Can I gain an indulgence for someone who has died?
Current norm Common teaching What the Church holds
Yes. “The faithful can obtain partial or plenary indulgences for themselves, or they can apply them to the dead by way of suffrage” (Manual of Indulgences, N3). They cannot be applied to other people still living (The Gift of the Indulgence, n. 7). Some grants are for the dead alone: the cemetery visit from 1 to 8 November and the church visit on All Souls’ Day (Grant 29). “By way of suffrage” means we offer the indulgence to God as intercession and He applies it as He wills. You may name a soul, or leave the choice to God or to Our Lady.
Private revelation What the saints and mystics report
Several accounts turn on indulgences. St Teresa sees a nun of “very ordinary life” go almost straight to Heaven because she had gained them. Our Lord tells St Faustina: “Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church.”
Accounts that bear on this
- EMO-04Teresa of Avila: a nun of "very ordinary life" goes almost straight to Heaven because she gained indulgences
- EMO-16Magdalen de Pazzi: a sister detained only fifteen hours, because she suffered much and gained indulgences
- FAU-12St Faustina: §1226–1227: the eighth day of the Novena: the souls in "the prison of Purgatory"; "Draw all the indulgences from the …