Thursday, July 1, 1999 Published at 07:57 GMT 08:57 UK
Your tributes to Cardinal Hume
Cardinal Basil Hume: "Held in high regard"
BBC News Online has received many e-mails in response to the death of Cardinal Basil Hume, the leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales.
My deepest Sympathy and heartfelt condolence to the Catholics of England and Wales for losing a Holy man in Cardinal Basil Hume. May he rest in peace with the Lord.
He will be missed.
Dear Cardinal Hume, pray for me and ask God to give me your wonderful humility and spirit of service!
We all pray that you receive your just reward in heaven for a life dedicated to helping others. God bless.
A great loss for all of us rest in peace.
Cardinal Hume was a man of profound thought and keen sight. He left us an example who knew the deep meaning of life and stood the test of time. Amid the uncertainty and the ambiguity of our time, he dared to tell the truth.
The Cardinal will be sadly missed by everyone in the Catholic Church and beyond. We have learned a great deal from him.
Such a sad loss of a caring, thoughtful, genuine man. I have know Cardinal Hume all my life, although we met once and I was confirmed by him. I will remember him forever. God bless you Father.
Deepest sympathy, may he rest in peace.
As a Roman Catholic seminarian, Cardinal Hume set a good example of what a priest ought to be. His death is a great loss, not only to the Catholic Church in England and to the English people, put to the whole Catholic Church as well. We must ask Cardinal Hume to pray for us.
I was always touched by his sensitivity and care. He was a remarkable man whose leadership will be sadly missed. May he rest in peace.
Deepest sympathy on the passing of Basil, Cardinal Hume. On behalf of the Gay and Lesbian Ministry of St Mary's Catholic Community South Brisbane we remember with gratitude his support for our cause and presence in the Church.
A truly holy man who will be sadly missed by us all. May he receive his eternal reward in heaven. God bless him and may he rest in peace.
Mike Goldsmith, England
His deep Benedictine spirituality has had an effect on the lives of so many people throughout the world. We give thanks for the gift of a humble, sincere monk who loved deeply his God and fellow human beings. May he rest in peace and intercede for all of us.
It is a sad occasion for the church to lose such a wonderful representative. He will be remembered for all his good works by many people. A true disciple of Christ. He will be missed but he has left a legacy. His kindness and commitment to the Truths of the Church. RIP
Praise be to God for the life and witness of this great man. What a great gap he leaves in his wake; how can we ever hope to fill it?
I was a novice at Ampleforth 1967-68, the first portion of which were some of the most glorious of my life. Others of that year were Francis Dobbins and Christopher Gorst. It was a blessing indeed to have shared the spirit and secret of Ampleforth in Abbot Basil Hume's years. He made a mark on this soul that touched the most human as well as the most sublime elements of civilisation and spirituality. I will never forget him and his wisdom. God bless you all as you recall his life on earth and his fulfilled life with the Trinity.
He taught us the best manner of implementing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council -- to always have the courage to do the next right thing.
I was saddened to hear of the death of Basil Hume. I remember him from my days at Ampleforth. He was a very kind, approachable man. He always had time to say "hello" and ask how you were, whether you knew him or, as in my case, did not.
His stoicism in sickness was remarkable and wholly characteristic of the man.
Basil made a difference for the better to the many people who heard him speak or read his books. His life is an example to inspire us. He will be greatly missed.
"Write me as one who loved his fellow man" - words so attributable to our late Cardinal
He saw people in trouble, in need and in despair and he reached out to them. He was truly their brother in Christ. May the angels come to greet him - may they write his name large in the Book of Gold. May he rest in peace.
A fine Christian gentleman; he will be missed.
I am deeply saddened at the passing of this great man. My prayers and thoughts are with you (in London) now, and I shall be with you in prayer on Jun 25 when the funeral mass takes place.
He lead a full, holy and Christian life, and is now at peace with his maker. He will be sadly missed by Christians all over the world. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
It is a great shame to lose such a man. I was lucky enough to have met him.
