MONTREAT, N.C. (AP) — The Rev. Billy Graham’s body will lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next week, the first time a private citizen has been accorded such recognition since civil rights hero Rosa Parks in 2005.
The two-day viewing in Washington on Feb. 28 and March 1 will be part of nine days of mourning for postwar America’s most famous evangelist, who died Wednesday at his home in North Carolina’s mountains at age 99.
“America’s Pastor” will be laid to rest March 2 at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway at the worldwide headquarters of his evangelical empire in Charlotte, buried in a simple prison-made plywood coffin next to his wife, Ruth, who died in 2007.
His tombstone will read “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday announced the plans to honor Graham at the Capitol, a rite usually accorded presidents and other statesmen. A viewing will also be held at Graham’s Charlotte library on Monday and Tuesday.
The North Carolina-born farm boy reached hundreds of millions of listeners around with the world with his rallies — or what he called “crusades” — and his pioneering use of television.
More than anyone else, Graham built evangelicalism into a force that rivaled liberal Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in the U.S., and he became a confidant of presidents and other leaders.
His coffin was built by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, who typically construct caskets for fellow prisoners who cannot afford one.
Graham’s son the Rev. Franklin Graham toured the prison in 2005 and said he was so moved by the simple boxes lined with a mattress pad with a wooden cross nailed to the top that he asked for ones for his mother and father.
The funeral at Graham’s Charlotte headquarters will be held in a tent in the main parking lot of the library in tribute to the tent revivals in Los Angeles in 1949 that propelled him to international fame, family spokesman Mark Demoss said.
About 2,000 people are expected at the private, invitation-only funeral, and invitations are being sent to President Donald Trump and the five living ex-presidents, DeMoss said.
Around Montreat, where Graham lived, he was a humble presence known to slip quietly into a local church for Sunday services.
Shelby Crump of Starr, South Carolina, was visiting the town when she heard the news of the evangelist’s death.
“A lot of people were saved through his preaching,” she said. “I’m saddened. Not many like him left.”
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Online: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: http://www.billygraham.org
Billy Graham Center archives: http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/archhp1.html
The Capitol Rotunda is seen with the statue of George Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Rare honor reserved for Graham at the Capitol
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is reserving one of the nation’s greatest distinctions for the Rev. Billy Graham, selecting him to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next Wednesday and Thursday.
America’s most famous evangelist died Wednesday at his home in North Carolina at age 99.
The Rotunda has long been considered the most suitable place for the nation to pay final tribute to its most eminent citizens. Among those who have lain in state or in honor in the Rotunda are 12 former presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, former military commanders Douglas MacArthur, George Dewey and John Pershing, and civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Here’s a look at some of the history and names behind the honor.
‘LYING IN STATE’ OR ‘LYING IN HONOR’
The Senate Historical Office explains that there are no hard and fast rules on this, but “lying in state” ceremonies are usually reserved for deceased presidents and other elected officials. “Lying in honor” has become the phrase used in recent years to describe ceremonies for those who didn’t serve in elected office. Graham is just the fourth to receive that designation. The others are two former U.S. Capitol Police officers who died in the line of duty in 1998 and Parks in 2005.
The honor is essentially the same regardless of the language used, but “lying in state” ceremonies are accompanied by full military honors, while “lying in honor” ceremonies may only have a Capitol Police detail.
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WHO DECIDES
Either Congress can pass a resolution or congressional leadership can give the approval after consulting with survivors.
In Graham’s case, Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the ceremony after conferring with the Rev. Franklin Graham. “With your approval, we will move forward with these arrangements, so that Americans have this opportunity to pay their respects to the Rev. Graham before he is laid to rest,” they said in a letter to Franklin Graham.
Lawmakers are also expected to pass a resolution authorizing the use of the Rotunda for the honor.
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WHY BILLY GRAHAM?
Ryan explained in his announcement that Graham forever changed the course of the world’s spiritual health. He served as an adviser to 12 consecutive U.S. presidents and reached millions through radio, television and film. Graham is also a hero to many of the millions of evangelical Christians who associate themselves with conservative policies and the Republican Party.
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CEREMONIAL TIES TO LINCOLN
A platform hastily constructed to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln while the president’s body lay in state has been preserved and is used to hold the coffins of all those who lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
When not in use, the platform, or catafalque, is kept in a specially constructed display area in the Capitol Visitor Center. The catafalque is a simple base of rough pine boards nailed together and covered with black cloth.
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OTHERS WHO HAVE LAIN IN STATE IN THE ROTUNDA
The list maintained by the Architect of the Capitol includes several members of Congress, beginning with Henry Clay of Kentucky in 1852 and, most recently, Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii in 2012. The non-elected officials who have lain in state include former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Washington, D.C., planner Pierre L’Enfant. Lawmakers have also chosen to perpetuate the memory of service members who gave their lives in war by honoring unknown soldiers from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
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