Holy Year of Jubilee
The ultimate derivation of the word jubilee is disputed, but it is
most probable that the Hebrew word jobel, to which it is traced,
meant "a ram's horn", and that from this instrument, used in
proclaiming the celebration, a certain idea of rejoicing was
derived. Further, passing through the Greek iobelaios, or iobelos,
the word became confused with the Latin jubilo, which means "to
shout", and has given us the forms jubilatio and jubilaeum, now
adopted in most European languages. For the Israelites, the year
of Jubilee was in any case preeminently a time of joy, the year of
remission or universal pardon. "Thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth
year," we read in Leviticus, xxv, 10, "and shalt proclaim
remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year
of jubilee." Every seventh year, like every seventh day, was
always accounted holy and set aside for rest, but the year which
followed seven complete cycles was to be kept as a sabbatical year
of special solemnity. The Talmudists and others afterwards
disputed whether the Jubilee Year was the forty-ninth or the
fiftieth year, the difficulty being that in the latter case two
sabbatical years must have been observed in succession. Further,
there are historical data which seem to show that in the age of
the Machabees the Jubilee of the fiftieth year could not have been
kept, for 164-163 B. C. and 38-37 B. C. were both certainly
sabbatical years, which they could not have been if two sabbatical
years had been intercalated in the interval. However, the text of
Leviticus (xxv, 8-55) leaves no room for ambiguity that the
fiftieth year was intended, and the institution evidently bore a
close analogy with the feast of Pentecost, which was the closing
day after seven weeks of harvest. In any case it is certain that
the Jubilee period, as it was generally understood and adopted
afterwards in the Christian Church, meant fifty and not forty-nine
years; but at the same time the number fifty was not originally
arrived at because it represented half a century, but because it
was the number that followed seven cycles of seven.
It was, then, part of the legislation of the Old Law, whether
practically adhered to or not, that each fiftieth year was to be
celebrted as a jubilee year, and that at this season every
household should recover its absent members, the land return to
its former owners, the Hebrew slaves be set free, and debts be
remitted. The same conception, spiritualized, forms the
fundamental idea of the Christian Jubilee, though it is difficult
to judge how far any sort of continuity can have existed between
the two. It is commonly stated that Pope Boniface VIII instituted
the first Christian Jubilee in the year 1300, and it is certain
that this is the first celebration of which we have any precise
record, but it is also certain that the idea of solemnizing a
fiftieth anniversary was familiar to medieval writers, no doubt
through their knowledge of the Bible, long before that date. The
jubilee of a monk's religious profession was often kept, and
probably some vague memory survived of those Roman ludi saeculares
which are commemorated in the "Carmen Saeculare" of Horace, even
though this last was commonly associated with a period of a
hundred years rather than any lesser interval. But, what is most
noteworthy, the number fifty was specially associated in the early
thirteenth century with the idea of remission. The translation of
St. Thomas of Caterbury took place in the year 1220, fifty years
after his martyrdom. The sermon on that oaccaion was preached by
Cardinal Stephen Lantron, who told his heareres that this accident
was meant by Providence to recall "the mystical virtue of the
number fifty, which, as every reader of the sacred page is aware,
is the number of remission" (P. L., CXC, 421). We might be tempted
to regard this discourse as a fabrication of later date, were it
not for the fact that a Latin hymn directed against the
Albigenses, and certainly belonging to the early thirteenth
century, speaks in xactly similar terms. The first stanza runs
thus:
Anni favor jubilaei
Poenarum laxat debitum,
Post peccatorum vomitum
Et cessandi propositum.
Currant passim omnes rei.
Pro mercede regnum Dei
Levi patet expositum.
In the light of this explicit mention of a jubilee with great
remissions of the penalties of sin to be obtained by full
confession and purpose of amendment, it seems difficult to reject
the statement of Cardinal Stefaneschi, the contemporary and
counsellor of Boniface VIII, and author of a treatise on the first
Jubilee ("De Anno Jubileo" in La Bigne, "Bibliotheca Patrum", VI,
536), that the proclamation of the Jubilee owed its origin to the
statements of certain aged pilgrims who persuaded Boniface that
great indulgences had been granted to all pilgrims in Rome about a
hundred years before. It is also noteworthy that in the Chronicle
of Alberic of Three Fountains, under the year 1208 (not, be it
noted 1200), we find this brief entry: "It is said that this year
was celebrated as the fiftieth year, or the year of jubilee and
remission, in the Roman Court" (Pertz, "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script."
