Clare Crockett

Who they were

Clare Theresa Crockett was born in Derry, in the north of Ireland, on 14 November 1982. She was a lively teenager with an eye on an acting career, and went on a trip to Spain in Holy Week 1999 mainly because it was cheap. Confession and the veneration of the Cross on Good Friday changed her, and she began to think of religious life.

She entered the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother in Spain in 2001, made her first vows in 2006 and her final vows in 2010, and served in Spain, the United States and Ecuador. She was known for her humour, her guitar and her work with young people.

On 16 April 2016 a 7.8-magnitude earthquake brought down the school at Playa Prieta in Ecuador where she was giving a guitar lesson. She was killed with five of the girls who were with her. She was 33.

The miracles

No miracle has been approved. The diocesan inquiry into her life and virtues is the first stage; a miracle would come later.

Why that counted as sanctity

The Diocese of Alcala de Henares opened the diocesan phase of her cause in the cathedral on 12 January 2025, Bishop Antonio Prieto Lucena presiding, after the Church verified that she has a reputation for holiness and for favours received. From that day she may be called a Servant of God. The Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother are the petitioners and Sister Kristen Gardner, SHM, is the postulator.

The cause