Church leaders and representatives of the President, Government, judiciary, Garda and Army joined members of the public to pay their last respects to the former Archbishop of Tuam, the Most Rev Joseph Cunnane, at his funeral Mass in Tuam yesterday.
More than 1,300 people packed the Cathedral of the Assumption for the service, including the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, Cardinal Cathal Daly and Archbishop Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly.
The Church of Ireland was represented by Dr Richard Henderson, Bishop of Tuam and Killala.
A dozen other bishops, retired bishops and a large number of priests and religious also attended the ceremony.
The retired archbishop died last Wednesday at the age of 87 after a long illness. A message of sympathy from Pope John Paul 11 was read by Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam.
The chief celebrant at the Mass was Canon Seamus Cunnane, a nephew of the late archbishop, who spoke about the humorous side of his late uncle, who had been Archbishop of Tuam from 1969 until his retirement in 1987. Canon Cunnane said that while "he might have appeared like Goldsmith's schoolmaster, a man severe and stern to view, he was in fact a man filled with love for his people".
He said his quiet sense of wit and humour never deserted him, even during his long years of illness, but his humour was never at the expense of somebody else.
Afterwards the archbishop was laid to rest in the cathedral grounds beside his predecessor, Archbishop Joseph Walsh.
