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Karyn Dest, Staff Writer
In the United States, the government is preparing for the millenium by spending millions of dollars to fix computers. In Rome, the Vatican is counting down to the New Year by spending six billion dollars to refurbish 700 historic sites. No matter how many times you've seen Rome, seeing it in the year 2000 will be an extraordinary experience.
As the year 2000 approaches, Rome is gearing up for perhaps its largest tourist year ever: the Jubilee year. Thirty million people are expected to make the pilgrimage to Rome to participate in the Catholic Church's Jubilee, or Holy, year. The pilgrims will come to see the city's Christian shrines and walk the streets once trod by St. Peter and St. Paul.
Since 1300, Popes have declared 26 Jubilee years. The Jubilee, which actually begins on Christmas Eve, 1999, and ends January 6, 2001, is given every 25 to 50 years and is a full and complete remission of all temporal punishments. It is a year of forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, hope, justice, service to God, and a year of Christ, according to the Catholic faith.
Anticipation of this Holy Year in particular is so great because it not only marks the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ in the Christian faith but is also the first Jubilee to take place at the turn of a millennium.
The word "Jubilee" comes from an English translation of the Hebrew word "Yobel." Borrowed from the Old Testament tradition, Jews were required to consecrate every fiftieth year to God in a special way. During this time, Jews allowed fields and houses to be restored to their owners, bad debts were forgiven, and slaves were released.
Before the Jubilee can begin, the Catholic Church conducts five official ceremonies. The first four are before the celebration; the fifth ceremony brings it to a close. Though the heart of all the events takes place at St. Peter's Basilica, the same ceremonies are conducted at St. Paul's-without-the-walls, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major.
Beginning with the Ascension Day preceding the Holy year, a Dean of the Catholic Church reads the Proclamation of the following Jubilee year in front of the central door of the Basilica. You can read the Proclamation here.
While the Pope is designated to open the Holy Door on Christmas Eve in St. Peter's, in the other three Major Basilicas, Papal Legates perform this ceremony. The Legates are officially named in a secret meeting two weeks before the official opening of the Holy Doors.
A few days before the official opening of the Holy Door, designates of the Catholic Church remove the marble slab and take out a leaden casket for inspection. The casket contains coins, documents, and medals placed there by the Pope at the end of the last Jubilee.
On Christmas Eve, the Holy Door is finally opened. The Pope takes a golden hammer with an ivory handle, strikes the wall enclosing the door, and sings, "Open the Doors of Justice for me." He strikes the wall a second time: "I shall enter Thy House O Lord," he sings. Finally, he strikes the wall again and sings: "Open the Door for God is with us."
After the third strike, the wall enclosing the Holy Door is taken away and the Pope says a prayer. He kneels down on the threshold and prays before passing through the Door alone and before anyone else. Members of the Catholic Church follow him, in order of precedence. The Pope imparts his blessing to the congregation and then retires back to his palace.
The fifth official ceremony will take place in January 2001, to end the Jubilee year. The Pontiff will kneel before the Holy Door with a golden trowel, place three heaps of mortar on the threshold that he walked through more than a year before, and pray. The ceremony is brought to a close with the Pope's blessing.
During the last Jubilee year in 1950, the Pontiff expressed his hopes for the coming year in words that can be appreciated half a century later:
"May this Year made truly Holy by the grade of God Almighty and the intercession of the august Mother of God, of the Princes of the Apostles, and of all the Saints, be the herald of a new era of peace, prosperity and progress for the human family."
For more information, visit the Vatican's Jubilee web site.
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