When I was a pupil at Ampleforth College, aged about 10, I was on a run to
the lakes with a friend. We met someone who appeared to be 'just' one of the
monks. We spoke for a few minutes, he was friendly and strikingly kind and
genuine. We then continued on. Imagine my shock when I saw him in the
newspapers a few weeks later and realised who he was. I think Cardinal Hume
rather liked the fact that we didn't have the faintest idea who he was!
Peace, Perfect Peace. Praise God for such a witness as this.
Speaking from an Anglican point of view, I see the life and work of Cardinal Hume as being overwhelmingly important to Christians of all denominations in this country. I was deeply saddened by his death, yet see he has reached his reward - his only reward - following the Way to our Father and Creator. He will be missed by many and prayed for frequently.
I first learned of HE Cardinal Hume when I purchased The Catholic Prayer Book by Michael Buckley, for which His Eminence had written a foreward. I just recently purchased a book written by Cardinal Basil himself, entitled The Search For God, when I learned, by way of his web page, that the Primate was ill with inoperable cancer. I am grateful that, at the very least, he did not suffer for many days. I will say at least one decade of the Rosary for His Eminence, and it is my promise to him that I will finish The Search For God by the end of Summer. May both Anglicans and Catholics continue to benefit from his example, and may Cardinal Basil rest in peace.
I met Cardinal Hume eleven years ago, at a conference in Hobart. His words were eloquent, but did not speak as loudly as his manner, which was humble and gentle. He remains an example of goodness to many people outside the UK. God's blessing be upon him.
Cardinal Hume had that gift, which is needed more in the Church today, of combining the pastoral empathy for those struggling with the difficulties of leading a human life with the principled communication of those moral and spiritual truths we Christians must all aspire to live up to, regardless of the difficulty and cost.
I'll never forget the day I met you in Walsingham. While we pray for your soul, please pray for ours!!
God bless you for all your hard work and good faith. RIP.
I had the privilege of hearing Cardinal Hume speak on several occasions and have been able to access many of his lectures and homilies via the Internet. What a remarkable man. I don't recall any other public figure who combined such wisdom and holiness along with a steadfast commitment to social justice and the common good. Thank you good Cardinal for this remarkable legacy. May "peace at the last" be your unending reward.
The Administrators and members of The Shrine Of The Immaculate Heart Of Mary offer their prayers and condolences upon learning of the sad death of Cardinal Basil Hume, a truly great man and one of a deep and abiding holiness.
May he rest in peace.
In Cardinal Hume's personality I can hear a voice from one of the greatest prophets in England.
A wonderful and holy man and priest sorely missed by all. My lasting memory of him will be the beautiful, moving tribute he paid on BBC TV to Diana, Princess of Wales, on the occasion of her death. The kind words bore testimony to the warmth and generosity of his spirit.
On Behalf of the Bishops and Priests of the Diocese of Down & Connor I have been asked to express our condolences to the Diocese of Westminster and also to Cardinal Hume's Family.
A great man who has been an inspiration to many priests throughout this land.
On the Internet, I was shocked to hear of Cardinal Hume's death. Since he told everybody that he had cancer, I prayed that Cardinal Hume would die a peaceful and beatified death. He was an example of the beauty of holiness. Cardinal Hume was more than a monk or a cardinal; he was a true man of God and a friend of the sick, the disabled and the poor. I admired him for his spiritual leadership right next to Pope John Paul II May Cardinal Hume rest in peace with God. Grant eternal rest to the dead and may God's perpetual light shine on them and Cardinal Hume. One day, he will be canonised as St. Basil Hume.
The most important English Cardinal since Newman. A model of episcopal love and grace.
I pray for you the prayer of another Cardinal from your beloved England: "O Lord, support us all the day long. Until the shadow lengthens, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in Thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen."
May Your Soul Rest In Peace.
May you rest in peace with the Lord and guide us up in Heaven. Amen.
May you rest in peace with the Lord and guard and guide us while in Heaven. Amen!
