Jacques Hamel, the priest murdered by IS sympathisers during morning Mass at his church in Normandy, has been described as a courageous and dedicated man who had pledged to serve the church “until my last breath”. Father Hamel, who was 86, retired nearly a decade ago but continued to serve as an assistant priest at the church in St Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen. When the two attackers burst into the church he was leading the service in the absence of the regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati. His throat was slit by the two men, who took five people hostage before being shot dead by police. One hostage remains in a critical condition. “He was a courageous priest for his age. Priests have the right to retire at 75 but he preferred to work in the service of the people because he still felt strong,” Father Moanda-Phuati told France’s Le Figaro. “He was very popular, a good man, simple and without extravagance. We benefited greatly from his experience and wisdom at the parish of Saint-Etienne. He served people for most of his life.”