Why and How We Celebrate Jubilee Years

Editor’s Note
This week we celebrate the secular holiday of Thanksgiving (November 24) in the United States. This is an easy holiday to ‘baptize’ because we are to adore, praise, and thank God unceasingly. A fundamental disposition of the Christian is gratitude to God for we recognize that all good things come from Him. In fact, the Greek origin of the word ‘eucharist’ translates as ‘to give thanks.’ So it makes sense that Catholics would be eager to set aside a special time in order to focus upon thanking God.
The Fatima Center wishes you a blessed and grace-filled Thanksgiving.
In particular, we also want to thank Our Lady, as She is the Mediatrix of All Graces. As a token of our gratitude, we will post a series of reflections on the Holy Rosary on Thursday (Joyful), Friday (Sorrowful), and Saturday (Glorious). These reflections will connect the Mysteries of the Rosary to God’s work of Creation. This seems appropriate since Thanksgiving includes our thanking God for all He has created for us.
As per our tradition, Catholics also lay a special emphasis on thanking God during Jubilee Years. Mr. Plese explains this tradition below.

Scriptural Basis for Jubilee Years

One aspect of being Catholic that is often not discussed, as it comes up usually only a few times in a person’s lifetime, is the observation of Holy Years of Jubilee. Beyond the weekly, monthly, and annual cycles that we know well as Catholics, there is the Jubilee cycle that comes less frequently. The website FishEaters does a good job introducing the origin of Jubilee Years:

“In the Old Covenant, God set aside certain times to be honored as sacred. As recorded by Moses in Exodus 20:8-11, there was to be a weekly ‘Sabbath’ – which means ‘cease’ or ‘rest.’ In Deuteronomy 16:16-17, Moses records God’s commands to our spiritual ancestors to keep the yearly Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. In addition to these weekly and yearly cycles of time, God also ordered periodic year-long sabbaths. These ‘sabbatical years’ were of two types: the regular sabbatical year which was to take place every 7th year, and the special year of Jubilee, which took place after ‘seven weeks of seven years,’ or after 49 years – that is, in every 50th year. All told, then, every 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, 35th, 42nd, 49th, and 50th years would be sabbath years, with two years in a row – the 49th year and the 50th year of jubilee – being such. The word ‘jubilee’ is a Hebrew word which etymologically indicates the ram’s horn – ‘jobel’ (also ‘shofar’) – that God ordained should announce these special sabbatical years in Leviticus 25:1-13.”

The Church has accordingly adopted this practice and continued it, since Our Lord Himself said He came not to abolish the Old Law but to perfect it. We see this in many different aspects of the Old Testament, such as the ritualistic observances in worship and even the vestments.

The Holy Years

Writing for the National Catholic Register, Father Raymond de Souza writes:

“There will be a holy year in 2025, keeping the tradition of holy years every quarter-century. The last holy year was the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015-2016; before that there was the ‘ordinary’ holy year of 2000, styled the ‘Great Jubilee.’ The previous ordinary Holy Year was in 1975.”

But in the past century we have seen more Holy Years, in addition to Jubilee Years, as Father de Souza notes:

“In 1933, Pope Pius XI called an extraordinary jubilee year for the 1,900th anniversary of the redemption…The idea of ‘special years’ has become a key pastoral tool in the last century. The tradition of holy years began in 1300, with invitations for Catholics to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Eventually the interval between holy years was shortened from 100 to 25 years, so that everyone might (theoretically) have a chance to complete a holy year pilgrimage during his lifetime.”

Special holy years were issued in 1954 (Marian Year), 1967 (Year of Faith), 1983 (Jubilee of Redemption), 1984 (2,000th Anniversary of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Birth), 2002 (Year of the Rosary), and 2004 (Year of the Eucharist). Closer to our own time, Pope Benedict XVI observed three such years throughout his pontificate: The Year of St. Paul (2008), the Year for Priests (2009), and the Year of Faith (2012). In 2015 Pope Francis called an extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and followed in 2019 with the Year of Our Lady of Loretto, and in 2020 with the Year of St. Joseph.

The Holy Doors (Portæ Sanctæ)

Jubilee Years in particular are special as they are opportunities for us to invoke the mercy of God in a special way and make a pilgrimage to Rome to enter the Holy Doors, which are only ever open during Jubilee Years. FishEaters elaborates on that:

“The Sacrament of Confession can be likened to God’s granting to us what He commanded to Moses: ‘remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee.’ In these holy years, penance is key (a General Confession in Jubilee Years is recommended by Pope Benedict XIV).

“In addition to the special emphasis on the alleviation of the eternal effects of sin through the Sacrament of Confession, the temporal effects of sin are a focus of Jubilee Years, too. A plenary indulgence can be gained, under the usual conditions, by making a pilgrimage to the four primary patriarchal churches in Rome and walking through their Holy Doors (portæ sanctæ), which are symbolic of Christ. This is the standard requirement for the Jubilee indulgence, but the exact requirements (published when the Jubilee is announced) may vary from Jubilee to Jubilee and usually include provisions for visiting local churches, doing charitable works, or fasting, etc.”

The Holy Doors are present in the four major Basilicas of Rome (St. Peter in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls). In the past few years, some additional Holy Doors were established by the Holy See. To see the opening of the Doors, or to walk through them during the Holy Year, is an experience that one will not forget. The Holy Jubilee of 1950 was documented by Life magazine and with the advent of television, most Catholics had their first opportunity to ever see the ceremony of their opening.

Conclusion

While still two years away, it is not too early to start making the logistical and financial preparation needed for a pilgrimage to Rome. A friend of mine has started an organization whose mission is to take pilgrims to Rome with the purpose of seeing and experiencing the sacred sites every day, with the Traditional Latin Mass being a core part of the pilgrimage. Start planning now for the Holy Jubilee Year of 2025 Anno Domini. Discern whether you are journeying to Rome to gain these indulgences.

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