Father DiGennaro yawned widely and checked his watch again. It was almost midnight, and after that he could lock the massive bronze doors of the Holy Name Cathedral—seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago—and go to bed. The younger priests would still be celebrating Christmas Eve, with spiked eggnog and pizzas, but all Father DiGennaro wanted was a shot of Maalox and a good night’s sleep. At seventy-three, he’d ushered in more than enough holidays.
And the one piece of pizza he’d had was already giving him heartburn.
The archbishop liked to keep the cathedral open late on Christmas Eve, as it was a time when some parishioners came in to quietly reaffirm their faith. And perhaps a dozen or so people had already done that. But Father DiGennaro was alone now, and the interior of the vast Gothic church echoed with his footsteps as he made the rounds. Built in 1874 to replace the previous cathedral, destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871, Holy Name was large enough to seat two thousand worshippers at one time, and it was richly decorated with red Rocco Alicante marble and a massive granite altarpiece, weighing six tons. The wall sconces and votive candles lent a warm glow to the lower regions of the interior, but the ceiling, 150 feet high, was barely visible. Some work was being done up there, and plywood sheets and tarps were stretched across a portion of the apse. But the red hats of the previous Chicago cardinals—Meyer, Bernardin, Mundelein, Cody, and Stritch—were still hanging, as tradition dictated, until they were reduced to dust … a reminder to all that earthly glory is passing.
Father DiGennaro burped, holding his closed hand to his lips, and shuffled slowly toward the double doors, decorated, like the rest of the church, with motifs meant to suggest the biblical “Tree of Life.” He was fishing in his trouser pocket for the key ring, when he saw, to his surprise—and if the truth be told, to his chagrin—the doors opening, and a slender woman, in a veiled hat and long fur coat, entering the glass-enclosed vestibule.
Oh, Lord, he thought, please let her just light a candle and be gone. The corns on his feet were killing him, too.
But once inside, she stood, as if a stranger, looking all around and hesitant to enter any farther. He had the sense that she was coming to some decision, which did not bode well for him. People in the throes of a spiritual crisis seldom found quick release or comfort.
Approaching her slowly enough not to startle her, he said, “Merry Christmas … and welcome to Holy Name.”
As he emerged from the shadows of the nave, she took off her gloves, crossed herself, and with a sudden determination, said, “I’m sorry to trouble you at this hour, but I wish to make my confession. Can you do that for me?”
This was going to be worse than he thought. “I was just about to lockup,” he replied, slowly, hoping she would take the hint and come back the next day, but she didn’t move from the spot. He quickly sensed something else about this woman, too—that she was used to getting what she wanted, when she wanted it.
He let the key ring drop back to the bottom of his pocket.
“Where would we go?” she said, looking around nervously.
The old priest gestured toward several carved wooden booths, with thick red curtains, that stood between banks of flickering candles.
The woman strode off, her heels clicking on the floor, as if she were eager to get this thing over with, and Father DiGennaro wearily followed. Parting the curtains of a booth, she disappeared inside, and he went into the other side, settling into the cushioned chair and folding his cold hands in his lap. Why, he thought, hadn’t he just cheated by five minutes and locked the doors early? Right now, he could be taking his shoes off and rubbing the life back into his sore feet.
The woman was kneeling on the other side of the screen, her veil removed—he certainly didn’t see many of those anymore—and from what he could tell, a cascade of black hair had washed down onto the shoulders of her fur collar. Her face was lowered as she mumbled, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit … My last confession was … a long time ago.”
A lapsed Catholic, he thought. He could be here all night. And then he chided himself for his uncharitable attitude. This is what he was here for, what he’d been doing for well on fifty years. He recited several brief verses from Romans—“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”—as this sometimes seemed to help the penitents unburden themselves, then he waited.