Indulgences and Temporal Punishments in the Light of Documents of the Council of Trent

Abstract

This article provides an introduction to the origin and development of the theology of indulgences in the Church against the background of the period of decline of the practice of public penance in ancient times and the beginning of a new penitential system in the Middle Ages which in substance is valid until now. The author discusses the theological dilemmas that arise as a consequence of transferring the obligation to do the set penances from the period before granting reconciliation (reconciliation with the Church), which was the ancient practice, to a time after the reconciliation, nowadays more often called absolution, as in the case of the penitential practice obligatory from the Middle Ages onward. Then, the basic penance structure was consolidated in order to grant absolution from sins and eternal punishment by a priest under the Church jurisdiction according to the sacramental mode. Absolution from temporal penalty for sin could also be obtained according to the jurisdiction by indulgences, thus not according to the sacramental mode.