2025 is more than just a new year. In the Catholic tradition, it is a Jubilee year: a holy year where the faithful are encouraged to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and be granted a plenary indulgence. Jubilee years have taken on many roles through the Catholic church’s history but remain a joyful tradition to the present.
History
The word “jubilee” likely arose from a Jewish instrument made from a ram’s horn, the jobel, which was used to proclaim celebratory years. According to liturgical scholar Herbert Thurston, it likely became confused with the Latin verb jubilo (meaning ‘to shout’) and the first Jubilee year was often described as annus jubileus.
The first jubilee years were celebrated in ancient Judaism every 50 years. During this year, slaves could regain their freedom and land could be returned to its former owners, since both people and land belonged to God alone.
The first Christian Jubilee year was in 1300 when Pope Boniface VII proclaimed a year to relieve suffering from previous wars and plagues. He fixed the cycle to every 100 years but, after pleas from the people of Rome, Pope Clement VI reduced it to every 50 years in 1342. From then on, various “extraordinary” years were celebrated and there was an effort to change the cycle to every 33 years – marking Christ’s years of life. Eventually, Pope Paul II reduced the cycle to 25 years and, from 1475 on, the 25-year cycle has been disrupted only by the Napoleonic Wars in 1800 and 1850.
In that time, there have been various Extraordinary Jubilee years which mark significant anniversaries within the Church. Those anniversaries have been the death and resurrection of Jesus and the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council in 2015.
2025 therefore marks the 25th Ordinary Jubilee Year in Catholic recorded tradition and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
Traditions
There are a few major traditions associated with Jubilee years that make it particularly meaningful in the Catholic faith:
- Holy Door: Medieval churches began the tradition of having a door for each member of the Trinity, with the Father at center, Son to the north, and Holy Spirit to the south. Later on, the three doors were symbols of Judgement Day, where the center door was used only on Jubilee years since it was associated with salvation, resulting in Judgement Day scenes above it and scenes of Heaven and Hell to the left and right respectively. Pilgrims pass through the door, reminding us of the passage from John chapter 10: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
- Pilgrimage: Many Catholics throughout history have felt called to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rome, and other holy sites. These journeys are physically and spiritually taxing as they test the will to continue on the road and prayerfully follow the path God has laid for us. Arrival at the site and, during a Jubilee Year, passage through the central door of a church is the fulfillment of our promise to God to continue this journey, and His promise of salvation.
- Indulgences: An indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions…” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church) During a Jubilee year, a plenary indulgence is granted upon completion of a pilgrimage and allows the heart to spread joy and start anew.
The following prayer is from the official website and reflects this spiritual renewal and the year’s theme of “Pilgrims in Hope.”:
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel. May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.
Amen.
For more information, check out the 2025 Jubilee Year website here and we wish you a blessed 2025 from Canning Liturgical Arts!
