Jubilee in the Catholic Church
[1] On 22 February 1300, Boniface published the bull "Antiquorum habet fida relatio",[4] in which, appealing vaguely to the precedent of past ages, he declared "...the most full, pardon of all their sins", to those who fulfill certain conditions.
[1] Among those who are recorded as among the pilgrims of that first jubilee are Cimabue, Giotto, Charles, Count of Valois, the chronicler Giovanni Villani, and Dante Alighieri, who mentions it in the Divine Comedy in Canto XXXI of "Paradiso".
[3][1] In virtue of an ordinance of Pope Urban VI, it was proposed to hold a jubilee every 33 years as representing the period of the sojourn of Christ upon earth and also the average span of human life.
[7] The jubilees of 1450 and 1475 were attended by vast crowds of pilgrims, and that of 1450 was unfortunately made famous by a terrible accident in which nearly 200 people were trampled to death in a panic which occurred on the bridge of Sant' Angelo.
Following this disaster, great pains were taken to widen the thoroughfares and to provide for the entertainment and comfort of the pilgrims by numerous charitable organizations, of which the Archconfraternity of the Holy Trinity, founded by Saint Philip Neri, was the most famous.
[1] In 1450, Rome was a largely rural area surrounded by the Aurelian Walls and inhabited by no more than 30,000 people engaged mainly in stock-rearing, in contrast with the economic centres of Florence, Venice, and Milan.
[8] Wolves frequented the Vatican Gardens, the population was centred on the Tiber near the Campus Martius, while round the churches of San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore were separate villages.
[8] Pope Nicholas V used the wealth brought in by pilgrims in the jubilee year of 1450 to convert the medieval city into a Renaissance capital, to found the Vatican Library, and to permanently move the papal seat to the west bank of the Tiber away from the Roman masses who had evicted his predecessor: the Vatican Palace and St Peter's Basilica thus replaced St John Lateran as the main papal headquarters.
The celebrations around this were "founded on ancient rites and full of symbolic meaning" and the total number attending the initial jubilee events was, according to Johann Burchard, an estimated 200,000 people.
[note 1] The ninth jubilee was solemnly opened on 24 December 1524, by Pope Clement VII, at a time when symptoms of the great crises which would soon tear the Church apart were already present, with the Protestant Reformation.
However, the number of pilgrims was lower than expected due to the wars in northern Italy, so the Pope suspended the declaration of indulgences outside Rome in an attempt to lure the faithful to the city.
Gradually, other similar institutions were opened to offer shelter and assistance to pilgrims, as in 1725, the Holy Year called by Pope Benedict XIII.
A famous preacher during the Jubilee of 1750, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XIV, was Leonard of Port Maurice, who set up 14 Stations of the Cross inside the ruins of the Colosseum.
Pope John Paul II announced a Great Jubilee for the year 2000 with his apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente (As the Third Millennium Approaches) of 10 November 1994.
[16] The most distinctive feature in the ceremonial of the jubilee is the unwalling and the final walling up of the "holy door" in each of the four great basilicas which the pilgrims are required to visit.
This ritual caused injury to bystanders, so for the Great Jubilee of 2000, Pope John Paul II simplified the rite considerably, opening and closing the doors with his hands.
Catholic parishes all over the world share a similar rite dedicating a door for the purposes of the jubilee year to accommodate its parishioners who do not intend to visit Rome for the occasion.
[citation needed] This is a plenary indulgence which, as stated by Pope Boniface VIII in consistory, it is the intention of the Holy See to grant in the most ample manner possible.
So preeminent was the favor then regarded that the custom arose of suspending all other indulgences during the jubilee year, a practice which, with certain modifications, still exists to the present day.
The precise conditions for gaining each jubilee indulgence are determined by the Roman pontiff, and they are usually announced in a special Bull, distinct from that which it is customary to issue on the preceding feast of the Ascension giving notice of the forthcoming celebration.
The main conditions, however, which do not usually vary, are five: confession, Communion, prayer for the Pope, complete renunciation of all attachment to sin, and visits to the four basilicas during a certain specified period.
The statement made by some, that the jubilee indulgence, being a culpa et a paena, did not of old presuppose either confession or repentance, is absolutely without foundation, and is contradicted by every extant official document of the Roman Catholic Church.
Such extraordinary jubilees are commonly granted by a newly elected pontiff at his accession or on occasions of some unexpected celebration, as was done, for example, at the convening of the First Vatican Council, or again at times of great calamity.
On the last full day of the jubilee, pilgrims were permitted to enter the holy door at St. Peter's until late into the night, so that no one would be denied the opportunity to gain the indulgence.
