The prolific documentary-maker, writer and environmentalist, died last Thursday, aged 55, from cancer.<\/p>\n
Those gathered for the service at Gonzaga College Chapel in Dublin, heard how he had recently married his partner, Aisling, in hospital.<\/p>\n
His brother Ru\u00e1n, who is a director and often worked with his brother, revealed how porters had decorated a bridal suite for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very touched,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe porters in James’s created a bridal suite for them, with flowers and champagne, non alcoholic, and all sorts of gorgeous things.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thanked the staff at St Luke\u2019s, St James\u2019s, and at the hospice in Harold\u2019s Cross for caring for his brother.<\/p>\n
Musicians, including Glen Hansard, Liam \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed, Lisa O’Neill and Colm Mac Con Iomaire played at the service while Niall Breslin and JJ \u00d3 Dochartaigh of Kneecap were also in attendance.<\/p>\n
Symbols representing Manch\u00e1n\u2019s life, such as a small safari truck, which he got when he was seven-years-old, “just three of his dictionaries\u201d, sandals, a backpack, and gardening utensils, as he \u201cgrew every bit of food he needed\u201d were brought to the altar.<\/p>\n
Other gifts were Manch\u00e1n\u2019s honey, a computer mouse, his favourite chair, a hat, and a drum, which represents his relationship with indigenous people all over the world.<\/p>\n
His brother Ru\u00e1n told mourners he is \u201cso proud of his little brother\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cManch\u00e1n is gone, but he’s not gone, and he’s going to be continuing, even through his podcast, his documentaries, his books. His spirit continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a difference one person can make. And to have done this so simply, Manch\u00e1n, without fuss, rage, or ego is extraordinary.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle brother, fire starter, teacher, tree planter, builder, global inspiration. Beautiful human.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn these tricky times, you reminded us how to be better humans. You taught us to be proud of our culture, but not in a narrow form of nationalism or politics. He loathed that. That was not what he was about.<\/p>\n
“But instead, to help us unlock through our language and our sense of place, what our heritage can reveal to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou taught us how to love and feel joy for our existence, love for life, love for nature, joy for trees, joy for bees, love of light, love of rain, love of animals, love of connections, of our fellow creatures and humans, love and respect for all cultures, love of language, spirit, laughter, words, imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife, Aisling, said Manch\u00e1n\u2019s greatest gift was his ability \u201cto laugh at himself\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just so funny. I’ve learned so much humility from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started to fall in love with Manch\u00e1n around page 255 of his book, Angels and Rabies, which was the book that he had gifted me after our first meeting 11 years ago. By the time I’d finished the book, I was already madly in love.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was so off script, you couldn’t put him in a box. He was someone who was so connected to his culture and his heritage, his Irishness, but he had such wide open arms for the world and everything that it offered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never wanted to be divisive. He never created sides. He was a bridge. He was a connector and an opener to everyone he met.<\/p>\n
“He had that glorious \u2018hello to you\u2019, and he would light up meeting someone for the first time and saying \u2018hello to you\u2019 as if he knew them forever and and the other person just would light up too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe offers of love and support in the last few weeks have just been phenomenal. And he did feel them. He felt them so much in the last week, so many of them did get through to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added her husband will be her \u201cspirit guide for the rest of her life\u201d.<\/p>\n
Aide-de-Camp Commandant Deirdre Newell, representing the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, attended the service..<\/p>\n
Fr Tom Casey, who celebrated the mass, told mourners he had visited the broadcaster last Monday afternoon, and said he was \u201cfrail\u201d, but still full of life\u201d.<\/p>\n
He described him as a \u201ctrue Irishman in heart and bone\u201d, with the \u201cvision of one who saw the sacred in every tongue, in every creature, in every dawn\u201d.<\/p>\n
“Although he travelled widely, his heart was earthed in 10 acres of Westmeath, and you probably see a lot of the foliage and plants from those 10 acres here in the chapel this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr Casey added Mr Magan\u2019s message was \u201cas simple as it was seismic\u201d: \u201cIf we do not walk the path of the spirit, our footsteps will fade from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The late broadcaster is survived by his wife Aisling, mother Cr\u00f3ine, brothers R\u00edoch and Ru\u00e1n, and sister L\u00edadain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The prolific documentary-maker, writer and environmentalist, died last Thursday, aged 55, from cancer. Those gathered for the service…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7699,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,1181,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-105347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-adrianna-wrona","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-rte","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}