4 Steps to receive the Plenary Indulgence

Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela during a Holy Year opens the opportunity to receive the Plenary Indulgence, which is the forgiveness of all sins.

For Catholics, the Jubilee is a time of reconciliation with God. The Xacobean Year, which is a Holy Year or Jubilee, is the year in which July 25, the Day of St. James, falls on a Sunday.

And the next one will be in 2021!

Before knowing how to receive the plenary indulgence in 2021 we would like you to discover the religious origin and its meaning.

Origin of the Plenary Indulgence

Compostela’s indulgences helped to soften the sentences imposed on criminals during the Middle Ages. The death penalty, torture, or prison were replaced by a more effective punishment: the penance of walking the Camino de Santiago.

On the one hand, the journey prevented people from “sinning” or committing crimes again; and on the other hand, doing this route turned the criminal into a suffering pilgrim who, normally, felt the dangers and risks of the road in his person.

On 1122 Pope Calixtus II granted the possibility for pilgrims to receive a plenary indulgence during Compostela’s Holy Years, and thus the Compostela indulgences or Great Pardon were born, which freed pilgrims from their crimes and saved them from their sins.

How to receive the Plenary Indulgence

To receive forgiveness of sins, the following requirements must be met:

1. Go to a Shrine where the Door of Mercy or Holy Door is opened in a Church in a Jubilee Year.
2. Go to Confession and firmly desire to sin no more, not even venially.
3. To receive the sacrament of Communion during the celebration of the Eucharist.
4. Pray the Creed and the Our Father with devotion, ask for the Pope’s intentions and attend Mass.

*The acts of Communion and Confession can be done 15 days before or up to 15 days after visiting the Cathedral

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Buen Camino!