Anno Jubilaes

A hammer of solid gold, its haft of carved ivory, studded with rubies, emeralds, aquamarines, lapis lazuli and engraved with solemn mottoes; a trowel, also of gold, also studded and graven; in a leather case, embossed and inlaid with gold and gems--these gifts of the episcopacy of the world were placed in the hands of Pope Pius XI. Pope Pius was pleased, elated.

Among the inscriptions on the presents was "Anno jubilaes MCMXXV", which is to say that 1925 is a Holy Year of Jubilee. On Christmas Eve, bearing his hammer and trowel according to the custom, Pope Pius will take his way to the Holy Door of St. Peter's. There he will strike upon the door with the hammer, crying out: "Open unto me the Gates of Justice." At the third stroke, masonry which has walled up the door since the last holy year (1825) will be made to crumble, the holy portal will gape. Assisted by Jubilee penitents, the Pope will then use his trowel to clear away the wreckage and forthwith enter, the first of any.

At three other basilicas in Rome-- St. John Lateran, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Mary Major--specially deputed cardinals will "batter down" other holy portals. The symbolism of the rite is variously interpreted--by some as representing the return of Adam and Eve (i.e., humanity) to Paradise through the intercession of Christ; by others, as having sprung from the fact that the medieval church was sanctuary for fugitives.

The Jubilee itself is 625 years old, although it is connected with the more ancient (and heretical) custom of celebrating the cycle of seven sabbatical years as a period when debts were remitted and property went back to its original owners. The first formal Jubilee was proclaimed by the bull of Boniface VIII, in 1300, granting afresh "great remission and indulgence for sins" to all who made pilgrimages that year to Rome and the basilica of the Prince of Apostles. The interim between Jubilees varied from 25 to 100 years; but was finally fixed at 25 years by Paul II, in the 15th Century. In the 19th, the Jubilee of 1825 was the only one held, political disturbances preventing in 1800, 1850 and 1875.

Hosts of Roman Catholics flock to Rome in a Jubilee year. In 1450, so great was the crowd that passed over the bridge of St. Angelo, that the bridge collapsed with great crash and carnage. This year, streams of the faithful from all parts of the world are already starting on their pilgrimage. In Manhattan, a prelate gave them warning: "For a great many, I fear, the pilgrimage will resolve itself into a de luxe sightseeing tour of Europe. To many it will be an opportunity of visiting the Europe which, to them, is bounded by the boulevards of Paris, Monte Carlo and its gambling hells, Deauville and San Remo; and if they can see a one-piece bathing suit, they will have achieved the summit of European travel. . . . Every mail brings me seductive circulars."