PROCLAIMING AN EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE

QUOD AUCTORITATE

Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on December 22, 1885.

To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops,
and other Local Ordinaries, in the Grace and Communion of the Apostolic
See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

That which We, by the Apostolic authority, have more than once decreed, 
that an extraordinary year of Jubilee should be kept throughout the whole 
Christian world, and the treasures of heavenly gifts, the dispensation of 
which is in Our power, should be thrown open to the faithful--that with the 
favor of God We have determined to decree for the ensuing year. The 
advantages of this step will not escape you, Venerable Brethren, who are so 
familiar with the spirit of the age and the temper of the time, but there 
is a special reason now which makes Our decision seem more than usually 
opportune. In view of the fact that in Our recent Encyclical Letter We 
pointed out how important it is that the States should conform as closely 
as possible to truth and the Christian ideal, it will easily be understood 
how fitting it is that We should now use every effort to excite men, or to 
lead them back to the practice of Christian virtues. For a State is what 
the lives of the people make it: and just as the excellence of a ship or a 
house is dependent upon the good quality and the right adjustment of its 
component parts, so, unless the individual citizens lead good lives, the 
State cannot keep in the path of virtue, and without offending. Civil 
government and those things which constitute the public life of a country 
come into existence and perish by the act of men; and men almost always 
succeed in stamping the image of their opinions and their lives upon their 
public institutions. In order therefore that Our teaching may sink into 
men's minds, and what is the great thing, actually govern their daily 
lives, an attempt must be made to bring them to think and act like 
Christians, not less in public than in private.

2. And in this matter effort is the more needful because perils everywhere 
abound. The great virtues of our forefathers have in large measure 
disappeared; the most violent passions have claimed a freer indulgence; the 
madness of opinion which knows no restraint, or at least no effective 
restraint, every day extends further; of those whose principles are sound 
there are many who, through a misplaced timidity, are frightened, and have 
not the courage even to speak out their opinions boldly, far less to 
translate them into deeds; everywhere the worst examples are affecting 
public morals; wicked societies which We ourselves have denounced before 
now, skilled in all evil arts, are doing their best to lead the people 
astray, and as far as they are able, to withdraw them from God, their duty, 
and Christianity.

3. Amid these many and pressing evils, which are the more serious because 
they are already of long duration, nothing must be left undone by Us which 
can afford any hope of relief. With this purpose, and in this hope, We 
proclaim a sacred Jubilee to all those who have their salvation at heart, 
and need to be reminded and exhorted to raise their thoughts, now busied 
with worldly matters, to the contemplation of heavenly things. And this 
with a gain not merely to the individuals themselves, but to the whole 
future well-being of the commonwealth, because in proportion as individual 
citizens advance along the path of perfection, there is a corresponding 
increase in the general rectitude and probity, in the public life and 
morals of the nation.

4. But you will observe, Venerable Brethren, that success will largely 
depend upon your industry and zeal, as it will be needful to prepare the 
people properly and carefully if they are to reap the fruits which are to 
be placed before them. We commit it to your judgment and prudence to place 
this matter in the hands of priests whom you may select, that by discourses 
fitted to the capacity of the crowd they may instruct them, and above all 
exhort them to that penance which, according to St. Augustine, consists in 
"the daily chastisement of the good and the faithful followers of Christ in 
which we strike our breasts, saying 'forgive us our sins.'"1 With good 
reason We mention here in the first place that part of penance which 
consists of the voluntary punishment of the body. You know the temper of 
the times--how many there are who love to live delicately and shrink from 
whatever requires manhood and generosity; who, when ailments come, discover 
in them sufficient reasons for not obeying the salutary laws of the Church, 
thinking the burden laid upon them more than they can bear, when they are 
told to abstain from certain kinds of food or to fast during a few days in 
the year. It is not to be wondered at if, weakened by these habits of 
indulgence, they gradually give themselves up body and soul to the more 
imperious passions. It is therefore necessary to recall to the paths of 
moderation those who have fallen or who are likely to fall through this 
sort of effeminacy. Therefore those who speak to the people should lay it 
down persistently and clearly that according not only to the law of the 
Gospel, but even to the dictates of natural reason, a man is bound to 
govern himself and keep his passions under strict control, and moreover, 
that sin cannot be expiated except by penance. That the virtue of which We 
have spoken may be durable, it will be prudent to put it in some sort under 
the safeguard and protection of a stable institution; you know well, 
venerable brothers, to what We allude; We mean that you should continue 
each one in his own diocese to protect and propagate the Third Order, 
called the Secular Order, of the Franciscan Friars. To keep up the spirit 
of penance in the Christian multitude nothing is more effectual than the 
example and the grace of the Patriarch Francis of Assisi, who combined with 
the greatest innocence of life so much zeal for mortification that the 
image of Jesus Christ crucified was not less visible in his life and 
conduct than in the signs which were supernaturally impressed upon him. The 
laws of his Order, which We have modified for the times, are as light to 
bear as they are effectual for the practice of Christian virtue.

