Semel In Anno Licet Insanire

A mask from the Carnival of Venice, this year on
February 4th-21st, 2012.
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When I grew up we still studied Latin in compulsory school in Italy, it was about 1979 when this important subject was abolished. "Semel in Anno Licet Insanire" is the Latin expression that I remember with most joy from middle school and it means "Once every year it is acceptable to be crazy", referring to the Carnival rite of liberation and giving out the authorization not to respect conventional religious and social rules within its celebrations' time frame.

A curiosity about Italian Carnivals comes from the end of the Renaissance times and exactly from 1575, the date of the 11th Jubilee of the history of the Catholic Church and Holy Year announced by Pope Gregory XIII in the name of prayer, preaching, repentance and charity.  It was the last Jubilee of the 1500s and the first one after the Council of Trento (1563).

Indeed Pope Gregory XIII for the Jubilee of 1575 among other important dispositions abolished the expenses for the Carnival masks (and any other amusements) and donated the money they saved to the hospital for pilgrims of Filippo Neri in Rome.

The Jubilee of 1575 was very important for the history of the Catholic Church, a starting point of renewal and rebirth from the Jubilee crisis in the Middle Ages. About 400,000 pilgrims visited Rome that year, whereas the city of Rome itself enumerated 80,000 inhabitants only. Confraternities were the Jubilee novelty and among other services, they organized pilgrims' processions, to one of which Pope Gregory XIII took part naked feet like any other pilgrim and mixed in the crowd.

Original bronze medal of the Jubilee
of 1575 found in the fields in the
area of Deruta, Italy
(Front, writing "Salvator Mundi").
Private property 

The Jubilee of 1575 was very well organized and pilgrims were given or could buy for the first time commemorative medals that came in different shapes and patterns. The tradition of Jubilee medals actually started with Pope Gregory XIII in this Holy Year. We are showing here the medal that a pilgrim probably lost in the fields in the area of Deruta, we assume on his/her way back from Rome.

The rear of the pilgrim's medal of the
Jubilee of 1575, dimensions 1"x3/4"

The medal front represents Jesus profile with the words "SALVATOR MVNDI" (tr. savior of the world) while the medal rear carries the following writing all around the border: "IVSTI ENTRABVNT PER EAM AM IVBILEI" (tr. The righteous will go through this door on the Jubilee), within the holy door itself the date of the Jubilee, MDLXXV, 1575 and Rome underneath the holy door.

Thinking of doors, "Chiusa una Porta, si apre un Portone" is a popular expression in Italy translating "when a door closes, a gate opens", therefore you never miss your opportunities of rebirth. Sometimes life may unexpectedly open up a holy door to you!

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- Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

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