Abp. Hannan’s death hits home; ‘Our great shepherd has gone’

    With the bagpipe strains of “O, Danny Boy” echoing off the marble floors and walls of Notre Dame Seminary, six priests carried the casket bearing the body of Archbishop Philip M. Hannan into the seminary chapel Oct. 3 for a priests’ evening of prayer, thus beginning four days of prayer, public viewing, procession and liturgical farewell for the 98-year-old former archbishop of New Orleans.
    As the third-oldest U.S. bishop, Archbishop Hannan had endured declining health in the past year, but his death on Sept. 29 still was in some sense a surprise because he had rallied so many times from previous strokes and respiratory ailments.

Reality of death is difficult
    “It’s really hard to put this in perspective,” said Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Hannan in 1975 and who greeted the casket as it arrived at Notre Dame Seminary for an hour of evening prayer with 150 priests.
    “We obviously knew he was dying, and actually we thought he might have died a year ago,” Archbishop Aymond said. “I had the privilege to be at his bedside when he was going through the stage of death and celebrated the Mass of Viaticum with him (on Sept. 24).
    “But it was only when I went to the funeral home to help prepare him for the funeral that it hit me that our great shepherd of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and of our city has gone. As the hearse pulled up, I was very emotional. It really touched me. It sort of came as a flash – all that he’s done for so many people. He touched the lives and hearts of so many.”
    Evening Prayer from the priests’ “Office of the Dead” consisted of readings from Psalms 121 (“Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth”) and 130 (“If you, O Lord, should mark our sins, Lord, who would survive?”) as well as readings from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:6-11) and 1 Corinthians (15:51-57).
    The six pallbearers were Josephite Father Charles Andrus, Vincentian Father Louis Arceneaux, Father Salvador Galvez, Father José Lavastida, Father Lich V. Nguyen and Father William O’Donnell.
    Father Doug Brougher placed the Book of the Gospels near Archbishop Hannan’s open casket, and Father Paul Desrosiers placed his gold crosier in a stand near the altar.
    Members of the Hannan family, including Jerry Hannan, the archbishop’s only surviving brother, prayed from the front pew. They were greeted after the prayer service by Archbishop Aymond and by Cardinal Edward Egan, the former archbishop of New York, who stayed in New Orleans for the service after delivering the homily at the Red Mass earlier in the day.
 

Saying good-bye
    After the prayer service, priests approached the casket two-by-two and either touched Archbishop Hannan’s his body or gave him a blessing. Then, the chapel was opened to the public for the first of three days of public viewing.
    “He just made the city whole,” said Joan Livaccari, who was confirmed by Archbishop Hannan at St. Ann in Metairie. “I think he just reached out to anybody in any station of life or position in life. He was just good to everybody.”
    Livaccari said she lost her home in Katrina but came back to the area because she was inspired by Archbishop Hannan’s example after the storm.
    “We ended up in Lafayette, and he was one of the reasons we finally got back because he just gave us so much hope to come back to our home,” Livaccari said.
 

He showed his fortitude
    Catherine Minor, a parishioner at St. Joan of Arc in New Orleans, said the archbishop’s example of bearing his sufferings with equanimity was inspirational.
    “After this happened I said I had to go because that poor soul couldn’t go any more,” Minor said. “God saw this and he called him home. He opened the gates of heaven and let him come in – thank God for that. He gave me courage. I’m 77 years old, and he gave me courage to keep on going and not to give up. He really went the last mile.”
    Archbishop Hannan’s body was to lie in state at Notre Dame Seminary Oct. 4-5, and a procession to St. Louis Cathedral was scheduled for Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. The funeral Mass was to be celebrated by Archbishop Aymond Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. at the cathedral.
    “Everybody in his family is saying thank you, but there is no need to thank me or anyone else,” Archbishop Aymond said. “What we’re doing is a very, very small way of saying thank you to him for the 46 years he spent in the archdiocese, 23 as our shepherd.”
    Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected]