of his passion, left to the Church militant here on earth an infinite treasure, not hidden in a napkin, nor buried in a field; but he intrusted it to the blessed Peter, who bears the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and to his successors, the vicars of Jesus Christ on earth, to be dispensed to the faithful for their spiritual good. The merits of the blessed mother of God, and of all the elect, from the first just man to the last, go to make up the fulness of this treasure.”
From this inexhaustible treasure, then, the Church draws and imparts to the faithful what she calls indulgences, by means of which the temporal punishment,—which, as explained above, they owe to God,—may be remitted.
Nevertheless, as it is manifest from what has just been said, it is not in the power of the faithful to avail themselves at pleasure of this saving provision, but only when, and how, and in the measure determined by holy Church and the Sovereign Pontiff. Wherefore, indulgences are divided into two classes. Some are called partial; and these are granted for a certain number of days, or periods of forty days, called “quarantines,” or for a year, or years, etc. Others are called plenary, or, in the form of Jubilee.
By partial indulgences of days, or quarantines, or years, so much of the temporal punishment, which had to be undergone either in this life or in the next, is remitted in favor of him who gains them, as would have been remitted by the performance of the penances of so many days, quarantines, years, etc., prescribed in the ancient
