Chai Brady
Ireland bids farewell to a prophet and a peacemaker
Delivering an island at peace was John Hume’s life calling, the bishop of his native Derry has said.
Bishop Donal McKeown told The Irish Catholic that the city was overcome with two emotions when news of Mr Hume’s death was announced by his family on Monday. “One was great sorrow at the death, the other is pride in what he was able to achieve and the status he attained without ever forgetting who he was and where he was from,” Dr McKeown said.
The bishop said that he was struck by the fact that while Mr Hume had spent time in seminary discerning a vocation to the priesthood, “he discovered he had a vocation for peacemaking and he stuck to that almost like that was his life’s calling – to be a maker of peace, to be a reconciler”.
Bishop McKeown said that Mr Hume had been almost a daily Mass-goer while his health permitted. He also shared a powerful memory of Mr Hume’s devout Faith.
“The last memory of him in the church that sticks in my mind would be on Good Friday in 2019. It was John at the kissing of the Cross – shuffling up and kissing the cross. A man who had trod the stage of the world, who had got all these peace prizes, and yet he was kissing the Cross of Jesus Christ – one who was prepared to give his life for others.
“And in many ways I think John could be said to have decided that he wanted to shed all of his sweat rather than anybody else’s blood, and I think John is somebody who gave his life for the peace process and paid a big price for it,” Bishop McKeown said.
Mr Hume is survived by his wife Pat and was laid to rest following requiem Mass in St Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry yesterday (Wednesday). He was 83 and died after a long illness