God will have the final say on Martin McGuinness

Well, Sir Christopher Wren’s epitaph got an airing in St Columba’s church in Derry today for the funeral of Martin McGuinness. You remember: ‘Si monumentum requiris, circumspice,’ the monuments in question being the face of London. Well, Fr Michael Canny, who delivered the homily at McGuinness’s funeral in St Columba’s church, said that if people wanted to see a monument to Mr McGuinness they should look around them.

‘There are people in this church today whose presence would have been unthinkable only a generation ago,’ he said. ‘They have forged working relationships with Martin McGuinness; they have built friendships with him; they have occupied Stormont’s benches alongside him. Some have even sat in government with him.

‘The presence of those political rivals and opponents among you, who have come to pay their respects this afternoon, is the most eloquent testimony to the memory of Martin McGuinness. When you seek his monument, you – by your presence – are his monument.’