1825 – The Jubilee at St Peter’s Square
On the occasion of the memory of Mother Thouret’s canonisation – 14 January 1934 – which this year falls during the Jubilee of Hope, we would like to recall that the Foundress also participated in the solemn celebrations of the 1825 Jubilee in Naples.
Initiated by Leo XII, it was the only Jubilee of the 19th century celebrated in freedom and with full solemnity.
Keeping faith with the name he had chosen, a symbol of courage, Leo XII brushed aside the doubts of the Vatican Curia, worried about the safety of pilgrims and the budget of the Papal State, impoverished by the recent Napoleonic domination: ‘We have published the Jubilee and the Jubilee will open. Now the holy trumpet has sounded: the Christian nations are summoned: we shall do our duty, nor fear any danger. What will be said will be said: the Jubilee is to be done”.
At Christmas 1825, Leo XII wanted to extend the Jubilee forgiveness to all dioceses during the 1826.
Mother Thouret intended to take part in it with fervour.
The procession in San Domenico Maggiore’s Square, Naples
From the testimony of Sister Fébronie Thouret, her niece, we know that she wanted to make a general confession, participate in the Jubilee processions and undergo penances to obtain plenary indulgence:
‘It will certainly be the last opportunity for me to meet the divine mercy
and receive his forgiveness.
And to forgive all those who have made me suffer’.
She asked to be accompanied in the grandiose procession of women only that marched through the streets of Naples, stopping at the various churches to invoke holy forgiveness: ‘Ahead a large cross, behind it spinsters of good morals, Alcantarine tertiaries, Dominican nuns, Carmelite nuns, oblates, directors of boarding school girls, young women inmates, foundlings, orphans…’, a stream of women singing and praying.
Mother Thouret felt ill during the Jubilee procession and had to be taken home.
«With grateful hearts to the Lord – from the Circular of the Superior General of 1 January 2025 – on the 14 January we will commemorate the Canonisation of our Foundress Jeanne Antide Thouret.
Speaking of the Saints, St. Augustine, reminds the faithful that the most beautiful and sincere glory that we can render to them is to imitate them.
We mostly glorify the Saints when we imitate them. We can therefore say that the Canonisation of our Holy Mother is for all of us her Daughters, a duty towards God, an obligation of gratitude to God, giver of every good, and a commitment on our part to a concrete witness that expresses itself in fidelity to God in service to the poor» (Mother Maria Rosa M.).
In this beginning of Jubilee 2025, we want to look at her, with her health already very compromised, joining God’s people to walk together, to sing, to pray, to ask for forgiveness and to find the strength to forgive.
