Boniface VIII issues the Jubilee bull, Feb. 22, 1300

Boniface VIII enjoyed yet another great triumph before he found himself called on to face severe struggles: he inaugurated the fourteenth century with a pilgrimage festival which has become renowned. The centennial jubilee had been celebrated in ancient Rome by magnificent games; the recollections of these games, however, had expired, and no tidings inform us whether the close or beginning of a century was marked in Christian Rome by any ecclesiastical festival. The immense processions of pilgrims to S. Peter's had ceased during the Crusades; the Crusades ended, the old longing re-awoke among the peoples and drew them again to the graves of the apostles. The pious impulse was fostered in no small degree by the shrewdness of the Roman priests. About the Christmas of 1299 (and with Christmas, according to the style of the Roman Curia, the year ended), crowds flocked both from the city and country to S. Peter's. A cry promising remission of sins to those who made the pilgrimage to Rome resounded throughout the world and forced it into movement. Boniface gave form and sanction to the growing impulse by promulgating the Bull of Jubilee on February 22, 1300, which promised remission of sins to all who should visit the basilicas of SS. Peter and Paul during the year. The pilgrimage of Italians was to last for thirty days, that of foreigners for fifteen. The enemies of the Church were alone excluded. As such the Pope designated Frederick of Sicily, the Colonna and their adherents, and, curiously enough, all Christians who held traffic with Saracens.