Rome, Holy City of the Jubilee

The Pontifical Gregorian University will contribute to the preparation of the next Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025 with ‘Rome, Holy City of the Jubilee’, a new one-year diploma in the History and Art of the Jubilee, starting in the academic year 2023-2024 at the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church. “The resources of the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church provide us with unique tools that contribute to this important moment in the life of the Church,” explains the Rector, Fr. Mark Lewis S.J. “The Church of Rome is the repository of a unique historical and artistic heritage which, through the experience of its beautiful patrimony, is conducive to a deeper reflection on the faith.”

“The Jubilee will be measured by the intensity of the experience of faith offered to the pilgrims”, said Monsignor Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, during the presentation of the new diploma. “I firmly believe that an initiative like this will greatly help pilgrims to have a full spiritual experience of the Jubilee, consisting in few yet highly significant signs: the pilgrimage, the passage through the Holy Door, the profession of faith at Peter’s tomb. It is the task of theology to transmit the intelligence of the faith and at the same time to identify the places where the people of God live and experience their faith. In fact, the Jubilee is an event that the People of God desires and asks for. It is also the task of theology to study the dimension of spirituality that is specific to the People of God and to give new life to these experiences.”

 

 

An insight into the See of the Successor of Peter

The Diploma in History and Art of the Jubilees is addressed to students who wish to receive academic training on the historical, artistic and religious aspects of the Jubilee, as well as to those responsible for accompanying and guiding pilgrims who will come to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year 2025. This educational itinerary will focus on the history of Rome, the seat of the Successor of Peter, as a pilgrimage destination: starting with visits to the tomb of Saint Peter and the tombs of the martyrs, up to the proclamation of the first Jubilee in the year 1300, a universal event that has attracted believers from all over the Christian world since the Middle Ages. 

After an introduction to the theological and spiritual foundations of the Jubilee, students will look at the history of the Holy Years, with particular emphasis on the importance of the city of Rome as a place of pilgrimage since the early centuries of Christianity. The theme of the works commissioned by the Popes on the occasion of the Jubilee events, which mainly concerned the city of Rome, will be studied in depth: ex-novo constructions, restorations, ornamentation, the care of urban decorations and infrastructures, and the realisation of charitable works. Devotional aspects and religious practices in relation to the Jubilee will also be the object of study. 

 

 

Educational visits and qualification

In addition to classroom teaching, the Diploma will include educational visits to the monuments and sites of Christian Rome. The one-year course will culminate in the “Sacra loca circuire” workshop, which will provide the tools and methods for successfully carrying out a visit to a place of worship or of religious interest, combining elements of faith, worship and devotion with historical, artistic and architectural dimensions.

The Diploma in the History and Art of the Jubilees, which is run under the patronage of the Dicastery for Evangelisation (Section for ‘Fundamental Issues of Evangelisation in the World’) and of the Vatican’s Fabric of St. Peter, is also an accredited qualification to become a guide in St. Peter’s Basilica, in accordance with the procedures established by the Fabric of St. Peter.