Liam de Paor was a distinguished academic, historian, author, custodian of culture, a principled man and, above all, a humane man.
These were some of the tributes paid to Mr de Paor who died on Thursday, aged 72, after a short illness, as several hundred people gathered to pay their last respects at the Church of the Holy Name in Ranelagh, Dublin, on Saturday.
At the funeral Mass, conducted in Irish with the homily and appreciation in English, the chief mourners were Mr de Paor's wife, Ms Deirdre Glenn, his daughter, Aoife, his sons, Cillian, Diarmaid, Niall, Donal and Colin, and their families.
The President, Mrs McAleese, was represented by her Aide-deCamp, Capt Pauline O'Connell, and the mourners included a panoply of poets, academics, archaeologists, historians, civil servants and journalists.
Father John Killeen, the main celebrant of the funeral and the local curate, said Mr de Paor would be remembered for the values he upheld - "justice, truth, and care for heritage and the environment".
He said it was the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady which was a "a very special day to have a funeral Mass". He concelebrated the Mass with parish priest, Father Morgan Costelloe, and Father Bill Fortune, parish priest in Clonskeagh and an uncle of Mr de Paor's son-in-law, Ronan.
Musician Peter Browne played the Uileann pipes during the ceremony and the readings were read by Prof Etienne Rynne, professor of archaeology at UCG, and Mr de Paor's daughter, Aoife.
Daughters-in-law Fran Spillane and Liz White brought up the offertory gifts and granddaughter, Cliona, brought up what the priest described as "a very ancient fossil to symbolise his interest in archaeology, his interest in the earth and the past".
The academic and RTE presenter, Mr Brian Farrell, read a prayer of the faithful and said his death marked an aching void not easily filled. He said Mr de Paor had lived a "full, fruitful and distinguished life".
Prayers were also read by Mr Michael Ryan, director of the Chester Beatty Library, by Mr de Paor's nephew, Mr Kevin McDermott, and two of his sons, Donal and Niall. They prayed for all who had been touched by his friendship and for a tolerant society.
At the end of the ceremony, poet and academic, Mr Tom Kinsella, paid tribute to Mr de Paor as a beloved friend who shared times of joy and satisfaction with his colleagues. There was great respect for his qualities as a scholar and as a "humane man".
Mr Kinsella said his friend had a cherished view of Ireland and its people - accepting them as they were, a people of mixed origins, Irish with a lot of English.
He was a man of action for what he believed in and a man of integrity. He was a custodian of human values who left an important body of work. His last offering was his book, Landscapes and Figures, launched last month. It was Mr de Paor's last public appearance and he was "obviously very sick but at the same time obviously very determined".
Outside the church after the ceremony, the poet and Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney, described Mr de Paor as a "measure of the culture of the people". He was somebody whose opinion was important to others. "He counted as a scholar, as a historian, as an archaeologist. He flourished as a commentator but that is too thin a word for him. He had a strong sense of intellectual health and strength about him. He was a principled man." Mourners also included Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness and husband, Mr Proinsias MacAonghusa; Mr Richard Ryan, a poet and Ireland's permanent representative designate at the UN in New York; Mr Walter Kirwan, assistant secretary at the Department of the Taoiseach; Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum; Dublin City Councillor Ms Mary Freehill and retired diplomat, Dr Con Howard.
Also among the congregation were Mr Justin Keating, a former Minister for Industry and Commerce; the commentator, Mr Liam O Murchu; writer Ben Kiely; Prof Donnchadh O Corrain, professor of history at UCC; Prof Breandn O Buachalla, professor of Irish at UCD, and retired professors Donal McCartney and Liam Carlin. RTE journalists were among the mourners. Mr de Paor's son, Cillian, is managing editor of RTE news and son, Diarmaid, is a senior researcher.
After the ceremony, the funeral cortege moved to Glasnevin where Mr de Paor's remains were cremated.