Madrid, Spain, Jan 4, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Church bells throughout Galicia in northwestern Spain rang out in honor of opening of the Jubilee Year in honor St. James the Apostle, which this year will bring an expected 7 million pilgrims to the saint’s shrine in Compostela.
Some one thousand bells in the archdiocese, where the famous shrine to St. James is located, rang out in unison to celebrate the opening of the Holy Door, an act presided over by Archbishop Julián Barro, the governor of Galicia, Manuel Fraga, who represented the King of Spain, seven bishops and the secretary of the Bishops Conference of Spain, Bishop Juan Antonio Martínez Camino.
The Holy Year of St. James, which is celebrated each time the feast of the Apostle (July 25) falls on a Sunday, brings millions of pilgrims to the shrine from all over Europe.