330. Definition and Division. 1. A jubilee is called a solemn plenary indulgence granted by the supreme pontiff with attached faculties.

2. A distinction is made between the ordinary jubilee, or the greater jubilee, which recurs every 25th year; and the extraordinary, or lesser jubilee, which the supreme pontiff grants in particular circumstances.

a. A jubilee differs from another plenary indulgence only accidentally, namely by reason of the solemnity and the faculties which are attached to it.

b. The ordinary jubilee has already been received by custom in the Church from the year 1475. It is customarily granted first to the City alone; it lasts through an entire year, which is called the holy year; then it is extended to the whole world for a shorter time.

c. The supreme pontiff grants an extraordinary jubilee after his own exaltation, and in addition according to his judgment, either on certain greater solemnities or in particular necessities of the Church. An extraordinary jubilee is customarily celebrated at the same time at Rome and in the whole world.

d. During the course of the holy year, several faithful who cannot travel to Rome, as nuns, the sick, those detained in prisons, etc., can gain at home the indulgence of the ordinary jubilee. Moreover those who during the passing holy year, either at Rome or at home, have gained the jubilee, can again gain it in the following year, in which it is extended to the whole world.²

e. For the ordinary jubilee only three conditions are customarily prescribed: confession, communion, and visitation of churches; for the extraordinary jubilee there are required besides these fasting and alms. The faithful can gain the ordinary jubilee in the City as often as they perform the prescribed works; but in the World generally only once. Sometimes, however, the power has been granted of gaining it twice, once for oneself and once for the dead. With regard to an extraordinary jubilee there is no rule; therefore it must be learned from the bull whether it can be acquired once or several times.

¹ Bellegambe, Enchiridion theologico-practicum de iubilaeo; Pasquatigo, Theoria et praxis magni iubilaei atque etiam extraordinarii; Theodorus a Spiritu Sancto, Tractatus historico-theologicus de iubilaeo; Bellarmine, De indulgentiis et iubilaeo; Beringer-Hilgers, Die Ablasse 14, pp. 569-589 f.; Patr. Bastien, De iubilaeo anni sancti (Rollarii flandr.: De Meester, 1901). For solving questions which arise concerning the jubilee, the constitutions of Benedict XIV must be consulted, especially Convocatis (25 Nov. 1749) and Inter praeteritos (3 Dec. 1749). From the declaration of the S. C. Indlg. (15 March 1852, authentic decree n. 353), in both the ordinary and extraordinary jubilee all the rules of Benedict XIV are to be observed which are not opposed to the bull of the jubilee.

² Benedict XIV, constit. Benedictus Deus.

331. Conditions Required for Gaining the Jubilee, concerning which the rule must be noted: works already owed from elsewhere do not suffice for gaining the jubilee.¹

1. Confession and communion. a. Confession must be made within the time established for gaining the jubilee; therefore a confession made on the vigil of the jubilee does not profit, but a confession made after first vespers of that day on which the jubilee begins does profit. For the ordinary jubilee in the City, according to ancient custom, is customarily begun from first vespers.

b. Confession already owed by another title, e.g., from the precept of the Church, and paschal communion do not suffice for gaining the jubilee without a special concession; but viaticum does suffice for gaining the jubilee.²

c. He who, after confession has been made but before he has placed the last prescribed work, has fallen into mortal sin, must repeat confession (it does not suffice to elicit perfect contrition); but he is not bound to repeat the other works already performed.³

2. Visitation of churches. Which churches must be visited and how often, at Rome the supreme pontiff designates, outside Rome the bishop designates; and in them, according to the intention of the pontiff, five Our Fathers and Hail Marys, or equivalent prayers, must be recited.

a. In places where there is only one church, the bishop can grant that all visitations can be made in it.⁴ But visitations which are made in the same church must be so distinguished from one another that on each occasion it is necessary to enter it and go out of it.

b. The bishop can also designate a public oratory to be visited, provided Mass is habitually celebrated in it.⁵

c. Excluding a special privilege, religious cannot gain the jubilee by visiting their own church. But if they cannot visit the churches designated by the ordinary, each one must request a commutation from his own confessor.⁶

d. If several churches must be visited once in the day, all must indeed be visited on that day; however, the day can be computed not only according to the civil manner, but also according to the ecclesiastical, namely from first vespers until twilight of the following day.⁷ Hence it can happen that, when today's visitations have been completed after first vespers of the same day, the visitations of the following day can already be instituted either wholly or in part.⁸

e. If the same church must be visited several times, the visitations can be made either on the same day or on distinct days, unless something else is established in the bull.⁹

f. Because works already owed from elsewhere do not suffice for gaining the jubilee, it does not suffice for the prescribed visitation to recite prayers for the jubilee while one is assisting at Mass by precept; but it suffices to recite prayers for gaining the jubilee before or after Mass.

g. Each person can perform the prescribed visitations either in his own domicile or elsewhere, provided he visits the churches designated in the place where he has determined to perform the visitations.¹⁰

3. A fast of three days, namely Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, with abstinence from meats.

a. In the last jubilees Leo XIII, by the words "using only fasting foods," had prescribed a strict fast, by which abstinence also from eggs and milk-products is required; Pius X, on the other hand (in 1904), prescribed only one day of fasting and granted to bishops the faculty of permitting eggs and milk-products in those places where it is difficult to use fasting foods.¹¹

b. It is not lawful to observe the fast prescribed for gaining the jubilee on a day on which a fast has already been commanded by the Church, unless this is expressly permitted in the bull.

c. The three prescribed fasts must be observed in the same week, unless the bull permits something else.

d. The fast prescribed must be observed also by those who by reason of age are either not yet or no longer bound to fast, likewise all who otherwise are excused or dispensed from fasting. But if they cannot perform this, the confessor can commute the fast into other pious works.¹²

4. Alms are prescribed either indeterminately: according to the judgment or devotion of each one, or more determinately: according to the faculties of each one; but it is not necessary that money be given, but some other thing estimable in price can be given.

a. For gaining the jubilee even the poor must give the prescribed alms; but it suffices to give a small coin.

b. If only some alms is prescribed indeterminately, any quantity suffices; but if it is prescribed according to the faculties of each one, the quantity which suffices for a poor person does not suffice for a rich person, but some proportion must be present between the alms and the faculties of the giver.

c. Alms can also be given through another, provided it is done with the knowledge of those very persons for whom it is distributed. Therefore the father of a family can give the prescribed alms for his wife and children; a religious superior for his subjects; a rich person for a poor person, provided it is distributed with their knowledge. Moreover religious and the poor can request the commutation of this work from their own confessor.

Notes. 1. No certain order is required in fulfilling these conditions, provided the last work is performed in the state of grace.

2. Formerly they thought that the works prescribed for gaining an extraordinary jubilee had to be performed in the same week;¹³ but now it is certain that this is not necessary.¹⁴

3. It is not necessary that the works be performed in one's own diocese; but either all or some of them can be performed in another diocese, provided the prescriptions of that bishop in whose diocese the works are done are observed.¹⁵

If someone changes domicile after he has already begun the prescribed works in the place of the prior domicile, he can perform the remaining works in the new domicile.

¹ Constit. Inter praeteritos, n. 53.

² S. Poenitent., 28 March 1900.

³ Constit. Convocatis, n. 47.

⁴ S. C. Indl., 14 March 1852, n. 353.

⁵ S. Poenit., 15 Jan. 1886.

⁶ S. Poenit., 24 April 1886.

⁷ Constit. Inter praeteritos, n. 8, 11, 13.

⁸ S. Poenit., 20 Feb. 1900.

⁹ S. Poenit., 15 Jan. 1886.

¹⁰ S. Poenit., 14 May 1879.

¹¹ S. Poenit., 23 March 1904.

¹² S. C. Indl., 10 July 1869, n. 425.

¹³ S. Alphonsus, n. 537.

¹⁴ S. Poenit., 6 March 1865.

¹⁵ S. Poenit., 15 Jan. 1886.

332. Special Faculties which are customarily granted to confessors during the jubilee:

1. Of absolving even regulars; nevertheless nuns strictly so called can be absolved only by confessors approved for nuns; but nuns of simple vows can once choose for themselves a confessor simply approved.¹

Since by the Code of Canon Law the power of absolving religious of either sex has now already been granted by the law itself to all confessors, this faculty is superfluous for future jubilees.

2. Of absolving from all sins and censures reserved to the bishop or to the Roman pontiff, even in a special manner.

Exceptions are: a. the cases reserved by the constitution Sacramentum poenitentiae, namely absolution of an accomplice, if the crime has been committed three or more times,² and calumnious denunciation of a priest for the crime of solicitation. b. The absolution of those who have been excommunicated, suspended, interdicted, or publicly denounced as bound by censure by the Roman pontiff or by another prelate by name. In the last jubilees the faculty of absolving these persons (named in the latter place) was granted, if they had satisfied the competent authority, or, if during the time of the jubilee they could not satisfy, provided they had promised that they would do this as soon as possible.

3. Of dispensing from an irregularity contracted through violation of a censure, provided it is occult.

4. Of commuting vows (not excepting a vow not to seek commutation), even sworn vows and vows reserved to the supreme pontiff.

a. Exceptions are: a. vows of perpetual chastity and of entrance into religion; b. vows made in favor of a third party and accepted by him, unless he has renounced his right; g. penal vows emitted for removing the danger of sin, unless the commutation is made into a work which is equally useful for removing the same danger.

b. He who, in a confession instituted for gaining the jubilee, has forgotten either to confess a reserved sin or censure, or to ask for commutation of vows, can afterward, even after the time of the jubilee has already elapsed, obtain absolution or commutation from any confessor: for the reservation has been removed through the confession instituted for gaining the jubilee, and through that confession he has acquired the right for obtaining the commutation.

c. For commuting vows a special cause is not required, but the very reason of the jubilee suffices. Nevertheless it must be noted that the faculty of simply commuting vows is granted, not merely of commuting them by dispensing.³

5. Of commuting for a just cause the prescribed works into other works not otherwise owed and of almost the same nature, with the exception, however, of confession, communion, and the prayers to be recited according to the intention of the supreme pontiff.

a. A commutation which is made without a just cause is invalid. Therefore if, for example, fasting were changed into another work only because of the penitent's repugnance toward fasting, the commutation would not be valid: for it is required that the penitent be in physical or moral impossibility of fulfilling the prescribed work. If, however, the confessor in good faith judged a cause insufficient in itself to be sufficient, the commutation would be valid.

b. Because the faculty of dispensing is not granted, it is necessary that the substituted work not be notably less than that which was enjoined by the supreme pontiff, unless perhaps the penitent were very weak.

c. For children who have not yet been admitted to holy communion, the prescribed communion can be commuted into another pious work, unless through the bull of the jubilee the faculty is granted of simply dispensing them from communion; but only in the act of sacramental confession.⁴ Marc (n. 1738) judges that holy communion can also be commuted for those suffering from a chronic illness, who for that reason cannot receive holy communion, something which because of the recent dispensation from fasting granted to sick persons of this kind is no longer necessary.

d. If it is granted that the faithful can gain the indulgence of the jubilee more often, the prescribed works can also be commuted more often.⁵

¹ S. Poenit., 17 Jan. 1900.

² Leo XIII grants the faculty of absolving from the crime of absolution of an accomplice admitted twice by the constitution Temporis quidem, 1900.

³ S. Poenit., 1 Nov. 1899.

⁴ S. Poenit., 30 Jan. 1886.

⁵ S. Poenit., 18 March 1886.

333. On the Use of These Faculties.

1. Confessors cannot use these faculties without a special concession except in sacramental confession.¹

2. They can use them only once for the same penitent, even if the indulgence can be acquired several times; but it is not necessary that all the faculties be applied in the same confession or that all be applied by the same confessor. The commutation of the prescribed works is excepted, which can be made several times where it is lawful to gain the indulgence several times.

Therefore to him who, the first time he gains the jubilee, has used the granted faculties, they cannot be applied again, even if the indulgence can be acquired more often; but to him who did not need the granted faculties when he gained the jubilee the first time, they can afterward be applied, provided the jubilee can be acquired more often and he repeats the prescribed works for gaining the jubilee. Whether a penitent to whom the granted faculties have been applied when he confessed can again be absolved by force of the jubilee if he falls into a censure before he has fulfilled the prescribed works or not is not certainly clear. Lehmkuhl (n. 555, 695) probably affirms it, and the holy see confirmed his opinion for the jubilee of the year 1901.²

3. Confessors cannot use these faculties except with penitents who have a sincere will of gaining the jubilee, and therefore of fulfilling the prescribed works, and who approach confession with this intention.³

a. If a penitent who has approached confession with this disposition has been absolved from censures and has obtained commutation of vows, but afterward does not fulfill the works prescribed for gaining the jubilee, he can enjoy the faculty once granted, but he commits sin, which nevertheless does not exceed venial sin.⁴

b. Through a sacrilegious confession reservations and censures are not removed; for the penitent does not bring the disposition which is a necessary condition in order that the privileges of the jubilee can be applied to him.⁵

¹ Constit. Inter praeteritos, n. 63.

² S. Poenit., 25 Jan. 1901.

³ Benedict XIV, const. Inter praeteritos, n. 62 and 86.

⁴ S. Alphonsus, n. 537.

⁵ Benedict XIV, Inter praeteritos, n. 62. S. Alphonsus, ibid.

334. Suspension of Graces. In order that the faithful may be more strongly attracted to undertake the Roman pilgrimage and to gain the jubilee in the City, during the holy year indulgences are suspended everywhere, with few exceptions, and in the World also the faculties of confessors, which revive when the holy year has elapsed. Namely:

1. Indulgences, both plenary and partial, granted by the Roman pontiff; but these are not suspended:

a. Indulgences applicable to the dead; indeed all indulgences which otherwise could be acquired only by the living the faithful can gain for the dead in that year;¹

b. the indulgence granted in the article of death;

c. indulgences granted for the prayer Angelus Domini;

d. the partial indulgence granted for visitation of the most holy sacrament solemnly exposed, when the adoration of forty hours is being made;

e. the indulgences granted to those who accompany the most holy sacrament, carrying a candle, when it is borne to the sick;

f. the indulgence of the Portiuncula of Assisi to be gained (outside Assisi we can gain this indulgence, like the others which can be acquired toties-quoties, only for the dead);

g. indulgences granted by a prelate inferior to the pope, whether habitually or transiently.

2. Faculties granted by the holy see, and indeed:

a. the faculty of absolving from cases and censures reserved to the Roman pontiff;

b. the faculty of commuting vows, whether the commutation is made simply or by dispensing;

c. the faculty of dispensing in irregularities;

d. the faculty of dispensing in impediments, even of marriage, granted either to private persons or to communities.

Therefore during the holy year the faculties of dispensing in abstinence and fasting do not cease, nor the faculty of attaching papal indulgences to rosaries, crosses, medals, etc., nor the faculty of giving the papal blessing at the end of missions, and other faculties of this kind which do not pertain to the four headings enumerated above.

Moreover, from the faculties themselves suspended by the bull of the jubilee some are excepted which remain in their force; ordinarily the following are excepted:

a. Faculties granted by the Sacred Penitentiary to missionaries, which are exercised in mission places and on the occasion of missions.

Some understand by missionaries only those who labor in regions of infidels; others probably extend this exception also to missionaries who in our regions devote themselves to giving missions.

b. Faculties granted to bishops either by the Council of Trent through c. Liceat, or by common law, or by special privilege for particular cases.

g. Faculties granted to regular superiors for their subjects.

¹ S. C. Indl., 16 Dec. 1749, n. 182.

A JUBILEE is a plenary indulgence granted by the Pope with greater solemnity than usual for a definite time, together with special faculties for confessors. The first jubilee was granted by Boniface VIII in the year 1300 with the intention that it should be held thereafter every hundred years, but subsequent Popes changed the period into fifty, thirty-three, and finally into twenty-five years. This is called a greater or ordinary jubilee, to distinguish it from the less or extraordinary jubilee, which the Pope grants on some special occasion, as, to celebrate his election to the papacy. A general jubilee is granted to all the faithful, usually in the first place at Rome, and afterward it is extended to the rest of the world; a particular jubilee is granted to a particular province or religious order.

The conditions prescribed for gaining an ordinary jubilee are: confession, Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions in churches to be visited for the purpose a certain number of times.

Confession is necessary for those who wish to gain the jubilee even if they are not conscious of mortal sin, and the annual confession which is prescribed by ecclesiastical law will not suffice. If a grievous sin is inadvertently omitted from the jubilee confession, this is nevertheless sufficient for gaining the indulgence, but of course the sin which was forgotten must be mentioned in the next confession. If, after going to confession and before fulfilling the other conditions for gaining the jubilee, mortal sin is committed, the person should go again to confession to gain the indulgence.

A good Communion distinct from the ordinary Easter Communion is another of the conditions to be fulfilled.

At Rome the four basilicas, St Peter’s, St Paul’s outside the Walls, St John Lateran, and St Mary Major, are usually designated to be visited a certain number of times, and during the visits prayer is to be offered up for the Pope’s intention. Outside Rome the churches to be visited are usually left to be determined by the bishop. The visits must be made in one day according to either the civil or the ecclesiastical method of reckoning, or, in other words, reckoning either from midnight to midnight, or from the hour of vespers.

For an extraordinary jubilee, besides the above conditions, fasting and almsgiving are also prescribed.

The fast is a strict one. A day which is not a fasting day by ecclesiastical law must be chosen, unless the contrary is specially conceded in the bull of indiction of the jubilee, and then the strict fast must be observed, nor can advantage be taken of any indult. Even those who are not bound by the ecclesiastical law of fasting must fulfil this condition if they wish to gain the jubilee.

The amount to be given in alms is not generally specified, and any amount will suffice provided that it is not so small as not to deserve the name. Religious, wives, children, and servants, may have their obligation fulfilled for them by superiors, husbands, parents, and masters.

Bishops and confessors receive faculties to commute all the above conditions for ordinary and extraordinary jubilees except prayer, confession, and sometimes Holy Communion. For the lawful and valid use of this faculty there should always be a just cause, and some good work of more or less equal merit should be enjoined in place of that commuted.

Regulars who desire to gain the jubilee may choose a confessor from among those, whether secular or regular, who are approved by the bishop, or they may confess to one approved by their superiors, Nuns are sometimes empowered to choose a confessor for the purpose of gaining the jubilee from any priests approved by the bishop; sometimes it is prescribed that the confessor chosen must be one of those who are approved for the confessions of nuns. Confession may be made to the priest thus chosen as often as the penitent desires before the fulfilment of the last condition for gaining the jubilee, but not afterward.

The confessor chosen for the jubilee confession has special faculties given to him by the bull of indiction. This should always be carefully studied in order that the confessor may know the extent of his powers. Ordinarily, he is empowered to absolve penitents from all censures and sins, even those that are reserved, ‘The cases of attempted absolution of an accomplice and a false charge of solicitation are generally excepted, or power to absolve them is only granted under restriction, The absolution would be valid if the penitent who came to confession with the intention of gaining the jubilee afterwards changed his mind and gave up the attempt; and probably the reservation would be removed if a reserved sin were confessed by such a penitent, though the confession were sacrilegious, or inculpably null and void. Jubilee confessors have also ample faculties granted them for dispensing from vows or commuting them, though vows of perpetual chastity, of entering a religious order with solemn vows, and those which have been accepted by third parties, are usually excepted.

While the greater jubilee is being celebrated at Rome, the special faculties granted to bishops and priests for the internal forum are ordinarily suspended, at least with respect to penitents who can make the journey to Rome.

In the same way during this time other indulgences granted by the Pope in favour of the faithful who are living are suspended, though they may all be gained for the faithful departed.

Certain special indulgences, as those for the saying of the Angelus, those granted to the dying, and for the solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, are excepted,

We must treat first of the notion, division, and interpretation; then of the benefits of the Jubilee; finally of the suspension of indulgences and faculties on the occasion 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.

I. Nuns, and their novices, candidates, and postulants who are educated by them and live with them, and also all religious sisters of simple vows with novices, candidates, and girls being educated, though not externs and others using a common table with them, and also all oblates without vows approved by Ecclesiastical authority, with novices, candidates, girls, and others living in common with them, can choose for themselves a confessor approved by their Ordinary according to the prescriptions of the Code. This confessor can absolve them from any censures and sins, even those reserved to the Holy Apostolic See in a special manner, excepting the case of formal and external heresy.²

II. The faculty formerly granted to regulars and others, after the new Code (cf. canon 519), now lacks practical value.

¹ Cf. Navarrus, Commentarius de Iubilaeo; Viva, De Iubilaeo; Van de Burgt, De Iubilaeo; Bastien, De Iubilaeo.

² A.A.S. 1924, pp. 317, 319.

I. Faculties granted. To confessors lawfully chosen according to what was said in Article I belongs:

1. The faculty of absolving both from sins and - but in the forum of conscience only - from censures reserved either to the Holy See or to Ordinaries, except those which perhaps are excepted by the Bull, with a salutary penance nevertheless imposed, and with other things to be imposed by law. Therefore, as Benedict XIV teaches, the confessor "should not omit imposing upon each penitent his own salutary penance in the sacrament, not even under the pretext of the Jubilee to be obtained by the same penitent."¹ Other things to be imposed by law are understood as those which by either divine or ecclesiastical law are imposed upon the penitent.² Moreover:

a) One who falsely accused a confessor of solicitation cannot be absolved unless he has retracted the accusation and compensated other damages perhaps following upon the accused person, or is prepared to retract the accusation and compensate the damages.³

b) Those who have propagated heresy, or at least are guilty of external heresy, should not be absolved before they have abjured the heresy before the confessor and have repaired the scandal, or at least are prepared to repair it.⁴

c) Those who retain or read prohibited books should not be absolved before they have put them away or have seriously promised that they will put them away.⁵

d) Those who have given their name to a condemned secret sect should not be absolved except on the condition that they separate themselves altogether from the respective sect and abjure it, and that books, manuscripts, and signs concerning the sect, if they retain any, be handed into your hands (the hands of the confessor), to be cautiously transmitted as soon as possible to the Ordinary, or at least, if just and grave causes demand it, to be burned.⁶

e) One who violated the enclosure of Nuns for an evil end, even in occult cases, must be forbidden by the confessor from approaching in the future any monastery and church of Nuns; and he must be warned that he is absolved from the censure in such a way that, if he does not observe the prohibition imposed, he falls back by that very fact into the same censure.⁷

f) One who absolved an accomplice is usually obliged by the Sacred Penitentiary: 1. "that insofar as the accomplice person should approach him again, after being warned of the nullity of the past absolutions, he send that person back to another confessor who is not an accomplice"; 2. "that he abstain in the future from hearing the confessions of any accomplice person, insofar as this can be done without grave scandal"; 3. "that he take care to resign the office of confessor, if he has absolved two accomplices once or one accomplice twice."⁸ But more recent Bulls have been accustomed to restrict the faculty of absolving a confessor who has absolved an accomplice.

g) Those who have been excommunicated, suspended, interdicted by name, or otherwise declared to have fallen into sentences and censures, or publicly denounced, should not be absolved unless within the time of the Jubilee they have made satisfaction and have come to agreement with the parties, where that is necessary.⁹ But afterward this was added: "But if within the prescribed term, in the judgment of the confessor, they could not make satisfaction, we grant that they can be absolved in the forum of conscience, for the sole effect of obtaining the indulgences of the Jubilee, with the obligation imposed of making satisfaction as soon as they can."

2. The faculty of dispensing with a penitent constituted in sacred Orders concerning an occult irregularity contracted because of violation of a censure.¹⁰

3. The faculty of commuting any vows whatsoever, even sworn vows and vows reserved to the Apostolic See, into other pious and salutary works. There are excepted: 1. reserved vows of chastity and Religion; 2. vows made and accepted in favor of a third party, as vows made in any Religion; 3. penal vows, which are called preservative from sin, unless the future commutation is judged to be such that it restrains no less from committing sin than the former matter of the vow;¹¹ the vow of not seeking commutation is not excepted (St. Alphonsus, VI, 537, q. 4). Moreover observe:

a) For the commutation of vows (during the time of the Jubilee) a special cause is not required; but that common cause on account of which the Pontiff was moved to proclaim the Jubilee suffices (St. Alphonsus, II, 537, q. 40).

b) The power of commuting sworn vows quite probably carries with it the power of commuting oaths; nor does St. Alphonsus contradict this, since he speaks only of the power of commuting vows (III, 190).

