JUBILEE, INDULGENCE. — It is the pontifical indult by which the prebendaries and beneficiaries of a Chapter acquire exemption from the obligations of choral service and residence, while still retaining the rights corresponding to those same obligations. It is also called the indult of the emeritus (can. 422).
The institution already appears in certain capitular statutes of the Middle Ages. From the 17th century onward the Sacred Congregation of the Council was accustomed to grant indults of g. and to approve the statutes that provided for their concession. Before the CIC, however, g. was still a matter of particular law, governed by custom, by the practice of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, and by the tenor of the various capitular statutes.
The purposes of the institution are, on the one hand, the utility of the Church and, on the other, the just recognition of the merit of one who, for a considerable time, has attended to its due service. Initially the first purpose was held to prevail, so that account was taken only of the service rendered in the same church. Subsequently the second prevailed, so that today service rendered in different churches is also considered a sufficient title.
The indult is not granted as of right, but must be petitioned each time by rescript of the Holy See. The title for obtaining g. is continuous, praiseworthy choral service of forty years, in the same church or in other churches of the same city or, at least, of the same diocese (can. 422 § 1). At times the Holy See has deemed sufficient even service rendered in different dioceses. Absences determined by force majeure or by causes that are in any case legitimate do not prejudice the continuity of the service. Illegitimate absences, on the other hand, especially if frequent and prolonged, while they harm the continuity of the service, always deprive it of the qualification of praiseworthy.
The person capable of the indult is the capitular, prebendary or beneficiary, obliged to the choir, whether as supernumerary, mansionary or canon.
The object of the indult is the exemption of the jubilate from the common duties of residence and of ordinary choral office and, consequently, from the other burdens connected with the said obligations. There remain, however, the burdens specific to individual prebends, such as, for example, the burdens of founded Masses, the care of souls for the curate vicar, the catechetical-scriptural lectures for the canon theologian, assistance at confessions for the canon penitentiary. Other exemptions, often disputed in doctrine, for example from the turn of the conventual Mass, are usually indicated in the rescript of concession.
The indult brings about a state of favor, inasmuch as the jubilate, although exempted from the obligations of the office, nevertheless retains its rights, with the sole exception of the right of option, should such be recognized in the Chapter (can. 422 § 3). He therefore remains still a true canon and a true capitular: he receives the fruits of the prebend, the daily distributions, the fallentiae and even the distributions reserved to those present in choir (inter praesentes), unless he is explicitly excluded from them by the will of the offerers or founders, or by the statutes or by custom.
Bibliography4 works
Zaccaria da San Mauro