Pope Pius IX

“ Return, therefore, sinners, be reconciled to God; the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; cast off the works of darkness, put on the armor of light; cease to be the enemies of your own souls, so that you may at the last merit peace in this world, and in the world to come the eternal rewards of the just. These are our desires, these things we will not cease to ask from the most merciful Lord, and these same benefits- all the sons of the Catholic Church being united to us in this society f prayer- we trust we can obtain accumulatively from the Father of Mercies. ”

“ Nothing then is more worthy the time of the Holy Jubilee than being unweariedly occupied in every work of charity; this, then, also shall be the duty of your zeal, venerable brethren, the adding of stimulus, so that the poor may be relieved, sins may be redeemed with alms, the benefits of which are shown to be so numerous in Holy Scripture ”

“ If to obtain these benefits your minds and efforts are united, it cannot fail but that the kingdom of Christ and His righteousness shall receive great increase, and that in this acceptable time and in these days of salvation the divine clemency shall pour upon the sons of love a great abundance of heavenly gifts. ”

“ To this end we have, with apostolic liberality, several times opened to the faithful the spiritual treasures of the indulgences in order that, animated thereby to the penitence and purged by the sacrament of reconciliation from the stains of sin, they might be able to approach the throne of grace with more confidence, and be worthy of their prayers being benignantly received by God. ”

“ For the rest, if any, having the intention of gaining this Jubilee, after having commenced the fulfillment of the prescribed works, overtaken by death, shall not be able to accomplish the prescribed number of visits, we, desiring to fill up the measure of their pious and ready intention, will that the said persons, truly penitent, confessed and communicated, may participate in the aforesaid indulgence and remission in the same manner as if they had in the prescribed days really visited the aforesaid churches. ”

“ The Divine Majesty sufficiently shows what he requires from us, while now, for a long time, through our depravity, we are laboring under His threatenings and under the inspiration of the spirit of His anger. In truth, “men are accustomed when they are suffering under a too hard necessity, to send embassadors to neighboring nations to receive some aid. ”

“ In the mean time, relying upon the mercy of God and on the authority of His blessed apostles Peter and Paul, by virtue of that supreme power of binding and loosing which God willed to be conferred upon us, however unworthy-to all and every one of the faithful of Christ, whether living in this our alms city, or who shall be about to come to it ”

“ Because then not only the example but the whole work of the ecclesiastical ministry is necessary in order that the fruits of the desired holiness may be had among the people, do not omit, venerable brethren, to excite the zeal of your priests, willingly and readily to exercise their ministry particularly in this time of salvation ”

“ So likewise let your anxious zeal watch constantly over the maintenance of discipline among the clergy and securing the right ordering of the clergyman, and in every possible way give assistance to the youth around you, who are placed in so many dangers and who are subjected to so many great perils. ”

“ Equally may the same confessors absolve the above-named penitents from all the sins and excesses, however serious and enormous they may be, as has been said, reserved to the said ordinaries and to us, or to the Apostolic See, enjoined to them as a salutary penitence, and other things to be enjoined by right ”