Holy Week and Divine Mercy Sunday present everyone with particular plenary indulgences that all have the opportunity to receive. Here’s how to gain them for yourselves, your loved ones in purgatory, and possibly even for some forgotten soul there.

The plenary indulgences that we can receive during Holy Week are of two kinds. Certain ones are specific to Holy Week itself. Others can be gained anytime, including during the Easter Octave. 

They’re listed in the official Manual of Indulgences, Fourth Edition (English edition 2006) and the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum.

First, we’ll look at the plenary indulgences specific to Holy Week. Next, we’ll look at those available during Holy Week and throughout the year. Then we’ll review the basic mandatory conditions that must be fulfilled for any plenary indulgence and note a few “extras.”

 

Holy Week

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, we should try to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion. That is a “must,” because receiving Holy Communion is one of the basic conditions for any plenary indulgence.

Here, we consider those plenary indulgences that can be gained all year. These are the ones we can obtain on Monday through Wednesday, as long as we fulfill the basic conditions (more on them later) and perform the required work.

The Manual of Indulgences makes this very clear to us: “Deserving of special mention are grants pertaining to these works by any one of which the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence each day of the year,” always remembering that “a plenary indulgence can be acquired no more than once a day.”

The manual lists four:

• Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for at least one half hour
• The pious exercise of the Way of the Cross
• Recitation of the Marian rosary or of the hymn Akathistos, in church or an oratory; or in a family, a religious community, or a sodality of the faithful or, in general, when several of the faithful are gathered for any good purpose
• The devout reading or listening to the Sacred Scriptures for at least a half an hour

Any one of these per day, Monday through Wednesday — and even Palm Sunday — can obtain a plenary indulgence for us, either for ourselves or for a soul in purgatory.

Holy Triduum

These are the specific works listed among the grants in the Manual of Indulgences:

Holy Thursday. “A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who piously recite the verses of the Tantum ergo after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday during the solemn reposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.”

Good Friday. “A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who (1) devoutly assist at the adoration of the Cross in the solemn liturgical action of Good Friday; or (2) personally make the pious Way of the Cross, or devoutly unite themselves to the Way of the Cross while it is being led by the Supreme Pontiff and broadcast live on television or radio.”

Most parishes conduct Stations of the Cross for parishioners on Good Friday.

Holy Saturday. The Easter Vigil brings another opportunity: “A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who, at the celebration of the Easter Vigil (or on the anniversary of their own Baptism), renew their baptismal vows in any legitimately approved formula.”

The Easter Vigil liturgy includes a renewal of baptismal vows.

 

Extras and Divine Mercy Sunday

We should not stop after Holy Week. Why not continue during the Easter Octave, from Easter Sunday through Divine Mercy Sunday?

From Monday through Saturday, we have those four everyday possibilities for a plenary indulgence: attend Mass, receive Communion, and then perform one of the works — adoration, the Rosary, or reading Sacred Scripture for at least half an hour.

Then Divine Mercy Sunday has a plenary indulgence of its own.

Through private revelation to St. Faustina, Jesus said: “I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy” (1109). “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment” (699). And we must trust in Divine Mercy.

According to Robert Stackpole, director of the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy, “The most special grace promised by our Lord for Mercy Sunday is nothing less than the equivalent of a complete renewal of baptismal grace in the soul: ‘complete forgiveness (remission) of sins and punishment.’”

Pope St. John Paul II not only declared Divine Mercy Sunday a universal feast of the Church, but in 2002 also attached a plenary indulgence to it, making the promise “official” as in the form of an indulgence.

First, there are the usual three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. 

Next, the specific conditions required:

On Divine Mercy Sunday in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy or, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. “Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!”).

For those unable to fulfill these conditions, provisions are made for them as well.

From Holy Week through Divine Mercy Sunday — and beyond — we should try not to miss out on these indulgences for ourselves or for any soul in purgatory who might get the chance to reach heaven in time for Easter and well beyond.

Basic Conditions

“In general, the gaining of indulgences requires certain prescribed conditions and the performance of certain prescribed works,” the Apostolic Penitentiary reminded the faithful in 2000.

First, the definition: “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 …” It adds, “Indulgences can always be applied either to oneself or to the souls of the deceased, but they cannot be applied to other persons living on earth.”

The Manual of Indulgences gives the basics conditions for any indulgence, plenary or partial: The person seeking the indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least at the time the prescribed work is completed.

The norms also remind us that we must have the general intention of gaining the indulgence, along with carrying out the prescribed works.

This next is essential: “To gain a plenary indulgence, in addition to excluding all attachment to sin, even venial sin, it is necessary to perform the indulgenced work and fulfill the following three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.”

To summarize, in the words of the Apostolic Penitentiary:

To gain indulgences, whether plenary or partial, it is necessary that the faithful be in the state of grace at least at the time the indulgenced work is completed.

A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day. In order to obtain it, the faithful must, in addition to being in the state of grace:

— have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin, even venial sin;
— have sacramentally confessed their sins;
— receive the Holy Eucharist (it is certainly better to receive it while participating in Holy Mass, but for the indulgence only Holy Communion is required);
— pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.”

The Apostolic Penitentiary clarified that one Our Father and one Hail Mary are suggested for the Holy Father’s intentions, though other prayers may be used, and that one sacramental Confession can suffice for several plenary indulgences.

As for the Stations of the Cross, the manual explains:

The pious exercise must be made before stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected. … According to the common custom, the pious exercise consists of 14 devotional readings, to which some vocal prayers are added. To make the Way of the Cross, however, it is sufficient to meditate devoutly on the Lord’s Passion and Death, and therefore reflection on the particular mysteries of the individual stations in not necessary. … Progression from one station to the next is required.

But if we’re making it publicly, in a group, only the leader needs to move while others may remain in place.