Mourners remember Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua's love for his people and his city

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua was laid to rest Tuesday alongside the tombs of his predecessors, the bishops and archbishops of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

"He loved his people. He loved Philadelphia," said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput toward the close of the two-hour funeral Mass and entombment at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul. "May he enter into the eternal gladness of his Lord."

Bevilacqua, who led the archdiocese from 1988 to 2003, died in his sleep Jan. 31 at his residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood. He was 88.

The basilica was filled nearly to its capacity of 1,800, including about 275 priests, 60 bishops and archbishops, and four cardinals, including Justin Rigali, Bevilacqua's retired successor.

Final rites began with a 20-minute procession of priests, prelates, and seminarians escorting his closed, draped coffin to the center of sanctuary beneath the basilica's great dome.

"I offer my heartfelt condolences to you and to all the faithful of the archdiocese," Pope Benedict XVI told the assemblage via a telegram read by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the papal legate to the United States.

Benedict cited Bevilacqua's "long-standing commitment to social justice and the pastoral care of immigrants" and his expert command of church law. He gave his blessing to the clergy of the diocese and to the members of Bevilacqua's large family, who filled four pews to the right of the casket.

Bevilacqua's many brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews figured into the introduction of the homily by Msgr. Louis D'Addezio, who began by recalling the new archbishop's very first instructions.

"Lou," Bevilacqua told D'Addezio in early 1988 from Pittsburgh, where was then bishop, "I want a party for my family on the night I arrive in Philadelphia."

D'Addezio, the archdiocese's event organizer, rented the grand court of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and hired the Ferko String Band.

"The captain put his fancy headpiece on the archbishop's head - official photo taken - and the party began," D'Addezio recalled, describing it as the first of many family gatherings around the cardinal in the decades that followed.

His family "brought nothing but joy to his life," said D'Addezio, who became a close friend to the somewhat private archbishop, and his assistant after Bevilacqua retired.