Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Indulgences and the Jubilee · Book I: That Indulgences Exist, and What They Are
Chapter 9: On the variety of indulgences
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VII, De Indulgentiis et Jubilaeo, Book I, a treatise of the Controversies. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
We have explained so far concerning indulgences whether they exist and what they are; now we shall set out in a few words of what kinds they are. For I see nothing else that can be asked about the quality of indulgences except what the variety of indulgences is. I find, then, that indulgences have been accustomed to be granted in five ways. For sometimes some days or years of indulgence are granted; sometimes lents of days; sometimes a third, or a fourth, or some other part of sins; sometimes a plenary indulgence; sometimes an indulgence full, fuller and most full in the form of a jubilee; and again all these are granted either in life or at the point of death; and finally, indulgences are either temporary or perpetual. And indeed an indulgence of so many days or years, according to the truer opinion, signifies the remission of the penance which would have had to be performed for so many days or years according to the rite of the Church. For it is agreed from Tertullian in the book on penance, and more plainly from the Council of Tribur, canon 54, and from the nineteenth book of Burchard, that many things were commanded to penitents and many also forbidden; as for example fasting was commanded on the second, fourth and sixth days of the week; the use of the bath was forbidden, and of riding, sometimes also of a wife, and above all of holy communion.
An indulgence of a lent signifies the remission of the penance which would have had to be performed for forty continuous days in fastings and other laborious works. Which lent, when it was commanded more sharply, so that those who performed it had to be content with bread and water alone, used to be called a carena, because it contained the want of almost all foods. That a carena of this kind was accustomed to be set before a seven-year penance is attested by the Council of Tribur and by Burchard in the places noted. Further, when an indulgence remits some part, as a third or a fourth, of sins, nothing else is signified than that the penance is remitted which would have been necessary for expiating so great a part of the punishment owed for sins. But a plenary indulgence takes away the whole guilt of punishment which perhaps remained after the fault was remitted. Finally, an indulgence fuller or most full, even in a jubilee, does not in truth differ from a plenary one granted simply and absolutely. Nor is that distinction of some solid, that full refers only to the punishment owed for mortal sins, fuller adds the remission of punishment owed for venial sins, and most full adds absolution not only from punishment but also from fault, at least venial. It could however be that Boniface VIII, who in the Extravagant Antiquorum first used those words, an indulgence full, larger and most full, referred full to the remission of the whole penance enjoined; fuller, or larger, to the remission of the whole penance which according to the canons ought to have been enjoined; most full, to the remission of the whole penance which could be exacted by the divine judgment. See on this whole matter John of Torquemada in the commentary on distinction 1, on penance, on the words Item in Levitico, question 4; Navarrus in the tract on the Jubilee, notables 9 and 31; and Antonio of Cordoba, question 32 on indulgences.
There arises, however, in this place a doubt, whether to an indulgence of some days or years of this life there corresponds in Purgatory a relaxation of punishment of just so many days or years. And indeed all agree that when penances of some days or years are remitted through indulgences, the punishment of Purgatory which corresponds to the remitted penance is consequently remitted also; but whether the penance of one day or one year in this life is able to expiate as much of the guilt of punishment before God as one day or year spent in Purgatory would expiate is a question. For Dominic Soto, on the fourth book, distinction 21, question 2, article 1, contends that the punishment of Purgatory is so much sharper than the punishments of this life that one day spent in Purgatory takes away far more of the guilt of punishment owed for sins than many years of the present life consumed in doing penance most severely. From which he himself gathers that no one, however notable a sinner, will pay punishment in Purgatory for twenty years, and perhaps not for ten or fewer. But the common opinion teaches the contrary, as may be seen in Paludanus on the fourth book, distinction 20, question 4; Adrian in the tract on indulgences, paragraph Petet fortasse; Navarrus on the Jubilee, notable 11, number 22; Cordoba, question 32 on indulgences, proposition 3; and others whom Sylvester cites in the Summa, under the word Indulgentia, number 8. For although the punishment of Purgatory is sharper than all the punishments which we have experienced in this life, as the holy Fathers teach, Augustine on Psalm 37, Gregory on the third penitential Psalm, Bede on the same Psalm, Anselm in the commentary on the third chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and Bernard in the sermon on the death of the monk Humbert; yet for expiating the guilt of punishment the voluntary punishment of this life is more efficacious than the sharper punishment of Purgatory, since this is the time of mercy, that of justice. And so in this life there is no debt of punishment so