as is necessary to free them" (lb.). Their object is "to afford succor to such as have departed real penitents in the love of God, yet before they had duly satisfied, by fruits worthy of penance, for sins of commissio:i and omission, and are now purifying in the fire of Purgatory, that an entrance may be opened for them into that comi- try where nothing defiled is admitted" (BuU Leo XII). " We have resolved," says pope Leo XII, in his bull of infliction for the universal jubilee in 1824, " in virtue of the authority given us by heaven, fully to luilock that sacred treasure, composed of the merits, sufferings, and virtues of Christ our Lord, and of his Virgin INIother, and of all the saints which the author of human sal- vation has intriisted to our dispensation. During this year of the jubilee, we mercifully give and grant, in tlie Lord, a plenary indulgence, remission, and pardon of all their sins to all the faithful of Christ, truh' penitent, and confessing their sins, and receiving the holy commun- ion, who shall visit the churches of blessed Peter and Paul," etc. " We offer you," says Ganganelli, in his bull Be Indulgentiis, " a share of all the riches of divine mer- cy which have been intrusted to us, and chiefly those which have their origin in the blood of Christ. We will then open to you all the gates of the rich reservoir of atonement, derived from the merits of the Mother of God, the holy apostles, the blood of the martyrs, and the good works of all the saints. We invite you, then, to drink of this overflov.'ing stream of indulgence, to en- rich yourselves in the inexhaustible treasures of the Church, according to the custom of our ancestors. Do not, then, let slip the present occasion, this favorable time, these salutary days, employing them to appease the justice of (iod, and obtain your pardon." " The tem- poral punishment due to sin, by the decree of God, when its guilt and eternal punishment are remitted, may con^ sist either of evil in this life, or of temporal suffering in the next, which temporal suffering in the next life is called purgatory; that the Church has received power from God to remit both of these inflictions, and this re- mission is called an indulgence" (Butler's Book of the Rom. Cath. Ch. p. 110). " It is the received doctrine of the Church that an indulgence, when truly gained, is not barely a relaxation of the canonical penance enjoin- ed by the Church, but also an actual remission by God himself of the whole or part of the temporal punish- ment due to it in his sight" (Milner, End of Cojitroversy, p. 305 sq.).
As to the present practice of indulgences, it subsists, with all its immoral tendencies, in full force to this day. It is true, however, that the abuses connected with the sale of indulgences are not so flagrant as in former times, especially in those countries where the Roman Church is destitute of political power. Where it has, the system is almost as bad as ever. It is said that, as lately as the year 1800, a Spanish vessel was captured near the coast of South America, freighted (among other things) with numerous bales of indul- gences for various sins, the price of which, varying from half a dollar to seven dollars, was marked upon each. They had been bought in Spain, and were intended for sale in South America. Seymour tells us as follows : " This inscription is placed in that part of the Church which is of all the most public. It is placed over the holy water, to which all persons must resort, on entering the Church, before partaking of any of its services. It is as follows : ' Indulgence. — The image of the most holy JMary, which stands on the high altar, spoke to the holy pope Gregory, saying to him. Why do you no longer salute me, in passing, with the accustomed salutation ? The saint asked pardon, and granted to those Avho cele- brate mass at that altar the deliverance of a soul from Purgatory, that is, the special soul for which they cele- brate the mass.' There is nothing more frequently re- marked by Protestants, on entering the churches f if l.'ome, than the constant recurrence of the words ' imhih/evtvi plenaria,' a plenary indulgence attached to tlie masses offered there ; and this is tantamount to the eraancipa-
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tion of any soul from Purgatory, through a mass offered at that altar. Instead of these words, however, the same thing is more plainly expressed in some churches. In the church Santa Maria della Pace, so celebrated for the maguiticent fresco of the Sibyls by liai)hael, there is over one of the altars the following inscription : ' Ogni messa nlchriiia in qucsf ullare Ubeni ini animod al' pitr- f/(ilun'<i' — Every mass celebrated at this altar frees a soul from Purgatory. In some churches this privilege ex- tends tliroughont the year, but in others it is limited to those masses which are offered on particular days. In the church of Sta. Croce di Gerusalemme this privilege is connected iu an especial manner with tlig fourth Sun- day in Lent. And this is notified by a public notice post- ed in the church close to the altar, setting forth that a mass celebrated there on that day releases a soul I'rom Purgatory" (Seymour, Kcenings at Rome\