754 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUECH. 



from having ceased, have instead God BO permit- 

 ting it increased daily. Nevertheless, observing 

 the many evils which afflict the Church, the manjr 

 efforts of' her enemies directed to tear the faith of 

 Christ from souls, to corrupt her sound doctrines, 

 und to propagate the poison of impiety; so many 

 scandals which present themselves everywhere to 

 true believers, the depravity of manners so widely 

 spread, and the infamous emancipation from divine 

 and human duties so amply diffused, so fecund of 

 ruin, and which tends to destroy all sense of recti- 

 tude in the souls of men ; and considering that in 

 such a flood of evils still more should we endeavor, 

 in accordance with our apostolic duty, that faith, re- 

 ligion, and piety, should be fortified and awakened, 

 that the spirit of prayer be fomented and increased, 

 that the fallen be aroused to penitence of heart and 

 to the mending of their ways, that the sins which 

 merit the wrath of God be redeemed by holy works, 

 all fruits to the obtaining of which the celebration 

 of the great Jubilee is principally directed we 

 thought that it was not our duty to permit that on 

 this "occasion the Christian people should be de- 

 prived of this salutary benefit, observing that form 

 which is permitted by the condition of the times, in 

 order that thus comforted in the spirit they may 

 walk in the way of righteousness with greater alac- 

 rity, and, purged from sins, more easily and more 

 richly merit the divine propitiation and pardon. 



A CALL TO THE CHUECH MILITANT. 



Let, then, the Universal Church Militant of Christ 

 receive our utterances, with which we intimate, an- 

 nounce, and promulgate the great and universal Ju- 

 bilee daring the whole of the coming year 1875, for 

 reason of which we. suspending and declaring sus- 

 pended at our good will and pleasure, and of this 

 Apostolic See, the indulgence above mentioned, con- 

 ceded in form of Jubilee for the occasion of the Vat- 

 ican Councilj open in all its amplitude that celestial 

 treasure which, formed by the merits, sufferings, 

 and virtue of the Lord Christ and of His Virgin 

 mother, and of all the saints, was intrusted by the 

 Author of human salvation to our dispensation. 



In the mean time, relying upon the mercy of God 

 and on the authority of His blessed apostles Peter 

 aud Paul, by virtue of that supreme power of bind- 

 ing and loosing which God willed to be conferred 

 upon us, however unworthy to all and every one 

 of the faithful of Christ, whether living in this our 

 alma, city, or who shall be about to come to it ; as 

 well as to all those existing outside the said city, in 

 whatever part of the world, and who are in the grace 

 of, and in obedience to, the Apostolic See, and who, 

 having truly repented, confessed, and communicated 

 once a day for fifteen days, continuous or interrupt- 

 ed, natural or ecclesiastic, to be computed, that is, 

 from the first vespers of one day until the full even- 

 ing twilight of the day following, shall, as regards 

 the first, visit the basilicas of the Saints Peter and 

 Paul, of St. John Lateran, and of Santa Maria Mag- 

 giore, in Kome ; and , as regards the second their pri n- 

 cipal or cathedral church and other three churches 

 of the same city and place, or of the suburbs of the 

 same, to be designated by the ordinaries of the 

 places, or by their vicars, or by others by order of 

 the same, after this our letter shall have come to 

 their notice, and shall there offer uj> humble prayers 

 to the Lord, according to our intention, for the pros- 

 perity and exaltation of the Catholic Church and of 

 this Apostolic See, for the e_xtirpation of heresies, 

 for the conversion of all erring, for the peace and 

 unity of all Christian people we concede and mer- 

 cifully bestow in the Lord that once in the course 

 of the year above'mentioned may be obtained the 

 full indulgence of the year of Jubilee and full remis- 

 sion and pardon for all their sins ; which indulgence 

 we concede maybe applied by " means of suffrage," 

 and be available for those souls which, united to God 

 by charity, shall have left this world. 



KULES AND DISCIPLINE. 



In virtue, also, of this our present letter, we con- 

 cede that the travelers by sea or by land who, as 

 soon as they shall have returned to their homes, or 

 shall have reached a fixed dwelling-place, completed 

 the work above described, and visited as many times 

 the cathedral, principal or parochial church of the 

 place of their domicile or dwelling, can and shall be 

 able to obtain the same indulgence. Likewise, we 

 concede, in virtue of this our present letter, to the 

 above-mentioned ordinaries of the places, that they 

 may, according to their prudent counsel, dispense 

 solely as regards the visits, the oblate nuns, the 

 girls and women living in the cloisters of monas- 

 teries or in other pious or religious houses or com- 

 munities, as well as anchorites, and hermits, and 

 other persons, whoever they may be, whether lay- 

 men, ecclesiastics, or regulars, existing in prison or 

 in captivity, or affected by_ some infirmity of body, 

 or prevented by any other impediment which makes 

 it an absolute impossibility for them to perform the 

 said visits; to children, also, not yet admitted to 

 first communion, we concede that they may also dis- 

 pense from the prescribed communion, prescribing 

 to them, all and every one, be it to themselves, be 

 it by means of their superiors or regular prelates, or 

 by means of prudent confessors, other works of 

 piety, charity, and religion, in place of the visits or 

 of the sacramental communion which .should be ful- 

 filled by the same ; and, with regard also to chapters 

 and congregations, whether secular or religious, to 

 companies, confraternities, universities, which shall 

 processionally visit the above-named churches ; we 

 concede that they may reduce the prescribed visits 

 to a lesser number ; and also to the said nuns and 

 their novices we concede that they can to this effect 

 select any one among the confessors, approved by 

 the actual ordinary of the place where their monas- 

 tery is situated, to hear the confessions of the nuns ; 

 and to all and every one of the other faithful of 

 both sexes, whether lay or ecclesiastic, and to the 

 regulars of whatever order, congregation, and insti- 

 tute, which has yet to be specially named, we con- 

 cede license and faculty that they may to the same 

 effect select whatever priestly confessor, whether 

 secular or regular, of whatever different order_ or 

 institute, and at the same time approved for hearing 

 confessions of secular persons by the actual ordinaries 

 in the cities, dioceses, and territories, where they 

 will have to hear the said confessions ; by those 

 confessors, within the period of the above-mentioned 

 year, those men and women who sincerely and seri- 

 ously have undertaken to obtain the benefit of the 

 present Jubilee, and, with this intention of benefit- 

 ing by it, and to complete the other works necessary 

 to do so, shall approach them to make their confes- 

 sions, for this time and only in t foro conscientice can 

 absolve them from excommunication, suspension, and 

 other ecclesiastical sentences, and censures threat- 

 ened and inflicted a jure vel ao homine, for whatever 

 cause even reserved to the ordinaries of the places 

 and to us, or to the Apostolic See, and which other- 

 wise, in whatever concession, however ample, would 

 not be understood as conceded. 



Equally may the same confessors absolve the 

 above-named penitents from all the sins and ex- 

 cesses, however serious and enormous they may be, 

 as has been said, reserved to the said ordinaries and 

 to us, or to the Apostolic See, enjoined to them as a 

 salutary penitence, and other things to be enjoined 

 by right ; as also they shall be able to commute into 

 other pious and salutary works whatsoever vow, 

 even sworn and reserved to the Apostolic See (ex- 

 cepting, however, vows of chastity, of religion, and 

 of obligation, which may have been accepted by a 

 third person, or which may be to the prejudice of a 

 third person, not to say the penal vows, which are 

 called preservatives from sin, unless the commuta- 

 tion may not be judged such, as that, not less than 

 the first material of the vow, it may prevent the 



