Doors of Mercy in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis

Typical Hours of Access

The Holy Door at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis is open:
  • Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.
  • Saturday from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm  (anticipated Sunday Mass at 5:00 pm)
  • Sunday  from 10:00 am to 12:30 p.m.
The Holy Door at the Archabbey Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln in St. Meinrad, Indiana is open:
  • 5 a.m.-10 p.m. Central Time every day, bearing in mind that prayer services and Mass take place in the archabbey multiple times a day.

All are invited to make a pilgrimage to the Cathedral or the Archabbey Church. To arrange for a group pilgrimage or group our to walk through the Holy Doors in order to fulfill part of the requirements of the special Plenary Indulgence please contact:

  • SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, 317-634-4519.
  • St. Meinrad Reservations, 812-357-6461.

The doors will be ceremonially closed on November 13, 2016. 

What does it mean to go through a doorway?  We may say that to go through a door means to have the courage of leaving what is certain and entering into or upon something that is uncertain.

Each of the four major basilicas located in Rome, along with three other cathedrals in the world—one in Spain, one in France and one in Canada— have one special entrance designated as a “Holy Door.”  These doors are normally sealed shut from the inside so that they cannot be opened. The only time that they are opened is during a special time announced by the pope called a “Holy Year” or a “Jubilee.”  At the beginning of these special years the Holy Doors are then ceremonially opened.  At that time and throughout the year people make pilgrimages to see them and walk through them.  When they do this they also gain something called a “plenary indulgence” that is connected with the jubilee year.  The opening of these Holy Doors is intended to symbolically illustrate the idea that the Church offers her faithful an “extraordinary path” toward salvation during the jubilee year.  

At the official proclamation of the jubilee year the papal “bull of indiction,” Misericordiae Vultus, (The Face of Mercy), was presented.  The term “papal bull” refers to an official papal document of special importance which is presented when something major is announced.  It goes into detail about the intentions and outcomes hoped for by the Pope.  In this bull it was noted that, for the first time in the history of the Jubilee tradition, there will be an opportunity for each diocese to open their own Holy Door at their own cathedral as a visible sign of the Church’s universal communion.  The diocesan opening of the Door for Mercy is a sign that the jubilee is not limited to Rome, but extends to local Churches around the world.  The indulgence is characteristic of the jubilee, so the idea of the doors on a local level is intended to extend the signs of pilgrimage and the opportunity for gaining an indulgence to the whole world.

Click here for more information about obtaining the plenary indulgence. https://www.archindy.org/holyyearofmercy/indulgence.html

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