I dag feiret jeg messe i Peterskirken kl 07.15. Mellom kl 07.00 og 08.15 kan alle katolske prester som ønsker det, feire messe i Peterskirken, men i dag var det første gang jeg gjorde det. Jeg møtte opp kl 07.15 med egen alba og missale, gikk til kirken sakristi, der det var stor aktivitet. En ung ministrant hentet stola og messehakel til meg, tok med vin og vann (mens jeg bar kalken) og ledet meg til et alter.
Alteret har relikvien til St Petronilla, og kan sees øverst i innlegget. På denne siden er alteret jeg brukte i dag nr 56 – som det står mer om her. Bl.a.:
The altarpiece, Burial of St. Petronilla, is after a painting by Guercino. She was the legendary daughter of St. Peter. The saints relics came from the catacombs in 750. Her chapel in both the old and new basilica became the Church of France.
… The altar at the back is dedicated to St. Petronilla. On it can be admired a scene of the Burial of St. Petronilla, who is received into heaven by the heavenly Bridegroom, one of the loveliest mosaics in the basilica. It is by Pier Paolo Cristofari after a painting by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino (1590-1666). Under this altar are the relics of St. Petronilla, whose body, buried in the cemetery of Domitilla, was exhumed in 750 and venerated in a small shrine which Pepin le Bref had requested from the Pope and was therefore known as the «Rotunda of St. Petronilla». …