The conditions mentioned above are required for the gaining of any indulgence whatever. To gain plenary indulgences, ordinarily, confession, communion, a visit to a church or public oratory, and pious prayers are prescribed.
1. Concerning the confession, it has been decreed by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 19. 1759, that “sacramental confession, when it is required by the brief as a condition for gaining a plenary indulgence, must be made by all, even by those who are not conscious of mortal sin.” But in order to make the obligation of confession and communion as easy as possible, it was decreed, Oct. 6, 1870, that “either the confession alone, or the confession and the communion, may be made by all the faithful on the day immediately preceding that for which the indulgence is granted. In this decree are included both the plenary indulgences already granted, and those which may hereafter be granted by the Sovereign Pontiffs; provided that all the other conditions for gaining the plenary indulgence be duly complied with.”
Further, another decree, Dec. 9, 1763, grants that the faithful “who have the pious custom of confessing their sins at least once a week (if not legitimately hindered), and who are not guilty of any grievous sin since the last confession, can gain all the indulgences without making another confession—excepting the indulgence of the ordinary or extraordinary Jubilee, or that granted in the form of Jubilee, in which cases the sacramental confession must be repeated.” From
