Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Indulgences and the Jubilee · Book I: That Indulgences Exist, and What They Are
Chapter 10: That an indulgence is useful to every kind of man
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).
Now the usefulness of an indulgence must be briefly discussed, so that we may answer that question also, for what, or for the sake of what thing, an indulgence is given or received. But about the cause why an indulgence is given we shall have to dispute a little later, when we explain what is required in him who grants an indulgence. For we shall show that two things are required, lawful authority and a pious cause. Now only the cause why indulgences are sought and received must be spoken of. And indeed it cannot be doubted that the chief cause is the remission of temporal punishment. For this is the fruit, this the principal usefulness of an indulgence. About which this only can be asked, whether the remission of temporal punishment is useful to every kind of man. For Luther, besides his other errors, taught this also, that indulgences are not useful except to public and most wicked sinners, as is plain from the assertion of article 18. But among Catholics the matter is most certain, that indulgences are useful to all, and can rightly be sought and received even by those who give their labour to perfection. For it is useful to all to be freed from those things which can delay the attainment of the supreme good; and such is the guilt of temporal punishment, with which if anyone departs from this life, he will not be able to reach eternal life at once, but will have to expiate that guilt in the places of Purgatory. Moreover, indulgences not only release from the impediment just mentioned, but also, on the other hand, do not hinder any good merit or any greater good; for those who receive indulgences are not forbidden to give their labour to fastings, alms, prayers and other good works. Wherefore there is no reason why they should not be called useful and salutary to every kind of man.
But some object: it is not for perfect men to flee punishments, but rather to seek them, both for the exercise of patience and for the imitation of Christ suffering; for Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps, 1 Peter 2. Answer. It is for the perfect not to flee punishments which help toward meriting with God and advance toward acquiring salvation more quickly, such as martyrdom and other punishments voluntarily undertaken; and to the willing bearing of punishments of this kind Saint Peter exhorts. Yet it is for the perfect to flee the debt of punishment, since by it they are hindered and delayed, as we said, from entering the heavenly country. Nay, they seek the punishments of this life and do severe penance precisely that they may be freed from that guilt and not be compelled after death to pay punishments longer in Purgatory. Wherefore most willingly, for the same cause, they receive indulgences, that they may be so much more easily released from that guilt.
They object again: an indulgence is not a meritorious work, but only a satisfactory one; therefore it is not useful to the perfect, who need little or no satisfaction. Answer. An indulgence in itself is not meritorious but satisfactory; yet it can also be meritorious by reason of the work enjoined. For if anyone out of the charity of God performs the works enjoined, fastings, alms, prayers and the like, without doubt through these works done out of charity he will gain for himself no small merit. The very receiving of the indulgence also will be meritorious, if anyone receives it out of the love of God, so that, released from that guilt of punishment, he may fly more freely to seeing God himself and praising him for ever. And although perfect men need little satisfaction, yet they are rare who do not need some, and so indulgences are useful even to them.
Finally they object from the common opinion that it is more useful to make satisfaction for oneself by one's own works than to seek another's satisfaction. Answer. It is indeed more useful and safer to make satisfaction for oneself than to seek indulgences; but more useful than either is to do the former and not omit the latter; and this is what good authors advise, that those who receive an indulgence should not cease from producing the fruits of penance, which are usually meritorious and medicinal; and it is more useful to make a journey on two feet than on one only.
Besides this usefulness there are also others joined to it when indulgences are published in the form of a jubilee. For the faculty is given of choosing a confessor, from among approved ones however, according to the decree of the Council of Trent, session 23, chapter 13; for otherwise they are not judged suitable confessors, and the Supreme Pontiff in jubilees does not permit the faculty of choosing unsuitable ones. Likewise authority is given to confessors of absolving from many reserved cases and many ecclesiastical censures, and of commuting some vows into other pious works, and other things of that kind which are very well known. But two doubts arise in this place.
First. If anyone in the time of a jubilee receives absolution from reserved cases, and afterwards nevertheless neglects to complete the things which are necessary for obtaining the indulgence, whether that absolution is valid. The common answer is that it is valid, since the absolution does not depend on a future condition, nor can depend on it.