It is disputed whether the power of commuting an oath of chastity and Religion belongs to the confessor. But it seems improbable that the Church, which denies the power of commuting a vow of some thing, would grant the faculty of commuting an oath concerning the same thing.

4. The faculty of commuting, from a just cause, the works assigned for the Jubilee into other pious works;¹² concerning this see n. 559.

The faculty of dispensing in some impediments of marriage is commonly not granted; yet in the year 1925 some faculty had been granted, but only for the internal forum.

¹ Bull Convocatis, § 26.

² Cf. Sacred Penitentiary, April 18, 1900.

³ A.A.S. 1924, p. 338, under IV.

⁴ A.A.S. 1924, p. 311, under IV.

⁵ A.A.S. 1924, p. 339, under VIII.

⁶ A.A.S. 1924, p. 311, under IV.

⁷ A.A.S. 1924, p. 339, under VI.

⁸ A.A.S. 1924, p. 310, under I.

⁹ A.A.S. 1924, p. 310, under IV.

¹⁰ Bull Benedictus Deus, nn. 4 and 5.

¹¹ A.A.S. 1917, p. 311, under VII, p. 320.

¹² A.A.S. 1927, p. 312 sq.

II. Things to be noted. Concerning the faculties explained above these things are to be noted:

1. It is not permitted to use them except with respect to penitents who have the intention of gaining the indulgence of the Jubilee and therefore of fulfilling the prescribed works.¹ But the fact that someone sinned in hope of receiving absolution by force of the Jubilee does not prevent him from enjoying the favors, provided he is now sorry, and wills to gain the Jubilee and to fulfill the pious works (St. Alphonsus, VI, 537, q. 6). But if the penitent afterward, having changed his mind, does not fulfill the works required for gaining the indulgence, he sins, because he acts against the intention of the Supreme Pontiff who granted the faculties for gaining the Jubilee.² Yet it is not established that the sin is grave. Besides, the favors granted, for example the commutation of a vow, persist³ (St. Alphonsus, VI, 537, q. 3).

2. The faculties must be used in sacramental confession;⁴ but it is not required that all the faculties be exercised in the same confession or by the same confessor. Thus, for example, one who in confession for the Jubilee omitted to ask for commutation of a vow can ask for this in another confession and from another confessor. Nor is it required that absolution be granted now to one sacramentally confessed. Hence even if the confessor judges that absolution is to be deferred, he can nevertheless remove, for example, a censure or commute a vow; and if this has taken place, an ordinary confessor also, with the censure and the reservation of the sin removed, can absolve the penitent from sins.

3. Concerning repeated use of the favors, receive these things:

a) A penitent who has enjoyed the favors granted and has fulfilled all the prescribed works cannot enjoy the favors again, for example if he should make a new vow; and this holds even if the indulgence itself can be acquired several times.⁵ The faculty of commuting prescribed works is excepted; it is permitted to use this several times⁶ (n. 559).

b) One who has enjoyed the favors granted, but before he has fulfilled all the prescribed works needs them again, for example by falling back into censures, can, as seems to have to be said in view of the Bull Convocatis, n. 84 at the end, enjoy the favors again. Namely, the Supreme Pontiff states that "if he has once shared in them (the graces) the first time that he obtained the Jubilee, he cannot become a participant in them again, if after the first acquisition of the Jubilee he falls again into censures, etc." By these words it is implied that he can again become a participant in the graces if before the acquisition of the Jubilee, or before all the works have been fulfilled, he again falls into a censure. Moreover it seems more consonant with the mind of the Church that the faculties granted can be exercised until the faithful person, all the works having been fulfilled, has obtained the Jubilee.⁷

4. If someone has forgotten a reserved sin or reserved censure in a confession otherwise valid, or from a just cause has omitted it, according to many authors the reservation of the sin and the censure have been removed. The reason is that it is fitting to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff, who granted special faculties to the confessor in favor of the penitent, that the well-disposed penitent, insofar as it can be done, enjoy the said faculties (St. Alphonsus, VI, 537, q. 4). But if someone exposed a reserved censure or sin to the confessor, yet confessed invalidly, the reserved censure and the reservation of the sin have not been removed, if the confession was culpably invalid, that is, sacrilegious; since the sincere intention of acquiring the Jubilee is lacking (p. 421). Besides, "since the Pontiff grants the faculty of absolving from reserved things so that the faithful may gain the Jubilee, he is not presumed to grant it for those who cannot gain the Jubilee by that confession" (St. Alphonsus, VI, 537, q. 2). Moreover, because of the latter reason, the same solution seems to have to be admitted against several authors, if the confession was inculpably invalid (St. Alphonsus, loc. cit.).

5. One who confessed during the time of the Jubilee can, if absolution seems to have to be deferred for him and to be granted after the Jubilee, be absolved from reserved things even after the time of the Jubilee (St. Alphonsus, VI, 537, q. 4).

¹ Bulls Convocatis, § 24; Inter praeteritos, § 62; Benedictus Deus, § 6; Celebrationem, § 8; Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1869; January 15, 1886.

² Cf. Bull Inter praeteritos, n. 86.

³ Cf. Bulls Convocatis, n. 34; Inter praeteritos, n. 86; Leo XIII, Bull Praesentes Litteras; Sacred Penitentiary, November 1, 1899.

⁴ Bulls Convocatis, § 25; Inter praeteritos, § 62, compared with Convocatis, § 40.

⁵ Bulls Convocatis, § 52; Inter praeteritos, § 84; Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1869; Sacred Penitentiary, March 18, 1886.

⁶ Sacred Penitentiary, March 18, 1886 (A.S.S. XVIII, p. 512).

⁷ For the Jubilee of the year 1875, however, the Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1875, by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff, declared: "His Holiness declared that by force of the present Jubilee (the faithful) can be absolved only once from censures and reserved cases (and likewise that the indulgence of the Jubilee itself can be acquired only once)." And on the same day the Sacred Penitentiary, to the question "Whether confessors can absolve a penitent who, already absolved from reserved things and censures, has fallen into them again before he has fulfilled the works prescribed for acquiring the Jubilee," responded: "By virtue of the Jubilee one can be absolved only once from reserved things and from censures, or, negatively."

I. Prescribed works. In the ordinary Jubilee there are commonly prescribed only: confession, communion, and visitation of the designated churches together with prayer according to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff; in an extraordinary Jubilee, besides the works enumerated, fasting and almsgiving are usually enjoined. A few things about each; moreover compare what was said in n. 494.

1. Confession is necessary even for those who have not sinned gravely, although absolution is not required for these.¹ If someone after completing the confession of the Jubilee, but before the last work has been fulfilled, falls into mortal sin, he is bound to confess again, nor does contrition suffice; however, it is not required that the other works, even if already fulfilled in the state of sin, be repeated.² The annual confession, by which satisfaction is made for the precept by which one constituted in mortal sin is bound, does not suffice.³

2. Communion, certainly worthy communion; the Paschal communion does not suffice;⁴ nevertheless in the year 1925, if someone had neglected to receive Paschal communion, communion for the Jubilee also availed for fulfilling the Paschal precept; for the Jubilee, at least of the year 1900, the Sacred Penitentiary declared on March 28, 1900, to 2, that Viaticum suffices.

3. Visitation of churches. Which churches are to be visited and how often are determined in the City by the Supreme Pontiff, outside the City by the Bishop. In instituting the visitations it is permitted to compute the day either according to civil custom (from midnight to midnight) or according to ecclesiastical custom (from first Vespers up to sunset of the following day).⁵ When several visitations are prescribed, it is not enough to enter the church once and there recite the prayers several times, but one must go out from the church and enter it again.⁶ Moreover the visitations must be made with the intention of worshiping God.⁷

Regulars also are bound to visit the churches designated by the Bishop, unless they enjoy a special privilege; nevertheless commutation can be granted to those lawfully impeded.⁸

4. Prayers to be recited. They must be recited in the place to be visited and according to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff. Oral prayers suffice; merely mental prayers do not, to which therefore an oral prayer would have to be added.⁹ Moreover compare what was said in n. 498.

5. Fasting is to be taken in the strict ecclesiastical sense, that is, joined with abstinence, and indeed, considering the old law, with abstinence not only from flesh meat but also from eggs and milk products.¹⁰ Under the new law, however, fasting no longer includes abstinence from eggs and milk products. Fasting also concerns those who otherwise are not bound to it, such as children and the elderly (St. Alphonsus, VI, 534, 3°); nevertheless there is place for commutation (n. 559).

6. If almsgiving is enjoined, as devotion suggests, a modest amount suffices; if it is prescribed according to each one's means, a larger amount must be given by the rich. It is indifferent whether money or another thing is given. Religious, wives, and children of families satisfy by consenting to the alms which the Superior or father gives in the name of the whole community or family. Nevertheless religious and the truly poor can ask for commutation (St. Alphonsus, VI, 538, q. 11).

¹ Bulls Convocatis, § 46; Inter praeteritos, § 77; cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 19, 1759 (Decreta authentica, n. 214); May 6, 1852 (Decreta authentica, n. 359, to IV).

² Bulls Convocatis, § 42; Inter praeteritos, § 79; cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, November 28, 1759 (Decreta authentica, n. 217, to I).

³ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 10, 1844 (Decreta authentica, n. 327, to I), compared with the Sacred Penitentiary (A.A.S. VIII, p. 351).

⁴ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 10, 1844 (Decreta authentica, n. 327, to I).

⁵ Bull Inter praeteritos, § 13; Sacred Penitentiary, January 24, 1875.

⁶ Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1875.

⁷ Bull Inter praeteritos, § 13.

⁸ Bulls Convocatis, § 51; Inter praeteritos, § 83.

⁹ Bulls Convocatis, § 51; Inter praeteritos, § 83.

¹⁰ Sacred Penitentiary, March 16, 1865; Bucceroni reports other declarations of the same Congregation, Enchiridion, n. 1065.

II. Things to be noted concerning the prescribed works.

1. Works owed by law or precept do not suffice, unless the Supreme Pontiff signifies the contrary.¹ Hence, as has already been noted, annual confession, Paschal communion, etc., do not suffice.

2. The prescribed works, even confession and communion, must be done during the time of the Jubilee;² likewise with the intention of gaining the indulgence; but a habitual intention suffices (n. 501).

3. The works enjoined, whether all or some of them, can also be fulfilled outside one's domicile, provided that the ordinances of the Ordinaries of the places are observed.³

4. Finally, it does not matter in what order they are fulfilled, nor is it required that they be done in the state of grace, except for the last work.⁴

¹ Bull Inter praeteritos, § 53; this speaks of debt in any way whatsoever; but since canon 932 speaks only of law and precept, things owed under another title, for example a vow, now seem to suffice.

² Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, December 9, 1763 (Decreta authentica, n. 231); May 10, 1844 (Decreta authentica, n. 327, to I); canon 931, § 3.

³ Sacred Penitentiary, January 15, 1886, to VI.

⁴ Bulls Convocatis, § 47; Inter praeteritos, §§ 73-76.

III. Relaxation of the works. To the Supreme Pontiff alone belongs the faculty of dispensing in some work; but to confessors - not, however, of itself to Superiors¹ - is granted the faculty of commuting for those morally impeded the prescribed works into other pious works; concerning this, observe:

1. The faculty of commutation does not include confession; nor communion except for children who have not yet been admitted to first Communion;² nor the prayers to be recited according to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff.³

2. Commutation cannot be made into works otherwise owed, unless this is expressly granted;⁴ nor, as follows from the nature of commutation, can it be made into notably lesser works.

3. Commutation of itself, that is, considering the norms of Benedict XIV, seems to have to be made in sacramental confession. For thus Benedict XIV established generally concerning the use of faculties.⁵

4. Even if the indulgence can be acquired several times, nevertheless the commutation of the works enjoined, considering the Bull of Benedict XIV,⁶ can be made only once; but the Sacred Penitentiary, March 18, 1886,⁷ responded that the works enjoined can be commuted several times.

Note. One who foresees that the time for completing the prescribed works will not suffice for him should ask for commutation or, if the Bull permits it, prolongation of the Jubilee.

¹ Cf. Sacred Penitentiary, April 23, 1886, to II and III.

² Considering the kindly mind of the Church, this perhaps can be extended to those very few sick persons who cannot communicate even at home.

³ Benedictus Deus, § 3; Inter praeteritos, § 53.

⁴ Inter praeteritos, § 53.

⁵ Inter praeteritos, § 63; cf. Sacred Penitentiary, January 30, 1886.

⁶ Bull Convocatis, §§ 52 and 39.

⁷ A.S.S. XVIII, p. 512.

In order that the City of Rome during the time of the Jubilee may be celebrated by as great a gathering of mortals as can be, during the Holy Year, that is, the year in which the ordinary Jubilee is celebrated in the City - but not during the time in which the said Jubilee is extended to the world, nor in an extraordinary Jubilee - indulgences and faculties outside the City are moderated as follows:

I. All indulgences - even those which have been granted for the living only - can be acquired for the departed. No indulgences can be acquired for the living, except indulgences granted: 1. to those who are constituted at the point of death; 2. for the recitation of the Angelus of the Lord or the Regina Caeli according to the time, and certain others to be assigned in the Bull.¹

II. The faculties of absolving from reserved cases and censures, of commuting vows, of dispensing from irregularities and impediments, are suspended, with these exceptions:

1. Faculties granted in any way through the Code of Canon Law, except those which were granted by privilege.

2. Faculties for the external forum granted in any way to Nuncios, Internuncios, Apostolic Delegates, and also to Ordinaries of places and Superiors of Religious Orders over their subjects.

3. Faculties granted by the Sacred Penitentiary for the internal forum, insofar as they are exercised toward penitents who cannot go to the City without grave inconvenience.²

¹ A.A.S. 1927, p. 306 sq.

² A.A.S. 1927, pp. 307, 308.

"Whether in a Jubilee, both ordinary and extraordinary, all the rules handed down by the Holy Father Benedict XIV are to be observed, to which the Bull of the Jubilee is not opposed? Resp. Affirmatively." S. C. Ind. 6 Feb. 1852. This general Decree was confirmed by Pius IX on 15 March of the same year. Cf. Benedict XIV, Constitutions Cum Nos nuper, Convocatis, Inter praeteritos, Celebrationem; Decr. Auth., Append. XVIII.

"The fast prescribed for obtaining the Jubilee cannot be fulfilled on days reserved for a fast of strict law, nor on the Ember days through the year, and unless fasting foods are employed, the use, as regards the quality of foods, of any Indult or Privilege, even of the B. Crusade, is forbidden. But in those places where it is difficult to use fasting foods, Ordinaries can indulge that eggs and milk-products be used, the form of ecclesiastical fast being observed in other things." S. Poenit. 15 Jan. 1886, 26 Feb. 1879, 25 March 1881.

"Whether for the fast required for the Jubilee the use of eggs and milk-products is lawful at least in those regions in which, by custom or dispensation, it is permitted in fasts enjoined by precept of the Church... Resp.... Let it stand by the declarations of the same S. Poen., which are transmitted here annexed.... Fasting foods are to be used, the use, as regards the quality of foods, of any Indult or Privilege, even of the B. Crusade, being forbidden...." S. Poenit. 4 March 1879.

Fasting foods exclude meats, eggs, milk-products. From the cited Responses and another Response of the same S. Poen. 2 Apr. 1881.

"Whether, when a just cause occurs for commuting the enjoined works prescribed in the Bull of the present Jubilee (8 Dec. 1864), a commutation of this sort can be made outside the act of sacramental confession? Resp. From the declaration made by the Most Holy Lord Pope Pius IX: Affirmatively." S. Poenit. 16 March 1865.

"He supplicates that he, the confessor, may be able to commute them, the enjoined works, and to dispense concerning communion with children not yet capable of communion, even outside the act of sacramental confession. Resp. It is not expedient." S. Poenit. 30 Jan. 1886.

"He supplicates that the Confessor can commute the works enjoined for the Jubilee, or some of them, not once only, but several times, toward one wishing to gain the Jubilee several times. Resp. Confessors do not lack this faculty." S. Poenit. 30 Jan. 1886.

"Whether in favor of those who intend to repeat the Holy Jubilee, the works enjoined by the Most Holy Father can be commuted, just as from just and reasonable motives they can be commuted the first time in which someone gains the Jubilee? Resp. Affirmatively." S. Poenit. 18 March 1886.

Whether by one single Confession and Communion, generally speaking, satisfaction can be made for the precept of annual confession and Paschal communion, and at the same time the Jubilee acquired? Resp. Negatively. S. Poenit. 25 Jan. 1875, 26 Feb. 1879, 25 March 1881, 15 Jan. 1886. Cf. On Indulgences N. 1065.

"The quantity of alms ought so far to correspond to the faculty of individuals, inasmuch as that which suffices for the poor does not suffice for the rich." S. Poenit. 30 Jan. 1886.

"Whether public Oratories can be reckoned among the Churches to be visited? Resp. Affirmatively, provided that the Oratories themselves are devoted to public worship, and in them Mass is customarily celebrated." S. Poenit. 1875, 1879, 25 March 1881, 15 Jan. 1886. Cf. Decreta Authent., n. 310.

"Whether, for distinguishing the visitations by number, it is necessary and sufficient that the faithful go out and again enter the same appointed Church? Resp. Affirmatively." S. Poenit. 1875.

"Insofar as four visitations prescribed in the day must be performed in the same Church, it is asked whether, for distinguishing visitations of this sort from one another, it is necessary after each one to go out from the Church; or whether it suffices, while remaining in the same Church, to pass from one place to another, or even merely to rise, as commonly happens for the Stations of the Holy Way of the Cross? Resp. That it is necessary to go out from the Church." S. Poenit. 25 Jan. 1875.

"Visitations appointed for gaining the Jubilee, provided that they are made in the prescribed number, can be instituted at the choice of the Faithful, whether on one day or on different days." S. Poenit. 1879, 25 March 1881, 15 Jan. 1886. They can be placed before or after Confession and Communion. S. C. EE. et RR. 27 Aug. 1776. Cf. Bizzarri, ed. 1885, p. 392. But generally with regard to Indulgences, although in the Indult it is said: "who, having confessed and been refreshed by Holy Communion, shall visit this or that church on this or that day," etc., nevertheless the visitation "can be fulfilled either before or after the fulfillment of the other pious works." S. C. Indulg. 19 May 1759.

"Whether Religious can gain the Jubilee by performing in their own Church the visitations prescribed for it? Resp. Negatively." S. Poenit. 1875.

"Whether Abbots and Regular Prelates, since they have quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over subjects within the enclosures of their respective Monastery, can designate the Church or Oratory of their own Monastery for their subjects to visit, in order to gain the Indulgence of the Jubilee? Resp. Negatively." S. Poenit. 15 Dec. 1886. Cf. N. 1083.

"Whether the visitations which he, the Ordinary, performs together with the Chapter and Seminary in vestments not choral, but black, chanting in a subdued voice, can be regarded as processions to the four Churches designated for gaining the Jubilee; and consequently whether it is within the judgment of the same Ordinary to diminish the number of visitations, just as it is within his faculty to diminish those which are made processionally? Resp. Insofar as processions cannot be made in the usual manner, affirmatively." S. Poenit. 1875, 30 Jan. 1886.

"The faithful remaining in processions outside the doors of the Church or Oratory because of its narrowness, and praying with the others, form morally one body, and therefore satisfy the visitation for gaining the jubilee." S. Poenit. 1875.

"Those can gain the Jubilee who fulfill or complete the prescribed conditions partly in one diocese, partly in another, from whatever cause, if they observe the ordinances of the Ordinaries of the places." S. Poenit. 15 Jan. 1886, 1875.

"When in the Apostolic Letters by which the Jubilee of this year is proclaimed, two fasts are prescribed, nothing is expressly established whether they must be made in one and the same week. Therefore it is asked, must these two fasts be made on two days of one and the same week? Resp. Negatively." S. Poenit. 11 March 1886.

"The Indult (Gravibus Ecclesiae, 24 Dec. 1874) for those navigating and making a journey, who are impeded, so that, during the running year of the Jubilee, they cannot execute the works enjoined for gaining the Jubilee, is to be extended even beyond the year." S. Poenit. 1875.

The same S. Poen. on 30 Jan. 1886, responding to questions concerning the prorogation of the Jubilee of the same year for travelers, says: "In the present Jubilee nothing is proposed concerning prorogation."

"Whether he who has already gained the Indulgence of the Jubilee the first time can gain it again, if he repeats the enjoined works? Resp. Affirmatively." S. Poenit. 1 June 1869, 26 Feb. 1879, 25 March 1881, 15 Jan. 1886. Yet the same S. Poenit. on 25 Jan. 1875 declared: "by force of the present Jubilee... the Indulgence of the Jubilee itself can be acquired once only." In the Encyclical Epistle of Pius IX, Gravibus Ecclesiae, 24 Dec. 1874, by which the great Jubilee was proclaimed, these things are had: "let them obtain the most plenary... Indulgence... once."

"Once, i.e., only the first time, the Jubilee can be acquired as regards the other favors joined to the same Jubilee, namely absolutions from censures and from reserved cases, commutations or dispensations." S. Poenit. 15 Jan. 1886, 1 June 1869, 25 Jan. 1875, 26 Feb. 1879, 25 March 1881.

"Whether Confessors can absolve a penitent who, having already been absolved from reserved cases and from censures, has fallen into them again, before he has fulfilled the works prescribed for acquiring the Jubilee? Resp. By virtue of the Jubilee he can be absolved from reserved cases and from censures one time only, or negatively." S. Poenit. 1875. Cf. Lehmkuhl, Theol. Mor., ed. 1884, n. 555.

"1. Whether someone can be absolved by his own Confessor on the ground that he had never been bound by any reserved case in previous Confessions, and therefore has never used this jubilee privilege? 2. If affirmatively, whether he ought again to perform the works which are enjoined for obtaining the jubilee? 3. Whether the solution which Your Eminence will deign to pronounce is to be held as a general rule to be kept also in other Jubilees? Resp. To the 1st and 2nd: Affirmatively. To the 3rd: One must stand by the Apostolic Letters." S. Poenit. 1873.

"Whether Confessors can use the extraordinary faculties toward him who indeed asks to be absolved and dispensed, but does not have the will of performing the enjoined works and of gaining the Jubilee? Resp. Negatively." S. Poenit. 1 June 1869, 15 Jan. 1886.

"As to the choice of Confessor, whether he ought to have been approved by the Ordinary of the place or by the Ordinary of the Order with respect to Regulars? Resp. Regulars, according to the Apostolic Letters Gravibus Ecclesiae, for gaining the Jubilee can choose for themselves any confessor, who nevertheless has been approved by the Ordinaries of Places for hearing the confessions of secular persons." S. Poenit. 1875.

"Since the Bull of the indiction of the Jubilee concedes that a confessor may be chosen from those actually approved, and does not add, by the Ordinaries of places, can a regular choose a regular priest approved by the regular superior alone, and not by the Ordinary of the place, and receive from him the application of the privileges or faculties of the Jubilee? Resp. Affirmatively." S. Poenit. 30 Jan. 1886.

"Whether, as regards the faculties of absolving, other limitations are had besides those which were made in the Brief which begins Arcano, and whether one can be absolved from heresy externally brought forth, and the obligation ceases of denouncing heretics and their favorers? Resp.... From heresy one can indeed be absolved, but heretics and favorers and others are to be denounced, as of law." S. Poenit. 16 March 1865.

"Whether among the faculties conceded for the Jubilee there is contained the faculty of absolving penitents from heresy? Resp. Affirmatively, errors having first been abjured and retracted, as of law." S. Poenit. 1 June 1869.

"The same His Holiness indulges besides that, during the Jubilee, the faithful rightly disposed can be absolved also from the crime of heresy, nevertheless the obligation remaining firm of abjuring errors, or heresy, of repairing scandals, etc., as of law." S. Poenit. 25 Jan. 1875. Cf. Acta S. Sed. Vol. 4, p. 617.

Whether by force of the Jubilee those guilty of rebellion against the Pontifical civil Government, and those who in Italy have illegitimately acquired ecclesiastical goods, can be absolved? Resp. Affirmatively, under the conditions expressed in the Letter of the S. Poen. 2 June 1869. S. Poen. on the same day and year, and 25 Jan. 1875, 26 Feb. 1879, 25 March 1881.

