Salvatoris et Domini

Pope Pius IV

April 13, 1564

Pius, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, to all of Christ's faithful who shall inspect these present letters, Greeting and Apostolic Benediction.

 Of Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten of God the Father, who for the redemption of the human race was sent to descend from the highest throne of heaven to the lowest depths of this world, and to assume our flesh from a virginal womb, and after completing the course of this life for our instruction, he deigned to pay the price upon the altar of the Cross—We, though undeserving, bearing His place on earth and desiring that the flock of the Lord divinely committed to Our care be led to the life of eternal light, in accordance with the office of Apostolic service entrusted to Us, frequently invite all the faithful, whose merits are wholly unequal to their faults, to avoid evil, to embrace true and solid good, and to enter upon the way of the Most High, by means of spiritual gifts—namely indulgences and remissions of sins—so that the faithful themselves, through sincerity of devotion and the exercise of good works, with the stain of their offenses wiped away, may be rendered more fit for the full meriting of divine grace.

 Since therefore, as We have learned, Our beloved son Diego de Victoria, a Friar of the Convent of Saint Paul of Burgos of the Order of Friars Preachers, an outstanding preacher of the Word of God, moved by zeal for the divine Name, took care to institute one most wholesome Confraternity under the title of the Name of God, and to guard against the abuses of oaths and blasphemies—a Confraternity whose members’ principal duty, a certain rule also having been composed for this purpose, was with all diligence to take care that neither they themselves nor others in their presence should swear in any manner except for the gravest cause, and that they should modestly admonish those acting contrary, and by which Confraternity, having been duly instituted and accepted in diverse cities and towns of Spain, very many of Christ's faithful have caused themselves to be enrolled—through whose work and zeal blasphemies, perjuries, and other illicit oaths are suppressed—and since the wholesome fruit of the same Confraternity is everywhere manifest, and Our venerable brothers the Bishops of those regions promote it with whatever favors they can, We, so that said Confraternity may always be held in greater reverence, and that Christ’s faithful may enter it all the more willingly the more it is adorned with more abundant gifts of special graces and sustained by Apostolic privileges, trusting in the mercy of Almighty God and the authority of His Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, to all and each of the members of both sexes of said Confraternity—now and for the time being spread wherever throughout lands and places—enrolled in it now and for the time being and stationed wherever they may be, whether comprehended under the Rule of the same Confraternity previously issued or under another—who, being truly penitent and confessed, on the feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ, each year in perpetuity shall have received the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, and shall have been present in whole or in part at the solemnity customarily celebrated by the Confraternity itself on said feast day wherever they may be — as often as they shall have done so, so often for each such feast day do We grant and bestow by Apostolic authority and by the tenor of these presents a Plenary Indulgence, remission, and absolution of all and each and every one of their sins, such as is customarily granted to those visiting the churches of the Holy City and those designated outside its walls in a Jubilee year.

 To those members of said Confraternity who shall have assembled on each and every first Sunday of each month throughout the year, similarly in perpetuity, to hear the Mass which the members themselves are bound to hear — as often as they shall have done so, ten years;

 To those who shall have modestly and charitably admonished anyone swearing rashly or otherwise blaspheming the divine Name, whenever they shall have done so, one hundred days for each instance;

 And to any preacher of the Word of God, whether secular or regular of any Order, who shall have exhorted Christ’s faithful to beware of the abuse of oaths and to embrace the Rule of said Confraternity, We mercifully relax in the Lord ten years from the penances enjoined upon them in the customary form of the Church.

And so that the members themselves may more easily become, with God’s favor, partakers of said Plenary Indulgence, to them and to each of them wishing to obtain such Indulgence, that when the said feast of the Circumcision arrives, they may choose as their confessors whomsoever they shall judge suitable—whether secular priests or regulars of any Order, to be approved by the Ordinary of the place—who, having diligently heard their confessions, may have power to absolve each and every one of them from every and any excommunication etc.—saving nevertheless the right of a third party—and likewise from all and each of their sins, crimes, excesses, and offenses, however grave and enormous, even those reserved to the local Ordinaries and to the Apostolic See, excepting only those contained in the Bull of the Lord's Supper customarily read, and to impose upon them by said Apostolic authority a salutary penance for what they have committed, and to commute whatever vows—excepting only vows of pilgrimage beyond the sea, of visiting the thresholds of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul aforesaid in the City and of Blessed James in Compostela, and likewise vows of Chastity and Religion—into other works of piety; all of which We likewise grant and indulge in perpetuity by the aforesaid authority and tenor.

Commanding all and each of Our venerable brothers the Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops, and Our beloved sons the other Prelates of Churches and local Ordinaries constituted wherever, and their general and special Vicars and Officials, that wherever and whenever it shall be necessary, and as often as they shall have been requested on behalf of the aforesaid members, they shall favor said Confraternity to the best of their ability, assist it favorably, and endeavor to promote it.

By these present letters, which can never be revoked, suspended, limited, reduced, modified, or derogated from in any way, even by Us or other Roman Pontiffs Our successors, or by the aforesaid See, or by any others whatsoever, nor comprehended under any revocations of those or similar or dissimilar Indulgences and graces etc., to endure for all future times in perpetuity.

We will moreover that if any other Indulgence shall have been granted by Us in any place to the said Confraternity, these present letters shall be null with respect to that place.

Given at Rome at Saint Peter’s, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1564, on the Ides of April, in the fifth year of Our pontificate.