Bishop O.P. Martin Laid to Rest in Belmopan

Belize gave a fond farewell this afternoon to first Belizean-born Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Belize, the Most Reverend Osmond Peter Martin. The eighty-six-year-old Bishop Emeritus was memorialized in Catholic masses in his hometown Dangriga on Sunday morning and in Belize City this morning, but this afternoon’s funeral service was an official remembrance organized by the Government in conjunction with the church and held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral in Belmopan. Bishop Martin’s childhood friend, Meliton Auil eulogized the late bishop. Successor Bishop Dorick Wright, who has been in turn succeeded by Bishop Martin’s fellow Dangrigan Larry Nicasio, paid tribute to his colleague’s zest for life and the Word of God.

Dorick Wright

Dorick Wright, Roman Catholic Bishop of Belize

“Jesus tells us, He Himself tells us that there is life after death; and He promised us that where he is, He will take us someday. Today we come here to profess that faith in Christ. We come here to profess our faith in people who do not have faith, so that they too may come to believe. “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall not die…” but will keep on living. That is what Jesus tells us, and we do not have to question; we do not have to doubt these words. We know that Jesus brings us the truth, so that you and I may someday end up where He is. So today as we say farewell to a man of great faith; to a man who believed in his Heavenly Father; a man who wants us all to be with Him, as we come to profess our faith in Him, let us believe and trust in Him. Unless the seed goes to the ground and dies, it remains just a seed. Yes, and so we bid farewell to Bishop Martin, and it is [with] a great deal of sadness and love. Those of us who knew him will say that he was a good man, and I think that can briefly sum up his life, that he was always out to help the poor. And so we pray for him, that he may have eternal rest; and that someday we will meet him again, when we enter into God’s Kingdom.”

The Most Reverend Osmond Peter Martin, Bishop of the Diocese of Belize City and Belmopan, dead at eighty-six. The official ceremony concluded a while ago and our news crew is just back. We will have a comprehensive look at the Bishop’s life on Tuesday.