"In other Jubilees the faculty is usually conceded of commuting vows by dispensing; but in the present one only the faculty of commuting them is conceded; can it be understood that also in this case the faculty of commuting vows by dispensing was conceded? Resp. Negatively." S. Poenit. 1875.

What is Jubilee? The word Jubilee is derived, according to many, from the Hebrew iobel, which signifies fiftieth, because among the Hebrews the year of Jubilee recurred in the fiftieth year; or, according to others, from the same word signifying the sound of the trumpet, by which the fiftieth year was announced. According to others also, Jubilee is derived from iubai or iobal, which signifies to germinate, because in the fiftieth year the land was not cultivated, and the inhabitants fed on fruits springing up of themselves.

In imitation of the Jubilee of the Old Testament, the ecclesiastical Jubilee was instituted, which first was celebrated at Rome, but afterwards began to be celebrated in the whole world, with the fullest indulgence of sins, with great joy and solemnity. It was instituted by Boniface VIII, Constitution Antiquorum habet, February 23, 1300, and was to be celebrated in every hundredth year. But Clement VI, by a Constitution of the year 1343, decreed that thereafter it should be celebrated in every fiftieth year. By decree of Urban VI it began to be celebrated in every thirty-third year; and by the statute of Paul II, in every twenty-fifth year.

Jubilee is defined: a solemn plenary indulgence, which the Supreme Pontiff sometimes grants to all the faithful, with the obligation of performing certain pious works, at the same time giving to confessors special power of absolving from reserved sins and censures, of commuting most vows, and of dispensing in other matters. Hence Jubilee does not differ except accidentally from an ordinary plenary indulgence, namely by reason of the solemnity and of the privileges annexed to it; and also by reason of the most abundant and extraordinary graces which accompany it. For the wonderful and astonishing effects which Jubilee is accustomed to produce point to these altogether special graces, even if solemn gatherings of the faithful are not held, nor the divine word preached, by reason of the prayers of the whole Church.

Of how many kinds is Jubilee? Jubilee is distinguished in many ways: the greater Jubilee, which regularly occurs every twenty-fifth year, which year is called holy. It is also called the ordinary Jubilee, because it is fixed and determined by law. The lesser Jubilee, which is accustomed to be granted by the individual Supreme Pontiffs after each one's exaltation, and in other particular circumstances, and is called an extraordinary Jubilee. General, which is granted to the whole world, such as the greater Jubilee always is, and sometimes also the lesser Jubilee; but it is accustomed to be granted first to the City, that is, to Rome alone, before it is granted to the world. Particular, which is granted to some province, city, or particular place, as is the most celebrated Jubilee granted to the Church of Le Puy, whenever the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin falls on the sacred day of Parasceve, that is, Good Friday.

A whole year is ordinarily granted at Rome for gaining the greater Jubilee; and in the following year six months are accustomed to be granted, by extension, to all other regions of the Christian world. The lesser Jubilee also first takes place at Rome, but for a few weeks, and then is extended to the whole world, so that, as the year runs, it can take place during the time to be determined by the Bishop. But both for the ordinary and for the extraordinary Jubilee, attention must above all be paid to the tenor of the Indult granted. Pius IX granted it for a very long time on the occasion of the Vatican Council. Leo XIII appointed the entire year 1886 and for all the faithful for gaining the Jubilee.

The ordinary Jubilee at Rome can be acquired toties quoties, as often as the imposed works are repeated. In the rest of the world it is acquired only once, unless the Supreme Pontiff in his Bull expressly declares otherwise. Benedict XIV, Constitution Benedictus Deus. But whether an extraordinary Jubilee can be acquired several times is to be determined from the Bull of concession. In the Jubilee of the year 1913 the Sacred Penitentiary declared, as on other occasions of preceding Jubilees, that the plenary indulgence could be acquired several times; but that someone could enjoy the other favors only once. Sacred Penitentiary, June 6, 1913.

In more recent times Jubilee has been proclaimed several times. Most memorable of all is the Jubilee of the Holy Year 1899, proclaimed by Leo XIII, Bull Properante ad exitum, May 11, 1899.

In the Jubilee of the holy year, or greater Jubilee, while it is being celebrated at Rome, not in the following year in which the Jubilee is extended to the whole world, there are suspended at Rome and outside Rome for the whole year all other indulgences of the Apostolic See, both plenary and particular, granted for the living, but not those which are granted for the dead. Indeed all indulgences, even those which otherwise were not applicable to the dead, can be applied to them in this year. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, December 16, 1749; Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 24; Constitution Cum nos, May 17, 1749. Cf. the Invitation of the Cardinal Vicar of the City, 1900.

From the suspension of indulgences for the living are excepted: 1. indulgences for the dying; 2. indulgences for the prayer Angelus; 3. indulgences for the visitation of the Most Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed; 4. indulgences for those who accompany the Most Blessed Sacrament when it is carried to the sick; 5. all indulgences which are granted by someone other than the Pope, by Legates a latere, Nuncios, Archbishops, Bishops. Benedict XIV, Brief Cum nos. But the indulgence of the papal blessing remains suspended, which Archbishops, Bishops, etc., give twice in the year. Clement XIII, Constitution Inexhaustum, September 3, 1762. Nevertheless in the Jubilee Constitution Quod Pontificum of Leo XIII, September 30, 1899, those indulgences remained intact "which Bishops are accustomed to bestow in the use of pontificals, or in imparting a blessing, or in another customary form."

Likewise, but outside Rome, faculties granted by the Holy See are suspended: of absolving from reserved cases and censures, of commuting vows, and of dispensing in irregularities and impediments, but not other faculties. Benedict XIV, Brief Cum nos, §§ 3-4; Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 32; Constitution Convocatis, §§ 55-56. But the faculty granted to Bishops by Trent, sess. 24, chap. Liceat, 6, de Ref., is excepted, and also other faculties which they enjoy by common law, or by special indult, in particular cases for determined persons. The same exception is to be made for faculties granted to regular prelates in favor of their subjects. Also intact remain the faculties of the Holy Office, of missionaries and ministers who have been deputed by the same Holy Office or by the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, and other faculties granted by the Sacred Penitentiary to missionaries to be exercised in mission places and on occasion of them. Benedict XIV, Brief Cum nos, § 3; Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 486.

But since the same conditions of this suspension are not always observed, attention likewise must always be paid to the tenor of the Bull of Jubilee. L., book 6, nn. 535-536. For the Jubilee of the holy year 1900 the Sacred Penitentiary declared, December 21, 1899, that the suspension of faculties "does not extend to those penitents who, at the time of Confession, in the judgment of the Ordinary or confessor, cannot here and now go to the City without grave inconvenience." And on December 26, 1899, the same Sacred Penitentiary declared that that suspension does not extend to faculties granted to Ordinaries for the external forum.

Now this suspension of indulgences and faculties outside Rome, while the Jubilee is being celebrated at Rome, has this purpose: that the faithful may be invited to go to Rome. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 17. Nevertheless many who cannot come to Rome can still gain the Jubilee in their own place of habitation, namely nuns, anchorites, the aged and infirm, and those detained in prisons. Leo XIII, Constitution Aeterni Pastoris, October 24, 1899. Those who have gained the Jubilee of the holy year at Rome can still gain the Jubilee when it is afterwards extended to the whole world. Monitore Ecclesiastico, vol. 11, p. 467, vol. 12, p. 315 ff.; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 33, p. 219 ff.; E.M.

What is required for gaining Jubilee? It is necessary to have the intention of gaining Jubilee, virtual or at least habitual. Moreover the prescribed works must be exactly fulfilled, and they cannot be commuted without the express faculty of the Supreme Pontiff. This faculty the Pontiff ordinarily grants to confessors for those impeded. Laymann, book 5, tract 8, chap. 8, n. 12.

In the general lesser Jubilee, the following works are regularly enjoined: fasting, alms, visitation of churches, with pious prayer according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff, Confession, Communion. In the general greater Jubilee the prescribed works are: Confession, Communion, visitation of churches. Benedict XIV, Brief Inter praeteritos, December 3, 1749, for the Jubilee of the holy year; L., book 6, n. 536. For a particular Jubilee attention must be paid to the tenor of the Indult granted. Cf. Benedict XIV, Constitution In suprema, November 20, 1744, and Constitution Nullis verbis, February 20, 1745.

Works already owed from some other obligation cannot serve for gaining Jubilee, unless this is granted by the Supreme Pontiff. Benedict XIV, Encyclical Inter praeteritos, § 53; L., book 6, nn. 536, 538. They can be fulfilled in whatever order, as one wishes. Nevertheless it is necessary that one be in the state of grace when he fulfills the last one. Benedict XIV, Encyclical Inter praeteritos, §§ 73, 77. There is no obligation of completing the same works in one and the same week. Sacred Penitentiary, March 16, 1865; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 1, p. 176.

They can be fulfilled in one's own diocese, or in another diocese, conforming oneself to the prescriptions of the Ordinary of the place. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, November 28, 1759; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 486, vol. 18, p. 334. Likewise someone can perform Confession and Communion in a foreign diocese, and the other works in his own, again conforming himself to the prescriptions of the Ordinary of the place. Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 486, vol. 18, p. 334. If Jubilee is prolonged for those traveling by sea, they can gain the Jubilee after their return to their homeland, by fulfilling the prescribed works, or gain it when they have arrived at some place of station. Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 485; L., n. 538. E.M.

What of Confession and Communion? For gaining Jubilee, Confession is necessary even for those who do not have consciousness of grave sin. Nevertheless absolution is not necessary, unless it is prescribed in the Bull of Jubilee. In this Confession of Jubilee also, the confessor must impose a sacramental penance. Benedict XIV, Constitution Convocatis, §§ 46, 64, 65; Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, May 6, 1852.

If, after Confession has been performed and before the other works have been fulfilled, someone falls into grave sin, he must confess again in order to gain Jubilee, and it does not suffice that he be contrite. Benedict XIV, Constitution Convocatis, § 47; Inter praeteritos, § 79. Nevertheless the other works already fulfilled are not to be repeated. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, November 23, 1759.

Annual Confession from obligation, even if someone approaches Confession twice and then is absolved once, does not suffice for gaining Jubilee without the express faculty of the Supreme Pontiff. The same is to be said of Easter Communion. Both the Confession and the Communion of Jubilee can be made in any church. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, December 9, 1763; May 10, 1844; Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1875; February 26, 1875; February 26, 1879; March 25, 1881; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 555. Confession can be made on the day preceding the first day of Jubilee, namely if it is made when the ecclesiastical day has already begun, that is, at first vespers of the first day of Jubilee. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 8. E.M.

What of the visitation of a church? The number of visitations and the number of churches which must be visited are indicated by the Bull of Jubilee. When in some place a sufficient number of churches is not had, the Bishop can prescribe the visitation of one or two churches as many times as there are churches to be visited for the acquisition of Jubilee. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, Decree Urbis et Orbis, March 15, 1852.

For the visitation the Bishop can also designate a public oratory in which Mass is habitually celebrated. Sacred Penitentiary, 1879; March 25, 1881; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 11, p. 528, vol. 13, p. 423, vol. 18, p. 334. The Bishop of the diocese can also lessen the number of visitations for those who make them processionally with the chapter, congregations, confraternities, and also with the pastor or another priest designated by him. Sacred Penitentiary, February 26, 1879; March 25, 1881; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 11, p. 527, vol. 13, p. 423, vol. 18, p. 333.

In the last Jubilee, on the occasion of the Constantinian feasts, it was said in the Constitution Universus Christifidelibus, March 8, 1913, that outside Rome the church or churches to be visited were to be designated only once by the Ordinary. Therefore, once designated, he could not change them further.

Regulars cannot perform the visitations in their own domestic chapels, nor can regular prelates designate these for their subjects; but they must perform the visitation in the churches prescribed by the Bishop. Regulars who are impeded can in particular obtain commutation from their own confessor. Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 554; April 24, 1886; December 15, 1886.

Someone who has performed some visitations in his own diocese, if he goes into another diocese, can complete the remaining visitations there, according to the prescription of the Ordinary of the place. Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; January 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 486, vol. 18, p. 324; Sacred Penitentiary, June 5, 1901; Monitore Ecclesiastico, vol. 13, p. 202.

When in the Bull of Jubilee four visitations of churches in a day are prescribed, the day is taken either as natural, from midnight to midnight, or as ecclesiastical, from first vespers up to the end of twilight of the following day. "After the visitation of the four Basilicas has been completed on the same natural or ecclesiastical day, immediately, when a new ecclesiastical day begins, a new visitation of the four Basilicas can be begun again by entering again into the Basilica visited last." Sacred Penitentiary, January 31, 1900; February 20, 1900.

From first vespers means from the hour, namely, at which vespers are recited publicly or in choir, or at which according to custom they can be recited, or at which vespers begin according to approved authors, namely at about the second hour after noon. Benedict XIV, Inter praeteritos, § 3, n. 13; Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1875; February 20, 1900; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 266, vol. 32, p. 512; Raccolta, p. XXII; Theodore of the Holy Spirit, de Indulgentiis, II, p. 74; Martinucci, Manuale Ecclesiasticorum.

When several visitations of churches are to be made and nothing is prescribed as to time, then all the visitations can be made either on the same day or on different days. Sacred Penitentiary, 1879; March 25, 1881; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 11, p. 528, vol. 13, p. 423, vol. 18, p. 334.

Several visitations to be made cannot be fulfilled by remaining longer in the church; rather, it is necessary to go out and enter again, although someone may enter again immediately afterwards. And when there was a great concourse of people, the visitation would be fulfilled even outside the church, by uniting oneself with the whole people. Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1875; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, pp. 268, 485; Theodore of the Holy Spirit, de Iubilaeo, chap. VI, § 1, n. 3.

The prayers to be recited in visitations of this kind according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff must be vocal, and they can be any prayers, since they are not determined. According to the common opinion it suffices to recite five Pater, Ave, Gloria. Benedict XIV, Constitution Convocatis, § 51; Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 83.

One who in the City, or on the very journey to Rome for gaining the Jubilee, is seized by mortal illness or is prevented by another legitimate cause, can gain the Jubilee by Confession and Communion with the due dispositions. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 14; Bull Properante ad exitum of Leo XIII, May 11, 1899; L., book 6, nn. 536-537; E.M.

What of the fast of Jubilee? For gaining Jubilee the fast must be observed, even by those who by the law of the Church are not bound to fasting, or who for a legitimate cause are dispensed from the law of fasting or from abstinence. If someone is legitimately impeded, he must obtain commutation from the confessor.

But one who has obtained from the confessor, for a just cause, the faculty of eating flesh-meat during the Jubilee fast could not at the same meal also eat fish. This permission granted by the confessor of eating flesh-meat cannot be extended to the evening collation, unless the confessor, having the due faculty, judges that someone ought to be dispensed altogether from the fast. But one who, by legitimate permission, can eat eggs and milk-foods can also eat fish at the same meal. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 10, 1869; Sacred Penitentiary, February 26, 1879; March 25, 1881; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 11, p. 527, vol. 13, p. 422; Benedict XIV, Letter to the Archbishop of Compostela, June 10, 1745.

The fast prescribed in Jubilee is the ecclesiastical fast, according as it is observed by the law of the Church. Therefore the evening collation and the morning morsel are permitted, besides the one meal. But the use of flesh-meat is prohibited, and in Lent also the use of milk-foods, if that still has force. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 147, a. 8, ad 3; Sacred Penitentiary, January 20 and April 28, 1865; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 1, pp. 174-175.

And if outside the time of Lent a stricter fast is expressly prescribed, then a double abstinence from flesh-meat and from milk-foods must be observed, even outside the time of Lent, notwithstanding an Indult, Privilege, or general custom permitting milk-foods or even flesh-meat on days of fasting and of precept of the Church. Sacred Penitentiary, January 16, 1886; February 26, 1879; March 4, 1879; March 31, 1879; March 25, 1881; August 31, 1881; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 11, p. 527, vol. 13, pp. 422-423, vol. 18, p. 333.

If the Bull of Jubilee designates the days on which the fast is to be observed, the designated time is to be observed, and the fast is valid for gaining Jubilee, although at the designated time the fast falls on one to be observed by precept. But if the Bull of Jubilee does not designate the time of the fast, the fast cannot be made on the same day on which, from another source, there is a fast to be observed by precept of the Church, unless this is expressly conceded in the Indult of Jubilee, or is permitted by a special concession. Sacred Penitentiary, July 2, 1881; January 15, 1886; April 10, 1886; L., book 6, n. 537.

If three fasts are prescribed on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, almost all readily agree that these three fasts are to be fulfilled in the same week, since they are prescribed after the manner of the fasts of the Ember Days. Cf. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 10, 1869. E.M.

What of almsgiving? Alms can be given by oneself and by another, provided that if it is given by another, one's own consent and intention are added. And thus the father of a family can give alms for himself, for his wife, for his children, for his servants. The superior of a convent or monastery can give alms for the whole convent or monastery, etc.

If nothing is prescribed, any alms suffices for the rich and for the poor. But if alms proportioned to one's fortune are prescribed, then indeed that which suffices for the poor does not suffice for the rich. Theodore of the Holy Spirit, I, p. 323; L., book 6, n. 538; La-Croix, nn. 1428, 1430; Laymann, chap. 8, n. 12; E.M.

What of the faculty of confessors for commuting the imposed works? Confessors can, for a just cause, commute the imposed works of Jubilee into other pious works which are not already owed, and therefore into others almost equal. Confession and Communion, and likewise prayers according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff, when they are separated from the visitation of the church, are excepted from this commutation. But for children who have not yet been admitted to First Communion, commutation into another pious work at the judgment of the confessor is permitted. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, §§ 53, 80; Constitution Convocatis, § 48.

One who without his own fault, from whatever cause, was impeded from approaching Communion can also obtain a delay from his own confessor. Thus commonly. Bouvier, Opusculum de Indulgentiis et Iubilaeo, chap. 3, § 4; Gury, n. 1066; Ballerini-Palmieri, Opus Morale, 3rd ed., vol. 5, n. 817.

A commutation of this kind seems to be made in Confession, cf. n. 1365, unless something else is declared, as in the Jubilee of the year 1865. Benedict XIV, Constitution Convocatis, § 25; Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 63; Leo XIII, January 30, 1886; Sacred Penitentiary, March 16, 1865; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 1, p. 176; L., book 6, n. 534, 15th. But if the Jubilee can be gained several times, then also for a legitimate cause the prescribed works can be commuted several times. Sacred Penitentiary, July 2, 1881; March 18, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 18, p. 512.

Nevertheless in the Jubilee of the Holy Year 1900 the contrary was declared by the same Sacred Penitentiary, February 20 and May 10, 1900; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 12, p. 637, vol. 13, p. 64. And at the same time it was declared that although someone cannot obtain several commutations from the confessor, he can nevertheless gain Jubilee again by repeating the works imposed in the first commutation. Sacred Penitentiary, May 10, 1900; Monitore Ecclesiastico, vol. 12, p. 167. E.M.

What of other faculties of confessors? A confessor can absolve anyone from all sins and censures, even those reserved in a special manner to the Supreme Pontiff or to the Bishop, whether occult or public; whether the censures have been imposed by law or by man, with only the absolution of an accomplice and a false accusation of solicitation excepted. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, §§ 56-61; Constitution Sacramentum Poenitentiae, § 5; Constitution Convocatis, §§ 5-6; Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1865; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 8, p. 360; Pius X, Brief Universis, March 8, 1912; Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 5, p. 93.

Nevertheless in the Jubilee of the holy year 1900 a false accusation of solicitation was not excepted. And the absolution of an accomplice was excepted which had been given three times or more. Leo XIII, Bull Quoniam divinae, October 21, 1899.

But this absolution can be given only once, and only in the forum of conscience, after satisfaction has been made to the injured party and scandal repaired, and only in favor of those who wish to gain Jubilee and to fulfill the prescribed works. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, §§ 62, 86; Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1869; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 5, p. 33, vol. 18, p. 334; L., book 6, n. 537.

Formerly heresy also was excepted; Benedict XIV, Constitution Convocatis, § 53; Constitution Inter praeteritos, §§ 38, 85; Holy Office, March 23, 1656. But at present heresy also is comprehended, after it has first been retracted and abjured. Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1869; January 25, 1875; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 5, p. 32, vol. 8, p. 266.

One who, after he has been absolved from reserved matters or has obtained a commutation of vows, afterwards, with changed will, does not wish to fulfill the imposed works of Jubilee, although he sins, but not gravely according to the common opinion, nevertheless remains absolved from reserved matters and dispensed from the vows. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 86; Constitution Convocatis, § 54; L., book 6, n. 537; Lugo, disp. 20, n. 100; Salmanticenses, chap. 13, n. 57.

Likewise one who has been absolved from reserved matters and dispensed from vows, and who received no absolution or a sacrilegious one, remains absolved from reserved matters and dispensed from vows. St. Alphonsus, book 6, n. 537, indeed denies this. But other grave doctors probably affirm it, and therefore, since the reservation would now be doubtful, it practically ceases. Cf. n. 806; Lugo, disp. 20, nn. 111-113; Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 62.

One who during the time of Jubilee has rightly completed Confession, although in it he forgot reserved sins, can afterwards, after the Jubilee, be absolved from those same sins, since he was then at least absolved from the reservation, or acquired a right to absolution. The same is to be said of dispensation from vows. L., book 6, n. 531, 537, q. 4; Ferraris, v. Iubilaeum, art. 2, n. 27; La-Croix, n. 1449.

Likewise the confessor can absolve the penitent from censures and from the reservation of sins, and dispense his vows, although the confessor must defer absolution to him, if nevertheless the penitent fulfills the admonitions of the confessor and performs the other prescribed works of Jubilee, being about to obtain absolution thereafter even after the Jubilee. L., book 6, nn. 535, 537.

If someone, in a Confession made for Jubilee which he has already gained, had no reserved cases, nor vows to be dispensed, he can still once be absolved from reserved matters and be dispensed from vows, if he can again gain Jubilee by again performing the prescribed works. Sacred Penitentiary, January 1, 1873. Hence the same Sacred Penitentiary, June 5, 1901, declared the contrary, having regard to the Constitution Temporis quidem, December 25, 1899, for the extension of the Jubilee of that year, by which the Jubilee could be acquired only once. Monitore Ecclesiastico, vol. 12, p. 489, vol. 13, p. 202.

In the Jubilee of the holy year the indulgence can be obtained several times, the imposed works being repeated; but someone can use the other graces only once. Therefore one who has already once been absolved from reserved sins and censures, and has gained Jubilee, although he afterwards repeats the imposed works in order again to gain Jubilee, cannot any longer be absolved from reserved matters.

But whether he can be absolved again if he has not yet gained Jubilee even once, since he has not yet performed all the imposed works, so that he may gain it at least once: some deny it, from Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, July 10, 1869; Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1869; January 25, 1875; January 15, 1886; Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 5, p. 32, vol. 8, pp. 267, 359, vol. 18, p. 333; but others affirm it, unless the contrary is expressed in the Bull of Jubilee. When the doubt was proposed: "Whether during the time of the present Jubilee of 1901 it is lawful for confessors to use several times the extraordinary faculties granted to them toward the same penitent, who has not yet fulfilled all the works imposed for gaining the indulgence of Jubilee," the Sacred Penitentiary, January 25, 1901, answered: "In the affirmative." Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. 33, p. 375. It answered the same on April 3, 1904; Monitore Ecclesiastico, vol. 16, p. 169; D'Annibale, part 3, n. 190, 2nd ed., and part 1, n. 348, 3rd ed. Cf. Benedict XIV, Constitution Convocatis, § 52; Constitution Inter praeteritos, §§ 67, 73, 77, 78, 79, 84, 85; Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 5, p. 279.

During the time of Jubilee, Regulars can, without any permission of their Superiors, confess to any regular or secular confessor approved by the Ordinary of the place, or approved only by his own Prelate; and they can be absolved by him even from cases reserved in their Order. Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, §§ 35-36; Sacred Penitentiary, January 30, 1886.

