The Mass in London yesterday for the entertainer, Mr Dermot Morgan, was told he was a man of immense kindness and love. The parish priest of St Margaret’s in south-west London, Father Alexander Sherbrooke, said he had not known Dermot Morgan before he was asked to administer the Last Rites to him in the early hours of Sunday morning. But he knew he was a man of “immense kindness and love … and somewhat ironically they were priestly qualities”.

In the front row of the church, Ms Fiona Clarke, the partner of Dermot Morgan, sat with her head in her hands. Beside her their young son, Ben, shifted about in his seat, smiling and resting his chin on the bench in front.

Three days after his death from a suspected heart attack, 200 family and friends, including Morgan’s teenage sons, Donnchadh and Robert, gathered in silence. Ireland was stunned by his death, they were told and people who did not know Mr Morgan in his life, but felt they knew him through his character Father Ted, were saddened by a life cut short.

Father Sherbrooke paid tribute to Mr Morgan as a man who had shown great concern for everyone around him, especially the young people in his life. He said he felt he had come to know the actor through his family because they had opened their arms to welcome him during the past few days. His wish for Mr Morgan’s family was that they would find comfort in each other in the days ahead.

Mr Morgan’s “first passion” was his work. Only last week he had spoken to his family about his immense delight with the third series of Father Ted. He had enjoyed filming the new series but he was eager to get back to playing five-a-side football and being able to have a drink.

“Everyone has their personal memories of Dermot,” said his cousin, Mr Donagh Morgan, who is a senior official in the Department of the Taoiseach. “I remember his passion for the UCD football team, which plies its trade at the foot of the premier division. And I remember sitting on a barstool in a pub in central Dublin over a pint or two of Guinness and he talked about his love for Fiona, which overwhelmed him at times. And of the love for his children … when Ben came along he was complete.”

During the Requiem Mass, the singer Jim Diamond performed songs from a collection of CDs Mr Morgan had bought on Saturday, shortly before he collapsed during a dinner party at his home in Richmond. As he began to sing, Ms Clarke buried her head in her hands once again and her family gathered around her in support. Among the mourners were friends and colleagues from the cast of Father Ted, including Ardal O’Hanlon, Pauline McLynn and Frank Kelly. Other mourners included the Irish Ambassador to Britain, Mr Edward Barrington, the manager of the Republic of Ireland football team, Mick McCarthy and the singer Chris de Burgh and Mr Morgan’s friends from Channel 4 and Hat Trick productions, the company which produces the Father Ted series.

After the Mass, which lasted an hour, six pall-bearers dressed in long black coats removed a spray of red roses and daffodils placed on his coffin by his family and carried his body out of the church. Outside, as the funeral cortege left St Margaret’s for a private gathering in Richmond, a group of fans huddled together to watch the procession. “We travelled from the other side of London to pay our respects,” said one man.

The removal of the remains of Mr Morgan takes place today to St Theresa’s Church, Mount Merrion, Dublin, at 5.30 p.m. His body is to be flown back this morning from London. The Funeral Mass takes place tomorrow at 11 a.m.

A number of politicians are due to attend this evening’s ceremony including the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. Colleagues and friends from Channel 4 and Hat Trick productions are expected to fly in from London, among them, the show’s co-stars Ms McLynn, Mr O’Hanlon and Mr Kelly.