Mychal Judge

The Reverend Father

Mychal Judge

OFM
Orders
Ordination1961
Personal details
Born
Robert Emmett Judge

(1933-05-11)May 11, 1933
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
DiedSeptember 11, 2001(2001-09-11) (aged 68)
World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
OccupationChaplain to the New York City Fire Department
EducationSt. Bonaventure University, Holy Name College Seminary
Sainthood
Feast daySeptember 11 (OCCA)
Venerated inOrthodox-Catholic Church of America
Title as SaintSaint Mychal Judge or Saint Mychal the Martyr
CanonizedJuly 27, 2002
by Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
AttributesBrown Robes
ShrinesSt. Mychal the Martyr Parish at 3564 Clays Mill Rd. Lexington, Kentucky

Mychal Fallon Judge, OFM (born Robert Emmett Judge; May 11, 1933 – September 11, 2001), was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest. He was a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. He was killed during the September 11 attacks while in the South World Trade Center. He was the first certified death of the September 11 attacks.

Death

On September 11, 2001, after learning that the World Trade Center had been hit by the first of two planes, Judge ran to the site. He was met by Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Judge prayed over bodies lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the North Tower. There he continued helping and praying to rescuers, the injured, and the dead.

When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., debris flew through the North Tower lobby, killing many inside. Judge died at this moment, after being hit and killed by the debris. At first, firefighters thought he had a heart attack. In the moments before his death, Judge was praying aloud, "Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!".

Shortly after his death, Judge's body was found and carried out of the North Tower by five people shortly before the building collapsed at 10:28 a.m. This act was photographed by Reuters photographer Shannon Stapleton and became one of the most famous images of the attacks. Judge's body was placed before the altar of St. Peter's Catholic Church before being taken by ambulance. He was later taken from the fire station to the medical examiner.

Judge was listed as "Victim 0001" and is therefore named the first named victim of the attacks. Although thousands of others had been killed before him, with Daniel Lewin widely believed to have been the first death having been stabbed in one of the hijacked planes, Judge was the first certified death because his body was the first to be recovered and taken to the medical examiner.

The New York Medical Examiner found that Judge died of "blunt force trauma to the head".

Personal life

After his death, many of Judge's friends revealed that he was gay. Some people in the fire department knew about it and kept it a secret as well.

Judge had a romantic relationship with a Filipino nurse named Al Alvarado in the last year of his life. The two often did not see each other for months because of Judge's work as a firefighter.

Judge was an LGBT rights activist who did not support the way the Roman Catholic Church taught about homosexuality.

Canonization debate

Many organizations have proposed to the Vatican a possible canonization for Judge. However, some people within the Church do not support this because of Judge's sexual orientation. In 2021, 20 years after his death, an official cause to get Judge beatified began.

References

  1. ↑ "Fr. Mychal Judge, O.F.M Was Declared a Saint of the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America on July 27, 2002". The Orthodox Catholic Church of America. Archived from the original on June 29, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  2. ↑ Hagerty, Barbara Bradley (5 September 2011). "Memories Of Sept. 11's First Recorded Casualty Endure". NPR. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Chief Joseph Pfeifer of Battalion 1". The New York Times. 2002-07-05. Archived from the original on 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  4. ↑ Archived 2010-11-24 at the Wayback Machine. Daily News (New York). February 11, 2002. "Judge stood alone at a plate glass window overlooking the carnage and devastation. A fire department photographer heard him praying aloud, Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!
  5. ↑ Daly (2008), p. 336
  6. ↑ Prigge, Matt (May 3, 2006). "Upward Christian Soldier". Philadelphia Weekly.
  7. ↑ Murphy, Dean E. (August 27, 2002). September 11: An Oral History. Doubleday. p. 174-177. ISBN 978-0385507684.
  8. ↑ Daly (2008), p. 343
  9. 1 2 Daly (2008), p. 347
  10. ↑ Cassels, Peter (2001-09-27). "Tributes keep flowing for NYC Fire Dept. chaplain Mychal Judge, one of those who died in the World Trade Center attacks". Bay Windows. Archived from the original on 2004-04-26. Retrieved 2004-04-16.
  11. ↑ Senior, Jennifer (November 12, 2001). "The Firemen's Friar". New York. Archived from the original on March 26, 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-14.
  12. ↑ Dwyer, Jim (2008-09-09). "Missions of Hate and Love, With 9/11 at the Center". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  13. ↑ "What is Dignity?" Archived 2007-04-04 at the Wayback Machine DignityUSA.
  14. ↑ "St. Mychal Judge". The Reformed Catholic Church. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  15. ↑ "Saints of the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America". 2010-06-29. Archived from the original on 2010-06-29. Retrieved 2022-08-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)</ref The fact that Judge was against the Catholic Church official teachings on homosexuality is said to be a main problem for his [[beatification]]. However, there have been arguments made that there have been saints and openly LGBT [[martyr]]s.<ref>Graham, Ruth (2017-09-11). "Father Mychal Judge Was a 9/11 Hero. Could He Also Become the First Gay Saint?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  16. ↑ "It's Time to Canonize Fr. Mychal Judge". New Ways Ministry. Archived from the original on 2022-08-12. Retrieved 2022-08-12.

Other websites