§ 106.2. =Indulgences.=--The old German principle of composition (§ 89, 5), and the Gregorian doctrine of purgatory (§ 61, 4), formed the bases on which was reared the ordinance of indulgences. The theory of the monks of St. Victor of the 12th century regarding penitential satisfaction (§ 104, 4), gave an impetus to the development of this institution of the church. It copestone was laid in the 13th century by the formulating of the doctrine of the superabundant merit of Christ and the saints (_Thesaurus supererogationis Christi et perfectorum_) by Alexander of Hales, Albert the Great, and Aquinas. The members of the body of Christ could suffer and serve one for another, and thus Aquinas thought the merits of one might lessen the purgatorial pains of another. Innocent III., in A.D. 1215, allowed to bishops the right of limiting the pains of purgatory to forty days, but claimed for the pope exclusively the right of giving full indulgence (_Indulgentia plenaria_). Clement VI. declared that the pope as entrusted with the keys was alone the dispenser of the _Thesaurus supererogationis_. Strictly indulgence was allowed only to the truly penitent, as an aid to imperfect not a substitute for non-existent satisfaction. This was generally ignored by preachers of indulgences. This was specially the case in the times of the crusaders. Popes also frequently gave indulgences to those who simply visited certain shrines. § 106.3. =The Church Doctrine of the Hereafter.=--All who had perfectly observed every requirement of the penances and sacraments of the church to the close of their lives had the gates of =Heaven= opened to them. All others passed into the =Lower World= to suffer either positively=_sensus_, inexpressible pains of fire, or negatively=_damnum_, loss of the vision of God. There are four degrees corresponding to four places of punishment. =Hell=, situated in the midst of the earth, _abyssus_ (Rev. xx. 1), is place and state of eternal punishment for all infidels, apostates, excommunicates, and all who died in mortal sin. The next circle is the purifying fire of =Purgatory=, or a place of temporary punishment positive or negative for all believing Christians who did not in life fully satisfy the three requirements of the sacrament of penance (§ 104, 4). The =Limbus infantum= is a side chamber of purgatory, where all unbaptized infants are kept for ever, only deprived of blessedness in consequence of original sin. Then above this is the =Limbus Patrum=, “Abraham’s bosom,” where the saints of the Old Covenant await the second coming of Christ.