great that it cannot be altogether dissolved in one day, or even one hour, by martyrdom; for the paying of which, however, in Purgatory many years would hardly suffice. For so Saint Cyprian speaks, book 4, letter 2: “It is one thing to be amended by torment for a long time for sins, and to be purged long by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering.” The same can be said of a most vehement contrition, of which matter many examples are extant in the histories. But this one will suffice in this place, which John Climacus relates to have happened in his presence in his book on the Ladder of Paradise, step 4; for he writes that a certain robber covered with every kind of crime laid open his sins publicly with such ardour of soul that it was revealed to certain holy men that all of them were straightway purged and blotted out by that satisfaction. It is agreed moreover from the venerable Bede, book 5 of the English history, chapter 13, and other approved authors, that very many souls are to be tormented in Purgatory until the day of judgment, that is, for many centuries of years; whereas there is no multitude or gravity of sins which cannot in this life be blotted out through penance, not only as to the fault but also as to the punishment. Finally we read in the weightiest authors that certain holy men were tormented in Purgatory for no small time on account of one sin only, as appears concerning Paschasius, a Roman cardinal, in Saint Gregory, book 4 of the Dialogues, chapter 40, and concerning Severinus, bishop of Cologne, in Saint Peter Damian, in the letter to Desiderius on the miracles of his time, and concerning a certain holy virgin in Gregory of Tours, in the book on the glory of the confessors, chapter 5. But in the present life sins of this kind could have been washed away by a light and brief penance.
But on the contrary it can be objected that some men are liable to a punishment to be paid for many thousands of years; which is proved from indulgences which sometimes contain the remission of a penance of fifteen or twenty thousand years; but if the guilt of punishment is expiated in Purgatory over a longer time, and not rather over a far, far shorter time than in this life, it follows altogether that many sins will remain unexpiated after the day of judgment. Answer. There are not lacking those who deny that those indulgences which contain the remission of a penance of many thousands of years were given by the Pontiffs, and say they were invented by pardon-sellers. So think John Gerson in the tract on sacramental absolution, and Dominic Soto on the fourth book, distinction 21, question 2, article 1. For the Pontiffs were not accustomed to grant indulgences except of as many years as the years of penance that were enjoined; and penances were not accustomed to be enjoined except of one, two, three, five, seven, ten, twenty years, or at most for the whole of life, which is not accustomed to be extended beyond a hundred years. But whatever may be the case about this, it does not seem to be denied that some can become liable to a penance to be done according to the canons for the space of some thousands of years. For if to each mortal sin there is owed according to the canons a penance of three or seven years, who could count up the years of penance which according to the canons ought to be prescribed for those who have the habit of perjuring or blaspheming at almost every moment, and most frequently perpetrate homicides, thefts, sacrileges, adulteries, and finally, as we read in the book of Job, chapter 15, drink iniquity like water? And to this without doubt the Supreme Pontiffs looked, if there are any who really gave indulgences of ten or twenty thousand years. But just as in this life a penance of many years can be paid in one hour, if penitents compensate the length of time by the vehemence of charity, and the extent of the penance by its intensity, so also it can happen that in Purgatory those who have departed with so immense a debt are indeed tormented longer than in this life, yet that there too the vehemence of the sharpness brings it about that a debt of twenty thousand years can be expiated in three or four hundred.
Now as to the other variety, by which we said that indulgences are granted in life or at the point of death, there can be some question what is to be understood by the point of death. But the answer is easy; for if in the papal letters a true point of death is expressed, then without doubt no one obtains that indulgence except one who really dies a little after receiving the absolution. But if it is not expressed, but said in general, at the point of death, then the more common opinion is that the indulgence is obtained even at a presumed point of death, although in fact death does not follow. But whether he who has obtained an indulgence at a presumed point of death can again obtain the same when he comes again to the point of death, the doctors disagree; but these questions can for the most part be dissolved by inspection of the letters. See Navarrus on the Jubilee, notable 30, numbers 3, 4 and 5, and Cordoba, question 39 on indulgences. There remains the last variety, of temporary or perpetual indulgences. For those are called temporary which are granted for a defined space of time within which the indulgence can be received, as when twenty-four hours are defined, or one or two weeks, or a whole year, as in jubilees. But those are called perpetual which are attached to certain places, as churches or altars, or even to movable things, as rosaries or blessed beads, without any determination of time; such as were those which Leo III and Sergius II granted, as we noted above in chapter 3.
