Bras, prayers and pilgrimages: Devotion to Derry nun tipped for sainthood grows
Sr Clare Crockett is only the second nun in Ireland to be considered for sainthood. Photo: sisterclare.com
Hundreds of devotees are making daily pilgrimages to the grave of an Irish nun who is tipped for sainthood — with some leaving bras and boxer shorts on her headstone in the hope that she will perform a miracle for them.
Sr Clare Crockett was killed in an earthquake in Portoviejo in Ecuador on April 16, 2016. The 33-year-old is buried in her native Derry.
The case for her beatification was opened by her former order in Spain in January following dozens of claims of intercessions by Sr Clare since her death. This is the first step in a long, four-stage process towards sainthood.
Sr Clare is among a small number of young Catholic figures currently being considered for canonisation following the recent fast-tracking of Carlos Acutis to sainthood on September 7.
The 15-year-old Italian who died on October 11, 2006, was known as "God’s influencer" for his use of digital media to promote Catholicism and was declared the first millennial saint at a ceremony in the Vatican earlier this month.
Like Acutis, Sr Clare’s popularity continues to grow, with hundreds now flocking to her grave in Derry every day. Her parents Gerald and Margaret, who never recovered from her death, died within six years of her passing and are buried alongside her.
Sr Clare's family say they appreciate the devotion that their sister inspires, but they been forced to leave a petition box at the grave, to prevent pilgrims from leaving items that are “disrespectful” on top of her headstone.
Clare’s sister Shauna Gill told the Irish Examiner: "I understand people have very important requests for help which we appreciate so much but some people have left a bra and boxer shorts hanging off the headstone for my family.
“There are hundreds of people going there every day, we can’t keep up with it.
"My sister is not a saint, her life’s work is being investigated, it takes a long time, and we understand people want their prayers answered and they come to pray at her grave, but we just want to ask the public if they will leave their intentions in the petition box, please."
“Our mammy and daddy are in there too, it’s disrespectful. We are so busy with Clare’s story and all the petitions, it is a full-time job. We didn’t ask for any of this, but of course we understand people want their prayers answered.”
Sr Clare joined the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother when she was 18 and stayed with them until her death a decade ago. She entered the order as a candidate in 2001, took her first vows in 2006, and her perpetual vows in 2010, making her official consecration to god.
Her sister Shauna said it was “the last thing” her family expected when Clare declared she was going to be a nun, after spending her teens, “smoking, drinking and having boyfriends.”
“It made no sense to us,” said Shauna. “We absolutely never saw it coming.
"She was tipping the basket in the church during the collection and putting the two pounds under the basket. We would go to the shop, and she bought cigarettes, and I got chocolate because I was too young to smoke.
“This was not someone who was going to join the church as a nun – no way. We still are learning about her journey, she never spoke to us in detail.”
That religious journey began when Clare’s friend was due to travel to Spain in 2000 and had paid for the trip and accommodation but fell ill.
“She gave Clare the trip and she thought she was going to party away, but when she got on the bus, it was full of older people who were going to stay in a convent.
“She hated it, she didn’t go to mass and sat outside smoking. It was on Good Friday when she said, I better go because everyone is going.
“She went up and kissed Jesus’s feet at the cross and in that moment, she said she felt him talk to her and she told a priest about her experience. But as soon as she came back, she was just Clare again, she was back out enjoying her life.”
Shauna said her sister spoke of a second time "she could feel the presence of Jesus Christ".
She said: "She was in the toilets of a pub about to get sick after drinking too much and she closed her eyes and felt he was standing in front of her saying ‘why are you hurting me like this?'
“Then the following year she said I’m going to Spain to be a nun, and she left and never returned.
“We were all heartbroken, we could not get our heads around it, we told people Clare ran off to be in a cult, we couldn’t bring ourselves to say she is a nun, it was so hard on all of us, but it was Clare’s life and we had to accept it.”
Sr Clare left her "wild days' behind - including her ambitions to become an actress having worked as a presenter on Channel 4 - and after joining the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, she worked in Spain and the US.
"She later moved to Ecuador but tragedy struck when the house she was staying in was hit by an earthquake while she was singing and playing the guitar.
“She said there was nothing to fear because she wanted to be with Jesus,” said Shauna of her sister's tragic death. “That's what we were told.
“My mammy and daddy were heartbroken, we all were, we have no closure, and we read about her death on Facebook.
“Clare had been missing after the earthquake, and nobody contacted us. She died on April 16, but they didn’t find her body until midnight the next night. Mammy wanted her body home, and we didn’t get it back until April 29.
“It was a closed coffin. It was hard enough for my parents to bury their child, but then we had a 14-day wake waiting for her.
Clare is only the second nun in Ireland to be considered for sainthood – St Brigid of Kildare is the only Irish-born nun who was officially canonised by the Catholic Church.
There is now a mural of Sr Clare on the side of a wall in her hometown of Brandywell which can been seen from her grave.
Since her death, dozens of followers have attributed favours granted to Sr Clare, and have reported them to the Home of the Mother in Spain.
“Me and my sister Megan (Nicell) – we are normal, to us, she’s our Clare, but the amount of people who pray to her is overwhelming. People come to you and tell you ‘your sister did all these things for us.’
“It’s a bit surreal and nobody else is in our situation so we have no one to ask questions of.”
Shauna said they hope to meet the parents of Carlos Acutis to help them understand the process of sainthood. “We would very much like to meet them, just to share our experiences,” said Shauna.
While investigations are ongoing into Clare’s life, Shauna said they are prepared for the fact that if Clare is canonised her remains will be exhumed.
“We will be there if that happens” she said. “It will give people a place to go away from mammy and daddy too, we will have her placed in a casket. Unlike Carlos Acutis it would be impossible to have her remains on full display.”
Sr Kristen, a colleague of Sr Clare in the House of the Mother is tasked with investigating her life since the opening of her beautification. She told the dozens of claims of interceptions have been made to the order since her death.
“I am the postular in charge of the opening of the investigation,” she explained. “It is a civil process that we opened in January, and I am tasked with studying Clare’s life and that includes talking to her family, friends, and the sisters here as well as her community in Ireland, Spain, and Ecuador.
"This is my first case. Everything will go before a tribunal and be examined by a bishop. The case then goes to the Vatican, and the pope will make a decision on her life, and if she really did give herself to god and her community.
“But god will have the final say, only he can decide and he will give us a demonstration she is in heaven – that miracle is an approval by god, who decides yes, she is now a saint we can all pray to.”
Sr Kristen said the road to sainthood is a long process and requires events that cannot be scientifically explained.
“One case involving Sr Clare includes a four-year-old boy who fell four metres directly onto his head,” she said.
“Witnesses say there was blood coming from the child’s ear and he was hemorrhaging. On the way to the hospital her parents prayed to Sr. Clare.
“The results of his MRI and tests then showed he had no damage at all. That case will include medical records and interviews with the doctors who treated the child.
“Another case is more complex, it involves a cancer patient who prayed to Sr. Clare to remove her cancer, which is now gone, but cancer can return, so that will take more time.
“We have to show this was god’s direct intervention through Sr Clare.”