But nuns can also confess to any confessor, but one approved by the Ordinary of the place for nuns. L., book 6, n. 236; Ferraris, v. Approbatio, art. 2, n. 21. And the Sacred Penitentiary, January 11, 1900, declared: "The benefits of the Bull Aeterni Pastoris (of the Jubilee of the Holy Year) also pertain to nuns professed of simple vows, and it is lawful for them once to choose for themselves a confessor from those simply approved to hear the Confessions of secular persons." "The free choice of confessor, which is granted to regulars and nuns for the effect of the Jubilee, that is, if there is the intention of gaining Jubilee, can be exercised by them several times, until they have completed the works required for Jubilee." Sacred Penitentiary, June 9, 1901, ad 3.

Finally confessors can commute vows, or by commuting dispense vows, even sworn vows and vows reserved to the Apostolic See, except vows of chastity and of religion, and those in favor of a third party, and penal vows or vows preservative from sin; and they can dispense from irregularity arising from violation of censure, but not from others, in which, as in all the rest, the tenor of the Bull of Jubilee is to be attended to. Benedict XIV, Inter praeteritos, § 45; L., book 6, n. 536. And in those matters in which the Bull of Jubilee is not opposed, the rules handed down by Benedict XIV in the same Constitution Inter praeteritos are to be observed. Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, March 15, 1852; Leo XIII, Bull Temporis quidem, December 25, 1899; E.M.

"Whether in both an ordinary and an extraordinary Jubilee all the rules handed down by the Holy Father Benedict XIV, to which the Bull of the Jubilee is not opposed, are to be observed? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 6 February 1852. This general Decree was confirmed by Pius IX on 15 March of the same year. Cf. Benedict XIV, Constitutions Cum Nos nuper, Convocatis, Inter praeteritos, and Celebrationem.

"It pleases the Holy See that the indulgences, faculties, and indults granted by the Bull of the Crusade remain in force also in this Jubilee year; and let the Most Eminent Archbishop take care that this favor come to the knowledge of those whom it concerns, by sending letters to the Commissioners of the Crusade in Sicily and to the Archbishop of the Diocese of Naples for the Commissioners of Southern Italy." Sacred Penitentiary, 19 January 1900.

"The Bull of Pius IV, Divina disponente clementia, of 17 July 1561 remaining in force, the Indulgences of the Holy Land granted therein remain valid and in force also in this Jubilee year. - By special and express Apostolic authority, the Sacred Penitentiary graciously grants that the faculties granted by the Sacred Penitentiary to Confessors remain valid and in force this year in favor of all pilgrims in the Holy Places." Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 2 April 1900.

"Whether the suspension of faculties made by the Bull Quod Pontificum on 30 September 1899, by reason of the Jubilee, comprehends, with no exception made, the faculties in the printed folio customarily granted by the Sacred Penitentiary to Ordinaries and confessors for the internal forum? - Response. This suspension does not extend to those penitents who, at the time of confession, in the judgment of the Ordinary or confessor, cannot here and now approach the City without grave inconvenience." Sacred Penitentiary, 21 December 1899.

"The Sacred Penitentiary, after mature consideration of the matters set forth, declares that, by the Bull Quod Pontificum, all the faculties which Bishops and Ordinaries have, whether from the common ecclesiastical law, especially that of the Council of Trent, or from a special Indult perhaps granted by the Apostolic See in some particular case for determined persons expressly designated by name, remain valid and in force for both forums and for any cases whatsoever, both occult and public.

"But all the other faculties, whether temporary or perpetual, granted in whatever manner, whether by the Sacred Penitentiary, by some Sacred Congregation, or even immediately by the Supreme Pontiff Himself, cease entirely if they are for the internal forum; if they are for the external forum (of which kind the faculty of dispensing in mixed marriages is to be considered), they remain.

"But in order to make provision for those who are legitimately impeded from approaching Rome, provision was made by the declaration of this Sacred Penitentiary given on 21 December 1899." Sacred Penitentiary, 19 January 1900; M. E., vol. 11, p. 495.

"Those who, for any cause whatsoever, fulfill or complete the prescribed conditions partly in one diocese and partly in another can gain the Jubilee, if they observe the ordinances of the Ordinaries of the places." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 January 1886; 1875.

"When in the Apostolic Letters by which the Jubilee of this year is proclaimed two fasts are prescribed, nothing is expressly determined as to whether they must be performed in one and the same week. It is therefore asked: Must these two fasts be performed on two days of one and the same week? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 11 March 1886.

"The indult (Bull Gravibus Ecclesiae, 24 December 1874) for those sailing and making a journey who are prevented from performing, during the course of the Jubilee year, the works enjoined for gaining the Jubilee is extended even beyond the year." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

The same Sacred Penitentiary, on 30 January 1886, responding to questions concerning the extension of the Jubilee of that same year for travelers, said: "In the present Jubilee nothing concerning an extension is to be proposed."

Can one Confession and Communion, generally speaking, satisfy the precept of annual confession and Paschal Communion and at the same time acquire the Jubilee? - Response. Negative. Sacred Penitentiary, 25 January 1875; 27 February 1879; 25 March 1881; 15 January 1886.

"In the Admonitions Extracted from the Constitutions of Benedict XIV, at no. XIV, it is read: If anyone, after making Confession, should fall into mortal sin (which may God avert) before he has fulfilled all the works enjoined for gaining the Jubilee, he will have to make Confession again before he fulfills at least the last of those enjoined works, in order that he may obtain the Indulgence annexed to the Jubilee. It is asked: In this case, does Holy Communion suffice for the final work? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 20 February 1900.

"Whether public oratories can be numbered among the churches to be visited? - Response. Affirmative, provided that the oratories themselves are devoted to public worship and Mass is customarily celebrated in them." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; 1879; 25 March 1881; 15 January 1886.

"Whether, in order to distinguish the visits numerically, it is necessary and sufficient that the faithful leave and again enter the same designated church? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"Insofar as four visits in a day must be performed in the same church, it is asked whether, in order to distinguish visits of this kind from one another, it is necessary to leave the church after each one, or whether it suffices, while remaining in the same church, to pass from one place to another, or even merely to rise, as is commonly done for the Stations of the Holy Way of the Cross? - Response. It is necessary to leave the church." Sacred Penitentiary, 25 January 1875.

"Concerning the following doubt regarding the visitation of the Sacred Basilicas, which is prescribed as a necessary condition for gaining the Jubilee indulgence, it is asked: Whether, when the visitation of the four Basilicas has been completed on the same natural day, a new visitation of the four Basilicas can begin immediately when a new ecclesiastical day begins, by entering again the Basilica visited last? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 31 January 1900.

"In the Admonitions Extracted from the Constitutions of Benedict XIV, no. XXIV, it is read: 'The visitation of the four Basilicas must be made in one day, namely, either from one midnight to the next, or from the Vespers of the preceding day until the evening twilight of the following day.'

"It is asked for the safe practice of the faithful: Whether one who, for example, after the fourteenth hour of the civil day, has completed the visitation of the four Basilicas, whether he followed the reckoning of the natural or the ecclesiastical day, can again enter the last Basilica and there immediately repeat a new visit, with the intention of completing the remaining visits on the following day?

"Response. Abstracting from the determination of the time at which Vespers begin, concerning which he should consult approved Authors, as regards the rest, affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 20 February 1900.

Visits to churches can precede or follow confession and Communion. Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, 27 August 1776. Cf. Bizzarri, ed. 1885, p. 392. But generally, with respect to indulgences, although it may be said in the Indult: "those who, having confessed and been refreshed by Holy Communion, shall visit a church on this or that day," etc., nevertheless the visit "can be fulfilled either before or after the fulfillment of the other pious works." Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 19 May 1759.

"Whether religious can gain the Jubilee by performing in their own church the visits prescribed for this purpose? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"Whether abbots and regular prelates, since they have quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over subjects within the enclosure of their respective monastery, can designate the church or oratory of their own monastery to be visited by their subjects for gaining the Jubilee indulgence? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 December 1886.

"Whether the visits which he [the Ordinary] performs together with the chapter and seminary, in garments that are not choral but black, chanting in a subdued voice, can be considered as processions to the four churches designated for gaining the Jubilee; and consequently whether it is at his [the same Ordinary's] discretion to diminish the number of visits, just as it is within his faculty to diminish those which are made processionally? - Response. Insofar as processions cannot be made in the customary manner, affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875; 30 January 1886.

"The faithful who in processions remain outside the doors of the church or oratory because of its narrowness, and pray with the others, form one body morally and consequently satisfy the visitation for gaining the Jubilee." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

"The fast prescribed for obtaining the Jubilee cannot be fulfilled on days reserved by strict law for fasting, nor on the Ember Days during the year, and not unless fasting foods are employed, the use of any indult or privilege whatsoever, even of the Bull of the Crusade, being forbidden with respect to the quality of foods. But in those places where it is difficult to use fasting foods, the Ordinaries can grant that eggs and milk products may be used, the form of the ecclesiastical fast being observed in other respects." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 January 1886; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881.

"Whether in the fast required for the Jubilee the use of eggs and milk products is lawful at least in those regions in which, by custom or dispensation, it is permitted in fasts enjoined by a precept of the Church? ... - Response. ... Let the declaration of the same Sacred Penitentiary which is transmitted herewith stand. ... Let fasting foods be employed, the use of any indult or privilege whatsoever, even of the Bull of the Crusade, being forbidden with respect to the quality of foods. ..." Sacred Penitentiary, 4 March 1879.

Fasting foods exclude meats, eggs, and milk products. From the cited Responses and another Response of the same Sacred Penitentiary, 2 April 1881.

"The quantity [of alms] ought so far to correspond to the means of individuals, insofar as that which suffices for the poor does not suffice for the rich." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"When a just cause arises for commuting the enjoined works prescribed in the Bull of the present Jubilee (8 December 1864), can such a commutation be made outside the act of sacramental confession? - Response. From the declaration made by Our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius IX, affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 16 March 1865.

"The petitioner supplicates that the confessor may be able to commute them [the works enjoined] and to dispense from Communion with children not yet capable of Communion, even outside the act of sacramental confession. - Response. Not expedient." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"The petitioner supplicates that the confessor may be able to commute the works enjoined for the Jubilee, or some of them, not only once but several times, for one who wishes to gain the Jubilee several times. - Response. Confessors do not lack this faculty." Sacred Penitentiary, 30 January 1886.

"Whether, in favor of those who intend to repeat the Holy Jubilee, the works enjoined by the Most Holy Father can be commuted, just as for just and reasonable motives they can be commuted the first time that someone gains the Jubilee? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 18 March 1886.

"Whether confessors delegated by the Bishop [outside Rome] by force of the Bull Aeterni pastoris can use, outside confession, the faculties of commuting the visits to the Basilicas [for those impeded from coming to Rome]? - Response. Affirmative, but toward their own penitents." Sacred Penitentiary, 10 May 1900.

"Whether one who has already gained the Jubilee indulgence the first time can gain it again if he repeats the works enjoined? - Response. Affirmative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1 June 1869; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881; 15 January 1886. Nevertheless, the same Sacred Penitentiary on 25 January 1875 declared: "By force of the present Jubilee ... the indulgence of the Jubilee itself can be acquired only once." In the Encyclical Letter of Pius IX Gravibus Ecclesiae of 24 December 1874, by which a great Jubilee was proclaimed, these words are contained: "let them obtain ... the most plenary indulgence ... once."

"Once, that is, only the first time [the Jubilee can be acquired] with respect to the other favors [annexed to the same Jubilee], namely, absolutions from censures and from reserved cases, commutations, or dispensations." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 January 1886; 1 June 1869; 25 January 1875; 26 February 1879; 25 March 1881.

"Whether confessors can absolve a penitent who, having already been absolved from reserved cases and from censures, has fallen into them again before he has fulfilled the works prescribed for acquiring the Jubilee? - Response. By virtue of the Jubilee one can be absolved from reserved cases and from censures only once, or, negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1885. Cf. Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis, ed. 1884, no. 555.

"1. Whether a person can be absolved by his confessor on the ground that he had never been entangled in any reserved case in his previous confessions and therefore had never used this Jubilee privilege? - 2. If affirmative, whether he must again perform the works which are enjoined for obtaining the Jubilee? - 3. Whether the solution which Your Eminence shall deign to render is to be regarded as a general rule to be observed also in other Jubilees? - Response. To 1 and 2. Affirmative. To 3. The Apostolic Letters are to be observed." Sacred Penitentiary, 1873.

"Whether confessors can use the extraordinary faculties toward one who indeed asks to be absolved and dispensed, but does not have the will to perform the works enjoined and to gain the Jubilee? - Response. Negative." Sacred Penitentiary, 1 June 1869; 15 January 1886.

"With respect to the choice of a confessor, must he be approved by the Ordinary of the place or by the Ordinary of the order [with respect to regulars]? - Response. According to the Apostolic Letter Gravibus Ecclesiae, in order to gain the Jubilee, regulars can choose for themselves any confessor who is nevertheless approved by the Ordinaries of the places for hearing the confessions of secular persons." Sacred Penitentiary, 1875.

1061. • According to many, the word Jubilee is derived from the Hebrew iobel, which signifies fiftieth, because among the Hebrews the year of Jubilee recurred in the fiftieth year; or, according to others, from the same word signifying the sound of a trumpet by which the fiftieth year was announced. According to still others, Jubilee is derived from iubal or iobal, which signifies to sprout, because in the fiftieth year the land was not cultivated and the inhabitants fed upon fruits springing up spontaneously.

In imitation of the Jubilee of the Old Testament, the ecclesiastical Jubilee was instituted, which is now celebrated at Rome and throughout the world with a most full indulgence of sins, great joy, and solemnity. After its first institution by decree of Boniface VIII in the year 1300, it was held every fiftieth year; by decree of Urban VI, however, every thirtieth year; finally, by the statute of Paul II, it began to be celebrated every twenty-fifth year.

1062. Definition. - A Jubilee is a solemn plenary Indulgence which the Supreme Pontiff sometimes grants to all the faithful with the obligation of performing certain pious works, at the same time giving Confessors a special power of absolving from reserved sins and censures and of commuting most vows.

Hence a Jubilee differs only accidentally from an ordinary plenary Indulgence, namely, by reason of the solemnity and the privileges attached to it, and also by reason of the most abundant and extraordinary graces which accompany it. For the marvelous and astounding effects which a Jubilee is accustomed to produce demonstrate these altogether special graces, even if solemn assemblies of the faithful are not held and the divine word is not preached.

1063. Division. - A manifold Jubilee is distinguished:

1. A greater Jubilee, which regularly occurs every twenty-fifth year, which is called a Holy Year. It is also called an ordinary Jubilee because it is fixed and determined by law.

2. A lesser Jubilee, which is customarily granted by individual Supreme Pontiffs after the elevation of each and in other particular circumstances, and is called an extraordinary Jubilee.

3. General, which is granted to the whole world, as the greater Jubilee always is, and sometimes also the lesser Jubilee; but it is customarily granted to the City, or to Rome alone, before it is granted to the world.

4. Particular, which is granted to some province, city, or particular place, such as the most celebrated Jubilee granted to the Church of Anicium whenever the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin falls upon the sacred day of Parasceve.

An entire year is ordinarily granted at Rome for gaining the greater Jubilee, and in the following year it is customarily granted by extension to all other regions of the Christian world. But only fifteen days or three weeks are granted to individual parishes for gaining the Jubilee. Nevertheless, the Bishop can for just causes prolong that time. The lesser Jubilee is also first held at Rome, but for a few weeks, and then is extended to the whole world, so that during the course of the year it can be held for a time to be determined by the Bishop.

1064. • I. For a general Jubilee, whether greater or lesser, the following conditions are required: 1. a fast of three days, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; 2. some alms according to the means of each; 3. visitation of Churches, praying piously for the intention of the Supreme Pontiff. Formerly it was placed in the Indult: Those who have taken part in the procession or have visited the Churches. Now a procession is not enjoined as a condition of the Indulgence. 4. Confession of sins performed with sincere sorrow. 5. Communion made in the state of grace. Thus from many Constitutions, especially that of Benedict XIV, Bull Inter praeteritos, 3 December 1749, for the Jubilee of the Holy Year. See the compendium of this Bull in St. Alphonsus, no. 536.

II. For a particular Jubilee, attention must be given to the tenor of the Indult granted; ordinarily only three things are required, namely, confession, Communion, and visitation of some Church.

1065. Questions. - QUESTION 1. Can children, the elderly, the sick, or others who cannot fast gain the Jubilee without fasting?

Reply. Negatively, unless they obtain a commutation of the fast into another work. The reason is that fasting is expressly prescribed as a condition for gaining the Indulgence. For it is not enjoined as a precept from which necessity excuses, but is assigned as a counsel with the promise of an Indulgence. Confessors approved for the Jubilee, however, enjoy the faculty of a commutation of this kind. Thus Laymann, book 5, tract 8, chapter 8, no. 12; Voit, no. 663.

QUESTION 2. Can the enjoined fasts be satisfied through fasts otherwise due, for example, if the Jubilee is held during Lent or the Ember Days?

Reply. Of itself, negatively, with St. Alphonsus, book 6, nos. 536 and 538. The reason is that by one payment a double burden cannot be satisfied, and the Pontiff, when he imposes a fast, always intends to impose a special obligation concerning a matter not yet commanded.

Nevertheless, if the Pontiff determines, or permits to be determined, for gaining the Jubilee a time in which a fast must already be observed by precept of the Church, such as the time of Lent or the Ember Days, by that very fact he is considered to dispense the faithful from the obligation of obtaining a commutation of the fast into another work. St. Alphonsus, no. 536. This doctrine is confirmed by a recent Decision of the Sacred Penitentiary ¹.

¹ Questions proposed to the Sacred Penitentiary on the occasion of the Jubilee granted by Pius IX in the year 1863:

1. Whether Bishops who determine the time of Lent for gaining the Jubilee in their Diocese ought to commute the prescribed fasts into other pious works, abstinence being observed in places where, by Pontifical faculty, they are accustomed to dispense from it?

2. Whether Bishops in whose Diocese the Jubilee falls during Paschal time can declare to the faithful that a single Communion, namely, the Paschal Communion, suffices for obtaining the grace of the Jubilee, with that which is prescribed by the Pontiff omitted?

3. Whether Bishops can assign different times for the various places of a Diocese to obtain the Indulgence of the Jubilee during the course of the year?

4. Whether Confessors, during the time of Jubilee, can absolve those who cooperated in the usurpation of Pontifical territory, notwithstanding the reservation made in the Bull of 26 March 1860?

The Sacred Penitentiary, after a report of the foregoing was made to our Most Holy Lord Pius IX, according to the mind of the same Most Holy Lord, replied on 20 January 1865:

To 1: Through the Lenten fast, even if there is necessity of using milk foods, the double burden is satisfied.

To 2: Affirmatively.

To 3: Affirmatively, from a new Indult of His Holiness.

To 4: Negatively, and recourse must be had to the Ordinaries of the places, who will provide according to the instructions.

1066. • QUESTION 3. Can the visitation of Churches be commuted for those impeded?

Reply. Affirmatively. Thus Nuns, those detained in prisons, the sick, and any others impeded from visiting a Church for a grave cause can obtain from a Confessor a commutation of this work into another. Thus Benedict XIV established in the Bull Inter praeteritos, and the other subsequent Supreme Pontiffs.

QUESTION 4. Can confession and Communion be commuted?

Reply. Negatively, at least generally speaking. The reason is that Bulls speaking of works to be commuted do not speak of confession or Communion, at least for adults. Indeed, they are expressly excluded by Benedict XIV in the Bull cited, section 1, where it is said that the faculty of commuting pious works is not understood to be given concerning confession and Communion, except for children, or the prayer necessary in the visitation.

Nevertheless, as it seems, if someone intending to communicate on the last day were prevented from Communion by an unforeseen occurrence, he could obtain a commutation of Communion or a prolongation of the Jubilee. Thus commonly, says Bouvier, little work on Indulgences and the Jubilee, chapter 3, section 4.

1067. • QUESTION 5. Can children not yet refreshed by Communion gain the Jubilee with it omitted?

Reply. Negatively, unless they obtain a commutation. For it is gathered from the Bull of Benedict XIV, ibid., and of Leo XII for the Jubilee that, with the Bishop's permission, they can gain the Jubilee when Communion is commuted into another pious work. Bouvier, ibid.

1068. • QUESTION 6. Does Paschal Communion suffice for gaining the Jubilee if the Jubilee is celebrated during Paschal time?

Reply. Affirmatively, unless a special Communion for acquiring the Indulgence of the Jubilee is required in the Bull or Rescript of the Pontiff. This is evident from the Declaration of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences on 14 December 1841, as will be said below at the end of this appendix, no. 1086.

QUESTION 7. Are those who have only venial sins bound to confess?

Reply. Altogether affirmatively. Formerly a great controversy was conducted concerning this, but it fell after the express Declaration of Benedict XIV, ibid., section 77. Absolution, however, is not necessarily required, since no mention is made of it.

1069. • QUESTION 8. Does a confession made on the vigil of the first day of the Jubilee suffice?

Reply. Negatively. The reason is that all the works must be performed within the interval of time established for gaining the Jubilee. Nevertheless, confession can be begun either on the vigil or before, provided it is completed during the time of the Jubilee. Bouvier, ibid. Nevertheless, confession could be made in that part of the vigil which follows first Vespers, because the first day, according to ecclesiastical custom, is usually reckoned from first Vespers; and this is constantly observed in the ordinary Jubilee of the City, as is evident from the Bull Peregrinantes of Benedict XIV, section 4. Moreover, the days for performing the enjoined works, as is evident from section 6 of the same Constitution, can be taken either as natural or ecclesiastical, namely, from first Vespers of one day until the full evening twilight of the following day.

QUESTION 9. What quantity of alms must be given?

Reply 1. If in the Bull it is said, He who shall have given alms, any quantity suffices, provided it is not so small that it appears to be almost nothing.

Reply 2. If it is said, As much as shall have seemed fitting to each according to his means, then the quantity ought in some way to bear proportion to the means of each; hence to give a small coin would suffice for a poor person, but not for a rich person. Thus sufficiently commonly; St. Alphonsus, no. 528.

1070. • QUESTION 10. Must the poor, Religious, and children under parental authority give alms, and if so, how?

Reply 1. All are bound either to give alms in some way, at least through another, or to substitute another pious work determined by the Confessor. The reason is that, where the obtaining of some favor is in question, impossibility of fulfilling the condition does not excuse from it, as impossibility of fulfilling a precept does, as was already said above. Laymann, chapter 8, no. 12; Lacroix, nos. 1428-1430.

Reply 2. The poor can satisfy by giving the smallest thing, for example, a penny or a small piece of bread, etc. But it is more prudent to commute this work into another for them, as Lacroix expressly says, ibid., and Laymann, ibid.

Reply 3. Religious and children under parental authority satisfy if some alms are given by their Superiors in their name and with their knowledge. Wives can likewise satisfy through their husbands, and servants through their masters.

1071. • QUESTION 11. Must all the works enjoined be completed in one week?

Reply 1. Affirmatively as to the fasts. This is clearly proved from the formula which reads thus: Those who shall have taken part in the procession or visited the Churches, and shall have fasted on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of one of the two weeks, and likewise shall have confessed their sins, been refreshed by Holy Communion, and given alms..., etc. From these things it is plainly evident that the three fasts are to be performed in the same week.

Reply 2. Negatively, however, as to the other works. The reason is that in the cited formula, which is customarily employed, it is said only that the fasts are to be performed in the same week, but not the remaining works, as will be evident to one attending to the grammatical order. Moreover, otherwise an absurdity would follow, namely, that if a procession were enjoined, and indeed only one, for example, at the beginning of the Jubilee, no one could gain it in the second week.

631. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Jubilee was instituted or confirmed by Boniface VIII, who granted a plenary indulgence and other spiritual favors for the year 1300, and for each following hundredth year; afterwards Clement VI decreed that the Jubilee should be celebrated in each fiftieth year, beginning from 1350; finally Paul II willed that it should have place in each twenty-fifth year, beginning from 1475.

¹ Besides the works already cited on Indulgences in general, cf. Navarrus, Comment. de Jubilaeo, Rome, 1575; Viva, de Jubilaeo, Padua, 1709; Theodoricus a S. Spir., Tract. historico-theologicus de Jubilaeo, Rome, 1750; Loiseaux, Traité Canonique et pratique du Jubilé, Paris, 1859; P. Bastien, O.S.B., Tr. de Jubilaeo, Brussels, 1901; H. Thurston, S.J., The Holy Year of Jubilee, St. Louis, 1900.

