Silence fell over thousands of mourners as white doves and balloons in the shape of rosary beads were released above the coffins of three Sydney children run down on a footpath by an alleged drink-driver.
The Abdallah siblings Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, were killed when a car mounted an Oatlands footpath as they went for ice cream last Saturday.
The children died at the scene alongside their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11.
About 2000 people filled Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral in Harris Park on Monday morning to farewell the siblings.
The employees of Danny Abdallah, the children's father, formed a guard of honour outside the church as white hearses arrived.
Wearing white polo shirts emblazoned with the logo of Mr Abdallah's construction business, hundreds of people linked arms to line the church driveway while other mourners held white roses.
Bells tolled as pallbearers, wearing navy suits with pink shirts to represent the children's genders, carried the coffins into the church.
Monsignor Shora Maree in his homily addressed Mr Abdallah and the children's mother Leila Geagea, praising them for their faith amid tragedy.
When Ms Geagea visited the site where three of her six children died, she said she forgave the alleged drink-driver Samuel William Davidson.
These "words of forgiveness … stunned the world," Mons Shora said.
"That doesn't come just from something human, that comes from the divine."
The couple sat directly in front of the three white coffins flanking their surviving daughter, who cried at points during the service.
Dressed all in white, Ms Geagea took the stage to pray, asking God for the comfort of the Holy Spirit for their family during their "hour of pain".
The children's bereaved grandmother Georgette Abdallah shook her hands in the air and cried during the funeral before kissing framed pictures of Sienna, Angelina and Antony at the front of the church.
On the last day he spent with his father, Antony told Mr Abdallah he wanted to dedicate his basketball game to fallen NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
The 13-year-old's coffin was draped with Bryant's No.24 LA Lakers jersey.
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source : yahoo
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