Jacobean Holy Year

A Jacobean Holy Year (Galician: Ano Santo Xacobeo), also known as the Compostela Holy Year, is a Catholic celebration that takes place in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.

The celebration of each holy year grants a plenary indulgence to all those faithful who: visit the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, say a prayer (at least the Apostles' Creed or the Our Father), and pray for the intentions of the Pope.

[1] On 27 February 1120, Callixtus' bull Omnipotentis Dispositione elevated Santiago de Compostela to archiepiscopal dignity, transferring the metropolitan see of Mérida to this city, in accordance with the wishes of Diego Gelmírez, the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, and with the consent of King Alfonso VII of León.

Alexander III, in the bull Regis aeterni of 25 July 1178, declared the perpetual character of the privilege and equated it to those of Rome and Jerusalem.

[2] Such provisions extraordinarily boosted during the Middle Ages the rise of pilgrimages from all over Europe through the Camino de Santiago.

The first was during the Spanish Civil War, in which the holy year of 1937 was also extended throughout 1938, as granted by Pope Pius XI at the request of the Compostela prelate Tomás Muniz de Pablos.