Division:

On the notion and species of the Jubilee;

On the works to be executed for gaining the Jubilee;

On the faculties granted during the time of the Jubilee;

On the suspension of graces during the time of the Jubilee.

632. 1° Notion. The Jubilee is nothing other than a plenary indulgence, heaped up with various privileges by the Roman Pontiff. Therefore it differs from a plenary indulgence only accidentally, namely by reason of the solemnity and the privileges which are annexed to it.

633. 2° Species. The Jubilee is twofold, ordinary and extraordinary.

(a) The former, which is also called the major Jubilee, or simply the Jubilee, is that which recurs in each twenty-fifth year. Generally it is first celebrated at Rome through an entire year, which is called the holy year; then in the following year it is extended to the whole world for a shorter time, commonly for six months. At Rome it begins from the first Vespers of the Nativity of the Lord, which precede the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 100th year of each century, and it is concluded at the second Vespers of the Nativity of the following year.

(b) The latter, or extraordinary Jubilee, which is also called minor, is that which the Roman Pontiff, according to his judgment, grants for some time, on account of a grave cause. Thus commonly each new Pontiff grants a Jubilee after his exaltation, and besides, in the greater necessities or solemnities of the Church. This Jubilee is customarily celebrated at the same time at Rome and throughout the whole world.

(c) Besides each of these Jubilees, which is universal, as granted to all the faithful, there is sometimes given a particular Jubilee, which is granted to some province or place; such is the Jubilee granted to the Aniciensis church whenever the feast of the Annunciation falls on the day of Parasceve.

(d) Sometimes also plenary indulgences are given in the form or after the manner of a Jubilee, for giving greater honor to some place and for more greatly exciting the piety of the faithful; these indeed do not differ from ordinary indulgences except by reason of solemnity.

Here it must be noted that the rules to be observed in a Jubilee, whether ordinary or extraordinary, were handed down by Benedict XIV,¹ and that they are to be observed even today in all things in which a special Bull published for each Jubilee does not stand against them.²

¹ Bull Peregrinantes, May 5, 1749, by which the Jubilee is proclaimed; Bull Cum nos super, May 17, 1749, where indulgences and faculties are suspended; Bull Convocatis, November 25, 1749, by which faculties are granted to the Penitentiaries of the City; Bull Inter praeteritas, December 3, 1749, concerning questions and controversies about the works enjoined; Bull Paterna caritas, December 17, 1749, by which provision is made for Nuns, Oblates, etc.; Bull Benedictus Deus, December 25, 1750, by which the Jubilee is extended to the whole world; Bull Celebrationem, January 1, 1751, concerning the extension of the Jubilee.

² Decret. authent., n. 353, March 15, 1852.

558. Historical notes. The first jubilee was granted by Boniface VIII in the year 1300. Yet in the Old Testament there was already a jubilee year, namely, every fiftieth year, in which slaves were set free and contracted debts were remitted.⁹⁴ The name jubilee is taken from the word iobel, which signifies a sounding horn or trumpet, because the priests had to sound the trumpet in the forty-ninth year to begin the jubilee. Boniface VIII established that a jubilee should be held every hundredth year, but Clement VI already (1343) commanded that a jubilee be celebrated every fiftieth year. Finally, Paul II (1470) ordained that there should be a jubilee year every twenty-fifth year, and in fact, from the year 1475 down to our own days, a jubilee has been celebrated every twenty-fifth year.

Besides this ordinary jubilee, extraordinary jubilees have rather often been granted. Thus, for example, every Pope at the beginning of his pontificate is accustomed to grant an extraordinary jubilee; sometimes jubilees are also granted, not for the whole world, but for a particular place. From the history of many centuries it is evident that the fruits of the jubilee are most abundant for the Catholic religion and the spiritual good of the faithful. Therefore the jubilee year is not undeservedly called the Holy Year.

⁹⁴ Lev. 25:8 ff.

559. Notion. A jubilee is nothing other than a holy year in which, under certain conditions, the faithful can gain a plenary indulgence, and almost every reservation of jurisdiction in the sacrament of penance ceases. A jubilee therefore includes two things: a plenary indulgence and an extension of jurisdiction granted to confessors. The conditions which are customarily prescribed in an ordinary jubilee are confession, Communion, and the visitation of churches; for an extraordinary jubilee, fasting and almsgiving are customarily required in addition.

560. Conditions required for gaining the jubilee. Very few things are to be said about this matter, because these conditions are customarily determined accurately in each jubilee Bull, and, if a doubt remains, the Holy Office or the Sacred Penitentiary will give clarifications. Furthermore, the same conditions are not required for every jubilee. It is useful briefly to note the following:

1. The rules to be observed in an ordinary or extraordinary jubilee are customarily almost the same as those which Benedict XIV established for the jubilee of the years 1750 and 1751.⁹⁵ Therefore the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences answered on March 15, 1852, that all the rules established by Benedict XIV still remain in force unless they have been expressly revoked.

2. Works already owed from another source do not suffice for gaining the jubilee; hence annual confession and Easter Communion cannot at the same time serve for gaining the jubilee indulgence. Viaticum, however, suffices for gaining the jubilee.⁹⁶

3. He who, after having made confession, has fallen into mortal sin before he has performed the last prescribed work must repeat confession, nor does it suffice to elicit perfect contrition. A general confession is not required for gaining the jubilee, but it is often to be counseled.

4. Particular statutes are customarily given in each jubilee concerning the visits of churches to be made; only this is to be noted generally: if several churches are to be visited once in a day, the day can be reckoned either according to the civil manner, that is, from midnight to the following midnight, or according to the ecclesiastical manner, that is, from noon on the preceding day until twilight on the following day.⁹⁷

5. The fast which is customarily prescribed in an extraordinary jubilee is a strict fast, that is, with abstinence from meat, eggs, and milk products. Not infrequently, however, a milder practice is permitted. All who wish to gain the jubilee indulgence must observe the jubilee fast, therefore even the elderly, children, and so forth, unless, however, a special dispensation has been granted.⁹⁸

6. Alms sometimes prescribed in a jubilee must be given by all, even by the poor, unless they have obtained a commutation into another work. According to the modern discipline, the individual bishops, by the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, are customarily to determine the amount of alms to be given.

⁹⁵ These rules are contained in the following Bulls: Peregrinantes, May 5, 1749; Cum nos semper, May 17, 1749; Convocatis, November 25, 1749; Inter praeteritas, December 3, 1749; Paterna caritas, December 17, 1749; Benedictus Deus, December 25, 1750.

⁹⁶ Cf. Sacred Penitentiary, March 28, 1900.

⁹⁷ Ibid., February 20, 1900.

⁹⁸ Decreta authentica Congregationis Indulgentiarum, n. 425 ad 8.

561. The special faculties granted to confessors during a jubilee are:

1. The faculty of absolving from almost all reserved sins and censures, provided, however, that a salutary penance and other things to be enjoined by law are imposed. By law, however, there are to be enjoined, for example, the obligation of restitution if the right of one's neighbor has been injured, the abjuration of heresy, the reparation of scandal, and so forth. Nevertheless, certain cases are customarily excluded from the faculty of absolving, for example, the absolution of one's own accomplice; the absolution of that priest who, by the absolution of his own accomplice, incurred an excommunication reserved in a most special manner to the Supreme Pontiff, at least if this crime was committed three or more times; the absolution of those who have been excommunicated by name by the Supreme Pontiff, and so forth. The Bull of each jubilee must be consulted.

2. The faculty of absolving even regulars and nuns from reserved cases.

3. The faculty of commuting vows, even sworn vows, not excepting a vow not to seek commutation. The following, however, are customarily excepted: a) vows made in favor of a third party and accepted by him (unless, however, he has renounced his right); b) penal vows emitted to remove the danger of sin, unless, however, the commutation is made into a work which removes the danger of sin equally efficaciously. Commutation is not the same as dispensation, and consequently the confessor must impose another work in place of the object of the vow, which can indeed be lighter, but not notably lighter.

4. The faculty of dispensing from irregularities arising from a wholly occult delict.

5. The faculty of dispensing from certain impediments of marriage for the internal forum, for example, from the impediment of crime (provided, however, that neither party plotted against the spouse's life).

6. The faculty of commuting the works prescribed for gaining the jubilee indulgence into another work of nearly the same value. In general, Communion, confession, and prayers according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff cannot be commuted; but attention must be given to the clauses of the Bull granting the jubilee. For what older authors taught concerning the faculties granted has not infrequently been greatly changed in recent jubilees. If it is granted in that Bull that the faithful may gain the jubilee several times, the faculty of commuting the enjoined works several times is also granted.

7. A confessor cannot use these faculties except with those who have a sincere will to fulfill all things necessary for gaining the jubilee. Nevertheless, if a penitent who first had this sincere will afterward neglected the prescribed works, he can enjoy the dispensation obtained; he sins venially, however.⁹⁹ Through a sacrilegious confession reservations and censures are not removed, because then the penitent evidently does not have a sincere will to gain the jubilee.¹⁰⁰

⁹⁹ Cf. St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 537.

¹⁰⁰ Benedict XIV, Inter praeteritos, § 24.

562. Suspension of graces. One of the principal ends of a jubilee is to induce the faithful to make a pilgrimage during the jubilee to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul existing at Rome. Therefore, during the Holy Year, many privileges and graces are customarily suspended outside the City (with a few places excepted). In the City privileges and graces are not suspended. When the Holy Year has elapsed, however, all privileges and graces revive. Therefore the following are customarily suspended:

1. All indulgences, both plenary and partial, granted by the Roman Pontiff (but not those given by an inferior prelate), with the following excepted:

a) indulgences applicable to the deceased; indeed, all indulgences which at other times can be acquired only by the living can, during the Holy Year, be applied not to the living, but nevertheless to the deceased.

b) the indulgence at the moment of death.

c) indulgences granted for the prayer The Angel of the Lord.

d) the indulgence of the Portiuncula to be gained at Assisi. Outside Assisi, however, the Portiuncula indulgence, like all other "As Often As" (Toties Quoties) indulgences, can be acquired for the deceased alone. There are also certain other indulgences which are not suspended during the time of the jubilee.¹⁰¹

2. Many faculties granted by the Holy See, for example, the faculties of absolving from cases and censures reserved to the Roman Pontiff, of commuting vows, of dispensing from irregularities, and of dispensing from impediments of marriage. Faculties granted by the law itself are customarily to remain in force, for example, the faculty of absolving in more urgent cases from reserved sins and censures. For the rest, almost nothing certain can be said concerning these matters, since, according to the discipline in force, the old customs are not always observed. Therefore the one certain rule is the Bull itself announcing the jubilee and determining the individual prescriptions.

¹⁰¹ Beringer-Steinen, Die Ablässe¹⁵ I, n. 1214 ff.

1735. DEFINITION. A Jubilee is a solemn plenary Indulgence with annexed privileges, granted by the S. Pontiff to those performing certain works.

It differs only accidentally from another plenary indulgence, namely by reason of solemnity and of the privileges and graces which are annexed to it. - Yet the primary motive of the concession is not that the faithful gain the Indulgence, but rather in general that they be provoked to true penance, and so obtain God's mercy or liberation from public calamities. It is also sometimes proclaimed to foster reverence and obedience toward the Holy See: for the solemn Indulgence of a Jubilee greatly profits toward the attainment of this end.

DIVISION. A multiple Jubilee is distinguished.

1. The GREATER or ordinary Jubilee, which regularly occurs every twenty-fifth year, which is called the HOLY YEAR; and the LESSER or extraordinary Jubilee, which is granted by individual Supreme Pontiffs after the exaltation of each one, or in other particular circumstances. - The greater Jubilee is customarily granted to the City, or to Rome alone, for an entire year, which having elapsed, it is extended to the whole World for a shorter time: otherwise with the lesser Jubilee.

2. The GENERAL Jubilee, which is granted to the whole World (as the greater Jubilee, and often also the lesser Jubilee); and the PARTICULAR Jubilee, which is granted to some province, city, or community.

Note. In interpreting Bulls of Jubilee, the RULES handed down by Benedict XIV are to be observed, to which not even the Bull of Jubilee itself is opposed, according as, with regard to both an ordinary and an extraordinary Jubilee, Pius IX declared on March 15, 1852.²⁵

1736. As to these, the BULL by which the Jubilee is granted must primarily be consulted. - But those things which hitherto, according to the statutes of Benedict XIV²⁶ and the mind of approved authors, in the time of the extension of the greater Jubilee to the whole Catholic World, have been accustomed to be granted, are summarily the following:

A) Directly for the PENITENT: Faculty of choosing a confessor from among those approved by the Bishop of the place where the confession is made. - Hence, any Regulars, Oblates, Tertiaries, etc., for the confession required for gaining the Jubilee, without the license of Superiors, can choose any priest from among the said approved ones, even a secular priest; but Nuns strictly so called, and their novices, can choose someone from among those approved by the Ordinary of the place for hearing the confessions of Nuns, whether approved for this end generally, or for other monasteries.²⁷ - But one once approved for Nuns, whether as ordinary or as extraordinary, but whose approbation, for example because of the lapse of the prefixed term, has ceased, can also be chosen by the aforesaid Nuns for the Jubilee, "unless it is established that the same confessor was afterward positively reproved by the same Ordinary on account of demerits which concern the confessions themselves." Thus the S. Penitentiary.²⁸

B) Directly for the CONFESSOR and indirectly for the penitent.

I. Faculty of absolving, for the forum of conscience only, "from excommunication, suspension, and other ecclesiastical sentences and censures, imposed or inflicted by law or by man for any cause whatever, reserved even to the Ordinaries of places" and to the Pontiff and S. See, "although in a special form, and which otherwise in a concession, however broad, would not be understood as granted, as well as from all sins and excesses, however grave and enormous, reserved even to the same Ordinaries and Pontiff...."²⁹ - Nor does it hinder (as is taught more probably and more commonly) if someone sinned in confidence of the Jubilee.³⁰

Yet from this broad faculty there are EXCEPTED: 1. Formal heresy externalized, although occult, unless the power of absolving from it is expressly indicated³¹ (This power, with those things preserved which must be preserved by law, was granted in the last Jubilees, celebrated at the time of the Vatican Council and thereafter). 2. Cases and censures reserved in the Constitution Sacramentum Poenitentiae of Benedict XIV (see nn. 1772 and 1780). 3. Absolution of those who have been excommunicated, suspended, interdicted by name, or declared or publicly denounced to have fallen into other sentences and censures by the Holy See or by some Prelate or apostolic judge; unless within the time of the Jubilee they have made satisfaction, and have come to agreement with the parties where there was need.³²

II. Faculty of dispensing from irregularity, yet occult, incurred because of violation of censures, through the exercise of Order.

III. Faculty of commuting simple vows (not excepting a vow not to seek commutation),³³ even sworn and reserved to the Apostolic See³⁴ (cf. n. 2191, 2).

But from this faculty are excepted: 1. Vows of perpetual chastity and of entering Religion (cf. n. 645, q. 2); 2. Vows in favor of a third party, if they have already been accepted, unless the third party renounces his right (cf. n. 647). Therefore vows emitted in some religious Community are also excepted.³⁵ 3. Penal vows preservative from sin, unless the commutation is made into another work which equally or more conduces to preservation.³⁶

Let it be noted: 1. These absolutions, commutations, dispensations cannot be made, without a special concession, outside the act of sacramental confession.³⁷ - See the Response of the S. Penitentiary, March 16, 1865.³⁸

2. Each faithful person can enjoy these things only one time during the Jubilee; but it is not necessary that all things be applied to him at the same time, or by the same confessor; yet they can be applied only to those "who have sincerely and seriously determined to obtain the Jubilee, and with this intention of gaining it and of fulfilling the remaining works necessary for gaining it, approach confession."³⁹

1737. I. For the GREATER or ORDINARY Jubilee, three conditions are usually required, namely:

1. DEVOUT VISITATION OF CHURCHES, namely of those which in the City are designated by the S. Pontiff, and outside the City by the Ordinaries of places, by praying piously in them according to the intention of the Pontiff, for example by reciting five Pater and Ave, or equivalent prayers. - It does not hinder if, while you cannot enter the church to be visited because of the multitude of men, you pray in the vestibule, or before the doors, or in the cemetery, or before the locked door of the church. But if several altars are prescribed to be visited, they must be visited in such a way that by some movement at least of the body you turn yourself to each one, with the intention of visiting it, then reciting the prayers due.² If in some place only one church exists, from the general decree of the S. C. of Indulgences issued on March 15, 1852,³ the faculty is given to Ordinaries of granting that all the prescribed visitations be performed in this church. But these visitations in the same church must be distinguished from one another, so that each time it is necessary to enter it and to go out from it. Thus from the declaration of the S. Penitentiary, January 26, 1875.⁴

2. VALID CONFESSION, even if only formally integral (cf. n. 1731).

3. COMMUNION, made in the state of grace, or in which at least first sanctifying grace is conferred per accidens,⁵ namely if someone indisposed, but in good faith and attrite, approaches the Sacred Table (cf. n. 1395).

II. For the EXTRAORDINARY Jubilee, besides the three enumerated conditions, there are usually prescribed:

1. A FAST of three days, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. But a strict fast is prescribed, in which only fasting foods may be eaten, unless commutation is obtained (cf. Decision of the S. Penitentiary, March 16, 1865).⁶ - 2. ALMS, either indeterminate, that is, some alms; or determinate, according to the ability of each one. But it is not necessary to expend money; it suffices to give another thing estimable by price, for example clothing, etc.

Note. For a PARTICULAR Jubilee, attention must be paid to the tenor of the Indult granted. - Ordinarily only three things are required, namely Confession, Communion, and visitation of some church.

1738. Three things here come TO BE NOTED: 1. To gain the Indulgence of a Jubilee, works already due from another title do not suffice. Hence: 1) a fast already prescribed, for example by reason of Ember Days, does not suffice, unless the S. Pontiff has granted this, for example by determining, or permitting to be determined, the Lenten time for gaining the Jubilee. 2) Annual confession does not suffice, unless this is expressly granted. 3) Paschal Communion does not suffice, even if the Jubilee is celebrated at Eastertide. Thus the S. Penitentiary, January 26, 1875. Yet sometimes the S. Pontiff has benignly granted that it suffice.⁷ 4) Finally, the visitation of a church while someone assists at Mass on Sunday does not suffice.

2. To confessors is granted the FACULTY OF COMMUTING the works prescribed into other works, otherwise not due and of almost the same nature; not indeed to all indiscriminately, but only to those who are in physical or moral impossibility of fulfilling the common conditions. And when it is granted that the faithful can gain the indulgence of the Jubilee several times, the works enjoined can also be commuted several times (S. Penitentiary, March 18, 1886).⁸ Yet it must be adverted that this faculty can be exercised only within the act of confession (as was said above, n. 1737, note 1), and is not extended to all the works prescribed. For Confession is never commuted; Communion, however, is commuted only for children, and also, as it seems, for those laboring under chronic illness (from the general concession of Pius IX reported in n. 1733, q. 7, which does not except the Jubilee); finally prayers cannot be commuted, even if the visitations of churches are commuted. Thus Benedict XIV, Constitution Inter praeteritos, § 53.

3. The Jubilee, at least from more recent Indults, can be PROROGUED into another but proximate time, in favor of travelers, navigators, and generally of those who are impeded by some transitory obstacle from completing all the prescribed works within the very time of the Jubilee. - Hence, if on the last day someone, for example because of a broken fast or the postponement of absolution, were prohibited from communicating, he would rightly obtain a prorogation of the Jubilee from the confessor.

1739. Questions. Q. 1. What QUANTITY of alms must be expended?

Resp. "In this, the words of the Indult are especially to be attended to; for if it is said: As much as to each one according to his ability shall have seemed good, then the quantity must be proportioned to the abilities of each one; hence it will suffice for a poor man to give an obol, not for a rich man. - But if it is said simply: Whoever shall have given alms, one must distinguish: if the Pope asks it only for exercising mercy toward the poor, then it suffices to give any sum whatever; otherwise, if alms is demanded as a subsidy for some pious work."⁹

Q. 2. Whether the POOR are bound, in order to gain the Jubilee, to give alms?

Resp. Affirmative. Because no one is so poor that he cannot at least give an obol. - But for Religious, children in the household, wives, and servants it suffices if alms is expended by their Superiors with their knowledge. - But if the Superior refuses to expend it, a commutation must be sought.¹⁰

Q. 3. Whether a certain ORDER is required in executing the conditions of the Jubilee?

Resp. Negative, for this is not expressed in the Bulls. - But the last work must be placed in the state of grace. But if someone after confession falls into mortal sin, although he is not bound to repeat the visitations, etc., he is nevertheless bound to confess again, nor does it suffice to be contrite, if he wishes to gain the Jubilee.¹¹

Q. 4. Whether all works must be performed in ONE AND THE SAME place?

Resp. Negative, for the S. Penitentiary (in the year 1875) declared: "works begun in one place can be fulfilled and completed in another, where someone must spend his life by reason of office, service, or marriage." - Likewise, to the question: "whether he gains the Jubilee who fulfills the prescribed conditions in another diocese, where he does not have domicile, if he observes the ordinances of the Ordinary of the place where he is staying?" it was answered: Affirmative.¹²

Q. 5. Whether confession made on the VIGIL of the first day of the Jubilee suffices?

Resp. Negative, and the reason is that all works must be done within the interval of time established for gaining the Jubilee. - Yet confession can be begun either on the vigil or before, provided it is finished during the time of the Jubilee. And the whole confession can be performed in that part of the vigil which follows first Vespers; because the first day, according to ecclesiastical custom, is usually computed from first Vespers; and this is constantly observed in the ordinary Jubilee of the City, as is clear from the Bull Peregrinantes of Benedict XIV, May 5, 1749, § 5.¹³

Q. 6. Whether all the enjoined works must be completed in ONE week?

Resp. 1. Affirmative, as regards FASTS. This is clear from the formula usually appended, which sounds thus: "Those who have taken part in the procession, or have visited the churches, and have fasted on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of one of the two weeks, and likewise have confessed their sins and been refreshed with holy Communion, and have bestowed alms, etc." Therefore the three fasts must be done in the same week.¹⁴ - 2. As regards OTHER WORKS, in more recent Indults it has been expressly declared that they do not have to be completed necessarily within the same week. Thus Pius IX, November 20, 1846, and Leo XIII, March 12, 1881. - Indeed, sometimes the whole year is granted for fulfilling any conditions whatever (Encyclical, December 22, 1885).

Q. 7. Whether the Jubilee can be gained SEVERAL TIMES?

Resp. The Jubilee of the HOLY YEAR in the City, but not outside, can be gained by someone several times; and the same faculty is usually granted as to extraordinary Jubilees. But each one can enjoy the favors annexed to the Jubilee only once. Thus all,¹⁵ and the S. Penitentiary has expressly declared it concerning several particular Jubilees.

Q. 8. Whether he sins gravely who, after he has been absolved from reserved cases, afterward DOES NOT FULFILL the works enjoined?

Resp. Negative, with the common opinion. "The reason is because an obligation of this sort is not considered imposed either from the nature of the Jubilee, or from the precept of the Pontiff or confessor." But he who, with the true intention of gaining the Jubilee, has been absolved from censures, or dispensed in a vow or irregularity, does not relapse if afterward, his will having changed, he does not gain the Jubilee, even culpably.¹⁶

Q. 9. Whether he who confessed in the time of Jubilee, and FORGOT or WITH CAUSE OMITTED to confess his RESERVED sins, can then be absolved by any confessor?

Resp. 1. Affirmative, if the confessor had the express intention of absolving also from reserved sins. Thus all. - 2. The same is more commonly and more probably admitted, although the confessor did not think about this; because the penitent, by force of the Jubilee, acquired the right to the favor of the Pontiff, so that from that time he can be absolved by any confessor.¹⁷ - 3. But if someone began a confession within the Jubilee, which materially imperfect confession must be deferred longer, he will be able to be absolved from all reserved sins either then or afterward.¹⁸

Q. 10. Whether by an INVALID confession in the Jubilee reserved censures are absolved, and the reservation of sins is removed?

Resp. Negative, according to St. Alphonsus.¹⁹ The reason is that the Pontiff grants such a faculty for this end, that the faithful may gain the indulgence of the Jubilee. Therefore he is not presumed to grant it in favor of those who, because of an invalid confession, cannot gain the indulgence.

