The Presidency: An Unusual Ceremony

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Some of the wedding party moved into the White House, bag, baggage—and, in one case, baby. The month-old son of one husband-and-wife team could be found gurgling on the historic Lincoln bed. In the halls, long-legged, short-skirted girls in sandals were a common, if temporary, sight. Luci pressed some of her visiting bridesmaids into mail-room service to read and answer letters that mounted to 3,700 during the final week. Gerard and Tillie Nugent, Pat's salt-of-the-earth parents, seemed to fit in easily enough, helped perhaps by the President's habit of kissing Tillie at almost every casual meeting.

On the wedding day, as on the days before, the White House resounded to the laughter of young people—the wedding party totaled an impressive 42—who sometimes strolled through the corridors hand in hand. On the fateful morning, as the bridesmaids had their coiffures fixed, Elder Sister Lynda Bird, the maid of honor, led them in a few choruses of Get Me to the Church on Time. Everybody was punctual—some even a bit early—but the beginning of the Nuptial Mass, scheduled for noon, was delayed 18 minutes while the wedding party got organized.

Modern Usage. The ceremony was almost as unusual as the occasion. It contained liturgical changes in the Nuptial Mass authorized by Pope Paul VI after the Ecumenical Council, but, for the most part, still not widely used in the U.S. The Mass, said facing the congregation, was celebrated by Washington's Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle with the assistance of two priest friends of Luci and Pat. Pat and Luci gave the water and wine cruets to the celebrant at the Offertory, later received Communion "under both species"—a practice only recently allowed for such occasions as the Nuptial Mass. It involved drinking from a gold chalice the Eucharistic wine formerly reserved to the priests as well as partaking of the host.

Another modern usage was the reading of the Epistle—in this case, that of Paul to the Ephesians 5:22-33—by a layman rather than by a clergyman. The reader: Democratic Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana, who intoned to Luci and Pat Paul's solemn admonitions: "Wives should be submissive to their husbands, as though to the Lord; because the husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of the Church, his body, of which he is also the Savior. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church." Luci kept glancing at Pat, and from time to time they whispered. After the vows and exchange of rings, Archbishop O'Boyle read a papal blessing—an honor that can be obtained by any marrying Catholic couple that petitions Rome and pays a nominal fee for postage.

Luci seemed to hold up better than anyone else in the heat and emotion that permeated the church and caused many to fan themselves with the white-and-gold missals printed especially for the occasion. Lynda and Matron of Honor Susan Ray both became faint and needed whiffs of spirits of ammonia. Bridesmaid Helene Lindow left her place briefly for a breath from an oxygen tank, and several ushers sneaked out to the air-conditioned cafeteria in the basement. Lyndon Johnson looked utterly serious, as if he were considering the archbishop for a position in the Department of State.