It was a powerful moment of faith at New York City’s 9/11 25th anniversary memorial ceremony when Catherine Hernandez, daughter of 9/11 victim Norberto Hernandez, concluded her tribute by leading the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.
Major news networks broadcast the solemn ceremony live and streamed it online, bringing Hernandez’s moving tribute to millions of viewers. Clips of her prayer have since circulated widely on social media.
“We love you and we miss you so much,” Hernandez said. “That goes for all of us. I know we all love and miss our loved ones.”
She remembered her father as a loving protector.
“My father was a gentle giant,” she said. “Protected everyone. He didn’t care who you were—if he was there [and] you needed help, he was a protector.”
Norberto Hernandez was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He worked at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Hernandez said her father’s witness of love inspired her own life of service.
“My father loved like no other that I ever met,” she said. “I became a police officer in his memory. I did 20 years in the New York City Police Department to protect and share my love because it was an honor and a blessing to be raised by such a wonderful man.”
“Anybody who met him will tell you the same,” she added.
How the ceremony works
Each year, loved ones gather at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan for a ceremony centered on the victims and their families.
Relatives read aloud the names of all 2,983 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The reading lasts for hours, and family members may add a personal message, memory, or prayer.
That is when Hernandez offered an especially moving tribute.
“I want to share his protection and his love the only way I know how,” she said. “I’m going to ask God for the intercession of St. Michael as we pray.”
She then prayed:
“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God,
cast into hell Satan and all those who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”
“God bless you all,” she concluded. “And God bless America.”