Responsibilities of Those Going on Pilgrimages

7. We especially recommend pilgrimage to the bishops, provided that their physical health is good and that no loss will befall their flock from the absence of the shepherd. Indeed they should remember that many of their predecessors-at least those who lived reasonably close-came to the holy city every year to join the Roman Pontiff in celebrating the feast days of the most holy Apostles Peter and Paul; this is well known from Letters 13 and 16 of St. Paulinus. We exhort also the priests and the rest of the clergy to come, provided that they bring dimissorial letters from their bishops, as is proper. For this law originated in the earliest centuries of the Church, as is clear from Canons 41 and 42 of the Council of Laodicea in the year 372 (Harduin, tome 1, pp. 789-790). We exhort the Regular clergy also to come, provided that they obtain the appropriate approval of their superiors. With equal zeal We exhort the laity to come, provided that they learn properly what they should do from their parish priest or confessor before they undertake the journey. However, to prevent the priests or confessors from being easily misled, they should put the questions to the laity very carefully according to the theologians, especially Theophilus Raynardus in his treatise Heteroclita spiritualia (Operum, tome 15, p. 217, no. 13). "A pilgrimage", says Raynardus, "is a work of supererogation and belongs to voluntary devotion. Its performance is not of equal worth with acts of virtue which are an obligation. Thus a husband who is bound to cleave to his wife by the tie of marriage will do evil if he undertakes a long pilgrimage against the will of his wife and leaves her at home, etc. Indeed, even if his wife consents, a long pilgrimage by the husband could constitute an aberration, if the absence might result in the loss of virtue by either of the spouses. Similarly, it would be unusual for the father of a family to go on a pilgrimage, since he is needed at home to support his family. The same judgment must be made on an impoverished man who chooses to visit the holy places when the only way he can repay his debts is by staying in some one place and working".

Everyone knows of the plenary indulgence for sins by Urban II at the Council of Clermont bestowed on those who enlisted in the holy army for the recovery of the holy places in Jerusalem and wore the emblem of the Cross. "Whosoever journeys to Jerusalem to free the Church of God solely from devotion, and not for the sake of acquiring honor or money-let that journey be considered a full repentance"–these are the words of the above-mentioned council which was held in 1095 and are contained in Labbe's edition, tome 10. To the question of "Whether a man can take the Cross if there are fears for his continence?" St. Thomas answers, in accordance with the teaching which We have set out above, that "it necessarily devolves on a husband to carry his wife's cross since the husband is the head of his wife. But to take the Cross and go over the seas lies in the sphere of his own will. Therefore if his wife cannot go with him because of some impediment and her continence is questioned, he must not be advised to take the Cross and leave his wife. The case is different, however, if the wife willingly proposes continence or wishes and is able to go with her husband"(quodlibet. 4, art. 11). But We do not discourage even women from coming to Rome at the time of the year of Jubilee, if it is for their good and they are not bound by laws of enclosure. For there are many examples at hand which recommend holy journeys by women. St. Ambrose describes the haste of St. Helena in going to the holy places. Socrates records the pilgrimages to Jerusalem of Eudoxia, who married Theodosius. St. Jerome shows the Roman matron Paula anxious to visit the places in the Holy Land. With the same great zeal St. Bridget journeyed to Compostella and Rome to kiss the tomb of the holy Apostles. During the long period We have spent in this city as a servant of the Holy See, We have witnessed the repeated arrival of women of all ages and classes. However, to prevent the enemy sowing weeds where the cautious father of the family sows wheat, We beseech those who are entrusted with the protection of discipline and morals to guard carefully against the sins which easily arise from young women when they encounter those of different character, disposition, and sex. But if married women undertake a journey, their brothers should act as guardians in the absence of their husbands; or at least they should be entrusted to men whose kinship both frees them from suspicion and makes them concerned about the preservation of chastity.