Every indulgenced work is specified by the Church as capable of obtaining either a Plenary Indulgence or a Partial Indulgence, that is, the full or partial remission of the temporal punishment of sin.   During November, the Church provides opportunities for Catholics to obtain plenary indulgences for the Holy Souls, in the hope of satisfying all of the temporal guilt for which they are suffering. The work, or act to be done, includes visiting a church on All Souls and praying for the Poor Souls, by at least the Creed and an Our Father, or, during the 2nd to the 8th of November, visiting a cemetery and praying for the Poor Souls. For either of these indulgences, the normal conditions apply for receiving any indulgence: being a Catholic in the state of grace, going to Confession (within 20 days before or after), receiving the Eucharist, preferably on that day, and praying for the intentions of the Holy Father. If the person seeking the Plenary Indulgence is completely detached from all sin, full remission is obtained. A defect in this detachment still obtains a partial remission or indulgence. The Church allows only one Plenary Indulgence per day. However, there is no limit to the Partial Indulgences which can be obtained each day, and there are many ways to obtain them. In addition to specific acts to which the Church has attached a Plenary or Partial Indulgence, Pope St. Paul VI also established three general grants. Any pious prayer, any penitential act and any charitable act can be done for the intention to gain a partial indulgence.   For centuries the Church has accounted partial indulgences as equivalent to the value before God of the rigorous penances of the early Church. The meaning of this was always equivocally, a relative value – one indulgence to another, since we do not know what value they had, either with respect to the early practice or the dispositions of the one doing the indulgenced act. In reforming the laws on Indulgence, therefore, Pope St. Paul VI abolished the practice of assigning a temporal value to indulgences. Each partial indulgence today is given as “a partial indulgence,” leaving judgment of the other considerations to God. Thus, any prayer in a prayer book, or on a holy card, with days or years indulgence attached to it, is only a “partial indulgence” today. Even though some such prayers have not been re-promulgated as specifically indulgenced in the new collection of indulgences (Enchiridion), they would today continue to obtain a partial indulgence under the General Grant of Indulgence mentioned earlier. So, whether specifically re-promulgated or not, they can obtain a partial indulgence.   Throughout the year, we can have Masses said for the souls in Purgatory, include them in our daily prayers and Rosary intentions, and pray for them when we’re near a cemetery. Mother Angelica said, “Every time you pass a cemetery, it’s time for a little prayer: ‘Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.’ It’s just common sense that you help some of them get out of Purgatory.” Venerable Fulton Sheen said, “As we enter Heaven, we will see them, so many of them, coming towards us and thanking us. We will ask who they are, and they will say ‘a poor soul you prayed for in Purgatory.’” We can have Masses said for the souls in Purgatory, include them in our daily prayers and Rosary intentions, and pray for them when we’re near a cemetery. NOVENA FOR THE HOLY SOULS