New Year's Eve!

And so it arrived!
New Year's Eve - 1999.
The last day - of the year --- of the decade --- of the century --- of the millennium!
The day was going to start for us very, very early.
The shape of this day actually began to gel some months before as I contemplated my "dream" ending of this year.
I decided to give it a try and I wrote to the proper authorities in the Vatican with a most unusual and rather bold request.
Could I preside at a Mass at the very Tomb of Peter in the crypts of St. Peter's?
Was it possible?
Could it happen?
Well, on Thanksgiving Day itself I received my response.
A fax came through to the parish office that day.
Permission granted!
We would begin New Year's Eve 1999 at the very Tomb of Peter!
Mass at the altar there!
Our group was scheduled for 7:30 AM and so we had a very, very early start on the day.
Entering St. Peter's Basilica at that hour was like entering a tomb - silence, incredible silence. The building was virtually empty. Footsteps echoed in the emptiness.
We were almost instantly greeted and I was escorted to the proper sacristy (no problem this day; I finally had my clerics!) The rest of the group was taken by another guide down into the crypts.
And there our day began.
At that altar, promenade to where those bones had been found, the remains of one who died in his 60's, violently (martyrdom?) Those remains.
There in that place where the very seeds of our faith had been planted and watered in the blood of martyrs.
There we gathered to do Eucharist as they had done so long ago and continued to do throughout the centuries.
There we gave  Thanks on the final day of 1999.

Following the Mass our group headed off to a scheduled visit to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.
Having been there numerous times, I decided to slip the tour and wander a bit on my own and perhaps deal with a new dilemma we were facing.
Food!
Dinner!
Specifically New Year's Eve Dinner!
Since the possibility of our getting admission into St. Peter's for the evening services was uncertain right up to the wire, the tour company made no provisions for us for dinner on New Year's Eve and the word was that, while reservations were still available, going price was upward of $100.00 (American) per person and that price went on upward, seriously upward.
So I headed off to some of the smaller, more folksy restaurants that I knew. Found one not yet open for the day  but with a crew cleaning  and setting up and, as can be the case in Italy, the doors were open which invited me in.
I explained the situation and was immediately given reservations for a full, traditional Italian feast - antipasto to dessert together with all the wine we wished for roughly $25.00 (American) per person.
Deed done, I rejoined the group and we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the evening, New Year's Eve, 1999.


(Come back for New Year's Evening!)