Chapter I. On the Notion, Division, and Interpretation of the Jubilee

I. Notion. Among the Jews the Jubilee meant a year of remission and joy, according to these words of Sacred Scripture: "You shall also number for yourself seven weeks of years, that is, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years, and you shall sound the trumpet in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, at the time of propitiation, throughout all your land. And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and shall proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of your land: for it is the Jubilee."¹ Among Christians the Jubilee likewise signifies a time of remission, to which several and special benefits are attached, as we shall explain more fully afterward.

¹ Leviticus 25:8 sq.

II. Division. The Jubilee is distinguished as ordinary and extraordinary (cf. canon 931, § 3). The ordinary or greater Jubilee is the one which recurs every twenty-fifth year; the extraordinary or lesser Jubilee is the one which is granted on account of special circumstances, for example after the coronation of the Supreme Pontiff.

The ordinary Jubilee is first celebrated at Rome for an entire year, beginning from the first Vespers of the Nativity of the Lord which precede the twenty-fifth year, up to the second Vespers of Christmas Day of the following year; that year is usually called the holy year. When the holy year has elapsed, the Jubilee is extended for a shorter time to the whole world.

The extraordinary Jubilee is usually celebrated at the same time in the City and in the world, and, according to circumstances, for a shorter or longer time.

A Jubilee is also distinguished as universal and particular, according as it is granted to the whole world or only to a part.

III. Interpretation. Unless the Bull of the Jubilee establishes the contrary, in both the ordinary and the extraordinary Jubilee the rules handed down by Benedict XIV are to be observed.¹

¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 15, 1852. Cf. the Bulls Apostolica indulta, August 3, 1744; Peregrinantes, May 5, 1749; Cum nos super, May 17, 1749; Convocatis, November 25, 1749; Inter praeteritos, December 3, 1749; Paterna caritas, December 17, 1749; Benedictus Deus, December 25, 1750; Celebrationem, January 1, 1751.