Sr. Clare Crockett Chai Brady and Ruadhan Jones
There have been calls for a Derry-born nun who died while ministering to orphans in an earthquake in Ecuador,to be put on the path to sainthood.
Sr Clare Crockett (33) was killed as she tried to lead schoolchildren to safety when the earthquake struck the Plays Prieta area of northwest Ecuador five years ago this week.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Bishop Phonsie Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore said he would be “delighted” to see her cause for canonisation opened.
“As far as I’m concerned, I would be delighted to see that process given attention and if the authorities were of a mind to begin the process it would be something I would support,” he said.
He encouraged people to take inspiration from Sr Clare – a Servant Sister of the Home of the Mother – and “to ask her help in our own struggle to live the Christian life.
“I would certainly encourage young people – it’s especially young people who are inspired by her – but I’m sure older people are as well.”
Sr Clare was brought home to Derry to be buried and some local people have been reporting favours that they believe have been granted through her intercession.
Witnessed
Fr Roland Colhoun, a priest of the Derry Diocese who knew Sr Clare as a teenager, told this newspaper that he has witnessed the growing devotion and regularly receives calls from people looking for her grave, now a site of pilgrimage.
“Since 2016, a devotion has grown up to her. Many people visit her grave, I get regular requests for directions to it.
“People are praying to her, asking for favours, for her intercession. I pray to her too, I have great belief in her holiness and she’s a very powerful intercessor,” he said.
Recently, a prayer group was established by her sisters, Shauna Gill and Megan Nicell. They believe that a number of miracles have occurred through Sr Clare’s intercession.
Mrs Gill said a young boy in the US who was on life-support recovered after a priest prayed for the Derry nun to intercede. The nun’s intercession is also credited for the birth of twins to a couple who were thought infertile.
Fr Colhoun believes that it is important that people pray to Sr Clare, and also hopes that she might be canonised one day.
“I would love to see people pray for her cause and her intercession. I would love to see her canonised, but that’s a bit off yet. I have a strong feeling that we as Irish people promote our own last. I would love to see local causes, like Sr Clare, promoted so that we can encourage this generation of Irish Catholics to really embrace the faith,” he said.
Sr Bernadette Clare SHM, who was in the noviciate with Sr Clare and is now based in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, told The Irish Catholic that “she had a gift with people, she could get on with everyone. You always had a good time with her. The Church hasn’t declared her a saint, and we can’t say if she is, but we believe she’s in Heaven.
“There have been many testimonies from people who prayed for her intercession. We heard a few days ago about a woman in Puerto Rico with cancer. They prayed to Sr Clare and the cancer went away. They attribute the cure to her,” Sr Bernadette said.
Cheerfulness
In February a new community of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother was established in Cahir, Co. Tipperary in Bishop Cullinan’s diocese.
“Clare is obviously a revered person who lived the spirit of the Home of the Mother in a very deep way and seemed to me to be totally in love with the Lord Jesus, according to what I can gather from the film and talking to people she had a wonderful spirit of cheerfulness, of perseverance and of wanting to do the will of God in the ordinary things,” Bishop Cullinan said.
In the first instance, a cause for canonisation begins at the local diocese before a file is sent to Rome for consideration.
Read the feature article here.