Deacon Graney, who was ordained a transitional deacon April 11 and will serve an internship at the basilica this summer, said those feast days would include the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter (Feb. 22), the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul (June 29), the anniversary of the pope’s election and the anniversary of his inauguration to the ministry of St. Peter.
The latter two dates, as they relate to Pope Francis, are March 13 and March 19, respectively, but would change with the election and inauguration of a future pontiff.
It is during those feast days that papal symbols such as the tintinnabulum and ombrellino will be used in procession at the Shrine Basilica.
Another blessing of the basilica’s title is the attachment of a plenary indulgence to any of the faithful “who devoutly visit the basilica and with it participate in any sacred rite, or at least recite the Lord’s prayer and a profession of faith.”
An indulgence is the remittance of the temporal punishment due to a person’s sin after that sin has been forgiven by sacramental confession. It can be either “plenary” (full) or partial. While the subject of much misunderstanding outside the Catholic Church, indulgences are integrally linked to the Church’s doctrine of purgatory, where Christians who die in a state of grace can be purified after death from all traces of sin’s effects.
The ministry of indulgences allows a person to remit some of those effects even before death by participating in pious or charitable works. Contrary to popular myth, indulgences were never “sold” by the Church, but abuses by some clergy in medieval times who sometimes offered indulgences for charitable donations resulted in reforms to the practice.
At the Shrine Basilica, the faithful can receive an indulgence six times per year:
- June 29, the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul, Apostles
- July 12, the celebration of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese of Lisieux
- Oct. 1, the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux
- Oct. 3, the anniversary of the dedication of the original Shrine of the Little Flower Church in 1936
- Dec. 23, the anniversary of the granting of the title of basilica to the National Shrine of the Little Flower
- One day per year chosen personally by each member of the faithful.
To obtain an indulgence, the faithful must also meet the usual conditions associated with an indulgence: sacramental confession within about 20 days surrounding the visit to the basilica, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the pope (which can be found on Page 15 in this edition), and an interior disposition of complete detachment from sin.