Cardinal Hume was a truly saintly man of a type all too rare these days. He will be much missed and the world the poorer for his absence. May He Rest in Peace.
Cardinal Hume ordained me as deacon the 6 December 1986. I was his personnel deacon for a week during a pilgrimage in Lourdes in May 1987. I am very grateful for his gentle words of trust.
I was deeply saddened by the passing of this gentle and good man. As a Muslim, all people of the faith are respected and admired. Cardinal Hume was such a man, a wise and gentle soul.
If ever one needed an example of modern Christianity, one needed to look no further than Cardinal Hume. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
I feel enormous gratitude for the wisdom, patience and faith evident in the work of Cardinal Hume. His death is a profound loss.
Thank you for a life of inspiration. May you rest with God, in peace.
It was with sadness that I heard that Cardinal Hume died. We have lost a great person who accepted people of all faiths. I hope that his sucessor will have the same dignity and understanding.
Our leaders, whether they be woman or man, political, royal or religious are just normal human beings. They have failings and faults like us all. However every so often one appears, who is really a level above the rest, whose qualities give others hope and comfort and show us how we might live. His wisdom, kindness and humility will be sorely missed.
May the Eternal and Merciful God rest his soul in peace.
For an African university student, who happens to be an Anglican, from one of the far flung ends of the former "British Empire", I suppose some may feel that it is interesting that I was actually aware of Cardinal Hume's work, but that is not my view. I have deep respect for this great man of God, especially for his ecumenical work, and I feel that it is natural that a man with his vision and love for the UNIVERSAL Church, should also be loved and respected by a simple person such as myself. I pray that God shall provide the Roman Catholic Church in England with an equally insightful and wise leader. May God receive him home with love and fantastic celebration. May the soul of Cardinal Basil Hume, and all of the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace, and rise in glory. AMEN.
Although I did not know the cardinal personally, I am moved by some of the wonderful things that people have said about him. I pray that the almighty God will grant his soul eternal rest.
May he rest in peace and rise in Glory.
I was privileged to have met the Cardinal on three occasions, the first time
was when he received my wife into the Catholic faith and the things that
most impressed me about the man were his gentleness and humility. Everyone
he met he treated equally as a person and a child of God. He left an
impression on everyone he met without trying to impress. Our Church has lost
a great leader on earth but we have one more great supporter in Heaven (as
have his beloved Newcastle).
He was a great man and everyone loved him a lot.
A man of God and a man of the people who personified the love of Christ for mankind.
I have admired the Cardinal and had the great pleasure of visiting the UK and the Cathedral which was the seat of his office. Though admiring him from afar, truly his reputation and spirit which he lived the love of Christ serves as a fond memory of him. May he rest in peace! God bless you Cardinal Hume.
This lovely man has left a shining example for Christians of all
denominations to follow.
Such a gentle, wise and holy man. He will be sincerely missed by many here, but he's gone on to greater things. A lesson to us all.
How privileged we in England and Wales have been to have such a man as our Cardinal. Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
He will be greatly
missed especially in
his own Diocese of Westminster.
May he rest in peace.
The Cardinal was a beacon of faith and hope: may he rest in peace.
Cardinal Hume will be truly missed as a good and caring man who inspired
many of us in our daily lives as Catholics. I feel a deep loss after the
news of his death, but will join the many in mourning. Cardinal Hume's
legacy was one of hope and joy. I will never forget him. His death
cannot take his precious legacy away from us.
He was a kind and gentle man who will be sorely missed by Catholics the
world over. Basil Hume was particularly valued by the younger generation as
he had the ability to interpret the church doctrines, and a rare streak of
practicality when dealing with some of the Church's more extreme members.
I never knew the Cardinal but he was always a man I would have liked to have met. His attempts to bring about reform to the Roman Catholic Church to bring it in to the modern world shouldn't be forgotten. It speaks volumes that Her Majesty permitted her cousin The Duchess of Kent to convert and that she herself attended Mass. There can be no doubt Cardinal Hume did much to unite the divisions between the faiths of people in this country. He will be missed.
