Father Jacques Hamel: 'A good priest … who did his job to the very end'

Fellow clergy and parishioners pay tribute to the 85-year-old murdered in his church in Normandy

201614.20

Described as modest, dedicated and always available for his parishioners, Father Jacques Hamel, 85, who was murdered in his Normandy church while celebrating morning mass, had been retired for nearly a decade.

He still officiated regularly as auxiliary at the church in St Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, and in neighbouring Elbeuf, local media reported, stepping in when the parish's regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati, was busy.The priest's throat was slit by two men armed with knives who took five people – Hamel, two nuns and two worshippers – hostage in the church. The two men were later shot by police. Three hostages were freed unharmed but one is in a critical condition.

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