The Long Holy Year Ends

Yesterday, amid a drenching rain, the Puerta Santa, or Holy Doors, of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela were closed. These doors are open only during the Jacobean Holy Year or a Jubilee Year declared by the Pope.

So what is a Jacobean Holy Year? Simply, it’s any year when the Feast of Saint James, 25 July, occurs on a Sunday. The most recent Jacobean Holy Year of 2021 was “extended” through the end of 2022 by Pope Francis as a concession to the the COVID plague.

During those years, pilgrims can obtain a plenary indulgence for entering the cathedral through these doors and making a visit to the Saint’s crypt. Confession and Mass are also required.

And what is a plenary indulgence? Indulgences are obtained by certain prayers, reading of the Bible, or acts of charity. These reduce the time the soul spends in purgatory before attaining heaven. A “plenary” indulgence reduces the time to zero, and may be obtained either for oneself or for a deceased person.

I’m so very grateful to have walked through these Holy Doors in the Jubilee year of Mercy in 2016 and again during the (extended) Jacobean Holy Year in 2022.

The next Jacobean Holy Year is 2027.