To morning mass at St Peter’s – in Rome
April 29, 2008 by HeatherCowper
The bells were calling to us as we hurried along to early morning mass at St Peter’s. We moved through security and then up the steps, passing one priest after another whose walk, by contrast, was slow and measured.
As we crowded around the grilled doors, the line of priests waiting calmly to one side grew, each of them with a prayer book or their neatly pressed white alb folded under their arm. They rested against the balustrade, keeping a little apart from one another in reflective silence, their backs warmed by the sun as it rose over the top of Bernini’s colonade.
At five to seven the guard entrusted with the keys of St Peter’s fumbled with the huge padlock and unlocked it, and the small crowd surged forward in anticipation. We crossed ourself with holy water from the huge sconces, nodding to the marble cherubs as we moved on.
At every altar in St Peter’s (and there are many) a priest arrived and at seven o’clock sharp the masses started all around the basilica. Those with pews had a larger congregation, while at other side altars like ours only a couple of nuns were in attendance. On one side of the basilica was a chapel where mass was being said only for a congregation of priests, an invisible line keeping them apart from the other faithful.
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A sign at the altar rail proclaimed that ours was the daily mass to pray for peace. The priest rattled through in Italian and at seven thirty the mass was ended, go in peace. As we left, another group was already moving in for the next mass and we headed back to our hotel for breakfast, ready to start the day.
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