BULL OF PROMULGATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 27, 6 July 1899, Page 3

BULL OF PROMULGATION.

Leo, Bishop, Servant of the Servants ok God. To All the Faithful of Christ Who Shall Read these Letters Health and Apostolic Benediction. As the present century, almost the full length of which has been by God's goodness covered by Our own life, is now hastening to its close, We have gladly determined, in accordance with the custom of Our predecessors, to pass a decree which may be a source of salvation to Christian people, and may, as it were, mark the last step of the solicitude with which We have exercised the supreme Pontificate. We refer to the G-reat Jubilee, long ago made a part of Christian custom, and sanctioned by the forethought of Our predecessors. Handed down to us from our fathers it has come to be called the Holy Year, on account of the extraordinary sacred ceremonies with which it is accustomed to be celebrated, but especially because it affords more abundant help for the correction of morals, and for that renewal of mind and heart which leads to holiness. We Ourselves were witness in Our youth how helpful to salvation vras the last Jubilee decreed in solemn form during the Pontificate of Leo XII. at a time when Rome was the greatest and safest theatre for a public act of religion. We remember, and We even yet seem to see in Our mind's eye the crowds of pilgrims, the multitudes who, in processional order, went from church to church — the holiest in Christendom, the apostolic men who preached iv the public streets, the most sacred places in the city resounding with the praises of God, and the Pontiff with his college of cardinals setting an example of piety and charity before the eyes of all. From the memory of those times the mind is recalled with some bitterness to the fad reality of the preterit day. For demonstrations of which We speak, and which, when carried out without hindrance, in the full light of the eiry, are accustomed wonderfully to foster and arou°e the piety of the people, there is now, in the changed state of Rome, either no opportunity of organising, or the permission depends on a will other than Our own. THE NEED FOR PRAYEIi. Nevertheless, We trust that Gcd, Who helps all good designs, will vouchsafe a prosperous and inoffensive course to this Our design, which We have undertaken for His honour and glory. For whither do We look, and what is it We desire ? This thing only, that We may by oar efforts put as many men as may be in possesion of the glory everlasting, and that We may to this end apply to the diseaaea that afflict the nouls of men those remedies which Jesus Christ has wished should be in our hands to dispense. Not only does Our apostolic charge call tor this action from Us, but the very circumstances of our time seem also to demand it. Not that our age is sterile in good works and Christian priory ; on the contrary, by God's help, splendid examples abound, nor is there any kind of virtue, however high or arduous it may be, in which we do not see many souls excelling, for the Christian religion has a certain divinely implanted force, inexhaustible and ever active, which arouses and fosters goodnesa. But, looking around, a man turns to the other side, and oh I the darkness, the error, and the mighty multitude of those rushing to endless ruin. We are especially troubled with sadness as often as We think of the great number of Christian people who, captivated by a false license in thought and judgment, and eagerly draining the poison of false doctrine, daily squander the great gift of divine faith. It is from this that comes the distaste for the Christian life and the wide-spread lapse of morality ; hence, too, that eager and insatiable appetite for tke things which strike the senses, and all the thoughts and preoccupation s which, turned from God, are fixed on the things of earth alone. It can scarcely be estimated what ruin has already issued from this dark source and invaded the principles upon which states are founded. For the spirit of revolt so widely spread, the stormy outbursts of popular discontent, the perils that no one can foresee, and the crimes of tragic horror are discerned, by those who look into their causes, to be nothing else than a sort of lawless and unbridled endeavour to gain and enjoy the things of this world. It is therefore a matter of private and public benefit to admonish men of their duty, to ronse their hearts, suuk in lethargy, and to recall to the thought of their salvation all those who, hour by hour, rashly run the risk of perishing and of losing, through carelessness

