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Reaping Plenary Indulgences in November for the Faithful Departed
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November 13, 2020Last year during the Octave of All Saints, I made a point visiting a cemetery every day to seek plenary indulgences for my deceased relatives and friends in Purgatory. I brought my St. Gregory's Prayer Book with me and visited cemeteries near Catholic churches. I made sure I went to Confession at the beginning of the Octave, and did my best to avoid any attachment to sin.
In the St. Gregory’s Prayer Book, I used the Devotions for the Faithful Departed (beginning on pg. 399) and collects and readings from All Souls’ Day (beginning on pg. 199). If you don’t have a St. Gregory’s Prayer Book, the Scripture passages and some of the collects from the Order for Burial for the Dead in the Book of Common Prayer are helpful.
O ALMIGHTY God, the God of the spirits of all flesh: Multiply, we beseech thee, to those who rest in Jesus, the manifold blessings of thy love, that the good work which thou didst begin in them may be perfected unto the day of Jesus Christ. And of thy mercy, O heavenly Father, grant that we, who now serve thee here on earth, may at the last, together with them, be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light; for the sake of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
GIVE rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy Saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting; where thou, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
O FATHER of all, we pray to thee for those whom we love but see no longer. Grant them thy peace; and in thy loving wisdom and almighty power, work in them the good purpose of thy perfect will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This year, I was not able to pray for the deceased in cemeteries during the Octave of All Saints.
All is not lost, however! The Holy See has expanded the opportunity for Catholics to obtain these indulgences for the entire month of November. Here is what Vatican News had to say:
Plenary Indulgence during month of November
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need to avoid large groups from forming where prohibited, the Plenary Indulgence applicable to the deceased by those who visit a cemetery has been extended beyond the normal dates of 1 to 8 November. This year, the indulgence can be obtained by anyone who visits a cemetery, even if only mentally, on any day in November, and devoutly prays for the faithful departed.
Plenary Indulgence for Feast of All Souls’ Day
Regarding the Plenary Indulgence attached to All Souls’ Day, 2 November, this year, it can be obtained not only on the preceding or succeeding Sunday, or on the actual Feast day, but on any other day of the month chosen by each member of the faithful. In this case, the indulgence is obtained by “devoutly visiting a church or an oratory”, along with the recitation of the Our Father and the Creed, and the other requirements associated with a Plenary Indulgence.
The homebound
For anyone who cannot leave their home for various reasons, including anti-Covid restrictions, they too can obtain the Plenary Indulgence by “uniting themselves spiritually to other members of the faithful”. In this case, the condition of being “completely detached from sin” and the intention of completing the other requirements for obtaining a Plenary Indulgence remain.
These conditions are Sacramental Confession, reception of Holy Communion and a prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions.
The Decree suggests that such prayer take place before an “image of Jesus or the Blessed Virgin Mary”. Among the various prayers that are recommended are “prayers for the deceased, Morning or Evening Prayer from the Office of the Dead, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, meditating on various Gospel passages proposed for the liturgy of the Dead, or completing a work of mercy by offering to God the suffering and discomforts of one’s own life”.
As a relatively new Catholic, I admit understanding indulgences is new for me, and I’m not sure I do fully in a way that would enable me to explain the teaching to others. However, I have always loved All Saints Day and All Souls Day, especially the way we celebrate it. After All Souls’ Day---black vestments, incense, requiem settings for the sung Mass and finally, the reading of the names of all the faithful departed and hearing my loved ones remembered---I went outside afterwards remarking this was one of my favorite Masses in the year.
Rod Dreher, a former Catholic now Orthodox, wrote Nov. 2 What ever happened to All Souls' Day?. He admits he is surprised to discover that prior to the Reformation both All Saints and All Souls were important feasts.
Dreher quotes English historian Eleanor Parker who writes:
In the Christian Church, for the past thousand years, an important season for bridging the gap between the living and the dead has been the twin feasts of All Saints’ and All Souls’, on 1 and 2 November.
As the names suggest, both feasts offer the very opposite of solitude: they are opportunities to connect with multitudes, communities, vast companies of the dead. The first day celebrates the saints in heaven, the “cloud of witnesses” and the “great multitude which no man could number”, as they are described in Biblical texts read at this feast; the second day is for everyone else, all the “faithful departed” — an even greater crowd of souls.
The two feasts, now entwined, have separate histories, and weren’t always kept so close together. They have their origins in a diversity of local feasts which emerged in different parts of the Church during the first millennium, some commemorating all the saints, others all the departed. In different regions these were observed on various dates, in the spring and summer as well as in the winter. By the ninth century, however, 1 November had become the predominant date for the feast of All Saints’, and over the course of the next few centuries it was gradually supplemented by a second commemoration the following day.
By the later Middle Ages, these days formed a coherent and widely observed season of remembrance, known in medieval England as “Hallowtide”. The two days had distinct but related aims: All Saints’ was intended to celebrate the glorious dead and to ask for their prayers, but the purpose of All Souls’ was to pray for the dead, for those in Purgatory who needed the prayers of the living to help them in their passage to heaven. It was a time not only to remember the dead but to look after them, to give them assistance and comfort. On the nights of Hallowtide, church bells rang out to reassure the souls in Purgatory that the living had not forgotten them. It must have been profoundly comforting to the grieving, too, to feel that they could still do something to help those they had lost.
I’m glad we Catholics in the Ordinariates have a chance to rediscover and celebrate these traditions of old.
