Dean of Belfast pays tribute to Frank Carson following funeral
The funeral cortege for well–known comedian Frank Carson, paused at the steps of St Anne’s Cathedral following a Requiem Mass in St Patrick’s Church, Donegall Street. This was said to be representative of his wish to be liked by everyone.
The Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd John Mann, led a prayer and tribute saying:
‘We are thankful for Frank’s humour, for the happiness he spread, for embracing this Cathedral in his concern and for, at all times, expressing those great qualities of hope and love, through word and action, that transcend division and bring people together in common endeavour.’
He went on to pray:
‘God our creator and redeemer,
by your power Christ conquered death and entered into glory.
Confident of his victory
and claiming his promises,
we now leave your servant Frank in your gracious keeping.
We thank you for giving him the gift:
to help us to laugh in even the darkest of days;
to lighten burdened lives by an irrepressible spirit;
to show us how to be both exuberant and sincere;
to know how sensitively to help joy and sorrow to meet;
to be able to give when our need was greatest;
and to express faith in the people of this City.
May God bless all whom Frank loved and leaves behind,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who died and is alive
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
one God, now and for ever. Amen’
Irish comic Frank, who died aged 85, rose to fame in the 1960s and carried on performing until just a few months before his death.
The Belfast–born stand–up had suffered from stomach cancer and was in poor health. He died at home surrounded by his family in Blackpool on 21 February.