According to the gospel, since the beginning of time a crescent spiritual debt started between the weak and the strong of the known world and because of this the Tribes of Israel, around 670 BC, instituted THE HOLY YEAR, or the FORGIVENESS YEAR that should happen every 50 years. On this holy year all sins, debts e quarrels should be forgiven. This fact has no historical proof.

However, on the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII establishes that which would be the HOLY YEAR and from that date on, every 50 years, such celebration would be carried out by the Catholic Church.


Copy of the document that shows the union between Santa Gertrudes Farm Church and Saint John Lateran Basilica - 1950

On this year the Church would concede new indulgences to the faithful. Indulgences are a type of absolution of the temporal punishments which are suffered in this or in another life and serve the purpose of purifying the soul of sins that have already been forgiven in confession. These indulgences also apply to all the souls who are in the purgatory that, according to the teachings of the church, would be a type of inconvenient waiting room of Heaven, where souls of those who cannot enter paradise immediately must stay. Indulgences can be obtained with pilgrimages to the great basilicas of Rome, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth; to the Cathedrals of the world's dioceses, as well as visits to the sick, the imprisoned, the helpless and solitary elderly and with the donation of part of your personal wealth in charity work.

During the Holy Year, in some of the 4 basilicas o Rome the "Holy Door" is open and whoever crosses its threshold shall be forgiven of all sins. This act refers to the psalm " I am the door. If anyone should enter through me, shall be saved" (Jo 10,9). This door was opened for the first time in history in 1423 at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran and has repeated itself ever since following a ritual where it is opened with three hits of a hammer. As it is impossible for all Catholics spread across the globe to go to Rome, the basilica where the door is located links itself to other basilicas that in their turn link themselves to other churches spread across the world so that the faithful who enter through their doors receive indulgences as if they had gone directly to the Roman Basilicas. It was of the church's interest that as many people as possible could have access to such indulgences, but it had at the same time to choose wisely which churches would be linked to the basilicas. This choice depended on many factors, one was logically geographic and it was also a way of thanking those churches that had shown special connection to Rome.

In the case of the Church of Santa Gertrudes Farm it is possible to infer that Eduardo Prates was a man of great prestige to the Church and that by linking the farm's church to the Saint John Lateran Basilica served two purposes, on would be the extension of forgiveness to a great number of faithful, in this case the farm's workers; another would be a way for the Church to pay homage to Eduardo Prates and to attest that the church built by him was in fact true and that it did represent the Holy Church in Brazil.<