HOI.Y YEAR TO TAKE MILLIONS OF PILCRIMS TO ROME
ijASJLICA of St. Peter in Rome where many of the Holy Year
ceremonials will be centered.
i/P) News features
(3y F:anr BruJto)
VATICAN CITY — Called by
Pope rius XII the “year of the
great return an 1 the great par
don." t :e 1050 Jubilee will bring
to Rome the most tremendous
pilgrimage. It will be the 25th of
which there is a definite record.
Rich middle class and poor pil
grims will come from the six con
tinents of the world. Many, for the
first time in Holy Year history,
will came by air: more by sea nad
a good many, imitating their an
cient predecessors, will come on
foot.
For these last the Pone remind
ing pilgrims they should not come
in the spirit of “pleasure seeking”
tourists, bud a special word in his
bull of May 26, proclaiming the
Holy Year.
Estimates of the number that
will come to Rome to gain the
spiritual benefits Holy Year offers
range as high as 6.000.000. More
than 2,000.000 have already regis
tered.
Til will be given an opportunity
to see the Pope in vast public au
diences and to receive his bless
ing.
Romans, especially under the
direction of the “Crusade of Good
ness” conducted by the noted Jes
uit orator, Father Riccardo Lom
bardi, are preparing for Holy
Year, which begins Christmas eve.
That day the holy door at Saint
Peter’s Basilica and simultaneous
ly holy doors at three other Roman
Basilicas — Saint Mary Major,
Saint John Lateran and Saint Paul
Outside to Walls—will be opened.
The broad outlines of the Holy
Year’s purpose and aims are men
tioned in the Pope’s bull, announc
ig it. “Today, as never before,” he
said, “there is a most urgent need
that all things be refashioned in
the truth and power of the gos
pel.”
The Pope—a.-, he has several
times in the past—gave a special
attention to the Holy Land.
“Everywhere.” he decla red,
“but especially in the holy places
of Palestine, may be tranquility of
order founded on a just settlement
be restored as soon as possible.”
The Pope's announcement ex
pressed hope that “the various so
cial classes, with hatred banished
and differeces settled, may be
united in justice and fraternal
agreement, and that finally the
Cereal number of those who want
my be given work to earn an
ho-.st living and may receive
i.o<~essr.iy and opportune aid from
ihor.e who are in belter circum
stances.”
On peace, one of his constant
thoughts, the Pope said:
“May peace, the object of our
ardent yearnings, return at long
last to the hearts of all, the fam
ilies, to individual countries and
to the community of nations.”
To all who come to Rome, con
fess their sins, receive commun
i >u, visit the four Holy Year basil
icas and recite in them the pre
scribed prayers, the Pope has
promised a plenary indulgence.
According to Catholic teaching
this is full remission of the tem
poral punishment due to sin, which
otherwise must be expiated before
the soul may enter heaven.
This special indulgence may be"
gained as many times as the pre
scribed conditions are met and
may also be applied to the souls
of the faithful departed who may
be expiating in the fires of purga
tory. according to Catholic teach
ing, the temporal punshment for1
their sins.
In the ‘Crusaide of Goodness,” \
whose leader. Father Lombardi,
already has spoken to hundreds of
thousands in Belgium, France,'
Austria, Canada and the United
States. Romans are preparing
themselves spiritually for Holy
Year.
The crusade is being broadcast
from the Church of Saint Mary
Major to the 120 parishes of Romo.
A great public procession through
Rome, bore a portrait of the Ma
donna before which Pope Pius
celebrated his first mass 50 years
ago—April 12. 1899.
The portrait was carried from
Saint Mary Major to St. Peter’s
where the Pope will again cele
brate a thanksgiving mass before
it. Later it was carried back to
Saint Mary Major. On Christmas
Eve the Pontiff will lift an ivory
handled silver hammer, strike the
Holy Door at Saint Peter’s saying:
‘Open unto me the gates of jus
tice.” The door, open only in Holy
Years, is bricked up between ju
bilees.
Previously loosened, the door
will then be swung open. After a
brief ceremony and prayers, the
Pope—holding a lighted candle—
will enter the basilica, first of the
millions who will cross the sacred
threshhold during the year.
• * * *
War, chaos left by war, threat
of war, plague and disorder were
background, und sometimes fore
ground, for nearly ail 24 past Ju
bilees of the Catholic Church.
But is the past, as for the 1950
Holy Year declared by Pope Pius
XII, the hope for peace and the
uplifting of men’s hearts to spir
itual life were primary motives
for calling jubilees.
Countless thousands came, de
spite the hardships of long jour
neys. perils of war and the threats
ot bandits. From France in the
Middle Ages many devout Chris
tians made 50-day barefoot walk
ing pilgrimages.
For the first Catholic Jubilee
of which there is definite record
—that declared by Pope Boniface
VII in 1300—pilgrims came to
Rome in such great numbers that
they filled the streets “like an
army that grows day by day.”
Many, came on foot, the very old
borne on the shoulders of the
young. They came singing hymns.
When the second Jubilee was
called in 1350 by Pope Clemen!
