Runcie 'had a very special relationship with St Albans'

The 78-year-old died at home in St Albans on Tuesday, surrounded by his family, after a six-year battle with prostate cancer. He had stopped his course of chemotherapy six weeks ago after doctors told him there was no point continuing.

Lord Runcie's daughter Rebecca said on Wednesday: 'We are relieved that his final suffering was not for long.

'We are grateful for all the love and prayers that we have received.

'He not only had friends and admirers across the world, but also in the cathedral, the market place and the newsagent. That's the mark of the man.'

The grandfather of four will be buried in the precinct of St Albans Abbey after a funeral mass there on July 22 at 11am. The service, which he planned himself, will be open to everyone.

Lord Runcie, who lived in Jennings Road, gave his final sermon from a wheelchair in the abbey on Saturday, at the funeral of a former Dean of St Albans, Peter Moore.

The Bishop of St Albans, the Right Reverend Christopher Herbert, described the sermon as a 'tour de force'.

He added: 'It was a remarkable address, full of witty asides, which captured the courage, affection and considerable self-sacrifice which characterised his life.

'It was very moving because you could see he was terribly ill, and close to death.'

Lord Runcie was Bishop of St Albans from 1970 to 1980, then Archbishop of Canterbury until 1991, yet his qualities extended far beyond that of a religious leader: he was a decorated war hero, devoted family man, history scholar, pig fancier, and - despite his rather austere public image - a very funny individual.

The Right Reverend Christopher Herbert said: 'He had an enjoyment of the ridiculous, a kind of mischievous sense of fun - mostly directed at himself, but always affectionate when directed at others.

'What he said was filled with a kind of twinkling wit.'

This self-deprecating humour was illustrated by an incident in 1979, when he was asked to unveil a number of modern gargoyles on the newly-restored abbey nave. One of the gargoyles was a caricature of Runcie himself - although he argued, with a smile, that it bore more resemblance to Eric Morecambe.

One of Lord Runcie's greatest achievements in St Albans was spearheading the fundraising campaign to build the Macmillan Runcie Day Hospice, offering care and treatment for cancer sufferers, in the grounds of St Albans City Hospital.

He helped raise £1 million in just over a year for the hospice, which opened in January 1994, shortly before he himself was diagnosed with the disease.

Mrs Daniele Nicolas, the manager of Grove House, of which the hospice is a part, revealed that Lord Runcie had said on Monday that he wanted any donations on his death to go to the hospice.

She added: 'This place was always very special to him. He recognised that cancer touches everyone, and when he found out he himself was ill, took that as verification that no one is exempt - that we are all equal.'

Mrs Nicolas paid tribute, like many people who knew him, to his ''personal touch''.

She said: 'When he came in here he did not come as Lord Runcie, he came as Robert. He came to all our Christmas parties, and when he walked into the room the whole atmosphere would change - but he would just go straight in, no fuss, sit next to patients and start talking to them.

'He sometimes came here for the health services too - although he was very sensitive to the fact that he had done a lot of work for us. He would always come in apologetically, like he was saying 'I don't want to use the system because of who I am.'''

The Archdeacon of Bedford, The Venerable Malcolm Lesiter, who was a parish priest in the St Albans Diocese during the 1970's, said one of Runcie's lasting achievements as Bishop of St Albans was pioneering the Ministerial Training Scheme - a sort of Open University for priests - which allowed ordinary people to train for ordination on a part-time basis, while still keeping their jobs.

The scheme, which opened the priesthood up to a much wider spectrum of potential recruits, has since become well established in the Church of England.

One ongoing concern which was close to Lord Runcie's heart, and which involved him in controversy in St Albans last year, was the charity Emmaus.

Emmaus, which runs working communities of homeless people, won permission to set up in the former Cell Barnes nurses homes in Nightingale Lane, despite outrage from people living nearby, who claimed the area was becoming a 'special needs ghetto'. Lord Runcie, who was president of Emmaus UK from 1991 to 1998, was vocal in his support for the St Albans project.

Robert Runcie was born in Liverpool in 1921, and served as a tank commander with the Scots Guards during the war, in one battle earning the Military Cross for courageous leadership under fire.

After the war ended he gained a First Class degree at Oxford, then trained to become a priest, and in 1950 he took up his first post as curate, in Tyneside.

From 1960 until becoming Bishop of St Albans, he was head of Cuddesdon Theological College, where he trained student priests.

The Venerable Malcolm Lesiter, whom he taught, said as a teacher Runcie 'had very wide understandings''.

He added: 'He encouraged his students to explore the Christian tradition and equip themselves to serve the Church.'

St Albans Mayor Roma Mills, who led a minute's silence at a meeting of St Albans District Council on Wednesday evening, said a civic book of condolences, for people to sign, would be available in the council's offices in St Peter's Street from next week.

She added: 'I think Robert Runcie had a very special relationship with St Albans, which was shown by the way he continued living here after retirement.

'He saw St Albans as 'home', and was regarded with great affection by people here.'

The Right Reverend David Farmbrough, who was Archdeacon of St Albans while Runcie was bishop, paid tribute to his former colleague's 'human touch'.

He said: 'Although he was in a very senior position in the Church, he was extremely good at relating to human beings of all sorts, from the highest to the most humble.'

Macmillan Runcie Day Hospice specialist nurse Brenda Greenway said she had talked to Lord Runcie in the final weeks of his life.

She said: 'We talked about management of his symptoms. He said to me 'I've had a good life and a long life, and it's drawing to an end.' He was unafraid of death.

'I heard him say once that, as a priest, death had been something he had been waiting for, aiming for, all his life.'

Lord Runcie leaves a wife, Rosalind, son James and daughter Rebecca, and grandchildren Rosie, 22, Charlotte, 11, Matthew, three, and Edward, one.