Michael told me that the nicest public mass at St. Peters is at 5:00 with organ music and a choir adding to the experience. I decided to stay while the others enjoyed a glass of wine and snack at a nearby trattoria. The music reverberated within the marble walls so beautifully. The priest, actually three of them, said the mass in Latin, but I remembered enough from childhood to respond appropriately most of the time.
The Bernini Cathedra Petri provides a marvelous backdrop to mass and encases the episcopal chair of St. Peter himself.
Priests manned the confessionals before mass, but I must confess that I did not. Each confessional had a language posted so that folks of every nationality could participate in the sacrament. It looked like the confessors would have to kneel on the outside, while the priest sat behind the closed door. A little strange, I thought, so I waited for someone, anyone, to come so that I could watch and see what I should do. I asked the young man standing guard at the entry, but he did not speak English. No one came and I gave up. A disappointment, although I'm sure the absolution bestowed by my parish priests will work as well as absolution received in St. Peters.
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