The official birth of the Jubilees is dated February 20, 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Jubilee with the bull “Antiquorum habet fida relatio” and, consequently, the ...
The Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament, offers instructions about celebrating a Jubilee every 50 years.
Interestingly, Watson says that it was the lay faithful who started the Christian Jubilee tradition in the year 1300 by spontaneously showing up in Rome amidst plague, war, and financial hardship.