Portiuncula Indulgence

PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE: The title of a plenary indulgence granted to all who should devoutly visit the Portiuncula Church (St Mary of the Angels; see Francis, Saint, of Assisi, I., § 1), near Assisi, at the request of Saint Francis of Assisi by Honorius III. in 1223. This pope confined it to Aug. 2; Gregory XV. in 1622 made it good for all churches of the Observantist Franciscans on that day; Innocent XI. in 1678 made its benefits applicable to souls in purgatory. In 1847 the Congregation of Indulgences made it applicable to every Franciscan church.