Hundreds gathered to bid farewell to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the former spiritual leader of Philadelphia's 1.5 million Catholics, who was laid to rest alongside the tombs of his predecessors.
A funeral Mass was held Tuesday at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul for Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, who led the archdiocese for more than 15 years. He died last week at the age of 88.
The basilica was filled nearly to its 1,800-person capacity, including 275 priests, 60 bishops and archbishops and four cardinals, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“He loved his people. He loved Philadelphia,” Archbishop Charles Chaput said near the end of the two-hour ceremony. “May he enter into the eternal gladness of his Lord.”
The final rites began with a 20-minute procession of priests, prelates and seminarians escorting the closed coffin to the center of the sanctuary.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the papal legate to the United States, read a telegram from Pope Benedict XVI offering “heartfelt condolences” and citing Bevilacqua's “longstanding commitment to social justice and the pastoral care of immigrants” as well as his command of church law.
Monsignor Louis D'Addezio began his homily by recalling the first instruction of the new archbishop to hold a party for his large family on the night of his arrival. He said it was the first of many gatherings for the family, which filled four pews to the right of the casket during the service.
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“You brought nothing but joy to his life,” said D'Addezio, who became a friend and assistant to Bevilacqua after his retirement.
After the Mass, Bevilacqua was entombed in the crypt beneath the cathedral's altar with a Rite of Committal.
Bevilacqua retired in 2003. In recent months, he had become central to a child sex abuse case involving former priests and a former high-ranking church administrator.
