The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-01-20
THE HEROIC ACT OF CHARITY.

Catholic knows that prayers, aims
deeds, sufferings, works of charity and
mercy, and every daily hardship, as
also the toll of hand and sweat of
brow, can be offered to God in pay
ment for the punishment yet due to
His Divine Majesty on account of
sins committed by these souls. But
there is still one act that includes and
Tar surpasses all others, which has so
far not received due attention from
pious Catholics. BY this one act we
compel, as it were, even the justice
of God to relinquish its claims without
delay. This is none other than the
Heroic Act of Charity, too little known
and frequently feared because not
properly understood.
OF all the acts of personal devotion
in favor of the faithful departed the
Heroic Act Of Charity is the most
comprehensive and has the fullest en-
couragement of many Popes. The fol-
lowing account is taken from the au-
thorized translation of the Roman Rae
Gotta:
This Heroic Act of Charity in be-
half of the souls in Purgatory consists
in a voluntary offering made in their
favor by any one of the faithful of all
works of satisfaction done by him in
this life, as we'll as of all SURFACES
which shall be offered for him after
his death.
BY this act he deposits them in the
hands of the Blessed Virgin, that she
may distribute them in behalf of those
holy souls whom it is her good pleas
ure to deliver from the pains of Pur-
gatory, at the same time declaring
that by this offering he only foregoes
in their behalf the special and per-
sona1 fruit of each satisfactory work;
so that, if he is a priest, he is not
hindered from applying the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass according to the
intention of those who give him a
stipend
This Heroic Act of Charity, also
called VOW or oblation, was insti-
tuted by Father Casper Oliden, a
Theatine; for although it was not un-
known in former ages, it was he who
propagated it, and it was at his prayer
that it was enriched with many in
dulgences; first by Benedict Kill, in
a decree of August %, 1928, and then
by Plus W., in decree of December
IL, 1888; these indulgences were
finally specified by our Sovereign Pom
tiff, Plus *, in decree of the Sacred
Congregation of Indulgences, Of Sep
TENDER 80, 1852. They are as follows:
1. An indult of privileged altar,
personally, every day in the year, to
all priests, who have made this offer
ing.
2. A plenary Indulgence, applicable
only to the departed, to all the faith
full who have made this offering, when
ever they go to Holy Communion, pro-
vided they visit a church or public
oratory, and pray there for time for
the Pope's intentions.
8. A plenary Indulgence, every Mon
day, to all who hear Mass in suffrage
for the souls in Purgatory, provided
they visit the church, and pray as
above.
4. All indulgences granted or to be
granted, even though not applicable to
the dead. which are gained by the
faitht<G who have made this offering,
may be applied to the holy souls in
Purgatory.
5. Lastly, the same Sovereign Pom
tiff, Pope Plus TX, having regard to the
young who are not yet communicates
as well as to the poor sick, to those
who are afflicted with chronic dis
orders, to the aged, to farm laborers,
prisoners, and others who are de-
barred from communicating and un-
able to hear Mass on Mondays, vouch-
safed by another decree of the Sacred
Congregation of Indulgences, of No
vember 20, 1854, to declare that for
all the faithful who cannot hear Mass
on Monday, the Mass heard on Sun
days should be available for gaining
the Indulgence No. 3; and that in
favor of those who are not yet com
municants, or who are hindered from
communicating, he leaves it at the dis
posal of their respective ordinaries to
authorize confessors to commute the
works enjoined.
Although THIS act OF cnarlLy Is De
nominated VOW in some printed
tracts, in which also is given formula
for making the offering, no inference
is to be drawn therefrom that this
offering binds under sin; neither is it
necessary to make use of the said for
mula, since, in order to share in the
said Indulgences, no more is required
than a hearty act of our will.
Such is the act of devotion that is
aptly called heroic; and lest any
should be alarmed and lose courage at
the thought of the cost to themselves
in the very heroism of this devotion, it
may be well to set down here in short
the advantages that will abundantly
repay that cost.
The first advantage is that the
Heroic Act, while giving away the
satisfying or atoning power of our