Johann Wolfgang von Goethe writes from Rome on January 6th, 1787: “Again I have some more ecclesiastical matters to tell you about. We spent a roaming Christmas Eve visiting the churches where services were being held. One of the most popular is equipped with a special organ and other musical devices, so that not a pastoral sound is lacking, from the shepherd’s pipes to the chirping of birds and the bleating of sheep.

“On Christmas Day I saw the Pope [Pius VI] with the assembled clergy in St Peter’s, where he celebrated High Mass. At times he sat on this throne, at others he stood in front of it. It is a spectacle unique in its kind, magnificent and dignified. But I am so old a protestant Diogenes that the effect on me of this splendour was more negative than positive. Like my pious predecessor, I should like to say to these spiritual conquerors of the world: Do not come between me and the sun of sublime art and simple humanity.

“Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, and I have heard Mass said according to the Greek rite. These ceremonies seemed to me more impressive, austere and thoughtful than the Latin ones.

“As I watched, I again felt that I am too old for anything but truth. Rites, operas, processions, ballets, they all run off me like water off a duck’s back. But an operation of Nature, like the sunset seen from the Villa Madama, or a work of art, like my revered Juno, leaves a deep and lasting impression.”