Mankato Seminarian was Lector at Pope's Easter Vigil Mass

Thomas Niehaus and the Rev. Richard Colletti of St. John’s the Baptist Catholic Church in Mankato will have much to talk about in July when Niehaus returns from Rome.

Colletti, who studied at The Pontifical North American College in Rome in the 1970s, won a lottery at the school to be a part of a candle Mass vigil for Lent in 1977 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which was officiated by Pope Paul VI.

Niehaus — a second-year theologian studying for the priesthood in Rome for the Diocese of Winona — has been selected in a lottery to read Scripture during the Easter Vigil Mass at the Vatican today. The service will be at St. Peter’s Basilica, officiated by Pope Benedict XVI, and broadcast at 3 p.m. on cable channel EWTN. Mankato Free Press