Sister Clare Crockett

Clare Theresa Crockett was born on 14 November 1982 in Derry in Northern Ireland. As a young child she loved to act and be with her friends. In secondary school she was most passionate about literature and theatre. She was a fun-loving teenager and quickly grabbed the attention of television producers. She voiced the character Lucy in the children's series "Hi Lucy" on EWTN5. At the age of fifteen, she was hired to host a show on the British network Channel 4 and at seventeen she caught the attention of Nickelodeon. By eighteen, she was living a life of partying and alcohol.

In 2000, a friend of Clare, invited her on a free trip to Spain. Thinking it was going to be a trip filled with parties and time spent on the beach, she went. However, it ended up being a 10-day, Holy Week retreat run by the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, a community founded in 1982 with a focus on the Eucharist, Marian spirituality, and outreach to youth. It was here that she experienced a life-changing conversion. It was on Good Friday and Claire began to witness the faithful approach Jesus on the cross, genuflect, and kiss his feet. She had never seen anything like this before, so she followed along. When it was her turn, she went up, kissed Jesus' feet, and left forever changed. "That simple event lasted only 10 seconds. To kiss the cross — something that seemed so insignificant — had such a strong impact on me," she wrote in her personal testimony. "I do not know how to explain exactly what happened," she added. "I did not see the choirs of angels, or a white dove come down from the ceiling and descend on me, but I had the certainty that the Lord was on the cross, for me." "And along with that conviction, I felt a great sorrow, similar to what I had experienced when I was little and prayed before the Stations of the Cross. When I returned to my pew, I already had imprinted in me something that was not there before. I had to do something for him who had given his life for me."

Friends were said to be in disbelief after she announced her decision to become a nun, while holding a "beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other". Her motto in life was "all or nothing". She felt confirmation of her call in the months afterwards, including from a priest at World Youth Day 2000 who told her surprising details of her childhood. During her final school year, she felt torn between her worldly life and her call to vocation, and her worldly life was winning out. However, further religious experiences and the continued feeling of having a call helped convince her. In summer 2001 she went back to the convent of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother in Spain, where she took the name Sister Clare Maria of the Trinity and the Heart of Mary. 

Sister Clare's first assignment was at the community at Belmonte in Cuenca, Spain. There she served in a home for girls that came from families dealing with various difficult circumstances. In October 2012, she received a new assignment that took her to Ecuador. Here she had several assignments taking her to different areas of the country evangelizing the youth. The sisters gave classes in schools in poverty-stricken areas and hosted retreats and summer camps. They also tended to the poor, bringing them not only the word of God but also food baskets, medicine, and other material items and resources. Clare is remembered by many as always carrying her guitar, which was her great companion in evangelization. She always sang, even to the point of losing her voice and despite heat, fatigue, and suffering from migraines. Sisters from her order also remember her wonderful sense of humour and giving of herself completely to others.

On April 16, 2016, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck the Ecuadorian province of Manabí, killing at least six hundred people, including Siter Clare Crockett. Her remains were flown from Ecuador two weeks after her death back to her hometown of Derry and were laid to rest in the City Cemetery on Lone Moor Road. Since her death, the story of her life has been covered in several sources, and the movie All or Nothing summarizes her life. In 2020, a house-sized mural commemorating Sister Clare was unveiled near her home in Derry.

Several healings and fertility miracles have been attributed to her by people who prayed for her intercession. In May 2023, Sr. Kristen Gardner stated that she had been appointed postulator of the cause of beatification of Sr. Clare. She said that the opening of the cause was underway and had been moved to the diocese of Alcalá de Henares in Spain after permission was received from the bishop of Portoviejo, from Rome, and from her local bishop, because Sr. Clare had lived most of her religious life there. In 2024, the Catholic Church declared Sister Clare Crockett to be a Servant of God.