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Mass in John Paul II's vestments
An unfamiliar church
It was the last evening of a pilgrimage through Assisi, Florence, and Rome, October 22, 2025. Father Joe Minkaus's group had been assigned the Church of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, two blocks from their hotel, a church he had never heard of. Inside, a picture in the sanctuary showed John Paul II celebrating Mass there, and it dawned on him that the day was the pope's feast day.
The pastor spoke almost no English. Because the picture showed John Paul at the high altar, Father Joe asked in broken Italian whether he could say Mass there too, and the pastor agreed. In the sacristy, a vestment had been laid out, but the pastor took one look, whispered to the sacristan, and the vestment was swapped. The new one was the vestment John Paul wore in the picture.
Then the pastor opened the safe and brought out a chalice and paten. A note left with them recorded that Pope John Paul II had visited the parish on that date in 1989 and gifted them to the church.
A prayer for home
Earlier that day he had been asked to pray, through John Paul's intercession, for a mother whose young son was having a heart procedure. Rome is six hours ahead, so the Mass at six o'clock was the same hour the boy's parents were waiting for the doctor back home.
The church held shrines to St. Therese on the right of the altar and St. Joseph on the left, and a side chapel to Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette. The boy's mother had named Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Joseph, St. Therese, and John Paul II in prayer the night before.
Why do priests wear vestments?
Mass vestments descend from ordinary Roman clothing of late antiquity, such as the tunic and the cloak called the chasuble. As everyday fashion changed, the Church kept these garments for worship, and they gradually became distinct from street clothes. By the Middle Ages they were often richly embroidered. Their colors now follow the liturgical calendar, with green for ordinary time, white for major feasts, and red for martyrs.
Why is October 22 John Paul II's feast day?
Saints are usually remembered on the date of their death, but John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, a date that often falls in Lent or the Easter season. The Church instead chose October 22, the day in 1978 when he held the inaugural Mass of his papacy. Pope Francis canonized him on April 27, 2014, together with John XXIII. His memorial was then added to the Church's calendar on the October date.
Why do two martyrs share one church name?
Marcellinus and Peter were a priest and an exorcist in Rome who, according to tradition, were put to death around the year 304 during the persecution under Emperor Diocletian. Their names are listed among the martyrs in the Roman Canon, the central prayer of the Mass. Pope Damasus I wrote a verse inscription honoring them in the fourth century. The Church remembers them together on June 2.
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