5. In the second place, as every hope of safety lies in the protection and 
succor of our Heavenly Father in the midst of so great private and public 
necessities, We would earnestly desire to see confidence united with the 
revival of an assiduous zeal in prayer. In every great crisis of 
Christendom, and every time the Church was afflicted by evils within or 
dangers without, our forefathers, with their eyes lifted to Heaven in 
supplication, taught us how and when we should seek for the light of our 
souls, for the strength of virtue, and for help suited to the need. For 
deeply engraved upon men's minds were these precepts of Jesus Christ: "Ask 
and it shall be given you;"2 "We ought always to pray and not to faint."3 
And with this teaching the word of the Apostle corresponds: "Pray without 
ceasing;"4 "I desire, therefore, first of all that supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men."5 Upon which subject 
St. John Chrysostom has left us this saying, not less true than ingenious, 
in the form of a comparison: "Even as man, who comes into the light of day 
naked and wanting all things, has been endowed by nature with hands to 
procure for himself all the necessaries of life; so in supernatural things, 
seeing that of himself he can do nothing, he has received from God the 
faculty of prayer, that he may use it wisely for the obtaining of all that 
is needful to his salvation."

6. From all this, Venerable Brethren, each one of you may gather how 
agreeable to Us and how commendable is the zeal with which at Our 
suggestion you have spread the devotion to the Most Holy Rosary, especially 
in these last years. Nor can We pass over the popular piety which has 
almost everywhere been excited by this method of prayer. Now you must watch 
with the greatest care that this devotion be practiced with even greater 
and greater fervor, and that it be persevered in without failing. And if We 
insist upon this exhortation, as We have already done several times, not 
one of you will be surprised, for you understand how important it is that 
this habit of the Rosary of Mary should flourish among Christians. And you 
are perfectly aware that this is a part and a beautiful form of that spirit 
of prayer of which we speak, and that it is at once admirably suited to our 
times, easy to practice, and fruitful in results. But as the first and the 
chief fruit of the Jubilee must be, as We have already pointed out, 
amendment of life and progress in virtue, We deem especially necessary the 
avoidance of that evil which We have not neglected to point out in Our past 
Encyclicals. We allude to those internal, and, as it were, domestic 
dissensions among some of ourselves; dissensions of which it is hardly 
possible to say how much they break or relax the bonds of charity, to the 
great detriment of souls. If We recall this to you once more, Venerable 
Brethren, who are the guardians of ecclesiastical discipline and of mutual 
charity, it is that We desire to see your watchfulness and your authority 
always directed to the prevention of so great an evil. By your warnings, 
your exhortations, your reproaches, urge all "to keep the unity of spirit 
in the bond of peace," induce the authors of the dissensions, if such there 
be, to return to their duty by the consideration which they should ever 
keep in mind that the only-begotten Son of God, even at the approach of His 
last torments, asked nothing more urgently of His Father than the mutual 
love of those who believed, or should believe, in Him, "that they may all 
be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may 
be one in Us."6

7. Relying, therefore, on the mercy of the omnipotent God, and the 
authority of the Blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and making use of 
that power of binding and loosing which our Lord has given to Us, though 
unworthy of it, We grant under the form of a General Jubilee a plenary 
indulgence to all the faithful of both sexes upon this condition and 
subject to this obligation, that during the coming year of 1886 they 
perform the things mentioned below.

