Billy Graham to lie in honor in rotunda of U.S. Capitol
Two-day viewing begins Wednesday
MONTREAT, N.C. — 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 Wednesday and next Thursday — the first time a religious leader will be honored by the nation in that way — 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 Rev. Graham at the Capitol — a rite usually reserved for presidents and other statesmen — so the public can pay its respects. A viewing will also be held at Rev. Graham’s Charlotte library on Monday and Tuesday.
“As soaring a figure as he was, Rev. Graham connected with people on an elemental level,” Mr. Ryan said Wednesday in a statement. “His reach was rooted in decency, humility, and love. He set a tone of ecumenical inclusion, advocated civil rights, and refused to accept the segregation of those attending his crusades. Rev. Graham’s service is a testament that, with faith in God, one person can do so much good for the world.”
Mr. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will lead a memorial service once Rev. Graham’s casket arrives.
Congress has held such solemn ceremonies just 32 times in American history, beginning with Kentucky Sen. Henry Clay in 1852 and most recently with the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, DHawaii, in 2012. The remains of unknown soldiers from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War have earned the honor, as did 10 U.S. presidents — from Abraham Lincoln to Gerald Ford. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the planner of the District of Columbia; civil rights activist Ms. Parks; and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover are among the notable names whohave also lain in honor.
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, Rev. 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, La., who typically construct caskets for fellow prisoners who cannot afford one.
Rev. 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 Rev. 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, Mr. DeMoss said.
Mr. DeMoss said Rev. Graham carefully planned and signed off on every detail of his funeral. The spokesman said Thursday that the music and speakers will all have connections to Rev. Graham’slife and ministry.
Around Montreat, where Rev. Graham lived, he was a humble presence known to slip quietly into a local church for Sunday services.
Shelby Crump of Starr, S.C., 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 manylike him left.”