s.Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and company. 1994. They are granted for specific good works and prayers. Indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early Church. More exactly, they replaced the shortening of those penances that was allowed at the intercession of those imprisoned and those awaiting martyrdom for the faith.Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article indulgences Abuses in granting ind… (More on Indulgence)