In these brief lines we would like to consider some aspects concerning the Theatine Jubilee Year that will be celebrated on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the foundation of our Religious Institute. Particularly, we will refer to a possible pastoral dynamic that accompanies the activities destined that the members of the Theatine Order and the other Christian faithful gain the plenary indulgence.

According to Decree Prot. N. 1365/22/I, issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary on April 25, 2023, the said Jubilee Year will extend from September 14, 2023 to September 14, 2024, so we can think of the devout and communal celebration of the Jubilee rites in the temples that concern our Teatine Order, or we can assume the presence of the faithful in those temples to perform those personal acts that are a source of grace to benefit during that year with the plenary indulgence.

In order to have a clear approach to what indulgences are, we must always start from an inalienable category: “the treasure of the Church”. A treasure of grace and mercy, which is without defect and capitalizes on the immeasurable merits of Christ Jesus, our Divine Redeemer, as well as those proper to the Virgin Mary and the Saints[1]. Therefore, indulgences will always be linked, as a pastoral practice, to the piety with which we turn to the Lord, the Virgin and the Saints.

This action in terms of piety will invite us to perform certain acts that will strictly entail the concreteness of a manifestation of will, tending to express the faith that we profess and to incarnate in us the mercy that we long to receive and share.

This supposes that there is a space, a place, to be able to manifest ourselves, as well as the realization of certain works that express the spirituality that accompanies us and the practice of faith that they support. In this sense, we must not forget what Pope Paul VI said when he referred to indulgences: “the Church intends to come to her children not only to help them to satisfy the penalties due for their sins, but also and above all to impel them to a greater fervor of charity”[2].

It should be noted that, when we speak of a temple in the decree that grants the plenary indulgence to our foundational Jubilee year, we are indicating as the place for the Jubilee celebrations a place of worship, preferably recognized as sacred, that is, one of “those that are destined for divine worship or for the burial of the faithful by dedication or blessing”, canon 1205, CIC.

Therefore, the consideration we give to the space to which we convoke the faithful to gain the plenary indulgence must have these characteristics. This idea is reinforced by the fact that the decree speaks of the pilgrimage of the faithful to the temple, thus intertwining the sense of piety that guides them with a concrete, juridical, spiritual and liturgically well-determined reference.
It must be an appropriate environment for the profoundly religious experience of a path of conversion.

In this sense, thinking of gaining indulgences in relation to the visit to certain places that we can characterize as sacred, the Enchiridion indulgentiarum (EI) speaks of “church or oratory” (cf. EI, Normae De Indulgentiis, nn. 14.16.19).

In this regard, we must point out what is understood by church or, as the case may be, by oratory, in formal terms:

a) Canon 1214, CIC: By church is meant a sacred building destined for divine worship, to which the faithful have the right to enter for the celebration, especially in public, of divine worship.
b) Canon 1223, CIC: By the name oratory is meant a place destined for divine worship with the permission of the Ordinary, for the benefit of a community or group of the faithful who come there, to which other faithful may also have access, with the consent of the competent Superior. Of course, it is probable that the oratory is not dedicated, but it is advisable that, at least, it be blessed for the purpose of being properly a sacred place. Otherwise, it would only be a place of worship. In reference to the concept of oratory, taking into account our religious life, we can also recall the following:
c) Canon 608, CIC: The religious community must dwell in a legitimately constituted house, under the authority of the Superior appointed according to the norm of law; each house must have at least one oratory, in which the Eucharist is celebrated and reserved, so that it may truly be the center of the community. The Ordinary referred to in can. 1223 will be, in this case, the competent major Superior who can give permission for the oratory of the community to be destined for divine worship by means of which the community itself benefits spiritually. On the other hand, the competent Superior to whom the same canon refers in order to grant access to other faithful is the head of the community in whose midst the oratory has been erected.

As a sacred place, especially destined for the pilgrimage of the faithful, there are shrines, as canon 1230 states: “By the name of shrine is designated a church or other sacred place to which, for a particular reason of piety, numerous faithful go on pilgrimage, with the approval of the local Ordinary”.

With regard to the pastoral care to be carried out with regard to the plenary indulgence, we must remember that it is the tradition of the Church not to associate it with the celebration of the Eucharist or the other Sacraments[3], except as an addition to extraordinary circumstances that accompany participation in special occasions on which Mass or some Sacrament is celebrated (cf. IE, Praenotanda, n. 3). This leads us, on the other hand, to visualize those works of piety, charity and/or penance, to which indulgences are associated and which can be motivated by pastors to be performed in places of worship under the care of the Theatines.

These works cover the spectrum that goes from visits to the sacred place, to continue with a liturgical celebration, the recitation of the Divine Office or some pious exercise, to economically support some activity of social pastoral, or to contribute one’s own free time[4].

It is also important to remember, with regard to those who because of age or illness are unable to attend the Jubilee celebrations in churches, that they can follow them at the same time through the mass media, analogically to what has already been established for the Papal Blessing, given by the Holy Father or by the diocesan bishop[5], or for the recitation of the Rosary[6] or the Stations of the Cross[7].

The fundamental requirement is that they join the celebrations in a pious way, conforming themselves with the intention of the mind and the devout attitude to what is being done and that they are ready to receive spiritually by means of television or radio instruments (nowadays extended in practice to computerized ones[8]).

In this reference to the validity of the use of mass media in order to benefit from indulgences, we have also alluded to some of the Jubilee celebrations that can be integrated communally, namely the recitation of the Rosary and the Way of the Cross. Other community celebrations can be pilgrimages, organized by certain groups that act in the pastoral life that takes place in our churches. In this order, penitential celebrations can also be organized to help prepare for the sacrament of Penance, which must be attended as a condition for gaining the indulgence, together with Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Roman Pontiff.

In order not to generate confusion with the Holy Years promulgated by the Holy Father, it would seem that the constitution of a “holy door” in our temples should not be considered, because, besides, with the visit itself the indulgence is already gained.

By: Rev. Fr. Marcelo Zubia, C.R.