Next week could see a cricket-mad aristocrat related to Princes William and Harry take a step closer to canonisation, when Vatican officials meet to decide if Fr Ignatius Spencer lived a life of “heroic virtue”.
Theologians and historians of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will assemble on Thursday (January 16) to give their opinion on his positio, a document detailing the example and writings of the 19th-century convert and Passionist priest.
If their conclusions are positive, the cardinals and bishops of the congregation are likely to ask Pope Francis to declare him Venerable. Then the search for two miracles will begin – one to declare him Blessed and the other a saint.
