NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, November 11, 2001
Pope Given Keepsake of FDNY Hero
By HELEN PETERSON
The Rev. Mychal Judge made a final pilgrimage to Rome yesterday as his white FDNY helmet was given to Pope John Paul.
The fallen Fire Department chaplain's helmet was affectionately taken to St. Peter's Basilica by eight of New York's Bravest, who presented it to the Pope during Mass.
"I offer a warm welcome to the delegation from the New York City Fire Department, so many of whose members lost their lives in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11," John Paul said in English during the Mass.
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Firefighter Patrick Burns gives Pope
John Paul the helmet of the Rev. Mychal Judge, FDNY Chaplain, at a ceremony
at the Vatican honoring WTC heroes.
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In the Line of Duty
The tragedy claimed the lives of 343 firefighters, as well as Judge, who was struck by debris while giving last rites to a firefighter.
"May Almighty God grant the bereaved families consolation and peace, and may he give you and your fellow firefighters strength and courage to carry on your great service to your city," the pontiff said.
The firefighters, some accompanied by family members, knelt before the Pope as they presented the helmet.
The helmet was decorated with a cross.
Back in New York, Judge's friends at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, where he lived and worked, were pleased.
"It's the primary symbol for the firefighters, but in presenting this helmet to Pope John Paul, it is a deeper symbol. It is not just Mychal's helmet. It is the helmet of all firefighters of New York," said the Rev. Pat Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald and the Rev. Cassian Miles, who also lives at the St. Francis monastery, entered the seminary with Judge on Sept. 11, 1951, Miles said.
Miles said Judge would have been happy to know his helmet was given to the Pope. "I guess he would love it," Miles said. "We were always teasing him that he seemed to be in the center of important stories - in a goodnatured, fraternal way - and he would enjoy [the teasing]," Miles said.
Judge had made several pilgrimages to Rome, including accompanying Patti Ann McDonald to an audience with the Pope in 1988.
Judge became friendly with McDonald after her police officer husband, Steven, was paralyzed by a teen gunman's bullet in 1986.
"In a sense, it is like Mychal's final pilgrimage to Rome," Miles said.