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Porta sancta (Holy Door)


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Lately I took pictures of a church here in Austria and noticed that the church has a "Porta sancta". When we were in Rome we had seen the Porta Sancta (The Holy Door) of the St. Peter's Basilica, but I thought that this is the only one in the world. After some research I learned that Pope Francis allowed to each Roman Catholic diocese throughout the world to designate one or more local Holy Doors. Now I wonder, if there are enough holy doors worldwide and interest of the Waymarking community in this topic to create a new category or should I just post it in the "Doorways of the World" category?

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Interesting, I haven't heard of them before (except the one in Rome, of course).

I did some short (very short) research and found a few, but not many permanent ones. Here in Switzerland, about 14 Holy Doors were opened for the Jubilee Year of Mercy 2016. Two of them were special gates, erected for this year and later dismantled, the other ones were "normal" doors, that were declared to be a holy door just for this one year for the first time, and we don't know if and when there will be the next occasion and if it will be the same doors. The English Wikipedia has a list that claims to be official. It lists eight permanent doors worldwide, four in Rome, one each in Spain, France, Canada and the Philippines.

Maybe there are some more that could be included, but I have no estimate at all.

Edited by fi67
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After a short research I found some in Germany and at least a search engine for holy doors in Germany :blink:. Looks like the doors are "normal" doors outside the holy years. One is located on a monastery in my hometown. I will have a look if there is a plaque or a sign on it that identify it as a holy door. Because holy years are very rare (I think the last one was in the 90s) I do not know if the doors have a  permanently status of a holy door. Then it would be hard for the officers to check such waymarks.

 


 
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Wow, the page with the map of the holy doors in Germany is great.

I did a little research too and found this interesting (German) article: http://www.katholisch.at/aktuelles/2015/12/10/dutzende-heilige-pforten-in-sterreich Neither a (complete) list nor a map, but it seems that they are quite prevelant in Austria.

Another German article shows a video and a photo gallery of the opening of a holy door in Klagenfurt in 2015: http://www.kath-kirche-kaernten.at/dioezesanbischof/newsdetail/bischof_schwarz_oeffnet_heilige_pforte_des_klagenfurter_domes#1

About 2 weeks ago I was there and the iron door is still there and it doesn't look like they will remove that huge iron gate. I just didn't know what it was when I saw it. :-) As far as the other church I mentioned in the first posting. That door is a regular door with the words "Porta Sancta" permanently painted above it. So, both don't seem to be holy doors for just a short period of time.

I checked two of the churches in Germany and both had just a sign on or above the door that is easy to remove. However, I think that it should still be easy to prove the Status of a porta sancta, because in most cases there is information about it that can be found online.

 

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21 hours ago, Benchmark Blasterz said:

These Holy doors are accepted in the Doorways of the World category - we have several there. :) 

Will they also be accepted if they don't look as spectacular as most of the other waymarks in that category? One of the two holy doors I have seen so far is just a quite regular door with the words "Porta Sancta" painted on the top part of the doorframe.

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1 hour ago, PISA-caching said:

Will they also be accepted if they don't look as spectacular as most of the other waymarks in that category? One of the two holy doors I have seen so far is just a quite regular door with the words "Porta Sancta" painted on the top part of the doorframe.

As long as the door is interesting, then yes :) I would think that Any Designated Holy Door would be interesting (but then, we are Catholic). I personally have seen very ornate Holy Doors, and would like to see a simple one. Those are beautiful, historic, and interesting too. 

 

 From the Category Description: 

This "Category" endeavours you to find and photograph "Unique- Historic or Interesting" doors and portals" that are found in every country in the world.
Expanded Description:
You may "Waymark" any doorway with a door or a door separately, as stipulated below, of above average interest that the viewers might find interesting enough to stop and admire.
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