Prior Sembera was the first to awaken, in fact he had hardly slept. A week ago his choir had performed magnificently in the Palm Sunday 'battle of the choirs'. After the blessing of the Palmkaatzchen, - willow branches, that, in Brno were used instead of palms - each choir had sung its own personal selection of hymns or music as various groups held their processions around the church. The soaring rendition of Mozart's Requiem, that they had been practicing for weeks, had carried the day. Despite an imperfection in the Lacrimosa, that only the Prior had heard, the St. Thomas' choir was universally voted the best of 1865 and promised pride of place during the celebrations of the Sacred Tridium.
The Bishop himself had sent the invitation, and the previous day Sembera's choir had sung its heart out as soldiers of the Austrian army had paraded in uniform, complete with steel helmets and fixed bayonets, as a guard of honor before the Shrine of the Eucharist. It was said that this particularly local custom was the army's way of atoning for the irreverence of the Roman soldiers as they guarded Christ's tomb. In the afternoon they had been part of an even larger choir that had sung the 'Seven Last Words', a modern composition by the upstart Haydn and only introduced in 1809.
Brothers Gregory, Matthew and Joseph broke their fast early and as the sun arose, were to be found in Brother Victor's kitchen helping to prepare the Easter hams. This was one day of the year when Brother Victor welcomed all the help he could get. Bread was to be baked, pastry rolled, pie fillings mixed and spiced, eggs boiled and painted by the novices and pupils, and best of all, a series of fresh hams had to be cooked and then packed in baskets for a special blessing that afternoon in the local parish church.
When they had done all they could do, they obtained permission of Abbot Napp and went off into Brno to watch the preparations for the Vigil. In this they were not alone, everyone in Brno was out on the streets preparing for the sacrum lucernarium to be held later that evening. Outside the houses along the parade route, servants were busily hanging torches and elaborate candelabras loaded with fresh candles. At the top of the Petrov Hill, in the open space before the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, where the parade would end, the pile of logs was growing and on each side of the cathedral doors draymen and a group of handwerker from Druer's winery were unloading the huge barrels of burcak that Mendel and his friends had been trying to save.
It was these they had come to see. As part of his deal with the diocese, Druer had received permission to place his barrels of wine right in the open space around the cathedral. As the Easter Vigil reached its climax Druer intended to broach these barrels and sell their contents to the celebrants, all at considerable profit. His men were hard at work unloading the barrels from the flatbed drays and into a position to begin the sale. They were already attracting an interested crowd, but, by agreement, nothing would be sold until later that evening.
For those that couldn't wait, pie-men were selling mouthwatering povidove tasticky, small dough parcels filled with hot plum jam, and an enterprising merchant had already set up a huge pot of boiling water from which he was serving freshly cooked spekove knedliky, bread and bacon dumplings. By lunchtime the crowds were so thick along the cobbled streets of Brno center that no one noticed Brother Timothy as he made his way behind the Moravian museum, down a narrow flight of steps and into the basement of an undistinguished building.