Billy Graham to Lie in State at U.S. Capitol — First Religious Leader Ever Granted the Honor, First Private Citizen Since Rosa Parks

Evangelist Billy Graham, who died Wednesday, will lie in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda from Wednesday, Feb. 28, to Thursday, March 1, according to an announcement from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Members of the public are invited to pay their respects. Ryan and McConnell will take part in a service upon the arrival of Graham’s casket.

A private funeral for Graham will be held Friday, March 2, at noon under a tent at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. Invitations to the funeral were extended to President Trump and former presidents, according to his spokesman Mark DeMoss. The invitation-only service is scheduled to include 2,300 people.

Graham was a personal friend to several presidents and preached to tens of millions of people in person and countless others through radio, television and the Internet. Over nearly a century, he became an icon, an entrepreneur, a pastor and a key architect of American evangelicalism — the largest religious body in America today that makes up a quarter of the American electorate. Graham’s influence on key religious leaders, institutions, political activism and cultural engagement helped shape a large chunk of America.

Graham’s body was moved from his home in Montreat where he died Wednesday to a funeral home in Asheville, N.C. On Saturday at 11 a.m., following a private family service, there will be a three-hour processional from the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.

Graham will lie in repose in a closed casket at his childhood home, which was moved from its original location to the grounds of the Graham library. The public will be able to visit the property from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.

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SOURCE: Sarah Pulliam Bailey
The Washington Post