ca. 96 A.D., Pope Saint Clement, fourth Bishop of Rome, disciple of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Letter to the Corinthians
— Indulgences (vicarious atonement) —
53:5 O great love! O unsurpassed perfection! The servant [Moses] speaks openly to his Lord. He begs pardon for his people or requests that he too will be wiped out along with them (Ex. 32:31-32). …
55:1-6 Let us take some heathen examples: In times of plague many kings and rulers, prompted by oracles, have given themselves up to death in order to rescue their subjects by their own blood (cf. Cicero, Tusc. 1:116). We know many of our own number who have had themselves imprisoned in order to ransom others. Many have sold themselves into slavery and given the price to feed others. Many women, empowered by God’s grace, have performed deeds worthy of men. The blessed Judith, when her city was under siege, begged of the elders to be permitted to leave it for the enemy’s camp. So she exposed herself to danger and for love of her country and of her besieged people, she departed. And the Lord delivered Holofernes into the hands of a woman. To no less danger did Esther, that woman of perfect faith, expose herself in order to rescue the twelve tribes of Israel when they were on the point of being destroyed. For by her fasting and humiliation she implored the all-seeing Master, the eternal God; and he beheld the humility of her soul and rescued her people for whose sake she had faced danger.
— ca. 100 A.D., Death of Saint John, the last of the Apostles —
ca. 107 A.D., Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, disciple of the Apostle John, Letter to the Ephesians
— Indulgences (vicarious atonement) —
8:1 A cheap sacrifice I am, but I dedicate myself to you Ephesians.
ca. 150 A.D., Saint Justin the Martyr, First Apology
— Indulgences (vicarious atonement) —
61 Whoever is convinced and believes that what they are taught and told by us is the truth, and professes to be able to live accordingly, is instructed to pray and to beseech God in fasting for the remission of their former sins, while we pray and fast with them.
ca. 156 A.D., The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp
— Indulgences (vicarious atonement) —
1:2 [Polycarp] waited to be betrayed, just as the Lord did, in order that we too might be imitators of him, “not looking only to that which concerns ourselves, but also to that which concerns our neighbors” (Phil. 2:4). For it is the mark of true and steadfast love to desire not only that oneself be saved, but all the brothers as well. …
14:1, 2-3 [Polycarp] looked up to heaven and said: “O Lord God Almighty, … I bless you because you have considered me worthy of this day and hour, that I might receive a place among the number of the martyrs in the cup of your Christ, to the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and of body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them in your presence today, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as you have prepared and revealed beforehand, and have now accomplished, you who are the undeceiving and true God. For this reason, indeed for all things, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom to you with him and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for the ages to come. Amen.”
ca. 190 A.D., Saint Abercius Marcellus, Bishop of Hieropolis, Epitaph
— Prayers for the dead —
The citizen of a prominent city, I erected this
While I lived, that I might have a resting place for my body.
Abercius is my name, a disciple of the chaste shepherd
Who feeds His sheep on the mountains and in the fields,
Who has great eyes surveying everywhere,
Who taught me the faithful writings of life. …
Standing by, I, Abercius, ordered this to be inscribed;
Truly I was in my seventy-second year.
May everyone who is in accord with this and who understands it pray for Abercius.
203 A.D., Saint Vibia Perpetua and others, earliest-known Christian woman author, The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas
— Prayers for the dead —
2:3 [Perpetua:] After a few days, while we were all praying, suddenly in the middle of the prayer I spoke, and uttered the name of Dinocrates; and I was astonished that he had never come into mind till then; and I grieved, thinking of what had befallen him. And I saw at once that I was entitled, and ought, to make request for him. And I began to pray much for him, and make lamentation to the Lord. At once on this very night this was shown to me. I saw Dinocrates coming forth from a dark place, where there were many other dark places, very hot and thirsty, his countenance pale and squalid; and the wound which he had when he died was in his face still. This Dinocrates had been my brother according to the flesh, seven years old, who had died miserably of a gangrene in the face, so that his death moved all to loathing. For him then I had prayed; and there was a great gulf between me and him, so that neither of us could approach the other. There was besides in the very place where Dinocrates was a font full of water, the rim of which was above the head of the child; and Dinocrates stood on tiptoe to drink. I grieved that the font should have water in it and that nevertheless he could not drink because of the height of the rim. And I woke and recognized that my brother was in trouble. But I trusted that I could relieve his trouble, and I prayed for him every day until we were transferred to the garrison prison, for we were to fight with the beasts at the garrison games on the Cæsar Geta’s birthday. And I prayed for him day and night with lamentations and tears that he might be given me.
2:4 During the daytime, while we stayed in the stocks, this was shown to me. I saw that same place which I had seen before, and Dinocrates clean in body, well clothed and refreshed; and where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and the font which I had seen before had its rim lowered to the child’s waist; and there poured water from it unceasingly; and on the rim a golden bowl full of water. And Dinocrates came forward and began to drink from it, and the bowl failed not. And when he had drunk enough of the water, he came forward, being glad to play as children will. And I awoke. Then I knew that he had been released from punishment.
ca. 210 A.D., Tertullian, The Soul
35 “Love your enemies,” says [the Lord], “pray for them that curse you” (Luke 6:27), lest such a man in any transaction of business be irritated by any unjust conduct of yours, and “deliver thee to the judge” of his own [nation] (Matt. 5:25), and you be thrown into prison, and be detained in its close and narrow cell until you have liquidated all your debt against him. … Now the friendly understanding you will have to carry out must arise from your observance of the compact: you must never think of getting back any of the things which you have abjured, and have restored to him, lest he should summon you as a fraudulent man, and a transgressor of your agreement, before God the Judge (for in this light do we read of him, in another passage, as “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10), or saints, where reference is made to the actual practice of legal prosecution); and lest this Judge deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, and he commit you to the prison of hell, out of which there will be no dismissal until the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting sense than this? What a truer interpretation?
211 A.D., Tertullian, The Crown
— Indulgences; Mass for the dead —
3:3 We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries.
ca. 214 A.D., Tertullian, Monogamy
— Indulgences; Mass for the dead —
10:1, 4 A woman, after the death of her husband, is bound not less firmly but even more so, not to marry another husband … . Indeed, she prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice.
250 A.D., Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Letter to His Clergy
— Indulgences —
18 [12]:1 Inasmuch as I find that there is not yet an opportunity of coming to you, and the Summer has already begun—a season disturbed by continual and grave illnesses—I think that we must deal with our brethren. Therefore, those who have received certificates from the martyrs and are able to be assisted by their privileged position before God, if they should be seized by some misfortune or dangerous illness at a time when my return is not expected, then, before whatever presbyter is present, or if a presbyter is not found and death begins to be imminent, even before a deacon they are permitted to make their confession of sin, so that a hand may be imposed upon them in penance and they may come to the Lord with the peace which the martyrs, as indicated in letters sent to us, desired to be given them.
ca. 250 A.D., Ethiopian Canons
— Indulgences; Mass for the dead —
33 That commemoration should be made of the faithful dead every day, with the exception of the Lord’s day.
251 A.D., Cyprian of Carthage, The Lapsed
— Indulgences —
17 The Lord alone is able to have mercy. He alone, who bore our sins, who grieved for us, and whom God delivered up for our sins, is able to grant pardon for the sins which have been committed against Him. … Certainly we believe that the merits of the martyrs and the works of the just will be of great avail with the Judge—but that will be when the day of judgment comes, when, after the end of this age and of the world, His people shall stand before the tribunal of Christ.