THE HOLY YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 8, 10 January 1925, Page 13

THE HOLY YEAR

: , ' ■ ' ■ •—- ' m - —:— . ■ PILGRIMS TO VISIT ROME PREPARATIONS FOR AT LEAST FOUR MILLIONS LARGE STOCKS OF PROVISIONS. With the selection by the Pope early in December of the Cardinals who are to act aa special Legates for the opening of the basilica doors at the beginning of the Holy Year that began this'month, this outstanding event of the Roman Catholic Church has taken shape. The Holy or Jubilee Years are the greatest festivals of the Church and have been celebrated, with only three exceptions in the la«t century, once Seyery 25 years since-1475, says the Rome correspendent of the "Daily Mail." Hundreds of thousands and even millions ■ of ' pilgrims /journey ■ to Rome during Jubilee Years to enjoy the special spiritual favours which the Church.concedes for the occasion; while hundreds of thousands more are attracted by the wonderful pageantry of the Vatican functions. The lowest number of pilgrims on record gathered in Rome for the last Holy Year—only 350,000. As the number of visitors during the year is proportional to the facilitils for housing them, arrangements have this time been made for betwS&n '3,000 000' and 4,000,000, and it is expected that this number will.be exceeded, *i which lease 1925 will mark a new high level, the previous one being 3,000,000 in 1600 .The Vatican,, the Government, and the municipality have all contribu£ed to render it possible for Rome, which' has a population of 750,000, to accommodate 1 eucn a vast multitude of people.' The Vatican is building special hostels, turning over for use by the pilgrims •monasteries, convents, and other ecclesiastical institution*, and making an accuratexensus of;the.rooms which can be rented for short periods of time at a moderate rental.- The Government is granting special, privileges to the build'«FwWMn n«T hou^ I which are^^ completforhlH^n^ f 6^ ea/ Passin S decrees forbidding landlords to evict their tenants and: gxving the tenant* the right L sublet a part or the whole of aheir apartments, even if their contract* with the landlords expressly prohibit it, by : collecting arge stores of foodstuffs/and by abolishing the tax,on flour; the municipality by granting exemption fromthe rates to new houses completed with-' n the year by repaying the €treets, and by establishing, new tramway and omniuus llll.cS> . y „ ■■■ . . FOUR'HUNDRED YEARS AGO.' It is interesting to read that almost the same steps were 'taken by Pope Gregory XIII. aS long ago as the sixteenth century, with the only addition of special precautions to ensure the personal aafety of thepUgrims on'their ■way.to Rome, and with the omission, of course, of the* new tramway and omnibus 1575 Gregory XIII. ordered the 1 prelates' governing the Pontifical States to prepare large stocks of provisions for the

pilgrims, to repair all .the roads leading to Rome, and to keep a constant watch for robbers. He also collected large supplies of wheat, the tax on flour, and' forbade landlords to evict their tenants or to raise their rent. The Holy Years are ushered in and closed by the opening and walling up again of the Holy Doors which exist in each of the four major basilicas (St. Peter's,; Santa Maria Maggiore, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul "Outside the Walls). The most important' of these functions is the one at St. Peter's, which the Pope, following the example of Alexander VI. in 1500, performs himself. , The Pope, carried in 'the Sedia Gestatoria at the head of the cardinals and the Vatican Court, comes from the Sistirie .Chapel-and halts in front of the Holy Door of St. Peter's, all the other doors of which are closed. Descending from the chair, he taps the door three times with a golden hammer, for the purchase of which a world-wide subscription is -. being made among the faithful, and this action is then twice repeated by the Cardinal Penitentiary, whereafter workmen quickly tear down the masonry partition'which obstructs the-door. The bricks and mortar are avidly -seized upon by the populace, which values them highly as holy relics. Then the Pontiff, with_ a cross in his right hand and a lighted candle in the other, leads the cardinals, and the Papal Court into the basilica on foofy where he admits them to the ceremony of the " veneration." A similar ceremony is performed for the walling up again pf the door at the y end of the Holy Year. IDEA OF HOLY YEARS. '■ The idea of Holy Years is very old, as we are told ; that the Jews held some sort of Holy Year every seven years, in which slaves could acquire their freedom. The Church followed the same principle I>y getting plenary indulgence to all the faithful who journeyed to Rome in certain specified years. At first these years, occurred at irregular intervals till Boniface Vni. in 1300 established that they should be held once every 100 years. This period was-re-duced to 50 years by Clement VI., to 33 years by Urban-VI., ,and to 25 years by Paul 11. on 2nd February, 1470, the idea being that «very man should have the opportunity at least once in his life of profiting by the 4)ecial indulgences which are granted. ." .■■". ■'■■■ The success of' some of" the early Holy Years; with the more limited. facilities for locomotion in those days, is remarkable. We learnt that 2,000,000 people visited Rome in 1475,' that 3,000,000 were present in 1600, that scores of people were trampled under foot, that scores mPre were drowned in the Tiber, that some Popes were obliged to knock down numerous houses to -widen the streets to make •;way for. the crowds, that one year the crowd was such that it was impossible to close the Holy Door again till Epiphany. ; The sufferings entailed by the journeys .to Rome of such huge crowds must have been enormous, arid we are not surprised to read that the pilgrims used to fall on their knees in a kind of ecstasy when they saw the dome of St. Peter's appear in the distance, to mark their -..- journey's end. Numbers must have died, on the way through disease; hunger, fatigue, and plague, and by jthe ravages pf robbers. Some Popes issued Bulls granting plenary indulgence to all pilgrims who died on.' their way to Rome for the Holy 1 Years. ■ „' . - --, •■■'■. •■■ •;