What was the sale of?

Answer 1

Indulgences were "Get out of Jail Free" cards issued by the Catholic Pope in Rome for certain 'financial' remunerations, that allowed you to think you were buying your way into Heaven..

Another view

The Catholic Church never officially sold indulgences. Some unscrupulous people in Europe went around selling indulgences.

Common practice was that you could make a donation if you wanted to but it was not compulsory.

Every sin had a price tag..Venal ones were so much, mortal ones were a bit more, etc.. You could sin all you wanted, and if you had the money, you could buy your 'forgiveness'..this tended to allow the rich and powerful to be slightly less Christian than they should have been, at the expense of the poor and powerless.

Another view

The "pardoners" who sold the indulgences, which practice was against the teaching of the church, put the price on the different sins. It was not something which the church taught.

If people thought they could buy their way into heaven, it was a misconception fostered by the pardoners.

It has never been the teaching of the Catholic church that one could buy your way into heaven.

If I remember my history, this is one of the things that Martin Luther got his hackles up about, and caused one of the more monumental splits within the medieval Christian Church.

He rightly thought that the church should have been doing more to stop the pardoners from selling indulgences but unfortunately it was a good source of revenue so they were turning a blind eye as the pope of the time had envisioned the building of St Peter's in Rome. This was a dreadful error and it was right that Martin Luther spoke out about it...so did many churchmen of the time but Luther was the lucky one who had his printed and distributed.

It was one of many corruptions which had set in at the time.

There seems to be a general misunderstanding of what exactly an indulgence was and is. An indulgence is the remission of personal punishment that must be paid for personal sin.

Another view

It is not a punishment per se but part of the sanctification process we must all go through to make us holy in the sight of God.

Our sufferings on this earth, if born patiently and in faith in God's grace, help us to grow strong spiritually. This sanctification process continues after we meet God face to face. An indulgence sanctifies a person further so some of the process becomes unnecessary.

Catholics believe that all sin requires restitution.

Another view

The only restitution Catholics believe in is that which Jesus made. No one can add to that but we can cooperate with it by having faith in His power to save and make restitution for our sins.

They believe that they must either make restitution in this life, or the next in Purgatory.

Purgatory is the name give to the state a soul is in when they are being further sanctified after death.

An indulgence was a special exception granted by the Church to a soul regarding the temporal punishment for their personal sins.

Another view

As already stated, it is not really a punishment, it is a making Holy, a painful process but not a punishment. Temporal is an incorrect word to use as the process occurs in eternity where there is no time. But "time" is used to help us comprehend what is going on as we are not equipped to appreciate eternity.

In fact, to even get an indulgence you had to already be free from sin: the person first had to go to confession and be in the state of grace in order to gain the indulgence.

If a free card to heaven is looked for, one only need to reference Confession, where the most abominable sins are forgiven at the mere word of a priest.

Another view

It is true that one has to be in the state of grace to receive an indulgence but it is not by the mere word of a priest that forgiveness is granted. Only God forgives sins.

A person has to have a firm purpose not to sin again, must be sorry for the sins they have committed because they are an offence to God and must confess them to God. The priest is simply there as a reminder that God is there listening.

Jesus said to the apostles "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven" thus giving them the authority to pronounce what God does when we confess sin.

Other Christians confess their sins straight to God but when a Catholic confesses it is more tangible and they are also given some advice on how not to sin again if they ask for it.

The "selling of an indulgence" is not a deplorable thing it itself: the indulgence could be had for a donation, which amounts to an almsgiving, which is a very virtuous thing. What happened was a corruption: the indulgences were offered in such a way as to make buyers feel free from the consequences of sin as well as charging fixed prices and rates with the alms going to less than worthy causes at times.

Indulgences are still attached to certain prayers and virtuous acts, and to this day any Catholic may receive them, providing they are in the correct dispositions, for free.

Another answer

1. A single prayer to the blessed Virgin Mary, 500 days less wait in purgatory.

2. Salve Regina, 5 yrs off.

3. Anima Christi, 300 days.

4. Anima Christi after communion, 7 yrs off according to Ignatius Loyola.

5. If one as much hears someone says 3 very beautiful prayer for the dying, 400 yrs off.

6. If you say "Eternal Father, I offer thee the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal the wounds of our souls", 300 days off.