Holy Souls Hermitage Holy Souls Challenge for the month of November, which is dedicated to praying for the Holy Souls in purgatory:
Do a plenary indulgence every day for a priest or bishop of our Lady’s choosing every day during November. You will rejoice when they greet you at the pearly gates to drag you right in to heaven.
The conditions for a plenary indulgence are well summarized by EWTN:
1. This is how an indulgence is defined in the Code of Canon Law (can. 992) and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 1471): “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”.
2. In general, the gaining of indulgences requires certain prescribed conditions (below, nn. 3, 4), and the performance of certain prescribed works ….. [in this case, those granted for the Feast of Mercy]
3. 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. [i.e. one must be a Catholic, not excommunicated or in schism.]
4. 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.
5. It is appropriate, but not necessary, that the sacramental Confession and especially Holy Communion and the prayer for the Pope’s intentions take place on the same day that the indulgenced work is performed; but it is sufficient that these sacred rites and prayers be carried out within several days (about 20) before or after the indulgenced act. Prayer for the Pope’s intentions is left to the choice of the faithful, but an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary” are suggested. One sacramental Confession suffices for several plenary indulgences, but a separate Holy Communion and a separate prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions are required for each plenary indulgence.
6. For the sake of those legitimately impeded, confessors can commute both the work prescribed and the conditions required (except, obviously, detachment from even venial sin).
7. 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.
==========
Prayers for the intentions of our Holy Father can be, for instance, the Creed and the Our Father.
The Work can be, for instance:
- 30 minutes of reading Sacred Scripture or
- the rosary either in a group of whatever size and/or before the Blessed Sacrament (not necessarily exposed for adoration)
- For the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, see the norms in the comments of this post.
There are some other options for the first days of November as well:
§ 1. A plenary indulgence, applied exclusively to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the Christian faithful who:
1° on every single day, from the first to the eighth day in November, devoutly visit a cemetery and, even if only mentally, pray for the faithful departed;
2° on the day of Commemoration of All Faithful Departed [November 2] (or, according to the Ordinary, on the preceding or subsequent Sunday, or on the day of the solemnity of All Saints) piously visit a church or oratory and there recite the Pater and the Credo.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Can’t also praying the Stations of the Cross in Church, along with the other conditions, for the intentions of the Holy Souls, gain them a plenary indulgence as well? There’s a Church near me with a little Chapel that has the Stations erected. I usually find myself alone there whenever I visit, it’s a great place to pray the Stations.
Indulgences and the Way of the Cross
(Viae Crucis exercitium)
A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful, who make the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross.
In the Way of the Cross Christians recall the sufferings of Christ while going from the praetorium of Pilate, where He was condemned to death, to the mount of Calvary, where He died on the cross for our salvation.
The gaining of the plenary indulgence is regulated by the following norms:
The pious exercise must be made before stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected.
For the erection of the Way of the Cross fourteen crosses are required, to which it is customary to add fourteen pictures or images, which represent the stations of Jerusalem.
According to the more common practice, the pious exercise consists of fourteen pious readings, to which some vocal prayers are added. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.
A movement from one station to the next is required.
But if the pious exercise is made publicly and if it is not possible for all taking part to go in an orderly way from station to station, it suffices if at least the one conducting the exercise goes from station to station, the others remaining in their place.
Those who are “impeded” can gain the same indulgence, if they spend at least one half an hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For those belonging to Oriental rites, amongst whom this pious exercise is not practiced, the respective Patriarchs can determine some other pious exercise in memory of the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ for the gaining of this indulgence.
To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill the following three conditions:
sacramental confession,
Eucharistic Communion, and
prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.
From the Enchiridion of Indulgences (June 29, 1968)
I use this little gem for a month dedicated to the Holy Souls. I have placed one in your package, Father. Will mail it asap
This 62 page pocket-size booklet contains prayers to assist the Souls in Purgatory. It contains a thirty-day
novena for the Month of November (the month of the Holy Souls), The Lord’s Prayer for the Holy Souls, Prayers for Every Day of the Week in Honor of the Precious Blood, prayers in Honor of the Five Wounds, and several other traditional prayers that are a practical means in assisting the Holy Souls in Purgatory to their eternal reward. This booklet has prayers for all through the year, too!
Contains Imprimatur.
Go here and scroll down to see the booklet
http://www.saintsgalore.com/assorted.htm
It is awesome
Thanks, Denise!
I’m a bit confused. The bit about cemetery visits could be read in such a way as to imply that one must visit the cemetery every day for eight days, but other sites make it look like the indulgence could be gained on each day separately. Am I just being a bonehead?
Just one visit suffices. Another indulgence each day!
The vocal group Rosary doesn’t need vocal meditations for a plenary indulgence? Trudy
Trudy: The mysteries are to be announced in public recitation according to local custom (but don’t worry about that, since there is no local custom for this in the USA, as absolutely everyone does their own thing). But as a for instance: The first joyful mystery: The Annunciation. No need for this in private recitation, but in all cases, one meditates on the mysteries themselves. Five mysteries are sufficient.
I’m looking at the edition promulgated in 1988 and published in English in 1991. It says that there the public recitation, to count for a plenary indulgence, is to be recited not just with any group (which I always thought), but with one’s family, a religious community or pious association.
At any rate, private recitation (or any kind of public recitation for that matter) which is in a church or oratory is good for the plenary indulgence.
Yikes!
This is easy, especially if you go to daily mass, and say the Rosary everyday besides.