Photo: Siobhán Summerville At a time when young people need to see the shallowness of celebrity culture, the Church has found a powerful witness writes Ruadhan Jones
The Church should “look at and recognise that something extraordinary happened” in the life of Derry nun Sr Clare Crockett, according to Fr Stephen Quinn, a Derry-based Carmelite priest, who says he is “convinced of her sanctity”.
Fr Quinn told The Irish Catholic that Sr Clare – who died in an earthquake in Ecuador four years ago – should be “held up to the light for all to see” and prayed for her miraculous intercession in an anniversary Mass on Sunday, April 19, in Termonbacca Carmelite Monastery in the Maiden City.
Fr Quinn spoke of her “profound importance” and of his own conviction regarding her sanctity.
“I’m a Carmelite priest and we have many saints,” Fr Quinn said. “There are elements of them I see reflected in her life. That’s why I, and so many of our friars, are convinced of her sanctity.”
Fr Quinn believes that Sr Clare’s importance is on a par with that of St Therésè of Lisieux and, because of the way in which she grew up, she is an ideal model for our young people today. A tearaway as a young girl, it wasn’t until she was 18 that she discovered her vocation.
“Sr Clare, in her family life, is the polar opposite. St Therésè came from a Catholic home…and used this to propel her into an extraordinary life. Sr Clare came from a broken family in which the mother and father had separated, and the children didn’t practice the faith.
“She went through all the behaviours typical of teenagers – the drinking, the celebrity culture. Yet, knowing all that, she was able to make this radical choice for Christ.”
In his sermon at her anniversary Mass, Fr Quinn described the culture in which modern young people grow up as having a “cult of celebrity”. He said that young people are fed on this culture from a young age, and it was despite this Sr Clare discovered her vocation.
“Famous actors and actresses appear to have it all sorted, to have everything they want,” he said in his sermon. “Their opinions are courted on everything, from religion to politics. One can only imagine the thrill, it must be intoxicating.”
“At a young age, Sr Clare faced a big life choice – to be a famous actress or a famous nun…She only found truth and happiness in the moment she bent to kiss the feet of Christ on the Cross. She saw Divine Mercy itself… and realised how valued she is by God.”
Following this encounter, Clare gave up her ambition to be a famous actress to follow a new vocation as a sister in the Servants of the Home of the Mother, a relatively new Spanish congregation.
She entered as a novice in 2001, taking her perpetual vows in 2010. She was only 33 when she died in an earthquake in Ecuador in 2016, and her fourth anniversary was celebrated on April 16.
Since her death, a strong devotion to her has grown locally and internationally, including in the Carmelite Order. Fr Quinn and his brothers in the Termonbacca Monastery have devoted Masses to Sr Clare every second Sunday for a year and a half.
“We celebrate a Mass every month here,” he said, “asking for her intercession and for her to be recognised by the Church. The more I get to know her, the more profound she is and the more profound her witness is.”
Fr Quinn recently organised a photo campaign, asking people to display an image of Sr Clare, then take a picture and share it.
“We had good response to the photo campaign, with people sending photos from England and Canada. We had a big response around Derry as well.
“We had 800 cards with a photograph of Sr Clare, and a prayer for her beatification on the back. The 800 went in two days, and that was just us. Her sisters are doing the same work and they had 1,000 and those went as well.”
According to Fr Quinn, the campaign is a sign of the strong local devotion that has developed in Derry. In the Facebook livestream of the anniversary Mass, more than 200 people commented seeking her prayers and intercession.
“An awful lot of people are praying to her,” Fr Quinn said. “There’s a family in Derry, one of them is very sick with coronavirus, and they are praying every day to Sr Clare. There have been answers to prayers in some cases.”
In recent months, a number of miracles have been attributed to Sr Clare’s intercession. Speaking to The Irish News last month, Shauna Gill, Sr Clare’s sister, said a young boy in the US who was on life-support recovered after a priest asked the Derry nun to intercede. The nun’s intercession is also credited for the birth of twins to a couple who were believed to be infertile.
Though he couldn’t give exact details, Fr Quinn told The Irish Catholic that a miracle in a county near Derry is being attributed to Sr Clare’s intercession.
“There was a young woman who was discovered to have a large growth,” he said. “She prayed to Sr Clare that it wouldn’t be cancerous or life-threatening. When they opened her up, they discovered that there was no cancer in the growth and the doctor was amazed. He couldn’t understand why there was no cancer in a growth that size.”
Fr Quinn finished by saying that Sr Clare speaks to “young people in a way that no sermon can, and very few priests can”.