page_title: Washington National Cathedral
section_title: Major services
hierarchical_section_title: Washington National Cathedral / Major events / Major services
caption_attribution_description: English: On the eve of the March for Our Lives rally, a prayer and vigil was held at the Washington National Cathedral. A banner hangs in the church which reads, "United to Stop Gun Violence" (Just barely visible in the center of the photo).
context_page_description: The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The structure is of Neo-Gothic design closely modeled on English Gothic style of the late fourteenth century. It is the third-largest church building in the United States, and the fourth-tallest structure in Washington, D.C. The cathedral is the seat of both the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Bruce Curry, and the bishop of the Diocese of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde. Over 270,000 people visit the structure annually.
  The Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, under the first seven Bishops of Washington, erected the cathedral under a charter passed by the United States Congress on January 6, 1893. Construction began on September 29, 1907, when the foundation stone was laid in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt and a crowd of more than 20,000, and ended 83 years later when the "final finial" was placed in the presence of President George H. W. Bush in 1990.
context_section_description: State funerals for four American presidents have been held at the cathedral:
  34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1969): lay in repose at the cathedral before lying in state
  38th President Gerald Ford (2007)
  40th President Ronald Reagan (2004)
  41st President George H. W. Bush (2018)
  Memorial services were also held at the cathedral for the following presidents:
  (29th) Warren G. Harding
  (27th) William Howard Taft
  (30th) Calvin Coolidge
  (33rd) Harry S. Truman
  (37th) Richard Nixon
  Presidential prayer services were held the day after the inaugurations for:
  32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inauguration in January 1937
  40th President Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985
  41st President George H. W. Bush's inauguration in 1989
  43rd President George W. Bush's first and second inaugurations in 2001 and 2005
  44th President Barack Obama's first and second inaugurations in 2009 and 2013
  45th President Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017
  Other events have included:
  Funeral for former first lady Edith Wilson (1961)
  Memorial service for former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1962)
  Memorial service for the casualties of the Vietnam War on November 14, 1982
  Public funeral for Chief of Naval Operations, United States Navy, Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda (1996)
  Funeral for Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown (1996)
  Funeral for U.S. Ambassador to France Pamela Harriman (1997)
  Funeral for The Washington Post newspaper publisher Katharine Graham (2001)
  Memorial service for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks
  Special evensong for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting
  Funeral for educator and national civil rights leader Dorothy Height (2010)
  Memorial service for NASA astronaut and first person on the Moon Neil Armstrong (2012)
  Funeral for Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and Medal of Honor recipient (2012)
  Funeral for Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship (2012)
  Memorial service for former South African President and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela (2014)
  Interfaith service of Prayer and Remembrance: The Fifteenth Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Sunday September 11, 2016
  March for Our Lives Prayer Vigil: A vigil for "activists, students and pilgrims" participating in the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C. and other cities, Friday March 23, 2018
  Funeral for U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona (September 1, 2018)
  Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance for Matthew Shepard (October 26, 2018).
  It was from Washington National Cathedral's "Canterbury Pulpit" that the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final Sunday sermon on March 31, 1968, just a few days before his assassination in April 1968. A memorial service for King was held at the cathedral later the same week.
caption: Prayer and vigil for the March for Our Lives rally, March 23, 2018
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