A great and good man who will be missed not only by Catholics but by the
As an Anglo-Catholic, I feel the loss of a great friend. Basil cardinal Hume was truly a "man of God." May he rest in peace.
You were a loving and caring leader, who helped us to understand everyone's different beliefs.
Go across the rainbow and collect your golden wings from our heavenly father,
rest in peace knowing that you have left a stronger Catholic church in England that will grow and cherish your memory.
God bless you.
You will always be in our thoughts and prayers.
You will be remembered as a deeply religious man and as a person who cared and listened. God bless you.
It is too difficult to sum up in words what a truly great and saintly man
Cardinal Hume was. He has guarded The Catholic Church and Christian faith
in England over a difficult times, and it is comforting to think he
continues to do so from afar.
May God Grant him Eternal Rest.
I am not a Catholic but I respected a 'good' man who seemed to care for all people whatever background that they came from.
As an observer from
a distant country,
I have never had the
opportunity of the
acquaintance, yet I
by the passing of
this man of virtue
and goodness. May
God grant him peace.
Basil Hume taught us all and led by example, how to be better Catholics. We thank God for sending him to us.
May his soul rest in peace.
From the little I know of Cardinal Basil Hume,I daresay this is a priest who applied the human touch to religion and touched the hearts of many.May his "listening and understanding" soul rest in perfect peace with the Lord. Adieu, dear Cardinal.
A great gentle-man, who will be sadly missed and hard to replace. A true man of the people who was always entirely down-to-earth.
I remember him with the handicapped children in Lourdes a couple of years ago, and how he seemed to put everyone at ease.
Rest in peace.
Cardinal Hume's death is a great loss. We have all prayed for his soul in our assemblies and at our mass today.
He will long be remembered with respect and love.
His Eminence has taught me how to live and, most importantly, how to die. May God give him eternal peace.
A truly honest, decent man. It is not only a great loss to the church,
but to the nation at large. We shall miss him.
I'm an Italian Catholic Missionary. I met Cardinal Hume some years ago during my stay in England. Just before my departure for Africa, he gave me a little cross saying: "Bring this cross to the people of Uganda and bear it with joy!" Indeed, He was a great missionary.
As an ex-pupil of Cardinal Pole School, part of Westminster Diocese - I had the privilege to meet this man on several occasions. A peaceful, calming man - an inspiration to many young people.
His writings have made it a little easier for me to believe in the essential goodness of God and hence the reality and goodness of the spiritual world, which is the best cure for hopelessness of all sorts. It will be hard to replace him.
Thank you for making Catholicism so simple, clear and reasonable. Thank you for your example and inspiration. I pray that you may rest in peace after all the selfless work you have done in this life.
We've been very lucky to have had such a spiritual and respected man as the head of our church. He will be greatly missed and extremely hard to replace.
Heaven is in the hearts of all Christians. Cardinal Hume is now in us all and we can draw strength from that at this sad time.
Cardinal Hume will never be forgotten. He respected us ordinary people. May
all respect him.
I knew cardinal from the years I spent in the archdiocese of Westminster. He was truly a paradigm of English gentleman and a compassionate man.
I can't imagine Westminster Cathedral without the lovely Cardinal Hume. I'm not a Christian, but I have worked for the Cathedral, and I often visit it to hear the choir singing. Everyone who knew him personally must be missing him terribly. My thoughts are with them today.
Cardinal Hume was well known and greatly loved by us through his occasional BBC presentations over the years and his books and pamphlets. His humility was matched only by his wisdom. He was a true advocate for the cause of ecumenism, in that he faithfully practised what he preached. We regard him as a great Englishman. Thank you for the opportunity of recording our tribute.
