Bette Midler shares heartbreaking clip of family singing hymn in ruins of home they lost to LA fires
Bette Midler has shared a heartbreaking clip of a family singing a hymn in the ruins of their home of 37 years, which was destroyed by the Los Angeles fires.
As of this Tuesday, the area was hit by the worst storms in more than a decade, sparking fires that destroyed thousands of structures and claimed at least 11 lives over the course of the week.
About 130,000 people were issued evacuation orders or warnings, while authorities dispatched K-9 units trained to locate human remains in the wreckage.
The Halpin family lived in their Altadena, California home for nearly four decades before it was consumed by the ongoing Eaton Fire.
In a terrifying clip that has gone viral online, they returned to the site of the burned building and gathered in a semicircle to sing Regina Caeli (Queen Of Heaven), a medieval Latin song dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
When the Halpin family returned to the remains of their home, they found only a statue of Mary intact, they said KTLA5.
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In a haunting clip that has gone viral online, the Halpin family returned to the site of the burned building and gathered in a semicircle to sing Regina Caeli (Queen Of Heaven).
The lyrics of the hymn, which the Halpins sang in the original Latin, translate as: “Queen of Heaven, rejoice, hallelujah. For He whom you were worthy to bear, hallelujah, has risen, as He said, hallelujah. Pray to God for us, hallelujah.”
As the video of the Halpins singing circulated online, Midler, 79, shared it on her Instagram page, writing simply, “A family in the Eaton Fire.” #eaton #losangeles.”
“We gave our pain to Christ and his mother. We prayed a dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and then sang,” said Andrew Halpin, a member of the family.
His sister Marie Clare Metcalfe added that “faith has always been the foundation of our family, and it will remain so as we navigate forward.”
She explained that her parents’ house – the ruins of which can be seen in the viral video – was “home base” for the family, who now have 14 grandchildren.
Andrew and Marie Claire’s sister, Gianna, ‘lost everything’ in the fire, because she lived with her two-year-old daughter in her parents’ back house.
The family launched a GoFundMe page after their house burned down, and have raised more than $97,000 as of Saturday afternoon, surpassing their goal of $90,000.
In the video of the Halpins singing the hymn, their image of the Virgin Mary can be seen sitting in the semicircle.
As the video of the Halpins singing circulated online, Midler, 79, shared it on her Instagram page, writing simply, “A family in the Eaton Fire.” #eaton #losangeles’
The Halpin family is pictured in a photo shared to their GoFundMe, which raised more than $97,000 as of Saturday afternoon, surpassing its $90,000 goal
One fire in the Pacific Palisades destroyed a number of celebrity homes, including homes belonging to Paris Hilton, Jeff Bridges, Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, Miles Teller, Tina Knowles and Anna Faris.
Midler shared her own emotional message to those affected by the fires on her Instagram page on Friday amid the ongoing disaster.
‘To everyone who has lived through the apocalyptic and incredible fires of the past few days, who has lost everything and now faces the enormous task of getting back on their feet; I am devastated and heartbroken for all of us,” she wrote.
“I wish only the best for our beloved city, now and always…” added the Beaches star, known to her fans as The Divine Miss M.
Midler, who sold her Manhattan penthouse for $50 million in 2021, did not share whether she also has a home at risk from the fires.