A simple prayer service was held last night for the writer Francis Stuart at St Patrick's church, Fanore, Co Clare, after his widow, Ms Finola Graham, decided to hold a wake for a second night at her home, writes Eibher Eibhir Mulqueen, Mid-West Correspondent. Ms Graham said many family members had not yet arrived in Fanore, including his son, Ion. "I like the idea of him not being alone in the church, and that we would all sit quietly with him tonight," she said.
During last night's service, held before about 30 mourners, the poet Paul Durcan read a poem he had dedicated to Stuart on his 95th birthday, entitled The Kind of Cats, and from his collection, Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil. Mr Stuart was aged 97 when he died on Wednesday.
The removal will take place early this afternoon before the funeral Mass at 1 p.m. Afterwards, Mr Stuart will be buried at Craggagh cemetery. Prayers were said last night by Father Michael O'Reilly, the parish priest of Fanore. He described Mr Stuart as a good Christian, a man of many words and a man of the pen and different art forms.