NEW YORK (AP) - Cardinal Edward Egan was a gift from God who worked heroically for parishes, charities, health care and education, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Tuesday at Egan's funeral Mass.
Dolan told the 2,500 people packing St. Patrick's Cathedral that Egan "was uncomfortable with eulogies" but Dolan went on to praise him nonetheless. He said Catholics from fellow cardinals to "God's good people" could tell of "consolation given on and after 9/11, prayers offered, sick visited, prisoners encouraged, children taught, immigrants welcomed, and parishes strengthened."
"Now this Church thanks God for him and commends his noble, priestly soul to the everlasting mercy of Jesus," Dolan said.
Egan died Thursday after a heart attack. A Vatican theological force, he led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for almost a decade, including Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center and more than 2,700 died. In the days and weeks that followed, Egan performed many funerals.
Tuesday's music-filled service got off to a noisy start with drummers and bagpipers from New York City's police and fire departments accompanying a funeral procession along the blocked-off streets around the cathedral in midtown Manhattan.
In the packed cathedral, amid construction scaffolding, solemn church music took over as several hundred Catholic clergy, including almost a dozen cardinals and archbishops and about 30 bishops, walked slowly down the center aisle toward Egan's casket, draped in white and gold at the foot of the altar.
Several of Egan's relatives took part in the Mass.
In the pews were Gov. Andrew Cuomo and four New York mayors: incumbent Bill De Blasio and former mayors Michael Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani and David Dinkins.
International opera stars Renee Fleming and Matthew Polenzani sang Cesar Franck's "Panis Angelicus" and Fleming sang Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria." Fleming was a friend who sang at Egan's installation in 2000.