President Barack Obama hailed Senator Edward Kennedy as the "greatest legislator of our time" at the funeral on Saturday of the towering politician and patriarch of the pre-eminent American political dynasty. Former presidents, senators and representatives of both political parties joined the large Irish-American Kennedy clan for the funeral Mass at a Roman Catholic basilica.
"Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard," Obama said in the eulogy at the funeral attended by members of the US political elite.
Dozens of lawmakers from the last several decades - many of whom had been Kennedy's fiercest foes on legislation - attended the traditional Catholic funeral Mass in the stone, 130-year-old Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica. Mourners from Hollywood star Jack Nicholson to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer packed the church beneath soaring arches and stained glass. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma played and opera star Placido Domingo sang as the sound of rain could be heard pounding the roof. Readings came from several generations of Kennedys.
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