Three Sutton Saints Set For Saint Helens
St.Helens, of course, derives its name from a chapel that was dedicated to Saint Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great. What's quite amazing and receives little local coverage, is that Sutton is well on course to having a unique shrine containing the mortal remains of not one, but three saints!
Attached to St.Anne and Blessed Dominic Church in Monastery Lane is a shrine to Dominic Barberi, Elizabeth Prout and Father Ignatious Spencer. Passionist priest Dominic Barberi was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963. Now a report in the Catholic Herald entitled 'Cause of nun who worked with Manchester poor makes progress' describes how a large file which details Elizabeth Prout's life of 'heroic virtue' is set to be passed onto the Vatican. A Mass will be held on June 29th celebrated by Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool which will conclude the local phase of the 'Cause', as it's known.
The Catholic Herald's article on the Cause of Elizabeth Prout - Click to read
The Catholic Herald's report of June 20th describes how Elizabeth Prout will be one of only four English men and women whose Causes for sainthood are being considered by the Vatican. One of them is Fr. Ignatius Spencer a relative of Winston Churchill and great-great-great uncle of Diana, Princess of Wales. His Cause for ultimate Canonisation was opened by Archbishop Derek Worlock of Liverpool in 1992. So half of the English Causes set for scrutiny by Rome have their mortal remains in Sutton! Plus Blessed Dominic, of course. You can read more about the trio of prospective Sutton saints at St.Anne & Blessed Dominic's Website.
F.W. Free in his fabulous book "Our Heritage in Sutton and Bold" (1979) sums up the shrine far better than I ever could:
"So here in a lovely shrine, especially built for the purpose, are the mortal remains of the son of an Italian farmer, the son of a noble English family and the daughter of a good Protestant family. Their lives may have ended, but their inspiration lives on in those around them and in others farther afield who make pilgrimages to this sacred shrine to gather the faith, courage and hope that sustained these faithful three who now rest with with their Maker."
24/07/08 UPDATE A month after this blog post, the St.Helens Star has today published a short news story on the Cause for Sainthood of Elizabeth Prout. Read it Here.