Every February 22, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the community of the Vatican College of Minor Penitentiaries, celebrates its patronal feast. On this occasion it invites all the collaborators of the Apostolic Penitentiary and the Penitentiary Fathers at the other Roman basilicas, the ordinary ones such as the Dominicans at St. Mary Major, our OFM confreres at St. John Lateran and the Benedictines at St. Paul Outside the Walls, as well as the extraordinary ones such as the Carmelites.

This year, for practical reasons, the date was postponed to February 24, 2020. The meeting, which consists of a simple lunch shared in a spirit of fraternity, provides an opportunity to get to know one another better and to exchange experiences. At the beginning of the meal, the Rector of Penitentiaries, Friar Vincenzo COSATTI, addressed a cordial greeting to all the guests, which included His Eminence Mauro Cardinal PIACENZA, Major Penitentiary and head of the Apostolic Penitentiary; our Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI; our Vicar General, Friar Jan MACIEJOWSKI; and our Assistant General for the Centralis Europae Foederatio (CEF) Friar Dominique MATHIEU. Among other things, Friar Vincenzo mentioned that in four years we will celebrate 250 years of Conventual Franciscan presence at the service of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in St. Peter’s Basilica. We have been granted a unique opportunity to thank the Lord for the grace that has been granted to us, to be able to exercise the ministry of divine mercy in such a solemn and majestic place.
At the end of the lunch, His Eminence addressed some words of thanks for being invited and for the service that is carried out in the various Roman basilicas. He wished that our listening be ever more attentive and that our words more deeply touch the hearts of penitents.

Friar Dominique MATHIEU, Assistant General for the CEF