THE ashes of a Catholic missionary who was born and raised in Bury will be brought back to his hometown to be buried with his parents.

Bernard Hogan, who dedicated his life to helping others, has died aged 84 following a period of ill health.

A service will be held at Bury Cemetery on Friday, April 5 to give those who knew him the opportunity to pay their respects.

His brother Peter Hogan, who moved away from Bury in 1962, described him as a "generous" and "unselfish" person.

Mr Hogan was born in Canterbury Drive, Bury, the fourth of seven children.

He moved to Ireland in 1950 to join the Society of the Divine World, a missionary religious congregation which is part of the Catholic Church.

He specialised in building construction and learned Hindi-Urdu, the basic language spoken in north India.

Peter said: "Bernard showed a definite religious inclination at an early age which matured into a genuine vocation.

"He had a very generous nature and was very unselfish towards others, never thinking of himself.

"I remember when I was aged eight and Bernard would wake me up at 6.30am to ask me if I would accompany him to mass. He must have been only aged 12 himself at the time."

In 1956, aged 22, Bernard moved to Rourkela in Orissa, India, where he project managed the construction of churches, schools and hospitals.

"He worked in the slums of Calcutta", Peter said. "He did some work for Mother Teresa. He built an outpatient department and a second storey to double its capacity. He met the president of India."

Bernard retired from the order in 1973 and moved to Washington DC where he lived until 2013.

He then moved to upstate New York to be near his sister, before settling in Athens in 2015, close to other family members.

Bernard died in his sleep at Landmark Hospital in Athens, Georgia, on Christmas Eve, 2018, following a short period of ill health.

A funeral service was held in Georgia.

The service at Bury Cemetery will take place at 11am on April 5.

He leaves behind his brother Peter, sister Patricia and several nephews and nieces.