Thousands Gather to Mourn Dolores O'Riordan at Public Reposal in Her Native Ireland
Thousands of fans gathered at a Limerick, Ireland, church on Sunday to say their goodbyes to Dolores O’Riordan.
Mourners lined up in the rain, clutching flowers before they streamed into St. Joseph’s Church for a public reposal for the Cranberries frontwoman, according to the Irish Times.
O’Riordan’s mother and six siblings accompanied her wooden coffin into the church, which was decorated with pictures of the singer performing on stage as well as photos of her two meetings with the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, the newspaper reported.
Fans said O’Riordan looked “at peace” in the open coffin, where she wore black and held pearl rosary beads. A floral tribute next to the singer’s casket from her Cranberries bandmates — Fergal Lawler, Noel and Mike Hogan — read, “The song has ended, but the memories linger on.”
O’Riordan will be laid to rest alongside her father, Terence, at Caherelly Cemetery in County Limerick on Tuesday, Jan. 23. A requiem mass will also take place in the Church of Saint Ailbe, Ballybricken, where O’Riordan once sang and played the organ. Along with family friend Canon Liam McNamara, the mass will be celebrated by parish priest Father James Walton and two archbishops.
The exact cause of O’Riordan’s sudden death will not be determined until “various tests” have been completed, a London coroner announced Friday.
The 46-year-old died suddenly in a London hotel room on Monday and the official inquest into her death has been adjourned until April 3 so that tests can be run.
“This lady was staying at a hotel in central London when on Monday, Jan. 15, she was found unresponsive in her room,” Stephen Earl from Westminster Coroner’s Court told PEOPLE in a statement Friday.
“The London Ambulance Service was contacted and verified her death at the scene,” he continued. “Subsequently the Met Police attended, and they determined the death to be non-suspicious.”
“A post-mortem has now been carried out and the court is awaiting results of various tests that have been commissioned.”
On Thursday, the singer’s boyfriend, Olé Korestsy, and ex-Smiths bass player Andy Rourke also spoke movingly 55 about their “overwhelming sadness” at O’Riordan’s death on their website for their band D.A.R.K.
“My friend, partner, and the love of my life is gone. My heart is broken and it is beyond repair,” Koretsky wrote. “Dolores is beautiful. Her art is beautiful. Her family is beautiful,” he added. “The energy she continues to radiate is undeniable. I am lost. I miss her so much. I will continue to stumble around this planet for some time knowing well there’s no real place for me here now.”
O’Riordan is survived by her ex-husband, Don Burton, and her three children, Taylor Baxter, Molly Leigh and Dakota Rain.
