Cardinal Lustiger: Jewish Prince of the Church
On August 5, 2007, the Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Paris, His Eminence Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger went to his eternal reward. Cardinal Lustiger was a convert from Judaism, and his elevation to the archbishopric of Paris by His Holiness John Paul II was somewhat controversial.
The funeral began on the square of Notre-Dame, where the crowd recited the Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish. Soil from the Holy Land was placed on the coffin. Psalm 113 was recited in Hebrew.
Cardinal Lustiger was entombed in the crypt located under the choir of Notre-Dame, where the Parisian archbishops have been laid to rest since 17th century. The epitaph on Cardinal Lusiter’s tomb reads as follows:
I recived the name
of my paternal grandfather, Aaron
Having become Christian
By faith and by Baptism,
I have remained Jewish
As did the Apostles.
I have as my patron saints
Aaron the High Priest,
Saint John the Apostle,
Holy Mary full of grace.
Named 139th archbishop of Paris
by His Holiness Pope John-Paul II,
I was enthroned in this Cathedral
on 27 February 1981,
And here I exercised my entire ministry.
Passers by, pray for me.
† Aaron Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger
Archevêque de Paris
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