8. The citizens and inhabitants of Rome must pay two visits to the Lateran, 
the Vatican, and the Liberian Basilicas, and pray there for some time to 
God according to Our intentions for the well-being and the exaltation of 
the Church, for the rooting out of all heresy, and for the conversion of 
all who are in error, and in accordance with Our intentions pour out 
prayers to God that concord may reign among Christian princes, and that 
peace and unity may be the lot of all the faithful. They must also fast for 
two days, only using the food usually allowed in times of penance, in 
addition to the forty days of Lent and other days set aside by the Church 
as fast days. They must also, after having properly confessed their sins, 
receive Holy Communion, and, in accordance with the advice of their 
confessor, give an alms, each according to his means, to the furthering of 
some work likely to promote the propagation and increase of the Catholic 
Church. Each may choose the object he prefers; but We think it well 
especially to name two, towards which assistance may be given with the 
greatest advantage; and of these each is an object which in many places is 
in need of help and aid, and fruitful in advantage, not less for the State 
than for the Church, We mean the Primary schools for boys and the 
Seminaries for the Clergy.

9. Those who reside outside Rome, in whatever part of the world they may 
live, must pay two visits at prescribed intervals to three churches to be 
appointed by you, Venerable Brethren, your Vicars or Officials, on your or 
their command, by those who have the charge of souls; or three visits if 
there are only two churches, or six visits if there is only one; and also 
must comply with all the conditions already laid down above. This 
indulgence may be applied by way of suffrage to the souls who have departed 
this life joined in charity with God. We give you power to reduce the 
number of the visits according to your judgment to certain churches in the 
case of chapters, congregations, as well secular as regular, communities, 
confraternities, universities, and colleges where the visits are made in 
procession.

10. Sailors and travelers may obtain the indulgence upon their return home, 
or their arrival at some fixed station, by visiting six times the principal 
church, or the parish church of the district, and complying with the other 
conditions which We have already laid down. In the case of regulars of 
either sex, and even in the case of persons belonging to enclosed orders, 
and also in the case of all others, whether ecclesiastical or lay, who are 
prevented either because they are in prison, or through infirmity, or any 
other good reason, from fulfilling the above conditions, or some of them, 
the confessor has power to conmute for other pious works, and also has 
power to dispense from Communion children who have not yet made their First 
Communion. Moreover, We grant to all and each of the faithful, both lay and 
ecclesiastic, secular and regular, of whatever order and institute, and 
even of those which ought to be specially named, that they should choose 
for the purpose of the Jubilee any approved confessor they like; nuns, 
novices, and other women living in the cloister may avail themselves of 
this power provided the confessor chosen is approved for nuns. To 
confessors upon this occasion, and while the time of this Jubilee lasts, We 
grant all the faculties which were granted by Our Letters Apostolic of 
February 15th, 1879, beginning with the words Pontifices maximi; always 
excepting the things which were excepted in those Letters.

11. Finally let all do their best to gain the graces of heaven during this 
time by a special devotion to the great Mother of God. For We wish this 
Jubilee to be placed under the patronage of the Most Holy Rosary of the 
Virgin; and with her assistance We are confident that there will be many 
whose souls, set free by the cleansing away of the stains of sin, will be 
renewed by faith and piety and justice, not only to the hope of eternal 
salvation, but also as an earnest of a more peaceful time.

12. As a pledge of heavenly graces and a witness to Our fatherly goodwill 
towards you, We give from the bottom of Our heart the Apostolic Benediction 
to you and your Clergy, and the whole people committed to your care and 
watchfulness.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, on the twenty-second day of December, in the 
year 1885, the eighth of Our Pontificate.

     ENDNOTES:

     1. Ep. 108.

     2. Mt vii, 7.

     3. Lk xviii, 1.

     4. 1 Th v, 17.

     5. 1 Tim ii, 1.

     6. Jn xvii, 21.