Wurlitzer for St. Peter's

In Rome last week, Holy Year pilgrims visiting St. Peter's were startled to hear organ music grumbling up through gratings in the marble floor. One awed pilgrim exclaimed: "It comes right from the tomb of St. Peter."

The pilgrim's guess was close: the music came from the upper grottoes of the Vatican, just above the site where Roman Catholic historians believe St. Peter was buried. It issued from a brand new Wurlitzer electronic organ--the first to be installed in St. Peter's.

It had taken the Congregation of Rites a long time to make up its mind to the innovation. There was, said one Vatican official, a "psychological aversion to electric organs because they are so often used for jazz music."

Philadelphia's Dennis Cardinal Dougherty had been the persuader. Two years ago he presented the Pope with a Wurlitzer for his Cappella Matilda, one of the small chapels in the pontifical apartments. When the Pope seemed pleased with it, the Congregation of Rites voted to "tolerate" one in St. Peter's. After the new organ's debut, most of the Congregation seemed tolerably pleased too.

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