The Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been remembered for his ‘service to humanity’ at a state funeral in South Africa for the revered anti-apartheid campaigner.
Tutu, who died on Boxing Day aged 90, will be laid to rest later today following the official ceremony at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town this morning.
A hymn and procession of clerics walking down the aisle burning incense and carrying candles started the ceremony at the church where he will be interred.
The cathedral, where Tutu used the pulpit to speak out against the racist white minority regime, was the focal point for tributes from many prominent figures.
Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1984 for his non-violent opposition to white minority rule, his easy-going nature masking a steely determination to fight for the downtrodden and oppressed.
Justin Welby, The Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the worldwide Anglican church, recorded a video message shown at the requiem mass.
He said: ‘When we were in the dark, he brought light.
‘For me to praise him is like a mouse giving tribute to an elephant.
‘South Africa has given us extraordinary examples of towering leaders of the rainbow nation with President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu… Many Nobel winners’ lights have grown dimmer over time, but Archbishop Tutu’s has grown brighter.’
Rev Welby also hailed Tutu’s influence far away from South Africa.
Rev Welby said: ‘Archbishop Tutu lit up the world… that light has lit up countries globally that were struggling with fear, conflict, persecution, oppression, where the marginalised suffered.
‘He never ceased to shed light. His light was the light of Christ, and that is why his light will go on shining.’
Archbishop Tutu’s plain pine coffin, the cheapest available at his request to avoid any ostentatious displays, was the centre of the service, which also featured African choirs, prayers and incense.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the main eulogy at the service.
Mr Ramaphosa said: ‘There were are only a few amongst us, the rarest of souls, who obtain the stature of global icon during their lifetime.
‘In our modern age this term has come to be associated with celebrity and social media fame.
‘Yet if we are to understand a global icon to be someone of great moral stature, of exceptional qualities and of service to humanity there can be no doubt that it refers to the man we are laying to rest today.
‘Archbishop Desmond Tutu was without question a crusader in the struggle for freedom, for justice, for equality and for peace. Not only in South Africa, the country of his birth, but around the world as well.
‘Such was the overarching impact and the influence that the Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu had that tributes have been received, as we have heard, from current, past presidents, religious leaders, monarchs, law makers, political parties, musicians, artists and ordinary people from all corners of the world.’
Mr Ramphosa told the service that Tutu ‘never stopped fighting, he never stopped speaking out and he never stopped caring’.
Mr Rampahosa said that if the the clergyman was present, he would say ‘hey, why are you looking so glum, so unhappy?’ and that ‘he would have wanted to have elicited a smile from all of us’.
Mpho Tutu, Tutu’s daughter, told the mass: ‘Thankyou, daddy, for the many ways you’ve shown us love, for the many times you challenged us, for the many times you comforted us.’
Following the funeral, Tutu will be aquamated – a greener alternative to cremation – and his ashes interred behind the cathedral’s pulpit, where he once railed against racism and injustice.
Tutu had picked a guiding quote for the funeral from the New Testament’s Gospel of St. John where Jesus addresses his disciples after their last supper.
It reads: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’
The simple message was in keeping with the world figurehead’s wishes for a frugal ceremony.
He had requested ‘the cheapest available coffin’ with only ‘a bouquet of carnations from his family’, according to the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
One of South Africa’s greatest sons was born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, on October 7, 1931.
He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1960, becoming chaplain at the University of Fort Hare, a hotbed of dissent and one of the few quality universities for black African students.
He left that post in 1962 and travelled to King’s College London, where he received degrees in theology.
Tutu returned to South Africa in 1967 and, until 1972, used his lectures to highlight the plight of the country’s black population.
He returned to the UK in 1972 as vice-director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches.
But he went back to South Africa to become the first black person to be appointed Anglican Dean of Johannesburg.
His anti-apartheid drive led to the campaigner receiving numerous doctorates and academic awards from all over the world.
Tutu was widely credited with coining the term Rainbow Nation to describe South Africa as it emerged from the shadows of apartheid, although he later rued the fact that this had not become reality.
Although he was firm in denouncing South Africa’s white minority rule, he was also harsh in his criticism of the violent tactics of some anti-apartheid groups, including the African National Congress.
He denounced terrorism and Communism and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1984 for his ‘role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa’.
After apartheid fell, he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for which he was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999.
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