Tributes For 'Superstar' Nun Killed In Quake
Stories of Sister Clare's transformation from wild teen to Catholic missionary emerge as tributes pour in for the "superstar" nun.
Monday 18 April 2016 14:33, UK
A young woman who gave up a wild lifestyle and budding acting career to become a nun has been identified as one of the victims of Saturday's powerful earthquake in Ecuador.
Sister Clare Crockett, from Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was killed when a stairwell collapsed in the school she was working at in the coastal town of Playa Prieta.
The bodies of three trainee nuns, who Sister Clare was teaching to play the guitar, and two other girls, were also found in the debris of the school, her religious congregation said Monday.
Her cousin Emmet Doyle said: "She was the last sister found".
"She was trying to get them down the stairs and the staircase collapsed.
"She died as she lived, helping others."
Tales of her remarkable transition from party animal to Catholic nun have begun to emerge, thanks to testimonies she gave to Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, based in Cantabria in Spain, as an 18-year-old in 2001.
"I liked to party a lot. My weekends, since I was 16/17, consisted of getting drunk with my friends. I wasted all my money on alcohol and cigarettes," she said.
She said she had wanted to be an actress from a very young age and went on to present local television before securing a small part in Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday film.
But she said that it was while on a film set in England, that she began to reconsider her lifestyle.
"I saw that even though it seemed that I had everything, in reality I had nothing," she said.
It was then during an accidental pilgrimage to Spain that she took her first steps as a nun.
She said she had accepted a free trip, expecting a 10-day party in the sun.
She said she was not a "happy camper" when she learnt it was a pilgrimage with mostly middle-aged women and rosary beads.
"I tried to get out of it, but my name was already on the ticket, so I had to go.
"I now see that it was Our Lady's way of bringing me back Home, back to Her and Her Son," she said.
Tributes have been pouring in for Sister Clare, with her cousin, Mr Doyle, describing her as a "superstar."
"Everybody loved her," he said.
Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster also expressed her sympathies.
"It's very, very sad," she said.
"My deepest sympathy goes to the family in Londonderry.
"I understand this lady joined an order and went out to serve and it is very sad to hear she has lost her life in Ecuador."