Father Mike: fireman and hero

Father Mychal Judge lived in a small monastery on a sofabed. He was a big, handsome son of Irish immigrants who treated presidents and paupers with equal respect.

His home was the friary of St Francis of Assisi Church, across the street from Engine Co. One/Ladder Co.24 in midtown Manhattan.

He slept with a radio scanner in his room. Often, he ate in the firehouse. He wore the brown robes of a monk rather than a firefighter's uniform, but he was one of them.

On Wednesday, Father Mike raced to the World Trade Center with the unit. Seven of the engine company were to die in the disaster.

Father Mike died with them, apparently when he paused to administer last rites to a firefighter mortally injured by a falling body from one of the 110-storey towers.

"He took his hat off to pray, and something came down and hit him in the head," said retired battalion chief Bob McGrath.

Father Mike joined more than 300 firefighters lost in the inferno.

In a city of heroes, hundreds of New York City firefighters yesterday paid their last respects to their chaplain of 10 years.

Father Mike was listed officially as the first person to lose his life, no coincidence according to Father Michael Duffy, a Franciscan priest from Philadelphia who delivered a eulogy at the St Francis of Assisi Church funeral.

"He was right where the action was - where he always wanted to be. He was praying, he was talking to God and he was helping someone."

Inside the baroque cream and gold church, mourners - who included former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, a New York senator - sang Beethoven's Ode to Joy in memory of the chaplain.

Senator Clinton, who once shared a prayer breakfast at the White House with Father Mike, said he "lit up the White House as he lit up every place where he ever found himself". When she heard of his death, "all of a sudden the enormity of the tragedy became very personal".

In the heart of Manhattan, in Washington's suburbs, in saddened towns elsewhere, mourners grieved during the weekend at the first wave of services for the victims of the terror attacks.

Among those farewelled were William Feehan, the fire department's first deputy commissioner; Fire Department chief Peter Ganci; and Barbara Olson, a lawyer, television commentator and the wife of US Solicitor-General Theodore Olson. She was on board the jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon.

The wistful tributes from relatives, friends and civic leaders will be echoed over and over, at hundreds of churches across the nation, in the coming days, weeks and perhaps months.

- AGENCIES

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