ATTLEBORO -- Just days before the celebration of the birth of a savior, Drew Ward was celebrated Thursday as someone who carried out the season's message.

More than 400 people packed St. Joseph's Church for the funeral Mass of a man who acted on his Catholic faith by helping those in need.

`` He was a gift from God -- a Christmas gift from God,'' said the Rev. Paul Canuel of Honduras, the main celebrant of the Mass and a former pastor of St. Joseph's who helped Ward start the food cellar there 14 years ago that Ward continued to run even during his illness.

Ward died Sunday at age 58 after battling cancer and after spending much of his adult life volunteering to help the hungry and the homeless.