A funeral mass was held in London today for Dublin-born hostage Margaret Hassan, who is believed to have been killed by her captors in Iraq last month.
Ms Hassan was honoured in a moving farewell. by more than 2,000 mourners at Westminster Cathedral in the British capital.
Tributes spoke of a peacemaker, caring wife and sister and a woman who "gave her life for the vulnerable and disadvantaged".
So many well-wishers flocked to London's main catholic cathedral there was standing room only as hundreds joined her devastated family in a sombre but touching tribute.
The 59-year-old, who dedicated her life to the Iraqi people, was murdered last month after being kidnapped in Baghdad in October.
Leading a requiem mass, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, said she had died "through the cruel and violent actions of human beings".
He added: "I have called Margaret a martyr. I use the word advisedly because the word martyr means witness.
"Margaret witnessed, in both her life and her death, to the act of loving." The congregation was also given a brief glimpse of the charity worker's philosophical outlook, from one of the last emails she sent her sister Geraldine.
It read: "Take care of yourself and most importantly keep happy. "Believe it or not, you still find people here smiling and laughing and they have very little to laugh about."
Mrs Hassan was the director of CARE International in Iraq when she was seized by gunmen and later murdered. Her body has never been found.
A message from her four younger siblings remembered their "big sister" as a brave, charitable, humble and hardworking woman.
It continued: "Margaret was against war and sanctions. She tried to make a difference.
"She was a force for good. Children, the sick and poor were her concern; those without food and clean water.
"Margaret gave her life for the vulnerable and disadvantaged." Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor called her: "A peacemaker in a time of seemingly endless wars.
"She hungered and thirsted for justice for the Iraqi people. She was persecuted, brutally slain, because she was working in the cause of right." Clearly emotional, friend Patrick O'Ryan-Roeder said: "Life is one opportunity. Margaret never wasted one minute of that opportunity. "Margaret was the caring wife, Margaret was the caring sister, Margaret was the caring aunt."
Among the mourners were Mrs Hassan 's sisters Deirdre, Geraldine and Kathryn and her brother Michael.
Mrs Hassan 's husband, Tahseen, could not make the service due to ill health. Mr O'Ryan-Roeder, who also read the family's messages, later paid his own tribute to them, saying they had "left no stone unturned in their quest to secure her (Mrs Hassan 's) freedom".
PA