The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-10-23

What are the induIgences granted
for the recital of the Rosary during
the month of October?
An indulgence of seven years and
seven times forty days daily is granted
to all. who daily say five decades of the
beads.
A plenary Indulgence on the feast
of the Holy Rosary or on any day
within the octave to those who say five
decades on the feast as well as on
each day of the octave. The usual
conditions of Confession, Holy Com
munion, visit and prayer for the in
tentions of the Holy Father are neces-
sary.
A plenary indulgence (under usual
conditions) to those who after the
octave say five decades on at least ten
of the remaining days of the month.
I. A man performs some good act
to which an indulgence is attached.
He is in a state of grace, but through
ignorance or for some other reason
does not think about the indulgence at
all. In fact, he does not find out till
some time afterwards that he had
complied with the conditions necessary
for gaining an indulgence. Does he
, gain the indulgence without knowing
It? 2. Does man gain in any way by
performing a good act (such as con-
tributing to a Catholic charity or
praying for the church) though not in
state Of grace2
/. The Church has showered in
dulgences so profusely over the whole
field of devotion that it is difficult to
lead an ordinarily devout Catholic
life without finding them impinging
on all sides. Some of them are so
simple that they can be gained with
out any explicit knowledge. All that
is needed is to be in state of grace,
and to have general intention of
gaining such indulgences as may thus
incidentally occur. This intention
should be renewed occasionally; and
the most convenient way. for doing
this is to include in our morning
prayers some short form such as:
Il wish to gain all the indulgences
which may come in my way" This
having been done the indulgence will
ipso facto accrue from the actual per-
Torrance of the prayers or works in
question, such, for instance, as taking
holy water, saying the Rosary, reading
the Bible for quarter of an hour, etc.
BY this means some ordinary indul-
gence attached to ordinary acts will
be gained even without any particular
knowledge of what they are. But this
is the minimum, and applies to COM
paratively few indulgences. If you
want to gain a great deal more, you
must be great deal more definite.
You should fix upon few plenary in
dulgences, such as are indicated in all
prayer-books, and make up your mind
to try and gain these. In order to do
tached to each. First, there is the re-
citing of the prayer or the per-
Torrance, of the act prescribed. Sec
ond, in most cases Confession and
Communion is part of the act. For
some, a regular habit of confession,
say once a week, or otherwise, will
suffice. The Communion must be
made at the time prescribed, If any.
If visit to church be required, this
is fulfilled by attending for Com
munion. Lastly, if more than one in
diligence is possible on the same day,
the one confession and Communion
and prayer for the Pope will suffice
for the whole day. Thus with little
care and attention it is possible to
develop a regular and easy habit of
gaining certain number of plenary
indulgences without adding specially
to ones ordinary devotions; and it is
better to undertake little and do it
we'll, than to undertake a great deal
and do it badly. If all these condi-
tions are fulfilled to the letter, the in.
diligence can be gained, even if the in
dividual happens to know nothing
about the indulgences offered-so long
as the general intention of gaining in
diligence is in the mind. The per-
Torrance of the act in addition to the
general intention sufffces. These are
the general rules. Special regulations
for the gaining of particular indul-
gences must be looked up in each
case.
2. If person happens not to be in
the state of grace, no indulgence can
be gained, no matter how exactly one
performs the act But the devout pur-
pose in performing the act will not
be thrown away. 1t will draw down
graces tending to excite repentance,
and leading to the recovery of the
state of grace.
May priest refuse to attend in his
last sickness man who has neglected
during his life the practice Of his re-
Ilgion and refused to support the
Church because Of some personal
grievance?
BY the law of justice the priest is
obliged to give his services to those
who contribute to his support In the
above case this law does not obtain.
So far as justice extends the priest
owes nothing to the man. The law
of charity, however, binds also as
well as the law of justice. In virtue
of the law of charity the priest would
be Obliged to answer the call of one
in serious danger of death.
have been told that the Bible pre-
diets universal Holy War. Is this.
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