Vatican Holy Doors

I thought I would continue with my pictures from when we were stationed in Sicily and our trip to Rome. The above picture is of the Holy Doors at the Vatican. These are special doors that are only opened during Holy Years, the last being in the year 2000. We have been to Rome in one year when the doors were open, and went back the next year when they were closed.

The first Holy Doors were opened by Pope Martin V in 1423 at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. At that time Holy Years, or Jubilees, were celebrated every 33 years. The first time any mention of the Holy Doors at the Vatican being opened was at Christmas 1499. At that time Pope Alexander VI wanted the Holy Doors of Saint Peter's, Saint Mary Major, Saint Paul's Outside the Walls as well as the ones at St. John Lateran opened at the same time. Holy Years are now celebrated every 25 years.

There are rituals included in opening and closing the doors along with other traditional ceremonies and rites. The rituals for opening the doors are as follows:

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  The Pope vests in a room of the Apostolic Palace and then, together witht eh Cardinals, proceeds to the Sistine Chapel. There the sending of the Cardinal Legates for the opening of the other Doors and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place.



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  The procession makes its way to the Holy Door accompanied by the chanting of the Iubilate Deo or the Veni Creator Spiritus.



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  The Pope says the prayer Deus qui per Moysem.



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  He then takes the hammer, recites the verses Aperite mihi portas iustitiae and strikes the wall covering the Holy Door three times.



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  The pope returns to his seat and says the prayer Actiones nostras.



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  The masons continue the work of opening the Door to the chanting of the Psalm Iubilate Deo omnis terra.



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  The Pope genuflects at the threshold of the door.



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  The Pope is the first to pass through the Holy Door as the choir chants the Te Deum laudamus.



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  The procession moves towards the altar for the celebration of Vespers.

The Closing of he HOly Doors has a similar ceremony:

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  The Pope processes into the Basilica through the Holy Door and presides at Vespers in the Basilica.


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  He then sends the Cardinal Legates charged with closing the Doors of the other Basilicas.


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  A procession follows, first to the relics and then to the Holy Door, accompanied by singing of appropriate hymns.


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  The relics of Veronica and the Lance are publicly shown and venerated.


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  The Pope is the last to leave by the Holy Door.


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  He then Blesses the stones and bricks.


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  With the trowel he applies the cement to the threshold of the Holy Door and sets in place three bricks and a few gold and silver coins.


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  Other bricks are added and then the masons, outside and inside the Basilica, finish the work of closing the Door while the choir chants the hymn Caelestis Urbs Ierusalem.


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  The Pope says the prayer Deus qui in omni loco and ascends to the Loggia of the Basilica where he solemnly imparts the Apostolic Blessing.

CHARACTERISTIC ELEMENTS OF THE TRADITIONAL CEREMONIES

• In the Jubilees from 1500 to 1950 the rites involving the Holy Door remained practically identical. These rites had certain characteristic elements:

• The Wall

From 1500 to 1975 the Holy Door of the four Roman Masilicas was closed on the outside by a wall, not a door. Consequently, at the moment of the opening, rather than a door being opened, a wall was taken down: the Pope took down a part of the wal and the masons then completed the work demolishing it. There are still vivid memories of the sense of anxiety felt when cement fragments fell just a few inches from Pope Paul VI during the opening of the Holy Door on Christmas Eve 1974.

• The Hammer

At Christmas 1499 the Pope used a hammer to strike three times the wall covering the Holy Door. Initially the hammer of the masons was used and the strikes were not entirely symbolic. Almost immediately, however, the hammer became a precious work of art. In 1525 it was made of gold and in 1575 is was of gilded silver with an ivory handle.

• The Trowel

The Trowel was used by the Pope for the rite of closing the Door. The first evidence of its use dates from Christmas 1525. The last Pope to use the trowel was Pius XII, during the closing rite of the 1950 Holy Year (cf. L'Osservatore Romano, 26-27 December 1950).

• Bricks

The use of bricks in the rite of the closing of the Holy Door is first mentioned in the Jubilee of 1500. The chronicler of the Jubilee of 1423 write that "people show such devotion to the bricks and cement fragments that as soon as the door is uncovered they are carried away by a general frenzy; the northerners take them home as holy relics" (L. Bargellini, L'Anno santo, 66) The rite of the closing of the Door composed by Burckard for Epiphany 1501 calls for two Cardinals to set two samll bricks, one of gold and the other of silver, into the wall.

• Coins

The custom of placing some coins into the wall of the Holy Door is also recorded from the time of the Jubilee of 1500. Initially the coins were simply set into the cement. From 1575 on they were placed in a small metal box. This custom is still observed.

• Holy Water

The use of holy water was already mentioned in the 1525 Ritual for blessing the rubble and bricks used in the closing of the Holy Door. Later, holy water was also used for the opening of the door: the Penrentiaries of the Basilica, once the wall was removed, cleaned both door-jambs and the threshold with cloths soaked in holy water. This rite was observed until the last Holy Year.

• The Wooden Door

Outside the Basilica the Holy door was covered by a wall, while inside the wall was covered by a simple wooden door. The door was taken away prior to the removal of the wall and replaced immediately afterwards, since it served as a barrier at night, when visits by pilgrims were not permitted. The simple and unadorned wooden doors, still seen today on the oustside of the Holy Doors of Saint John Lateran, Sain Mary Major and Saint Paul's, were the older doors which until the Jubilee of 1975 were placed in front of the Holy Door inside the Basilica. In Saint Peter's Basilica, on the other hand, the last wooden door, installed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748, was replaced on 24 December 1949 by a bronze door blessed by Pope Pius XII immediately after the opening of the Holy Doors.

• The Changes of 1975

At Christmas 1975 modifications were amde to the rite of closing of the Holy Door. The Pope no longer used the trowel and the bricks to begin the rebuilding of the wall, but simply closed the two sides of the 1950 bronze door. The door, which until that time had been inside the Basilica, thus faced outside. The wall which once covered the door outside was later built inside the Basilica and on 27 February 1975 the traditional box with coins and the parchment document attesting the closing of the Holy Door was sealed inside it.

THE PANELS OF THE HOLY DOOR

The panels of the Holy Door at saint Peter's depict the following scenes, beginning witht he upper left panel and continuing left to right:

1. The Angel at the Gates of Paradise
2. The Fall
3. Mary The Annunciation
4. The Angel of the Annunciation
5. Christ's Baptism in the Jordan
6. The Lost Sheep
7. The Merciful Father
8. The Cure of the Paralytic
9. The Woman who was a Sinner
10. The Need for Forgiveness
11. Peter's Denial
12. In Front of the Crucifix--The Good Thief
13. The Appearance of Thomas
14. Christ's Appearance to the Deciples
15. The Conversion of Saul
16. Opening of the Holy Door

The information above is from www.saintpetersbasilica.org