FIRST FAMILY ATTENDS MASS IN MIDDLEBURG
Middleburg, Virginia (JFK+50) On Sunday, November 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy attended mass with his family at St. Stephen the Martyr Church here in Middleburg*. It would be the next to last Sunday of his life.
Thurston Clarke, in "JFK's Last Hundred Days" writes...
"The family...heard Father Albert Pereira** preach...about Christian death and the high cost of elaborate funerals."
The First Family spent the weekend at their country home "Wexford" located in Atoka, Virginia.
After the service, Father Pereira gave the President a bible that, according to Presidential History Geeks, would end up on Air Force One and used in the swearing-in ceremony of Lyndon B. Johnson on November 22, 1963.^
^JFK+50 NOTE: According to Jim Bishop (The Day Kennedy Was Shot) it was not a bible but a missal...a book containing prayers & devotions for celebrating Catholic mass. Its cover was made of tooled leather with a gold cross & the edges were hand-sewn.
*Middleburg, located in Loudoun County, Virginia, is known as the nation's horse & hunt capital. The town lies in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Established in 1787, its name comes from its location halfway between Alexandria & Winchester. It is 42.6 miles due west of Washington, D.C.
**Rev. Albert Francis Pereira (1915-2004) was born on Madeira Island (off the African coast) & came to the U.S. in 1920. AFP studied at the University of Louvain (Belgium) & Gregorian University (Rome). He was ordained in 1940.
SOURCES
"JFK's Final Days: November 10, 1963," Presidential History Geeks, November 10, 2013, www.potus-geeks.livejournal.com/
"Rev. Albert Francis Pereira," Daily Press, www.legacy.com/
