Forasmuch as our most holy father Gregory XVI, Roman Pontiff, and visible head of the Universal Church, moved by the pastoral vigilance and paternal love becoming a successor of St. Peter, has condescended to grant a general jubilee to the whole Catholic world, with a view that the common penitence and prayer of the faithful may obtain from the Father of Mercies and God of all consolation the cessation of the weighty ills that affect the spouse of J. C.; the supreme government of this republic, always zealous for the exact observance of the holy religion which we profess, has given the corresponding pass to the Brief, which with this object his Holiness has despatched, of which the tenor is as follows: The Pontiff Gregory XVI. to all the faithful Christians who shall see the present letters, health and apostolical benediction. After having taken solemn possession of the pontificate in the Basilic of the Lateran, we have written many times to our venerable brothers the patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, concerning the calamities of the Church; encouraging them to oppose with all their might, like walls of Israel, those snares with which, to our great sorrow, she is beset. For the same purpose, also, we have admonished them that they should raise their eyes and hands to the mountain from whence we expect assistance; certain that, with the favour of Him who governs the winds and the sea, tranquillity will be procured, and that the divine mercy descends when the humble prayer ascends to God. But seeing that the conspiracy of the wicked everywhere gains ground, and that the tempest even increases, we have resolved that in all the Church prayers be publicly offered; by this means opening up the treasure of celestial gifts, to the end that the consciences being regulated and purified in a holy manner from the uncleanness of transgressions, prayers themselves may be rendered more agreeable and acceptable to God, ascending to his presence as a delicate perfume.