in purgatory; she
has no dirsot power over those souls. She
simply teaches that the living ear offer
COED works to God with the prayer that
the satisfaction given to him thereby be
sppl1sa to souls in purgatory, and that in
ease Of an indulgence when the living have
by their own fulfllment of ell the sondi-
items required to gain the indulgence, be-
come entitled to the remissioa of
temporal penalties, they can keseeeh God to
ALLOW them to transfer this remission from
themselves to the suffering souls. The
Catholic doctrine of the communion of
saints makes all this quite iRtslli-
gibls; II is one Of the sweetest and most
sensoling of eur doctrines.
THE INDULGENCE OF LEO x.
What an Indulgence or jubilee is to
day il the church it always was. The in
diligence proclaimed by Leo X and preach
ed in Saxony by Tetzel was of the same
nature as the indulgence proclaimed not
long ago by Leo XTIT-with the sole differ
ezice that the aims in the case OF the form
er were to be applied 10 the building of
the worlds cathedral, st. Peters church.
1t was proper that all Catholics should
contribute towards this temple, in which
were to rest the remains of the prince of
the Apostles; it was proper that 1t should
be buitt to surpass in magnlGcance
of proportions and splendor
OF detaus all other temples in the universe.
To aid in its erection was q pious work,
which the pontif with every right could
mark out as one Of the conditions of the
jubilee. Other jubilees had been pro
claimed previously in Germany, and the
aims had beep,by order OF the pontifs,ap-
piled to local good works, among other
things to the building of bridges and the
opening of highways. An indulgence had
been granted in Wittenberg, the aims be-
ing applied to the building up of It's uni
versity. Roma was not the greedy, ra-
pscious tyrant, selling spiritual favocs for
money to be poured into her own lap;
since when she did offer indnlgences very
seIdom-if ever before Leo. X.--were the
aims asked for g good work within her
own walls.
The official documents relating to the
indulgence of Leo X. give the lie to the
stories of prejudiced writers and show it
In its true nature. In the pontifcal letter
it is stated that the indulgence is given to
those who being truly contrite and having
confessed their sins, fulfill the conditions
prescribed by the Pope. Leo proposed no
remission of sins as the effect of the in
diligence; nor did he omit to say that this
| remission should have been previously OBJ
tanned through contrition and confession.
Kostlin publishes sac-simile of the let
ter. Besides the giving of alme, visits to
churches were required. The instruction
of the archbishop of Mainz to TetzeI
and other German preachers is extant. He
says that sail persons who repent Of, con
fess fasting their sins, who receive holy
communion, say certain prayers in seven
different chu ches and contribute according
to their means to st. Peters basiLioa shall
obtain full remission of the tenn poral
punishment due for their sins, and that
this indulgence may be applied By way of
intercession to the souls of Purgatory."
Teszel wrote letter to all the parish
priests, whose churches lie was to visit.
After Luther's attack On indulgenees, he
composed long treatise on the same sub
ject, and in both documents the true and
exact Catholic doctrine is laid down with
out e1aggeration or room for migappre-
hension. So little was there in the ap-
plications Of the indulgences TO merit the
name of traffic or sale, that the faithful
offered according to their means what each
one believed he could afford. The poor
had the giving of aims commuted into
other works. The priest who applied the
indulgence was not permitted to receive
the aims. Luther in his table talk often
amused his friends in the Black Eagle
tavern with stories of Tetzers tricks to
vrest large Sums money from The peopx
and Of his fables told TO delude and deceive
simple souls. The stories were fancifui
ca Nor of TuEher'a yIiIerate1 brgin No