Indulgences

Lay Dominican Novitiate/ O.P. Notes
Lecture given by Dr. Bernardita Garcia, O.P.

An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. (CCC s.1471)

The gaining of indulgences requires certain prescribed conditions, and the performance of certain prescribed works. To gain indulgences, it is necessary that the faithful be in the state of grace, at least at the time the indulgenced work is completed.

An indulgence can either be partial or plenary. A partial indulgence remits only some of the temporal punishment due to sin, while the plenary indulgence remits all temporal punishment.

Partial Indulgence

Saint Dominic's 9 Ways of Prayer

Lay Dominican Novitiate/ O.P. Notes

Saint Dominic praying
by El Greco

The great founder of the Ordo Praedicatorum  (Dominicans) Holy Father Saint Dominic, teaches not only his spiritual children, but also all the faithful nine forms of prayer that include a certain, disciplined physical posture.

The manuscript containing the 9 ways of prayer was discovered in a German monastery basement, and was written by an anonymous author between 1260 and 1288, the source being Sister Cecilia of the Monastery of Saint Agnes at Bologna, Italy. (Sister Cecilia received her Dominican habit from Saint Dominic in Rome, and she witnessed the foundation of the monastery of San Sisto. In 1223 she went to Bologna with three other sisters. Sometime between 1272 and 1288, she dictated her reminiscences of Saint Dominic to Sister Angelica. Sister Cecilia remained a member of the Bolognese monastery until her death.)

The First Way of Prayer: 

The Bow

(Humbling oneself before the altar of God)

The three forms of this gesture, according to the Dominican Tradition are: the simple bow of the head, a bow from the shoulders, and the profound bow from the waist.

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Translation of the Holy House

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Christ hear us.

Christ graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.

Holy Mother of God, pray for us.

The Sorrowful Mysteries: Biblical References

Lay Dominican Novitiate/ O.P. Notes

The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. it blends easily into the spiritual journey o the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to "Set out onto the deep" (duc in altum!) in order  once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, "the way, and the truth and the life" (John 14:6), "the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn". ~Saint John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary: