Above, Pope Pius XII (Pope from 1939 to 1958) opens the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica to begin the Jubilee of the Holy Year of 1950. He saw the Holy Year as the real conclusion of the World War II conflict. He called the people of many nations to come to Rome and to pray for each other and to forgive each other… this might also be a model for this upcoming Jubilee of 2025 — if wars could be brought to an end…
Above, The Holy Door by Vico Consorti, cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry of Florence, is the northernmost entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It is cemented shut and only opened for Jubilee Years. It will be opened this year in five weeks time, on December 24, 2024. The Jubilee of 2025 will run through Epiphany, the feast celebrating the coming of the three wise men to pay homage to the newborn Jesus, on January 6, 2026
“The people who had been forced to fight each other on the battlefields were called to Rome to pray together and forgive each other.” —The summary of the importance and meaning of the Jubilee of 1950 in Rome, held under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. The summary is the view of the organizers of a two-day conference held last week in Rome about the Jubilee of 1950 (link). The conference was organized by the University of Notre Dame in Rome (link), and over two days, November 13 and 14, it brought together dozens of scholars and archivists, including the new Prefect of the former Vatican Secret Archive (now just called the Vatican Apostolic Archive) Fr. Rocco Ronzani (link); Andrea Tornielli, Director of the “Editorial Direction” of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See; Dr. Johan Ickx, head of the Historical Archive of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State; and Dottoressa Simona Turriziani, the capable and brilliant head of the Historical Archive of the Basilica of St. Peter
Letter #50, 2024, Monday, November 18: Holy Year 1950
Pius XII and the Holy Year of 1950
The Jubilee of 1950 was of great importance for the pontificate of Pius XII.
In a similar way, the upcoming Jubilee of 2025 could be of great importance for the pontificate of Pope Francis.
Five years after the end of World War II (1939-1945), the Jubilee of 1950 represented the real conclusion of the conflict for Pope Pacelli. (Pius XII‘s name before he was Pope was Eugenio Pacelli.)
And, now 1,000 days (soon becoming three full years) after the start of the Ukraine-Russia war in February 2022, and 13 months after the outbreak of the conflict between Hamas and the Israeli government in the Holy Land on October 7 last year, the Jubilee of 2025 could occur during or following a peaceful conclusion of both conflicts — if, following the election of Donald Trump, and with good will from many on all sides, a way may be found, at last, to end the violence, stop the killing, and build a future of peace.
In 1950, the people who had been forced to fight each other for more than five years on the battlefields of Europe and in other far-flung regions, were called to Rome to pray together and forgive each other.
The 1950 Jubilee also provided an opportunity to affirm a true “culture of peace” during the first stage of the Cold War.
The hope was that the invitation to Rome could also foster the return to the Church of those who professed and propagated communism, after the decree of excommunication issued against all Catholics who voted for the Communist Party in Italy’s elections, by the Holy See’s Sant’Uffizio in 1949.
The University of Notre Dame in Rome last week sponsored a very informative conference which illustrated, in a striking way, the role of the Roman Curia and the Vatican Institutions in the implementation of the initiatives planned for the 1950 Holy Year.
My colleague Anna Artymiak also attended the Notre Dame conference and reported these following paragraphs:
Pius XII and the Holy Year of 1950
By Anna Artymiak
November 14, 2024
Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, said that Pius XII wished to give back to the faithful after their strong support of the Church during the war, so he decided to improve the Vatican Radio, buying new radio transmitters to strengthen the signal. He added a number of new languages to the Vatican Radio service, bringing it up to 25 languages, among which was Chinese. Russian was already among the languages of the Vatican Radio. Short programs in all 25 languages were transmitted one by one. Additionally, in occasion of the Holy Year, there was launched a French edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily, which had been published only in Italian.
Significant works were done in St. Peter’s Basilica in the lead-up to the Jubilee, among which the most significant was finding of the tomb of St. Peter’s in the lowest part of the Basilica. This discovery confirmed the ancient belief that St. Peter was buried here. The Pope personally was interested in the works of St. Peter’s Basilica. Almost nobody knows that Eugenio Pacelli was an archpresbyter of the Basilica in the years 1930-1939. He gave all his heart to undertake many works to this unique Basilica. The most important work was the excavation below the Vatican Grottos which led to Peter’s tomb and discovery of the ancient cemetery. But not only.
Also thanks to Pius XII, changes were made to the three huge entrance doors of the basilica, including the Holy Door. During the conference, Lorenzo Planzi of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland said that the Holy Door was “a Swiss gift to the Pope.” The door was given in 1949, sculpted by Vico Consorti who also sculpted the doors of the Duomo in Siena. The Bishop of Basel was thankful to Pius for his work as a mediator for peace, and, by means of Father Ludwig Kaas, gave a donation to pay for the Holy Door for 1950: 20,000 Swiss francs. The Swiss faithful were grateful to the Pope for canonizing St Nikolau — Bruder Klaus — a saint in 1947.
[End, paragraphs from Anna Artymiak]
The conference speakers also illustrated the cooperation of many governments, and the grass-roots participation of thousands of pilgrims from Western European states and the Americas, in the great event.
Finally, the conference speakers illustrated the hostile reaction of USSR and Soviet Bloc countries to the Jubilee, and yet, how the participation by the Catholic faithful of those countries in the Holy Year was realized, despite the prohibitions and limitations imposed by the communist governments.
The University of Notre Dame and its staff in Rome on Via Ostilia 15 (not far from the Colosseum, link), are to be congratulated for pulling together so many top-level Vatican and other speakers on the 1950 Jubilee Year. —RM
A Time Magazine Report from June, 1949
This is how Time magazine reported the lead-up to the Holy Year of 1950 in Rome.
It seems “quaint” in some way, to see how the news magazine, Time, spoke of the Jubilee of 1950 — now 75 years ago — when ocean-going ships were the main carriers of pilgrims, and airplane traffic was only just beginning…
Religion: The Holy Year
June 6, 1949
Time magazine
Pope Pius XII’s step was springy and he mounted his throne with more than usual vigor. To thin, 87-year-old Msgr. Alfonso Carinci, Deacon of Protonotaries, he handed a brilliantly illuminated parchment manuscript—the papal bull* which proclaimed 1950 a Holy Year of pilgrimage to Rome. Then, with his face almost constantly lighted by smiles, he spoke to the mauve-robed Apostolic Protonotaries assembled before him, in the most optimistic terms he had used since before war’s end.
“Let our humble thanks go to divine Providence, which, after formidable events which shattered the earth during the second world conflict and in postwar years, has granted humanity some improvement in general conditions.”
Thus in Rome last week, the Holy Year of 1950 was officially proclaimed. The tradition is 650 years old. Originally planned to take place every 100 years, the intervals were shortened first to 50, finally to 25 years—though popes may declare a special Holy Year at any time, as Pius XI did in 1933 to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the Crucifixion.
The Holy Year will begin next Christmas Eve. All through 1950, Roman Catholic pilgrims from every corner of the world will journey to Rome, hoping thereby to earn a plenary indulgence (remission of temporal punishment for forgiven sins). Authorities expect at least a million pilgrim visitors to Rome.
To help house the throng, a large hostel is being built near the Vatican, and others on the city’s outskirts. The Men’s International Association for Catholic Action has set up a nonprofit organization called Felix Roma, to arrange tours allowing each pilgrim ten days in Italy (seven in Rome and three on sightseeing side trips) which are planned down to the last menu. To handle transportation, Felix Roma has chartered seven ships and three Constellation airliners. The overall price from the U.S. (including a $1,500 insurance policy): $648 by sea and $798 by air. Catholics get first call on accommodations, must present a card from their parishes certifying their church membership.
But in last week’s papal bull, Pius XII warned his people not to plan the trip as a junket. “These pilgrimages,” he wrote, “must not be made with the attitude of those who travel for pleasure, but with the spirit of piety which animated the faithful of past centuries, who, overcoming obstacles of all kinds, often afoot, came to Rome to wash away their sins with tears of sorrow and to implore of God peace and forgiveness.”
*From the Latin bulla (seal); an important papal letter certified with a leaden seal.
[End, Time magazine article from 1949]
Upcoming lecture on the Round-up of Rome’s Jews in 1943
Next week, on Tuesday, November 26 — just two days before Thanskgiving — there will be a very important lecture by Dr. Mara Josi, the “Modern Roads to Rome Lecture” entitled: “Literary Echoes. The Round-up and Deportation of the Jews of Rome.” The round-up of Rome’s Jews occurred on the morning of October 16, 1943.
The Notre Dame University website (link) reads:
As part of the Modern Roads to Rome series, the Notre Dame Center for Italian Studies and Notre Dame Rome are pleased to invite you to a lecture led by Dr. Mara Josi.
Mara Josi is an Assistant Professor at University College Dublin. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge (UK) and held Postdoctoral positions at University College Dublin and Ghent University, as well as a lectureship at the University of Manchester. Mara’s work reflects her interest in innovative research methodologies and cultural approaches to the study of literature. She has been setting up interdisciplinary frameworks which merge notions of Holocaust and cultural memory studies with literary and trauma theory. Her first book, Rome, 16 October 1943. History, Memory, Literature (2023), was awarded the Premio Internazionale Ennio Flaiano for scholars of Italy and Italian studies.
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Thank you! —RM
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