Vincent Blake is laid to rest in the town he loved so well

Vincent Blake was described as a man who had a great heart, a man of a caring and kind nature and a man who loved to help others at his Funeral Mass in St. Eunan’s Cathedral this morning.

"He was part and parcel of the street scene of this town, a great friend to so many, and a man of a great heart," Monsignor Kevin Gillespie said. 

Friends and families gathered at the historic building in the heart of Letterkenny to bid their final farewell to a man who was exceptionally well-known in the cathedral town. 

Father Gillespie extended his sincere condolences to Vincent's son Christopher, to Maureen, Sally, Paschal, Stephen and to the extended Blake family as the Funeral Mass began. 

"I want to extend a very sincere word of sympathy and condolence to all Vincent's friends and colleagues in so many areas in the life of the town especially those who knew his so well through Letterkenny Rovers and indeed also St Eunan's GAA," he said. 

Father Paul McGeehan and Father Ciaran Harkin concelebrated the Mass alongside Monsignor Kevin Gillespie. 

"Vincent Blake, I think it can be said was a man of lively passions and partisan loyalties to St Eunan's GAA, to Letterkenny Rovers, to Donegal and to Ireland," Father Gillespie said. 

Vincent Blake played for both St Eunan's and Letterkenny Rovers but his true testament lay in his unwavering lifelong support to both teams. 

The late Vincent Blake had painted his back gate and wall red and black at his home on Iona Road while the checkered black and white flag of the Rovers flutters alongside the green and the gold of Donegal, the congregation heard.

Father Gillespie said that his quick wit and friendly nature ensured his popularity in the town.

"He had a great store of knowledge about the town and its people and the life of the town that he loved so much," Father Gillespie said. 

Mr Blake was always eager to use the Irish language on any occasion that presented him the opportunity and Father Gillespie mirrored this in the Funeral Mass and prayed in the Irish language. 

"He had a great capacity for kindness and this found easy expression in his work as a nursing assistant at first at Stradreagh Hospital in Derry and from there into one-to-one care in the community on both sides of the border - it was perhaps when he was happiest helping others and he even went abroad for charitable outreach in communities and countries less fortunate than our own," Father Gillespie said. 

In recent months, Vincent's condition deteriorated and Father Gillespie had the opportunity to call to him often and it was on these occasions, he said, it was clear that Vincent had a sincere and deep-rooted faith. 

"He prayed and he loved the Eucharist, being a regular presence here at the early morning Mass in the Cathedral. His involvement with the Cursillo movement brought him into deeper faith and it was a way which he came to a more personal knowledge of Jesus our saviour and tried to be the person that Jesus wants us to be," those gathered at the Funeral Mass heard. 

He said that Vincent loved working with Cursillo on weekends in Ards, helping other help and broken people to reflect on their own lives, to encounter the real love and joy of friendship with Jesus. 

"It was perhaps not what people would expect of him but we are all made of much more than can be seen on the surface. His helping instinct found a welcome there and a way to allow him not only to make a journey of healing in faith and brokenness but to walk with others as they embarked upon and walked along the road of discipleship," Father Gillespie said. 

He was greatly appreciated by all those he helped, the congregation heard. 

Father Gillespie said that God alone can bring us peace as it is his making and is God's own presence with us. 

"I know that Vincent by virtue of his faith, by virtue of the many friendships he enjoyed that were so strong and so important to him in this town, and elsewhere, by virtue of his family that he loved and by virtue of his experience of Jesus in a real and personal manner were all things that brought him peace. We pray that he may enjoy that peace now forever more in the eternal presence of God by his mercy," Father Gillespie said. 

He was laid to rest in Conwall cemetery.