Stella Maris, Art. III.3
Seafarers: visit the ship’s oratory — titular feast
Make the prescribed devout visit and prayers on the feast of the chapel or oratory’s titular saint.
Time required No fixed minimum; about 2–5 minutes for the prescribed devout visit and prayers.
- When
- The feast of the chapel or oratory’s titular saint
- Where
- A legitimately erected oratory aboard a ship
- Who
- Seafarers: those currently aboard merchant or fishing vessels and anyone who has undertaken a voyage by ship, as defined in Stella Maris Art. II §1(a)
- Application
- Self or the departed
The prescribed work
- Visit the legitimately erected shipboard oratory with religious devotion on the feast of the chapel or oratory’s titular saint.
- Devoutly recite the Our Father and Creed there, and pray for the Pope’s intentions.
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.
Devout visit and prescribed prayers
Editorial estimate
About 2–5 minutes (editorial estimate)
The source prescribes no numeric minimum. This estimate covers the devout visit and named prayers at an ordinary devotional pace; it does not measure the required disposition or sacramental conditions.
What the time estimate excludes
- Ordinary travel to and from the venue and waiting outside the prescribed work.
- Sacramental confession, Holy Communion and other preparation outside the identified work.
Occasion and source notes
No universal titular date is assigned. The actual lawful titular observance governs; where the required visit is to a church or oratory, Norm 14 permits it from noon on the preceding day.
The 1997 motu proprio has a lasting-effect clause and is expressly preserved by Leo XIV’s 6 November 2025 chirograph. The Latin lists the Our Father and Creed and prayer for the Pope’s intentions; the official English presents the named prayers as offered for those intentions. The ordinary plenary conditions remain applicable.
Prayer texts and resources
Follow the prayer count and formula specified in the requirements. The two Creed readers are alternatives.
Source and exact reference
- John Paul II: Stella Maris — authoritative Latin31 January 1997, Art. II §1 definitions; Art. III.3–5 indulgences; concluding lasting-effect clause
- John Paul II: Stella Maris — official English translationArt. II §1 and Art. III.3–5
- Leo XIV: chirograph establishing the coordinating Apostleship of the Sea6 November 2025, published 13 November; penultimate paragraph expressly preserves the 1997 Stella Maris provisions
- Enchiridion indulgentiarum, fourth editionGrant 33 §1.5, footnote 66 explicitly refers seafarers and maritime people to Stella Maris; Norms 13–14 and 20
Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.