Stepping outside throughout the day, her parents, brother and sister appeared alternately stoic and on the verge of exhaustion. They were receiving bad news from the courts hours before Christians celebrate their holiest day of the year.

Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk and the Schindler family's spokesman, said their media appearances are over.

``Easter will be different this year because all thoughts and prayers will be with Terri,'' he said.

Candle-holding supporters lined 102nd Avenue in front of Schiavo's hospice, talking quietly and praying. Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, shook their hands, thanked them for their support and encouraged them to spend time with their own families.

Sparring over Schiavo's condition moved from the courthouse into the open air, with her relatives and her husband's attorney holding separate media conferences on her ninth day without a feeding tube.

O'Donnell begged she be given Communion - a drop of wine and a fleck of host placed in her mouth. He also urged Gov. Jeb Bush to take emergency custody of Schiavo. ``We beg you to have courage and take action,'' he said.

Deputies Guard Attorney

The Schindlers say Bush could simply ignore the courts and take emergency custody of Schiavo.

Bush, also a Catholic, has said he is unable to go beyond the boundaries of law.

George Felos, husband Michael Schiavo's attorney, said Terri Schiavo received last rites on March 18, the day the tube was removed. The court order provides for one more Communion, he said.

Felos spoke to a throng of media outside his Dunedin office as four Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies stood guard.

He said Terri Schiavo's death is ``not imminent by any means'' and that she looked good when he visited her Saturday.

Terri Schiavo's brother called Felos' assertion that she didn't appear to be suffering ``absurd.'' He challenged Felos to release video and photos taken since the tube was removed.

``They're mischaracterizing the condition today, just as they have been. ... It's sick. It's heinous,'' Bobby Schindler said.

David Gibbs III, the Schindlers' attorney, said Schiavo ``will pass the point that she will be able to recover over this Easter weekend.''

Doctors have said she could live a week or two without the tube.

The effort to reattach it failed again when Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer and the state's high court rejected the family's latest motion. They claimed Schiavo tried to say ``I want to live'' hours before her tube was removed, saying ``ahhhhhh'' and ``waaaaaaa'' when asked to repeat the phrase.

Doctors who have examined her say her previous utterances weren't speech but involuntary moans consistent with someone in a persistent vegetative state.

Greer wrote that her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and their attorneys did not meet the burden of proof set forth by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in an earlier ruling against them.

Hours later, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal, saying it lacked jurisdiction.

The Schindlers said they wouldn't file any more motions with the federal court, motions made possible by a special law Congress passed for them.

Felos said Michael Schiavo has been by his wife's bedside nearly around the clock since the feeding tube was removed. He leaves to allow her family to visit, he said.

Burial Plans Detailed

``They try to avoid each other,'' Felos said of the relationship between Michael Schiavo and his in-laws. ``He's been called a murderer and an abuser by Terri's family and supporters, but Michael is at the hospice on a continual basis, and he's been with Terri. He's been immersed in being at Terri's side.''

He said Michael Schiavo plans to have his wife cremated after she dies and inter her ashes in the Schiavo family plot in Pennsylvania, where both husband and wife grew up.

Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance thought to have been brought on by an eating disorder. She left no living will.

Her husband convinced Greer in a 2000 trial that she had made statements that she would not want to be kept alive artificially with no hope of recovery.

Her parents doubt she had such end-of-life wishes and dispute that she is in a persistent vegetative state as court- ordered doctors have determined.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.