On September 11, 2001, upon learning that the World Trade Center had been hit by the first of two jetliners, Judge rushed to the site. He was met by Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Judge prayed over bodies lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the World Trade Center North Tower, where an emergency command post had been org
anized. There he continued offering aid and prayers for the rescuers, the injured, and the dead. Judge died when debris from the South Tower was ejected into the lobby of the North Tower during the collapse of the World Trade Center. This image of the South Tower was photographed nine days before Judge's death. When the neighboring South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., debris went flying through the North Tower lobby, killing many inside, including Judge. At the moment he was struck in the head and killed, Judge was repeatedly praying aloud, "Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!", according to Judge's biographer and New York Daily News columnist Michael Daly. Shortly after his death, Judge's body was found and carried out of the North Tower by four firefighters and a policeman shortly before it collapsed at 10:28 a.m. This act was photographed by Reuters photographer Shannon Stapleton, and became one of the most famous photographs taken during the attacks. This event was captured in the documentary film 9/11, shot by Jules and Gedeon Naudet. The Philadelphia Weekly reported that the photograph is "considered an American Pietà."Judge's body was placed before the altar of St. Peter's Catholic Church before being taken to the medical examiner. Judge was designated as "Victim 0001" and thereby recognized as the first official victim of the attacks. Although others had been killed before him, including the crews, passengers, and hijackers of the first three planes, and occupants of the towers and the Pentagon, Judge was the first certified fatality because he was the first body to be recovered and taken to the medical examiner. Judge's body was formally identified by NYPD Detective Steven McDonald, a long-time friend. The New York Medical Examiner found that Judge died of "blunt force trauma to the head”
On September 15, 2001, 3,000 people attended Judge's funeral Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Church, which was presided over by Cardinal Edward Egan, the Archbishop of New York. Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton also attended. President Clinton said that Judge's death was a "special loss. We should lift his life up as an example of what has to prevail. We have to be more like Father Mike than the people who killed him." Judge was buried in the friars' plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey. On October 11, 2001, Brendan Fay organized a "Month's Mind Memorial" in Good Shepherd Chapel, General Theological Seminary, New York. It was an evening of prayer, stories, traditional Irish music, and personal testimonials about Judge. Three people in the Roman Catholic Church called for the canonization of Judge. The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America declared him a saint. Two people say they experienced miraculous healings through prayers to Judge. Evidence of miracles is required for canonization in the Catholic Church. Judge's fire helmet was presented to Pope John Paul II. Some members of the United States Congress nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2002, the City of New York renamed the portion of West 31st Street on which the friary where he lived is located as "Father Mychal F. Judge Street", and christened a commuter ferry the Father Mychal Judge in his honor in 2002. In 2002, the United States Congress passed The Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers Benefit Act into law. The law extended federal death benefits to chaplains of police and fire departments, and also marked the first time, the federal government extended equal benefits for same-sex couples by allowing the domestic partners of public safety officers killed in the line of duty to collect a federal death benefit. This act was signed into law on June 24, 2002, but would be retroactive only to September 11, 2001. The New York Press Club instituted The Rev. Mychal Judge Heart of New York Award, which is presented annually for the news story or series that is most complimentary of New York City. A campaign has been started in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to have a statue of Judge erected in its Memorial Park. Alvernia University, a private independent college in the Franciscan tradition in Reading, Pennsylvania, named a new residence hall in honor of Judge. The Father Mychal Judge Memorial in the village of Keshcarrigan, County Leitrim, Ireland, was dedicated in 2005, on donated land which had belonged to Judge's ancestors. People from the village and surrounding area celebrate his life every year on the 9/11 anniversary.
