In response to questions about the Plenary Indulgence for
the Year for Priests, the decree says that, “all truly penitent
priests”–having confessed their sins and received Holy Communion–may
obtain a Plenary Indulgence each day by devoutly praying Lauds or Vespers
before the Blessed Sacrament, and by making themselves available “with a
ready and generous heart” for the Sacrament of Penance and the other
sacraments.
This Plenary Indulgence may be applied to the souls of priests in
purgatory. Priests may also obtain a partial indulgence so often as they offer
prayers to ask for the grace of sacerdotal holiness. As I mentioned the other day about praying for souls of our priests, this an opportunity for priests to come to the assistance of their brother priests in
purgatory!
The decree also makes generous provision for the lay faithful. They
may obtain a Plenary Indulgence on the opening and closing days of the Year of
the Priest and on the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney
(August 4, 2009), on the First Thursday of the Month, or on any other day
established by the ordinaries of particular places for the good of the
faithful. The particular conditions are given below.
An example, a
prayer suitable for obtaining the Plenary Indulgence would be:
O Jesus, Eternal
Priest, keep Thy priests within the shelter of Thy Sacred Heart, where none may
touch them. Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch Thy Sacred
Body. Keep unsullied their lips, daily purpled with Thy Precious Blood. Keep
pure and unworldly their hearts sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.
Let Thy holy love surround them from the world’s contagion. Bless their labors
with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and
consolation here and their everlasting crown hereafter. Mary, Queen of the
Clergy, pray for us; obtain for us numerous and holy priests. Amen.
To acquire
a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the
indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession,
Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It
is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent.