Mass at St. Peter's Tomb

The treasure of Rome is the Vatican and the treasure of the Vatican is St. Peter's Basilica.  The site was originally the Roman circus and consequently the site of martyrdom for many early Christians, one of the first of which was St. Peter. Crucified upside down in the Roman circus, his body was interred in the adjoining graveyard. Eventually, his tomb was given a humble monument and eventually enclosed in marble by Constantine.  A basilica was eventually built over it and the current St. Peter's Basilica is a replacement for the original basilica.  The pinnacle dome of St. Peter's is directly over the tomb of St. Peter.  However, the exact grave was never uncovered until modern times when Pope Pius XII authorized excavation and a necropolis was discovered far below the current St. Peter's Basilica.  The actual bones of St. Peter were discovered and identified during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI. If you take the Necropolis tour, you will be able to view his grave and his bones which lie in the underground tomb far below the main altar of the basilica.  It is a very humbling experience that is usually met with silence and ended in a prayer offered by our seminarian guide.  The altar build against and touching his grave is in a small ornate chapel the Clementine Chapel.  It only holds about eight people and is just about 100 feet away from the tomb of Pius XII.

The pinnacle of our journey was that Fr. Voigt received permission to offer Mass on this privileged altar.  Our Mass was scheduled for 8AM so we arrived at around 7:30AM. By that time, there were already numerous Masses being offered at several of the side altars. I was very heartened to find that of the seven Masses I counted as we walked in, four of them were the Traditional Latin Mass, and the other three were the modern Mass.  What a grace to see how freely the Traditional Mass was being chosen by the priests this morning. At 7:40AM, we went to the grand sacristy where 15-20 priests were in the process of vesting or devesting.  There was a
station set up for Fr, Voigt and a priest helped him vest for Mass.  While all priests wore the Gothic chasuble of St. Peter's, when Fr. Voigt indicated that he would offer Mass in the 'Extraordinary Rite', he was provided with an amice and he wore his maniple.

Tony and I vested in cassock and surplice and we were let down to St. Peter's crypt for Mass along with our wives who assisted at Mass as usual. We were also joined by 2 nuns and and an elderly couple who received permission to be in the crypt to assist at Mass.  As we had done before, we placed our rosaries and religious articles on St. Peter's tomb before Mass.  Fr. Voigt gave a short reflection on St. Peter and the gravity of offering the Mass on this altar in the presence of the relics of St. Peter.  There were tears at the Consecration.

 Fr. Voigt offers Mass on the tomb of St. Peter in the ornate Clementine Chapel.

We took more time after Mass to view the basilica.  We stopped and prayed for a moment at the altar containing the body of Pope St. Pius X.  A Novus Ordo Mass was just beginning there concelebrated by three priests. Although St. Peter's still inspires awe, it is a travesty that it is largely treated like a museum.  People tramp around oblivious to the presence of the Blessed Sacrament on side altars.  Laymen and even priests and nuns pass by side chapels with the Blessed Sacrament exposed for adoration without so much as a nod, let alone the reverential double genuflection.  Tourists mockingly pose and smile in prayerful positions from unused Confessionals for their laughing friend's cameras without interference.