In an article published in the Bulletin of Permanent Formation of the Augustinian Recollects, the Augustinian Recollect historian Ángel Martínez Cuesta explains the experience of the Jubilees in the history of the Recollection. Edited text.
The Holy Years have not had a great impact on our Family. Little can be said about the first centuries (end of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries), because the documentation is scarce and has not been sufficiently studied. In the 19th century, with more abundant documentation, circumstances prevented or reduced the freedom of the Jubilees.
Those of 1800 and 1850 were suspended due to the situation of the Holy See. The first coincided with the very long conclave of almost four months that elected Pius VII and his stay outside Rome until July 1800. In the second, Pius IX, exiled in Gaeta until April 1850, was in complete contrast with the Roman Republic. The Jubilee of 1875 was able to be celebrated, but with limitations.
Another difficulty came from the Jubilees themselves: except for the concession to St. Charles Borromeo to celebrate the Jubilee of 1575 in his Diocese the following year, they were celebrated only in Rome, where the Order had hardly any representation.
Only from 1875 did they acquire universal scope. Pius IX arranged for them to be celebrated the following year in all Dioceses. The faithful would gain the indulgences by visiting three local churches, without needing to go to Rome. This decision had a positive impact on their reception in the Order, but not in a notable way. The documents barely allude to their celebration.
The Jubilees of 1925, 1950 and 2000 aroused greater interest in our Family. In 1925 the Provincial Bulletins of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine and Saint Thomas of Vilanova published materials from the Archbishopric of Toledo; and in 1950 the Bull of Indiction was published in Acta Ordinis and the Bulletin of Saint Nicholas, which added the encyclical and other papal interventions. They did not refer to specific acts which, if they were carried out, were not given much importance and remained silent.
The Jubilee of the year 2000 had more publicity, with echoes in the meeting of the General Council with the Provincials in Rome and in the Chapters of Saint Nicholas, Saint Thomas and Saint Rita. The Prior General encouraged the Provincials to use the materials of the Congregation for Consecrated Life and encouraged them to contribute to alleviating inequalities as a concrete Jubilee gesture. The Chapter of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine exhorted to “serve the Church in the New Evangelization”, the theme of the Jubilee. In addition, news about its celebration was published in places as diverse as Rome or Labrea (Amazon, Brazil).
In general, greater importance was given to some events that marked the Jubilees than to the Holy Year itself or to papal guidelines. In 1900, there was the canonization of Saint Rita; in 1925, the great Missionary Exposition of Rome; in 1950, the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Pope’s priestly ordination; and in 1975, the beatification of the Augustinian Recollect Ezequiel Moreno.
Saint Ezequiel Moreno
Saint Ezequiel‘s work in the Jubilee of 1900 as bishop of Pasto (Colombia) came up against obstacles. The Thousand Days’ War kept him isolated from the outside world. He had no news of the Roman celebrations and the letter from Leo XIII extending the Jubilee to all of Christendom reached him a year and a half late and he communicated it to his diocesans in a pastoral letter.
In it he transcribed a large part of the papal letter, set the beginning and end of the Holy Year in the Diocese, pointed out the requirements for the indulgence and encouraged people to take advantage of the occasion to attend to spiritual needs “and thereby appease the justice of God, so irritated by our sins”; he wrote:
“Who does not see the hand of God that punishes us with so many calamities that afflict us? The bloody and cruel war has not yet ceased; and on top of this great calamity, we feel others that are like consequences […]: droughts, locusts and diseases of all kinds, which claim countless victims.
Above all, the faith of our people is in danger because of the many means that are put into play to destroy it, and it is necessary to purify ourselves so that the Lord hears our supplications, has compassion on us and remedies so many needs.”
St. Ezequiel specified the requirements for the indulgence: confession, communion, the churches to visit, the intentions for which to pray and the number of visits, 60: “Four a day in fifteen consecutive or interpolated days,” praying for “the exaltation of the holy Church, the extirpation of heresies, the concord of Catholic princes and the health of the Christian people.”
He ended the pastoral letter with an urgent call for the faithful to pray “with fervor and in a collective way, taking advantage of the propitious occasion that the jubilee offers us, in the midst of their misfortunes, and for the very reason that they are so great.”
For his part, he implored the Lord’s forgiveness, trusting in his mercy. If the Lord had taken pity on Sodom by finding ten righteous people, in Colombia, says the saint, there were many more:
“Lord and our God, for ten righteous people you would have forgiven Sodom: more than ten righteous people confess, adore and love you in this nation that sees its brilliant youth disappear and is crossed by rivers of blood.
Forgive it, Lord, and forgive us all. For your outraged Majesty, triumph over the hydra of impiety, which overflows everywhere […]. For your power, triumph over this multitude of declared enemies of your name. For your glory, triumph over the reckless attempts of those who would like to see your altars demolished, and, if possible, the idea of yours erased.”
He also dedicated a sermon to the Jubilee, which he probably preached in the Cathedral, of which we have preserved some fragments. It provides a glimpse of his conception of the Jubilee, his interest in involving the faithful and the fruits he expected: an unbeatable opportunity to reflect on the brevity and meaning of life and to choose the path that leads to eternal happiness.