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CAPUT IX. De varietate indulgentiarum. Explicuimus hactenus de indulgentiis, an sint, et quid sint, nunc quales sint paucis expediemus. Nihil enim aliud circa indul¬ gentiarum qualitatem quaeri posse video, nisi quae sit indulgentiarum varietas. Invenio putem indulgentias quinque modis consue¬ visse concedi. Interdum enim conceduntur aliquot dies, vel anni indulgentiarum; inter¬ dum quadragenae dierum ; interdum tertia, vel quarta, vel alia peccatorum pars ; inter¬ dum indulgentia plenaria ; interdum indul¬ gentia plena, plenior, et plenissima in forma jubilaei; et rursus haec omnia vel concedun¬ tur in vita, vel in articulo mortis ; et denique vel sunt indulgentiae temporariae, vel perpe¬ tuae. Et quidem indulgentia tot dierum, vel annorum, secundum veriorem sententiam significat remissionem poenitentiae, quae per¬ agenda fuisset tot diebus, vel annis, secun¬ dum Ecclesiae ritum. Constat enim ex Ter¬ tulliano in lib. de poenitentia, et apertius ex Concilio Triburiensi can. 54. et ex lib. 19. Burchardi, poenitentibus multa fuisse impe¬ rata, multa etiam interdicta, ut exempli gra¬ tia imperabatur jejunium feria 2. 4. et 6. interdicebatur usus balnei, equitationis, uxo¬ ris etiam interdum, potissimum sacrae com¬ munionis. Indulgentia quadragenae significat remis¬ sionem poenitentiae, quae quadraginta conti¬ nuatis diebus in jejuniis, aliisque laboriosis operibus agenda fuisset. Quae quadragena, quando imperabatur acrior, ita ut solo pane et aqua contenti esse deberent, qui eam per¬ agebant, carena dici solebat, quod videlicet CAPUT IX. 39 carentiam omnium fere ciborum contineret. Ejusmodi carenam p ree mitti solitam ante septennem p ce n itent iam, testantur Conci¬ lium Triburiense, et Burchardus locis notatis. Porro cum indulgentia condonat aliquam partem, ut tertiam vel quartam peccatorum, nihil significatur aliud, nisi remitti poeniten-* tiam, quee pro tanta parte poenee peccatis debitee expianda necessaria fuisset. Indul¬ gentia vero plenaria totum poenee reatum tollit, qui post culpam remissam forte re¬ mansit. Denique indulgentia plenior , vel plenissima etiam in jubilaeo, revera non differt a plenaria simpliciter et absolute con¬ cessa. Neque solida est illa quorumdam dis¬ tinctio, quod plena referatur ad solam poe¬ nam peccatis mortalibus debitam ; plenior addat remissionem poenae debitam peccatis venialibus, plenissima adjungat absolutio¬ nem non solum a poena, sed etiam a culpa, saltem veniali. Posset tamen fieri ut Bonifa- cius VIII qui in extra vaganti Antiquorum, primus usus est illis vocibus , indulgentiam plenam, largiorem, et plenissimam, retulerit plenam ad remissionem totius poenitentiae injunctae; pleniorem, sive largiorem ad re¬ missionem totius poenitentiae, quae secundum canones injungi debuisset; plenissimam, ad remissionem totius poenitentiae, quae a divino judicio posset exigi. Vide de hac tota re Joannem de Turrecremata in commentar, dist. 1. de poenitentia, super illud, item in Levitico quaest. 4. Navarrum in tract. de Ju¬ bilaeo Notab. 9. et 31. et Antonium Cordu- bensem quaest. 32 de Indulgentiis. Existit autem hoc loco dubitatio, num in¬ dulgentiae aliquot dierum, vel annorum hujus vitee, respondeat'in purgatorio relaxatio poe¬ nae totidem dierum, vel annorum. Et qui¬ dem omnes conveniunt, cum per indulgentias condonantur poenitentiae aliquot dierum, vel annorum, consequenter etiam remitti poe¬ nam purgatorii, quae poenitentiae condonatae respondet : sed utrum p (enitentia unius diei, vel unius anni in hac vita tantum reatus poenae coram Deo expiare valeat quantum expiaret unus dies, vel annus in purgatorio exactus, quaestio est. Nam Dominicus a Soto in 4. dist. 21. quaest. 