Hundreds are gathered today for the funeral of Karen Buckley, the Irish student who was murdered in Glasgow earlier this month.

Attended by her parents and three brothers, the funeral in County Cork will be presided over by Father Joseph O'Keeffe, parish priest of Mourneabbey. In his homily, Father O'Keeffe will mourn Karen's death and offer comfort to her bereaved family and friends. Karen, 24, went missing following a night out on April 11. Her body was found four days later, and a 21-year-old man, Alexander Pacteau, has been charged with her murder.

"Death is sad at any age, but our feelings concerning death are not always of the same degree. To us Karen was a young woman, a friend. To her family she was a cousin, a niece, a sister-in-law, a sister, a daughter, a child. It is most difficult then for them, but in particular for Karen's parents, John and Marian, to associate the cradle to the coffin. One represents the beginning of life and the other represents the end. And it is doubly sad when the two are so closely linked. We are deeply, deeply saddened when the life of someone so young is cut short, and in Karen's case, so tragically and horrifically so, by the curtain of death," Father O'Keeffe will say this afternoon, following readings from Ecclesiastes, 2 Corinthians and the Gospel of John.

The priest will encourage those gathered to put their faith in Jesus, "who has conquered death, and who cares for Karen infinitely more than any of us ever could."

"It is an hour of heartache, a time of tears... we either despair or find our strength in faith," he is expected to say.

"We pray Karen has already reached her final destination and that she has touched the hem of Jesus' gown and is with God in heaven."

Prayers offered by Karen's family and friends will note that her kindness and love "brought us closer to each other and closer to God. Following Karen's example may we play our part in making the world a better place."

Poems by Edgar Guest and Henry Wadsworth will also be read, and items that represent Karen's personality, achievements and her love for life, bought to the altar by her brothers.

The funeral is being held at the Church of St Michael the Archangel in Analeentha, at 2pm. There will then be a burial in Burnfort Cemetery.