A “religious and homage ceremony” to Jean-Marie Le Pen will take place on January 16 at 11 a.m. in the Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce church in Paris, attached to the diocese of the armies, his family said on Wednesday January 8 in a press release.
The funeral of the far-right leader, who died Tuesday at the age of 96, will take place on Saturday in his native town of La Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan) “in the strictest family privacy”.
The ceremony will be celebrated by a retired former military chaplain, who was on mission with a parachute regiment. In parallel with his political career, Jean-Marie Le Pen had indeed joined the paratroopers twice, first in Indochina then in Algeria.
“Any former soldier can request a religious ceremony in one of the chapels of the military chaplaincy”as the bishop of the diocese to the armies Antoine de Romanet reminds us. This mass, requested by Marine Le Pen and her sisters Marie-Caroline and Yann, will be open to the public.
At this stage the diocese did not wish to give details on the course of the celebration nor on the rite chosen. Close to traditionalist circles, Jean-Marie Le Pen had throughout his life demonstrated his attachment to the Tridentine Mass.
Funeral Saturday at Trinité-sur-Mer.
In the morning, the vice-president of the National Rally, Louis Aliot, indicated that the funeral of the founder of the National Front would take place on Saturday in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan).
The ceremony will be held “in family privacy”said Marine Le Pen’s former companion on TF1. Jean-Marie Le Pen had expressed in the past the wish to be buried in the family vault in La Trinité-sur-Mer.