Thousands are expected to mourn the death of a kind, accomplished and much admired priest at his funeral on Tuesday.

Father Kevin Donovan was known to many as one of the clergy at the Sacred Heart Church in Edge Hill, and as chaplain for a number of years at the Ursuline Prepartory School in The Downs.

A member of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, for 60 years, Father Donovan taught liturgy at Heythrop College for almost four decades.

He was talented flautist - delighting congregations by producing a flute from a sleeve unexpectedly - and a popular raconteur, compelling his listeners with his lively, relevant sermons.

Father Donovan was fluent in several languages, including Greek, Latin, French and Russian, and was an enthusiastic jogger, running the marathon well into his 60s.

Born on September 26, 1931, in France, he moved to Britain with his family and went to school in this country, attending the Jesuit school in Berkshire, Beaumont College from 1943.

On leaving school, he entered the Society of Jesus at Manresa College in Roehampton, Surrey, and made his first vows as a Jesuit in Lincolnshire.

He studied philosophy at Heythrop College in Oxfordshire from 1952 to 1955, and Roehampton, and trained as a teacher in the mid-50s.

He went on to study classics at Campion Hall, Oxford, where he achieved a BA.

In 1960, he returned to his alma mater, Beaumont College, and taught there for two years before going back to Oxfordshire for his theology studies at Heythrop.

He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Thomas Roberts on August 1, 1965 at Sacred Heart Church in Edge Hill, and then moved to Paris to study liturgy and catechetics at the Jesuit College in Rue de Sevres.

On returning to Britain in September 1969, he was appointed Professor of Liturgy at Heythrop College.

After Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) became a Jesuit Province in its own right, Father Donovan was transferred to St Ignatius College in Chishawasha, where he taught in the school and seminary.

He returned to the UK in October 1979 and resumed his professorship in liturgy at Heythrop, a post he held until his death.

He also served as parish priest in St Ignatius Parish, Stamford Hill, from 1982 to 1991, and worked on the church staff at the Sacred Heart from August 1992.

Chris Grogan is the former headteacher of the Ursuline Prep School, where Father Donovan said mass every week.

She said: “He was a great friend to the school and was always there for the staff. He was highly intelligent but was able to turn the Bible around for the children, even the four-year-olds, and let them into the Gospel stories.

“The children loved his masses, and he would wind them up by singing to them suddenly.

“They thought he was Jesus or John the Baptist because of his beard and sandals. The school will be quite lost without him. He really was theirs.”

Fr Donovan died on August 21, shortly after performing a wedding and on his way to the reception.

The funeral is at the Sacred Heart Church in Edge Hill at noon on Tuesday.

• Did you know Fr Donovan? Leave your tributes in the comments section below.