Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, APRIL 1st., 1933. “HOLY YEAR.”

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 April 1933, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, APRIL 1st., 1933. “HOLY YEAR.”

gPECTAL significance is alt ached to Sunday, April 2, ,1933. The. Roman Catholics throughout the world, estimated to number three hundred and fifty million, will join, to-morrow, in celebrating the “Holy Year,” proelaimied by His Holiness Pope Pius XT. Having its origin in tlie ancient Scriptures, the Holy Year is synonymous with the Scriptural jubilee which oc-

curs each fiftieth year, after seven | Sabbatic years. The jubilee was to be a year of relief for all the suffering children of men, bringing freedom to the captive slaves and rest to the weary, and rectifying the disorder which from time to time appeared amongst the people. The first record of a Christian jubilee was in the year 1300, in the pontificate of Pope Boniface VIII., who, in the Papal Document, called, the people to a life of piety, prayer, and penance. Pope Paul 11., in 1470, decreed that the jubilee should be proclaimed every twentyfive years, and this practice has been the normal rule since. However, in commemoration of events of great world-wide importance, it was customary to proclaim a special Holy Year, as on the present occasion, to commemorate the nineteenth centenary of the death of Christ.

The announcement of the Holy Year gives a unique character to the pontificate of the present Pope. No year of jubilee occurred in the reigns of his two predecessors, but already, in 1925, Pope Pius XL has presided at one in Rome. A second jubilee year in the same pontificate is, so far as a cursory examination of records goes, unprecedented. The present Pope has used the latest developments tof communication to stimulate worldwide interest in matters having a spiritual basis. Naturally, the Holy Year will be marked by special celebrations. It is inaugurated by the unsealing of a “holy door” in St. Peter’s Church, and, at the conclusion of the year, it is sealed up until the next occasion. Spiritual favours and blessings attach to the performance of visits to churches within Rome, if accompanied by the recitation of prescribed prayers, the giving of alms, and sorrow for sin. Pilgrimages are made to Rome from all countries. That from Australia in 1925 numbered 200, and was led by Archbishop Mannix. It gave particular pleasure to the Pope, as it was the first from the Antipodes.

An additional distinction connected with the current year is the fact that it marked the eleventh anniversary of the Pope’s coronation, which was celebrated, on February 12, by a. special Pontifical Mass in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. His Holiness is a close observer of international relations, and, as was pointed out recently, by Bishop Brodie, the proclamation of a Holy Year was no doubt given added impetus by the “financial and economic crisis, affecting so many nations in the world, the rumours and dangers of wars, and the sad treatment being meted out to religion, to the followers of Christ in such countries as Spain, Mexico, and more especially Russia.” As a. general rule, the jubilee at Rome is extended to the universal church in the following year, and the church visits prescribed for Rome are commuted to visits to local churches. An extraordinary jubilee, such as that which will commence to-morrow, may be granted at any time, and will probably apply to the whole church, without division into sections for celebration at Rome and elsewhere, although particular interest will attach to assistance at Roman functions. A special feature of the com ing jubilee will be its celebration at Vatican City, in its state of independence from Italy.