THE grieving son of Phyllis Hamilton and Father Michael Cleary spoke at her funeral yesterday of the secret language of love that his parents had shared.

Ross Hamilton (24), standing in front of her mother's coffin, told the congregation that his priest father and his mother had a deep love for each other. His mother died of cancer last Thursday, aged 50. Cancer had also claimed the life of Fr Cleary.

Addressing the congregation at the end of the Requiem Mass at Saint Philomena's Church in Palmerstown, Dublin, Mr Hamilton said his parents used the secret codeword '8' to convey their love for each other.

"They were secretly husband and wife and they used the codeword between them to express their love for each other," he said. To them, it was the symbol of infinity, he added.

Father William King, from Celbridge, told the congregation that Phyllis had more than her fair share of suffering and pain in her life but she achieved what people longed for to love and to be loved.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/funeral-told-of-pairs-secret-code-359385.html