Holy Year 1950

Pilgrims on their way to the Vatican City to observe the Holy Year 1950 enter Rome along the ancient Appian Way. They glimpse the ruins of the Coliseum and the Roman forum and the modern monument built to honor King Victor Emmanuel. The pilgrims are making their journey in response to an invitation that Pope Pius XII issued to the world on 26 May 1949. Among the pilgrims are two former soldiers who escaped from a slave camp behind the Iron Curtain, an older couple and the Countess Helen Hohenau of Bavaria. The pilgrims see the facade of St. Peter's Basilica from a new street called the Via della conciliazione, which is already filled with people selling presents and souvenirs of the Holy Year pilgrimage. Many Roman buildings have been converted into hostels for the pilgrims. The pilgrims visit the College of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome, where students from around the world are trained for the priesthood. On Christmas Eve, pilgrims fill St. Peter's Square to attend the official beginning of the Year of Jubilee. The ceremony is broadcast over loudspeakers. Using a silver hammer, the Pope completes the ceremony of the Opening of the Holy Door. In Rome, Allessandro Cardinal Verde performs the Rite of the Holy Door at St. Mary's Basilica, the largest Roman church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Pope makes his personal Jubilee visit to St. Peter's and is attended by 15,000 priests and seminarians. Among the first to take part in the Holy Year ceremonies is prime minister John Costello from the Republic of Eire, who receives a private audience with the Pope. The pilgrims visit the Catacombs of the early Christians in the Church of St. Agnes. They see early Christian burial sites; an altar at which early Christians worshiped in defiance of Roman edicts; and the sarcophagus of the patron saint. On 6 May 1950, pilgrims witness the new recruits to the Swiss Guards, dressed in uniforms designed by Michelangelo, as they make their oath to defend the Pope to the death. Inside St. Peter's the pilgrims see that the toes of a bronze statue of St. Peter are worn smooth where generations of earlier pilgrims have touched them. Among the other treasures seen by the pilgrims are Michelangelo's Pietà , a memorial to the Stuarts of Scotland, Antonio Canova's Tomb of Pope Clement XIII, and the grottoes underneath the church. Visitors to the Vatican view the frescos that Michelangelo painted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, as well as many other art treasures. One ceiling in the Vatican Palace is covered with some of the first gold brought from the Americas by Christopher Columbus. In the Pinacoteca, also in the Vatican, the pilgrims see paintings by Raphael. The pilgrims also tour the Vatican Library and the gardens surrounding the palace. The pilgrims form a procession from the Church of St. Andrea Della Valle to carry the body of the recently beatified Vincenzo Pallotte through the streets of Rome. His many followers hope that he will one day be elevated to the sainthood. Francis Cardinal Spellman leads 530 American pilgrims from New York, who carry the American flag. They hear Spellman celebrate Mass at the Altar of St. Peter's Chair. Because Spellman is an old friend of the Pope, the American pilgrims are granted a special audience with him. Spellman also participates in a ceremony to beatify Domenico Savio, the first disciple of St. John Bosco. On Easter Day, St. Peter's square is again filled with pilgrims who are blessed by the Pope.