Hickey recalled fondly by Catholics

Hundreds of Catholics bid farewell yesterday to Cardinal James Aloysius Hickey at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where he began serving as archbishop of Washington in 1980.

“We loved him. He was wonderful. He had good projects that helped the poor,” said Socorro T. Vidanes, a member of the parish since 1974.

Mrs. Vidanes was married in St. Matthew on Thanksgiving weekend in 1984. She and her husband, Sergio A. Dovert, now live in Fort Washington but continue to attend church at St. Matthew.

About twice as many Catholics as usual attended noon Mass at the cathedral on Rhode Island Avenue NW, seven blocks north of the White House. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who succeeded Cardinal Hickey as archbishop of Washington in 2000, presided at the Mass and viewing.

“He was a man who loved people, who loved the poor. He put it into practice,” said Cardinal McCarrick. “Thank you for your service. Thank you.”

Born and educated in his religion in Midland, Mich., Cardinal Hickey was 84 when he died Sunday.

Some of the nuns, robed in black, appeared to be in tears as they came back up the aisle of the cathedral yesterday. The Little Sisters of the Poor had tended to Cardinal Hickey during the last years of his life in their Jeanne Jugan Residence, across the street from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception at 400 Michigan Ave. NE.

Cardinal McCarrick spent yesterday at St. Matthew after Cardinal Hickey’s body was carried inside at 10 a.m. The deceased was clothed in the white vestments of his ordination, wore the ring presented by Pope John Paul II when he became a cardinal in 1988 and held the rosary possessed by his mother when she died.

Viewing will continue at the National Shrine from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today. Cardinal McCarrick will conduct the funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow. A private burial will follow at St. Francis of Assisi Chapel in the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. Also buried there is Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle, the second archbishop of Washington.

Catholic schools will be closed today in the Washington archdiocese in honor of Cardinal Hickey. That includes 140 parishes and 106 schools in the District, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles and Saint Mary’s counties.

“He has always been a staunch supporter of the Catholic schools,” said Joyce Volpini, principal of St. Jerome School in Hyattsville.

“He came personally to the schools. He came to give the blessings at our new Child Care Center,” said Director Geri McPhee, of Hyattsville.