Compostela was conferred a special privilege towards the year 1120. The oldest preserved (concessive) Bull, the Regis aeterni, issued in 1179 by the Pope Alexander III, alludes to a privilege conferred by the Pope Calixto II (1118-1124). This Pope was the brother of Don Raimundo de Borgoña and so uncle of King Alfonso II. He was a great benefactor of Saint James' Church. This privilege, confirmed by Alexander III, reads as follows: When July 25^th, feast of St. James, falls on Sunday that year is Holy Year and St. James' Church grants the spiritual graces of the Jubilee.

Jesus began his ministry announcing: "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"(Mark 1,15).

Holy Year or Year of Jubilee is a time when the Church grants special spiritual graces to the faithful in imitation of the biblical account of the Israelites' year of jubilee: every seventh yeas was a Sabbatical Year in which those who from necessity had sold their lands regained them. Slaves also obtained their freedom. Every 50^th year was a Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25).

Jesus said that He was coming to preach a year of grace of the Lord (Luke 4, 16). With Jubilee Year the Church also grants a special year of grace: Holy Year is a grace for all and, specially, it is an invitation to those who are far-removed from an attitude of faith to return again to Christian life. It is the sick who need a physician (Matthew 9,12) in order to return to the shepherd of our souls, if we have gone astray (I Peter 2, 35).

1)  To visit the Cathedral, where the Tomb of Saint James the Great lies.

2) To recite a prayer (such as the Creed or the Lord's Prayer praying for His Holiness the Pope). It is recommended to attend the Pilgrims' Mass.

3) To receive the Sacraments of Confession (it may be 15 days before or after) and Communion. Both are responsible for the conversion and the compromise of love to Jesus and our brothers. This is the heritage of Saint James.

The grace of the Jubilee is basically a plenary indulgence for the forgiveness of the punishment our sins deserve. 

The Canon Law Code defines them as follows (ch. 992):

"An indulgence is the remission in the sight of God of the temporal punishment due for sins, the guilt of which has already been forgiven. A member of Christ's faithful who is properly disposed and who fulfils certain specific conditions, may gain an indulgence by the help of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the merits of Christ and the Saints."

In order to understand this, we must distinguish between guilt and temporal punishment.

"An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it partially or wholly frees a person from the temporal punishment due for sins."  (ch. 993)

The grace of the Jubilee  - fulfilling the required conditions - is a plenary indulgence. "All members of the faithful can gain indulgences, partial or plenary, for themselves, or they can apply them by way of suffrage to the dead." (ch. 994)