Former archbishop who gave JFK eulogy dies at 98

[rug]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Former Archbishop Philip Matthew Hannan, who gave the eulogy for President John F. Kennedy and later served more than three decades as the head of the New Orleans Roman Catholic Archdiocese, died Thursday. He was 98.

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When Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1961, his widow, Jacqueline, asked Hannan to deliver the eulogy because of his close personal relationship with the president, which dated back to the 1940s. Then-Father Hannan became friends with Kennedy by smoothing over a misunderstanding that Kennedy had with a Jesuit priest.

He also officiated at a quiet reburial of two Kennedy infants in 1964 so their bodies could be near their father's in Arlington National Cemetery.

"We did it in the middle of the night, and so quietly that we caught everyone off guard," Hannan said in 1965. "Not even the Army chauffeurs knew where they were going when they picked us up."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-09-29/archbishop-hannan-obituary/50600500/1

Yeah, the article got the date wrong but it's an interesting historical vignette.