Cardinal Lustiger Rest in Peace
Updated August 11.
The La Croix article about Cardinal Lustiger's funeral Mass reports that the Mass was concelebrated by 500 priests, 50 bishops, and 16 cardinals, with Archbishop Vingt-Trois presiding. French President Sarkozy interrupted his vacation to attend. About 3,000 people attended inside the cathedral, with another 2,000 gathered in the square, where the Mass was broadcast on a large screen.
The video of the funeral can be viewed online from the KTO archives, by clicking here: http://www.ktotv.com/videos/mgrlustiger_funerailles.ram, or from the KTO website.
The service began outside, in the square of Notre Dame Cathedral. Six seminarians carried the coffin into the square. In honor of the Jewish birth of Cardinal Lustiger, who converted to Catholicism at the age of 14, Jewish elements were added to the service on the square of the cathedral, before his coffin was carried inside the cathedral for the Christian funeral liturgy. His great grand nephew Jonas Moses-Lustiger, wearing a traditional Jewish kippa, poured soil from the Holy Land into a small bowl on the coffin. He then read Psalm 113. The Cardinal's cousin Arno Lustiger then briefly recounted the Cardinal's family history and read the traditional Jewish Kaddish.
The Pope's message was read by the Pope's representative Cardinal Paul Poupard. He honored Cardinal Lustiger's work in Jewish-Catholic relations, work he did with the encouragement and support of Pope John Paul II, "decisive acts that perhaps only he could undertake." He called the Cardinal "a great figure of the Church, respected by all."
Maurice Duron, the perpetual secretary of the prestigious Académie Française, which counted Cardinal Lustiger among its members, called him a "man above men" and "the Jewish Cardinal." He stated that the announcement of Cardinal Lustiger's death "has taken on an importance more vast and more significant each hour, as if his human form somewhat concealed his greatness."
At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Lustiger's coffin was carried to the Archbishops' Crypt, where he was laid to rest.
A plaque was placed at his grave with verse that he wrote himself. The original French verse is available from La Croix. Here is an English translation by me:
I was born Jewish.
I received the name
Of my paternal great-grandfather, Aron.
Becoming Christian
By faith and baptism,
I remained Jewish
As did the Apostles.
I have for patron saints
Aaron the Great Priest,
St. John the Apostle,
St. Mary full of grace.
Named 139th archbishop of Paris
By His Holiness Pope John Paul II,
I was enthroned in this cathedral
On February 27, 1981.
From then, I exercised all of my ministry there.
Those who pass, pray for me.
† Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger
Archbishop of Paris
See the August 9 update for more information about the funeral.
Updated August 9.
New information has been announced regarding tomorrow's funeral Mass for Cardinal Lustiger. French Cardinal Paul Poupard will represent Pope Benedict XVI at the funeral and will read a message from the Pope. Archbishop Vingt-Trois, who is Cardinal Lustiger's successor as Archbishop of Paris, will preside and will deliver the homily. Numerous other European bishops, archbishops and cardinals will participate, together with representatives from the Eastern Rite and from Jewish communities. At Cardinal Lustiger's request, traditional prayers for the dead will be prayed during the Mass, including the traditional Jewish Kaddish.
The Mass will be broadcast on a large screen outside of Notre Dame for those who wish to attend and are not able to be inside the Cathedral.
Among the late Cardinal's family members participating, Jonas Moses-Lustiger will read Psalm 113 first in Hebrew and then in French. Arno Lustiger will say the Kaddish.
After the Mass, Cardinal Lustiger's body will be accompanied to the archbishops' vault, where he will be laid to rest with his predecessors. Since the 17th century, the archbishops of Paris have been laid to rest in that same crypt, closed to the public, beneath the choir of the cathedral. (Source: Eucharistie Miséricordeuse)
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The following was gradually expanded from Sunday, August 5, through Wednesday, August 8. I gradually cleaned it up to read well, but it still may be a bit awkward because of the daily additions and changes:
KTO has prepared a special short memorial video. If the link does not open the video in your video player, watch from the KTO website.
Cardinal Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger the former archbishop of Paris, died of cancer Sunday at the age of 80. There are French language articles at Le Figaro and La Croix. English language articles are available from BBC News, AFP, and the New York Times. The New York Times article is interesting for its particular interest in Cardinal Lustiger's Polish Jewish heritage. La Croix reports that he died at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Maison Médicale Jeanne-Garnier in Paris.
His funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday morning at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. KTO French Catholic TV -- a network created by Cardinal Lustiger's initiative in 1999 -- will broadcast the Mass live and also plans to broadcast several other programs in tribute to the Cardinal. A schedule of related TV specials is available on the Diocese of Paris website. From the KTO page on specials related to Cardinal Lustiger, click on a broadcast, and then click on the link "regarder l'émission" or "regarder la video" to watch. KTO's internet broadcasts are regularly available live on line and then available on demand in archives a few hours, or sometimes a day, later. The archives remain available for at least a couple of weeks and often much longer.
Friday's Mass will surely be well worth watching for the beauty of the liturgy and music even if you do not understand French. Here is the schedule for live broadcasts on KTO in Paris time and also Eastern and Pacific:
Monday 6 August: Mass from Notre-Dame at 21h30 (9:30 p.m. Paris, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 p.m. Pacific).
Tuesday 9 August 17h45 - 18h15 (5:45 to 6:15 p.m. Paris, 11:45 a.m. Eastern, 8:45 a.m. Pacific): a half hour of prayer in the chapel of rest
Friday 10 August 10h00 (10:00 a.m. Paris, 4:00 a.m. Eastern, 1:00 a.m. Pacific): Funeral Mass at Notre Dame
Friday 10 August 20h50 (8:30 p.m. Paris, 2:30 p.m. Eastern, 11:30 a.m. Pacific): Special Broadcast
The Holy Father's telegram of condolence is published in Italian by the Vatican Press Office. Teresa Benedetta has an English translation at Papa Ratzinger Forum.
The Diocese of Paris has set up a page for condolences where anyone can post a message. (Don't hesitate to post in English of course.)
La Croix now has a page with a Dossier on Cardinal Lustiger in French, including information about the Cardinal; eulogies from the Pope, Archbishop Vingt-Trois, representatives of other religions, political leaders, and others; links to some of his writings online in French; links to audio and video of the Cardinal; and articles about the Cardinal from the La Croix news archives.
The Passionist blogger at Laus Crucis posted a personal memorial to the Cardinal, having been a parish priest in his diocese for 7 years.
George Weigel posted a eulogy at First Things.
There are more blogger tributes at Insight Scoop, Eagle and Elephant, and Patrice de Plunkett (in French, from the former editor-in-chief of Le Figaro). Gerald is blogging some of the news articles (including Jewish tributes) at The Cafeteria Is Closed.
Cardinal Lustiger was born in Paris in 1926 to a Polish Jewish family. He learned of Nazism during a visit to Germany in 1937. When he decided to become Catholic, he chose the names "Jean-Marie" (the French equivalent to John Mary). In 1943, his mother was deported to Auschwitz, where she died.
He studied literature at the Sorbonne and received his theological education from the Seminaire des Carmes at the Institut Catholique of Paris. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1954. In 1979, he was briefly bishop of Orleans before Pope John Paul II named him the new archbishop of Paris in early 1981. He was instrumental in creating Paris' outstanding Radio Notre Dame in 1991 and Catholic television station KTO in 1999. He was elected to the Académie Française in 1995. In 1999, he received the Nostra Aetate Award for advancing Catholic-Jewish relations from the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. In February, 2005, he retired as Archbishop of Paris. He was thought by some people to be a possible successor to Pope John Paul II, as mentioned in this April 2005 article.
His successor, the current Archbishop André Vingt-Trois, issued a statement, discussed in another La Croix article. He said that he had lost "a father, a brother, and a friend." He stated that the past few weeks had been particularly difficult for the Cardinal. Their country is losing a great figure who "held a special place in our society and in the intellectual debates of our time, notably for his participation in the Académie Française." Abp. Vingt-Trois received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Lustiger, and was vicar general of Paris and later auxiliary bishop of Paris before becoming Archbishop of Tours. In February 2005, he succeeded Cardinal Lustiger as Archbishop of Paris.
Cardinal Lustiger wrote a number of books about the Catholic faith. The Diocese of Paris website has a bibliography of his books published in French. His books available in English include:
- The Promise
, scheduled for release December 2007 by Wm. B. Eerdmans
- Dare to Rejoice: A Celebration of Christian Life
- Choosing God, Chosen by God: Conversations with Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger
- The Lord's Prayer
- Dare to Believe: Addresses, Sermons, Interviews 1981-1984, Crossroad Publishing, 1986.
An article that he wrote, published in the magazine First Things in October, 1997, is available online, titled Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. The article was adapted from his Erasmus Lecture delivered the previous year in New York.
Thank you for this collection. I will be sure to link to it. I have some items up but not as many as here. Lustiger was a great man, a real man of the Church: homo ecclesiaticus.
Posted by: W. | August 07, 2007 at 12:27 PM