Participate in a universally designated religious day

Join the religious celebration of a day appointed throughout the Church for a particular religious intention.

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Time required Length of the designated religious celebration

When: The universally appointed day
Where: At the relevant religious celebration
Who: All eligible faithful
Application: Self or the departed

The prescribed work

Participate devoutly in the pertinent celebration.
The day must be universally designated for the religious purpose. Examples in the grant concern vocations, the sick, and young people.

The work and its conditions

A plenary indulgence also requires complete detachment from every sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, subject to the grant’s stated exceptions. The ordinary limit is one plenary indulgence per day.

Conditions common to every indulgence

The person gaining an indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least when the prescribed works are completed. There must be at least a general intention to gain indulgences, and the prescribed work must be performed at the time and in the manner required by the grant.

Read the full conditions and norms. The cited grant and its specific provisions govern.

Time required

Read each branch with its own conditions. An editorial estimate is not a prescribed minimum.

Prescribed work

Complete the prescribed event

Length of the designated religious celebration

No fixed number of minutes is prescribed. Allow for the celebration, whose length varies. The source requires devout participation and does not prescribe an independently measured attendance interval.

Timing sources

What the time estimate excludes

Ordinary travel to and from the venue, and waiting outside the prescribed work
Preparation and separately fulfilled sacramental conditions, except where the prescribed work itself includes Communion or a liturgical celebration

Source and exact reference

Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.