Jubilee Year in Santiago de Compostela 2021
After such a difficult year for everyone that is being 2020, the next year will be a year of joy and faith. The best example of this would be the Jubilee year in Santiago de Compostela 2021.
In 2021, the Jubilee year will be celebrated in Santiago de Compostela, a celebration that happens whenever the 25th of July, the day of Santiago Maior, coincides with a Sunday, this in a sequence of six, five, six and eleven years, about 14 times in each century, where the Catholic Church has the power to grant plenary indulgence ie forgiveness of all sins to the faithful who visit the tomb of the Apostle Santiago in the cathedral, who pray some prayer for the Pope’s intentions and receive the sacraments of confession and communion and attend mass.
These years are known as jacobos or compostelan holy years, propellers of hundreds of pilgrimages that, throughout history, have led thousands of pilgrims from all corners of the world to the tomb of the apostle Santiago in Spain to “cleanse” their souls.
A celebration that dates back to the 15th century, it is believed that the first Jubilee would have been in 1428, or 1434, both summoned by Archbishop D. Lope de Mendoza.
The ceremony begins with the opening of the Holy Door on the afternoon of December 31 of the year that ends, just as the way to Santiago is difficult, the Archbishop of Santiago hits three times with a silver hammer outside the wall that prohibit this access, the delegation headed by the religious authority asks the apostle Santiago for permission to enter after the wall is broken down.
The access that is traditionally used by pilgrims to enter the temple, is open for 12 months, and is closed again with a grid on the last day of the year until the next Jacobeu.
The Holy Door, dedicated to São Paio, in the monastery in front, was one of the seven smaller doors of the Cathedral of Santiago, above it you can see the figure of the Apostle Santiago with his disciples Theodore and Athanasius, on both sides of the door are also the 24 seated statues of apostles, patriarchs and prophets, arranged in four rows of three bodies on each side, all from the Romanesque choir built by Mestre Mateo (Mateus), author of the Portico da Glória.
Jubilee Year in Santiago de Compostela 2021
Not only does Santiago have this Jubilee capacity, there are five places in the world with this Jubilee capacity, three of them in Spain: Santiago de Compostela, Santo Toribio de Liébana, Caravaca de la Cruz, Jerusalem and Rome, where plenary indulgence is granted every 25 years.
In order to grant this grace, it is necessary to fulfill the following requirements to achieve the forgiveness of sins in the Jacobean year:
– It is not necessary to go walking to the Cathedral of Santiago or even complete a certain number of kilometers along the Camino de Santiago, but simply visit the temple any day of the holy year.
– It is recommended to enter the Holy Door and attend the pilgrim’s mass, which is celebrated every day of the Jacobean year at 12 noon in the cathedral, although these two requirements are not mandatory.
– It is required to say a prayer (a father of ours or a creed) for the intentions of the Roman supreme pontiff.
– It is necessary to confess and receive communion, whether on the same day that you enter the Compostelan temple or even in the previous or subsequent fifteen days, anywhere else.
– Plenary indulgence can be achieved once a day and can apply to yourself or the faithful dead.
At Walkborder we have a program for you for this very important religious event of the Catholic Church that will start on July 25, 2021, but which we are about to start.