November is for the holy souls: how to gain the cemetery indulgence

The Church sets aside November to pray for the faithful departed. All Saints Day falls on Sunday, Nov. 1, this year, and All Souls Day, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, follows on Monday, Nov. 2.

The Church's Manual of Indulgences grants a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, to anyone who devoutly visits a cemetery and prays for the dead, even silently, on any day from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8. It can be gained once a day, so a person who visits on all eight days can offer eight plenary indulgences for the departed. On All Souls Day itself, a plenary indulgence is also granted for devoutly visiting a church or oratory and praying an Our Father and the Creed.

The usual conditions apply. You must go to sacramental confession, receive Holy Communion, and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and you must be free of all attachment to sin, even venial sin. Confession can be made within about 20 days before or after, and one confession covers several indulgences, but each plenary indulgence needs its own Communion and its own prayer for the Pope. An Our Father and a Hail Mary are the customary prayer for his intentions. If a condition is missing, the indulgence is partial.

The Catechism explains that an indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, and that the faithful can apply indulgences to the dead as a work of charity (CCC 1471). A quiet visit to a family grave in early November is one of the simplest and oldest ways to do that.

Lombard's parishes offer confession every week, and the times are on our Mass and confession page.