The first Jubilee in history was proclaimed by Boniface VIII in 1300 with the bull “Antiquorum habet”. It laid down that the Romans who visited the basilicas of St Peter and St Paul thirty times would have been granted plenary indulgence, while for pilgrims from outside Rome fifteen visits would have been sufficient.
Boniface VIII established that the Jubilee Year took place every 100 years. Following a petition of the Romans to Pope Clement VI (1342), the period was reduced to 50 years. With Paul II, in the 15th century, the period between one Jubilee and the other was reduced to 25 years. Since then, the Ordinary Jubilees are held with constant periodicity. Only the Napoleonic wars prevented the celebration of the Jubilees in 1800 and 1850.
The custom of proclaiming Extraordinary Jubilees dates back to the 16th century. In the last century there were Holy Years for the 1900th and 1950th anniversary of the Redemption (respectively 1933 and 1983); John Paul II proclaimed a Marian Holy Year in 1987; Benedict XVI announced a Pauline Year straddling 2008 and 2009 and Pope Francis proclaimed the Jubilee of Mercy between 2015 and 2016, 50 years after the end of the Second Vatican Council.
