Jubilee (Christianity)
In Judaism and Christianity, the concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In the Biblical Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fiftieth year, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.
In the Holy Bible, Leviticus 25:8-13 states, "And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession."
According to Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson (a member of the Chabad.org Ask the Rabbi team) in his answer to, "When is the next Jubilee year?", the Jubilee year is currently not observed or commemorated. He explains that, in the 6th century BCE, the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and sent the majority of its population into exile. Those who were deported are historically known as the Ten Lost Tribes. The Jewish peoples are certain before that point in time the Jubilee was regularly observed. They also believe after the destruction of the Second Temple and the disbandment of the Sanhedrin (supreme rabbinical court), the Jubilee year was no longer marked in any form. Rabbi Baaruch also noted, biblical law indicates the Jubilee is only observed when all twelve Israelite tribes are living in Israel. (Lev 25:10 “And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live on it...”) These are two of many reasons, the Jubilee year is currently not observed or commemorated. However, some Israelites are of the opinion that the Jubilee is observed as long as there is a partial representation of each tribe.
In Christianity, the tradition dates to 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII convoked a holy year, following which ordinary jubilees have generally been celebrated every 25 or 50 years; with extraordinary jubilees in addition depending on need. Christian Jubilees, particularly in the Catholic tradition, generally involve pilgrimage to a sacred site, normally the city of Rome.
Read more about Jubilee (Christianity): "Pre-History" of The Christian Jubilee, The First Christian Jubilee, The Jubilee of 1350, The Jubilees of 1390 and 1423, Subsequent Jubilees, The "Great Jubilee" of 2000, Ceremonial of The Jubilee, The Jubilee Indulgence, List of Jubilee Years