I was both shocked and deeply impressed by Cardinal Hume's own announcement of his cancer. "To live is to die, and to die is to live" - and by his extraordinary courage in facing the ordinariness of dying, the Cardinal has given great hope to those others who are facing death. May his simple life lived with extraordinary love be a constant reminder to us all that we must live simply in order that others might simply live. May his thirst for justice continue to inspire us to fight for a more just and loving world. To the Catholics and the people of Britain, we send our sympathy and companionship in this time of loss. Selamat Jalan, Cardinal Hume!
Our prayers and condolences from the staff and pupils of St. Thomas the Apostle College. 'Requiescant in pace.'
I am a young adult who would go to Cardinal Basil Hume's home with a group of other young members of the community. He was a great spiritual leader who will be missed greatly by all. He is in a much better place now.
May his soul rest in peace. May his life story inspire the people of England and Wales to re-examine its proud Christian heritage from which it has already moved considerably to atheism.
My Father died from cancer 3 years and Cardinal Hume was a great source of inspiration for him. He will be sadly missed.
What a man of God. He will be greatly missed. Our loss is Heaven's gain.
A model of the simplicity of Christ for us in the 21st Century. May his Soul rest in peace. Amen.
He was an anchor of common sense dug into the reality of Christ.
In reading the moving tributes to Cardinal Hume, it is clear that he shared the virtues of Cardinal Richard Cushing, the simple man of God from Boston who presided at the wedding and funeral of President Kennedy.
As a co-founder of Catholic AIDS Link I pay tribute to Cardinal Hume for the ways in which he came close to people living with HIV/AIDS. I remember especially his deep friendship with one of our founding members, Peter Larkin, his attendance during Peter's dying hours, and his celebration of a Memorial Mass in the crypt of Westminster Cathedral for Peter and his partner who died shortly after Peter.
Cardinal Hume was a good and great man, who will be much missed. May his gentleness and holiness bless Britain and the world.
He will long be remembered with respect and love.
My personal memories of Cardinal Hume date from his time when, as Abbot of Ampleforth, he would come to St Mary's Priory in Cardiff. He showed extraordinary kindness to my parents - Tom and Sheila Barrett - which will always be remembered by their children.
I have never met Cardinal Hume, but I have read so much about his life, his work. His saintliness has inspired many, and his contributions to the world in general, and to the Catholic Church in particular, are beyond measures. I grieve the loss. Let us pray for the repose of his soul. I feel absolutely sure that the Almighty God will reward him abundantly.
May he rest in peace, and from the heavens protect us all in these times of world-wide turmoil.
I had not been a Catholic for long when I attended Mass at the Cathedral. At Holy Communion I joined the queue leading to the Cardinal from the rather worldly motive of seeking the excitement of knowing I had received communion from the Cardinal himself. To my surprise, far from his seeming terribly important, it seemed as if there was nobody there at all, only the Eucharist seemed present. That degree of humility is quite simply impossible to fake and when people speak of his closeness to God they are not lying.
I had the enormous privilege of knowing him personally for many years. He made the world a better place. He is now in the presence of God, and there is nothing he wanted more than that. Thank you, George Basil Hume, friend.
Cardinal Hume was - and is - a gift to the world.
It was with great sadness that I learnt of Cardinal Hume's illness. It is even more so learning of his death. The Church has lost a great leader and the UK a voice for truth and justice. I think of my first meeting with Cardinal Hume in Rome 1978 after the election of Pope John Paul 11. His sense of humour his love of the Church. May the Lord welcome into Paradise and grant him eternal rest.
We were so sorry to hear that Cardinal Hume had died. We met him once in Portsmouth at the Christ The King Mass for young people, we were teenagers having a joke with him, he will be missed by everyone at home and abroad, a real gentle and peaceful person. May he rest in peace.
We have lost a good shepherd.
A pastor who deepened our faith in God and in humanity.
He showed us how to cope with life and with death. If we were all like him, there would be heaven on earth.
I was very sorry to hear about Cardinal Hume death. The H.C.P.T Mass at Lourdes will never be the same, with out him. What came across was a humbled man who could relate to anyone.
He will be sadly missed. May he rest in peace Amen.