treasury of merits

noun

Roman Catholic Church.

1. the superabundant store of merits and satisfactions, comprising those of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.

Word History and Origins

Origin of treasury of merits¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Oh, blessed Treasury of merits!

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In Catholic teaching, such a papal grant from the spiritual "treasury of merits" built up by Christ, Mary and the saints means that the recipient is freed from punishment in purgatory for sins.

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Granted for good works, indulgences were papally controlled dispensations drawn from an eternal "treasury of merits" built up by Christ and the saints; the church taught that they would help pay the debt of "temporal punishment" due in purgatory for sins committed by either the penitent or any deceased person.

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In exchange for a meritorious work�frequently, contributing to a worthy cause or making a pilgrimage to a shrine�the church would dispense a sinner from his temporal punishment through its "treasury of merits."

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The individual Israelite, moreover, could supply his own deficiencies in righteousness out of the treasury of merits which belonged to him in virtue of his descent from the common fathers of the race, or the holy progenitors of his own family.

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