A mass was held last night for Father Patrick Emmanuel, who died in a fire at his home.

The popular Roman Catholic priest died in the blaze which broke out at the presbytery at 2am yesterday.

The mass was to have been the first of the Easter services at the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady in Edith Avenue but it was turned into a service of prayers for the popular priest.

He died in the early hours of Maundy Thursday, which is the traditional feast day for Roman Catholic clergy as they celebrate being given a mandate to preach.

The body of Father Pat, as he liked to be known, was found in his nightclothes after flames were spotted coming from the roof of The Priest's House in Horsham Avenue, which backs on to the church.

Parishioners have made arrangements for the Easter services to go ahead as planned, taking some of them themselves.

Funeral arrangements for the 50-year-old priest, born in Sri Lanka and forced to flee because of his Roman Catholic beliefs, have yet to be announced.

Police are satisfied Father Pat died from the effects of smoke and are not treating the blaze as suspicious.

The fire was so intense and caused so much damage to the upstairs that the cause of the blaze and the exact spot where it started may never be known.

Father Pat was a known pipe smoker, and there was evidence of regular pipe smoking on the ground floor of the presbytery, which was built in the Sixties.