XXIII, 889). It is beyond all dispute that on 22 Feb., 1300,
Boniface published the Bull "Antiquorum fida relatio", in which,
appealing vaguely the precedent of past ages, he declares that he
grants afresh and renews certain "great remissions and indulgences
for sins" which are to be obtained "by visiting the city of Rome
and the venerable basilica of the Prince of the Apostles". Coming
to more precise detail, he specifies that he concedes "not only
full and copious, but the most full, pardon of all their sins", to
those who fulfill certain conditions. These are, first, that being
truly penitent they confess their sins, and secondly, that they
visit the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome, at least
once a day for a specified time--in the case of the inhabitants
for thirty days, in the case of strangers for fifteen. No explicit
mention is made of Communion, nor does the word jubilee occur in
the Bull--indeed the pope speaks rather of a celebration which is
to occur every hundred years--but writers both Roman and foreign
described this year as annus jubileus, and the name jubilee
(though others, such as the "holy year" or "the golden year" have
been used as well) has been applied to such celebrations ever
since. Dante, who is himself supposed by some to have visited Rome
during this year to gain the Jubilee, refers to it under the name
Giubbileo in the Inferno (xviii, 29) and indirectly bears witness
to the enormous concourse of pilgrims by comparing the sinners
passing along one of the bridges of Malebolge in opposite
directions, to the throngs crossing the bridge of the Castle Sant'
Angelo on their way to and from St. Peter's. Similarly, the
chronicler Villani was so impressed on this occasion by the sight
of the monuments of Rome and the people who flocked thither that
he then and there formed the resolution of his great chronicle, in
the course of which he gives a remarkable account of what he
witnessed. He describes the indulgence as a full and entire
remission of all sins di culpa e di pena, and he dwells upon the
great contentment and good order of the people, despite the fact
that during the greater part of that year there were two hundred
thousand pilgrims on an average present in Rome over and above the
ordinary population. With regard to the phrase just noticed, a
culpa et a poena, which was often popularly used of the Jubilee
and other similar indulgences, it should be observed that it means
no more than what is now understood by a "plenary indulgence". It
implied, however, that any approved Roman confessor had faculties
to absolve from reserved cases, and that the liberty thus
virtually accorded of selecting a confessor was regarded as a
privilege. The phrase was an unscientific one, and was not
commonly used by theologians. It certainly did not mean, as some
have pretended, that the indulgence of itself released from guilt
as well as penalty. The guilt was remitted only in virtue of
sacramental confession and the sorrow of the penitent. The
sovereign pontiff never claimed any power of absolving in grievous
matters apart from these. "All theologians", remarks Maldonatus
with truth, "unanimously without a single exception, reply that an
indulgence is not a remission of guilt but of the penalty." (See
Paulus in "Zeitschrift f. kath. Theologie", 1899, pp. 49 sqq., 423
sqq., 743 sqq., and "Dublin Review", Jan., 1900, pp. 1 sqq.)
As we have seen, Boniface VIII had intended that the Jubilee
should be celebrated only once in a hundred years, but some time
before the middle of the fourteenth century, great instances, in
which St. Bridget of Sweden and the poet Petrarch amongst others
had some share, were made to Pope Clement VI, then residing at
Avignon, to anticipate this term, particularly on the ground that
the average span of human life was so short as otherwise to render
it impossible for many to hope to see any Jubilee in their own
generation. Clement VI assented, and in 1350 accordingly, though
the pope did not return to Rome himself. Cardinal Gaetani Ceccano
was dispatched thither to represent His Holiness at the Jubilee.
On this occasion daily visits to the church of St. John Lateran
were enjoined, besides those to the basilicas of St. Peter and St.
Paul without the walls, while at the next Jubilee, St. Mary Major
was added to the list. The visit to these four churches has
remained unchanged ever since as one of the primary conditions for
gaining the Roman Jubilee. The celebration next following was held
in 1390, and in virtue of an ordinance of Urban VI, it was
proposed to hold a Jubilee every thirty-three years as
representing the period of the sojourn of Christ upon earth and
also the average span of human life. Another Jubilee was
accordingly proclaimed by Martin V in 1423, but Nicholas V, in
1450, reverted to the quinquagesimal period, while Paul II decreed
that the Jubilee should be celebrated every twenty-five years, and
this has been the normal rule ever since.
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 two hundred persons were
trampled to death in a panic which occurred on the bridge of Sant'
Angelo. But even this disaster had its good effects in the pains
taken afterwards 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 St. Philip Neri, was the most famous. On the other
hand, it is impossible to doubt the evidence of innumerable
witnesses as to the great moral renovation produced by these
celebrations. The testimony comes in many cases from the most
unexceptionable sources, and it extends from the days of Boniface
VIII to the striking account given by Cardinal Wiseman ("Last Four
Popes", pp. 270, 271) of the only Jubilee held in the nineteenth
century, that of 1825. The omission of the Jubilees of 1800, 1850,
and 1875 was due to political disturbances, but with these
exceptions the celebration has been uniformly maintained every
twenty-five years from 1450 until the present time. The Jubilee of
1900, though shorn of much of its splendour by the confinement of
the Holy Father within the limits of the Vatican, was,
nevertheless carried out by Pope Leo XIII with all the solemnity
that was possible.
