LEO, BISHOP
Servant of the Servants of God.
To ail the faithful of Christ who shall read thèse letters health and Apostolic Bénédiction.
As the présent century, almost the full length of whicii has been by God's goodness covered by our own life, is now hastening to its close, we hâve 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 nay, as it were, mark the last step of the solicitude with which we hâve exercised the suprême Pontificate. We refer to the Great 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 corne to be called the Holy Year, on account of the extraordinary sacred cérémonies with which it is accustomed to be celebrated but especially because it afibrds more abundant help for the correction of morals, and for that renewal of mind and heart which leads to holiness. We ourselves were witnesses in our youth how helpful to salvation was the last Jubilee decreed in solemn form during the Pontificate of Léo XII, at a time when Borne was the greatest and safest théâtre for a public act of religion. We remember, and we even y et seem to see in our mind's e}7e the crowds of pilgrims, the multitudes who, in processional order, went from church to church, the holiest in Christendom, the apostolic men who preached in the public streets, the most sacred places in the city resounding with the praises of God, and the Pontiff with bis
collège of Cardinals set|ing an example of piety and charity before the eyes of ail. From the memory of those times fche mind is recalled with some bitterness to the sad reality of the présent day. For démonstrations of which we speak, and which, when carried ont withoat hindrance, in the full light of the city, are accustomed wonderfully to foster and arouse the piet}- of fche peop'ie, there is now, in the changed state of Rome, either no opportunity of organizing, or the permission dépends on a will other than our own.
Nevertheless, we trust tliat God, Who helps ail good designs, will vouehsafe a prosperous and innoffensive course to this our design, which we hâve undertaken for His honor and glory. For whither do we look, and what is it we désire ? This thing only, that we may hy our efforts put as many men as may be in possession of the glory everlastiug, and that we may to this end apply to the diseases that affiict the soûls of men those remédies which Jésus Christ bas wishcd should be in our hands to dispense. Not only does our Apostolic charge call for this action from us, but the very cjrcumstances of our time seem also to demand it. Not that our âge is stérile in good works and Christian glory, on the eontrary, by God's heîp, splendid examples abound, nor is there any kind of virtue, however high or arduous it may be, in which we do not see many soûls cxcelling for the Christian religion lias a certain divinely implanted force, inexhautible and ever active, which arouses and fosters goodness. But, looking around, a man turns to the other side, and oh ! the darkness, the error and the migh.ty multitude of those rushing to endless ruin ! We are especialîy troubled with sadness as often as we think of the great number of Christian people wTho, captivated by a false license in thought and judgment, and eagerly draining the poison of false doctrine, daily squander the great gïft of divine faith. It is . from this that cornes the distaste for the Christian life and the wide-spread lapse of morality : hence, too, that eager and insatiable appetite for the things which strike the sensés,
and ail the thoughts and préoccupations whicb, turned from God, are fixed on (lie things of earth alone. It can scarcely be estimated what ruin bas already issued from this dark source and invaded the principes upon which States are founded. For the spxrit of revolt so widely spread, the stormy outbursts of popular discontent, the périls that no one can foresee, and the crimes of tragic horror are diseerned, by tho.se who look into their causes, to be nothing else bhàn a sort of lawless and unbridled endeavor to gain and enjoy the things of this world.
It is therefore, a matter of private and public bonefit to admonish men of their duty, to rouse their hearts, sunk m lethargy, and to recall to the thought of their salvation ail those who, hour by hon.r, rash.ly run the risk of perishing and of losing, through carelessness or pride, the heavenly and unchangeable bàppiness for which alone we were boni. This is the great object of the dévotion of the Holy year. During its montas our Holy Mother, the Church, mindful alone of mercy and forgiveness, strives with ail lier zeal and strength to tura the minds of men to better things, and that pénitence, the great source of amendaient of life, may wash ont the faults which each one has committed. With this object in view, uiultiplying her prayers and increasing her dévotion, she endeavors to appease the outraged divinity of God, and to call down from heaven an abundance of divine blessings. ïhrowing wide open the treasures of grâce the dispensing of which has been entrusted to her, she calls ail Christian people to the hope of pardon, in order that she may vanquish the most unwilling by her abounding and indulgent love. And so, please God, from ail this what rich and timely blessings may we not expect !
