49ème Rose — La manière sainte de réciter le rosaire
Understanding Indulgences
The author defines the nature and purpose of indulgences within the context of the Church's treasury of grace.
151. To ensure that when you recite your Rosary you gain the indulgences granted to members of the holy Rosary, it's fitting to make a few remarks about them. An indulgence in general is a remission or relaxation of the temporal punishments due for actual sins, through the application of the superabundant satisfactions of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and all the saints, which are held in the treasury of the Church.1 A plenary indulgence is a remission of all the punishments due for sin; a non-plenary one, such as of a hundred or one2 thousand years, more or less, is the remission of as much punishment as one could have expiated over a hundred or a thousand years, if one had undergone penances for that long in proportion to those fixed by the ancient canons of the Church.3 These canons prescribed seven years of penance for a single mortal sin, and sometimes ten or fifteen, so that a person who had committed twenty mortal sins had to do at least a hundred and forty years of penance—and so on for the rest.4
Conditions for Gaining Grace
Practical requirements for members of the Rosary Confraternity to obtain the spiritual benefits of indulgences are outlined.
152. To gain the indulgences of the Rosary confraternity, these things are required: first, that members be truly penitent and have gone to confession and Communion, as the papal bulls state; second, that they not cling to any venial sin, because if an affection for the sin remains, the guilt remains, and if the guilt remains, the punishment is not remitted; third, they must perform the prayers and other good works specified by the bull. If, according to the intention of the popes, one can gain a non-plenary indulgence—for example, one of a hundred years—without gaining the plenary, it isn't always necessary to have gone to confession and Communion to receive them, as is the case with indulgences attached to the recitation of the chaplet and Rosary, to processions, to blessed rosaries, and so on.5 Don't neglect these indulgences.
The Power of Prayer for the Departed
A miraculous account illustrates how the prayers of the Rosary Confraternity provide relief and liberation to souls in Purgatory.
153. Flammin and a great number of authors report that a young woman of good family named Alexandre, after being miraculously converted and enrolled in the Confraternity of the Rosary by Saint Dominic, appeared to him after her death and told him she had been condemned to seven hundred years in purgatory for several sins she had committed and had led many others to commit through her worldly vanities, begging him to ease her suffering and to have it eased through the prayers of the brothers of the Rosary—which he did.6 Fifteen days later, she appeared to Saint Dominic, brighter than the sun, having been delivered so quickly by the prayers the brothers of the Rosary had offered for her. She also told the saint that she came on behalf of the souls in Purgatory to urge him to keep preaching the Rosary and to ensure that their relatives share their Rosaries with them, for which the souls would reward them abundantly once they had entered into glory (Cavanac, Merveilles du S. Rosaire, ch.7 8).
Read the original Latin
151. Afin qu'en récitant votre Rosaire vous gagniez les indulgences accordées aux confrères du saint Rosaire, il est à propos de faire quelques remarques sur les indulgences. L'indulgence en général est une rémission ou relaxation des peines temporelles, dues pour les péchés actuels, par l'application des satisfactions surabondantes de Jésus-Christ, de la Sainte Vierge et de tous les saints, qui sont renfermées dans les trésors de l'Église. L'indulgence plénière est une rémission de toutes les peines dues au péché; la non plénière, comme de 100, 1. 000 ans, plus ou moins, est la rémission d'autant de peines, qu'on aurait pu expier pendant cent ou mille années, si l'on avait reçu aussi longtemps à proportion des pénitences taxées par les anciens canons de l'Église. Or ces canons ordonnaient pour un seul péché mortel sept et quelquefois dix et quinze ans de pénitence, en sorte qu'une personne qui aurait fait vingt péchés mortels devait pour le moins faire sept, vingt années de pénitence, et ainsi du reste.
152. Pour que les confrères du Rosaire en gagnent les indulgences, il faut: premièrement qu'ils soient vraiment pénitents et confessés et communiés, comme disent les bulles des indulgences; deuxièmement qu'ils n'aient affection à aucun péché véniel, parce que l'affection au péché restant, la coulpe reste, et la coulpe restant, la peine n'est point remise; troisièmement il faut qu'ils fassent les prières et autres bonnes œuvres marquées par la bulle; et si, selon l'intention des papes, on peut gagner une indulgence non plénière, par exemple de 100 ans, sans gagner la plénière, il n'est pas toujours nécessaire pour les gagner d'être confessé et communié, comme sont les indulgences attachées à la récitation du chapelet et Rosaire, aux processions, aux rosaires bénits, etc. Ne négligez pas ces indulgences.
153. «Flammin et un grand nombre d'auteurs rapportent qu'une demoiselle de bon lieu nommée Alexandre, ayant été miraculeusement convertie et enrôlée dans la confrérie du Rosaire par saint Dominique, lui apparut après sa mort et lui dit qu'elle était condamnée à être sept cents ans en purgatoire pour plusieurs péchés qu'elle avait commis et fait commettre à plusieurs par ses vanités mondaines, le priant de la soulager et faire soulager par les prières des confrères du Rosaire, ce qu'il fit. Quinze jours après, elle apparut à saint Dominique, plus brillante qu'un soleil, ayant été délivrée si promptement par les prières que les confrères du Rosaire avaient faites pour elle. Elle avertit aussi le saint qu'elle venait de la part des âmes du Purgatoire, pour l'exhorter à continuer à prêcher le Rosaire et faire en sorte que leurs parents leur fassent part de leurs Rosaires, dont elles les récompenseraient abondamment quand elles seraient avancées dans la gloire» (Cavanac, Merveilles du S. Rosaire, ch. 8).
Notes
- 1 ↩"péchés actuels" is rendered "actual sins" (sins personally committed), as opposed to original sin. "Satisfactions" keeps the traditional technical sense of meritorious/expiatory works applied from the Church's treasury.
- 2 ↩This sentence is cut mid-number across s4–s5. French "1.000" (one thousand) was split as "1." / "000"; the intended reading is "comme de 100, 1.000 ans" — "such as of a hundred or a thousand years."
- 3 ↩Continues s4 after the broken "1.000". "reçu ... des pénitences taxées" is rendered as undergoing penances fixed/assessed by the ancient canons, in due proportion.
- 4 ↩"sept, vingt années" is read as the older French "sept-vingts" (7 × 20 = 140), matching 20 mortal sins × 7 years minimum. If the comma is taken literally as two separate figures, the arithmetic of the example collapses.
- 5 ↩French coulpe is the guilt (culpa) of sin, distinct from peine, the temporal punishment due for it; both terms are kept in their classical indulgence sense.
- 6 ↩French demoiselle nommée Alexandre: retained as Alexandre (source form); English often renders the figure Alexandra.
- 7 ↩French leur fassent part de leurs Rosaires: give them a share in / apply for them the merit of their Rosaries (suffrage), not merely tell them about rosaries.
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