CEREMONIAL OF THE JUBILEE
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. It was formerly supposed that this rite was instituted by
Alexander VI in the Jubilee of l5OO, but this is certainly a
mistake. Not to speak of a supposed vision of Clement VI as early
as l35O, who is said to have been supernaturally admonished to
"open the door", we have several references to the "holy door" or
the "golden gate" in connection with the Jubilee long before the
year l475. The earliest account seems to be that of the Spanish
pilgrim, Pero Tafur, c. l437. He connects the Jubilee indulgence
with the right of sanctuary, which, he maintains, existed in pagan
times for all who crossed the threshold of the puerta tarpea upon
the site of the Lateran. He goes on to say that, at the request of
Constantine, Pope Sylvester published an Bull proclaiming the same
immunity from punishment for Christian sinners who took sanctuary
there. The privilege, however, was grossly abused and the popes
consequently ordered the door to be walled up at all seasons save
certain times of special grace. Formerly the door was unwalled
only once in a hundred years, this was afterwards reduced to
fifty, and now it is said to be "opened at the will of the pope."
However legendary all this may be, it is hardly possible that the
story could have been quite recently fabricated at the time Tafur
recorded it. Moreover, a number of witnesses allude to the
unwalling of the holy door in connection with the Jubilee of l45O.
One of these, the Florentine merchant Giovanni Rucellai, speaks of
the five doors of the Lateran basilica, "one of which is always
walled up except during the Jubilee year, when it is broken down
at Christmas when the Jubilee commences. The devotion which the
populace has for the bricks and mortar of which it is composed is
such that at the unwalling, the fragments are immediately carried
off by the crowd, and the foreigners (gli oltremontani) take them
home as so many sacred relics. . . . Out of devotion every one who
gains the indulgence passes through that door, which is walled up
again as soon as the Jubilee is ended" (Archivio di Storia Patria,
IV, 569-57O). All this describes a rite which has lasted unchanged
to the present day, and which has nearly always supplied the
principal subject depicted upon the long series of Jubilee medals
issued by the various popes who have opened and closed the holy
door at the beginning and end of each Jubilee year. Each of the
four basilicas has its holy door. That of St. Peter's is opened on
the Christmas Eve preceding the anno santo by the pontiff in
person, and it is closed by him on the Christmas Eve following.
The pope knocks upon the door three times with a silver hammer,
singing the versicle "Open unto me the gates of justice". The
masonry, which has been loosened beforehand, is made to fall in at
the third blow, and, after the threshhold has been swept and
washed by the Jubilee penitentiaries, the pope enters first. Each
of the holy doors at the other basilicas is similarly opened by a
cardinal specially deputed for the purpose. The symbolism of this
ceremony is probably closely connected with the idea of the
exclusion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, and the expulsion and
reconciliation of penitents according to the ritual provided in
the Pontifical. But it may also have been influenced by the old
idea of seeking sanctuary, as Tafur and Rucellai suggest. The
sanctuary knocker of Durham Cathedral still remains to remind us
of the important part which this institution played in the life of
our forefathers.
THE JUBILEE INDULGENCE
This is a plenary indulgence which, as stated by Boniface VIII in
Consistory, it is the intention of the Holy See to grant in the
most ample manner possible. Of course, when first conceded, such
an indulgence, and also the privi1ege annexed of choosing a
confessor who had power to absolve from reserved cases, was a much
rarer spiritual boon than it has since become. So preeminent was
the favour then regarded that the custom arose of suspending all
other indulgences during the Jubilee year, a practice which, with
certain modifications, still obtains at the present day. The
precise conditions for gaining each Jubilee 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 three: confession, Communion 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
official document preserved to us. Besides the ordinary Jubilee
indulgence, to be gained only by pilgrims who pay a visit to Rome,
or through special concession by certain cloistered religious
confined within their monasteries, it has long been customary to
extend this indulgence the following year to the faithful
throughout the world. For this fresh conditions are appointed,
usually including a certain number of visits to local churches and
sometimes fasting or other works of charity. Further, the popes
have constantly exercised their prerogative of conceding to all
the faithful indulgences ad instar jubilaei (after the model of a
jubilee) which are commonly known as "extraordinary Jubilees". On
these occasions, as at the Julilee itself, special facilities are
usually accorded for absolution from reserved cases, though on the
other hand, the great indulgence is only to be gained by the
performance of conditions much more onerous than those required
for an ordinary plenary indulgence. Such extraordinary Jubilees
are commonly granted by a newly elected pontiff at his accession
or on occasions of some unwonted celebration, as was done, for
example, at the convening of the First Vatican Council, or again
at times of great calamity.
HERBERT THURSTON
Transcribed by Donald J. Boon
<Picture: New Advent Catholic Supersite>
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
-------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Web:
http://www.ewtn.com
Email address:
[email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------
