Famed television host Regis Philbin entered eternal life on Friday at the age of 88.

We pray that Regis, who was baptized at our mother church, the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in New York, is now in God’s warm embrace.

We have fond memories of the night in December, 2013, when Regis proclaimed the Scripture passages during “A New York Christmas to Remember” at St. Paul’s. It was an evening of carols, puppetry and more that was broadcast on CBS on Christmas Eve that year.

That night, after Regis was introduced, he said:

“Before we begin, I just wanted to tell you how happy I am to be able do this tonight. You know, my mother was born on 59th Street and this was her Church. And, all through her life, even though we moved away, she would say to me, ‘Those Paulist priests were the best we ever met.’ And she loved them all very much. Just for your information, I was baptized in that font back there. I couldn’t get it in it tonight but I took a good, long look at it.”