Holy door

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A holy gate ( Latin : Porta sancta ) is a certain entrance to a church building that is only open during holy years . The ceremonial opening and closing by the responsible bishop mark the beginning and end of a jubilee year. In a letter from 1400 it says: “Anyone who walks through this gate three times will be relieved of guilt and penalties for sin. It is a miracle that people experience [...] "

Patriarchal basilicas in Rome

There is a Holy Door in the following four papal basilicas in Rome:

Entering a patriarchal basilica in Rome through the Holy Door symbolizes the word of Christ: “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved; He will go in and out and find pasture. ”( Jn 10.9  EU ) Therefore, pilgrims who come to Rome in a holy year and want to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence go singing and praying through the relatively narrow holy doors.

The earliest mention of a Holy Door is found in a writing by the Spanish pilgrim Pero Tarfur from 1437, who refers to an already existing custom Pope Alexander VI. introduced the custom at Christmas 1499 that the Holy Year should be opened with three blows of the hammer against the Holy Door. This custom has survived to this day: at the opening of a Holy Year, the Pope knocks with a hammer on the closed, symbolically walled-up Porta Santa of St. Peter before the first Christmas vespers, which is then opened. The same happens through a papal legate in the three other main Roman churches.

  • Holy Door in the Lateran Basilica

  • Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica

  • Holy Door in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

  • Holy Door in the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura

Santiago de Compostela

Holy Door in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela received the privilege of Pope Calixt II in 1122 to proclaim a Compostelan Holy Year at certain times . Later popes confirmed this. According to the Codex Calixtinus, the Puerta Santa (“Holy Gate”) or Puerta del Perdon (“Mercy Gate”) of the cathedral may only be opened in leap and jubilee years. These are when July 25th, the anniversary of the death of St. James , falls on a Sunday. A Romanesque door, which leads into the ambulatory on the east side of the cathedral, serves as the Holy Door . At the top, the porch shows the sculptures of St. James and his disciples Athanasius and Theodorus. In the actual gate the pilgrims enter the cathedral under the Latin inscription Venient omne gentes et dicen gloria tibi Domine (“All peoples come and proclaim your honor, Lord”).

Holy doors for the Year of Mercy

For the Holy Year for the Jubilee of Mercy , Pope Francis granted the local bishops with the decree Misericordiae vultus, among other things, the possibility of opening Holy Doors in the churches of their dioceses, "either in the Episcopal Church, which is the mother of all churches in the diocese, or in the co-cathedral or in another church of outstanding importance for the duration of the Holy Year. "

Web links

Commons : Holy Doors  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holy Year and Holy Door
  2. ^ Herbert Thurston: Holy Year of Jubilee. In: The Catholic Encyclopedia , Vol. 8. Robert Appleton Company, New York 1910.
  3. ^ Dictionary of Church History. German paperback publisher.
  4. ↑ Año Santo [1]
  5. ^ Pope Francis: Misericordiae vultus. Bull Announcing the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy dated April 11, 2015.