or pride the heavenly and unchangeable happiness for which alone we wpre born. This is the great object of the devotion of the Holy Year. During its months our Holy Mother the Church, mindful alone of mercy and forgiveness, strives with nil her /pal and strength to turn the minds of men to better things, and that pjnitence, the great source of amendment of life, may wa-h nut the faults which each one has committed. With this object in view, multiplying her prayers and increasing her devotion, she endeavours to appoas'- the outraged divinity of God, and to call down irom heaven an abundance of divine blessings. Throwing wide open the treasures of grace the dispensing or which has been entrusted to her. she calk all Christian people to the hope of pardon, in order that she may vanquish the most unwilling by her abounding and indulgent love. And .«o, please God, from all this what rich and timely blessings may we not expect. THE SOLEMN HOMAGE. The opportuneness of the matter is increased by certain extraordinary ceremonies, news of which lias already, Wo think, spread abroad, for the consecration in seme sort of the end ot the nineteenth century arid the beginning of the twentieth. We lefVr to the solemn homage which is to be paid all the world over on the confines of two centuries to Jesus Christ Our Saviour. Willingly have We praised and approved of the designs formed in this regard by the piety of private persons, for what could be more holy or more salutary 1 All that the human race can desire, love, hope for, and seek, all is in the only-begotten Son of God, for He is our Salvation, our Life, and our Resurrection. To wish to leave Him is to will our utter perishing for ever. Wherefore, though the voice of adoration, praise, honour, and thanksgiving which are due to Our Lord Jesus Christ is never silent, but is ever heard in every place — nevertheless no thanks, no honour can be so great that more and greater are not due to Him. Besides, are the men of unmindful and thanklees hearts who are accustomed to repay their Saviour's love with contempt, and His benefits with injuries, few in number at the present time ? At any rate the lives of very many paused in opposition to His laws and precepts are evidences of a wicked and ungrateful disposition. And what are we to say of our aye havingseen the renewal more than once of the awful heresy of Arius concerning the divinity of Jesus I Well, therefore, have you done who by this new and splendid design have given to the piety of the people an inoeutive which ought to be carried out in such a way that nothing may befall to hinder the course of the Jubilee nnd its appointed solemnities. This forthcoming manifestation on the part of Catholics of their faith and piety will al-o have the further object of expressing their detestation of the impieties which have been uttered or perpetrated during our time, and of making reparation for the iusults offered to the sacred divinity ot Jesus Christ, especially those committed in public. And now. if we are really in earnest, the form of satisfaction most to be desired, and at the same time the most real and manifest and the most plainly marked as genuine is true repentance for nin. and then, having implored peace and pardon of God, to fulfil with greater zeal the duties necessary to virtue, or to resume those that have been neglected. And since the Holy Year offers such favourable opportunities for this object as we pointed out at the outlet, it is equally clear that it is desirable and even necessary that all Christian people should gird themselves for the task full of hope and courage. Wherefore, with eyes raised to heaven an 1 with heartfelt prayers to God Who is rich in mercy that lie would graciously vouchsafe to hoar Our petitions ar d favour Our enterprise, to enlighten mon's minds by His power and to ino\* their hearts in accordance with His goodness ; following in the footsteps of the Roman Pontiffs, our predect ssors, and with the absent of Our Venerable Brethren, the Cardinals ot the Holy Roman Church, by this letter, in vinue of the authority of Ahni»hty God, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and Our own. We order and promulgate, and will that it should be regarded as oidercd and promulgated, a great and Universal Jubiler in tin-, holy city, beginning from the first Vespers on Christinas Day in the ye.ir lVi'.l ,ui<U>nding with the first vispers of Chriftiras bay in the year I'.Hiu, in the hope that it may happily woik tor the glury of God. the salvation of souls, and the inert ase of the Church. THE CONDITIONS I'OR UAINIM. 11l 1, J L'HIUM:. During this year of Jubilee Wo grant and concede mercifully in the Lord a plenary indulgence, remission, and pardon lor sin to all the faithful of either sex who, truly penitent and having confessed and communicated, shall piously v i~.it, the basilica-. oL the Blessed I'eter and Paul, also of St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major, at least once a day for twenty day, consecutively or at intervals, according to natural or ecclesiastic il .computation — v:, reckoning from the first Vespers of one day till nightfall on the following day. The*e are the conditions for those who are living in Rome, whether they an* citizens or visitors. But those who come from a distance shall devoutly visit the same basilicas on at least ten days, reckoned as indicated above, and shall there pour forth their pious prayers to God for the exaltation of the Church, the extirpation of heresies, concord amon^ Catholic princes, and the salvation of Christian people. Since, however, it may happen that so-ne, in ppite of the best of intentions, may be un-ible either to fulfil the conditions above laid down in whole or in part, being prevented by sickness or other legitimate cause whilst in the City or 0:1 thy way hither, We in consideration of their good will, as far as We may in the Lord, grant that provided they be truly contrite, purified by confession and strengthened by the Holy Communion, they shall share in the above-mentioned indulgence and pardon as if thty had actually visited the basilicas indicated on the days appointed by Us. ROME'S PLACE IN THE WORLD. Wherefore, beloved children, however many and wherever you may be, if you are able to visit her, Rome invites you most lovingly to her arms. In this holy time it is becoming that a Catholic, if he

wonld be consistent with himself, should make his stay in Rome with Christian faith as his companion. He ought, therefore, especially to renounce all idle or profane sight-seeing as unsuited to the time, rather keeping his mind bent on the things that may assist his faith and piety. It will be especially helpful if he seriously ponder on the peculiar spirit of this city, and the character which has been divinely impressed upon it, a character which no thought or violence of man can change or destroy. Alone from amongst all others, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, chose the City of Rome for a most high destiny above all human thought, and hallowed it to Himself. Here, not without much long and mybterious preparation, He placed the seat of His empire ; here he commanded that the throne of His. Vicar should stand for all time , here He has willed that the light of heavenly doctrine should be piously and inviolably kept, and hence, as from a most sacred centre, should be shed abroad over every land ; so that the man who shall separate himself from the faith of Rome shall separate from Christ himself. The City's sanctity is increased by its ancient religious monuments, the singular majesty of its churches, the shrines of the Princes of the Apostles, and the tombs of the bravest martyrs. He who rightly understands how to listen to the voices of all these will assuredly feel that he is here not ho much a traveller in a strange city as a citizen in his own, and by God's help will leave it better than he entered. In order that this present Letter may come more easily to the knowledge of the faithful, We debire that printed copies of it, signed by the hand ot a notary public and attested by the seal of some duly constituted ecclesiastical personage, may meet with the same credence as this Letter itself if it were shown and presented. No one, therefore, may change the terms of this Our declaration, promulgation, concession and will, or rashly oppose it. But if anyone shall have presumed to attempt it, let him be aware that he will thus incur the anger of God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Given at St. Peter's, Rome, in the year of Our Lord 1891), on the fifth day of the Ides of May, and in the twenty-second year of Our Pontificate. C. Cakd. ALOitu-MASELi.A. Pro-Datary. A. Cakd. Macciii.