A Roman Calendar

8. The "Calendar of the Holy Year of 2000" is eminently Roman. For historical reasons, from the time when access on the part of the faithful to Jerusalem and the holy places became more difficult, Rome became the principal place of pilgrimage. Boniface VIII (+1302), called the first "hoy year" in history - in 1300, with the Bull Antiquorum habet (22 February 1300), and gave Jubilee years a strong Roman character. ("Antiqurum habet fida relatio, quod accedentibus ad honorabilem basilicam Principis apostolorum de Urbe, concessae sunt magnae remissiones et indulgentiae peccatorum". Text of the Bull Antiquorum habet in Bullarium Anni Sancti collegit et edidit Hermannus Schmidt, S.J., Romae, apud Aedes Pont. Univ. Gregorianae, 1949, pp. 33-34.)

The "Roman-ness" of the "Calendar of the Holy Year 2000" comes about in this fashion:

- from the fact that the Holy Father is the Bishop of Rome, Successor of the Apostle Peter and since he rejoices in the primacy which the Lord conferred upon him in service to the Universal Church. In the Calendar, the presence of the Holy Father at the celebrations of the Jubilee Year is not explicitly indicated, these will be announced, one at a time, by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff;

- from the illustrious memories of which Rome is custodian: first and foremost there are those of the Apostles Peter and Paul, where they announced the Good News and sealed with their martyrdoms their faithful witness to the Lord Jesus, then there are those of innumerable martyrs who, beginning from the Roman Protomartyrs (1st Century), confessed their faith in Christ by word, behavior and the sacrifice of their lives.