NEW YORK — Cardinal Edward Egan, a Vatican theological force who led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for almost a decade, will be eulogized from the pulpit where he once preached.

His successor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, will be the celebrant for the funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue today.

Egan is then to be interred in a crypt under the main altar of the cathedral that is the seat of the archdiocese.

The 82-year-old Roman Catholic prelate died Thursday after suffering a heart attack following lunch at his Manhattan apartment.

At a viewing attended by thousands on Monday, he lay in the vast stone cathedral where his rich, booming voice once rang out from the altar. His open casket rested on the altar steps, tilted toward the pews and members of the public paying their respects. His hands were folded across his chest, with a rosary interlaced in his fingers.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Egan had distributed hundreds of rosaries in a city mourning its dead.

In the years that followed, the cardinal helped those living in New York City — especially struggling immigrants looking for jobs, said Jose Pivar, who came to pay his respects on Monday. He said Egan urged employers to pay workers more than the minimum wage and organized encounters between races in neighborhoods that experienced hostilities.

Egan retired in 2009.