1740. Note. During the time in which the Jubilee of the HOLY YEAR is celebrated at Rome (but not during the time in which it is extended to the World): 1. Outside the City are SUSPENDED faculties or privileges both of absolving from cases reserved to the Apostolic See and of commuting vows, dispensing from irregularities, etc.; whether these faculties were conceded in view of indulgences, or for other causes. Thus Benedict XIV.¹ There are excepted (unless something else is clear from the Bull): 1) the faculties of the S. Inquisition and its ministers; 2) faculties conceded to Bishops by the Council of Trent; 3) faculties of Regular Superiors to be exercised with their subjects; 4) faculties of Missionaries whom the Holy See sends, or the S. Congregation de Propaganda Fide; 5) faculties which the S. Penitentiary gives to Missionaries for places of missions; 6) faculties which perhaps the confessor has either obtained from the S. Penitentiary, or has as subdelegated by his own Ordinary after the manner of a habit for the internal forum and only in the act of sacramental confession (S. Penitentiary, year 1875).²

2. Similarly, in the holy year there are suspended (unless otherwise established, as in the Jubilee of the year 1875) all indulgences both plenary and particular which have been conceded for the living, and which are neither real nor local; but those conceded for the dead are not suspended. Indeed, from the concession of Benedict XIV, through the whole year of Jubilee, all Indulgences can be applied to the dead, not even those excepted which otherwise were not applicable to them.

Yet among indulgences for the living, some are EXCEPTED from suspension, namely: 1. Indulgences for the dying; 2. Indulgences for the prayer Angelus Domini; 3. Indulgences for visitation of the Most Holy Sacrament solemnly exposed; 4. Indulgences for those who accompany the Most Holy Sacrament carried to the sick; 5. all Indulgences which are conceded by someone other than the Pope. These things are deduced from the Constitutions of Benedict XIV and Leo XII.³

1781. - The word Jubilee is derived, according to many, from the Hebrew jobel, which signifies fiftieth, because among the Hebrews the year of Jubilee recurred in the fiftieth year; or, according to others, from the same word signifying the sound of a trumpet, by which the fiftieth year was announced. According to others also, Jubilee is derived from jubal or jobal, which signifies to germinate, because in the fiftieth year the earth was not cultivated, and the inhabitants fed on fruits germinating spontaneously.

In imitation of the Jubilee of the Old Testament, the Ecclesiastical Jubilee was instituted, which now is celebrated at Rome and in the whole world, with a most full indulgence of sins, with great joy and solemnity. After its first institution, from the decree of Boniface VIII in the year 1300, it was held also in every fiftieth year;¹ then from the decree of Urban VI, every thirtieth year; finally from the statute of Paul II, it began to be celebrated every twenty-fifth year.

1782. Definition. - A Jubilee is a solemn plenary Indulgence, which the Supreme Pontiff sometimes grants to Christ's faithful, with the obligation of performing certain pious works, at the same time granting confessors special power of absolving from reserved sins and censures, and of commuting most vows.

Hence a Jubilee does not differ except accidentally from an ordinary plenary Indulgence, namely by reason a) of solemnity, b) of the privileges annexed to it, and c) of the most abundant and extraordinary graces which accompany it. For altogether special graces of this kind are shown by the wonderful and astonishing effects which the Jubilee is wont to produce, even if solemn gatherings of the faithful are not made, nor the divine word preached.

1783. Division. - A Jubilee is distinguished in many ways:

1° The greater Jubilee, which regularly occurs every twenty-fifth year, which year is called holy. It is also called the ordinary Jubilee, because it is fixed and determined by law.

2° The lesser Jubilee, which is wont to be granted by individual Supreme Pontiffs after the elevation of each one, and in other peculiar circumstances, and is called an extraordinary Jubilee.

3° General, which is granted to the whole world, of which kind the greater Jubilee always is, and sometimes also the lesser Jubilee; but it is wont to be granted to the City, or to Rome alone, before it is granted to the world.

4° Particular, which is granted to some province, city, or particular place.

A whole year is ordinarily granted at Rome for gaining the greater Jubilee; and in the following year it is wont to be granted by extension to all other regions of the Christian world. But to individual parishes for gaining the Jubilee only fifteen days or three weeks are granted. Whether, however, the Bishop can for just causes prolong that time is to be judged from the tenor of the concession.

The lesser Jubilee is first also made at Rome, but for a few weeks, and then it is extended to the universal world, so that, while the year is running, it can be made during a time to be determined by the Bishop.

Note. - In interpreting Bulls of Jubilee, the rules handed down by Benedict XIV are to be observed, to which the Bull of some current Jubilee is not opposed. Thus Pius IX declared, as regards a Jubilee both ordinary and extraordinary, on March 15, 1852.¹

Notes near nn. 1781-1783, definition and division of Jubilee (printed p. 379).

1 L. V. T. IX. c. 1. | 2 Extr. Comm.

Notes near nn. 1782-1783, ordinary and extraordinary Jubilee (printed p. 379).

1 Prinz. n. DCXXII. | 2 C. Benedictus, December 25, 1750. § 4. | 3 Especially in the Constitutions: Benedictus Deus, December 25, 1750; Celebrationem, January 1, 1751; Convocatis, November 25, 1749; Inter praeteritos, December 3, 1749.

1784. Privileges of the Jubilee. - As regards these, the Bull by which the Jubilee is granted is chiefly to be consulted.

Each one of the faithful can enjoy them only once during the Jubilee, but it is not necessary that all be applied to him at the same time or by the same confessor; yet they can be applied only to those "who sincerely and seriously resolve to obtain the Jubilee, and from this intention of gaining it and fulfilling the remaining works necessary for gaining it approach Confession."²

But those things which up to this point, according to the statutes of Benedict XIV³ and the mind of approved authors, have customarily been granted at the time of the extension of the greater Jubilee to the universal Catholic world, are briefly the following:

A. Directly for the penitent. - The faculty of choosing a confessor among those approved by the Bishop of the place where the Confession is made. Hence also any Regulars, Oblates, Tertiaries, etc., for the Confession required for gaining the Jubilee, can without license of Superiors choose any priest from the said approved priests, even a secular one. But Nuns strictly so called and their novices can choose someone from those approved by the Ordinary of the place for hearing the Confessions of Nuns, whether he was approved for this end generally, or for other monasteries.¹ But one once approved for Nuns, whether as ordinary, or as extraordinary, but whose approbation, e.g., on account of lapse of the prefixed term, has ceased, can also be chosen for Jubilee by the aforesaid Nuns, "unless it is clear that the same confessor afterward was positively reproved by the same Ordinary because of demerits which concern those Confessions." Thus S. Paen. in Nouv. Revue Théol.²

B. Directly for the confessor and indirectly for the penitent:

I. The faculty of absolving, for the forum of conscience only, "from excommunications, suspensions, and other ecclesiastical sentences and censures, by law or by man for any cause whatsoever carried or inflicted, even reserved to the Ordinaries of places" and to the Pontiff and the Holy See, "although in special form, and which otherwise in a concession however broad would not be understood to have been granted, and also from all sins and excesses, however grave and enormous, even those reserved to the same Ordinaries and to the Pontiff. . . ."³

By this broad faculty of old there was not comprehended the power of absolving from formal externalized heresy, although only occult. Today, after the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis, it seems to be contained in the cited formula by the words: "and to the Pontiff and the Holy See, although in special form, reserved." Cf. Acta, App. p. 450. Concerning a matter brought to the judicial forum, see n. 1701. Note. - 1). See also T. I. p. LXXI. 15.

Nevertheless, from this broad faculty are excepted:

1° Cases and censures reserved in the Constitution of Benedict XIV, Sacramentum Poenitentiae. Four, however, are established in this Constitution. - a) Confessors are prohibited from absolving penitents solicited to shameful things in Confession (on occasion of Confession, etc., see n. 1407 sq.), as long as these neglect, or culpably omit, to denounce the one soliciting. § 2. - b) There is reserved to the Holy See the crime of those who falsely accuse innocent priests of solicitation before ecclesiastical judges, for example before the Ordinary or the Holy See, or wickedly procure that this be done by others. § 3 (see n. 1400. IV.). - c) From any priest, outside the case of extreme necessity, every faculty and jurisdiction for hearing sacramental Confessions of a person who is an accomplice in a shameful sin committed against the Sixth Precept of the Decalogue is taken away. § 4 (see n. 1404 sq.). - d) A major excommunication latae sententiae reserved in a most special manner to the Roman Pontiff is inflicted on those absolving an accomplice in a shameful sin. § 4 (see n. 1715).¹

2° Sins and censures from which not even in the forum of conscience alone can the Major Penitentiary himself absolve. But they scarcely occur.²

3° Nor can those be absolved who by the Holy See or by some Prelate or ecclesiastical judge have been by name excommunicated, suspended, interdicted, or declared or publicly denounced to have fallen into other sentences and censures, unless (therefore the power of absolving is given only in favor of those who were by name censured because of an injury inflicted on a third person), within the time granted for gaining the Jubilee, they have satisfied and, where there was need, have made agreement with the parties.³

II. The faculty of dispensing from irregularity, occult however, incurred on account of violation of censures through the exercise of Order.

III. The faculty of commuting simple vows (not excepting the vow of not asking for commutation⁴), even sworn and reserved to the Apostolic See,¹ which faculty they also extend to oaths made to God.²

From this faculty are excepted: 1° Vows of perpetual chastity and of entrance into Religion.³ See n. 392. q. 3°.

2° Vows in favor of a third party, if they have already been accepted, unless the third party renounces his right.⁴ Therefore vows made in some Religious Community also are excepted. See n. 1205. VI. q. 1°.

3° Penal vows preservative from sin, unless commutation is made into another work which equally or more conduces to preservation.⁵

But here absolutions, commutations, and dispensations cannot be exercised outside the act of Sacramental Confession without special concession (Resp. S. Paen., March 16, 1865⁶).⁷ See however (49) p. 429.

Notes near n. 1784, privileges of the Jubilee: choice of confessor (printed p. 380).

1 Benedict XIV, c. Celebrationem, §§ 9-11. | 2 Tom. I. p. 430 sq. | 3 Benedict XIV, c. Benedictus, § 4, and Pius IX, Encycl.: Gravibus Ecclesiae, 1874.

Notes near n. 1784, privileges of the Jubilee: absolving faculties and exceptions (printed p. 380).

1 Benedict XIV, c. Inter praeteritos, § 85. Loiseaux, Ch. VI. a. II. Sect. I. § I. n. IV.-VII. p. 384-390. | 2 Benedict XIV, c. Pastor bonus, n. 11 sq. | 3 Benedict XIV, c. Benedictus, § 5. | 4 Ferrar. V. Jubilaeum, Art. II. n. 39.

Notes near n. 1784, privileges of the Jubilee: vows and commutations (printed p. 381).

1 Benedict XIV, c. Benedictus, § 4. | 2 Ferrar. V. Jubilaeum, Art. II. n. 35. | 3 Benedict XIV, c. Benedictus, § 4. | 4 Ib. | 5 Ib. | 6 Acta, T. I. p. 176. | 7 Benedict XIV, c. Convocatis, n. 25.

Notes near n. 1785, devout visitation for the Jubilee (printed p. 381).

8 Benedict XIV, c. Inter praeteritos, § 76. | 9 Prinz. n. CCCCXLIV. | 10 Benedict XIV, c. Inter praeteritos, § 76. Loiseaux, ch. V. a. II. § IV. n. XXV.-XXVII. pp. 235-239.

Notes near n. 1785, conditions for the greater and extraordinary Jubilee (printed p. 381).

1 L. VI. 534 sub 14. Ferrar. V. Jubileum, art. III. n. 7 sq. Bouvier, etc. | 2 Prinz. n. DCXXII. | 3 Bouvier, P. IV. c. 2. art. I. § 2. q. 1. | 4 Loiseaux, ch. V. a. II. § III. n. V. p. 202. | 5 Bouvier, P. IV. ch. II. § 2. a. n. 4. Argues S. Paen., March 16, 1865 ad 2°. Acta, T. I. p. 174 sq. | 6 Benedict XIV, c. Convocatis, n. 45 and Inter praeteritos, § 79. L. VI. 536. XVII. | 7 Bouvier, P. IV. ch. 4. q. 1. Prinz. n. CCXLIV. Dub. 2. | 8 Benedict XIV, c. Inter praeteritos, § 54.

Notes near n. 1785, confession, Communion, fasting, and alms (printed p. 381).

1 Benedict XIV, c. Inter praeteritos, § 53. | 2 T. VIII. p. 360 (2). | 3 Benedict XIV, c. Inter praeteritos, § 53. | 4 Id. c. Benedictus, § 8. | 5 L. VI. 536. XI. and 538. q. XII. | 6 Ib. 536. XI. | 7 Acta, T. I. p. 174.

1785. - I. For the general greater Jubilee at least the following conditions are required:

1° A devout visitation (namely with the mind of showing honor to God or his Saints⁸) of churches or of some chapel which makes part of a church whose visitation is required,⁹ by praying piously according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff. But devotion seems to be required also on the journey (which nevertheless no one is held to make on foot), or, as Benedict XIV speaks,¹⁰ "let one walk modestly, and in these," i.e., even on the journey, "let some act of religion be exercised." - But it is not an obstacle if, when on account of the multitude of people you cannot enter the church to be visited, you pray in the vestibule, or before the doors, or in the cemetery, or before the entrance of the church, while this is closed. Except if visitation of an interior altar or chapel is required. But if several altars, etc., had to be visited, there would be need at least of motion of the body toward that altar, with the intention of visiting it, and then of reciting the due prayers.¹ If in some place there is one church only, the Ordinary can substitute as many visitations of the same church as visitations of diverse churches are required for acquisition of the Jubilee.²

2° Confession of sins, formally integral,³ performed with sincere sorrow.

3° Communion made in the state of grace, or in which at least sanctifying grace is conferred first per accidens.⁴ Cf. n. 1208. q. 2°. 1209. q. 3°.

II. For an extraordinary Jubilee, moreover, these are customarily prescribed:

1) The fast of three days, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. But he who has been dispensed from fasting cannot use this dispensation on the days on which said fast is prescribed, without commutation, if he wishes to gain the Jubilee.⁵

2) Alms, either some alms, or according to each one's faculty. But it is not necessary to give money; it suffices to give another thing estimable by price, e.g., clothing, etc.

Note. - 1° Confession and Communion can be performed before the visitations of the churches, between them, or after them. But the last work must be placed in the state of grace. If, however, someone after Confession falls into mortal sin, he is not held to repeat the visitations of the churches, the fasts, or the alms; nevertheless, if he has not yet performed the last work, he is held to confess again, nor does contrition suffice.⁶

2° The works prescribed for gaining the Jubilee can be performed anywhere, if the visitation of churches be excepted, since the designated churches must be visited. Nevertheless he who confesses in a place where the Jubilee is not celebrated cannot enjoy the privileges which have been granted to confessors in the place of the Jubilee.⁷ But it is clear from the following that all enjoined works, for those detained by a legitimate impediment (namely moral impossibility, or notable difficulty⁸), can validly be commuted into works not owed from elsewhere,¹ if you except prayer, as we opine against Acta,² which can be separated from the visitation of churches,³ and Confession and Communion in general. This commutation belongs to the Bishop or to delegates by him; but at least delegated confessors must perform it in Confession itself.⁴

III. For a particular Jubilee, attention is to be paid to the tenor of the granted Indult; ordinarily only three things are required, namely Confession, Communion, and the visitation of some church.

Notes near n. 1785, commutation of prescribed Jubilee works (printed pp. 381-382).

1 P. IV. ch. II. § 8. q. 1; ch. III. § 5 sub 5°. | 2 Acta, T. VIII. p. 361 sub IV. and VII. T. XI. p. 527 sub III. | 3 C. Inter praeteritos, § 77.

1786. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Whether boys, old men, the infirm, or others who cannot fast can gain the Jubilee without fasting?

Resp. No, unless they obtain commutation of the fast into another work. The reason is that fasting is expressly prescribed as a condition of gaining the Indulgence. For it is not enjoined as a precept, from which necessity excuses, but is assigned as a condition without which there is no Indulgence.

Quaer. 2° Whether one can satisfy for the enjoined fasts by fasts otherwise owed, e.g., if the Jubilee is made in the time of Lent or the Ember days?

Resp. No per se, with St. Alphonsus.⁵ The reason is that by one payment one cannot satisfy a double burden; and the Pontiff, when he imposes a fast, always intends to impose a special obligation concerning a thing not yet prescribed.

Nevertheless, if the Pontiff determines, or permits to be determined, for gaining the Jubilee a time in which by precept of the Church the fast is already to be observed, as is the time of Lent or the Ember days, by that very fact he is judged to dispense the faithful from the obligation of obtaining a commutation of the fast into another work.⁶ This doctrine is confirmed by the Resp. of S. Paen., January 20, 1865, ad 1.⁷

Quaer. 3° Whether Confession and Communion can be commuted?

Resp. No, at least speaking generally. The reason is that Bulls speaking of works to be commuted do not speak of Confession, nor of Communion, at least for adults. Indeed, they are expressly excluded by Benedict XIV in the Bull Inter praeteritos § 58, where it is said that the faculty of commuting pious works is not understood to be given concerning Confession and Communion (except for boys), or the prayer necessary in the visitation.

Nevertheless, as it seems, if one about to communicate on the last day were prevented from Communion by an unexpected event, he could obtain a commutation of Communion, or a prorogation of the Jubilee. - Thus commonly, says Bouvier.¹

Quaer. 4° Whether boys not yet refreshed by Communion can gain the Jubilee with it omitted?

Resp. No, unless they obtain commutation. For it is elicited from the Bull of Benedict XIV, Inter praeteritos § 80, and of Leo XII for the Jubilee, that those who at the time of the Jubilee are not capable of Communion can gain the Jubilee, Communion being commuted, by license of the Bishop, into another pious work.

Quaer. 5° Whether Easter Communion suffices for gaining the Jubilee, if the Jubilee is celebrated in Paschal time?

Resp. No, as is clear both from what was said in q. 2° and from the declaration of S. Paen.² But declarations which seem contrary (see Acta, T. I. p. 174), since they were given according to the mind of His Holiness, can be interpreted in the sense of an indult.

Quaer. 6° Whether those having only venials ought to confess?

Resp. Yes, altogether. Formerly there was great controversy concerning this; but it fell after the express Declaration of Benedict XIV.³ Nevertheless absolution is not necessarily required, since no mention is made of it.

Quaer. 7° Whether Confession made on the vigil of the first day of the Jubilee suffices?

Resp. No. The reason is that all works must be done within the interval of time established for gaining the Jubilee. Nevertheless Confession can be begun either on the vigil or before, provided it is finished during the time of the Jubilee. Yet Confession could be made in that part of the vigil which follows first Vespers, because the first day is customarily computed, in ecclesiastical manner, from first Vespers; and this is constantly observed in the ordinary Jubilee of the City, as is clear from the Bull Peregrinantes of Benedict XIV, May 5, 1749, § 5. Besides, the days for performing the enjoined works, as is clear from § 6 of the same Constitution, can be taken either as natural or ecclesiastical, "namely from first Vespers of one day up to the whole evening twilight of the following day itself." - Hence someone, having completed in the afternoon hours one series of visitations according to the computation of the ecclesiastical day, can immediately begin another series of the same visitations for the following ecclesiastical day. It is clear also from the Response of the Eminent Cardinal Major Penitentiary in Nouv. Revue Théol.¹

Quaer. 8° What quantity of alms is to be given?

Resp. 1° If in the Bull it is said: Who will have given alms, any quantity suffices, provided it is not so small that it seems to be almost nothing.

Resp. 2° If it is said: As much as shall have seemed to each one according to his faculty, or it is required for the support of some pious work, then the quantity ought in some way to have proportion with the faculties of each one; hence to give a small coin would suffice for a poor man, but not for a rich man.²

Quaer. 9° Whether, or how, the poor, Religious, and children of a family ought to give alms?

Resp. 1° All are held either to giving alms in some way, at least through another, or to substituting another pious work determined by the confessor. The reason is that, where there is question of obtaining some grace, impossibility of furnishing the condition does not excuse from it, as impossibility of fulfilling a precept does, as was said above in q. 1°.

Resp. 2° The poor can satisfy by giving a very small thing, e.g., a coin, or a little piece of bread, etc. But it is more advisable for this work to be commuted for them into another.

Resp. 3° Religious and children of a family satisfy if some alms is given by their Superiors in their name, and with their knowledge and consent.

Quaer. 10° Whether the enjoined works must all be completed in one week?

Resp. 1° Yes, as regards the fasts. This is clearly evinced from the formula, which lies thus: "Those who have taken part in the procession, or have visited the churches, and on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of one of the two weeks have fasted, and likewise have confessed their sins and been refreshed by Holy Communion, and have given alms," etc. But from these words it is evidently clear that the three fasts are to be made in the same week.

Resp. 2° But it is controverted as regards the other works. - In the Bull of Pius IX for the Jubilee granted after his own exaltation, November 20, 1846, it is said: 1° For the City: "Those who, from the sixth day of December up to the twenty-seventh day of the same month, have twice within those three weeks visited (the basilicas, etc.), and there for some space of time have prayed devoutly, and within the same weeks have confessed their sins, and reverently received the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist," etc. 2° For the World: "Those who . . . for three weeks have twice visited the churches to be designated, or any one of them, and have devoutly performed the other works," etc. Therefore, if this Bull is to be held as the norm for future extraordinary Jubilees, the negative opinion will be certain.

Quaer. 11° Whether or how travelers can gain the Jubilee?

Resp. 1° The time of the Jubilee can be prolonged for them up to their return; nor is anyone held to postpone his journey, unless he can do so conveniently. 2° If they are found on a journey when the Jubilee is begun in their own place, they can likewise gain it there after their return. 3° If they pass through places where the Jubilee is celebrated, they can gain it there. Thus St. Alphonsus,¹ with others commonly. This is clear from the Bulls for the Jubilee. Consult the Bull of Pius IX just cited and the Encyclical of the same Pontiff: Gravibus ecclesiae, 1874.

They also say that confessors can prolong the time of Jubilee in favor of those who actually are not able to perform the prescribed works, but soon afterward will be able to do so; this they extend also to the case of a moral obstacle, e.g., if the confessor judges it useful to delay sacramental absolution. But if the prorogation would have to be extended for a long time, they say that the works must be commuted.² Let the tenor of the concession be compared concerning this. In the Bulls of Benedict XIV for the ordinary Jubilee we do not find such a faculty of proroguing.

To this also pertains the decision of S. C. I., November 28, 1759: In the case in which someone, having performed the prescribed works in one week, is sent away unabsolved to another time, he is not held to repeat the works which he has already performed in the time of the Jubilee when he will be absolved, for the effect of gaining the Indulgences of the Jubilee.¹

Quaer. 12° Whether the Jubilee can be gained several times?

Resp. Yes, according to Acta,² as regards the Indulgence, unless the contrary is said in the concession, either implicitly or explicitly. No, according to all, as regards the privileges.

Quaer. 13° Whether through an INVALID Confession in Jubilee censures and reservation of sins are removed?

Resp. No, according to St. Alphonsus. See n. 1403. q. 2°. R. 2°. a).

Quaer. 14° Whether he sins gravely who, after he has been absolved from reserved things, does not fulfill the other prescribed works?

Resp. No, with the common opinion. The reason is that it does not appear that such an obligation was imposed either from the nature of the Jubilee, or from the precept of the Pontiff or of the confessor.³ But he who, with a true intention of gaining the Jubilee, has been absolved from censures, or dispensed in a vow or irregularity, does not fall back in, if afterward, his will being changed, he does not gain the Jubilee, even culpably.⁴

Quaer. 15° Whether he who has confessed in the time of Jubilee, and forgot to confess his reserved sins, can then be absolved by any confessor?

Resp. 1° Yes, if the confessor had the express intention of absolving from all sins, even reserved ones.

Resp. 2° Yes also, more probably, if the confessor did not think about this; because the penitent by force of the Jubilee acquired the right that he could be absolved by any confessor. - Thus more commonly with St. Alphonsus.⁵

But if someone has begun a Confession within the Jubilee which, being materially imperfect, has to be deferred longer, he will be able to be absolved from all reserved sins either then or afterward.⁶

Note. - a) In the Jubilee of the holy year, or the greater Jubilee, for the whole year all other Indulgences, both plenary and particular, granted for the living, are suspended, but not real or local Indulgences, nor those granted for the dead. Indeed, from the concession of Benedict XIV, all Indulgences, even those which otherwise were not applicable to the dead, can be applied to them in this year.

