Prince William relative moves closer to sainthood

Father Ignatius Spencer is pictured in an undated portrait. On Feb. 21, Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Father Spencer, a 19th-century Passionist priest and a relative of Princes William and Harry through their mother, Princess Diana.  (CNS photo/courtesy Passionists) Editors: best quality available.

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) – A priest related to Princes William and Harry took a major step closer to sainthood when Pope Francis declared him venerable.

Like St John Henry Newman, Passionist Father Ignatius Spencer is considered one of the towering figures of the 19th-century revival of English Catholicism, often referred to by church historians as the “Second Spring.” The February 21 announcement means the Catholic Church is satisfied that Father Spencer lived a life of heroic virtue.

The search will now begin for two inexplicable healings at the intercession of the priest — one to declare him as blessed and the other to recognize him as a saint.

Father Spencer is related to Prince William, the second in line to the British throne, and to Harry, the sixth in the line of succession, through their mother, Princess Diana.

The Passionist was a great-great-great uncle of Princess Diana, and a great-uncle of Sir Winston Churchill.

A former Anglican clergyman who became a Catholic, he raised money to bring Blessed Dominic Barberi – the priest who would receive St. John Henry Newman into the Church – to England and petitioned the Passionists to send him.

He also helped found the Passionist Sisters with Mother Elizabeth Prout, whom Pope Francis declared venerable in January.

George Spencer grew up at the family home at Althorp, where Princess Diana was buried after she was killed in a Paris car crash in August, 1997.

He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, but turned his back on a life of immense wealth by converting to the Catholic faith a decade after he was shocked by a scene in the Mozart opera “Don Giovanni”, which sees the eponymous anti-hero conveyed to hell by a troop of devils.

Father Spencer interpreted his experience as a holy warning, and he went to Rome to train as a priest, eventually joining the Passionist order, taking Ignatius as his religious name.

On his return to England, the priest worked among some of the poorest people in the country, including migrants from the Irish Potato Famine, who were living in caves dug out of mining slag heaps.

He started the Movement for Christian Unity and has been credited for laying the groundwork of the ecumenical movement of northern Europe of the late 20th century.

He contracted tuberculosis from a workhouse in Staffordshire, but he died from a heart attack in 1864 near Carstairs, Scotland, while traveling to visit his godson.

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