Bishop makes case for sainthood recognition
Modern day saints are few and far between but the Bishop of Shrewsbury has continued the campaign for recognition for one of the town’s former Sisters.
The Rev Mark Davies, Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury, used his most recent Mass to urge the congregation to pray that Mother Elizabeth Prout is recognised as a saint – on the anniversary of her birth.
The 19th century religious Sister, who was born in Shrewsbury, has been hailed as “the Mother Teresa of Manchester”.
Last year it was confirmed that Mother Elizabeth could be Britain’s first female non-martyr saint in 800 years after the Vatican ruled she lived a life of ‘heroic virtue’.
She had worked in the slums of Victorian Manchester and towns of North West England until her death at 43 from tuberculosis.
She opened a chain of schools for poor children and homes for destitute women across the industrialised region, and was ahead of her time in teaching women crucial skills to earn their own living.
The canonisation process requires a document on her life to be examined by top-ranking cardinals and bishops in Rome who then ask Pope Francis to declare Mother Elizabeth as “Venerable”.
At that point, the search for two miracles will begin – one to declare her as blessed and the other as a saint. Her canonisation could mean she will become the first English female saint since Pope St Paul VI in 1970 included Saint Margaret Clitheroe, Anne Line and Margaret Ward among 40 canonised martyrs of England and Wales.
Bishop Davies used a homily at Shrewsbury Cathedral on September 2, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Mother Elizabeth at Coleham in Shrewsbury, to speak about the case for her canonisation.
The mass was attended by members of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, the religious institute co-founded by Mother Elizabeth.
The Bishop described Mother Elizabeth as an “educational pioneer” who founded schools for the industrialised poor and refuges for factory girls as she “dedicated her life to the service of the most abandoned”.
He said: “Two centuries later, what can the life of Elizabeth Prout teach us in this 21st Century? From the banks of the Severn where her story began, I wish to point very simply to where, I believe, her witness will shine out ever more clearly in years to come.
“Wherever human life is devalued and discarded – in what Pope Francis describes today as a ‘throw-away culture’ – Elizabeth teaches how human dignity and true social progress are bound-up with love, Divine Love.”
He said she was inspired by her Catholic faith to confront “the most degrading situations with the confidence of the revolution which flows from Christ’s command: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’.”
Bishop Davies noted that Mother Elizabeth significantly came to Manchester and “risked violence herself to enter Manchester’s darkest and most dangerous streets in order to reach those in greatest need”.
He added: “She became a sister to the abandoned so they might recognise their own innate dignity as children of God.”