2. art. 1. contendit poenam purgatorii tanto esse acriorem poe¬ nis hujus vitae, ut unus dies in purgatorio exactus multo amplius de reatu poenee pec¬ catis debitae detrahat, quam multi anni vitae praesentis in poenitentia severissime agenda consumpti. Ex quo ipse colligit, neminem quantumvis insignem peccatorem in purga¬ torio poenam daturum ad viginti annos, et fortasse ad decem vel pauciores. Sed com¬ munis sententia contrarium docet, ut videre est apud Paludanum in 4. dist. 20. quaest. 4. Adrianum in tract. de Indulg. §. Petet for¬ tasse. Navarrum de Jubilaeo Notab. 11. num. 22. Gordubensem quaest. 32. de Indulg. pro- posit. 3. et alios, quos citat Sylvester in Summa, verbo, Indulg. num. 8. Quamvis enim poena purgatorii sit acrior omnibus poenis, quas in hac vita experti sumus, ut docent sancti Patres, Augustinus in Psalm. xxxvii. Gregorius in Psalm. m. poenitentia- lem, Beda in eumdem Psalmum, Anselmus in commentar, capitis tertii prioris Epistolae ad Corinth. et Bernardus in serm. de obitu Humberti monachi : tamen ad expiandum reatum poenae efficacior est poena voluntaria hujus vitae, quam poena acrior purgatorii, quoniam hoc est tempus misericordiae, illud justitiae. Itaque in hac vita non est debitum ullum poenae tam grande, quod non possit uno die, vel etiam una hora per martyrium omnino dissolvi ; pro quo tamen solvendo in purgatorio vix multi anni sufficerent. Sic enim loquitur S. Cyprianus lib. iv. epist. 2. « Aliud est longo tempore pro peccatis cru¬ ciatum emendari, et purgari diu igne, aliud peccata omnia passione purgasse ». Quod idem de vehementissima contritione dici po¬ test, de qua re multa exstant exempla in hi¬ storiis. Sed illud unum hoc loco sufficiet, quod se praesente contigisse narrat Joan. Cli- macus in libro suo de scala Paradisi, grad. 4. scribit enim latronem quemdam omni ge¬ nere scelerum coopertum tanto ardore animi peccata sua publice patefecisse, ut revela¬ tum sit sanctis aliquibus viris ea omnia con¬ tinuo illa satisfactione purgata fuisse atque deleta. Constat prseterea ex venerabili Beda lib. v. historiae Anglicanse cap. 13, aliisque probatis auctoribus, plurimas animas in pur¬ gatorio usque ad diem -judicii, id est, per multas annorum centurias cruciendas : cum tamen nulla sit multitudo, vel gravitas pec¬ catorum, quee non possit in hac vita per poe¬ nitentiam deleri non solum quoad culpam, sed etiam quoad poenam. Denique legimus in auctoribus gravissimis viros aliquos san¬ ctos ob unum solum peccatum non parvo tempore in purgatorio cruciatos, ut patet de Paschasio Card. Romano apud S. Gregorium lib. iv. Dialogor. cap. 40. et deSeverino Coloniensi Episcopo apudS, Petrum Damiani 40 LIBER I. in epist. de miraculis sui temporis ad Desi¬ derium, et de sancta quadam virgine apud Gregorium Turonicum lib. de gloria Confes¬ sorum, cap. 5. In praesenti autem vita ejus¬ modi peccata levi ac brevi poenitentia dilui potuissent. Sed contra objici potest, quod aliqui homines rei sunt pcense luendae multis annorum millibus; quod probatur ex indul¬ gentiis, quae interdum continent condonatio¬ nem poenitentiae quindecim, vel viginti mil¬ lium annorum : at si longiori tempore reatus poenae expiatur in purgatorio, et non potius tempore longe, ac longe breviore, quam in hac vita, sequitur omnino multa peccata post diem judicii inexpiata mansura. Responsio. Non desunt, qui negent indulgentias illas, quae continent condonationem poenitentiae multorum millium annorum esse a Pontifi¬ cibus datas, et a quaestuariis confictas dicant. Ita sentiunt Joan. Gerson in tract. de abso¬ lutione sacramentali, et Dominicus a Soto in 4. dist. 21 . quaest. 