Nearly 200 priests of the Archdiocese of New Orleans squeezed into a seminary chapel Monday and chanted ancient Christian prayers of penance and confidence in the afterlife around the body of Archbishop Philip Hannan.
The prayer service at Notre Dame Seminary marked the formal beginning of four days of funeral rites for Hannan, 98, who died last week, 46 years after coming to New Orleans.
Hannan will lie in repose at the seminary until Wednesday when, according to plans the Archdiocese of New Orleans released Monday, the St. Augustine High School Marching Band will lead a horse-drawn carriage bearing his body down Canal Street toward St. Louis Cathedral.
The rites will end with a final funeral Mass there Thursday at 2 p.m., the archdiocese said.
At the close of the 34-minute prayer service, church officials opened the seminary to allow members of the public to file past Hannan’s casket. That will continue Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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Wonderful!
Thought you’d like it, Richard. But possibly not the hymns at his funeral?
He’s excused from choosing Minstrel Boy for his funeral song! His generation thought Vatican II (bringing some fresh air into the Church etc) was a force for good. He’s also a proud Irishman as well as a man of God. I just love the fact the funeral shows he was much loved and they’re praying for his soul, not just celebrating the man.
yes, there were great obituary platitudes in the press, after his death, including a fairly large one in The Times, that’s the ‘white Times’ in the UK not the NY version – he did a phenomenal amount of work for the poor and deprived in New Orleans
andrew