Indulgences, historical background

According to the officially approved practice of the medieval church, absolution of sin was granted to the sinner who had repented, upon his confession and satisfaction; the latter consisted of punishments (such as fasting, prayers, pilgrimages, or even exclusion from the Eucharist) imposed on the penitent sinner by the bishop or the priest on the basis of certain ecclesiastical regulations. Yet the sinner who was reconciled with God through absolution still had to experience purgatory. This was considered a place and state of temporary punishment where the sinner would expiate his venial sins and experience such punishment as was still due, so to speak, for mortal sins already forgiven. Having thus completely atoned for his guilt he would be admitted to the Beatific Vision of God.


Indulgences relaxed or even commuted the punishment the penitent would have to undergo both in this world and in purgatory. Indulgence letters were granted for certain religious works (such as participation in a crusade, the visiting of certain shrines, Praying in sanctuaries where relics of saints were kept, ordering and paying for the celebration of masses) or simply for the payment of money to the church, a practice which became extremely popular in the later Middle Ages. The treasury of the merits of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, and of all the saints was considered to make available benefits sufficient to compensate for all the sinner’s punishments. The treasury of merits was entrusted to and administered by the church, which made it available to the faithful by the granting of indulgences. There were two types of indulgences: a partial one, available only at specific times and places, and a general or plenary one, which was periodically granted by the popes. During the later Middle Ages indulgences came to be thought of mainly as a means of shortening the time a sinner would have to spend in purgatory. The church went so far as to assure the faithful that they could shorten not only their own suffering but also that of their loved ones already in purgatory. Since purgatory was to cleanse the sinner of any guilt as yet unatoned, people increasingly considered indulgences to be a means of canceling their guilt. When Luther first began to deal with this problem the papacy had issued various decrees concerning the understanding and handling of indulgences, but it had not yet promulgated a general dogma on this matter. See O.D.C.C., pp. 688 f., 1125 f.

In 1506 Pope Julius II proclaimed a plenary indulgence which was renewed by Pope Leo X; the proceeds were to go toward the construction of the Church of St. Peter in Rome. In 1515 Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490–1545) was put in charge of the administration of this plenary indulgence in the ecclesiastical provinces of Mainz and Halberstadt. He had become archbishop of Magdeburg in 1513 and at the same time administrator of the diocese of Halberstadt. In 1514 he was elected archbishop of Mainz, thus becoming the highest church dignitary in the Empire. This accumulation of offices was altogether contrary to ecclesiastical custom. To acquire the necessary dispensation and the chair of Mainz, Albrecht had to pay a huge sum of money, which was advanced by the Fuggers, one of the biggest banking concerns of the sixteenth century. The sale of indulgences in the Archbishop’s territories was to provide the means of reimbursing the Fuggers. One-half of the income was designated for the Curia, and the other half for the Fuggers. The actual promotion of the indulgences was entrusted to sub-commissioners and preachers (one of them being the Dominican John Tetzel, see O.D.C.C., p. 1336), for whose guidance Albrech’s chancellery had published an Instruction, listing the various benefits of the indulgences offered to the people.

Moved by a deep pastoral concern, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses (see WA 1, 233 ff.; LW 31, 25 ff.) to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. In these theses, intended for a public academic disputation, Luther protested against the sale of indulgences—“the bingo of the sixteenth century” (Bainton, p. 72)—as an institution which undermined the individual’s religious responsibility, the majesty of God’s law, and the biblical understanding of repentance.

Vol. 48: Luther's works, vol. 48 : Letters I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (Vol. 48, Page 43-45). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.