gross calumny. It is true that, when granting an Indulgence, she has sometimes, besides the conditions of a sincere repentance, prescribed alms-deeds for charitable purposes; for instance, for the building of a church or of an hospital; but as this, laudable as it was in the beginning, gave nevertheless, in the course of time, occasion to abuses, the Council of Trent abolished the abuses, declaring, however, that 'the use of Indulgences is very salutary to Christian people, and approved of by the authority of the Sacred Councils' (Sess. 25).
91. Is it, then, not true that the Church, by Indulgences, frees us from the obligation of doing Penance?
No; she does not free us from the obligation of doing Penance according to our capacity, since, the greater is our penitential zeal and love to God, the more do we participate in the Indulgence; she will only assist us in our inability to expiate all temporal punishment in this life, and thus, by a generous Indulgence, effect what, in ancient times, she endeavored to attain by the rigorous Penitential Canons.
92. How many kinds of Indulgences are there?
There are two kinds: A Plenary Indulgence, which is the remission of the whole debt of temporal punishment due to sin; and a Partial Indulgence, which is the remission of a part of it only.
93. What is meant by an Indulgence of forty days or seven years?
A remission of such a debt of temporal punishment as a person would discharge if he did penance for forty days or seven years, according to the ancient Canons of the Church.
94. What is meant by a ' Jubilee '?
A Jubilee is a Plenary Indulgence which the Holy Father grants every twenty-fifth year, or upon extraordinary occasions; during which time, in order to increase the fervor of repentance in the faithful, Confessors have a special power to commute private vows into other works of piety, and to absolve in reserved cases.
