Once their participation was confirmed, the news traveled at the speed of the Internet back to central Illinois. Seven seminarians from the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois would join two others (from dioceses in Evansville, Ind. and Cincinnati) to serve Christmas Eve Mass celebrated by His Holiness Pope Francis.

From his post in Rome where he is studying canon law, Father Daren Zehnle posted on his Servant & Steward blog that "A few days [ago] I read an e-mail from the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Roman Pontiff to the rector of Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary, where the college seminarians study. Several of the seminarians ... are in Rome for Christmas. The rector had requested that the nine seminarians 'attend the Mass.' This morning my suspicions after the response to his request were confirmed: they are serving this evening for His Holiness Pope Francis when he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass. They are still a bit shell-shocked, but happy and excited, as well."

"The extraordinary, unlikely, and wonderful experience of serving Christmas Mass at St. Peter's, for Pope Francis, has reminded me yet again of the profound truth in the saying 'God will not be outdone in generosity,'" exclaimed Dominic Rankin of Quincy, a first year theology student at Pontifical North American College in Rome. "You don't, though, need to serve in a Papal Mass to see that: at Christmas we celebrate the even more extraordinary, unlikely, and wonderful event of God becoming man, of Jesus being born."

Rankin joined up with the other diocesan seminarians during their journey to Rome for Christmas. They included Michael Trummer and his brother, Chris Trummer, of Neoga, students at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, their classmates at Bishop Bruté, Dominic Vahling of Teutopolis, William Jansen II and Michael Meinhart of Dieterich. Braden Maher of Effingham, who attends St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology was also part of the Rome trip.

"Everyone was so humble and prayerful about the liturgy," said Chris Trummer. "They really stressed the importance of not getting caught up in the show and maintaining a prayerfulness and why we were there."

Dominic Vahling said being in the presence of the vicar of Christ on Christmas Eve was an "incredible experience."

"It was great to be with my brothers from the seminary at that time which made us a lot more confident in what we were doing that night," Vahling continued.

"I felt really blessed because I feel there was really nothing I did myself to deserve the chance to go to the Holy Land or to serve for the pope," Michael Trummer said. "It was a beautiful Mass."

Maher echoed the sense of surprise and anticipation once the group learned the morning of Dec. 24 that they would be serving Mass with the pope.

"I haven't had a Christmas gift like that in a long time," Maher said. "It was a real privilege. In addition to being reverent and participating in the Mass, you're still taking stock of everything that is happening around you."

Meinhart mentioned the very real presence of nervous energy and the necessity to keep it contained during Mass.

"It was unbelievable once we found out that we were going to actually serve for the pope," Meinhart recalled. "It was nerve-racking. I didn't want to trip and fall ... you just forgot about the people being there. You didn't want to do well necessarily because of all the people there, you wanted to do well for the liturgy and for Christ."
All of the seminarians will resume their studies at their respective schools on Jan. 12.