The beatification cause of Sister Clare Crockett, an inspirational young Irish religious sister who died in 2016, formally opened Sunday, January 12, with a ceremony at the Cathedral of Alcalá de Henares in Madrid, Spain.
The ceremony marked the beginning of the diocesan phase of the process, in which an elected tribunal will investigate her life, virtues, and reputation for holiness.
Crockett, who died in a 2016 earthquake in Ecuador at the age of 33, is now titled “servant of God,” the first step in the Catholic Church’s path to sainthood.
More than 100 people travelled from her hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland, to attend the event, including Bishop Donal McKeown.
South American Cardinal Fernando Chomalí Garib, the archbishop of Santiago de Chile, also attended.
In Derry, approximately 500 people gathered at a movie theatre to watch the ceremony broadcast live. “The people of Derry are so proud of her,” said, Bishop McKeown.
Crockett’s story “is a very striking example of someone who had a conversion experience and dedicated their life to Jesus.”
Crockett was born on November 14, 1982, in Derry. As a charismatic and fun-loving teenager, she had a gift for acting and was contracted to present a television show on Channel 4 in the UK, attracting interest from Nickelodeon.
Already in her early teens she was frequently partying, drinking, and smoking.
But her life changed when she attended a Holy Week retreat in Spain at the age of 17 with the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, a community founded in 1982 with a focus on the Eucharist, Marian spirituality, and outreach to youth.
She recalled later in her personal testimony that when she arrived in Spain she was “very superficial and a wild child.”
But that began to change when she took part in the Good Friday adoration of the cross, kissing the feet of Jesus.
“I do not know how to explain exactly what happened. I did not see the choirs of angels or a white dove come down from the ceiling and descend on me, but I had the certainty that the Lord was on the cross, for me,” she remembered.
“And along with that conviction, I felt a great sorrow … and prayed the Stations of the Cross.
“When I returned to my pew, I already had imprinted in me something that was not there before. I had to do something for him who had given his life for me.”
It was the start of a long journey of conversion and healing that led to her joining the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother.
Despite initial struggles to leave behind a life of “superficiality and sin,” she entered religious life in 2001 in Spain, making her first vows in 2006 and her final vows in 2010.
Known for her infectious joy and dedication to others, she served in Spain, the United States, and Ecuador. Sister Clare died on April 16, 2016, when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the school in Playa Prieta, Ecuador, where she was teaching music. Five postulants also lost their lives in the collapse.
A documentary about her life, ‘All or nothing Sr Clare Crockett,’ has amassed over 4 million views on YouTube in Spanish and English, and her story continues to inspire vocations and deepen faith worldwide.
In the years since her death, stories of graces and miracles attributed to Crockett have poured in from around the world, according to Sister Kristen Gardner, the postulator of her cause.
“Desperate souls on the verge of suicide have regained hope, university students lost in vice have found strength to return to the Lord,” Gardner said during the ceremony on January 12.
“There is a very characteristic common note in the messages received,” she said, “and that is that many describe Sister Clare as their friend, even without having met her, she is their friend.”
Her family, present at the ceremony, expressed pride and gratitude for the recognition of Sister Clare’s life.
“Never in a million years did we think she was going to be a nun, never mind make her way to sainthood,” Sr Clare’s sister Shauna shared after the ceremony.
Saints are not removed from the reality of life. The story of Sr. Clare is both inspirational and very real.
Her tremendous generosity and charismatic personality, offers hope, particularly to young people. Her radical embrace of the Gospel of love, highlights the continued relevance Jesus has in the everyday.
Claire was a true “Derry Girl;” a city now transformed by peace and reconciliation. We are all called in life by God to let our light shine.
Saints are defined by their wholesomeness, often the cracks of their humanity, allow God’s grace, shine through their brokenness.
Empathy, compassion and love is the pathway, we are all encouraged to walk. “Every Saint has a past, every Sinner has a future.”
It is in the little things, the mundane , the bits and pieces of our daily lives, where we can allow God’s extraordinarily grace touch our ordinary living.
Sr Clare’s Prayer
Heavenly Father, for your Glory, that or [of] your beloved Son, that of the Holy Spirit and that of the Mother Of God, we ask that grant us the grace (mention your request in the silence of your heart) … as a sign that the life of our Sister Clare Theresa Crockett has been pleasing to you on this earth and that she is now rejoicing with you in Heaven. We ask this through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
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