HUNDREDS of people turned out on Saturday for a vigil and Mass in Derry to mark the first anniversary of the death of Bishop Edward Daly.
Bishop Daly, who died on August 8 last year, was the subject of one of the most enduring images of the Troubles when he was filmed waving a blood-stained handkerchief as he led a group carrying the body of Bloody Sunday victim Jackie Duddy in 1972.
A native of Belleek, Co Fermanagh, he served as bishop of Derry from 1974 until 1993 and was outspoken in his condemnation of paramilitary and state violence.
Thousands of people from all over Ireland filed past his body as it lay in state at St Eugene’s Cathedral.
After celebrating Mass on Saturday Bishop Donal McKeown led a walk from the Cathedral to a commemorative stone at Rossville Street for a short inter-denominational service attended by family, friends and other church leaders.
There are also plans to develop a garden of reflection around a commemorative monument.
Vincent Coyle, who helped erect the Bogside monument and organise the commemoration, said Bishop Daly was the “priest of the civil rights movement and helped so many people in ways that were never made known”.
He said work on the new garden of reflection is expected to start in the coming months.
