FR Felix McGuckin was once described as the "hardest working priest in the whole of Ireland".
Over more than 60 years of ministry he led by example in developing new church and school buildings for growing Catholic populations across the diocese of Down and Connor.
He also combined pastoral work with chaplaincy duties to prisoners in Crumlin Road gaol and patients in Holywell, Masserene, Purdysburn and Belvoir Park hospitals.
Always humble, he would typically respond to criticism of people with ‘Is that so?’ or ‘There you are’.
A clerical friend said: "He made a deep impression on people, not because he tried, but because he was authentic."
Fr Felix was born in Tirgarvil on a farm in the parish of Maghera in 1927, the sixth in a family of four boys and three girls.
His home was one of strong faith, prayer and attendance at Mass and devotions and his ordination in Maynooth in 1957 was a great cause for family celebration.
Fr Felix's first appointment was to Portglenone, where he lived at the gate lodge of the monastery.
Along with the rejuvenation of SVP and the Legion of Mary, he will be remembered for his restoration of the ancient graveyard at Aughanoy.
Ecumenical contacts were also fostered and when a local Protestant church was bombed, Fr Felix was one of the first to offer practical and financial help.
In 1965 he swapped these quiet rural surroundings for the bustle of Antrim town, where sprawling new housing estates for factory workers had almost trebled the Catholic population.
Fr Felix was fully involved in planning and fundraising for a new complex to include St Joseph’s Church and Presbytery, St Joseph’s Primary School and St Malachy’s High School.
It was a mammoth task, demanding perseverance, dedication and patience.
His next appointment was as the first full-time chaplain to Crumlin Road gaol in Belfast in 1983.
He ministered compassionately to men of violence without ever condoning their actions, often saying separate Masses for paramilitary and other prisoners.
Another major building project awaited on his appointment as parish priest of Drumbo in 1986.
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was now too small and there were more pupils in temporary classrooms than the main school building.
With characteristic diligence, flair for organisation and the support of a strong parish family, Fr Felix saw it through.
Hands-on as always, he could often be found in overalls and with a wheelbarrow, spade or tape measure as an unofficial clerk of works.
In retirement Fr Felix returned to Antrim as its hospital chaplain, a task he undertook with devotion, bringing consolation and healing to patients and their families.
It was there that he died on Easter Sunday last year, just days after his 93rd birthday.
Unlike the person in a phrase he often quoted - "He lived a life of going to do and died with nothing done" - Fr Felix lived a life of doing, of using his God-given talents with humility, saying, "It is to God we owe everything and it is to God that we need to give thanks."
We give thanks for the life of Fr Felix.