The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-02-07
THE JUBILEE YEAR.

And We shall hallow the fiftieth year, ant
proclaim liberty throughout all the land I'm
to all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be
jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every
man unto his possession, and ye shall return
every man unto his family. Leviticus XIV
10.
One of the main objects of the Legislation
of Moses was to prevent the accumulation Of
property in land in the hands of few indi
viduals or families. The owner might rent OF
pledge for time his particular portion of the
soil, but only for limited period, and at the
expiration of fifty years, even if he should be
insolvent, the operation Of the jubilee restores
him to all his proprietary rights.
Upon this original foundation of the Jew
ish semi-centennial festival the present
Catholic jubilee was instituted by Pope Boni.
face VIII in 1900, and it was intended to re-
cur only once in century but in 1850,
Clement vi, taking into consideration ''the
sufferings of the Church, the invasions of the
infidels, the wars among Christians, and TAX
ing also into account the brevity of human
life," ordered that it should occur every fifty
years, period which was further reduced to
thirty-three years by Urban V, and finally it
was definitely settled by Paul II, in 147O, and
his successor Sixtus ", that the papal jubilee
would hereafter take place every quarter of a
century, an arrangement which has remained
unchanged since 1475, with the single excep-
ton of the last jubilee year, 1850, when the
present Pope having been driven away from
Rome by the Italian revolutionists, no jubilee
was announced for that year.
The first jubilee proclaimed by Boniface
VIII is said to have brought two millions of
pilgrims to Rome, and we read of two priests
being employed all day long in raking up the
stream Of gold pieces poured before the shrine
of Saint Paul.
The present Pope speaks with enthusiasm
of the vast multitude and exemplary devotion
of the crowds who focked to Rome when the
last jubilee was solemnized in 1925, under
Leo XII. To obtain the indulgences attached
by the Church to that celebration, it was
formerly required to make a pilgrimage to
Apostles, but in our day the Popes have sub
stituted other religious practices and obliga-
tons, SO that all who are not able to under
take distant pilgrimage should nevertheless
become participants in the spiritual benefits
dispensed by the Church to her communi-
cants.
1t may not be inappropriate to describe the
in which the jubilee year was inaugu-
rated in Rome. On Christmas Eve of that
year the Pope, surrounded by all the Cardinals
md by an immense crowd of people, goes in
solemn procession from his Apostolic Chapel,
n the Church of Saint Peter, of which all the
loors are closed. One of them is walled in
md is never used except in the year of the
jubilee. As soon as the Pope has arrived, he
makes a short prayer and strikes the walled
loor three times with silver hammer.
After the Pope three other high dignitaries
'lso strike the door in the same manner, the
asst stroke being the signal for demolishing
he door, after which the Pope takes a cross
n his hand and kneeling down sings the
'pening verse of the 7e Deum, after which he
nters the church through that consecrated
loor and takes his seat upon the gorgeous
hrone prepared for him within the church, |
where vespers are sung with all the solemnity |
nd impressiveness which belong to the cere-
nonies of the Catholic worship.
At the same time, three Cardinal Legates are
ent by the Pope to open with the same cers-
lonies the doors Of the churches Of st. Paul,
t. John Lateran, and Santa Maria Mdggiore.
The present jubilee occurs at an eventful
eriod in the annals of the Catholic Church,
nd will doubtless be the occasion of another
reat revival Of religious fervor among all the
diaries of that ancient faith.
BALL OF BRANCH No. 8, H. B. AND N. A. Al,
st. Patrick's Hall last night there was large
ID brilliant assemblage, the occasion being the
,ooovt;o,, no of RraDch No z n r and