Friends and family of Winnie Brady, the Dublin woman who died while on pilgrimage in Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina last year, gathered for her removal service yesterday evening.
Almost 200 mourners attended the service as Ms Brady's coffin was carried by relatives, including her son Stephen, into St Paul's Church in Ayrfield near Coolock, north Dublin.
Ms Brady (59), from Raheny, went missing last year after going alone for a walk from the guesthouse where she was staying with friends in the pilgrimage town.
She was last seen on September 6th.
Her body was discovered earlier this month in a remote spot about 3km from Medjugorje and 1.5km from Apparition Hill, where six local children claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1981.
The chief celebrant at the removal, Fr Bernard Hughes, said Ms Brady was a committed Christian who cherished the gospel.
"Winnie strove in her earthly life to follow Christ," he told the congregation which included her husband Stephen and their five children, Carmel, Linda, Joan, Una and Stephen.
"A tragic death in our world causes darkness to descend upon us" and this was particularly the case for Stephen and Winnie's family, Fr Hughes said.
Such a tragic death was like an electricity power cut when everything suddenly stopped without warning.
"The lights go out and we are plunged into darkness and for a while we seem lost and helpless and perhaps also we are angry . . . a tragic death is like a blackout - one minute the sun is shining and the next the light goes out."
Nothing could prepare the bereaved for the sudden loss of light, but as in a power cut, they could light a candle.
"Now in grief and sadness we rush to the only light that can penetrate the awful darkness namely the light of Christ as symbolised in the Easter candle."
It was natural at these times to ask why these things had to happen and it was also common to say that they happened because of God's will, he said.
"God did not want Winnie's death to happen as it happened." However, "we must not judge a life by how it ends".
The funeral service will be held at 10am today at St Paul's Church.
Ms Brady had previously visited Medjugorje about 10 years ago following the death of her 19- year-old son, Christopher, who had a heart condition, and the death in a house fire of her eldest grandson, John (15).