From the suspension of Indulgences for the living are excepted: 1° Indulgences for the dying; 2° Indulgences for the prayer Angelus; 3° Indulgences for visitation of the Most Holy Sacrament solemnly exposed in the Prayers of the Forty Hours; 4° Indulgences for those who accompany the Most Holy Sacrament carried to the sick; 5° all Indulgences which are granted to particular persons, or by another than the Pope. These are deduced from the Constitutions of Benedict XIV and Leo XII and from St. Alphonsus, L. VI. 535. R. II. 1°.

b) Even outside Rome, faculties of absolving from cases reserved to the Holy See and of commuting vows, etc., are suspended, except however the faculties of the Schedule of S. Paen., and those which are recognized to have been granted and permitted to Bishops by common law or through Apostolic concession for the habitual government of dioceses, or for determinate cases or persons, and those which have been bestowed by the Apostolic See on Superiors of Regulars with respect to their own Regular subjects. - Cf. Benedict XIV, May 17, 1749, C. Cum nos. Nevertheless, the suspension either of Indulgences or of faculties has no place at that time at which the greater Jubilee is extended to the world, nor in extraordinary Jubilees.¹

Notes near n. 1786, Jubilee questions on travelers and repetition (printed pp. 383-384).

1 T. VII. pp. 174, 175. | 2 L. VI. 538. q. XI.

Notes near n. 1786, prorogation for travelers and delayed absolution (printed p. 384).

1 L. VI. 538. | 2 Bouvier, T. IV. ch. III. § 4.

Notes near n. 1786, reserved sins and effects after Jubilee absolution (printed p. 384).

1 Prinz. n. CCXLIV. | 2 T. VII. p. 222 in note. | 3 T. VI. 537. q. III. | 4 Benedict XIV, c. Benedictus, § 6; c. Inter praeteritos, § 86. | 5 L. VI. 537. q. IV. | 6 Ib. 535 sub 3.

Notes near n. 1786, suspension of indulgences and faculties (printed p. 384).

1 Bouvier, P. IV. ch. V. Acta, T. 8. P. 486.

1787. - I. Requisites on the part of the Way of the Cross itself. - First of all there is need of the canonical erection of the stations, for which, besides Apostolic faculty (see p. LXXIII. 10), in general the written license of the Ordinary is required.² The restriction previously subsisting, by which it was provided that in places in which monasteries of the Friars Minor exist the Way of the Cross should not be established in churches not subject to the same Order, His Holiness our Lord Pope Pius IX removed by decree of S. C. I., May 14, 1871, and granted that the stations of the Way of the Cross, the other things otherwise to be observed by law being observed, could be erected everywhere in churches and pious places.¹

Nevertheless the faculty itself which is communicated to our Bishops is so restricted that they cannot use it, or subdelegate it to others, "in places, . . . in which . . . Franciscan Fathers are present."

By "Franciscans" are understood "Religious subject to the Minister General of the Friars Minor, both of the Observance and of the Reformed."² Therefore neither Capuchins nor Conventuals.

By "in places" are understood not dioceses, but "a city, town, village with its respective suburbs, or places adjacent to them."³

But the faculty of our Bishops is not limited to Churches or Oratories, so that also outside them, e.g., in cemeteries or in cloisters, they can erect the Way of the Cross. This is argued from the Resp. of S. C. Indulg., December 14, 1857.⁴

The Indulgences of the Way of the Cross are annexed only to the Crosses (which must be wooden, and, if they are ornamented with metal, visible), but not to the images, which are not necessary⁵ nor necessarily blessed.⁶ - Therefore new images can be substituted without detriment to the Indulgence, provided that all the superimposed Crosses, or the greater part of them, remain.⁷ - The Crosses can also be transferred from an old panel to a new one, without there being need of a new canonical erection of the stations,¹ provided the Way of the Cross remains in the same church.

As regards the arrangement of the stations, some distance between one and another is required.²

After the blessing of the Crosses has been made, there will be no need that the one having the faculty go through the stations; indeed even the affixing and placing of them can be done by any other person, and even at another time privately and without ceremonies.³

The method for erecting the stations of the Way of the Cross, see Rit. Rom. Baltim. 1873, p. 465 sq.; - the formula for making attestation concerning the erection, ib. p. 472.

1788. - II. Requisites on the part of those who make the Way of the Cross. - There is not required - the recitation of six Pater, Ave, and Gloria besides the visitation of the stations; - nor Adoramus te, Christe; Pater noster; Ave Maria; Miserere nostri, Domine. S. C. Ind., September 22, 1829.

But there is required:

1) Some motion of the body, ordinarily by proceeding from one station to another, insofar as circumstances (e.g., the multitude visiting the Way of the Cross, the capacity of the place) permit it.⁴ But in the public exercise of the Way of the Cross, when disturbance can be excited, each person of the people keeping his own place, the priest with two clerics or cantors should go around, stopping at each station, and there reciting the particular accustomed prayers, the others responding alternately.⁵

2) Meditation - but only some meditation, and according to the capacity of each one - on the Passion.⁶

3) A visitation, not morally interrupted, of the 14 stations according to their order.⁷

But an interruption which is made for hearing Mass, receiving Holy Communion, making Confession, and things of this kind, is not moral, since there is no digression to extraneous acts.⁸

Note. - For gaining the Indulgences of the Way of the Cross by means of a Crucifix blessed for this effect by one having power, there is required:

a) Impossibility (physical or moral) of visiting canonically erected Stations.

b) That the Crucifix be held in the hand while the prayers are recited.

c) That 20 Pater, Ave, and Gloria Patri be recited, namely 1 Pater, Ave, and Gloria for each station; 5 in memory of the 5 Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and 1 according to the intention of the Supreme Pontiff. No other prayer or meditation is required.¹

1789. - 1) Let the things noted at n. 1779. q. 19°. 20°; n. 1780. 3°. 6°. 7° be recalled. But the Indulgences proper to these objects, see Conc. Pl. Balt. II. p. 340.

2) To one and the same of these objects several diverse Indulgences - indeed also at the same time to several objects, whether of diverse or of the same kind, all the Indulgences proper to the same - can be applied by one blessing, i.e., by one Sign of the Cross.² Nevertheless the Rosaries of St. Dominic and the Chaplets of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary must be blessed with their own formula,³ which see in Rit. Rom. Baltim. 1873, p. 474, 493.

3) An Indulgence granted to a Crucifix is affixed to Christ alone; this, therefore, can be transferred from one Cross to another.⁴

4) For gaining the Indulgences of Rosaries to which Papal Indulgences have been applied (or those of the List of Conc. Pl. Balt. II. p. 340): a) it suffices that, if several recite together, other cares however being set aside, only the owner of the Rosary hold it in his hand;⁵ b) meditation on the Mysteries is not required;⁶ c) it is required that the recitation not be morally interrupted.⁷ See the things said at n. 1788. 3).

Note. - All these things also are required and suffice for gaining the Indulgences of the Rosary of St. Dominic, except: 1° that the Mysteries are to be meditated upon by those who are capable of meditating on them;⁸ 2° that the confreres of the Most Holy Rosary gain the Indulgences granted to them, although they morally interrupt the Rosary, provided they complete the whole Rosary (15 decades) within one week.¹

1790. Questions. - Quaer. 1° 1) What are confraternities? 2) What is their origin? 3) By whom can they be erected?

Resp. to 1st. They are congregations of the faithful (but not of Religious) instituted by ecclesiastical authority for exercising pious works.² But by the name of Archconfraternity is understood a confraternity having the privilege of aggregating others to itself, and of communicating to them the spiritual graces granted to itself by the Holy See.

Resp. to 2nd. Confraternities owe their origin remotely to the zeal of association, which always flourished in the Church;³ but especially to the Orders of Regulars, to whom it was granted to erect congregations of laypeople, and to communicate to them various spiritual graces.⁴ The more celebrated Confraternities of this kind are, e.g., the Rosary, which owes its origin to the Dominicans, - the Scapular, which owes its origin to the Carmelites, - the Blessed Virgin Mary, which owes its origin to the Jesuits, - the Holy Family J. M. J., which owes its origin to the Redemptorists, etc., etc.

Resp. to 3rd. They are erected either by Ordinaries (under whose name Vicars General do not come here⁵), or, with the consent of the Ordinary, by Superiors of Orders to whom this has been granted. But confraternities erected by Ordinaries are customarily aggregated to some Archconfraternity, so that they may participate in its Indulgences, etc.⁶

Quaer. 2° What things are to be observed in instituting, - aggregating, - governing confraternities?

Resp. The principal things are these: 1) Only one confraternity of the same kind can be instituted or aggregated in the same church, or even in the same or another place within three miles. Except confraternities of the Most Holy Sacrament, of Christian Doctrine, which can be instituted in individual parishes, and those for which a similar grace shall have been obtained from the Holy See.

Addendum and Corrigendum to Resp. under 1. - Add the following response, or rather indult. "The Vicar General N. N., prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, humbly sets forth as follows. As regards the erection of confraternities of the same name and institute, the law requires a certain distance of churches. But among us, and in most cities of the United States of North America, in the same place there are quasi-parochial churches for diverse nations speaking diverse languages, chiefly English and German. The parishes have boundaries so distinguished one from another as to the others, that the faithful of the English language, for example, belong to their own churches, and those using the German language to other churches of their own language, and have almost no communication among themselves. By this law it happens that very often two churches, although of diverse language, have almost no distance between themselves. This division and separation is of greater difference in reality than mere local distance. For morally it is impossible that, if there is question of a confraternity erected in a church of one language, the faithful using another language should approach this for enrollment, and especially for public devotion in a different vernacular language. Therefore it is asked whether the law concerning the distance of confraternities also avails for these circumstances or not?

"From the Audience of His Holiness, held on 21 October 1883. Our Most Holy Lord Leo XIII, Pope by Divine Providence, upon the report of me, the undersigned Secretary of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, deigned graciously to consent in favor of the grace of dispensation from the required distance, yet under this condition, that each instituted Confraternity can enroll only those who belong to the determinate nation for which, as is said, the same Confraternity has already been erected or is to be erected. And this under penalty of nullity of the Indulgences." The Pastor, vol. II, p. 22 (124).

The response contains an indult, which avails only for the diocese of that Vicar General.

2) Let the statutes of confraternities be examined and approved by the Ordinary of the place, and they can be corrected and changed by him. He also constitutes the moderator, with power, if it so pleases him, of subdelegating another.

3) Those instituting or aggregating a confraternity should communicate to the same: a) expressly and in species the privileges, Indulgences, etc., granted by name to the Order instituting or aggregating, but not by way of communication; b) they should observe the formula prescribed by the Holy See, which see in Acta.¹

4) Graces and Indulgences communicated to a confraternity are to be promulgated only after recognition by the Ordinary.¹

Thus from the Constitution of Clement VIII, Quaecumque, December 7, 1604, and later decrees.

Quaer. 3° What confraternities, with the Indulgences annexed to the same by the Holy See, can our Bishops institute?

Resp. The confraternities of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, of the Most Holy Rosary, of a Good Death (see p. LXXIII. n. 9).

Note. - It is pleasing to add in this place a summary of certain other declarations of S. C. Ind. concerning Confraternities useful to know.

1. Partial or general non-observance of the statutes of some Confraternity on the part of the members does not hinder the acquisition of Indulgences; for the statutes are given rather for the governance and right administration of the Confraternity, but by no means as works enjoined for gaining Indulgences. Prinz. n. DXXV. 2°. Therefore they can also be changed by Ordinaries according to circumstances. If nevertheless some articles of the statutes propose certain works to be performed by the members, which from Pontifical concession are enriched with indulgences, these must be held as essential and can in no way be changed by the Bishop, lest the members be defrauded of the spiritual benefit of Indulgences. Ib. n. DLI.

2. For gaining Indulgences it suffices that someone has been legitimately enrolled in the Confraternity and fulfills the conditions under which they were granted. Ib. 1°. 3°. Therefore that public reception of members is not necessary which, according to the statutes of certain Confraternities (e.g., of the Most Holy Family), is celebrated with some solemnity at some time after the private reception.

3. Where no daily prayers are prescribed to confreres for the effect of gaining Indulgences, they are not held to recite any determinate prayers. Ib. n. DCI.

4. Confraternities of laypeople cannot be erected in the churches of Nuns, as has often been decided by S. Congr. of Bishops and Regulars.¹

5. No one absent can be enrolled in any Confraternity: understand this according to the Response of S. C. Ind., November 26, 1880, whose summary is handed down at (50) p. 429.

Several kinds of Scapulars are given, for example, of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows, of Mount Carmel, of the Immaculate Conception, of the Passion, etc.

From Fr. Ulrich we transcribe the following.

1791. - In order that one may participate in the spiritual graces of Scapulars, these four things in general are required:

I. It is necessary that the Scapulars be of the prescribed matter, color, and form.

II. They are to be blessed and imposed by one having faculty.

III. Reception into the confraternity is necessary.

IV. They are to be worn constantly, and indeed after the manner of a Scapular.

The individual requisites are explained.

I. a) Matter. - It is necessary that Scapulars be of wool, and indeed woven, not knitted, or embroidered by needle, although they can have knitted or embroidered ornaments, even not of wool, provided these are not of such a kind that the prescribed color no longer prevails.

b) Color, - namely white with a visible Cross, whose upright is of red wool and whose crossbeam (under it) is of blue wool for the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity; - black for the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows; - dark brown or black for the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel; - blue (azure) for the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

c) Form, - namely they ought to consist of two parts in such a way that one descends over the breast, the other over the shoulder; yet it does not hinder validity if the little cloths of various Scapulars, some placed over others, are sewn to only two cords, which cords however ought to be of red color (this at least is safer) if one joins the Scapular of the Passion of the Lazarists to the four aforesaid Scapulars. - S. C. Ind. also decreed, August 18, 1868,¹ that nothing was to be changed as regards the oblong or at least square form of the Scapular.

1792. - II. Blessing and imposition by one having faculty.

a) Blessing and imposition, - by the prescribed or indulted formula, pronouncing at least the words which are substantial. You have most blessings in Rit. Rom. Baltim. 1873. - When several together desire to receive the Scapular, it is lawful to use in the plural the formula: Accipite viri devote, etc.; yet, unless a special indult is had, the Scapular must be imposed on each one to be aggregated, and indeed by one having power, but not (outside the case of a special indult) by the one to be aggregated. - Nevertheless a priest having the faculty of blessing some Scapular can bless and impose it on himself, provided that he has that faculty indiscriminately, and not only taxatively, e.g., for some community of Nuns only.

Addendum and Corrigendum to a). - It was asked: "Whether one who obtained from the Superior of the respective Order the faculty of blessing and imposing 'the said four Scapulars' (which are blessed and imposed by the Fathers of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) can licitly and validly use the shorter formula approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites" (for the aforesaid Fathers), "without having obtained for this a special faculty from the Holy See?" The response was given by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, on 12 Sept. 1883: "Validly indeed, but not licitly." The Pastor, vol. II, p. 22 (123).

"Sometimes it happens, . . . that, when a priest legitimately deputed for this imposes the Scapular . . . on the faithful, Scapulars are lacking before satisfaction could be given to the desires of all the faithful." Hence it was asked: "Whether one and the same Scapular once blessed can validly be imposed on several in turn, only the formula of reception or imposition being repeated over each one?" - S. C. Ind., July 20, 1868,² responded: "Affirmatively; yet in such a way that the first Scapular which the enrolled person afterward must wear be blessed."

A Scapular can also be blessed and imposed on little children not yet having obtained the use of reason. S. C. Ind., August 29, 1864.³

If it happens that a Scapular is lost or worn out, each one can assume for himself a new one not blessed. Except, outside the case of a special indult, the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, which must be blessed anew, even in the case in which the red and blue Cross is no longer found on it.

b) Blessing and imposition by one having faculty.

That faculty is obtained either from the Holy See, or from Superiors General (or Religious deputed by them) of the Orders which wear that larger Scapular to which the small one corresponds. - Our Bishops can and are accustomed to grant the faculty of blessing the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. See p. LXXIII. n. 9.

c) One having the faculty of blessing a certain Scapular, by that very fact has the faculty of granting to those aggregated in the article of death the general absolution, yet, under penalty of nullity, by the formula of Benedict XIV, c. Pia Mater, with the name of the proper holy Founder added to the Confiteor. S. R. C., May 7, 1882.

1793. - III. Reception into the confraternity in the case in which reception of the Scapular carries with it reception into the confraternity, as when the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows, or of Mount Carmel is received.¹

But inscription of the names of those received, outside the case of a special indult, "is necessary for those receiving the Scapulars of the Most Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows; but not for those receiving the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. - Nevertheless the aforesaid priests are to be warned," i.e., those to whom belongs the faculty of receiving the faithful into the sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, "that they not omit to have the names of those received enrolled in the list of the nearest sodality itself, or respectively of the Monastery of Religious, lest in their death they be deprived of suffrages." Thus S. C. Ind., September 17, 1845.²

The material act of inscribing can be done by anyone. S. C. Ind., September 25, 1844.³

1794. - IV. Wearing of the habit, - a) so continuous that, by the very long time during which you put off the Scapular, or by the motive for which you put it off, you do not seem to renounce the sodality. Therefore he who has put off the Scapular from contempt or from impiety, or for a time so long that he had almost lost the memory of the sacred habit, will more safely take care that the Scapular be blessed and imposed on him anew. - b) After the manner of a Scapular, namely so that hanging from the neck, by one part it covers the breast, by the other the shoulders. - Yet it is not necessary that it be worn immediately upon the body, so that it physically touches it.

1795. - Quaer. What is required so that someone may enjoy the privilege called Sabbatine?

Resp. 1° This privilege, concerning which see Benedict XIV¹ and the Roman Breviary,² is annexed only to the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.

2° Besides those four things concerning which we spoke in nn. 1791-1794, there is required:

a) That each one cultivate chastity according to the manner of his state.³

b) That he who knows how to read daily recite the little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, i.e., the nocturn of the day with Lauds, and the other hours of the same day, and this according to the Roman rite, unless someone has his own rite approved by the Holy See - excepting however those who are already held to recitation of the divine Office.

c) That those who do not know how to read observe the fasts of the Church, and abstinence on Wednesday and Saturday, except the day of the Nativity of the Lord.

But "a grave impediment supervening," e.g., grave illness, S. C. Ind.⁴ responded that confreres are not held to the things said under b) and c); "nevertheless the faithful are to be counseled that in this case they subject themselves to the judgment of a learned and prudent confessor for obtaining some commutation." - But if there is question of a non-grave impediment, commutation must be obtained from a confessor endowed expressly with faculty for this;⁵ but the commutation does not necessarily have to be made in Confession.⁶

1796. Questions. - Quaer. 1° What is the privilege of the altar?

Resp. It is called that by force of which, from Pontifical indult, through the celebration of Mass a plenary Indulgence applicable only to the dead is granted.

It is said: only to the dead; for privileged altars even for the living are rare.⁷

Quaer. 2° How many kinds of privileged altar are distinguished?

Resp. Twofold; namely local, or real, if it is annexed to an altar designated for this; personal, if it is granted to some person.⁸

1797. - Quaer. 3° What things are special to a local privileged altar?

Resp. They are nearly these:

1° If in the Pontifical concession no altar is designated, one must be designated by the respective Ordinary,¹ or by the Prelate endowed with jurisdiction in that place.² - But the Ordinary, from the concession of Benedict XIII, July 20, 1724, once for always, can designate in each patriarchal, metropolitan, and cathedral church one perpetual daily privileged altar.³ - Likewise Clement XIII⁴ willed all and individual parish churches of the whole world to be decorated with this same privilege, and indeed daily, but to last only for seven years, the Bishops however recurring to the Holy See for this grace both the first time and after the seven years have elapsed. - The faculty granted to our Bishops, see p. LXXIII. n. 8.

2° The altar to be designated must be fixed, unless in the indult it is permitted that even a portable one be designated.⁵ - But fixed is understood here not in the liturgical sense, but that it be stable and immovable, although not consecrated, and that in its middle a consecrated stone, even removable, be placed. But a privileged altar, rebuilt again (even in a destroyed church, but rebuilt in the same place), does not need a new privilege, provided it is constructed under the same title or invocation.⁶

3° Outside the case of a special indult, only one altar in each church can be declared privileged; and at least if the second altar appears to have been granted under the same view as the first, and no mention of the first has been made even in the supplication, the indult, as we think (for the Decree of June 14, 1845, seems opposed only in appearance), is always to be understood with the clause: "provided there is not another privileged altar in the same church."⁷ Yet this clause, at least if there is question of a privilege granted indefinitely for all, does not touch privileged altars granted for a certain company of persons, e.g., for a confraternity.

4° "The transfer of the privilege to a different altar requires the intervention of the Holy See."¹

5° The aggregation of a church, as regards privileges and spiritual favors, to another church does not comprehend privileges of the altar. - Cf. n. 1790. a).

6° In order that the Indulgence be acquired, intention is not required, either on the part of the one celebrating on the privileged altar, or on the part of the one offering the honorarium. S. C. Ind., March 12, 1835.² Cf. n. 1779. q. 15°.

7° Perpetual burdens and foundations cannot be received for privileged altars. S. C. Indulg., December 14, 1711.³

1798. - Quaer. 4° What things are common to a local and a personal privileged altar?

Resp. 1° Either can be perpetual or temporal; - daily or restricted to certain days in the week.

2° Either has the same efficacy. - But S. C. Ind., July 28, 1840,⁴ declares the efficacy of the privilege in these words: "By the Indulgence annexed to a privileged altar, if the mind of the one granting and the use of the power of the keys be considered, there is to be understood a plenary Indulgence which would immediately free the soul from all the penalties of purgatory; but if the effect of application be considered, there is to be understood an Indulgence whose measure corresponds to the good pleasure and acceptance of divine mercy."

3° Neither privilege can be applied to several souls of the dead. Thus the last declaration of S. C. Ind., June 19, 1880.⁵

4° Neither privilege benefits the dead if, as often as the liturgical rules permit it, you do not celebrate a Mass of Requiem, and indeed in black vestments, or from reasonable cause (see n. 1296. q. 10°) in violet ones. I said: as often as the rules, etc., i.e., as often as there is not an obstacle either from the rubric, or from a particular disposition, e.g., by reason of exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament when the prayer is for a public cause, or some solemnity. - But he who has the personal privilege for four Masses in each week ought to celebrate the Mass of Requiem on days not impeded, or defer it to days not impeded, insofar as they occur in the same week.¹

5° A greater stipend cannot be accepted for the application of a Mass with the privilege of the altar; for this would be simoniacal.²

6° Whether the state of grace is required in the priest, so that the privilege of the altar be gained, is controverted.³

7° Concerning the obligation of the priest of applying the privilege, see n. 1325. q. 14°. q. 15°. - But whether the decree of S. C. Ind., February 16, 1852,³ abrogates the decree of the same S. Congregation of February 22, 1847,⁴ or derogates from it in some point, is doubtful to us; therefore, until the matter becomes clearer, we adhere to the opinion of St. Alphonsus, which we reported at n. 1325. q. 14°.

Quaer. 5° When is the privilege of the altar acquired without some special concession?

Resp. 1° At the time of the Prayer of Forty Hours, all the altars of any church in which that prayer is held are privileged.⁵

2° On the second day of November, Masses enjoy the privilege, as if they were celebrated on a privileged altar.⁶

3° A priest who has made the oblation concerning which in n. 1779. q. 6°. R. 1° enjoys the indult of a daily personal privileged altar.⁷

Note. - The personal privilege of the altar which through our Bishops can and is accustomed to be communicated to priests of their dioceses, see p. LXXI. n. 20.

