I took a 1500 mile pilgrimage across three countries in Europe. It all started in Rome.

On the second day of my pilgrimage I visited the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. And inside the chapel I got a blessing from a priest. Let me tell you the story.

This is a picture of the Sistine Chapel. I didn't take this picture though. They don't allow video or photographs inside.

My Sistine Chapel story:

My stay in Rome was the first three days of a ten week pilgrimage across Europe. That pilgrimage crossed Italy, France and Spain,. And.... the final leg was a 500 mile backpacking walk across all of Spain. That pilgrimage is known as the Way of Saint James and it is something that pilgrims have been doing for 1400 years.

So, I was concerned about the whole adventure. Spending all that tiime and exerting all that energy. My thoughts went mostly to my safety and my not getting hurt.

Anyway....back to my visit to the Sistine Chapel.

There is an enormous number of people that visit the Vatican museum and Chapel every single day. Crowd control is a big thing. People, after spending time in the museum, gather in front of the doors to the Sistine Chapel.

And at intervals they allow groups to enter, after the previous group has exited. They keep things flowing.

My group entered and crowded into the Chapel. And they gave us ten or fifteen minutes to mill around and enjoy/appreciate the awe inspiring art work that covers all of the chapel.

Then a priest comes out and stands on a platform that is about a foot taller than the floor. It's like a stage on one end of the chapel.

He talks a bit and tells us a bit about the Chapel. And he finishes his talk by saying that if anybody would like a blessing they are welcome to come up on the stage. Then he sits in a wooden chair.

Everybody looked around, and after a minute of quiet I thought to myself that I am embarking on a very difficult pilgrimage over the next ten weeks and I sure would love a blessing. So I went up as everybody watched.

Tears streamed down my face, as I stood there in the Sistine Chapel and received a blessing from a priest.

After the blessing I thanked the priest and made my way through the crowd to the exit on the other end of the chapel. I turned around just before I exited to witness a line of people forming to get a blessing.

And that was it. I exited the Chapel and the Vatican Museum. It was a glorious day for me -to see some of the most magnificent artworks in the whole world including Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, and to get a blessing.

I have a page of pictures inside the Vatican museum here.

PIcture of inside the Sistine Chape credit: Antoine Taveneaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons