Hundreds gather for funeral of woman who died with no relatives

According to Mr Healy, about 40 people would regularly attend morning Mass at Askey Church.

He described the attendance of about 300 people to the funeral Mass held for Mary as demonstrating “a great sense of humanity”.

Mary had no one left in her life apart from distant relatives who still lived about 100 miles away in West Cork.

She rarely had visitors when she was in the nursing home.

Mr Healy said he expected about a dozen people to show up at the most.

“The hall kept filling up, I was bowled over by the response,” he said.

“A class from the local primary school was also in attendance, offering gifts at Mass.”