1799. - Benedict XIV, in the Constitution Pia Mater, April 5, 1747, among other things established:

1° That Bishops who are placed over churches, or transferred to the governance of other churches, will obtain the faculty of imparting the blessing with plenary Indulgence to the faithful constituted in the article of death, for the whole time during which they will hold the governance of the Church once obtained, the faculty also being added of subdelegating, insofar as they shall have petitioned the aforesaid faculty.⁸

2° That Bishops furnished with this faculty of subdelegating can subdelegate in their cities one or more priests, as they shall judge necessary, and in dioceses as many as, according to the number of souls existing in the dioceses, they shall have judged necessary. Nevertheless priests deputed and subdelegated can be removed by Bishops according to their judgment and prudence, and others can be substituted in their place.¹

3° That indults granted to Bishops do not expire by the death of the Supreme Pontiff granting them; nor do subdelegations cease by the withdrawal or death of the Bishop subdelegating; but they persevere until the arrival of a new Prelate, by whose judgment they can be confirmed or revoked. Yet these subdelegations, if they are not revoked by the successor, are judged to be confirmed.²

1800. Questions. - Quaer. 1° To what sick persons in the article of death is this blessing to be imparted?

Resp. Generally to all asking,³ who are not excommunicated, impenitent, and are not dying in manifest mortal sin; also to children who were able to sin, or to whom absolution and Extreme Unction are ministered;⁴ likewise to those deprived of the use of the senses, delirious and insane, to whom the same Sacraments are ministered, as Benedict XIV prescribes in the rubric of this blessing.

Quaer. 2° What things are required on the part of the priest for imparting this Indulgence?

Resp. 1° That he be delegated. - But the delegation can be restricted, e.g., as regards Nuns, to their ordinary confessor alone,⁵ and by law it is restricted to the diocese of the one delegating; but within its limits it is valid for all indiscriminately, whether they are of another diocese, or Regulars, or other persons immune from the jurisdiction of the delegate.⁶

2° That he use the formula prescribed by Benedict XIV, which is not only directive, but prescriptive.⁷ See the formula in "Excerpt. ex Rit. Rom.," Ed. 1872, p. 248; Ed. 1874, p. 240.

3° That, "if the sick person wishes to confess, he hear him and absolve him. If he does not ask for Confession, let him excite him to eliciting an act of contrition; concerning the efficacy and virtue of this blessing, if time permits, let him briefly admonish him; then let him instruct and exhort him, that he willingly endure the inconveniences and pains of illness in expiation of his past life, and offer himself to God prepared freely to accept whatever shall please him, and patiently to undergo death itself in satisfaction of the penalties which he has deserved by sinning. Then with pious words let him console him, raising him into hope that, from the largess of divine munificence, he is about to obtain that remission of penalties and eternal life."¹ Finally, if other conditions are required, he ought to propose them to the sick person, so that he can fulfill them; concerning these in what follows.

It is to be noted here that the priest sometimes ought to be circumspect, lest, by exhorting the sick person to undergo death patiently in satisfaction of penalties, he offend the same, or incur the indignation of him or of the friends standing by. Therefore, if difficulties are foreseen, it will sometimes be advisable to exhort the sick person to undergo death patiently in Confession or in the absence of others; for, although for obtaining the Indulgence it is required that the sick person receive death from the hand of the Lord with an even and willing mind, nevertheless it is not required that this exhortation be made immediately before the application of the Indulgence, but it suffices that the sick person have that disposition. If this cannot be done, it is fitting to moderate the exhortation in such a way, and to propose it so prudently and gently, that the sick person be prepared to receive death itself from the hand of the Lord with an even and willing mind.²

Quaer. 3° What things are required on the part of the sick person for gaining this Indulgence?

Resp. 1° Grave infirmity. But how great the infirmity ought to be is not so clear. Certainly the article of death suffices, by which is understood, not indeed agony, but evident and imminent danger of death. Nor is it advisable to await the agony itself, lest the sick person, deprived of the use of the senses, be incapable of the disposition required for gaining the Indulgence, or less suited for the same. But it is doubtful whether it is validly granted to those who indeed are so gravely sick that the last Sacraments are administered to them, but nevertheless are not so near to death that they can be said to be constituted in the article of death. See the arguments for and against in De Herdt.¹ The affirmative opinion seems to us much more probable and confirmed by practice.

2° An intention, not indeed actual or virtual, but interpretative, as is clear from the words of the rubric: "or" they "would likely have asked for" that blessing.

3° That the sick person has confessed and been refreshed by Holy Communion, or, insofar as he was unable to do this, is contrite.²

4° That he invoke the name of Jesus with the mouth, if he can; if not, with the heart.

5° That he receive death itself from the hand of the Lord with an even and willing mind.

It is to be noted that the aforesaid conditions are required per se, if namely the sick person is of sound mind and with his senses whole; otherwise, insofar as he was capable of fulfilling them, as is clear from the rubric of the blessing, where it is said that the same is to be imparted even if the sick are deprived of the use of the tongue and of the other senses, or have fallen into delirium or insanity. Nevertheless the state of grace, as being altogether necessary for gaining indulgences, is always required.

Quaer. 4° Whether this apostolic blessing can be repeated?

Resp. No, in the same article of death, and whether by the same priest or by several priests having this faculty (although from a different head, e.g., by reason of the Scapular. See n. 1792. c.). - Yes, if someone has recovered and has fallen again into danger of death. Cf. Schneider, Die Ablasse, p. 611 sq.

Quaer. 5° By what rite is this blessing to be given?

Resp. The priest for this blessing is vested in surplice and stole, namely violet, because it pertains to a penitential rite. - Entering the sick person's room he says: Peace be to this house, etc., and then sprinkles the sick person, the room, and those standing around with blessed water, saying the antiphon Thou shalt sprinkle me without the psalm Miserere and the repetition of the antiphon, because Benedict XIV does not speak of these.

Then he performs those things which were said above in q. 2°. R. 3°. Then he recites the prayers which you have in "Excerpta ex Rit. Rom.," Ed. 1872, p. 248; Ed. 1874, p. 240.

If the Apostolic blessing is imparted immediately after Viaticum and Extreme Unction, the Confiteor must be repeated before the application of the Indulgence;¹ but the words Pax huic Domui and the sprinkling of water perhaps can be omitted, because they were said and done at the beginning; nevertheless it is safer always to put these before the blessing, because Benedict XIV commands that the formula composed by him be used, and all these things are contained in the formula itself.²

1801. - From the Resp. given to the Bishop of Leavenworth (Past. Bl. für N. Am. 1881. p. 44), it is clear:

1° That the privilege of using the manner granted to the diocese of Baltimore, in exposing the Most Holy Sacrament and in the devotion of Forty Hours, comprehends only those things which are contained in the Decree of January 24, 1868, S. C. de P. F. - You have the Decree in Conc. Pl. Balt. II. p. CXLIX. under IV.

2° For gaining the indulgences: a) it is not required that the church in which this devotion is performed be visited on each day of the triduum; nor b) that this visitation be prolonged for one hour; c) the partial indulgences annexed to this devotion are gained as often as a new visitation is made; d) those partial indulgences are of ten years and as many quarantines. See Raccolta (ed. 1877) p. 67, 68.

S. R. C., in Lisbon, June 4, 1874, responded that it is left to the prudence and judgment of the Ordinary, that he permit or at least tolerate the custom of keeping sacred Images uncovered in the chapel or altar of Exposition; likewise of having sermons during the same Exposition; moreover of omitting the Mass for Peace on the middle day. The reason is that the Clementine Instruction does not bind outside the City, although those are to be praised who, unless something else is established by the Ordinary, strive to conform themselves to it. Gardel. App. IV. n. 5585.

680. Jubilee in ecclesiastical speech is a solemn plenary indulgence, which has many privileges joined to it and is granted by the Supreme Pontiff only at certain times. Therefore it does not differ from an ordinary plenary indulgence except because of the circumstances, namely by reason of the solemnity, the works enjoined, the privileges annexed to it, the abundance of graces which divine mercy is accustomed to bestow at that time, and the greater hope of obtaining the indulgence totally.

One is ordinary, which now is usually granted regularly when the twenty-fifth year recurs, which is called a holy year: in that year it is celebrated at Rome, and after the year the Jubilee is extended to the whole world for six months, and sometimes for an entire year. Another is extraordinary, which is granted by reason of a great solemnity, as in the year 1933 for the centenary of the Redemption, or by reason of a special public necessity: this is general if it is granted to the whole world, or particular if it is given to a province, city, or particular place.

The end of the Jubilee is not the obtaining of the indulgence, but some common and great good of the Church to be obtained, such as the stirring of the Christian people to penance, the more solemn celebration of a great event, the cessation of public calamity, peace, etc.; to this end it is fitting that the faithful perform several good works. But that they may be enticed to perform them, the Pontiff grants a plenary indulgence and various privileges to those fulfilling the works.

A. The conditions customarily prescribed for the ordinary Jubilee are confession duly made, worthy Communion, devout visitation of the churches designated for this purpose with prayer according to the mind of the Supreme Pontiff through several days, continuous or interposed; for an extraordinary Jubilee fasting and alms are sometimes added. These are to be fulfilled during the time in which the Jubilee runs; hence confession on its vigil does not suffice; and indeed the rules handed down by Benedict XIV for the Jubilee of the year 1750 are to be observed, unless they are expressly revoked (S. Congr. Indg., Mar. 15, 1852).

1. The good works must be supererogatory, not due from elsewhere, and must be done from the intention of gaining the Jubilee; hence annual confession or paschal Communion does not suffice, nor the visit of a church for hearing Mass by precept, nor alms due from a legacy or vow, nor fasting already prescribed, unless the Pontiff should expressly indulge this; nevertheless Viaticum suffices (S. Poen., Mar. 28, 1900).

2. One who after confession has been made falls into mortal sin must repeat confession when he has not yet received holy Communion; otherwise, for gaining the Jubilee an act of perfect contrition suffices (S. Poen., July 31, 1924). But, says Genicot, Th. M. II, n. 412, confession seems to have to be repeated by him who remembers some sin not declared in the confession previously made through innocent forgetfulness (Benedict XIV, const. Inter praeteritos).

3. How many churches are to be visited, and how often, and within what time, is determined by the Bull which grants the Jubilee; likewise whether separately or on the same day, which day can be computed either by the civil manner from midnight to midnight, or by the ecclesiastical manner from first vespers to twilight. But if all those visiting together processionally cannot enter the church, it suffices that they stand near, outside the church, and unite themselves with the multitude; however, it is not certain that this holds if the church is closed, unless this has been granted, as has sometimes been done for the Roman basilicas (S. Poen., July 31, 1924). Religious do not satisfy by visiting their own church unless they have an indult.

4. Fasting is understood with abstinence from flesh, not as formerly with abstinence from eggs and milk foods (can. 1250). Yet it obliges all, old people and children; but because of grave inconvenience it can be commuted. Sometimes it is prescribed that it be done on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the same week.

5. Alms, if it is enjoined according to each one's devotion, a small alms suffices; but if according to ability, it must be proportioned to this.

B. Privileges customarily granted to confessors, even ordinary confessors, are:

1. Of commuting, for a just cause, the works required for the Jubilee, except confession; commutation is not to be granted without a just impediment, which will occur very rarely for Communion and the reciting of prayers, nor is it to be made except into a nearly equal work.

2. Of absolving from all sins and censures reserved by law or by man, but only in the internal forum and with those things enjoined which are to be enjoined; nevertheless not generally from those most specially reserved, nor of absolving an accomplice.

3. Of absolving all, even religious women; hence these have the faculty of choosing for themselves from those approved for both sexes a confessor in order to gain the Jubilee.

4. Of dispensing from certain occult irregularities, but as regards orders already received.

5. Of commuting by dispensing for a just cause in private vows, even sworn vows; nevertheless not in religious vows, or vows accepted by a third party unless he renounces them, nor in penal vows unless something else is imposed which equally wards off the danger of sinning.

6. Of dispensing, but only in the internal forum, from certain occult impediments, such as consanguinity of the third or second collateral degree, even touching the first, which comes from illicit generation, but in order to validate a contracted marriage; or of crime without machination, even for contracting marriage.

The faculties can be stricter or broader, concerning which therefore the Bull of the Jubilee must always be considered. Broader faculties, however, are granted to the major Penitentiaries in the four Roman Basilicas.

Confessors enjoy the faculties only in order to gain the Jubilee and only in the internal forum; and indeed only in the act of confession, unless something else is expressly noted. One who has made a good confession with the intention of the Jubilee, but afterward does not fulfill the other works and does not gain the Jubilee, remains validly absolved or dispensed, but of itself sins at least venially. But one who has confessed sacrilegiously was neither validly absolved nor dispensed.

C. The suspension of graces, that is, of special faculties and privileges and of pontifical indulgences for the living, is usually made outside the City during the Jubilee, so that the faithful may take care to gain it. Nevertheless the following are usually excepted:

1. indulgences for the dead; indeed those which otherwise are granted for the living can, during the Jubilee, be applied to the dead;

2. the indulgence at the article of death;

3. indulgences granted for the prayer Angelus Domini at the sound of the bell;

4. indulgences for the visit of the Most Holy Sacrament exposed for Forty Hours, as also for accompanying it when it is carried to the sick, or for a candle sent for this purpose to be carried by others;

5. the indulgence of the Portiuncula, but to be gained at Assisi.

And sometimes there are others which are listed in the Bull.

Faculties granted by grace or privilege are usually suspended: of absolving from reserved sins and censures, of relaxing censures, of commuting vows and dispensing in them, of dispensing from irregularities and canonical impediments. Nor are the faculties of confessors in the internal forum always suspended as regards penitents who cannot approach the City. In this matter, however, there can be diversity for different Jubilees; hence no certain rule is supplied except by the Bull indicating the Jubilee and determining the prescriptions.

Observation. - To certain categories of the faithful who are in the impossibility of going to the City, it is usually granted that already during the holy year they may gain the Jubilee: thus all religious women and pious women living a common life, and women and girls living with them; anchorites who live in continual enclosure and solitude, professing a regular Order; captives, those detained in prisons, those undergoing the penalty of exile or deportation; the sick, and old people who have completed their seventieth year; laborers procuring their livelihood for themselves by daily labor, if they are impeded from undertaking the Roman journey; and perhaps others if they are indicated in the Bull.

But those who have gained the Jubilee in the holy year can gain it again if in the following year it is extended to the whole world.

I. Although the crusade bull, as it is called, does not at all obtain in many kingdoms, nonetheless, since nearly the same difficulties occur to be untangled concerning it as concerning the jubilee, we, inquiring what Confessors can do in the commutation of vows by force of the jubilee, will also mention the crusade bull, though we shall speak of it only in passing. The clause which is contained in the jubilee bull concerning the commutation of vows is this: "And whatsoever vows made by them (captivity and religious life alone excepted) may be commuted into other works of piety." The faculty, however, which is granted in the crusade bull is of this kind: "And all their vows (excepting those of an overseas expedition, of chastity, and of religious life) may be commuted by the same Confessor." As is clear from the diversity of the two clauses, the faculty granted in the jubilee is ampler than in the crusade bull. For in this latter, besides the vows of chastity and religious life, the vow of pilgrimage overseas is also excepted, and the faculty of commuting is restricted to some aid for this crusade expedition to be undertaken; which restriction is absent from the jubilee, by virtue of which commutation can be made into any works of piety whatsoever. In the jubilee, however, the faculty is granted of commuting the vows of the threefold pilgrimage, to Jerusalem, Rome, and Compostela. In the crusade bull, too, the faculty is restricted to commuting vows into some aid to be given for the holy war; which restriction is absent from the jubilee.

II. The vows of chastity and of religious life, which are excepted both in the bull and in the jubilee, are understood to be perfect and absolute vows, as has been said above. Wherefore vows of not marrying, of not fornicating, of conjugal chastity, of chastity for a limited time, are not understood to be reserved; nor are vows uttered under deceit, fear, or error. All such vows can be commuted by force of the bull, or of the jubilee, whether they were made before the promulgation of the jubilee, or after, or even in the hope of obtaining the commutation through the jubilee, as authors commonly teach.

III. Question I. Should the commutation be made within, or outside, confession? Response: Whoever has the faculty of commuting vows, whether by force of the crusade bull, or of the jubilee, or of privileges, can grant the benefit of commutation both within and outside confession. And the reason is clear: since the privileges which grant the faculty of commuting do not bind it to sacramental confession. Why, then, should such a faculty be limited by us to that confession alone? There is, then, no need for the Confessor to hear the confession of the one vowing, in order to be able licitly, and validly, to commute vows. This is the common opinion.

IV. Question II. Can commutation into a lesser matter be made by force of the jubilee, or of the bull? Response: Not a few affirm this, on the grounds that a privilege ought to effect something. It would effect nothing, however, unless the obligation could be changed into a lesser one — since anyone can commute his own vow, by his own authority, into an equal one. From what has been said above, it is established that this opinion is false. A privilege effects that a commutation into a morally equal good be made — which no one can accomplish by his own authority. For the rest, a privilege does not impart the faculty of making an unjust commutation, which by its own nature demands equality. It would, however, be unjust, if made into a lesser good.

V. Question III. Can the vows of religion and of chastity be commuted by force of the jubilee, or of the bull, necessity pressing? Response. This difficulty too has been disputed above. Those who maintain that Regulars can, by force of their privileges, dispense in the vow of chastity, necessity pressing, as the Bishop can, defend also that they can do it by force of the jubilee, or of the bull. This opinion we have disapproved, and now too we reject it, denying that, even with necessity pressing, the reserved vows of chastity or of religion can be commuted by force of the jubilee.

VI. Question IV. Can a vow, or oath, of disbursing alms to a determinate poor person, or Church, be commuted by virtue of the jubilee, or of the crusade bull, after that poor person's, or that Church's, acceptance? Response: Leander (tract. 1, disp. 18, q. 21), Trullench (Bk. I, ch. 3, dub. 8), Tamburini (Bk. II, on the Decalogue, ch. 16, §5) teach that it is probable that this can be done — since all vows are uttered to God as their principal end; but they are directed toward the poor person, or the Church, as toward a less principal, or secondary, end. Therefore, just as a vow directed toward God alone can be commuted, by one's own will, into something better, so too a vow which redounds to the greater benefit of the poor person, or of the Church, can be commuted. This opinion, however, we reject as improbable — since the poor person, or the Church, after acceptance of the promise confirmed by vow or oath, acquires a right to the thing promised. Now no privilege granting the faculty of commuting vows at the same time grants the power of injuring justice, or a third party's right. Before the vow is accepted, it can be commuted, since the poor person does not yet have a right to the goods promised. But, acceptance having followed, the promise given can in no way be broken without that party's consent. And this is the common, and true, opinion.

VII. Question V. Can one who has once gained a jubilee obtain a subsequent commutation of vows? Response: In the crusade bull it is expressly defined that they can be obtained only while the grace granted in it is in force; not so, once it has expired. In the jubilee the matter is not defined. Therefore, one who has gained it, if he did not make use of it, being perhaps forgetful of it, can, once it has elapsed, still obtain the commutation of his vows — just as he can obtain absolution from reserved cases, even after the jubilee has passed, which he gained at the due time, as Sánchez teaches (Bk. IV, ch. 45, n. 36), Leander (tract. 5, disp. 14, q. 98), Henríquez (Bk. III...), the theologians of Salamanca (tract. 17, ch. 3, n. 14). But as for one who, even deliberately, and knowing it, omitted to seek the commutation of his vows, can he, the jubilee having passed, obtain the same commutation? This seems difficult to me — for one who, with deliberate mind, disdains to receive favors granted for a definite time by the Prince, is scarcely worthy to receive them at his own pleasure afterward. But this scarcely occurs in fact.

VIII. Question VI. If someone, at the beginning of the week the jubilee is published, took care to have his vows commuted, with the intention of gaining the jubilee, but afterward, either through negligence, or forgetfulness, omitted the works necessary for gaining the jubilee, and thus did not at all obtain it — does such a commutation stand? Response: If someone, in good faith, obtained an absolute commutation of vows, cut off from every condition, I would reckon it valid. For indeed I can discover nothing that stands against its validity — since it can be done outside confession by one who has the authority. In the one vowing, too, a disposition of mind ready to gain the jubilee was present. Now the obligation to gain the jubilee, once extinguished... , is presumed to have ceased. Once extinguished, then, it never revives. If, however, the commutation was conditional, and the effect necessary for gaining the pious works was not obtained, it would be clear that the commutation was null — since it could not have effect, unless the condition was fulfilled. So Suárez (Bk. VI, ch. 15, n. 9), Sánchez (Bk. IV, ch. 45, n. 35), the theologians of Salamanca (tract. 17, ch. 3, punct. 15, n. 138), and others. Sánchez, Diana, Trullench, and Bonacina add, as the aforesaid theologians of Salamanca report, that one does not sin mortally who, in good faith, obtained the commutation of vows with the intention of gaining the jubilee, even if he afterward, with deliberate mind, neglects the works necessary for obtaining it — which by no means is proven to my satisfaction. Since it can in no way be presumed that the Pontiff wills to impart the benefits by force of the jubilee to those who voluntarily disdain to receive that jubilee. Wherefore the foundation of the Fathers of Salamanca, writing that it does not stand with the Pontiff's intention to oblige to this, collapses. Indeed, we add that it is clear enough to anyone judging prudently, according to the laws, that it is the Pontiff's intention to deny his benefits to all who disdain them.

IX. Question VII. Does a Confessor sin, who, being petitioned, refuses to commute vows during the time of the jubilee? Response: If he had a just cause for denying the commutation, he commits no fault at all. If, without cause, he refuses one petitioning him for the commutation of vows, he sins, more or less according to the variety of circumstances.

X. Many other points that might be disputed on this matter we refer to the treatise on the jubilee, to be discussed and resolved there.

XV. Plenary indulgences are of two kinds. Some are absolutely such, which remit the whole punishment to disposed faithful. The other is the indulgence which is called jubilee, from the Hebrew word jobel, which signifies liberty and remission, by which the Jews in every fiftieth year recovered their possessions. More things would have to be said here of the jubilee. But because the discussion of these matters would conduce more to wrangling than to instruction, I pass them over. The doctrine given in few words concerning indulgences suffices for the instruction of confessors.

Lucius, a Catholic both good and ingenious, wishes to gain the recently promulgated Jubilee. Among the prescribed works, only the sixty visits to the parish church occasion difficulty, which he resolves to complete in this manner. For he observes that the church must be visited “for fifteen continuous or interrupted days, whether natural or even ecclesiastical”; hence in the morning before he goes to business he makes two visits to the church of his domicile; at midday he twice visits another parish church near the place where he conducts business; having returned home in the evening, after the ecclesiastical day has begun, he completes four other visits; on the following Sunday he adds six visits to the two customary ones for hearing Mass and Vespers, and so on. To satisfy the condition of praying for the intention of the Supreme Pontiff, he employs no determined form, but now offers the Mass heard, now the Rosary recited, now a pious meditation made. Hence it is asked:

1. What is a Jubilee, and what is its extent?

2. What conditions, and in what manner, must be fulfilled in order to gain it?

3. Can anyone gain it partially?

4. What is to be said of the case?

1. What is a Jubilee, and what is its extension?

A Jubilee is a plenary indulgence granted by the Pope with greater solemnity than usual for a definite time together with special faculties for confessors. A general Jubilee is usually granted in the first instance at Rome, and afterwards it is extended to the whole Church.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. ii, 455.

2. What conditions for gaining it are prescribed, and how are they to be fulfilled?

The conditions for gaining an ordinary Jubilee are confession, communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intention in churches to be visited for the purpose a certain number of times. As they are conditions on which the Jubilee is granted, they must be exactly fulfilled.

3. Can a Jubilee be gained partially?

Some were of opinion that either a full remission of temporal punishment is gained by a plenary indulgence, or nothing. According to the received opinion, a plenary indulgence may be gained only partially on account of the temporal punishment due to venial sins unrepented of not being remitted. A Jubilee may also be partially gained, in that one who intends to gain it may receive the benefit of the special faculties granted to confessors although afterwards he changes his mind and does not try to gain the indulgence.

4. The case. It appears from the case that the bishop had prescribed sixty visits to be paid to the parish church on fifteen days in order that the faithful might gain the Jubilee. If there was only one parish church in the place where Lucius lived, he had to visit that church, and he did not fulfil the condition by visiting the church where his work was. He was at liberty to make the visits within the natural, or within the ecclesiastical day. It would seem that the visit to the parish church to hear Mass on Sunday may be reckoned among the rest, as it is not otherwise of obligation. Lucius satisfied the obligation of praying for the intentions of the Pope by saying the Rosary, but not by hearing Mass, nor by pious meditation, as these are not vocal prayers.