People responded in different ways to Pope Francis’ announcement that 2025 will be a Jubilee Year. The hoteliers and shopkeepers of Rome delighted in the prospect that pilgrims will flow into the city. For many others, accustomed to having every month and year dedicated to something or other, the news passed unnoticed.
The word ‘Jubilee’ is associated with excitement. Its origins are found in two different causes for celebration. In Latin, jubilation was the shout of joy accompanying the birth of a king or the victory of a famous gladiator. In Hebrew, the word referred to the trumpet sounded to announce the 50th year in which Law of Moses people ordered people to be released from their debt. That was also a happy event, but like the Roman celebrations one in which excess was never far away. We see this double association of jubilee in the lines of Marching through Georgia, a popular song written at the end of the American Civil War,
Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The flag that makes you free!
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea!
While we were marching through Georgia
The Civil War indeed released many Black people from slavery. But for many of them their release brought no more than the freedom to starve. The war itself, too, took up to 700,000, soldiers’ lives and caused untold deaths and disruptions to civilians. The initial promise of Jubilee was often cashed in grief.
FINE IDEA
The Jubilee prescribed in the Old Testament, however, was a fine idea, one still relevant to a modern problem. Heavy debts that are multiplied by the age-old practice of compound interest can dominate our lives, leave us insecure, unable to shape our future, and paralyse society. Cancelling debts can open doors. In Moses’ law the Jubilee Year cancelled debts in God’s name. It underlined the faith of the Jewish people that theirs was a God of freedom who loved the people. He had set them free from slavery in Egypt and expected that they should relate to one another as free citizens.
In medieval Europe pilgrims flocked to Rome, often in times of war and plague. They had a fair chance of dying along the way. Towards the end of the 13th century many pilgrims imagined the first year of the new century as a jubilee.
Pope Boniface VIII responded by making 1300 year a jubilee for reconciliation and release from sins and offering a plenary indulgence to those who prayed in select Roman churches. Subsequently jubilees were called every 50 years.
OPENING OF CHURCH DOORS
The ceremony began with the opening of the pilgrimage church doors, (which later became elaborate (and risky) after the doors were bricked up between jubilees). In the 19th century revolution that led to the formation of Italy as a nation, the Pope’s territories were confiscated. As a result, the Jubilee years were suspended. Pope John Paul II more recently introduced a three-year Jubilee preparing for the beginning of the new millennium.
This year the theme of the pope’s announcement of the Jubilee is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. The pilgrims include both the many thousands of people who will visit Rome and the pilgrim churches and the others who will visit in spirit.
The theme echoes the 40 years that the people of Israel spent in the desert between their journey from slavery in Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land. Pope Francis emphasises how important in our hard times is the hope that flows from faith in Christ
JUBILEE PILGRIMAGE
For most Catholics the Jubilee Pilgrimage of Hope will be one of the heart. Hearts, like pilgrimages are messy affairs. They bring people together in ways that binds body and spirit together in celebration and endurance. The Student Cross in Great Britain, for example, drew students from different universities to prepare for Easter. They set out from different towns, walked together over a week along paths and back roads, slept in church halls where different teams would sometimes cross, and all came together at the shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham to celebrate the Easter ceremonies.
The pilgrimage was like a holy pub-crawl. Teams of three pilgrims took it in turn to carry a heavy wooden cross. They soon realised that they could go only as fast as the slowest walker would allow. They had to care for one another by ensuring that sore feet did not blister and kept up one another’s spirits by singing hymns and scurrilous songs. Whenever the pilgrims passed a pub they would lean the cross against the wall, would say a prayer, and into the pub they would go. They arrived in Walsingham with hearts and minds prepared to celebrate the Easter ceremonies.
GENEROSITY OF SPIRT
The Pilgrimage had all the generosity of spirit, all the down to earth charity, all the aches and smells of the body, and the mission of arriving in Walsingham by Good Friday, that we find in the Gospel.
Like this pilgrimage, Jubilee years are not special but are ordinary. They invite us to live our faith by travelling lightly, looking after one another, and looking forward to the happy ending of our journey.
PILGRIM CROSS
Pilgrim Cross is an inclusive Easter pilgrimage for all Christians and aims to build community with those that walk and those that host the walkers. Whether joining virtually or walking for one, three or seven days our pilgrimage has options to suit all physical abilities, ages and levels of faith. This journey culminates on Good Friday where we join together, young and old, to celebrate the Easter weekend in Walsingham – an ancient site of pilgrimage. Whether you are looking to deepen your faith, find like-minded people or just taking some time to think, there’s something for everyone. See pilgrimcross.org.uk for more information.
