Paisley residents were able to pay their respects virtually as Archbishop Philip Tartaglia was laid to rest yesterday.
The service at St Andrew’s Cathedral, in Glasgow, was relayed live over YouTube.
Prior to becoming the city’s Archbishop in 2012, he spent seven years as Bishop of Paisley.
Only 20 of his closest family and friends were able to be present inside for the requiem mass.
The main celebrant was Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.
Bishop Gilbert described the late Archbishop as “a great tree felled unexpectedly in the middle of the night” and “a loss that has changed the landscapes of so many lives”.
He died, aged 70, at his home in Glasgow while fighting Covid-19.
Bishop Gilbert said: “There are so many settings in which to have known Archbishop Philip – as a member of his family, or in his school and student days, in Rome, in the seminaries and parishes he served, as Bishop of Paisley and Archbishop of Glasgow.
“I have to say I feel his eye on me as I speak.
“It’s a little unnerving. Get it right, Hugh, get it right.”
Bishop Gilbert got to know Philip Tartaglia well when he was still Bishop of Paisley.
But he added: “ But I had already encountered him during the papal visit the year before, at the Mass at Bellahouston.
“Bishops and abbots were waiting in a tent. He went out to look at the singing crowds, full of young people, and he came back with his face flushed, crying, “The faith is alive! The faith is alive!”
The Archbishop was buried in the cathedral crypt within minutes of the service ending.
