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My dear friends, we have come to the Kalends of November, anno salutis MMV, to November, the month dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Today, November 1st, we commemorate the saints of all time in their heavenly glory, yet I am sure that these same saints will not forget to pray for the holy souls in purgatory on this day. For indeed, holy mother Church, in her wisdom, has granted a plenary indulgence, to be applied to the holy souls, on the days of November 1 to November 8 inclusive. That is, if we take the time to visit a cemetery on each of these days, we may gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, upon the completion of each prayerful visit.
The conditions for gaining this indulgence are as follows:
On all the days from November 1 through November 8 inclusive, a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor Souls, is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed.
1. Only one plenary indulgence can be gained per day.
2. It is necessary to be in a state of grace, at least by completion of the work.
3. Freedom from attachment to sin, even venial sin, is necessary; otherwise, the indulgence is partial.
4. Holy Communion must be received each time the indulgence is sought.
5. Prayers must be recited for the intentions of the Holy Father on each day the indulgence is sought.
6. A sacramental confession must be made within a week of completion of the prescribed work. Thus, one confession made during the week, made with the intention of gaining all the indulgences, suffices.
(I copied these conditions from the FSSP October newsletter and I’m actually a little uncertain about condition #4; I was under the impression that, like sacramental confession, one need approach the Eucharistic table only once during a period of a week to gain a plenary indulgence, a suitable work having been performed, on each of the days of the week. Thoughts?)
Prayers for the living and the dead are among the principle spiritual works of mercy. Do the Holy Souls deserve our attention? I can only imagine that we will greatly desire the prayers and petitions of those who remain on earth after our own deaths, for purgatory is not an easy place.
About the pain of purgatory, St. Augustine says that “this fire of Purgatory will be more severe than any pain that can be felt, seen or conceived in this world.” The Angelic Doctor writes that the pain of purgatory is twofold, the first being a pain of loss coming from the delay in seeing God and the second being the pain of corporeal fire. With regard to both, the Angel of the Schools explains, “the least pain of Purgatory surpasses the greatest pain of this life.”
Let us, therefore, not be slow in working to release these souls who so greatly desire to see God; indeed, this is the one desire of the souls in purgatory: they only wish to see God. Would that we might live now with the fervor for the Beatific Vision which we will experience in purgatory!
Now as St. Thomas points out here, the souls in purgatory are greatly desirous of our prayers and often ask for them.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis; + requiescant in pace. Amen.
Iosephus,
It seems to me likely that Holy Communion must only be received once with the intention of gaining all the indulgences, though I write under correction.
Ambrosius, what you say is certainly what I thought as well, thus I asked the question. For as many times as we’ve read about indulgences, I’ve never come across that sort of language before. In the newsletter, these conditions are also described as “current regulations in force by Pope Benedict XVI.” That could be an explanation: it’s changed since John Paul II. But if the conditions had been changed, that would be awfully poor of them not to tell anyone. I just checked at the Apostolic Pententiary, and nothing new has been posted there in any language.
Any one of you jokers able to supply the prayer that is supposed to be said in a graveyard for the Day of the Dead?
There is no “prayer” that is supposed to be said on the Feast of All Souls. But the Gradual Psalms, as I mention in a later post, are the traditional way of praying for the dead, whether one is in the cemetery or not (they can also be said in choir, I mean). You can see them here.
pod patrol — is that like a pod person? ;)
I trust Ioephus’ slightly humorless reply answered your query? We will indeed be praying the gradual psalms, and they are an excellent choice for prayer for the dead.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=97
quite humorless indeed.
I don’t get it. Was my response supposed to have been humorful?? I was only trying to answer your question, POD patrol.
Dear Iosephus, your response was not supposed to be humorful — the concern was that you missed the humor implicit in the original comment / question of PP.