He spoke for the voiceless

Now, the hope is they have spoken for him.

In researching the life and service of Congressman Henry Hyde for an article I’m writing, I came across the text – in several places – of one of his most memorable speeches. This, in a considerable body of memorable quotes from one of America’s most eloquent statemen in the nation’s history.

He was known as a pro-life lion, “a gallant champion of the weak and forgotten, and a fearless defender of life in all its seasons”, in the words of President Bush at last month’s Medal of Freedom ceremony.

In the words of the Honorable Henry Hyde:

When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that terrible moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates there, you are there alone standing before God and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the Pro-Life movement will not be alone. I think there will be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard very beautifully and very loudly in the next world and I think they will plead for everyone who has been in the movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare them, because they loved us,’ and God will look at us and say not, ‘Did you succeed?’ but ‘Did you try’?

The tributes pouring in from the current fearless defenders of life indicate that no one tried harder, or with greater conviction, than Henry Hyde.