VI the papacy was established at
Avignon. Clement never came to
Rome, where anarchy and disor
der were then rampant and there
was plague—the plague described
by Boccaccio in his Decameron.
The earthquake of 1349 had
wrought havoc in France and Ger
many. In Rome the roof of the
Lateran basilica fell and the Ba
silica of Saint Paul was damaged.
Ludwig the Bavarian descended
upon Rome and put it to fire and
sword. The winter was unusually
bitter. But even so more pilgrims
came than in 1300.
• The fourth Jubilee was an
nounced by Pope Boniface IX for
1400. Trouble continued to tear
Rome, which was divided by the
anti-papal schism. The plague
killed 700 to 800 daily and bitter
ness rose against the Pope but
large numbers made the perilous
pilgrimage.
Pestilence that had been spread
ing in Italy entered Rome during
the sixth Holy Year, set by Nicholas
V in 145C. Hospials, churches and
houses were full of the dead and
dying. Paolo dello Mastro, a writer
of that day, reported that people
“fell dead in the streets like dogs.”
But pilgrims, nonetheless, contin
ued to came to Rome.
Opening of the seventh Jubilee
— that of Sixtus IV in 1475 —
found comparatively good times
in Italy.
Infamy was widespread and in
high places when Alexander VI,
who was Rodrigo Borgia, member
of the then powerful family, de
clared the eighth Holy Year for
1500. It was this year that the
ceremony of the holy door was es
tablished.
The ninth Holy Year — called
by Clement VII in 1525 — found
the Catholic church in the midst
of a bitter fight with Martin Lu
ther, apostate monk. Later it was
embroiled with Henry VIII of
England.
The tenth Holy Year, that of
Julius III in 1550, found Catholi
cism renascent. But when Gregory
XIII called the 11th Holy Year in
1575, pestilence — from which
strangely Rome itself appeared to
be spared—was rampant in Italy.
Clement XIV, who called the
19th ubilee in 1775, died, and the
Holy Year was celebrated by his
cussessor, Pius VI, whose reign
was troubled and complicated by
| the French Revolution. Assailed
by the Kingdom of Naples and Jo
seph of Austria, PiUs VI was taken
to France, where he died in exile
at Valence.
No opening ceremony marked
the 21st Holy Year called by Pope
Pius IX in 1875, a year when the
Vatican was beleaguered and its
relations with many states had de
teriorated.
The world was still suffering I
from the shock of World War I
when Pope Pius XI—in 1925—
called the 23rd Holy Year.
Eight years later, Pius XI called
an extraordinary “Jubilee of the
Redemption” to commemorate in
1933 the 19th centenary of the ;
death of Christ.
The humble millions and the
great who come to Rome in the
1950 Holy Year will walk on
stones trod by princes, kings and
emperors.
Dante, poet of heaven and hell,
came from Florence for the first
recorded Holy Year in 1300.
The poet Francis Petrarch la
mented the state of the church
during the 1350 Holy Year. Lu
crezia Borgia, of poison fame, then
wife of Don Alfonso of Aragon,
gave much attention to her reli
gious practices during the eighth
Jubilee in 1500.
The tenth Jubilee in 1550 lound
Saint Ingatius Loyola, founder of
the Society of Jesus, helping the
poor who came for the Holy Year.
Michaelangelo. than an old man.
participated.
Queen Catherine of Sweden
gave up Lutheranism and return
ed to Rome for the 14th Jubilee
just 300 years ago—in 1650—and
died here.
Pilgrims of the past frequently
had to run a gauntlet of bandits
CANONIZATION—Such ceremonies are part of Holy Year.
Catholic CSiurch
12:00 Midnight Christmas Eve. Mass.
1:00 a.m.—Christmas Morning Mass.
8:30 a.m.—Christmas Morning Mass.1
Catholic Information
_____
A merry Christmas to you and yours!
I
i ---
Merry Christinas! It’s easy to
! say it; and it’s easy to mean it
when we say it to you, our readers.
We, your Catholic neighbors,
feel that we owe you much for the
; reception you have given our little
messages in the columns of this
paper week after week—for the en
; couraging words of good-will and
interest which we have received
by letter and word of mouth.
We feel sure that you now un
derstand more about your Catholic
neighbors and how they worship
than you did before the commence
ment of our labor of love. We be
lieve that you consider us people
sincere in a faith, which, although
not your own, has behind it good
ness. authority, and reason which
command, at least, respect. We
are convinced that by now you ap
preciate the singleness of purpose
in our work of providing this in
formation, thereby gaining mutual
tolerance and understanding; and
we think you have likely witesses
with us the good that this has ac
complished among religionists of
many types in this locality.
So in thanking you for your
kindly reception of our articles,
we wish to offer to you and to
yours our most cordial wishes for
a mighty merry Christmas, to
gether with the prayer that you
will receive in abundance the
blessings and graces which the
Christ Child brought out fo Hea
ven for you and for us 1900 years
ago.
“Peace on earth” is our prayer,
now and always—“peace on earth
to men of good will.” •
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