Saint John of the Cross centenary decree (2025)
Saint John of the Cross jubilee: Ávila churches
Make the prescribed pilgrimage for the saint’s centenaries.
Time required Variable: a complete visit and either the prescribed rites or prayer.
- When
- 2025-12-14–2026-12-27
- Where
- San Cipriano, Fontiveros; Basilica of Saint Teresa, Ávila; convent church of Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross, Duruelo (Blascomillán), Spain
- Who
- All eligible faithful
- Application
- Self or the departed
The prescribed work
- Unite your heart with the spiritual aims of the 2025 Ordinary Jubilee.
- Visit a designated church as a pilgrim and participate devoutly in jubilee rites; alternatively, spend a substantial time in mental prayer there.
- For the prayer alternative, conclude with the Our Father, Creed, and invocations to Mary, Queen of Peace, and Saint John of the Cross.
The work and its conditions
A plenary indulgence also requires complete detachment from every sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, subject to the grant’s stated exceptions. The ordinary limit is one plenary indulgence per day.
Conditions common to every indulgence
The person gaining an indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least when the prescribed works are completed. There must be at least a general intention to gain indulgences, and the prescribed work must be performed at the time and in the manner required by the grant.
Read the full conditions and norms. The cited grant and its specific provisions govern.
Time required
Read each branch with its own conditions. An editorial estimate is not a prescribed minimum.
Pilgrimage/visit with jubilee rites
Complete the prescribed event
Length of the prescribed celebration.
No fixed minimum number of minutes is stated. The complete prescribed visit and participation in the selected rites are required; the service schedule determines the duration.
Pilgrimage/visit with prayer
Duration varies
Variable; no fixed number of minutes is prescribed.
No fixed minimum number of minutes is stated. The prayer alternative requires substantial time in mental prayer, followed by the listed prayers. “Substantial” is not defined as a number of minutes.
What the time estimate excludes
- Ordinary travel to and from the venue, and waiting outside the prescribed work; required procession or pilgrimage activity remains included
- Separate confession, Communion and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, except where a branch expressly includes the prescribed celebration
- Stated start
- 14 December 2025
- Stated end
- 27 December 2026
Prayer texts and resources
Follow the prayer count and formula specified in the requirements. The two Creed readers are alternatives.
Source and exact reference
- Diocese of Ávila: complete decree and designated churches6 October 2025 decree, translated operative clauses and episcopal designations
- Discalced Carmelites: jubilee indulgenceJubilee dates, approved places and provisions for the impeded
- Enchiridion Indulgentiarum: church-visit normNorm 19: the ordinary church/oratory visit rule expressly yields when the particular concession prescribes otherwise.
Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.