Jubilee (Christianity) - Subsequent Jubilees

Subsequent Jubilees

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.

In 1500 Pope Alexander VI announced that the Doors in the four major basilicas would be opened contemporaneously, and that he himself would open the Holy Door of Saint Peter's. The ninth Jubilee was solemnly opened on December 24, 1524 by Pope Clement VII, at a time when there were already symptoms of the great crises which would soon tear the Church apart, with the Protestant Reformation. The 1550 Jubilee was proclaimed by Paul III, but it was Pope Julius III who actually opened it.

It is recorded that in 1575, in the time of Pope Gregory XIII, as many as 300,000 people came to Rome from all over Europe. The following Holy Year was proclaimed by Pope Clement VIII in 1600.

In 1625, Urban VIII opened the ceremonial doors for the Jubilee year. However the amount of pilgrims was lower than expected due to the wars in northern Italy and so the Pope suspended the declaration of indulgences outside Rome in an attempt to lure the faithful to the city. He then went on to declare a universal or extraordinary jubilee in 1628 to pray for peace. This was repeated the next year in 1629 and brought undoubted material benefits to the city. Finally, Innocent X oversaw the last of his jubilees in 1650.

Clement X presided over that of 1675. While Clement XI, who opened the Jubilee of the year 1700, is remembered especially for establishing one of Rome's most renowned charitable institutions, the Hospice St Michele a Ripa. Gradually other similar institutions were opened to offer shelter and assistance to pilgrims, as in the year 1725, the Holy Year called by Benedict XIII. A famous preacher during the Jubilee 1750, proclaimed by Benedict XIV, was Saint Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, the apostle of the Via Crucis, who set up 14 stations of the Cross inside the ruins of the Colosseum.

Clement XIV announced the Jubilee of the Year 1775 but died three months before Christmas and the Holy Door was opened by the new Pope, Pius VI. The difficult situation in which the Church found herself during the hegemonic rule of Napoleon prevented Pius VII from proclaiming the Jubilee of 1800.

More than a half a million pilgrims made the journey to Rome for the Jubilee of 1825. Twenty five years later, the Holy Year could not be held because of the unsettled situation in the Roman Republic and temporary exile of Pius IX. However, he was able to announce a Jubilee for 1875, but it was celebrated without any external solemnity, with only the clergy present for the inauguration. The holy doors were not opened, and the pilgrims who came were generally in Rome to do homage to the Pope, who had not accepted the Italian annexation of Rome by the troops of King Victor Emmanuel, rather than to obtain an indulgence.

The Jubilee of 1900, though shorn of much of its splendour by the self-confinement of the Pope within the limits of the Vatican, was, nevertheless carried out by Pope Leo XIII with all the solemnity that was possible.

In the 20th century, Jubilees were held in 1925, 1933 (in commemoration of Jesus' death), 1950, 1975, 1983 (Holy Year of the Redemption) and 2000.

Pope Pius XII used the occasion of the 1950 jubilee to declare a new national anthem for the Vatican City.