The other doubt. If anyone in hope of a future jubilee voluntarily falls into a reserved sin, whether he can be absolved from that sin? Some answer that he cannot, among whom is Saint Antoninus, part 1, title 10, chapter 3. But others think the contrary, as Navarrus in the tract on the Jubilee, notable 34, numbers 4 and 6; Cordoba, question 37 on indulgences, proposition 3; and others.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT X. Utilem esse indulgentiam omni hominum generi. Jam vero de utilitate indulgentiae brevi¬ ter disserendum est, ut ad illam etiam quae¬ stionem respondeamus, propter quid, sive cujus rei gratia indulgentia detur vel acci¬ piatur. Sed de causa, cur indulgentia detur, disputandum erit paulo post, cum explica¬ bimus quid requiratur in eo, qui indulgen¬ tiam concedit. Ostendimus enim requiri duo, auctoritatem legitimam, et causam piam. (1) Job. XV, 16. CAPUT X. 41 Nunc solum de causa cur indulgentiae quae¬ runtur, et accipiuntur, dicendum est. Et quidem, dubitari non potest, quin potissima causa sit remissio poenae temporalis. Hic enim est fructus, haec praecipua utilitas in¬ dulgentiae. De quare id solum quaeri potest, an sit utilis omnium hominum generi remis¬ sio poenae temporalis. Lutherus enim, prae¬ ter alios errores suos, id etiam docuit, in¬ dulgentias non esse utiles nisi publicis et scelestissimis peccatoribus , ut perspicuum est ex assert. art. 18. Sed apud Catholicos res certissima est, indulgentias omnibus esse utiles, et ab iis etiam, qui perfectioni dant operam, recte quaeri, et suspici posse. Nam omnibus utile est liberari ab iis rebus, quae retardare possunt adeptionem summi boni, talis autem est reatus poenae temporalis, cum quo si quis ex hac vita migraverit, non poterit continuo pertingere ad vitam aeter¬ nam, sed expiare debebit eum reatum in lo¬ cis purgatorii. Praeterea, indulgentiae non solum expediunt ab impedimento jam dicto, sed etiam contra non impediunt ullum bo¬ num meritum, aut ullum majus bonum : ne¬ que enim prohibentur, qui suscipiunt indul¬ gentias, operam dare jejuniis , eleemosynis, precibus , aliisque operibus bonis. Quare nulla ratio est, cur non sint dicendae utiles, et salutares omni hominum generi. Sed ob¬ jiciunt aliqui : Perfectorum hominum ^non est fugere poenas, sedeas potius quaerere, tum ob exercitium patientiae, tum ob imita¬ tionem Christi patientis : Christus enim passus est pro nobis , relinquens nobis exemplum , ut sequamur vestigia ejus-( 1). I Pet. ii. Respon¬ sio. Perfectorum est non fugere poenas, quae juvant ad promerendum Deum, et promo¬ vent ad salutem citius acquirendam, quale est martyrium , et aliae poenae sponte sus¬ ceptae, atque ad ejusmodi poenas libenter perferendas sanctus Petrus adhortatur. Est tamen perfectorum fugere debitum poenae, cum per illud impediantur et retardentur, ut diximus, ab ingressu patriae coelestis. Irnmo propterea quaerunt poenas hujus vitae, et se¬ veram poenitentiam agunt, ut liberentur a reatu illo, et non cogantur post mortem diu¬ tius in purgatorio poenas dare. Quare liben¬ tissime propter eamdem causam suscipiunt indulgentias, ut tanto facilius a reatu illo expediantur. Objiciunt rursus; Indulgentia non est opus meritorium, sed solum satisfactorium, non igitur utilis est perfectis, qui modica, vel nulla satisfactione indigent. Responsio : In¬ dulgentia per se non est meritoria, sed sa- tisfactoria : tamen meritoria etiam esse po¬ test ratione operis injuncti. Si quis enim ex charitate Dei injuncta opera exequatur, je- , junia, eleemosynas, preces et similia, sine dubio per haec opera ex charitate facta me¬ ritum non exiguum sibi parabit. Ipsa quoque susceptio indulgentiae meritoria erit, si quis eam ex amore Dei suscipiat, ut expeditus reatu illo poenae liberius ad ipsum Deum vi¬ dendum, et perpetuo laudandum evolare possit. Et quamvis viri perfecti modica sa¬ tisfactione egeant, tamen rari sunt, qui non aliqua egeant, ac per hoc non sint illis etiam utiles indulgentiae. Denique objiciunt ex communi sententia utilius esse pro se propriis operibus satisfa¬ cere, quam alienam satisfactionem quaerere. Responsio : Utilius quidem est, et tutius pro se satisfacere, quam indulgentias quaerere, sed utroque utilius est illud facere, et istud non omittere ; et hoc est, quod boni aucto¬ res consulunt, ut qui suscipiunt indulgen¬ tiam , non cessent a poenitentiae fructibus producendis, qui meritorii, et medicinales plerumque esse solent, et utilius est, duo¬ bus pedibus iter facere, quam uno tantum. Praeter hanc utilitatem sunt etiam aliae adjunctae, quando in forma jubilaei indul¬ gentiae publicantur. Nam et datur facultas eligendi confessarium, ex approbatis tamen, juxta decretum Concilii Tridentini sess. 23. cap. 13. nam alioqui non judicantur idonei confessarii, et Summus Pontifex in jubilaeis non permittit facultatem non idoneos eli¬ gendi. Item datur auctoritas confessariis ab¬ solvendi a multis casibus reservatis, multis¬ que censuris ecclesiasticis, necnon vota non¬ nulla in alia pia opera commutandi, atque alia id genus, quae notissima sunt. Sed exi- stunt hoc loco dubitationes duae. Prima. Si quis tempore jubilaei absolutio¬ nem a reservatis accipiat, et postea tamen negligat ea perficere, quae ad indulgentiam consequendam necessaria sunt, an absolutio illa rata sit. Responsio communis est, ratam esse, quoniam absolutio non pendet a futura conditione, neque pendere potest. Altera dubitatio. Si quis spe futuri jubilaei in peccatum reservatum sponte incidat, an (1) I Pet. II, 22. 42 LIBER I. ab eo peccato possit absolvi? Respondent aliqui, non posse, in quibus est S. Antoni¬ nus 1 par. tit. 10. cap. 3. § . Sed alii con¬ tra sentiunt, ut Navarrus in tract. dc jubi¬ laeo, Notab. 34. num. 4 et 6. Cordubensis quaest. 37. de Indulgent. proposit. 3. et alii.