INDULGENCE, in Roman Catholic theology, a remission of the punishment which is still due to sin after sacramental absolution, the remission being valid in the court of conscience and before God, and being made by an application of the treasure of the Church on the part of a lawful superior. Indulgence may be either (1) Plenary, remitting the whole, or (2) Partial, remitting a portion of the temporal punishment due to sin. The former are granted by the Pope to the whole Church; the latter by pri mates, metropolitans, and bishops within their respective jurisdiction. The Coun cil of Trent ordains that indulgences must be given everywhere gratis.
Canonical penances in the early Church were very severe, and, in times of persecution, it was the custom of mar tyrs awaiting death to give weaker brethren, who had lapsed or been guilty of other grievous sin, a letter (libellus paois) to the bishop, asking that he might be restored. Urban II. granted
plenary indulgence in the Council of Clermont to those who should go at their own expense on the then contemplated Crusade. In the 9th century Pascal I. and John VIII. bestowed indulgences on the souls of those who had died fighting for the Church. In 1300 they were sold over Europe in connection with the Jubi lee. Early in the 16th century they were farmed out, the farmers employing agents to retail them to the people at a profit. These subordinates puffed their wares without much attention to theolog ical precision. One of these, John Tet zel, a Dominican friar, so filled Luther with indignation as to lead him, on Oct. 31, 1517, to affix theses on that and cog nate subjects to the door of the Cathe dral Church of Wittenberg and thus com mence the Reformation.