The opportuneness of the matter is increased by certain extraordinary ceremoaies, news, of which has already, we think, spread abroad, for the consécration in some sort of the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. We refer to the solemn
homage which is to be paid ail the world over on the confines of two centuries to Jésus Christ our Redeemer. Willingly bave 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 ? Ail that the human race can désire, love, hope for and seek, ail is in the only begotten Son of God, for He is our salvation, our life and our résurrection. To wish to leave him is to will our utter perishing forever. Wherefore, though the voice of adoration, praise, honor and thanksgiving which are due to our Lord Jésus Christ is never silent, but is ever heard in every place — nevertheless no thanks, no honor, can be so great that more and greater are not due to him. Besides, are the men of unmindful and thankless hearts who are accustomed to repay their Saviours love with contempt, and His benefits with injuries, few in number at the présent time ? At any rate, the lives of very many passed in opposition to His laws and precepts are évidences of a wicked and ungrateful disposition. And what are we to say of our âge having seen the renewal more than once of the awful heresy of Arius concerning the divinity of Jésus ? Well, therefore hâve you done who by this new and splendid design hâve given to the piety of the people an incentive which ought to be carried out in such a .way that nothing may befall to hinder the course of thejubilee and its appointed solemnities. This forthcoming manifestation on the part of Catholics of their faith and piet}^ will also hâve the further object of expressing their detestation of the impieties which hâve been uttered or perpetrated during our time, and of making réparation for the insults offered to the sacred divinity of Jésus 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 sin, and then, having implored peace and pardon of God, to fultil with greater zeal the duties necessary to virtue, or to résume thore that hâve been neglected. And since
the holy year ofFers such favorable opportunities for this object, as we-pointed out at the outset, it is equally clear that it is désirable and even necessary that ail Christian people should gird themselves for the task full of hope and courage. <
Wherefore, with eyes raised to heaven and with heartfelt prayers to God Who is rich in mercy that He would graciously vouchsafe to hear our pétitions and f avor our enterprise, to enlighten men's minds by His power and to move their hearts in accordance with His goodness ; following in the footsteps of the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, and with the assent of our vénérable brethren, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, by this letter,in virtue of the authority of Almighty God,of the blessed Apotles Peter and Paul, and our own, we order and promulgate, and will that it should be regarded as ordered and promulgated, a great and universal Jubilee in the holy city, beginning from the first vespers on Christmas Day, in the year 1899, and ending with the first vespers of Christmas Day, in the year 1900, in the hope that it may happily work for the glory of God, the salvation of soûls, and the increase of the Church.
During this year of Jubilee we grant and concède mercifully in the Lord a plenary indulgence, remission, and pardon for sin to ail the faithful of either sex who, truly pénitent and having confessed and communicated, shall piously visit the basilicas of the Blessed Peter and Paul, also of St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major, at least once a day for twenty day s cousecutively or at intervais according to natural or ecclesiastical computation — i. e., reckoning from the first vespers of one day till nightfall on the following day. Thèse are the conditions for those who are living in Rome, whether they are citizens or résidents, but those who corne from a distance shall devoutly visit the same basilicas on at least ten days, reckoned as indicated above, and ail shall there pour forth their pious prayers to God for the exaltation of the Church, the extirpation of heresies,concord among
Catholic princes and the salvation of Christian people.
Silice, liowever, it may happen that some, in spite of thé best intentions, may be unable either to fulfill the conditions above laid down in whole or in part, being prevented by sickness or other legitimate cause whilst in the city or on the way hither, we, in considération 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 they had actually visited the Basilicas indicated on the daj'S appointed by us.
Wherefore, beloved children, hôwever many and wherever you may be, if you are abie to visit her, Rome invites you most lovingly to her arms. In this holy time it is becoming that a Catolic, if he would be consistant with himSelf, should make his stay in Rome with Christian faith as his companion. He ought, therefore, especially to renounce ali 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 the peculiar spirit of the 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 ail others, Jésus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, chose the city of Rome for a most high destiny above ail human thought, and hallowed it to Himself. Hère, not without mueh long and mysterious préparation, He placed the seat of His empire ; hère He commanded that the throne of His vicar should stand for ail time ; hère He has willed that the hght of heavenly doctrine should be piously and inviolably kept, and hence, as from a most sacred centre, should be shed abroacl 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 church.es, 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 ail thèse will asuredly feel that he is hère not so 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 présent letter may corne more easily to the knowledge of ail the faithful, we désire that printed copies of it, signed by the hand of 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 déclaration, promulgation, concession and will, or rashly oppose it. But if anyone shaH hâve 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 1899, on the iiftli day of the Ides of May, and in the twenty- second year of our Pontificate.
