The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

oiiOP INDULGENCES.glory of paradise, since they were absolved from the pains ofpurgatory. To the priests it was indeed a jubilee. Themultitude of pilgrims filled Rome to overflow ; their wealthreplenished the coffers of the pontiff". The most notorioussinners were transformed by the pontifical magic into saints,and sent away as pure as they came. From their long journey,which had taxed alike the limbs and the purse, theyreaped, as Rome had promised they should, " a plentifulJiarvest ofpenitence!''' But most of all, it grieved the popesto think that a century must pass away before such anotheryear should come round. It was not fit that the Churchsliould so hoard her treasures, and afford to her sons onlyat long intervals, opportunities of evincing their gratitudeby the liberality of their gifts.Considerations of this sortmoved Clement VI. to reduce the term of jubilee to fiftyyears. It was found still to be too long, and was shortenedby Urban VI. to thirty-three, and finally fixed by SixtusV. at twenty-five. Thus every quarter of a century does awhole shower of indulgences descend upon the papal world.The last return of " the year of expiation and pardon, of redemptionand grace, of remission and indulgence," to use theterms of the bull of Leo XII., was 1850. The result is toldby Gavazzi." The late effort of Pio Nono to get up a piousenthusiasm, after the fashion of his predecessors, on the recurrenceof the semi-secular year of 1850, had utterly failedthroughout the Italian peninsula ;and though he held forthone hand filled with indulgences, the other was too palpablyarmed with the cudgel of the Croat to attract the approachof his countrymen."*But is not the prodigality with which Rome scatters indulgencesamong all who need or will receive them, a dangerousone ?In these evil times, a great deal must be flowingout of this treasury, and very little flowing in. Is thereno risk of emptying it I Day and night there rolls a riverof indulgences ample enough to supply the necessities of the* Gavazzi, Oration xviii.