2. artic. 1. Pontifices e- nim non solebant indulgentias concedere nisi tot annorum, quot annorum poenitentiae in¬ jungebantur : poenitentiae vero non solebant injungi nisi unius, duorum, trium, quinque, septem, decem, viginti annorum, aut ad summum per totam vitam, quae ultra cen¬ tum annos porrigi non solet. Sed quicquid de hoc sit, non videtur negandum, posse ali¬ quos reos fieri poenitentiae agendae secundum canones per spatium aliquot millium anno¬ rum. Nam si peccatis lethalibus singulis de¬ betur secundum canones poenitentia trium, vel septem annorum, quis enumeret annos poenitentiae, qui secundum canones praescribi deberent iis, qui consuetudinem habent pe¬ jerandi, vel blasphemandi ad singula prope momenta, et frequentissime homicidia, furta, sacrilegia, adulteria perpetrant, ac denique ut legimus in lib. Job cap. 15 : Bibunt quasi aquam iniquitatem (1) ? Atque huc sine dubio respexerunt Summi Pontifices, si qui sunt, qui revera indulgentias dederint decem, vel viginti millium annorum. Sed quemadmo¬ dum in hac vita poenitentia multorum anno¬ rum potest una hora persolvi, si poenitentes temporis diuturnitatem vehementia charita- tis, et extensionem poenitentiae intensione compensent : sic etiam fieri potest, ut in purgatorio diutius quidem crucientur quam in hac vita, qui cum tani ingenti debito de¬ cesserint : tamen ibi quoque acerbitatis ve¬ hementia, faciat, ut debitum viginti millium annorum, annis trecentis, vel quadringentis expiari queat. Jam vero de alia varietate, qua dicebamus, indulgentias concedi in vita, vel in mortis articulo : nonnulla qusestio esse potest, quid intelligendum sit per mortis articulum. Sed responsio facilis est; nam si in litteris ponti¬ ficiis exprimatur mortis articulus verus, tunc sine dubio non assequitur indulgentiam il¬ lam, nisi qui revera paulo post acceptam absolutionem moritur. Si vero non exprima¬ tur, sed generatim dicatur, in mortis arti¬ culo, tum sententia communior est indul¬ gentiam obtineri etiam in mortis articulo preesumpto, quamvis revera mors non se¬ quatur. An autem qui indulgentiam conse¬ cutus est in mortis articulo praesumpto, possit rursus eamdem assequi cum iterum veniet ad mortis articulum, Doctores dissen¬ tiunt, sed istse quaestiones ut plurimum ex inspectione litterarum dissolvi possunt. Yide Navarrum de Jubikeo Notab. 30. num. 3. 4. et 5. et Cordubensem queest. 39. de Indulg. Restat ultima varietas de indulgentiis tem¬ porariis, vel perpetuis. Dicuntur enim tem¬ porariae, quae conceduntur definito spatio temporum, quo indulgentia percipi potest, ut cum definiuntur viginti quatuor horae , vel una, aut altera hebdomada, vel integer annus, ut in jubilaeis. Perpetuae vero dicun¬ tur, quae sunt alligatae certis locis, ut Eccle¬ siis, vel altaribus, vel etiam rebus mobili¬ bus, ut Rosariis, vel Granis benedictis, sine ulla temporis determinatione, quales fue¬ runt, quas concesserunt Leo III, et Ser¬ gius II, ut annotavimus supra cap. 3.