I stumbled on the following videos of a Requiem High Mass celebrated for John F. Kennedy on the evening on which he was assassinated. It was celebrated by a Fr. Sheridan at Our Lady's Chapel in Los Angeles, California. It's not complete; the video of the Mass cuts in just before the reading of the Gospel, and is spread across four segments. (There is a short segment of Harry Reasoner reporting from New York, before they cut to Charles Kuralt in LA. Reasoner comes on again at the end of the fourth segment.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgvZPZe0O40
http://www.youtube.com/wa...KDyS5S4E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/wa...5qIWueME&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/wa...s1xf9gBw&feature=related
Father Sheridan gives a short eulogy after the Gospel, and repeats it after the Mass. Today, knowing what we know of Kennedy's personal life, the eulogy sounds laughable. But at the time, President Kennedy's extracurricular activities were unknown to the general public. (If they had been known, how long would he have remained in office?) The Choir ends the Mass by singing "The Star Spangled Banner", which I consider inappropriate. But it is what it is.
Other tidbits scattered through the news coverage include the first reports that the president had died came from reporters who had talked to the priest who administered the Last Rites; an announcement that the funeral Mass was to be held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, (the funeral ended up at St. Matthew's Cathedral, over the objections of the US bishops); a picture of a catafalque surrounded by candles in St. Patrick' Cathedral, as people went in to pray; and a statement that President Kennedy would probably be buried on Tuesday, November 26, in Boston. (President Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, over the objections of his staffers.) There are also excerpts of the funeral Mass on YouTube. (A Pontifical Low Mass, at the family's request. A biographer noted that JFK preferred Low Mass, and the same singer who sang at the Kennedys' Nuptial Mass sang at the funeral.)
Whatever we might think of President Kennedy, he was a human being. May God have mercy on his soul.
Just made some minor corrections.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgvZPZe0O40
http://www.youtube.com/wa...KDyS5S4E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/wa...5qIWueME&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/wa...s1xf9gBw&feature=related
Father Sheridan gives a short eulogy after the Gospel, and repeats it after the Mass. Today, knowing what we know of Kennedy's personal life, the eulogy sounds laughable. But at the time, President Kennedy's extracurricular activities were unknown to the general public. (If they had been known, how long would he have remained in office?) The Choir ends the Mass by singing "The Star Spangled Banner", which I consider inappropriate. But it is what it is.
Other tidbits scattered through the news coverage include the first reports that the president had died came from reporters who had talked to the priest who administered the Last Rites; an announcement that the funeral Mass was to be held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, (the funeral ended up at St. Matthew's Cathedral, over the objections of the US bishops); a picture of a catafalque surrounded by candles in St. Patrick' Cathedral, as people went in to pray; and a statement that President Kennedy would probably be buried on Tuesday, November 26, in Boston. (President Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, over the objections of his staffers.) There are also excerpts of the funeral Mass on YouTube. (A Pontifical Low Mass, at the family's request. A biographer noted that JFK preferred Low Mass, and the same singer who sang at the Kennedys' Nuptial Mass sang at the funeral.)
Whatever we might think of President Kennedy, he was a human being. May God have mercy on his soul.
Just made some minor corrections.
