Indulgence for a Visit to a Cemetery

What Must One Do to Obtain the Indulgence?

To obtain the plenary indulgence on November 1-November 8, we must receive Communion and sacramental Confession (and have no attachment to sin, even venial). Communion must be received each day we wish to gain the indulgence, but we only need to go to Confession once during the period. A good prayer to recite to earn the indulgence is Eternal Rest, though any formal or informal prayer for the dead will suffice. And, as with all plenary indulgences, we must pray for the intentions of the Holy Father (one Our Father and one Hail Mary) each day we perform the work of the indulgence.

Listing in the Enchiridion of Indulgences (1968)

13. Coemeterii visitatio

Another source on the same subject of indulgences.

There are many indulgences, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, that can be obtained during the month of November. From the fourth edition of the Enchiridion of Indulgences, 1999:

A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is granted to the faithful who,

*on any and each day from November 1 to 8, devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, if only mentally, for the departed;

*on All Souls’ Day (or, according to the judgment of the ordinary, on the Sunday preceding or following it, or on the solemnity of All Saints), devoutly visit a church or an oratory and recite an Our Father and the Creed.

A partial indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is granted to the faithful who,

* devoutly visit a cemetery and at least mentally pray for the dead;

*devoutly recite lauds or vespers from the Office of the Dead or the prayer Requiem aeternam (Eternal rest).

Eternal Rest Prayer:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and
all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.
Amen.