CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- At a funeral Mass on Saturday, Catholics recalled the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a man of deep faith that informed his public service.<\/p>\n\u201cHe was God\u2019s first,\u201d his son Fr. Paul Scalia noted of his father, citing public servant St. Thomas More\u2019s iconic quote: \u201cI die the king\u2019s good servant but God\u2019s first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Scalia died Feb. 13 at a resort ranch in West Texas at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court, having served since 1986.<\/p>\n
A lifelong Catholic, Scalia attended the Jesuit-run Xavier High School in New York City and then Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for undergraduate studies. He was a parishioner at St. John the Beloved Catholic Church in McLean, Va.<\/p>\n
An estimated crowd of 3,300 attended Scalia\u2019s funeral Mass Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest church in North America.<\/p>\n
Among those in attendance were current Supreme Court justices, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and numerous members of Congress, as well as the president of The Catholic University of America John Garvey and his wife Jeanne.<\/p>\n
Celebrating the Mass was one of Scalia\u2019s nine children, Fr. Paul Scalia, who is Episcopal Vicar of Clergy for the Diocese of Arlington. Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. concelebrated, along with the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States Carlo Maria Vigano, and Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington. More than 90 diocesan and religious priests also concelebrated.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Wuerl welcomed all present at the beginning of the Mass to pray \u201cfor the extraordinary man, Justice Antonin Scalia\u201d and \u201cthat God will grant him eternal rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his homily, Fr. Scalia remarked \u201cwhat a great privilege and consolation\u201d it was to bring his father through the Holy Door of the basilica during the Jubilee Year of Mercy, and for him gain the indulgence promised to those who enter in faith. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are gathered here because of one man,\u201d Fr. Scalia began, \u201ca man loved by many, scorned by others; a man known for great controversy and for great compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth,\u201d he added. \u201cIt is He Who we proclaim\u2026.It is because of Him\u201d that \u201cwe do not mourn as those who have no hope, but in confidence we commend Antonin Scalia to the mercy of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr. Scalia gave thanks to God for the \u201catoning death and resurrection of Christ\u201d and for the sacraments \u2013 his father\u2019s baptism in the Catholic faith, the sacrament of the Eucharist that \u201cnourished him,\u201d the sacrament of Penance which \u201chealed him,\u201d and the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Justice Scalia was married to his wife Maureen for 55 years.<\/p>\n
Those who knew the late justice remarked about how his deep Catholic faith informed his love for his country.<\/p>\n
Justice Scalia loved the \u201cclarity\u201d and \u201ccoherence\u201d of Church teaching, Fr. Scalia noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved us and sought to show us that love,\u201d the priest added of his father, saying that he shared the \u201cblessing of the faith that he treasured\u201d with his family.<\/p>\n
Members of the family saw a more lighthearted side of the justice as well, the priest noted.<\/p>\n
Once Justice Scalia, realizing he was in the confession line for his son, deliberately sought another line. \u201cLike heck if I\u2019m confessing to you,\u201d he told Fr. Scalia later. \u201cThe feeling was mutual,\u201d Fr. Scalia remarked with a smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod blessed dad with a love for our country,\u201d he said, noting how his father saw the American founding as a \u201cblessing\u201d but one that could be lost if faith was driven from the public square. Antonin Scalia understood that the \u201cdeeper\u201d one grew in faith, the \u201cbetter citizen\u201d he became.<\/p>\n
Former Sen. Rick Santorum agreed that Justice Scalia was both a man of faith and a patriot.<\/p>\n
It was \u201cvery clear\u201d that Scalia\u2019s Catholic faith was the \u201cfoundation of everything he was,\u201d Santorum told CNA after the Mass. \u201cWe must be fully Catholic and fully American,\u201d he said of the late justice\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very strong Catholic and a man of great integrity whose faith strengthened his public service and his love for his country,\u201d said Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., an instructor in Systematic Theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Fr. Legge recounted to CNA how Justice Scalia visited the Dominican House just weeks before his death for an event celebrating the 800th anniversary of the founding of the order. Scalia spoke of his \u201creverence for the law\u201d and prayed with the Dominicans in their chapel, which was exemplary of his character, Fr. Legge said.<\/p>\n
And of course, there was a little controversy \u2013 never lacking with Scalia. \u201cHis talk was a little provocative for Dominicans,\u201d Fr. Legge said, noting that Scalia disagreed with St. Thomas Aquinas but did so in an \u201centirely appropriate\u201d fashion. He loved a good debate.<\/p>\n
Despite Antonin Scalia\u2019s faith and character, Fr. Scalia implored those present to pray for his father\u2019s soul. After all, although he believed, he did so \u201cimperfectly,\u201d Fr. Scalia said. \u201cChrist was not yet perfected in him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us not show him a false love\u201d and allow admiration to replace prayer, he said.<\/p>\n
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Washington D.C., Feb 22, 2016 \/ 10:19 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- At a funeral Mass on Saturday, Catholics recalled the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a man of deep faith that informed his public service.<\/p>\n
“He was God’s first,”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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