Translation / modern text
[Recto:]
POPE CLEMENT XIII
For an everlasting memorial. Seeking with fatherly love the salvation of all, we sometimes adorn holy places, especially with the gifts of indulgences, so that from this, the souls of the faithful departed may obtain intercession by the Tridentine divine decree and merits, and may themselves be freed from the pains of purgatory and led to the eternal mercy of God. Desiring, therefore, that the metropolitan church of Lviv and the altar located within it, called the altar of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Grace, hitherto not adorned with any such [divine gift] or privilege, be graced with this holy gift, trusting in the mercy of Almighty God and the authority of His holy Apostles Peter and Paul, we permit and grant [an indulgence], so that whenever any diocesan or religious priest celebrates a mass for the dead at the aforementioned altar – only on the days within the octave of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and on one weekday of each week designated by the Ordinary – for the soul of any brother or sister of the aforementioned Confraternity who has departed from this world united with God in love, that soul may receive from the treasury of the Church an indulgence by way of intercession; so that through the intercession of the prayers of Christ's faithful and the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and those divine merits, it may be freed from the pains of purgatory. Notwithstanding any contrary provisions. This [document] shall remain valid for only ten years. Given in Rome at Saint Mary Major, under the Ring of the Fisherman, on the 18th of March 1766, in the eighth year of Our pontificate.
[Chancery signatures:]
Gratis in the name of God and [...]era
Of Ours
Eighth year
H[ieronim] Cardinal Antonelli
[Verso:]
Wacław Hieronim of Bogusławice Sierakowski, by the grace of God and the Apostolic See, Archbishop Metropolitan of Lviv.
To all together and to each one individually, whom this concerns, will concern, or may in any way concern, we hereby announce by this our letter that We, having seen and read the below-written indulgence letter, have admitted and accepted it according to its power, wording, and content by our ordinary authority, and have designated the aforementioned altar in our metropolitan church for the Confraternity. We have also designated as the privileged day for the brothers and sisters of the Confraternity [...] Saturday of each week, so that [...] this altar of indulgences and privileges may stand open to the people contur[...] for the furthest times [...]. In Dunajów, on the nineteenth [?] day of the month of April in the Year of Our Lord 1766.
Wacław, Archbishop
Original wording — transcription
[Recto:]
CLEMENS PP. XIII
Ad futuram rei memoriam. Omnium saluti paterna charitate intenti, sacra interdum loca, praesertim iisdem indulgentiarum muneribus decoramus, ut inde fidelium defunctorum animae Divina Tridentini voti, eiusque deinceps suffragia meritorum consequi, et illae a poenis Purgatorii poenis ad aeternam Dei misericordiam perduci valeant. Volentes igitur Ecclesiam Metropolitanam Leopolien[sem] et in ea situm altare Confraternitatis B[eatae] M[ariae] V[irginis] Gratiarum nuncupatum simili d[ivino] aut privilegio minime decoratum, hoc sacati dono illustrari de omnipotentis Dei misericordia ac BB. Petri, et Pauli Apostolorum eius auctoritate confisi, ut quandocumque Sacerdos aliquis saecularis, vel regularis missam defunctorum solis diebus intra octavam Commemorationis defunctorum, ac in una feria cuiuslibet hebdomadae per Ordinarium designanda pro anima cuiuscumque Confratris et Consororis d[ic]tae Confraternitatis, quae Deo in charitate coniuncta ab hac luce migraverit, ad praefatum altare celebraverit, anima ipsa de thesauro Ecclesiae per modum suffragii indulgentiam consequatur; Ita ut eidem Christi fidelium votis, ac B[eatae] M[ariae] V[irginis] illorumquedivinorum meritis sibi suffragantibus a Purgatorii poenis liberetur, concedimus, et indulgemus. In contrarium facien[tibus] non obstantibus quibuscumque. Praesentibus ad decennium tantum valituris. Datum Romae apud S[anctam] Mariam Majorem Sub Annulo Piscatoris die XVIII. Martii MDCCLXVI. Pontificatus Nostri Anno Octavo.
[Podpisy kancelaryjne:]
Gratis pro Deo et [...]era
N[ost]ri
Anno Octavo
H. Card[inalis] Antonellus
[Verso:]
Wenceslaus Hieronymus de Bogusławice Sierakowski Dei et Apostolicae Sedis Gratia Archiepiscopus Metropolitanus Leopoliensis.
Universis et singulis quorum interest, intererit aut quomodolibet interesse poterit, praesentibus Literis nostris significamus. Quia Nos visis et lectis infrascriptarum Indulgentiarum Literis easdem juxta vim, tenorem et obloquentiam earundem Authoritate Nostra Ordinaria admisimus et recepimus, Altare praefatum in Ecclesia Nostra Metropolitana Confraternitati assignavimus. Diemque Privilegiatum pro Fratribus et Sororibus Confraternitatis novitiem Sabbathi cuiuslibet hebdomadae determinavimus, ut a praesentes eodem Indulgentiarum et Privilegiorum Altare Populo pateat contur[...] ad ult[ima] tempora [...]. Dunajoviae hac die decima nona [?] mensis Aprilis Anno Domini 1766.
Wenceslaus Archiep[iscop]us
Reading notes
Papal brief under the Ring of the Fisherman (sub Annulo Piscatoris) written on parchment. On the verso is the decree of the local ordinary, Archbishop of Lviv Wacław Hieronim Sierakowski, designating by papal authority Saturday of each week as a privileged day for the altar of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Grace in the Lviv Cathedral. On the verso, a trace of a wax or wafer seal and an archival stamp are visible.
