Grew up Catholic, but didn’t really pay attention….
Anyway, an indulgence is/was: you give money, you get a few sins wiped away.
Question: I seem to recall reading that the invention of the printing press was a real boon to The Church because it allowed them to “print indulgences.” I’m guessing these were something like receipts. (“Received, 100 lira from X, good for 2 days off in Purgatory”).
I’d love to see one of these things.
There is a picture of one about half way down this page.
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks, APB.
Wonder if I could pick up one of these on ebay?
It’s not that simple with indulgences, and in fact they were quite a problem for Catholic theologists to justify theoretically.
First of all, your sins are forgiven anyway - you don’t have to pay for forgiveness, you get it for free, that’s what Christianity is all about. What an indulgence wiped out were the punishments in purgatory, not the sins themselves; sounds like a minor differnece, but is quite a significant one, theologically.
Secondly, an indulgence didn’t replace repent. You still had to confess your sins.
Thirdly (and I just love that part - it’s a wonderful example of twists people do in order to justify what they’re doing) Catholic scholars have countered the usual arguments against indulgences in a wonderful way. Jesus and the apostles have done so many good things that they acquired a surplus of bonus points that now belongs to the church as their successor. They sell you a few of those points, and those settle your negative sin account.
Can you get an indulgence on ebay? Maybe, but I doubt it. Very old, and I think there aren’t too many left. Modern facsimiles shouldn’t be hard to find, though.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II. launched a new indulgence, but those were neither sold nor printed. Basically, you had to confess, pilgrim to a major pilgrimage church, and do some charitable work (which, nicely, could also be fulfilled via donations to religious institutions - surprise, surprise).
Digresses from the OP a bit, but I just liked to mention that.
If anyone’s interested, the indulgence linked to by APB reads (as best I can make out) :
“By the power of all that is holy and in compassion for thee, I absolve thee of all sins and misdeeds and release thee from all punishments for ten days”
panamajack, I was. Thanks.